Iran's Ahmadinejad warns rivals their plans will fail

Fri Jul 31, 2009 1:42pm BST




By Parisa Hafezi

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned his political rivals on Friday that their efforts to drive a wedge between him and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would come to nothing.

Iran's disputed presidential poll on June 12 plunged the country, the world's fifth biggest oil exporter, into its biggest internal crisis since the 1979 Islamic revolution and exposed deep divisions in its ruling elite.

Added to the widespread popular unrest and the wrath of reformists over the disputed election, Ahmadinejad has come under fire from his own allies and lost two hardline cabinet members by defying Khamenei over his choice of vice president.

But Ahmadinejad denied any rifts among the leaders.

"This is not a political relationship ... our relationship is based on kindness. It is like a relationship between a father and his son,"

Ahmadinejad said in a speech in the holy Shi'ite city of Mashhad.

"Your efforts will bear no fruit. This road is closed for those devils who dream about harming our relationship. Their dream will be buried along with them,"

state television reported.

Khamenei, who endorsed the election result and sided openly with Ahmadinejad, reacted firmly when the president named Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaie as his deputy.

In an Islamic system in which the Supreme Leader's word is supposed to be final and obeyed, Ahmadinejad ignored Khamenei's order for a week.

In the past few days, some hardline backers of the president and conservative media have made unusually blunt comment on the affair, saying Ahmadinejad has challenged the authority of Khamenei, Iran's most powerful figure.

"FOMENTING INSTABILITY"

Hardline cleric Ahmad Jannati, head of Iran's top legislative body, also criticised Ahmadinejad.

"Such appointments hurt your supporters ... A key position should not be given to a person who is not respected," Jannati told worshippers at Tehran University. His speech was broadcast live on state radio.

The disarray in the hardline camp is likely to complicate his job of forming a new cabinet. Jannati urged the parliament to help Ahmadinejad over the new cabinet.

Jannati said the vote was Iran's "healthiest" since the revolution, adding Iran's moderate defeated candidate Mirhossein Mousavi should go on trial for fomenting instability in Iran.

Mousavi and other leading moderates say the vote was rigged, calling the new government "illegitimate."

"You were behind these unrests. You are responsible for the bloodshed," Jannati said. "Sooner or later you will be punished for your illegal and un-Islamic acts."

Iranian media have reported the deaths of 20 protesters since the vote. Mousavi blames the authorities for killing of his supporters, saying he would not allow their "blood to be trampled."

Rights groups say hundreds of people, including senior pro-reform politicians, journalists and lawyers, have been detained since June. Reformers demand their immediate release.

"We can not demand release of those criminals who have damaged public properties, created disorder and instability," Jannati said. "But others should be freed."

Some prominent reformists had been detained for acting against national security, a common charge against dissenting voices in Iran. They could even face the death penalty.

In a show of defiance on Thursday thousands of pro-reformers mourned Neda Agha-Soltan's killing in post-election unrests. Iranian riot police fired tear gas and arrested protesters.

A police official told the semi-official ILNA news agency on Friday that 50 protesters had been arrested at the unrest but "many of them have been released later."

Reformist former President Mohammad Khatami again denounced the killings and arrests on Friday, saying reformers will continue their path, ILNA reported.

(Editing by Samia Nakhoul)

Bombs kill at least 28 near Baghdad mosques

31 Jul 2009 14:41:43 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Apparently coordinated strike hit Friday prayers

* Despite drop in violence, militants stage big attacks

(Adds details, background)

By Muhanad Mohammed and Waleed Ibrahim

BAGHDAD, July 31 (Reuters) - Six bombs struck Shi'ite mosques across Baghdad on Friday, police said, killing at least 28 people and angering Iraqis who blamed local forces now taking over from U.S. soldiers for failing to protect them.

The blasts, which wounded at least 130 people and appeared to target Shi'ite Muslims taking part in Friday prayers, were a reminder of militants' persistent capabilities in Iraq despite the sharp drop in violence over the last 18 months.

In the worst attack, a car bomb struck people praying in the street outside a crowded mosque in northern Baghdad's Shaab district, killing at least 23 people and wounding 107.

One Iraqi at the scene said a car parked near the al-Shurufi mosque in Shaab exploded midway through the service.

"I saw 15 martyrs," he said.

After the blast, blood soaked the ground and stained prayer mats outside the mosque. The site was littered with abandoned slippers. The charred skeleton of a car sat nearby.

Shi'ite religious gatherings in the past have been targets of Sunni Islamist al Qaeda, which regards Shi'ites as heretics.

U.S. combat forces withdrew from Iraqi cities and towns last month, raising fears that untested local forces, disbanded and rebuilt from scratch since 2003, would be unable to fend off renewed violence, over six years after the U.S.-led invasion.

Another man working at a car park next to the mosque told Reuters TV he had tried to warn the Iraqi army about a suspicious-looking car.

"There was a taxi in the car park that looked suspicious. I called the Iraqi army to take a look, and they said there's nothing wrong with it. Fifteen minutes later, it exploded."

On the other side of the city, two blasts around the same time went off near a mosque in southeastern Baghdad's Diyala bridge area, killing four people and wounding 17.

Another bomb in Zaafaraniya, southeast Baghdad, killed one person and wounded six. Two more bombs close to mosques in Kamaliya and Alam districts wounded nine people.

Iraqi army and police officials had no immediate comment.

MORE VIOLENCE EXPECTED

The attacks raise questions about Iraq's future just a few weeks after U.S. combat soldiers withdrew from urban bases and as Washington prepares to pull out all U.S. troops by 2012.

U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates, visiting Iraq this week, said the United States may accelerate to some degree its withdrawal plans as Iraq stabilises.

Iraqi forces are far improved, but they lack equipment and technology as they face off against a dogged insurgency.

There are also growing concerns about potential violence between majority Arabs and minority Kurds in their largely autonomous northern enclave, who have their own army and show no sign of backing down from claims to disputed territories.

U.S. officials say al Qaeda and other Sunni insurgent groups, most active in ethnically mixed areas north of Baghdad, are trying to reignite the sectarian conflict that brought Iraq to the brink of all-out civil war in 2006 and 2007.

This month, several Shi'ite pilgrims commemorating the death of a medieval holy man died in bomb attacks, but U.S. and Iraqi officials praised the absence of the kind of major bloodshed such events have witnessed in the past as proof of Iraqi forces' success in handling their new role leading urban security.

U.S. and Iraqi officials expect militant attacks to increase in the run-up to national polls in January, in which Maliki is hoping to capitalise on security gains to present himself as a nationalist leader who has brought stability to Iraq.

Opponents are sure to use such attacks as ammunition against Maliki's increasing assertiveness.

"I lay the blame for these blasts on the government and Baghdad security officials," said Raad Souar, a politician close to the movement of anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

"The reason for the high number of casualties is due to the weakness of security in Baghdad," he said. (Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Missy Ryan)

------------



Latest in string of west Iraq bombings kills six
02 Aug 2009 12:11:57 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Blast comes two days after major attacks in Baghdad

* Latest in a string of west Iraq bombings

(Adds governor's comment, details)

By Fadhel al-Badrani

FALLUJA, Iraq, Aug 2 (Reuters) - A car bomb in a market killed six people on Sunday in western Iraq's Anbar province, a health official said, the latest in a string of attacks in the former Sunni Arab insurgent heartland.

The blast in Haditha, 190 km (120 miles) west of Baghdad, wounded 21 people, said the doctor in a local hospital that received the bodies and casualties.

Police said they only knew of four killed.

Several high-profile bombings hit Anbar last month, prompting a rare temporary vehicle ban across the desert province, Iraq's largest.

A week ago, a suicide bomber killed four people at a funeral tent in the Anbar city of Falluja. A day earlier, a car bomb killed five people there. On July 21, the provincial capital Ramadi declared a state of emergency after bombs killed three people.

Anbar, once an al Qaeda haven and the centre of a raging Sunni Arab insurgency, had been relatively quiet for months after tribal leaders in 2006 turned on the Sunni Islamist militants dominating the region.

The Haditha blast came two days after a series of apparently coordinated bomb attacks near Shi'ite mosques in Baghdad killed 31 people and wounded scores.

Violence has fallen sharply overall in Iraq in the last 18 months, and the number of civilians killed in July fell to 224 from 373 a month earlier, the Health Ministry said on Saturday.

But insurgents are still able to launch frequent large-scale attacks, raising questions about the Iraqi security forces' ability to cope alone after U.S. troops withdrew from urban centres in June, part of an agreement to leave Iraq by 2012.

Anbar's governor denied that violence was on the rise.

"These blasts do not raise our fears or make us worry. What is going on in Anbar province is the same as what is going on in (other parts of) Iraq," Anbar governor Qassim al-Fahdawi said.

"There will be no return of terrorists to our province in any way. The capabilities of our forces are increasing and their (the terrorists') strength is decreasing," he said. (Additional reporting by Ali al-Mashhadani in Ramadi and Waleed Ibrahim in Baghdad; writing by Mohammed Abbas; editing by Robin Pomeroy)

MOUSAVI ARRIVES AT TEHRAN CEMETERY TO COMMEMORATE

30 Jul 2009 11:27:49 GMT
Source: Reuters
OPPOSITION LEADER MOUSAVI ARRIVES AT TEHRAN CEMETERY TO COMMEMORATE VICTIMS OF POST-ELECTION UNREST - WITNESS


Iran police arrest mourners at cemetery - witness
30 Jul 2009 11:23:46 GMT
Source: Reuters
TEHRAN, July 30 (Reuters) - Iranian police arrested mourners who gathered at a Tehran cemetery to commemorate victims of the unrest that followed the country's disputed June presidential election, witnesses said.

"Hundreds have gathered around Neda Agha-Soltan's grave to mourn her death and other victims' death ... police arrested some of them ... dozens of riot police also arrived and are trying to disperse the crowd,"

a witness told Reuters. (Editing by Tim Pearce)

(Tehran newsroom)


----------------

Iran memorial planned for election unrest victims

AP


FILE - This photo dated May 2009 and provided by Caspian Makan, 37-year-old AP – FILE - This photo dated May 2009 and provided by Caspian Makan, 37-year-old photojournalist in Tehran …



By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer Nasser Karimi, 1 hr 28 mins ago

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's opposition defied a government ban and planned a silent memorial Thursday for victims of post-election unrest that could turn into another flashpoint for clashes with authorities who have harshly cracked down on any protests.

Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claims the June 12 presidential election was fraudulent and he was the true winner, planned to attend the memorial, according to his Web site. The opposition may also try to stage rallies along major roundabouts and squares in the capital Tehran at the same time as the memorial.

Mousavi's Web site said the gathering would be held at the graveside of a young woman shot to death during protests on June 20. Thursday is the end of the 40-day mourning period for Neda Agha Soltan, whose dying moments were caught on video that became one of the iconic images of the upheaval.

Authorities say some 20 protesters have been killed in the crackdown, although rights groups say the number is probably far higher. The opposition says Iranian authorities have pressured families of slain protesters not to mourn publicly out of fear the gatherings could spark the kind of demonstrations that followed the disputed vote.

Massive protests and deadly clashes erupted in the days and weeks after electoral authorities declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner of last month's vote by a landslide. But Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard and its allied Basij militia have adopted a zero-tolerance policy that have largely thwarted protests over the past month. Nevertheless, demonstrators have still turned out on the streets.

Mousavi and fellow pro-reform leader Mahdi Karroubi will hold the ceremony in Behesht-e Zahra — the large cemetery on Tehran's southern outskirts where some slain protesters have been buried — after authorities rejected their request to hold it at Tehran's main Mosalla mosque.

The two leaders sent a request Sunday to the Interior Ministry asking permission for the ceremony. They said the gathering would "be held without any speeches and will be limited to the reciting of the Quran and moments of silence" to mark the 40-day period since 10 people died, including Soltan, during the June 20 protests.

Interior Ministry official Mahmoud Abbaszadeh Meshkini was quoted by the state IRNA news agency as saying Wednesday the ministry has not issued "any permission for any gathering."

"So far, it's unprecedented that someone asks permission for a memorial service from the Interior Ministry," Meshkini said, adding sarcastically: "Unless the applicant has other particular political intentions."

The deaths of protesters during the 1979 Islamic Revolution fueled a 40-day cycle of mourning marches, and shootings of mourners, that contributed to the overthrow of the U.S.-backed dictator, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

The election unrest has given rise to rare criticism of Iran's leadership from the country's top clerics and even conservative supporters who have complained about prison abuses, including reports of detainee deaths and the brutal beatings of protesters.

The government announced that first trials of detained opposition supporters will begin Saturday, with the prosecution of around 20 protesters. They also include some accused of sending images of the unrest to the media while top pro-reform politicians will be tried later for allegedly ordering riots.

The opposition has said detainees were tortured to extract false confessions for the courts.

American dad, sons accused of jihad plot

Court ordered terror suspect to lose hand, foot
N.C. drywaller’s punishment was eventually overturned by Pakistan court
Image: Daniel Patrick Boyd
City County Bureau of Identification in Wake County / AP
Authorities say Daniel Patrick Boyd lived in Pakistan and Afghanistan from 1989 to 1992, where he allegedly had military-style training in terrorist camps.

RALEIGH, N.C. - American Daniel Patrick Boyd faced stern a punishment after being convicted of robbing a bank in Pakistan: Losing a hand and foot.

He avoided the sentence when his conviction was overturned. Two decades later, the 39-year-old Boyd is accused of organizing a group in the U.S. with international terrorist aspirations, and he faces life in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors say Boyd's time in Pakistan also included terrorist training that he brought back to North Carolina, where over the past three years he recruited followers willing to die as martyrs waging jihad — the Arabic word for holy war. Seven members of the group, including Boyd and two adult sons, were arrested Monday and charged with providing material support to terrorism and "conspiracy to murder, kidnap, maim and injure persons abroad."


Prosecutors would not detail what the group was targeting overseas. An indictment said they provided money, training, transportation and men to help terrorists. Boyd and some of the others traveled to Israel in June 2007 intending to wage "violent jihad," but returned home without success, the document said.

Boyd lived at an unassuming lakeside home in a rural area south of Raleigh, where he and his family operated a drywall business.

Jim Stephenson, a neighbor in Willow Spring, said he often saw the Boyd family walking their dog. The indictment shocked neighbors.

"We never saw anything to give any clues that something like that could be going on in their family," Stephenson said.

Authorities believe Boyd's roots in terrorism run deep. They said when he was in Pakistan and Afghanistan from 1989 through 1992, he had military-style training in terrorist camps and fought the Soviets, who were occupying Afghanistan.

It is unclear when he and his family returned to the U.S., but in March 2006, Boyd traveled to Gaza and attempted to introduce his son to individuals who also believed that violent jihad was a personal religious obligation, the indictment said.

Two of his sons, Zakariya Boyd, 20, and Dylan Boyd, 22, were named in the indictment. Another son, Luqman, died two years ago in a car accident. The document did not say which son Boyd took to Gaza.

The others charged are Anes Subasic, 33; Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan, 22; and Ziyad Yaghi, 21. Hysen Sherifi, 24, a native of Kosovo and a U.S. legal permanent resident was also charged in the case. He was the only person arrested who was not a U.S. citizen.

No attorneys for the men were listed in court records.

'Sounds weird to me'
Reached at her home in Silver Spring, Md., Daniel Boyd's mother said she knew nothing about the current case.

"It certainly sounds weird to me," Pat Saddler said.

Hassan's father declined to comment, and other families did not have listed numbers or did not return calls.

In 1991 in Pakistan, Daniel Boyd and his older brother denied they were guilty of stealing $3,200 from the bank. When the sentence was imposed, Boyd shouted: "This isn't an Islamic court. It's a court of infidels!"

When the brothers were arrested, they were accused of carrying identification showing they belonged to the radical Afghan guerrilla group, Hezb-e-Islami, or Party of Islam. They had become the first foreigners to be convicted and sentenced by special Islamic courts set up by the conservative federal government to impose speedy trials for so-called "heinous" crimes.

About a month later, when the brothers' convictions were overturned, Daniel Boyd said, "The truth has finally come out."

Holy warriors
The men's wives, also Americans, said in an interview at the time that the couples had come to Pakistan in 1989 and that the United States was a country of "kafirs" — Arabic for heathens. The wives refused to answer questions about their husbands' links to the Afghan mujahedeen, or Islamic holy warriors, though they did say their husbands embraced Islam nine years earlier.

Boyd's wife, Sabrina, had three sons with her in Pakistan at the time of the sentencing: 3-year-old Zakariya, 1-year-old Luqman and 5-year-old Mohammed. The indictment filed in North Carolina says Dylan Boyd is also known as Mohammed.

It's unclear how U.S. authorities learned of the allegations of the past three years, although court documents indicate that prosecutors will introduce evidence gathered under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Several of the defendants, including Boyd and his sons, also face firearms charges. The indictment says they had obtained a variety of weapons from handguns to rifles.

In July 2008, Sherifi left for Kosovo to engage in violent jihad, but it's unclear if he did any actual fighting. He returned to North Carolina in April 2009 to solicit funds and warriors to support the mujahedeen, but again the indictment did not give details. In October 2006, Yaghi went to Jordan to engage in violent jihad, according to the indictment.

Boyd's beliefs about Islam did not concur with his Raleigh-area moderate mosque, which he stopped attending this year and instead began meeting for Friday prayers in his home, U.S. Attorney George E.B. Holding said in an interview. He did not say whether any or all the defendants met with him.

"This is not an indictment of the entire Muslim community," Holding said. "These people had broken away because their local mosque did not follow their vision of being a good Muslim."


-------------------

High Jewish price for freezing settlements!

The Jews have been having it too good for far too long. During the last 50 years, they have succeeded in controlling American financial institutions, the News media and US politics. At present American politicians are under pressure to put Israeli interests ahead of US national or strategic interests. After few statements from Obama about the need to freeze illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem, Netanyahu went to openly challenge and defy the Americans. Obama had no option but to settle for a small face-saving Jewish gesture into which the Jewish State accepts to temporarily freeze expanding some settlements against the following:
1. Arab regimes acceptance of a total normalisation of relations with Israel.
2. American support for the projected Israeli attack on Iran.
3. An American acceptance to supply Israel with two squadrons of F-35.
It is for this reason Obama has dispatched George Mitchell, Robert Gates, Jim Jones and other high CIA and State Department officials to Israel. If Iran happens to accept US request for stopping its Nuclear Program then Israel can go ahead and build more settlements knowing that the prostrated Arab governments can either be bought or intimidated into forgetting about UN Security Council Resolutions and go ahead with recognising Israel. But what if Iran was attacked and most of the USraeli interests have gone up in flames?
It seems that we are back at square one; exposing the true colours of Obama and revealing the fallacy of his promised change in US foreign policy. The Arab and Muslim people can’t be easily fooled by the latest USraeli ploy as they continue to ask why putting sanctions on Iran and not on Israel for its breach of 39 UN Security Council Resolutions and for its massive nuclear arsenal? Observers believe that Obama-Netanyahu policy will guarantee continued attacks on USraeli interests from Nigeria to Indonesia.


The Nazi were making fun of the Russians!


Keep laughing until Iran or Hezbullah missiles start to fall on Tel-Aviv. The Nazis underestimated the backward Russians and attacked the Soviet Union with their superior Panzers and Luftwaffe. The Americans made a mistake by attacking disarmed Iraq. Now it is the turn of the Israelis to under-estimate their enemies. I pray that arrogant Naetanyahu sends planes and missiles to attacking Iran. The Russians chased the Germans back to Berlin after destroying everything German in their way. The Iraqi resitance put America on its knees. The Arabs and Muslims hope to punish the Jewish Nazis and destroy Tel Aviv.

After six years of US occupation, thousands of troops killed or wounded and $billion wasted, not a single American can sit down in an Iraqi cafe and ask for a drink. Because he'll be shot on the spot by revenge-seeking Iraqis. The Americans have killed Iraqis and destroyed their country on behalf of Israel and deserve to be punished. It is easy to get involved in exchanging compliments. But what is the use as Israel is about to commit suicide!


Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times

Counter Improvised Explosive Device (CIED)

U.S. Army soldiers of 741st EOD Battalion Counter Improvised Explosive Device (CIED) Team stand behind a vehicle as a cloud of dust and debris rise into the air after a controlled detonation outside the Forward Operating Base (FOB) Shank in Logar Province in Afghanistan July 27, 2009. U.S and Czech soldiers destroyed IEDs, explosives and ammunition recently discovered throughout the Logar province. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov (AFGHANISTAN POLITICS CONFLICT MILITARY IMAGES OF THE DAY)
REUTERS/SHAMIL ZHUMATOV

Iranians to chose a path b/w Allah & Ayato'Allahs

Iran's influential former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on Sunday defied a call by a group of hardline clerics to back the country's disputed presidential election result, a news agency reported.

On Friday, 50 members of the 86-seat Assembly of Experts, called on Rafsanjani in a statement to show more support for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who endorsed the re-election of the hardline president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, soon after the June 12 vote, which moderates say was rigged.

Challenging the authority of Iran's most powerful figure, Rafsanjani declared the Islamic republic in crisis in during his sermon on July 17 and demanded an end to arrests of moderates.

"My standpoint (about the election) is the same as I mentioned in the Friday prayer sermon," Rafsanjani was quoted as saying by the semi-official ILNA news agency.

5 dead, 15 injured in New Delhi metro rail bridge collapse

NEW DELHI: Five people were killed and another 15 injured when a section of a partially-constructed New Delhi metro bridge gave way suddenly early on Sunday, a spokesman for the rail service said. The accident occurred when a pillar supporting part of the carriageway collapsed, Anuj Dayal, spokesman for the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) told reporters. “We are investigating the matter.

It appears that there is a problem in the design of the pillar of the bridge,”

Dayal said. The dead were labourers who were among a group of 30 men working at the site in south Delhi. While three of the five were pronounced dead in hospital, emergency workers were still trying to recover the bodies of two others from the concrete debris, Dayal said. “Two of the injured are in a serious condition” while some workers had been discharged after first aid, he said. Television footage showed a long section of concrete lying at an angle with one end on the ground and the other atop a supporting pillar. DMRC chief E Sreedharan, who toured the site, later told reporters he had submitted his resignation to the Delhi government, taking responsibility for the accident. “In this project we have maintained a fairly high standard of safety. Today is a major jolt. I personally feel I have to take full moral responsibility for this accident ... I have decided to resign as managing director of DMRC,” Sreedharan said after naming a five-member committee to investigate the collapse. afp


----------------


Six injured in second accident at Delhi metro site
New Delhi - Six people were injured after cranes crashed in a new accident at a metro construction site in Delhi Monday, one day after a rail bridge on the section collapsed killing six people. Witnesses said three construction cranes that were being...

Posted : Mon, 13 Jul 2009 09:02:46 GMT
Author : DPA
Category : India (World)
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New Delhi - Six people were injured after cranes crashed in a new accident at a metro construction site in Delhi Monday, one day after a rail bridge on the section collapsed killing six people. Witnesses said three construction cranes that were being operated to clear the debris collapsed at the site of Sunday's accident in the Greater Kailash area of southern Delhi.

Local television networks showed images of the three cranes toppling while lifting a heavy steel girder, leading to panic among workers who scrambled for safety.

"Six people, including two engineers, a worker and an onlooker sustained minor injuries in the accident," local police inspector Manhar Kumar said.

"They were moved to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences for treatment," he added.

A section of the bridge under construction had collapsed on Sunday, killing six people and injuring 17.

Traffic in southern Delhi came to a halt as the police closed arterial roads in the area.

The second accident within 24 hours on the metro site sent the Delhi administration into a scramble even as the federal government promised a high-level probe.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation managing director E Sreedharan, who has headed the project since its inception, offered to quit after the accident but his resignation was not accepted by the Delhi government.

The bridge that collapsed Sunday was one of the 10 new corridors of the Delhi Metro, part of the project's second phase, slated to be completed by September 2010.

The construction of the new lines had been put on a fast track with the aim of completing work before the 2010 Commonwealth Games, which are scheduled to be held in Delhi.

Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy told the Indian parliament that a four-member committee had been constituted to investigate the causes leading to the accident.

"The accident did not take place because of any hurry. We are no doubt keen about completing various projects related to Commonwealth but we shall never compromise on the quality of work (to reach deadlines)," he told the parliament.

------

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Friday issued notice to Gammon India, a contractor in Delhi Metro Rail project, on a petition filed by the
family members of victims of the July 12 mishap, seeking compensation.

Justice Rewa Khetrapal directed the company to file its response by August 20 when the matter will be taken up for further hearing.

The court passed the order on a joint petition filed by family members of four persons who lost their lives in the mishap.

Six persons, including an engineer, were killed and over a dozen others injured when an under-construction over-bridge of the Delhi Metro collapsed on July 12 in south Delhi.

The petitioners pleaded before the court that the family of the deceased should get a compensation of Rs 50 lakh each while injured persons should be given Rs 25 lakh each.

What next in Iran's post-election turmoil?

Iran's President-Elect Under Pressure From Rivals



January 31, 1980, Thursday

Page A7, 575 words

TEHERAN, Iran Jan. 30--Iran's President-elect, Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, is fighting to preserve his position from rivals in the revolutionary movement, according to diplomats and others here.

Rafsanjani, an architect of the Islamic revolution, warned the post-election power struggle would harm the establishment.

"The leader and I have been friends for over 50 years. We have been through various stages of the revolution together," Rafsanjani said, in a clear answer to the members of the assembly who called on him to show his loyalty to Khamenei by supporting the result.


On Friday, 50 members of the 86-seat Assembly of Experts, called on Rafsanjani in a statement to show more support for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who endorsed the re-election of the hardline president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, soon after the June 12 vote, which moderates say was rigged.

Challenging the authority of Iran's most powerful figure, Rafsanjani declared the Islamic republic in crisis in during his sermon on July 17 and demanded an end to arrests of moderates.

"My standpoint (about the election) is the same as I mentioned in the Friday prayer sermon," Rafsanjani was quoted as saying by the semi-official ILNA news agency.
Rafsanjani confirmed there were divisions inside the clerical establishment over the election.

"The existing dispute is related to the election ... If differences (over the election) were resolved, then the dispute would come to an end as well," Rafsanjani said.
Q+A-
26 Jul 2009 15:04:28 GMT
Source: Reuters
July 26 (Reuters) - More cracks have emerged among Iran's conservatives, after renewed opposition clamour over a disputed June 12 election. Both sides are targeting hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the eve of his second term.

The death in prison of the son of an aide to Mohsen Rezaie, a defeated conservative candidate, reported by a reformist website on Saturday, could stoke what is already Iran's worst internal conflict for 30 years.

Here are some questions and answers on what direction the political storm might take and the challenges it poses to Ahmadinejad and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

WHAT ARE THE OPPOSITION'S LATEST MOVES?

Defeated presidential candidates Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi, backed by reformist former President Mohammad Khatami, still say the vote was rigged, defying Khamenei who has endorsed the result and demanded an end to protests.

On Saturday, the three men urged senior clerics to help secure the release of people detained after the election. Rights groups say hundreds have been jailed, including prominent reformists, journalists, academics and lawyers.

Karoubi, an ex-parliament speaker, wrote to the intelligence minister and accused the secret police of subjecting detainees in illegal centres to mental torture and physical threat.

Mousavi and Karoubi released a letter on Sunday asking the Interior Ministry to authorise a silent ceremony in Tehran to commemorate those killed in the unrest, without setting a date.

Mousavi, a moderate who was prime minister in the 1980s and who emerged as Ahmadinejad's main election challenger, has vowed to set up a new political front to "preserve people's votes".

HOW HAS THE GOVERNMENT RESPONDED?

The government has accused its critics of inciting "riots" on behalf of Iran's Western enemies and blamed them for post-election bloodshed in which it says 20 people were killed. Reformists and rights groups put the death toll much higher.

Some hardline clerics have demanded that Mousavi and Karoubi be tried on charges that could carry the death penalty.

Khamenei, having rejected calls for the election result to be annulled or re-examined, is expected to confirm Ahmadinejad as president soon. Parliament will then swear him in.

WHAT CHALLENGES FACE KHAMENEI?

The supreme leader has the last word on affairs of state in Iran's blend of clerical rule and republican institutions.

But Khamenei's Friday prayer sermon on June 19 failed to silence Mousavi and others who said the election was a fraud and that Ahmadinejad's next government would be illegitimate.

The religious establishment itself is divided. Many senior Shi'ite clerics have refrained from congratulating Ahmadinejad.

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, an influential former president and heavyweight of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, helped embolden the opposition in a July 17 sermon in which he said Iran was in crisis, and demanded an end to detentions and press curbs.

Khamenei thus faces an unprecedented challenge to his authority from senior politicians and clerical figures. So far, he has made no concessions to the opposition, nor has he ordered even harsher repression, such as the arrest of its leaders.

WHAT CHALLENGES FACE AHMADINEJAD?

The fiery president is backed by hardline authorities and the elite Revolutionary Guard, with its Basij religious militia, but his support base elsewhere appears to have narrowed.

If confirmed, he will enter his second term on the back of a bitterly contested election whose outcome prompted hundreds of thousands of Iranians to take to the streets in protest.

The dissent may have tarnished Ahmadinejad's appeal even to his admirers abroad who share his hostility to the West. It has also dampened any prospect of dialogue with the United States to calm tensions over Iran's disputed nuclear programme.

Surprisingly, Ahmadinejad has also incurred the wrath of hardline conservatives enraged by his choice of his son-in-law, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, as his first vice president.

In a humiliating setback, Khamenei publicly forced Ahmadinejad to cancel the appointment of Mashaie, who was once quoted as saying Iran was friendly with everyone, even Israeli. (Writing by Alistair Lyon; editing by Robert Woodward)

Forty-two dead as sect, police clash in Nigeria

by Aminu Abubakar Aminu Abubakar – 9 mins ago

KANO, Nigeria (AFP) – Forty-two people were killed Sunday in clashes between police and members of a radical Islamic sect in Nigeria that is inspired by the Taliban in Afghanistan, a hospital source said.

"We have received a total of 42 bodies," Awwal Isa, a nurse at Bauchi Specialist Hospital in the northern city of Bauchi where the violence took place, told AFP by telephone.

They were victims of "fighting between security personnel and members of the Taliban," he said, alluding to the sect founded in Nigeria in 2004 with a mission to set up a strict Islamic state in Nigeria.

The two sides exchanged gunfire after a failed dawn attack on a police station in the neighbourhood of Dutsen Tenshin.

"Our men succeeded in repelling the dawn attack by the Taliban and killed five members of the group in the exchange of gunfire," Bauchi police spokesman Mohammed Barau told AFP by telephone.

"We have launched a manhunt for other members of the group that have fled," Barau added.

Local journalists who went to Bauchi Specialist Hospital told AFP earlier on Sunday they had counted nine bodies there -- six Taliban militants and three local inhabitants.

Isa said that, initially, the hospital received nine bodies, followed by another 33. He added that one of the dead was a soldier, the rest were members of the Taliban sect.

Police have so far declined to give a total death toll from the gun battle, which according to the hospital figures would amount to the biggest number of casualties the Taliban sect has suffered in clashes with Nigerian authorities. The Nigerian Taliban debuted in 2004 when it set up a base -- dubbed Afghanistan -- in Kanamma village in northern Yobe state, on the border with Niger, from where it attacked police outposts and killed police officers.

Its membership is mainly drawn from university dropouts.

The north of Nigeria is majority Muslim, although large Christian minorities have settled in the main towns, raising tensions between the two groups.

Since 1999 and the return of a civilian regime to Nigeria's central government, 12 northern states have introduced Islamic Sharia law.

Religious clashes between Muslims and Christians in Bauchi state killed five people in February.

