Posted on 12/17/2006 4:03:30 PM PST by DAVEY CROCKETT
US chief seeks new tack on Iraq
President George W Bush's nominee to be the new commander of US military forces in the Middle East has called for a "new and different" approach in Iraq.
While providing few details, Admiral William Fallon suggested to a Senate confirmation hearing that the US should not try to achieve too much at once.
Countering Iranian influence in Iraq would be a top priority if he was given the job, he said.
His comments came amid fresh bloodshed, with 40 dead in attacks across Iraq.
More than 100 were also injured in the bomb and mortar attacks as Shia Muslims celebrated the Ashura festival.
'Sensitive time'
In Washington, Adm Fallon told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the previous US strategy in Iraq was "not working".
We need candid assessments, and you'll get them from me
Adm William Fallon
"I believe the situation in Iraq can be turned around but time is short," he said.
"What we have been doing has not been working. [What] we have got to be doing, it seems to me, is something different."
Adm Fallon did not elaborate on what might be done differently. His spokesman, Capt William Alderson, later told the Associated Press that Adm Fallon preferred not to go into details until he had been confirmed by the full Senate.
However he did suggest that the US should not be too ambitious, at least in the short term.
"Maybe we ought to redefine the goals here a bit and do something that's more realistic in terms of getting some progress and then maybe take on the other things later," he said.
Adm Fallon, who currently heads the military in the Pacific, is poised to become the first US navy officer to head Central Command, or Centcom.
He is replacing Gen John Abizaid, who is retiring after nearly four years as Centcom chief and if confirmed would become the immediate boss of Gen David Petraeus, who was recently confirmed as the commander of US forces in Iraq.
The commander's reputation as an able diplomat is being seen as an important asset at a very sensitive time for US policy in Iraq, says the BBC's James Coomarasamy, in Washington.
'No guarantees'
If confirmed, the admiral will have to oversee the deployment of more than 20,000 US troops in a "surge" operation in Iraq.
"There are no guarantees but you can depend on me for my best effort," Adm Fallon said.
We don't believe that [Iran's] behaviour, such as supporting Shia extremists in Iraq, should go unchallenged
John Negroponte
Nominee for deputy secretary of state
Adm Fallon also said he would seek support for efforts to counter Iranian influence in the region.
However, he said he was unaware of any contingency plans for war with Iran.
He believed Iran wanted to be able to prevent the US from operating freely in the strategically important waters off the Arabian Gulf, he added.
Separately, John Negroponte, the first US director of intelligence and a former ambassador to Iraq and to the UN, now nominee for the post of deputy secretary of state, answered questions from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
He backed recent tough talk towards Iran, saying Tehran was meddling in Iraq, and insisted that a diplomatic channel was already open with Syria.
"I would characterise our policy as desirous of resolving any issues we have with Iran by peaceful means," he said.
"But at the same time, we don't believe that their behaviour, such as supporting Shia extremists in Iraq, should go unchallenged."
His comments came as Democrat Senator Barack Obama expressed fears that the US would inadvertently stumble into active hostilities with Iran.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/6314135.stm
Published: 2007/01/31 06:39:27 GMT
© BBC MMVII
Islamists battle Algeria's army
Fifteen people have been killed in a clash between Islamist militants and Algerian security forces in the eastern region of Batna, local media report.
The militants carried out a rocket attack on an army post, killing five soldiers, while 10 Islamists reportedly died in an army counter-attack.
A BBC correspondent in Algeria says this is the most serious Islamist attack for several months.
They are thought to belong to a group now renamed "al-Qaeda in the Maghreb".
Earlier this week, the Salafist Group of Preaching and Combat (GSPC) announced that it had changed its name.
This latest clash comes amid repeated calls by the army to the general population to help them in their fight against armed militants.
Contrast
The army has put up posters across north-central Algeria, urging people to give them any information they had about "terrorists".
It is the first time since the start of the violence linked to radical Islamists in 1992 that the army has used this method of gathering information on the militants.
The BBC's Mohammed Arezki Himeur in Algiers says the extensive use of posters by the army contrasts with the government's insistence that armed Islamist groups have been defeated with no chance of resurgence.
