21 October, 2009 (01:08) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba
A brief world news roundup for 21 October 2009.
United States & the Americas
- VOA – U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Japan’s new leaders Tuesday the Obama administration is committed to implementing a wide-ranging defense agreement reached by the previous American and Japanese governments, which some in Japan’s new ruling party would like to change. Secretary Gates says there are “no alternatives” to the complex agreement.
- McClatchy – The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to consider whether a federal judge can order the release of Guantanamo Bay detainees into the United States, setting up a key conflict over judicial authority amid the war on terrorism.
- Reuters – The splits inside NATO over the Afghan war have turned the alliance into a rotting corpse that will be virtually impossible to revive, says the former head of Canada’s armed forces
- AP – Uruguay’s Supreme Court on Monday declared unconstitutional a law that has provided amnesty to military officials accused of murders, disappearances and other human rights violations during the country’s dictatorship
- MercoPress – Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner regretted last week’s incidents suffered by United States ambassador Vilma Martinez and said “in all places there are always intolerants”. In spite of the Thursday incidents at the University of Cuyo, Mendoza, where the ambassador was unable to give a lecture and was just spared from a full tomato hit, Mrs. Kirchner said “Ms Martinez was very pleased to have visited Mendoza, where she plans to return”.
- IPS – People in the town of Ixcan in northwestern Guatemala could relive the pain of the country’s 36-year civil war if the army reopens a military base in the area, where more than 100 massacres of indigenous villagers were committed during the armed conflict.
- Guardian – Farmers in Columbia’s Chocó province say mining and logging firms are pushing them off the land by force or trickery
- Columbia Reports – The Ecuadorian Police Tuesday said they had received threats allegedly from Colombia’s FARC, due to an operation in which they seized more than eight tons of cocaine hydrochloride that apparently belonged to the rebel group.
- Javno – The death toll has already reached 2,000 this year in Ciudad Juarez, in a new record for Mexico’s most violent city, according to an AFP count based on police reports. Last year, 1,653 violent deaths were reported in the border city across from El Paso, Texas, in what was already considered a record.
- LA Times – A Monday deadline passes with no agreement on reinstating the ousted president. The de facto leaders say the decision should rest with the Supreme Court, whereas Zelaya’s side favors Congress.
Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia
- Kremlin – Press Statement following Russian-Serbian Talks; You know that Russia has always been a major energy-producing country. We specifically put forward a number of new ideas in this field because European security is not only based on respect for international principles, the principles of international law, but also requires the regulation of energy issues. And one of Russia’s recent initiatives is devoted to precisely this subject. We are open to talking about the current energy security architecture with all countries and with our close partners in Serbia.
- RIA Novosti – Russia and Serbia signed on Tuesday agreements on the Serbian leg of the South Stream natural gas pipeline and an underground gas storage facility. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arrived in Belgrade earlier in the day for talks with his Serbian counterpart, Boris Tadic, focusing on energy cooperation.
- Press TV – The National Bank of Belarus (NBB) has registered a second bank in the country with Iranian capital, an official at NBB says. The new Iranian bank, which was registered last week as “Honor Bank”, will provide financial services for foreign trade relations between Iran and Belarus.
- Caucasian Knot – Last night, the DDoS-attacks (Distributed Denial of Service attack), which continued during the last two months on the website of the Ingush opposition “Ingushetia.Org”, reached its maximum
- RIA Novosti – Ingushetia’s parliament approved on Tuesday a former Federal Security Service officer as prime minister of the volatile south Russian republic, following his predecessor’s dismissal earlier this month.
- Kavkaz Center – According to Russian occupier sources, on October 18, Mujahideen of Vilayat Ghalghayche (Ingushetia) eliminated 3 Russian terrorists from the “special detachment of FSB” (former KGB), aged from 28 to 42 years: 1 captain and 2 lieutenants. Terrorists were destroyed during a “special operation” against Mujahideen, which they were carrying out
- Itar Tass – Two militants were destroyed in a special operation in Chechnya. The identity of the criminals was established. Both of them were on the wanted list for participation in illegal armed groups. During the armed clash, one OMON commando died and another got bullet wounds and was hospitalised.
- WSJ – The United States does not intend to put any part of its revised missile shield in non-NATO countries, a senior defense official said in Georgia Tuesday, in an apparent attempt to calm Russian nerves.
- EurasiaNet – Kyrgyzstan’s cabinet resigned on October 20 as President Kurmanbek Bakiyev announced a broad plan to restructure the government. Political experts in Bishkek offered guarded praise for Bakiyev’s reform scheme, with some suggesting that it represented perhaps the last, best hope for his administration to contain corruption in the Central Asian state
- SRI – The president of resources-rich Turkmenistan has sacked several top officials in the energy sector, denouncing their “irresponsible approach” to their jobs, the official news agency reported
- Turkmenistan.ru – Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov received Chief Executive of OAO Gazprom Alexei Miller in Ashgabat on October 19. During the meeting, they discussed issues of long-term strategic cooperation in the gas sphere
- RFERL – Tajik police have arrested four armed men in the Tajik enclave of Vorukh in Kyrgyzstan’s Batken Province, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service reports. The police believe the men, who were detained on October 19, were part of the armed group that crossed from Tajikistan’s Isfara district into Kyrgyz territory after a shoot-out at the Koktosh border crossing last week.
- UPI – Azerbaijan is ready to sell its gas to Iran and Russia amid lingering disputes over the sale price for its natural gas to Turkey, said Azeri executives.
- Trend – Reciprocal interests of Azerbaijan and Switzerland in the energy sphere may help the countries in forming a new transportation route to be named “Southern corridor”, said the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on the joint press conference with the President of Switzerland Hans-Rudolf Merz in Bern, State News Agency Azertaj reported on Tuesday.
Middle East
- Voices of Iraq – Security forces arrested on Tuesday an operative of al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) Organization in area west of the holy city of Karbala. “The operative is wanted for security forces in Babel province,” Major Alaa Abbass, the Karbala police media director, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “He is wanted for committing sectarian cleansing crimes.” Major Abbass said that the operation relied on intelligence tip off.
- AFPS – Iraqi police, aided by U.S. advisors, arrested seven suspected terrorists today in northern Iraq, military officials reported. Iraqi police, with U.S. advisors, arrested two suspects near Wajihijah, northeast of Baghdad, during an operation targeting a suspect believed to be associated with key members of al-Qaida in Iraq and the Islamic State of Iraq terrorist group.
- Understanding War – With parliamentary elections currently slated for January 16, 2010, Iraqi politicians and parties are maneuvering in advance of the vote. New alliances are being forged and unpopular incumbents are trying to hold onto their seats at all costs as the parties that have dominated the Iraqi government for the past five years are now being challenged by political newcomers. The last few months leading up to the vote have proved especially dynamic.
- NOW Lebanon – Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea told Al-Arabiya television on Tuesday that the telecommunications portfolio will not go to Hezbollah and his allies and that the permanent solution in Lebanon is to shy away from the concept of having “a winner or a loser.” Geagea also stated that the Free Patriotic Movement will not get the Interior Ministry given the previous agreement that grants the sovereign Interior and Defense Ministries to the President, the Foreign Ministry to Hezbollah, and the Finance Ministry to March 14.
- Asharq Al Awsat – New information has been obtained by Asharq Al-Awsat concerning the vehicle used by elements of Al-Qaeda organization that infiltrated the Kingdom from Yemen to carry out a terrorist operation inside Saudi territories. The truck was rented by a member of Al-Qaeda organization from the coastal city of Jeddah (west of the country) who was not one of the suspects.
- Naharnet – Yemen president Ali Abdullah Saleh said that the Shiite northern rebels appear to have gone through combat training similar to that of Lebanon’s Iran-backed Shiite Hizbullah militia, which fought a fierce guerilla war with Israel in the summer of 2006 in south Lebanon. “They have been trained in the same manner followed by Hizbullah in South Lebanon,” he said, pointing to unconfirmed reports of the presence of “trainers from southern Lebanon in Saada,” the rebels’ stronghold.
