Ten aircraft from Indian's fleet grounded: Govt.(India)
New Delhi, Dec. 19 (PTI): As many as ten aircraft out of state-owned
carrier
Indian's 57 Airbus fleet are grounded at present for maintenance and
want of
engines, Lok Sabha was informed today.
Observing that normally about seven aircraft remained grounded at any
given
point of time, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said during
Question
Hour that nine A-320s and one A-300 planes were presently not in
service for
major maintenance, want of engines or scheduled maintenance.
The Indian has a fleet of 57 Airbus aircraft -- six A-319s, 48 A-320s
and
three A-300s, he said, adding that efforts were on to increase engine
availability so that optimum utilisation of aircraft as per laid down
norms
was achieved.
Asked what steps the government proposed to take on the "arbitrary
decision"
of private airlines to impose a congestion surcharge for hovering over
Delhi
and Mumbai airports, Patel said: "Domestic air fares are not regulated
by
the government after the repeal of the Air Corporation Act 1953.
Domestic
airlines are free to charge air fares as per their commercial
judgement".
Maintaining that the average domestic aviation turbine fuel prices had
declined by about eight per cent, he said the question that government
should impress private carriers to reduce prices "does not arise".
To a question on Air-India's plans to launch direct flights to the US
from
next summer, Patel said the fares on this route have not been decided.
Air-India planned to launch the non-stop service after taking delivery
of
three new ultra-long range Boeing 777-200 LR aircraft in April-May
2007.
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002200612191440.htm
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411749/938983
Light plane hits California sewage tank
Dec 20, 2006
Three Japanese men died when their small plane crashed into a tank full
of raw sewage in California, an employee at the flight school that
operated the aircraft said on Tuesday.
Shoki Haraguchi was a flight instructor and Yoshiyuki Kato and Yasushi
Miyata were students at Nice Air flight school in San Jose, California,
Vicki Gonzales, the school's office manager, told Reuters in a
telephone interview.
The three died on Monday when their twin-engine Beechcraft Travel Air
crashed into a sewage tank at a wastewater treatment plant in the farm
town of Gilroy, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, which
is investigating the crash with the National Transportation Safety
Board.
Workers draining the tank, about 10 to 15 feet (3 to 4.7 metres) deep,
saw the bodies of the three men in the wreckage of the submerged
aeroplane, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/HL14Ad01.html
Greater China
Dec 14, 2006
China's real nuclear capabilities
By David Isenberg
WASHINGTON - It is never hard to find someone worrying about China's nuclear weapons. For example, the recent annual report of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission says, "Beijing continues to improve its older intercontinental ballistic missiles and seeks to field increasingly mobile, accurate and survivable and therefore more credible ICBMs ... China's newer longer-range [missile] systems will reach many areas of the world ... including virtually the entire continental United
States."
Yet it seems that China has more to worry about than the United States, according to another recent report. It found, just like classic "missile gap" alarm of the Cold War, that the US military, intelligence agencies and conservative think-tanks and news organizations are exaggerating China's nuclear-weapons capability to justify developing a new generation of nuclear and conventional weapons.
And in a surrealistic act of mirror-imaging, the Chinese have been citing US weapons upgrades as a rationale for modernizing theirs, locking the two nations in a dangerous action-and-reaction competition reminiscent of the Cold War, according to a report issued on November 30 by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
In a perverse way it actually makes sense. Ever since the crackup of the Soviet Union, various political and military figures have been desperately searching for rationales to justify hanging on to and modernizing the US nuclear arsenal.
Of course, the negligible size of China's nuclear forces has made that a hard sell. As the report notes right at the start, "The Chinese-US nuclear relationship is dramatically disproportionate in favor of the United States and will remain so for the foreseeable future."
Even the Pentagon's last annual "Military Power of the People's Republic of China" report notes that Beijing has consistently stated its adherence to a "no first use" nuclear doctrine, which is that China will never use nuclear weapons first against a nuclear-weapons state, nor will China use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against any non-nuclear-weapons state or nuclear-weapons-free zone.
