Replies

http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=40805&section=news&freebie_check&CFID=38758991&CFTOKEN=29139726&jsessionid=8830c23d2f60615e1f3f

Bomb explodes; homeowner escapes injury
Associated Press
Published Tuesday, June 12, 2007
FARGO — A man escaped injury after removing a plastic bottle bomb from his mailbox, police say.

Sgt. Jeff Skuza said the man saw someone putting something in his mailbox late Monday night and went to see what it was. The bottle exploded after the homeowner grabbed it and threw it on the ground, Skuza said.

It is the third or fourth case of homemade bombs being placed in mailboxes in Fargo in recent weeks, Skuza said. Police are trying to determine whether the incidents are connected.

“The mechanism inside usually varies a little bit. Usually people are able to go online, or there also are certain recipes that circulate through schools and other organizations for different chemicals that can be mixed inside a plastic bottle,” Skuza said.

The chemicals create a gas that causes the bottle to explode, he said.

“It’s basically like popping a giant balloon,” Skuza said, “But it has a fairly explosive quality to it, and it can blow a mailbox apart, and that’s where they most commonly put them, in mailboxes.”

In South Dakota, authorities in Aberdeen are investigating reports of explosive devices found in two mailboxes. One was discovered by a mail carrier Saturday. No one was hurt in either incident.

GIMF Instructs Islamists to Infiltrate Popular Non-Islamic Forums

http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP162107
June 14, 2007 No.1621
Global Islamic Media Front Instructs Islamists to Infiltrate Popular
Non-Islamic Forums to Spread Pro-Islamic State Propaganda

Recently, the Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF) announced a new
comprehensive media campaign titled “The Battar Media Raid to Defend the
Islamic State [of Iraq] (ISI),” [1] whose declared purpose is to repel the
intensive campaign against the ISI by Arab and Western media agencies
and to stop the increasing military campaign against the ISI by Sunni
organizations in Iraq.
In a message titled “The Battar Media Raid: How to Participate? How to
Help? What Is My Role?” the GIMF announces the beginning of the
campaign and provides a detailed description of the campaign’s goals and ways
of accomplishing them, including infiltrating non-Islamic forums for
the purpose of posting pro-ISI propaganda.
The following are excerpts from the announcement:
The Islamist Forum Must Be Like a Beehive During the Raid
“What we expect from you brothers and sisters is for the [Islamist]
forum to be like beehives during the raid... [whereby] one person takes
part in distributing [material]... another generates links... one person
writes an article... while another writes a poem... People must feel
and notice that the forums have changed radically during this blessed
raid...”
The following are the details of the plan:
Designate a Special Space on the Forum for Raid Material
“First:...Those who supervise the [Islamist] forums have a significant
role in this raid. We expect from you the following: a) to post the
raid’s slogan on the websites, forums, and blogs, as a way of expressing
support for the raid; b) to designate a special space in the forums in
which material related to the raid will be posted... so [that this
material] will be easily recognized [by forum participants]. We request that
this space be open to everyone, with registration not required; and c)
to collaborate with GIMF in matters concerning suggestions and
experience...”
Ban Anyone Who Slanders the Islamic State [of Iraq] From Disseminating
Their Poison in the Forums
“Second, we expect the following from the forums’ administrators: a) to
take control of your forums and forbid anyone who slanders [the ISI] or
[accuses it of causing] civil strife from disseminating his poison in
your forums... [and] b) to prevent futile and useless discussions and
responses... and to urge people to participate in the raid.”
Post Raid Material on [Non-Islamic] Music, Youth, and Sports Forums
“Third, beloved [raid participants], the raid is dependent on you...
The raid demands of you many things... such as expertise, especially in
the following areas: seeking religious knowledge, montage, translation
into any language, uploading material onto various types of websites,
web design, graphic design, journal and publication design, and hacking
and security. If you have expertise in any of these [fields], contact
the GIMF representative on any of the forums. If, however, you do not
possess this expertise... there are other matters you can [promote]: for
example, posting matters related to the raid in most [jihad] forums...
posting [material] in non-jihad forums, posting in non-Islamic forums
such as music forums, youth forums, sports forums, and others. Anyone who
undertakes to post the material must look into the [appropriate] manner
of spreading [the material for each type of forum]... The way in which
members of music forums address one another differs from the way
members of jihad forum address one another.”
Monitor Forum Members’ Reactions to Your Posting
“You are not required to engage in blind copying and pasting here...
[On the contrary,] you should select [carefully] the material... and the
words... and the most important issue is to monitor forum members’
reactions after you disseminate your material and to respond to them,
turning for help to your comrades in the jihad forums if you find it
difficult [to reply] to one of the reactions [from members of the non-Islamic
forums].”
“[You should also offer] commentary to the various news agencies’
websites... such as the Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiyya websites... Even if they
do not publish your commentary... do not give up... Persist... in the
attempt to place the name of the raid in every commentary...”
Participate in Live Shows on Satellite TV
“[Another way to assist the raid is by] participating in live shows on
satellite TV... Anyone with a desire [to do so]... can contact, and
participate in, any program discussing... the jihad in Iraq... He should
be sure to mention... that he is a participant in the Battar Media Raid
to Defend the Islamic State [of Iraq]... Of course, he should mention
this fact immediately after going on the air... and not prior to that...
[This way,] millions will hear the name of the raid....”
You Can Slip a CD Into Your Friend’s Bag Without Him Noticing
“[People should also engage in] downloading various publications
related to the raid and distributing them to others... If you are afraid that
you will be exposed, you can [distribute the material] without people
noticing... [For example,] you can slip a CD into your friend’s bag
without him noticing... you can drop it into a person’s car while he is
driving... you can place it in your neighbor’s mailbox...”

Below are banners designed for the campaign, in Arabic and in English:
[1] http://alfirdaws.org/vb/showthread.php?p=135893

Where in the world is Muhammad Dahlan?

Khaled Abu Toameh, THE JERUSALEM POST

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1181570269585&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

Jun. 13, 2007

Much has been said over the past year about Muhammad Dahlan’s role in
the
fighting between Fatah and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas claims that Dahlan, a former Palestinian Authority security
commander
and a top Fatah leader, has been working with the US and Israel to
undermine
Hamas and remove it from power.

