Maravot world news

10.10.05 Lack of contracts hampered FEMA

October 10 – Among the many failures in government planning revealed by Hurricane Katrina, one was particularly striking: No one, it seems, figured out ahead of time who was going to pick up the dead.

When the storm swept through the Gulf of Mexico six weeks ago and left hundreds of bodies to decompose in homes and streets, Louisiana officials looked to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for help removing them. But since cities and localities had historically recovered bodies from mass casualties, FEMA says, it had made no arrangements.

...The lack of a contract to manage body collection, and the difficulties with Kenyon, fit a pattern of breakdowns in FEMA's relationship with the private sector, a relationship that has become crucial to the agency's workings but that contributed to its flawed response to Katrina. With relatively few resources of its own, FEMA relies on the private sector to provide the manpower and logistical help necessary to deal with a major emergency, but there were major gaps in the arrangements it had made. Many of the contracts it did have were poorly executed because of miscommunication and lack of planning. [Full story>>washingtonpost.com]

10.10.05 Merkel to succeed Schröder as Chancellor of Germany

BERLIN, October 10 – The leader of Germany's main conservative party, Angela Merkel, announced today that she had reached agreement with her political rivals to end Germany's three-week-old political deadlock by forming a "grand coalition" government in which she would serve as chancellor. "We have achieved something big - we have the basis for coalition talks," Mrs. Merkel, the head of the Christian-Democratic Union, said at a news conference this afternoon, announcing the result of several days of talks she has held with her political rival, the Social-Democratic incumbent, Gerhard Schröder.

"The C.D.U. will occupy the chancellery," she said.

The coalition talks, aimed at reaching detailed agreement on the composition and policies of the next government, should be finalized by Nov. 12, she said. [More>>nytimes.com; See also dw-world.de]

10.10.05 Frantic search as Pakistan quake toll tops 20,000 – may reach 40,000

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) October 10 – (The following provides a detailed account of the situation in Pakistan's quake-devestated area) Rescuers searched frantically for survivors of Pakistan�s massive earthquake on Monday as the death toll climbed over 20,000 and officials said thousands more could be dead in the rubble. Another 2,000 people may have died in neighbouring India and the fate of about 10,000 people living in remote villages on the border with Pakistan was not known, Indian officials said.

In Pakistan�s capital Islamabad, European, Arab and Japanese nationals were among an estimated 45 people missing two days after Saturday�s quake destroyed two apartment blocks.

Donors announced tens of millions of dollars of emergency aid for Pakistan and were rushing in doctors, helicopters, food, tents and sniffer dogs, but there was frustration among victims at the lack of any visible help on the ground.

Looting broke out in Pakistani Kashmir�s capital Muzaffarabad, where the old district was almost totally destroyed by Saturday�s 7.6 magnitude earthquake and survivors were desperately short of food, medicine and water. "They�ve lost everything, they have no clothes, no food, nothing," said resident Asim Butt. "People have started looting things from shops."

The US military in neighbouring Afghanistan said it was diverting eight helicopters being used in the war against Islamic militants to assist with emergency operations. Aid agencies said more than 120,000 people were in urgent need of shelter and up to four million could be left homeless by what was South Asia�s strongest quake in 100 years.

"We know that every hour counts in an earthquake of this magnitude," U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland said.

Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said more than 20,000 people had been confirmed dead in Pakistan, but he said the number could rise. Officials in North West Frontier Province and Pakistani Kashmir say the final death toll could be close to 40,000. [More>>khaleejtimes.com]

10.09.05 Al-Qaida raises its head in Gaza

October 9 – Has al-Qaida started operating in the Gaza Strip? A leaflet distributed in Khan Yunis over the weekend by al-Qaida's "Palestine branch" announced that the terrorist group has begun working towards uniting the Muslims under one Islamic state. "The Muslim nation has been subjected, through various periods, to conspiracies by the infidels," the leaflet said. "[The infidels] have brought down the Islamic Caliphate, dividing the nation into small and weak states. They also managed to dilute the Islamic and character of the nation." The leaflet said unity was the only way for Muslims to achieve victory over their enemies, adding that the terrorist group's chief goal was to enforce Islamic law in the entire world.

"Our efforts are now focused on establishing a strong and unified Muslim nation where love prevails among all its members," it added.

