North Korea said Friday it is ditching a nonaggression pact and all other peace agreements with South Korea, in an apparent attempt to use the threat of an armed clash to press Seoul to give up its "confrontational" stance. The communist nation also said it will no longer respect a disputed sea border with the South, raising the prospect for an armed clash along the Yellow Sea boundary - the scene of deadly skirmishes between the two navies in 1999 and 2002.
South Korea said it regretted the North's latest move and warned it won't tolerate any attempt to violate the border. Analysts said Pyongyang's threats could signal it is preparing for an armed confrontation, but only as a way of ratcheting up the pressure on Seoul to get the neighbor to soften its hard-line stance - and attracting President Barack Obama's attention. "This signals that North Korea will stage a provocation" - probably near the maritime border, said Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University.
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http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1233304639158&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
`Al-Qaeda video` recruits snipers to avenge Gaza
Thursday January 29, 2009
A new video purportedly from Al-Qaeda in Iraq urges Muslims to become snipers in order to avenge the Palestinian deaths caused by Israel`s three-week offensive in the Gaza Strip. The 30 minute documentary, entitled "From the Islamic State: Dedicated to Gaza, the courageous," underlines the military and religious aspect of a sniper in Islam. It begins by showing images of the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, while images of Arab heads of state are seen cheering after a raid.
The aim of the video - produced by production house al-Furqan - is to invite Muslims from all over the world to do the same and kill the first unbeliever that crosses his path. "You must know that with a bullet whose cost does not exceed one dollar, you can kill a person who gets paid much more by their country. "If you feel that your heart is being squeezed and you are sorry about what is happening to Muslims, become a sniper and learn how to become one. Then approach God`s enemy and his closest prophet and put a bullet in his heart or head and you will see how much better you feel," said the message.
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THE HAGUE - Moroccans in the Netherlands are not allowed to give their children any Berber names any more. In this way, Islamic identity is being stressed, Trouw newspaper reported yesterday.
By far the biggest group of Moroccans in the Netherlands are of Berber origin, a region in the mountainous north of Morocco. "They will now be forced to give their children a Moroccan-Islamic name," according to Trouw. "Morocco wants to secure the Moroccan identity of its nationals in this way, including the Moroccan Dutch." The Moroccan government in Rabat sent all embassies and consulates abroad a list of banned name this week. Christian names were already forbidden. "We forbid Berber names because they conflict with the identity and because they open the door to the spread of meaningless names," said Idris Bajdi, a top official in Morocco, in the newspaper.
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http://www.nisnews.nl/public/290109_2.htm
Great time for a rookie to be in the oval office.
Missing West Michigan Man Conspired Against
No ones seen hide nor hair of Donald Dietz now for more than a year.
He disappeared from Saranac last September while riding his bike home from a Meijer store. Investigators know his disappearance is suspicious. Friday, prosecutors released a 3rd indictment in a twisted and complicated case of fraud. It’s a move no one saw coming.
Rami Saba of Lowell is tied into all this mess. He once worked as Dietz’s financial advisor. Prosecutors indicted him last year on Fraud and False Identity charges related to Deitz.
Court documents show he stole Deitz’s identity and tried to wire more than $440,000 back to a bank account in Lebanon but a Credit Union blocked that transaction....
http://www.wwmt.com/articles/conspired_1358594___article.html/michigan_missing.html