Saudi navy officer faces death penalty
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Saudi_Arabia/10106942.html
26/02/2007 12:00 AM (UAE)
Saudi navy officer faces death penalty
By Mariam Al Hakeem, Correspondent
Riyadh: A Saudi navy officer is facing the death penalty after he was
caught recklessly driving a car which led to the death of three persons
in Obhur to the north of Jeddah.
After almost a year and a half of deliberations, four judges issued
their unanimous verdict last week sentencing the 37-year-old officer to
death for his involvement in killing three youths including the 14 and
15-year-old brothers, Abdul Aziz and Badr Al Khuthaila.
Saudi Arabia applies the death penalty for a wide range of offences,
including any act or behaviour that leads to the killing of others. The
death sentence can be appealed within 30 days of issuance.
The traffic police in Jeddah found the Saudi navy officer, nicknamed
'Abu Cab' as 100 per cent guilty of the death of the three youths. The
report of the traffic police said the officer had been driving at very
high speed (160-180 kilometres) when the accident took place. The
report
pointed out that the officer was involved in a series of reckless
driving violations and was accused of encouraging youths to drive
recklessly. Reckless driving or tafheet in Saudi slang, is a normal
scene on streets of Saudi cities.
Traffic violations
The report noted that the officer used to rent cars from rent a car
agencies to use them for his reckless driving. It added that around 66
traffic violations were found on the officer's record.
However, Khalid Abu Rashid, the Saudi lawyer defending the officer,
said
that the death sentence is non-applicable now, as it was not yet filed
in the court of cassation. The lawyer appealed for the cancellation of
the death sentence saying that it is not applicable to the case of his
client.
"We should not be swayed by sentiments in judging matters. Yes, we all
feel pain at the death of the youths and we all agree on the importance
of applying a deterrent penalty against Abu Cab so as not to repeat
this
crime, but the question is: was there no deterrent penalty other than
death penalty?" the lawyer said in statements to reporters.
"We have to ask about thousands of reckless drivers who committed fatal
accidents and have not been convicted to death," he added.
He pointed out that thousands of traffic accidents resulted in
thousands
of deaths and the majority were found to be the fault of the driver.
"No
death penalty was applied to any of them, so why has it to be applied
to
Abu Cab, whose crime is a traffic accident that happens every day?" he
inquired.
Saudi discovers new field
http://www.tradearabia.com/tanews/newsdetails_snOGN_article119487_cnt.html
Saudi discovers new field
Posted: Sunday, February 25, 2007
Riyadh
Saudi Arabia has discovered an oil field in the east of the country
near
the giant Ghawar field.
'Saudi Aramco has discovered a new oil field south east of Ghawar
field,' the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted oil minister Ali
Al
Naimi as saying. 'On February 11, oil from the Derwaza-1 well ...
flowed
at a rate of 3,915 bpd associated with 11.9 million cubic feet of gas
daily,' he added.
The well, 70 km (43.5 miles) south of Ghawar, is expected to produce at
higher levels, he said. He gave no further details on the size of the
find or potential future production.
Saudi Arabia claims about 260 billion barrels of reserves, nearly a
quarter of the world's total, according to the BP Statistical Review.
Saudi oil officials say it also has gas reserves of 242 trillion cubic
feet, making it the world's fifth largest holder of proven gas
reserves.
It faces increasing demand for natural gas from its rapidly growing
population and new petrochemical and industrial projects.-Reuters
97-year-old man on death row in Saudi
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=134754&version=1&template_id=37&parent_id=17
97-year-old man on death row in Saudi
Published: Sunday, 25 February, 2007, 09:41 AM Doha Time
RIYADH: A 97-year-old Saudi man waiting to be beheaded for murder has
launched an appeal for donations of blood money in order to spare him
from the death sentence, a local newspaper reported yesterday.
H al-Zahrani, who has been imprisoned for several years, made his plea
to raise 2.6mn riyals (approximately $700,000) for paying damages to
his
victim’s family in the Al-Madina daily.
The paper said Zahrani is being detained in Al-Baha, western Saudi
Arabia, but did not disclose the date of his sentence or any details on
the murder, saying only that the victim’s family had agreed to pardon
Zahrani in exchange for financial compensation.
Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking can all
carry
the death penalty in Saudi Arabia. But a condemned person can earn a
reprieve if the family of their victim agrees to accept money as
compensation.- AFP
Putin’s Cold War
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NTBiMjJjMjQyNDQ0N2Q1ZDc0NDdlYzk3NjNiYTVmN2Q=
February 26, 2007 12:00 AM
Putin’s Cold War
Centralizing.
By John O'Sullivan
Vladimir Putin, the former KGB agent who rose to become president of
Russia, has recently been a whirlwind of activity. In the last few
weeks
he has reshuffled his Cabinet, wooed the new German chancellor (and
current European Union president), Angela Merkel, denounced the United
States at an East-West security conference in Germany, and visited
Saudi
Arabia and the Gulf state of Qatar for quasi-secret talks on energy.