The leaflet, signed by al-Qaida of Jihad in Palestine, is the latest indication of al-Qaida's effort to establish itself in the Gaza Strip after the Israeli withdrawal from the area. [More>>Jerusalem Post]

10.09.05 Ninety rebels killed in western Iraq sweeps

BAGHDAD (AFP) October 9 – Ninety insurgents have been killed in a series of US-led sweeps in western Iraq since they kicked off on September 28, government spokesman Leith Kubba said on Sunday. �The total from the operations is 90 killed while the number of arrests has reached 178,� Kubba told journalists, adding that the offensives had �perturbed armed groups� activity and (helped) obtain information that will help us track down their members�. The US military said the operations, including Iron Fist which ended near the Syrian border on Thursday, were aimed at thwarting Al Qaeda-linked militant activity in the restive and largely Sunni Arab province of Al Anbar. Thirteen US troops have been reported killed in the province since the start of the operations. [More>>khaleejtimes.com]

10.09.05 Asian quake death toll at least 20,000

(AP) October 9 – Villagers desperate to find survivors dug with bare hands Sunday through the debris of a collapsed school where children had been heard crying beneath the rubble after a massive earthquake. Pakistani officials said the death toll ranged between nearly 20,000 and 30,000. Pakistan called Saturday's magnitude-7.6 earthquake the country's worst on record, and the president appealed for urgent help. Rival India, which reported more than 465 dead, offered assistance.

"I have been informed by my department that more than 30,000 people have died in Kashmir," Tariq Mahmmod, communications minister for the Himalayan region, told The Associated Press.

In mountainous Kashmir, the quake flattened dozens of villages and towns, crushing schools and mud-brick houses. The dead included 250 girls at a school razed to the ground and more than 200 Pakistani soldiers on duty in the Himalayas. [More>>chinadaily.com.cn; See also expressindia.com and jang.com.pk story, "World Bank offers 20 million dollars to quake-hit Pakistan."; aljazeera article, 13:50 Makka Time, "Pakistan: Quake toll reaches 30,000."]

10.09.05 Guatemala may declare mudslide Mayan mass grave

PANJAB, Guatemala (Reuters) October 9 – A Guatemalan village buried under tons of dirt and debris may be declared a Mayan mass grave as rescuers give up digging for the remains of up to 1,400 people killed in a mudslide triggered by Hurricane Stan. After days of heavy rain, mud, rocks and trees crashed down a volcano's slopes and into the Maya Indian village of Panabaj as people slept early on Wednesday, covering it in a quagmire up to 40 feet deep in places. Some 1,400 people have disappeared and are dead according to the fire department, and a local official in charge of compiling death lists put the likely toll at about 1,000. Foreign Minister Jorge Briz told Reuters the official toll was just over 500 dead but that was likely to at least double.

Rescuers dug for bodies in the stinking black mulch, choking on the smell of death. But they may have to abandon their search under a Guatemalan law that for health reasons puts a 72-hour limit on finding the dead. Dozens of corpses have already been recovered and locals were drawing up names of the missing and dead, but with so many victims feared buried, authorities said they might abandon the search and declare the village a mass grave. "We're more concerned with getting food to the people who are alive," said Ana Luisa Olmedo, a spokeswoman for Guatemala's civil protection agency. [More>>thestar.com.my]

10.09.05 Chinese floods kill over 1,200

BEIJING, October 9 – Torrential rains and typhoons had killed 1292 people in China so far this year and left 332 missing, state media reported today. As of October 8, bad weather had caused direct economic losses of 155.8 billion yuan ($24.96 billion), with more than 1.22 million buildings destroyed, Xinhua news agency, citing E. Jingping, vice minister of water resources. About 210 million Chinese have been affected by the flooding that has inundated around 16 million hectares of croplands throughout the nation, it said. Flooding and landslides caused by rains in mountainous areas were responsible for some 1085 deaths, while typhoons that struck China's southern and southeastern coasts were responsible for the rest...Floods have always been part of life in China, but officials say this year had been more devastating than usual. [Full story>>theaustralian.news.com]

10.08.05 Bird flu found in Turkey

ANKARA, October 8 – The first reported outbreak of bird flu in Turkey has killed some 2,000 turkeys in the northwestern province of Balikesir, a government official there said Saturday. Deputy governor Halil Yavuz Kaya told Turkish CNN television that a quarantine had been imposed on a turkey farm in the province's Manyas region. He added that the turkeys probably contracted the disease from migratory birds and that the outbreak was isolated.

