Posted on 06/15/2005 7:17:55 PM PDT by TexKat
Eddie Salazar and his mother Sheila, search for their sailor, U.S. Navy Interior Communications Electrician 2nd Class Julio Salazar during the deployment homecoming of the USNS Mercy, June 8, 2005. USNS Mercy rapidly deployed 11 days after the Dec. 26 tsunami for five months from the Naval Station San Diego, Calif, to help provide disaster relief to Southeast Asia. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Scott Taylor
Soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 64th Armor, 2nd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, prepare to enter a Baghdad building where insurgents are believed to be hiding. Photo by Spc. Ben Brody.
09:58 AEST Thu Jun 16 2005 AAP
AP - A prison uprising in which at least five inmates were beheaded in south eastern Brazil has ended after prisoners agreed to release 10 hostages unharmed, prison officials say.
The 30-hour uprising at the Presidente Venceslau Penitentiary, 620 kilometres west of Sao Paulo, began on Tuesday after one gang attacked another in a settling of accounts said Marcelo Daniel, a spokesman for the Sao Paulo State Prison Affairs Bureau.
"There may be more dead inmates behind the prison walls," Daniel said. "We're checking."
According to Danilo Bomfim, a spokesman for the Prison Guards Union, "at least seven prisoners may have been decapitated".
During the uprising, the Globo TV network broadcast footage showing an inmate holding a long bamboo pole with a decapitated head stuck on it.
Daniel said prison and law enforcement officials negotiated the end of the rebellion, but did not provide further details.
In the remote town of Ji-Parana, more than 2,000 kilometres north west of Sao Paulo in the state of Rondonia, close to 300 inmates at the Agenor de Carvalho penitentiary also put an end to an uprising that lasted nearly 24 hours.
"A group of prisoners prevented from escaping seized three guards and held them hostage for several hours," said Juarez Macedo, a spokesman for the Rondonia Prison Affairs Bureau.
"The hostages were released unharmed after representatives of the Roman Catholic Church and local human rights groups arrived to guarantee that none of the prisoners would suffer any reprisals," he said.
Meanwhile, a small group of prisoners at the Ariosvaldo Campos Pires penitentiary in Juiz de Fora, 450 kilometres north east of Sao Paulo showed no signs of ending the uprising they began five days ago. Juiz de Fora is located in Minas Gerais state.
"Inmates are holding two guards and possibly 10 relatives hostage," Hugo Teixeira a state government spokesman said by telephone.
"It is unclear if the relatives are refusing to leave the prison or are being held hostage."
The uprising which began last Saturday during visiting hours, is confined to just one of the penitentiary's three cellblocks.
Bump.
07:55 AEST Thu Jun 16 2005 AAP
An Afghan district police chief has been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the killing of five staff of Nobel prize-winning aid agency Medecins sans Frontieres last year, the Interior Ministry said.
MSF, called Doctors Without Borders in English, pulled out of Afghanistan last year after more than 20 years citing lack of progress in an investigation into the killing of the workers on a remote road in the north-western province of Badghis last June.
Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal said the police chief of Badghis's Qadis district was arrested last week on suspicion of involvement in the killings.
"He has been brought to Kabul for investigation. No concrete evidence against him has been found so far, but there is a suspicion he might have been behind the plot," he said.
Mashal declined to name the officer, but said his arrest was the result of information from some of the four or five other suspects arrested since the crime.
Three foreign MSF staff - a woman from Belgium and men from Norway and Holland - were killed in June along with two Afghan workers on a remote road in Badghis, which until then had been considered a relatively safe area.
Their vehicle was attacked by gunmen who also used grenades, and initial suspicions focused on the Taliban which has targeted aid groups in its insurgency.
Mashal said of the motive: "It looks like it was a criminal act, but it's still under investigation."
Dozens of aid workers, including foreigners, have been killed since US-led forces overthrew the Taliban in late 2001 and the violence has greately curtailed humanitarian work in the provinces by international relief agencies.
