Posted on 12/17/2006 4:03:30 PM PST by DAVEY CROCKETT
VEVAK learned its methodology from the Soviet KGB and many of the Islamist revolutionaries who supported Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini actually studied at Moscow's Patrice Lumumba Friendship University, the Oxford of terrorism. Documented Iranian alumni include the current Supreme Leader (the faqih) Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, under whose Velayat-e Faqih (Rule of the Islamic Jurisprudent) apparatus it has traditionally operated. Its current head is Cabinet Minister Hojatoleslam Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Ezhei, a graduate of Qom's Haqqani School, noted for its extremist position advocating violence against enemies and strict clerical control of society and government. The Ministry is very well funded and its charge, like that of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (the Pasdaran) is to guard the revolutionary Islamic Iranian regime at all costs and under all contingencies.
From the KGB playbook, VEVAK learned the art of disinformation. It's not so difficult to learn: tell the truth 80% of the time and lie 20%. Depending on how well a VEVAK agent wants to cover his/her tracks, the ratio may go up to 90/10, but it never drops below the 80/20 mark as such would risk suspicion and possible detection. The regime in Teheran has gone to great lengths to place its agents in locations around the world. Many of these operatives have been educated in the West, including the U.K. and the United States. Iranian government agencies such as embassies, consulates, Islamic cultural centers, and airline offices regularly provide cover for the work of VEVAK agents who dress well and are clean shaven, and move comfortably within our society. In this country, because of the severance of diplomatic relations, the principal site of VEVAK activities begins at the offices of Iran's Permanent Mission to the UN in New York.
Teheran has worked diligently to place its operatives in important think tanks and government agencies in the West. Some of its personnel have been recruited while in prison through torture or more often through bribery, or a combination of both. Others are Islamist revolutionaries that have been set up to look like dissidents - often having been arrested and imprisoned, but released for “medical reasons”. The clue to detecting the fake “dissident” is to read carefully what he/she writes, and to ask why this vocal “dissident” was released from prison when other real dissidents have not been released, indeed have been grievously tortured and executed. Other agents have been placed in this country for over twenty-five years to slowly go through the system and rise to positions of academic prominence due to their knowledge of Farsi and Shia Islam or Islamist fundamentalism.
One of the usual tactics of VEVAK is to co-opt academia to its purposes. Using various forms of bribery, academics are bought to defend the Islamic Republic or slander its enemies. Another method is to assign bright students to train for academic posts as specialists in Iranian or Middle East affairs. Once established, such individuals are often consulted by our government as it tries to get a better idea of how it should deal with Iran. These academics then are in a position to skew the information, suggesting the utility of extended dialogue and negotiation, or the danger and futility of confronting a strong Iran or its proxies such as Hizballah (Hezbollah). These academics serve to shield the regime from an aggressive American or Western policy, and thereby buy more time for the regime to attain its goals, especially in regards to its nuclear weaponry and missile programs.
MOIS likes to use the media, especially electronic media, to its advantage. One of VEVAK's favorite tricks is setting up web sites that look like they are opposition sites but which are actually controlled by the regime. These sites often will be multilingual, including Farsi, German, Arabic French, and English. Some are crafted carefully and are very subtle in how they skew their information (e.g., Iran-Interlink, set up and run by Massoud Khodabandeh and his wife Ann Singleton from Leeds, England); others are less subtle, simply providing the regime's point of view on facts and events in the news (e.g., www.mujahedeen.com or www.mojahedin.ws). This latter group is aimed at the more gullible in our open society and unfortunately such a market exists. However, if one begins to do one's homework, asking careful questions, the material on these fake sites generally does not add up.
Let's examine a few examples of VEVAK's work in the United States. In late October, 2005, VEVAK sent three of its agents to Washington to stage a press event in which the principal Iranian resistance movement, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK), was to be slandered. Veteran VEVAK agent Karim Haqi flew from Amsterdam to Canada where he was joined by VEVAK's Ottawa agents Amir-Hossein Kord Rostami and Mahin (Parvin-Mahrokh) Haji, and the three flew from Toronto to Washington. Fortunately the resistance had been tracking these three, informed the FBI of their presence in Washington, and when the three tried to hold a press conference, the resistance had people assigned to ask pointed questions of them so that they ended the interview prematurely and fled back to Canada.
Abolghasem Bayyenet is a member of the Iranian government. He serves as a trade expert for the Ministry of Commerce. But his background of study and service in the Foreign Ministry indicates that Bayyenet is more than just an economist or a suave and savvy businessman. In an article published in Global Politician on April 23, 2006, entitled “Is Regime Change Possible in Iran?”, Bayyenet leads his audience to think that he is a neutral observer, concerned lest the United States make an error in its assessment of Iran similar to the errors of intelligence and judgment that led to our 2003 invasion of Iraq, with its less than successful outcome. However, his carefully crafted bottom line is that the people of Iran are not going to support regime change and that hardliner President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad actually has achieved greater popularity than his predecessors because of his concern for the problems of the poor and his fight for economic and social justice. To the naive, Bayyenet makes Ahmadinejad sound positively saintly. Conveniently overlooked is the occurrence of over four thousand acts of protest, strikes, anti-regime rallies, riots, and even political assassinations by the people of Iran against the government in the year since Ahmadinejad assumed office. So too, the following facts are ignored: the sizeable flight of capital, the increase in unemployment, and the rising two-figure rate of inflation, all within this last year. Bayyenet is a regime apologist, and when one is familiar with the facts, his arguments ring very hollow. However, his English skills are excellent, and so the naОve might be beguiled by his commentary.
Mohsen Sazegara is VEVAK's “reformed revolutionary”. A student supporter of Khomeini before the 1979 revolution, Sazegara joined the “imam” on his return from exile and served in the government for a decade before supposedly growing disillusioned.
He formed several reformist newspapers but ran afoul of the hardliners in 2003 and was arrested and imprisoned by VEVAK. Following “hunger strikes”, Sazegara was released for health reasons and permitted to seek treatment abroad. Although critical of the government and particularly of Ahmadinejad and KhameneМ, Sazegara is yet more critical of opposition groups, leaving the impression that he favors internal regime change but sees no one to lead such a movement for the foreseeable future. His bottom line: no one is capable of doing what needs to be done, so we must bide our time. Very slick, but his shadow shows his likely remaining ties to the MOIS.
http://www.ocnus.net/artman/publish/article_27144.shtml
[Now we have broken windshields, is it a simple matter of over tight screws in them, it works in cars, when installing or checking them.......... a couple days ago, it was 3 broken windshields at one foreign airport....granny and fire again]
According to the US Airways website and WVIR television, it was flight
4339
from Philadelphia to Roanoke. It was scheduled to arrive in Roanoke at
11:44
a.m. The Dash-8 turbo prop had to make an emergency landing in
Charlottesville around 11:30.