Manyas is home to a nature reserve known for its wide variety of birds.

A strain of bird flu known as H5N1 has killed 63 people in Southeast Asia since 2003, most of them in Vietnam. The World Health Organisation's biggest fear is that H5N1 may mutate, acquiring genes from the human influenza virus that would make it highly infectious as well as lethal, possibly killing millions worldwide.

No specific vaccine can be produced until the virus mutates, but antiviral medication might be effective if given quickly when symptoms develop. [turkishpress.com]

10.08.05 Thousands feared dead in Asian quake

October 8 – AN earthquake measuring at least 7.6 on the Richter Scale caused massive devastation today across a swathe of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, with thousands of people feared dead. The quake struck close to the dividing line between the Indian and Pakistani controlled zones of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, triggering deadly landslides that wiped out whole villages.

The quake sent people fleeing their homes in areas over 1,000 km apart, from the western Pakistani desert city of Quetta to Kunduz in the mountains of northern Afghanistan.

"This is the strongest quake in the last 100 years in this region," the chief of Pakistan's meteorological department, Qamar Uzzman, told AFP.

Pakistani officials described scenes of "massive devastation" and warned of heavy loss of life, especially in the mountains of Kashmir where communications were cut off.

Pakistani and Indian officials confirmed more than 1000 deaths, but Pakistani military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan told AFP the toll would rise dramatically.

"The death toll could be in the thousands. The devastation is massive," Sultan said.

In Pakistan's North West Frontier Province alone, more than 550 people were killed, said Riffat Pasha, the provincial head of police.

"The death toll is between 550 and 600 in North West Frontier Province and it is likely to rise," he said.

At least 250 people were confirmed dead in Muzaffarabad, the main town of 125,000 people in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir. The military said over 50 per cent of the buildings in the town had been destroyed or damaged.

General Sultan said several villages in Kashmir had been totally "wiped out" and that troops and helicopters had been scrambled to reach the stricken areas.

"Village after village has been wiped out," an army relief official in Muzaffarabad said. "The Neelum River has been blocked because whole villages have fallen into the water." [More>>theaustralian.news.com.au; Updated headline, turkishpress.com, "1,800 dead.."

10.08.05 Rocket blasts off on ice mission

October 8 – Europe's dedicated ice explorer, the Cryosat spacecraft, has blasted off towards a polar orbit. The satellite carries a sophisticated radar altimeter that will measure the height and angle of ice surfaces with unprecedented precision. The data returned on the three-year European Space Agency mission will help test ideas about climate change.

The £90m (135m Euro) satellite launched at 1902 local time (1602 BST) from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia. It is riding into space on a Rockot vehicle, a converted SS-19 intercontinental ballistic missile.

...In the case of Cryosat, the quest is for some definitive data on the behavior of polar ice. Previous satellite measurements, submarine and surface readings point to rapid melting in some areas, particularly in the Arctic Ocean where the extent of summer ice has just reached a record minimum this year. But Cryosat's unique radar altimeter will see ice masses at vastly improved resolutions, even picking details at the edges of ice bodies where steep slopes and sharp shelving have challenged previous observations. It will give superior information not just on ice extent but on ice volume, too, which is critical to understanding the scale of any melting trend. The data will be fed into computer models to improve their simulations of future climate change. [Full story with interactive map on the changing polar ice cap from 1988 - 2004>>bbc.co.uk; See updated story, bbc.co.uk, "Europe ice satellite feared lost."]

10.08.05 Turkey to build water pipeline to North Cyprus

ANKARA (AFP) October 8 – Turkey launched on Friday a long-standing project to build a pipeline under the Mediterranean to supply water to the breakaway Turkish Cypriot statelet in northern Cyprus, the Anatolia news agency said. Officials signed a $9.5-million deal with a contractor company for the 78-kilometer conduit that will run at a depth of 250 meters and carry 75 million cubic meters of water per year, the agency said.

The construction of the pipeline and the related facilities on the two shores are due for completion in 27 months, but it is not clear yet when the conduit will become operational, an Energy Ministry spokesman said.