Last August, Algeria offered Islamic militants a six-month amnesty on condition of surrender, but fewer than 300 came forward.
Militants were promised immunity from prosecution provided they were not involved in serious crimes such as massacres, rapes and bombings.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/6313343.stm
Published: 2007/01/30 13:25:19 GMT
© BBC MMVII
Confusion surrounds Najaf battle
By Roger Hardy
BBC Arabic Affairs analyst
Contradictory accounts are emerging of a bloody day-long battle that took place on Sunday near the southern Iraqi city of Najaf.
Iraqi officials say 263 members of a shadowy messianic cult - which calls itself the Soldiers of Heaven - were killed in fierce fighting near the city, which is Holy to Shia Muslims.
According to the official account the clash involved a well-armed group, a charismatic leader and an audacious plot to attack a holy city and kill its religious leaders.
If a novelist had invented the story of the Soldiers of Heaven, it might have been dismissed as a dark fantasy.
This account has its puzzles and inconsistencies.
Messianic belief
A young Shia leader, Dia Abdul-Zahra, had apparently gathered hundreds of his followers, including women and children, in an encampment a few miles north of Najaf.
They were well armed and had come to believe that Abdul-Zahra - also known as Ahmed Hassan al-Yamani and Samer Abu Kamar - was the Mahdi.
According to Shia belief, the Mahdi is a Muslim messiah who disappeared hundreds of years ago and whose return will usher in an era of peace and justice before the end of time.
Abdul-Zahra and his followers regarded the religious leadership in Najaf as illegitimate.
Iraqi officials say their extraordinary plan was to enter the city in the garb of pilgrims, declare that the Mahdi had returned, and assassinate Ayatollah Sistani and other senior clerics.
All this was to happen on Ashura, the holiest day in the Shia calendar.
Instead, the Iraqi authorities seem to have had a tip-off. According to their account, they attacked the encampment and foiled the plot.
Some 263 of the Soldiers of Heaven were killed. Officials insist these included the group's leader, and news agency pictures show a dead man closely resembling him.
Among those captured were Sunnis as well as Shia and foreign fighters as well as Iraqis.
Unholy alliance
Iraqi officials have claimed the group had links with the militant jihadists of al-Qaeda.
Given that Sunni jihadists are fiercely anti-Shia, this seems unlikely.
They also say the group was working with former Baathists.
It seems the former Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein did try to use a Mahdist faction as a weapon against the traditional religious leadership in Najaf, whom he saw as a threat.
Whether those links survived the fall of Saddam is not clear.
Shia divisions
Iraq's Shia-led government may have an interest in promoting the idea of such an unholy alliance.
It may want to deflect attention from the embarrassing fact that the majority Shia community is riven with factions and divisions.
The authorities may also have exaggerated their own military success.
The signs are that they underestimated the strength of the Soldiers of Heaven and had to call for urgent American air support.
The official version of events has not gone unchallenged.
According to accounts on an Iraqi website and in the British newspaper The Independent, the drama began with a clash between an Iraqi tribe on a pilgrimage to Najaf and an Iraqi army checkpoint.
The fighting escalated, army commanders called for reinforcements, and US aircraft launched an intense aerial bombardment - with significant loss of life.
According to this account, the involvement of the Soldiers of Heaven appears to have been accidental.
History of the Mahdi
There are both Sunni and Shia versions of the Mahdi tradition.
Throughout Islamic history, Muslim leaders have risen up in rebellion claiming to be the Mahdi or to be acting in his name.
Britain's General Gordon was killed in Sudan in 1885 during a Mahdist insurrection.
In Saudi Arabia in 1979, Sunni militants took over the Great Mosque in Mecca, claiming the Mahdi had returned.
But Shia attachment to the Mahdi tradition is particularly potent.
One of the most powerful Iraqi militias (which has no known link to the Soldiers of Heaven) is the Mahdi Army of the radical cleric Moqtada Sadr.
For many Shia, the idea of a Muslim saviour who will end suffering and oppression has a special appeal.
At moments of crisis and chaos, they are more susceptible to the idea that the end of time is at hand.
Iraq is experiencing just such a crisis.