The pilot radioed into Charlottesville reporting a fire in the cockpit
had
cracked the windshield. There were 13 passsengers on board. None of
them
were injured.
We'll have more information on this story later on News 7 at five and
six.
We'll have more information on this story later on News 7 at Five and
Six.
http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S=5956837&nav=menu368_2
*
FAA Proposes Two ADs For GE Engines Used On Embraer 190/195s
Would Affect 38 JetBlue Planes; Air Canada, Copa Also Fly Type
The FAA has asked for public comment on two proposed airworthiness
directives (AD) for the General Electric (GE) CF34-10E engines in use
on
some Embraer 190 and 195 airliners.
JetBlue was Embraer's launch customer for the 190-series aircraft; the
Associated Press reports the proposed ADs affect 38 E-190s operated by
the
airline. Air Canada and Copa Airlines also operate the aircraft type.
GE and the FAA have been aware of the problem addressed in one of the
proposed ADs since last year; the FAA issued AD 2006-20-06 in October
after
a part failure in the engines' fuel pump caused three reported
in-flight
shutdowns. The agency says all aircraft flying are in compliance with
that
interim fix.
FAA spokeswoman Alison Duquette told the Associated Press, "In-flight
engine
shutdowns are not uncommon," adding none have occurred since operators
have
complied with the AD 2006-20-06.
The first of the two new proposed ADs is an amendment to AD 2006-20-06,
which required removing the main fuel pump (MFP) inlet strainer,
installing
a certain replacement flange as an interim repair, labeling the MFP
with a
new part number, and performing initial and repetitive visual
inspections of
the main fuel filter.
Since AD 2006-20-06 was issued, GE determined the cause of MFP fuel
inlet
strainer failure as a design problem. GE has developed a new part with
a
more robust design fuel inlet strainer. The proposed amendment would
require
replacing all old parts with the new one developed by GE no later than
April
30, 2007. The FAA estimates total cost for the 50 affected
US-registered
planes to comply with this AD at $4,226 per engine, for a total of
$223,300.
The second proposed AD would require revising the combustor case
published
life limit and removing combustor cases from service before reaching a
reduced life limit. The FAA says it results from GE's evaluation of the
effects to the combustor case due to installing version 5.10 software
in the
full-authority digital electronic control (FADEC).
To comply with the second AD operators must:
Complete all actions required by the AD within 30 days after the
effective
date
Revise manuals to reflect a new life limit for affected combustor cases
from
39,600 cycles-since-new (CSN) to 24,600 CSN
Remove from service affected combustor cases before reaching 24,600 CSN
The second AD will be much more costly -- combustor cases aren't cheap.
The
FAA estimates compliance costs for the 42 affected US-registered
aircraft at
just over $140,000 per engine, or a total of $5,886,720... ouch!
FMI: www.airweb.faa.gov
aero-news.net
What are the common factors in the Helios and the Everglades Tristar
accident?
Minus points for saying pilot error.
In the Helios accident, the crew, suffering with the effects of
hypoxia,
were convinced an aural warning in the flight deck was a spurious take
off
configuration signal. With increasing pressure altitudes and impaired
cerebral function associated with the symptoms of hypoxia, the crew
suffered
with an element of cognitive fixation as they tried to troubleshoot the
source of the aural warning.
Similarly, in the Everglades accident in 1972, on approach the nose
gear
'down and locked' light failed to illuminate after trying to recycle
the
gear. The entire flight deck crew became involved, in one way or
another,
in trying to troubleshoot the problem. During the troubleshooting, the
autopilot had inadvertently disconnected and the aircraft ultimately
flew
into the ground. There were many factors involved in this accident but
this
was a case of group cognitive fixation.
To learn more about how physiology, psychology and social factors,
amongst
other influences, have played a role in other major accidents, try
us...
http://www.cranfield.ac.uk/soe/postgraduate/msc-humanfactors.htm
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/01/19/001.html
Friday, January 19, 2007. Page 1.
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Prosecutors Want Trunov Disbarred
By David Nowak
Staff Writer
Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP
Igor Trunov speaking at a 2002 news conference. Anna Lyubimova, whose father was at the Dubrovka siege, is at left.
Prosecutors said Thursday they want to strip lawyer Igor Trunov -- who is defending the banker charged with masterminding the murder of the Central Bank's former No. 2 official, Andrei Kozlov -- of his right to practice law for disclosing confidential information, they say.
The comments Trunov made that are now in question involved another suspect, Liana Askerova.
Last week, Trunov said the only evidence prosecutors had against his client, Alexei Frenkel, was Askerova's testimony. Prosecutors say Trunov's open discussion of the case is illegal, given that the case is ongoing.
"To be honest," Trunov said Thursday in an interview, "I'm happy about this announcement. It means I'm doing my job."
Trunov added that he had made his remarks about Askerova before he signed a confidentiality agreement, as required by the Basmanny District Court. He dismissed prosecutors' call for his disbarment as little more than a legal tactic.
"It's a form of pressure from prosecutors that deflects attention away from the fact that my client was beaten and denied food and water," Trunov said.
Trunov earlier said the beatings inflicted on Frenkel were so serious as to leave him with "heart pains" and "trouble sitting down."
Trunov added that the prosecutors' actions amounted to "an attack on freedom of speech and human rights."
The Prosecutor General's Office refused to comment.
Prosecutors have no case against Trunov "if he made the statement before signing the agreement," said Genri Reznik, the president of the Moscow Chamber of Lawyers, which will rule on Trunov's fate. Reznik was speaking on Ekho Moskvy radio.
Relatives of those killed in the 2002 Dubrovka theater siege held a news conference Thursday to show support for Trunov. Trunov represented the relatives when they sued the federal government following the siege, in which 125 people died; government forces released a deadly gas into the theater during the standoff and later did not reveal the nature of the gas to doctors treating those who had been inside.
Revoking Trunov's right to practice law will "negatively impact, first of all, the victims of Nord-Ost," said Dmitry Milovidov, referring to the musical that theatergoers were watching when terrorists occupied the theater, RIA-Novosti reported.
