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BARACK OBAMA PIRATE SONG

Federal agents searched three money-transfer businesses in Minneapolis on Wednesday, carrying away boxes of documents and copying computer hard drives in a quest for details of financial transactions between the U.S. and several African nations. Agents searched Mustaqbal Express, also known as North American Money Transfer Inc.; Quran Express; and Aaran Financial. FBI spokesman E.K. Wilson confirmed the searches but wouldn't elaborate on the reason.

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_2939.html Travel Warning United States Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs Washington, DC 20520 This information is current as of today, Sat Feb 21 2009 01:37:32 GMT-0800 (PST). ERITREA February 18, 2009 U.S. Department of State continues to warn U.S. citizens of the risks of travel to Eritrea and recommends that U.S. citizens defer travel at this time. This replaces the Travel Warning dated November 15, 2008, and informs U.S. citizens that the consular section of the U.S. Embassy in Asmara has re-opened for all American Citizen Services. The Department of State...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2009/s09010155.htm Wednesday, January 21, 2009 Christian Deaths Mount in Eritrean Prisons Three more believers die in military confinement centers in past four months By Jeremy Reynalds Correspondent for ASSIST News Service LOS ANGELES (ANS) -- Three Christians incarcerated in military prisons for their faith have died in the past four months in Eritrea, including the Jan. 16 death of a 42-year-old man in solitary confinement, according to a Christian support organization. Compass News reported sources told Open Doors that Mehari Gebreneguse Asgedom died at the Mitire Military Confinement center from torture, and complications...

A Somali Islamist hardliner who lives in exile in Eritrea has said the war against the Somali interim government will continue "even if Ethiopian troops withdraw," Radio Garowe reports. Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, leader of the Eritrea-based ARS faction, said on Thursday that he is "doubtful" that Ethiopian forces will withdraw from Somalia. "The men who returned to Mogadishu made friends with the enemy, and I believe the enemy is using them," Sheikh Aweys said, while referring to Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, chairman of the Alliance for Re-liberation of Somalia's (ARS) Djibouti-based faction. He described the enemy as "Ethiopian soldiers...

The United States has agreed to deploy radiation detectors at a major port in Djibouti as part of an ongoing effort to deter smuggling of potential nuclear weapons materials, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration announced today (see GSN, Dec. 6). "This agreement highlights the shared commitment of the United States and the Republic of Djibouti to combat nuclear terrorism," NNSA Deputy Administrator William Tobey said in a press release. "The Port of Djibouti plays an important role in the global maritime shipping system by linking Europe, the Far East, Africa and the Persian Gulf. Djibouti's strategic location as a...

eavy fighting erupted today in Mogadishu between insurgents and AMISOM peacekeepers at a base of the African Union peace mission in Somalia, witnesses told the local media. Based on these accounts, a commando fired rocket propelled grenades in the KM4 base, a key crossing in southern Mogadishu. Radio Shabelle reports that it is unknown if there were any casualties. News is also unclear from the Afgoi district, in the Lower Shabelle region that surrounds Mogadishu: according to some local reporters, a blast severely damaged an Ethiopian military truck. Somalia, torn by a never resolved civil war since 1991, is in...

His Holiness Abune Dioskoros, Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church, who is currently in Europe on spiritual visit, said that the Eritrea people have religions of their own dating back to centuries on the basis of which they have been coexisting in peace and harmony. And as such, they are not in need of any religion from foreigners, he elaborated. During his stay in the Italian city of Milan from December 5 to 8, the Patriarch was accorded warm welcome by heads of the Office of the Eritrean Consul General, the Synod of the St. Mary Church and a...

On the same day Somali gunmen seized two more ships, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Tuesday to authorize nations to conduct land and air attacks on pirate bases on the coast of the Horn of Africa country. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was on hand to push through the resolution, one of President George W. Bush's last major foreign policy initiatives. Rice said the resolution will have a significant impact, especially since "pirates are adapting to the naval presence in the Gulf of Aden by traveling further" into sea lanes not guarded by warships sent by the U.S. and...

[Pan-Arabism = tyranny - racism] Eritrea Slams... IGAD as Tool of Anti-African Policies Oct 28, 2008 ... IGAD member states include a bunch of derelict or failed states that consist in the epitome of malfunction, ferocity and malignancy. With Eritrea having wisely suspended its participation in this nest of snakes in 2007, IGAD represents the illegal interests of the undemocratic and terrorist governments of Abyssinia, Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya and Uganda. The six (6) countries´ names are the most loathed (by the inhabitants of the respective countries) country names throughout the globe. In fact, Abyssinia, Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya and...

