World Terrorism: News, History and Research Of A Changing World #7 Security Watch

'Surge' in hijacked PC networks
The number of computers hijacked by malicious hackers to send out spam and viruses has grown almost 30% in the last year, according to a survey.

More than six million computers world wide are now part of a "bot network", reported security firm Symantec.

Computer users typically do not know that their PC has been hijacked.

More than a third of all computer attacks in the second half of 2006 originated from PCs in the United States, the threat report said.

While the total number of bot-net PCs rose, the number of servers controlling them dropped by about 25% to 4,700, the twice-yearly report said.

WHAT IS A BOTNET?
A large number of hijacked computers under the remote control of a single person via net-based command and control system.

Symantec researchers said the decrease showed that bot network owners were consolidating to expand their networks, creating a more centralised structure for launching attacks.

Ollie Whitehouse, senior consulting services director at Symantec, said: "This rise in the number of infected computers can certainly be attributed to the rise in the online population of countries like China and Spain, in Europe.

"There is almost an educational curve that the users and service providers have to go through. Unfortunately when certain countries go through rapid increases in connectivity and availability of technology that curve is not always kept up.

Alfred Huger, vice president of Symantec Security Response, said online criminals appeared to be adopting more sophisticated means of "self-policing".

He added: "They're launching denial-of-service attacks on rivals' servers and posting pictures online of competitors' faces.

"It's ruthless, highly organised and highly evolved."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/6465833.stm

Published: 2007/03/19 09:56:51 GMT

© BBC MMVII

Czech village 'vetoes' US shield
The residents of a village in the Czech Republic have voted overwhelmingly to reject a radar station that would form part of the US missile defence shield.

Only one of the residents voted yes, while 71 of the 90 eligible voters were opposed, said the mayor of Trokavec, 70km (44 miles) from Prague.

Villagers fear the area will become a military target. The vote was largely symbolic and has no legal power.

The US plans the shield to prevent long-range missile attacks.

The programme has bases in the US, Britain and Greenland, and Washington wants more in Poland and the Czech Republic to complete the coverage.

The Czech government is in favour of the plan but needs the approval of parliament, where it has no majority.

Peace sign

Trokavec, which is less than 2km (1.25 miles) from the planned radar base, also fears the area may be affected by radiation.

Mayor Jan Neoral told AFP news agency: "This is our message to the government and the government should take notice of the fact that our village wishes [the radar site] not to happen."

He said more villages would hold symbolic referendums.

The BBC's Rob Cameron in Prague says the capital held a rally of several hundred peace activists.

They marched through the city centre and campaigners carrying burning torches formed a peace sign in the old town square, he said.

Jan Tamas, spokesman of the No To Bases group, told him: "If we want to have security, then we need to begin disarming not creating new weapons."

However, a spokesman for a group backing the shield, Vaclav Marhoul, rejected claims that the plan would make the Czech Republic a military target.

"We believe that the EU or European civilisation couldn't save ourselves without the United States," he said.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/6463463.stm

Published: 2007/03/18 02:11:21 GMT

© BBC MMVII

Chavez issues warning to allies
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has told his political allies to join him in a single socialist party, or leave his government.

Mr Chavez wants to create the United Socialist Party as an umbrella group for dozens of groups that back him.

Three of the parties - Fatherland for All, the Communist Party and Podemos - have so far resisted the idea.

The three parties have seats in the pro-Chavez assembly and Podemos has some governorships.

"If you want to go, leave. In reality you are not indispensable," Mr Chavez said during his television programme Hello, President.

He added that he considered the three parties to be "almost in opposition".

"I don't want allies like that."

The three have not entirely dismissed the idea of forming a single party, but have said they would like a debate about its structure.

Mr Chavez - who won a landslide victory in the December elections - has pledged to turn Venezuela into a socialist state.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/6465769.stm

Published: 2007/03/19 11:20:09 GMT

© BBC MMVII

L America migrant money tops aid
By Duncan Kennedy
BBC News, Mexico City

The amount of money sent home by Latin American migrant workers to their families has reached more than $62bn.

This figure now exceeds the combined total of all direct foreign investment and foreign aid to Latin America.

According to the Inter-American Investment Bank, the figure could reach $100bn in four years' time.