All
of these events reflect in different ways the recent revival of Russia
as an important power whose interests other nations must now consider.
They also reflect the internal success of Putin in reestablishing a
strong central government in Russia following the anarchic failures of
the Yeltsin years. But they are built on shaky political, economic, and
demographic foundations — the current high international price for
energy, a falling ethnic Russian population within the boundaries of
the
Russian federation, and the instability of Russia’s post-totalitarian
politics. These risks lie mainly in the future, but one risk that
concerns Putin himself is rushing towards him. Under the present
constitution, Putin’s presidency ends next year and he cannot serve a
further term. In theory this could be a watershed event in Russian
politics. Putin has built a new centralized authoritarianism — call
it
“guided democracy†— around himself and a coterie of former KGB
agents.
He has transformed the regional governors into mere agents of the
Kremlin, brought the television news media under the control of an
informal censorship, shaped the major political parties into supportive
clients of his administration, and either driven out, imprisoned or
bought off the once-powerful economic “oligarchs.†If he and his
allies
in the “siloviki†— those politicians and officials with links to
secret
intelligence agencies — were to lose office, that would put at risk
this
new structure of power.
Putin’s recent reshuffle of his Cabinet, however, suggests that he
has
little or no intention of allowing this to happen. His most important
decision was to appoint the most senior silovik, Defense Minister
Sergei
Ivanov, to be first deputy prime minister with special responsibility
for overseeing Russia’s military-industrial complex. In the opinion
of
most observers that set Ivanov up to be the official candidate of the
current Kremlin for next year’s presidential election. His election
would signify that Putin’s siloviki establishment would retain power
under a new face.
Some Kremlin insiders go further than that. Gleb Pavlovsky, a Kremlin
“spin-doctor†— yes, they have them there too — was quoted by
Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty as suggesting that Putin himself would still be
pulling the strings: “A democratic nation cannot not release its
leader,
but it can provide him with the opportunity to change from one job to
another.â€
To be sure, the voters have got to ratify Putin’s choice in due
course.
That should not be hard to arrange, however; the Kremlin’s candidate
will have a near-monopoly of campaign finance, media coverage, and
respectable party support. And just in case the voters show a strong
aversion to Ivanov, they will likely to be able to choose a second
“official†candidate, namely Dimitri Medvedev, another first deputy
prime minister, who is reckoned to be slightly more liberal than the
siloviki (no very great achievement) and thus more appealing to voters
nervous of their growing power.
So Putin seems to have the succession problem well and neatly solved.
His successor will be the same man under a different name.
That was not, however, the sole purpose of the Kremlin reshuffle.
Putin’s appointment of Anatoly Serdyukov, a financial expert, as the
new
defense minister is widely seen as an attempt to crack down on
corruption in military contracts. That in turn is an essential first
step in the modernization and restructuring of Russia’s armed forces.
And a larger strategic military reach — which the USSR enjoyed but
which
Russia has lost — to match the country’s growing economic power is
the
next step in the siloviki’s program to revive Russia’s great power
status.
That ambition was displayed recently both in Putin’s meeting with
Merkel
and in his denunciation of America at Munich. Putin would dearly like a
close Russo-German alliance as the cornerstone of a close EU-Russia
relationship. As so often with Soviet foreign policy, however, Putin at
Munich sought too many objects at once. In particular, he tried to
pressure the new democracies of central Europe into abandoning their
involvement in the proposed U.S. system of missile defense while also
seeking to separate Europe as a whole from the U.S. His threats over
missile defense — supported by other threats to abrogate the
Russo-American treaty on medium-range nuclear missiles — alarmed
everyone. They also struck Europeans as spectacularly hypocritical
since
the proposed missile defense is (or was) not designed against Russian
missiles. It is meant to deter attacks from ‘rogue’ states such as
Iran
— which Putin is supplying with missiles and nuclear know-how as part
of
his extra-European policy of building alliances with anti-Americans
around the world. So the net impact of these clashing Great Russian
imperatives was to embarrass Merkel, drive even left-wing Europeans
into
Washington’s waiting arms, and augment the influence of Eastern
Europe
as anti-Russian bloc within both NATO and the EU.
Putin should have foreseen exactly this since he had made an almost
identical mistake over energy policy only last year. It is, of course,
the high world price for oil that is fuelling both Russia’s revival
and
Putin’s ambitions. The Russian president has made it very clear that
Russia intends to use energy as a political weapon — in particular as
a
means of regaining control over its former satellites — by such
actions
as cutting off gas to Ukraine, raising energy prices overnight to the
Baltics, designing a Russo-German pipeline that would go undersea
rather
than through Poland, and seeking to frustrate Polish plans for access
to
non-Russian energy sources. His mistake was to forget that the former
satellites now have influence in Brussels as EU member-states. They
accordingly blocked a trade deal between Russia and the EU that Germany
had badly wanted. To Merkel in her meeting with Putin then prevailed
upon him to re-draw the plans for the Russo-German pipeline so that
Poland would enjoy access to it.