And in current circumstances southern Iraq - the Shia heartland and traditionally the poorest and most neglected part of the country - seems fertile soil for zealotry.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/6313433.stm
Published: 2007/01/31 14:27:15 GMT
© BBC MMVII
Turkey-US move to combat rebels
By Sarah Rainsford
BBC News, Istanbul
A US envoy who will co-ordinate the fight against the PKK Kurdish rebels is holding talks in Turkey.
There is growing talk in Turkey of the need for cross-border raids into northern Iraq, where the Kurdish separatist group is based.
Turkey has a good deal to discuss with General Joseph Ralston.
From the Turkish prime minister down, politicians have been advocating sending troops across the border unless the US acts urgently against the PKK.
The retired general was appointed last year to co-ordinate the fight against the PKK, but there is increasing frustration here that several thousand PKK fighters are still based in Iraq and able to launch attacks into Turkey.
And then there is Kirkuk, where Ankara fears the Iraqi Kurds are vying for control and full independence.
Turkey worries that it would only encourage the PKK in its own separatist ambitions.
So everyone here is talking tough these days, openly discussing the military options, even convening a secret session of parliament.
Most analysts agree that much of the talk is meant for domestic consumption.
Elections are coming and the fight is on for the nationalist vote.
But the substance of Turkey's concerns is real enough, so many believe Turkey's intention is to pile the pressure on Washington.
The US argues it lacks the resources in Iraq to deal with the PKK.
Despite the risks, some believe Turkey could decide to act across the border on its own.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/6312539.stm
Published: 2007/01/30 10:01:35 GMT
© BBC MMVII
Best I can do on that translation is one from Babelfish:
RUSSIA In "the Laboratory of the poisons" (*), the historian and Russian journalist Arkadi Vaksberg, who had access to new files, tells how, since the revolution of 1917, the Kremlin systematized the use of poisons sophisticated to eliminate its adversaries, realities or imaginary.
THE BARBER. - the least which one can say, it is that with the Litvinenko business, your book is in the heart of the topicality... Arkadi VAKSBERG. - I did not expect to profit from such a topicality. My book was already under press when Litvinenko was poisoned with polonium 210 in November. But contrary to the Western opinion, I was not astonished. Because, after having passed the years in the Soviet files, largely closed again today, I see there a new episode of this terrorism of State practised with systematism by the Kremlin since the time of Lénine to eliminate his real or imaginary adversaries. It is the continuity of this chain of political assassinations which I try to describe in my book, because it clarifies certain aspects of current Russian reality.
Like several other recent cases - the poisoning of the businessman Ivan Kivélidi, that of the deputy journalist Iouri Chekotchikine, even that of Ukrainian president Viktor Iouchtchenko - the assassination of Litvinenko seems to indicate that the Laboratory of the poisons, created on the initiative of Lénine in 1921 and supported at the top of the State, is always in activity. In Loubianka criminal, Litvinenko affirmed that this laboratory was always in activity and gave even an address in Moscow, street of the Hero-Reds. I do not know if this information is exact. But I do not doubt the identity of the sleeping partners.
The question that I installation is rather: with which it turn? You believe that the Russian capacity assassinated Litvinenko, in spite of the political insignificance of the character? I do not have of course any legal proof of what I advance and I am quite unable to say who gave the order, Putin or another. But in all logic, this crime carries the signature of the Russian special services. As opposed to what the television of Russia repeats, only these structures could have access to a material as secret as the polonium 210, which costs tens of million dollars and which one can obtain only during one nuclear reaction. I remind to you that the capacity made pass a oukaze which gives authorization to the FSB to eliminate in any point from the sphere the "terrorist enemies" from Russia, a concept, which, you will admit it, remains defined by the capacity.