The biggest share of money, $23bn, was sent back to Mexico, mostly from workers living in the United States remitting small sums each month.

Foreign remittances now rank along with oil and tourism as Mexico's biggest foreign currency earner.

The Inter-American Development Bank, which supports the region with aid and other help, says the remittances will increase by about 15% a year during the next four years.

The bank describes the money as a very effective poverty reduction programme because it keeps between 8m and 10m families above the poverty line.

But it says it also means the economies of the region are not generating enough jobs to keep workers from leaving in the first place.

Another problem is that much of the money is sent back in small amounts and so it is difficult to track.

The average is between $100 and $150 a month.

That in turn makes it an unpredictable source of revenue for governments to tap into.

The bank says it wants people to get away from what it calls cash to cash flows and into account to account transfers but the bank says the recent crackdown on illegal immigrants by the US authorities could hinder efforts to get migrants to use banks.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/6465297.stm

Published: 2007/03/19 03:15:15 GMT

© BBC MMVII

Child gang steals from pensioner
Police are hunting a gang of thieves as young as four who stole a purse from a 79-year-old woman in north Devon.

Two boys aged seven to eight, and a girl aged four to five, told the woman they were collecting for charity.

They entered her house in Victoria Street, Barnstaple, and played with her dog before running off with her purse containing cash and cards.

The victim, who did not want to be named, said that she was now unable to trust anyone.

I thought they were so young there isn't much they can do
Robbery victim
She told BBC News: "I gave them 50p just to give them the benefit of the doubt and off they went.

"It wasn't until later that I noticed my purse was gone.

"I was not going to report it to the police, but then I thought it might happen to someone else."

She added: "I can't trust anyone now. I'm very unnerved.

"I thought they were so young there isn't much they can do."

Police have appealed for witnesses to the incident, which happened between 1500 and 1600 GMT on Monday 12 March.

Pc Tom Hutton of Barnstaple Police said: "This is a truly shocking theft by such a young group of people.

"The victim is extremely distressed and we are confident that someone in the community will know who is behind this."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/devon/6465537.stm

Published: 2007/03/19 14:08:49 GMT

© BBC MMVII

Woman stabbed by seven-year-old
A woman has been treated for multiple stab wounds after she was attacked by a seven-year-old boy.

The woman, who is in her early 20s, was at a neighbour's home in Norris Green, Liverpool, when they began arguing.

The neighbour's son is believed to have grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed the woman in the buttock, leg and arm.

The injured woman remains in hospital for treatment for serious but not life-threatening injuries. The boy was not arrested.

The incident happened at about 2015 GMT on Thursday.

The investigation is ongoing, and we will be working with other appropriate agencies
Merseyside Police spokeswoman

A neighbour said she believed the little boy had acted to protect his mother.

She said: "He plays outside a lot and he's had my flowers up before, but he's not a bad lad or a wild child.

"He's a nice little lad but I think last night he's seen the red mist and tried to protect his mum."

A spokeswoman for Merseyside Police said: "It is believed the incident took place during a disturbance between neighbours.

"A child was spoken to but not arrested.

"The investigation is ongoing, and we will be working with other appropriate agencies."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/merseyside/6457937.stm

Published: 2007/03/16 11:22:42 GMT

© BBC MMVII

Falklands warning note discovered
A note demanding Argentina remove its flag from the UK territory of South Georgia - ahead of the Falklands conflict - is to go on public display.

The message - from the then Governor of the Falklands Rex Hunt - was radioed to members of the British Antarctic Survey to pass to the Argentines.

The Argentine military landed on the island, 800 miles from the Falklands, on 19 March 1982.

The National Army Museum will display the note in a Falklands exhibition.

The written version of the transmission was scribbled down by British Antarctic Survey plumber Neil Shaw on 20 March, after he and colleagues spotted the Argentine flag being flown by a party claiming to be scrap-metal workers.

Mr Shaw - who recently found the note while clearing out at home - wrote in his diary that they had taken the note to the Argentine ship, where it was read out to the captain.

No military personnel are allowed to land in South Georgia, no firearms are to be taken ashore
Message from Governor Rex Hunt

The captain said they had clearance to come ashore from the Argentine government.

Mr Shaw has loaned it to the museum for its Task Force Falklands exhibition, which begins on April 2, the 25th anniversary of the Argentine invasion of the islands.