Milovidov is a member of a support group for survivors of the siege and relatives.
Frenkel was charged Wednesday by prosecutors with organizing Kozlov's murder. Kozlov, the former first deputy chairman at the Central Bank, had sought to clean up the banking industry.
Askerova was charged Friday with involvement in the killing.
Trunov, 45, is probably one of the most controversial lawyers in modern Russia.
He boasts a string of high-profile cases that, with the exception of the Kozlov case, have included scraps with the authorities and extensive media coverage. Representing loved ones of many who have died in tragic -- and possibly avoidable -- accidents, Trunov has made a name for himself as an advocate for the bereaved.
He also represented relatives who sued Moscow's city government after the roof of the Transvaal water park collapsed in 2004, killing 28, and relatives of those killed when a Sibir Airlines plane skidded off the runway last year in Irkutsk.
Other Trunov clients have included people duped out of apartments that they paid for but never received.
Turning to his legal strategy, Trunov said: "Of course, the media are important to me." He added that he was working to help foster a more democratic Russia.
Boris Makarenko, a public relations analyst at the Center for Political Technologies, said Trunov used widely publicized cases to further his career.
Indeed, Makarenko said, this was why Trunov offered his services free of charge in the Dubrovka case. "Yes, he lost that case, but that came after a good fight, and he received heavy media coverage," Makarenko said.
Trunov has also had personal run-ins with the law. In 1993, before becoming a lawyer, he was sent to prison for 3 1/2 years after being convicted of involvement in a real estate scandal.
© Copyright 2007 The Moscow Times. All rights reserved.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/01/19/011.html
Friday, January 19, 2007. Page 3.
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Former Senator Under Arrest
By Carl Schreck
Staff Writer
Vedomosti
Igor Izmestyev
A former senator from Bashkortostan suspected of ordering the murder of his business partner's wife was placed under arrest Thursday, just days after he was seized at a Kyrgyz airport by Federal Security Service agents and shuttled back to Moscow.
The Basmanny District Court on Thursday placed former senator Igor Izmestyev under arrest on suspicion of ordering the murder of Galina Perepyolkina, the wife of Yury Bushev. Perepyolkina was shot dead on Bolshaya Bronnaya Ulitsa in Moscow in 2001.
Izmestyev, 40, has not been charged with any crimes, though he is also suspected of tax evasion and trying to bribe an officer of the Federal Security Service, or FSB, news agencies reported.
Izmestyev called the murder charge "absurd." "I was abducted," he said in televised comments from the courtroom cage. "This is all about money."
Izmestyev, whose worth Finans magazine estimated in February at $235 million, flew into the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, from Geneva on Tuesday and was seized at the airport by FSB agents working with their Kyrgyz counterparts. He was flown to Moscow in the custody of FSB agents, Kommersant reported.
An FSB spokesman referred all inquiries to the Prosecutor General's Office. A spokeswoman there said she could not comment.
Toktogul Kakchekeyev, a spokesman for the Kyrgyz Prosecutor General's Office, said the joint operation to arrest Izmestyev was based on agreements between the two countries to battle organized crime, Interfax reported.
The allegations surrounding Izmestyev form a Byzantine web connected to retired naval officer Alexander Pumane, who was beaten to death by policemen during an interrogation in September 2004 after he was detained in Moscow with two land mines and 200 grams of TNT in his car. Prosecutors said Pumane was planning to detonate the explosives next to the car of Bushev, Izmestyev's former business partner.
Komsomolskaya Pravda reported in November that the company Izmestyev headed, Korus-Holding, owed Bushev $20 million. The company specializes in oil transportation.
Bushev disappeared from his home in the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region in August after leaving in his car with an unidentified man.
Recent court testimony has connected Izmestyev with the so-called Kingisepp gang, to which prosecutors say Pumane belonged. Alexander Ivanov, one of several suspected Kingisepp members accused of carrying out a series of contract murders and currently on trial at the Moscow City Court, testified this week that Izmestyev headed up the gang from 1992 to 1994, Kommersant reported Wednesday.
Ivanov told the court that wages improved markedly under Izmestyev's reign, from $7,000 per hit to $20,000 per hit, Kommersant reported. Ivanov testified that Izmestyev had ordered several murders, including that of Lyudmila Krasnoger, a former chief accountant with Plaza Group.
Krasnoger disappeared without a trace in November 2001. But in February 2005, her body was discovered buried in concrete in a garage in northeast Moscow.
Izmestyev officially resigned his seat in the Federation Council last month.
© Copyright 2007 The Moscow Times. All rights reserved.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/01/19/013.html
Friday, January 19, 2007. Page 3.
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Moscow Stays on High Alert
The Moscow Times
Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters
Police guarding Red Square on Thursday, two days after an alert was issued.
Security remained high in Moscow and other big cities on Thursday, even though a nationwide security alert had been called off after one day.
Police with sniffer dogs could be seen guarding Moscow metro stations. But mobile phone service, which had been shut off in the metro all day Wednesday as a security provision, was restored.
Mayor Yury Luzhkov also ordered the police presence boosted on streets and near electricity, water-supply and gas-distribution facilities.
A spokeswoman for the Moscow metro, Yelena Krylova, told Interfax that the number of passengers riding the metro had not gone down in the past two days despite the warning of a possible terrorist attack on public transportation.
The warning was issued late Tuesday by the National Anti-Terrorist Committee, which said information about a possible attack had been received from "foreign partners."
The security alert, imposed Wednesday morning, was called off at the end of the day, with officials saying that no evidence of any real threat had been found.
The unusual efforts taken to inform the public of the possible security threat resulted in 72 reports from citizens of suspicious activities and items left in public places Wednesday, Moscow police told Interfax.
"This is almost four times more than on regular days," a police spokesman said.
© Copyright 2007 The Moscow Times. All rights reserved.
Russia
1.
Concern Grows Over Nuclear Fuel Shipments
Galina Stolyarova
St. Petersburg Times (Russia)
10/13/2006
(for personal use only)
As Western European countries examine opportunities to send more spent nuclear fuel for reprocessing in Russia, St. Petersburg's strategic location means much more of it would pass through the city.At present, cargo containing radioactive material passes through St. Petersburg at least ten times a month, said Alexander Shishkin, director of Isotope, a state-owned enterprise responsible for such shipments. Arriving by sea, the nuclear loads are then sent to treatment facilities in Siberia.