For me, the assassination of Litvinenko resembles a revenge against a renegade and an opponent, like there was of it much in the past, in particular abroad. The KGB was always interested in the Russian emigration, even if the danger which it represented were exaggerated even null. It was an obsessional eagerness, which pushed the Soviets to come to strike these emigrants in Paris, London or Brussels. I tell many ignored episodes of this secret history, such as for example the assassination of the Wrangel General, hero of the white Army, poisoned in Brussels, in his own house by his majordomo, with tuberculin introduced in kitchen into his lunch. What is interesting, it is that the poisons used by the capacity evolved/moved little by little, so that it is difficult to detect them in time. But the modus operandi remains the same one. It is not astonishing, since the FSB, successor of the KGB, is back to the capacity. You give for proof of the will to sophisticate the poisons, a letter found in the files of the ex-owner of the Laboratory of the Maïranovski poisons, whereas it awaits death in one. Hoping to save its skin, it affirms to have developed a revolutionary poison which results in death by simple inhalation. You tell that this technique was tested as from the years 1960, in particular (without success) on Soljénitsyne, then on others with more effectiveness... This technique was undoubtedly not at the point in 1965, but a few years, some died later by poison seem to have occurred after inhalation. That of the Kivélidi banker, but also perhaps that of the ex-mayor of Saint Pétersbourg Anatoli Sobtchak, former mentor of Putin, suddenly dead in 2000.
The use of polonium 210 on Litvinenko shows also this process of sophistication. To carry out a radioactive poisoning, one needs a scientific approach and a very professional technique... This sophistication did not prevent the assassins from leaving traces through all Europe... You are right. It is a change compared to the past. The empoisonneurs of Loubianka were professionals. Today, we deal with dilettantes. It is not astonishing. This same mixture of authoritarianism and dilettantism impregnates all the Russian political life. Does this environment of disorder mean that the secret service was autonomisés and acted of their own account in the Litvinenko business? If it is the case, it is hardly more reassuring which if the order were given of the Kremlin.
Six arrested over Pakistan rape
Riaz Sohail
BBC News, Karachi
Police in southern Pakistan have arrested six men in connection with the kidnap and rape of a 16-year-old girl.
Eleven men are accused of carrying out the attack near the town of Ubaro, about 530km (330 miles) from Karachi.
The girl's family say the rape was in revenge for her cousin eloping with a female relative of the accused.
Doctors confirmed the teenager was raped after she underwent tests in hospital. Such attacks are not uncommon in rural Pakistan in tribal vendettas.
'Left naked'
The rape took place on the morning of 27 January in the village of Habib Labano near Ubaro.
The victim's father filed a complaint the same day in Ubaro police station, saying a group of 11 men had kidnapped his daughter, raped her and forced her to walk home naked.
The teenager suffered serious injuries in the attack and was left without any clothes.
Although police initially expressed scepticism over the attack, rape was confirmed in a medical examination carried out on Tuesday, following which the girl left hospital in Sukkur.
On Wednesday, hundreds of political activists and locals blocked the national highway that links Karachi's port to the north of the country for more than two hours in protest at the incident.
They accused police of not taking action against all the accused because they have the support of local influential people.
Women are often used as a means of settling tribal vendettas and honour that is perceived to have been slighted in rural Pakistan.
In 2002, a village council in Punjab province ordered the rape of a woman by men from another clan because of her brother's alleged affair with a woman from their family.
The case ignited international interest after the woman, Mukhtar Mai, chose to fight her case publicly.
Her fight helped rights groups and legislators galvanise support for changes in the country's laws which were recently amended.
Until then, rape victims risked prosecution under Pakistan's Islamic laws if they filed a complaint.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/6316631.stm
Published: 2007/01/31 13:04:53 GMT
© BBC MMVII
It is not astonishing, since the FSB, successor of the KGB, is back to the capacity.<<<<
Thank You, that is quite an article.
The above, I already felt to be true.
No, need to ask how many terrorists, have something that will kill you, from breathing it in the air.
Anthrax, as was used in America, did you see the anthrax thread in our post 3157? Be sure to follow Calpernia's link in 131 or there abouts, it is at the end of the thread, you will want to look in the archives for the author and see the whole series. [at the link]
I do thank you for doing the translation. Think you can translate the whole book? LOL
Intruder arrested on Royal estate
A pitchfork-wielding intruder has broken into the grounds of Prince Charles's home in Gloucestershire while he and Camilla were asleep inside.
"He was detained within the grounds and did not get into any of the buildings," said Inspector Tony Rymer, of Gloucestershire Police.
A 55-year-old man from Bristol was arrested on suspicion of trespass on the Highgrove Estate early on Monday.
The man was questioned at Stroud police station and bailed until 26 March.
