Thursday, May 31, 2012
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Former Liberian leader Taylor sentenced to 50 years jail by war crimes court
Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Former Liberian President Charles Taylor is due to serve his 50 year sentence at a high security prison in Britain. (AFP)
Former Liberian President Charles Taylor was jailed for 50 years on Wednesday for helping Sierra Leonean rebels commit what a court in The Hague called some of the worst war crimes in history.
Taylor, 64, was the first head of state convicted by an international court since the Nazi Nuremberg Nazi trials in 1946 and the sentence set a precedent for the emerging system of international justice.
In an 11-year war that ended in 2002, Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front rebels murdered, raped and mutilated their way across Liberia’s West African neighbor, helped by Taylor.
In return, he was paid in diamonds mined by slave labor in areas under control of the rebels, who whomalso forced children aged under 15 to fight, the court found.
“He was found responsible for aiding and abetting some of the most heinous and brutal crimes in recorded history,” said the Special Court for Sierra Leone’s presiding judge Richard Lussick, emphasizing that the world was “entering a new era of accountability.”
Taylor, 64, was the first head of state convicted by an international court since the Nazi Nuremberg Nazi trials in 1946 and the sentence set a precedent for the emerging system of international justice.
In an 11-year war that ended in 2002, Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front rebels murdered, raped and mutilated their way across Liberia’s West African neighbor, helped by Taylor.
In return, he was paid in diamonds mined by slave labor in areas under control of the rebels, who whomalso forced children aged under 15 to fight, the court found.
“He was found responsible for aiding and abetting some of the most heinous and brutal crimes in recorded history,” said the Special Court for Sierra Leone’s presiding judge Richard Lussick, emphasizing that the world was “entering a new era of accountability.”
FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: Former Liberian leader Taylor sentenced to 50 years jail by war crimes court
Libyan women plunge into politics
Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Most Libyan female candidates running as independents plan to campaign by word of mouth leaning on the contacts they have made as educators, doctors or directors of charity organizations. (File photo)
FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: Libyan women plunge into politics
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Syrian army being aided by Iranian forces | World news | guardian.co.uk
Iran confirms Quds force's presence in Syria with Revolutionary Guards commander saying troops 'helped prevent more massacres'
The Syrian town of Houla prepares a mass burial for the victims of an alleged artillery barrage from Assad forces. Iran disputes this claim. Photograph: Reuters
A senior commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guards has admitted that Iranian forces are operating in Syria in support of Bashar al-Assad's regime.
Ismail Gha'ani, the deputy head of Iran's Quds force, the arm of the Revolutionary Guards tasked with overseas operations, said in an interview with the semi-official Isna news agency: "If the Islamic republic was not present in Syria, the massacre of people would have happened on a much larger scale."
Isna published the interview at the weekend but subsequently removed it from its website.
Angelina Jolie helps launch UK fight against rape in conflict zones
Tuesday, 29 May 2012
Angelina Jolie, who is a special envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, has visited conflict zones including Iraq, Darfur in Sudan and Libya during its revolutionary conflict in 2011. (AP)
A screening of Jolie’s film “In The Land Of Blood and Honey”, a love story set against the backdrop of the war in Bosnia, was to accompany the London launch.
The initiative, launched ahead of Britain’s 2013 presidency of the G8 group of industrialized nations, will be accompanied by a year-long diplomatic campaign on the issue, Foreign Secretary William Hague was to say.
Monday, May 28, 2012
‘Iran-backed’ assassination plots targeted Arab, Israeli, U.S. officials: report
Monday, 28 May 2012
Iran has accused the United States and Israel of killing its scientists, but it has repeatedly denied any role in plots to assassinate foreign diplomats abroad. (File photo)
New evidence has linked attempts to assassinate Middle Eastern, Israeli and American officials and businessmen to either Iran-backed Hezbollah or Iran-based operatives, The Washington Post reported Monday.
Investigators working in four countries amassed the evidence uncovering plots, which included a probe by intelligence agencies within the United States and Azerbaijan. The investigation found that in November 2011, the Iranian-backed plan was to kill American diplomats working within the U.S. embassy in the small Central Asian country.
“The plot had two strands, U.S. officials learned, one involving snipers with silencer-equipped rifles and the other a car bomb, apparently intended to kill embassy employees or members of their families,” the newspaper reported.
Investigators working in four countries amassed the evidence uncovering plots, which included a probe by intelligence agencies within the United States and Azerbaijan. The investigation found that in November 2011, the Iranian-backed plan was to kill American diplomats working within the U.S. embassy in the small Central Asian country.