A Muslim mob went on the rampage, attacking Christians and burning churches in reprisals over the burning of two mosques, which Muslims blamed on Christians, they said.

More than 700 people died last November in Jos, capital of Plateau state, when a political feud over a local election degenerated into bloody confrontation between Muslims and Christians.

One of the Nigerian Taliban leaders, Aminu Tashen-Ilimi, told AFP in a 2005 interview that the group intended to lead an armed insurrection and rid society of "immorality" and "infidelity."

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Q+A-Who are the Islamic sect in northern Nigeria?
31 Jul 2009 07:13:27 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Nick Tattersall

LAGOS, July 31 (Reuters) - The leader of a radical Islamic sect in northern Nigeria was shot dead in police custody late on Thursday after days of clashes between his followers and the security forces killed hundreds of people.

Militant preacher Mohammed Yusuf, whose Boko Haram sect wants a wider adoption of sharia (Islamic law) across Africa's most populous nation, was captured after a manhunt involving military helicopters, soldiers and armed police.

The violence first erupted on Sunday in Bauchi state after some members of the group were arrested on suspicion of plotting to attack a police station.

For the latest story, click on [nLV406672]

Following are questions and answers on who the group are, what they want, and whether their ideology is widely followed.

WHO OR WHAT IS BOKO HARAM?

Sometimes referred to as the "Nigerian Taliban", the group's members are followers of a self-proclaimed Islamic scholar, Mohammed Yusuf, who was radically opposed to Western education and wants sharia (Islamic law) to be adopted across Nigeria.

Based in Maiduguri, capital of the northeastern state of Borno, his followers include former university lecturers and students in other northern states including Kano, Yobe, Sokoto and Bauchi, as well as illiterate, jobless youths.

Boko Haram means "Western education is sinful" in the Hausa language spoken across northern Nigeria and sums up the main pillar of the group's ideology. Some of its members resigned their jobs as lecturers when they joined the sect.

Yusuf himself, who was born in 1970, had 4 wives and 12 children. He had considerable private wealth and received a Western-style education, but his followers -- who come from diverse ethnic backgrounds in the predominantly Muslim north -- say he was also educated in Iran.

Boko Haram followers pray in separate mosques in cities including Maiduguri, Kano and Sokoto, and wear long beards and red or black headscarves.

They believe their wives should not be seen by any men other than themselves and are not supposed to use Western-made goods.

Anybody who does not follow their strict ideology -- whether Christian or Muslim -- is considered an infidel.

WHY DID THE VIOLENCE ERUPT?

President Umaru Yar'Adua has said the security agencies had been tracking the sect for several years, describing them as a "potentially dangerous group" who have been gathering weapons and intelligence to try to force their views on Nigerians.

Violence broke out in Bauchi state on Sunday when some members of the group were arrested on suspicion of plotting to attack a police station. Unrest quickly spread to other cities across northern Nigeria.

Yar'Adua ordered the security forces to use all necessary means to control the situation after sect members armed with machetes, knives, home-made hunting rifles and petrol bombs went on the rampage attacking churches and government buildings.

IS THERE A HISTORY OF SECTARIAN VIOLENCE IN NIGERIA?

Africa's most populous nation is roughly equally divided between Christians and Muslims and more than 200 ethnic groups generally live peacefully side by side, although civil war left one million dead between 1967 and 1970.

The stricter enforcement of sharia in 12 of Nigeria's 36 states in 2000 alienated sizeable Christian minorities in the north and sparked clashes which killed thousands.

In 2002 at least 215 people died in rioting in the northern city of Kaduna following a newspaper article suggesting the Prophet Mohammad would probably have married one of the beauty queens at a Miss World contest being held in Abuja.

A Muslim protest against Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in the northern city of Maiduguri ran out of control in 2006, sparking a week of rioting which killed at least 157.

There have also been clashes between Muslim and Christian gangs in central Nigeria, a region known as the Middle Belt, most recently last November in the wake of a disputed local government chairmanship election, although the hostilities were more about politics than religion.

DOES RADICAL ISLAM HAVE A FOOTHOLD IN WEST AFRICA?

West Africa has a strong tradition of moderate Sufi Islam whose brotherhoods are renowned for their tolerance, particularly in the Sahel -- the southern fringe of the Sahara desert stretching across the northern edge of Nigeria.

Salafist insurgents from Algeria, Tablighi clerics from Pakistan and Wahabist missionaries from Saudi Arabia -- all seen as potential threats by Western intelligence services -- have tried to gain a foothold in the region in recent years.

By and large they have failed.

Islamic jurisprudence in Nigeria is based on the moderate Maliki school of Sunni Islam, and Boko Haram's ideology is widely dismissed by the country's Muslim leaders and believers.

The main militant threat in the Sahara is seen as al Qaeda's North African wing, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which grew out of Algeria's civil war in the 1990s and was formerly known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC).

Nigeria arrested a group of Islamists with suspected links to al Qaeda in 2007 and some Western diplomats have expressed concerns that -- with its huge population, widespread poverty and strategic importance as an oil supplier to the West and to China -- it could become a target for radical Islamic groups.

Boko Haram's apparently chaotic tactics have little in common with those of Islamic militant groups elsewhere and no conclusive evidence of al Qaeda's presence in Nigeria or of links to the Taliban in Afghanistan has been made public.

(For more Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://af.reuters.com/ ) (Additional reporting by Ibrahim Mshelizza in Maiduguri, Faruku Umar in Sokoto, Ardo Hazzad in Bauchi)

Were deaths of 4 Afghan women a matter of 'honour'?

That's a theory being pursued by police as family members are charged with first-degree murder in bizarre drownings of a woman and three teenaged girls in the Rideau Canal
Jul 24, 2009 04:30 AM
Andrew Chung
In Kingston, Ont.
Daniel Dale
In Toronto


After the tragedy, the mother and father wept, while the eldest son lashed out in anger, each calling it an accident, a rebellious teenager's joyride gone terribly wrong.

Yesterday, as they filed, handcuffed, one by one, into the prisoners' box, prosecutors offered a much darker explanation, calling it murder.

Authorities are exploring the possibility the deaths of three sisters and another woman, found dead in their car in the Rideau Canal in Kingston, were an "honour" killing, a crime typically committed by males against female relatives perceived to have brought shame upon the family.

Father, Mohammad Shafia, 56, wearing a shy smile; mother, Tooba Mohammad Yahya, 39, dabbing her eyes with a tissue; and son, Hamed Mohammad Shafia, with an icy stare, were all charged with four counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

They did not enter a plea, and were remanded into custody.

The Shafia sisters – Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17 and Geeti, 13 – died along with Rona Amir Mohammed, 50, on June 30. Their car, a Nissan Sentra, was found underwater near the Kingston Mills locks. The Montreal family was returning from a trip to Niagara Falls when they stopped for the night at a motel in Kingston.

Immediately after the incident, family members told reporters that Rona Amir Mohammed was the father's cousin. However, police now say she was, in fact, Shafia's first wife.

Trouble appears to have been percolating inside the Shafia household. Montreal's child protection agency, the Direction de la protection de la jeunesse, visited the family on three occasions several months ago, sources told La Presse in Montreal.

Hamed Mohammad Shafia was harsh and authoritarian with his sisters, police sources said, and Zainab had complained to police, who referred the matter to child protection services because the brother was not yet 18.

The charges indicate investigators believe the plans to commit the murders began as early as May.

Yesterday, Kingston Police Chief Stephen Tanner began a press conference with a moment of silence for the victims. They "all shared the rights within our great country to live without fear, to enjoy safety and security, and to exercise freedom of choice and expression and yet had their lives cut short by members of their own family."

Asked whether police believe the deaths were "honour" killings, as suggested in an email to police by Rona Amir Mohammed's sister Diba Masoomi, who lives in France, Tanner suggested it was possible but not certain and will form part of the investigation.

Neither Tanner nor Insp. Brian Begbie would directly give a motive for the murders. Tanner noted the behaviour of one or more of the teenagers may have played a role.

The Shafia family hails from Kabul, Afghanistan, one of the countries in which honour crimes are most common, and lived in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, for 15 years before arriving in Canada two years ago.

In the days following the deaths, family members speculated to reporters that one of the sisters, likely Zainab, might have taken the car to practise driving.

The family members said Zainab was rebellious and had taken the car in the past.

But this is "false," Begbie said. Investigators believe that on the night of the murders, the three accused operated the car. He did not say if the victims were dead before the car entered the water.

The family's version of events was always puzzling to investigators, particularly as to how the car made it through numerous obstacles to end in the water at the locks.

Speaking to reporters shortly after the deaths, the parents appeared to be distraught. On July 3, Shafia sobbed as he held a photo album in the family's home. "Three night no sleeping, no eating."

The application of the phrase "honour killing" can be contentious, particularly for minority communities that fear being collectively tarred by the violence of a small number of people.

Anver Emon, a University of Toronto law professor who specializes in Islamic law, said he sympathizes with such concerns but supports the employment of the phrase when justified by the facts.

"From a social perspective, you don't want to criminalize a community by associating them with a particular, heinous act of violence," Emon said.

"On the other hand, from a legal perspective ... why `honour killing' can be useful is that it captures the idea of a kind of premeditation – that this wasn't an in-the-moment, spur-of-the-moment crime of passion but something that may have been planned. . . . It speaks to a kind of evil and hideousness that we must at all times prevent."

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Daughter's lifestyle angered parents

Relatives of murder victim say the Shafias disapproved of their eldest child's love interest


Ingrid Peritz

Montreal — Last updated on Friday, Jul. 24, 2009 10:52PM EDT

One of the teenage girls allegedly killed by members of her Afghan-born family in Kingston, Ont., had been dating a Pakistani boy in Montreal against her parents' wishes, according to a man and woman who say they are siblings of one of the victims.

Zainab Shafia had gone out several times with the boy and even left the family home once, and was roughed up by her younger brother as a result, according to the relatives, Diba Masoomi and Wali Abdali, who live in France.

The bodies of 19-year-old Zainab Shafia and her sisters, aged 17 and 13, were found in a submerged car in a lock near Kingston last month. Rona Mohammad – the sister of Ms. Masoomi and Mr. Abdali – was also killed.

The girls' parents and 18-year-old brother Hamed Mohammad-Shafia are charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

“She [Zainab] had fallen in love, like all teenagers at a certain point,” Mr. Abdali told CTV News. “The parents didn't like that she should marry a Pakistani boy without money or wealth. They didn't want it to be seen by society, or by other Afghans.”

Rona, 50, confided to her two siblings that she overheard Mr. Shafia saying he would kill his eldest daughter over her behaviour and the relationship.

The Shafia family had told reporters after the deaths that Rona was the father's cousin. Mr. Abdali said that, in fact, his sister Rona was married to Mohammad Shafia but was unable to bear children. He took a second wife with whom he had seven children. Rona remained in the family and helped raised the children.

But family tensions had worsened. Mr. Shafia, a well-to-do businessman, was authoritarian and violent; Rona feared for her life, her brother said.

“The family situation had deteriorated,” he said. The second wife, Tooba Mohammad Yehya, didn't want the first wife around, he said.

Rona was nervous about going on the trip to Niagara Falls but Mr. Shafia insisted; in the household, he was “the master,” Mr. Adbali said. Rona had wanted to get a divorce but her husband refused, he said.

Zainab and her two younger sisters were close, “kept secrets” among themselves and confided in Rona, the siblings in France said.

Mr. and Mrs. Shafia told reporters at their home this month that they had pulled into a Kingston motel late at night after a long drive from Niagara Falls, and only discovered their daughters' missing car in the morning. But Rona called relatives in Europe at about 3 p.m. local Canadian time and said the family had already pulled into the motel.

They planned to set off to Montreal at around midnight to avoid traffic, Rona said.

The relative told Rona to be careful, but Rona tried to be reassuring, her brother said. “No, no, no, the children are with us, we're all together,” she said.

A few hours later, Rona and the three sisters were dead.


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Car landed in canal via unlikely route

Detectives baffled at how aunt, three nieces from Montreal met their fate in Rideau Canal


Les Perreaux

Montreal — From Friday's Globe and Mail Last updated on Friday, Jul. 24, 2009 01:19AM EDT

On a still but rainy night, the black Nissan Sentra had to thread two needles before plunging into the Rideau Canal just north of Kingston, leaving local detectives baffled.

The four-door car carrying three Montreal sisters and an aunt to their graves likely turned north off Kingston Mills Road, where it had to skirt a locked green gate barring vehicle access to the canal.

The rocky ground next to the gate would have given the Nissan a bump, but the 1.7-metre-wide compact could probably have squeezed past. It's unlikely the manoeuvre was a simple wrong turn.

The next obstacle was the canal itself, with stone moorings spaced a few metres apart, and the ancient black iron control wheel standing about a metre above the canal's edge.

If the car went straight from the road into the water, the driver would have had to make a quick left turn into the canal. Witnesses and police say there are no skid marks in the green grass next to the canal, no telltale signs of sudden braking, turning or acceleration.

It would have been a smooth turn made at a reasonable speed. The stone edge of the canal shows just a few scrapes from the car sliding in.

“The area is fairly level, there are rocky areas, but you'd still have to do some manoeuvring to get out to this spot,” said Constable Mike Menor of Kingston police.

The car was discovered at 9 a.m. Tuesday in three metres of water right next to the lock gates. Nearby residents had heard a noise some six hours earlier. Three sisters and their aunt were found inside.

Kingston police identified 19-year-old Zainab Shafia, 17-year-old Sahar Shafia and 13-year-old Geeti Shafia as the sisters who were found in the vehicle. The body of their aunt, Rona Amir Mohammed, 50, was also retrieved from the vehicle. All four victims were from St-Leonard, a borough in Montreal.

Investigators say the condition of the bodies suggests they'd gone into the water overnight.

Police are left to sort through a myriad of theories, each with glaring problems and unlikely probabilities.

“We're still trying to ascertain the why, the why, the why,” said Constable Menor, a 20-year veteran of the force. “It's the unknowns. I can't recall anything like it. It was there for a reason, it didn't drop out of the sky.”

Without revealing details, police say the foursome had spent the earlier part of the evening in Kingston.

“We pieced together that they did have a bit of a family vacation west of us on the other side of Toronto and were returning to Quebec,” said Staff Sergeant Chris Scott of the Kingston police criminal investigations division.

With picnic tables along the canal shore, the tourists from Montreal may have stopped for a moment before the plunge. But 3 a.m. would be an unusual time for a picnic in the secluded spot.

Perhaps the driver didn't know the canal was there, or perhaps she didn't care. Police have not excluded a suicide pact, murder-suicide or something as simple as the bad luck of a misguided U-turn or mistaking “drive” for “reverse.”

Another possibility is that the passengers were already dead and someone else pushed the Nissan into the canal, with the four females inside.

Montreal police said they were asked by Kingston police to locate a second vehicle in Montreal that may have been seen with the Nissan. Late Thursday, Kingston police denied they were looking for another vehicle.

Autopsies were performed Thursday but results could take weeks, investigators said.

Kingston police have refused to reveal if there were signs of violence on the bodies.

With a report from Dakshana Bascaramurty andThe Canadian Press



Faleh Hassan Almaleki, 48, of Glendale, is seen in an undated photo provided by the Peoria Police Dept. HHe is suspected of running down his daughter because she was becoming too 'Westernized' and was not living according to their traditional Iraqi values. Police say 48-year-old Faleh Hassan Almaleki of Glendale allegedly ran his daughter down Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009 at an Arizona Department of Economic Security parking lot in Peoria.The victim, 20-year-old Noor Faleh Almaleki of Surprise, remains hospitalized with life-threatening injuries.
(AP Photo/Peoria, Ariz., Police Dept.)


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Father accused of murdering his 15-year-old daughter in 'honour killing' told her to 'kiss her youngest brother goodbye'

By Lucy Ballinger
Last updated at 3:09 AM on 21st October 2009



Tulay Goren

'Tied up': The court heard how Tulay Goren's mother found her bound and face down on her bedroom floor

A schoolgirl murdered by her father in an 'honour killing' was told to kiss her brother goodbye the day she went missing, a court has heard.

Mehmet Goren, 45, told his daughter Tulay, 15, to let her brother embrace her one last time in an emotional farewell, it is alleged.

Her mother Hanim, 45, said her husband had tied up Tulay with bits cut from a shawl and left her face-down on the floor of her bedroom the night before, the Old Bailey heard.

He and his brothers Ali, 55, and Cuma Goren, 42, are charged with Tulay's murder, and the attempted murder of her boyfriend Halil Unal, then 30, in 1999.

They were furious the pair planned to marry as he was a Sunni Muslim, while their family were Alevis, the court has heard. The day before Tulay went missing Mrs Goren and her husband visited their daughter at her boyfriend's home and insisted she come home with them.

Mrs Goren claimed when she returned home from picking up their other young children eight-year-old Tuncay, and Hatice, 13, she found Tulay with her hands and feet bound so tightly they were 'purple and black'.

Speaking through an interpreter, she said she and Hatice had tried to untie Tulay but she had said: 'Mum don't untie me, I want to die.'

She told the court: 'In the meantime Mehmet had come from downstairs saying, "Don't touch her... so that she doesn't run away again, I tied her up''.

Later that night Tulay was seen by Mrs Goren trying to escape from a window. Mehmet is said to have slapped her and then drugged her with a sleeping pill.

The next morning Mehmet told his wife to take their children to his brother Cuma's house, but leave Tulay. She wept as she told the court he said to her: 'I am going to stay with Tulay. I am going to make her talk about what her problems are.'


In the dock: A court sketch of Tulay's father Mehmet (far right) with his brothers Ali and Cuma during their trial at the Old Bailey

She added: 'Mehmet said "Come let Tuncay kiss you, Tulay. This will be the last time you see each other.'' Mehmet phoned his wife later that day to say the teenager had run away.

The next day when they returned to their family home Mrs Goren said her husband had a 'deep wound' on his hand and that his hands were covered with scratches. Two kitchen knives were also missing.

She said: 'Mehmet's hands were exactly like as if he had been working in the garden without gloves.'

She also said soil in the back garden had been disturbed.

Mrs Goren claimed her husband told her to disown Tulay.

She said: 'He said to me "From now on she is gone, I disown her. She is not my child any more. From now on we don't have four children any more, we will have three children only."

The prosecution claim Mehmet had buried Tulay's body in the back garden.

Mehmet Goren, Cuma Goren, and Ali Goren, all of East London, deny the murder of Tulay on January 7 1999. They also deny a conspiracy to murder Mr Unal.

The case continues.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1221705/Mother-honour-killing-victim-tied-day-murdered-father.html#ixzz0ZnDQtjPp

Tarek Fatah: How to Cure the 'Cancer' of Honour Killings

How to Cure the 'Cancer' of Honour Killings

Yesterday at 5:45am
“There is no denying that Islam, in its contemporary expression, is obsessed with women's sexuality, and considers it a fundamental problem. The hijab, the niqab, the burka and polygamy are all manifestations of this phobia.”

Tarek Fatah
The National Post

Almost as soon as news broke that the murders of three Afghan-Canadian teenage sisters and their father's first wife in Kingston, Ont., were possible "honour killings," some in the Muslim community reacted in the most predictable fashion: defensiveness and denial.

Instead of voicing outrage at the murders, two Muslim callers to my CFRB radio show in Toronto slammed me for raising the subject, and suggested I had some hidden agenda. "This has nothing to do with Islam," said one caller, despite the fact no one on the show had, to that point, even mentioned the word "Islam," let alone accused the religion of sanctioning honour killings.

The callers were not alone. The head of the Canadian branch of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) told the CBC more or less the same thing - that the story was unrelated to Islam, which apparently does not permit honour killings.

They are both right and wrong. It is true that Islam's holy book, the Koran, does not sanction honour killings. But to deny the fact that many incidents of honour killings are conducted by Muslim fathers, sons and brothers, and that many victims are Muslim women, is to exercise intellectual dishonesty. At worst, it is an attempt to shut off debate.

When Mississauga, Ont., teenager Aqsa Pervez was killed, everyone from Mullahs to so-called Muslim feminists claimed it was not an honour killing - even though there were allegations she had run afoul of her family for socializing with non-Muslim friends and not wearing a hijab. Critics then charged that to refer to the murder in such words was to be an anti-Muslim bigot. Humbug.

As I said, it is true that the Koran does not sanction such murders, but man-made sharia law, which has been falsely imputed divine status, does allow for the killing of women if they indulge in pre-marital or extra-marital consensual sex. This is precisely why so many progressive and liberal Muslims have opposed the introduction of sharia law in Canada.

There is no denying that Islam, in its contemporary expression, is obsessed with women's sexuality, and considers it a fundamental problem. The hijab, the niqab, the burka and polygamy are all manifestations of this phobia.

The mullahs and the mosque leadership may deny their role in ensuring that Muslim women are second-class citizens within the community, but the place they reserve for women in the house of God, the Mosque, reveals their real conviction. Other than one mosque in Toronto, not a single other is willing to let Muslim women sit in the front row. They are sent to the back, or behind curtains, or pushed into basements or balconies, for they are considered not as our mothers or daughters and sisters, but as sexual triggers that may ignite male passions.

Honour killings take place because some Muslims have been convinced by their mullahs that the burden of their family's honour and their religion is vested in the virginity of their daughters and sisters. Most mullahs acknowledge that according to sharia law, a woman who has consensual sex with a man outside marriage deserves to be lashed in public or stoned to death by an Islamic State or an Islamic court. Don't these Islamists see how this interpretation can be taken as a license by men to take the law into their own hands?

Not until Muslim clerics and imams seriously abandon their notion about women being the possession of men will we begin to address the cancer of honour killings, which take more than 5,000 lives in South Asia and the Middle East alone.

The underlying mentality is a problem in virtually all parts of the world. In October 2006, for instance, an Australian imam of Lebanese descent, the country's most senior Muslim cleric, triggered outrage when he described women who dress immodestly (in his view) as "uncovered meat" who invite sexual attacks. Sheikh Taj Al-din al-Hilali, the so-called Mufti of Australia, condemned women who, he said, "sway suggestively," wear makeup, and do not wear the hijab.

Until 2007, only men had translated the Koran and interpreted it. That's because the very idea of a woman translating the holy book offends Islamists. Consider, for example, the reaction to the first-ever translation by a woman - Laleh Bakhtiar's The Sublime Quran - two years ago.

Mohammad Ashraf of the Canadian branch of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) - the same gentleman who this week told the CBC that there was no provision for honour killings in Islam - told The Toronto Star that he would not permit The Sublime Quran to be sold in the ISNA bookstore. "Our bookstore would not allow this kind of translation," he said. "I will consider banning it ... This woman-friendly translation will be out of line and will not fly too far."

What had Laleh Bakhtiar done to deserve the punishment of having her translation of the Koran banned from ISNA's Islamic bookstores? Her fault, in the eyes of Islamists, is that she believes the Koran does not condone spousal abuse, as claimed by Islamists.

If a woman's translation of the Koran is banned from an Islamic bookstore, what is available at such places. At one Toronto bookstore, the title of a gaudy paperback screamed at passersby: Women Who Deserve to Go to Hell. The book, which is also widely available in British libraries and mosques, lists the type of women who will face eternal damnation.

Among them are:

•"The Grumbler ... the woman who complains against her husband every now and then is one of Hell."
• "The Woman Who Adorns Herself."
•"The Woman Who Apes Men, Tattoos, Cuts Hair Short and Alters Nature."

Not until the leadership of the Muslim clergy takes steps to end gender apartheid and misogyny(Hatred of women) will they be taken seriously when they say, "honour killing" is not permitted by Islam. They cannot have it both ways: proclaim women as the source of sin as well as deserving of death for consensual sex, and then claim the men who carry out the death sentence are acting against Islamic law.

Male Truths, Female Consequences

Former president Jimmy Carter and other world leaders issued this statement: "The justification of discrimination against women and girls on grounds of religion or tradition, as if it were prescribed by a Higher Authority, is unacceptable." What's your reaction to these statements? Are 'male interpretations of religious texts' to blame for the 'deprivation of women's equal rights?'

Women's equality with men is long overdue. In particular, societies need to safeguard women's right to self-determination -- from personal moral choices about how to lead their lives, to familial decisions about marriage and children, to agency in educational, economic, political, social, medical, and religious spheres.

Some of this can be accomplished through legal channels, but much more of it will require fundamental shifts in attitudes away from patriarchal understandings of human nature that proclaim men have the right to determine the course of women's lives, and which delineate gender roles so rigidly as to remove all possibility of deviation from gender norms for both men and women.

We will also have to reject totalitarian political notions that lead to excessive interventions by states into the personal lives of their citizens, whether it be something as trivial as requiring or forbidding certain attire, or something as momentous as curtailing women's freedom of movement, their economic opportunities, and their political participation.

Patriarchal interpretations of religious texts -- whether by men or by women -- have been instrumental in supporting and creating cultural and traditional mores that circumscribe women's freedom and equality. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Muslim world, where religious patriarchy has intersected with social conservatism, political and theological totalitarianism, and reactionary resistance to political, economic and cultural colonialism to create devastating consequences for women's lives.

Lost in all the interpretation and history are the profoundly egalitarian ideals of the Qur'an such as we find in 49:13, ""O mankind! We have created you male and female, and made you into nations and tribes so that you might come to know one another. The most honorable among you in the sight of God is the most pious."

Or, even more aptly, 33:35 "For Muslim men and women,- for believing men and women, for devout men and women, for true men and women, for men and women who are patient and constant, for men and women who humble themselves, for men and women who give in Charity, for men and women who fast, for men and women who guard their chastity, and for men and women who engage much in Allah's praise,- for them has Allah prepared forgiveness and great reward,"

Or 4:32-33: 32: Hence, do not covet the bounties which God has bestowed more abundantly on some of you than on others. Men shall have a benefit from what they earn, and women shall have a benefit from what they earn. Ask, therefore, God [to give you] out of His bounty: behold, God has indeed full knowledge of everything. 33: And unto everyone have We appointed heirs to what he may leave behind: parents, and near kinsfolk, and those to whom you have pledged your troth (Good faith; fidelity.)give them, therefore, their share. Behold, God is indeed a witness unto everything.

It would be disingenuous, though, to pretend that the Qur'an does not have verses which do not uphold such egalitarian principles. Verses that prescribe differential inheritances for males and females of the same familial relationship, or that posit men as the financial supporters of women, or impose differential dress codes upon men and women. To be sure, each verse that depicts a patriarchal family structure is countered by two or three that describe men and women as equal partners, that describe familial decision making as a process of mutual consultation and such. But the fact remains that the Qur'an provides ample material for patriarchal arguments to hold weight with the religious community.

In my personal life, I see those verses, which come from the more legalistic and latter revelations, as recognition of the economics that ruled at the time of the Prophet's community in Medina. In fact, most of them appear to be intended to mitigate the most egregious of the abuses of women at the time (for instance from having no inheritance rights at all, they were given mandated shares). They are rules that apply to that social and economic milieu, while the egalitarian verses map out the ideals for that society to aim for, a road map to a future in which men and women live in equality.

Others, see them as a blueprint for all human societies in perpetuity.

Either way, many of the excesses of modern Muslim society cannot be justified by any verse in the Qur'an, but rely upon extrapolation, analogy, and patriarchal notions of public welfare.

That is why it is so important for religious authorities, especially male religious authorities to help turn back the tide of the excessive curtailment of women's rights and demand their right to full participation in every sphere of life. It is essential for them to emphasize the importance of overarching and fundamental values, many of which the more conservative parts of the Muslim world seem to have lost touch with.

By Pamela K. Taylor | July 22, 2009; 8:29 AM ET

Ghusl/Bath Details as per Islam

Ghusl: Obligatory Baths

http://www.shiatv.net/search_result.php?search_id=ghusl


There are seven obligatory baths:

* Bath for Janabat
* Bath for Hayz (for women only)
* Bath for Nifas (for women only)
* Bath for Istihaza (for women only)
* Bath for touching a dead body
* Bath for a dead body
* Bath which becomes obligatory on account of a vow or an oath to perform it.

Rules Regarding Janabat
351. * A person enters the state of Janabat in two ways:

* Sexual intercourse
* Discharge of semen, while sleeping or when awake, little or more, with lust or otherwise, voluntarily or involuntarily.

352. When one cannot ascertain whether the fluid emitted from one's body is semen, urine or something else, it will be treated as semen if it is thrown out with lust and if the body is slackened. If all or some of these signs are not present the fluid will not be treated as semen. In the case of illness, the fluid may not come out with sudden swiftness and the body may not slacken; but if the emission takes place with lust, it will be treated as semen.

353. If a fluid emitted by a healthy person possesses one of the aforesaid three signs and he does not know whether or not it also possessed other signs, and if before the emission he was with wudhu he will content himself with that wudhu. And if he was not with wudhu, it would be sufficient for him to perform wudhu only, and Ghusl would not be necessary.

354. It is Mustahab that a person should urinate after the seminal discharge. If he did not urinate and an emission was seen after Ghusl, which could not been determined as semen or something else, it would be treated as semen.

355. If a person has sexual intercourse with a woman and the male organ enters either of the private parts of the woman up to the point of circumcision or more, both of them enter Janabat, regardless of whether they are adults or minors and whether ejaculation takes place or not.

356. If a person doubts whether or not his penis penetrated up to the point of circumcision, Ghusl will not become obligatory on him.

357. If (God forbid!) a person has sexual intercourse with an animal and ejaculates, Ghusl alone will be sufficient for him, and if he does not ejaculate and he was with wudhu at the time of committing the unnatural act even then Ghusl will be sufficient for him. However, if he was not with wudhu at that time, the obligatory precaution is that he should do Ghusl and also perform wudhu. And the same orders apply if one commits sodomy.

358. If movement of seminal fluid is felt but not emitted, or if a person doubts whether or not semen has been ejaculated, Ghusl will not be obligatory upon him.

359. A person who is unable to do Ghusl, but can perform tayammum is allowed to have sexual intercourse with his wife even after the time for daily prayers has set in.

360. If a person observes semen on his dress and knows that it is his own, and he has not done Ghusl on that account, he should do Ghusl, and repeat as Qadha all those prayers about which he is certain that he offered them after the discharge of semen. However, it is not necessary for him to repeat those prayers about which there is a probability that he might have offered them before the discharge of semen.
Forbidden Acts for those in Janabat

361. * The following five things are Haraam for junub:

* To touch with any part of one's body the script of the holy Qur'an or the Name of Almighty Allah in whichever language it may be. And it is better that the names of the holy Prophet and Imams and Hazrat Fatima Zahra (peace be upon them) should also not be touched in that condition.
* Entering Masjidul Haraam or Masjidun Nabi, even though it may be only passing from one gate and going out of another.
* To stay or halt in all other Masjids, and similarly, on the basis of obligatory precaution, to stay in the shrines of the holy Imams. However, there is no harm if one crosses or traverses through a mosque, entering from one gate and exiting from another.
* To enter a mosque with an intention of lifting away something or placing something in it.
* To recite those verses of the holy Qur'an on the recitation of which performance of Sajdah becomes obligatory. These verses occur in four surahs of the holy Qur'an:
o Surah Alif Lam Mim as-Sajdah, 32:15
o Surah Ha Mim Sajdah, 41:38
o Surah an-Najm, 53:62
o Surah al 'Alaq, 96:19

Things which are Makrooh for Junub

362. * The following nine things are Makrooh for junub:

* To eat
* To drink
But if the junub washes his or her face, hands and mouth, then eating or drinking in that state will not be Makrooh. And if he or she washes the hands only, then unworthiness of the acts is reduced.
* To recite more than seven verses of the holy Qur'an other than those in which obligatory Sajdah occur.
* To touch the cover, the margin or border of the holy Qur'an or the space between its lines, with any part of one's body.
* To keep the holy Qur'an with oneself.
* To sleep. But its would not be Makrooh to sleep if the person concerned performs wudhu or performs tayammum instead of Ghusl on account of non-availability of water.
* To dye one's hair with henna etc
* To apply oil on one's body.
* To have sexual intercourse after Ihtelam (i.e. discharge of semen during sleep).