Unconfirmed reports about secret talks between Dahlan and American,
European
and Israeli security officials have appeared on a regular basis in
Hamas-linked media outlets.

Tensions between Hamas and Dahlan climaxed late last year when the
Islamic
movement openly accused Dahlan of being behind a botched assassination
attempt on the life of PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas.

Dahlan, who has repeatedly denied allegations that he was conspiring
with
Israel and the US to bring down the Hamas-led government, is reported
to
have escaped several attempts on his life in the past 18 months.

His residence and office in Gaza City have been the target of frequent
attacks by Hamas militiamen, who have used mortars, rocket-propelled
grenades and various types of explosives.

Hamas is also believed to have prepared several booby-trapped
underground
tunnels to be used against Dahlan’s convoy. Earlier this year, Hamas
militiamen fired at a United Nations vehicle in the northern Gaza Strip
after being tipped off that Dahlan was one of the passengers.

In recent weeks Hamas officials and spokesmen have stepped up their
rhetorical attacks on Dahlan, comparing him to Antoine Lahad, the
former
commander of the pro-Israeli South Lebanon Army.

According to the Hamas representatives, Dahlan, with the backing of the
US
and Israel, has formed a new Fatah force in the Gaza Strip with the aim
of
fighting Hamas.

The force, they claim, has received thousands of rifles and armored
vehicles
from American and European governments.

For many years, Israeli and international media referred to Dahlan as
the
“strongman” of the Gaza Strip. Some even went so far as to argue that
Dahlan
was so popular among the Palestinians in Gaza he could take on Hamas
whenever he wanted.

But Dahlan’s status has been severely undermined over the past few
months,
largely because many of his Fatah allies and colleagues have either
been
killed or wounded or driven out of the Gaza Strip.

Last month, one of Dahlan’s key allies, Gen. Rashid Abu Shabak,
resigned as
commander of the PA security forces in the Gaza Strip after Hamas
militiamen
stormed his villa and executed six of his bodyguards. Abu Shabak and
his
family have since moved to the West Bank. Another key Dahlan ally,
Samir
Masharawi, has also disappeared from the Gaza Strip and is believed to
be
hiding in Ramallah.

Abu Shabak was Dahlan’s deputy for nearly a decade when the latter
served as
head of the much-feared Preventative Security Service. Hamas recently
accused Abu Shabak of thwarting its plan to impose security and order
in the
Gaza Strip. Hamas leaders claimed that Abu Shabak was working under the
direct instructions of Dahlan, who did not want to see Hamas succeed in
its
efforts to end the anarchy and lawlessness on the Palestinian street.

Some Americans, Israelis and Europeans have long regarded the
“charismatic”
and “pragmatic” Dahlan as the most suitable successor to PA Chairman
Mahmoud
Abbas. Former US President Bill Clinton is said to have been one of his
great admirers since the two met at the White House after the signing
of the
Oslo Accords more than a decade ago.

Abbas’s decision earlier this year to promote Dahlan to the post of PA
National Security adviser was seen by many Palestinians as part of a
US-backed effort to strengthen Dahlan ahead of a potential
confrontation
with Hamas.

But Dahlan has since spent most of his time abroad. His aides say he
lately
underwent surgery on his ankles in a German hospital. Other reports
have
suggested that he is suffering from severe epilepsy and is on intensive
medication.

Dahlan has been in Cairo for the past month amid rumors that he has no
intention to return to Gaza in the foreseeable future. Now that Hamas
has
killed many of his cohorts and friends and is threatening to eliminate
him
the moment he enters the Strip, Dahlan, who was one of the prominent
symbols
of the Oslo process, may have to seek refuge in the West Bank or one of
the
neighboring Arab countries.

The Syrian poison capsule

By Amitai Etzioni
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/870803.html

Recently I participated in a lunch at the home of the Syrian government’s representative to Washington, attended by a small group of people. The meal was arranged according to what is known as the “Chatham House rules,” which ban mention of the meeting’s specific location and of the names of the participants, but allows for unhindered discussion of what was said.

A large part of what was said at that meeting was clearly intended to prepare the ground for the visit of Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, who arrived in Washington the following day. The Syrian representative’s tongue slipped just once, when he acknowledged that Syria’s peace gesture contains a poison capsule.

In order to explain the nature of this poison capsule, the context in which the remarks were made has to be explained. The Syrian representative once again declared that his country wants to improve its ties with the United States. He acknowledged that Syria enjoys good relations with all the factions in Iraq and therefore is capable of helping to achieve a political arrangement to end the civil war that is tearing the country apart. He noted that Syria also has good ties with Iran and can therefore serve as a mediator between Iran and the U.S. He complained bitterly about the Bush administration’s position, which holds that there is no need for high-level talks to rebuild the ties between Syria and the U.S. He spoke of Syria’s desire to hold talks without preconditions, both with the Bush administration and with Israel.

The representative added that the expected military confrontation between Israel and Syria is most distressing, since the disputed issues could be resolved through peaceful means. Nevertheless, he said, if Israel wishes war, Syria is prepared and ready. “Israel will face another surprise, like the one that awaited it in Lebanon,” he cautioned.

He spoke somewhat bemusedly of the visit by the U.S. House of Representative Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, to Damascus. She brought with her a message from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, according to which “Israel is ready to enter peace talks.” Olmert was supposed to issue a public announcement along those lines the following day. The representative said that the Syrian president, Bashar Assad, smiled upon hearing Pelosi’s words and merely said, “We’ll wait and see.” The next day Olmert denied having sent such a message.

The Syrian representative reiterated that Syria is willing to begin peace talks at any time without preconditions, but noted that “Israel never agreed to this, because it would create a shared border between Syria and Hamas, through which Syria could arm Hamas as it pleased.” In other words, his remarks implied that the peace gestures are empty, because Syria knows they would entail a condition that Israel could not live with.

All of this seems to indicate that while Israel continues to express its desire for peace talks with Syria and for a two-state solution, it is thereby placing itself into a trap. When Israel refers to a Palestinian state, almost everyone, except for few diplomats specializing in the Middle East, thinks this refers to a truly sovereign state. Such a state would be free, of course, to import all the arms and foreign soldiers it wishes.