- News Yemen – The State Security and Terrorism Court in Sana’a on Tuesday sentenced 10 Houthis to death and five others to 15-year prison terms.
Iran
- Press TV – Following a terrorist attack in the border province of Sistan-Baluchistan in Iran, local officials say gunmen have fatally shot two policemen in the region. The two policemen, killed in separate attacks in the city of Iranshahr, were shot as they patrolled the area on their motorbikes.
- Fars – Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Ground Force Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour urged Iranian officials to issue the required orders for his troops to attack the Jundollah terrorist group in Pakistan.
- Mehr – The CIA and certain neighboring countries’ intelligence agencies set goals for the Jundullah terrorist group, Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi said here on Tuesday.
- AP – Talks meant to persuade Iran to send most of its enriched uranium abroad — and thus delay its potential to make a nuclear weapon — bogged down Tuesday over fierce Iranian resistance to French participation, diplomats said.
- Payvand – Iran’s former minister of culture, Safar Harandi’s speech at Tehran University became the target of student protests today… An eyewitness has informed Zamaneh that these claims raised the students’ protests. Zamaneh was also told that the number of student protesters was about 1500 who were chanting : “Government risen from a coup; Resign! Resign!” and “Death to the dictator!”
- Asia Times – Conventional wisdom suggests that the terrorist strike by Jundallah in southeastern Iran on Sunday might have had the backing of the United States or Britain. But Jundallah today holds “fatal” attraction for a number of foreign powers that are interested in disorienting Iran’s policies.
- NPR – Michele Norris speaks with C. Christine Fair, professor of security studies at Georgetown University, about the group that took responsibility for a suicide bombing in southeast Iran this weekend.
- Office of Supreme Leader – On the occasion of the auspicious birth anniversary of Hazrat-e Ma’soume, thousands of women scholars, involved in Koranic studies, met the Leader of Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei. Ayatollah Khamenei in the a speech referred to women’s active participation in all scientific fields as a point of honor and said Koranic studies should be manifested in all aspects of social life. The Islamic Revolution Leader urged taking principles of human sciences from Koran and said “if we do so, the Koranic researchers could establish a firm base for human sciences.”
- Payvand – Photos: The Life of Nomads in Iran
South Asia
- Stars and Stripes – It was another frustrating start to a mission for the U.S. soldiers tasked with advising and assisting the Afghan National Security Forces in Farah province in western Afghanistan. They’ve been here for two months as part of a policy that doubled the number of U.S. troops training Afghans by bringing in the 82nd Airborne’s 4th Brigade Combat Team. That the ANA were a few hours late on that day’s mission was almost a given, according to the troops.
- ABC – Afghan President Hamid Karzai agreed today to a runoff election against his top challenger after a U.N.-backed audit found that he had failed to win more than 50 percent of votes in the fraud-plagued election.
- Free Range International – As the cool weather finally moves into Afghanistan I have to tell you that from my perspective not much is happening. I am not talking about security incidents – they almost doubled last week from a near all time high the week before. There is lots of villianary going on – the weather is perfect for it – but nothing seems to be really changing. One gets the impression that the players from all sides want to maintain the current status quo because all the sides are benefiting
- Pak Tribune – Two simultaneous explosions went off on the campus of the Islamic University in Islamabad killing 4 including 2 women and injuring many others, despite heightened security at schools all across the country.
- Geo – Two bombs planted near a government girls’ school in Peshawar have been defused. According to sources, unknown miscreants planted two bombs near government girls’ high school in Bhana Mari. Bomb disposal unit, ambulances and heavy police contingents have reached the scene after getting the news of bombs. The source of bomb disposal unit said 14 kilograms of explosive and bullets were put in a pressure cooker whereas five kilograms explosives and shrapnel put in a tin box to make bombs
- Dawn – At least 20 militants and four soldiers died in fierce overnight fighting between the militants and security forces pressing a major offensive for a fourth day Tuesday, officials said. Pakistan faces its toughest military test against the militants to date in waging its ground assault in South Waziristan.
- Al Arabiya – Soldiers backed by jet fighters and artillery seized Kotkai town in fighting late on Monday, security officials said. Kotkai is the home town of Qari Hussain Mehsud, a senior Taliban commander known as “the mentor of suicide bombers”, and is a gateway to a militant stronghold at Sararogha.
- IslamOnline – With his forces already meeting fierce resistance from Taliban militants, army chief General Ashfaq Kayani reached out to the powerful Mehsud tribe to make clear the offensive is not directed at the tribe, but few bad apples who happen to be Mehsuds (see message here)
- Malik Siraj Akbar – Revisiting the Che Guevara-like days of Baloch resistance movement with Asad Rehman
- Times of India – The Obama administration has given a thumbs-up to India’s developmental work in Afghanistan, rejecting Islamabad’s complaints that New Delhi’s activities there are detrimental to Pakistan’s security.
An amphibious assault vehicle from to the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit debarks the well deck of the amphibious dock landing ship USS Rushmore and heads ashore to Indonesia to support Marine Exercise 09. MAREX is a multilateral training exercise designed to enhance interoperability and communication between the U.S. and Indonesia militaries. Rushmore is part of the Bonhomme Richard Amphibious Ready Group transiting the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility. (photo by Seaman Sarah Bitter)
Far East & Pacific
- Irrawaddy – More than 100 Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) soldiers have defected to the Karen National Union (KNU) since June, following fighting and DKBA forced recruitment, according to Karen sources.
- Aaron Friedberg – China’s Rise: Strategic Implications For Asia
- Yonhap – North Korea’s top official in charge of inter-Korean relations visited China over the past week, raising speculation about the North’s diplomatic moves to improve its relations with regional countries, a diplomatic source in Beijing said Tuesday.
- Manila Times – Former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada vowed on Tuesday to launch an all-out war to end decades of deadly Muslim and communist insurgencies should he be reelected as president in the 2010 elections.
- The Australian – The navy’s $6 billion Collins-class submarines face serious operational restrictions after being hit by a run of crippling mechanical problems and troubling maintenance issues. Some senior engineering experts now contend that the Swedish-supplied Hedemora diesel engines may have to be replaced – a major design and engineering job that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars and take years to complete.
- Xinhua – Myanmar and Thailand will construct another friendship bridge to connect two border trade towns of the two countries to boost bilateral trade, sources with the Union of Myanmar Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) said on Tuesday
Europe
- Copenhagen Post – A controversial Russian natural gas pipeline being constructed in the Baltic Sea is being given the go ahead by the Danish government, reports Politiken newspaper. The Nord Stream pipeline, whose majority owner is Gazprom, is designed run 88km into Danish territorial waters around the island of Bornholm and another 49km into the Danish economic zone.
- NYT – Poland, smarting after President Obama announced last month that he would scrap Bush-era plans to deploy an antiballistic missile system in Eastern Europe, will accept an offer to host parts of a new, more mobile missile defense system, Polish officials said Tuesday.
- NOW Lebanon – French newspaper Le Figaro reported on Tuesday that companies in France with the consent of the government delivered high tech anti-spy equipment to the Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF), while the CIA provided similar support to help uncover the assassins of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
- Hurriyet – Greece’s new prime minister urged Turkey on Monday to withdraw thousands of its troops from Cyprus to help ongoing talks aimed at reunifying the divided island
- Prague Monitor – The use of obsolete pistols threatens lives of Czech soldiers in Afghanistan, Defence Minister Martin Barták said in his written answer to deputy Josef Senfeld’s (Communists Party, KS?M) question, the iHned server has written.
