We should give Iran one last chance for dialogue," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in an interview published on Monday in Le Figaro.
According to Kouchner, "Economic sanctions that would be imposed on Iran would be very harsh, but we are not there yet."
The French foreign minister expressed concern about Iran's actions. "Why did Iran announce 10 new uranium enrichment sites when it has only one nuclear plant to burn this fuel?" The fact that Iran persists in ignoring the demands of the IAEA, that's very dangerous."
Regarding tensions between Israel and Iran, Kouchner said "direct confrontation between the countries must be avoided as it would have incalculable consequences."
The Iranian government approved a plan Sunday to build 10 industrial scale uranium enrichment facilities, a dramatic expansion of the program in defiance of UN demands it halt enrichment.
The decision comes only days after the UN nuclear watchdog agency censured Iran over its program and demanded it halt the construction of a newly revealed enrichment facility.
Iran's state news agency IRNA says the government ordered the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran to begin construction of five uranium enrichment sites that have already been studied and propose five other sites for future construction.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that centrifuges to be installed in the new facilities will serve the country's energy needs. According to him, Iran needs more advanced centrifuges "in order to reach the situation in which we can produce 250-300 tons of fuel."
The new sites will be modeled after the facility at Natanz. The decision was made during a cabinet meeting headed by President Ahmadinejad Sunday evening, IRNA said.
About 8,600 centrifuges have been set up in Natanz, but only about 4,000 are actively enriching uranium, according to the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency. The facility will eventually house 54,000 centrifuges.
...
When Newsweek and the New York Times tells a Democratic president that he’s screwing up foreign policy, it’s time to clean house and start getting professional help. Unfortunately, neither of these publications considered the ramifications of endorsing an inexperienced ideologue for the top job when it counted.
Ten middle school students in Naples, Florida have been suspended after taking part in what they termed "Kick a Jew Day" at their school, school district officials reported.
The one day in-school suspensions were served earlier this week.
The incident occurred a day before red-haired students were targeted at a California middle schoool in what was a Facebook group called "Kick a Ginger Day," which some say was inspired by the popular American animation series South Park.
The Naples Daily News quoted local school district officials as saying that they will concentrate on cultural sensitivity training, including 20 minutes of homeroom meetings each day at North Naples Middle School, on building character traits such as respect and kindness and on the prevention of bullying.
In the "Kick a Ginger Day" attacks, nobody was seriously hurt and no arrests were made.
The newspaper quoted a local Jewish leader as saying the incidents should result in more than suspensions.
"You are talking about an incident that has anti-Jewish bias if not anti-Semitism. You have Jewish students being singled out, harassed and assaulted," David Barkey of the Florida Anti-Defamation League told the Naples Daily News.
"If the allegations are true, it is possible these students violated Florida's new anti-bullying law. And, if students were physically assaulted, it could rise to the level of criminal conduct," he added.
Rabbi James Perman, of Temple Shalom in North Naples, called the situation "alarming."
"I can tell you this: I haven't seen anything like it in my 17 years in Naples. No child deserves this kind of treatment," he wrote in an e-mail Monday, the paper reported.
"Their parents are understandably outraged. So far it seems that the school system has taken appropriate measures and we applaud their efforts. At this point, teaching sensitive awareness is more important than punishing anyone."
Iran can take legal action if Russia refuses to fulfill its commitments to deliver an advanced missile defense system to the Islamic Republic, a senior military official said on Tuesday.
Iranian officials have voiced growing irritation at Russia's failure so far to supply the S-300 missile system, which Israel and the United States do not want Tehran to have.
"The Russians, surely under the pressure of the Zionist lobby and America, refuse to fulfill their commitments," the official IRNA news agency quoted Brigadier General Mohammad Hassan Mansourian as saying
"And because this is an official agreement it can be pursued through international legal bodies," said Mansourian, who is deputy head of Iran's air defenses.
Moscow, which is under Western pressure to distance itself from Iran over a long-running dispute over Tehran's nuclear ambitions, has not followed through on proposals to ship the missiles to Iran.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised Russia last month for not providing the S-300 to Iran. Like Israel, Washington has not ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to resolve the row over Iran's nuclear program.
The West suspects Iran is seeking to build nuclear bombs. Tehran says it only seeks to generate electricity.
The truck-mounted S-300PMU1, known in the West as the SA-20, can shoot down cruise missiles and aircraft. It can fire at targets up to 150 km (90 miles) away.
