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Posted on 08/01/2007 10:32:19 PM PDT by nwctwx
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=philippines
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1888498/posts
“Former Philippine Communist leader arrested”
Radio Netherlands ^ | August 29 2007
Posted on 08/29/2007 2:52:33 PM PDT by knighthawk
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Jose Maria Sison, the former Communist leader in the Philippines, has been arrested in the Netherlands, charged with the murders of two former political associates. 66-year-old Sison has been living in the Netherlands since 1987, and was the founder of the Philippine Communist Party. The party’s military wing, the NPA or New People’s Army, is waging an armed rebellion across the Philippines that has cost 40,000 lives.
The National Public Prosecutor for the Netherlands, John Lucas, explained the reasons for Sison’s arrest.”
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http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=/ForeignBureaus/archive/200708/INT20070829a.html
“Philippines Leftists Outraged by Arrest of Exiled Communist Leader”
By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com International Editor
August 29, 2007
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “(CNSNews.com) - Communist supporters and sympathizers in the Philippines are warning of retaliation following the arrest in the Netherlands of the self-exiled founder of the Philippine Communist Party (CPP), suspected of ordering killings in his home country.
Dutch prosecutors said Jose Maria Sison, 68, was arrested in Utrecht on suspicion of ordering the murders of two former political associates in the Philippines.
The CPP and its military wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), have been fighting for a Marxist state in the predominantly Catholic country for almost four decades, and up to 40,000 people reportedly have been killed in the rebellion. The CPP-NPA is believed to have some 7,000 members.
The Philippines armed forces a year ago uncovered a mass grave carrying the remains of at least 100 victims of the CPP-NPA. They are thought to have been members of the group executed during the 1980s on suspicion of being government agents.
Sison founded the CPP in 1968 and fled to the Netherlands in 1987. He has been refused asylum there but the Dutch authorities have allowed him to stay. He is wanted in the Philippines on murder and rebellion charges.
The U.S. State Department in 2002 designated the CPP and NPA as “foreign terrorist organizations” subject to sanctions. The European Union that same year also blacklisted the two groups.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=hamas
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http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=E730CBC8-D601-45DD-90AA-1E6307C58FA7
“The UK: Hamas Sanctuary”
By David Bedein
FrontPageMagazine.com | 8/30/2007
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=600&sid=1234865
“Army Helicopter Makes Emergency Landing”
August 29, 2007 - 7:57pm
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) - A U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter made an emergency landing near Bristol, but the three occupants were not hurt, authorities said.
The cause of the emergency landing Wednesday in Sullivan County was under investigation, said Lt. Col. Tim Nye with Special Operations Command in Fort Bragg, N.C.”
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/017960.php
(SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE)
August 29, 2007
“Flight delayed overnight because some passengers were speaking Arabic”
blog:
http://hotair.com/archives/2007/08/29/legal-jihad-update-hezbollah-to-sue-israel-for-2006-war/
“Legal Jihad update: Hezbollah to sue Israel for 2006 war”
posted at 8:26 pm on August 29, 2007 by Bryan
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/08/29/iraq.cholera/index.html
updated 1 hour, 22 minutes ago
“U.N. reports cholera outbreak in northern Iraq”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=goosecreek
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UPDATE:
blog:
http://michellemalkin.com/2007/08/30/mystery-at-goose-creek-update-federal-grand-jury-investigates/
SNIPPET: “Remember the accused pipe bomb boys arrested on the road to Goose Creek Naval Weapons Station in South Carolina? Here’s a new update. The Tampa Tribune reports today that a federal grand jury investigating the case has asked for DNA and hair samples from one of the suspects”
More details..