A Clarence House spokesman said: "This is a police matter and it is for the police to make a comment."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/gloucestershire/6316077.stm
Published: 2007/01/31 09:21:49 GMT
© BBC MMVII
US drugs suspects held in custody
A couple facing extradition to the US over an internet-based drug making ring have been remanded in custody.
Kelly Ann Shanks, 29, and 43-year-old Brian Howes were refused bail at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
The couple were detained on Tuesday following a police operation in Bo'ness, near Falkirk.
It has been alleged that they supplied chemicals to illegal drugs laboratories in the US involved in making the synthetic drug methamphetamine.
The arrests of Mr Howes and Ms Shanks - a mother-of-four - came at the climax of an international operation involving police and other law enforcement agencies investigating the making of the drug, also known as crystal meth.
Sheriff Isabella McColl refused bail mainly, she said, to protect the public, to ensure the proper administration of justice and because of the special circumstances of the case.
Further hearings are due to take place in March.
As far back as 2004, Howes and Shanks ran an internet business suspected of supplying a global network of meth labs in the United States, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries
Paul Charlton
US Attorney
Earlier Mr Howes, originally from Middlesbrough, was taken back to his Bo'ness home by police in handcuffs while they searched the property.
Police said a motor museum and funeral premises were also being searched.
The US Drug Enforcement Agency has issued details of a massive drugs production ring in which Mr Howes and Ms Shanks are alleged to have played major roles.
Cleveland Police in the north east of England and the Central Scotland force have been involved in a two-year probe into crystal meth production.
The investigation focused on the alleged supply of chemicals involved in production of the synthetic drug to individuals in the US, Europe and Australia via the internet.
Previous raid
The couple were arrested in Bo'ness on Tuesday by Central Scotland Police officers, working on behalf of the US agency.
Police also swooped on business addresses in Bo'ness.
A spokesman for Central Scotland Police said: "The operation is ongoing."
Paul Charlton, US Attorney for Arizona, said: "As far back as 2004, Howes and Shanks ran an internet business suspected of supplying a global network of meth labs in the United States, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries."
A major police operation in June, involving up to 250 officers, saw a raid on the couple's alleged distribution centre in Grangemouth.
Police said Mr Howes and Ms Shanks had lived for some time in Cleveland.
A US conviction for unlawful importation and distribution of regulated chemicals such as red phosphorus carries a maximum penalty of 20 years, a £128,268 fine or both.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/tayside_and_central/6316433.stm
Published: 2007/01/31 16:36:08 GMT
© BBC MMVII
Thanks to Milford421 for this report.
Tear Gas Attack - Nightclub in UK
ThisIsLincolnshire.uk] UNITED KINGDOM - Nightclub evacuated after tear
gas attack
"It is believed that a member of the public deliberately released the
noxious fumes on the ground floor of the club"
"Expert fire officers then tested the atmosphere in the building and
confirmed that CS gas had been released"
http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?
nodeId=156582&command=displayContent&sourceNode=156408&contentPK=165138
36&folderPk=87028&pNodeId=156139
[It does have a Canada connection, could we have arrested our share, in some of the illegal raids, there are extra ones going on this year.
granny
http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2002631,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=1
a snippet, showing the Halifax connection:
Today's arrests came after police detained five people during anti-terror raids in Manchester and Halifax, West Yorkshire, last week.
Officers arrested two 24-year-old men and a 32-year-old in Manchester on January 23 as part of an investigation into the disappearance of a man being monitored under a control order.
On the same day, unarmed Metropolitan police anti-terrorist officers, supported by West Yorkshire police, arrested two men in dawn raids in the Pellon area of Halifax.
Rizwan Ditta, 29, and 26-year-old Bilal Mohammed, both of Halifax, were later charged with terror offences. The pair were remanded in custody yesterday to appear before City of Westminster magistrates court, in London, by video link on February 6.
Mr Ditta faces 13 charges under the Terrorism Act, while Mr Mohammed faces two. The charges relate to alleged possession of extremist material, said to include an al-Qaida training film and a computer file called Hamas Bomb.