It also noted that China currently deploys about 20 silo-based, liquid-fueled ICBMs, which constitute its primary means of holding continental US targets at risk. But according to the FAS-NRDC report, the United States has more than 830 missiles - most with multiple warheads - that can reach China. By 2015, when US intelligence projects that China will have 75 missiles primarily targeted against the United States, the US force will include 780 land- and sea-based missiles.
The report found that although the United States has maintained extensive nuclear-strike plans against Chinese targets for more than a half-century, China has never responded by building large nuclear forces of its own and is unlikely to do so in the future. As a result, Chinese nuclear weapons are quantitatively and qualitatively much inferior to their US counterparts.
China's total stockpile numbers about 200 warheads; the United States has nearly 10,000. By 2015, after China deploys a new generation of ballistic missiles and the US has completed its planned reductions, China may have some 220 warheads and the US more than 5,000.
The report's main finding is that the Pentagon and others routinely highlight specific incidents out of context that inaccurately portray a looming Chinese threat. Specifically, the report demonstrates that they have been embellishing China's submarine- and long-range-missile capabilities.
US intelligence agencies warn that the Chinese will be able to target 75-100 nuclear warheads at the continental United States by 2015. But that prediction assumes China will be able to deploy 40-55 new DF-31A missiles before 2015, in addition to two other shorter-range missiles. Given that the Chinese have yet to conduct test flights of the DF-31A, the report concluded that that assumption is highly questionable.
The Pentagon also has made much out of the fact that China's next-generation missiles will be mobile. But the majority of China's ballistic-missile force has always been mobile, the report points out, and the US military has targeted it as a routine matter since the 1980s. In fact, improved US targeting of Chinese missiles has played a significant role in prompting China to develop new long-range missiles.
# As the report makes clear, the disparity between US and Chinese nuclear capabilities is so overwhelming as to make any talk about the Chinese threat farcical. For example: None of China's long-range nuclear forces are believed to be on alert; most US ballistic missiles are on high alert, ready to launch within minutes after receiving a launch order.
# China's sole nuclear-ballistic-missile submarine has never gone on patrol. As a result, the crews of the new Jin-class subs currently under construction will need to start almost from scratch to develop the operational and tactical skills and procedures that are essential if a sea-based deterrent is to be militarily effective and matter strategically.
# China may be able to build two or three new missile subs over the next decade, but they would be highly vulnerable to anti-submarine forces; the US Navy has 14 missile-bearing subs and has moved the majority of them into the Pacific.
# China may have a small number of aircraft with a secondary nuclear capability, but they would be severely tested by US and allied air-defense systems or in air-to-air combat. The United States operates 72 long-range bombers assigned missions with nuclear gravity bombs and land-attack cruise missiles.
# China does not have nuclear-armed cruise missiles, although US intelligence suspects it might develop such a capability in the future. The United States has more than 1,000 nuclear cruise missiles for delivery by aircraft and attack submarines.
Another relevant aspect of the report, especially in light of recent US experience with Iraq, details how badly US intelligence has misjudged Chinese nuclear capabilities. The report found that estimates about the size of the Chinese nuclear arsenal were grossly overstated, sometimes by several hundred percent, and timelines for when new systems would come on line were almost always much too optimistic.
The reasons for these misjudgments include China's ability to keep its capabilities hidden, a tendency among some intelligence analysts to overstate their conclusions, and the Pentagon's general inclination to assume the worst. This predisposition to exaggerate the Chinese threat unfortunately remains evident today.
The sad irony is that both countries point to what the other is doing as a justification to modernize. The report notes that China is about to deploy three new long-range ballistic missiles that the US says were developed in response to its own deployment of more accurate Trident sea-launched ballistic missiles in the early 1980s.
Meanwhile, the US has increased its capability to target Chinese mobile missiles, and the Pentagon is arguing that the long-term outlook for China's long-range ballistic-missile force requires increased targeting of Chinese forces.
David Isenberg, a senior analyst with the Washington-based British American Security Information Council (BASIC), has a wide background in arms-control and national-security issues. The views expressed are his own.
(Copyright 2006 Asia Times Online Ltd.
