Was there ever any doubt?
Radical cleric sets up sharia law in Pakistan's capital
Snip: A radical cleric set up a vigilante Islamic court in Pakistan's capital yesterday and threatened to unleash a wave of suicide bombs if the government tried to repress his Taliban-style movement.
The challenge to the authority of President Pervez Musharraf, by a firebrand cleric, Maulana Abdul Aziz, came amid growing fears of what the local media has dubbed a "creeping Talibanisation" across Pakistan...........
........"Our youths will shake their palaces with their suicide attacks," said Maulana (Father) Aziz in a sermon delivered to thousands of his followers at Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, in central Islamabad.
Snip: For those curious about the destination that's been attached to this recent story, it's true that even American citizens do not need a visa to visit. The island's most luxurious lodging is at the Dariush Grand Hotel, which one TripAdvisor reviewer calls as nice of a place as you'll find in Iran, but not quite up to international standards.
Kish Island can be reached by flying Kish Air from the United Arab Emirates. Lest you be a bit worried by the website's opening message about its humble beginnings with leased Bulgarian aircraft, fret not, because they also really "care about you."
US arrest three allegedly involved in war crimes in South America
Snip: U.S. law enforcement officials have announced the arrest of three former South American military officers, an Argentine and two Peruvians, who are suspected of war crimes.
The officials say former Argentine military officer Ernesto Guillermo Barreiro was arrested in Virginia, about 75 kilometers west of Washington, D.C. He is alleged to have been the chief interrogator at a clandestine detention facility during Argentina's so-called Dirty War in the 1970s and 1980s.
Taiwan bans poultry from West Virginia
Snip: Cuba, Japan, Russia and Taiwan have declared poultry from the southern state of West Virginia temporarily ineligible for importation following the discovery of avian flu at a turkey farm.
The countries will not accept any poultry or poultry products from the state. Also, Hong Kong will not accept such imports from Pendleton County, where the avian flu was found, said Matt Herrick, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service.
"They are temporary measures based on international guidelines," Herrick said Thursday.
Timeframes for resuming poultry imports will depend on each country's standards. For example, Cuba allows such imports to resume 21 days after the disease is detected, providing the poultry farm is sterilized to its standards, Herrick said.
"The remaining countries ... it's a case-by-case basis," he said.
State agriculture officials said the strain of the disease found in Pendleton County turkeys is not harmful to humans. But 25,000 turkeys at the farm were destroyed this week as a precaution to prevent the virus from mutating and spreading.
A good selection of links MamaDearest, thank you.
Those arrests look interesting — I wonder how that all came together.