One fifth of the annual supply would be used as drinking water and the rest for irrigation to revitalize agriculture in the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), whose economy is hard hit by international sanctions. Turkey, the only country to recognize the TRNC, has long propped up the enclave, which has a population of about 200,000 people.

The pipeline will run from the southern Turkish province of Mersin, on the Mediterranean coast across from Cyprus, to the Gecitkoy area, near the northern Cypriot port of Kyrenia. [More>>dailystar.com.lb]

10.07.05 Fears that Asian bird flu has spread to Europe as ducks die in Romania

October 8 – Fears that the deadly Asian bird flu may have spread to Europe were heightened yesterday when the Romanian government confirmed that three ducks have died of a strain of the disease in the east of the country. Scientists in Britain are to conduct tests on samples to find out whether the domestic ducks were infected by the dangerous H5N1 strain, which has so far been confined to Asia.

The Romanian government warned that it feared that the ducks were infected with the strain, and strong security measures were put in place in the village of Ceamurlia, in eastern Romania, where the birds died late last month. Restrictions were placed on the movement of people and animals into and out of the village near the Black Sea and there were plans to vaccinate people. Nearly all the domestic fowls in the village have been slaughtered. [More>>guardian.co.uk]

10.07.05 The man who took on George Bush and won (The Nobel Peace Prize, that is)

October 8 – Anne Penkethm, Diplomatic Editor, writes in The Independent: In a dramatic rebuff to President George Bush, the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the man who dared to tell the Americans that the main plank of the US argument for waging war on Iraq was based on a lie.

The Nobel committee bestowed the prestigious award for 2005 on Mohamed ElBaradei, the UN official who rose to prominence by exposing the lengths that America would go to in its efforts to build a case for war.

Mr. ElBaradei, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which shares the prize, delivered a body blow to the Bush administration on the eve of the Iraq war.

During a televised meeting of the UN Security Council in March 2003, he told assembled foreign ministers that documents purporting to prove Iraq had attempted to import uranium from Niger to make a nuclear weapon were fake.

Leading lights of the Bush administration, particularly Condoleezza Rice and Vice-President Dick Cheney, had advanced Iraq's supposed nuclear weapons programme as a major reason for going to war. MS Rice memorably said of the UN weapons inspectors' search for a "smoking gun" before the war: "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud." Britain also cited the now discredited Niger connection to push the case for immediate military action against Saddam, suggesting that he was in the process of adding a nuclear capacity to his arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. [More>>independent.co.uk]

10.07.05 Iraq warfare likened to Nazi campaign

October 8 – President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair acted much like Nazi war criminals in ordering the invasion of Iraq, the United Nations' former chief weapons inspector to the country said overnight. Scott Ritter said the "aggressive warfare" of the United States and Britain in Iraq was similar to German actions in Europe in World War II.

"Both these men could be pulled up as war criminals for engaging in actions that we condemned Germany in 1946," Ritter said in an address at the Chatham House think tank in London.

"Tony Blair and George Bush are guilty of the crime of planning and committing aggressive warfare."

Ritter was a UN weapons inspector in Iraq between 1991 and 1998, when he resigned, citing a lack of UN and US support for his tough disarmament methods. [More>>theaustralian.news.au]

10.07.05 New Yorkers stream to work as usual following threat warning

NEW YORK, October 7 – Police searched passengers' bags this morning on subways, buses and ferries, but New Yorkers took in stride a terrorist warning that named the city's transit system. Security in and around the city's transit network was sharply increased Thursday after city officials said they had been notified by federal authorities in Washington of a terrorist threat that for the first time specified the city's transit system.

The measures were announced Thursday by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, along with Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly and the head of the New York F.B.I. office, Mark J. Mershon, after an American military operation with the C.I.A. and the F.B.I. in Iraq, according to law enforcement officials. The operation, carried out this week, was aimed at disrupting the threat, the officials said.

At subway stations this morning, riders said they were generally unworried about the latest warning. [More>>nytimes.com]

10.07.05 Bali 'mastermind' evades police

October 7 – Police in Bali have narrowly missed capturing a man they say was suspected bombing mastermind Noordin Mohamed.