This is a newsletter with every country reported on, in French:
http://groups.google.com/group/1RSL/browse_thread/thread/7cebbca9db2d2290/b2dd5cd13d3df90b?lnk=raot#b2dd5cd13d3df90b
The home page, in several languages:
http://groups.google.com/group/1RSL
Description: ÕÍÇÝíæä ÈáÇ ÞíæÏ ÕÍÇÝÉ ËæÑíÉ ãÍÇÑÈÉ ÚÖæ ãÄÓÓ ÇáÊÌãÚ ÇáÏæáí ááãÄÓÓÇÊ ÇáÍÞæÞíÉ æÇáÇäÓÇäíÉ Ýí ÇáÔÑÞ ÇáÇæÓØ æÔãÇá ÇÝÑíÞíÇ
Reporters Sans Limites Presse Révolutionnaire ÕÈÞ ñRSL Dossier de Presse : 13/2005 ãáÝ ÇáÕÍÇÝÉ Dépôt legal : 2006/0038 - CIN: 352158 N°: 1529/2006 ÇáÅíÏÇÚ ÇáÞÇäæäí
(6589 members)
I think this is links to jihad sites, it is the latest post:
http://groups.google.com/group/1RSL/browse_thread/thread/85cced655bd86b9d/e18065afe07201b7#e18065afe07201b7
There is also what looks like a manual link.
Human Rights website for Arab Countries:
http://www.hrinfo.org/en/
American muslim, in Singapore to teach muslim law and show the values of being a muslim:
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.singapore/browse_thread/thread/7a94ea55b1819c6a/a21abed9a4d5ba67#a21abed9a4d5ba67
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.singapore/browse_thread/thread/a081dcc5ae103881/6f9182ba31b2699b#6f9182ba31b2699b
Fatwa victim girl saved from caning
Staff Correspondent
Human rights organisations and law enforcement agencies in Sunamganj
yesterday saved a girl from being caned after a teacher of a local
madrasa gave a fatwa against her.
Mahmuda, 17, of Manirgati village in Chhatak, Sunamganj was supposed to
be caned in a public after madrasa teacher Mufti Abdus Sobhan handed
down the fatwa to beat her up until she bled.
Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, Samajik Protirodh Committee, and Prothom
Alo Bandhu Shava with assistance from law enforcers managed to save the
girl after learning about the fatwa in newspapers.
Law enforcers arrested four people at the village in connection with
provoking the fatwa. The arrestees are Manik Miah, Firoz Miah, Meraj
Uddin and Shalik Miah.
Prior to the fatwa, Mahmuda's father Fabar Ullah, 80, a freedom
fighter, was forced to walk around the village mosque wearing a garland
of shoes.
Mahmuda and Fabar filed two cases in this connection against Mufti
Abdus Sobhan, Lala Miah, 35, his three associates and eight others.
Lala Miah and Mufti Abdus Sobhan are absconding.
Fabar have been supporting his family by begging. His younger daughter
Mahmuda had a love affair with their neighbour Lala, which led to
pregnancy. Lala had pledged to marry her but he refused later on.
Following the birth of her child, which died in its infancy, the
village people held a "Panchayet" (a local assembly) where Mufti Abdus
Sobhan had handed down the fatwa.
Expressing their concerns, the Mahila Parishad yesterday demanded legal
steps against the "fatwabaz" and his cohorts.
In a statement, signed by its President Hena Das and General Secretary
Ayesha Khanam, the organisation also demanded immediate arrest of those
involved with the fatwa and to ensure security of the victim's family.
Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Raiqul Alam, however, said the situation
is under their control and they would provide the victim's family with
security.
Denver is under emergency conditions, over a foot of snow today.
The airport is closed un til tomorrow night.
Grocery stores are sold out, had a run on them.
Fox news said they were told to sleep on their desks and not attempt to get home.
St. Mary's Heart Church, in North Glen, is taking folks off the freeway, for shelter, The Priest said he can handle up to 300 people, that they have a food bank for emergency use.
Made me hungry, they are already cooking hamburgers, macroni and cheese and Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Many accidents.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061220/wl_uk_afp/britainrussiaspy_061220214242
Russian ex spy's widow thanks police
Wed Dec 20, 4:42 PM ET
LONDON (AFP) - Former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko's wife thanked police for their efforts in probing Russian links to his death, a spokesman said as detectives returned from Moscow.
