Nigeria: Flogging, amputations and more death-by-stoning sentences
Amina Lawal Kurami could become the first person to be executed by stoning since the northern states of Nigeria have implemented Sharia (Islamic law).
The long awaited decision of the Islamic high court in Funtuas, Katsina state, shocked Nigeria’s growing human rights movement and people around the world. The court confirmed the barbarian judgment imposed upon the unwed mother by a Sharia court in Bakori in March 2002 on charges of adultery.
This is the second judgment of its kind. The first woman sentenced to death by stoning was Safiyatu Husseini Tunga-Tuda, condemned in October 2001. Under the pressure of worldwide protest, the Islamic appeal court in Sokoto acquitted Safiyatu in March 2002 [we reported in Bulletin # 88 and Bulletin # 93]. There had been the expectation that the appeal court, too, would acquit Amina Lawal.
The cases are very similar. Both Safiyatu (35) and Amina (30) were divorced by their former husbands and got pregnant out of wedlock. Both did not understand the implications of the drastic change of the legal system, which had taken place, and had no lawyer, when they admitted intimate relations outside marriage to the authorities. In both cases their confession was reason enough for the Sharia courts to impose the highest possible punishment on them, while the fathers of their babies escaped for lack of evidence. Under Sharia rules of proof, a man can only be convicted of adultery if there are four male witnesses for the act, while an unmarried woman can be condemned simply for becoming pregnant.
The acquittal by the appeal court in Safiyatu Husseini’s case was based on three reasons. First, the child had been conceived before Sharia was implemented in Sokoto state and therefore Islamic law was not applicable. Second, the accused had not been aware of the dire consequences of her confession, and third, she did not have a lawyer. Safiyatu was given opportunity by the appeal court to modify her statement and presented the astonishing – though under Islamic law officially acceptable – explanation that the baby was the child of her former husband only, which had been “sleeping” in her for two years after divorce.
Amina Lawal’s team of lawyers from the capital Abuja, who have meantime been organized by the Women’s Rights Advance and Protection Alternative, presented the same arguments, however without success. Amina had told the authorities in January that her then new-born daughter Wasilia was an offspring of her 11-moths-lasting intimate relation with her boy friend Yahaya Mahmud, who wanted to marry her. This confession remained the base of her conviction. The court was unimpressed by any protest. “Based on proofs derived through our investigations and through Islamic books I, Aliyu Abdullahi, and my three assistants hereby uphold your conviction of death by stoning as prescribed by the Sharia. This judgment will be carried out as soon as your baby is weaned”, declared the presiding judge. The ruling was answered with cheering and cries of  “God is great!”  from the public gallery of the packed courtroom.
Meantime an appeal has lodged with the higher court, informed the lawyers.
***
Nigeria is the most populous state of Africa. Half of its 120 million people are Muslims, half Christians. In 2000, the states of the predominantly Muslim north of the country started to implement Sharia. This triggered violent communal clashes, in which during the past three years more than 3000 people were killed. There are 12 Sharia states now, whose Muslim population is forced under the jurisdiction of religious penal courts, imposing barbarian punishments on them. Several men and young boys have been convicted to amputation of limbs for petty thefts. Some amputations have been already executed. A teenage girl, who became pregnant after being raped by three men, was punished for her “crime” with hundred public lashes last year. The list of alleged “adulterers”, being sentenced to death by stoning, is growing. So far, no execution by stoning has taken place.
Yunusa Ratin Chiyawa in Bauchi state, convicted to death by stoning in June for having a relation with a married woman, is the first man to face this punishment. The judgment was based on his confession; he had no lawyer. The woman was let free, as she claimed Yunusa had cast a spell on her. Amnesty International reported that the Bauchi state representative of the federal justice ministry tried to get the case transferred from the Sharia court to the high court of state, where there is no death penalty for adultery, but the Sharia court refused the transfer. It is not known if and how the dispute about competence between religious and state court has been solved and what is the further fate of the convicted.
Fatima Usman, divorced mother of 2 children, together with her boy friend Ahmadu Ibrahim, have been sentenced to death by stoning by an upper Sharia court in Niger state in August. The couple had been convicted for extra marital relations to 5 years jail in May. The upper court imposed the death sentence, after Fatima’s father lodged a complaint that the jail term was too mild a punishment. Their lawyer has filed an appeal.
The federal government of Nigeria under President Olusegun Obasanjo, a Christian, did not appreciate the implementation of Sharia in the northern states, but did not stop it either. In March 2002, alarmed by an international outcry again

The completion of the nigerian story .......


Fatima Usman, divorced mother of 2 children, together with her boy friend Ahmadu Ibrahim, have been sentenced to death by stoning by an upper Sharia court in Niger state in August. The couple had been convicted for extra marital relations to 5 years jail in May. The upper court imposed the death sentence, after Fatima’s father lodged a complaint that the jail term was too mild a punishment. Their lawyer has filed an appeal.
The federal government of Nigeria under President Olusegun Obasanjo, a Christian, did not appreciate the implementation of Sharia in the northern states, but did not stop it either. In March 2002, alarmed by an international outcry against the death sentence for Satiyatu Husseini, the government made a half-hearted move to ban Islamic law. Justice Minister Kanu Agabi informed the 12 states concerned that Sharia was inhuman and violated the Nigerian constitution, but no further steps were taken. In fact, Sharia violates not only the Nigerian constitution, but also several international human rights legal instruments, signed and ratified by Nigeria. The federal government has therefore nothing less than the duty to ban Sharia in order to uphold the values and principles enshrined in the constitution as well as to guarantee the implementation of international human rights acts. But it seems to prefer a comfortable policy of non-interference. A speaker of the governor of Katsina state made it clear to the media that there would be no interference whatsoever in the case of Amina Lawall. President Obasanjo is quoted as saying: “I don’t think what is going on will lead to her death. Indeed, if it does, which I very much doubt, I will weep for myself, I will weep for Amina and I will weep for Nigeria.”
President Obasanjo has to be politely told that the civilized world expects more from him than tears: We expect him to uphold law and order and the constitution of his country and to respect international human rights standards. We expect him therefore to ban Sharia and stop the execution of cruel and inhuman punishments like flogging and amputations with immediate effect. We expect him to guarantee for the life of Amina Lawal and all others currently sentenced to death under the Islamic law. We expect him to prevent that Nigeria goes Taliban! 
Please write to President Obasanjo:
His Excellency Olusegun Obasanjo, President of the Republic Nigeria
e-mail: webmaster@nigeria.gov.ng
Postal address: The Presidency, Federal Secretariat, Phase II, Shehu Shagari Way, Abuja, Nigeria
And please send a copy of your letter to Rationalist International at the following address:
HQ@rationalistinternational.net 

A man spoke frantically into the phone, "My wife is pregnant and her contractions are only two minutes apart!" "Is this her first child?" the doctor asked. "No, you idiot!" the man shouted, "This is her husband!"

hahahha - fooled you all !!!!

Far-right suspects seized over McDonald's blast
From correspondents in Moscow

March 22, 2007 12:00

RUSSIAN police have detained at least six far-right activists suspected of bombing a McDonald's restaurant in St Petersburg last month, Interfax news agency quoted a police source as saying today.

The February 18 bomb, in a restaurant on the city's main thoroughfare, blew out windows and injured six people.

The source said the group has been formed after a far-right activist suspected by police of involvement in violent attacks on foreigners was shot dead during a police operation in St Petersburg last year.

"After that, several people who support the ideas of supremacy of the white race united into a group and carried out attacks against foreign citizens and organised several bomb blasts," Interfax quoted the source as saying.

Officials could not immediately be reached to confirm that suspects had been detained.

Racist sentiments, partially fuelled by a massive influx of migrants from ex-Soviet republics, are on the rise in Russia.

St Petersburg, Russia's former imperial capital and President Vladimir Putin's home town, has seen a series of racist attacks against dark-skinned foreigners in the past few years.

Two dead in nuke sub mishap
From correspondents in London

March 22, 2007 12:00

TWO British sailors are dead and a third injured after an accident on board a nuclear submarine under the ice cap in the Arctic Ocean.

Early indications were that the accident on board HMS Tireless involved a piece of air purification equipment at the front of the submarine, but the vessel was “never in any danger,” the British Ministry of Defence said.

“The MoD can confirm that this morning there was an accident onboard a Trafalgar Class submarine on exercise in the Arctic,” it said.

“The submarine, HMS Tireless, was never in any danger. Its nuclear reactor was unaffected, it quickly surfaced and is completely safe.”

The hunter-killer submarine, which was taking part in a joint exercise with the US Navy, did not carry nuclear missiles.

The family of the two crew members had been informed while the third who was injured was airlifted to a US military hospital.

His injuries were not thought to be life-threatening and he was expected to make a full recovery.

“At this early stage, it is thought that the accident involved a piece of air purification equipment in the forward section of the submarine,” the ministry said.

“The ship's company dealt with the incident quickly and professionally and, as a result, there is only superficial damage to the forward compartment.

“The crew are trained in surfacing quickly through the ice, and did so in exemplary fashion.”