However, it seems that Israel is assuming that it will continue to oversee the borders of this Palestinian state, including those with Syria and Jordan, much like it oversees the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, and Gaza’s sea and air ports today. If that is the case, Israel will be accused of turning the Palestinian state into a prison. That is indeed how many describe Israel’s current attitude to the Gaza Strip.

Therefore, when Israel resumes peace negotiations with Syria and with the Palestinians, it would do well to stop relying on sophisticated legal distinctions between autonomous territories and sovereign territories. It must make it clear that the Palestinian state that will be established in the wake of a peace arrangement will be demilitarized and that there will be a need for effective enforcement methods, such as a combination of Israeli and European patrols, in order to maintain this demilitarization. Any other peace arrangement would contain a poison capsule.

The author is a lecturer in international relations at Georgetown University.

Thanks to Milford421 for this alert, he sends many, that I do not have the energy to post and they should be.

Join his group at the last url....
granny

FDA Recalls Toxic Toothpaste in Four U.S. States (Colgate in NY, NJ, PA & MD)

FOXNEWS.COM HOME > BUSINESS

FDA Recalls Toxic Toothpaste in Four U.S. States
Wednesday, June 13, 2007

www.foxnews.com
WASHINGTON — Five-ounce tubes of toothpaste labeled Colgate and
sold in discount stores in four states are being recalled because
they may contain a poisonous chemical, according to the importer.

A Food and Drug Administration official, Doug Arbesfeld, confirmed
that testing had found the chemical in a product with the Colgate
label. But he said the agency is unsure if it is really Colgate or a
counterfeit.

“We are aware that toothpaste is something that’s been counterfeited
in the past,” he said. “We don’t want to alarm people unnecessarily.”

There was no immediate reply to an e-mail message left with a
Colgate-Palmolive spokesman Wednesday evening.

MS USA Trading, Inc. of North Bergen, N.J., said the toothpaste may
contain diethylene glycol, a chemical found in antifreeze.

The company said the toothpaste, imported from South Africa, was
sold in discount stores in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and
Maryland.

“Made in South Africa” is printed on the box and includes Regular,
Gel, Triple and Herbal versions.

(Story continues below)

China Rejects FDA Warning on Possibly Toxic Toothpaste Report:
Contaminated Toothpaste Turns Up at Several U.S. Locations
Toothpaste Made in China Could Contain DEG, Cause Injury Fast Facts:
Brands of Toothpaste That May Contain Toxin The company said the
problem was discovered in routine testing by the Food and Drug
Administration. It said no illnesses have been reported to date.

The same chemical has led to the recall of several brands of
toothpaste imported from China in recent weeks.

Consumers who have purchased 5-ounce toothpaste under the Colgate
label can return them to the place of purchase for a refund, MS USA
Trading said.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/under-investigation/

Safi’s Soft Words Are Front for Radical Jihadists
by Winfield Myers
The Washington Examiner
June 14, 2007
http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/3596

http://www.examiner.com/a-779895~Winfield_Myers__Safi_s_soft_words_are_front_for_radical_jihadists.html

When Omid Safi of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, was asked recently by AP Press to comment on the Pew poll of American Muslims, which found that about a quarter of those between the ages of 18 and 29 approved of suicide bombings against civilians in at least some cases, he replied:

“Given what’s happened in Iraq and Palestine, I would be shocked if there wasn’t discontent.”

He expressed no outrage against the death of innocents, no blanket condemnation of a death-loving ideology. And, in academe at least, there was no reaction to Safi’s attempt to justify the most disturbing finding of the Pew poll.

Safi is a rising star in academic Middle East studies. He recently decamped from snowy Hamilton, NY, where he taught at Colgate University, to the idylls of Chapel Hill, where he is an associate professor of religious studies.

In April, the Carnegie Corporation awarded him a $100,000 research grant (his project is “Reforming Islam in the ‘Axis of Evil’: Contesting Islam in Post-Revolutionary Iran”) and he’s co-chair of the steering committee for the Study of Islam at the American Academy of Religion. Safi’s future in university circles looks bright.

Little wonder. Safi has mastered the art of postmodern double-speak pioneered by the late Edward Said of Columbia University, whose error-filled book Orientalism paved the way in 1978 for the politicization of Middle East studies. In Safi’s hands, politicizing becomes a way to cloak justifications for ensconcing radical Islam in the West in the language of peace.

This technique is on display in his 2006 Beliefnet article titled “A Path to Peace-Rooted Justice.” In it, Safi’s calls for peace among the children of a loving and peaceful God alternate with condemnations of the West (i.e., America, Europe, and Israel). His assertions are couched in a moral relativism that obscures, but doesn’t neutralize, his efforts to downplay anti-Western violence.

After establishing his peaceful bona fides by evoking Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, and the Dalai Lama, Safi admonishes Muslims to engage in self-criticism, to cease treasuring “’our own’ lives … more than that of ‘others.’” A few paragraphs later, after further warnings against privileging the self over the “other,” we get this:

“I don’t see that happening right now in the Middle East.”

One hopes at this point that he’s going to call for an end to suicide bombings and indiscriminate attacks on civilians and condemn brutal governments that engage in dhimmitude, which is the oppression of religious minorities.

Not quite. The next sentence reads: “I see my fellow Muslims cherishing and lamenting the lives of Iraqi civilians and Palestinians who live under brutal oppression. We should continue to cherish those lives, but not at the expense of demonizing Israelis or others [i.e., Americans] in the region.”

Which, of course, he has just done. But Safi is only warming up. In the next paragraph, he charges that Israeli society “is far from acknowledging the humanity of those around them,” or of “coming to terms” with the “thousands of civilians shot dead by the Israel Defense Forces.”

As for “we as Americans,” Safi charges that “we have never [emphasis original] come to terms with the humanity of Iraqis and Afghanis — if we had, we would be having a public discussion about the tens of thousands of civilian casualties as a result of our military operations.”

In these self-serving charges, Safi ignores the extraordinary risks taken by the IDF to avoid civilian casualties in its responses to rocket and sniper attacks, suicide bombings, and kidnappings of civilians and soldiers alike, many from militias hidden in neighborhoods, schools, churches and mosques.