“The plot had two strands, U.S. officials learned, one involving snipers with silencer-equipped rifles and the other a car bomb, apparently intended to kill embassy employees or members of their families,” the newspaper reported.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
UAE calls for urgent Arab League meeting over ‘Houla massacre’ in Syria
Amateur videos posted on YouTube, apparently from Houla in Homs province, showed horrifying images of children lying dead on a floor. (Reuters)
The United Arab Emirates called on Saturday for an urgent meeting of the Arab League to discuss a response to “al-Houla massacre” which claimed the lives of nearly 100 civilians, including dozens of children.
“The targeting of the civilians could not be condoned as it is a violation to our humanity, and signifies the tragic failure of our collective Arab and international efforts to put an end to the violence against the civilians in Syria,” UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan said in a statement carried by the state news agency WAM.
“Our Arab and Islamic ethics do not allow this criminal mass killing, and we must as a nation proud of its values to intervene to protect the innocents in Syria,” he added.
HORRIFIC: Syrian activists decry 'massacre' in Houla - Middle East - Al Jazeera English
At least 90 people have been killed in an attack by Syrian government forces and loyalists on Houla, a town in Homs province, activists have said.
The victims of Friday's assault included at least 25 children, killed after government forces tried to break into the town, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Houla has been the scene of frequent anti-government protests since the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad began in March last year. The town has also become a hub for opposition fighters.
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Syria's main opposition bloc put the toll at more than 100 and urged the UN Security Council to convene an emergency meeting to examine the massacre.
"More than 110 people were killed [half of whom are children] by the Syrian regime's forces", the Syrian National Council said in a statement.
"Some of the victims were hit by heavy artillery while others, entire families, were massacred," said the statement by Bassma Kodmani, the council's head of foreign relations.
A team of UN observers visited the area to assess the situation on Saturday, but some activists complained that they just visited the village of Taldou, at the edge of Houla, rather than entering the town.
Videos posted online by activists showed more than a dozen bodies lined up inside a room. They included about 10 children who were covered with sheets that only showed their bloodied faces.
FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: Syrian activists decry 'massacre' in Houla - Middle East - Al Jazeera English
Friday, May 25, 2012
Fleet Week sails into New York for annual military celebration | World news | guardian.co.uk
US marines and navy personnel on the USS Wasp as the amphibious assault ship approaches New York for Fleet Week. Photograph: Keith Bedford/Reuters
It is Fleet Week again in New York and the city is awash in seamen through Memorial Day.
For the 25th year, New York City is playing host to the maritime military branches as thousands of men and women in uniform from US navy and US coast guard dock in the city's harbors and conduct a massive community outreach.
"The idea behind Fleet Week is that people in America may not get a chance to see the Navy up close. This brings the sailors, marines and coast guardsmen right here so they can meet and get a familiarity and understanding of members of the seas service," US navy spokesman Lieutenant Commander Mike Billips told the Guardian.
"People can climb on board ships to see what the equipment and daily life is like for these young men and women."
FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: Fleet Week sails into New York for annual military celebration | World news | guardian.co.uk
BBC News - Syria crisis: Homs fighting 'leaves 50 dead'
At least 50 people, including 13 children, have been killed in Syria's restive Homs province, opposition activists say, calling it a "massacre".
They said scores were wounded in the violence in Houla, as government forces shelled and attacked the town. If the toll is right, it would be one of the bloodiest attacks in one area since a nominal truce began in April.
FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: BBC News - Syria crisis: Homs fighting 'leaves 50 dead'
Thursday, May 24, 2012
PAKISTAN'S BIZARRE BEHAVIOR: BBC News - US cuts Pakistan aid over jailing of 'Bin Laden doctor'
A US Senate panel has cut $33m (£21m) in aid to Pakistan in response to the jailing of a Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA find Osama Bin Laden.
The Senate Appropriations Committee has said it will cut US aid by $1m for each year of Shakil Afridi's sentence.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said his term was "unjust and unwarranted".
Dr Afridi was tried for treason under a tribal justice system for running a fake vaccination programme to gather information for US intelligence.
Bin Laden was killed by US forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in May 2011.
The move from the Senate panel follows earlier cuts to the White House's budget request for Pakistan. The cuts would be part of a bill that would send $1bn in aid to Pakistan in the next financial year.
"We need Pakistan, Pakistan needs us, but we don't need Pakistan double-dealing and not seeing the justice in bringing Osama Bin Laden to an end," said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, calling Pakistan "a schizophrenic ally".
BBC News - US cuts Pakistan aid over jailing of 'Bin Laden doctor'
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Jamming Tripoli: Inside Moammar Gadhafi's Secret Surveillance Network | Threat Level | Wired.com
The Internet enabled surveillance on a scale that would have been unimaginable with the old tools of phone taps and informants.