Iranian officials say the country can produce a S-300-style system by itself, if Russia does not deliver it. Iranian media say a new anti-aircraft defense system will be tested during war games this week.
In another possible source of strain in Moscow-Tehran ties, Russia earlier this month announced the latest delay to Iran's first nuclear power station. It said technical issues would prevent its engineers from starting up the Bushehr plant reactor on the Gulf coast by the year's end.
Diplomats say Russia uses the Bushehr reactor, and major arms contracts, as levers in relations with Tehran.
Russia, a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security council, has backed three sets of mild sanctions on Iran since 2006 over its nuclear work. But it has so far blocked any strong measures against its traditional ally.
A senior MP last week said Russia was using the Islamic Republic as a "pawn" in Moscow's dealings with other powers such as the United States.
But the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization said on Tuesday that work on Bushehr was progressing as planned.
"The West is trying to harm our relations with Russia...the reactor is progressing based on our agreements and Russia is doing more than it should. The Bushehr plant will be inaugurated in 2010," ILNA news agency quoted Ali Akbar Salehi as saying.
Daniel Kaniewski, the institute's deputy director, confirms that Hasan attended task force meetings as an audience member, and stresses that he was not a member of the task force.
I read this on Arlene Kushner's blog:
I would like to thank those readers who shared with me information on Muslims of dubious or clearly inappropriate background who have been given positions in Homeland Security in the US. There are two of particular note:It's important to make clear what information is verifiable and which is just plain inaccurate. According to an update on Gawker:
Arif Alikhan was appointed by Obama several months ago to be Assistant Secretary for Policy Development at the Department of Homeland Security. Responsible for developing policy to secure the nation against terrorism, he killed an LA Police project for monitoring terrorist activities in local radical mosques. He has also referred to Hezbollah as a "liberation movement."
Kareem Shora was appointed by Obama to Homeland Security's advisory council, which directly provides advice and recommendations to the Homeland Security Secretary. He was formerly executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), which refers to jihadists as "heroes."
This is from http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2009/nov/devout-muslims-key-homeland-sec-posts and checked out.
A similar item sent to me with regard to Fort Hood terrorist Hasan turned out to not be quite accurate: According to Snopes [read here], he attended one or more meetings organized by George Washington University's Homeland Security policy institute, but was never actually an advisor to Obama's Homeland Security Team. [emphasis added]Daniel Kaniewski, the institute's deputy director, confirms that Hasan attended task force meetings as an audience member, and stresses that he was not a member of the task force. "All of our events are open to the public," Kaniewski says, "and when someone RSVPs we put their name in the [report] so everyone knows who was in the room." He says institute staffers recall Hasan attending at least one task force event, and that he RSVP'd for several. "We do recall him speaking at one of our events as an audience member," he says, "but none of us recall what he actually said. Generally, our events are attended by people in the homeland security community, and Hasan had a very legitimate reason to be there. He was a fellow at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences."So the concern about Obama's advisers continues--and extends to more than just whether they have paid their taxes.
Israel has agreed to a plan to turn over control of half of the northern village of Ghajar to UNIFIL, Israel Radio reported on Sunday night.
According to the report, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu held a meeting earlier in the day and it was decided that Israel would leave the northern half of the village, and UNIFIL would take its place. No barrier would be built between the northern and southern parts of the village, according to the plan, but rather UNIFIL would patrol both the northern half and the perimeter.
In the summer Netanyahu passed the issue to Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and asked for the ministry's recommendation.
Ghajar has some 2,000 residents. When the IDF pulled out of Lebanon in 2000, the UN determined that the border ran through the middle of the town. Following the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Israel maintained a military presence in the northern part of the town and built a security fence around it. UN, European and American officials have long urged Israel to move out of northern Ghajar, to bolster the moderates in Lebanon, arguing that an Israeli withdrawal would be in line with commitments it made as part of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
Lieberman visited the town in August, amid reports that he favored building a physical barrier on the international border that divides the community, and turning the northern part over to UNIFIL control.
In BBC interview, Palestinian president reiterates that there will be no peace talks with Israel as long as settlement construction continues. Like other senior Fatah officials, he talks about popular resistance. He also accuses Hamas of negotiating with Israel
Five officers in Palestinian General Intelligence Service detained near West Bank village of Salfit. Palestinians say efforts being made to secure their release. Estimates are that arrests likely connected to PA investigation of collaborator
Nuclear power facilities in India have been put on high alert here after security forces determined that terrorists may target one of them.