As for America’s recognition of the humanity of Iraqis and Afghanis, he cynically discounts the sea of goodwill that existed here ahead of both wars, the brutality of Saddam and the Taliban, and the belief by most Americans that in a post-Sept.11 world, Muslims in the Middle East deserved liberty bought with American blood.

Later, Safi writes: “When ‘peace’ is used in the context of ‘security’ to reinforce the ideology of the powerful at the expense of the weak, it is a mockery.” This is an attempt to delegitimize Israel’s right to self-defense.

Then: “As long as our definition of peace is simply the ‘absence of fighting,’ we are ... on our way toward stripping human beings of their ability to resist injustice.” Here again is the old argument that Palestinian “resistance” is legitimate in the face of Israeli “oppression.”

Whatever Safi’s technique — the language of peace, postmodernism, or war — his goal remains the same: the justification of radical Islam.

Winfield Myers is director of Campus Watch.

June 14, 2007 12:00 AM

Home-Invader Program?
Take a clue from Europe.

By Thomas Sowell
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZTgxMGFlMTEzMmI4NjRhNjIzZDZkYTUwMWZlZDdhYTA=

People who are pushing for a “guest worker” program show not the
slightest interest in what has been happening under guest-worker
programs in Europe. Facts are apparently irrelevant.

So is logic. Guests are people you invite to your home. Gate
crashers are people who come without being invited. Home invaders are
people who break in, despite doors that have been shut to keep them out.

If the discussion of immigration laws respected either logic or
honesty, we would be talking about a program to legalize home invaders
instead of a guest-worker program.

As for facts, guest workers from third-world countries have
created centers of crime and violence in Europe, and some guest-worker
communities have become breeding grounds for terrorists.

Just as crime and violence in American inner cities have led not
only to “white flight” but also to a flight of the black, Hispanic, and
Asian middle classes, so in Europe much of the native-born European
population has fled from cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Brussels.

Joel Kotkin’s classic book The City noted the “influx of
immigrants” who were “recruited to Europe during the labor shortages of the
1950s and 1960s” who have become “an increasingly angry and sometimes
violent element in what long had been remarkably peaceful urban areas.”

Another classic book - Our Culture: What’s Left of It by Theodore
Dalrymple - found a similar pattern in France.

Long before the Muslim riots in Paris which shocked France and
the world, Dalrymple pointed out how immigrants in France had become a
major source of crime and violence, not only in Paris but in other parts
of the country.

The housing projects immediately surrounding Paris have become
concentrations of “several million” third-world immigrants - a population
filled with “the hatred it bears for the other, ‘official’ society of
France.”

They are not appeased by “the people who carelessly toss them the
crumbs of Western prosperity.” What they want is what most people want
- respect - and this cannot be given to them, least of all by the
French welfare state.

In order to feel self-respect, the young especially “needed to
see themselves as warriors in a civil war, not mere ne’er-do-wells and
criminals.”

This anti-social vision has been supported and even celebrated by
many intellectuals, much as both black and white intellectuals have
celebrated the senseless brutality and cheap vulgarity of rap music in
America.

What may be especially relevant to the situation in the United
States is that the immigrant parents and grandparents of the violent
youths came to France with a very different view.

They were glad to be in France, which for most was a big
improvement over where they came from. “They were better Frenchmen than either
their children or grandchildren,” Dalrymple noted.

They would never have booed the French national anthem at a
public event, as the later generations did - and as the American national
anthem has been booed in Los Angeles.

The later generations were not born in the third-world countries
from which their parents and grandparents escaped. They were born in
France, and resented not having the same prosperity as other Frenchmen.

Here again, the media and the intelligentsia in France, as in the
United States, tend to turn differences in achievement - “gaps,”
“disparities” - into social injustices rather than reflections of differences
in the things that create achievement.

One of the things that make many people such passionate advocates
of amnesty for illegal immigrants from Mexico is that so many Mexican
immigrants are hard-working, decent family people.

That was also true of many third-world “guest workers” in Europe,
who were glad to be there, but whose children and grandchildren have
developed very different and very poisonous attitudes - with the help of
activists, demagogues, and the media.

Today’s illegal immigrants are too often analogized to early
20th-century immigrants from Europe. But their situation is far more
similar to that of contemporary “guest workers” in Europe.

Sacrificing the Palestinian struggle

By Amira Hass
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/870808.html

Fifth column, traitors, collaborators - this is what Hamas spokesmen call those whom they hold responsible for the civil war in the Gaza Strip. They point to a “treacherous stream in the Fatah movement,” warning that Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is “incapable of taking control of it.” They are referring to Mohammed Dahlan and his associates.

Abbas’ associates have a similar argument: A subversive stream in Hamas is revolting against the PA’s legitimate institutions, they say.

Each side accuses the other’s “treacherous stream” of being the puppet of foreign powers that dictate its actions. Iran and Islamic fundamentalists are cited as the influence driving Hamas, while the United States and Israel are said to be behind Fatah.

Each side is accusing the other of a half-overt plot. Hamas says Fatah tried to sabotage the elected Hamas government, and then the Palestinian unity government. Fatah says Hamas is holding on to its control in the Gaza Strip, and ignoring the acute economic, social and political deterioration this has caused, in order to take over the PLO.

Ironically, there is a grain of truth in both sides’ accusations.

As the number of people murdered and wounded in the internecine Palestinian fighting increases by the hour, and the fear grows that the fighting will spill over into the West Bank, it is hard to see that the two sides are mirror images. Both camps are turning all civilians into hostages, and sentencing them to death in their street fights, sacrificing the struggle for Palestinian liberation on the altar of their rivalry.

However, there is one important difference between the movements. While Fatah’s leaders are out of Gaza - staying abroad or in the West Bank - Hamas’ leaders have not abandoned their people.

Hamas decided this week to take over the positions of security forces loyal to Abbas, arguing that this was the only way it could stop the killings and crimes of the “treacherous stream.” But the move is in fact a statement that Hamas is the “real sovereign in Gaza.” Hamas is following in the footsteps of Yasser Arafat, who surrounded himself with paramilitary forces that Israel accepted. He regarded them as his badge of sovereignty.

Arafat’s forces had weapons and military affectations, and their leaders developed warm relations with senior Israeli defense officials - even after they left the military and became business partners. All this did not stop the process that was turning the Olso Accords into an accelerated construction project in the settlements and shrinking the area for the Palestinians.