Africa
- Garowe – At least 11 people were killed in fighting in the Somali capital Mogadishu overnight Sunday and into Monday morning, Radio Garowe reports. The battles started after Al Shabaab insurgents attacked Somali government troops and African Union peacekeepers (AMISOM) at bases around the Villa Somalia presidential compound, witnesses said. Somali police spokesman Col. Abdullahi Hassan Barise told a Monday press conference in Mogadishu that government forces killed insurgents, including a man from Yemen.
- Shabelle – the African Union officials AMISOM especially the Burundian troops have said on Tuesday that their forces will go to further areas in or around the Somali capital Mogadishu
- BBC – The US is preparing to give Mali’s army millions of dollars worth of military hardware to help them fight al-Qaeda’s North African branch. Trucks, powerful communication devices and clothing are among $5m (£3m) of equipment being handed over.
- France24 – Violence broke out when demonstrators protesting poor housing conditions clashed with the police in the Algerian capital of Algiers on Monday in a rare display of social discontent.
- Vanguard – Henry Okah, former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta, MEND, yesterday, went to hold talks with President Umaru Yar’Adua on the post-amnesty programme. He was reportedly flown to Abuja from South Africa in a Presidential jet. It was not however clear whether the emergency meeting was convened in response to fresh threat of attack by MEND.
- ICRC – Violence resulting from the presence of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in south-eastern Central African Republic and skirmishes between the LRA and the Ugandan armed forces have caused the displacement of several thousand civilians
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is greeted by Foreign Affairs Minister Katsuya Okada on his arrival to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo, Oct. 20 (photo by Master Sgt. Jerry Morrison)
The Global War
- Jerusalem Post – The IDF and the US military will begin a major joint air defense exercise Wednesday, highlighting military ties between the two allies at a time of heightened tensions over Iran’s nuclear program
- ISN – On the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, US soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines have confronted third-party national combatants. Widely known as ‘foreign fighters,’ these individuals have gained deadly skills, combat experience and global connections that can be exported and exploited to devastating effect
- MEMRI – In a communiqué dated October 20, 2009, Al-Furqan, the media division of Al-Qaeda’s “Islamic State of Iraq” organization (ISI), congratulated Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) for the launch of their new media division, Al-Andalus
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22 July, 2009 (01:24) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba
A brief world news roundup for 22 July 2009.
United States & the Americas
- Khabrien – Launching the third phase of their strategic partnership, India Monday approved two sites for US nuclear reactors and concluded critical pacts on easing high-end defence sales and launch of civilian satellites as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrapped up her five-day India visit.
- Defense Tech – In a vote sure to be read as a sign of the Obama administration’s power on defense matters, the Senate voted by a lopsided 40-58 in favor of an amendment stripping $1.75 billion for the F-22 from the defense authorization bill.
- Washington Institute – The U.S. administration can do something important to support the Nabucco project by working to make concrete al-Maliki’s offer of gas for the pipeline. Just as American backing of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (which critics said would never be built but today brings oil from the Caspian through Turkey to world markets) was crucial to its creation, Washington can play a decisive role in making Nabucco a reality. This pipeline would have at least three benefits for the U.S. beyond increasing global gas supplies.
- Press TV – Venezuela has threatened to review its relations with neighboring Colombia over the country’s plan to allow US troops to use its military bases. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has said the plan is meant to strengthen Colombian military bases
- Miami Herald – President Hugo Chavez said Tuesday that hundreds of radio stations his government plans to seize for allegedly operating illegally could be turned over to Venezuelans who share his socialist vision. “We are going to retake control of the radio waves,” Chavez told a crowd of supporters.
- GAO – Drug Control: U.S. Counternarcotics Cooperation with Venezuela Has Declined
- MSNBC – Honduras’ interim government Tuesday ordered Venezuelan diplomats to leave the country as the international community threatened new sanctions on the Central American nation if negotiations fail to resolve the crisis.
Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia
- RIA Novosti – Nuclear cooperation between Russia and Myanmar is not in conflict with the Nonproliferation Treaty or IAEA requirements, and will move ahead, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday. Andrei Nesterenko’s comment came in response to U.S. concerns over the cooperation
- Telegraph – The Russian government has given itself sweeping powers to spy on its own citizens after a new decree gave intelligence services unlimited access to read all mail without a warrant.
- Stephen Blank – July has seen a sudden reversal of fortune in Caspian and Black Sea Basin pipeline politics. The Nabucco pipeline project has staged a noteworthy comeback, while a competing Russian-backed route, dubbed South Stream, now seems to be losing steam. Uncertainty surrounding future demand, however, raises the possibility that neither pipeline ever becomes a reality.
- UPI – Turkmenistan signed agreements for development and exploration of Caspian gas reserves with German energy giant RWE, a member of the Nabucco consortium. The German energy giant and the government of Turkmenistan developed the framework of the deal in April to explore and develop an area in the Caspian Sea encompassing more than 360 square miles.
- Kyiv Post – VP Biden: “It is not for the United States to dictate what that partnership will be but to reiterate. And President Obama and I have stated clearly that if you choose to be part of Euro-Atlantic integration — which I believe you have — that we strongly support that. We do not recognize — and I want to reiterate it — any sphere of influence. We do not recognize anyone else’s right to dictate to you or any other country what alliances you will seek to belong to or what relationships you — bilateral relationships you have.”
- Georgian Times – Georgian leaders hope the United States will join the European Union’s monitoring effort along the boundary with two breakaway Georgian enclaves, a step they believe could deter aggression from Russian or separatist forces.
- eTaiwan – Officials in Russia’s violence-riddled North Caucasus region say a string of militant attacks has killed a policeman, a suspected insurgent and left two passers-by seriously wounded. Police in Dagestan say a traffic policeman was gunned down by three assailants in a cafe. The attackers fled in the victim’s car. Police in neighboring Chechnya say they shot dead the suspected insurgent overnight when he opened fire after refusing to surrender. In southeastern Chechnya, two passers-by were hospitalized with severe injuries when militants opened fire on a a truck carrying servicemen
- Itar-Tass – Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev arrived here on Tuesday to meet with South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity. On Tuesday, the chiefs of the Russian power-wielding agencies and the Emergency Situations Ministry arrived in South Ossetia to draft joint events between Russia and South Ossetia in order to give assistance to the young Caucasus republic.
- Turmenistan.ru – Today, the first official visit of Romanian President Traian Basescu to Turkmenistan begins. In the framework of the upcoming summit the sides will discuss the status and prospects of the Turkmen-Romanian cooperation, as well as issues of international policy in the context of Turkmenistan – the European Union dialogue.
Middle East
- Maj. Gen. Bolger – When we got here, the enemy was averaging in Baghdad about four attacks a day. That number stayed pretty stable. Some days, it’s up a little. Some days, it’s down. There actually was sort of a drop, after the 30th of June, where it ran about two or three attacks a day. And it’s picked up a little bit lately. The bad guys we fight, especially al Qaeda, you know, they’re a combat-type organization. So they have to go through a planning and preparation cycle. And I don’t know exactly what’s going through their heads. But I know they had to adjust after 30 June too and try and figure out what was going on.
- Voices of Iraq - Iraqi army forces on Tuesday arrested four Syrian gunmen during two separate operations in Mosul city, according to an army source. “The men were captured in light of intelligence tips and had 12 million Iraqi dinars in their possession,” the source noted.
- Al Jazeera – At least 18 people have been killed in a series of bombings in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, and the western city of Ramadi, security and medical officials said.
- Press TV – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has underlined the importance of Iraq’s national unity, offering support for any attempt that would promote security and stability in the war-ravaged state. During a meeting with Muqtada al-Sadr on Monday, Assad highlighted that Damascus deemed it critical for Baghdad to create a positive political climate of national reconciliation
- Jerusalem Post – The Lebanese army on Tuesday said it had uncovered a terror network that had been planning to carry out a series of attacks against its troops, as well as a UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon. The group also reportedly planned to carry out attacks outside Lebanon.