Ghusl for Janabat

363. * Ghusl for Janabat is obligatory for offering the daily prayers and other similar acts of worship. However, it is not obligatory for Namaz-e-Mayyit or for sajdatus sahv (prostrating on account of oversight) or sajdatush shukr' (prostration for thanksgiving) or for the obligatory Sajdah upon reciting the four particular verses of the holy Qur'an. (Rule no. 361)

364. * At the time of doing ghusl, it is not necessary to have in mind that one is performing an obligatory Ghusl. It is sufficient if one performs the Ghusl with the intention of Qurbat, i.e. complying with Allah's orders.

365. If a person who performs Ghusl with the niyyat of Wajib after having ascertained that the time of Namaz had set in, comes to know after performing the bath that it was performed before the time for prayers had set in, the bath would be correct and valid.

366. * There are two methods of performing Ghusls, both Wajib and Mustahab.

* Tartibi (Sequential)
* Irtimasi (By submerging the whole body).

Tartibi

367. * In this method, a person should first make a niyyat for Ghusl. Thereafter one should first wash one's head and neck, and thereafter the remaining parts of one's body. It is better that one washes the right part of the body first and then the left part.

And if a person, while standing under the water, jerks each of these parts on one's body with an intention of performing Tartibi Ghusl, it will not be sufficient and the precaution is that one should not content oneself with it.

And if a person washes the body before washing the head, either intentionally, or on account of forgetfulness or because of not knowing the rule, Ghusl is void.

368. * If a person washed the body before the head it will not be necessary to repeat the bath. What one has to do is to wash the body again and Ghusl will then be correct.

369. In order to ensure that both the parts (head, neck and remaining parts of the body) have been washed thoroughly one should, while washing a part, also include some portion of the other part with it.

370. After the Ghusl, if a person realises that certain parts of the body have been left out, not knowing which, it will not be necessary to wash the head again. One will wash only those parts of one's body which one feels had not been washed.

371. If one realises after Ghusl that one has not washed a certain part of the body it is sufficient to wash only that part if it is the left side. However, if that part is the right side then the recommended precaution is that after washing that part of the body one should wash the left side again. And if the unwashed part is that of head and neck one should, after washing that part, wash the body once again.

372. * If a person doubts before completing Ghusl whether one has washed a part on the left or right side it will be necessary to wash that part and if one doubts about having washed a part of the head and neck then, as an obligatory precaution, one would wash that part and then wash the right and the left side of the body again.
Irtimasi

373. * Ghusl by way of Irtimasi is either carried out instantly or gradually. If the Ghusl of Irtimasi is to be done at one instance, then water must reach all parts of the body at one time. However, it is not necessary that the whole body be submerged in water from the very beginning of Ghusl. If a part of the body is outside, and is later submerged with the niyyat of Ghusl, it will be deemed in order.

374. If one wishes to perform Irtimasi Ghusl gradually, then it is necessary that the whole body is out of water before Ghusl commences. Then one would submerge one's body gradually in water with the intention of Ghusl.

375. If after performing Ghusl Irtimasi it becomes known that water has not reached some part of the body one should repeat the Ghusl, whether the part up to which water has not reached is determined or not.

376. If one does not have sufficient time for Tartibi, one should perform Ghusl by way of Irtimasi.

377. * A person who has put on Ihram for Hajj and Umrah is not allowed to perform Ghusl by way of Irtimasi. However, if one performs it forgetfully the Ghusl will be valid.
Rules About Ghusl

378. It is not necessary that the entire body of a person should be Pak before Irtimasi and Tartibi Ghusl. So, if the body becomes Pak while diving in water or pouring water over one's body with the intention of the Ghusl, the Ghusl will be in order.

379. If a person who entered the state of Janabat due to an unlawful act takes a bath with warm water, the Ghusl will be valid even though one may perspire at that time. But the recommended precaution is that such a person should do Ghusl with cold water.

380. While doing Ghusl, if a part of the body, however small, remains unwashed the Ghusl is invalid. But, it is not obligatory to wash the inside of the ear or nose and other places which are reckoned to be the interior of the body.

381. * If a person doubts whether a particular part of the body is to be treated as external or internal, it should be washed.

382. If the hole pierced for an earring and other similar objects is so wide that it is reckoned to be external, then it should be washed; otherwise it is not necessary to wash it.

383. All things which prevent water from reaching the body should be removed. If a person does Ghusl before ensuring that such obstacles have been removed, the Ghusl will be void.

384. At the time of Ghusl, if one doubts whether there is something on one's body which would prevent water from reaching the body, one should investigate and satisfy oneself that the obstacle is not there.

385. While doing Ghusl, one should wash the short hair which are taken as a part of the body. Washing of the long hair is not obligatory. However, if one makes water reach the skin in such a way that those long hair do not become wet, the Ghusl is in order. However, if it is not possible to make water reach the skin without washing those hair one should wash them so that water may reach the body.

386. All the conditions for the validity of Wudhu (e.g. the water being pure and not having been usurped) also apply to the validity of Ghusl. However, for Ghusl it is not necessary that the body be washed downwards from the head. Moreover, it is not necessary in Tartibi Ghusl to wash the body immediately after washing the head and the neck. There is no harm, therefore, if there is a lapse of some time after washing one's head and neck before washing one's body. It is not necessary that one should wash one's head, neck and body in one instance. However, if a person is incontinent, unable to retain urine or faeces except for such time that he could be able to offer prayers after Ghusl then he should do Ghusl at once and offer his prayers immediately thereafter.

387. If a person uses a public bath with an intention of deferring payment to its owner, without a prior consent of the owner, the Ghusl will be void even if the owner is later made to agree to the arrangement.

388. If the owner of the public bath is agreeable to the Ghusl being done on credit basis, but the person doing Ghusl intends not to pay the charges to him or to pay him from the money acquired illegally, the Ghusl will be void.

389. If a person pays to the owner of the public bath from the funds whose Khums (1/5 of the yearly profit see rule no. 1760) has not been paid, then such a person commits a sinful act, but the Ghusl will be valid, though the liability for khums remains.

390. If a person hires a public bath for Ghusl, but before commencing Ghusl, he or she carries out an extra function of making the anal part Pak with the same water of the public bath, and if it becomes doubtful whether the owner would agree to the Ghusl being taken, then the owner's consent must be sought before the Ghusl. Otherwise, the Ghusl will be void.

391. * When a person is in doubt whether he or she has done Ghusl or not, such a person must do Ghusl. However, if doubt arises in the mind after Ghusl as to whether Ghusl was correct or not, then there is no need to do Ghusl again.

392. * If one urinates or passes wind (or does any act which would invalidate the Wudhu) while doing the Ghusl, one does not have to abandon the Ghusl and start all over again. In fact, one can continue with the same Ghusl till completion. However, in this situation, one will have to do Wudhu also, as per obligatory precaution.

393. * A person who has very little time at his disposal before Qadha, should perform Tayammum instead of Ghusl. Yet, if such a person does Ghusl under the impression that there is sufficient time for Ghusl and offering prayers, the Ghusl will be valid, provided that it was done with the intention of complying with the orders of Allah, even if the Ghusl was done with a view to offering the prayers.

394. * If a person after being Junub doubts whether or not he or she did Ghusl, the prayers already offered during that period would be deemed valid. But for the later prayers, such a person should do the Ghusl. If any such act which would invalidate Wudhu is committed, like urinating or passing the wind, after the prayers, then it will be necessary to do Wudhu, and as an obligatory precaution, to repeat the prayers he had offered, if time permits.

395. A person who has more than one Ghusl to do can do one Ghusl with the niyyat of the rest. In fact, one Ghusl with its niyyat is enough to represent all others.

396. If a verse of the holy Qur'an or Name of the Almighty Allah is written or tattooed on the body of a person then such a person while doing Wudhu or Ghusl, will be required to pour water on that part without touching the writing.

397. A person who does Ghusl of Janabat should not do Wudhu for the prayers. In fact one can offer prayers without performing Wudhu after all Wajib Ghusls (except the bath for medium istihaza) as well as after Mustahab Ghusls (see rule no. 651). In the case of Mustahab Ghusls, however, it is better to do Wudhu as a recommended precaution.


Mustahab Ghusls

651. * In Islam, several Ghusls are Mustahab. Some of them are listed below:

* Ghusl-e-Jumuah: Its prescribed time is from Fajr to sunset, but it is better to perform it near Zuhr. If, however, a person does not perform it till noon, he can perform it till dusk without a Niyyat of either performing it on time or as Qadha. And if a person does not perform his Ghusl on Friday it is Mustahab that he should perform the Qadha of Ghusl on Saturday at any time between dawn and dusk. And if a person knows that it will not be possible for him to procure water for his Ghusl on Friday he can perform the Ghusl on Thursday with the Niyyat of Raja', that is, as a desirable act. And it is Mustahab to recite the following supplication while performing Friday Ghusl: 'Ash hadu an la ilaha il lal lahu wahdahu la sharika lah wa ash hadu anna Muhammadan 'abduhu wa Rasuluh. Alla humma salli 'ala Muhammadin wa Ali Muhammad waj'alni minat tawwabina waj'alni minal mutatahhirin. (I testify that there is none to be worshipped but Allah alone, Who has no associate and Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. O Allah! Bless Muhammad and his Progeny. And make me one of those who are repentant and pure).
* Taking baths on the 1st and 17th nights and in the earlier part of the 19th, 21st, 23rd nights and 24th night of the holy month of Ramadhan.
* Ghusl on Eidul Fitr day and Eidul Azha day. The time of this Ghusl is from Fajr up to sunset. It is, however, better to perform it before Eid prayers.
* Ghusl on the 8th and 9th of the month of Dhul-Hijj. As regards the bathing on the 9th of Dhul-Hijj it is better to perform it at noon-time.
* Ghusl by a person who has touched a dead body after it has been given Ghusl.
* Ghusl for Ihram (pilgrim's dress).
* Ghusl for entry into the haram of Makkah.
* Ghusl for entry into Makkah.
* Ghusl for visiting the holy Ka'bah.
* Ghusl for entry into the holy Ka'bah.
* Ghusl for slaughtering an animal and for shaving one's head (during pilgrimage).
* Ghusl for entry into Madinah, and its haram (sanctuary).
* Ghusl for entry into the Mosque of the holy Prophet.
* Ghusl at the time of bidding farewell to the sacred shrine of the holy Prophet.
* Ghusl for Mubahala (imprecation) with the enemy.
* Ghusl to a new-born child.
* Ghusl for Istakhara .
* Ghusl for offering Istisqa' - invocation for rains.

652. * The Fuqaha have mentioned many more Mustahab Ghusls, some of which are as follows:

* Ghusl on all odd nights of the month of Ramadhan and on each of its last 10 nights and in the last part of its 23rd night.
* Ghusl on the 24th day of Dhul-Hijj.
* Ghusl on the day of Eid-i-Nawroz and 15th of Sha'ban and 9th and 17th of Rabi'ul Awwal and the 25th day of Dhul-Qa'dah.
* Ghusl by a woman who has perfumed herself for someone other than her husband.
* Ghusl by one who slept in a state of intoxication.
* Ghusl by a person who went to witness the hanging and saw the hanged person. However, if his eyes fell on him by chance or helplessly, or if he had gone for example, to give evidence, Ghusl will not be Mustahab for him.
* Ghusl for the Ziyarat of the Masoomen (A.S.) whether from near or far. However, as a precaution, these Ghusls should be done with the Niyyat of 'Raja', (i.e. with a hope that it might be a desirable act).

653. After having taken the Mustahab Ghusl listed in rule no. 651, one can perform acts (e.g. prayers) for which Wudhu is necessary. However, Ghusl performed with the Niyyat of 'Raja' do not not suffice for Wudhu (i.e. Wudhu has to be performed).

 654. If a person wishes to perform a number of Mustahab Ghusls, one Ghusl with the Niyyat of performing all the Ghusls will be sufficient.

US awakening: Holy Rabbis in handcuffs!

The FBI has been following money laundering, corruption and illegal trading in human organs in the state of New Jersey for a number of years. Yesterday 23.07.09 close to 40 suspects had been arrested. Nothing is strange in this except for the arrest and handcuffing of Jewish Rabbis, as it may be the first time in pro-Jewish America, despite the fleecing of American financial institutions by the Jewish financial mafia.. Among the charges is the use of Israeli banks to launder illegal drug and mafia money, and in the case of Levy Itzhaq Rosenbaum, for illegal trading in human organs. It seems that kidneys extracted from poor Pakistanis and Indians by Israeli doctors are transferred to Israel to be sold to the Rabbi for $10000 a piece. The kidneys will then be re-sold to hospitals in the US for an average of $150000 a kidney.

The Americans must wake up. The Jewish financial mafia, with or without their holy garments, have been sending proceeds of their loots to Israel using religious covers. The current American economic meltdown, caused to a large extent by the Jewish greed, may force Americans to make more arrests. One must not exclude the possibility that Israeli banks will be forced by the US to open up their books the way they forced the Swiss Banks to expose money laundering and tax evasion.

Where is the connection tamedbull?

Khaled M. Al-Sheikh was neither a Rabbi, an Imam nor a Priest, did not rob American banks and had no connection to Israeli Banks. What is at stake is the fact that Israel and Israeli banks are used to launder illegal proceeds from drugs and mafia operations in Russia, West Europe and America.

No holy-garmented Rabbi was handcuffed in US!


American presidents are to a large extent led from the nose by the Jewish lobby. Ask former President Carter for further clarification. Clinton had his own Jewish Cabinet (Albright, Berger, Cohen, Reich and Reubens), Bush Pentagon was infested with hardline Zionists (e.g. Wolfowitz, Feith...) while Obama Whitehouse chief of staff is an Israeli (Rahm Emanuel) while his Whitehouse budget director and a number of secreataries are pro-Israeli Jews. It is about time for America to wake up, to keep the taxpayer money home and to free itself from the shackles of the Jewish finanacial and political mafias.

It is about the Jewish financial draculas!


Why are we trying to mix files. American banks and finacial institutions are mostly controlled by Jews. Their greed continues until today as manifested by the $billions of bonuses and fees announced recently to mostly Jewish draculas from the likes of Goldman Sachs...etc. The same greed had led to the bankruptcy of Jewish Lehman Brothers and Jewish Bear Stern. All profits go to the Jewish mafia leaving nothing in the bank coffers as a reserve. I can easily prove that Jews have robbed American banks.


Open up the books of Israeli banks!


The Americans will be surprised with the amount of fraudulent, illegal practices and inside trading by the Israeli banks if they insist on opening their records.. At present Israel is a haven for all Jewish crooks of the world to launder their monies or those of other criminals against a fee. The US must insist on opening the books of Israeli banks, the likes of bank Leumi and Hapoalim.


Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times


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New Jersey Mayors, Five Rabbis Arrested in Corruption Probe

By David Voreacos

July 24 (Bloomberg) -- The mayors of Hoboken, Ridgefield and Secaucus, New Jersey, and five rabbis were among 44 people charged by the U.S. with public corruption and money laundering.

Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano, 32, Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell, 64, and Ridgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez, 42, all Democrats; Jersey City Council President Mariano Vega Jr., 59; State Assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt, 44, a Republican from Ocean Township; and Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith, a Jersey City Democrat, were charged yesterday in an FBI complaint. All except Smith appeared in U.S. court in Newark, New Jersey.

The corruption probe, based in Hudson County, netted many public officials accused of pledging assistance for bribes. A cooperating witness in that probe also infiltrated a “pre- existing money laundering network” that moved “at least tens of millions of dollars through charitable, nonprofit entities controlled by rabbis in New York and New Jersey,” according to a release by acting U.S. Attorney Ralph Marra.

“The fact that we arrested a number of rabbis this morning does not make this a religiously motivated investigation,” Weysan Dun, special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s office in Newark, said at a news conference. “It is not a politically motivated investigation. It is about crime, corruption, arrogance and a shocking betrayal of public trust.”

Cooperating Witness

The roundup of suspects is one of the largest ever in New Jersey, where more than 100 public officials have been convicted of corruption in the past few years. The cooperating witness laundered $3 million through the rabbis and also made bribe payments to public officials, prosecutors said. Investigators made hundreds of hours of audio and video recordings of illicit transactions, according to prosecutors.

The cooperating witness is Solomon Dwek, a real estate developer in Monmouth County, New Jersey, who was charged on May 11, 2006, with scheming to defraud PNC Bank out of $50 million, according to three people familiar with the matter. Dwek is a rabbi’s son who was vice president of the Deal Yeshiva School in West Long Branch, New Jersey.

Cammarano, Hoboken’s youngest mayor, was sworn in July 1. Former state Assemblyman Louis Manzo, 54, a Democrat from Jersey City, and Leona Beldini, a deputy mayor of Jersey City, also were charged. Cammarano attorney Joseph Hayden didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment. Suarez lawyer Henry Klingeman said his client was innocent and wouldn’t resign.

Five Rabbis

The rabbis are Saul Kassin, 87, chief rabbi of Sharee Zion, a synagogue in Brooklyn, New York; Eliahu Ben Haim, 58, the principal rabbi of Congregation Ohel Yaacob in Deal, New Jersey; Edmond Nahum, 56, of Deal Synagogue in Deal; Mordchai Fish, 56, of Congregation Sheves Achim in Brooklyn; and Lavel Schwartz, 57, Fish’s brother.

The rabbis were charged with laundering money that often was sent to Israel. They are members of the Syrian Jewish or Hasidic Jewish communities, Marra said at the news conference. Authorities issued a warrant for Schwartz’s arrest. The other four rabbis were arrested yesterday and appeared in court.

“This case uncovered a web of corruption that spanned the state,” Dun said. “All of the individuals were connected through their illicit activities with the undercover witness.”

Kassin is accused of laundering more than $200,000 through Dwek from June 2007 through December 2008 by accepting “dirty checks” from him and exchanging them for “clean” checks, according to prosecutors.

‘Asserts His Innocence’

“The rabbi asserts his innocence,” said Kassin attorney Robert Stahl after U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Falk imposed a $200,000 bail bond. “It’s a shame that he’s caught up in some misunderstanding. Despite his difficult circumstances, he remains confident that the system of justice will prevail.”

Falk imposed a $1.5 million bail bond and electronic monitoring on Ben Haim. His attorney, Michael O’Donnell, declined comment. Falk set a $700,000 bail bond on Nahum.

“He had no involvement in any scheme as alleged and certainly looks forward to the opportunity to clear his name,” Nahum attorney Justin Walder said. “There’s no profit, no involvement in any international scheme.”

Nahum was implicated by “a person who obviously has his own problems and tried to limit his exposure” to criminal charges, Walder said.

Fish, Schwartz and two other defendants used a charitable, tax-exempt organization called BCG, which was associated with Fish’s synagogue, to launder money by using money transfers, according to the FBI.

‘Vindication’

“We are confident that the transfers referred to in the complaint will be explained to a jury in a manner that will result in Mr. Fish’s vindication,” said Michael Bachner, his attorney. He said Dwek “used his closeness and the sterling reputation of his family to manipulate individuals who believed that he would never be involved in illegal conduct.”

Levy-Izhak Rosenbaum, 58, of Brooklyn, was accused of conspiring with others to acquire and trade human organs for use in transplantation. Rosenbaum, who was “purportedly” involved in real estate, was approached by a cooperating witness and an undercover FBI agent about buying a human kidney from a human organ broker, according to the complaint.

Rosenbaum said it would cost $150,000, with half payable up front, according to the complaint. Rosenbaum said some of the money would go to the donor and some to doctors in Israel, according to the complaint.

‘Illegal to Sell’

“One of the reasons it’s so expensive is because you have to shmear (meaning pay various individuals for their assistance) all the time,” according to the complaint. “It’s illegal to buy. It’s illegal to sell.”

Attorneys for Rosenbaum and the other suspects either couldn’t be identified or couldn’t be reached for comment.

Prosecutors charged the men in a series of criminal complaints detailing the allegations. Ben Haim was accused of laundering $1.5 million through the undercover witness, who said he “was engaged in illegal businesses and schemes including bank fraud, trafficking in counterfeit goods and concealing assets and monies in connection with bankruptcy proceedings,” according to an FBI criminal complaint.

Before his 2006 arrest, Dwek deposited two $25 million checks from another account of his, which had a zero balance, prosecutors alleged. Dwek then wired $22.8 million out of PNC, falsely assuring bank officials that he would forward funds to cover the overdraft, according to prosecutors.

$10 Million Bond

Dwek posted a $10 million bond, secured by $3 million in equity in the homes of his mother-in-law and sister-in-law. Dwek was never indicted, instead receiving 17 extensions from a judge to continue the period in which his case had to be presented to a federal grand jury.

Michael Himmel and Christopher Porrino, lawyers for Dwek, didn’t return calls or e-mails requesting comment.

More than 300 agents of the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service arrested the suspects and executed search warrants this morning, according to Dun.

Agents arrested 37 suspects yesterday, two surrendered, and three, including Smith, are expected to surrender tomorrow. Authorities issued arrest warrants for two other suspects.

Agents also searched the house of Joseph Doria, a former Democratic assemblyman and the commissioner of the state Department of Community Affairs. He hasn’t been charged. They also searched the offices of the president of St. Peter’s College, a school in Jersey City, as well as a synagogue in Deal, Dun said.

“Any corruption is unacceptable -- anywhere, anytime, by anybody,” New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, a Democrat seeking re-election against Republican Christopher Christie, the former U.S. attorney in New Jersey, said in a statement.

‘Cannot Be Tolerated’

“The scale of corruption we’re seeing as this unfolds is simply outrageous and cannot be tolerated,” Corzine said.

Doria resigned yesterday at Corzine’s request, the governor’s spokesman said.

The arrests yesterday emerged from an investigation that spans a decade and has led to two earlier roundups.

“New Jersey’s corruption problem is one of the worst, if not the worst, in the country,” FBI supervising agent Ed Kahrer said. “Corruption is a cancer that is destroying the core values of this state and this great nation.”

To contact the reporter on this story: David Voreacos in Newark, New Jersey, at dvoreacos@bloomberg.net.

Details of spending Iran’s wealth in other countries by the Imam Khomeini’s Charitable Foundation

Thu at 9:28pm
Lebanon: 15 million, Syria: 1 million, Azerbaijan: 22 million, Tajikistan: 1 million, and 90 dollars monthly aid to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian workers.

Translated by : Sara Azad





Wednesday, 24 July 2009

Last week the Head of the Imam Khomeini’s Charitable Foundation said: “Giving dowry to new brides in some countries not only is not a cost but also is considered as an investment for the country, because this is done with the purpose of transferring Islamic Republic’s culture and ideology to these countries and the official diplomacy can benefit from that.” Soon people paid attention to these comments. Perhaps because the people who are paying tolls or are making donations in the charity boxes in the streets has just learned that the money that they were donating for their own good, is probably being spent to buy computer for the girls in Comoros or dowry for the new brides in Azerbaijan. Interestingly during these past four years at the same time that the ninth administration took office the Head of the Imam Khomeini’s Charitable Foundation, who after the Revolution was appointment to this position (for 24 years) by Imam [Khomeini] and then later by the Supreme Leader, was also changed; and after this change the statistics of the aids in some cases were increased even by hundred percent. On the other hand the Imam Khomeini’s Charitable Foundation is giving out these aids to other countries despite the fact that occasionally we are witnessing unusual behaviours from some of these countries. One of the events was burning the oil shipment donated by the Imam Khomeini’s Charitable Foundation in Azerbaijan that during the news silence nobody paid much attention to it. The Imam Khomeini’s Charitable Foundation is helping some countries that are generally among the underdeveloped and third-world countries, for example providing dowry for new brides in Comoros. The whole population of Comoros is 700,000. There is an airplane for the trips of Comoros president, Ahmed Abdallah Sambi who was one of Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi’s students, which did not exist before and [the government of] Iran had sent it to him prior to his trip to Iran.


The Imam Khomeini’s Charitable Foundation in Lebanon:


The country that Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah is from has an area of 10452 square Kilometers, but its population like its area is almost half of Tehran. You might not know, but Muslims are not all of the population. Lebanon’s ethnicity is diverse; some of them are in Iran as well. Lebanon’s population is consistent of 60 percent Arabs, 36 percent Assyrians and Syrians, 4 percent Armenians and one percent Kurds and Jews. The Imam Khomeini’s Charitable Foundation in Lebanon was established and formally started to work in March 1986. By March 2006 (after two decades of activity) the total number of the Imam Khomeini’s Charitable Foundation units in Lebanon was 20 units. 460 cities and villages of Lebanon are under cover of the Foundation. All the main branches are run by councils of 3 to 5 people and the central unit that is run by a council of 5 people is responsible for coordinating and supervising all the branches. The total aid payment of the Imam Khomeini’s Charitable Foundation in Lebanon to those who demanded support in 2006 was more than 15,364,928 million dollars. The total number of the families under cover of the Imam Khomeini’s Charitable Foundation in March of 2006 was 7,486 which is equivalent to the population of 16,045. The number of people under cover in 2006 in comparison to the previous year, i.e. 2005, (5212 families with the population of 13172) was 43.6 percent increased with respect to the number of families and 21.8 percent increased with respect to the population.

The Imam Khomeini’s Charitable Foundation in Syria:


Syria is a country with an area of 185,000 square Kilometers and a population of 18.5 million. The total number of families under cover of the Imam Khomeini’s Charitable Foundation in Syria in March of 2006, was 2126 with the population of 9289. In 2006 the total aid payment of the Imam Khomeini’s Charitable Foundation in Syria was 957,242 dollars.

Iran’s 90 dollar monthly aid to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian workers:


After Israeli’s attack on Palestine, On Qods day the Imam Khomeini’s Charitable Foundation called for donations and set up specific locations to collect public donations to help the oppressed Palestinian Muslims. The net worth of the collected donations for the oppressed Palestinian Muslims was more than 410,000 dollars. Of course this is only a small example of Iran’s aids to Palestinians. Before March, the Palestinian Prime Minister announced Iran’s 250 million dollar aid to the Palestinian government and people. According to “Aftab” news agency, Ismail Haniya’s remarks were published in the Thursday issue of the Lebanese newspaper, “Alsafir”, in which he stated: “The conclusion of my trip to Iran was the 250 million dollar financial aid to Palestine and presenting a plan for the direct financial and economical support of the government and the people of Palestine.” Haniya also said: “For instance, in this aid, there was 120 million dollar allocated for financial support of the Palestinian government in 2007 and also 45 million dollar was allocated for the salaries of the three Palestinian Ministries’ employees and for the payment of the Palestinian families’ allowance for 6 months.” Haniya that was interviewing with this Lebanese newspaper, added: “Iran also accepted to pay 100 dollars to 100,000 Palestinian workers every month and continue to do so for 6 months which comes to the total of 60 million dollar.” According to him: “Iran has also accepted to pay 100 dollars a month to every one of the three thousand fishermen who were banned from sailing since few months ago, and to continue to do so for 6 months which will come to a total of 1.8 million dollars.” At the end the Palestinian Prime Minister said: “Iran will build the Cultural Center of Palestine and national libraries with the total cost of 15 million dollar; and will reconstruct two thousand demolished houses with the total cost of 20 million dollars.”

The Imam Khomeini’s Charitable Foundation in Afghanistan:


Afghanestan is a country with an area of 652 thousand square kilometers and close to 28.5 million populations. With continuation of civil war in this country, the aids from the Imam Khomeini’s Charitable Foundation to this country was stopped in the summer of 1998 but with the beginning of post-Taliban era the activities of the foundation was started in January 2002 in the city of Kabul and in 2003 in Harat and Nimrouz. By March 2008, 5252 families with a total population of 21777 were covered by the foundation in that country. Furthermore, in the same year, additional 745 families with a population of 3498 have received aids from the foundation in one or two occasions.

The Imam Khomeini’s Charitable Foundation in Azerbaijan:


Azerbaijan is a country with an area of 86,600 square kilometers and about 8 million populations (almost same as Tehran). The Imam Khomeini’s Charitable Foundation in this country has 464 cities and villages under its coverage. By March 2008, 9593 families with a total population of 27875 were permanently covered by the foundation in that country. Furthermore, in the same year, the foundation had additional 5148 families with a population of 15272 under its coverage and support on a case by case situation. The total amount paid as aids to the beneficiaries and for the expenses of the foundation in Tajikistan in 2007 was 2,211,694 dollars.

The Imam Khomeini’s Charitable Foundation in Tajikistan:


Tajikistan is a country with an area of 143 thousand square kilometers and about 7 million populations. The Imam Khomeini’s Charitable Foundation was first opened in the city of Dushanbe in 1994. By the end of 2007, 7154 families with a total population of 27967 were covered by the foundation in that country which a majority of them were from the Muslim abandoned or immigrant families; while also some families from Russian descent were also receiving aids from this foundation. The total amount paid as aids to the beneficiaries and for the expenses of the foundation in Tajikistan in 2007 was more than 1,341,701 dollars.

The Imam Khomeini’s Charitable Foundation in Comoros:


Where do you think Comoros is located? Perhaps you have never heard its name but you have definitely seen the images of the strange and bizarre dance of some people with make ups like the primitive natives of Africa in front of the president of our country. A dance, that IRNA (the news agency belonging to the administration) covered as part of Ahmadinejad’s trip to Comoros and some African countries last year in great detail and reported in multiple parts. Comoros is a country which the history of his establishment does not reach [even] half a century. A country with a population of less than one million or specifically about 790 thousands; and with an area of about 2 thousand square kilometers. In order to, have an idea of the size of Comoros, compare it with Tehran. Tehran is 19 thousand square meters and has a population of more than 7 millions (some statistics have even reported a population of almost 12 million for Tehran). [However] this small African country has also not remained hidden from the eyes of our government and with the invitation from high-ranked authorities of [some] African countries and with coordination from the political and cultural centers of our country in Tanzania, Comoros, Sierra Leone and Madagascar (the same countries that Ahmadinejad visited a while ago), they have conducted special communications, dealings and activities; one of which could be pointed out to be the establishment of industrial college in four areas: computer, residential and industrial power, tailoring and trade. The Imam Khomeini’s Charitable Foundation, since its start in Comoros supports more than 500 families in need or caring for an orphan in Comoros. Of course the exact number of people under coverage has not been published but even we consider each family to consist of 5 people then the Imam Khomeini’s Charitable Foundation supports 2500 people of the total population of 790 thousands in Comoros. Of course the people of Comoros appreciate Iran’s aids. According to a report by Borna [news agency] around end of the last year, Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi, the president of Comoros, in his speech in the auditorium of the foundation’s office, showed gratitude for the efforts of the Islamic Republic of Iran and especially the Imam Khomeini’s Charitable Foundation, in this country. According to the report by this news agency, Sambi in this speech, while mentioning the remarks made by our country’s president about providing suitable resources in Comoros by Iran, deemed that the presence of the Imam Khomeini’s Charitable Foundation in Comoros to be very pleasant for that country.

Sambi, student of Mesbah:


Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi (born 5 June 1958) known as the politician Ayatollah and one of the Sunni Muslim clergies (although you will read in the next session that Ahmadinejad in his memoirs considers Sambi to be Shia) and from Comoros. He became the president of this country in 2006. His coming to power was the result of the first peaceful transfer of power in the history of Comoros which is filled with Coups. He is also the first president of Comoros who is from Anjavan, an island which gave up his request for separation from Comoros Islands. Sumbi, like the majority of natives of Comoros, is Sunni Muslim and the title of Ayatollah has been given to him because of his stay and education in the city of Qom. He studied the theory of political Islam in Qom, and it is said that he was a student of Mohammad-Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi. After that he continued his education in Sudan and Saudi Arabia.

