A brief world news roundup for 4 November 2009.

United States & the Americas

• Treasury Dept – The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today removed Patricia Rosa Vinck, Barakaat International, and Barakaat International Foundation from its Specially Designated Nationals List, having found that Vinck and the two entities no longer present a significant threat of supporting terrorism
• Newsday – The Flushing imam whose chatter about a terror investigation got him arrested, pleaded not guilty Monday to a federal indictment accusing him of lying to the FBI.
• Macleans – Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan are preparing for a “very different winter” amid signs that suggest Taliban militants plan to ramp up their attacks in the coming months in an effort to influence debate about international troop levels in the country.
• Miami Herald – A news reporter who wrote about violent drug crimes has been strangled in the northern Mexican state of Durango, authorities said Tuesday
• McClatchy – The scene outside the U.S. Embassy last week illustrated fraying tensions in this capital where the Sandinista government has been maneuvering for reelection: Agitated pro-government youths hurled fireworks, rocks and eggs at the embassy grounds and shouted “Death to the Yankees! Death to the empire!”
• MercoPress – French Defence minister Hervé Morin said that Argentina could increase its international influence following on the steps of Brazil, which is currently modernizing its military hardware and planning on the long term.
• IRIB – Deputy Minister of Economy and Financial Affairs Behrouz Alishiri said Venezuela could be an entrance gate for the Islamic Republic of Iran to the industrial countries including Brazil. Addressing a gathering on IRI-Venezuela economic, industrial and investment cooperation, Alishiri said within the past 18 months Tehran has been trying to find joint projects inside Venezuela and introduce them to investors.
• PrensaLatina – The Venezuela National Assembly is analyzing on Tuesday recent revelations by Interior Minister Tareck El Aissami, related to Colombian intelligence plans to obtain strategic information and destabilize this country.
• El Universal – Vice-President Ramón Carrizález explained the government’s position about the killing of two National Guard troops on Monday in state of Táchira, on the border with Colombia. Carrizález stated that the two soldiers were killed by Colombian paramilitary militia seeking to gain a foothold in Venezuela.
• LAHT – Army troops killed seven suspected Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, guerrillas and wounded three others in the southern province of Guaviare over the weekend, the Armed Forces General Command said.
• Columbai Reports – Four members of the Colombian armed forces were killed by a landmine Monday afternoon in the southern department of Caquetá. The army said Tuesday that they believe the landmine was set by the FARC.

Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia

• RIA Novosti – Ukrainian police in the Crimea stopped on Tuesday morning a Russian truck carrying anti-ship missiles in the fifth such incident this year
• UPI – Gazprom deputy chief Alexander Medvedev led a delegation to Shanghai to participate in natural gas discussions with the China National Petroleum Corp.
• IslamOnline – The closure of several mosques in predominantly-Muslim Azerbaijan only a few months after a new law to monitor and control who leads prayers is drawing fire
• Trend – The Azerbaijani Justice Ministry sent an inquiry to the Iranian government after the arrest of an Azerbaijani laser specialist in Iran, Justice Ministry Spokesman Aydin Agazade told Trend News today.