Putin’s energy ambitions had been briefly checked on that occasion
— and
now he was checking his strategic ambitions by giving the kiss of life
to Atlanticism.
Still, in pursuit of both, Putin journeyed from Munich to Riyadh.
Though
the talks with King Abdullah were secret, the speculation is that he
was
seeking to establish a “gas cartel†with Gulf producers that would
help
establish a high but stable long-range price for gas and so prolong
Russia’s (and Saudi Arabia’s) benefits as the world’s two largest
energy
producers. This is not an irrational policy, but it is fraught with
difficulties: Cartel members always have an incentive to sell more gas
by quietly cheating; if the price is below the long-run optimal
monopoly
price — which is itself a matter for guesswork — they will cheat
themselves; and if it is too high, they will enjoy a short-term bonanza
at the cost of an eventual collapse in energy prices as new producers
and substitute products are attracted into the market. In other words,
such a cartel would be like Marshall Aid for Alberta.
After all, that is exactly what happened to oil prices between 1973 and
last year. Reagan’s de-control of energy prices was one of the
factors
that undermined the Soviets in the 1980s and helped to win the Cold
War.
Putin is therefore hoping to indefinitely extend Russia’s current oil
bonanza — the higher world oil price means another $75 billion
revenue
annually — to restore its imperial status when he should be
considering
how to use a temporary to remedy the country’s long-term problems.
These
are Russia’s declining population and its economic over-dependence on
energy.
Russia today has a population of 149 million. Projections suggest that
it will fall below 100 million by 2050. In purely economic terms that
might be accommodated: Analyst Martin Hutchinson points out drily that
you can save a lot of money by delaying pension benefits when the
average life-span ends at 68. Within that total, however, Muslim
citizens will represent a growing percentage of births — on one
estimate
Muslims will be one quarter of Russia’s armed forces by mid-century.
Given that Russia’s “near abroad†includes Iran, the Muslim
“Stans,†and
a growing China, these figures are inconsistent with Putin’s foreign
policy of arming Iran, threatening Europe, and forging an anti-American
third-world coalition.
Russia is doing some things right to diversify its economy: it
attracting foreign investment, rationalizing its tax system, and
raising
its labor productivity substantially. But business is still corrupt,
the
rights of foreign owners are politically vulnerable, and its “rule of
law†is still subject to political manipulation, as the seizure and
sale
of Yukos assets (not to mention the incarceration of its owner, Mikhail
Khodorkovsy) demonstrate. Nor are these mere accidental blemishes on an
emerging market democracy. They arise directly from the siloviki
democracy that Putin has built.
In the Australian journal, Policy, Aviezer Tucker of the Queen’s
University in Belfast recently published a study on the differing fates
of post-authoritarian and post-totalitarian societies. Among his
conclusions was that as a result of the attempt to create an entirely
new social order, post-totalitarian societies like Russia are too
wounded and misshapen to return to normality. All the non-political
elites have been eliminated. So such societies continue to be ruled by
the old nomenklaturas, in particular by their old secret police
networks, which seize the properties of the state. But instead of
managing them in a capitalist fashion (since they lack the skills to do
so), they gradually consume the assets for their own economic benefit
and political power. In such a society, there is no real rule of law,
no
safe property rights, no real capitalist development.
As Tucker writes: “New wealth in Russia . . . lies under the ground.
Extracting that wealth, exporting it, and appropriating the proceeds
also requires political power . . . These were the reasons why the
Russian security elite needed political power — the Putin
restoration.â€
Domestically that restoration has meant robbing the Russian people
through bogus privatization. Economically it now means persuading
foreign investors to create new wealth to steal. And strategically it
means employing that wealth to bully anyone who looks either vulnerable
or competitive. But what happens when the oil price falls and the
wealth
runs out?
Kuwaitis celebrate Liberation Day with ab sence of Saddam; ‘Trial, execution of Iraqi d ictator unprecedented in Arab world’
http://www.arabtimesonline.com/arabtimes/kuwait/Viewdet.asp?ID=9813&cat=a
26th Feb 2007 : Web Edition No: 12805
Kuwaitis celebrate Liberation Day with absence of Saddam; ‘Trial,
execution of Iraqi dictator unprecedented in Arab world’
KUWAIT (KUNA): The Kuwaiti people will celebrate the 16th anniversary
of
the liberation of their homeland on Monday with particularly upbeat
sentiments, having witnessed the end of Saddam Hussein, the man whose
troops invaded the country in 1990 and occupied it for seven months.