Iran’s private plane for the Ayatollah:


One of the serious criticisms of Ahmadinejad against the “reform” administration was the use of a private plane by the reformist authorities but even though he himself was not using that private plane but it was sent from Iran to go and bring Sumbi to Iran! A website supporter of the ninth administration reported that for the visit of the president of Comoros from Iran, Ahmadinejad had ordered that a Falcon plane went to Comoros and brought him to Iran. This pro-Ahmadinejad source which has started to publish some of the memories of friends and associates of the Head of ninth administration, wrote: “The president of Comoros is Muslim and Shia. He has studied in Iran and has been a student of Mr. Mesbah-Yazdi. He wanted to visit Iran but since he didn’t possess a suitable plane to come to Iran, doctor [Ahmadinejad] ordered that a Falcon plane be sent to bring him.”

Setting the oil shipment on fire in Azerbaijan:


In 2008, like years before that, the foreign affair office of the Imam Khomeini’s Charitable Foundation in Azerbaijan sent out packages of aids which sends out every year to the cities and villages of this republic such as: Baku, Lankaran, Goychay, Ganja, and etc but it appears that this year one of the oil shipments which were sent to this republic like previous year was set on fire in Lankaran by the authorities of Republic of Azerbaijan.

Amir-Haadi Anvari
Etemad Melli Newspaper

The Headaches Facing the Appointed President

July 24, 2009

Saeed Razavi Faghih



Three years ago, when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had spent just a year at the presidential apex of power in Iran, the problems of his administration became apparent to the conservatists. His controversial and impractical proclamations over domestic and international politics, endless accusations against all groups and political factions in the country - including the conservatists which constitute his own power base - and most importantly his serious failure to properly run the country demonstrated well that Ahmadinejad as president was trouble not only for the public, but even the conservatists. Conservatists who had for the first time after a long time gained access to the executive branch and who supported Mr. Ahmadinejad and his administration. Perhaps the most serious issue that Ahmadinejad presented was the rift he had created within the ranks of the conservatists almost killing the prospects of a possible unity for ever.

Now, after the passage of four years into Ahmadinejad’s first administration, and especially after his election for a second presidential term, it appears that the appointed administration will have to expect problems that whose roots it itself planted in the first four years of its work, in other words it will be sowing whatever it planted in its first term.

The most important issue that Ahmadinejad has created for his co-thinkers, is the controversial election. He intended to bury for ever the idea of free elections in Iran, and by removing the republican aspect of the system, remove what ever little power and sovereignty the Iranian nation had. The result of this strategic faux pas(A social blunder.) was that a huge political crisis took over the country because of massive and million-man public protests, which now questions the very legitimacy of the presidency and the executive branch, and even the whole system of governance. The evidence for the continuation of this crisis is the very words and remarks that the head of the Expediency Council and the Experts Assembly recently made in public.

Today, not only is Mr. Ahmadinejad and his administration in serious legitimacy crises, but the whole regime is under question. Sooner or later it will be questioned over the natural consequences of its own actions and will have to respond to the other institutions of the state. These institutions have till now of course supported Mr. Ahmadinejad, and the “results” of the elections, but in the inner circles of power they are certainly holding him responsible for the current crisis. This lack of legitimacy and credibility will most certainly manifest itself in the domestic and foreign policies of the country.

In the coming weeks, the president will have to battle with the national assembly, the Majlis, over his choice of new cabinet ministers. He will have to either concede to the pressures of the Majlis and the powers outside it, thus reaching some form of compromise with the larger conservative power groups, or take the fights inside the conservative camp - which incidentally are not few and small - out into the public through the Majlis debates, thus worsening the already-bas political situation in the country. These same issues will come up during the debates of new bills that the administration will start to present to the Majlis for its approval and passage into law. And since Majlis still has a list of bills that the administration has sent it to be debated and passed into law from the past, even those will be engulfed in the same discussions and debates. Just this week, Ahmadinejad’s nomination of a new Vice-President,
Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei ran into problems indicative of the kind of posture even conservative Majlis deputies have regarding the president’s initiatives and decisions. His move prompted strong criticism and resulted in the intervention of the leader of the Islamic state, ayatollah Khamenei to drop the nomination.
In foreign affairs, the president has already registered two negative points: the first was that he was forced to cancel his previously accepted trips to the OAU in Libya and the Non-aligned movement meeting in Egypt, both indicating a depreciation of the stature of Mr. Ahmadinejad (and the country) domestically and on the international scene as noted by observers. These cancellations become even more important when one considers the importance that Ahmadinejad has been giving to his foreign trips where he usually makes his controversial and bombasting remarks, and then attempts to build domestic credibility for them.

In conclusion suffice it to say that Mr. Ahmadinejad has in the past been a source of headache for the Islamic republic and his own conservative faction, but with the new crises evolving in the country, it is clear that he will be dealing with even more serious challenges stemming from his own conservative colleagues and even supporters. And now, he must also respond to the serious issues that have been created for the regime as a whole in recent weeks.

Heart of darkness

Posted by Naveen Naqvi in Featured Articles, Pakistan on 07 21st, 2009

Naveen Naqvi asks why the city government can’t protect Karachi from nature.

Okay, I know it’s predictable to write about the rain, but I can’t help it. I can’t think about much else because I live in Karachi and I have been seething. It was a gorgeous storm, perfect even. It was as though Karachiites collectively lifted their hands in prayer, managed to reach the sky, and ripped it apart to pour down upon us. For the first hour or so, we danced, even if it was basically liquid smog. Some of us ate pakoras. Others went out for drives, listening to the Red Baron and his Brigade play a Monsoon Special on City FM 89. And then, all hell broke loose.

Within a few hours (and that’s the most charitable account I can give), KESC had turned off the power in most parts of the city. Not only were we dealing with a storm the likes of which this city has apparently not seen since 1977, we were doing so without electricity. By the way, this record is being cited as the reason for everything that went wrong with the city’s administration. Is that meant to make us feel better? The fact that we haven’t made any progress since 1977 – that we may have even regressed?

As it was a Saturday, many of us were at work. That’s right. Let’s talk about all those new roads, storm drains, bridges and underpasses in that order. I’m not sure if I need to talk about the roads. Anyone who has lived in Karachi knows that whether it’s 250 or 2.5 mm of rain, the roads are riddled with potholes within moments. Is it because the raindrops fall with the force of pellets from the sky on this city? No, it is simply due to poor construction because someone – or everyone – in the chain is skimming off the top and taking commissions. For the potholes to turn into craters, it should take hours or days, not moments.

Now on to the storm drains. Note the expression, storm drains. Yes, this was a storm for which these drains were laid out in the first place. And if I may point out, it took months to complete that process. During that time, the people who lived along those roads complained bitterly about how they couldn’t park their cars inside their homes, that their houses were caked in dirt, and that they suffered the noise of construction. Moreover, no proper detours were laid out for traffic. A colleague of mine, driving late at night, dropped right into a six-foot-deep ditch on main Seaview as there was no sign or barricade indicating that the road had been dug up. After all the inconvenience, the long-awaited storm drains overflowed so that the roads were filled not only with rainwater, but also sewerage. Charming. So that’s the lovely smell of rain when it hits the earth.

As for the bridges and underpasses: the city mayor, Mustafa Kamal, said that his administration cannot be expected to fight nature! Well, we never asked them to fight nature, we merely expected someone to protect us against it. Kamal went on about a bridge collapsing as if he had experienced it personally. But why did the bridge collapse, dare I ask? And the underpasses…. Of course, the one in Gharibabad was flooded, it had no storm drains. Storm drains… let’s not start that again.

When I brought up these administrative issues with Sharmila Farooqi, the Advisor to the Chief Minister of Sindh, she said that the monsoon had come earlier than expected. ‘Earlier?’ I asked. ‘I thought it had come late this year.’ ‘No,’ she responded. ‘It was two days early.’ Ah, so that’s what the problem was – the monsoon was two days early!

If those of us who were trapped in the deluge for hours thought we’d come home and shower, no such luck. There was no running water since KESC had turned the power off hours ago, preventing us from filling our tanks. It’s all cyclical.

And finally, there was the damage to personal property. Water flooded into the homes of the more fortunate, while others saw their houses’ walls collapse. And all this in the dark.

When I went to the KESC complaint centre after being without electricity for 24 hours, there was already a small crowd at the tiny, grilled window. I hunched to get a look at the official who would register my complaint and immediately regretted it. The man grinned at me and said that I could forget about it. This was worse than the Karachi blackout from a few weeks ago. There was no telling when this would get fixed. I ground my teeth and replied with as much authority as I could muster that I knew there was nothing wrong with the grid stations, and they should just turn my power back on. At least, I had the satisfaction of seeing his grin slip.

It took a few hours, but I got my electricity switched back on. Though, I feel a tad guilty knowing others were not as lucky. It’s no wonder that people came out on the streets, burnt tires and threw stones at the electric company’s offices. I don’t condone violent protests, but nobody was listening or empathizing with the protestors, was there?

Nobody except for friends, family, neighbours and strangers. I’ve heard stories of young men pushing stalled cars down flooded streets. Neighbours helped each other in the pitch black of night when trees brought down their walls. I know my cousins opened up their home to my elderly parents and kept their generator running practically all night. Friends offered each other the limited supply of water they had in storage to bathe. While we Karachiites can’t look to the state for basic utilities, or even a kind word, we can turn to one another and find comfort.

naveennaqvi80x801 Naveen Naqvi is a senior anchor at DawnNews and presents the morning news programme, Breakfast at Dawn. She is currently working on a novel, Guilt, and tweets at twitter.com/naveenaqvi.

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Veiled Saudi named ‘Queen of Beautiful Morals’

RIYADH: Saudi beauty queen Aya Ali Al-Mulla trounced 274 rivals to win a crown, jewellery, cash and a trip to Malaysia, and all without showing her face, Saudi media reported on Friday. With her face and body completely covered by the black head-to-toe abaya mandatory in the conservative Muslim kingdom, 18-year-old Aya was named “Queen of Beautiful Morals” late on Thursday, newspapers said. There was none of the swimsuit and evening gown competitions and heavy media coverage of beauty pageants elsewhere when the contest was decided in the eastern city of Safwa. Instead, the winner and the two runner-up princesses had to undergo a three-month test of their dutifulness to their parents and family, and their service to society. This included a battery of personal, cultural, social and psychological tests, Al-Watan reported. It was unclear exactly what Aya did to pip her rivals in the huge field, but Al-Watan reported that the high school graduate had good grades and hopes to go into medicine. She raked in a $1,333 prize, a pearl necklace, diamond watch, diamond necklace, and a free ticket to Malaysia. afp

Iran opposition leader's brother-in-law arrested

By NASSER KARIMI and LEE KEATH, Associated Press Writers Nasser Karimi And Lee Keath, Associated Press Writers – Thu Jul 23, 5:07 pm ET

TEHRAN, Iran – The wife of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi said Thursday that her 62-year-old brother is among the hundreds arrested in Iran's postelection crackdown, as Mousavi warned that the country is becoming "more militarized" amid the turmoil.

Mousavi implicitly accused the security forces of exceeding their powers under Iran's constitution, suggesting that the "near-coup d'etat atmosphere" was a danger to Iran's Islamic Republic.

Police, the elite Revolutionary Guards and the Basij militia arrested more than 2,500 people in their heavy crackdown against protests that erupted in support of Mousavi after the disputed June 12 election. More than 500 of them remain in prison, including many top politicians from pro-reform political parties, human rights lawyers, journalists and activists. Arrests have continued in recent weeks.

The turmoil has been the biggest challenge to Iran's ruling clerics in decades, and the Revolutionary Guards force has taken a prominent role in defending the leadership.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday said the upheaval has made it unlikely Iran will respond any time soon to the Obama administration's attempts to engage in dialogue with Tehran, its top rival in the region.

"We've certainly reached out and made it clear that's what we'd be willing to do, even now, despite our absolute condemnation of what they've done in the election and since," she told the British Broadcasting Corp. "But I don't think they have any capacity to make that kind of decision right now."

Mousavi claims to have won the election and that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's victory was fraudulent. Hundreds of thousands of his supporters marched in protests in the weeks after the election, until the demonstrations were shattered by the crackdown. Police say at least 20 protesters were killed, though human rights groups say the number is likely far higher.

Mousavi's wife, Zahra Rahnavard, said her brother, Shapour Kazemi, was arrested more than a month ago. She said the 62-year-old communications engineer was "apolitical" and was detained only to put pressure on her and Mousavi.

"We have tried all legal and peaceful means to try to win the release of him and other detainees," Rahnavard told the ILNA news agency in an interview released Thursday.

She also sharply denounced authorities' campaign to depict the protesters and opposition movement as tools of foreign enemies seeking to carry out a "soft revolution" against Iran's Islamic Republic.

Some hard-line officials have claimed that detainees have confessed to fueling protests on the behest of foreign powers. The opposition denies the accusations and says any confessions were made under duress. But this week, the political chief of the elite Revolutionary Guards, Yadollah Javani, called for authorities to make public any confessions to prove the conspiracy to the Iranian people "and rebuild the trust" of those that doubt in Ahmadinejad's victory.

Rahnavard on Thursday said the Iranian people would not believe any "forced confessions." Of her brother, she said, "accusations of provoking riots or connections to foreigners ... are unimaginable."

She warned those that are making accusations against detainees that "a divine anger will catch them and the nation will reject them."

Rahnavard, a former dean of Tehran's al-Zahra University, campaigned alongside her husband in the election, a rarity for a candidate's wife, which made her a star among women and student supporters. Her original name is Zohreh Kazemi but she changed it in the 1960s when she became an activist against the U.S.-backed shah, and she was a prominent activist in the 1979 revolution that brought the Islamic Republic to power.

Mousavi, meanwhile, sharply criticized what he called the increasing power of security forces in the postelection crackdown. Iran was "heading in the direction of becoming more militarized, more security-dominated, something no one will welcome," he said.

"The security forces must move in the framework of the constitution to minimize the loses in this near-coup d'etat atmosphere," he said Wednesday, according to ILNA. He said he would release a political platform soon calling for "activating neglected parts of the constitution" that ensure the people's voice is heard and that security forces' powers are kept in check. He did not elaborate.

On Thursday, members of the pro-government Basij militia arrested the father of a 27-year-old teacher of the santour — a traditional Iranian instrument like a dulcimer — who was killed during a June 20 protest, the pro-Mousavi Norooz news Web site reported. Basijis arrested the father of Masoud Hashemzadeh from his Tehran home and collected black signs of mourning at the house's entrance, it said. Pro-reform Web sites have reported that families of slain protesters have been intimidated not to mourn publicly.

Shape of Iran after Ahmedinejad

Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie (left) talks to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during an Iranian expatriate summit in April 2009. Hardliners opposed Ahmadinejad's appointment of Mashaie as first vice president, signalling difficulties ahead for Iran's re-elected president in forming a new government.
(AFP/File/Behrouz Mehri)


----------------

Ahmadinejad's deputy officially withdraws

Posted : Sat, 25 Jul 2009 04:47:40 GMT

Tehran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's pick for first vice president officially withdrew from the post after the supreme leader ordered Ahmadinejad to sack his deputy, the ISNA news agency reported Saturday. "Following the order by the supreme leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei], I do not consider myself as first vice president anymore and will serve the people wherever else needed," Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaie said in a short statement carried by ISNA.

Media reports on Friday night said the supreme leader had rejected Ahmadinejad's pick and ordered him fired.

"It is necessary that the appointment is cancelled," Khamenei said in a letter to the president, adding that the appointment of Rahim-Mashaie as first vice president was neither to Ahmadinejad's nor the government's advantage and would only lead to differences among the president's supporters.

Ahmadinejad appointed Rahim-Mashaie last week as first vice president, making him de-facto acting president until Ahmadinejad's inauguration early next month. Ahmadinejad won a second term in a June 12 election, which the opposition said was marred by fraud.

The appointment led to widespread criticism, even within pro-Ahmadinejad circles, because of an earlier remark by the vice president that Iran's political differences with Israel had nothing to do with Israelis and Jews and that Iran was a friend of the Israeli people.

While Ahmadinejad needs parliamentary approval for his ministers, he is free to select his vice presidents.

According to the constitution, however, the supreme leader has the final say on all state affairs and can veto executive and legislative decisions.

This is the second time in five weeks that Khamenei, who had put his stamp of approval on Ahmadinejad's re-election, openly voiced criticism of the president.

The first time was at the Friday prayer ceremony on June 19 when he blamed Ahmadinejad for having accused ex-president Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani of corruption without presenting any documents proving the accusations.

Another grand son of Imam Khomeni stood against Ahmedinejad/Khameni

In this Friday, May 22, 2009 photo, Zahra Rahnavard, center, the wife of Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi attends a meeting of a pro-reform youth party as she sits between, former reformist President Mohammad Khatami, right, and Yasser Khomeini, the grandson of Ayatollah Khomeini, in Tehran, Iran. Rahnavard said Thursday July 23 2009 that her brother is among the hundreds arrested in Iran's postelection crackdown, and she warned authorities not to publish any 'forced confessions' from him or other detainees. More than 500 people remain imprisoned after the heavy crackdown against protests that erupted in support of Mousavi after the disputed June 12 election. Among them are many top politicians from pro-reform political parties, human rights lawyers, journalists and activists.
(AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

In this Feb. 8, 2009 photo, former Iranian reformist President Mohammad Khatami, center, attends in a meeting of his party, a group of pro-reform clerics, in Tehran, Iran. Khatami has called for a nationwide referendum on the legitimacy of the government, saying Iranians have lost faith in their political leaders after last month's disputed election, according to reports posted Monday July 20, 20009, on several reformist Web sites. Khatami's allies Ayatollah Mousavi Khoeiniha, left, and Ayatollah Bojnourdi, attend the meeting.
(AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Threatening Ayatollah Hashemi for saying true words is unacceptable

Grand Ayatollah Dastgheyb: The use of cold weapon or even perhaps firearms and imprisonment for the admirers of Islam and clergy

Today at 7:06am


Translated by: Sara Azad




ParlemanNews: Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ali-Mohammad Dastgheyb in a statement announced his support for the remarks made by Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani in his Friday Prayer sermons and said one could not save Islam and the Revolution by imprisonment and using cold weapons and firearms.

According to the “Khate Imam” fraction of the Islamic Republic Parliament news agency, “ParlemanNews”, the full text of the message from Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ali-Mohammad Dastheyb, the representative of the people of Fars province in the Assembly of Experts, in support of Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani’s remarks is as follow:

In the name of God

The almighty God said: “I but fulfil towards you the duties of my Lord's mission: I am to you a sincere and trustworthy adviser.” Araaf Chapter-Verses 68


To the respected Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani, the Head of the Assembly of Experts and the Expediency Council and the long-time friend of the departed Imam [Khomeini] (God bless him) and the Islamic Revolution:

Everyone listened to your thoughtful advices in Tehran’s Friday Prayer on July seventeenth, and you reinstated the concerns of many people of this country that are all Muslims and true admirers of the Prophet of Islam (Mohammad, peace be upon him) and warned about the resentment of these majority of people. We witnessed the beating of the defenceless people especially the academics. Filling prisons and harsh interrogations are not hidden from anyone.

You proposed some good suggestions for relative console: releasing all the prisoners [detained after the election], comforting them and their families, and letting them to say their logical words freely; and also for the public media not judging with bias.

I make a humble remark that from the past until today people have been supporters of Foghaha (high-ranked religious figures). The use of cold weapon or even perhaps firearms, and imprisonment for the followers of these Foghaha and for the admirers of Islam and clergy mean turning back from the religion and loneliness, and this not only has no benefits but will even have drawbacks, and this is not the meaning of protecting the government and one could not save Islam and the Revolution this way.

This kind of behaviour will distance people from the government and Islam. Unite States, Russia, China or any other super-power has never been our ally and will never be. The benefit is in friendship and companionship with the people. What I heard in Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani’s remarks was thoughtful. Threatening and humiliating him for saying true words is unacceptable.

In any case, it is necessary to listen to the logical requests of admirers of Imam [Khomeini] and the Revolution, Mr. Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mr. Karoubi, and Mr. Rezaee that many people voted for them, as this way we will certainly become close to a great number of people. Furthermore we warn that the history of Muslims, especially Shias attests that until this day Maraje and scholars have been the reference and refuge for the people, therefore the thoughtful and fair words and speeches of Maraje and scholars should show this, so that there won’t be any suspicion of separation between the people and Maraje and scholars.

Seyyed Ali-Mohammad Dastgheyb


-------------

A new Fatwa against the fraudulent president and the coup-wise election

Yesterday at 10:34pm
Grand Ayatollah Bayat: The Supreme Leader’s confirmation of someone that has come to power by fraud does not legitimize him.

(Translated by Sara Azad)

Grand Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani, One of the Marajes (the most senior religious clerics) against the coup, by issuing an important Fatwa (religious ruling) in response to one of his followers, validated that the Supreme Leader’s confirmation of a president who came to power by fraudulent election, does not legitimize him.






According to a report by “Mowje Sabz Azadi” (news agency) this Fatwa states that: “If someone finds confidence that the mentioned individual has come to power by illegitimate means and by forgery, his confirmation by the Supreme Leader as the president and the completion of the inauguration ceremony will not legitimize him as these are not cause for legitimacy and these two are important only when the individual has come to power based on a healthy election.”

In continuation of his Fatwa, Grand Ayatollah Bayat also reiterated: “In this situation, based on the principle of “invite to good and prevent from bad”, it is acceptable to use any means possible to introduce the illegitimacy of that individual”

“Mowje Sabz Azadi” is quoting the full text of this question and Grand Ayatollah Barayt’s response to it from his official website:

In the name of God



Dear Grand Ayatollah Bayat Zanjani,


With sincere greetings, I plea my questions in three sections so that you may answer them should you find them appropriate. Given the fact that the candidates of the tenth presidential election and some other political figures of the country have announced that the tenth administration is not politically legitimate and additionally the religious illegitimacy of the tenth administration has been announced by some of the Grand Ayatollahs and religious figures, should the Supreme Leader confirms the tenth administration and the president receives his appointment from the Supreme Leader and takes the presidential oath in the inauguration ceremony at the Islamic Republic’s Parliament:

1- Does the Supreme Leader’s confirmation return the legitimacy to the tenth administration and the president?

2- If after the Supreme Leader’s confirmation and the inauguration ceremony the tenth administration and the president will still not have political and religious legitimacy, is it allowed for the people to pay utility bills, taxes and any other bills that should be paid by the people to the government; and is it still the responsibility of the people to pay the bills unconditionally or should they refuse to use the utilities?

3- If the president and the tenth administration are illegitimate, is it in some levels religiously forbidden to cooperate with the tenth administration or due to necessity one should cooperate.
14 July 2009

Answer: Legitimacy of an administration or lack of it is possible in these ways:


a) The Guardian Council, which has been recognized by the constitution as the official responsible for attesting the acceptance of the election or lack of it, especially the presidential election.

b) The Islamic Parliament, which based on the constitution, has the responsibility to determine the competency of the president or lack of it (the lack of political or executive competence).

c) The condition that one reaches a conscious conclusion that the apparent elected individual does not possess the requirements of the legitimacy and for instance has become in charge by illegitimate means, which have been established for that person; therefore the mere announcement of the candidates is not sufficient for concluding this illegitimacy unless this confidence can be established from their words. Therefore, based on this, if someone finds confidence that the mentioned individual has come to power by illegitimate means and by forgery, his confirmation by the Supreme Leader as the president and the completion of the inauguration ceremony will not legitimize him as these are not cause for legitimacy and these two are important only when the individual has come to power based on a healthy election; in this situation, based on the principle of “invite to good and prevent from bad”, it is acceptable to use any means possible to introduce the illegitimacy of that individual. In this case, if the lack of cooperation [with him] is effective in the removal of the illegitimate individual or at least lessening his illegal decisions, it is mandatory based on the principle of “prevent from bad”.

In response to the third question, it should also be explained that if someone or some people conclude that the president does not possess the necessary requirements, this will illegitimize the president but not the administration and the ministers; but if someone considers the president as well as the administration illegitimate, he should not work with them and in case of cooperation, he will be considered as one of “the cooperators with the injustice”; unless he has become so in need that he is forced to cooperate, which in this case he is obliged [by God] to suffice to the minimums and does not strengthen the illegitimate administration as much as he can and does not limit his efforts to resolve the problems of the honest people as much as possible.

UPDATE1-Yemen says Shi'ite rebels kill officer, bodyguards

Black-clad women from the Akhdam (servants) community hold up pictures of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh as they demonstrate to demand better rights and living conditions in Sanaa July 21, 2009. The Akhdam community, who are, according to popular accounts, the descendants of Ethiopian invaders from the sixth century, are set apart by their African features and are the very bottom of Yemen's social ladder.REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah (YEMEN POLITICS SOCIETY CONFLICT)
21 Jul 2009 16:49:45 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Updates with ambush, killing of officer, bodyguards)

SANAA, July 21 (Reuters) - Suspected Shi'ite rebels killed an army colonel and two of his bodyguards in north Yemen on Sunday, a local official said.

Yemen, one of the poorest Arab countries, has been battling a wave of al Qaeda attacks, as well as Shi'ite rebellion in its north and secessionist sentiment in the south. The violence has raised Western fears that Yemen could become a new haven for Islamist militants.

"Houthi supporters are suspected to have carried out the attack," the official from Saada province, who declined to be identified, told Reuters in the capital Sanaa by telephone.

The officer was part of the army staff in the northern province of Saada, the site of a rebellion by Shi'ite Muslims led by rebel leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi.

In neighbouring al-Jouf province, 10 people were killed in sectarian clashes on Saturday and Sunday over the control of a mosque between the Shi'ite rebels and followers of the opposition Sunni Islamist al-Islah party.

Neighbouring Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, has said it fears instability in Yemen could allow it to become a launch pad for a revival of a 2003-2006 campaign by al Qaeda militants to destabilise the U.S.-allied ruling Al Saud family.

(Reporting by Mohamed Sudam and Mohammed al-Ghobari; writing by Firouz Sedarat; editing by Ralph Boulton)

Baghdad bombs kill 16, vehicle ban in Anbar region

21 Jul 2009 18:48:44 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Bombs kill 16, one targets minister

* Baghdad security chief says 2009 last stand for militants

* Rare vehicle ban imposed across Iraq's biggest province

(Adds Husseiniya bomb, updates Baghdad death toll)

By Muhanad Mohammed

BAGHDAD, July 21 (Reuters) - Bombs exploded across Baghdad on Tuesday, killing 16 people and wounding dozens, two of the blasts striking the crowded Shi'ite slum of Sadr City, security officials said.

In Iraq's usually quiet Anbar province, the country's largest, a rare two-day vehicle ban was imposed across the vast desert region after bombings in the provincial capital Ramadi.

The first Sadr City bomb, apparently targeting day labourers, killed four people and left 39 wounded, said Baghdad security spokesman Qassim al-Moussawi.

Another bomb in the same area of northeastern Baghdad killed three civilians and wounded 15. The slum was once a haven for gunmen loyal to anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, but the militia has now been largely disbanded and splintered.

In Husseiniya, just north of Baghdad, a series of blasts in a popular market killed five people and wounded 28, police said.

U.S. combat troops pulled out of Iraqi cities and towns on June 30, implementing the first stage of a security pact that requires all troops to leave by the end of 2012, raising doubts about whether Iraqi forces are ready to handle security.

A roadside bomb killed two civilians and wounded 13 others all from the same extended family as they made their way to a funeral in central Baghdad on Tuesday. And a car bomb exploded near a vegetable market, killing two civilians and wounding six others in south Baghdad's Doura district, police said.

Many Iraqis doubt whether their own forces can protect them against militants without backing from U.S. firepower.

But in an interview with Reuters on Monday, the commander of Iraqi forces in Baghdad, Major-General Abboud Qanbar, said he had not once had to call on U.S. troops now stationed on the city's outskirts to help keep security.

A major Shi'ite pilgrimage that drew millions to the Baghdad district of Khadhimiya, a favourite past target of Sunni Islamist militants, went by without any major bomb attacks over the weekend, he said.

"LAST CHANCE"

Militants are likely to step up attacks to test Iraqi security forces ahead of national elections scheduled for January, officials say. Some politicians will try to intimidate rivals or show the government is failing on security by backing militant groups who plant bombs, Qanbar said.

"This year is such an important year: it is the last chance for the enemy," he said.

"This is also an election year. Politicians will use attacks to try to gain advantage over rivals," he added.

Officials declared a state of emergency in Ramadi and police said a province-wide vehicle ban had been imposed after two bomb attacks on Tuesday. The previous day, an explosion killed two policemen.

A suicide bomber in a moving car and a bomb in a parked car detonated almost simultaneously near a group of restaurants, killing three people, police said.

During a state of emergency more police are deployed, and they conduct greater security checks.

Anbar was once overrun by Islamist militants such as al Qaeda, but a mostly Sunni Muslim anti-insurgent movement started by the province's tribal leaders in 2006 was decisive in routing them. The province has remained relatively calm since then, but has witnessed a rise in attacks in recent months.

Violence has fallen sharply across Iraq, but militant groups are still capable of carrying out frequent bomb attacks. (For a factbox detailing all of Tuesday's security incidents, click on [nLL419841]) (Additional reporting by Tim Cocks in Baghdad and Ali al-Mashhadani in Ramadi; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Jon Boyle)

خروج سید حسن خمینی از کشور در اعتراض به اتفاقات پس از انتخابات !

سلام نیوز:سیدحسن خمینی به دلیل فشارهای سیاسی جهت حضور در مراسم تنفیذ حکم ریاست جمهوری، کشور را به مقصد یکی از کشورهای منطقه ترک کرد.

سید حسن خمینی در اعتراض به روند اداره کشور و اتفاقات پس از انتخابات کشور را ترک کرد.

به گزارش خبرنگار پایگاه خبری راهبردی سلام و به نقل از نزدیکان سید حسن خمینی، نوه بنیانگذار انقلاب اسلامی ایران اخیرا و در اعتراض به اتفاقات پس از انتخابات کشور را به مقصد یکی از کشورهای منطقه ترک کرده است.

گفتنی است وی در چند مدت اخیر برای حضور در مراسم تحلیف و تنفیذ حکم ریاست جمهوری بسیار تحت فشار بوده است و به همین علت برای چند وقتی به یکی از کشورهای منطقه مسافرت کرده است.


جلسه هاشمي، ميرحسين و سيد حسن خميني درباره ابطال انتخابات







خبرگزاري دولتي ايرنا به نقل از حسين فدايي، از جلسهاي با حضور سيدحسن خميني، هاشمي رفسنجاني و ميرحسين موسوي براي اعتراض به انتخابات خبر داد.

به گزارش «موج سوم» به نقل از ايرنا وي در جلسه شوراي اداري شهرستان ري گفت:بعد از اعلام نظر شوراي نگهبان و بر حسب سلسله مراتب نظام و اعلام نظر رهبري قاعدتا پرونده انتخابات بايد بسته مي شد.
وي اظهار داشت: متاسفانه شاهد مسايلي هستيم كه اگر تبيين نشود، به صورت شبهاتي باقي خواهند ماند و افرادي با انگيزه و برنامه ريزي شده دنبال آن هستند كه اين موارد را لكه ننگي براي جمهوري اسلامي ثبت كنند.

فدايي افزود: از يك سال قبل دشمنان مي خواستند تصويري از يك كشور بحراني را القا كنند و در پايان سال 87 نيز بحث تقلب انتخابات و تشكيل كميته صيانت از آرا را مطرح كردند.