Intelligence agencies beefed up security after analysing new information, some of which may have come from Tahawwur Rana, a Pakistani-born Canadian citizen who is in FBI custody in Chicago.
The threat to India's nuclear installations comes as Prime Minister Stephen Harper began a series of meetings Tuesday with high-level Indian political leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi.
Discussions about a Canada-India nuclear co-operation agreement and about combatting terrorism are widely expected to be among the topics at some of those meetings.
"It is my sincere hope that our two governments will complete our bilateral nuclear co-operation agreement soon," Harper said in a luncheon speech Monday in Mumbai. "When finalized, it will allow the development of nuclear power for civil use, while fully respecting our international commitments."
Officials with the prime minister's office declined to comment on the nuclear plant threat, saying that Harper never comments on issues of national security.
On Tuesday afternoon, Harper is leading a roundtable discussion with representatives of India's nuclear power sector. Hugh McDiarmid, the chief executive of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., the Crown corporation keen to sell CANDU power reactors to India, also attended that meeting as did representatives of Canadian uranium miner Cameco Inc. and Montreal-based construction giant SNC-Lavalin.
Canada angrily suspended nuclear co-operation in 1974, after India used Canadian technology and nuclear materiel to make its first nuclear bomb.
Some countries though, notably Australia, continue to refuse to provide India with uranium and other nuclear materiel and technology for fear that it will be used for military purposes or could fall into the hands of terrorists.
Reports of increased security at India's nuclear installations made the front page of India's major papers on Tuesday.
One of those papers, The Hindu, reported that intelligence agencies here and in other countries, have determined that Rana was in Mumbai just before the 11/26 terror attacks in that city that left more than 190 dead in 2008, including two Canadians.
Rana and another terror suspect, Samraz Rana Akhtar, arrived in Mumbai on Nov. 12 last year and then travelled to Kochi and Kerala. The Hindu reported that the pair were allegedly looking for recruits for the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the radical Muslim extremist group based in Pakistan.
The only suspect to survive the Mumbai terror attacks said they were carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba.
The Times of India reported that Rana was able to receive multiple entry visas from the Indian consulate in Chicago ahead of his arrival here in October 2008.
Rana's recruitment scheme allegedly involved placing advertisements in Indian newspapers offering immigration services to the United States and Canada.
Those revelations are made by the FBI in court filings in Chicago.
"Rana is a rich businessman owning many businesses, including First World Immigration Services, which has offices on Devon Avenue in Chicago, New York and Toronto and also owns a farm in Kinsman and a grocery store in Chicago," the FBI said in a court filing opposing Rana's bail application.
"Rana is not a U.S. citizen and maintains a residence in Canada. He maintains a number of foreign bank accounts and is not a typical criminal who lacks the knowledge and means to travel internationally."
The allegations in the FBI documents have not been proven in court.
Residents of Gilo on Wednesday reacted with surprise and anger to news that the US administration was dismayed by a government decision to approve 900 new homes in their neighborhood, questioning the relevance of the criticism while denouncing it unequivocally.
"It's just so ridiculous," said Silva, as she walked outside her home on the neighborhood's Rehov Shabtai Hanegbi.
"Anyone who is opposed to us building in Gilo obviously doesn't know the neighborhood very well. There are more than 40,000 people living here - it could very well be a city within itself. I never even thought that Gilo was up for discussion."
Others reacted with similar surprise, but also frustration at what they said was misguided American policy in an area considered by a wide consensus of Israelis to be just another Jerusalem neighborhood.
...
US President Barack Obama is an extremely intelligent man surrounded by equally intelligent advisers, many of whom have years of experience dealing with the Middle East. His continued misreading and misunderstanding of the Israeli public is, therefore, somewhat baffling.
This misread was evident again in the past few days by the US objection to the Jerusalem Municipal Planning Committee's approval of a plan to build some 900 new units in Gilo - not in a far-flung settlement overlooking Nablus, nor even in one of the settlement blocs like Gush Etzion, nor even a Jewish complex in one of the Arab neighborhoods of the capital, but in Gilo, one of the large new neighborhoods built in the city following the Six Day War. If Israel cannot build in Gilo without US approval, than it cannot build in Ramot Eshkol, French Hill, Ramot, Neveh Yaakov, Pisgat Ze'ev, East Talpiot or Har Homa.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs on Tuesday expressed "dismay" at the decision. The dismay, however, cuts both ways, with many Israelis clearly dismayed that the US - like Europe - now seems to be considering as settlements the post-1967 neighborhoods in Jerusalem. The EU, clearly following Gibbs's lead and then taking it one step further, released a statement on Wednesday saying, "The European Union is dismayed by the recent decision on the expansion of the settlement of Gilo."