Bali bombers key suspects Noordin Mohamed (left) and Azahari Husin	Bali bomber suspect Dulmatin aka Amar Usman hiding in Phillipines

Officers raided a house in central Java on Friday, but the Malaysian fugitive had fled just hours earlier, according to the area's police chief. Noordin Mohamed is one of the key suspects blamed for last weekend's Bali bombing and a series of other attacks. Police have still not named the three suicide bombers who carried out the latest Bali attack, killing 19 people. Abdul Madjid, chief commissioner for the city of Solo, said he could confirm Noordin had been in the house they raided in Purwantoro district. He said police had been forced to delay their operation for several hours because they feared the suspect was armed with explosives. By the time reinforcements arrived "it was too late," Reuters news agency quotes him as saying. Police are also investigating reports that a man named Gareng from Solo could be one of the bombers, Mr. Madjid said. [More>>bbc.co.uk]

10.07.05 Bali bombing mastermind in Phillipines – military, US embassy

ZAMBOANGA, Phillipines (AFP) October 7 – Indonesian Islamic militant Dulmatin, who has a 10-million-dollar US bounty on his head, is hiding out in the southern Philippines, the US embassy and Filipino officials said Friday.

Dulmatin, an al-Qaeda trained electronics expert thought to be one of the masterminds of the 2002 Bali bombings, is in the company of local Muslim extremists in the southern island of Mindanao, the officials said.

Dulmatin was believed to be with the senior leader of militant group Abu Sayyaf, Khadaffy Janjalani, as well as another alleged member of the extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), Umar Patek.

"We believe that these two [Jemaah Islamiyah] members are hiding in Mindanao in the Philippines," said Ruth Urry, the US embassy spokeswoman in Manila. She did not elaborate.

Brigadier Genreal Ben Dolorfino, head of a Marine task force, said separately that "the two are confirmed to be with the group of Khadaffy Janjalani in Maguindanao," a central province in Mindanao. The US reward announced Thursday for information that could help capture or kill Dulmatin is second only to the 25 million dollars offered for Osama bin Laden and Iraq insurgency leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The State Department has also offered one million dollars for the capture of Patek, believed to have played a key role in the 2002 Bali bombing. Washington earlier placed a bounty of up to five million dollars on Janjalani.

"These new rewards are part of the overall US-Philippines cooperation in fighting terrorism," a statement from the Embassy said on Friday.

Eid Kabalu, a spokesman of the main Muslim separatist group here, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), told Agence France-Presse that Dulmatin, Patek and Janjalani had been together in central Mindanao when the Philippines military launched an operation to try to catch them in July, but they apparently escaped. [More>>inq7.net; See also theaustralian.news.com.au and thejakartapost.com]

10.07.05 BBC: Bush said God told him to invade Iraq

(AFP) October 7 – US President George W. Bush allegedly said God told him to invade Iraq and Afghanistan, a new BBC documentary will reveal, according to details. Bush made the claim when he met Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and then foreign minister Nabil Shaath in June 2003, the ministers told the documentary series to be broadcast in Britain later this month.

The US leader also told them he had been ordered by God to create a Palestinian state, the ministers said.

Shaath, now the Palestinian information minister, said: " President Bush said to all of us: 'I'm driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, 'George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan'.'

"And I did, and then God would tell me, 'George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq...' And I did.

"'And now, again, I feel God's words coming to me, 'Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East.' And by God I'm gonna do it'," said Shaath.

Abbas, who was also at the meeting in the Egyptian resort of Sharm al-Sheikh, recalled how the president told him: "I have a moral and religious obligation. "So I will get you a Palestinian state."

A BBC spokesman said the content of the programme had been put to the White House but it had refused to comment on a private conversation. [More>>chinadaily.com.cn; See also turkishpress.com with more details and analysis, independent.co.uk, "Bush: God told me to invade Iraq" : President George Bush has claimed he was told by God to invade Iraq and attack Osama bin Laden's stronghold of Afghanistan as part of a divine mission to bring peace to the Middle East, security for Israel, and a state for the Palestinians.

The President made the assertion during his first meeting with Palestinian leaders in June 2003, according to a BBC series which will be broadcast this month.

The revelation comes after Mr. Bush launched an impassioned attack yesterday in Washington on Islamic militants, likening their ideology to that of Communism, and accusing them of seeking to "enslave whole nations" and set up a radical Islamic empire "that spans from Spain to Indonesia". In the programme Elusive Peace: Israel and the Arabs, which starts on Monday, the former Palestinian foreign minister Nabil Shaath says Mr. Bush told him and Mahmoud Abbas, former prime minister and now Palestinian President: "I'm driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, 'George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan.' And I did, and then God would tell me, 'George go and end the tyranny in Iraq,' and I did."