In November, the head of MI5, Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, said the intelligence agency had identified 30 major terror plots being planned in Britain and was targeting more than 1,600 individuals.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,,-6383904,00.html
Muslim soldier 'kidnap plot' foiled
Press Association
Wednesday January 31, 2007 5:33 PM
Nine men are being held over an alleged terrorist plot to carry out an Iraqi-style kidnapping of a British Muslim soldier.
Eight were arrested in a series of dawn raids in Birmingham, with the ninth arrested later on a motorway in the city.
Security sources said the alleged plot was to abduct a serving Muslim soldier, who would have been filmed, possibly tortured and ultimately executed. It could have mirrored the kidnappings of the British hostages Ken Bigley and Margaret Hassan by Iraqi insurgents.
Sources said a target for the alleged plot had already been identified - a young Muslim soldier in the British army who had served in Afghanistan.
The operation to thwart the alleged plot was led by the new Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit, and was only set up a few months ago. Assistant Chief Constable David Shaw, from West Midlands Police, described it as a "very, very major investigation" which would take "days if not weeks". "The threat from terrorism remains very real," he said.
At a news conference, Mr Shaw declined to give any details about the alleged plot, but said the 4am raids marked the "culmination of many months of activity". "I can only stress that we are right at the foothills of what is a very, very major investigation for us," he said.
Sources confirmed that a surveillance operation by anti-terror officers had been ongoing for six months.
The earlier arrests were made at eight houses in the Sparkhill, Washwood Heath, Kingstanding and Edgbaston areas of Birmingham. They were being searched by specialist forensic officers in black suits tonight. Four commercial premises have also been secured and sealed off.
Some of the nine suspects are thought to be at a high security police station in Coventry. Under new anti-terrorism laws, police can hold them without charge for up to 28 days.
They were arrested on suspicion of the "commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism" under the Terrorism Act 2000.
© Copyright Press Association Ltd 2007, All Rights Reserved.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,70131-1249283,00.html?f=rss
Risking All For A New Life
Updated: 09:30, Wednesday January 31, 2007
Hundreds of refugees are risking their lives attempting to escape a brutal existence in North Korea.
Sky News Asia correspondent Peter Sharp reports from China's northern border where a savage winter is providing an impetus for an exodus of the weak and vulnerable:
Hunger is stalking the bleak, windswept hills of North Korea. And for some of the long-suffering residents of Kim Jong-il's hermit kingdom it has proved the final straw.
A primitive existence
A primitive existence
They cross the border at night. Winter has frozen the Tumen River that marks China's frontier with North Korea, allowing the refugees travelling in small groups to scuttle across the ice avoiding the border guards and Chinese police.
It is the start of a 2,500-mile journey to freedom.
At a safe house at a secret location in Northern China we caught up with four refugees, a mother and her two girls, aged 14 and 12, and their neighbour, a woman in her forties. They had arrived in China a few days earlier.
Family arrives in Beijing
Family arrives in Beijing
The children's father disappeared several years ago and is believed to have been executed but what drove their mother to risk everything on this trip were the worsening conditions facing her daughters.
"Sometimes the girls are actually starving," she told us. "Sometimes they are lucky to have a little food for the day - but that is no guarantee there will be food for tomorrow."
The girls sit quietly beside her. They look no older than eight and 10, stunted by malnutrition.
On their journey they will be shepherded by South Korean activists who will help them get across China.
Sky's Peter Sharp
Sky's Peter Sharp
They will teach them how to blend in with the local Chinese and buy them a new wardrobe to make them less noticeable.
The risks are great and the refugees were under no illusions about their fate if they were caught by the Chinese.
"If you are arrested the Chinese will certainly send you back to North Korea," the other woman told us.
"There would be a prison van waiting for you and then almost certain death."
The little group spent two days in Beijing before catching the train south. For those brought up in isolation in a Stalinist state, China's capital would have seemed overwhelming.
Off a train into a new life
Off a train into a new life
The new high-rise office blocks, the shopping centres and the traffic all in stark contrast to the economic conditions in Kim Jong-il's bankrupt state.
At the main station we filmed secretly as the little group passed the final ticket check and boarded the express.
For the next 50 hours they stayed hidden in their bunks avoiding all contact with other passengers, terrified their North Korean origins would be detected and an informer would turn them in.