And then, in September 2000, the intifada erupted. What began as a popular uprising was soon hijacked by the cult of armed struggle. The weapons and empty military affectations merely nurtured Israel’s policy of slicing up Palestinian territory.

Following the formation of the Hamas government, Abbas has asked for - and received - permission from Israel and the United States to bring arms into the Gaza Strip. The limited use of these weapons is now evident. Fatah’s forces are weak not because they are short of weapons, but because the Fatah movement, which failed to keep its promise that Oslo would lead to an independent state, is not offering a new action plan vis-a-vis the Israeli occupation.

As Fatah’s mirror image, the Hamas government announced it cannot pay civil servants’ wages. But it has found ways to finance the large amount of weapons being smuggled into the Gaza Strip and purchased in the West Bank.

Now it will have full “military” control of the Gaza Strip. Will this bring relief to Gaza’s 1.4 million residents? Will it improve the health system and ensure employment for university graduates? Will it remove Israel’s land and sea blockade?

It may be assumed that the military takeover of Abbas’ symbols of “sovereignty” will serve as an excuse for Israel to sever once and for all the remaining civilian and economic ties between the Gaza Strip and West Bank - a political process Israel started in 1991. Because Hamas, like its mirror image Fatah, has no coherent liberation or independence plan for Palestinians in this lifetime.

[google alert....yahoo alert has different ones: bomb threat]

Vero Beach Wal-Mart evacuated after bomb threat
Stuart News (subscription) - Stuart,FL,USA
By KEONA GARDNER INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The Wal-Mart store in Vero
Beach
was evacuated this evening after receiving a bomb threat. The threat
was
phoned into ...
http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/local_news/article/0,2545,TCP_16736_5584395,00.html
See all stories on this topic:
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ncl=http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/local_news/article/0,2545,TCP_16736_5584395,00.html

NJ nursing home evacuated, slowly, after false bomb threat
Newsday - Long Island,NY,USA
It began when a bomb threat was called in to the complex’s receptionist
around 8:20 am, said Lakewood Police Capt. Gregg Miick. Even before
police
arrived, ...
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newjersey/ny-bc-nj—nursinghomeevacua0613jun13,0,7981783.story?coll=ny-region-apnewjersey
See all stories on this topic:
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ncl=http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newjersey/ny-bc-nj—nursinghomeevacua0613jun13,0,7981783.story%3Fcoll%3Dny-region-apnewjersey

Bomb threat halts county business
Plattsburgh Press Republican - Plattsburgh,NY,USA
By JOE LoTEMPLIO PLATTSBURGH — Business at the Clinton County
Government
Center was disrupted by a bomb threat late Tuesday morning. ...
http://www.pressrepublican.com/homepage/local_story_163221514.html?keyword=topstory
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School on lockdown after bomb threat
Newsday - Long Island,NY,USA
BY JOHN VALENTI AND JASON DELREY Students were evacuated from a middle
school on Wellwood Avenue in Lindenhurst on Wednesday morning after a
bomb
threat was ...
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-libomb0614,0,4733708.story?coll=ny-linews-headlines
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UNA campus closes after bomb threat
The Decatur Daily - Decatur,AL,USA
FLORENCE (AP) — The University of North Alabama shut down its campus
Tuesday after receiving four anonymous bomb threats by e-mail. ...
http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/070613/una.shtml
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Bomb threat called into airport
KUAM.com - Dededo,GU,USA
An investigation is underway to determine exactly who called in a bomb
threat to the Guam International Airport Authority. According to GIAA
executive ...
http://www.kuam.com/news/23031.aspx
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Bomb threat closes Capitol temporarily
Monitor - McAllen,TX,USA
AUSTIN - A bomb threat closed the Texas Capitol to incoming traffic for
nearly two hours Wednesday morning, according the Department of Public
Safety. ...
http://www.themonitor.com/news/capitol_3027___article.html/block_dps.html
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Second vague bomb threat found in NF today
Danbury News Times - Danbury,CT,USA
AP Video AP Podcasts NEW FAIRFIELD - A bomb threat written on paper was
found early today in the bathroom of New Fairfield High School. ...
http://www.newstimeslive.com/news/story.php?id=1056593&source=breaking_news
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Bomb threat at city court halts all hearings
Douglas Daily Dispatch - Douglas,AZ,USA
Blaine then went to the health department and alerted the employees
there
of the bomb threat. “There were about seven health department employees
and
about ...
http://www.douglasdispatch.com/articles/2007/06/13/news/news1.txt
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Three arrested in school bomb threat
WTNH - New Haven,CT,USA
(Litchfield-WTNH)_State police have arrested three people for their
involvement in a bomb threat that disrupted nearly all school districts
in
Litchfield ...
http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=6654189
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Huge Qatar order Interracial preg Airbus plan for new A.
By mmorpg
Botched internal Bank of America fax showing a match lighting afuse
sparked a bomb scare in Ashland yesterday that prompted police to clear
out a shopping mall. Bank of America promotional fax mistaken as bomb
threat. ...
http://blog.model88.com/getgolddown/2007/06/13/huge-qatar-order-interracial-preg-airbus-plan-for-new-a/
American Pastime focuses on a...
http://blog.model88.com/getgolddown

Dreams, Distance, and Home
By eric
It might have only been in my dreams, but I do in fact now remember
little things from the past. If I could only dream about math and be able
to do my taxes or save the world from a bomb threat in French.
http://www.graveerror.net/2007/06/13/dreams-distance-and-home/
Grave Error
http://www.graveerror.net

Davis-Besse security back to normal after possible threat
CARROLL TOWNSHIP — The Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station was on high
alert Monday night while the FBI investigated a potential bomb threat, a
spokeswoman said.
http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070613/NEWS01/706130303/1002/rss01
thenews-messenger.com - Local News
http://www.thenews-messenger.com

When Schools Automated Calling System Go Very Wrong
By christinemm(christinemm)
In New Fairfield a bus driver found a note that said “Bomb today”. The
New Fairfield school treated this as a bomb threat and prepared a
too-long message to be sent to parents of children in the New Fairfield
school to tell them school ...
http://thethinkingmother.blogspot.com/2007/06/when-schools-automated-calling-system.html
The Thinking Mother
http://thethinkingmother.blogspot.com/

Bomb threat causes Guardian evacuation
A bomb scare in the paint kitchen at Guardian Automotive evacuated the
building Thursday after an unknown male subject called the front desk
clerk advising her he had been fired for the last time, according to
Kentucky State Police.
http://www.themoreheadnews.com/local/local_story_163110319.html
The Morehead News—Local News
http://www.themoreheadnews.com

[We must not forget this one....
Earlier, I posted on how the jihadi should post to brainwash the non-jihadi, the comments with this thread, are a perfect example of jihadi posting to forums....
granny]

http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/8b7ef60a5640062e/c2fba71276822a50

Most people have short memories, but here’s something that calls for
remembering:

Last year, Front Page Magazine ran an article about links between the
International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and the London bombings on 7/7
that left 52 dead and hundreds wounded.