The 0530 message from Mr Hunt said:

"SAT. MARCH 20th 1982. FROM THE GOVENOR [sic] OF THE FALKLAND ISLANDS. You have landed illegally at LEITH without obtaining proper clearance.

"You and your party must go back on board [their ship] the BAHIA BUEN SUCESO immediately and report to the BASE COMMANDER AT GRYTIVKEN for further instructions.

"You must remove the Argentine flag from Leith. You MUST NOT interfere with the BAS [British Antarctic Survey] depot at Leith.

"No military personnell [sic] are allowed to land in SOUTH GEORGIA. NO FIREARMS are to be taken ashore."

The note signals that it was already clear to the British government that Argentina's claim to the sovereignty of the islands posed a real threat.

Dr Alastair Massie, head of archives at the National Army Museum, said: "There are some documents which, almost by accident, survive down the years and evoke a response from later generations because of the momentous events with which they are associated.

"This note, the British response to Argentine aggression, marked the countdown to the Falklands conflict and perhaps the least expected war in history."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/6467001.stm

Published: 2007/03/19 14:27:27 GMT

© BBC MMVII

Army to examine helicopter crash
The military is to carry out an investigation into why an army helicopter crashed in south Armagh.

It happened in Crossmaglen just before 1800 GMT on Sunday at Foxfield Road, near an army base and a housing estate.

Four police officers and two military personnel were taken to hospital. Three were later released after treatment. One is being treated for a back injury.

The cause of the accident is not yet clear, but police said there was no indication of any terrorist link.

It is understood at least one of the casualties was airlifted to Craigavon Area Hospital while others were taken to Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry.

As well as the person being treated for a serious back injury, two soldiers also remain in hospital.

Eyewitnesses said the Lynx helicopter clipped a fence near the Lismore housing estate before crashing in the field.

Vincent McParland and his wife watched the crash from their kitchen.

"We heard it coming and looked out, it was coming in brave and hard and low, next thing it swooped round and we saw it going round twice and went over on its side - next thing it hit the ground," he said.

The police said that ambulance crews removing the casualties from the scene came under attack by local youths throwing stones, fireworks and snowballs.

Similar attacks were made on police officers on the ground. There are no reports of any casualties.

DUP assembly member Ian Paisley Jnr said missile attacks on rescue workers were totally unacceptable.

"What really concerns me is the complete lack of political leadership on the ground in Crossmaglen from republican leaders telling people that this sort of behaviour is just not acceptable and it must stop," he said.

"We need to see that leadership and we need to see it fast."

But Conor Murphy, the Sinn Fein MP for the area, said he personally got the youths to stop.

"I saw kids throwing snowballs, we asked them to disperse and the vast majority of them did disperse and that was the end of it," he said.

"There's no pleasure taken from the fact that British army or police personnel were injured in this, but what people want them to do is stop the helicopter flights and for the British army to complete their withdrawal from this area."

SDLP assembly member Dominic Bradley said he had expressed concerns in the past about helicopter flights in the area.

"These flights pose a threat to the safety of local people as well as to police personnel," he said.

Last month, the Army guard post at Crossmaglen police station was removed as part of the government's plans to scale down the military presence in Northern Ireland.

The site has been transformed for use solely as a police station.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/6465423.stm

Published: 2007/03/19 12:51:20 GMT

© BBC MMVII

Meet the forgotten terrorist

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,21396362-952,00.html

Meet the forgotten terrorist
March 16, 2007 11:00pm

In a hellish gulag in a remote region that was the heartland of
Stalin's
labour camps, Australia's forgotten terrorist rots.

Noorpolat Abdulla, 36, faces nine more years locked away in deepest
Kazakhstan on terrorism charges his supporters say are highly
questionable.

He has never met his youngest son, who was born after he was shut away
following a secret trial.

Australia's honorary consul in Kazakhstan endures a six-hour journey to
visit Abdulla every six months to deliver rations of sugar, nuts and
chocolate.

"He seems to be Australia's forgotten terrorist," consul Steve Kappelle
says. "David Hicks gets so much attention for being locked up in
Guantanamo Bay, but nobody really knows about Noorpolat."

Abdulla became an Australian citizen in 1986.