During the course of the invasion, scores of nationals were killed and
others taken hostage, mostly to be later found as skeleton remains in
mass graves.Top leaders, namely His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh
Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, have expressed satisfaction that
heavenly justice had finally ended the life of the notorious man, whose
criminal record was reminiscent to that of dictators of equal caliber
who had existed in history of mankind.
Relief
The Kuwaiti people this year celebrate the national occasion with a
deep
sense of relief with the absence of Saddam, said Dr Abdulredha Asiri,
head of the politics department at Kuwait University, in an interview
with Kuwait News Agency (KUNA). Prosecution and execution of Saddam was
the first event of its kind in the history of Arab nations, Asiri said,
noting that it was the first time a fugitive president was be detained
and tried according to international legal standards in a prosecution
that was witnessed live by peoples of the world. Saddam was executed
last December following a marathon trial of him and six of his
henchmen.
He was found guilty of killing scores of people in the village of
Al-Dujail in the early 1980s after his motorcade was fired upon.
Other genocides and blood-spilling crimes were on his record, namely
genocides against Iraqi Kurds and the aggression on the state of Kuwait
on Aug 2, 1990. He was hanged. Excerpts of the execution were broadcast
by television networks. He had been located by American troops —
bearded
and haggard — in an underground “spiderhole†in Iraq following
the 2003
allied military campaign.
Execution
Asiri said the execution of Saddam constituted a message — not only
to
leaders of states but to peoples too — that no matter how a tyrant
broke
laws and covenants, he would certainly witness a tragic end. His
execution will frustrate aspirations of his followers to usurp powers
again, the Kuwaiti professor said. In a separate interview with KUNA,
political sciences professor at the same university, Abdullah
Al-Ghanem,
also affirmed that the Kuwaiti people were enjoying special delightful
sentiments for witnessing end of the dictator whose regime caused
tragedies for the country and people. The trial and execution of Saddam
were unprecedented events in the Arab world, where peoples had not seen
prosecution of rulers for perpetrating genocides, Al-Ghanem said.
He cited a recent statement by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign
Minister Sheikh Dr. Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, affirming that
heavenly justice put an end to the tyrant. Politically, the end of
Saddam will contribute boosting the Kuwaiti-Iraqi relations, but he
warned against giving “concession.†Saddam’s troops, during the
seven-month occupation of Kuwait, snatched more than 600 nationals.
They
were mostly found in mass graves in Iraq following the 2003 military
campaign. His forces had also killed scores of Kuwaitis and torched
hundreds of oil wells that caused a large-scale environmental
catastrophe in the country and the whole region.
Oil-exporting United Arab Emirates plunges into renewable energy research venture
http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=WORLD&ID=564969795205071196
Oil-exporting United Arab Emirates plunges into renewable energy
research venture
JAMES CALDERWOOD, Associated Press Writer
February 25, 2007 6:26 PM
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Leaders of this major oil-producing
Gulf country said Sunday they were plunging into the field of renewable
energy, announcing a joint research venture into green energy with the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The announcement comes a few months after the World Wildlife Fund
labeled the Emirates the world's biggest per-capita producer of
globe-warming greenhouse gases, mainly due to its profligate energy
consumption.
The Emirates' early entry into the renewable energy arena comes amid
squabbling over whether similar reforms should be embraced in the
world's largest energy consumer, the United States.
The agreement signed Sunday between the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Co. and
MIT created the Masdar Institute of Technology in Abu Dhabi. Masdar
will
pursue Abu Dhabi's plan to use its oil income to develop a more
sustainable renewable energy sector and an economy based on green
energy
expertise.
We want ''talent and innovative technologies to enhance economic
development and promote new industries using renewable energy,'' said
Sultan al-Jaber, ADFEC's chief executive.
Solar power in the sun-drenched country is one chief research area. The
government of Abu Dhabi emirate has already dedicated $350 million to a
giant solar power initiative.
MIT chancellor Phillip Clay said in a prepared release the MIT faculty
and staff will provide ''advice, scholarly assessment and assistance.''
High energy demand in the Emirates is caused by a reliance on air
conditioning, chilled swimming pools and a penchant for gas-guzzling
four-wheel-drives. A cavernous mall in neighboring Dubai contains an
indoor ski slope.
In the United States, renewable energy policy seems far from settled.
President Bush said last month that he wants to require the use of 35
billion gallons a year of ethanol and other alternative fuels by 2017,
a
fivefold increase over current requirements.
At a Houston fundraiser Thursday night, Democratic presidential
candidate Barack Obama stated the importance of the energy issue in his
plans for the White House. Republican presidential contender Mitt
Romney
said Friday he is developing his own plan for energy independence.
The Emirates ranked fourth among Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries in 2005 in terms of crude oil production after Saudi Arabia,
Iran and Kuwait. As of May 2006, it was producing 2.5 million barrels
per day, according to the United States Energy Information
Administration.