Evidence back then showed that the explosives used in the London
subway attacks were found by British and Israeli intelligence
officials to be remarkably similar to those used in a 2003 bombing of
the “Mike’s Place” bar in Israel. Related to this, Israel National
News reported also that British and Israeli intelligence reports
showed that one of the terrorists involved had a British passport,
arrived in Israel on February 19, 2003, and stayed for only one day.
During his stay, he may have met with Asif Hanif and Omar Sharif. Both
of the men, with the assistance of Hamas, would later become suicide
bombers. Hanif and Sharif traveled from Britain to Israel under the
auspices of the ISM’s Alternative Tourism Group, the precursor to the
ISM. Both terrorists told Israeli border police they were entering for
purposes of Alternative Tourism and met with the ISM in Gaza at a
memorial for Rachel Corrie where they “had tea.”

The Alternative Tourism Program, created by Ghassan Andoni, a Bir Zeit
University physics professor, metastasized into the International
Solidarity Movement with Andoni’s guidance and the activism work in
the USA carried out by Palestinian Marxist-communists like George
Rishmawi, Adam Shapiro, his wife, Huwaida Arraf and Neta Golan. The
ISM, also known as the Palestine Solidarity Movement, then became
active across the USA on college campuses. That started in 2001 during
the Second Intifada. The ISM began recruiting other college-aged
anarchists and communists and Arab students on US campuses to become
human shields for terrorists in the West Bank and Gaza. Rachel
Corrie, a college-aged anarchist from Evergreen College in Washington
State, died demonstrating with the ISM when she placed her body in
front of an IDF bulldozer. The ISM’s long-term goal as a communist-
anarchist movement is first to dismantle Israel as a capitalist
democratic state for the PLO Islamists and their pan-Arab cause, and
then to bring the “revolution” back here to the United States to do
the same at home on our border with Mexico.

Plans are already being made with other subversive groups in the
United States to do this. Groups such as La Voz De Aztlan, a Marxist
irredentist group, plan on joining up with Palestinian and Arab-Muslim
students and their anarchist-communist allies on US campuses to bring
the same activities to our border with Mexico as are seen in the West
Bank attacking the security fence in the not so distant future.

Now comes new evidence of a link between the ISM and al Qaeda.

Abed al Hadi al-Iraq, a.k.a. Abu Abdullah, 45, who is considered by
the CIA as of one of Osama bin Laden’s most talented operations
officers, was recently captured and should be a boon to US
intelligence in the War on Terror. People now say he represents the
link between Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and al Qaeda, thus justifying our
presence in Iraq. But people have yet to see the link to the
International Solidarity Movement.

Al Hadi is an Iraqi and uses the nom de guerre “Abu Abdallah” (father
of Abdallah) in a style usually used by Palestinian terrorists. Being
Iraqi, Abu Abdallah is part of the closest allies of the PLO and
Hamas, the Ba’ath Party in Iraq. However, Abu Abdallah was captured
crossing into Iraq from Iran. Recent intelligence reports have
remarked at how the Sunnis who make up Hamas in Gaza are now getting
money, weapons and training for the Shiite majority state of Iran to
be used against Israel. For anyone claiming al Qaeda has nothing to
do with Iraq or 9/11, the Iranian-al Qaeda connection is now obvious.
But according to an interview I had with a former veteran Iraqi
national police sergeant at a recent Intelligence Summit who was
introduced by terrorism expert Dave Gaubatz and who is now exiled in
the United States and under the federal witness protection program and
uses only the first name “Hassan,” the Iraqi police were always
hamstrung in arresting many Ba’athists who broke the law, even for
murder or robbery, because they also clandestinely belonged to al
Qaeda. According to the former national police officer, that included
members of Iraq’s national police as well.

The Pentagon has reported that Abu Abdallah had responsibility for
managing al Qaeda’s affairs and possibly even focusing on operations
outside Iraq against Western targets. Interrogated by US Forces, he
has now been credited with the first direct al Qaeda suicide attack on
Israeli soil-an attack in which the ISM was linked to. That attack on
Mike’s Place in Tel Aviv as reported earlier here at Front Page
Magazine is now alleged to have been carried out on direct orders from
Osama bin Laden due to the information obtained from Abu Abdallah.
Three Israelis were killed, including an Israeli army officer whose
family resided in Israel since 1858, and sixty people were wounded.

Al Hadi a.k.a. Abu Abdallah recruited the two British Muslims of
Pakistani origin who entered the Holy Land through Jordan using
Ghandoni’s Alternative Tourism as an excuse, and then proceeded
directly to meeting with ISM leaders just before their attack. Both
terrorists were English-speaking and had EU passports. They were
recruited by Abu Abdallah at the notoriously Wahhabist Finsbury Park
Mosque in London. The ISM also has a major presence, especially on
college campuses, in London and the UK.

Since the explosives used in London on 7/7 could be linked to the ISM
through the Mike’s Place bombing, the involvement of al Qaeda also
infers how the ISM may have been the place where the terrorists picked
up those explosives prior to the Tel Aviv attack, since the terrorists
would have been unable to smuggle explosives in through Jordan prior
to meeting “for tea” with ISM activists. Israeli intelligence reports
showed the two killers only met with the ISM, an organization that has
consistently called terrorist attacks “legitimate resistance.” To this
day, no one knows who for certain gave them or where in Gaza the two
terrorists picked up their bomb and received instructions on where to
attack, but it is clear they met with the ISM and now those same two
terrorists are known to be linked inextricably to al Qaeda by Abu
Abdallah.