Air purification equipment is fitted to all Trafalgar Class submarines, of which Tireless is one of seven in the Royal Navy.

The ministry said the equipment had a 100 per cent safety record to date, but as a precaution its use on other vessels had been restricted until safety checks could be carried out.

Tireless, which is based in Devonport, in Plymouth, southwest England, was launched in 1984, but the piece of air-purification machinery thought to have failed was fitted as part of an update in 2001.

Net closing on terror leader
From correspondents in Jakarta

March 22, 2007 12:00

INDONESIAN anti-terrorist police say they are close to capturing the man responsible for the 2004 bombing of the Australian embassy in Jakarta which killed 10 people.

A huge cache of weapons and explosive material was discovered in a Central Java house following tips from suspects arrested earlier this week, a spokesman said today.

On Tuesday officers shot dead a suspected militant, wounded one of his companions and arrested several others believed to have links with Abu Dujana, the leader of Southeast Asian militant network, Jemaah Islamiah.

JI carried out the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

Dujana is wanted in connection with two deadly car-bombings in Jakarta, one at the JW Marriott Hotel and the other in front of the Australian embassy.

He emerged as the head of JI after the death of master bomb-maker Azahari Husin in 2005.

During the raid, police found three firearms, 200 detonators, 20kg of TNT, hundreds of bullets and large amounts of chemicals that could be used to make bombs, national police spokesman Sisno Adiwinoto said.

Asked if police were closer to catching Dujana, Mr Adiwinoto said: "Yes, we are sure and optimistic. We are moving forward step by step."

Indonesia has already arrested hundreds for involvement in those strikes or their links to the group.

Authorities say several important militant leaders remain at large. Finding them is complicated by the operation of individual cells whose members do not necessarily know about the activities of others, and by ideological and tactical splits.

Malaysian national Noordin Mohammed Top, considered a mastermind of the bombing attacks and on the run for years, has been called the most wanted fugitive in Southeast Asia, but police say his current role in JI is difficult to establish.

Bashed former Australian escapes Zimbabwe
By Vincent Morello, Simon Kirby and Paul Mulvey

March 23, 2007 12:00

An Australian foreign affairs spokeswoman said the small aircraft carrying the couple left last night at approximately 8.30pm (AEDT) on its way to OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa.

It was to be met by a road ambulance to transport the couple to a hospital where Mrs Holland would receive treatment for injuries she allegedly sustained from police beatings stemming from an opposition rally in Harare on March 11.

Mrs Holland won a court order in Harare yesterday after being detained under armed guard and without charge since her arrest following the rally.

Although the judge ordered the police to free Mrs Holland and her fellow opposition activist Grace Kwinjeh, her Australian husband Jim feared president Robert Mugabe's regime would stop them leaving.

The couple were escorted by Australian consulate in Zimbabwe Mark Lynch, a Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) spokeswoman said.

No other Australian representatives or security personnel accompanied the Hollands to the airport in their ambulance which was not hindered during its journey.

Although Mr Holland feared he and his wife would be stopped at the airport, they were able to board the air ambulance without provocation.

Fellow opposition activist Grace Kwinjeh also was being held without charge and the judge also ordered her release.

The DFAT spokeswoman could not confirm if Mrs Kwinjeh joined the Hollands to South Africa.

Mrs Holland needed to travel to South Africa for specialist medical treatment for a broken leg, a procedure not available in Harare.

Despite the court order, recent incidents at the airport had given Mr Holland little confidence they would be allowed onto the plane.

Mrs Holland and Mrs Kwinjeh were stopped at the airport last week and MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa was ambushed and bashed with metal bars by four men wearing suits.

"I don't know whether it'll make any difference to us being able to get out of the country, but it will make us feel more secure, that's what's most important," Mr Holland said.

"And it's important to make sure the whole world is watching."

Mr Holland had said Zimbabwe has descended into a police state and he feared authorities could even try to have them killed.

Mrs Holland, policy secretary for Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change party, was suffering from a broken leg, broken hand and three broken ribs.

Mr Holland, a businessman, said the pair still planned to return to Zimbabwe after the treatment.

The couple were married in Australia 1961 before moving back to Mrs Holland's homeland of Zimbabwe in 1981.

Editor acquitted over Mohammed cartoons row
From correspondents in Paris

March 23, 2007 12:00

A PARIS court acquitted the editor of a satirical French weekly sued by two Muslim groups for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, in a case seen as a test for freedom of expression.

Applause broke out in the courtroom at the announcement of the verdict, which ruled that three cartoons published by the weekly Charlie Hebdo in February 2006 were not insulting to Muslims.

The Paris Grand Mosque and the Union of Islamic Organisations of France took Charlie Hebdo editor Philippe Val to court for reprinting cartoons that first appeared in a Danish newspaper, sparking angry protests by Muslims worldwide.

They argued that the images drew an offensive link between Islam and terrorism and asked for €30,000 ($A49,800) in damages.

Mr Val welcomed the ruling and said it would open a much-needed debate among Muslims in France.

“If you believe as we do that Islam is perfectly compatible with French democracy, such a debate is a blessing,” he said.

The court ruled that two of the cartoons were absolutely not offensive to Muslims.

One, reprinted from Denmark's Jyllands-Posten, showed the prophet standing on a cloud, turning away suicide bombers from paradise with the caption “Stop, stop, we ran out of virgins”.

The second, by the French cartoonist Cabu, showed Mohammed sobbing, holding his head in his hands and saying: “It is hard to be loved by fools”, under the caption “Mohammed overwhelmed by fundamentalists”.

On the third cartoon - showing Mohammed wearing a turban shaped as a bomb, and first printed in Jyllands-Posten - the court's ruling was more nuanced.

The court decided that the caricature could potentially be insulting to Muslims but that the context of its publication in Charlie Hebdo made clear there was no intention to offend.

The president of the Union of Islamic Organisations of France, Lhaj Thami Breze, said following the hearing that he intended to appeal “because we are unhappy with the verdict”.

We don't understand, the judgement says that one of the drawings is shocking but that it falls within the framework of freedom of expression,” said the group's lawyer.

But lawyers for the Paris Mosque said they would not challenge the court's decision.

Quote:


There was nothing in the earlier article saying he wasnt murdered. It said his death was suspicious, and investigations were continuing.

If there is no evidence of murder, it doesnt rule out a murder taking place. It only means that the reason for death was not readily apparent.

Muslim pupils beat teacher to death over KoranFrom correspondents in Gombe
March 22, 2007 03:32am
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MUSLIM pupils at a secondary school in northeastern Nigeria beat a teacher to death today after accusing her of desecrating the Koran.

Oluwatoyin Olusase, a Christian, was adjudicating an Islamic Religious Knowledge exam at the school in Gombe state when the incident occurred.

The students attacked her outside the school compound after the exam and killed her, witnesses said.

It was not clear exactly what Olusase had done that angered the students.

Police confirmed the killing and said their intervention had prevented the incident from turning into a riot.

"We have received information that a female teacher has been lynched by her students. We are investigating the report," Gombe state police commissioner Joseph Ibi said.

At least five people were killed and several churches burned down in February 2006 in the neighbouring state of Bauchi by Muslims infuriated that a Christian teacher in a secondary school had tried to confiscate a Koran from a student who was reading it during class.

Word got out into the streets that the teacher had desecrated the Koran, infuriating Muslims who went on the rampage.

At least 15,000 people have died in religious, communal and political violence in Africa's most populous country since 1999, when Nigeria returned to democracy after 30 years of almost unbroken military rule.

Iran would 'hit back with everything it has' if attacked - leader
Email this storyPrint this story 7:45AM Thursday March 22, 2007



Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Photo / Reuters

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TEHRAN - Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned today Iran would hit back with everything it has if attacked over its nuclear program, which the United States believes is aimed at making atom bombs.

Khamenei, who has previously threatened US regional interests if attacked, was speaking in the northeastern city of Mashhad to mark the Iranian new year, which falls on March 21.

"If they want to threaten us and use force and violence against us, they should not doubt that Iranian officials will use all they have in their power to deal a blow to those who assault them," he said in an address carried by Iranian television news.

The United Nations Security Council is considering new sanctions against Iran over its refusal to suspend its uranium enrichment program, whose product can be used to make fuel for power generation or, when more highly enriched, nuclear weapons.

Iran, the world's fourth largest oil exporter, insists the program is peaceful and aimed solely at generating electricity.


Khamenei said Iran's nuclear work followed international rules, but if major powers via the Security Council took "illegal actions" and ignored Iran's rights, "we can also carry out illegal actions and we will do that."

Washington has said it would prefer a diplomatic solution to the standoff, but has not ruled out military options.

- REUTERS

Christian schoolgirl beheadings: militants jailed
Email Print Normal font Large font March 21, 2007 - 8:17PM

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AdvertisementThree Islamic militants were found guilty today of decapitating three Christian schoolgirls in Indonesia and dumping their bloodied heads in nearby villages, judges said.

They were sentenced to between 14 and 20 years.