In 1999, Russian environmentalists failed to ban the import of spent nuclear fuel from abroad.
In December 2000, the State Duma voted overwhelmingly to adopt the practice of importing irradiated fuel from other countries. Supporters of the project then said that the money the business would raise would be used to develop Russia's nuclear industry, as well as improve its safety record and help clean up contaminated areas.
But ecologists' concerns have risen again as alarming details about the flawed safety regulations of the trade come to light.
Vladimir Slivyak of the Russian environmental group Ecodefence, said an investigation the group conducted showed that engine drivers and other staff on trains typically do not know they are transporting radioactive material.
"We have established several cases when the carriages were not even marked appropriately with a special sign saying 'radioactivity'," the expert said.
"Besides, Russian railways are not immune to traffic accidents. On a recent occasion, a bridge under construction fell on a passing train. It was a lucky coincidence that the train was not carrying uranium."
Environmental groups complain they are not officially informed about the nuclear traffic, and when they find out about a particular load and check the containers for radiation levels, they often find the containers unattended.
In July, environmentalists at the local branch of Greenpeace discovered six containers in Kapitolovo in the outskirts of St. Petersburg stocked with radioactive material that the ecologists claimed was emitting radiation well over the accepted safety level. The wagons were not guarded.
"This kind of transportation would make a perfect gift for terrorists, both in the sense of accessibility of radioactive material and as a most vulnerable potential object for attack," Dmitry Artamonov, head of the local branch of Greenpeace, was quoted as saying.
Greenpeace previously found 37 containers marked as "radioactive material" and stationed in Kapitolovo. That was in May and the material was again left unguarded.
However, the unguarded transportation of radioactive material in Russia in most cases falls within the regulations governing the traffic.
"According to the instructions issued by the Russian Atomic Energy Ministry, armed guards are required only for one type of radioactive material, uranium hexaflouride," Shishkin said, adding that only as much as a single accompanying specialist has to be assigned to travel with any other kind of radioactive material.
For security reasons, any information about the transfer is difficult to obtain from officials, with their main concern being that the release of such information would spark panic among members of the public.
"Ordinary people have to be prepared to deal with this subject," said Maria Rozhdestvina, aide to the Environmental Prosecutor of Leningrad Oblast. "Pouring out information to the general public who know nothing on the subject would simply stir groundless mass hysteria."
But ecologists disagree.
Environmentalists argue that engine-drivers on trains have to be given extra training and deserve the right to be informed about cargo they are responsible for.
"Naturally, the state would rather not tell them; in Germany, rail transportation of radioactive material was banned for three years very recently because the drivers refused to be involved," said Matthias Eickhoff, spokesman of the group Widerstand gegen Atomanlagen (WIGA) in Mßnster, Germany. "The official reason was that close proximity to these containers would put them at an increased risk of impotence. And labor unions nationwide supported the appeal."
Eickhoff said it costs German companies three times less to send irradiated left-overs to Russia than to reprocess them at home and blamed his home country for being immoral.
"This is unethical; every country that decides to use nuclear technologies has to be responsible for any costs and consequences involved," the expert said. "Burdening other countries with it and choosing one state as the world's nuclear waste storage, however difficult the circumstances of this state may be, is despicable."
In June 1999, the Nuclear Power Ministry and a U.S.-based Non-Proliferation Trust (NPT), signed a letter of intent, according to which Russia would accept at least 10,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel from Switzerland, South Korea and Taiwan for reprocessing and storage for at least 40 years.
For its services, Russia would charge between $1,000 and $2,000 per kilogram of spent fuel — much cheaper than other countries which store and reprocess foreign nuclear fuel.
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2.
Long-term storage facility for SNF from nuclear icebreakers opens at Atomflot in Murmansk
Anna Kireeva
Bellona Foundation
10/12/2006
(for personal use only)
The Murmansk Region has accumulated a large amount of spent nuclear fuel from nuclear icebreakers. The spent nuclear fuel (SNF) is being stored in floating technical bases – three highly radioactive nuclear service ships called the Lotta, the Imandra, and the Lepse – as neither regional authorities nor the country as a whole have suitable storage facilities.
Atomflot has therefore constructed a safe, on-land storage facility that will significantly decrease the dangers of storing radioactive waste in the Murmansk area.
“This is the first such project in Russia, that is, the first container-type storage facility for SNF in Russia,” said Sergei Zhavoronkin, director of Bellona-Murmansk. He said the technologies used on the storage facility project could be applied at other facilities, in particular at the notorious Andreyeva Bay.
“This is a multi-faceted project,” Mustafa Kashka, deputy technical director of Russia's Northern Nuclear Fleet told Bellona Web. “Implementation will enable us to raise the safety level for fuel storage, because on-shore storage is more secure than (storage) at sea.”
“On the other hand, the storage facility will enable us to unload the Lotta base, and free up vessels so they can take more active part in getting fuel off submarines,” Kashka said.
Project technical characteristics
The container-type SNF storage facility is meant to store fuel that at present cannot be reprocessed due to Russia's lack of state-of-the-art reprocessing technology. The fuel can be stored at the facility for up to 50 years.
The facility is designed to hold 50 TUK-120 ferroconcrete containers. The transportation assemblage guarantees nuclear and radiation safety during transportation, loading and unloading of SNF and during SNF storage operations.
The TUK-120 cask was developed specially to transport and store SNF from nuclear submarines. It includes three hermetically sealed barriers that guarantee secure storage of SNF.
During development of the TUK, research was carried out into long-term dry storage of SNF that proved that storing SNF in an inert medium and preventing moisture from entering the cask's environment would see storage lifetimes limited only by normative demands on control of the fuel state, and could reach 50 years of safe storage time.
Following a positive testing programme, the container was certified to Russian and international standards. The containers are built to withstand fire, flooding, and major shocks like aircraft impact.
“Cutting-edge technologies were used during the design of the containers. The containers were made at Sevmash and meet all requirements. The constructions have been through serious tests,” Zhavaronkin said.
Project history
Originally, Atomflot planned to build a storage facility for SNF from nuclear transport reactors. The facility was planned to be large-scale, but construction started during Perestroika and was later halted.
Building No. 5 at Andreyeva Bay, where construction was suspended, was later restructured as a dry storage facility.
“We must give the British their due,” Kashka told Bellona Web. The British company Crown Agents won a contract from the British Department of Trade and Industry, and both administer and provided oversight for the project.