ADVERTISEMENT
"I'm very grateful to Scotland Yard for a thorough investigation even if the Russians have put every obstacle in their way," Marina Litvinenko said, cited by Alexander Goldfarb, the late Kremlin critic's former spokesman.
She claimed in particular that Russian authorities had hidden ex-Soviet army officer Dmitry Kovtun and ex-KGB officer Andrei Lugovoi "in a hospital under the pretext of radiation," to avoid them being questioned.
"I believe the two individuals are suspects rather than witnesses," she said, cited by Goldfarb.
The former spokesman told AFP that Litvinenko's widow had confidence in the British government. "I trust (Prime Minister)
Tony Blair, who said no political or economic obstacle will stay in the way of the investigation," she said.
continued..............
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061220/wl_nm/britain_poisoning_chechen_dc_1
Poison spy's friend mocks Russian extradition talk
By Mark Trevelyan Wed Dec 20, 12:58 PM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - An exiled Chechen leader and friend of poisoned ex-Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko accused Moscow on Wednesday of trying to frighten him by resuming a criminal investigation aimed at extraditing him.
ADVERTISEMENT
Russian media said prosecutors had resumed a criminal investigation into Chechen Akhmed Zakayev, whom Moscow accuses of a string of terrorist offences which he vehemently denies.
"The prosecutor-general's office and the relevant British authorities are currently considering the matter of his extradition to the Russian justice bodies," Itar-Tass news agency said.
Zakayev, who defeated a previous Russian extradition attempt in 2003 when he won political asylum in London, laughed out loud when asked for his reaction.
He said the Kremlin was trying to scare him into silence after he blamed it for the murders of campaigning journalist Anna Politkovskaya and Litvinenko, a former security agent who was Zakayev's friend and neighbor in London.
continued........
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/19/opinion/19tue1.html
The Kremlin’s Shell Game
Published: December 19, 2006
President Vladimir Putin believes that a powerful, state-controlled energy sector is the key to Russia’s economic future, even if he has to strong-arm foreign investors to get it. But trampling property rights is risky. It is as likely to leave Russia an economic pariah as an energy superpower.
The latest intrigue centers on a huge oil and natural-gas project off of Russia’s eastern coast. The project, Sakhalin 2, includes offshore platforms and the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas plant. It is also the single largest foreign investment in Russia. Royal Dutch Shell owns a 55 percent stake, but won’t for much longer from the looks of things.
It appears that the Kremlin is again trying to muscle an energy company into doing its bidding, this time with environmental regulators. Russian officials have threatened to halt the project by revoking necessary operating permits and warning that they might criminally prosecute Shell employees over supposed ecological violations.
continued...
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/19/opinion/19zimmerman.html
The Smoky Bomb Threat
By PETER D. ZIMMERMAN
Published: December 19, 2006
London
Article about 'dirty bombs'.
[California for the last week or so, keeps getting larger earthquakes, none large enough for damage, but getting closer all the time, sure to have upset a bunch of liberals..]
Fw: M 3.7 EQ NEAR BERKELEY, CA 07:12:29 PM PST Wednesday, Dec 20, 2006
----- Original Message -----
From: nc-quakeallmail-owner@eqinfo.wr.usgs.gov ; CISN (USGS/UCB)
To: nc-quakeallmail@eqinfo.wr.usgs.gov
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 7:16 PM
Subject: M 3.7 EQ NEAR BERKELEY, CA 07:12:29 PM PST Wednesday, Dec 20, 2006
== PRELIMINARY EARTHQUAKE REPORT ==
California Integrated Seismic Network
http://www.cisn.org
USGS/Caltech/CGS/UCB/UCSD/UNR
Version 2: This report supersedes any earlier reports about this event.
This is a computer-generated message and has not yet been reviewed by a
seismologist.