But the supplies are expected to gradually run out over the next
century
or so. The institute's mandate is to fill the gap in the budget that
reduced oil sales will leave behind.
Last March, Abu Dhabi's crown prince, Sheik Mohammed Bin Zayed Al
Nahyan, kicked off the fund by stating the government of Abu Dhabi
would
donate 1 square miles of land for the development park housing the
Masdar Initiative and $100 million for a ''clean technology fund.''
Abu Dhabi is the largest of the seven emirates that form the United
Arab
Emirates. It also contains the majority of its oil reserves, producing
more than 85 percent of all oil from the Emirates combined. Its wealth
has enabled the royal family of the Abu Dhabi to assume the leadership
of the country.
AP-WS-02-25-07 2120EST
No permission for Israel to cross Arab airspace to strike Iran: AL chief
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200702/26/eng20070226_352467.html
UPDATED: 08:51, February 26, 2007
No permission for Israel to cross Arab airspace to strike Iran: AL
chief
Arab League (AL) chief Amr Moussa on Sunday denied reports that Qatar,
the United Arab Emirates and Oman have agreed to allow Israeli
warplanes
to cross their airspaces to strike Iran.
Moussa was quoted by Egypt's official MENA news agency as saying that
foreign ministers of the three countries told him on Sunday that
reports
published by Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz on their countries' approval of
Israeli warplanes to cross their airspaces to strike Iran were
baseless.
"Such reports are nonsense and completely bare of truth," Moussa said,
adding that approval could never happen either at present or in the
future.
"No Arab country could possibly allow or permit Israel to attack Iran,"
he said.
Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh said on Saturday that any
talk of an Israeli offensive against Iran was speculative only.
In a statement released on Sunday, Moussa underlined the importance of
an Arab-Iranian dialogue as Iran is part of the region, saying that the
dialogue should serve the interests of both sides.
The major challenge facing Arab and Islamic nations was posed by
attempts to trigger sectarian sedition, which is unacceptable, Moussa
said.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei
issued
a report on Thursday, saying that Iran had refused to suspend its
uranium enrichment, defying a UN Security Council deadline which
expired
on Wednesday.
Many observers believe that the UN Security Council might negotiate
another resolution, which would likely impose tougher sanctions on
Tehran.
How to define the Arab middle class
http://www.gulfnews.com/opinion/columns/region/10106969.html
Published: 26/02/2007 12:00 AM (UAE)
How to define the Arab middle class
By James Zogby, Special to Gulf News
Public opinion research is not only an important tool in measuring
attitudes, it can also be useful in defining social realities.
McKinsey & Co recently contracted with Zogby International (ZI) to
conduct surveys in three Arab Gulf states in an effort to better
understand the role and attitudes of the middle class in this region's
developing economies.
As we began our examination, I initially confronted the conceptual
problem of how to define the "middle class" as it existed in these
countries. The concepts "upper, middle and lower" class, after all,
were
largely developed in Western sociology in reaction to the more
deterministic Marxian concept of economic class. As such, they have
always been rather loose terms, subject to a variety of definitions,
involving amorphous measurements of consumption patterns, expectations,
etc.
Given the traditional nature of their social and governing structures
in
the Gulf and what has been described as the "rentier" nature of much of
their economies, more Western definitions of middle class did not seem
to apply. In addition to the "royal" or ruling families that govern,
there are to be sure, wealthy merchant families who play a significant
economic role. Tribal structures remain important in social
organisation, but with rapid urbanisation, economic growth and the
expansion of government bureaucracies, clearly, a new group of
urbanised
employees has emerged. The question to be asked here is does this group
constitute a class and, if so, how do we define them?
Academic literature
Consulting the rather sparse academic literature available proved
futile. A "Google" search using keywords: "Saudi Arabia", "UAE",
"Bahrain" and "middle class", yielded tens of thousands of citations in
articles about each country, but no clues as to how to define what
constitutes the middle class in this part of the world.
Still searching for parameters, I consulted a number of regional
experts
who gave us such a wide range of answers as to offer little clarity.
So we decided to let the people speak for themselves. We polled almost
2,400 Saudi, Emirati and Bahraini citizens. We found significant
differences not only among the three countries, but also among the
attitudes and concerns of the self-identified classes within each
country.
In each of the three countries surveyed, for example, about two thirds
of the respondents described themselves as "middle class". Upon
reviewing the data, a more detailed description of the middle class
emerged that reinforced this self-identification.
For example, whether employed in the public or private sectors, those
who describe themselves as middle class were largely salaried workers.
Except for those who were in the military, most were in what would be
described in the West as "white collar" professions.
In each of the three countries, the salaries of those who self-describe
as middle class workers fell roughly in the middle - between the
incomes
reported by those who describe themselves as members of the "higher
class" and those who said they were in the "lower class". More
interestingly, their attitudes fell in the middle, as well.