He attended the same Adelaide mosque as David Hicks.

"The last time he saw me, he asked: 'Have you got any news from
David?'," Kappelle says.

The Karaganda jail where Abdulla is held is where Nobel prize-winning
novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote One Day in the Life of Ivan
Denisovich, which brought the Soviet prisons' labour system to the
world's attention.

The last time Mr Kappelle visited, he vowed to get Abdulla moved.

"It's crap where he is," he says.

Mr Kappelle said Kazakhstan, in central Asia, took a hard line on
terror
suspects.

"I've made initial inquiries to try and get him shifted but it will be
hard. If he was a murderer or a rapist, we might be able to get
something done for him. But they take a particularly hard line on
terrorists."

Abdulla was sentenced a month after the September 11 attacks on New
York. He was rounded up with dozens of other suspects for his links
with
a Uighur group accused of murdering two police officers. Uighurs are an
oppressed separatist movement, but Kazakhstan authorities claim they
are
connected to Al-Qaeda. The Karaganda region is home to the world's
largest steel plant - and also has the highest AIDS rate in Kazakhstan.

The planes Mr Kappelle takes for his visits to the prison are so old,
he
says he could undo the fuselage with a pocket knife.

About 1000 prisoners room together in giant dormitories. Abdulla is
allowed a few phone calls and visits each year.

Kazakhstan's prisons are renowned for high levels of organised crime,
and prisoners frequently make violent protests - such as slashing open
their stomachs en masse - to protest the harsh conditions.

Italy pays Tunisian immigrant for faulty terror arrest

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/18/news/italy.php

Italy pays Tunisian immigrant for faulty terror arrest
Published: March 18, 2007

ROME: Less than six months after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the
Italian police arrested 15 immigrants in connection with a murky plot
to
attack the U.S. Embassy in Rome chemical agents. Two years later the
case collapsed in court.

But now one of the 15 has been awarded â‚¬100,000, or about $133,000 at
current exchange rates, for wrongful detention. He is the first person
to be compensated for being falsely arrested under an anti-terrorism
law
that was introduced soon after the attacks.

An appeals court in Rome awarded the payment in February to the
immigrant, Abdelmoname Ben Khalifa Mansour, a Tunisian who was arrested
here in March 2002 on charges of belonging to a group with links to Al
Qaeda.

Mansour, now 37, spent a year and a half in jail before being
exonerated.

The ruling, which was not widely reported, has encouraged other
terrorism suspects who say they have been wrongfully detained and has
been seized on by critics as evidence that the government's
anti-terrorism campaign has been overzealous and ineffective.

For Mansour, the arrest confirmed his darker impressions of Italy. Soon
after his arrival in 1990, he was hit by a car and permanently
disabled;
he cannot stand straight and his body trembles.

"I'm sick and tired," he said in an interview. "I came to Italy because
I'd wanted to change my life, marry, have children, do nice things. I
guess it wasn't to be."

Other former suspects are also likely to seek damages, said Carlo
Corbucci, who is a lawyer for Mansour and three Egyptian citizens
living
in Anzio who were wrongfully held for nearly 19 months on terrorism
charges in a separate case and who now want money from the government.
Lawyers for other defendants say they also plan to sue.

In an interview in November, Interior Minister Giuliano Amato said the
police had guaranteed "Italy's protection from jihadist forces."

"We've worked well to stem possible attacks," he said.

Mansour was arrested in the early hours of March 1, 2002, in a
makeshift
mosque where he worked as the caretaker, near the Termini train station
in Rome. The prosecution's case brought together three separate
investigations; in all, nine Moroccans and six other immigrants were
arrested and charged with trying to attack the embassy, possibly by
releasing a poisonous chemical in the water supply. The trial opened in
May 2003. In April 2004, all of the defendants were acquitted.

Bianca Stancanelli, a well-known journalist, wrote "Fifteen Innocent
Terrorists," a book on the investigation published last year.

"You have to look at the investigation as something that was meant to
solidify the axis between Bush and Berlusconi, showing America that we
were faithful allies and ready to protect everyone from everything,"
she
said in a telephone interview, referring to Silvio Berlusconi, who was
prime minister then.