وي گفت:متاسفانه دعوت مردم براي اعتراض و تقاضاي ابطال انتخابات در جلسه اي مطرح مي شود كه در آن سيدحسن خميني، موسوي و هاشمي حضور دارند و حال بايد گفت اگر در انتخابات تقلب هم شده بود آيا راهش قرار دادن مردم مقابل يكديگر است.

وي اظهار داشت: برخي خواص در كشور به گونه اي تصميم گرفتند كه انتخابات 22 خرداد به كام ملت ما تلخ شد نوع تصميم گيري آنان شادماني را در اردوگاه استكبار به وجود آورد.

فدايي در اين جلسه همجنين به تحليلي تكراري از مسائل انتخابات پرداخت.

Abtahi Confesses

July 18, 2009

Ebrahim Nabavi

Mohammad Ali Abtahi is former vice-president to president Mohammad Khatami and among reformists who have been arrested following the June 12the contested presidential election.

Mohammad Ali Abtahi is former vice-president to president Mohammad Khatami and among reformists who have been arrested following the June 12the contested presidential election. There are reports in some government media that there have been attempts to force him to make public “confessions”. The following piece was written by satirist Ebrahim Nabavi speculating on what he may say should he be forced to make such a confession.



In the name of God, I am Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a mullah, hired by the world imperialist. Through my personal weblog (webneveshteha) I have tried to seduce people, I have created riots, fooled the public and committed other crimes. For a period of time, I was an assistant and secretary to the President (Bang, slap… . Some bandages are put on Abtahi’s face). I am sorry, I will correct my words, he was not the President but traitor Khatami. I am still not sure whether what I did was a service or acts of betrayal.



I confess that during one of my trips to the holly city of Mecca a dreadful CIA agent contacted me. He introduced himself as Hassan Agha, his factious name. I guess his real name was Roger Waters or Michael Laden. “Come on, let’s have a velvet revolution,” he told me, and as you can see (pointing to his green shawl and bracelet) he succeeded in deceiving me. Back then I was an assistant to the President so I asked this CIA guy, “What’s in this for me?” “If you lead the velvet revolution properly we will make you an assistant to the minister”, he replied. “Are you nuts or what? I am the assistant to the President right now!” I said. But Hassan Agha or the CIA agent did not listen to me and went (slap, bang, …. . “Please stop hitting me” … another bandage on his face, with some bruises).



Yes, I definitely accepted his offer, I mean the velvet thing. But the fact is that when I went back to Iran I saw no opportunity for the velvet revolution, because, come on guys, the president was one of us and so was the whole parliament. Finally one day a man with a huge mustache (beep) came to me. Apparently he found out about my velvet thing through the intelligence ministry. The guy’s name was Chamran (beep, beep, beeeeep). He said: “OK, now you have power, what more do you want? Give me your velvet revolution. We have a bunch of so called “Abadgaran” palls who have nothing to do. Let’s do the velvet revolution so the project won’t go wasted. “Against whom are you going to do the velvet revolution?” I asked. “Against you, who else?” he replied. “OK. No problem. But how are you going to do the velvet thing?”. “We have millions of jobless and bored Basijis who just wander around and bite the pavements. We want to give this project to them. Uh, and we also have the military and army. “. “Brother! What you do with millions of armed Basijis is not a velvet revolution anymore. Go and do something else. I don’t know what. You can start the third world war or a bloody military coup.” Chamran thought for a while and then said: “Yeah, you’re right. I’ve never thought about that.” and went away.



So the velvet revolution project was undone until the recent presidential election. I told Mr. Khatami (bang, bang, slap, ….) sorry, traitor Khatami that now was the time for the velvet revolution. He looked into my eyes and said this: “ Mamali! We will win the election without the velvet revolution.” I was doubtful and said, “Seyyed! Why not? We can have both, the presidency and the velvet revolution.” But he didn’t agree to that and from then things didn’t go well between us. I went to Mir-Hossein Mousavi and said, “Come on, let’s have a velvet revolution”. He was not the right guy. He didn’t say even a word. So in the end I offered the project to Mr. Karroubi. And he accepted it. Back then, about five months before the election, the green velvet was the best available velvet in the market. We bought three rolls of this velvet. He put two rolls on his shoulder and I took one. We went to the car and drove back home.

On one occasion, while walking in the street, we saw everything was green: cars had green flags and girls wore green shawls, and everyone had a green bracelet. I told Mr. Karroubi, “Gee! Someone has already started the velvet revolution before us”. So we gave up the idea (bang, bang, slap. A crack in the head, an ambulance, a broken window, etc). Yes, as I was saying, we started our cooperation with Mousavi’s gang. Every single night we would hold a rally in the streets. I even imported green velvet from England and Israel. We were in Heaven. CNN Journalist Christiane Amanpour supported us with billions of Dollars and now we have started our own green velvet trade.



Actually I was mostly cooperating with Karroubi’s gang and was not concerned about the green movement so much, because you know, the movement belonged to Mousavi. He even won the green color at a TV drawing event (Auch! What did I do wrong? Ok, ok, I’ll say that brother. Bang, hammer, … ) Yes, as I was saying, I was pretending that I was with Karroubi, while in fact I was managing the whole green movement. I had some secret contacts with Mousavi’s gang and usually went to his residence using the back door so no one would see me. In Mousavi’s gang I was known as Tajzadeh. Yes, I was Tajzadeh. Tajzadeh himself was not there, believe it or not. On the Internet I also used to incite rioters by writing bad things. I had many fictitious names. Let’s see; hmmm, names such as Sakineh, Safura, Soghra etc. May the Lord forgive me.



Mr. Karroubi and I were ready for the elections. I used to regularly publish the progress of our work on the Internet, and also used satellite for my evil purpose. One day in the middle of our activities I told Mr. Karbas-chi (Karbas in Persian means “canvas”) that Moussavi had the velvet revolution, let’s try a canvas revolution which would be related to you and also won’t cost as much as velvet (bang, slap, bang, siren of an ambulance, behind the wall they take the numb body of Saeed Hajjarian to the hospital). Yes, who said canvas? I did not. I was next to Moussavi until the very end. Do you know how many ribbons I myself tied around the wrists of young girls and boys? I was that active.



Investigator’s voice: Confess to your affairs.



Abtahi breaks into tears: I am so ashamed. May the great Iranian nation forgive me because of my filthy behavior. I had an affair not only with my own wife but also with many women around the whole world. I am really ashamed, but I will confess. In Paris I met a woman. Her name was Angelina Jolie and she had a very ugly and terrible husband. By the way, at home she was called “Fereshteh”. So she met me and of course fell in love with me and that is when our affair started. I also had an affair with Marilyn Monroe… (he looks into the camera, bang, siren of an ambulance). Yes, I am sorry, Marilyn actually died a long time ago. I forgot. I had an affair with Madonna in London and with Scarlet Johansson (known as “Morvarid (Pearl)”) in Barcelona and now I am awfully ashamed of myself. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that in Paris I also had an affair with Carla Bruni, you know in reality she had a crush on me and followed me everywhere. In the end Khatami, asked Sarkozi to marry her. Maybe she will let me go.



I am really sorry, I am even ashamed to look into this camera (looks at the investigators and displays pain). I do apologize to dear President Mousavi (mortar explosion, ambulance, Katyusha rockets, bang). I really apologize to Mr. Ahmadinejad, the beloved president and the supreme leader (another huge explosion) and also to the martyrs’ family. I ask the dear court for the most terrible penalties which I really deserve. I hope that Mr. Ahmadinejad wins every single election in Iran and also all around the world by having eighty and even more, by hundred and fifty percent of the votes. They shall overcome. That means the revolution will win and the velvet revolution will lose. I deeply apologize to the dear interrogator, Basijis who kindly hit me and beat me up, and also thank the president’s assistants who tried to chase the protesters on motorcycles and arrest them without a pause. I thank Keyhan journalists who kindly enlightened us by pushing and injecting the truth into the body of the prisoners. I wish all of them success. Keep going.



The interrogator’s voice: Short pants you idiot moron…



Abtahi: Oh yeah, as one of my kind brothers reminded me, I confess that during one of my trips to Beirut I wore short pants and as Mr. interrogator reminded me that this was an act against national security. He is right. I want to say in fact that in fact what I wore was not short pants but loose pants. Anyway, I am sorry for committing this crime. Once in Koln I wore a cap and in Damascus I dared to wear a chapeau that I hope our great nation and our fearing government will forgive.

U.S. fighter jet crashes in Afghanistan, 2 dead

18 Jul 2009 06:49:01 GMT
Source: Reuters
(For full coverage on Afghanistan, double click on [ID:nAFPAK]) (Adds source confirming crew killed)

KABUL, July 18 (Reuters) - A U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet crashed in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, the U.S. Air Force said, and a military source said both crew members on board were killed.

The Air Force said in a statement that the crash, which took place at 3:15 a.m. local time (2245 GMT on Friday), was not due to hostile action.

"There is an active investigation going on at the site at this time," Air Force spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Reid Christopherson said by telephone from Qatar, the main base of U.S. air operations in the Middle East and Central Asia.

Christopherson declined to discuss the status of the crew members, but a military source in Kabul confirmed they had been killed. The source asked not to be identified pending the Air Force's official announcement of the deaths.

The Strike Eagle is a variant of the F-15 supersonic jet designed to strike ground targets and provide close air support for infantry.

It has been deployed widely in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

(Editing by Paul Tait)

------------


Helicopter crashes in Afghanistan, 16 killed
19 Jul 2009 11:11:45 GMT
Source: Reuters
(For full coverage on Afghanistan, double click on [ID:nAFPAK]) (Recasts with confirmation of casualties)

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, July 19 (Reuters) - A civilian helicopter under contract for NATO forces in Afghanistan crashed at a military base in the south of the country on Sunday, killing 16 people and wounding five others, the alliance said.

Captain Ruben Hoornveld, a Dutch NATO spokesman at Kandahar Air Field, said there was no enemy involvement in the crash, which took place as the helicopter was taking off from the base, NATO's headquarters in the south of the country.

Russia's Interfax news agency described the helicopter as an Mi-8 transporter, operated by a Russian firm, which had 17 passengers and three crew on board at the time of the crash. It gave the death toll as 15.

The crash was the second by a former-Soviet civilian helicopter in southern Afghanistan in less than a week. Six Ukrainian crew members died aboard a Soviet-built Mi-26 transport helicopter which crashed in Helmand province on Tuesday.

Moldovan authorities said Tuesday's helicopter was shot down while ferrying supplies to a remote British base.

NATO troops in Afghanistan rely heavily on air craft from the former Soviet Union for cargo and transport flights in a country where travel by road is often difficult. The NATO force in Afghanistan has been expanding rapidly this year with the deployment of tens of thousands of additional U.S. troops.

(Writing by Peter Graff; Reporting by Ismail Sameem in KANDAHAR and Amie Ferris-Rotman in MOSCOW; Editing by Paul Tait)

The sedition's eye was injured but it was not blinded. Now we have to blind it totally before gouging it out

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Newly re-elected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday his next government "would bring down the global arrogance," signaling a tougher approach by Tehran toward the West after last month's disputed election.

Ahmadinejad, in his first provincial trip after the June 12 presidential vote, said Iran's enemies had tried to interfere and foment aggression in the country, referring to mass opposition protests against the official election result.

The hardline president, who often rails against the West, said the Islamic Republic wanted "logic and negotiations" but that Western powers had insulted the Iranian nation and should apologize.

Iranian leaders often refer to the United States and its allies as the "global arrogance."

"As soon as the new government is established, with power and authority, ten times more than before, it will enter the global scene and will bring down the global arrogance," he told a big crowd in the northeastern city of Mashhad.

"They should wait as a new wave of revolutionary thinking ... from the Iranian nation is on the way and we will not allow the arrogant (powers) to even have one night of good sleep," Ahmadinejad said, according to state broadcaster IRIB.

Opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi, Ahmadinejad's main challenger in the election, says it was rigged in the incumbent's favor. The authorities reject charges of vote fraud.

Iran has accused Britain and the United States, which have criticised a crackdown on opposition protests, of interfering in its internal affairs. London and Washington reject the charge.

"In this recent election the enemy tried to bring the battlefront to the interior of this country," Ahmadinejad said.

"But I have told the enemies ... that this nation ... will strike you in the face so hard you will lose your way home," he said in comments translated by English-language Press TV.

He also voiced continued defiance in a row over Iran's disputed nuclear ambitions, saying major powers "will not be able to take away the smallest amount of Iran's rights."

Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful power purposes. Western countries suspect it is aimed at making bombs.

(Reporting by Zahra Hosseinian; writing by Fredrik Dahl; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

"Opposing him is no longer the same as opposing God."

Supreme leader Khamenei diminished in Iranians' eyes

the Los Angeles Times

Since Ayatollah Ali Khamenei openly sided with President Ahmadinejad with the election results still in dispute, 'opposing him is no longer the same as opposing God,' one analyst says.

Reporting from Beirut — For two decades he was considered to be above the petty political squabbles, a cautious elder contemplating questions of faith and Islam while guiding his nation into the future.

But Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose title of supreme leader makes him Iran's ultimate authority, has gotten his hands dirty. His decision in recent weeks to so stridently support the nation's controversial president after a disputed election has dramatically changed his image among his people, setting in motion an unpredictable series of events that could fundamentally change the Islamic Republic.

"Public respect for him has been significantly damaged," said one analyst, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Opposing him is no longer the same as opposing God."

The venerated Khamenei has even become the target of public jokes and criticism.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "commits crimes, and the leader supports him," was a popular slogan during the riots of June 20, the day after Khamenei delivered a blistering Friday sermon in which he said that the election a week earlier had been won by Ahmadinejad.

At July 9 demonstrations, protesters mocked the ayatollah's son, Mojtaba, who many believe hopes to succeed his father.


'Khamenei-jad'

In seeking to fill the robes of the Islamic Republic's late founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Khamenei has never been deemed to have the same level of religious credentials or oratorical skills. Over the last two decades, he has invested more in building up support among the nationalistic leaderships of the Revolutionary Guard, security apparatus and militias than in cultivating a clerical establishment that increasingly reflects the values and aspirations of modern Iran.

But his decision to tilt heavily toward raw force rather than the power of the turban has exposed a dilemma. His right to rule is based on Khomeini's theological concept of velayat-e faqih, guardianship of religious jurists, which places him as a spiritual guide hovering above the political structure. Now, for many, Khamenei has lost his aura of infallibility and is seen as just one more political infighter -- "Khamenei-jad," as one commentator in the capital joked, combining his name and that of his controversial protege.

"

It's gotten so bad that people stare at me on the street thinking because I'm a cleric I must be an Ahmadinejad supporter, until I hold up my two fingers and show my support for [opposition candidate Mir-Hossein] Mousavi, and the people become happy," Ayatollah Hadi Ghaffari

, a reformist cleric, told a giggling crowd in a popular audiotape distributed around the Internet and on YouTube.

"Mr. Khamenei, you're making a mistake. I am committed to guardianship of the jurisprudent more than Khamenei . . . but I might have something to say to the guardian at the time,"

he said.

Another reformist cleric, Mohsen Kadivar, told Germany's Der Spiegel magazine that Khamenei's decision to tie his fate to Ahmadinejad's disputed election win was "a great moral, but also political, mistake."

Reformist journalist Issa Saharkhiz, who was recently jailed, wrote that Khamenei "has chosen the path of tyranny which the people of Iran and the world have already thrown into the waste bin of history several times."

Few believe the Islamic Republic is on the verge of collapse or revolution. The military, numerous high-ranking clerics and segments of the population continue to support the absolute power of the leader.

But recent developments might make it difficult for Ahmadinejad to govern, much less implement the hard-line agenda he shares with Khamenei of tightening social restrictions and confronting the West.

"Khamenei has always ruled from a position of insecurity vis-a-vis his clerical contemporaries and also the population," said Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who has studied much of Khamenei's writings. "Now he's in a situation where not only is he disliked, but he no longer elicits the same fear that he did before the election."


Broader opposition

The threats to Khamenei no longer come from just the reformists. Even some staunch Ahmadinejad supporters said they were disheartened by Khamenei's decision to play such a key role in blessing the controversial election results. One Iranian conservative, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that "it diminished the office" of the House of the Leader, the supreme leader's headquarters, meant to be revered by Shiite Muslims.

"He has lost a remarkable number of his own religious and traditional walks of people who had traditionally been supporters of the Islamic system in Iran," said Bizhan Bidabad, an Iranian intellectual in Tehran.

As Khamenei's credibility and powers of persuasion with moderates have collapsed, so has his ability to keep protesters under control without the truncheons and tear gas of the security forces. With Khamenei's golden halo gone, the Revolutionary Guard and its allied radicals might figure he no longer serves a purpose, said one political analyst.

"I think that Khamenei is finished as a politician," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "He has always played the role of a balancer. Now that he's removing one part of the balancing act, the remaining actors might decide at some point that they are better off without him."

Portions of the Iranian population have long quietly resented Khamenei because they opposed the Islamic Republic's theocratic constrictions, but for the better part of two decades his political views remained ambiguous, even nebulous. That changed after the election, when he blessed the vote even before it was officially ratified and delivered a momentous speech in which he personally stood up for Ahmadinejad, who won amid fraud charges, and described the president's views as "closer" to his.

"It was not the right decision to congratulate the current president prior to the ratification of the election result," said Mohammad-Ali Dadkhah, a human rights lawyer, days before he was jailed. "The supreme leader made a prejudgment, not a judgment."

The president's opponents took on his challenge and continued questioning the vote, damaging the supreme leader's personal credibility by forcing him and his adjutants to make further defenses of the election results.

"For nearly two decades Khamenei has wielded power without accountability," Sadjadpour said. "Those days are over. Formerly sacred red lines have been crossed. For the first time, people have begun openly questioning whether Emperor Khamenei has any clothes on."

While direct anger at Khamenei has been rare over the years, people are now shouting slogans against him from rooftops. One political cartoon making its way around the Internet shows him riding double on a motorcycle with a club-wielding Ahmadinejad, likening the pair to the Basiji militiamen who have stormed crowds of demonstrators.


Pondering next step

Khamenei's allies seem at a loss over whether to bandage his hemorrhaging legitimacy by singing his praises or utilizing the blunt instruments of state. Despite jailings and beatings, Iranian authorities have yet to squelch vocal defiance of Khamenei's order to end debates and protests over the election. Notably, it has been mostly military officials and not clerics who have rushed to the system's defense, denouncing Mousavi's green-bedecked supporters as subversives.

"The green movement was intent on piling pressure on supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Islamic establishment," Gen. Yadollah Javani, a hard-line commander of the Revolutionary Guard, said this month. "The sedition's eye was injured but it was not blinded. Now we have to blind it totally before gouging it out."

Ahmadinejad opponents to attend weekly Iran prayers

17 Jul 2009 07:26:24 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Rafsanjani to lead prayers after two-month absence

* Mousavi's first official public appearance since vote (Adds detail, changes byline)

By Fredrik Dahl

TEHRAN, July 17 (Reuters) - Former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a rival of re-elected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, will lead weekly prayers in Tehran on Friday for the first time since last month's disputed presidential election.

Opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi, the election runner-up, plans to attend the same prayers at Tehran University in his first official public appearance since the June 12 vote that provoked mass protests by his pro-reform supporters.

Pro-reform cleric Mehdi Karoubi, who came fourth in an election he and Mousavi say was rigged in the hardline incumbent's favour, will also be present, his spokesman said.

June's election stirred the most striking display of internal dissent in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution and exposed deepening divisions in its establishment.

At least 20 people died in post-election violence. Mousavi and the authorities blame each other for the bloodshed. The security forces have managed to largely quell last month's street demonstrations, but Mousavi has remained defiant.

There was a large police presence near the university a few hours before the prayers were due to start at around 12:30 p.m. (0800 GMT), a witness said. Scores of policemen were standing at or near the central Enqelab square, the witness said.

Many Basij militia members with batons were also seen near the university.

"I've never been to Friday prayers but me and my friends will go to this one," one female Mousavi supporter said. Reflecting concern the event may turn into a show of strength by Ahmadinejad's pro-reform opponents, Intelligence Minister Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei said on Thursday:

"The vigilant Iranian nation must be aware that tomorrow's sermon should not turn into an arena for undesirable scenes."

LEADERSHIP RIFT

The sermon at Tehran University is broadcast live by state radio and can reach a huge audience.

Rafsanjani, an influential cleric who was president in the 1990s, will lead the prayers after a two-month absence. Some of his relatives, including his daughter Faezeh, were arrested briefly for taking part in pro-Mousavi rallies.

Ahmadinejad on Thursday issued veiled criticism of Rafsanjani, a Mousavi supporter whom the president enraged during the election campaign by accusing him of corruption.

"Nobody has the right to recognise special rights or incentives for himself or his relatives," Ahmadinejad said in a speech in the northeastern city of Mashhad on Thursday evening.

But Anoush Ehteshami, an Iran expert at Britain's Durham University, said he did not expect a confrontation between Mousavi and Ahmadinejad supporters during the prayers, when worshippers gather both inside and outside the university.

"I doubt very much Ahmadinejad will be there. This is if you like the reformers' turn at Friday prayer,"

he said.

The authorities reject vote rigging charges. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has endorsed Ahmadinejad's victory, but Mousavi says the next government will be illegitimate.

The election also strained ties between Iran and the West, already at odds over Tehran's nuclear programme. Western powers criticised the protest crackdown and Iran, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, accused them of meddling. (Additional reporting by Zahra Hosseinian and Parisa Hafezi; writing by Fredrik Dahl; editing by Philippa Fletcher)


-----------

Rafsanjani, who was leading the prayers for the first time since June's disputed presidential election, urged people "not to contaminate the position and the sanctuary of Friday prayers by (inappropriate) comments and slogans."

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Friday Iran was in a "crisis" after last month's disputed election, in the first such comment by a senior establishment figure in the Islamic Republic.
Influential cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, leading the weekly ceremony for the first time since the disputed June 12 election, said many Iranians had doubts about the official result in favor of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.

"We are all members of a family. I hope with this sermon we can pass through this period of hardships that can be called a crisis," he said in a Friday prayer sermon broadcast on state radio.

---------------

Hardline Iran editor:Rafsanjani backs "law-breakers"

18 Jul 2009 07:11:00 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Hardliner's editorial underlines leadership rift

* Published day after Rafsanjani criticised vote aftermath

By Fredrik Dahl and Hashem Kalantari

TEHRAN, July 18 (Reuters) - A hardline editor seen as close to Iran's top authority accused a powerful cleric on Saturday of backing "law-breakers," in comments highlighting deepening divisions in the Islamic Republic after a disputed election.

Hossein Shariatmadari, editor-in-chief of the Kayhan daily, also criticised former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani for saying in a sermon on Friday Iran was in crisis.

In apparent defiance of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Rafsanjani said many Iranians had doubts about the official result of the June 12 vote and he also took issue with the way the authorities had handled the poll and its aftermath.

As he led Friday prayers at Tehran University for the first time since the election, tens of thousands of protesters outside used the event to stage the biggest show of dissent for weeks.

Clashes erupted near the university between police and followers of opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi, who came second and still contests official results that showed President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad had been re-elected by a wide margin.

The government has portrayed post-election mass protests last month as the work of local subversives, or "rioters", and Western powers seeking to topple the Islamic establishment.

"Most certainly Mr Rafsanjani is familiar with the definition of a crisis ... The most meaningful word to describe the current conditions is a conspiracy," Shariatmadari said in an editorial.

He said Rafsanjani, a moderate who backed Mousavi's election campaign, had done nothing to prevent the gathering of Mousavi supporters inside and outside Tehran University, where prayers are held each Friday and broadcast live on state radio.

CLERICAL CHALLENGE

"At the same time he used every opportunity available to challenge the outcome of the election," wrote Shariatmadari, who earlier this month called for Mousavi and another leading reformist to be put on trial for "terrible crimes".

Noting Rafsanjani had urged everybody to abide by the law, the editorial added in a clear reference to Mousavi supporters who have continued to defy a ban on demonstrations:

"Mr Rafsanjani ... not only disregarded what he had said but openly supported the law-breakers."

The election stirred the most striking display of internal unrest in Iran, the world's fifth biggest oil exporter, since the 1979 revolution and exposed deep rifts in its ruling elite.

It has also further strained ties between Iran and the West, already at odds over Tehran's nuclear programme. Western powers criticised the crackdown. Iran accused them of meddling.

Rafsanjani, who heads the Assembly of Experts -- a powerful body that can in theory dismiss the supreme leader -- in his sermon also demanded the immediate release of people detained in the unrest and called for press curbs to be relaxed.

He did not go as far as Mousavi in denouncing the conduct of the vote, but his remarks still posed a clear challenge to Khamenei, who has upheld the election result and accused foreign powers of fomenting the unrest.

At least 20 people died in post-election violence. Mousavi and the authorities blame each other for the bloodshed. Riot police and religious Basij militia eventually suppressed June's street demonstrations, but Mousavi has remained defiant.

(Editing by Sophie Hares) (For more Iran coverage double click on [ID:nLP150493])

-----------


Iran hardliners round on Rafsanjani in election row
18 Jul 2009 13:41:06 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Hardliners' attacks underline leadership divisions

* In Friday sermon, Rafsanjani criticised vote aftermath (Recasts with cleric criticises Rafsanjani)

By Fredrik Dahl and Hashem Kalantari

TEHRAN, July 18 (Reuters) - Iranian hardliners hit back at former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on Saturday for criticising the conduct of last month's election and its aftermath, highlighting deepening establishment divisions.

An editor seen as close to Iran's top authority said Rafsanjani was backing "law-breakers", a reference to opposition protesters, and a senior cleric accused him of creating rifts in the Islamic Republic and hinted he should face legal action.

In apparent defiance of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Rafsanjani said in a sermon on Friday that many Iranians had doubts about the official result of the June 12 vote, which showed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won.

Leading Friday prayers in Tehran for the first time since the election, the powerful cleric also declared that Iran was in crisis after the poll, which opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi says was rigged in the hardline incumbent's favour.

Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, an Ahmadinejad ally and a member of Iran's top legislative body, rejected Rafsanjani's remarks.

"Who planted the seeds of doubt in the election in the minds of people? ... Isn't this sowing discord?" Yazdi told a news conference, according to the official IRNA news agency.

He added, according to Fars News Agency: "Those who planted doubt in society and those who irrigated it to make it sprout out of the soil and pour into the streets to violate people's lives and property ... should be dealt with legally."

The election stirred the most striking display of internal unrest in Iran, the world's fifth biggest oil exporter, since the 1979 revolution and exposed deep rifts in its ruling elite.

HARDLINERS HIT BACK

At least 20 people died in post-election violence. Mousavi and the authorities blame each other for the bloodshed. Riot police and religious Basij militia eventually suppressed the street demonstrations, but Mousavi has remained defiant.

Post-election events have also further strained ties between Iran and the West, already at odds over Tehran's nuclear programme. Western powers criticised the crackdown. Iran accused them of meddling.

Rafsanjani's robust stance appeared to set him on collision course with Khamenei, who has openly backed Ahmadinejad in a departure from the supreme leader's accepted role as a lofty clerical arbiter above the political fray.

Tens of thousands of opposition supporters used the Friday prayers led by Rafsanjani, a moderate who backed Mousavi in the election, to stage the biggest show of dissent in weeks.

Clashes erupted near the university between police and followers of Mousavi, who came second and still contests the official election results.

The government has portrayed post-election mass protests as the work of local subversives, or "rioters", and Western powers seeking to topple the Islamic establishment.

Hossein Shariatmadari, editor-in-chief of the Kayhan daily, said Rafsanjani had done nothing to prevent the gathering of Mousavi supporters inside and outside Tehran University, where prayers are held each Friday and broadcast live on state radio.

"At the same time he used every opportunity available to challenge the outcome of the election," wrote Shariatmadari, who earlier this month called for Mousavi and another leading reformist to be put on trial for "terrible crimes".

Noting Rafsanjani had urged everybody to abide by the law, his editorial added in a reference to those who defied a protest ban: "Mr Rafsanjani ... not only disregarded what he had said but openly supported the law-breakers."

Shariatmadari is seen as a close ally of Khamenei, Iran's most powerful figure with the final say on all matters of state.

Rafsanjani, who heads the Assembly of Experts -- a powerful body that can in theory dismiss the supreme leader -- in his sermon demanded the immediate release of people detained in the unrest and called for press curbs to be relaxed.

Rights groups say hundreds of people, including senior pro-reform politicians, journalists, activisits and lawyers, have been detained by the authorities since the election. (Additional reporting by Zahra Hosseinian; editing by Tim Pearce)


--------------

ANALYSIS-Iran's hardline leaders failing to stem discontent

21 Jul 2009 09:59:08 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Iran's post-election power struggle persists

* Turmoil dims prospects for nuclear dialogue with West

* Rafsanjani sermon emboldens opposition

* Khamenei faces unprecedented challenge to authority

By Alistair Lyon, Special Correspondent

BEIRUT, July 21 (Reuters) - Iran's post-election power struggle is shaking the Islamic Republic to its roots, with no sign that its supreme leader can assuage popular anger or regain the trust of alienated politicians and clerics any time soon.

The turmoil since hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected in a June 12 vote his opponents said was rigged has rendered moot U.S. President Barack Obama's offer of engagement with Iran, which the West suspects of seeking nuclear weapons.

It is hard to see how Iran could forge consensus on nuclear negotiations or dialogue with the United States while Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is facing unprecedented challenges to his authority and deep fissures within the ruling elite.

Tehran, which says its nuclear programme is purely peaceful, faces a September deadline to agree to substantive negotiations with the West or risk tougher international sanctions.

"Whether or not you can find an interlocutor in Iran at this moment is questionable because the whole regime is in crisis," said Rasool Nafisi, a U.S.-based Iran expert. "Whatever move it made would be perceived as either arrogance or weakness."

The nuclear issue may have to await the outcome of Iran's gravest internal upheaval since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

A hard-hitting Friday sermon by Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a disaffected regime heavyweight, has re-energised the opposition after security forces quelled last month's huge street protests and jailed hundreds of prominent reformists and intellectuals.

"The main problem the opposition faces is that their brains trust is either in prison, under house arrest, or unable to communicate freely," said Karim Sadjadpour, an analyst at the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

"There remains tremendous popular outrage, but at the moment there is no leadership to channel that outrage politically."

Sadjadpour saw no sign of an early compromise because hardliners feared any concession would only encourage their foes, and for now they still control the levers of power.

"While there are pronounced cleavages among Iran's clerical elite, Khamenei's power base is not the clergy but the Revolutionary Guards. When and if we start to see rifts among the Guards it could be fatal for both Khamenei and Ahmadinejad."

Khamenei, apparently stung by Rafsanjani's sermon in which he said Iran was in crisis because of doubts over the election result and demanded an end to detentions and press curbs, warned senior figures on Monday not to help Tehran's enemies.

"Elites should know that any talk, action or analysis that helps (the enemy) is a move against the nation," he said.

But Rafsanjani appears too powerfully entrenched to ignore. "He is not just anybody. He is one of the leading figures of the revolution and well-anchored among large groups of clerics," said a Western diplomat in Tehran. "He has a fantastic network."

CLERICS IN A QUANDARY

Defeated candidates Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi have defied Khamenei's efforts to silence their protests. Former President Mohammad Khatami, a mild reformist, on Monday boldly proposed a referendum on the legitimacy of the government.

Ideologically, the backing of Iran's clerical establishment is crucial for the leadership's standing, but few ayatollahs have endorsed Ahmadinejad and some, like dissident Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, have even attacked Khamenei.