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/329585_store30.html
Last updated August 29, 2007 8:45 p.m. PT
“FBI investigates string of bomb, extortion threats
Caller threatens store workers, demands money”
By ERIC TUCKER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEWPORT, R.I.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=nitricacid
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Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13667&Itemid=128
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RELEASE No. 20070830-07
August 30, 2007
Concerned citizen leads Coalition Forces to large cache of nitric acid
Multi-National Division – Center PAO
NIAM MASHAWN, Iraq — Coalition Forces, acting on a tip from a local concerned citizen, discovered a large cache of nitric acid buried in drums near the town of Niam Mashawn, Aug. 28.
Soldiers of 1st Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), out of Fort Drum, N.Y., received a tip that there was a large quantity of nitric acid near a checkpoint on Route Tampa, a major Iraqi highway. The cache site is located about 15 kilometers west of Baghdad International Airport.
The man who reported the cache helped the Soldiers dig up 411 plastic jugs.
Nitric acid is often used in making fertilizer and homemade explosives, commonly found in improvised explosive devices.
The containers of acid were collected and removed to a secure location.
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Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13666&Itemid=128
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RELEASE No. 20070830-06
August 30, 2007
Dragons found house rigged to explode, caches
Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAO
BAGHDAD — Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldiers found a house rigged to explode during clearing operations in the Rashid District of the Iraqi capital, Aug. 28.
In the early afternoon, Soldiers from Company A, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, attached to the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, responded to a call from Joint Security Station Doura that a house was possibly rigged with explosives.
Terrorists have been known to demolish homes with explosives in order to scare residents into moving.
At the scene, an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team found the basement rigged with two sticks of TNT and detonated them safely.
Earlier that morning, “Black Lions” from Company A, 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 4th IBCT, 1st Inf. Div., found an intact explosively-formed penetrator device, five rocket-propelled grenades, two rocket propelled grenade launchers and an RPK machine gun with 500 rounds.
While cordoning the area off, the troops began taking small-arms fire and killed one insurgent and wounded another as they engaged the enemy.
In the late hours of the previous day, “Tomahawks,” of Company C, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, found a cache consisting of one set of body armor, U.S. Marine fatigues, a Coalition Forces certificate of achievement, an infrared strobe, and various identification cards and passports.
The contraband was taken to a Coalition Forces facility for more investigation.
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http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/pa/pa_1161.html
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
This information is current as of today, Thu Aug 30 2007 03:47:57 GMT-0700.
Worldwide Caution
April 10, 2007
PERSECUTION.ORG
http://www.persecution.org
http://www.truthusa.com/IRAN.html
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Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3443816,00.html
Peres: Trickling of nuclear weapons to terror groups becoming problem
Published: 08.30.07, 12:21 / Israel News
“Iran is a danger to the world’s safety, not just Israel’s,” President Shimon Peres said during a youth leader’s convention Thursday.
“The trickling of nuclear weapons to terror organization is becoming a serious problem. Many of the world leaders I’ve met with understand that a united front must be created in applying severe sanctions against Iran,” the president added. (Ronny Sofer)
Update on that large option purchase...betting against the market...excerpted.
http://www.moneymorning.com/2007/08/29/this-900-million-bet-has-global-traders-talking%e2%80%a6/
This $900 Million Bet Has Global Traders Talking…
By Keith Fitz-Gerald
Contributing Editor
“Insiders trade when they know something. They’re not supposed to, but they do anyway. It’s just a fact of life.
Most of the time, it’s pretty petty-ante stuff, but occasionally a trade comes along that makes even jaded professionals like me sit up and take notice.
Just such a trade surfaced last Wednesday when anonymous parties agreed to buy and sell 120,000 SPY September call options using deep-in the-money strikes ranging from 60 to 95.
If you’re not options savvy, don’t worry. SPY (AMEX: SPY) – also referred to as a “Spider” in trader parlance – is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that mimics the performance of the stock market’s closely watched Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (INX). These strike prices equate to a SPY trading between 600 and 950, or roughly 35.81% to 59.46% below where it was Monday.