At a railway station near a south Asian country bordering China the four by-now exhausted refugees melted into the crowds on the streets outside the station without a backward glance - the children holding their mother's hands.
Our presence would only jeopardise the last border crossing that, if successful, would see them safe from the clutches of the Chinese police.
We still don't know if they made it.
But that won't stop hundreds of other refugees making that same perilous journey as Kim Jong-il's bankrupt socialist 'paradise' lurches towards free fall.
More on This Story:
* North Korea Nuclear Talks To Resume
* North Korea Factfile
* Video Exodus From N Korea (3' 47")
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1249658,00.html
Beheading Target Revealed
Updated: 15:57, Wednesday January 31, 2007
A Muslim serving as a soldier in the British Army was the target of an alleged kidnap, torture and beheading plot, Sky News has learned.
The allegation follows the arrest of nine people in Birmingham under the Terrorism Act.
Sources have told Sky News the man, who was in his 20s, would have suffered a terrifying ordeal and torturous death.
The whole episode would have been filmed and posted on the internet in a chilling echo of the execution of Ken Bigley, who was beheaded by insurgents in Iraq.
The soldier is known to have served in Afghanistan. He has been told about the threat against him and is now being protected by police.
Although his full identity is known, it has not been released in public.
Once hostage, he would have been made to plead to Tony Blair on camera to withdraw British troops from Iraq, The Sun claimed.
Sky News' Foreign Affairs Editor Tim Marshall said the attack would have had a profound effect on the British public and the armed forces.
Contract worker Bigley was beheaded after being abducted by Iraqi insurgents and held for several weeks.
He was locked in a cage in an orange jumpsuit before his execution was filmed and posted on the internet.
More on This Story:
* Terrorists 'Planned Beheading'
* Asian Part Of City Targeted
* Neighbours Tell Of Shock
* Video 'Why They'd Choose A Soldier'
* Video Home Office Latest
* Video 'It's A Chilling Message'
* Video MoD Concerned For Troops
* Video Where Raids Took Place
* Pictures Nine Arrested In Swoop
* Email This Story to a Friend
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,70131-1249499,00.html?f=rss
Teenagers Paid £290 To Kill Mother
Updated: 15:45, Tuesday January 30, 2007
A 15-year-old Russian girl is alleged to have paid two teenagers £290 to kill her mother.
Police found the woman with her throat slit in the family home in Barnaul, Siberia.
The girl allegedly told police she was angry because her mother had scolded her for skipping school.
She is alleged to have given the cash to the teenagers in return for having both parents murdered.
But her father did not arrive home on the night of the attack.
The girl and two boys have been arrested and will be charged with murder, police said.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,2-2007050220,00.html
Muslim heroes fight for UK
By ONLINE REPORTER
January 31, 2007
MUSLIMS make up a small but significant part of Britain’s armed forces.
Although the numbers are tiny - less than 0.2 per cent of the total - they provide visible support for the assertion that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are not wars against Islam.
Lance Corporal Jabron Hashmi, who died in Afghanistan on July 1 last year, made front pages as the first British Muslim soldier to be killed in the “war on terror”.
The Pakistan-born soldier’s family said he had hoped to use his Islamic background to foster greater understanding in the Army.
They said: “He felt privileged to represent the Army as a Muslim.
continued, nice looking man, he looks proud of his uniform.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007050177,00.html
A snippet to quote Blair, I think. granny
One well-placed source said: "This plot represents a staggering change of tactic.
"We have all been braced for more mainland bombs which claim many lives and cause turmoil and widespread public fear.
"This would have taken things to a new dimension. The pressure on the PM would have been unimagineable.
"And there would have been a knock-on effect in terms of military morale."
Britain's service personnel take security precautions when off duty in and around their barracks and married quarters.
But in recent years it has become common practice for them to live off their bases in normal houses along side civilians.
The demise of the IRA threat on mainland Britain means they have been allowed to be more relaxed.
Now there will be increased security measures imposed on all servicemen and women to be on their guard.
The cunning plot represents a huge change in tactics by al Qaeda and its supporters.
It proves beyond doubt that terrorist cells are active in mainland Britain - just as MI5 boss Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller warned before Christmas.