The final touches on the project coincided with the reorganization of a number of Russian government organizations, as a result of which no government expertise bodies were working for six months.
As a result Russia and Britain agreed that, while a state environmental assessment project was being approved, the basis for the beginning of preparatory construction work would be the results of a civilian environmental assessment conducted by Bellona-Murmansk in 2004.
“The British side trusted us, which meant we were able to reduce project implementation time by a year, thereby making significant financial savings,” Kashka said.
Project planning started in December 2003, construction work got under way in 2004, and a state commission finished the storage facility in August 2006.
“The short agreement period for all documentation and construction of such an important facility is very important,” Zhavoronkin said. “It is good that we did not get bogged down in red tape. I can say with certainty that British taxpayers' money was well spent.”
http://www.partnershipforglobalsecurity.org/Projects%20and%20Publications/News/Nuclear%20News/2006/1013200695724AM.html#1A
http://www.partnershipforglobalsecurity.org/Projects%20and%20Publications/News/Nuclear%20News/118200793643AM.html#1B
Russian Parliament Passes Nuclear Reform Bill
Reuters
1/17/2007
(for personal use only)
Russia's lower house of parliament on Wednesday gave preliminary approval to a bill which will pave the way for a merger of civilian nuclear companies into one state firm with global clout.
President Vladimir Putin last year approved a revamp of the nuclear industry which officials say is aimed at boosting nuclear energy production and strengthening Russia's presence on the expanding world nuclear market.
"Russia's atomic sector today is one of the few sectors of the national economy that is fulfilling its export potential through scientific and high technology production," says an explanatory note.
"Foreign companies are at the present time preparing for a new stage in the competitive struggle for the world uranium market and enrichment service," the note said.
Climate change and high oil prices have prompted many countries to look with favor on nuclear energy as a cheap power source. Russia already builds nuclear power stations around the world and wants to position itself to win more contracts.
Under the Russian plan, a single state company called Atomprom will be created on the base of the many smaller, sometimes overlapping, state-controlled companies in the sector.
Nuclear officials compare Atomprom to state-controlled gas giant Gazprom, the world's biggest gas company by reserves, which has become a key geopolitical instrument for the Kremlin.
The note mentions global competitors such as French state-owned nuclear energy group Areva (CEPFi.PA: Quote, Profile , Research), Urenco Ltd, the Anglo-Dutch-German manufacturer of enriched uranium, and U.S.-based Westinghouse, which is owned by Japan's Toshiba Corp (6502.T: Quote, NEWS , Research).
Lawmakers in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, approved the bill on second reading on Wednesday with 372 for and 43 against. The bill has to pass a third reading but this is usually a formality.
An interesting writer:history and current events:
http://www.google.com/search?q=Galina+Stolyarova&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape:en-US&start=10&sa=N
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-102417493.html
Rights Group Memorial Makes Gulag Museum CD, THE ST. PETERSBURG TIMES
From: The St. Petersburg Times (Russia) | Date: November 12, 2004 | Author: Galina Stolyarova | More results for: Galina Stolyarova
See more articles from The St. Petersburg Times (Russia)
Galina Stolyarova
The St. Petersburg Times (Russia)
11-12-2004
URL: http://www.sptimes.ru/
A electronic collection of materials about the Soviet gulag is being created
by researchers from the St. Petersburg branch of human rights group Memorial
and Germany's Konrad Adenauer Foundation and put on compact disc.
The first CD in a series to be called "The Virtual Museum of Gulags"
will be released early next month. It offers an overview of the collections
of several dozen museums from throughout Russia.
"Usually real museums create virtual versions, but what we are doing
is exactly the opposite," said ...
History:
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-45979418.html
From: The St. Petersburg Times (Russia) | Date: February 27, 2001 | Author: Galina Stolyarova | More results for: Galina Stolyarova
See more articles from The St. Petersburg Times (Russia)
Galina Stolyarova
The St. Petersburg Times (Russia)
02-27-2001
A container was impounded by customs officials at Yekaterinburg's main
airport on Monday because it was emitting radiation well over the accepted
safety level.
Vladimir Kondukov, a press spokes person for the Sverdlovsk regional
branch of the Emergency Situations Ministry, told The St. Petersburg Times
in a telephone interview on Monday that the container, made of wood and
weighing 145 kilograms, was taken by customs at Kolt so vo airport - the
largest airport in the Urals region - at 12:40 a.m. on Monday.
According to a spokesperson ...
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=com.netscape:en-US&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=container+was+impounded+by+customs+officials+at+Ekaterinburg+main+%0D%0Aairport&spell=1
Be aware of false figures from the tree huggers:
http://www.google.com/search?q=was+emitting+radiation+well+over+the+accepted+%0D%0Asafety+level&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
This has all kinds of subjects and many googles:
http://www.google.com/search?q=container+was+impounded+by+customs+officials&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
LOL at topics here:
http://www.google.com/search?q=container%2C+made+of+wood+and+%0D%0Aweighing+145+kilograms%2C+was+taken+by+customs&client=netscape-pp&rls=com.netscape:en-US
Of interest:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US&q=container+of+radiation+was+impounded+by+customs+officials&btnG=Search
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US&q=+nuclear+container+was+impounded+by+customs+officials&btnG=Search
A U.S. start:
http://www.google.com/search?q=container+opened+nuclear+material+stolen&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US
This will be good:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=com.netscape%3Aen-US&q=container+opened+nuclear+material+missing&btnG=Search
[ I had to post this, a 2003 murder, that matches Anna P.'s]
Print version. Published on site rusnet.nl 21 November 2003
Original: http://www.rusnet.nl/news/2003/11/21/report01.shtml
Slain Democrat's Popularity Grows
November 21, 2003
By Galina Stolyarova
The St. Petersburg Times
Slain State Duma deputy, democrat and leader of the Democratic Russia Party Galina Starovoitova is more popular now than during the last years of her life.
Olga Starovoitova, sister of Galina, laying flowers on her grave in the Nikolskoye cemetery on Friday. About 200, including many politicians from Moscow, were present.
Alexander Belenky / SPT
This is the conclusion of the new book by the St. Petersburg sociologist Leonid Kesselman about the late politician, who was fatally gunned down on the stairs of her house on Griboyedov Canal on Nov. 20, 1998 in an apparent contract killing that shocked the nation.