Earlier this month, an Italian woman working for the Care International aid agency was released after being held hostage for more than three weeks by kidnappers in Kabul.
Her abduction was a further blow for Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his US-backed government as it struggles to impose its authority while battling the Taliban as well as widespread crime and corruption.
You are most certainly welcome Miss Behave.
Thanks TexKat
SAN FRANCISCO, June 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The ATF Reno Office has a major initiative that targets the illegal trafficking of firearms from Nevada to California. Through a number of investigative methods, Special Agents look to identify suspicious purchasers making false statements or engaging in "straw purchases" to obtain firearms for transport out of the State of Nevada. A straw purchase is a transaction that involves a buyer who does not fill out the required paperwork and undergo a background check, but has another person fill out the paperwork, who is not the real purchaser.
As a result of this initiative, on March 16, 2005, Earl James Ficklin, 33, a resident of California and Therea A. Brown, 43, a resident of Antioch, California, were indicted by the United States District Court, District of Nevada, and charged with Title 18, USC, Section 922(a)(6) -- False Statement During Firearms Purchase and two other related counts. Ficklin and Brown were arrested without incident by ATF Special Agents on June 15, 2005, in Antioch, CA.
Our investigation has shown that Brown and Ficklin, California residents, have acquired other firearms in Nevada. Four firearms purchased by Ficklin have been recovered by Bay Area police, one each in Oakland, Richmond, and Martinez and San Francisco. The Federal charges relate to five 9 mm semi automatic pistols that were recovered by ATF Special Agents in Nevada shortly after the illegal purchase in October, 2004.
Special Agent In Charge Paul Vido, ATF San Francisco Field Division, said, "Getting gun traffickers behind bars is a number one priority for ATF. Trafficking firearms into the streets and into hands of criminals and gang members with no regard for the carnage that may result is reprehensible."
The charges are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty. The Federal charges carry a maximum possible sentence of 10 years per count. This is an ongoing investigation and additional charges are anticipated.
Contact: Marti McKee, PIO, of The ATF, Pager: +1-888-416-4533
http://www.atf.gov
Thank you Justanobody :>).
June 15, 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4074044.stm
Arson highlights Danish tensions
By Thomas Buch-Andersen BBC News, Copenhagen
Danish police are searching for unknown attackers who set fire to the immigration minister's car.
Rikke Hvilshoj, her husband and two young children were rescued from their house, which also caught fire as a result of the attack.
A group calling itself "Beatte Without Borders" has said it carried out the attack, condemning the government's "racist immigration policy".
The minister and other senior politicians have been assigned guards.
Threat
The attack took place at 0300 local time (0100 GMT). Mrs Hvilshoj, 34, was woken up by a "loud bang". When the rescuers arrived, parts of her house were in flames, too.
"I am shaken and angry," she said.
The group that said it carried out the attack sent a statement to various Danish media, which said: "We cannot watch passively, while the official Denmark carries out its racist immigration policy.
"That's why we are taking action now."
The group is unknown, but police have cordoned off the area around the minister's home in an effort to find clues that could lead to their capture.
Harsh punishment
The family has been moved to a secret address. Meanwhile, the minister herself and other of her senior colleagues in the government have been assigned bodyguards.
The attack has come as a shock to Denmark's open society where it is not unusual to see ministers and other public figures go shopping, cycle and live their everyday lives among the rest of the population.
Justice Minister Lene Espersen says that given the fact that there were children in the house, the attackers could get life imprisonment.
The Danish government, which was re-elected in February, has introduced some of Europe's toughest restrictions on immigration, leading to criticism from Europe's human rights watchdog, the Council of Europe.
Nevertheless, the centre-right government insists the measures are right and fair.
Immigration tension
The attack comes less than two weeks after a shooting in Norrebro, another part of Copenhagen, involving members of the immigrant community. A young man was killed by a nightclub bouncer, while another was wounded.
When a leading Muslim cleric, Abu Laban, suggested the hand-over of "blood money" from one family to another as a way to settle the dispute peacefully, the immigration minister rejected the idea as "medieval".