The alleged members of the al-Qaeda linked Jemaah Islamiah network left a handwritten note close to the bodies, vowing more killings to avenge the deaths of Muslims in earlier sectarian violence on Sulawesi island.

"Wanted - 100 more heads," said Judge Lilik Mulyadi, reciting the letter's text. "Blood must be paid with blood, lives with lives, heads with heads."

Hasanuddin, 34, who goes by a single name, was sentenced to 20 years for masterminding the 2005 attack. His co-conspirators Lilik Purnomo, 28, and Irwanto Irano, 29, each got 14 years.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, has been hit by a string of terrorist attacks in recent years targeting local Christians and nightclubs, restaurants and foreign embassies.

But the grisly nature of the beheadings - which occurred as the children were cutting through a cocoa plantation on their way to school - gave fresh impetus to the country's war on terrorism and was followed by scores of arrests.

The three militants had faced a maximum penalty of death by firing squad, but judges ruled that they deserved some leniency for cooperating with authorities, confessing and showing remorse.

Siregar told the Central Jakarta District Court that Hasanuddin ordered the slayings and helped dumped their girls' heads in three Christian-dominated villages. Purnomo and Irano were found guilty of "ambushing and beheading" the teenagers, he said.

It was not immediately clear if the three would appeal.

More than 90 per cent of Indonesia's 220 million people are Muslims, but Central Sulawesi province - the scene of religious clashes that left at least 1000 people dead from 1998 to 2002 - has a roughly equal number of Muslims and Christians.

A peace agreement ended the worst of the violence, but tensions flared after the 2005 beheadings and again in September 2006, after the execution of three Roman Catholic militants convicted of leading a 2000 attack on an Islamic school that killed up to 70 people.

In January, 15 alleged Islamic militants were killed in a gunbattle in Sulawesi. Several others were arrested, including three others who have confessed to taking part in the beheadings but have yet to be brought to trial.

FYI - beheadings are popular and common in the koran. Shows your extremist ways.

Zimbabwe Aussie's '80 lashes'

March 21, 2007 12:00

A 64-YEAR-OLD former Australian resident trapped in Zimbabwe says she was lashed more than 80 times by 15 police and fears she will die if she stays in the strife-torn southern African country.

Sekai Holland remains under armed guard in a Harare hospital where she is receiving treatment for her injuries, which include a broken leg, broken hand and three broken ribs.

Lawyers for Ms Holland and fellow opposition activist Grace Kwinzeh will go to court at midday today in Harare (9pm AEDT) in a bid for a court order allowing them to leave the country.

Ms Holland and Ms Kwinzeh were arrested on March 11 following an opposition protest, but are yet to be charged.

Ms Holland, policy secretary for Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, said she was detained and severely beaten by president Robert Mugabe's police.

Speaking secretly to ABC Radio today from her hospital bed on a borrowed mobile phone, the grandmother said she feared the worst if she was prevented from going to South Africa for medical treatment.

"Of course I will die – I will have an early death," Ms Holland said.

She told of horrific injuries she said she received in police custody after her arrest.

"My body is still covered with 81 lashes, minimum, administered by 15 men, really strong men," she said.

Despite her injuries and fears for her life, Ms Holland said she did not regret opposing Mr Mugabe's regime.

"No, we have lived our lives for this," she said.

Ms Holland came to Australia from Zimbabwe in 1961 and married Australian Jim Holland before the couple moved back to her homeland in 1981.

Mr Holland, who still lives in Harare, said because police had confiscated his wife's passport, he was not confident she would be able to leave Zimbabwe, even if a judge does issue a court order allowing her to travel.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government is pressing Cricket Australia to call off its tour of Zimbabwe in September, although it would leave the decision to Cricket Australia (CA).

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said next week's meeting of foreign ministers at the Southern African Development Commission could bring a shift in the region's muted response to events in Zimbabwe.

"That meeting is going to be an important point where hopefully there will be a turn in the approach of the southern African countries towards the issue of Zimbabwe," he told ABC Radio.

Mr Downer vowed Australia would not back down from its position on Zimbabwe, despite Australia's ambassador in Harare, Jon Sheppard, and ambassadors of other countries being called in by Zimbabwe's foreign minister.

"They were told that they had been acting in breach of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations by intervening in domestic politics and aiding and abetting people who were committing acts of violence," he said.

"This simply is an illustration of a regime that doesn't even tolerate transparency.

"We know it doesn't tolerate dissent. We have seen the opposition being savagely attacked physically. But it apparently doesn't even tolerate monitoring of their activities."

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai was among dozens of opposition figures arrested and savagely beaten by police who broke up the March 11 meeting.

One MDC activist, Gift Tandare, died in the crackdown.

Police arrest 200 in dawn raid on Naples drug clans
From correspondents in Naples, Italy

March 21, 2007 12:00

ITALIAN police arrested nearly 200 people in a dawn raid on drug traffickers in the centre of Naples, in one of the biggest ever anti-mafia operations in a city notorious for organised crime.

The Carabinieri police said they were trying to break up the drug business controlled by two clans that make up the Naples mafia known as the Camorra.

TV pictures showed people crying as police dragged the suspects away. Many of those arrested were women and in some cases entire families were taken into custody, police said.

Naples, an ancient port city sprawling round the bay at the foot of the volcano Vesuvius, has gained notoriety as one of Italy's most crime-ridden cities.

The Government sent hundreds of police reinforcements to the city in November to tackle a bloody vendetta between rival mafia gangs.

Last year a Canadian tourist was wounded by a stray bullet while strolling in the central Piazza del Plebiscito and an American was beaten up by locals after he gave chase to two muggers.

Drug violence surges in Mexico

MEXICO CITY – A Monterrey police officer was gunned down in her patrol car Friday, hours after a state police commander was killed nearby. The deaths came three days after a hail of gunfire directed at a jewelry shop killed another officer, his wife, a bystander and the shop owner.

But the violence this week was not limited to Monterrey.

Mexican officials seized $205.6 million in cash from a luxurious house in one of Mexico City's most upscale neighborhoods on Friday. The money was believed to be tied to the meth trade.
The body of an El Paso resident was discovered Thursday in Ciudad Juárez, across the border from El Paso. A former military general survived an assassination attempt Wednesday in the Gulf state of Tabasco. A head was left outside the state security office Thursday near the Tabasco capital of Villahermosa.

And so went one of the bloodiest weeks of drug hits in Mexican history.

More than 50 people, many of them police officers, were gunned down throughout the week, signaling a renewed surge in violence and more brazen tactics by drug traffickers as they reassemble and secure territories to distribute illegal drugs.

To do that, they generally target police officers, some of them corrupt agents working for rival cartels. Of the 470 people killed this year in drug-related violence, 58 have been police officers, according to Jose Arturo Yañez Romero, a crime expert at Mexico City's Police Formation Institute. That's an average of six people a day killed since the start of the year. "This is the bloodiest week in Mexico, particularly against police officers," said Mr. Yañez, who cited figures from Mexico City's El Universal newspaper. "And it will only get worse."

President Felipe Calderón said the violence is a backlash against a crackdown he initiated shortly after taking office Dec. 1. More than 24,000 federal police and soldiers have been sent to eight drug strongholds across the country. Although the show is impressive, no big kingpins have fallen.

"We have launched a frontal fight against organized crime. We are not going to leave our lives in the hands of criminals," Mr. Calderón said. "We are fighting to save our children from the talons of drugs and the danger of organized crime."

The violence comes in the same week that President Bush vowed to reduce U.S. demand for drugs, which he in part blamed for the drug violence in Mexico.

"I made it very clear to the president that I recognize the United States has a responsibility in the fight against drugs," Mr. Bush said during his visit with Mr. Calderón. "And one major responsibility is to encourage people to use less drugs."

The immensity of the drug trade was laid out in the form of more than $200 million in cash that was seized by police in Mexico City's plush Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood.

The stacks and stacks of $100 bills were laid next to 200 thousand euros and 157,000 pesos in dramatic photos released by the attorney general's office Friday. Seven people were arrested.

Meanwhile, the wave of shootings has prompted mass police resignations in several key states – among them, more than 300 in Nuevo León and dozens more in the state of Chihuahua, two states that border Texas, 26 in the northwestern state of Sonora.


Monte Alejandro Rubidio García, an undersecretary at the Public Safety Ministry, warned that drug kingpins will not "give in so easily."

"They will battle hand-in-hand to defend their territory," he said, as viable drug smuggling routes become fewer and more hotly contested. Mr. Rubidio García said the killings are a "reflection that the crackdown is a success because the criminal structures are cracking," but he added that it will be "extremely difficult" for the crime wave to subside this year.

Critics say Mr. Calderón's achievements are superficial. "This isn't so much about a response to the government's crackdown," Mr. Yañez said. "This is about cartels flexing their muscles and securing distribution routes. Drug trafficking is so lucrative – we're talking billions and billions of dollars – that the government cannot make a dent."

The government's strategy, according to Alfredo Quijano, editor of the Norte de Ciudad Juárez newspaper, "is not to dismantle the cartels, or finish them off, but rather to force them to the negotiating table to talk. Business, meantime, goes on, but at a greater cost to human life," he said, noting that 63 people have been killed in Juárez this year.