Five years on, neither her killers nor those who ordered her murder have been found, despite promises from on high - including from President Boris Yeltsin - that law enforcement officers would not rest until they were caught and convicted.
The book, "Galina Starovoitova: the Continuation of Her Life," was presented at the St. Petersburg's House of Journalists Thursday as part of a memorial program on the fifth anniversary of Starovoitova's murder.
The book is divided into two parts: a series of interviews about the politician and the results of sociological research about how she is remembered today.
The interview part contains no personal stories from the late politician's relatives, close friends and fellow politicians with an obvious connection. It is rather a collection of thoughts of the people, whose life were touched by Starovoitova's activities or who the politician herself was known to respect.
Each interview bears the subjects' name and social status or profession, but not their personal connections with Starovoitova.
"We deliberately wanted to avoid having very personal stories there," Kesselman said. "The whole purpose of the book was to explore how her political legacy affects Russian society these days and what ordinary people know and remember about her."
About 20,000 people were polled for the research in St. Petersburg and Samara. Samara was chosen to provide a contrasting range of opinions between the citizens of Starovoitova's home town and another, randomly chosen Russian town.
According to the research, Starovoitova's name is known to more than 96 percent of Russians, while over 75 percent know about her activities as a Duma deputy and that she was assassinated. The figures in Samara were higher than it had been expected, with over 50 percent of respondents mentioning the murder and Starovoitova's democratic past.
"In late 1980s and early 1990s Galina Starovoitova was a genuine people's heroine, a champion of democracy," Kesselman said. "But by the late 1990s most people were already disillusioned, holding a grudge against not just the top Russian authorities but also against the democrats, who started the reforms, which resulted in chaos."
Now, Kesselman believes, there has been just enough time for the people to think it over and form an unbiased opinion.
"The Starovoitova phenomenon, just like the Chechen phenomenon is a question of particular mentality, which exists in a certain group of society," he said. "You can kill Starovoitova, you can gun down all the Chechens, but the messages still survive: someone will read a book and accept the ideas, and it will start all over again."
State Duma deputy Grigory Tomchin of the Union of Right Forces party, said in the book that the most important question was what lessons has society learned from the tragic death of Starovoitova, and how can it help the country choose what policies to follow.
"It is crucially important that the book is not the kind of 'who remembers what about Galina' sort of thing," he said. "Russia won't stay in such an unstable condition forever, the country will have to choose a clear path of development, and this is where we still need her very much."
Kazimira Prunskene, former president of Lithuania, wrote of Starovoitova as of "a person of crystal-clear principles."
"She was impossible to misunderstand, her opinion was always impeccably precise and perfectly justified," Prunskene wrote. "In Lithuania, Galina is definitely more popular now than she had been before she died. It is probably because, as always, we all begin to value people when we lose them."
Renowned film-director Alexander Sokurov, who never met Starovoitova in person, wrote in his comment that Starovoitova would have made for an ideal president of Russia, and called her a politician whose voice was impossible to ignore.
"For that reason, for her political rivals she was much more dangerous than anybody else," he wrote.
Olga Starovoitova, Galina's sister, said that the family, naturally has been considering the question of why Galina was murdered for a very long time.
"It is very complicated," Olga Starovoitova said. "She tried hard to make the country's budget transparent and believed legislators should be able to trace where state money goes. This, of course, was rather irritating for those on the receiving end of improperly directed budgetary funds."
But Galina was impossible to bribe or to persuade. After she was murdered, [literary historian] Dmitry Likhachyov said of her: "She would never compromise with rascals. And that is why she was destined to die."
"There are enough corrupt people here - I wouldn't even try to guess who ordered the crime," Olga Starovoitova said. "I am also quite sure it is very easy to hire people who are ready to kill anyone."
When she visits her sister's grave, Olga feels great support from the ordinary people who gather there.
"There are always people bringing flowers, especially on Sundays," she said. "Sometimes there are so many flowers it is difficult to approach the grave. I find it encouraging that so many people remember her. "
Publicist Viktor Sheinis, speaking at the presentation af the book Thursday, said that he misses Starovoitova above all as a politician of honor and transparency.
"Everyone knows the expression about politics being a dirty game," he said. "Of course, if your hands are dirty you would inevitably get into the dirty politics. But Galina's politics were always transparent and pure - something we desperately need in politics today."
Six people suspected of involvement in Starovoitova's murder have been detained, but the St. Petersburg's Prosecutors Office still refers to the slaying as an unsolved case. Earlier this year it prolonged its investigation until Dec. 20.
Print version. Published on site rusnet.nl 19 January 2007
Original: http://www.rusnet.nl/news/2007/01/19/currentaffairs02.shtml
Kremlin: stop harassing UK envoy
Luke Harding
The Guardian
Russia has ordered a pro-Kremlin youth group to tone down its five-month campaign of harassment and intimidation against Britain's ambassador in Moscow.
Following numerous complaints from British officials, Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, issued a mild rebuke to Nashi, a fanatical nationalist youth movement that has been stalking Britain's ambassador, Anthony Brenton. The group took exception to a meeting Mr Brenton attended last summer. It has been harassing him since September - tailing his car, dumping leaflets on his windscreen and heckling him at meetings.
After a meeting on Tuesday with Nashi's leader, Vasily Yakemenko, Mr Lavrov said the group had agreed to abide by the Vienna convention, which protects diplomats from harassment.
Yesterday, however, Nashi said it would continue its campaign until the ambassador "apologised". "Our position is that Anthony Brenton has to say sorry or leave Russia. He says that he wants civil society. Our pickets against him are part of civil society," a Nashi spokeswoman, Anastasia Suslova, told the Guardian.
Nashi - which means "our own" - says Mr Brenton is "guilty" for attending a conference of opposition parties last summer, just before the G8 summit in St Petersburg. They are angry that he shared a platform with Eduard Limonov, a radical critic of Russia's president, Vladimir Putin.
Print version. Published on site rusnet.nl 19 January 2007
Original: http://www.rusnet.nl/news/2007/01/19/currentaffairs05.shtml
Russia says murders are a plot against Putin
Stuff.co.nz
A senior aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the murders of journalist Anna Politkovskaya and former spy Alexander Litvinenko are part of an attack by powerful groups against the head of state.
Litvinenko's death in London on November 23 from polonium poisoning followed the murder in Moscow of prominent journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Both were critics of Putin.