PRINCIPAL EARTHQUAKE PARAMETERS
_______________________________
Magnitude : 3.67 ML (A minor quake)
Event Date & Time : 12/20/2006 07:12:29 PM PST
12/21/2006 03:12:28 UTC
Coordinates : 37.8598 N, 122.2365 W
: (37 deg. 51.59 min. N, 122 deg. 14.19 min. W)
Depth : 5.6 miles ( 9.0 km)
Location Quality : Excellent
4 km ( 2 miles) ESE (112 degrees) of Berkeley, CA
4 km ( 3 miles) N (354 degrees) of Piedmont, CA
5 km ( 3 miles) ENE ( 59 degrees) of Emeryville, CA
6 km ( 4 miles) SE (124 degrees) of Albany, CA
6 km ( 4 miles) WSW (245 degrees) of Orinda, CA
More Information about this event and other earthquakes is available at
http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/latestfault.htm
ADDITIONAL EARTHQUAKE PARAMETERS
________________________________
number of phases : 212
rms misfit : 0.10 seconds
horizontal location error : 0.1 km
vertical location error : 0.2 km
maximum azimuthal gap : 23 degrees
distance to nearest station : 2. km
event ID: 51177042
SOURCE OF INFORMATION/CONTACTS
________________________________
CISN Northern California Management Center
U.S. Geological Survey
Berkeley Seismological Laboratory
http://www.cisn.org/ncmc.html
________________________________
--
You are receiving this message through the nc-quakeallmail mailing list. You
can unsubscribe from this list at http://quake.usgs.gov/recent/eqlist.html
Norway to Seal Off Toxic Nazi Submarine
Norway plans to cover a sunken German WWII submarine in a giant
sarcophagus to stop dangerous mercury leaking from the wreck.
Mercury has been seeping from the U-boat for more than 60 years.
To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the
internet address below:
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=1hmgzeIfwf2zzI1&req=l%3D1hmgzdIfwf2zzI1
December 20, 2006 PM Anti-Terrorism News
Al Qaeda's Zawahiri threatens more attacks on West: "If we are hit in
our countries, we will not stop striking you in your country" - addtl
excerpts of Al Qaeda deputy statement
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2006/December/middleeast_December341.xml§ion=middleeast&col=
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061220/wl_mideast_afp/mideastqaedazawahiri
Iraq violence kills 23 as Gates visits - including 11 who died when a
suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives near Baghdad
University
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2006/December/focusoniraq_December106.xml§ion=focusoniraq
Bush: Iraq insurgents hurt U.S. efforts
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061220/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_14
NATO forces kill 50 militants in Afghan operation
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2006/December/subcontinent_December685.xml§ion=subcontinent
(Pakistan) Bomb injures 7 people in Pakistan - bicycle bomb in
Pakistan city of Quetta
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061220/ap_on_re_as/pakistan_bomb_1
Pakistan bans Robert Spencer's book about Prophet Muhammad
http://www.kuna.net.kw/Home/Story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=936032
Six Kassam rockets strike Israel Wednesday afternoon
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1164881925328&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
3 Turks may be tried for int'l terrorism charges
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1164881936733&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Uzbekistan: 2 convicted for teaching radical Islam
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1164881936493&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Trial of British "airline plotter" to start Friday in Pakistan -
regarding impersonation and false documents - terrorism charges dropped
previously
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061220/wl_sthasia_afp/britainattacksairlinepakistan_061220135434
Time Magazine: Syria in Bush's Crosshairs: A classified document
suggests the Administration is considering a plan to fund political
opposition to the Damascus government
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1571751,00.html
(Iran) Ahmadineajd: Iran now nuclear power
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0%2C7340%2CL-3342489%2C00.html#cooliris
(Iran) Ahmadinejad: Britain, Israel, US to 'vanish like the pharaohs':
"It is a divine promise."
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/12/20/061220094102.ixs3bo81.html
Hezbollah says one of its fighters killed in cluster bomb explosion in
south Lebanon
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/20/africa/ME_GEN_Lebanon_Hezbollah.php
Commentary: Tariq Ramadan sheds some clarifications
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/014494.php
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061218.wlivetariqramadan1219/BNStory/specialComment/home
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2006/December/middleeast_December341.xml§ion=middleeast&col=
Qaeda’s Zawahri threatens more attacks on West
(Reuters)
20 December 2006
PALESTINE - Al Qaeda will continue to target the United States and other Western countries so long as Muslims are under attack, the militant group’s second-in-command Ayman Al Zawahri said in a video tape aired on Wednesday.