- Naharnet – Egyptian judicial sources on Monday, anticipated that the captured Hizbullah cell in Egypt would go on trial in an emergency state-security court sometime next week. The case against a Lebanese national known as Sami Shehab, who stands accused by Egyptian authorities of conspiring with some Palestinian and Egyptian nationals of forming a Hizbullah cell operating to smuggle arms from the Sinai to Gaza and of carrying out aggressive acts against Egypt
- Daily Star – Ten people have been killed in clashes over control of a north Yemen mosque between Shiite Zaidi rebels and militants from the country’s main Sunni opposition party, both groups said on Monday. They said the violence erupted late on Saturday between Huthi rebels and the Islamist party Al-Islah (Reform).
Iran
- Al Arabiya – Iranian riot police clashed with hundreds of pro-reform protesters in central Tehran’s Haft-e Tir square on Tuesday, a witness said, adding dozens of people were detained. “There are hundreds of riot police and plainclothes, beating people who gathered to support (opposition leader Mirhossein) Mousavi,” the witness said.
- NOW Lebanon – Iran’s First Vice President Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie insisted on Tuesday he will not resign from office, despite massive opposition after his comment, saying Israel could be Iran’s friend.
- Fars – Two terrorists were killed and another one was wounded during clashes between Iranian security forces and armed gunmen in northwestern Iran
- MEMRI – Four Iranian security forces troops were killed in an attack by the Kurdish separatist organization PJAK, which is connected to the PKK. The attack was on a police station in Urmia, the capital of West Azerbaijan Province
- Xinhua – The launch of Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant operation has been postponed, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Tuesday. The Bushehr nuclear power plant will launch operation by the end of 2009, Iran’s Ambassador to Moscow Seyed Mahmoud Reza Sajjadi told Fars on Tuesday.
- Press TV – A top Iranian oil official has ruled out the possibility of gas exports to India through the Sea of Oman and the Indian Ocean.
- Mehr – A Venezuelan energy delegation will be in Tehran by Friday to discuss with Iranian officials ways to promote bilateral ties, the Iranian deputy oil minister for international affairs said here on Tuesday.
- Payvand – Photos: Deserts of Iran by Nasrollah Kasraian
From his overwatch tower, U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Steven Lugo-Velez sees much of the town surrounding Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, July 11, 2009. (photo by Senior Airman Susan Tracy)
South Asia
- Australia DoD -A senior Taliban insurgent commander, who was a known improvised explosive device facilitator, has been killed in a recent operation led by Afghan National Security Forces and supported by Australian troops. The Chief of Joint Operations, Lieutenant General Mark Evans, said with the phase of that operation now complete, it could be announced that Mullah Amanullah Akhund had been killed after a combined Australian/Afghan patrol was fired on by insurgents.
- The News – Eight Taliban militants attacked three government buildings and a US base in two eastern cities on Tuesday in near-simultaneous attacks — a signature of major Taliban assaults. Eight insurgents and six Afghan security forces died. Using suicide bombings, gunfire and rockets, the militants attacked the governor’s compound, the intelligence department and the police department in the eastern city of Gardez just before 11 am.
- Dvids – Afghanistan national security forces and International Security Assistance Force service members stopped an attack at a Forward Operating Base near Jalalabad this morning, July 21.
- IRIN – More than 200,000 Afghans have been expelled from Iran in the past six months, marking a 25 percent increase on the same period in 2008, according to officials.
- Ferghana – Taliban took control over Darae-Taht rayon, the Chesht district of Gerat province in the west of Afghanistan, the Afghanistan.Ru reports. According to the commander of one of the police units, the battles between the local residents and Taliban soldiers have been continuing for a week. Last night Talibs were able to take control over Darae-Taht rayon
- Daily Times – At least six Taliban and three soldiers were killed in fighting in Swat on Tuesday, while troops rescued an MPA’s brother who was abducted two months ago, security forces said on Tuesday. Five Taliban were killed during a search operation in Damgarh and Mamderai. Three soldiers were also killed in a gunbattle during the operation. Troops also arrested five Taliban who were trying to flee the area wearing burqas. Meanwhile, troops killed one Taliban and arrested another during a search operation in Ganjir near Topsin.
- Daily Star (Bangladesh) – Detective Branch of police has arrested another Indian national linked to Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in the capital. The arrestee, Moulana Mohammad Mansur Ali, was also an organiser of Asif Reza Commando Force, the terrorist outfit responsible for the attack on American Centre in Kolkata on January 22, 2002. They carried out the raid following up information gleaned from Mufti Obaidullah, an Indian and LeT operative captured in Dhaka recently
- Sri Lanka MoD – The Vavuniya-Trincomalee road (B-65) which was closed for the past 11 years due to terrorist activities was opened for traffic yesterday.
Far East & Pacific
- Yonhap – Top diplomats from five regional powers struggling to coax North Korea into rejoining disarmament talks will hold a series of bilateral meetings here on Wednesday, in which they are expected to deliver a clearer message to Pyongyang that it should stop its provocations or face more U.N. sanctions.
- news.com.au – Indonesian police today were questioning teachers at an Islamic boarding school, amid reports a former student was one of two suicide bombers involved in last week’s Jakarta bombings. A teacher at the school confirmed that police had been questioning staff at the Al-Mukmin Islamic boarding school in Ngruki, Central Java, for the past two days following Friday’s twin suicide bombings on luxury hotels
- Irrawaddy – The recent aborted voyage of a North Korean ship, photographs of massive tunnels and a top secret meeting have raised alarm bells that one of the world’s poorest nations may be aspiring to join the nuclear club—with help from its friends in Pyongyang. No one expects military-run Burma, also known as Myanmar, to obtain an atomic bomb anytime soon, but experts have the Southeast Asian nation on their radar screen
- Bloomberg – Prime Minister Taro Aso dissolved Japan’s parliament, clearing the way for an Aug. 30 election that polls indicate will hand power to the opposition Democratic Party of Japan for the first time. Lower-House Speaker Yohei Kono announced the dissolution in parliament today to a chorus of cheers. Aso’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, in power for all but 10 months since 1955, will defend a two-thirds majority in the election.
Europe
- AFP – Spain plans to help Mali fight Al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which is active in the desert north of the west African nation, Mali’s president’s office announced on Tuesday. “Security cooperation between Spain and Mali will be extended to intelligence in order to step up the pressure on circles that encourage terrorism,” said an official statement.
- The Local – China is increasingly using the internet to spy on German government officials and companies, according to the German domestic intelligence service.
- Gulfnews – A Danish military unit has become embroiled in a dispute about Muslim headscarves after it allowed a hijab-wearing woman to complete a training course.
- Expatica – Spain and France are in talks about building a new gas pipeline between the two countries, the chairman of Spain’s gas network operator Enagas said in an interview published Sunday.
- Reuters – Heavy industries across eastern Europe, once the beacons of communist “planned economies,” survived the collapse of communism 20 years ago but may not live to see the end of the current economic crisis. The downturn, which has hit the region’s export-led economies hard, is threatening to turn former powerhouses of the communist and post-Soviet eras into a new “rust belt” and causing a surge in unemployment and leaving deep social scars.
- euronews – Hungary has called on Slovakia to recind new legislation which will make the use of Hungarian within the Slovakian public services punishable by a fine of up to 5000 euros. The legislation is due to come into force on 1st September.
Africa
- NY Times – A thin, dusty line is about the only thing separating Kenya, one of the Western world’s closest allies in Africa, from the Shabab, a radical Islamist militia that has taken over much of southern Somalia, beheading detractors, stoning adulterers and threatening to kill any Americans or Europeans who get in their way.
- BBC – Tension is high in Sudan as a court ruling in The Hague is awaited on its disputed internal border, which cuts through rich oil fields.
- Vanguard – To say that Lagos residents and by extension, the entire country was shocked beyond words as they woke up last week to the gory sight of a shattered Atlas Cove jetty and the charred remains of naval personnel and some yet to identified persons after militants operating under the aegis of Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) invaded the major petroleum product distributive channel in the country.