Photo: Michael Christopher Brown
He once was known as al-Jamil—the Handsome One—for his chiseled features and dark curls. But four decades as dictator had considerably dimmed the looks of Moammar Gadhafi. At 68, he now wore a face lined with deep folds, and his lips hung slack, crested with a sparse mustache. When he stepped from the shadows of his presidential palace to greet Ghaida al-Tawati, whom he had summoned that evening by sending one of his hulking female bodyguards to fetch her, it was the first time she had seen him without his trademark sunglasses; his eyes were hooded and rheumy. The dictator was dressed in a white Puma tracksuit and slippers. How tired and thin he looked in person, Tawati thought.
It was February 10, 2011, and Libya was in an uproar. Two months earlier, in neighboring Tunisia, a street vendor named Mohammed Bouazizi had set himself on fire after a policewoman beat him and confiscated his wares. It was the beginning of the Arab Spring, a series of uprisings, revolutions, and civil wars that would radically alter the politics of the Middle East. In Libya, opponents of the Gadhafi regime had called for a day of protest on February 17, to mark the anniversary of a 2006 protest in the city of Benghazi, where security forces had killed 11 demonstrators and wounded dozens more.
FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: Jamming Tripoli: Inside Moammar Gadhafi's Secret Surveillance Network | Threat Level | Wired.com
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Monday, May 21, 2012
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Benghazi goes to the polls | Libya Herald
By George Grant
Benghazi, 19 May:
In the city’s first taste of democracy ahead of nationwide elections next month, Benghazi went to the polls today to elect a new Local Council.
Voting took place to select 43 council members across 11 districts, with more than 400 candidates standing for election.
At one polling station visited by the Libya Herald in district 8, Al-Qish and Al-Fuwaihat, the number of voters had reached almost 1,600 by 2pm, out of a possible 3,250 registered to vote. With polls not closing until 10pm, Faisa Sallak, the station’s coordinator, described turnout as “excellent”, a sentiment echoed by voters and officials alike across Benghazi.
Sallak reported no problems of potential voter fraud or insecurity, and voting seems to have passed off peacefully across the city.
One voter was Mariam Al-Asmad, 63, who was celebrating voting for the first time in her life. When asked by the Libya Herald who she had voted for, she replied, “people of integrity”, although she could not remember their names.
Mariam Al-Asmad casts her vote (Photo: George Grant)
FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: Benghazi goes to the polls | Libya Herald
More than 60 killed in Syria despite presence of U.N. monitors
The head of a Syria ceasefire monitoring mission was stopped at an army checkpoint in Douma when a bomb detonated nearby. (Reuters)
More than 60 people were killed nationwide in Syria on Sunday, including at least 34 people in central Hama province, which came under heavy army shelling for hours, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
“Thirty-four people were killed under shelling and gunfire in Souran village while it was being raided,” the Britain-based watchdog said, revising up an earlier toll of 16 people killed, including three children.
“Thirty-four people were killed under shelling and gunfire in Souran village while it was being raided,” the Britain-based watchdog said, revising up an earlier toll of 16 people killed, including three children.
The bloody violence continues despite the existence of a U.N. mission, whose members were targeted hours earlier with a rocket-propelled grenade in the town of Douma, north of Damascus.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory said “there is no evidence that there were any clashes taking place” in the village of Souran before the deadly shelling took place.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Blind Chinese activist Chen on way to U.S. - CBS News
Play CBS News Video
Last Updated 7:16 a.m. ET
(CBS/AP) BEIJING — A blind Chinese activist was hurriedly taken from a hospital Saturday and boarded a plane that took off for the United States, closing a nearly month-long diplomatic tussle that had tested U.S.-China relations.
Chen Guangcheng, his wife and two children left China a few hours after they were notified they would be allowed to leave.
According to Sky News correspondent Holly Williams, who spoke with Chen as he was awaiting to board his flight, they were informed by the staff at the Beijing hospital where he had been getting treatment for the last couple of weeks.
Friday, May 18, 2012
BBC News - Olympic torch: Flame arrives in UK for 2012 torch relay
David Beckham used a London 2012 torch to light a cauldron
The Olympic flame has landed in the UK ready for the London 2012 torch relay after being flown from Athens, Greece.
FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: BBC News - Olympic torch: Flame arrives in UK for 2012 torch relay
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Syria: Deported Palestinian journalist speaks out about torture in custody | Amnesty International
Journalist Salameh Kaileh suffered brutal torture while in custody in a Syrian prison and military hospital.