On the other side of the Red Sea in the south-west corner of the Arabian peninsula, Yemen has natural gas reserves and is trying to lure investment from its wealthy neighbours. But the country suffers from a shortage of fresh water and is beset by economic hardship, a persistent al-Qaeda menace and a Shia rebellion in the north. It takes a leap of faith to believe that a private initiative can raise $200bn for what would be the world's biggest engineering project to link the two countries. Plans are afoot for such a scheme, however. The grandiose project is the...

Egypt crackdown on African migrants hits Eritreans Thu 26 Jun 2008, 11:14 GMT By Cynthia Johnston CAIRO, June 26 (Reuters) - When 17 Eritrean migrants crept down from a hillside to a central Egypt highway, after slipping undetected into the most populous Arab country, security forces quickly swept in to pick them up. The Eritreans, including a baby whose mother died on her journey to Egypt, were snared in a growing Egyptian crackdown on African migrants that has seen up to 1,000 Eritrean asylum seekers deported since June 11 despite U.N. objections. ... he Eritreans include Pentecostal Christians fleeing religious...

LA JOYA, Texas — Local police are accustomed to dealing with illegal border crossings, but they were astounded by the video of 15 Chinese immigrants unfolding themselves from the back of a red Suburban near this small border town. The vehicle appeared abandoned when police rolled up early on a recent Saturday morning. But when Border Patrol agents arrived and swung open the double rear doors, the Chinese immigrants tumbled out, squinting in the sunlight. "They were in bad shape," said La Joya Police spokesman Joe Cantu. The immigrants were silent, able to communicate only with hand gestures. One man...

HIDALGO - U.S. Border Patrol agents Sunday detained 18 people from the horn of Africa - an uncommon but not unheard of origin for illegal migrants to the United States, officials said. The east African immigrants - 13 from Eritrea and five from Ethiopia - were walking along a road in Hidalgo on Sunday when they were spotted, said local Border Patrol spokesman Daniel Doty. Agents peacefully took the illegal immigrants into custody, Doty said. None of them was carrying drugs or firearms. Doty said illegal immigrants who come from countries other than Mexico either face an expedited deportation hearing...

ON THE DJIBOUTIAN-ERITREAN BORDER — The distance between the rival armies is shorter than the barrel of a gun. Hundreds of opposing troops are lined up on the border, staring each other down, from just inches away. On one side are the Djiboutians, a relatively well-equipped African military with combat boots, CamelBak strap-on water bottles and the occasional buttery croissant in the field. On the other side are skinny Eritrean soldiers, covered in dust and wearing plastic sandals, camped out in thatch-roofed huts that look like fortified tropical bungalows. < > “No pictures, no pictures,” one Eritrean soldier yelled....

Cairo, Egypt (AHN) - Egyptian border police shot and killed an Eritrean refugee on Saturday who was attempting to sneak into Israel, security officials said. According to initial reports, the woman had been attempting to smuggle herself and her two children across the border when Egyptian soldiers, who said she disobeyed orders before opening fire, caught her, according to reports. Security officials in the Sinai Peninsula have said that the woman's' daughters, aged 8 and 10, have been taken into custody. In recent months, Israel has continually called on Cairo to do a better job at stemming the tide of...

The Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin accuses Norway of supporting "terrorist groups" in Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan. "False allegations," replies Norwegian Parliamentary Secretary Raymond Johansen.

The US has issued Eritrea with its strongest warning yet over its alleged support for terrorism. A senior US official said the presence of an exiled Somali Islamist leader in Asmara this week was further evidence Eritrea gave sanctuary to terrorists. The gathering of further intelligence could lead to Eritrea being named as a state sponsor of terrorism - followed by sanctions, the official said. The Eritrean government has accused the US of deliberate distortion. A full scale war of words is now going on between Eritrea and the United States. The US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs,...

US gives stark warning to Eritrea By Elizabeth Blunt BBC News, Addis Ababa Eritrea accuses Jendayi Frazer herself of deliberate distortion The US has issued Eritrea with its strongest warning yet over its alleged support for terrorism. A senior US official said the presence of an exiled Somali Islamist leader in Asmara this week was further evidence Eritrea gave sanctuary to terrorists. The gathering of further intelligence could lead to Eritrea being named as a state sponsor of terrorism - followed by sanctions, the official said. The Eritrean government has accused the US of deliberate distortion. A full scale war...

The Eritrea Consulate's office in downtown Oakland was shuttered to visitors Tuesday after U.S. State Department orders, the latest salvo in an escalating diplomatic conflict with the impoverished East African country state. The State Department informed Eritrea last week that the consulate must be shut down by Nov. 8, citing restrictions imposed on diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Asmara, including travel curbs, the refusal to grant visas to U.S. officials, and the non-delivery of diplomatic pouches, which is in violation of international protocols. By Tuesday morning, however, the Consulate Office in the Tribune Tower on 13th Street in downtown...