"Nor do we trade camels in Denmark", was Mrs Hvilshoj's response to the idea.
But reports say that the family of the doorman who fired the fatal shot has agreed to move out of Copenhagen as a way to compensate for the killing.
The agreement has been sharply criticised by experts in criminal law who say it is unlawful coercion and goes against the Danish sense of democracy.
Only the courts can resolve murder cases in Denmark.
So, while some Danes are asking the government to loosen the tough immigration restrictions, others fear that parts of those already in the country are developing into a parallel society where ancient traditions threaten Danish law.
Image from video of Muslim group desecrating U.S. flag in street demonstration
Society aka Al Muhajiroun issue threat to Jihad Watch director for publising videos of flag burning in NYC
Muslims Thinkers Society aka Al Muhajiroun issue threat to Jihad Watch director for publising videos of flag burning in NYC
June 12, 2005
GLOBAL JIHAD Flag desecrators issue threat Urge Allah to 'give painful torment' to publicizers of video June 11, 2005
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=44709
New York-based Muslims who desecrated the U.S. flag on a street corner issued a threat against Islam scholar Robert Spencer for publicizing their video of the event along with accusations of ties to foreign jihadists.
As WorldNetDaily reported, the video shows members of the Islamic Thinkers Society declaring Islam's dominance over America as they tread on a U.S. flag and then rip it apart.
The group, with alleged links to the British jihadist organization Al-Muhajiroun, said the demonstration was "in response to the desecration of the holy Quran by the Crusaders & Zionists at Guantanamo Bay," an allegation based on a retracted Newsweek story.
A posting on the Islamic Thinkers Society website says:
May Allah s.w.t. help those who expose the Crusaders & Zionists and their dirty schemes. And may Allah s.w.t. continue to humiliate the enemies of Islam & Muslims. May Allah s.w.t. give painful torment to Robert Spencer and Grayson Levy who are waging an e-Crusade on us by publishing false information about us." Grayson Levy facilitates websites for Middle East scholar Daniel Pipes and his Philadephia-based Middle East Forum.
Image taken from a video provided by the Iraqi Special Tribunal shows Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan -- the half-brother of Saddam Hussein. The special court charged with trying the ousted Iraqi leader and members of his regime released a videotape of the questioning of Sabawi. AFP
Iraq releases video of interrogation of Saddam's half-brother
BAGHDAD (AFP) - The special court charged with trying Saddam Hussein and members of his regime released a videotape of the questioning of the ousted leader's half-brother, Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan.
The latest, partly audible videotape came two days after the release of footage of the questioning of Saddam and four of his deputies about crimes committed against Shiites and Kurds.
The move has been seen as a bid by the court to reassert its independence from government pressure to speed up the trials.
But critics also say the releases are aimed at appeasing the public and many in the Shiite-dominated government of Ibrahim Jaafari by demonstrating that preparations for the trials are underway.
Sabawi was captured in late February and is believed to have played a pivotal role in financing the insurgency, which rages on more than two years after the regime's fall. Some reports at the time said he was handed over by Syria, where he was thought to have been hiding.
His interrogation was carried out on Monday, according to the tape obtained by AFP along with a statement from the Iraqi Special Tribunal.
It opens with Sabawi seated in the middle of an office in front of an unidentified judge behind a desk.
"Your full name and title?" asks the judge.
"Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan Mohammed," he answers, dressed in a white dishdash (traditional male robe), as he fidgets with what appears to be a prison identification bracelet around his wrist.
"Your title?" insists the judge referring to the tribal or town affiliations commonly attached to the end of Iraqi last names.
Saddam decreed that all Iraqis use only their father's name as surname. He and his clansmen were commonly called al-Tikritis in reference to their hometown of Tikrit, north of Baghdad.
"I am not one to be titled. I do not have one, but the tribe is Al-Baijat," says Sabawi referring to a tribe from the area north of Tikrit.