© Private
A prominent journalist has told Amnesty International how Syrian government forces tortured and detained him in deplorable conditions before deporting him to Jordan on Monday.
Salameh Kaileh, a 57-year-old Jordanian national of Palestinian descent, has lived and worked in the Syrian capital Damascus since 1981.
On 24 April, plain clothes officials from Syria’s Air Force Intelligence arrested him during a raid on his flat in Barzah, a Damascus suburb. Amnesty International considered him to be a prisoner of conscience, held solely for exercising his right to freedom of expression.
Syria: Deported Palestinian journalist speaks out about torture in custody | Amnesty International
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Ratko Mladic plotted to 'raze Sarajevo to the ground' - Telegraph
Ratko Mladic plotted to "raze Sarajevo to the ground" unless he could divide the city along ethnic lines as he orchestrated a three-and-a-half year "terror campaign" that left thousands dead, the trial heard.
The 'Momo' and 'Uzeir' towers burn on Sniper Alley in downtown Sarajevo as heavy shellings and fightings raged throughout the Bosnian capital in 1992 Photo: GEORGES GOBET/AFP/Getty Images
UN prosecutors have accused the former general of responsibility for the 44-month siege of Bosnia's capital, between 1992 and 1995, during which up to 10,000 civilians were killed by Serb forces using snipers, artillery and mortar fire. "There can be no doubt that Mladic controlled the shelling of Sarajevo," said Dermot Groome, the UN prosecutor. "Mladic participated in a campaign of sniping and shelling against the besieged city of Sarajevo in order to spread terror among its civilian population."
He said that Mladic's personal notebooks would be shown in evidence to prove that he and Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb president, planned the siege of Sarajevo as key part of their ethnic cleansing strategy. One command, written in the notebooks and agreed by the pair, said: "Sarajevo must either be divided or razed to the ground."
FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: Ratko Mladic plotted to 'raze Sarajevo to the ground' - Telegraph
Ratko Mladic trial: act of genocide in Srebrenica caught on film - Telegraph
Video footage of the execution of Dino Salihovic, a 16-year-old Bosnian Muslim gunned down with other teenagers at Srebrenica, was shown at the opening of Ratko Mladic's trial.
Ratko Mladic is seen at the start of his trial at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands Photo: AP
The film of the murder of Dino and five other men near Srebrenica in July 1995 will be typical of the shocking evidence and testimony presented at the first genocide trial in Europe since the Holocaust.
"You watch him walk forward, his hands bound behind his back. We watch a burst of fire tear through his back," said Dermot Groome, the prosecutor, said.
Khameini told me Iran will win 'inevitable' conflict with Israel and US, says Spain's ex-PM | The Times of Israel
Spain’s former prime minister said Wednesday that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, told him in 2001 that he considered Israel a “cancer condemned to disappear” and that an “open confrontation” with Israel and the US in which Iran will prevail was inevitable.
“Israel to him was a kind of historical cancer and anomaly, a country … condemned to disappear,” Jose Maria Aznar said, recalling a rare meeting with Khameini in Tehran. “At some point he said very clearly, though softly as he spoke, that an open confrontation against the US and Israel was inevitable, and that he was working for Iran to prevail in such a confrontation. It was his duty as the ultimate stalwart of the Islamic global revolution.”
Since then, Iran has been pursuing a nuclear program which it insists is for peaceful purposes and which Israel, the US and others believe is intended to provide it with military nuclear capability.
Israeli group wins terror suit against Syria and Iran
A suspected Palestinian suicide bomber killed at least five people at a sandwich stand in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv in 2006. (Reuters)
An Israeli advocacy group won a $323 million judgment in a U.S. court against Iran and Syria for supporting Palestinian armed groups which killed an American teenager and ten others in a 2006 bombing, the group’s director said Tuesday.
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner of the Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center that represents victims of Palestinian violence said Tuesday that the group had won courtroom victories against Iran but never before against Syria.
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner of the Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center that represents victims of Palestinian violence said Tuesday that the group had won courtroom victories against Iran but never before against Syria.
The center was representing the family of 16-year-old Daniel Wultz of Florida, who was among 11 killed when an Islamic Jihad suicide bomber set off his explosives at a Tel Aviv restaurant six years ago. Daniel’s father was severely injured in the attack.