The evidence centered on a mysterious red substance found hidden in a
locked cabinet, maps of Rome with the U.S. Embassy and the British
Embassy marked in red, a hole chipped out of a utility tunnel
underneath
the U.S. Embassy and hours of wiretaps.

The red substance, described by newspapers as a cyanide compound, was
potassium ferricyanide, a readily available substance used in
photography.

The maps had been marked to indicate the site of a restaurant in the
embassy district. The hole was too small for a normal-sized person to
crawl through. The wiretapped conversations, examined by experts, were
mostly indecipherable.

Since Italy's campaign against terrorism began, there have been many
high- profile sweeps and hundreds of arrests but few convictions.

In its annual report on crime issued in August, the Interior Ministry
said that in the previous 12 months, more than 21,000 possible targets
were investigated, nearly 83,000 people were stopped and identified and
618 were arrested. Expulsion procedures were initiated against 2,000
foreigners, of whom 55 were expelled.

According to statistics provided by the prosecutor's office in Milan,
there have been about 80 convictions in Italy related to international
terrorism since the anti-terrorism law was passed in December 2001. In
many cases, the charges have been minor ones.

Is Turkey moving away from the West?

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/yazarDetay.do?haberno=105839

Is Turkey moving away from the West?

Problems in Turkey's relations with both the EU and the US have
prompted
the question, is Turkey moving away from the West? Some ask the
Americans or the Europeans, "Who lost Turkey?" Others ask the Turks,
"Who lost the West?"
There is no doubt that policies pursued by the EU and the US have
alienated the majority of Turks from the West. The sharply declining
support for EU membership and the dismal state of America's image with
the Turkish public are clear indications of this.

But does the Turkish public's strong reaction to EU and US policies
support claims that Turkey is moving away from the West toward the
Muslim world under the "Islamist" Justice and Development Party
government? Does the "Nationalist upsurge" in Turkey mean that the
country is turning its back on the West and becoming another Middle
Eastern country? I do not agree one bit with such claims.

Problems in Turkey's relations with the US or the EU are nothing new.
Three important crises erupted between Turkey and the US during the
years of the Cold War when Turkey was almost unconditionally allied
with
the West. In 1962 Washington, without consultation with Ankara, made a
deal with Moscow to withdraw Jupiter nuclear missiles from Turkey in
return for the withdrawal of Russian missiles from Cuba. This deal
severely damaged Ankara's trust in the US. In 1964, during the crisis
in
Cyprus, President Johnson sent a letter warning Ankara that American
military hardware was not to be used in a Cyprus operation and, more
importantly, a Turkish military intervention on the island might in
turn
provoke Soviet involvement, in the event of which Ankara should not
automatically expect a NATO response. This letter was to lead Ankara to
seek a more multi-dimensional foreign policy and to the warming of
relations with Moscow. This was also when Prime Minister Ismet Inonu
declared, "A new world can arise and Turkey can find its place in it."
In 1974 when Turkey did intervene militarily in Cyprus, the US Congress
imposed a direct arms sales embargo on Turkey, which once again made
Ankara realize that it could not always rely on her superpower ally.

When the US decided to invade Iraq, despite warnings from Ankara to the
contrary the Turkish parliament decided not to cooperate. This
decision,
a sign of the maturity of Turkish democracy, was a great disappointment
to Neocon and Pentagon circles. Despite friction and tension since the
invasion of Iraq, neither Ankara nor Washington has devalued bilateral
relations. The two sides still consider themselves as "strategic
partners." It is highly likely that current problems in bilateral
relations will prove temporary like earlier ones. This is because what
unites Turkey and the US in the long run weighs far more heavily than
what currently separates them.

There have been many downs in Turkey's relations with the EU too. The
separatist terrorist organization the PKK was, for many years, regarded
almost as a "Kurdish liberation movement" in many EU member states. In
1997 Turkey was excluded from the list of candidates for membership
despite having entered the customs union with the EU just two years
earlier. In 1999 EU member states refused to arrest and hand over to
Turkey the PKK leader who was traveling around in Europe. The
parliaments of a number of EU member states adopted "Armenian genocide"
resolutions. In 2004 some member states put forward the offer of
"privileged partnership" instead of full membership for Turkey. In 2006
the EU decided to suspend accession negotiations with Turkey in eight
of
35 chapters of the EU Acquis. All these events have negatively affected
Turkey-EU relations, but there was no "train wreck" and Turkey's
accession process is on track.