"Polonium-Litvinenko-Politkovskaya are all linked together," RIA news agency on Thursday quoted Putin aide Igor Shuvalov as saying in Berlin.
"There are strong groups which have joined together to constantly attack the president's line and him personally," Shuvalov said. "None of these murders are in our interests."
The murders of Litvinenko and Politkovskaya raised concerns inside Russia about the political stability Putin has been credited with enforcing after the chaos of the 1990s and the fall of the Soviet Union.
The Kremlin has said Litvinenko's lucid deathbed statement accusing Putin of his death was nonsense.
But the murders scuffed Putin's image abroad and strained Moscow's relations with the European Union and the United States.
Some pro-Kremlin politicians have suggested Putin's opponents abroad might be seeking to use the murders to muddy the Kremlin's image. Shuvalov did not name the people who could be seeking to undermine Putin.
Key Putin opponents include tycoon Boris Berezovsky, who lives in London, and Leonid Nevzlin, a former top manager of the YUKOS business empire, who lives in Israel.
Both fled Russia after what they called Kremlin-backed persecution. Russian prosecutors have said they want to question Berezovsky in the Litvinenko case.
The Prosecutor-General said last month that Nevzlin, a business partner of jailed oil baron Mikhail Khodorkovsky, could have ordered Litvinenko's murder. Nevzlin's spokesman called the accusations ridiculous.
Politkovskaya, a 48-year-old mother of two, was shot dead outside her apartment in central Moscow on October 7. Politkovskaya had won prizes for her coverage of Russia's war with rebels in the southern province of Chechnya.
"We take the murder of Politkovskaya as a provocative act," Shuvalov said. "The president has given the orders to solve this crime. It is stupid to link this murder to the leadership of the country."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1770151/posts
Storm Worm hits computers around the world
Reuters ^ | 01-19-07
Posted on 01/19/2007 6:40:55 AM PST by mfnorman
HELSINKI (Reuters) - Computer virus writers attacked thousands of computers on Friday using an unusually topical email citing raging European storms, a security company said.
The virus, which the company named "Storm Worm," was emailed to hundreds of thousands of addresses globally with the subject line "230 dead as storm batters Europe."
An attached file contained so-called malware that can infiltrate computer systems.
"What makes this exceptional is the timely nature of the attack," Mikko Hypponen, head of research at Finnish data security firm F-Secure, told Reuters. . Hypponen said thousands of computers, most in private use, had been affected.
(Excerpt) Read more at today.reuters.com ...
January 19, 2007 Anti-Terrorism News
(Iraq) Roadside bomb kills one U.S. soldier and wounds three others in
Baghdad, U.S. military says
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/19/africa/ME-GEN-Iraq-US-Casualties.php
(Iraq) US seizes Sadr aide as Gates arrives in Iraq
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2007/January/focusoniraq_January129.xml§ion=focusoniraq
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2007/January/focusoniraq_January128.xml§ion=focusoniraq
(Iraq) Mahdi militia under siege in Sadr City
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20070118-115245-3229r.htm
Family mourns Iraq death of Ohio woman
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070119/ap_on_re_us/iraq_convoy_profile_4
(Georgia) Sentencing scheduled for man who pleaded guilty to aiding
Hamas
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/politics/16498100.htm
Bush renews freeze on bin Laden assets - and his Al-Qaeda network as
well as groups like Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070119/pl_afp/usattacksbushfunds_070119000400
US: Pakistan must address Taliban "sanctuary"
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\01\19\story_19-1-2007_pg1_4
US seeks to soothe Turkish anger over rebel haven in Iraq
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070118/wl_mideast_afp/turkeyusiraqkurds_070118181155
Officials: Terror risk on rails not fully assessed
http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070119/NEWS03/701190365/1041
U.S. Launches Force In Iraq to Block Iran - US News & World Report:
U.S. special ops task force to break up Iranian influence in Iraq to
target Iranians trafficking arms and training Shiite militia
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/070118/18military.htm
Iran to complain to UN over arrests in Iraq
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070119/ts_nm/iran_usa_dc_1
Iraq: Iranian Arrested in Erbil Was Envoy of Rafsanjani, Says Source
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.378037805&par=0
Iran ready to reach deal with US: Iraq President Talabani
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2007/January/middleeast_January193.xml§ion=middleeast&col=
US luring Arab states into anti-Iran role: experts
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2007/January/middleeast_January195.xml§ion=middleeast
EU considers U.N.-style Iran sanctions: sources
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070119/wl_nm/nuclear_iran_eu_dc_1
(India) Bomb kills two in India bus station - Assam
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21089083-5005961,00.html
(Indonesia) Bomb Explodes Again in Poso
http://www.tempointeractive.com/hg/nusa/sulawesi/2007/01/19/brk,20070119-91580,uk.html
Swedish al Qaeda Operative Captured in Morroco
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/186138.php
(Yemen) Police kills fifth al-Qaeda fugitive
http://www.yobserver.com/article-11532.php
Palestinian militants say plan more abductions
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070119/ts_nm/palestinians_israel_militants_dc_1
(Lebanon) Reuters Investigation Leads To Dismissal Of Editor
http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/newswire/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003534746
Gaza Terrorists Fire 2 Kassam Rockets at Negev
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=119854
(UK 7/21 Trial) Accused: explosive was for stripping wallpaper
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/01/19/nplot119.xml
(UK 7/21 Trial) Suspect 'learned about bombs on his college course'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=429786&in_page_id=1770
(UK 7/21 Trial) Discount card 'used to buy bomb materials'
http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=1982222
(UK) Failed asylum seekers reapply
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/01/19/nasylum19.xml
(UK) Brown: I'll get Muslims to take pride in Britain
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=429996&in_page_id=1770
(Russia) High alert for terrorist attacks lifted in Russia
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070119/59353280.html
Germany may grant parole to terrorists - Red Army faction
http://www.upi.com/InternationalIntelligence/view.php?StoryID=20070119-055509-1573r
(Spain) Court rules three Basque groups are terrorist
http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=81&story_id=35675
U.S. inclusiveness dampens terror risks
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070118/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/national_threats_2
North Korea official meets Iran delegation
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070119/ap_on_re_as/nkorea_iran_3
(North Korea) U.S. State Department Reveals North Korea's Misuse of
U.N. Development Program Funds and Operations
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,244799,00.html
North Korea says agreement reached on nukes
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21084508-1702,00.html
Commentary: "The Guantanamo Bar" and Sleeping with the enemy
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20070118-084416-2248r.htm
Related News:
Australia: Imam Probed For Anti-Semitic Remarks On DVD
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Religion&loid=8.0.378015194&par=0
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/clerics-pig-jihad-comments-outrageous/2007/01/18/1168709876464.html
Jordan seeks nuclear power for peaceful means
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2007/January/middleeast_January191.xml§ion=middleeast&col=
Netherlands: Imams "Leaving in Droves"
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Religion&loid=8.0.378082052&par=0
Islamic protesters hurl abuse at Indonesia's first Playboy centerfold
model
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/18/asia/AS-GEN-Indonesia-Playboy-Trial.php
Report: Hillary's team has questions about Obama's Muslim background -
claims he spent 4 years in Madrassa
http://www.insightmag.com/Media/MediaManager/Obama_2.htm
U.S. official: Chinese test missile obliterates satellite
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/01/18/china.missile/index.html
2 Qassams fired at western Negev
2 Qassams fired at western Negev
Shmulik Hadad YNET Published: 01.19.07, 11:20
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3354360,00.html
Two Qassam rockets were launched from the northern Gaza Strip Friday morning
towards the western Negev.