But the worst part of the killings, said Mr. Yañez, is this: "There is total impunity. No one has been arrested. It's open season on cops, and no one seems to give a damn."


Staff writer Laurence Iliff contributed to this report.

woah, this thread is depressing, so much stories of gore & violence. 

but thanks for the different perspective skeptic, at least we can agree that not all violent acts committed in the world are by muslims.

i guess the tendency to be violent is more of a human thing, rather than something linked to a person's ethnic or religious background.

Sprintcyclist wrote on Mar 22^nd, 2007 at 10:12am:


sprintcyclist, u do realise that all faiths are intolerant of eachother?

actually, ur a good example, as a practising christian, u go on about how muslims are violent as evidenced by ur daily news threads, but then ignore violence committed by non-muslims.

previous article (continued)

MORE VIOLENCE

Besides these pastors, several other church leaders and members were said to have been attacked this month, including in the northeastern state of Punjab where Hindu militants forced the cancellation of a prayer meeting, after attacking the Christians, the GCIC said. At least four people were injured in the attack in Gobin Pura village in Punjab’s Bathinda district, Indian Christians said.

Earlier in Northern India Pastor Reginald Howell of the evangelical Good Shepherd Community Churches "was brutally beaten" last week, March 7, by a "fanatic group in Hanumangarh," a town in India’s northern Rajasthan state, according to GCIC investigators.

"Pastor Howell went there to pray for sick people along with other Christians. He was beaten with an iron rod and suffered severe injuries on his back." Although "severely injured and bleeding" doctors at a local hospital allegedly refused to treat him as police did not want to "register" his case, Christian investigators said.

The reports of the attacks came as representatives of the Church of Nazarene in Nagpur, the third largest city in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, tried to seek compensation from local authorities following an attack against them. The pastor, "’Rev. Ravi Shambhakar" and co-workers "Mr. Ramprakash Sahu and Mr. Satputeed" were severely injured" when Hindu militants allegedly began beating them. The militants also damaged and later robbed the equipment used to show the ’Jesus’ film about the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the GCIC added.

“BRUTALLY BEATEN”

"Mr. Satputeed was brutally beaten and lost five teeth in the attack [and] was later taken to the hospital," the group said. Police reportedly did not register a complaint, saying Christians were involved in "wrongdoing." Church representatives launched a court case against the treatment by local authorities. A hearing was scheduled Tuesday, March 13, but it was not immediately clear what the outcome of the potentially precedent setting case had been.

The violence against Christians comes amid growing concern among church observers about what they see as an organized Hindu movement against perceived "forced conversions" in several states of India, where laws have made it increasingly difficult for pastors and Christian missionaries and aid workers to function.

For instance, "Rajasthan state has a Freedom of Religion Bill which is used as a tool in the hands of the fundamentalists to harass the Christians," said GCIC National President Sajan George. "The cases of anti-Christian attacks in Rajasthan keep increasing, and the State Administration turns a blind eye to the persecution of Christians ."

India is a predominantly Hindu nation of 1.1 billion people, but Hindu groups have complained about the spread of Christianity in especially rural areas and among the ’lowest caste’, also known as ’dalits’. Christians comprise less than 3 percent of the population. (With BosNewsLife reporting, BosNewsLife Research and reports from India).

HI skeptic
fancy you finding another religious battle where muslims are involved.
Buddhists are probably the worlds renowned pacifists.
There has never been a problem with them in the past , now muslims are there .........

yes, there are also occassional problems with hindus and christians on one sector of india.
that is about it worldwide for nonmuslim religious violence.

Hi skeptic,
yes, I did read you post. Hence my informed reply
What is the buddhists history ? what is muslims history ?
I read of a similar article a few weeks ago, where is was muslims killing other muslims and setting  it up to looklike buddhists had done it . To cause chaos and enable the use of massive violence from them to eradicate the buddhists. This sort of thing has been done before. taqiya.


The violence was not there till the muslims arrived.
Try taking a bible into saudi arabia - it carries a 2 year jail term there.
did you call them tolerant ?

one thing is clear, thos christians get a bit of a flogging where ever they go.

The reason Islamic violence gains prominence is that it is uniform accross the globe. Where you may here of violent hindus in India, and Violent buddhists in Thailand, you will hear of muslim violence everywhere, from Thailand, to India, to France, to Australia.

Name any nation with a significant Islamic population and I will find multiple cases of religious fulled violence.

In fact name any nation with over 5% islamic population and there will be cases of Religious fulled violence within the last year.

No other relgion throughout history has had this much widespread violence in teh name of their God.

Even during Crusading Europe many countries with significant christian populations never laid fingers on other religions.

Classic Liberal wrote on Mar 22^nd, 2007 at 3:12pm:


India is probably the only country in the world that has a large Hindu population, so u wouldn't find Hindu violence in any other nation besides India.

the same thing with Buddhists, only a few countries in SE Asia have large Buddhist populations. so u wouldn't find examples of Buddhist violence in other areas of the globe.

Children 'used in suicide attacks'
By Kristin Roberts in Washington
March 21, 2007 05:16am
Article from: Reuters
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•      Fears of new tactic to get through checkpoints
•      Children left inside car to lower suspicions
•      Chemical bombings have also increased
A US general today said Iraqi insurgents used children in a suicide attack this weekend, raising worries that the insurgency has adopted a new tactic to get through security checkpoints with bombs.
Major General Michael Barbero, deputy director for regional operations in the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, said adults in a vehicle with two children in the backseat were allowed through a Baghdad checkpoint. The adults then abandoned the vehicle and detonated it with the children still inside, he said.
"Children in the backseat lower suspicion, we let it move through," he said. "They parked the vehicle, the adults run out and detonate it with the children in the back."
"The brutality and ruthless nature of this enemy hasn't changed," Gen Barbero said.
The general called that incident a new tactic, but noted US forces had only seen one such occurrence involving children.
The use of chemical bombings has increased and become a tool of the insurgency, as the three chlorine bombs detonated this past weekend brought the total to six such bombings since January, the General said.
High-profile suicide and car bomb attacks by Sunnis against Shiites also have not abated, Gen Barbero said.
But he said increased forces in Iraq's capital had yielded some success, such as a reduction in murders and executions of civilians. He also said hundreds of families have returned to Baghdad and the number of tips from Iraqi civilians about insurgent activity hit its highest mark ever in February.
Gen Barbero's comments come as Congress considers measures that attempt to force a timeline on the Bush administration to withdraw US troops.
The General said improving security will "take time and determination" and said: "We need to take a long-term view."
The United States has plans in place to send more than 21,500 additional troops to Baghdad and Anbar - the most violent areas of Iraq. Many of the troops have already arrived and all of the US brigades promised for Baghdad will be in place by June, as targeted, Gen Barbero said.
The aim of the increase, according to US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and military officials, is to establish enough security to give Iraq's Government "breathing room" to make political and economic progress.
That strategy, however, has been criticised by some lawmakers in Washington. Republican Ike Skelton, a Missouri Democrat who chairs the US House of Representatives' armed services committee, for example, said violence between Sunnis and Shiites will worsen when the United States leaves Iraq, regardless of when that pull-out occurs.
"Should there be a redeployment now, six months from now, two years from now, the sectarian violence will increase," Mr Skelton said today. "It's inevitable."
Asked about the Shiite militia led by radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, Gen Barbero declined to say whether US forces were in negotiations with the group.
"I think where we are with the leaders of this movement's at a pretty delicate point and I probably don't want to talk anymore about his followers, where we are in our relationship with them," Gen Barbero said. "That's probably best left unsaid."
But the general said US and Iraqi forces were operating freely in Baghdad's Sadr City, a Shiite militia stronghold, and that he believed the cleric was still in Iran.


There is an AMAZING link up with child sacrifice and a certain character named ishmael in the Old testament. 



Man who ripped wife's eyes out jailed
From correspondents in Nimes, France
March 21, 2007 06:28am
Article from: Agence France-Presse
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A MAN who ripped out his wife's eyes in a fit of rage was sentenced by a French court to 30 years behind bars today.
Mohamed Hadfi, 31, tore out his 23-year-old wife Samira Bari's eyes following a heated argument in their apartment in the southern French city of Nimes in July 2003 after she refused to have sex with him.
Ms Bari, who had demanded a divorce before the attack, was permanently blinded.
Hadfi, a Moroccan, initially fled to Germany. He was finally arrested and sent back to France, where he was indicted for "acts of torture and barbarity leading to a permanent disability".
Prosecutor Dominique Tourette demanded that Hadfi be sentenced to 30 years in prison, two thirds of which must be served in full, calling the defendant a "diabolic torturer".
Once his sentence is served, Hadfi will be deported and barred from ever returning to France.
His lawyer Jean-Pierre Cabanes meanwhile insisted there were extenuating circumstances.
"This is the result of a marriage that was arranged, not chosen," he said, pointing to the gulf separating his client, who came from southern Morocco, and his young wife, who had grown up in France.
Mr Cabanes begged the jury for leniency, claiming his client's action "appeared to stem from a mental illness

Hey - look, he is called mohammad - prob a muslim !!

since this is a "today's news" thread, i thought i should post articles from today's paper. feel free to comment on any of them if u like.

and don't worry auzgurl, but this is supposed to be a thread about the news, so it doesn't have to be a muslim bashing one. there are so many non-muslim related news pieces out there as well.