The audio is muted as Sabawi, who shares a mother with Saddam, begins shaking his head and speaking with what appears to be anger and agitation.
The judge smiles faintly.
"I started my career in 1978 as general director in the mukhabarat (intelligence service) and then on April 8, 1991 a decree was issued to appoint me head of internal security" he says.
"The crime you are accused of and which is the subject of the current investigation is the deportation and execution of Faili Kurds," says the judge.
"What?" shouts Sabawi.
"Their imprisonment and banishment, all according to article 12 of the court's laws," says the judge.
The audio is muted again as the camera zooms on Sabawi's face, lower teeth missing and sporting a scruffy salt-and-pepper beard.
Apart from the crimes allegedly committed by Saddam's henchmen against the Kurds, who are mostly Sunnis, the former regime is accused of persecuting the Failis, who are Shiite Kurds, because of their suspected ties to Iran.
Iraq fought a 1980-1988 war against Iran.
Next to appear was Mizban Khodr Hadi, a high-ranking member of the Baath party regional command and number 23 on the Pentagon's deck of cards of the 55 most wanted former regime figures.
He is dressed in a grey robe and sporting a thin mustache. He is shown at the end of the brief excerpt standing up with the camera closing up on his hands as he hesitates before signing a statement handed to him by the judge.
Hadi faces the same charges as Sabawi in addition to "crimes committed during the events of 1991," says a court statement that accompanied the tape.
The tape ends with a brief appearance by Walid Hamid Tawfiq, a former governor of the southern province of Basra, who is accused of involvement in repressing the Shiite uprising in the south after the 1991 Gulf War.
Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman. Israel and Egypt have agreed in principle to deploy Egyptian soldiers on the Gaza border during talks concerning on Israel's pullout from the Palestinian territory this summer. AFP/Eitan Abramovich
Egypt, Israel agree in principle on Gaza troop deployment
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel and Egypt have agreed in principle to deploy Egyptian soldiers on the Gaza border during talks concerning on Israel's pullout from the Palestinian territory this summer.
"Israel and Egypt have agreed in principle that an Egyptian force would deploy along the border with Gaza, but a certain number of details still need to be ironed out," a senior official said Wednesday.
"Israel agreed for Egypt and the Palestinian Authority to control the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt in the future but on condition that they prove their efficiency in the fight against arms smuggling," he added.
Polish soldiers patrol the southern Iraqi town of Samawa in March 2004. Polish Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski said Warsaw will reduce the number of troops it has in Iraq from 1,700 to around 1,400 because the mission facing Polish soldiers there has changed. AFP/Joseph Barrak
Poland to reduce troop numbers in Iraq to 1,400
WARSAW (AFP) - Poland will reduce the number of troops it has in Iraq from 1,700 to around 1,400 because the mission facing Polish soldiers there has changed.
"The next Polish deployment in Iraq will be smaller and number between 1,400 and 1,450 men," Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski told a press conference in Warsaw after holding talks with his British counterpart John Reid.
"Our mission has changed. We will henceforth concentrate on helping our Iraqi friends," he said Wednesday, explaining that the next deployment of Polish soldiers will leave for Iraq later this month or in July, and will be given the task mainly of training locals.
Poland, a close ally of the United States in the Iraqi conflict despite strong domestic opposition, controls an area south of Baghdad with 4,000 troops from the US-led multinational force under its command.
Following elections in Iraq on January 30, Poland cut its contingent in Iraq from 2,400 to 1,700 soldiers.
Seventy percent of Poles want their country's troops to be withdrawn from Iraq as soon as possible, a survey published in April said.
In April, Szmajdzinski said Poland would withdraw its troops from Iraq at the end of the year, when the mandate of the UN multinational stabilization force in the country expires.
British soldiers patrol the southern Iraqi city of Basra. Several British soldiers were wounded when a roadside bomb went off in Baghdad. AFP/Essam Al-Sudani
Several British soldiers wounded in Baghdad bomb attack
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Several British soldiers were wounded, one seriously, when a roadside bomb went off in Baghdad.
