THE hunt for Saddam's missing billions was stepped up yesterday amid speculation he amassed a $57 billion fortune during his 30-year reign. Much is said to be invested through dummy corporations in Switzerland, Japan and Germany and some is hidden as cash and diamonds in numbered bank accounts in Europe and the Middle East. But Iraqi and US investigators, led by the FBI, US Treasury agents and State Department accountants, have been unable to identify the fake companies or the numbered accounts.
After a brief period of co-operation when he was first captured, the dictator refused to help further.
In a report submitted to the CIA in 2005, former UN arms inspector Charles Duelfer estimated that Saddam had amassed more than $15 billion "through illicit means" between 1990, when UN sanctions were imposed, and 2003. But Iyad Allawi, who was interim prime minister of Iraq in the aftermath of the allied invasion, said the figure was far higher.
He said information suggested Saddam had salted away an astonishing $57 billion through a network of bank accounts around the world. $5.5 billion came from an illegal oil-for-trade deal he signed with Syria between 2000 and 2003.
Excerpted
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,20998586-5001021,00.html
'Islam will dominate the world'
January 1, 2007
NAZARETH – Islamic groups held a large militant march down the main streets of Nazareth this weekend, highlighting for some here the plight of Christians in this ancient city where Muslims have become a majority and members of the dwindling Christian population say they suffer regular intimidation.
Nazareth, considered one of the holiest cities for Christians, is described in the New Testament as the childhood home of Jesus. It contains multiple important shrines and churches, including the famous Church of the Basilica of the Annunciation, the site at which many Christians believe the Virgin Mary was visited by the Archangel Gabriel and told that she had been selected as the mother of Jesus.
The Islamic Movement, the main Muslim political party in Nazareth, said it organized yesterday's march to celebrate Eid ul-Adha, or the Feast of the Sacrifice, which commemorates the Muslim belief Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son Ishmael for Allah. Christian and Jewish faith dictates it was Isaac, not Ishmael, whom Abraham almost sacrificed.
Islamic Movement leaders paraded down Nazareth's main thoroughfare brandishing their party's green flag. Young Muslim men in battle gear marched and beat drums as a man on loudspeaker repeatedly exclaimed in Arabic, "Allah is great."
Hundreds of activists strutted screaming Islamist epithets, including "Islam is the only truth" and "Islam shall rule all."
Excerpted
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53574
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1760978/posts
"The Eid Festival Around The World - Graphic Photos"
Sweetness & Light ^ | January 1, 2007 | N/A
Posted on 01/01/2007 11:27:27 AM PST by Sam Hill
Mexican authorities are giving handheld satellite devices to illegals crossing the US-Mexico border. The project, designed to assist Mexican citizens to illegally cross the border, plans to provide 200,000 of the devices.
The Sunday Telegraph quotes Coordinator for the state commission for migrants in Puebla Jaime Obregon as saying: "Our intention is to save lives. There are lots of people looking to cross and we are working with the US authorities to make sure they do not die on the way."
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/21612.html
Somali Islamists flee towards Kenya and to the hills
01 January 2007
KISMAYU, Somalia - Somalia's Islamists fled towards Kenya or melted into the southern hills on Monday after abandoning their last stronghold to advancing government forces backed by Ethiopian troops, tanks and planes.
Excerpted
http://www.peterboroughnow.co.uk/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleID=1951762&SectionID=5055
New rules complicate Islamic ritual
January 01, 2007
MINA, Saudi Arabia – The rituals of Islam's annual hajj pilgrimage are enormously complicated, so it helps to have someone to advise how to do them right: thus the long lines Monday at the ``ask a sheik" booths scattered around the holy sites.
Excerpted