Middle East

• MNF Iraq – Marine Corps participation in Operation Iraqi Freedom is drawing to a close, and Marines and Sailors are preparing equipment for shipment back home or to other parts of the world. As part of the departure, one of the Marine Corps’ largest bases in the country is on its way to being in the hands of the Iraqi government once again.
• Naharnet – The U.S. military in Iraq has said that Iraqi forces arrested two people allegedly financing Lebanese Hizbullah operations. The army said in a communiqué that the two men were seized on Monday during a combined search of a suspected militant safe house in a northern Baghdad neighborhood.
• Al Jazeera – UK oil company, British Petroleum and the China National Petroleum Corporation have signed Iraq’s first major new oil deal since the 2003 US-led invasion. The contract signed on Tuesday is to develop the country’s southern Rumaila oilfield, one of the world’s biggest.
• The National – A series of mysterious events along Lebanon’s tense border with Israel, as well as growing concern that the Shiite community could be targeted by Sunni militants, had pushed Hizbollah to increase security to previously unseen levels, according to members of the Shiite movement, as well as independent observers
• Haaretz – Iran has supplied Hamas operatives in the Gaza Strip a missile capable of striking Tel Aviv, defense sources said on Tuesday
• NOW Lebanon – Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted Head of the Military Intelligence for the Israel Defense Forces General Amos Yadlin as saying on Tuesday that “Hezbollah has been stockpiling weapons inside civilian homes to the south of the Litani River in contravention of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.” Yadlin also said that Hamas recently tested a missile with a 60 kilometer range. He added that Syria is playing a “key role” in arming both organizations, saying that it became the “main factory and weapons cache for Hamas, Hezbollah, and for Syria itself.” He said that Iran is providing financial aid to Syria, warning that the uranium enrichment plant at Qom is being used for military purposes
• Jerusalem Post – The recently-revealed Iranian nuclear facility in the Shi’a holy city of Qom has “no possible civilian use,” Military Intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin said Tuesday morning, directly contradicting statements made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in September.
• NOW Lebanon – In an interview with Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Anbaa on Tuesday, Tourism Minister Elie Marouni said that Hezbollah refuses to discuss the national defense strategy, adding, “This will cause a political conflict when drafting the Ministerial Statement, because we refuse to legitimize Hezbollah’s arms.”
• Saba – Yemen Interior Ministry has reported that the security authorities had seized 8,000 weapons, including 3,000 weapons in their way to rebels in Saada province, almotamar.net has reported
• Press TV – Yemen says “unknown gunmen” have killed two of its top security officials and three other soldiers in an ambush east of the country
• Press TV – Houthi fighters in Yemen have vowed to retaliate against Saudi Arabia, should Riyadh continue to allow Sa’ana to use its soil for attacks on the fighters’ strongholds.
• Jane Novak – First graphic video of children killed in the entirely senseless Sa’ada War here and another digging out the bodies, more digging and corpse carrying, digging through the night then a vid of dozens of shrouded bodies large and small, followed by a witness statement or two. Today’s news, another refugee camp shelled, Yemeni government still refuses humanitarian ceasefire and aid corridor.

Iran

• Press TV – Chief-of-Staff of Iran’s Joint Armed Forces, Major General Hassan Firouzabadi, has advised Washington to discontinue its indirect support of Wahhabi terrorism in the region.
• Al Alam – In a shocking move against Al-Alam News Network, the ArabSat network based in Saudi Arabia and NileSat based in Cairo have stopped the Tehran-based network’s transmissions for several hours.
• NCRI – An exiled Iranian opposition group called on the U.N. nuclear agency Tuesday to waste no time in examining a hidden site near Tehran that it claims is used to help build nuclear detonators. Abrichamtchi claimed that tunnel construction for both METFAZ and a site near the holy city of Qom began in 2000
• MESH – The role of Iran in fueling insurgency in Iraq, particularly attacks against U.S. forces, has been well-documented and forms one front in Iran’s proxy war against the United States. Receiving much less attention than Iraq, is the role Iran has played in supporting anti-NATO insurgents in Afghanistan as a second front against U.S. and NATO forces.
• ISNA – Iran’s ambassador to Iraq Hassan Kazemi Qomi rejected the report that an Iraqi armed group arrested by security forces of the country claimed they were linked to Iran and have already planned for future bombings in Iraqi city of Karbala. The report was released by Saudi Arabian al Watan newspaper.
• VOA – Former Iran Hostages Recall US Embassy Takeover 30 Years Ago; November 4 is the 30th anniversary of the siezure, by young Iranian militants, of the U.S. embassy in Tehran
• Michael Ledeen – November 4 in Iran; The Next Big Day.  Monster demonstrations apparently scheduled all over the country.  There will be time to “analyze” it during and after the events themselves, but one interesting footnote to the current Iranian revolutionary movement is its elegance
• Kuwait Times – Seven detained Baha’i believers accused of spying for Israel and blasphemy will soon go on trial in Iran, an official was quoted as saying
• Stephen Blank – For most of 2009, a pipeline deal involving Iran, Pakistan and India, has been stalled. But recent indicators suggest that a new version of the pipeline could get moving again. The so-called IPI route envisioned shipping Iranian gas eastward to Pakistan and India. From the concept’s inception it has faced hurdles and experienced setbacks
• RFERL – Iran has executed a convicted member of the Jundallah Sunni rebel group, the semi-official Fars news agency has reported
• Mehr – In the next general assembly meeting of the World Trade Organization on December 17, Iran’s workgroup will officially be admitted in the organization and the process for accession to WTO will formally start.
• Payvand – Photos: Ahmadinejad Gets Cold Reception in Mashhad