Truth be told, this is not the first indication of US policy on this matter. Former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice seemed to be giving the new neighborhoods settlement status in 2007 when she opposed a new project in Har Homa. She didn't clarify, however, whether other Jerusalem neighborhoods over the Green Line, such as Gilo and Ramot, were settlements in the eyes of the United States.
...
US president in interview to Fox News says Israel's latest move to build hundreds of new Jewish housing units in Gilo complicates administration efforts to relaunch peace talks, says additional building doesn't make Israel safer
US President Barack Obama says Israel's latest move to build hundreds of new Jewish housing units in Gilo - a neighborhood claimed by the Palestinians - complicates administration efforts to relaunch peace talks and embitters the Palestinians.
Obama told Fox News in an interview Wednesday that additional settlement building doesn't make Israel safer.
He said such moves make it harder to achieve peace in the region, and embitters the Palestinians in a way that he said could be very dangerous, possibly referring to Palestinians plans to unilaterally declare statehood – an option which continues to gain steam.
Obama and the Palestinians have demanded that Israel halt settlement construction.
The Jerusalem city government moved forward Tuesday with plans to build in a Jewish neighborhood in east Jerusalem, which Palestinians claim for their future capital.
Britain and France have also condemned the construction in Gilo, but in Israel - as Opposition Chairwoman Tzipi Livni stressed to French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner - there is consensus on the Jerusalem neighborhood.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman also addressed the issue during a meeting with Kouchner later Wednesday and told his French counterpart that "Gilo is an integral part of Israel, like Tel Aviv and Herzliya."
The minister stated that building authorization is a strictly procedural process and noted, "We have no intention of interfering with it."
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon deplored the Israeli move, spokesman Farhan Haq said. Ban "believes that such actions undermine efforts for peace and cast doubt on the viability of the two-state solution" for Israelis and Palestinians, he said.
Abbas, head of Fatah and the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) led Fatah supporters in commemoration of the anniversary of the death of his predecessor, Arafat.
The crowd chanted Arafat’s slogans, such as “millions of martyrs are marching to Jerusalem,” meaning to take it away from Israel by war. Bypassing negotiations [to which Arafat and the P.A. committed itself in writing), Abbas said the P.A. would appeal directly to the UN for statehood.
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “How can Mahmoud Abbas be claiming to seek a real peace with Israel when he honors someone who ordered the killing of thousands of Israeli citizens? We condemn this obscene ceremony held in Ramallah.
“Yasser Arafat founded a terrorist movement, deceitfully engaged in negotiations with Israel while radicalizing Palestinian society with poisonous incitement to hatred and murder. He then responded to extraordinary Israeli concessions in a peace plan proposed by President Bill Clinton and accepted by then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak with a wave of terrorism that claimed the lives of some 1,500 Israeli men, women and children and the maimed thousands more (11/16 press release by ZOA, headquartered in New York and of which I am a member, http://www.zoa.org/ ).
No moderate, Abbas! Nor is he sincere about peace. Then why is the U.S. subsidizing his regime and supporting its acquisition of the sovereign right to import heavy weapons?
A declaration of independence to cover Jewish communities in Judea-Samaria and part of Israel’s capital would mean war to get it, ethnic cleansing if they succeed. If they succeed, they will have deprived Israel of secure boundaries. That means the P.A. would start another war, involving their committing genocide. Imagine, a group of people who never themselves had a country, demanding part of another country’s capital! That, alone, would mean war.
Now wasn’t it foolish of Israel to let them advance to that stage and not to have scotched it years ago by annexing at least the nearby settlement blocs? What does this show about PM Netanyahu’s policy of helping prepare the P.A. for statehood? How did he ever anticipate eventual peace from such fanatics?
Date: 2009-11-17, 5:20AM PST
Reply to: comm-ckhn4-1469702849@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
You'd think that you are the only person in the entire Bay Area that can afford Sundance Channel. And have nothing better to do at two in the morning. Wow.
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Date: 2009-11-17, 2:18AM PST
Reply to: see below
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Whoa, now on the Sundance Channel is a documentary titled, "Great Global Warming Swindle" from the UK.
It talks about how scientist were paid to "find facts" to support the idea that global warming is caused by CO2
gases because Margaret Thatcher politically wanted to support the nuclear industry instead of oil or coal. The
science shows that global warming is a result of the *sun's* temperature, not CO2 quantities. Even Greenpeace founder Patrick Moore is in it. Wow.