And it demonstrates how sophisticated the al Qaeda cells in our midst have become.
They understand the power and importance of the media and the influence it can bring around the world on governments.
The kidnap and subsequent killing of engineer Mr Bigley two-and-a-half years ago was watched around the globe.
It paralysed Labour's annual conference as the PM waited to hear news of the hostage's fate.
The sidebar:
Bookshop raided before
EXCLUSIVE
By LACHLAN CARTWRIGHT
THE bookshop raided by anti-terror cops in Birmingham this morning is no stranger to authorities.
The Maktabah Al Ansaar bookshop at 384 Stratford Road Sparkhill is one of the UK's largest suppliers of Islamic paraphernalia.
On its website the bookshop boasts: "Indeed all praise is for Allah Lord of the Universe.
"Prayers and peace be upon the Noble Messenger, the leader of the righteous and commander of the Mujahideen - our beloved Muhammad - and upon his family, companions and all those who follow them until the Final Hour."
The bookshop was previously run by Moazzam Begg - who was a detainee at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba until 2005 - and whilst under Begg's ownership was raided by Mi5 in 2000.
Three year's later anti-terror cops swooped on the bookshop again but no charges were laid.
Its mission statement reads: "We believe that these publications will greatly help in kindling the hearts of the believers and giving a great insight of Islam to all others.
"We pray that Allah makes us a tool to be of service to this deen and for all who visit us to take benefit."
bookshop
Raided ... Maktabah bookshop
Investigations by The Sun found several questionable books and dvds for sale including 'The Religious and Moral Doctrine of Jihad' listed for the bargain price of £1.95.
By Shaykh ul Islam ibn Taymiyyah the blurb for the book reads: "Ibn Taymiyyah verdicts in regards to Jihad are often not available especially on whom Jihad is to be carried out.
"The shaykhs verdicts are filled with a sea of knowledge that outlines fighting not only the enemy aggressor, but also apostates and even those who oppose clear cut rulings of Islam, despite their claims to be Muslims."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-3-2576804-3,00.html
[snipped from the end]
He described his recovery as "far from being a lost battle" and embraced Mr Chávez before the two leaders announced, one after the other: "We will triumph. Fatherland, socialism or death."
It is unclear how Mr Chávez will make use of the enabling law, which grants him 11 vague but sweeping powers, including the authority to "transform the institutions of the state"; impose a "new social and economic model"; reform the army and take control of the country's banking, insurance, energy and transport sectors.
He has already announced his intention to reassert state control of the telecommunications industry and earlier this year said that private oil ventures in the Orinoco River basin, including those run by companies such as BP, Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips, would have to take on state-run partners.
The passing of the enabling law has divided ordinary Venezuelans, with many believing that radical powers are the only way to address the gap between rich and poor and bring hitherto excluded communities into the country's stagnant political process. Mr Chávez has already been granted temporary use of enabling laws in 1999 and 2001 to push through tax and land reform measures.
The legislation "will benefit the people, those who were excluded their whole lives. They are laws for inclusion and social justice," said Cilia Flores, the National Assembly President.
But historians and political analysts have observed that Mr Chávez, a former paratrooper who is just beginning his second six-year term as President, is about to assume more power than any individual has mustered in Venezuela's 49 years of democracy.
Hello Granny,
I am fluent in French and will get Alan to post this on his multiliingual page.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/TGD/tgdBreakingNewsDisplay/0,,3,00.html#0
World : last updated, January 31, 2007 18:02
Katsav told to leave residence
Israel's attorney general has told President Moshe Katsav to move out of his official residence in Jerusalem while he takes a leave of absence to fight off accusations that he committed rape and other crimes. Katsav's lawyers reacted with anger, saying he was being intentionally humiliated by Attorney General Meni Mazuz, who said last week he planned to charge Katsav with a series of crimes stemming from his treatment of women subordinates. "A man lives there for six years, his toothpaste is there, his toothbrush. So you must display a certain sensitivity, a certain culture. I think that this behaviour, a kind of expulsion of the evil in our midst, of this evil demon. It looks bad, it sounds bad," Zion Amir, one of Katsav's lawyers, told Israel's Army Radio.
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