‘If we are attacked in our land we shall not stop attacking you in your countries, God willing,’ Zawahri said in the tape aired by Al Jazeera television.
‘The formula for your safety is: You will not dream of security until we live it as a reality in Palestine and all Muslim countries,’ he said.
Al Qaeda, which carried out the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on US cities, has repeatedly vowed more strikes on the United States. Zawahri last threatened attacks in a videotape in June to avenge the killing of the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq.
In the latest tape, Zawahri dismissed US President George W. Bush’s argument that combating terrorism can guarantee security and said Washington was scrambling for an exit from Iraq and Afghanistan, but was approaching the wrong parties.
‘Both Democrats and Republicans are scrambling to find an exit from the disasters in Afghanistan and Iraq and are still thinking with the same rash mentality and trying to negotiate with some sides to secure your exit but these sides cannot offer you an escape and your attempts will only bring more failure.
‘You are not negotiating with the real powers in the Muslim world and you appear to be heading towards a painful round of negotiations, after which you will forced to talks to the real forces...’ he said.
Facing growing pressure to shift course in the unpopular Iraq war, Bush is weighing the recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, which has called for the United States to engage Iran and Syria directly over Iraq.
The panel’s report calls for accelerating the training of Iraqi forces and pulling back US combat troops by early 2008.
Zawahri called on Sunni Muslim fighters to join the so-called Islamic State in Iraq, announced by an Al Qaeda-led group in October.
‘I urge the whole Muslim nation to support this fledgling state as it is, God willing, the gateway for the liberation of Palestine and the revival of the Islamic caliphate.
‘I also urge all my mujahideen brothers in Iraq to join this blessed convoy to save the Iraq caliphate from the shackles of the crusaders and their agents, the traitors who have sold their faith,’ the Egyptian militant said.
Zawahri took a swing at Iraq’s Shia Muslim leaders who he said opposed jihad against U.S.-led forces in Iraq while they saw Lebanese Shia guerrilla group Hezbollah’s war with Israel this summer as sanctioned by Islam.
‘How is it possible that jihad against the Jews in Lebanon is in line with Islam but jihad against Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan is taboo,’ he said.
Al-Zawahri: U.S. Talking to Wrong People
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/20/ap/world/mainD8M4MC6G0.shtml
Al-Zawahri: U.S. Talking to Wrong People
Al-Zawahri says U.S. is talking to wrong people in Iraq, hinting it
must talk to al-Qaida
CAIRO, Egypt, Dec. 20, 2006
By MAGGIE MICHAEL Associated Press Writer
(AP) The deputy leader of al-Qaida said the United States was
negotiating with the wrong people in Iraq, implying in a video
broadcast Wednesday on Al-Jazeera that Washington should be talking to
his group.
"I want to tell the Republicans and the Democrats together ... you are
trying to negotiate with some parties to secure your withdrawal, but
these parties won't find you an exit (from Iraq) and your attempts
will yield nothing but failure," Ayman al-Zawahri said on the video.
"It seems that you will go through a painful journey of failed
negotiations until you will be forced to return to negotiate with the
real powers," he said, without elaborating.
continued......
Source: NorthJersey.com, Wed 20 Dec 2006 [edited]
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2NSZmZ2JlbDdmN3ZxZWVFRXl5NzA0MTIwNyZ5cmlyeTdmNzE3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTQ=
Herpes gladiatorum outbreak in Jersey City
[unknown url]
Cleric's star rises in Iran after vote
Associated Press
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer
Elder statesman Hashemi Rafsanjani, a mercurial cleric who has played
both sides of Iran's reformist-conservative divide, is rising again as a
key challenger to Iran's president after local elections show deep
discontent with the president's hard line.
Last week's elections for local councils in towns and cities across
Iran were seen as a referendum on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's 18
months in office, and results so far were showing widespread victories for
his opponents.