The bomb blew up in the path of a British military vehicle in the west of the capital, US Lieutenant Jamie Davis told AFP on Wednesday.
It was unclear where the convoy was headed, since British troops are based in southern Iraq.
Iraqi interpreter Hussein Hanun (L) sits with his two daughters. Hanun told AFP that he had no contact with fellow hostage Florence Aubenas. AFP/Ahmad Al-Rubaye
BAGHDAD (AFP) - The Iraqi interpreter held captive for five months by Islamist militants with French journalist Florence Aubenas said he had no contact with his fellow hostage during their ordeal.
"I was held in the same place as Florence but I could not see her because we were blindfolded. We didn't speak," Hussein Hanun told AFP on Wednesday.
"I didn't know how they were treating her because they spoke to her very softly," said Hanun, once an air force fighter pilot under the regime of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.
Thin and finding it hard to concentrate, the 45-yer-old Hanun spoke with a husky voice that rasped in his inflamed throat as he told of how he missed his family and his euphoria at being freed.
But he was reluctant to give a full account of his 157-day ordeal, saying only that he was "properly treated." Of his captors he would only say: "They were Islamists."
Back in France, Aubenas said she shared her captivity with another hostage she was not allowed to speak with, and only found out days before her release that it was Hanun.
Asked about three Romanian reporters who claimed to have been held with her before their own release last month, Aubenas said: "The situation is delicate.... I can't speak about the Romanians."
Hanun made no mention of the Romanians in his interview with AFP.
The father of four was reunited with his family on Sunday, a day after his release, in a chaotic celebration marked with joy, tears, candy and the blood of a freshly-slaughtered sheep.
"What hurt most was being separated from my wife and children," he said. "I am really happy to be back among those I love, My family never left my mind.
"I was thinking about my children and my wife all the time, especially since I could imagine her anguish and know how she suffers from high blood pressure."
"I was really anxious despite being treated properly by those I was with," Hanun added.
"They regularly gave me news of my family and when I tried to know more they said 'don't worry, we are taking care of them'." They also insisted Hanun was their guest.
"They told me, you will get out of here and get back with your family, we have nothing against you and we are good Muslims who respect human feelings," the former hostage said.
"When I began to pray they were pleased and when I fasted they asked me which dish I wanted to end the fast with," added Hanun.
The hostages' plight attracted intense public interest in France, the latest in a series of countries to be hit by a wave of abuctions of foreign nationals launched by Islamic militant groups in April last year.
Speaking of his liberation, Hanun said: "One morning, they came and told me 'you are going back to your loved ones' and I was mad with joy.
"They filmed us, saying 'you will see these images and hear your statements on television this evening surrounded by those dearest to you'.
"I could hardly believe it, and thank God the dream came true. That said, I still have not seen the images on television."
No video of the liberation of Florence and Hussein has been obtained or broadcast by television stations, which in the past have shown images of groups freeing their hostages or announcing their kidnapping or even their execution in Iraq.
Before becoming a fixer for French television and print journalists in Iraq, Hanun, who hails from the powerful Al-Saadi tribe, was a pilot in the air force after training in France in the early 1980s.
June 15, 2005 - 18:09 KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - Suspected Taliban rebels broke into an Afghan medical clinic near the Pakistan border and killed a doctor and six of his assistants, while seven gunmen were killed when hundreds of insurgents clashed with Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces, officials said Wednesday.
The fighting is the latest in Afghanistan that has raised fears of instability ahead of crucial legislative elections in September.
The attack on the clinic in Khost province came late Tuesday, said Almar Gul Mungle, commander of a frontier security force. It was unclear why the medical staff were targeted but Mungle suggested rebels may have thought they worked for the government.
In a second attack, suspected Taliban rebels in southern Kandahar province shot and killed a tribal elder whose family prominently supported President Hamid Karzai's government, said local deputy police chief Gen. Salim Khan.