Provocative and controversial, this documentary by Martin Durkin makes the argument that scientific consensus about global warming and climate change is incorrect, with evidence supporting an alternative viewpoint. When broadcast in England by Channel 4, THE GREAT GLOBAL WARMING SWINDLE became one of the most debated films of recent memory, earning approbation from the conservative press ("Devastating" -- The Washington Times; "Brilliant" -- Mail on Sunday) and condemnation from Greenpeace and much of the scientific community.
A Lehigh, Fla. man was visited by the FBI after trying to send the alleged Fort Hood shooter a bouquet of flowers.
For a slideshow of some of the victims of the Fort Hood shooting, click here.
Dan Ross, 61, called Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan a ‘hero’ for his alleged actions on Nov. 5 at the Fort Hood Army Base in Texas. Thirteen people were killed and dozens wounded after Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, allegedly went on a shooting rampage on the base.
“The FBI were the ones who actually killed those 13 people, because they were well informed that this guy was against the United States of America,” said Ross.
Just a day after the horrific shooting, Ross ordered a bouquet of yellow roses costing $59.95 to be delivered to Hasan in the hospital.
Ross included a note with the flowers, which read “Major Nidal Hasan. Qur’an Chapter 2: Verse 190-3. In God’s eye, those who submit, you are a hero.”
NBC 2’s Katie LaGrone inquired as to why someone would want to send roses to an alleged killer, to which Ross responded that the Holy Spirit just told him to.
LaGrone asked, “The Holy Spirit’s talking to you right now?”
Ross answered, “Just a little bit.”
The FBI paid Ross a visit after the florist, a military veteran, contacted the agency after refusing to fill Ross’ order.
Ross, a former Vietnam War soldier himself and a self-described Christian, said “The FBI came by and thought I was on drugs… That’s part of Christianity, love your enemies and do good to them.”
Intensifying its investigation into the possible involvement of U.S. terror suspect David Coleman Headley in the Mumbai attacks, the Indian Nation Investigating Agency (NIA) on Saturday carried out raids at several places in Mumbai.
According to sources in the Home Ministry, NIA raided places in Bandra, Goregaon and Khar in Mumbai along with Trident Oberoi Hotel.
During the Mumbai terror attacks last year, Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terrorists had also attacked Trident-Oberoi besides Hotel Taj, Nariman House, Cama Hospital and Leopold Cafe.
The 49-year-old Headley was arrested last month at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport as he prepared to board a flight to Philadelphia, intending to travel to Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Gujarat Director General of Police has formed a four-member team, on the directions of the state Home Ministry, to probe the alleged network of David Headley in the state. All the team members are said to be Indian Police Service (IPS) officers.
Earlier in the day, Mumbai Police had detained two tourist guides near the Gateway of India on suspicion of them having helped Mumbai attack plotters, including David Headley.
The duo is being investigated for assisting Headley in doing recce of Mumbai before last year's deadly terror attacks.
According to sources, Headley had conducted recce of the Nariman House where he posed as a Jew.
Earlier, investigations into Headley's involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks revealed that he had stayed in the Hotel Tajtwice in the year 2007.
Investigators are also probing the role of film director Mahesh Bhatt's son Rahul Bhatt who helped him in renting a flat near Breach Candy Hospital.
So far in the probe, Headley's network across seven cities has been exposed. Apart from Mumbai, Headley had a network in Pune, Ahmedabad, Kochi, Agra, Lucknow and New Delhi. He had stayed in Paharganj hotel during his stay in Delhi.
Headley had visited all these cities between 2006-09. Investigating agencies believed these visits of Headley to be recce before the terror attack.
Former United States President Bill Clinton tried to convince the Saban Forum that the United States and its president are still "the greatest friends". "You must not think Obama is your enemy and you know that Hillary is not one"
Just as IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi spoke of the quiet in the South being a testament to the success of Operation Cast Lead, tensions threatened to flare once against on the Gaza front, with Palestinians firing a Kassam rocket into Israel after the IDF killed a suspected terrorist near the border fence.
The rocket landed in an open area in the Sdot Negev region, causing no casualties or damage.
IDF soldiers shot the suspected terrorist dead early Friday morning, thwarting an apparent bomb plot near the Gaza fence.
The army said that Nahal Brigade soldiers spotted a Palestinian terror cell that appeared to be planting explosive devices south of the Karni crossing.