Anna Nicole baby paternity ruling
March 21, 2007 12:00

A JUDGE has ordered a DNA test on Anna Nicole Smith's infant daughter to identify the baby's father.

The instruction will be a step forward in a wrangle that has intensified since Smith's death, with at least four parties claiming to be the father.

Larry Birkhead, an ex-boyfriend of the Playboy playmate who asked the judge to order the test on six-month-old Dannielynn, pumped his fists in the air and jumped up and down as he emerged from the closed hearing in a Bahamas courtroom.

"I feel great," he said. "It's been a good day in court for me."

Deborah Rose, an attorney for Smith's mother Virgie Arthur, confirmed the judge ordered the test but she and others who attended the hearing declined to describe the proceedings.

Authorities left the building after the hearing and could immediately be reached for comment.

The two front-runners claiming to be the father are Birkhead and Smith's husband, lawyer Howard K Stern.

Paternity has also been claimed by a bodyguard of the star, Alex Denk, and Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband Prince Frederic von Anhalt - who says he had a ten-year fling with the star.

Also adding to the paternity debate was Smith's half-sister Donna Hogan who claimed frozen sperm from the actress' late billionaire husband J. Howard Marshall could have been used to impregnate Smith.

Smith's most recent companion Stern, who is listed as the father on the girl's birth certificate, left the courthouse in a black SUV as Birkhead greeted a crowd of cheering tourists.

Smith, 39, died after collapsing at a Florida hotel. Authorities have not disclosed the cause.

Stern has been caring for the girl in the gated, waterfront Bahamas home where he lived with Smith in the months before she died.

The Bahamian courts have ordered Stern not to leave the country with the girl before a custody ruling.

The only two being taken seriously in the paternity wrangle are Birkhead and Stern. Birkhead has been fighting to prove he's the father since late last year.

Birkhead, Stern and Arthur - who was estranged from her daughter - have been waging a war to win custody of the child since Smith's sudden and squalid death in a Florida hotel last month.

The tragedy is still shrouded in mystery, with the cause of death believed to be drugs - although police are still investigating and recently said they have not ruled out murder.

It came just months after Smith's adult son died, apparently of adrugs overdose, in the model's hospital room as she slept following the birth of Dannielynn.

Observers have suggested the claims of paternity and custody are more about securing access to Dannielynn's hefty inheritance than providing love.

Arthur wants to take Dannielynn from Stern, arguing she could provide a more stable home. She did not speak as she left the courthouse and left in a white limousine.

The girl - full name Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern - could inherit millions from the estate of Smith's late husband, Texas oil tycoon Marshall.

Smith had been fighting his family over his estimated $US500 million ($A623 million) fortune since his death in 1995.

A Los Angeles judge issued an order in December for Anna Nicole Smith to bring her daughter to California for paternity tests, but previous efforts by Birkhead's legal team to secure a DNA sample have not been successful.  

Last month, Von Anhalt also filed legal documents seeking a DNA test to determine if he is the father.

I'm not arrogant, says Howard

March 21, 2007 12:00

PRIME Minister John Howard has said he is surprised by a poll finding that seven in 10 voters think he is arrogant, saying he has nothing to be arrogant about.

The Newspoll of more than 1200 voters found that 68 per cent thought Mr Howard was arrogant, compared to 29 per cent for Labor leader Kevin Rudd.

Only 50 per cent thought Mr Howard was in touch with the electorate, compared to 76 per cent for Mr Rudd, and fewer than half (49 per cent) thought Mr Howard was trustworthy.

"I've got to say this, I don't have anything to be arrogant about - not at the moment, politically, nothing at all," Mr Howard has said on Southern Cross Broadcasting.

"I mean, it's the most counter-intuitive finding in a poll I've read in years.  I look at all the other polls and they say I'm a country mile behind.

"I can tell you, I don't feel very arrogant, I don't behave in an arrogant manner."

Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce has said the poll is wrong and Mr Howard cannot be expected to do "somersaults down the corridor" to prove to people he is not arrogant.

He has said the Prime Minister is efficient and business-like.

"He can't be the all-singing, all-dancing, hugging and kissing and doing somersaults down the corridor to make people feel happy," the Queensland senator has said.

"He's got to run a country and with that has got to come a sense of decorum and a sense of gravitas of the position that you've got.

"I want to see the boss running the show which is what we've got."

Public opinion

Mr Howard has said he has strong views and is prepared to argue his case and go against public opinion on important issues.

"But I do listen to people, and I may not end up agreeing with them, I don't always, and I think the job of leader is to listen and lead, and not always just count to 51 per cent and say that's where I'm going to go," he said.

"On occasions you've got to swim against the tide. I did it on Iraq, I did it on the GST ... I believe in what we're doing, and if at the end of the day the judgment of the Australian people is (against us) ... I have to accept that."

Mr Howard said when governments were doing badly in the polls generally, they tended to get marked down on everything.

Tasmanian Liberal MP Michael Ferguson was standing by his leader today.

"John Howard's my hero, he remains so," Mr Ferguson has said.

Hi auzgurl,

How have you been ? Much better forum here, thanks.

Was just reporting the news. made no comment against anyone at all !!
Thought america bashing was the popular thing to do ??
Silly me, I am often "unfashionable".

Take care

Skeptic - you're going so fast we haven't time to comment.  In regard to Anna Nicole's baby - I hope it turns out to be Stern - the lawyer.  He sounds about the most competent of the lot.

In regard to Howard's arrogance - what's new?

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Mixed-messages-put-babies-at-risk/2007/07/01/1183228952783.html

New parents are being given inconsistent advice about sleeping positions for their babies that could be putting some at risk of suffocation, top child health experts warn.

Specialists from SIDS and Kids, and Kidsafe say some organisations continue to advise parents to use dangerous V-shaped pillows that can suffocate babies who slip down between the two arms.

Parental help lines are also advising mums and dads to sleep in the same bed with their children, despite the potential danger of suffocation, University of Adelaide pathology expert Professor Roger Byard wrote in the Medical Journal of Australia.

"Despite these clear messages, deaths continue to occur in SA, and V-shaped pillows are still being sold in a local obstetric hospital," wrote the specialists.

Ms Cairns said she was advised unequivocally on a helpline to share a bed with her new baby, despite the proven dangers.

"No mention was made of the potential danger of suffocation if parents are physically large, intoxicated, sedated, or simply exhausted, or if the infant is placed between the parents under bedcovers," Ms Cairns said.

"Perhaps another question to ask is: 'What responsibility do organisations and employees bear if an infant dies as a result of parents following such advice?'," he said.

The family of this unfortunate woman have been quick to point the finger at other people, yet surely they are the most responsible for the situation. Who would leave a sick relative who depends on the power supply to stay alive in a house with no backup electricity that was behind on it's bills to the electricity company? Who would trust the electricity company's bureacracy that much? Most houses experience a power cut due to natural causes about once a year anyway.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Powercut-womans-family-slams-police/2007/06/04/1180809383376.html

The family of a New Zealand woman with a life-threatening heart condition, who died shortly after her electricity was disconnected, have lashed out at the police investigation into her death.

The 45-year-old mother of four with cardiomyopathy, could not work because of her condition and was dependent on an electrically-powered oxygen machine to breath.

Although she had been making payments, Mercury Energy disconnected the supply to Folole Muliaga's Auckland home on May 29 because she owed $NZ168 ($A150) on her bill.

Spokesman for the Muliaga family, Brenden Sheehan, said police were insensitive, failed to understand Samoan culture, and leaked information to the media ahead of official findings.

At the moment, Australians who want to buy food that is not laced with poisons and hormones and does not harm the environment are not protected by law, because there are no legal standards for labelling food 'organic'. As well as damaging our ecosystems and our health, this harms export industries because organically grown food has no meaningful certification. The NSW government is looking into this, but we need a national approach. The last thing we need is a different set of standards for each state. The industry is worth $400 million in NSW alone.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Call-for-domestic-organic-food-standard/2007/03/05/1172943347671.html

---

Organic food benefits, costs questioned

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Organic-food-benefits-costs-questioned/2007/07/29/1185647719045.html

The jury is out on the health and taste benefits of pricey organic food, consumer watchdog Choice says.

It's not known if organic food is nutritionally better and more research is required, according to Choice.

Meanwhile, shoppers are paying up to three times more for organic produce, believing it tastes better, has no chemical residue and is healthier than non-organic food.

Choice spokesman Christopher Zinn said the watchdog supported the development of a domestic standard and enforcement framework for organic goods.

Among Choice's value picks for organic food were tomatoes, apples and chickens. However, organic carrots and eggs did not rate as well.