Darshan-Leitner said that Iran supports the Islamic Jihad movement financially while Syria had granted the group a haven to train in its territory.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
‘Screaming Eagles’ oversee demining in Democratic Republic of the Congo
A U.S. EOD Soldier with the 184th Ordnance Battalion (EOD), Fort Campbell, Ky., provides instruction on advanced metal-detecting techniques in a practical pit constructed on Camp Base, Kisangani, the capitol of the Orientale Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (U.S. Army photo by Capt. Charles A. Schnake)
‘Screaming Eagle’ Soldiers oversee demining in Democratic Republic of the Congo
By Sgt. Terysa M. King, U.S. Army Africa Public Affairs
KISANGANI, Congo – Years after the Great War of Africa ended, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is covered with remnants of war scattered throughout the country in the aftermath of one of the deadliest conflicts worldwide since World War II.
In an effort to help the DRC reduce the number of land mines and unexploded ordnance, four Soldiers from the 184th Ordnance Battalion (EOD), out of Fort Campbell, Ky., provided a train-the-trainer (TTT) course with 11 Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo (FARDC) deminers to improve their explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) skills.
This engagement, which is part of the Humanitarian Mine Action program, took place April 6 through 27 at Camp Base in Kisangani, the capitol of the Orientale Province in the DRC.
The main objective of this exercise was to improve the FARDC deminers’ EOD skill sets to a point where they can set up a sustainable program in the DRC and to improve relations between the DRC and the United States, said Capt. Charles A. Schnake, the exercise officer in charge.
Congolese military hunts evasive ex-warlord | Fox News
KINSHASA, Congo – A notorious ex-warlord who became a general in the Congolese army despite international war crimes charges is now being blamed for fomenting more unrest in Congo's east and faces new charges of crimes against humanity.
As Bosco Ntaganda's loyalists started to split off from the military last month to form a new rebel group in the wilds of eastern Congo, he went into hiding and is accused of orchestrating the defection.
Human rights groups say Ntaganda had long been living openly in eastern Congo, dining at restaurants and playing tennis despite an International Criminal Court arrest warrant on allegations he forced children to serve as soldiers. Now the Congolese government has vowed to arrest him and the ICC announced Monday it is expanding the charges against him.
U.N. observer convoy bombed in Syria as 20 people are killed at funeral procession
At least 20 people were killed and dozens wounded when Syrian regime forces opened fire on a funeral procession in Idlib province.
(Reuters)
At least 20 people were killed and dozens wounded when Syrian regime forces opened fire on a funeral procession in Idlib province during a visit by U.N. monitors, a watchdog said.
“The Syrian regime committed a massacre Tuesday during a visit by U.N. monitors to Khan Sheikhun,” in the northwestern province, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Separately, U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said a roadside bomb exploded in front of a convoy of U.N. ceasefire monitors in Khan Sheikhun, but no injuries were reported among U.N. workers.
Video uploaded to YouTube by activists showed a convoy of U.N. vehicles surrounded by dozens of people before a blast was heard and a puff of smoke went up in front of the leading U.N. -marked jeep.
FOR THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE: U.N. observer convoy bombed in Syria as 20 people are killed at funeral procession
LRA Top Commander Captured Alive - YouTube
On Saturday, May 12th, Ugandan military forces captured Caesar Achellam, one of the top four commanders in the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Achellam was captured in southeastern Central African Republic (CAR) after being in the LRA for over two decades. He was captured with a wife, a child, and a 12-year-old female from CAR.
Achellam holds one of the highest ranks within the LRA and is a leading influence in the group’s operations. Maj. General Achellam is an arabic speaker who managed the highly strategic relationship between the LRA and the Sudanese government in Khartoum. He also was one of two LRA commanders who had formal military training, and at one point he was the lead instructor for LRA troops.
Prior to Achellam’s capture, his relationship to Kony was uncertain. For years, Achellam’s group operated always in close proximity to Kony’s group, but in 2007 Kony disciplined Achellam for indicating a desire to negotiate a settlement during the Juba Peace Talks. His personal security escort was removed and younger, more violent LRA officers were promoted. In 2010, LRA expert Ledio Cakaj reported that while Okot Odhiambo (an ICC indictee) was technically second in command, Achellam was growing more influential with Kony because of his established links with Sudan–a government known to provide the LRA with food, ammunition, and safe haven.
As Ledio Cakaj notes, “Given that his knowledge of the LRA is on par with that of Kony, the apprehension or defection of Achellam could significantly destabilize the LRA.” Not only is Achellam, as some have noted, an “intelligence gold mine,” he is highly respected by Ugandan LRA because of his deep ties to the LRA movement and his formal military training. Because of the respect he garners, some speculate that he is one of the few officers who could have assumed control of the LRA if Kony were to be apprehended. For the same reasons, his capture could trigger a new wave of LRA surrenders. Since his capture, Achellam has said that he finally feels free now that he is out of the LRA. “My coming out will have a big impact for the people still in the bush to come out and end this war soon.”
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