Any way you cut it, this is a monster trade because it controls 12,000,000 SPY shares. In fact, at a blended price of $7,500 per option, this works out to a $900 million bet that will play out by Sept. 21, when these options expire.
Why haven’t you heard about this on your favorite cable TV money show, or read about it in the business section of your favorite newspaper? Simple: There are just so many possible explanations for this trade that your head would spin. The chances are good that the current lot of reporters just aren’t able to make heads nor tails out of this deal; and with nobody talking, there are simply no warm bodies to interview.
But that hasn’t stopped the professionals in the trading community from trying to figure it all out. In fact, since the trade first came to light about a week ago, the professional trading community I’m a part of has been abuzz with conjecture. That alone makes this a highly unusual trade because – like any small, professional community – we can usually figure out who’s doing what to whom and why – without even having to rely on more than one or two educated guesses. We just know.
But this time around, nobody’s talking.
Naturally, this silence has put the conspiracy theorists on edge and set the blogosphere aflame. Most of the theories are outrageous, but there are a couple that – quite frankly – aren’t so farfetched and even make some sense. But I have to stress, once again, that nobody who’s actually a party to either end of this transaction has been identified or is talking, which makes this all the more noteworthy – and maybe even a little spooky.
So absent the “who,” let’s take a moment and see if we can’t focus on, and figure out, the “why.”
Pushing aside anything that has to do with UFOs, the “third gunman” on the grassy knoll, the Philadelphia Experiment, or the Soviet K-129 submarine’s failed nuclear strike on Pearl Harbor, my experience as a longtime global-capital-markets trader tells me that there are actually some very real and very rational possibilities amidst the wild hypotheses circulating on the Internet. But, they’re just that – possibilities. And even with my admittedly conservative analysis, the scenarios I provide here could be wrong … either completely, or in part. Conversely, there may be an element of truth to one or more of these.
So let’s take a look at several of the possible scenarios that I’ve crafted for you.”
...
“The Dark Possibility: The fourth and final possibility I see out there is considerably more ominous. In essence, this trade potentially suggests that a very large player has effectively sold his or her SPY holdings for cash, without pressuring the market downward. If this is true, whoever placed this trade is essentially betting that the SPY – and, by extension, the broader market – will lose anywhere from 35% to 55% of its value in the next three weeks. Now – and I stress this – the “why” here is moot to even discuss; we have no idea what their thinking or motivations might be. What is important to understand here is that if this scenario is correct, whoever sold out did so to maximize the value of their SPY holdings, while at the same time avoiding the potential loss in value that such a large block transaction would inevitably cause under normal market operations.”
“Instead, I urge you to focus on the facts that we know, which is that somebody traded some very large blocks of options at some very unusual price points a mere three weeks prior to expiration. This means that at least one-half of the traders involved expect something big to happen, and pronto, while the other half hopes that nothing will happen – and feels confident enough to believe that they’re correct”.
“Interestingly, since I’ve been investigating this admittedly fascinating topic and talking about it at length with my network of professional trading colleagues, there’s been continued trading in the September 60, 65 and 70 strikes, which have added another 6,000 lots of open interest between them in the last few days.”...
Thanks, Mil. This one really has my “spidey senses” tingling.
You’re welcome.
“This one really has my “spidey senses” tingling.’
Me too...especially since the “bet” has been raised....
Outstanding links in Holy Land Foundation (HLF) trial. Thank you Cindy!
placemark
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/30/africa/ME-GEN-Iraq-Iran.php
Iraq calls Iran to stop shelling border areas, warns it will affect relations
The Associated Press
Thursday, August 30, 2007 (excerpted)
. . . Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari made his comments amid reports from northern Iraq that villagers in border areas in the provinces of Sulaimaniyah and Irbil have been fleeing their homes as a result of Iranian shelling.
Iranian shelling “has been ongoing and unfortunately has become a daily or a routine practice. Recently, we summoned the Iranian ambassador and handed him a note of protest,” Zebari said in English.