- Magharebia – Algeria, Libya and Mali will co-operate to fight security threats linked to al-Qaeda in the Sahel-Saharan strip, Malian start-run newspaper L’ Essor reported on Monday (July 20th). “These threats cross borders,” Malian President Amadou Toumani Touré was quoted as saying. “We decided to pool our military and intelligence agencies to combat this problem.” Touré said the decision to co-ordinate counter-terrorism efforts was made last week during talks with Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi and Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika at the 15th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
- Javno – It’s Sunday night in downtown Algiers and thousands of young people swarm the streets, cheering and dancing to the beat coming from a makeshift stage. This is a scene seldom witnessed in a city scarred by years of conflict between the government and Islamist insurgents. After nearly two decades of bombings and ambushes, the violence has subsided enough for Algerians to embrace an unfamiliar concept: having fun.
- New Vision – Uganda has rejected the preliminary report issued by Kenya on the ongoing border demarcation exercise to resolve the Migingo Island dispute.
- NY Times – To the likely consternation of diplomats in both Beijing and faraway Windhoek, a newly minted initiative by Namibia’s government to root out official corruption has snared an early catch: three people who, Namibian prosecutors charge, helped win a lucrative contract for a Chinese company recently headed by the son of Hu Jintao, China’s president.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, right, escorts Swedish Defense Minister Sten Tolgfors, left, through an honor cordon into the Pentagon for bilateral security talks, July 21, 2009. (photo by R. D. Ward)
The Global War
- Bas Percival, Benjamin Valk, and Lucia van Geuns – Gambling in Sub-Saharan Africa: Energy Security Through the Prism of Sino-African Relations
- UK MoD – RAF Typhoons recently went on exercise in Turkey for the first time as part of celebrations to mark the 60th year of the NATO alliance. More than 120 pilots and personnel from RAF Coningsby together with Typhoon combat aircraft deployed to Konya in southern Turkey to lead the multi-national exercise
- State Dept – QUESTION: You know, will there be any special, you know, support, financial support in order to pursue this ongoing dialogue with India and Bangladesh on intelligence? And will the United States also share its intelligence in the region in order to help the process? MR. WOOD: Yeah. Certainly – to answer the second part of your question first, we certainly share intelligence where we can with both countries. In terms of what type of assistance we might provide to both countries, we’ll have to see how that develops. I know that we have assisted both countries in fighting violent extremism, but we’ll have to see with regard to – if in the future, there’s going to be some other additional financial assistance that we can provide
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1 July, 2009 (01:07) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba
A brief world news roundup for 1 July 2009.
United States & the Americas
- Jurist – A federal judge on Monday dismissed a habeas corpus challenge brought by Afghan national Haji Wazir detained at Bagram Air Base without charges since 2002
- Treasury Dept – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today targeted North Korea’s missile proliferation network by designating Hong Kong Electronics under Executive Order 13382.
- BBC – The US has imposed sanctions on an Iranian firm accused of helping North Korea with its nuclear programme. The US Treasury says Hong Kong Electronics moved millions of dollars to two North Korean companies linked to Pyongyang’s nuclear programme
- Xinhua – Honduras’ post-coup government, led by Roberto Micheletti, on Tuesday extended the curfew for 72 hours on Tuesday, Micheletti’s spokesman told reporters.
- VOA – Thousands of Hondurans have marched in support of the new government that replaced ousted leader Manuel Zelaya earlier this week. Officials have vowed to arrest Mr. Zelaya if he returns to the country.
- LAHT – The member-states of the Venezuelan-led ALBA bloc – Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Venezuela – on Monday ordered their ambassadors to leave Honduras until President Mel Zelaya, who was forced out by the military over the weekend, is reinstated.
- NY Times – Néstor Kirchner, the former president of Argentina, resigned his post as leader of the Peronist Party on Monday, a day after he and his supporters suffered a crushing defeat in national congressional elections.
- Itar-Tass – Russian citizens will be able to go to Argentina without visas soon after the relevant intergovernmental agreement enters into force on June 29, an official at the Russian consular office in Buenos Aires told Itar-Tass.
- MercoPress – The Brazilian Central Bank announced it had reached an initial understanding with China for the gradual elimination of the US dollar in bilateral trade operations which in 2009 are estimated to reach 40 billion US dollars.
Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia
- Kremlin – Over the past few days I was able to travel across Africa from north to south. My visit to the African continent began in Egypt, where we discussed a variety of issues, starting of course with economic cooperation and ending with the Middle East settlement, the Arab-Israeli conflict. All this is very important, very complicated. And most importantly there are some things that just cannot be understood without immersing oneself in the actual atmosphere of a place. I also had the opportunity to speak to the League of Arab States, which was the first time ever and an unprecedented opportunity for the government of the Russian Federation to interact with Arab countries with whom we enjoy very friendly relations. Arab countries are an important part of the African continent.
- Russia Today – Russia’s army needs to fill its biggest draft quota in years, but there may be not enough men to call up. Army chiefs have vowed to meet the targets, but human rights groups are ringing the alarm after cases of illegal recruitment.
- Oil and the Glory – A narrative familiar to all oilmen with long exposure to Russia is under way: With cash reserves running down and insufficient economic relief in sight, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, his growl turned into a purr, is welcoming back Western oil companies to work Russia’s natural gas fields. So how should Shell and Total — both of them the recipients of Putin’s renewed niceness — respond? Are Putin’s past revocations of deals, expulsions from fields at knock-down rates, and ho-hum attitude toward shakedowns reason not to do business with him now that Russia is trouble?
- Russia MFA – Question: Today, the RNC resumed work, suspended because of the war in Georgia. When does Russia intend to resume relations with Georgia? Foreign Minister Lavrov: The answer is very simple. Russia did not sever relations with Georgia. It was Georgia that severed relations with Russia. So this question is not to me.
- RIA Novosti – A senior militant was killed during a special operation in Russia’s North Caucasus Republic of Chechnya, the republic’s interior minister said on Tuesday. The operation was conducted in the central Chechen town of Shali late on Monday.
- EurasiaNet – Russian President Dmitri Medvedev only visited Baku for a day, but walked away with a gas deal likely to bring Moscow benefits for years to come.
- UPI – Kazakhstan sees a rival to the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline from Russia to Azerbaijan as a more economically attractive transit option for its gas, officials say. Kazakhstan current transports its natural gas through connections to the 830-mile Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline.
- Xinhua – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said on Tuesday that Kazakhstan will never supply nuclear materials that could be used to make weapons of mass destruction to other countries.
- Vladimir Socor – Chinese demand is voracious for Turkmen gas. Russia’s import stoppage can only strengthen Turkmenistan’s motivation to start exports to China on schedule in early 2010. With Russia demonstrating its unreliability as a gas importer (let alone supplier to others), Beijing is using this opportunity to increase the volume of its future imports of Turkmen gas beyond the volumes already agreed
- Intellibriefs – The status quo in Nagorno-Karabakh lingers, despite international involvement, and the self-declared republic’s foreign minister talks to ISN’s Karl Rahder about the situation on the ground.
Capt. Steven Kendall, company commander, Company B, 4th Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, presents a partnership certificate to Lt. Col. Hillal, battalion commander, 3rd Battalion, 41st Iraqi Army Brigade, at a ceremony marking Iraq national sovereignty day, June 30. Following the ceremony, Kendall's unit vacated their combat outpost at a defunct sugar factory while soldiers from the Iraqi army moved in (photo by Maj. Myles Caggins)
Middle East
- MNF Iraq – Today is an important day for the people of Iraq. In accordance with Article Five of the Security Agreement between the United States and the Government of Iraq signed in Baghdad in November of last year, Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) are now responsible for securing their cities.