...From the outset he has couched the "global war on terror" in quasi-religious terms, as a struggle between good and evil. Al-Qa'ida terrorists are routinely described as evil-doers. For Mr. Bush, the invasion of Iraq has always been part of the struggle against terrorism, and he appears to see himself as the executor of the divine will.

He told Bob Woodward – whose 2004 book, Plan of Attack, is the definitive account of the administration's road to war in Iraq – that after giving the order to invade in March 2003, he walked in the White House garden, praying "that our troops be safe, be protected by the Almighty". As he went into this critical period, he told Mr. Woodward, "I was praying for strength to do the Lord's will. [Full story>>independent.co.uk; for background on Bush's statement October 6: Maravot News, "Bush stresses terror threat..."]

Editorial note: One of the first 'Islamic' responses to Bush's announcement to invade Iraq, using the term, 'Crusade,' was the surge in Al Qaeda propaganda against the 'Crusade.' That God has advised either Bush or bin Laden et al. leaves the world to trust in these jihadists and their argument that Christ's way of attaining peace has nothing to do with God (Christ warned that those who live by the sword die by the sword). For those who are familiar with the Bible, there is plenty of testimony therein how God has used fools to demonstrate his greater wisdom. At the moment the world may be being misled by two fools, as it was misled by Hitler.

Rather than killing innocent civilians to demonstrate which side of the two jihadist groups God is on, perhaps God will find a way to keep innocent civilians and their children out of the contest between these two bloodthirsty contenders for world dominion in the name of God.
Mel Copeland

10.07.05 Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Zarqawi backs killing civilian 'infidels': website

DUBAI (Reuters) October 7 – Iraq�s Al Qaeda leader Abu Musab Al Zarqawi said militants were justified under Islam in killing civilians as long as they are infidels, according to an audiotape attributed to him on Friday. "Islam does not differentiate between civilians and military (targets) but rather distinguishes between Muslims and infidels," said the man on the tape posted on the Internet, who sounded like Zarqawi. �Muslim blood must be spared ... but it is permissible to spill infidel blood,� said the speaker.

The comments appeared a day after the Pentagon said it had obtained a letter to Zarqawi from Al Qaeda�s second in command, Ayman Al Zawahri, saying tactics being used such as bombing mosques and killing hostages might alienate the Muslim masses.

"In this letter, he talks about believing that the eventual governance of Iraq must include the Muslim masses, and that they are at risk of alienating those," Pentagon spokesman Brian Whitman told reporters in Washington on Thursday. Friday�s tape was posted on a website which usually carries statements and videotapes from Al Qaeda�s wing in Iraq. [More>>khaleejtimes.com]

10.07.05 Don't be selective in war on terror: India

UNITED NATIONS (PTI) October 7 – Declaring that it was determined to confront the challenges posed by terrorism 'decisively and completely,' India has said efforts to counter the menace must not be confined to specific individuals or groups but concentrate on its 'thorough and systematic' destruction. Terrorism constitutes a global threat and undermines freedom and democracy, Indian delegate to the UN Inder Jit told a General Assembly committee on Thursday.

"Therefore," he said, "the counter-terrorism effort must not be confined to specific individuals or groups. Nor should it deal with superficial symptoms of the malaise."

He said the efforts must concentrate on a 'thorough and systematic destruction' of this phenomenon. "Terrorism must be rooted out of its roots, its support bases destroyed and its diverse manifestation across the world addressed appropriately," he said. [More>>expressindia.com]

10.07.05 Eight killed, 19 wounded in Pakistan mosque

ISLAMABAD, October 7 – At least eight people were killed and 19 wounded on Friday when armed men attacked a mosque in Mandi Bahauddin, 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Islamabad, the private GEO TV reported. [jang.com.pk; See more details, khaleejtimes.com : MONG, Pakistan - Masked gunmen with Kalashnikov rifles stormed into a mosque belonging to a minority Muslim sect in Pakistan Friday, shooting dead eight people and wounding 14, the interior minister and police said. Members of the Ahmadi community reciting dawn prayers on the second day of Ramadan in Mong, a suburb of Mandi Bahauddin town, 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Islamabad, were attacked by three men on a motorbike. �Eight people are dead and 14 injured,� Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao told AFP. �We condemn this attack. Any act of violence in which innocent people are killed should be condemned�....]