The current problems in Turkey-EU relations are also likely to prove
temporary as previous ones. This is because the relationship is based
on
mutual interests. Current problems are due partly to the enlargement
fatigue the EU is facing and partly to a serious crisis of leadership
in
Europe. That European politicians who do not care about the EU's
credibility and do not understand the importance of the EU accession
process for the consolidation of democracy and modernization of the
economy in Turkey have appeared on the scene is certainly one
indication
of the current leadership crisis Europe is experiencing. If not pushed
to it by the West, Turkey's moving away from the West is a negligible
prospect. The reasons for this are the topic of another column.
19.03.2007

In a hellish gulag in a remote region that was the heartland of Stalin's labour camps... The Karaganda jail where Abdulla is held is where Nobel prize-winning novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich... The Karaganda region is home to the world's largest steel plant - and also has the highest AIDS rate in Kazakhstan.

I resent their comments on Karaganda, but I wish they had mentioned the HIV rate BEFORE I went :-O

Here's an article about the prison that Mr. Abdullah finds himself in (from the Karaganda paper "Noviy Vestnik" (New Herald), link removed:

...In Karabas, in the men's 'zone' to where our brigade headed right after Koksu, everything was different. At the entrance to AK 159/18, our eyes met a high, concrete barrier, crowned by large spirals with iron thorns. In contrast to the female penal colony, every building here is secured with iron bars and chicken-wire. Between these sets of metal-work there are narrow asphalted paths. One has the feeling that they are in some kind of a zoo. Only there are only no animals in the cages here, but people, all dressed the same in black.

The prison workers prepared for the journalists' visit much earlier. All the prisoners were sent to their barracks, and from the windows and balconies heads would pop out and shout something similar to greetings as we passed by. Sometimes something indecent, or they whistled and clucked their tongues.

We were first conducted to the dining room, then to the assembly hall. On the stage of this hangar-like building, a local vocal and instrumental ensemble was playing. From roaring speakers poured a lyrically composition about how a 'zehk' (criminal jargon: prisoner) will soon be released and return home to beg forgiveness of his mother for his sins. After listening to another three songs from this 'blatnoy' (criminal jargon: underworld) repertoire, we continued our excursion to the infirmary. The prison patients greeted us politely and settled onto their beds, allowing the cameraman to film them.

Under the letters Barmysyn bauyrym?*, we met with the prisoners on the sport grounds, through the center of which a volleyball net was stretched. Five men briefly told the Khabar TV crew about those whom they wished to find: father, daughter, mother. And they filled out forms that the television people held out to them. Only one, however, agreed to an in-depth interview.

In 1998, twenty-three year old Ruslan Kuriyev of Osakarovka beat someone badly. Back then he was charged under article 103 part 3, 'Causing grievous bodily harm'. "But I got scared, so I decided to go to Chechnya," Ruslan shyly smiles. "My mom lives there in Daragorsk village. In 2002, I went see my brother in Lipetsk, but while there the Russian police detained me and sent me on prison transport back to Kazakhstan. I tried to tell my brother about it, but I'm not sure that he got my message. It's possible that mom still doesn't know where I'm at and what happened. So here I decided to write a letter for the show."

At the end we looked in on one of the cellblocks. A broad-shouldered fellow with a black rosary in his hands met us.

"You couldn't make up on one of the bunks, could you?" a lady journalist asked him. "We need some pictures."

"Right away," the fellow turned and called to someone in an adjacent room. Within a minute, several men had turned the barracks into a hive of activity. Someone was making the bunks, someone was washing the floor, someone else was reading a letter from home. The prisoner with the rosary, very pleased with himself, watched them all from the threshold.

The men's barracks was very different from the women's. The rooms were much smaller. The order was somewhat ideal, but there was something missing, just like in a bachelor's apartment.

And the prisoners' faces. They were looking at us, as if we had arrived from another planet.

"Oh, you haven't seen the HIV patients yet. You go to them, and you'll want to run out of there as fast as you can. The appearance of a woman for them, it's like a holiday," the head of the UKUIS education department said to us later...