An Afghan man rides his motorcycle pass a group of U.S. Army civil affairs Soldiers, U.S. Marines from Embedded Training Team 1-12th and Afghan national army soldiers conducting a patrol across the Depak Valley, Afghanistan, Oct. 30. (photo by Sgt. Teddy Wade)

South Asia

• France24 – In the tribal areas at the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, FRANCE 24 correspondent in Pakistan, Anne-Isabelle Tollet, interviews a militant who says he works for both al Qaeda and the Taliban
• Fars – Unknown assailants murdered one of the local staff of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s consulate in the western Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif, the Iranian embassy in Kabul announced on Tuesday
• Dawn – The Taliban stronghold of Sararogha in South Waziristan has been secured by the military as the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) claims killing 21 militants over the last 24 hours in the agency.
• Geo – Jamaat-e-Islami leader, Munawar Hasan Tuesday criticized the operation Rah-e Nijat as he alleged that South Waziristan operation is the fulfillment of objectives of the USA and India in Pakistan. Earlier Munawar Hasan paid condolence visit to Wasim Akram on the demise of his wife. Talking to the media, Hasan said that thousands of people have been displaced due to South Waziristan operation and this fight bears no fruit for people
• Daily Times – Seven Taliban were killed in clashes with security personnel and airstrikes in Bajaur on Monday. The air and ground assault focused on Ovishah, Seolai, Kharkay and Badalai areas in Mamoond tehsil
• UPI – Islamabad will handle claims that Indian-made weapons were uncovered in military operations in South Waziristan through diplomatic channels, officials said.
• Times of India – After months of being in denial mode, Nepalese Maoists have come out openly extending “full support and cooperation” to Indian naxalites, days after Chidambaram hinted at a possible arms supply from them

Far East & Pacific

• Yonhap – North Korea said Tuesday it has completed reprocessing spent fuel rods and made “noticeable successes” in weaponizing plutonium extracted from them in an apparent call for the United States to quickly start bilateral talks.
• Military.com – China will develop an air force with integrated capabilities for both offensive and defensive operations in space as well as in air, the commander of China’s air force says
• Irrawaddy – State-owned China National Petroleum Corp. said Tuesday it has begun construction of a pipeline across neighboring Burma to speed delivery of Middle East oil shipped through the Indian Ocean.
• Asia Times – Insurgent groups in the north of Myanmar have begun flooding the region with cheap narcotics to boost revenues as part of a concerted weapons build-up. An illicit trade that for years benefited the military leadership may now help fund a re-ignited civil conflict that has the potential to spill over and rattle relations with close ally Beijing
• Times Online – The US Government began a new policy of engagement with the Burmese dictatorship today with the arrival of the most senior Americans to visit the country for more than ten years
• New Zealand Herald – Fiji has ordered New Zealand and Australia envoys to return home within 24 hours, accusing them of interfering in its internal affairs.
• Xinhua – Troops clashed with al Qaeda-linked militants in a remote town in southern Philippines before dawn Tuesday morning, killing one senior rebel commander and four others, the military said.
• US Navy – The George Washington Carrier Strike Group (GW CSG) departed Kowloon Bay Nov. 3 following a five-day port visit to Hong Kong. The port visit was a first for GW, the flagship of Task Force 70, which operates from Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan (CFAY).

Europe

• Anne Applebaum – Did you know that there were German elections in late September? Were you aware that the German socialists were soundly defeated? Had you realized that there was now a new government in Germany? No? Then give the credit—for both the victory and the fact that you haven’t heard about it—to Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, who will address a joint session of Congress on Tuesday.
• Prague Monitor – President Vaclav Klaus signed the Lisbon treaty after the Czech Constitutional Court issued its verdict this morning, Klaus said today. The Czech Republic was the last EU country that did not ratified the treaty. With Klaus’s signature, the ratification has been completed.
• NRC – Radovan Karadzic appeared at his UN war crimes trial on Tuesday for the first time since it began last week, claiming his “fundamental rights have been violated” by judges who started without him.
• CSCE – Hearing Transcript – Advancing U.S. Interests in the OSCE Region
• Expatica – An Italian court is to reach a verdict this week in the landmark trial of 26 US secret agents in the 2003 abduction of a terror suspect from a Milan street.
• Network of European Foundations – Conflicts over Mosques in Europe, by Stefano Allievi (PDF)