Organic cherry tomatoes can cost about the same as conventional non-organic varieties but they have more concentrated flavour and more beneficial phytochemicals and vitamins.

A survey found 20 per cent of conventional tomatoes had at least one pesticide residue on them.

Over half the conventional apples tested had pesticide residue, which could make forking out up to $8 a kilogram worthwhile compared to $2 to $5 for the standard fruit.

Certified organic chickens are normally twice the price of non-organic birds, but they are free-range and fed at least 95 per cent organic food and have no antibiotics.

Eggs laid by organic free-range chickens cost $9 a dozen, which is a 200 per cent premium on non-organic eggs.

Organic carrots were more than double the price of standard carrots with tests finding only one in 21 samples of non-organic carrots with chemical residue.

Isn't this taking things a bit too far?

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Sunglasses-get-thumbs-up-from-students/2007/07/31/1185647881083.html

Students at a primary school in Sydney's south have no problems wearing sunglasses in their playground, the principal says.

Arncliffe Public School has introduced compulsory wearing of sunglasses for students from kindergarten to Year 6, to protect their eyes.

The students say they would also be happy to wear their glasses after school, principal Stephan Vrachas said.

Education Minister John Della Bosca said the state government would look at making sunglasses compulsory in all public school playgrounds if there was a call for it.

Opposition education spokesman Andrew Stoner said he supported the Arncliffe scheme, but the cost to the taxpayer of supplying sunglasses and the health benefits from medical experts need to be looked at before they were introduced to all state schools.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/School-kids-film-fights-then-put-online/2007/08/12/1186857352670.html

School children using their mobile phones to film violence or bullying, then posting it on the internet, incites further trouble.

A News Limited newspaper has reported chaos in class rooms and playgrounds is increasing due to the infamy attached to popular websites like YouTube.

In a six month period to April this year, NSW government schools filed more than 25 reports to police over serious incidents filmed by video equipped phones.

This report bulges with questions ....


"Suzanne Mitchell sentenced for bigamous gay unionArticle from: ReutersFont size: Decrease Increase Email article: Email Print article: Print August 07, 2007 12:00am

A BRITISH mother of five who entered into a civil partnership with a woman while still married to her husband was given a suspended prison sentence overnight.

Suzanne Mitchell had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to breaching the 2004 Civil Partnerships Act, which allows same-sex unions.

She admitted falsely claiming to be single to enter into a civil union with Caroline Beddows in February last year.

The case is believed to be the first of its kind since the civil partnership law was introduced.

At Shrewsbury Crown Court, Judge Robin Onions said Mitchell repeatedly lied in pursuit of the partnership, and her offence was one of "cruelty and deception", according to media reports.

Mitchell, of Ditherington, Shrewsbury, was handed an eight-month prison sentence suspended for two years.

Mitchell, who is pregnant with her sixth child, was also ordered to do 100 hours of unpaid community service, and was made the subject of a two-year supervision order.

The court had heard that Mitchell and Beddows became close friends after a chance encounter at a bus stop while both were pregnant, according to media reports.

Following the birth of their children the relationship blossomed and became intimate, and in September 2005 Beddows and her baby moved into Mitchell's marital home. "

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22202103-954,00.html

Someone on another forum posted this link to a story about a drug recall. Evidently anyone taking it should stop immediately.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22227017-24331,00.html

One crime I can't understand or abide by is tax evasion.
It is often the wealthiest that do it, but why, they are already rich ??

They are also trying to cheat th4e taxman, who has HUGE resources to catch them.
They are cheating us all, as we all have to pay what they dont.




If he avoided paying $300,000 in tax, he made a fair whack for himself.

"John Farnham manager jailed for tax fraudArticle from: AAPFont size: Decrease Increase Email article: Email Print article: Print July 19, 2007 11:44am

ENTERTAINMENT guru Glenn Wheatley has been jailed for at least 15 months, becoming the first scalp of Australia's largest-ever tax fraud and money laundering investigation.

Wheatley, who manages Australian music icon John Farnham, dodged paying more than $300,000 in tax by hiding money in a Swiss-based accounting firm and engaged in bogus offshore transactions.

At the Victorian County Court, Judge Tim Wood today sentenced him to two-and-a-half years jail and said he had to serve at least 15 months before being released on a recognisance of $5,000.

Judge Wood said Wheatley's promise to give evidence against other people who may be charged as part of Operation Wickenby had reduced his sentence by one-third.

He said although he took into account testimonials from prominent Australians attesting to Wheatley's good character, general deterrence was the most important sentencing factor.

"All taxpayers are victims of your offending,'' he said. "

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, is the leading candidate to be the next American ambassador to the United Nations, three Bush administration officials told CNN Thursday.

However, two of the sources indicated that President Bush was not yet prepared to make an announcement of the appointment.

Ryan Crocker, a veteran Middle East diplomat who is the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, is expected to be nominated by Bush to replace Khalilzad in Baghdad, two senior administration officials told CNN.

If nominated for the U.N. job, Khalilzad would replace John Bolton, whose recess appointment to the post ended Thursday.

Despite nearly two years of trying, Republican leaders could not push his permanent confirmation through the Senate.

Khalilzad, 55, a native of Afghanistan and a Sunni Muslim, has been the U.S. ambassador to Iraq since June 2005.

He was previously U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.

Crocker, 57, has previously served as U.S. ambassador in three countries bordering Iraq -- Lebanon, Kuwait and Syria.

In 2003, he was also a high-ranking official in the Coalition Provision Authority, which governed Iraq after the U.S. invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.

In March 2005, Bush nominated the outspoken Bolton, then an assistant secretary of state, to be U.N. ambassador.

But amid opposition from most Democrats and a handful of Republicans, Senate GOP leaders could not push through his confirmation.

So, in August 2005, when Congress was in recess, Bush used his constitutional power to make recess appointments to put Bolton in the post temporarily, without Senate approval, while continuing to fight for his confirmation.

Bush resubmitted Bolton's nomination to the Senate in November, just two days after Democrats won control in the midterm elections.

But when it became clear that he would not be confirmed, Bolton informed Bush he had decided to leave the post when his recess appointment expired at the end of the year.

CNN's John King and Elise Labott contributed to this report

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/04/iraq.ambassador/index.html


Ryan Crocker
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

Ryan C. Crocker, U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan

Ryan C. Crocker (born on June 19, 1949 in Spokane, Washington) is the current United States Ambassador to Pakistan. He served as the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon in 1990, Kuwait in 1994, Syria in 1998, and earlier served as in his country's embassies in Iran, Qatar, Iraq and Egypt. He attended University College Dublin and Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, where he received a B.A. in English Literature in 1971.

Following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, Crocker became the Director of the Iraq-Kuwait Task Force.

After Persian language training, he was assigned to the American Consulate in Khorramshahr, Iran in 1972. His subsequent assignment was to the newly-established embassy in Doha, Qatar in 1974 as an economic-commercial officer and in 1976 Crocker returned to Washington, DC for long-term Arabic training. He completed the 20-month program at the Foreign Service Institutes Arabic School in Tunis in June 1978 Crocker was then assigned as chief of the economic-commercial section at the U.S. Interests Section in Baghdad, Iraq. Crocker served in Beirut, Lebanon as chief of the political section from 1981 to 1984. He spent the academic year from 1984 to 1985 at Princeton University under State Department auspices pursuing course work in near-eastern studies. He served as deputy director of the Office of Israel and Arab-Israeli affairs from 1985 to 1987 and was political councillor at the American Embassy in Cairo from 1987 to 1990.

Crocker's experience and his vast knowledge of Middle Eastern cultures, history, and languages make him one of the State Department's leading experts on Middle Eastern affairs. He has received a Presidential Distinguished Service Award and the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Civilian Service.

In January 2002, he was appointed interim envoy to the new government of Afghanistan, and was confirmed as Ambassador to Pakistan in October 2004.
Media reports in November 2006 speculated that Crocker would be appointed as US envoy to Iraq, beginning in Spring 2007.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ryan_C_Crocker.jpg
_______________________________________________________



What I am interested in is what conspiracy theories are going to derive from this? This man looks like he is primed for the job.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/NZ-child-discipline-bill-passed-into-law/2007/05/16/1178995228993.html

Green MP Sue Bradford's controversial child discipline bill was on Wednesday night passed by the New Zealand Parliament, with only seven MPs voting against it.

The bill removes from the Crimes Act the statutory defence of "reasonable force" to correct a child, meaning there will be no justification for the use of force for that purpose.

The legislation also carries an amendment agreed earlier by Prime Minister Helen Clark and National leader John Key that says the police have the discretion not to prosecute complaints against a parent where the offence is considered to be inconsequential.

The bill was passed on Wednesday almost two years after it was introduced in June 2005. The at times acrimonious debate on the bill has seen Parliament and the public sharply divided between the bill's supporters and its opponents.

But with the compromise amendment, most of that opposition faded away.

---

Democrats want NZ-style smacking ban

http://www.smh.com.au/news/breaking-news/democrats-want-nzstyle-smacking-ban/2007/05/17/1178995314944.html

The Australian Democrats are increasing pressure on the federal government to ban any physical punishment of children after it was outlawed in New Zealand.