"The clerics don't know what to do," said Baqer Moin, a London-based Iran analyst. "They are stuck between Khamenei's uncompromising position and an emboldened opposition which is demanding more than Khamenei is willing to give."

Khamenei, who succeeded revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as supreme leader in 1989, has endorsed Ahmadinejad and the election result, risking his own credibility as a mediator in disputes and ultimate arbiter of state policy.

"The supreme leader has lost his power to pronounce the final word," said Moin, a biographer of Khomeini. "He is just another politician ... reflecting the interest of various groups surrounding him, not the system as a whole."

Rafsanjani, 75, a veteran insider who heads a body that can in theory dismiss the supreme leader, was accused of corruption by Ahmadinejad during a mud-slinging election campaign.

But he took a lofty line at Friday prayers, saying unity and people's trust in the voting process must be restored after a "bitter day" -- trenchant indirect criticism of Khamenei.

"Rafsanjani has played it quite cleverly and in fact gave the speech the leader should have," Ali Ansari, an Iran scholar at Britain's Durham University said of Friday's sermon.

At stake now, he said, was the political survival not just of Ahmadinejad, but of Khamenei, who was "weakening by the day".

Some analysts see an outside chance that Iran's hardline leaders, feeling isolated at home, might seek an accommodation with the West to gain legitimacy and shore up their position.

So far, however, Khamenei and Ahmadinejad have repeatedly accused Western powers of inciting post-election unrest and have ruled out any concessions on Iran's nuclear projects. Conversely, Obama may be in no haste to embark on any negotiation that might bolster Iranian leaders caught up in such a fluid, unpredictable political drama in Tehran.

"I fear Ahmadinejad's presence serves as an insurmountable obstacle to confidence-building with the United States," Carnegie's Sadjadpour said of the prospects for engagement.

"It's going to be impossible for Tehran to reassure us that its nuclear ambitions are purely peaceful as long as Ahmadinejad remains so outspokenly belligerent towards Israel." (Editing by Jon Hemming)

Three U.S. troops killed in Iraq's Basra - military

17 Jul 2009 06:27:23 GMT
Source: Reuters
BAGHDAD, July 17 (Reuters) - Three U.S. soldiers were killed in an attack on a base in Iraq's southern province of Basra, the U.S. military said in a statement on Friday.

The soldiers were killed by "indirect fire" on Thursday night, the military said, but did not give further details.

Attacks on Western forces in Basra are rare, and an Iraqi security crackdown on Basra city and the surrounding province last year wrested the region from militia and gang control.

U.S. forces have taken over supporting Iraqi security forces in the country's mostly Shi'ite south after British troops stationed there ended their mission earlier this year. (Writing by Mohammed Abbas)

Kangroo Chaudry Courts made Hijacking Borthers Innocent

<3>ISLAMABAD Presidency is Hostage in RAI-WIND!
Pakistani court absolves Sharif of hijacking Musharraf's plane
How Flase becomes Truth in Supreme court
Posted : Fri, 17 Jul 2009 06:35:46 GMT




Islamabad - Pakistan's top court on Friday overturned the conviction of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif for hijacking the plane carrying then army chief General Pervez Musharraf in October 1999, which led to Sharif's overthrow by the army. A five-member panel of the Supreme Court acquitted Sharif of all charges on the grounds of insufficient incriminating evidence.

"Looking at the case from any angle, the charge of hijacking, attempt to hijack or terrorism does not stand established against the petitioner," the 55-page judgement said.

"The conviction and sentence of the appellant are set aside and he (Sharif) is acquitted."

An anti-terrorism court convicted Sharif in April 2000 for preventing an international flight with nearly 200 passengers, including Musharraf and his wife Sahba Musharraf, from landing in Pakistan, and the ruling was later upheld by a High Court.

Months after the conviction, the Saudi government brokered a deal between Sharif and ex-military strongman Musharraf under which Sharif was sent into exile in 2001.

He, however, returned in 2007 to lead his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party in the general vote, though he was barred from contesting the elections for his previous convictions.

Friday's decision cleared the way for the former premier to participate in politics freely.

"God Almighty has determined the truth," Sharif said in his first comments quoted by the private Geo News television channel.

Geo said the leader vowed to dedicate himself to the service of the country.

An earlier court verdict allowed Sharif to run for a public office, and he is due to contest a parliamentary by-election which had been postponed on security concerns.

Poised to win effortlessly, Sharif is most likely to become the opposition leader in the parliament.

The only obstacle to Sharif's becoming a prime minister is legislation passed by Musharraf's political backers which bars a person from holding the office more than two times.

The government and the opposition are in dialogue to abolish the constitutional amendments introduced by Musharraf during his more than eight years of rule.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani congratulated Sharif and said his acquittal "is a victory of democratic forces."

Hashemi in a Flood of Expectations

Yesterday at 10:03am
by Keyvan Mehregan -“Etemad” newspaper
Translated by: Sara Azad

It took more than 50 days before the podium of Tehran’s Friday prayer to echo the voice of Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani for the Iranian nation. During this time a series of events occurred in the 30-year history of the Islamic Republic of Iran, that were arguably rare if not unique; a series of events that their aftershocks have penetrated to the depths of domestic and foreign policies and have involved all the political players.

But why is this week’s Friday prayer, that Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani is going to deliver, important? To answer these questions one should turn back the clock to the night that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in the stature of a presidential candidate to defeat his rival Mir Hossein Mousavi and for the first time, charged the chairman of the Assembly of Experts and the head of the Expediency Council with heavy accusations. Also four years ago, in the second round of the ninth presidential election, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the main rival of Mr. Hashemi and defeated him. This time also he tried to portrait his stature not in competition with Mousavi, Karoubi and Rezaei but in competition with Hashemi-Rafsanjani; and by mentioning his name on the national media and for more than 50 million viewers tried to change the competition atmosphere.

Although after that debate people were waiting for Hashemi’s quick reaction to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s remarks, the chairman of the Assembly of Experts remained silent. However the media affiliated with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the form of various subjects recreated the same atmosphere in different ways. For example, Hossein Shariatmadari on the last Wednesday before the election wrote an article titled “A candle that was blown off....” which the whole article was not aimed at anyone but Hashemi-Rafsanjani.

This article was published on the [same] day that Hashemi-Rafsanjani had complained relentlessly about the behaviour of the ninth president by writing an open letter to the Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei). In a part of his letter, Hashemi had described the reason for his silence in front of Ahmadinejad’s positions as such: “In order to avoid tainting the country’s political atmosphere with more apprehensions in the eve of the election, I have refused to show the immediate reaction expected by the people.” In continuation of the letter, a few paragraphs later Hashemi writes as such: “Of course in the appropriate time the deviations and the untold injustice of the election and the actions of the ninth administration will be available to the public and for the history”.

After writing and publishing this letter no other political or electoral position from the chair of the Assembly of Experts was reported. Of course this was when the announcement of election results had entered the country in to a new phase. During this time that the protests, according to the authorities, had left 20 killed and more than a thousand arrested, Hashemi-Rafsanjani was still insisting on his silent position. Even when Faeze Hashemi, his daughter, and four other members of his family were detained for one night during the Tehran’s unrest, he was still silent. Hashemi-Rafsanjani’s meaningful silence along with his long-term absence from the Friday prayer has increased the speculations regarding Hashemi’s position. Now that it is Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani’s turn to deliver the Friday prayer’s sermon, both parties are waiting to see what the content of his sermon would be.

On one side, the supports of the administration have already started to demand their requests from Hashemi-Rafsanjani and are insisting that Hashemi takes a position coordinated with theirs. Accordingly “Raja-news”, the website close to the administration, has published a letter said to be from a group of students from Tehran University in the form of three suggestions. In this letter it was demanded from Hashemi to support “the administration risen from the will of people”. In another part of this letter it was demanded from Hashemi to dishonour what the authors describe as the movement of “division”, which is hiding itself behind the name and history of the chairman of the Assembly of Experts, and by taking clear position to expose the complex hypocrisy of the division.

However on the other side, there have only been calls for vast presence [of people] at the Friday prayer.
Supporters of Mousavi, Karoubi and Khatami are encouraging each other to attend Hashemi’s sermon at the Friday prayer, by sending and publishing group invitations. Encouraging the supporters of the candidates protesting the election result to attend this week’s Friday prayer has this message to Hashemi-Rafsanjani that he expresses positions that have not yet been heard by the protesters from the official podiums to calm their pain. They expect that the chairman of the Assembly of Experts and the head of the Expediency Council to express position that both help maintain peace in the society and recognize their protest. Although predicting Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani’s positions will be the focus of political associations until delivering his sermon, no one knows what will happen in this week’s Friday prayer. Will he provide, as he wrote in his letter dated 19 khordad (June 9th), the deviations and the untold injustice of the election and the actions of the ninth administration to the public and for the history?

Facebook has privacy gaps: Canadian watchdog

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The popular social networking site Facebook is not doing enough to protect the personal information it gets from subscribers, and it gives users confusing and incomplete information about privacy matters, Canada's privacy commissioner said on Thursday.

"It's clear that privacy issues are top of mind for Facebook, and yet we found serious privacy gaps in the way the site operates," Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart said in a report on an investigation into Facebook.

The report said Facebook violates Canada's privacy laws by keeping the personal information of people who have deactivated their accounts in its databases indefinitely.

It provides confusing information about privacy practices, for example showing users how to deactivate accounts but not how to delete them.

Facebook told the commissioner it needed to keep personal data for those who shut down accounts because about half of users reactivate accounts that they had deactivated.

The report said Facebook had strenuously objected to some of the commissioner's preliminary conclusions, and the company said on Thursday it would continue to work with her to address outstanding areas and to raise awareness of privacy controls.

Facebook has 200 million active users, including about 12 million in Canada -- more than one in three Canadians.

The report will set a precedent for other networking sites operating in Canada, and could influence practice in other countries. Stoddart said she believed Canada was the first to publish a formal privacy investigation of Facebook's practices.

Stoddart also said Facebook lacked adequate safeguards to prevent unauthorized access to users' personal information by third-party developers. There are more than 950,000 developers in 180 countries.

She said Facebook had resolved some issues and she gave it 30 days to comply with a series of "recommendations", and said she could take it to Federal Court to enforce the recommendations.

Facebook's chief privacy officer, Chris Kelly, told Reuters in San Francisco he did not expect this to be necessary.

"Given that we've had very productive conversations, I would be surprised if things move in that direction. Now, that being said, we don't believe that there is any violation of Canadian law here and we think that a court would find that, were either party to go in that direction," he said.

He also said Facebook did not want to end up with too many notifications interrupting users, and said any solutions should "reflect the fact that people come to Facebook to share information as opposed to hide it."

The investigation was launched in response to complaints by the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) at the University of Ottawa.

In a written statement, Facebook said it was "pleased that the Canadian federal privacy commissioner has dismissed the most of the inaccurate claims brought by CIPPIC, and that we were able to collaboratively resolve other issues raised in the complaint."

(Additional reporting by Alexei Oreskovic in San Francisco; editing by Janet Guttsman and Peter Galloway)

Head of Iran's atomic energy body resigns

TEHRAN (Reuters) - The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, the body in charge of the country's controversial nuclear programme, has resigned after 12 years in the post, Iranian media reported on Thursday.

The ISNA news agency said it had spoken to Gholamreza Aghazadeh and he confirmed his resignation but it gave no details on the reason for him quitting.

The organisation leads a nuclear programme that has put Tehran at odds with the West, which fears it is aimed at making bombs. Tehran says it is for peaceful power purposes.

In April, Aghazadeh spoke at Iran's National Nuclear Day, saying the country had further expanded sensitive nuclear enrichment activity.

Aghazadeh is an ally of former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who backed opposition candidate Mirhossein Mousavi in last month's disputed election, but the media reports did not say whether his resignation was linked to the vote.

He also served as a minister in the 1980s, when Mousavi was prime minister.

Ahmadinejad won a second four-year term in the June 12 election, but Mousavi says it was rigged and that the next government will be illegitimate.

Aghazadeh was oil minister for more than a decade between 1985-97 and also served as a deputy prime minister during the 1980s.

He become head of the Atomic Energy Organisation in 1997 and stayed in the post after Ahmadinejad first won the presidency in 2005, despite backing the candidacy of Rafsanjani in that year's election race.

The official IRNA news agency quoted the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organisation as confirming the resignation.

(Reporting by Zahra Hosseinian; writing by Fredrik Dahl; editing by Angus MacSwan)

168 killed in Iran plane crash

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press Writer – 36 mins ago

TEHRAN, Iran – A Russian-made Iranian passenger plane carrying 168 people crashed shortly after takeoff Wednesday, smashing into a field northwest of the capital and shattering into flaming pieces. All on board were killed in Iran's worst air disaster in six years, officials said.

Before crashing, the plane's tail was on fire as it circled in the air, one witness told The Associated Press.

"Then, I saw the plane crashing nose-down. It hit the ground causing a big explosion. The impact shook the ground like an earthquake. Then, plane pieces were scattered all over the agricultural fields," Ali Akbar Hashemi, a 23-year-old who was laying gas pipes in a nearby home, told AP by phone.

The impact blasted a deep trench in the dirt field, which was littered with smoking wreckage, body parts and personal items from the Tupolev jet, according to photos from the scene. Firefighters put out the flaming wreckage, which officials said was strewn over a 200 yard (meter) area. A large chunk of a wing was visible in footage of the scene, but much of the wreckage appeared to be in small shreds.

Iran has seen numerous crashes in recent years, usually blamed on poor maintenance. Iranian officials often blame U.S. sanctions that prevent it from updating American aircraft bought before the 1979 Islamic revolution and make it difficult to get European spare parts or planes as well.

Iranian airlines and the military have turned increasingly to Russian aircraft, which are not affected by sanctions, but have seen a string of accidents. Two other Tupolev crashes in Iran this decade have killed nearly 140 people.

The Caspian Airlines Tu-154M jet had taken off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport on Wednesday morning and was headed to the Armenian capital Yerevan. It crashed at 11:30 am about 16 minutes after takeoff near the village of Jannat Abad outside the city of Qazvin, around 75 miles northwest of Tehran, civil aviation spokesman Reza Jafarzadeh told state media.

At Yerevan's airport, Tina Karapetian, 45, said she had been waiting for her sister and the sister's 6- and 11-year-old sons, who were due on the flight. "What will I do without them?" she said, weeping, before she collapsed to the floor.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known. Hossein Ayaznia, an aviation police official, said emergency workers were searching for the plane's data recorders to get evidence of the cause.

Iran's Jafarzadeh and the deputy chairman of Armenia's civil aviation authority Arsen Pogosian said there were 153 passengers and 15 crewmembers on board the plane. "In all likelihood, all on board were killed," Pogosian told reporters at Yerevan airport.

Most of the passengers were Iranians, many of them from Iran's large ethnic Armenian community, along with six Armenian citizens and two Georgian citizens, Pogosian said. The two Georgians included a staffer from the Caucasus nation's embassy in Yerevan, Georgia's military attache in the Armenian capital said.

Serob Karapetian, the chief of Yerevan airport's aviation security service, said the plane may have attempted an emergency landing, but reports that it caught fire in the air were "only one version." He did not elaborate. A police official told Iran's semi-official ISNA news agency that several witnesses reported seeing the plane's tail on fire in the air as it circled to find a place to land.

The plane was completely destroyed in the crash and shattered to pieces, Qazvin emergency services director Hossein Behzadpour told the state news agency IRNA.

"The force of the crash was so serious that pieces of the aircraft were thrown over a 200 meter area. Unfortunately, all the bodies were totally destroyed," Behzadpour said.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued a statement expressing condolences "to the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei and the families of the dead" over what he called a "heart-wrenching tragedy" and ordered an investigation into the cause. Armenia's president, Serge Sarkisian, also expressed his condolences and declared Thursday a day of mourning.

Also among the passengers were eight members of Iran's national youth judo team, along with two trainers and a delegation chief, who were scheduled to train with the Armenian judo team before attending competitions in Hungary on Aug. 6, state TV said.

The crash is the worst since February 2003, when a Russian-made Ilyushin 76 carrying members of the elite Revolutionary Guards crashed in the mountains of southeastern Iran, killing 302 people aboard.

Caspian Airlines is an Iranian-Russian joint venture founded in 1993 whose fleet is made up of Tupolevs.

Soviet-built Tupolev and Antonov planes have long been the mainstays of the civil air fleets in Russia and former Soviet republics. Once considered reliable aircraft, the most widely used models — like the Tu-154 — have in recent years gone largely unmodified or updated by aircraft designers.

The Soviet collapse resulted in the sharp decline in government funding for aircraft spare parts manufacturers and for the aircraft manufactures themselves, and many airlines fell behind in maintenance programs for the planes.

Iran has about a dozen Soviet-built Tu-154 airliners. In 2006, Russia negotiated the sale of five Tu-204s to Iran.

In February 2006, a Russian-made Tu-154 operated by Iran Airtour, which is affiliated with Iran's national carrier, crashed during landing in Tehran, killing 29 of the 148 people on board. Another Airtour Tupolev crashed in 2002 in the mountains of western Iran, killing all 199 on board.

The crashes have also affected Iran's military. In December 2005, 115 people were killed when a pre-1979 U.S.-made C-130 plane, crashed into a 10-story building near Tehran's Mehrabad airport. In Nov. 2007, a Russian-made Iranian military plane crashed shortly after takeoff killing 36 Revolutionary Guards members.

___

AP writer Avet Demourian in Yerevan, Armenia, contributed to this report.

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Plane hits wall at Iranian airport, killing 17
24 Jul 2009 19:33:52 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Updates crash description, adds details, background)

By Zahra Hosseinian

TEHRAN, July 24 (Reuters) - At least 17 people were killed and 23 injured when a passenger aircraft veered off the runway and hit a wall while landing at Mashhad airport in northeastern Iran on Friday, media reports said.

The plane, an Ilyushin Il-62 leased by Iran's Aria Tour from Kazakhstan, left the runway and crashed into a boundary wall, state television said.

There were 153 people on board the aircraft, which had flown to Mashhad from Tehran, it said.

Television showed images of the plane with its nose section badly damaged and said the accident was due to a malfunction in the front landing wheels. It said the pilot was among the dead.

Ali Ilkhani, director of Iran's civil aviation, told state television the plane appeared to have tried to land while flying too fast. He said 13 of the dead were crew members, nine of them from Kazakhstan.

Earlier reports said the aircraft had caught fire.

Mohammad-Reza Moti, a provincial emergency aid official, told the state news agency IRNA the injured were being treated in hospitals in Mashhad, an important pilgrimage site for Shi'ite Muslims. The majority of Iranians are Shi'ites.

"Some of the injured are in bad condition," he said.

The crash occurred around 6:20 p.m. (1350 GMT).

"We felt the plane hit uneven ground right after landing ... after the emergency exit was opened, no one dared to jump because it was too high, so we got out over the wing," one of the passengers told state television.

On July 15, a Russian-built Tupolev operated by Iran's Caspian Airlines flying to Armenia crashed in northwestern Iran, killing all 168 people aboard.

U.S. sanctions bar the sale of Boeing aircraft to Iran and hinder it from buying other aircraft or spare parts from the West. Many Western aircraft rely on U.S.-made engines and parts. (Writing by Firouz Sedarat in Dubai, editing by Tim Pearce)


--------------



Thirteen of the dead in Iran plane crash were crew
25 Jul 2009 06:47:56 GMT
Source: Reuters
TEHRAN, July 25 (Reuters) - Thirteen of 16 people killed in a plane accident in northeastern Iran on Friday were crew and the three others were passengers, Iran's state television reported on Saturday.

The passenger plane, an Ilyushin Il-62 from Kazakhstan leased by Iran's Aria Aviation Company, veered from the runway and hit a wall while landing at Mashhad's Hasheminejad Airport.

Iranian media said 30 people were injured in the accident and they were being treated at three hospitals in the same city.

"Nine of the crew members killed in the incident were citizens of Kazakhstan and the remaining four were Iranians," Reza Jafarzadeh, the spokesman of Iran's aviation organisation told the official IRNA news agency on Saturday.

There were 153 people on board the aircraft, which had flown to Mashhad from Tehran. Iran's television showed images of the plane with its front completely damaged and said the accident was due to a malfunction in the aircraft's wheels.

Iranian media reported that the pilot was among the dead.

State television said the flying license of Aria Aviation Company had been suspended until an investigation into the plane crash was completed.

Mashhad is a popular pilgrimage destination for Shi'ite Muslims who make up the majority of Iran's population.

On July 15, a Russian-built Tupolev aircraft crashed in Iran on its way to Armenia, after catching fire mid-air and ploughing into farmland killing all 168 people on board. That accident, in which six Armenian and two Georgian citizens were killed, was the worst plane crash in Iran for six years.

Air safety experts have said Iran has a poor record, with a string of crashes in the past few decades -- many involving Russian-made aircraft.

U.S. sanctions against Iran have prevented it from buying new aircraft or spares from the West, forcing it to supplement its ageing fleet of Boeing and Airbus planes with aircraft from the former Soviet Union. (Writing by Zahra Hosseinian)

Iraq is in dire need for another Qassem!

It was a mere coincidence that General Abdul Kareem Qassem of Iraq toppled the pro-British government and freed thousands of political prisoners on July 14, 1958, or on the same day of the French Revolution of 1789. Qassem dissolved the feudal land ownership, dismantled Baghdad pact, closed the two British air force bases, freed political activities and above all nationalised the oil industry. That is why the British and the Americans conspired to undermine his regime which led to his assassination.

The CIA-connected Nasser of Egypt, worked hard in association with the British and American intelligence elements to give arms to Saddam and his Baathist friends who later shot him three times but didn’t succeed in killing him in July 1959. But their biggest success came on February 8, 1963 when the Baathists took over Iraq, killing Qassem and close to 10000 ‘communists’. According to some sources, the CIA installed transmitters in Amman Jordan and in Kuwait sending names and addresses of anti-American elements to be liquidated. It was similar to the toppling of Dr Mossadeq Government in Tehran some ten years earlier and the return of the oil cartels.


Qassem was a real nationalist who united Iraqis of all walks of life, helped the poor, strengthened the armed forces and wanted to establish a multi party democracy. To the Americans, giving Iraqis political freedom was the biggest threat to the backward and autocratic Saudi Royal Family and to the tyrannical Shah regime. The hatred for America in Iraq for toppling Qassem and for supporting Saddam atrocities is ingrained in the Iraqi psyche manifested in the daily attacks on the Americans, their agents and on their mercenaries. Today, 14.07.09 Iraq is in bad need for another Qassem.
Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times

Miracle of the girl with two hearts: 'You believe what you want to and I'll believe what I believe

Hannah Clark is a transplant patient with a difference: when she was two years old, she had to have an extra heart grafted on to her own. Jerome Taylor hears her story

Tuesday, 14 July 2009


Hannah Clark, 16, is healthy again. She was the first person in Britain to undergo an organ transplant reversal

EPA

Hannah Clark, 16, is healthy again. She was the first person in Britain to undergo an organ transplant reversal



For 10 years, Hannah Clark was known as the girl with two hearts. She was barely a year old when her parents rushed her to hospital because the tiny heart she had been born with simply wasn't strong enough to pump blood around her body.

Faced with certain death, doctors were forced to perform a life-saving transplant when she was aged two. But instead of removing the sick heart altogether, they grafted a donor heart on to her own one, allowing the weaker organ to rest and rebuild inside her body. Life became a constant struggle as Hannah's immune system slowly began to reject her transplant.

But yesterday, in her first public appearance, the healthy 16-year-old from Mountain Ash, South Wales, spoke of her delight at being given her original heart back after becoming the first person in Britain to have an organ transplant reversed.


* Jeremy Laurance: The piggyback operation I saw was a tragic failure

"It was really strange, I felt empty," Hannah said of the moment she awoke after the groundbreaking operation and realised her real heart was pumping fully for the first time in a decade.

"A second heart had been inside of me for so long but all of a sudden it was gone. I could actually feel that something was missing in my chest. But I was so happy."

The surgery to give Hannah use of her original heart again took place at Great Ormond Street Hospital in February 2006. Yesterday, the specialists behind her groundbreaking operation were reunited with the teenager to mark the publication of the team's findings in the Lancet journal.

Sir Magdi Yacoub, a transplant pioneer and the doctor involved in Hannah's original transplant 15 years ago, described the operation as "unique" and said her recovery proved how it was possible to restore a once-weak heart that had been allowed to recover inside the body using support from a healthy donor organ.

Sir Magdi, who came out of retirement to help with the reversal of Hannah's original transplant, said: "The possibility of recovery of the heart is just like magic. A heart which was not contracting at all at the time we put in a new heart now functions normally."

Until the transplant was reversed, Hannah's life had revolved around a constant routine of medication to keep her immune system suppressed and regular visits to the hospital.

Born with cardiomyopathy, a heart disease which occurs in about 1.2 children for every 100,000, Hannah was given months to live, until a donor heart was found. But, afraid that her body might reject the transplanted organ, doctors inserted the new heart alongside her weak one which, once allowed to rest, began to recover.

Although her new heart saved her life, it also left the exercise-mad teenager, whose favourite hobbies are now swimming and shopping, painfully vulnerable to infections and malignant growths which are often caused by a suppressed immune system.

She had to undergo two sessions of chemotherapy and at one point was put on a ventilator because a cancerous growth was crushing her windpipe. By November 2005, when she was aged 12, a scan showed that Hannah's body was beginning to reject her transplant and doctors decided that they had no alternative but to take out the transplanted heart and hope that her old heart had become strong enough to operate independently.

Five days after the transplant was reversed, Hannah was back at home and no longer having to take a cocktail of 17 drugs each morning. She has a summer job working with animals – something that would have been unthinkable on a suppressed immune system – and returns to sixth form college in September to study child care. "I would like to work with animals or children or in a hospital," she said.

Fighting back tears, Hannah's parents, Paul and Liz, described how the operation and given them their daughter back. "Our life has been changed from a normal life to upside down and now we've got it back again," said Mr Clark, a 45-year-old lorry driver.

"Hannah's life before the operation, when she was 10 months old, was very traumatic. She was going from one extreme to the other. She needed a donor heart so badly, it was just like a rollercoaster ride.

"It was very worrying and stressful but we just kept on and made her fight for it. We would tell her 'Come on Hannah, you can't give up, you've got to keep going'. And here she is today."

The only way they coped, the couple said, was to never give up hope that their daughter would pull through. Mr Clark recalled one moment when his daughter had been rushed to hospital suffering from seizures as a result of a series of cancerous growths pushing down on her spinal chord. "This nurse came in and told us that our daughter had just 12 hours to live. I just said 'You believe what you want to and I'll believe what I believe, which is that she will pull through'."

Both parents have called on the Government to change the rules governing organ donorship to "presumed consent" where people would have to opt out of being a donor rather than opt in, under the current guidelines. Experts at the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Surgeons say an opt-out clause could save hundreds of lives a year and stop agonising waits for those on the donor list.

"Until it happens to you, you don't realise how important it is to be a donor," Mr Clark said. "People often say 'I need [my organs]'. Well you don't. Somebody else needs them. People don't realise until it happens to them how it can change your life."

His wife said: "I would just like to say a big thank you to the donor because they lost a child but we gained a child. I could have lost my daughter but they gave me my daughter back."

Ah A City who stood against El Shrbiny's killing Slaughtered 2 of their own daughter!!

2 days ago, a city of 10,000,000 stood against the brutal killing of El-Sherbini , today a father slaughtered 2 daughters by his own hands.
Irrespective of co-relation of these 2 incidents, common is that we all are shocked by rapidly increasing frequency of killings on this globe, this dunia, this planet either in Germany, Saudia, Buffalo, Toronto, Michigan or New York from one continent to another 20,000 K.Ms away.
We have millions and billions displaced, poors, street sleeping shelters shantis spreading. No one here to HELP, when we lost all HOPE, all HELP, then what can we expect is to look to higher n higher skies and as far as our eyes goes beyond the horizon :
Is there anyone to help us? how long we will continue mourning, burying deads?
Are we heading to ultimate disaster? Is Qaymat near? Is Imam Coming?

My Mola My Aqa! My Allah My GOD My Imam cries n cries , tears n tears, khak n khak,gham n gham.

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Heartless man slaughters two minor daughters

By Faraz Khan

KARACHI: Men like Mohammad Shehzad, 35, are not born everyday. He has done nothing glorified and in fact committed a crime so heinous that it would make anyone’s skin crawl.

Shehzad, who runs a small glasswork business, is guilty of slaughtering his own flesh and blood. The sad part is that the victims of this brutal murder were not even aware of the crimes they had committed but in fact, they were punished for the crime that was allegedly committed by their mother, Aaliya.

Aaliya and Shehzad were married about four years ago and that is when this saga began. Shehzad was convinced from the start that Aaliya had illicit relations with a man called Arif, despite the fact that Aaliya had time and time again explained to Shehzad that the relationship was entirely platonic.

It came to a point where Shehzad actually started believing that his two daughters, Khushi Fatima, one-and-a-half year old and Suman Fatima, eight-month old, were not his at all, but in fact Arif’s. He would keep confronting Aaliya and she would keep denying the allegation, the differences grew and the situation became worse. Finally, Aaliya shifted to her parents’ house located at the R area in Korangi.

There was a family function at Aaliya’s parents’ house on Sunday and Shehzad came to join in the celebrations. He ended up staying the night and also as always got into a fight with Aaliya. Early morning the next day Shehzad took his daughters and went home, a small 80 square yard house located in the outskirts of the city on Street no 15, Sector 36-G, within the limits of Landhi police.

The heartless man then took the girls to one of the small rooms in the house and apologised to them, saying that he cannot bear to look at the girls dying a little everyday and cannot bear the thought of them growing up with a mother with such a loose character, after supposedly purging his conscience clean, he proceeded to cut the throats of the little girls who had probably not even grasped their father’s words.

The barbarian then called the children’s grandparents’ house to tell them about what he had done, after which he went to the police station to surrender himself and confess to his ugly crime.

According to the police when Shehzad reached the police station, his clothes were stained with blood. Giving details about the preliminary questioning SHO Ghulam Ahmed Sheikh said that Aaliya and his daughters had left Shehzad’s house two days ago after a dispute. On Sunday night, there was a family function at Aaliya’s parents house, which Shehzad attended, stayed there for the night and fought with Aaliya. In the morning, he took the girls and went home, where he slaughtered the girls using a knife, which too has been discovered, said the SHO.

Aaliya’s family was undoubtedly shocked by the incident and insisted that Shehzad be punished strictly, as he was mentally stable and murdered the girls only because he was angry at Aaliya. They went on to say that Shehzad was brilliant at his job, but he mostly stayed home and forced Aaliya to bring money from her parents. As now he has no better excuse to get out of the situation he is accusing Aaliya of having illicit relations.

The people of his area seconded Aaliya’s family’s opinion and confirmed that Shehzad was not suffering from any mental illness.

The bodies of the girls were taken to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre from where they were taken to Korangi for burial. The girls were laid to rest in the Korangi graveyard. An FIR No 171/09 under Section 302 has been registered on behalf of Aaliya’s brother, Naeem.


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Cold-blooded murder!
Man slaughters his two daughters in bid to ‘send them to heaven’

Tuesday, July 14, 2009
By Xari Jalil

Karachi

In a shockingly gruesome incident that took place on Monday morning, a man killed both his daughters, including nine-month-old Saman and two-year-old Khurshid Fatima, with a kitchen knife in his small house in Landhi. The accused, Shahzad, later gave himself up to Landhi police, confessing to the double murder.

According to details provided by Shiraz Waheed, Nazim of Union Council (UC)-6 Korangi, Shahzad, son of Fateh Mohammad, had been quarrelling with his wife for some days, and this incident must have been the repercussion of their domestic dispute.