The soldiers crossed the border and fired at the suspects, said the IDF. None of the troops were wounded.
The army said one man was killed, another was taken for medical treatment in Israel and four others were taken for questioning.
A Palestinian hospital official said the men were civilians hunting birds
New York case may force the court system to confront difficult legal issues surrounding counterterrorism programs begun after the 2001 attacks, including the harsh interrogation techniques once used on some of the suspects while in CIA custody.
Self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees will be sent to New York to face trial in a civilian federal court, an Obama administration official said Friday.
Attorney General Eric Holder plans to announce the decision later in the morning.
President Obama, speaking in Tokyo, said he will insist that Mohammed be subject to "the most exacting demands of justice" and called the move both a prosecutorial and a national security decision.
"I'm absolutely convinced that Khalid Sheik Mohammad will be subject to the most exacting demands of justice. The American people insist on it. My administration will insist on it," he said.
Bringing such notorious suspects to U.S. soil to face trial is a key step in Obama's plan to close the terror suspect detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Obama initially planned to close the detention center by Jan. 22, but the administration is no longer expected to meet that deadline.
It is also a major legal and political test of Obama's overall approach to terrorism. If the case suffers legal setbacks, the administration will face second-guessing from those who never wanted it in a civilian courtroom. And if lawmakers get upset about notorious terrorists being brought to their home regions, they may fight back against other parts of Obama's agenda.
The New York case may also force the court system to confront a host of difficult legal issues surrounding counterterrorism programs begun after the 2001 attacks, including the harsh interrogation techniques once used on some of the suspects while in CIA custody. The most severe method -- waterboarding, or simulated drowning -- was used on Mohammed 183 times in 2003, before the practice was banned.
Holder will also announce that a major suspect in the bombing of the USS Cole, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, will face justice before a military commission, as will a handful of other detainees to be identified at the same announcement, the official said.
It was not immediately clear where commission-bound detainees like al-Nashiri might be sent, but a military brig in South Carolina has been high on the list of considered sites.
MILAN — Italy's top security official said Thursday that authorities have smashed an international terror cell with the arrest in Italy and elsewhere in Europe of 17 Algerians who were raising money to finance terrorism.
Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, speaking to reporters in Rome, called the terror cell "significant."
"An Algerian terror cell that gathered money for terrorist activities outside of Europe has been dismantled," Maroni said.
The arrests stemmed from an anti-terrorism investigation in Milan, and anti-terrorist units from Algeria, Austria, Britain, France, Spain and Switzerland cooperated in the probe, Milan police said.
Six of the arrests were in Italy, police said in a statement.
Milan Prosecutor Armando Spataro said the initial investigation involved terrorism, but the suspects were being held on charges of criminal association and falsifying documents — not the charge of international terrorism introduced in Italy after the Sept. 11 attacks. He said investigators were still working on the case.
Hizbullah's missiles now have the capacity to reach Israel’s central region, including Jerusalem, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.Gen Gabi Ashkenazi said Tuesday in a briefing with the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. He also announced that a new operation designed to intercept Katyusha rockets is due to begin next year .
A small percentage of Hizbullah’s current arsenal of tens of thousands of missiles can reach almost 190 miles, Ashkenazi said, well over the distance from southern Lebanon to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Meanwhile, the joint air defense exercise, Juniper Cobra, was completed on Tuesday to the satisfaction of all levels of command. Top brass in both the Israeli and U.S. armies called the exercise a great success. In the final operation, ten Patriot missiles were shot down by unmanned planes within a matter of hours. Approximately 1,400 personnel, each from the U.S. military and the IDF, took part in the fifth operation of the biennial exercise.
Major Omri Maost, an anti-aircraft commander in the South, sat in the control room during the launching and was directly responsible for some of the missiles that were launched. He said that the success of the operation boosted soldiers’ confidence.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would rather meet with the president of Sudan, indicted of war crimes, than with Israel's prime minister.
The Turkish leader made the statements while meeting with party members in Istanbul Sunday. Erdogan's response was to a question on whether Sudanese leader Omar Hassan al-Bashir planned to attend the Islamic Conference in the city, Haaretz said Monday. Bashir has since said he will not attend.
Erdogan told party members he would rather confront Bashir who was indicted for allegedly orchestrating crimes against humanity in Darfur, than discuss with Netanyahu the deaths of civilians in Gaza, the newspaper quoted him saying.
Erdogan said he did not believe Bashir was guilty of the crimes even though the International Criminal Court in The Hague in March indicted him on seven counts, the paper said.