Africa

• BBC – A dispute between the Somali government and the business community has halted trade at the main port in the war-torn capital, Mogadishu. Businessmen are said to be angered by new rules that require all incoming items to go through security checks. They say goods could be destroyed by Islamist insurgents if they have to wait in the port to be checked
• Garowe – Somalia’s hardline al Shabaab insurgents have closed down five humanitarian organisations in Somali southern border town of Balad Hawa, a rebel leader said. The organisations, most of them women groups were ordered to shut down their offices to allow women to stay home and take care of children.
• Mareeg – Islamist soldier from Hizbul Islam group has shot dead a doctor in Afgoye town, 30 km south of the Somali capital Mogadishu, witnesses and officials said. The deceased doctor named, Bidarey, was killed by Hizbul Islam fighter after the doctor has reportedly rejected to put out a cigarette he was smoking.
• Shabelle – the officials of the Islamic clerics of Hisbul Islam in Luq town in Gedo region have said they achieved ending conflicts between two Somali clans in villages around the town in Southern Somalia, official said on Tuesday.
• MEMRI – In a November 1, 2009 communiqué, the Somali jihad group Al-Shabab Al-Mujahideen reported that hundreds of thousands of Somali citizens residing in Al-Shabab Al-Mujahideen-controlled southern Somalia had participated in an October 30, 2009 demonstration of solidarity with the Palestinians against “the crimes perpetrated by the Jews.”
• Sudan Tribune – Eight people have been killed in tribal clashes in the Upper Nile region of south Sudan, a minister has confirmed. Last September 25 people had been killed and more dozens wounded when fighters from the Shilluk ethnic group attacked an ethnic Dinka settlement in Bony-Thiang, north of the state capital Malakal.
• Ennahar – Two terrorists were killed by security forces in the region of Boumerdes (50 km east of Algiers), according to an Algerian security source. These terrorists were killed during an operation by security forces near Si Mustapha, east of the town of Boumerdes, the source said.
• Reuters – Equatorial Guinea has pardoned British mercenary Simon Mann for his role in a failed 2004 coup plot, allowing him to seek medical treatment after serving just over one year of a 34-year sentence.
• Chatham House – At a time of economic difficulty and political unrest in South Africa a divisive debate is taking place within the ruling African National Congress over its relations with the Communist Party and the trade union movement.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Corey Stabenow inspects the deck of the Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Texas after surfacing in the vicinity of the North Pole. Texas is the first Virginia-class submarine to conduct operations in the Arctic. Texas is in transit to its new homeport at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (US Navy photo)

The Global War

• Defense Tech – The issue whether to include women in U.S. Navy nuclear sub crews has come up at every annual Naval Submarine League Open Symposium since I first began attending these great conferences in 1998. This year’s, on October 28 and 29 at the Hilton McLean Tysons Corner, VA, was no exception – except for one thing. Presentations made it clear that America’s sub crews are indeed gradually going co-ed, starting soon.
• Interpol – Under a proposal put forward by INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble, INTERPOL is to offer to Argentinean and Iranian authorities that they meet together at INTERPOL’s General Secretariat Headquarters in Lyon, France in order to consider having a third country handle the judicial proceedings relating to the 1994 terrorist bombing of the Israeli-Argentine Mutual Association (AMIA) centre in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and injured hundreds.
• TIME – To many Sri Lankans, Lieut. General Sarath Fonseka is a bit of a hero. Now the equivalent of the U.S. military’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Fonseka was the former army commander who helped strategize and lead the campaign that put a decisive end to the quarter-century-long separatist war of the Tamil Tigers. The intensity of the onslaught raised criticism around the world, including a 68-page State Department report to the U.S. Congress that took to task the conduct of both government forces and the Tigers. Now, what appears to be an attempt by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to interview Fonseka about the war has raised angry protests from the highest official ranks in Sri Lanka

Sights & Sounds

Newslink – Afghan officials have confirmed President Hamid Karzai in office, after he won re-election by default. Also, the European Union is moving to take the lead in green technology. And, as Germany’s Chancellor begins an historic visit to Washington, Germans express their view on ties with the US

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Sky – Der Sturmer and Arab Newspapers

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

CSM – Contractors working for the US in Iraq and Afghanistan. Are tax dollars being wasted?

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Worldview – Honduras’ de facto government agreed to a U.S.-driven deal that may allow for the return of President Manuel Zelaya. We’ll talk with a local organization that just returned from Honduras. Also, we get updated on the current political situation

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.