Since taking power, Ahmadinejad has escalated Iran's confrontation with
the United States and the West on multiple fronts, in particular
drawing the threat of U.N. sanctions for pushing ahead with uranium
enrichment in Iran's nuclear program. He has also sparked widespread
international outrage for his comments against Israel and casting doubt on the
Nazi Holocaust.
On Wednesday, a leading newspaper that usually reflects the thinking of
many in Iran's conservative clerical leadership said in a blistering
editorial that the election results showed it was time for Ahmadinejad to
moderate his tone and concentrate on improving the ailing economy.
"The election could be very instructive to those who have been in
power," the Jomhuri Eslami editorial said. "Arrogance, disregarding people's
economic situation, insulting respected people and high-flying policies
were among the elements of the failure of those who could not imagine
such a failure."
Ahmadinejad, who has not commented on Friday's elections, felt the heat
personally during a speech Tuesday in the western town of Kermanshah.
During his address, some in the crowd chanted, "unemployment,
unemployment, unemployment is a major problem," the pro-government daily Keyhan
reported.
The results showed a partial comeback for Iran's reformist movement,
which was crushed over the past five years by hard-liners who drove them
out of the local councils, parliament and the presidency. The reformers
seek closer ties to the West - even the United States - and a loosening
of the power of Iran's clerical rulers.
But the big winners were "moderate conservatives," who support the
clerical regime but have become disillusioned by Ahmadinejad, saying he
needlessly provokes the West, isolates Iran and ignores economic reform.
Many analysts were now predicting a coalition between reformers and
moderate conservatives to oppose Ahmadinejad and his hard-line allies in
parliament and presidential elections in 2009.
Talk of a political bloc was fueled after two top reformist politicians
- former president Mohammad Khatami and Mehdi Karroubi - met on Sunday
with Rafsanjani, a top moderate conservative.
Rafsanjani's status was boosted in a parallel election held Friday
picking members of the Assembly of Experts, a body made up of 86 clerics
that oversees Iran's supreme leader and picks his successor.
Rafsanjani won the most votes of any candidate in Tehran for the
assembly - half a million more than his closest competitor - a strong show of
support for Rafsanjani, who lost to Ahmadinejad in June 2005
presidential elections.
"The people's vote for Rafsanjani meant they hope he will create and
improve the moderate line," said Amir Mohebbian, a political analyst and
columnist in Resalat conservative daily.
Final results from the local council election in Tehran were expected
on Thursday. The interior ministry said only a few thousand of the 1.9
million votes still remained to be tallied, blaming the delay on the
large turnout and the simultaneous vote for the Experts Assembly.
But partial results showed Ahmadinejad's allies won only two seats on
Tehran's 15-member council, one of them going to his sister, Parvin
Ahmadinejad. Conservative moderates were on track to take eight seats, and
reformers four. The last seat appeared set to go to an independent.
Final results were announced for the rest of the country and showed a
heavy defeat for Ahmadinejad supporters. None of his candidates won
seats on the councils in the cities of Shiraz, Bandar Abbas, Sari, Zanjan
and Kerman. Many councils in other cities were divided along similar
proportions as Tehran's.
The election does not directly effect Ahmadinejad's power. It chose
113,000 seats on councils that administer city affairs and pick mayors.
It was not clear whether Ahmadinejad will bow to pressure to at least
change his tone, if not the substance, of his policies. The
pro-government Keyhan called the election as a victory for Ahmadinejad - depicting
all conservatives as his supporters - suggesting some in the hard-liner
camp do not see it as a call for change.
But many see the vote as signs of an anti-Ahmadinejad moderate
coalition rallying behind Rafsanjani.
The 72-year-old Rafsanjani - who served as president from 1989-1997 -
has long been an elusive inside player in Iran's clerical leadership. He
is mistrusted by reformists because of his closeness to supreme leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and by hard-liners because of his emphasis on
pragmatism over ideology.
Rafsanjani has supported the Islamic republic's policy of shunning the
United States, yet played a major role in the 1980s Iran-Contra scandal
in which the U.S. sold arms to Iran in return for help in freeing
hostages held in Lebanon. He also backs the line rejecting a suspension of
Iran's uranium enrichment program, but has shown a willingness to
compromise in backroom negotiations on the nuclear program.