10.07.05 Serious turn to Guantanamo protest

October 7 – A hunger strike by prisoners at the US Guantanamo Bay prison camp has entered a serious stage, the International Committee of the Red Cross says. But ICRC chief spokeswoman Antonella Notari declined to comment on Thursday's statement by a defence lawyer that the hunger strike involved 200 of 500 prisoners and that 21 were being force-fed. The humanitarian agency, which last visited the US naval base in Cuba in late September, was in contact with the US authorities about the situation, Notari said on Friday.

"During our recent 10-day visit we were able to visit the infirmary, see the detainees and speak with them as well as the American authorities," she added. "There is a hunger strike, the situation is serious, and we are following it with concern."

The ICRC backs a 1975 Tokyo declaration by the World Medical Association stating that doctors should not participate in force-feeding, but keep prisoners informed of the sometimes irreversible consequences of their hunger strike, she added.

Amnesty International and human-rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith, representing 40 detainees, said on Thursday that US authorities were keeping 21 alive by forcing food into their stomachs through tubes pushed up their noses. The prisoners are shackled to their beds 24-hours a day to stop them removing the tubes, he said. [More>>aljazeera.net]

10.07.05 US troops kill at least 29 insurgents in western Iraq

BAGHDAD (Reuters) October 7 – US soldiers killed at least 29 insurgents in a drive to root out militants in western Iraq, the military said on Friday, after US President George W. Bush vowed not to waver in his campaign against Islamic extremists.

In grisly new evidence of Iraq�s deepening sectarian strife, police said the bodies of 22 men who had been bound with wire handcuffs and shot had been found in southeastern Iraq.

In Basra, British troops were holding 12 men, including members of the police, on suspicion of attacking foreign troops.

US officials said their latest campaign near the Syrian border was scoring successes as about 1,000 soldiers backed by combat aircraft seek to shut down what they say is a key route for arms and fighters into the country. US officials say the western Iraq campaign will last at least through December, seeking to turn back rising insurgent violence before an Oct. 15 referendum on a new constitution and a vote in December for a new parliament.

The two polls, and the expected start this month of the trial of Saddam Hussein, have inflamed tensions within Iraq�s Sunni Arab minority, which fears its former influence will be permanently lost to majority Shias and their Kurdish allies. [More>>khaleejtimes.com]

10.07.05 Gazprom (Russia), Pakistan sign memorandum to develop Pakistan gas fields

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) October 7 – Russian natural gas giant Gazprom and Pakistan's petroleum ministry have signed a memorandum cementing agreements on cooperation in the oil and gas sector, the company said Friday.

The sides agreed to prospect and develop natural gas fields in Pakistan and use natural gas as motor fuel. Under the memo, the parties will jointly operate Pakistan's underground storage facilities for natural gas, work on transnational gas pipelines, and train oil and gas experts for Pakistan.

Pakistan's established natural gas reserves total 800 billion cu m, making the country the sixth largest natural gas producer in the Asia-Pacific region after Indonesia, Australia, Malaysia, China and India. In 2004, Pakistan produced and consumed 27.4 billion cu m of gas, up 8.7% on 2003. Pakistan exports and imports natural gas. The country's petroleum ministry forecasted that the demand for natural gas would rise to 44.5 billion cu m annually by 2010. [rian.ru]

(2) The name, Allah, in Arabic is an expression of surprise. It is not unusual for the God of the Bible to be known by many names. Jewish Midrash quotes passages in the Old Testament (Torah) that cite as many as seventy names of God (and more). But they can all be reduced down to one name.
(5) The Law of the Locrians: "In the legislation of the Locrians, the proposer of a new law, with a halter round his neck, to be instantly tightened if the public assembly did not, on hearing his reasons, then and there adopt his proposition." [Mill, On Liberty, 2.475].

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Copyright © 1981-2005 Mel Copeland. All rights reserved
Painting of Apple by Mel Copeland, early 70's
Background: tile from Cicero's villa (Marcus Tullius Cicero 106 B.C. - 43 B.C.)

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