- Al Arabiya – Twenty-six people people were killed and 56 wounded in a car bomb attack on a market area in Kirkuk on Tuesday as Iraqi forces prepared to take control of towns and cities nationwide as American troops withdrew six years after the U.S.-led invasion
- Haaretz – The head of the Fatah parliamentary faction, Azzam al-Ahmed, reported progress Tuesday in his party’s reconciliation talks with rival group Hamas in Cairo, and said the two sides were set to announce the establishment of a joint security body for the Gaza Strip
- NOW Lebanon – PM-designate Saad Hariri met with each of the parliamentary blocs on Monday to discuss the possible formation of the next government, saying that the meetings were good and showed the openness of all parties. However, opposition blocs are adamant about retaining the obstructing-third vote in the new cabinet.
- Ya Libnan – Gen. David Petraeus, Commander of US Central Command, arrived in Beirut on a military aircraft Tuesday and went directly to Baabda Republican palace for talks with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman. The meeting was attended by U.S. Ambassador Michele Sison and focused on reinforcing the defensive capabilities of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), its training and logistical needs.
- SANA – The Turkish Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday that it began talks with the NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency (NAMSA) for dismantling landmines in the border areas with Syria
- Washington Times – Qatar-Egypt relations tense; Tiny GCC nation expands into Egypt’s traditional sphere of influence
Iran
- MEMRI – A source in the Iraqi border police said that Iranian military forces, using medium and heavy weapons, have occupied an oil field about 400 kilometers (222 miles) south of the city of Basra. The border police, accompanied by a unit responsible for protecting Iraqi oil installations, engaged the Iranian invading force and forced it to retreat.
- Telegraph – Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the leading challenger to Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has issued a fresh call to his supporters to maintain peaceful protests after the government confirmed the result of the disputed election.
- Press TV – The Iranian parliament (Majlis) has passed a new bill to cut military service in the country by 2 to 10 months for conscripts with university degrees. “The military service has been cut by 2 months to 10 months for educated conscripts,” where the term was 18 months, Brigadier General Moussa Kamali said.
- Xinhua – Iran and Russia on Tuesday discussed new ways for the “expansion of peaceful nuclear cooperation”, the official IRNA news agency reported. Deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Mohammad Saeedi held talks in Moscow with Sergei Kiriyenko, head of Russia’s Rosatom State Atomic Corporation, IRNA said.
- Iran MFA – Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said here on Monday that Iran and Bulgaria should use their common stances on the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation to expand bilateral and regional cooperation. “Bulgaria is a member of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) and Tehran wants to have a observer status in the organization.”
South Asia
- AFPS – Coalition forces launched precision air strikes overnight against senior Haqqani commanders and command posts in the remote mountains of western Khost province. The militants are believed to have aided in the movement of foreign fighters through the Khost-Gardez Pass and throughout Afghanistan. Elsewhere, Afghan forces, assisted by coalition forces, conducted multiple operations in Khost, Ghazni and Kandahar provinces June 28
- Daily Times – Taliban slaughtered 18 of their injured men ahead of an operation in Biha valley on Tuesday, apparently because they could not take the wounded along as they retreated. The ISPR said in a daily update that troops killed another 18 Taliban and arrested 23 from Swat and Dir
- Dawn – Jetfighters continued to run bombing missions over parts of North Waziristan tribal region, killing seven people on Tuesday, sources and residents said. However, it could not be known whether the dead were militants or non-combatants. In a related development, the militants who pulled out from a peace deal with the government on Monday have slapped a ban on the assembly of five or more persons, formation of peace committees, and have told tribesmen to refrain from going to the political administration offices or seeking employment in government departments or the Khasadar force.
- IslamOnline – Fighting a hard-to-win battle against the well-armed, well-trained militants of Pakistan Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in troubled Waziristan, the government has lost yet another powerful ally and arch rival of Mehsud who had earlier announced support to the military operation. “The peace deal with the government is no more intact after perpetual US drone attacks and security forces’ violations of the agreement,” Ahmedullah Ahmedi, a spokesman for Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a powerful commander in North Waziristan.
- Geo – Eight militants were killed and seven injured by national lashkar in Upper Dir as operation ‘Rah-e-Rast’ is underway in Malakand Division. The national lashkar also regained control of Shotkas. Curfew has been relaxed in different parts of Dir and Swat.
- Daily Times – In the first-ever suicide attack in a Baloch-populated area of Balochistan, at least four people were killed and 11 seriously injured when a bomber ripped through a hotel in Kalat on Tuesday, as another suicide attack on the Torkham border killed at least seven people and injured 12.
- Times of India – Terrorist groups banned by Pakistan, including the Lashker-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, are expanding operations and recruitment in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, according to a secret government report. The detailed report, submitted by regional police to the PoK cabinet on March 25, states that three banned groups – Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashker-e-Taiba – are active in PoK capital Muzaffarabad
- Xinhua – India Tuesday named its Ambassador to China Nirupama Rao as the country’s next Foreign Secretary, said Ministry of External Affairs sources.
Far East & Pacific
- Reuters – North Korea appears to be enriching uranium, potentially giving the state that has twice tested a plutonium-based nuclear device another path to making atomic weapons, South Korea’s defense minister said on Tuesday.
- Newsday – A U.S. official says a North Korean ship has turned around and is headed back the way it came, after being tracked for days by American vessels on suspicion it was carrying illicit weapons.
- Irrawaddy – Japanese police arrested three top businessmen on Monday on suspicion of attempting to export to Burma a measuring instrument that could be used to develop long-range ballistic missile systems, Japanese newspapers reported.
- Japan Times – The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate climbed to 5.2 percent in May, nearing a six-year high as job availability dropped to its lowest level on record, the government said Tuesday
- RSIS – Singapore’s recent acquisition of submarines with air-independent propulsion (AIP) is being matched by similar purchases by other regional navies. While AIP-equipped submarines do not necessary upset regional military balances, they are part of a larger trend in regional naval expansion which could have far-reaching repercussions
- Bangkok Post – The army plans to reduce troop numbers around the disputed Preah Vihear temple in a bid to ease border tensions with Cambodia. Army chief Anupong Paojinda yesterday said there would be a reduction soon in the number of soldiers deployed around the mountain, where the ruins of the ancient Hindu temple sit, to comply with a recent agreement reached with Cambodia.
- Gulfnews – Three bombs were found in suburban Quezon City over the last three days, raising fears of destabilisation a year before the elections, local papers said.
- Australia DoD – These are very early days for me as Minister for Defence. But since taking on this portfolio I’ve set myself the challenge of working through the myriad of complex issues facing defence as methodically as I can. I want to satisfy myself that in tackling these issues we are all – Ministers, the Department, and the ADF – doing the best we possibly can. The timing of this conference has led me initially to focus on the issues of defence planning and capabilities.
Europe
- RIA Novosti – At present, Poland consumes 13.7 billion cubic meters of gas annually, out of which 7 bcm is supplied by Gazprom, according to the International Energy Agency. Therefore, the deal with Qatar, which may reduce Russian gas supplies by 20%, is Poland’s first step toward lowering its dependence on Russian gas. However, Gazprom is itself to blame for the appearance of a rival company, Qatargas, in Europe. It was because of its efforts to maintain its monopoly position in the European market and to purchase all gas produced in the CIS that Europeans started searching for ways to diversify gas routes.
- Javno – A former U.S. spy at the centre of a kidnapping trial in Italy appeared to acknowledge a role in the abduction of a Muslim cleric but said he was only following orders, according to a rare interview published on Tuesday.
- AKI – Minority Muslims living in Serbia’s southern Sandzak region have demanded more rights and a reorganisation of the region in the future decentralisation of power in the country. The Bosniac National Council which represents Sandzak Muslims, adopted a declaration made public on Tuesday, protesting plans to split Sandzak into two administrative units.
- Sweden MFA – On 1 July, the Swedish Embassy for Iraq will return to Baghdad, having previously operated from Amman. On the same day, the Embassy will take over the local Presidency of the European Union in Iraq
- euobserver – The Czech Republic in the past six months helped to end a severe EU gas crisis and to ease Ireland’s Lisbon Treaty problem. But its cack-handed diplomacy and internal battles risk it going down as “the worst EU presidency in history.”