Sharif failed to detonate his bomb belt after Hanif exploded himself
in the busy bar, a hangout for Americans in Tel Aviv. After fleeing
the scene, Sharif was found later floating face down in the
Mediterranean. Palestinian terrorists do not murder their own kind
when they fail on suicide missions, knowing that the Israelis have no
death penalty and that in the future they may even be released from
prison in negotiations or prisoner swaps. As mentioned, Western
intelligence agencies feel the capture and information from Abu
Abdallah show the international terrorism network is not made up of
just disparate groups with myriad goals. Al Qaeda and bin Laden can
now be linked to Hamas and the PLO. The fact that Sharif, a British
national, may have known too much about the ISM and al Qaeda being
behind his attack may have prompted Hamas to liquidate him not just
for the al Qaeda link, but for the one to the ISM as well. There was
simply too much to lose, because had the connection to the ISM been
established exposing the network of the terrorist-support movement
that is found on so many campuses throughout the USA and most of
Europe, it might have led to its demise.

Homeland Security needs to take an even deeper look into the ISM and
if Abu Abdallah himself ever had contacts with ISM leadership in the
USA and Europe during his operational activities for bin Laden.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=28601

http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/topics

The culture of the United States of America.

[Click the star to watch this topic] Hamas is kicking Fatah’s ass.
Such is why the world will be run by Islamic Fundamentalists in the near future. Noone can or will stand up to them. One day what we are seeing in Gaza, with Islamic militants overriding the more moderate factions, what we see in Somalia, with the Islamic militants overriding the moderate factions, what we see in Afghanistan, with the... more »
By Justin Pate - 12:43pm - 1 new of 1 message

[Click the star to watch this topic] GREEN ZONE-CARBON ZONE
Explosions rock Baghdad, smoke rises above Green Zone The Associated PressPublished: June 14, 2007 BAGHDAD: Explosions rocked central Baghdad mid-afternoon Thursday, and smoke billowed over the American-guarded Green Zone. A witness inside the zone, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of his job, said about half a dozen mortars fell in... more »
By Venceremos - 12:19pm - 1 new of 1 message

[Click the star to watch this topic] The benefits of cooperation
The benefits of cooperation No Contest is a must-read book for anyone wishing to create, build and invent. It shows how cooperation allows us to excel. “Superbly researched, lucidly written, and delineated with admirable clarity.” - Los Angeles Times Book Review “Alfie Kohn marshals the evidence that competition is not the mainspring of... more »
By Neew, news, news - 12:12pm - 1 new of 1 message

[Click the star to watch this topic] Tax Protesters Ed & Elaine Brown Will Hold Press Conference Next Monday - If they’re still alive
[link] Browns To Hold National Press Conference Randy Weaver to join tax protestors on Monday Steve Watson Prison Planet Thursday, June 14, 2007 Tax Protestors Ed and Elaine Brown have exclusively revealed today that they are to hold a press conference at their home in Plainfield New... more »
By Speeders & Drunk Drivers are MURDERERS - 11:52am - 1 new of 1 message

[Click the star to watch this topic] Kuwait says US cannot use bases for any Iran strike
...Overheard, Cheney to Rice phone call yesterday: Dick Cheney: “...and call that towel-head whatshisname in Kuwait, and tell him we’ll be using their airbases to launch the first wave against Bushehr.”
By Nomen Nescio - 11:32am - 1 new of 1 message

[Click the star to watch this topic] Racism and TV in Venezuela
June 13, 2007 RCTV’s Colonial Television Racism and TV in Venezuela By RICHARD GOTT After days of rival protests in the streets of Caracas, memories have been revived of earlier attempts to overthrow the Bolivarian revolution of Hugo Chávez, now in its ninth year. Street demonstrations, culminating in an attempted coup in 2002 and a prolonged lock-out at the national oil industry, once seemed the last resort of an opposition unable to make headway at the polls. Yet the current unrest is a feeble echo of those tumultuous events, and the political struggle takes place on a smaller canvas. Today’s battle is for the hearts and minds of a younger generation confused by the upheavals of an uncharted revolutionary process.... more »
By r|³· - 10:31am - 5 new of 5 messages

[Click the star to watch this topic] Projet d’édition d’une monographie sur Trévisse, artiste peintre
Ceux ou celles qui s’intéressent à la création contemporaine, n’hésitez pas à cliquez sur le lien suivant: [link] du site Espace Trévisse: [link]
By chri.schmitt - 9:25am - 1 new of 1 message

[Click the star to watch this topic] PBS show : Six Days In June (about six day war)
PBS show Six Days In June After seeing this the other day, one has to ask, is “land grab” the same as losing a war? [link] [link]
By Zeno - 9:12am - 1 new of 1 message

[I have not checked the links...granny]

http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/e09f55b8b22fd145/81acbd6e6f8f61e7#81acbd6e6f8f61e7

Warning Shots Fired by Sailor at Unidentified Person
14 Jun 2007 - 14:09

TRINCOMALEE: A SENTRY ON DUTY AT THE NAVAL DETACHMENT in ALLES GARDEN
area having observed an unidentified person approaching the detachment
warned verbally and fired a few warning shots as he continued to walk
despite his warning towards the point around 10.30 p.m. yesterday (13).

A sailor who was performing sentry duties issued verbal warnings and
as there was no response fired warning shots at the unidentified person
who walked towards the security area. The unidentified person has then
run towards the Club Oceanic hotel in TRINCOMALEE.

On investigations it was revealed that the person who had approached the
detachment during dark was a Pilipino national named “Aptonio Vilamor”
working in a NGO named “Mercy Corps” in TRINCOMALEE. Due to the warning
shots, the Pilipino national sustained minor injuries and was taken to
the TRINCOMALEE hospital and later transferred to Colombo for medical
treatment.

UPPUWELI Police are conducting investigations.