Meanwhile, a purported senior commander from Afghanistan's ousted Taliban militia said in a television interview broadcast Wednesday both the radical group's fugitive leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden are alive and well.
In the interview on Pakistan's Geo television, a man identified as Taliban military commander Mullah Akhtar Usmani, a former aviation minister and corps commander in southern Kandahar province, said he still receives instructions from Omar.
Asked whether bin Laden is hiding in parts of Afghanistan still under Taliban control, he refused to specify where the accused terrorist mastermind is but insisted: "Thanks be to God he is absolutely fine."
Three and a half years since the hardline Taliban regime was ousted by a U.S.-led military campaign, about 18,500 U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan hunting remnants of the Taliban and their al-Qaida allies.
The fighting that left seven rebels dead erupted after about 90 suspected Taliban gunmen attacked a joint Afghan and coalition patrol Tuesday on the border between Kandahar and Uruzgan, two southern provinces, said army commander Gen. Muslim Amid.
Four Afghan soldiers were wounded in the fighting, which ended with the insurgents fleeing into nearby mountains, carrying their injured, he said. Two rebels were captured.
Troops pursued the rebels into the mountains and were still hunting them Wednesday, Amid added.
U.S. military spokesman Lt.-Col. Jerry O'Hara confirmed coalition troops were involved in the fighting but declined to comment beyond confirming no coalition casualties, saying an assessment was under way.
Published June 15, 2005
By UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
BAGHDAD -- An exiled Syrian opposition leader is visiting Iraq to discuss cooperation with the Iraqi government in combating the Baath regime in Syria.
Farid al-Ghadiri, head of the Syrian Reform Party, told UPI he talked with Iraqi officials and party leaders hostile to Damascus to explore ways to support his party in its bid to fight the regime in Damascus.
"We discussed the possibility of opening offices for Syrian Reform Party in Iraq in order to step up its political opposition activity from territory close to Syria in cooperation with the Iraqi authorities," Ghadiri said.
He said the Iraqi people is suffering from Syrian terrorism exactly like the Syrian people and the Lebanese people did and "it is about time that this regime in Damascus steps down."
Ghadiri, who has contacts with U.S. official circles, said recently that he received U.S. financial assistance to step up his party's activities against Damascus. He also called for unifying outside pressures, Arab, European and American, on Syria to introduce democracy.
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
BAGHDAD, 14 Jun 2005 (IRIN) - A radio station focusing on women’s issues has hit the airwaves in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
Topics under discussion include the importance of women’s rights and the new constitution, the forthcoming general election, childhood needs and family problems.
"The radio station is a voice for Iraqi women in the country, a voice to speak about her rights, her issues, her ambitions, her problems without hesitation," manager of the radio station, Majed Rahak, said.
Known as radio "al-Mahaba" meaning love in Arabic, the station is supported by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) programme.
The station was established by the Ministry of Municipality and Public Works (MMPW) working with local women’s NGOs including the Iraqi Women’s League (IWL), Women Rise (WR), General Student’s Union (GSU) and the Flower of Iraq (FoI)
"This project aims to encourage, strengthen and support Iraqi women at all levels to know their rights, to enjoy equality and dignity and to define their future effectively by understanding international laws," a UNIFEM representative in Iraq, Besma al- Kateab, said.
Broadcasts started in April and the station has had a slow start but is now increasing programming.
"I listen to al-Mahaba radio every day. They have good programmes for women about life and rights in society," listener, Muna Ferhad said.
Transmitting for eight hours a day, the station presents a variety of material.
"We have good educational programmes, legal advice and many social discussions. We have interviewed famous Iraqi women and specialists in civil society," Rahak said.
The station employs both female and male, producers, trained journalists, technicians and musicians. It also gives young female talent a chance to shine.
"We are encouraging young women to come and display their talent here by showing off their art and handicrafts, reading poems and to advertise any training for women listening to the programmes," radio presenter, Niran Ali said.
Al-Mahaba radio now plans to increase transmission time and to extend its reach by broadcasting countrywide.
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