Erdogan said he is willing to welcome the Sudanese Muslim leader to Turkey because he doubts a Muslim is capable of committing genocide, the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet said. To support his stand, Erdogan said when he visited Darfur he did not witness any genocide taking place, the Turkish newspaper said.
Syrian President Bashar Assad continued to sway from peace overtures to threats of war on Monday, stressing that resistance might be used to "return" the Golan Heights.
"Resisting occupation is a patriotic duty and to support it is a moral and legal imperative…and an honor of which we are proud," said Assad in a speech to the 25th Economic Summit of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (COMCEC) in Istanbul.
"This does not contradict our unceasing desire to achieve a just and comprehensive peace on the basis of the return of the occupied territories, especially the occupied Syrian Golan, but the failure of negotiations to restore all our rights would make resistance an alternative solution," he said, in an apparent allusion to acts of violence and terror against Israel committed by "resistance" movements such as Hizbullah.
Concerning the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Assad said that stopping settlement construction was not an end in itself, but a means to an end.
What about dismantling settlements instead of stopping construction, and most importantly, what about ending the occupation?" he said.
The Syrian president went on to say that the real cause of the problem in the region was "the Zionist occupation" which "we must begin to work to eliminate."
Assad cited the world's "negative" response to the Goldstone Commission's report, as well as its "indifferent reaction" to what he termed "one of the worst war crimes ever known in modern times" - apparently referring to Israel's three-week offensive in Gaza - as reasons for the Arab and Islamic world to be more self-sufficient.
"Internationally banned weapons are being used against [Gazan] civilians, showing Israel's barbarianism," said the Syrian president. "[The world's reaction] proves that none of our goals will be achieved by relying on others."
At the end of October, Assad said that Damascus was ready to resume peace talks with Jerusalem, stressing that the people of his country would support negotiations.
"As far as it concerns us in Syria, we have national support to continue talks with Israel," Assad said in Zagreb after meeting Croatian President Stipe Mesic. "However, there is a condition that on the Israeli side we also have those who want to continue the negotiations."
Concerns are growing in Israel's government over the possibility of a unilateral Palestinian declaration of independence within the 1967 borders, a move which could potentially be recognized by the United Nations Security Council.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently asked the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama to veto any such proposal, after reports reached Jerusalem of support for such a declaration from major European Union countries, and apparently also certain U.S. officials.
The reports indicated that Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has reached a secret understanding with the Obama administration over U.S. recognition of an independent Palestinian state. Such recognition would likely transform any Israeli presence across the Green Line, even in Jerusalem, into an illegal incursion to which the Palestinians would be entitled to engage in measures of self-defense.
In late August Fayyad presented the international community with a detailed plan for building up Palestinian Authority institutions and set a timetable of up to two years for its implementation. Senior Israeli officials said Fayyad's plan initially met with positive reaction in Jerusalem for its emphasis on institution-building and making security services more efficient.
But some Israeli officials told Haaretz that alongside the clauses reported in the media - which are similar to elements of Netanyahu's call for "economic peace" between Israel and the Palestinians - Fayyad's plan also contains a classified, unreleased portion stipulating a unilateral declaration of independence.
The plan specifies that at the end of a designated period for bolstering national institutions the PA, in conjunction with the Arab League, would file a "claim of sovereignty" to the UN Security Council and General Assembly over the borders of June 4, 1967 (before the outbreak of the Six-Day War, during which Israel took control of the West Bank and Gaza).
Fayyad is also seeking a new Security Council resolution to replace Resolutions 242 and 338 in the hope of winning the international community's support for the borders of a Palestinian state and applying stronger pressure on Israel to withdraw from the West Bank.
Several Israeli officials told Haaretz that Fayyad had spoken to them of positive responses he had received over the plan from prominent EU member states, including the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Sweden. Fayyad added that he presented the proposal to the U.S. administration and did not receive any signal of opposition in response.
Netanyahu's "kitchen cabinet" has held a number of meetings on the matter in recent months. "It's a very dangerous move," said a senior Israeli foreign-policy official. "More and more cabinet ministers understand that diplomatic inaction on Israel's part is likely to bring international support for the Fayyad program."
Israeli sources said Netanyahu discussed the proposal in meetings with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and special Mideast envoy George Mitchell and requested that the U.S. tell Fayyad that it would not support his proposal and would veto it in the Security Council. Netanyahu has yet to receive a clear response from Washington on its stance on Fayyad's plan.