—
For genuine Situation Report visit:
http://www.nationalsecurity.lk
http://www.defence.lk/
http://www.army.lk/index1.php
http://www.nmatnet.com/

http://www.sinhalaya.info/index-EN.php

Worth to look following to see how brutal Tamil Tiger Terrorists are

Child Soldiers of LTTE Tamil Tiger Terrorists in Sri Lanka
http://www.spur.asn.au/childwar.htm

Ethnic Cleansing in Sri Lanka
http://www.spur.asn.au/ethnic_cleansing_in_sri_lanka.htm

LTTE TAMIL TIGER ATROCITIES
http://www.spur.asn.au/ltteatrp.htm

http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/0b60dff61a83828a/362d89e9c3a7a723#362d89e9c3a7a723

SL Naval troops apprehend LTTE logistic movement- Mannar

SL Naval troops operating in the coast of Pesalai area in Mannar
apprehended an LTTE logistic sea movement recovering 10 sacks of cement,
while arresting 05 terrorist suspects in the course yesterday (13), at
03:30 p.m.

The Naval troops on observation duties detected a suspicious boat
movement consisting of three fibre glass dinghies (FGDs) along the
coastal waters, ‘making-way’ towards the un-liberated shoals off
Vedithalathivu, North of Mannar.

The Naval sea units intercepted the boat movement having already
informed the suspicious boats to drift until initial investigations were
done and the boats cleared off.

On sighting the arrival of the SLN sea units the terrorist suspects
onboard the FGDs had thrown overboard 10 cement filled sacks intended to
be transported to the un-liberated areas, on instructions of the LTTE.

Later according to the Naval Spokesperson Commander D.K.P Dassanayake,
05 terrorist suspects were arrested, who were onboard the FGDs and
handed over to the Talaimannar Police for further investigations.

—
For genuine Situation Report visit:
http://www.nationalsecurity.lk
http://www.defence.lk/
http://www.army.lk/index1.php
http://www.nmatnet.com/

http://www.sinhalaya.info/index-EN.php

Worth to look following to see how brutal Tamil Tiger Terrorists are

Child Soldiers of LTTE Tamil Tiger Terrorists in Sri Lanka
http://www.spur.asn.au/childwar.htm

Ethnic Cleansing in Sri Lanka
http://www.spur.asn.au/ethnic_cleansing_in_sri_lanka.htm

LTTE TAMIL TIGER ATROCITIES
http://www.spur.asn.au/ltteatrp.htm

http://euronews.net/index.php?page=info&article=427585&lng=1

NATO goes ahead with own missile shield

NATO’s defence ministers have tacitly agreed to a planned US missile defence shield in eastern Europe despite reluctance by Moscow.

The alliance will examine the implications of the US plan and deliver its result by February, ahead of the next NATO summit when Washington hopes the 26 members will agree to start work on the system.

The US announced plans in January to install 10 missile interceptors in Poland, and a radar base in the Czech Republic by 2013.

The idea is to be able to counter attacks from what Washington regards as “rogue states”, in particular Iran.

But Turkey, Greece, Romania and Bulgaria would only be partially covered.

To resolve this problem, the alliance wants to add a smaller missile system to the planned one.

The US scheme angered Russia which said it represented a threat to its own security.

Moscow retaliated with threats of turning its own arms toward Europe.

However, last week Russian president Vladimir Putin made a surprise offer to Washington to set up a joint radar base in Azerbaijan. Both sides are studying the project.

On a recent visit to Prague, US President George W Bush was greeted by angry demonstrators. Two-thirds of the Czech population are opposed to hosting a US radar base.

http://euronews.net/index.php?page=info&article=427565&lng=1

Tougher Chinese laws could reduce adoptions

At the US Consulate in Guangdong, China, a group of American parents have come with their adopted Chinese children to swear that they will be good parents.

But in the future, Western adopters may find it much harder to come to China to find a baby. Last month, the Beijing authorities tightened up the regulations to reduce the flow of babies out of the country.

The move could affect Guangdong’s reputation as the adoption capital of the world.

“They are China’s children and China has the right to impose whatever policies they like, and I know they need to slow down the flood of people trying to come over here,” says Jane Backus, one of the mothers. “It doesn’t affect us so I don’t feel really strongly one way or the other. And we would have met the new adoption requirement anyway.”

Last year a total of 13,000 Chinese children were adopted. 8,000 of them went to the USA, while 2,700 went to families in Spain.

The new law bars potential adopters if they are homosexual, a batchelor or unmarried, invalid or obese. You can’t adopt if you are under 30 or over 50 either. As parents, you would also be required to prove you have an income of more than 10,000 dollars each and that you own your home.

The official newspaper “People’s Daily” says these new measures are intended not so much to reduce the number of Chinese babies being adopted overseas, but to ensure they have the best possible future.

It raises the question: if fewer babies are adopted, will Chinese orphanages become overcrowded?

Jeffrey Reed, one of the new adopting dads, says: “Perhaps it’s a perception, every government wants to give the perception to the rest of the world that they are protecting their children and China is doing that. I mean they are giving that perception, but at the same time there are so many orphans in the orphanages that they are going to create a bigger log jam.”

It could also affect the commercial and retail environment in Guangdong city which has become renowned for the numerous shops selling baby goods and hotels catering for prospective parents.

http://euronews.net/index.php?page=info&article=427530&lng=1

Lebanon mourns another murdered politician

Thousands of people have turned out in the streets of Beirut for the funeral of Walid Eido. Prominent among the mourners was the leader of Lebanon’s anti-Syrian parliamentary majority Saad al-Hariri, whose father was killed in a similar attack in 2005.

Also present by Hariri’s side was the leader of Lebanon’s Druze community, Walid Jumblatt, and many other political and religious figures.

An ally of Hariri, Eido was assassinated yesterday in a car bombing near the beachfront along with his eldest son Khaled and eight other people.

Shops, banks, and schools have closed in the capital and in many other places, and a national day of mourning has been declared.

Prime Minister Fouad Siniora is demanding that the recently-formed UN inquiry into the murder of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, blamed on Syria, be extended to include this latest attack.

Today, the Lebanese press had no doubt that Syria was again to blame, and denounced “Syrian terrorism”.

There has been no comment from Damascus. Eido is the seventh prominent anti-Syrian figure to be killed since the Hariri assassination.

The Lebanese police are saying that the methods used in the attack, and the type of explosive, are identical to those employed to kill Hariri.