“Both husband and wife had earlier come to me, and I had tried to pacify the situation, but later they were at it again,” Waheed told The News. “From what I know of their family situation, I think the problems arose mainly due to the fact that this man did not work and also lived on his in-laws’ money. She was the only child in her house and that’s what he took great advantage of, by just lazing around.”

Waheed also revealed that the man had been occasionally threatening his wife and in-laws that if they did not listen to him and provide for his needs, he would kill the two girls. In fear and trepidation, the rest of the family grudgingly continued to oblige Shahzad. But little did they know that he would actually do something like this.

A sobbing Salim, the grandfather of the children, told The News that everything had been “perfect” on Monday morning at breakfast and no one had even suspected anything when Shahzad said that he would take the children away to buy them sweets.

“I don’t know why he killed them,” said Salim, finally suppressing his tears. “But he was angry at us because he had been demanding Rs200,000 since some time and I had told him that we could not give the money all at once and he would have to wait till my ‘committee’ came out,” he said referring to his Voluntary Contribution (VC) money. Salim said that at around 11 or 12, they received a phone call from Shahzad himself, who said that he had killed the two children, in their house in Landhi.

The family then tried to contact Shahzad’s brother, who denied anything happening in the house. This account, however, proved to be incorrect, as the family later saw a ticker running on a news channel carrying news of the double murder.

The incident took place at Shahzad’s brother’s house in Sector G, Landhi No 4 within the jurisdiction of Landhi police station. Station House Officer (SHO) of the Landhi Police Station Inspector GA Sheikh said that the couple, along with their children, had gone to Aaliya’s parents’ house to pay them a visit. Conflicting reports from other sources however suggest that Aaliya had left for her parents’ house a few days back because of a quarrel. This house is located in Korangi No 1 1/2, Sector R.

“After the murder, Shahzad came up to me and told me the entire story from his side,” said SHO Sheikh. He said that Shahzad told his daughters that he was about to slit their throats and that they should not be scared because they would go to heaven.

“He told me that his wife had a so-called brother who went by the name of Arif,” said the SHO. “But Shahzad was distrustful of their relationship, and the couple would occasionally quarrelled about it. According to him, his wife was of bad reputation and he did not want his two girls to grow up into their mother. So he decided to “send them to heaven” and then by giving himself up to the police, he presumed he would get the death sentence and follow his two daughters too.”

An FIR (171/09) has been filed at the Landhi Police Station under Section 302. It is expected that the accused will remain on remand in police custody till two weeks approximately.

Meanwhile the deceased girls’ mother and grandparents are in a state of shock. Aaliya is half conscious of what is happening around her, while her grandfather is furious and deeply depressed both at the same time. “My little babies were beautiful, and so fragile like flowers,” Salim said in a voice reflecting his helplessness and desperation. “I want this merciless man to be put to death. He should never come back again.”


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Racist who stabbed pregnant Muslim to death in a German courtroom is jailed for life

By Allan Hall
Last updated at 4:42 PM on 11th November 2009


A racist was today sentenced to life in jail for the brutal courtroom murder of a pregnant Muslim dubbed the headscarf martyr.

Alex Wiens, 28, was sentenced in the same courthouse in Dresden, Germany, where he killed Marwa El-Sherbini and her unborn child in July.

Wiens, a German of Russian origin, plunged a six-inch kitchen knife at least 16 times into Sherbini, 31, who was three-months pregnant at the time.

Her son, three-year-old Mustafa, watched her bleed to death at the scene.
The hooded defendant Alex Wiens has been jailed for life for the frenzied knife attack on pregnant Egyptian Marwa al-Sherbini

The hooded defendant Alex Wiens has been jailed for life for the frenzied knife attack on pregnant Egyptian Marwa al-Sherbini

Sherbini's husband, Egyptian geneticist Elwy Okaz, rushed to her aid but was also stabbed repeatedly and then shot in the leg by a guard who apparently took him for the attacker.


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Wiens, surrounded by four security guards as the verdict was read, was also found guilty of attempted murder and causing bodily harm for his attack on Okaz.

The killer has kept his face masked with dark glasses, a balaclava and a hooded jacket throughout his trial.

He made no comment as the sentence was passed.
Marwa El Sherbini, with her husband Elwi Ali Okaz, was killed while in a park in a racist attack


The killing, as well as a slow reaction from Germany's politicians and media, sparked outrage in Sherbini's home country, as well as in the wider Muslim world.

She became known in Arab lands as 'the headscarf martyr'.

During his trial the court heard how Wien's racist attack on El-Sherbini in a Dresden city park the previous year was the catalyst for the terrible murder.

She was in a public park in the city when she asked Wiens to vacate a swing he was sitting on so her child could use it.
Elwi Ali Okaz attended the trial of his wife's murder

Elwi Ali Okaz attended the trial of his wife's murder

He called her a ‘Muslim whore,’ ‘terrorist’ and other insults.

Police eventually arrived and arrested him.

He was fined but appealed the punishment of £750 - leading to the July court hearing in which he took her life shortly after she had stepped out of the witness box to speak against him.

Prosecutors said he was driven by 'an unbridled hatred of foreigners'.

In a statement read by his lawyer, Wiens admitted being hostile to foreigners but denied this was the motive for the attack.

In a dramatic last-minute twist, a document suddenly arrived from Russia showing that Wiens had been declared unfit for military service in 2001 because of an 'undifferentiated schizophrenia'.

Defence lawyers said that the stabbing had not been premeditated, that Wiens always carried a knife in his backpack, and that his psychiatric condition mitigated the crime.

The courthouse, so lightly guarded when the murder took place, resembled a maximum security prison during his trial. Sharpshooters were in place and some 200 police officers guarded proceedings each day.

Egypt’s ambassador to Germany welcome the verdict, saying that 'justice had been done'.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1226936/Racist-Russian-jailed-life-Germany-brutal-courtroom-murder-pregnant-Egyptian.html?ITO=1490#ixzz0WZz4v2Lq

President Ahmadinejad Blames Germany for Courtroom killing

Monday, July 13, 2009 at 12:44 pm



TEHRAN: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed Germany on Sunday for the murder of an Egyptian woman in a German courtroom and said it should face U.N. condemnation, state media reported.President Ahmadinejad Blames Germany for Courtroom killing

Marwa El-Sherbiny, 31, mother of a 3-year-old and three months pregnant, was stabbed 18 times by a man against whom she was testifying during an appeal hearing in Dresden on July 1, German prosecutors said.

Her killer also stabbed her husband, whom German police then mistook for the attacker and shot in the leg, prosecutors said.

“The judge, jury and German government are all criminals in this regard and must be (held) responsible,” the website of state broadcaster IRIB quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.

“We want the Security Council to condemn them,” said Ahmadinejad, who often criticises the West.

The hardline president accused the West of double standards on human rights, apparently a reference to frequent Western criticism of the Islamic Republic’s human rights record.

On Saturday, a group of hardline Iranians gathered in front of the German embassy in Tehran in a protest against the courtroom killing, some of them throwing eggs at the main gate, a witness told Reuters.

German prosecutors said the killer, a German of Russian origin, was appealing against a conviction for insulting Sherbiny by calling her an “Islamist”, “terrorist” and “slut” when she asked him to make room for her son to go on the swings at a playground.

The murder has caused anger in Iran, where hundreds of worshippers condemned the crime at Friday prayers, and state media called her a “martyr” of Islamic values.

Iran summoned the German ambassador to Iran, Herbert Honsowitz, on Friday to protest against the murder, urging Berlin to do more to protect the rights of religious minorities in Germany.

Sherbiny’s body was flown to Cairo and her funeral took place last Monday. Her murder also caused anger in Egypt.

Paper: Jackson's sister says star was 'murdered'

Michael Jackson was killed by a band of greedy hangers-on, his sister La Toya alleged in interviews with British Sunday newspapers. The King of Pop's sister spoke about her younger brother's death and the aftermath with The Mail on Sunday and the News of the World weeklies. "I believe Michael was murdered, I felt that from the start," the 53-year-old said.
(AFP/Getty Images/File)


msnbc.com
updated 1 hour, 58 minutes ago

Michael Jackson's sister La Toya reportedly told British tabloid The News of the World that the King of Pop was murdered for his $1 billion fortune.

"I know who did it and I won't rest until I nail them," she allegedly told the newspaper on Saturday night.

"Michael was murdered," declared the 53-year-old former Playboy model, according to the paper's online report. "And we don't think just one person was involved. Rather, it was a conspiracy of people. I feel it was all about money. Michael was worth well over a billion in music publishing assets and somebody killed him for that. He was worth more dead than alive."


"I think everyone will be surprised when the results come out," she purportedly said, referring to the official coroner's report, and explaining that she already knew the results from the family's own toxicology tests.

"He had many needle marks on his neck and on his arms, and more about those will emerge in the next few weeks. But nothing has changed my mind that this was murder and I won't give up until I find out what killed my brother," she reportedly told The News of the World.

"A couple of years ago Michael told me he was worried that people were out to get him. He said, 'They're gonna kill me for my publishing. They want my catalogues and they're gonna kill me for these.'

"I knew something terrible was going to happen," she allegedly said.

La Toya Jackson reportedly went on to claim that oxygen flasks and empty pill bottles were strewn around the room where her brother died.


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In addition, she allegedly told the paper that she believed items were stolen from him.

"Michael always had cash in his homes, usually around $2 million which he used to pay out on things. People said he wasn't wealthy, but Michael always had money with him.

"When I went to the house later that day there was no cash or jewelry. So many people had been through that house before I got there. Someone went in there and did a good job. It was very strange," she said, according to the New of the World report.

PMLN MPA Shumaila Anjum Rana Credit Card Case

This is not the matter of Rs80,000 theft, she was incharge of IDP Programs, too, I am sure one must audit her in detail and can find more serious and major theft issues.
Poor Pakistanis will remain poor, they will continue eating, sleeping on the ground while MPAs, MNAs will enjoy helath clubs and jewellery shopping.
I am sure if Allama Iqbal or Quaed-e-Azam will be here to see the shape of this Pakistan, they will better break this Pakistan into pieces and will never dream to build another Pakistan on a land whose people had not participated/contributed in the bloody anti-British independence movement.




PMLN MPA Shumaila Anjum Rana has been filmed on Jewelery Shop using a credit card which she stole from Gym , The Credit card was of lady Zaira malik and was stolen by Shumaila anjum rana was being used by her.

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Yet another ‘N’ legislator ‘caught’ in controversy

* MPA Shumaila Rana accused of buying jewellery and clothes on stolen credit card

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MPA Shumaila Anjum Rana has been accused of credit card theft.

A private TV channel reported on Saturday that Rana used a stolen credit card to buy jewellery and clothes worth Rs 80,000. The channel reported that the card belonged to one Zaira Malik, a member of a health club.

The channel reported that the police had started collecting information from the health club and the jewellery shop.

The shop’s salesman, Muhammad Iqbal, while talking to the channel, said a female customer who introduced herself as a member of parliament, visited the shop on July 7 at around 4pm. He said the woman purchased a ring and a chain. “We accorded her due respect and honour and also gave her a discount,” the salesman said.

He said the woman had shown him two credit cards, and he trusted her. However, he said it was later proven that the credit card with which the transaction was made was stolen.

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http://www.pro-pakistan.com/2009/07/12/shumaila-anjum-rana-the-cyber-thief-of-pml-n/
No wonder PML-N is as corrupt a party as the current PPP government is and that is evident from the incidents of corruption and malpractices by its party leaders. We all know the incidents of PML-N ministers pushing a female minister in the Punjab Assembly and we all are also aware how their minister raped a women and later pressurized her into a deal. If all this was not enough, the Shumaila Anjum Rana decided to come out with an innovative and a high tech crime but she executed it poorly.

Shumaila Anjum Rana decided to steal the credit cards of her fellow gym partner when she was busy lifting some heavy weights. Shumaila must have taken some pick pocket crash courses in her childhood to do a clean sweep without being noticed. On the other hand, she chose Siddique Trade Centre as the best destination to do some shopping and bought some gold sets. She was not careful enough to send someone else and instead went herself to commit the crime in front of the security cameras and hence her story is now public. But at the end of the day, such people are so shameless that they are least bothered about it and will even feel proud to have got some coverage in the media. The Shahbaz Sharif tough administration will be lose on her if she has some importance in the punjab politics. At the end, PML-N never initiated any disciplinary case against the minister who raped poor woman so we expect least justice from them in Shumaila Anjum Rana case.

I am sure now we also know why our ministers won’t implement Islamic way of punishment since our cabinet will be full of people who would have lost one or two hands to the state punishment for theft and half of them would be hanging from polls because of the murders they have committed on their way to the bloody corridors of Pakistani parliament.

Below is the full story as taken from The News:

LAHORE: A citizen filed an application of credit card theft and its misuse against a PML-N MPA Shumaila Anjum Rana at Ghalib Market police station on Saturday.
Shumaila Rana talking to Geo News denied her involvement in the theft and rather claimed that her servant misused the credit cards. Geo News, which broke the story, acquired CCTV footage from the shop owner and telecast it.

The applicant Moqeet Salam, in his application, said that his sister Zaira Malik attended classes at a health centre of Sukh Chain Club. He said that a couple of days ago his sister attended a class at the health centre after placing her bag in a room at the club, and MPA Shumaila Rana also attended the class on the same day. The accused MPA left the class early and as Zaira picked up her bag, she found her two credit cards — one of UBL and other Bank Al-Falah — missing from the bag, the applicant added.
Zaira told the applicant (her brother Moqeet) that she called the helpline of the two banks to inform that her cards were misplaced and block both the cards.
But as the officials at help centres of both banks told Zaira that someone had swiped the cards for Rs80,000 at two separate shops, one of them a jewellery shop, she panicked and visited the shops. The shop owner showed the CCTV footage to the card owner in which it was proved that Shumaila Rana had swiped the credit cards to purchase jewellery and clothes.
However, no case was registered till the filing of this report.
This correspondent tried to contact MPA Shumaila but she was not available at her cell phone and landline number. Duty officials at Ghalib Market and Gulberg police stations also denied receiving any such application.
A senior police officer, requesting anonymity, said that police were probing the incident and examining the CCTV footage and other evidence and if it was found that the incident was true, a case would be registered as per law.
On the issue, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sana Ullah said that the rule of law would be maintained if the accused MPA was found guilty.
He added that action would also be taken under party discipline if the allegations levelled against the MPA proved true.

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I got 5 lacs, not 5 million: Abida

LAHORE: Apropos a news item in Daily Times (Abida Hussain admits to taking ISI money, August 27, 2009), Begum Abida Hussain has clarified that she received Rs 500,000 (and not Rs 5 million) from Syed Ijlal Haider Zaidi, then advisor to the president, from the election funds of the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI). She says she did not have any idea that this money came from anywhere other than the IJI. She says that since she was already contesting elections from the IJI’s platform, she did not need any persuasion to join the party. daily times monitor

Cyber attack targets include White House and the Pentagon

Thursday, 9 July 2009


A powerful internet attack that overwhelmed computers at US and South Korean government agencies for days was even broader than initially realised: targets included the White House, the Pentagon and the New York Stock Exchange and other official websites in the most widespread cyber offensive of recent years.

Other targets of the attack included the National Security Agency, Homeland Security Department, State Department, the Nasdaq stock market and The Washington Post newspaper, according to an early analysis of the malicious software used in the attacks.

The cyber assault on the White House site had "absolutely no effect on the White House's day-to-day operations," said spokesman Nick Shapiro.

Preventative measures kept the WhiteHouse.gov site "stable and available to the general public," Shapiro said, but internet visitors from Asia may have experienced problems.

South Korean intelligence officials believe the attacks were carried out by North Korea or pro-Pyongyang forces, but many experts in cyber warfare said it was simply too early to know where the offensive originated.

South Korea's National Intelligence Service, its principal spy agency, told South Korean lawmakers Wednesday it believes that North Korea or North Korean sympathisers in the South were behind the attacks, according to an aide to one of the lawmakers briefed on the information.

The aide spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the information. The intelligence service said it could not immediately confirm the report, but it said it was cooperating with American authorities.

The attacks will be difficult to trace, said Professor Peter Sommer, an expert on cyberterrorism at the London School of Economics. "Even if you are right about the fact of being attacked, initial diagnoses are often wrong," he said Wednesday.

Many of the US government targets appeared to have blunted the sustained computer assaults successfully. Others, such as the US Treasury Department, were knocked offline at times.

Two government officials acknowledged that Treasury's site was brought down, and said the agency had been working with its internet service provider to resolve the problem. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the matter.

As of last night, Shapiro said, "all federal websites were back up and running." Shapiro said that the Department of Homeland Security "is aware of the DDOS attacks on federal and private sector public-facing websites."

Ed Donovan, a spokesman for the US Secret Service, said that the cyber attacks slowed down access to the agency's website, which operates on the same computer server as Treasury's site.

Secret Service's site remained in operation despite the crippling effects of the cyber offensive, Donovan said.

"Our site was never knocked down, but it was slowed down at points," Donovan said. He added that Secret Service's "operational side" was not affected.

The Associated Press obtained the target list from security experts analysing the attacks. It was not immediately clear who might have been responsible or what their motives were.

The cyber attack did not appear, at least at the outset, to target internal or classified files or systems, but instead aimed at agencies' public websites, creating a nuisance both for officials and the web consumers who use them.

The attacks appeared remarkably successful in limiting public access to victim websites, but internal email systems are typically unaffected in such attacks.

Ben Rushlo, director of internet technologies at Keynote Systems, said problems with the Transportation Department site began on Saturday and continued until Monday, while the Federal Trade Commission site was down Sunday and Monday.

Keynote Systems is a mobile and website monitoring company based in San Mateo, California. The company publishes data detailing outages on websites, including 40 government sites it watches.

According to Rushlo, the Transportation website was "100 per cent down" for two days, so that no internet users could get through to it.

The FTC site, meanwhile, started to come back online late Sunday, but even on Tuesday internet users still were unable to get to the site 70 per cent of the time.

Dale Meyerrose, former chief information officer for the US intelligence community, said at least one of the federal agency websites became saturated with as many as a million hits per second per attack - amounting to 4 billion internet hits at once.

He would not identify the agency, but said the website generally is capable of handling a level of about 25,000 users at one time.

Meyerrose, who is now vice president at Harris, said federal officials are divided on the whether a botnet was involved, but said the characteristics of the attack suggest the involvement of between 30,000 to 60,000 computers that participated in the assault.

While he said officials were investigating the incident, it appeared one attack occurred on July 4 that some agencies were able to contain, and then a second round came on July 7.

Meyerrose said that since the attackers would have used surrogate computers, it is still too early to tell where it originated.

James Lewis, a senior fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, says the fact that both the White House and defence Department were attacked but did not go down points to the need for coordinated government network defences.

"It says that they were ready and the other guys weren't ready," he said. "We are disorganised. In the event of an attack some places aren't going to be able to defend themselves."

Attacks on federal computer networks are common, ranging from nuisance hacking to more serious assaults, sometimes blamed on China. US security officials also worry about cyber attacks from al-Qaeda or other groups.

Web sites of major South Korean government agencies, including the presidential Blue House and the defence Ministry, and some banking sites were paralysed Tuesday.

An initial investigation found that many personal computers were infected with a virus ordering them to visit major official websites in South Korea and the US at the same time, Korea Information Security Agency official Shin Hwa-su said.

Twin Suicide Attacks made Tal Afar River of Blood

North Iraq town suicide attacks kill 34 - police
09 Jul 2009 06:06:44 GMT
Source: Reuters
BAGHDAD, July 9 (Reuters) - The death toll from two successive suicide attacks in the northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar on Thursday has risen to at least 34, police said. Two bombers detonated explosives vests in the town northwest of Baghdad. Police said 62 people were wounded.

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Bombs kill 50 in Iraq as violence flares

09 Jul 2009 18:57:42 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Suicide attacks kill 34 in Tal Afar

* Bombs in Baghdad kill 16 people

* Kirkuk sees doorstep assassinations

* Iranian officials released by U.S. forces

(Adds two more Baghdad bombs)

By Jamal al-Badrani

MOSUL, Iraq, July 9 (Reuters) - Bombs in Baghdad and northern Iraq killed at least 50 people on Thursday, police said, underscoring doubts about local forces' ability to keep Iraqis safe after U.S. troops pulled out of city centres.

The attacks in the north, where tensions between Arabs and Kurds threaten to flare into Iraq's next conflict, and in the capital appeared to be part of an attempt by insurgents to reignite sectarian fighting following the partial U.S. pullback.

Two suicide bombings in Tal Afar, a town in volatile Nineveh province that is mainly home to minority Turkmen of the Shi'ite Muslim faith, killed 34 people and wounded 60, police said.

One suicide bomber detonated an explosives vest in the historic centre of the town, 420 km (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, followed by another suicide attack just as people responded to the first blast.

Nineveh and its main city Mosul have suffered a steady drumbeat of attacks since June 30, when U.S. troops withdrew from urban centres. It is an area where groups like al Qaeda have taken advantage of tensions between Sunni Arabs, ethnic Kurds and other minorities to sustain a stubborn insurgency.

In Baghdad, seven people were killed and 20 wounded by two bombs in a market in Sadr City, a poor, Shi'ite Muslim area. Later in the day, two roadside bombs targeting a police patrol near a market in another Shi'ite area in the north of the capital killed nine people and wounded 35, police said.

The worst of the bloodshed between Shi'ites and Sunnis set off by the 2003 U.S. invasion has faded, but the continuing violence reflects lingering divisions among Iraqis, and underscores the fragility of security gains.

Mistrust is still strong between the Sunni Muslims who dominated Iraq under Saddam Hussein and majority Shi'ites.

In the city of Baiji north of Baghdad on Thursday, Iraqi police clashed in a violent gunfight with a U.S.-backed Sunni neighbourhood guard unit, and ended up arresting around 15, Iraqi police and U.S. military officials said.

The reasons for the incident were unclear, but the Shi'ite-led government is suspicious of the guards, known as Awakening Councils, because many of them used to be allies of al Qaeda until they decided to join up with U.S. forces.

REVENGE KILLINGS KEY

Revenge killings are the key, analysts say, to figuring out whether the violence still afflicting Iraq will rekindle the broader sectarian slaughter of 2006/07.

That may be happening in Kirkuk, another volatile northern town on the frontier between Arab and Kurdish Iraq, where the last three bombings were followed last week by six doorstep assassinations with silenced weapons, the police chief said.

"Creating problems between the ethnic groups is the last chance for (the insurgents). They want civil war," Major-General Jamal Taher Bakr said in an interview in Wednesday.

"It starts with bombs, now they move to shootings. We don't know if it was revenge shootings for the bombs. We are still making investigations," he said.

Mosul, meanwhile, is a city under siege, its buildings pockmarked by shrapnel from explosions and its streets littered with rubble. On Wednesday evening, two car bombs exploded there within minutes of each other, killing 14 people and wounding 33.

The city is a frontline between the Shi'ite Arab-led government in Baghdad and Kurds, who want to extend their semi-autonomous northern region and take greater control of oil.

Atheel al-Nujaifi, a Sunni Arab who took over as governor earlier this year to protests from many of Mosul's Kurds, warned of greater violence to come.

"There are many parties trying to incite chaos following the withdrawal of U.S. troops ... It is not in their interest to see stability and security," he said.

Tensions in one realm were potentially reduced on Thursday when U.S. forces released five Iranians described by Tehran as diplomats but accused by Washington of arming and funding Shi'ite militias in Iraq and using them to target U.S. troops and Sunni opponents.

Iranian state television said three of the men were diplomats detained in a 2007 U.S. raid in Iraq's northern city of Arbil, while the rest were "two other Iranians kidnapped elsewhere in Iraq by the U.S. occupation troops".

The men were handed over first to Iraqi authorities and then released into the care of Iranian embassy staff, it reported. (Additional reporting by Aseel Kami, Muhanad Mohammed and Khalid al-Ansary in Baghdad, Tim Cocks and Mustafa Mahmoud in Kirkuk, Hossein Jaseb in Tehran; Writing by Missy Ryan; Editing by Michael Roddy

At least 156 people have been killed in rioting in China's northwestern Xinjiang region

Ethnic Uighurs stand in a street outside a mosque in their neighbourhood in Urumqi in China's Xinjiang Autonomous Region July 8, 2009. At least 156 people have been killed in rioting in China's northwestern Xinjiang region, with the government blaming exiled separatists for the traditionally Muslim area's worst case of unrest in years. REUTERS/ Nir Elias (CHINA CONFLICT POLITICS)

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China police fan out to halt Xinjiang unrest
By Chris Buckley Chris Buckley – 38 mins ago

URUMQI, China (Reuters) – Banks of paramilitary police fanned out in the far-flung Chinese city of Urumqi on Wednesday to try to stifle unrest days after 156 people were killed in the region's worst ethnic violence in decades.

Urumqi, capital of the northwestern region of Xinjiang, imposed an overnight curfew on Tuesday after thousands of Han Chinese, armed with sticks, knives and metal bars, stormed through its streets demanding redress and sometimes extracting bloody vengeance on Muslim Uighurs for Sunday's violence.

Many took to the streets again on Wednesday and even with helicopters hovering overhead there were scuffles in a volatile crowd of around 1,000 as police seized apparent ringleaders, prompting cries of "release them, release them."

President Hu Jintao abandoned plans to attend a G8 summit in Italy, returning home to monitor developments in energy-rich Xinjiang, where 1,080 people were also wounded in rioting and 1,434 have been arrested since Sunday.

Financial markets again appeared unaffected and life was returning to the streets of Uighur neighborhoods. But residents said night-time arrests were continuing and they were quietly preparing to defend against further Han attacks.

Urumqi airport was crowded with people anxious to leave, the official Xinhua news agency said. "We fear Xinjiang is not safe any more," said one passenger who refused to be identified.

Their fear was borne out downtown. In one street, two young boys were surrounded by an angry mob, with dozens trying to pull them down and grabbing at their hair. At one point they briefly turned on a journalist.

Volatile and swelling Han crowds protested against security forces seizing young Han men.

"Why are you catching Han Chinese? They are only trying to protect us," said one woman in the crowd, bickering with police.

But the heavy security presence brought peace to central parts of the city, with armed personnel carriers standing by as helicopters hovered overhead.

Rumours swirled. A group of Uighur men said they were convinced two locals died in Tuesday's confrontations and that there were many more deaths across the city.

A man in his 50s, who gave name as Mohammed Ali, said he had heard from neighbors and friends that two men had died and two had been seriously wounded.

"Now we are scared to go anywhere," he said. "Doing even simple things becomes frightening."

"BLOOD FOR BLOOD INCOMPATIBLE WITH RULE OF LAW"

Police say Sunday's clashes were triggered by a brawl between Uighurs and Han at a factory in south China prompted by a rumor Uighurs had raped two women. Police have detained 15 people in connection with the factory brawl, including two suspected of spreading rumours on the Internet.

"If a wrong is avenged with another wrong, there would be no end to it," the state-owned English-language China Daily said in an editorial.

"Blood for blood is incompatible with the rule of law and will only lead to a vicious cycle of harm and revenge."

Internet access in the city was blocked on Wednesday except in the business center of one hotel for foreign reporters.

Along with Tibet, Xinjiang is one of the most politically sensitive regions in China. It is strategically located at the borders of Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, has abundant oil reserves and is China's largest natural gas-producing region.

Xinjiang has long been a tightly controlled hotbed of ethnic tensions, fostered by an economic gap between many Uighurs and Han Chinese, government controls on religion and culture and an influx of Han migrants who now are the majority in most key cities, including Urumqi. There were attacks in the region before and during last year's Summer Olympics in Beijing.

But controlling the anger on both sides of the ethnic divide will now make controlling Xinjiang, with its gas reserves and trade and energy ties to central Asia, all the more testing for the ruling Communist Party.

Russia put its support firmly behind China, saying the violence was a purely internal affair.

Groups of Han gathered around reporters in Urumqi to talk about how angry they were and dragged away a Uighur woman who also approached. It was not clear what happened to her.

"We want these terrorists punished. Our hearts are still filled with anger," said one of the Han Chinese men.

Li Yufang, a Han who owns a clothes store, said he was outraged by what had happened over the weekend and wanted to protest again, although he admitted it was unlikely amid the heavy presence of troops.

"Uighurs are spoiled like pandas. When they steal, rob, rape or kill, they can get away with it. If we Han did the same thing, we'd be executed," he said.

The government has blamed Sunday's killings on exiled Uighurs seeking independence for their homeland, especially Rebiya Kadeer, a businesswoman and activist now living in exile in the United States.

Kadeer, writing in the Asian Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, condemned the violence on both sides and again denied being the cause of the unrest.

Uighurs, a Turkic people who are largely Muslim and share linguistic and cultural bonds with Central Asia, make up almost half of Xinjiang's 20 million people.

The population of Urumqi, which lies around 3,300 km (2,000 miles) west of Beijing, is mostly Han.

(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Shanghai and Benjamin Kang Lim in Beijing; Writing by Nick Macfie; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

-------------

China vows executions for rioters behind killings

URUMQI, China – The Communist Party boss of Urumqi says the government will seek the death penalty for anyone found to be behind the deaths of 156 people killed in riots in the capital of Xinjiang.

Li Zhi told a news conference Wednesday that Urumqi was stable after several days of ethnic violence. He said security forces had control of the streets.

He said many people accused of murder had already been detained and that most of them were students.

The violence has already caused President Hu Jintao to cut short a visit to take part in the Group of Eight summit in Italy to return to take charge of the situation.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

URUMQI, China (AP) — China flooded the capital of western Xinjiang province with security forces Wednesday, and President Hu Jintao cut short a visit to the G8 summit as Beijing tries to stem a tide of ethnic clashes in the wake of a riot that left 156 dead.

Helicopters dropped leaflets appealing for calm among Urumqi's 2.3 million residents, although the official Xinhua News Agency said there were "sporadic standoffs" between protesters and security forces, and some minor clashes. It did not give details.

Hu arrived home Wednesday "due to the situation" in Xinjiang, Xinhua said. It did not say what action he would take.

In some areas of the city, residents formed alleyway barricades with furniture and debris to stop a repeat of the fighting between minority Uighurs (pronounced WEE-gers) and Han Chinese — the country's majority ethnic group.

"The government told us today not to get involved in any kind of violence. They've been broadcasting this on the radio, and they even drove through neighborhoods with speakers telling people not to carry weapons," said one Han Chinese man who would give only his surname, Wang.

Hundreds of paramilitary police guarded the main roads to Uighur neighborhoods and the central square in Urumqi (pronounced uh-ROOM-chee), where the first riots began. Most were armed with shields and clubs, while a few had assault rifles fixed with bayonets.

It was not known if any new arrests were made. The government has already said more than 1,000 had been detained.

The notes dropped by helicopter carried an appeal for calm from Xinjiang's Communist Party secretary. "Secretary Wang urges everybody to return home, return to their work units and return to their communities," read the title in bold Chinese characters.

Crowds reacted warily. "We don't believe this. They need to tell the Han to retreat. We're going to stay here to protect our homes," said a Uighur businessman, who would give only part of his name, Mamet.

Shortly afterward, policemen — some Han, some Uighur and armed with handguns and automatic rifles — came through the neighborhood to enforce calm.

"We are just protecting our homes. We are not planning a counterattack," said one of a group of 10 Uighur men guarding the entrance to a side street. After talking with the police, the men turned and walked inside nearby shops and buildings.

Uighurs say the riots that started Sunday — put down by volleys of tear gas and a massive show of force — were triggered by the June 25 deaths of Uighur factory workers during a brawl in the southern Chinese city of Shaoguan. State-run media have said two workers died, but many Uighurs believe more were killed and said the incident was an example of how little the government cared about them.