The rockets landed in open fields and did not cause any injuries or damages.
The Times January 20, 2007
Poison plot
Police match image of Litvinenko's real assassin with his death-bed description
DANIEL MCGRORY AND TONY HALPIN
The polonium trail
Police have identified the man they believe poisoned Alexander Litvinenko. The suspected killer was captured on cameras at Heathrow as he flew into Britain to carry out the murder.
Friends of the ex-spy say that the man was a hired killer, sent by the Kremlin, who vanished hours after administering a deadly dose of radioactive polonium-210 to Litvinenko.
He arrived in London on a forged EU passport and reportedly slipped the poison into a cup of tea he made for Litvinenko in a London hotel room.
Litvinenko was reportedly able to give vital details of his suspected killer in a bedside interview with detectives just days before he died on November 23 at University College Hospital.
Lots more at:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2556377,00.html
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1770551/posts
Virus (norovirus) closes Washington Dulles airport Hilton Hotel
Seattle PI ^ | Jan. 19, 2007 | AP
Posted on 01/19/2007 7:05:52 PM PST by FairOpinion
A Hilton hotel outside Washington has been closed for a top-to-bottom scrubbing after 15 employees and more than 100 guests were sickened by the highly contagious norovirus, a hotel spokesman said Friday.
Hotel officials first heard reports of sick guests Wednesday and contacted Fairfax County health authorities, said Jim Cree, the director of sales and marketing at the hotel near Dulles International Airport. Officials confirmed it was norovirus Thursday night, he said.
Outbreaks of norovirus, which causes vomiting and diarrhea, are common on cruise ships and in places like hotels, prisons and nursing homes.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattlepi.nwsource.com ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1770524/posts
Dutch imams 'leaving in droves'
BBC ^
Posted on 01/19/2007 6:05:09 PM PST by traumer
Moderate Muslim preachers are leaving the Netherlands and being replaced by more extreme clerics, senior Dutch Muslim officials have warned.
Nasr Joemann of the Netherlands' Muslim Contact Group (CMO) said imams felt discriminated against and were leaving for France and Spain.
Of 450 Dutch mosques, 180 had no imam, leaving a vacuum that uncertified clerics were filling, he told BBC News.
The Dutch government said it had planned a meeting on the matter.
The CMO will be among the organisations present at the talks on 31 January with Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk.
The justice and immigration department said it would not comment on the matter until then.
There are about one million Muslims in the Netherlands - about 6% of the population.
Tensions have risen in recent years, since the popularity of anti-immigration politician Pim Fortuyn and the murder of film-maker Theo Van Gogh by a Muslim extremist.
'Situation critical'
The Deputy Chairman of the Association of Dutch Imams, Mohamed Ousalah, has accused the government of doing little to remedy the situation.
"The situation is critical. In Amsterdam, The Hague and Utrecht dozens of imams have left," he told the Dutch newspaper de Telegraaf.
He said imams were becoming disillusioned and leaving because since the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US, they were increasingly being linked to terrorism and facing discrimination.
Mr Joemann explained that while the Netherlands' Turkish community could recruit imams from Turkey, because of agreements between the Dutch and Turkish governments, there were much tighter restrictions on Moroccan imams.
"The mosques are forced to appoint people who are sometimes not qualified," he said.
"They are not always Moroccan or Turkish - sometimes they are from Somalia, Syria or Jordan - and they have a different concept of Islam."
Some, he said, followed the Wahhabi doctrine - a strictly conservative form of Islam previously absent from the Netherlands.
"They are creating problems and propagating new views in the mosques. Young people are quite open to this teaching. This is creating tension and clashes in the community," he said.
While the government had helped set up a scheme to train Dutch-born Muslims to be imams, it would be some years before the graduates could be posted to mosques, he said.
In the meantime he urged the government to relax restrictions on imams coming from Morocco, but said the government "has not responded positively yet".
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1770455/posts
24 illegal immigrant workers arrested at Fort Benning
WALBTV.com ^ | 01/18/2007
Posted on 01/19/2007 3:46:59 PM PST by devane617
COLUMBUS, Ga. Federal officials say 21 illegal immigrant workers were to appear in court today to face federal charges of identity theft and immigration violations for attempting to enter Fort Benning.
They were among 24 workers arrested Wednesday by Army security personnel and U-S Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials while trying to enter the base to do construction work on soldiers' barracks. The three workers who are not facing criminal charges will be placed in immigration removal proceedings.
The group includes 20 Mexican nationals, three Guatemalans and an Italian, according to a U-S Immigrations and Customs Enforcement news release.
Nine of the 21 facing charges are accused of either possessing or using fraudulent identity documents, and another was accused of re-entering the country after deportation. The remaining eleven defendants are accused of improper entry by an alien.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Richard Rocha declined today to provide details, including the names of the arrested workers.
He said it appeared the workers were trying to enter the base solely for work, and not for a harmful purpose such as terrorism.
Rocha said the workers worked for different subcontractors, which are not currently facing any charges from federal officials.
The news release said many of the workers used counterfeit identity documents to obtain jobs and three had entered the United States legally but their eligibility to stay in the country had expired. It also said the arrests resulted from a seven-month, multi-agency investigation.
In July, the agency arrested nearly 60 illegal immigrants at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.
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