He added that the Iraqi government “demanded an immediate cessation of these attacks on innocent people because it has led to extensive damage to the property, to the environment of the area and it also has led many people to leave their homes because of the continuation of the shelling.” . . .
“PEJAK sometimes moves in border area but this does not permit all this continuous, daily and intensive shelling,” Zebari said. “On behalf of the Iraqi government, we call on the Iranian government to stop shelling because it will impact bilateral relations. Also we are willing, we are ready to discuss all the issues that concern the Iranian side through direct negotiations and peaceful means. We hope that these attacks will stop immediately.”
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=120792
Iran receives Iraq warning over shelling of the north
Iraq’s government has demanded that Iran stop shelling predominantly Kurdish-populated areas inside Iraq’s northeastern border, warning that relations would be hurt, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said late on Tuesday.
Iraqi Kurdish officials have complained about cross-border shelling from neighboring Iran since the middle of the month.
Cross-border fighting occasionally occurs as Iraq’s neighbors, Turkey and Iran, combat the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the anti-Iranian Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK), linked to the PKK, operating from bases in Iraq’s mountainous and remote north and northeastern regions.
“Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Moham-med al-Haj Hamoud summoned the Iranian ambassador on Tuesday to protest the shelling,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “The deputy foreign minister demanded the Iranian side immediately cease these attacks,” the statement said. “The affair would affect negatively the good neighborly relationship between the two countries,” it added.
The government in Iraq’s largely autonomous Kurdish region said on Tuesday that 450 families from 20 villages along the border had been evacuated due to the shelling.
“Meanwhile, the regional government in northern Iraq was prepared to send a letter condemning Turkey to Baghdad, to be passed on to the Turkish government,” private CNN-Türk said Wednesday.
However, Turkish Foreign Ministry officials contacted by Today’s Zaman said there was no such document received by Ankara as of Wednesday afternoon. There has been no official comment from Tehran about the shelling.
Over the weekend, Iraq’s beleaguered Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki took a swipe at the governments of Turkey and Iran, both countries he has visited recently, and challenged their recent artillery bombardments inside Iraq in the Kurdish-dominated northern region where PKK and PJAK terrorists have found refuge. “The bombardments by Iran and Turkey are violations of Iraq’s sovereignty. We will not allow these violations, but this must come through diplomatic channels. We will inform our brothers in Turkey and Iran about that through the Foreign Ministry,” al-Maliki said at a news conference held in Baghdad.
Maliki’s remarks came after Turkey’s former foreign minister, now President Abdullah Gül, voiced support for a possible cross-border operation by neighboring Iran into Iraq to fight PJAK there last week, asserting countries have the right to defend their borders. Also Wednesday, the regional Kurdish parliament in northern Iraq held an emergency meeting led by Parliament Speaker Adnan Mufti and called on both Iran and Turkey to resolve the existing problems through dialogue instead of launching bombardments on the Iraqi soil.
30.08.2007
News
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1654449,00.html
Monday, Aug. 20, 2007
Why is Iran Shelling Iraq?
By Andrew Lee Butters (excerpted)
By the grisly standards of war-torn Iraq, fighting yesterday in the mountains in the northern part of the country was a mild affair. Iranian artillery shelled villages in the Qandil mountains that are home to various Kurdish militant groups, one of which — the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PEJAK) — is waging a guerilla insurgency against the Iranian government. Though hundreds of villagers fled their homes and two women were wounded, such cross-border violence is becoming a regular feature of life in the north. But yesterday’s attack could also be a prelude to a larger struggle.
Iraqi Kurdish media are reporting that the Iranian military is massing at the main border crossing into northern Iraq, possibly for an incursion against PEJAK. Clashes between PEJAK and the Iranians have been increasing steadily, and Iraqi Kurdish officials say that about 40 Iranian soldiers were killed on Saturday.
Whether or not the Iranians attack, the timing of the buildup is ominous. . .
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