Many of the Turkic-speaking group believe the Han Chinese, who have flooded into the rugged, rapidly developing western region in recent years, are trying to crowd them out. The Han Chinese say the Uighurs are backward and ungrateful for all the economic development and modernization.

They also say the Uighurs' religion — a moderate form of Sunni Islam — keeps them from blending into Chinese society, which is officially communist and largely secular.

The authorities have been trying to control the unrest by blocking the Internet, including social networking sites such as Facebook, and limiting access to texting services on cell phones. At the same time, police have generally been allowing foreign media to cover the tensions.


On Wednesday, workers in Internet cafes in two other Xinjiang cities, Turpan and Kashgar, said Internet connections had been cut.

"The police came to us and told us to shut down our Internet cafe for the next three days, but who knows how long this will last," said the manger of the Huo Zhou Internet cafe in Turpan. He would give only his surname, Pei.

An operator with China Mobile's service center in Xinjiang, who refused to give her name, said all the services for cell phones, except making and receiving calls, had been suspended, including sending and receiving text messages — one of the major ways Twitter messages are distributed.

She said many calls were not going through because the system was overloaded.

Neocon Pahlavis-Why The Lost Dynasty Re-emerging

Iran and American Sincerity (a satire)

May 13, 2007

Ebrahim Nabavi

Iran and American Sincerity (a satire)

Ali Larijani got the news of Foreign Minister Mottaki’s participation in US-Iran talks at the Sharm al-Sheikh meeting in Egypt from news reporters in Baghdad. Mottaki on the other hand told Time magazine, “Iran is ready for direct talks with the US, but there are no signs of American sincerity.” Following this news, the White House was shocked and suddenly everybody woke up. An informed source announced that to show its sincerity, the US is planning to do the following:

1. From now on use a male pianist instead of women violinists. And instead of a piano, use the Iranian setar string instrument, but it has no right to play the instrument. Instead Haj Reza Halali, the singer of religious hymns and Eminem – both of whom use the same kind of rap – shall use it and play at the dinner ceremony hosted after the US-Iran talks, while everybody else will bet their chests in sorrow.

2. From on, the US will only recognize Mottaki as Iran’s foreign minister. Europeans can continue to accept Larijani as the foreign minister. The Americans must accept that Iran has only one foreign minister, but if Iranians wish to have 10 foreign ministers, it is none of America’s business.

3. To show their sincerity, the Americans are to tell Al Qaeda to tell Algeria to apologize to ayatollah Sistani in Iraq and not insult him and other clerics. Only Iranians shall have the right to insult senior clerics and call them simpleton sheikhs.

4. To show their sincerity, immediately and within the next 24 hours, the Americans shall change the results of the French presidential elections and put Segolene Royal as the president instead of Nicolas Sarkozy, while Segolene should promise to have a heart attack within a week and die, after which Jean-Marie Le Pen shall become the next French president through US use of force.

5. To show their sincerity, the Americans are to declare their apology to about the 1953 coup against traitor Mossadegh and instead, they are to stage a coup against the Shah and Mossadegh and make ayatollah Kashani the prime minister of Iran.

6. It is expected that within a week, the Americans shall announce to Iran their withdrawal schedule from Iraq and entry into Turkey and Pakistan. Within the next 14 days, they shall change the governments in Turkey and Pakistan and they have no right to say anything about this to Larijani. Iran shall later tell the US what kind of government it would like to have in Pakistan and Turkey.

7. To show its sincerity, within a week, the Americans must implement a plan to combat those Iranians who were un-Islamic attire in Los Angeles, and the LA Police Department must act under the authority of the Law Enforcement Forces of larger Tehran.

8. The Americans must implement the circular sent by the Ministry of Islamic Guidance of Iran regarding gender segregation of offices and buildings so that Iran can use that experience to implement the plan in Iran.

Elections in Iran vs Elections in the US

February 17, 2008

Ebrahim Nabavi

Iran and the US both have important elections forthcoming. But important differences ‎exist between the two. Let’s take a look.‎

First, in the US an important person is elected president, while in Iran an important ‎person selects the president. ‎

Second, in the US people know the background of the person who is elected a year in ‎advance, while in Iran people learn of the person’s background two days after he is ‎announced.‎

Third, whoever is elected in the US determines the policy of the country towards the ‎Middle East, while in Iran US policy towards the Middle East determines who is elected ‎in Iran.‎

Fourth, in the US, educated people participate in the elections to have a say in their ‎future, while in Iran educated people do not participate in the elections to have a say in ‎their future.‎

Fifth, in the US members of the Supreme Court are determined by the Congress and the ‎President, while in Iran it is the Guardians Council for the Constitution which picks the ‎members of Parliament and the President.‎

Sixth, in the US, whoever is elected president, regardless of how stupid he is, things don’t ‎get worse than a certain point, while in Iran whoever is elected, regardless of his wisdom, ‎things don’t get better beyond a certain point.‎

Seventh, Special Law: In Iran the person least expected to win wins the elections, while ‎in the US the winner is always one of the predicted candidates who wins.‎

Eight, in the US, the voting behavior of the public is at worst 5 percent different from the ‎predictions, while in Iran it is 70 percent off.‎

Nine, elections in Iran always take place on a holiday, ie Friday, because elections are ‎one of our past times, while in the US elections always take place during a work day ‎because it is part of their work.‎

Ten, normally elections in the US have a greater impact on changes in politics in Iran, ‎rather than the impact of elections in Iran on Iranian politics.‎

Seyed Hashim Qazwini died in Karbala on Jul06th

Inna Lillah wa Inna eileh Rajioun

The Fatiha for Seyed Hashim will be held at Rasool el a3tham, Cricklewood,London, coming Thursday on Jul 9th/2009, 7-9 pm for women and men.

Why Babylon God sent worst Sand Storms over Baghdad, Tehran

At a moment when American forces have strengthening their continued presence on Iraqi soil and desert , encircling Tehran from 5 directions, there is no other way to keep OIL CARTEL TROOPS out of cities except sending blankets of DUST STORMS, SAND STORMS.

And who knows Americans might have planning to invade fractured Tehran while Iranian Clergy fighting worst internal conflict.

At the end we say all happens what Allah want to do(MaShallah), so while Ayatollahs are unable to reach on consensus, Allah has taken over their thoughts and asked everybody to sit , lock up in their homes, rooms to re-think who are their common enemies from Tehran to Baghdad to Kirkuk to Erbil.

The storms started right after first signing of oil bids and later it became more critical when American Vice President landed in Baghdad unannounced. Both Al-Maliki and Ahmedinejad's lips are salted after tasting dust of Dushts.

As long as Bush then Obama will continue invading Muslim capitals after capitals,razing , bulldozing cities after cities in airstrikes, continue meddling in Iranain's internal conflict, the dust will not leave the citiy horizon clear crystal for an easy go to Americans and their military helicopters, drones, fighter jets. Iranians still remember how great GOD crashed American Helicopter sent by OIL CARTEL Carter.

Even today Allah has crashed another American helicopter in Zabul Afghanistan. Iraq has a history of helicopters failures and crashes due to dust blocking helicpoter fans/ engine.

These dust storms are a reminder, a lesson to both OIL NECONS, US Barbaric rulers on one hand and a lesson to Ayatollahs on other hand to stop taking sides in dirty regional politics.

The storms started right after first signing of oil bids and later it became more critical when American Vice President landed in Baghdad unannounced. Both Al-Maliki and Ahmedinejad's lips are salted after tasting dust of Dushts.

A general view shows Tehran's Milad telecommunication tower (L) as the city is covered in dust July 6, 2009. The government closed private educational centres, state offices, industrial units and military bases for two days and raised its pollution alert status due to the dust, which an official from Tehran's environment office attributed the source to dust from dried marshland in Iraq blown towards Iran, according to the Iranian Mahr News Agency on Monday. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl (IRAN)



Iran shuts offices, cancels flights due dust from Iraq
07 Jul 2009 07:17:24 GMT
Source: Reuters
TEHRAN, July 7 (Reuters) - Iran closed many government offices and state firms and cancelled some flights on Tuesday because of wind-blown dust caused by sandstorms in neighbouring Iraq, official media reported.

State industries will be shut for two days in the central Tehran province and medical authorities advised people with heart or respiratory problems to stay indoors.

"Dust pollution closes down Tehran," state Press TV said on its website.

With dust clouds reducing visibility, some domestic flights were grounded or delayed for a third straight day, especially in western areas close to Iraq, which has suffered one of its worst sandstorms in living memory.

The streets of Tehran, a city of 12 million people, were unusually calm as government employees and others stayed home.

Many of those who ventured to work wore face masks and ambulances were deployed in squares.

The Tehran Times newspaper said pollution had risen to 21 times the normal level in the western province of Kermanshah, which borders Iraq, and that dust was also affecting some central regions.

"The dust has brought life to a standstill in some western cities," Tehran Times said. "Reports received from across the country indicate that the situation has gone from bad to worse."

Twenty-two people have been taken to hospital in the neighbouring province of Ilam over the last few days, the official IRNA news agency said.

Iranian authorities expect the situation to improve towards the end of the week.

Iraq has long suffered periodic, blinding sandstorms, but several years of drought have aggravated the situation this year. (Reporting by Hossein Jaseb; writing by Fredrik Dahl; editing by Jon Boyle)


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Kerman city with a height of 1755 m. is located on a high margin of Kavir-e lut (Lut Desert) in the central south of Iran, is the Capital of Kerman Providence. Kerman is counted as one of the oldest cities and its name is derived from the Germaniol race listed by Herodotus, and its construction is attributed to Ardashir I of Sassanid Dynasty (Ardashir-e Babakan) in 3rd century CE.

Kerman was ruled by Turkmans, Arabs and Mongols after the 7th Century CE and was expanded rapidly during the Safavid Dynasty. Carpets and rugs were exported to England and Germany during this period. As it also is a major hand woven carpet production center of the country, and hundreds of small workshops scattered through the city.

Kerman has had a long turbulent history. It was only during the rule of the Qajar Dynasty that security was restored in this city under the Central Government. Kerman has a small Zoroastrian minority. Most of the ancient Kerman was destroyed in a 1794 earthquake.

The distance between this city and Tehran is 1064 kms. and is on Tehran, Bandar Abbas and Zahedan route. Kerman airport is counted as one of the main airports which has daily & weekly flights to Tehran, Ahwaz, Yazd, Esfahan, Bandar Abbas, Mashhad and Shiraz. Also the Trans Iranian Railway passes through this city.


Kerman city has a moderate and the average annual rainfall is 135 mm. Because it is located close to the Kavir-e lut, Kerman has hot summers and in the spring it often has violent sand storms. Otherwise, its climate is relatively cool.

Huge crowd seen for star-packed Michael Jackson memorial

Tue Jul 7, 2009 2:17am EDT

By Bob Tourtellotte

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Michael Jackson fans will crowd into downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday for a star-packed memorial to the King of Pop whose sudden death nearly two weeks ago shocked the world.

Pop music singers Mariah Carey, Usher and Jennifer Hudson will mix with R&B veterans Smokey Robinson, Lionel Richie and Stevie Wonder while sports stars like Kobe Bryant and other celebrities such as Brooke Shields also are expected to turn out.

Some 18,000 fans and friends will crowd into the Staples Center sports arena and a nearby, overflow theater for the two-hour ceremony memorializing pop star Jackson, who died June 25 after suffering cardiac arrest in his Los Angeles mansion.

Police estimate more than 250,000 people will cram onto the sidewalks outside the arena to pay their final respect to the "Thriller" singer and one-time member of Motown legends the Jackson 5, who was 50 years-old when he died.

"This is certainly a momentous occasion that is probably as big, if not bigger than, when Elvis (Presley) passed away," said Steve Howard, a resident of Glendale, California, who won a ticket in an online lottery.

"The impact he had on American music and world music crossed all boundaries," said Howard, who expects the service to feature performances by Jackson's friends and fellow singers, along with eulogies for the fallen pop star.

Two people who will not be there are Jackson's ex-wife, Debbie Rowe, who said on Monday her attendance might be a distraction, and long-time Jackson friend actress Elizabeth Taylor, who said she was asked to speak but was too overcome by grief.

Media reports have said Jackson is expected to be buried in a private family service in Los Angeles ahead of the memorial, but a family spokesman declined to comment on that service.

Questions persist over who will pay for police security and other services such as sanitation required for such a massive gathering. Cost estimates were hard to come by, but Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine estimated as much as $2.5 million.

Like other cities, Los Angeles is strapped for cash in the current recession, and people have complained that public money should not be used for what is, in some ways, a private event.

Still, acting Mayor Jan Perry has said police and other agencies have contingency budgets for events such as this.

About 1.6 million people registered to be among the 8,750 who won two free tickets to the event, and police expect many who did not win tickets to show up outside.

The memorial will be televised live on major U.S. networks, as well as streamed on the Internet.

(Editing by Vicki Allen)

Clerical Leaders Defy Ayatollah on Iran Election

By MICHAEL SLACKMAN and NAZILA FATHI
Published: July 4, 2009

CAIRO — An important group of religious leaders in Iran called the disputed presidential election and the new government illegitimate on Saturday, an act of defiance against the country’s supreme leader and the most public sign of a major split in the country’s clerical establishment.


A statement by the group, the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qum, represents a significant, if so far symbolic, setback for the government and especially the authority of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose word is supposed to be final. The government has tried to paint the opposition and its top presidential candidate, Mir Hussein Moussavi, as criminals and traitors, a strategy that now becomes more difficult.

“This crack in the clerical establishment, and the fact they are siding with the people and Moussavi, in my view is the most historic crack in the 30 years of the Islamic republic,” said Abbas Milani, director of the Iranian Studies Program at Stanford University. “Remember, they are going against an election verified and sanctified by Khamenei.”

The announcement came on a day when Mr. Moussavi released documents detailing a campaign of fraud by the current president’s supporters, and as a close associate of the supreme leader called Mr. Moussavi and former President Mohammad Khatami “foreign agents,” saying they should be treated as criminals.

The documents, published on Mr. Moussavi’s Web site, accused supporters of the president of printing more than 20 million extra ballots before the vote and handing out cash bonuses to voters.

Since the election, the bulk of the clerical establishment in the holy city of Qum, an important religious and political center of power, has remained largely silent, leaving many to wonder when, or if, the nation’s senior religious leaders would jump into the controversy that has posed the most significant challenge to the country’s leadership since the Islamic Revolution.

With its statement Saturday, the association of clerics came down squarely on the side of the reform movement.

The group had earlier asked for the election to be nullified because so many Iranians objected to the results, but it never directly challenged the legitimacy of the government and, by extension, the supreme leader.

The earlier statement also came before the election was certified by the country’s religious leaders, who have since said that opposition to the results must cease.

The clerics’ decision to speak up again is not itself a turning point and could fizzle under pressure from the state, which has continued to threaten its critics. Some seminaries in Qum rely on the government for funds, and Ayatollah Khamenei and the man he has declared the winner of the election, incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have powerful backers there.

They also retain the support of the powerful security forces and the elite Revolutionary Guards. In addition, the country’s highest-ranking clerics have yet to speak out individually against the election results.

But the association’s latest statement does help Mr. Moussavi, Mr. Khatami and a former speaker of Parliament, Mehdi Karroubi, who have been the most vocal in calling the election illegitimate and who, in their attempts to force change, have been hindered by the jailing of influential backers.

“The significance is that even within the clergy, there are many who refuse to recognize the legitimacy of the election results as announced by the supreme leader,” said an Iranian political analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

While the government could continue vilifying the three opposition leaders, analysts say it was highly unlikely that the leadership would use the same tactic against the clerical establishment in Qum.

The backing also came at a sensitive time for Mr. Moussavi, because the accusations that he is a foreign agent ran in a newspaper, Kayhan, that has often been used to build cases against critics of the government.

The editorial was written by Hossein Shariatmadari, who was picked by the supreme leader to run the newspaper.

The clerics’ statement chastised the leadership for failing to adequately study complaints of vote rigging and lashed out at the use of force in crushing huge public protests.

It even directly criticized the Guardian Council, the powerful group of clerics charged with certifying elections.

“Is it possible to consider the results of the election as legitimate by merely the validation of the Guardian Council?” the association said.

Perhaps more threatening to the supreme leader, the committee called on other clerics to join the fight against the government’s refusal to adequately reconsider the charges of voter fraud. The committee invoked powerful imagery, comparing the 20 protesters killed during demonstrations with the martyrs who died in the early days of the revolution and the war with Iraq, asking other clerics to save what it called “the dignity that was earned with the blood of tens of thousands of martyrs.”

The statement was posted on the association’s Web site late Saturday and carried on many other sites, including the Persian BBC, but it was impossible to reach senior clerics in the group to independently confirm its veracity.

The statement was issued after a meeting Mr. Moussavi had with the committee 10 days ago and a decision by the Guardian Council to certify the election and declare that all matters concerning the vote were closed.

But the defiance has not ended.

With heavy security on the streets, there is a forced calm. But each day, slowly, another link falls from the chain of government control. Last week, in what appeared a coordinated thrust, Mr. Moussavi, Mr. Karroubi and Mr. Khatami all called the new government illegitimate. On Saturday, Mr. Milani of Stanford said, former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani met with families of those who had been arrested, another sign that he was working behind the scenes to keep the issue alive.

“I don’t ever remember in the 20 years of Khamenei’s rule where he was clearly and categorically on one side and so many clergy were on the other side,” Mr. Milani said. “This might embolden other clergy to come forward.”

Many of the accusations of fraud posted on Mr. Moussavi’s Web site Saturday had been published before, but the report did give some more specific charges.

For instance, although the government had announced that two of the losing presidential contenders had received relatively few votes in their hometowns, the documents stated that some ballot boxes in those towns contained no votes for the two men.

Michael Slackman reported from Cairo, and Nazila Fathi from Toronto.

Obama to launch his own version of Bush constructive chaos as the cheapest way of cliiping the claws of Israeli hooves

After Gulf War I, Saddam grew too big for his shoes and had to be tricked into attacking Kuwait. The US ambassador at the time told Saddam "America still suffers from the Vietnam complex and will not make much fuss if Iraqi troops crossed the border into Kuwait". Saddam did fall in the trap and the rest is history. Now the Israelis have grown too big for their shoes and need to be taught a lesson. After giving Israel all the necessary weaponry and available intelligence, the Americans started to hint that “they are not going to stand in the way if Israel wants to attack Iran.” The Americans, as well as, Arabs and Muslims hope that the Israelis, like Saddam will take the American hint and launch an attack on Iran. Ahmedinejad is not a fool and can easily destroy most of Israel if Netanyahu dared to launch an attack attack using German-supplied submarines already in the Persian Gulf or warplanes to be fuelled by US tankers over Saudi Arabia, the way they did when attacking Iraq Oziraq reactor. But what about the oil installations and US bases in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and UAE which are within the range of Iranian guns?
Obama seems to launch his own version of Bush constructive chaos as the cheapest way of cliiping the claws of Israeli hooves.

After what has happened to America in Iraq and the defeat of Israeli forces in Lebanon in 2006, no-one is afraid of the USraeli criminals. The harder they push the more ground they lose. Iran is a regional super power that can hurt Israel an damage US bases and oil installations in the Gulf. Americans may enable Netanyahu to attack Iran but at a very high cost.
Adnan Darwash, Iraq Occupation Times

Four foreign soldiers killed in north Afghanistan

06 Jul 2009 12:47:58 GMT
Source: Reuters
(For full coverage on Afghanistan, double click on [ID:nAFPAK]) (Adds Afghan, German defence officials, changes dateline)

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, July 6 (Reuters) - Four foreign soldiers with NATO-led forces were among six people killed by a roadside bomb in Kunduz in northern Afghanistan on Monday, a spokesman for the alliance and an Afghan police official said.

It was the worst security incident involving foreign troops in the north for several weeks. Northern Afghanistan is considered relatively safe compared with Taliban strongholds in the south and east.

A spokesman for the NATO-led alliance did not give any more details about the blast or the nationality of the victims.

Kunduz police chief Abdul Razaaq said two Afghan civilians were also killed.

"There was a joint police and NATO patrol which was hit by a roadside bomb to the east to the city," Razaaq told Reuters.

Germany has about 3,700 troops in Afghanistan, most of them based in Kunduz and other northern provinces. However a German Defence Ministry spokesman in Berlin said the dead soldiers were believed to be Americans, not Germans.

There was no confirmation about the nationality of the dead soldiers from the U.S. military in Afghanistan.

"My understanding is that it was a mentoring team that was en route in a Humvee," the German Defence Ministry spokesman said.

In June, three German soldiers were killed when the armoured personnel carrier they were travelling in came under fire and crashed near Kunduz city.

(Additional reporting by Sayed Salahuddin in KABUL and Noah Barkin in BERLIN; Editing by Paul Tait)


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Bomb kills 4 U.S. troops as Afghan violence flares

06 Jul 2009 14:26:01 GMT
Source: Reuters
(For full coverage on Afghanistan, double click on [ID:nAFPAK])

* Bomb kills 6, including 4 foreign soldiers, in north

* Suicide bomber kills 2 Afghans near NATO base in Kandahar

* U.S. Marines push on with big new offensive

By Paul Tait

KABUL, July 6 (Reuters) - Four U.S. soldiers were among six people killed by a roadside bomb in northern Afghanistan on Monday, officials said, amid a spike in insurgency violence as the U.S. military pushed ahead with a major new offensive.

In southern Kandahar, a suicide bomber killed two people when he drove a car packed with explosives towards a line of truck drivers waiting to supply foreign troops at a key base in a province long considered the heartland of the Taliban insurgency.

In Zabul, north of Kandahar, two more foreign soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb, an alliance spokesman said. No other details were available.

Kandahar is adjacent to Helmand province, where thousands of Marines launched a new assault last week to wrest the initiative away from the Taliban in a province which also supplies most of the opium poppy that funds the insurgency.

The roadside bombing in Kunduz province was the worst security incident involving foreign troops in the north for several weeks. Northern Afghanistan is considered relatively safe compared with Taliban strongholds in the south and east.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for both attacks. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said five soldiers were killed.

Kunduz police chief Abdul Razaaq also said two Afghan civilians were among the dead.

"There was a joint police and NATO patrol which was hit by a roadside bomb to the east to the city," Razaaq told Reuters.

Chief Petty Officer Brian Naranjo, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, confirmed the dead soldiers were American but gave no further details.

German Defence Ministry spokesman Thomas Raabe said in Berlin a NATO team training Afghan troops was travelling in an armoured humvee vehicle when it was hit by the bomb. Germany has about 3,700 troops in Afghanistan, most of them in the north.

The U.S. Marines are the biggest wave of 17,000 new combat troops ordered into Afghanistan by U.S. President Barack Obama by the end of this year as part of his new regional strategy to defeat the Taliban and stabilise Afghanistan. [ID:nSP535775]

The Helmand offensive, Operation Strike of the Sword, was launched with insurgency-related violence at its highest since the Taliban's austere Islamist government was ousted in 2001 for failing to hand over al Qaeda leaders wanted over the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

TWISTED METAL, SHRAPNEL

While no major battles have been reported in Helmand since the offensive began last Thursday, attacks across the country in the past three days have killed civilians as well as Afghan and foreign soldiers.

In Kandahar, the Taliban's base through the early 1990s where al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden also lived for a time, the suicide bomber drove his car up to a line of supply trucks near the sprawling NATO base at Kandahar Air Field. [ID:nISL519651]

"It was a suicide car attack which killed two truck drivers and wounded 10 more of them, along with two (Afghan) army soldiers," said General Sher Mohammad Zazai in Kandahar.

Another army officer, who asked not to be identified, said four Afghan soldiers were also killed but there was no independent confirmation.

Reuters pictures showed the front of one truck badly twisted and pock-marked by shrapnel, its windshield blown out.

A Taliban spokesman told Reuters in Pakistan that the suicide bomber killed 12 NATO troops and four Afghan soldiers.

In neighbouring Uruzgan, Afghan security forces killed seven Taliban fighters, the local police chief said.

Afghan security officials also said four police and six Taliban fighters were killed during an attack on a police post in Helmand's Musa Qala, near the Helmand River, on Monday.

Suicide attacks and roadside bomb blasts are the most common weapons used by the Taliban in their campaign to drive out almost 90,000 U.S. and NATO-led troops in Afghanistan and to destabilise President Hamid Karzai's Western-backed government.

Washington is pouring in extra troops in part to ensure security for Aug. 20 presidential elections, the second in Afghanistan's short history as a democracy.

Two U.S. soldiers were also killed in an attack on a combat outpost in southeastern Paktika province on Saturday.

Three British soldiers were also killed in roadside bomb blasts and a rocket grenade attack at the weekend in Helmand.

All three died in operations near Gereshk, Helmand's main industrial city in the Helmand River valley where U.S. Marines launched their new offensive. [ID:nL5720259]

One of the main objectives of the new Marines offensive is not just to take ground from the Taliban but to also hold it, something overstretched British-led NATO troops in Helmand have so far been unable to do.

There has also been a spate of kidnappings at the weekend, another tactic commonly used by Taliban insurgents as well as criminal gangs seeking ransom payments. [ID:nISL229615] (Additional reporting by Sayed Salahuddin and Golnar Motevalli in KABUL, Kamal Sadat in GARDEZ, Ismail Sameem in KANDAHAR and Saeed Ali Achakzai in CHAMAN, Pakistan; Editing by Sugita Katyal)

Yemen sentences seven shi'ite rebels to death

06 Jul 2009 12:03:18 GMT
Source: Reuters
SANAA, July 6 (Reuters) - A Yemeni court sentenced seven rebels from a Shi'ite Muslim sect to death on Monday after convicting them of causing deaths in clashes with army in 2008.

Hundreds of people died in the conflict and thousands fled their homes in battles between government forces and the rebels in the north, which have raged on and off since 2004.

The state security court also jailed for terms of 12-15 years another five of the rebels accused of seeking to install Shi'ite Islamic rule in the country, which borders the world's biggest oil exporter Saudi Arabia.

In July 2008, President Ali Abdullah Saleh said the battles with the rebels, known as the Houthis, had ended and that dialogue should replace fighting. The rebels belong to the Shi'ite Zaydi sect and are led by Abdul-Malik al-Houthi.

Officials have often said the rebels want to restore a form of clerical rule prevalent in the country until the 1960s. The rebels, who want Zaydi schools and oppose the government's alliance with the United States, say they are defending their villages against government oppression.

Sunni Muslims form a majority of Yemen's 19 million population, while most of the rest are Shi'ite Zaydis.

One of the poorest countries outside Africa, Yemen is also grappling with a violent campaign by al Qaeda militants, dwindling oil and water resources, unemployment, corruption and a growing community of Somali refugees. (Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari; Editing by Inal Ersan; Editing by Jon Boyle)

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Yemen says kills 11 rebels

03 Sep 2009 09:27:47 GMT
Source: Reuters
SANAA, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Yemen said on Thursday it had killed 11 rebels in fighting in the north of the country, while the rebels posted footage on the Internet that appeared to show government troops withdrawing from one area.

Last month fresh fighting erupted between Shi'ite Zaydi Muslims in the mountainous Saad region bordering Saudi Arabia and the central government in Sanaa. Conflict first broke out in 2004.

On Wednesday, the rebels fighting in the north of the Arabian Peninsula country warned of a "long war" after the government rejected a truce offer. [ID:nLR537448]

A military spokesman said government forces had taken control of five rebel hideouts and "destroyed a number of locations where the rebels and terrorists were".

The rebels, led by Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, published footage on their website that showed dozens of what they said were captured government troops being escorted out of the Maran area.

Information about the conduct of the war has been hard to verify since northern provinces have been closed to media.

More than 100,000 people, many of them children, have fled their homes during the surge in fighting, a U.N. agency said last month, and aid groups have complained of poor access to the war zone. [ID:nN2184004]

The World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday it had managed to distribute food aid to only 10,000 in Hajjah and Saada governorates in August compared to 95,000 people in July due to limited access.

The United Nations children's organisation UNICEF launched an appeal on Wednesday for $6.1 million to meet the needs of women and children affected by the fighting.

"Nearly half of the funding will help provide for the immediate water, sanitation and hygiene needs of the displaced population and the host communities," it said in a statement. Many are being housed in tented camps.

The rebels accuse Saudi Arabia of backing the government and the government sees an Iranian hand behind the rebels.

The government says the rebels want to restore a Shi'ite state overthrown in the 1960s and this week summoned the Iranian ambassador over Iranian media's coverage of the fighting.

The rebels say they want more autonomy, including Zaydi schools in their area. They oppose the spread of Saudi-influenced Sunni fundamentalism and accuse the government of indiscriminate bombing of villages. (Reporting by Mohamed Sudam; writing by Andrew Hammond and Tamara Walid)

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Yemen: ICRC and Yemen Red Crescent aid thousands as fighting continues
03 Sep 2009 08:07:32 GMT

The current armed clashes in northern Yemen have continued for almost three weeks, and the humanitarian situation is deteriorating.

Thousands have fled, taking refuge with relatives or host families.

Makeshift shelters have been set up in neighbouring areas, but some people have fled as far as the capital Sana'a, more than 300 km to the south.

The ICRC and the Yemen Red Crescent Society have registered over 25,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in the provinces of Sa'ada and Amran and staff of the two organizations are working around the clock to respond to the most urgent needs.

"The dire humanitarian situation is hitting women and children especially hard,” said Daniel Gagnon, the ICRC's acting head of sub-delegation in Sa'ada.

But ICRC and Yemen Red Crescent aid is making a difference.

"Some of us have already received mattresses, gas bottles and food," said a displaced woman in Wadi Khaiwan.

She and her family had to flee al-Harf city in the north of Amran province.

"This helps us get along and makes us less of a burden to our host families and neighbours, who have very little themselves." In and around Sa'ada city, over 4,200 people are living in Al-Ihsa', Sam and Al-Talh camps, which are run by the ICRC and the Yemen Red Crescent.

But as Daniel Gagnon points out, "there are thousands more in Sa’ada governorate who need our help.” Over 5,500 people are staying with host families in Sa'ada city.

As the influx continues, the ICRC is looking for ways of accommodating more.

"What the people need most is clean water, food and shelter,” said Daniel Gagnon.

"With commercial traffic paralyzed because of the fighting, people find it difficult to get supplies.” The conflict makes it difficult to deliver urgently needed humanitarian aid, with fighting in parts of Sa'ada and Amran provinces hampering operations.

Despite the obstacles, ICRC and Yemen Red Crescent staff continue to bring help whenever the situation allows them to move safely.

How displaced people have benefited from ICRC activities in recent days

Medical supplie
A health centre in Wadi Khaiwan (Amran province) received basic medicines and a tent to act as a “waiting room”.

Yemen Red Crescent staff in Baqim (Sa'ada province) received ICRC support in the form of medicines for the treatment 400 patients.

The Yemen Red Crescent doctor based in Al-Azgoul received medicines.

Food and water
In Sa'ada province, 5,000 displaced people in the Al-Talh area received flour, rice and cooking oil, while more than 250 people in the Qataber area received flour.

5,500 people living with host families in Sa'ada city received flour, rice and beans.

Several dozen displaced families in Baqim and Al-Mahader (Sa'ada province) received daily water deliveries.

850 displaced people in Wadi Khaiwan (Amran province) received drinking water.

Shelter and other essential items
Over 3,500 families who fled to Sa'ada city are receiving basic household items.

ICRC and YRCS teams have been distributing blankets, mattresses, tarpaulins, jerrycans, soap, stoves, gas cylinders and other items to 2,500 people in the Wadi Khaiwan, Amran province.

Over 1,900 people from Al-Mahader, west of Sa'ada city, and more than 560 people in Sa'ada city itself