There were differences, to be sure, but sharing the middle ground is
what the Emirati, Saudi and Bahraini middle classes have in common and
establishes them at least normatively as a self-described class.
For the rest, more work needs to be done. Our "snapshot in time", which
is what polling gives you, can describe and help define a social
phenomenon. Is this phenomenon growing, or shrinking, etc? Only future
studies will be able to reveal that.
Dr James Zogby is the president of the Arab American Institute in
Washington, DC.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/02/24/alqaeda.video/index.html
NATO colonel calls al Qaeda tape 'video fiction'
POSTED: 12:58 p.m. EST, February 24, 2007
The purported al Qaeda video showing fighters firing missiles at a U.S.
base in Afghanistan is "video fiction," a NATO official said Saturday.
The military doesn't "see this as a credible video, as there is nothing
to substantiate an attack on friendly forces," said Col. Tom Collins,
spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force.
continued, with links to photos...............
http://www.sanduskyregister.com/articles/2007/02/25/for_the_record/cop_and_courts/doc45e0ffde19c29779785185.txt
COPS AND COURTS
Sunday February 25 2007, 1:42am
GROTON TWP.
Truck stolen from Strawberry Hill gas station
Truck operator and owner Edwardo Rodriguez returned to Strawberry Hill Gas Station at 8606 Ohio 4 Friday to find his rig and $200,000 worth of steel bars stolen. Rodriguez had parked the semi-tractor trailer there overnight and returned around noon Friday to the truck which he leases to Champion Truck Line of Romulus, Mich, only to find it gone.
The cab of Rodriguez’s truck is equipped with GPS and antitheft system. The truck trailer alone is valued at $30,000 according to Rodriguez’s statement to Erie County Sheriff’s Department.
[quite a story]
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NEY_CORRUPTION_OHOL-?SITE=OHSAN&SECTION=STATE&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
AP News
Feb 26, 7:02 PM EST
Former Ney aide pleads guilty in congressional bribery case
By LARA JAKES JORDAN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The top aide to convicted former Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio pleaded guilty Monday to federal conspiracy charges stemming from a congressional bribery scandal that downed his boss.
Smiling nervously at times, William Heaton, 28, acknowledged accepting a golf trip to Scotland, expensive meals, and tickets to sporting events between 2002 and 2004 as payoffs for helping clients of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Heaton worked for Ney, a Republican, from September 2001 to July 2006, ultimately serving as his chief of staff.
"You received things of value in exchange for performing functions for Mr. Abramoff and other lobbyists who worked for him, as well as a foreign businessman. Is that correct?" U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle asked Heaton during the 20-minute hearing.
continues..........
http://www.bakutoday.net/view.php?d=33896
Local Residents Say Iranian Helicopters Violate Azerbaijan Air Space
Trend 23/02/2007 21:23
The helicopters of Iran flew over Astara district of Azerbaijan for
nearly one hour at 11:00.
The local inhabitants link this case with the issue that the
President
of Iran is in Iranian Astara.
In addition, it was said that except these three helicopters, other
ones
were also seen. The Press-Service of the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan
said that the Ministry has no information on violation of the air space
of Azerbaijan by the Iranian helicopters.
Lithuania Considers Blocking Russia-EU Talks Along with Poland
http://mosnews.com/money/2007/02/26/lithuaniablock.shtml
Lithuania Considers Blocking Russia-EU Talks Along with Poland
Created: 26.02.2007 06:42 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 06:43 MSK, 2 hours 59
minutes ago
MosNews
Lithuania may join Poland in blocking talks on a new cooperation treaty
between the EU and Russia unless the bloc acts to restore Russian oil
supplies to the Baltic country, Lithuania Deputy Foreign Minister said
on Friday, Feb. 23.
MosNews has reported last year that Russia’s oil pipeline monopoly
Transneft shut down the Druzhba link to Mazeikiu Nafta —- the only
refinery in the Baltic states —- following a reported leak last July,
and has not restored it yet.
Analysts have said Moscow may be using the pipeline shutdown to reduce
Mazeikiu’s value and thus encourage Poland’s PKN Orlen, which
earlier
beat Russian rivals to take over the plant, to abandon its acquisition.
“We would like the issue [of crude supply] to be discussed at the
spring
European Council†meeting of EU leaders, Lithuania’s Deputy Foreign
Minister Zygimantas Pavilionis was quoted by Reuters as telling
reporters.
The EU summit is scheduled for March 8 to 9.
“We think that the EU should influence the process. We have asked the
[EU] presidency, but nothing has happened,†he added.
Pavilionis said unless the EU put pressure on Russia to reopen the
Druzhba link, “There is an idea to block the mandate for talks with
Russia.â€
“We can become another Poland,†he said, referring to the Polish
decision late last year to veto the launch of EU-Russia talks on a
wide-ranging cooperation agreement.