Barmysyn bauyrym? = "Brother, where are you?" (Kazakhstani language)

I wonder if their desire to play "lock up the criminal" has a genetic basis.<<<

I would say yes.

Before WW2, we played "Cowboys and Indians", then added war games during the war.......funny, all I can remember is airplanes.

I have 2 brothers younger than me, then 2 sisters after them, so I played, what they did. LOL, untill it came to dolls, I never owned one until I was about 40.

You play what you know and see, so they would play in the cells. I would imagine the elders still talk about the prison and it is well planted in their minds.

It would be interesting to follow the local youths, will they grow up as good people so they will never be locked away? or inmates.

About the clothing, along with the dreary colors, you will notice the women's hemlines change with the money supply.

When times are hard, they wear the long skirts and no skin shows, but during the good times, they almost do not cover the bare skin and mini skirts are in.

In the 1940's, material was rationed [as I recall] or in short supply, the women were working and had money in hand and skirts were short.

During the 30's they wore long skirts and in the 50's, when the men came home and took over all the jobs, the skirts were long again.

Your always hear about the 'Ballerina' skirt of the 1950's, it was long and as I recall, takes 5 yards of material to make it.

Of course today, when the clothing we buy has no style, it may throw out all the old traditions.

I am so glad that in my clothing heyday, we wore styled dresses that made us look like a woman.

In the party photo, who is the man on the left? Does he have a story? He looks interesting.

March 19, 2007 PM Anti-Terrorism News

(Yemen) Al-Qaeda operative confesses to USS Cole bombing
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070319/wl_mideast_afp/usattacksguantanamo_070319154428;_ylt=ApKDgFLRT0VOxOF6XLUTzF0wuecA

(Afghanistan) Hostage Trade: Taliban Officials Released in Exchange for
Italian Journalist
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/03/hostage_trade_t.html

(Afghanistan) Italian journalist tells of Afghan hostage ordeal - Bound
by hands & feet & feared execution
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070319/ts_afp/afghanistanunrestitaly;_ylt=AowLK_.dPrx9BWcSQtyM2QCs0NUE

(Afghanistan) Kidnapped Reporter Saw Decapitation
http://ap.washingtontimes.com/dynamic/stories/A/AFGHANISTAN_KIDNAPPED_REPORTER?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME

Update: (Afghanistan) 1 dies in attack on U.S. convoy in Kabul - Afghan
teen dead, 5 U.S. personnel wounded - AP reporter witnesses Afghan bomb
attack
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070319/ts_nm/afghan_blast_dc_7;_ylt=AgDa5qdcQeuHEcnWe8it2kDOVooA
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070319/ap_on_re_as/afghan_us_convoy_hit;_ylt=AneRBlPyu3k07IlqYJY_5y.s0NUE

Al Qaeda Uzbeks, Pakistani tribesmen clash; 10 hurt
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070319/india_nm/india291561_1;_ylt=AlxzXTsOGQg2alkrdMVQgmwwuecA

Iraqi Government Plans to Hang Saddam Deputy at Dawn - Taha Yassin
Ramadan was Saddam's VP when ousted by U.S. in 2003
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,259725,00.html

Hamas leader urges Arab leaders to back Palestinian gov't
http://www.kuna.net.kw/home/Story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=963153

Hamas Militants Take Credit for Sniper Attack
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/world/middleeast/19cnd-mideast.html

Update: Hamas shoots Israeli despite truce - and firing two mortar
bombs at soldiers
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2962740

Israel to hold nationwide drill simulating massive terror attacks
http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Security/10962.htm

Warships fight silent war against terror threat on high seas
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/19/africa/AF-FEA-GEN-East-Africa-Terrorism.php

(Somalia) Heavy mortar fire rocks Somali port as AU tanks arrive
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070319/wl_afp/somaliaunrest_070319205150;_ylt=Ag3SmOBKftAyWWF0ZmsyI5aQLIUD

(Iran) S. Africa asks delay on Iran sanctions
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/un_iran_nuclear;_ylt=AtfEHSDK1l7elnU3VBCQEK1Sw60A

(Spain) Unexploded device found after Madrid train bombings described
as similar to those used by Middle Eastern terrorists
http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_9493.shtml

(UK) Jury out again in fertilizer bomb plot trial
http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/generalnews/display.var.1269558.0.jury_out_again_in_fertiliser_bomb_plot_trial.php