---

Minister says smacking is okay

http://news.smh.com.au/minister-says-smacking-is-okay/20080208-1r0c.html

NSW Community Services Minister Kevin Greene has defended himself against accusations of hypocrisy for smacking his children and then supporting his department taking a six-year-old boy away from a grandmother who smacked the child.

He had smacked his children in the past, he said, but did not think it had done them any harm.

"My children, I'd like to think, are all pretty average normal children," he told Fairfax radio Network.

Asked about the department's policy on reports of smacking, Mr Greene said: "We have a law in NSW that basically says that children can be smacked but they can't be abused.

Bush calls for global emission goals

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Bush-calls-for-global-emission-goals/2007/05/31/1180205435048.html

President George W Bush, seeking to blunt international criticism of the US record on climate change, is urging 15 major nations to agree on a global emissions goal for reducing greenhouse gases by the end of next year.

Bush's proposal was welcomed by the leaders of Britain and Germany, who have been critical of the US approach.

Bush asked for the first in a series of meetings to begin this fall, bringing together countries identified as major emitters of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. The list would include the United States, China, India and major European countries.

Germany, which holds the European Union and Group of Eight presidencies, is proposing a so-called "two-degree" target, whereby global temperatures would be allowed to increase no more than 2 degrees Celsius before being brought back down. Practically, experts have said that means a global reduction in emissions of 50 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050.

"So my proposal is this: By the end of next year, America and other nations will set a long-term global goal for reducing greenhouse gases. To develop this goal, the United States will convene a series of meetings of nations that produce the most greenhouse gases, including nations with rapidly growing economies like India and China.

While Bush announced his new proposal, the administration registered its opposition to a number of other approaches to combat global warming. Specifically, the White House said it does not support a global carbon-trading program that would allow countries to buy and sell carbon credits to meet limits on carbon dioxide levels. The White House also expressed opposition to energy efficiency targets advocated by the European Union, arguing that a standard applicable in one country does not fit another.

---

Turnbull welcomes US climate change plan

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Turnbull-welcomes-US-climate-change-plan/2007/06/01/1180205463063.html

The US plan for a new global framework to fight climate change presents a "practical road map" for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull says.

"The reality is we need commitments from the whole world, we need commitments from the biggest economies, but we need those commitments in the form that they're prepared to give them," Mr Turnbull said.

The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has described President Bush's plan as simply a stalling tactic.

Don Henry from the ACF said the president was all talk and no action.

"The president is making an announcement for more talks, as an excuse for not making commitments to reduce greenhouse pollution at the G8 meeting," Mr Henry told AAP.

contents moved to here:

http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1213250108/0

This one seems to have slipped by me. The coalition has used their numbers to push through a one hour limit on the traditional debate for 'matters of public importance.' This is the only real opportunity for the opposition parties to grill the government on day to day issues that arise. Anyone who has seen politicians waffle on about how wonderful they are without actually answering the question that was put to them will realise that one hour will not always be enough. This is a bad move for democracy as it further shifts the power in parliament to the ruling party. Given that the ruling party can push through legislation regardless of what other parties say or do, this is (or was) one of the few really useful features of modern parliament. No doubt the coalition will come to regret this when Labor takes control of federal and state parliaments.

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/opinion/story/0,22049,21243853-5001031,00.html

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,21242442-5012477,00.html

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Qld-govt-rigged-online-dam-poll-Seeney/2007/05/08/1178390285638.html

The Queensland government deliberately interfered with an online poll about a major new dam in order to gain support for the controversial project, the state opposition says.

Opposition Leader Jeff Seeney accused Acting Premier Anna Bligh of helping stack votes in support of the Traveston Crossing Dam, being built near Gympie, in an online opinion poll on Nationals Member for Burnett Rob Messenger's website.

Mr Seeney and Mr Messenger both claim Ms Bligh authorised public servants to log 175 votes in favour of the $1.7 billion dam on April 19, and have asked the state's crime watchdog, the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC), to investigate.

Ms Bligh said she had no knowledge of the alleged improper behaviour.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Hardgrave-hanging-like-a-tea-bag/2007/05/30/1180205279468.html

A federal MP at the centre of an electoral rorting investigation says he's been left "hanging like a tea bag on the sink" as the probe drags on.

In March police raided the offices of Liberal MPs Andrew Laming, Gary Hardgrave and Ross Vasta - who all hold marginal Queensland seats.

The Australian Federal Police last week confirmed more raids had been carried out since March.

All three MPs have denied any wrongdoing.

Party insiders told The Bulletin internal polling was showing that the poor performance of the Liberals at the state level, plus the taint of scandal involving federal parliamentarians - including the fall of former Senator Santoro over his failure to declare share transactions - "has damaged the Liberal brand in Queensland".

Former Liberal state vice-president and campaign chairman Graham Young said Prime Minister John Howard should bear some of the responsibility for the problems facing the party in Queensland given his former support for Mr Santoro.

"Howard has had a number of opportunities to fix the Queensland Liberal Party, and because of his misguided loyalties to friends in the past, he has missed them," Mr Young told the magazine.

The article also claims Mr Howard had intervened to help keep Queensland Liberal party director Geoff Greene in his position.

Many held Mr Greene responsible for the Liberals' disastrous showing in last year's state election.

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Libs director 'may face AFP interview'

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Libs-director-may-face-AFP-interview/2007/06/06/1181089115019.html

Queensland Liberal Party director Geoff Greene may face questioning by Australian Federal Police (AFP) over alleged misuse of electoral funds, Premier Peter Beattie says.

Last week AFP officers raided the Liberal Party headquarters in Brisbane as the agency widened its investigation into alleged irregularities relating to electoral funds.

AFP officers also have spoken with Queensland Liberal leader Bruce Flegg.

Mr Beattie told state parliament the raids were a "sure indication that this investigation is no longer restricted to one or two individuals".

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Sacked minister, MP face rorts charges

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21952949-601,00.html

DUMPED Howard government minister Gary Hardgrave and fellow Queensland federal Liberal MP Andrew Laming are facing possible charges for allegedly misusing their taxpayer-funded allowances.

After a three-month investigation, the Australian Federal Police has delivered a brief of evidence to the commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions involving the two federal MPs, who both hold marginal seats inQueensland.

Ross Vasta, the third Queensland Liberal MP involved in the investigation, has not been named in the police brief.

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Howard staffer sacked after cop chat

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Howard-staffer-sacked-after-cop-chat/2007/07/14/1183833809587.html

A staffer for a senior Howard government minister was sacked after speaking with federal police about alleged electoral allowance rorts.

Peter Catanzariti was working for former vocational and technical training minister Gary Hardgrave when he was questioned by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in March.

The AFP were examining allegations Mr Hardgrave had employed a niece of his longtime partner and paid her from the allowance of another Queensland Liberal MP, Andrew Laming.

Mr Hardgrave, Mr Laming and a third implicated MP, Ross Vasta, have denied any wrongdoing.

Mr Catanzariti told The Weekend Australian newspaper he was sacked "without explanation" two months after speaking with police.

Mr Hardgrave said his departure had nothing to do with the police investigation, but declined to go into the reasons for Mr Catanzariti's sacking, saying it was "not fair to him".

Is this a temporary setback for Labor? hoping so.

June 03, 2007 11:00pm
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JOHN Howard's date with political annihilation has been postponed by a stunning opinion poll fightback.

The Coalition now appears highly competitive with Labor after six months of pounding in the polls.

An exclusive Galaxy poll taken over the weekend reveals support for Labor dropped to 53 per cent of the two-party preferred vote as the Coalition rose to 47 per cent - an eight-point shift.

It came as the Prime Minister spent the weekend outlining to Liberals an aggressive strategy he believes will keep him in the top job.

Asking voters to trust him on climate change, he accused Labor of extreme measures which would cause a slump and warned of the threat of one party controlling all levels of government.

"This will be the most crucial and most challenging and most difficult election the party has faced in a decade," he told the Liberal Party over the weekend found a 3 percentage point jump in the Coalition's primary vote and a 5-point decline for Labor.

When preferences were taken into account, the poll showed Labor leading the Coalition 53 per cent to 47, a significant fall over recent surveys.

In May, the two-party preferred positions had Labor at 57 per cent and the Coalition on 43 and in April it was 58 to 42."

http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,21843461-949,00.html

http://www.smh.com.au/news/breaking-news/electrodes-used-to-control-pigeons/2007/02/27/1172338614335.html

Scientists in China say they have succeeded in controlling the flight of pigeons with micro electrodes planted in their brains, state media reports.

Scientists at the Robot Engineering Technology Research Centre at Shandong University of Science and Technology said their electrodes could command the pigeons to fly right or left, up or down, Xinhua news agency said.

"The implants stimulate different areas of the pigeon's brain according to signals sent by the scientists via computer and force the bird to comply with their commands," Xinhua said.

"It's the first such successful experiment on a pigeon in the world," Xinhua quoted the centre's chief scientist, Su Xuecheng, as saying.