Poland blocked the talks because Russia refused to lift its ban on
Polish meat imports.
“The leak can be fixed in several weeks, but eight months have passed
already and nothing has happened. It is a political act,†Pavilionis
said.
The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry said earlier last week it still
expected
Russia to provide a schedule for the pipeline repairs.
Czech general fuels Saab bribes suspicions
http://www.thelocal.se/6520/20070225/
Czech general fuels Saab bribes suspicions
Published: 25th February 2007 18:34 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/6520/
A former head of the Czech army Sunday fuelled corruption suspicions
surrounding a warplanes deal, claiming that he and other senior
military
staff were not told how the decision was taken.
"We did not know the way in which that conclusion was reached," Jiri
Sedivy, who was head of the general staff from 1997-2002, told Czech
public television.
Related Articles
Britain's Serious Fraud Office and Swedish state prosecutors said last
week they were looking into allegations that an Anglo-Swedish
consortium
of BAE Systems and Saab paid bribes to land a contract to sell 24
Gripen
fighter aircraft.
The investigation was launched following reports on Swedish television
of unexplained payments linked to the deal. Czech police have said they
will cooperate in the probe following a request from London.
The fighter deal was a 2001 agreement worth 60 billion Czech koruna
($2.8 billion dollars) that was later cancelled.
Prague's left-dominated government decided to lease 14 Gripen planes
from Sweden at a fraction of the cost of the earlier deal.
Speaking on the same Czech television programme, leading rightwing
Civic
Democrat politician and former finance minister Vladimir Tlusty said
the
initial Gripen deal encouraged suspicions of corruption.
"The purchase of the Gripen fighters was from the start a very
suspicious deal. A so-called tender took place in which there was only
one participant, the price for which they should have been bought was
also very high," he said.
AFP
Uzbekistan seeks closer EU economic ties By Stefan Voss
http://rawstory.com/news/dpa/FEATURE_Uzbekistan_seeks_closer_EU__02242007.html
Uzbekistan seeks closer EU economic ties By Stefan Voss
dpa German Press Agency
Published: Saturday February 24, 2007
Tashkent, Uzbekistan- The factory floor in the wire works
in the Uzbekistan capital Tashkent smells suspiciously of fresh
paint. The basement is spic-and-span and the workers are wearing
brand-new blue helmets.
"We are an up-and-coming Uzbek industrial plant with capital from
Saxony," company director Ulugbek Ismailow tells a business
delegation from Germany, talking above the roar of the machinery.
His factory in the country located on the old silk road is being
praised as an example of Uzbek-German economic cooperation. But just
where exactly the capital originates from remains unclear.
The Central Asian Republic of Uzbekistan wants to establish itself
as an emerging centre for investment. Its attractions: gold, uranium,
cotton, as well as an untapped consumer market of 26 million.
continued...............
Iran, Azerbaijan keen to expand cooperation in water industry
http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0702258742152918.htm
Monday February 26, 2007
Iran, Azerbaijan keen to expand cooperation in water industry
Tehran, Feb 25, IRNA
Iran-Cooperation-Azerbaijan
Iranian and Azeri officials from water sector urged the need for
expansion of cooperation in the water industry.
Azerbaijan's Deputy Minister of Water Ahmad Ahmadzadeh in a meeting
with
Deputy Energy Minister Rasoul Zargar on Sunday reiterated the need for
broader cooperation in the field and exchange of experiences.
During the meeting, the Azeri official presented a brief report on the
activities of his country in the water sector.
Meanwhile, he invited Zargar to pay an official visit to his country in
the near future.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Ahmadzadeh said that his visit
to Iran takes place to give him an idea on Iran's activities in the
water sector.
Expressing his satisfaction with Iran's great achievements in the
field,
he said that his country will certainly use such an experience.
He said that Aras river is considered as the river of friendship
between
the two countries, adding that Azerbaijan has proposed its plans for
exploitation of the resources of this river, which will be certainly be
finalized in the near future.
Assessing Iran's dam building industry, Ahmadzadeh said that rather
than
speaking about implementation of a particular dam, cooperation on
exploitation of resources of Aras river should be discussed, given that
activities in the field will be beneficial to both sides.
On his part, Zargar said that Iran has extensive cooperation with this
brotherly and Muslim country and referred to Aras river as a symbol of
friendship between Iran and Azerbaijan.
"Several joint dam projects, including Khoda-Afarin and Qaleh-Sabz dams
as well as Ardoubad power plant are currently underway.
"At today's meeting, the Azeri deputy minister was briefed on the
progress of the specified projects," he added.
Zargar hoped for further exchange of technical information and transfer
of experience between the two sides.