(UK July 21 Bomb Trial) Failed London Bomb Plot Suspect Says Fake
Devices Part of Iraq War Protest
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,259741,00.html

Italy pays damages to Tunisian wrongly held as terrorism suspect
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/19/news/italy.php

Islamist Website Instructs Mujahideen in Using Popular U.S. Web Forums
to Foster Anti-War Sentiment among Americans - MEMRI transcripts
http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SD150807

Egypt nabs Palestinian terror suspect
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1173879121986&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Egypt nabs suspected suicide bomber -sources
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=L19620066

Honor My Mother (commentary) - Daughter of 9-11 victim reminds that
families due same respect as all victims of crime
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2007/03/19/2007-03-19_honor_my_mother.html

Mr. Register goes to Washington - Joel Mowbray's update to "Television
Takeover: Taxpayer-financed Al-Hurra is becoming a platform for
terrorists"
http://powerlineblog.com/archives/017056.php
http://counterterrorismblog.org/newslinks/upload/2007/03/WSJTelevisionTakeover031207.doc

(Columbia) Chiquita pleads guilty in terror probe - Guilty to doing
business with terrorist organization in plea deal - DOJ press release
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070319/ap_on_bi_ge/terrorism_bananas_8
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20070319/pl_usnw/chiquita_brands_international_pleads_guilty_to_making_payments_to_a_designated_terrorist_organization_and_agrees_to_pay25_milli

(California) Lawmakers push "terror-free" investing - California state
lawmakers want bans on state investments tied to Iran
http://www.pbn.com/stories/24002.html

(Australia) Islamic group 'a threat' - Hizb ut-Tahrir a potential
threat
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21404884-601,00.html

(Sri Lanka) Tigers sold Norwegian passports to al-Qaeda
http://www.dailynews.lk/2007/03/20/sec01.asp

Analysis: The Chlorine Gas Attacks in Iraq and the Specter of Suicide
Attacks with CBRN Weapons
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/03/the_chlorine_gas_attacks_in_ir.php

Other News:

JihadWatch: Saudi embassy in Australia accused of paying imams'
salaries
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/015715.php
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,21403909-2,00.html?from=public_rss

Sudan: No return for Sudan's forgotten slaves
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6455365.stm

Muslims Forcing Christian Assyrians in Baghdad Neighborhood to Pay
Jizya
http://www.aina.org/news/20070318132901.htm

Transatlantic Giant Jet Lands in USA NYC Airport - Airbus A380 makes
big statement in U.S. - lands at NYC's JFK Airport from Germany's
Frankfurt International Airport with 500 aboard
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/03/19/airbus.transatlantic.ap/index.html

UK Asians 'silent' on child abuse - informing the authorities would
"dishonour" the child's family
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6465115.stm

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/march07/lane031907.htm

MAKING A DIFFERENCE: One Child at a Time

03/19/07
Photograph: Terry Lane (left) accepts the award from Jacksonville, Florida, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Nestor Duarte.
Terry Lane (left) accepts the award from Jacksonville, Florida, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Nestor Duarte.

A decade ago, the owner of a local cabinet shop looked around his neighborhood in Jacksonville—historically one of the toughest in the city when it came to drugs and crime—and decided to act.

Terry Lane reached out to the youngsters in the area of Cleveland Arms apartments, offering help and advice. After selling his business, he launched a center called the Metro Kids Konnection. For ten years, it has been a place of learning, encouragement, and fun for troubled and at risk kids—offering a fully equipped, Internet-enabled computer lab and a variety of educational after-school programs. Last year, Mr. Lane and his staff of nine at the center enrolled 145 children in these programs. The center also runs a leadership program for teens and provides job skills to adults.

Has the center made a difference? Absolutely, in the lives of countless young people and their families, not to mention the overall community. Since the center’s inception, for example, the neighborhood has seen a 55 percent drop in juvenile arrests.

Honoring his contributions. On February 22, Jacksonville Assistant Special Agent in Charge Nestor Duarte was pleased to present Mr. Lane with the FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award. The award is presented annually in each of our 56 local offices to individuals and programs that have made positive contributions in local communities, especially in the areas of crime prevention and drug deterrence.

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