Su and his colleagues, who Xinhua said had had similar success with mice in 2005, were improving the devices used in the experiment and hoped the technology could be put into practical use in future.

The report did not specify what practical uses the scientists saw for the remote-controlled pigeons.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Probe-into-cancer-cluster-at-Qld-school/2007/04/19/1176696997222.html

The Queensland government has ordered an investigation of a cancer cluster at a state high school built on an old rubbish dump, at the request of worried teachers.

Milpera State High School, at Chelmer, in Brisbane's south-west, has reported nine cases of cancer among present and past teachers since 1991.

Education Minister Rod Welford said an investigation had this week begun at the request of teachers.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Sunscreen-less-effective-than-clothing/2007/05/03/1177788296198.html

Cancer experts say they won't tamper with Australia's punchy "Slip, Slop, Slap" anti-sun slogan in light of new research which downplays the role of sunscreen.

An international review of sun protection has warned that protective clothing and hats are a far superior way to guard against skin cancer and the ageing effects of the sun.

The study, published in the prestigious Lancet journal, relegates sunscreens to the last line of defence, saying they have potential to be "abused" so users can spend more time in the sun.

People relied on sunscreen alone too often, largely due to the "brown is beautiful" pro-tanning messages still promoted in the mass media, Prof Olver said.

Sunscreen was typically applied too sparingly, too infrequently and rubbed in too thoroughly "which can essentially rub it off the skin all together", he said.

Items made from denim, wool and polyester offered the best protection, while cotton, linen and acetate were far less effective.

Clothes that had shrunk after washing were also better than materials which were wet or had been stretched or bleached, according to dermatologist Stephan Lautenschlager, from Triemli Hospital in Zurich.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Flaxseed-may-curb-prostate-cancer-growth/2007/06/05/1180809469645.html

Flaxseed slowed the growth of prostate tumours in men, while ginseng helped relieve the fatigue that cancer patients often feel, US researchers reported in two of the first scientifically rigorous studies of alternative medicine.

The research reflects doctors' efforts to explore the risks and benefits of foods and supplements that are routinely taken by their patients with little scientific proof they help.

Americans spend between up to $US47 billion ($A56 billion) a year on complementary and alternative therapies, according to the National Centre for Health Statistics.

Flaxseed is rich in omega-3 fatty acids and lignans, a fibre found on the seed coat.

"We were looking at flaxseed because of its unique nutrient profile," said Wendy Demark-Wahnefried, a researcher in Duke's School of Nursing, who led the study.

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Fish tank plant boosts memory

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Fish-tank-plant-boosts-memory/2007/06/15/1181414503401.html

A plant used to decorate fish tanks can also improve memory in elderly people, an Australian study shows.

A dietary test has found the ancient Indian herb Brahmi helps healthy older people recall details, like items on shopping lists, with more ease.

Researchers at Southern Cross University now plan to test the Ayurvedic medicine on people who have dementia.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Leeches-used-to-save-fishermans-fingers/2007/07/12/1183833638095.html

A New Zealand sailor who lost four fingers in an accident aboard a fishing boat has had three fingers reattached in different order to save his hand function.

The man, 24, lost his fingers on his right hand when a hatch fell on it aboard a fishing trawler on Sunday night.

The middle finger had been put where the man's index finger had previously been, his ring finger in the middle finger's position, and his index finger where the ring finger had been.

Davis said it was not yet known if the new ring finger would survive, but the other two fingers "looked excellent".

A leech had been put on the end of the ring finger to improve blood flow.

"There's a good artery bringing blood in. The leech is helping to drain blood out."

By Wednesday morning about 12 leeches had been used and more flown up from Christchurch.

Sort of like a love story ............

"McAddicts proud of daily burgerArticle By staff writers
August 16, 2007 01:55pm

AN 84-year-old British couple who have eaten at their local McDonald's every day for the past 17 years have spent nearly $50,000 on hamburgers and fries.

Lee and Mary Humphrey have scoffed the same meal - a double hamburger each with a shared large fries - more than 6000 times and have never dined out anywhere else, Metro.co.uk reported.

The couple have their own table at the fast-food outlet and moved house two years ago to East Sussex so they could be within walking distance.

They admitted that McDonald's supplied the bulk of their diet.

"We don't eat big when we come home. We like to sit down in the afternoon and watch Deal or No Deal with a Magnum chocolate covered ice cream," Mrs Humphrey told Metro.co.uk.

"Lee will have a bowl of cereal in the morning and I'll make him a pre-cooked roast beef at the weekends."

Despite the high amounts of fat they consume, the couple said they were fit and walked 6 km every day.

"McDonald's is all we need and we're never ill, in fact I'd say we're fighting fit," Mrs Humphrey said.

"I think it's the best restaurant in the world".

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22255058-952,00.html

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22409518-601,00.html

DOCTORS are telling women who have Type 1 diabetes and live in rural areas they should not have children.

Health professionals claim there are insufficient medical services in regional and rural towns to deal with the complications caused by diabetes during pregnancy, and say they cannot guarantee the women's safety.

Women interviewed by researchers at the University of Ballarat in Victoria said they were refused treatment by doctors who were frightened of litigation, forcing them to rely on websites to obtain information about managing diabetes during their pregnancy.

One woman said she was "told not to get pregnant and told I wouldn't be supported here if I fell pregnant".

In other cases, doctors refused to give two women insulin pumps to manage their insulin levels.

A judge has found a Sydney RSL club and its security contractors guilty of negligence after two people they threw out had a fight outside. They ejected the two patrons from opposite exits, but the 'aggressor' went round to the other carpark and punched the other guy in the back of the head, causing brain damage.

Club patron left 'vulnerable to attack'

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Club-patron-left-vulnerable-to-attack/2007/08/24/1187462500656.html

"I find that the club was in breach of its duty of care towards the plaintiff in failing to guard against the foreseeable risk," Judge Grove said.

Mr Karimi had been at the club playing snooker with friends when he was approached by Smith, described as being "moderately affected by alcohol" in evidence tendered to the court.

Smith tried to hit Mr Karimi, a scuffle broke out, and both parties were ejected by club security.

Smith and his girlfriend were escorted to one exit, and Mr Karimi and his friends to another.

Instead of leaving, however, Smith's girlfriend drove him out of the club's "front" car park and back to the western car park where Mr Karimi was preparing to leave.

There, Smith punched Mr Karimi in the back of the head so hard he was unconscious before he hit the ground, the court had been told previously.

"As the events in the western car park demonstrate, the plaintiff (Mr Karimi) was not taken to his vehicle or supervised in a practical way but left to make his own way from the western entrance to his car," Judge Grove said.

Phone companies speak out against the idea of letting people decide what goes on in their neighbourhood:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Business/Mobile-growth-stymied-by-community-vote/2007/09/18/1189881466037.html

Allowing local communities a greater say in the location of mobile phone towers would impede the rollout of essential technology, a telecommunications lobby group says.

Labor MP Kate Ellis introduced the Telecommunications (Amendment) Bill 2007 to federal parliament on Tuesday, aiming to ensure phone towers were not positioned inappropriately.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Overhaul-for-Qld-double-jeopardy-rule/2007/10/18/1192300902448.html

Queensland's double jeopardy laws which have been embedded in English law for 800 years, have been overhauled following a landmark vote in state parliament.

The state government passed a private members bill on Wednesday night from independent MP for Nicklin Peter Wellington which enables an acquitted person to be retried if "fresh and compelling" new evidence emerges in a murder case.

However, the overhaul of the laws which prevent people from being tried twice for the same crime will not be retrospective.

The bill creates two exceptions to double jeopardy protection by allowing a retrial for a charge of murder where there is new evidence, and allowing a retrial for a crime that would attract a 25-year or more sentence, if the original acquittal is tainted.

Premier Anna Bligh said the government's support of the bill acknowledged the change in society's view of double jeopardy laws.

"The government believes these changes acknowledge that advances in forensic science and DNA evidence may mean that compelling evidence not available at the original trial may later become available," Ms Bligh said.

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Qld eyes 'accident defence' law change

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Qld-eyes-accident-defence-law-change/2007/10/24/1192941136408.html

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has encouraged comment on an overhaul of the "accident defence" after another accused killer who partly relied on the defence walked free from court.

Adam Kenneth Terry, now 20, admitted punching stranger Andrew Nukunuku, 41, outside a hotel in Beenleigh, south of Brisbane, on December 22, 2005.

The punch caused New Zealand-born Mr Nukunuku to fall backwards and hit his head on the concrete, fracturing his skull and causing brain damage.

He died nine days later.

A Supreme Court jury in Brisbane on Tuesday found Terry not guilty of manslaughter because the circumstances of the attack were in dispute, requiring them to consider the available defences of self-defence and accident in their deliberations.

The state government a fortnight ago released a discussion paper on an overhaul of the provocation and accident legal defences following a study of recent murder and manslaughter trials.

The accident defence - under which a person is not criminally responsible for an event occurring by accident - came under the spotlight after defendants were acquitted in the trials relating to the separate deaths of David Stevens and Nigel Lee in inner-Brisbane in 2005.