5 Russian soldiers killed in bomb blast in Chechnya
http://www.kuna.net.kw/Home/Story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=955230
POL-RUSSIA-CHECHNYA-BLAST
5 Russian soldiers killed in bomb blast in Chechnya
MOSCOW, Feb 23 (KUNA) -- Five Russian soldiers were killed in a bomb
explosion at a military base in Chechnya on Friday, the Russian
Interfax
news agency reported here.
Several people were also injured in the bomb blast, Chechen security
sources were quoted by the Interfax as saying.
Investigation is still underway to find the perpetrators of the
explosion, which took place in Gudermes, second key city in Chechnya,
it
added.
Nobody has claimed responsibility for the accident so far. (end) as.
mt
KUNA 232018 Feb 07NNNN
NATO will not tolerate violence in Kosovo
http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n106547
Politika, Serbia: NATO will not tolerate violence in Kosovo
25 February 2007 | 15:09 | FOCUS News Agency
Pristina. Admiral Harry Ulrich, Commander of the U.S. Naval Forces in
Europe and of NATO's Joint Force Command based in Naples, Italy, said
Saturday in Pristina NATO would not tolerate any violence in Kosovo,
the
Serbian Politika newspaper writes.
“NATO’s peacekeeping forces in the province will react promptly and
firmly in case of any kind of violence, as well as to those who
encourage or plan violence,†Ulrich said. He agreed with Kosovo
authorities’ assessment that the demonstrations of the
Self-Determination movement were unproductive for Kosovo’s future.
http://www.kmov.com/localnews/stories/kmov_localnews_070223_stolentrailer.7fd6cd4.html
(KMOV) -- Thieves stole a semi-trailer from a metro east truck stop, loaded with cargo worth $10 million.
The trailer reappeared four hours later.
(KMOV)
Customs agents seal the truck after it was stolen
The thieves were after $10 million in high-blood pressure medicine.
It was made in Mexico and being trucked to Canada, but thieves tried to hijack it to the black market.
The truck driver pulled into a Troy, IL truck stop before dawn
Police say that the driver went inside the truck stop for about 30 minutes and when he returned, his truck had been forced open, hotwired and its trailer was missing.
The crooks drove the drugs away with their own truck.
Down the road in Lebanon, IL, officers heard the bulletin about the stolen trailer, checked a fast food restaurant, and found it.
The officers say the trailer they discovered looked suspicious, starting with the way it was parked. It was diagonal, over the line, like someone dropped it off here in a hurry.
After federal customs agents inspected the cargo, they sealed the trailer and sent it on its way.
After repairs were made to the truck, which was damaged when it was hotwired, the driver picked up his cargo and resumed his trip to Canada.
(KMOV) -- A popular skin medicine used by more than seven million Americans this decade is being linked to cancer.
A local woman blames the ointment for killing her young son.
Karl Wymbs
10-year old Karl Wymbs was like so many other kids. He was active and fun loving, but he also had a serious skin condition that left its mark on his arms and legs.
In January 2003, his doctor prescribed the drug Protopic to treat his eczema, and it worked.
A year later, his doctor found non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a form of cancer, on one of the spots where Karl's mother Aarah had applied the ointment.
15 months after being diagnosed with cancer, Karl died.
In February 2005, three months before Karl's death, the Food and Drug Administration's Pediatric Advisory Committee reviewed research in animals that linked Protopic and a similar drug Elidel to a greater risk of skin cancer and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
The research also found 25 cases of cancer in humans who used the drugs.
Protopic arrived on the market in 2000, Elidel in 2001. Since then, more than seven million people have used the drugs.
In January 2006, nearly a year after its own advisory committee warned about the drugs possible cancer risk, the FDA required the drug makers add a black box warning for both drugs and requested them to conduct long-term cancer studies.
The manufacturers of both drugs insist the medicines are safe.
Novartis, which makes Elidel, says, "Novartis is committed to patient safety and Elidel is one of the most thoroughly researched dermatology products in the world."
Astellas, the maker of Protopic, says, "A causal relationship has not been established between Protopic and the rare cases of malignancies….Protopic remains safe and effective when used in a manner consistent with its label."
Many doctors also believe the drugs are safe.
News 4 Health Team Dermatologist Madhavi Kandula doesn't believe the drugs are dangerous if used properly.
Still, she's only written half a dozen prescriptions for Elidel and Protopic.
But the FDA's concern over the medicines prompted long-term studies of both drugs to see if there's a connection between the ointments and cancer in humans.
Some patients and their families are demanding action now. Karl Wymbs' mother Aarah is suing drug maker Astellas, alleging its ointment killed her son.
At least two years before Karl Wymbs first used Protopic, the FDA issued a warning about Prograf, the drug's equivilant in pill and injection form.
The FDA says that Prograf is known to cause both skins cancers and lymphoma in humans.
Critics say the FDA should have used that information to more closely scrutinize the ointments long before it issued the warning.
http://www.kmov.com/health/asseenonnews4/stories/kmov_localnews_070223_skincream.8e2dcb3.html