- EUCOM – Adm. James G. Stavridis became the 14th U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) commander during a change of command ceremony at Patch Barracks here June 30.
Africa
- Shabelle – The Islamic administration in the port town of Kismayu 500 kilometers south of the Somali capital Mogadishu has said that they will attack Ethiopia and Kenya, official said on Tuesday. Abdikani Mohamed Yusuf, a deputy chairman of the Islamic administration in Kismayu town said that they will assault the neighboring countries as Ethiopia and Kenya adding that they will target mainly Ethiopia asserting that they had defeated the enemy urging all the Islamist fighters to be ready to attack them.
- Mareeg – Somalia’s deputy prime minister and finance minister Sharif Hassan Sheik Aden said Tuesday that two thousand foreign fighters were fighting against his fragile government in Somalia
- Sudan Tribune – Sudan has described statements by Chadian foreign minister about the absence of Darfur rebel in Chad as false and belied by the facts. The Chadian foreign minister Moussa Faki Mohamed had stated that Justice and Equality Movement rebels do not have any presence in Chad, adding they only come to the capital to meet international officials who request to allow their presence there.
- Daily Star – African leaders open a summit Wednesday with a slate of conflicts demanding their attention, but were distracted by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s drive to create an “African government.” Gadhafi was elected president of the African Union in February, and the self-styled “king of kings” is using his term to press his scheme for African unity.
- Magharebia – Two bombs exploded on Monday (June 29th) in Khenchela province, killing one soldier and injuring four security officers, El Watan reported. The incident happened during a major search operation for the terrorists who killed five Algerian municipal guards and kidnapped two others on June 22nd in Chechar.
- New Times – After killing several DRC soldiers including a Major and a Captain, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) have been blamed for killing two more Congolese soldiers. FDLR is said to have struck again over the weekend in Kiseguru village of Rutshuru territory, about 90 kilometers north east of DRC’s eastern provincial capital Goma.
The amphibious dock landing ship USS Tortuga is pier side at Trinity Wharf. Tortuga is part of the Essex Amphibious Ready group, underway for summer deployment and scheduled to participate in military exercise Talisman Saber 2009 with the Australian Defense Force. (photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Nardelito Gervacio)
The Global War
- SAAG – ISLAMISM – A historical background: The Saudi Angle
- NY Times – Viktor Bout, a Russian businessman suspected of arms trafficking who faces possible extradition to the United States, is pursuing what his lawyer calls a rare legal procedure that accuses American officials of overstepping their jurisdiction in a sting operation here last year.
- ynet – Al-Qaeda’s North Africa wing threatened on Tuesday to take revenge on France for its opposition to the burqa, calling on Muslims to retaliate against the country, the US monitoring service SITE Intelligence reported.
- UK MoD – By leading specific training courses British soldiers have been at the forefront of international efforts to develop the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Armed Forces to ensure peace in the region. In the last couple of months various training courses have been run by British soldiers for the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) in their new, UK-funded £500,000 training facility in the country’s capital city, Kinshasa
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29 June, 2009 (00:44) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba
A brief world news roundup for 29 June 2009.
United States & the Americas
- CSM – The United States is changing course on anti-drug efforts in Afghanistan, a senior official said Saturday, shifting its focus from the destruction of opium poppies to fighting drug traffickers and promoting non-narcotic crops among Afghan farmers who depend on the poppy harvest for survival.
- Montreal Gazette – An exhausted but joyful Abousfian Abdelrazik had just a few words for a noisy, happy welcome-home crowd in his home city just before one a.m. Sunday. His return followed six years in exile, alleged torture at the hands of Sudanese authorities, several thwarted attempts to return earlier and almost exactly 14 months stranded in exile at the Canadian embassy in Khartoum.
- Press TV – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says his government is strengthening its military because the United States is a threat to Caracas. Chavez’s remark was a response to US General Douglas Fraser, commander of US military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, who criticized Venezuela for purchasing weapons from Russia
- Miami Herald – Early vote counting put Argentina’s first couple in a tough fight for their political survival in elections that threatened to erode President Cristina Fernandez’s congressional majorities and seal the fate of one of the country’s biggest political dynasties.
- Columbia Reports – Rebels of Colombia’s largest rebel group FARC attacked a convoy of local officials just outside the capital of Guaviare, the army said Sunday. One official was injured, another went missing.
- LAHT – Honduran President Mel Zelaya, who was arrested by soldiers on Sunday morning and flown to Costa Rica, said he was still the head of state of Honduras despite being forced by “an ambitious group” of military officers to leave his country and vowed to return home.
Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia
- NY Times – One of the largest mass layoffs in recent Russian history is to occur on Wednesday, and the Kremlin itself is decreeing it, economic crisis or not. The government is shutting down every last legal casino and slot-machine parlor across the land, under an antivice plan promoted by Vladimir V. Putin
- RIA Novosti – Russia will continue for the near future to sell oil and gas to Belarus at subsidized rates to support the country’s economy, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Sunday.
- The Namibian – GAZPROM, the Russian heavyweight in gas and oil exploration, plans to scrutinise all available hydrocarbon data on Namibia to decide where they are going to kick off their search for black gold here.
- Georgian Times – The commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy, Vladimir Visotsky has confirmed that Russia has already begun construction of the marine military base in Ochamchire district of Georgia`s breakaway Abkhazia. Visotsky says the construction will last three years.
- Kavkaz Center – The ringleader of Kadyrov’s “Sever (North)” gang Hussein Arsanov has seriously wounded in the area of village of Dattyh, Ingushetia Province, during combat with the mobile squad of Mujahideen. According to sources, the combat took place overnight.
- Russia Today – Four militants have been killed by police in a special ambush operation in Russia’s southern republic of Dagestan.
- China Post – Special forces in Kyrgyzstan killed three suspected Islamist extremists in a region that has been troubled by violence in recent weeks, police in the Central Asian country said Sunday.
- Trend – Subdivisions of Armenia’s military forces fired Azerbaijani military forces from nameless highlands and positions near Kuropatkino village of Khojavend region on June 26
Middle East
- MNF Iraq – A ceremony to celebrate the transition of security in the cities from Coalition forces to Iraqi Security Forces was held in Baqubah, June 25. The ceremony, which included a dinner for the guests, was one of two being held in Diyala in the days leading up to the June 30 deadline for U.S. combat forces pull out of Iraqi cities, villages, and communities.
- Voices of Iraq – Six members of al-Qaeda-in-Iraq (AQI) on Sunday were captured in Diala province, according to a local police chief.
- TIME – Iraq is about to award several big petroleum contracts. The winning bidders should learn a lesson from the first company ever to win a post-Saddam contract
- Al Jazeera – The Lebanese army has warned that any armed person on the streets will be fired on, after at least one person was killed in clashes between supporters of two political rivals. The shots were fired after followers of the Future bloc of Saad al-Hariri, the prime minister-designate, clashed with supporters of Amal, which is led by Nabih Berri, the parliamentary speaker.
- Asharq Al Awsat – Egyptian police detained three leading members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood on Sunday, including a member of the group’s executive Guidance Council, the Brotherhood said.
- Haaretz – Another one bites the dust – that is all that can be said about Sunday’s announcement on Channel 2 that yet another Mossad deputy chief has resigned. During the unprecedented eight years of Meir Dagan at the helm of Mossad, this is the fourth time that his deputy is deposed or resigns
- ynet – An Israeli delegation is embarking Sunday on a historic visit to Muslim countries Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. President Shimon Peres will head the delegation to the two Muslim countries, which will include Industry, Trade, and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau, Science Minister Prof. Daniel Hershkowitz and Defense Ministry Director-General Pinhas Buchris
- Daily Star – The Saudi job market does not need more graduates in Islamic studies, the head of one of Saudi Arabia’s newest universities said in remarks published Sunday. The comments by Mohammad Ali al-Hazaa, who directs Jazan University in the south, could irritate many in the influential religious establishment which has held back reforms aimed at creating a modern state and fighting Islamic militancy.