Pro-reform students frequently jeered him in demonstrations in the
past, and he suffered a humiliating defeat by reformists in 2000 parliament
elections, when he failed to win a seat.
In the 2005 run-off presidential election, Rafsanjani was the more
moderate candidate in the race against Ahmadinejad, but demoralized
pro-reform voters failed to turn out in strength to support him.
But Khatami's meeting with him Sunday suggested reformers could turn to
embrace him.
"People showed in the elections that they don't like hard-line
policies," said Mohammad Atrianfar, a political activist and a leader of
moderate Kargozaran Party. "From now on (Ahmadinejad's) hard-line current
will lose its power and it will return to its place."
Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
[unknown url]
Nations circulate revised Iran sanctions
Associated Press
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer
Britain and France circulated a revised U.N. sanctions resolution
against Iran Wednesday and predicted it would be approved on Friday after it
was amended to meet Russian objections.
The new draft dropped a mandatory travel ban against about a dozen
Iranians involved in the country's nuclear and missile programs, which
Russia said was an unnecessary punishment of Iran.
Russia and China, which have strong commercial ties to Iran, have not
indicated whether they will vote in favor of the new draft.
"What I am confident is that there will be a vote on this before
Christmas and that that resolution will carry." Britain's U.N. Ambassador
Emyr Jones Parry said.
He said later that the draft could still be changed before the vote,
now scheduled for Friday morning. Council members are expected to discuss
the revised text on Thursday.
Iran insists its nuclear program is aimed solely at the peaceful
production of nuclear energy, but the Americans and Europeans suspect
Tehran's ultimate goal is the production of nuclear weapons.
The latest draft would order all countries to ban the supply of
specified materials and technology that could contribute to Iran's nuclear and
missile programs. It would also impose an asset freeze on key companies
and individuals in the country's nuclear and missile programs named on
a U.N. list.
Instead of the travel ban, the draft resolution now calls on all states
"to exercise vigilance" regarding the entry or transit through their
territory of those on a U.N. list - which now includes 12 top Iranians
but more can be added by the council.
It asks the 191 other U.N. member states to notify a Security Council
committee that will be created to monitor sanctions when those Iranians
show up in their country.
While not a mandatory travel ban, Jones Parry said the compromise
formula "will preserve a check on everybody moving."
It also says the council will review Iran's actions in light of a
report from the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, requested
within 60 days, on whether Iran has suspended uranium enrichment and
complied with other demands of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reiterated Tuesday that sanctions
would not stop Iran from pursuing uranium enrichment, a technology that
can be used to produce nuclear fuel for civilian purposes or fuel for a
nuclear bomb.
If the IAEA verifies that Iran has suspended enrichment and
reprocessing, the resolution says the sanctions will be suspended to allow for
negotiations. It says sanctions will be terminated as soon as the IAEA
board confirms that Iran has complied with all its obligations.
If Iran fails to comply with the resolution, the draft says the council
will adopt "further appropriate measures under Article 41 of Chapter 7"
of the U.N. Charter.
Article 41 authorizes the Security Council to impose nonmilitary
sanctions such as completely or partially severing diplomatic and economic
relations, transportation and communications links.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters in Moscow
Wednesday that the proposed sanctions were too broad and included wording
that would block legitimate economic ties with Iran.
Speaking before the new draft was circulated, he said a "quick
agreement" was possible if the United States and its European partners return
to the original understanding that sanctions should not be used as
punishment against Iran and that the Security Council should not try to
usurp the role of the IAEA.
Six countries who have been leading negotiations with Iran - Britain,
France, Germany, Russia, China and the U.S. - offered Tehran a package
of economic incentives and political rewards in June if it agreed to
consider a long-term moratorium on enrichment and committed itself to a
freeze on uranium enrichment before talks on its nuclear program.
With Iran refusing to comply with an Aug. 31 council deadline to stop
enrichment, Britain and France circulated a draft sanctions resolution
in late October, which has been revised several times since then.
Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.