Netanyahu is to arrive in Washington today for a brief visit. He is scheduled to address the United Jewish Communities General Assembly, preceded by Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
On Tuesday Netanyahu is to fly to Paris, where he is scheduled to meet with President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday. The prime minister's Paris visit comes just two days before that of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who will also meet with Sarkozy. Netanyahu has not signaled interest in renewing negotiations with Damascus, but stagnation in talks with the Palestinians may force him to do so.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, a mediator between Israel and Syria during Ehud Olmert's term as prime minister, said Friday in Paris that Turkey seeks to resume its role as an intermediary between the two countries, and that his government can be an "honest broker" in such talks.
Netanyahu has expressed reluctance over Turkish mediation due to ongoing diplomatic tension between Ankara and Jerusalem.
A U.S. Army major opened fire on fellow soldiers Thursday in the heart of the giant Fort Hood Army base in central Texas, killing 11 people and wounding at least 31 in one of the worst incidents of soldier-on-soldier violence in military history.
The officer, Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan, was later shot and killed by security personnel on the base, which is about 160 miles southwest of Dallas.
Two other soldiers were in custody, base officials said, amid indications that the attack may have been premeditated and well-organized.
Military officials said that Maj. Hasan was a psychiatrist who had been recently promoted to major and transferred to Fort Hood from Washington's Walter Reed Medical Center. Maj. Hasan's professional specialties included post-traumatic stress disorder, combat stress and other emotional issues common to the troops implicated in earlier incidents of military fratricide.
A defense official said that there "were some signs that this might be an Akbar-type event," a reference to a bloody incident in early 2003 when Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar threw grenades into tents occupied by fellow members of the 101st Airborne Division.
Two officers were killed in the 2003 attack in Kuwait, which wounded 14 others. Military prosecutors said that Sgt. Akbar, who was ultimately sentenced to death, was motivated by anger at the deaths of Iraqi civilians at the hands of U.S. troops.
In a pre-dawn raid Wednesday, Israeli naval commandos boarded an Antiguan flagged cargo ship 100 miles off the Israeli coast and discovered a stash of concealed weapons and ammunition.
According to the Israeli military spokesman's unit, the weapons were hidden within the ship's commercial cargo. The vessel, which has yet to be named, was towed into the Israeli port of Ashdod for closer inspection.
Defence Minister Ehud Barak congratulated the navy saying, "This is another success in the endless struggle against attempts to smuggle weapons and military equipment whose goal is to strengthen terrorist elements who threaten the security of Israel."
Unnamed Israeli defence officials claimed the weapons shipment consisted of rockets and anti-tank weapons bound for Hezbollah, the Shiite Islamic organization in Lebanon.
Iranian security forces beat anti-government protesters with batons Wednesday on the sidelines of state-sanctioned rallies to mark the 30th anniversary of the U.S. Embassy takeover. The counter-demonstrations were the opposition's first major show of force on Tehran's streets in nearly two months.
The opposition sought to display unity and resolve after relentless crackdowns on their protests following the disputed June presidential election. Though the crowds were far smaller than during last summer's outrage, authorities were ready with the same sweeping measures: dispatching paramilitary units to key locations and disrupting mobile phones, text messaging and Internet access to frustrate protest organizers.
The contrasts in the latest protest wave were stark: people chanting "Death to America" outside the former U.S. Embassy while hundreds of opposition marchers in central Haft-e-Tir Square denounced President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with cries of "Death to the Dictator."
Other opposition protesters marched silently and flashed the V-for-victory sign. Many wore green scarves or wristbands that symbolized the campaign of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claims Ahmadinejad stole the election from him through fraud. Mousavi and his allies, including former President Mohammad Khatami, appeared to encourage opposition protesters to return to the streets.
Witnesses told The Associated Press that security forces — mainly paramilitary units and militiamen from the elite Revolutionary Guard — swept through the hundreds of demonstrators at Haft-e-Tir Square, clubbing, kicking and slapping protesters. The witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of reprisals from authorities.
A top Obama administration official told an audience of New Yorkers they should expect the economy to feel like it's getting worse for a while, even if it's actually improving. Peter Orszag, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, says that's been the pattern for every recent recession.
ORSZAG: as the economy picks up, jobs are ultimately created, and those who are unemployed will go back to work. Unfortunately, that process takes time.
REPORTER: Orszag spoke at NYU's Wagner School of Public Service. He said he expects September unemployment numbers, due out later this week, to show further job erosion.