- SANA – Prime Minister of Yemen Ali Muhammed Mujawar started on Saturday a three-day official visit to Syria during which he will head the Yemeni side at the meetings of the Syrian-Yemeni Joint Higher Committee.
- Saba – Speaker of the Parliament Yahya al-Rae’i received here on Sunday a letter from the Speaker of the Iranian Islamic Shura Council Ali Larijani. The letter handed over by the Iranian ambassador to Yemen Mahmoud Hassan Ali Zada includes an invitation from Larijani to al-Rae’i to visit Iran. Larijani praised in his letter the fruitful results of his visit to Yemen that will serve the relations of the two countries.
Iran
- Jerusalem Post – As the former Iranian president Hashemi Rafsanjani added his voice Sunday to demands for a probe of the contested June 12 presidential elections, riot police clashed with up to 3,000 protesters in north Teheran on Sunday, using tear gas and truncheons to break up Iran’s first major post-election demonstration in five days
- NCRI – Iranian regime’s State Security Forces are suppressing Tehran residents in Park Laleh (central Tehran). A number of people have been wounded in sever crackdown by regime’s SSF, according to eyewitnesses. “They are beating up people everywhere, drivers are blowing horns of their vehicle to protest the brutal repression” one eyewitness said.
- NOW Lebanon – The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) reported on Sunday that more than 2,000 people are detained and hundreds more are missing in Iran since a government crackdown on protests over the disputed presidential election
- IRIB – India Oil and Natural Gas Company “ONGC Videsh” and its partners including India Oil Corp. and Oil India Ltd. have proposed a five-billion-dollar investment for producing gas from a huge gas field in Iran in the three or four coming years.
- Mehr – Early production of Yadavaran oilfield in Khuzestan Province started with a daily capacity of 20,000 barrels. Mohammadreza Naderi added the field’s output is projected to hit 85,000 barrels per day in the first phase and to reach the ceiling of 180,000 bpd finally. China’s biggest refiner, Sinopec, and Iran signed a $2 billion agreement on developing the Yadavaran oil field in 2007.
- ISNA – Chinese and Malaysian companies are probable to get involved in Iran’s Resalat oilfield project. The plan to increase Resalat oilfield output by 35000 barrels per day will be implemented by cooperation of Chinese and Malaysian companies, said Managing Director of Iran’s Offshore Oil Company (IOOC) Mahmoud Zirakchian Zadeh.
An F/A-18F Super Hornet from the "Jolly Rogers" of Strike Fighter Squadron 103 currently deployed with the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, flies alongside a U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer after a close air support mission supporting coalition forces in Afghanistan. (photo by Marques Jackson)
South Asia
- IRIN – Civilian deaths resulting from armed hostilities between insurgents, the US military, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan and government forces have increased by 24 percent so far this year compared to the same period in 2008, according to a report by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.
- VOA – Afghan officials said Sunday Taliban insurgents killed at least seven police officers in separate attacks in western Afghanistan on Saturday. Authorities say militants attacked a police post in Farah province Posht-e-Rud, and five officers and at least seven Taliban fighters were killed in the ensuing clash.
- Stuff.co.nz – A New Zealand military patrol in Afghanistan has escaped a bomb attack, suffering no casualties, the Defence Force says. Last week the New Zealanders were involved in a 15-minute gun battle.
- Scotsman – Scots troops in Afghanistan last night re-lived the operation to drive the Taleban out of an area linked to the opium trade. Troops from the Black Watch, the 3rd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland, launched an assault on Babaji in Helmand Province eight days ago.
- McClatchy – In August 2007, the presidents of Afghanistan and Tajikistan walked side by side with the U.S. commerce secretary across a new $37 million concrete bridge that the Army Corps of Engineers designed to link two of Central Asia’s poorest countries. Today, the bridge across the muddy waters of the Panj River is carrying much more than vegetables and timber: It’s paved the way for drug traffickers to transport larger loads of Afghan heroin and opium to Central Asia and beyond to Russia and Western Europe
- Times Online – The road home for Sultan Mahmood was hardly a welcoming sight. The route through the mountains was scattered with burnt-out cars and lorries and lined with the wreckage of buildings destroyed as the army mounted its assault on the Taleban in and around the northwestern region of Swat. At makeshift checkpoints along the way, troops peered from sandbagged machinegun posts as cars and vans snaked back into Buner, the district neighbouring Swat, that has now been declared free of the militants.
- Daily Times – At least three people were injured in two blasts in Gwadar city late on Sunday, said officials. The first blast took place near the office of the Gwadar Development Authority. In a separate incident, two motorcyclists lobbed a hand grenade into a tailor’s shop
- Dawn – Twelve soldiers were killed after militants reportedly aligned with the Baitullah Mehsud group ambushed a military convoy in North Waziristan on Sunday. Ten militants were killed in the ensuing gunbattle.
- The Nation – The federal government Sunday announced Rs50 million as head money on Baitullah Mehsud holed up in the tribal belt. Besides, cash rewards for any information leading to arrest of 10 other militant commanders have also been made public.
- Khaleej Times – Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the military operation in the Swat Valley is nearing end as the top rung militants there have been killed and the government would now focus on the development of the region, the Online News Agency said Saturday.
- Geo – Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said no compromise will be made on the sovereignty of Pakistan, Geo News reported Sunday. Talking to media after offering condolences to the Jama?at Islami leaders at Mansoorah on the sad demise of former JI Amir Mian Tufail, he said the services rendered by Mian Tufail are invaluable. He said those who disrupt the peace of Pakistan include Chechen and Uzbek militants.
- The News – Two soldiers were killed and three others injured in the first-ever suicide attack on security forces in Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Friday.
- The Hindu – Two Karbi Longri National Liberation Front (KLNLF) militants were killed in an encounter on Sunday with security forces in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district.
- Times of India – After army chief Gen Rookmangud Katawal opposed the en masse entry of PLA fighters in his troops and set in motion a bitter battle with the Prachanda government that finally led to its fall last month, now the new dispute has the former guerrillas training their sights on Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal.
- Daily Star – Bangladesh and UK yesterday launched a joint working group (JWG) to enhance counter terrorism cooperation between the two countries for building capacity of combating terrorism. At the first meeting of JWG, high officials of the two countries primarily identified the areas of cooperation, including sharing intelligence and training of law-enforcers.
Far East & Pacific
- Irrawaddy – The second was the leaking of documents and video footage showing caves and tunnels being constructed in Burma with the help of North Korean engineers—possibly as part of a controversial nuclear program by the Burma junta.
- Chosun Ilbo – South Korean intelligence authorities believe that a photo of purportedly showing North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on an inspection of the command of the 7th Infantry Division on June 14 was really taken during a visit to the 851st Unit on April 25. Intelligence forces are on alert in case that means that Kim’s health has deteriorated again.
- Japan Times – North Korea threatened Saturday to shoot down any Japanese planes that intrude into its airspace, accusing Tokyo of spying near one of its missile sites
- Jakarta Post – Suspected al-Qaida-linked militants killed seven policemen in an ambush Sunday after their comrades shot to death two government soldiers in a separate attack in the southern Philippines, security officials said.
- Manila Times – Around 10,000 strong Army personnel in three Mindanao provinces have been placed on heightened alert following a series of bomb explosions set off by rogue rebels, the Philippine News Agency reported. Three powerful roadside bombs prematurely went off one after another Saturday and Sunday along a national highway
- Xinhua – Chinese and Mongolian armed forces kicked off a joint peacekeeping exercise here on Sunday, sources with China’s Defense Ministry said. Coded “Peacekeeping Mission-2009″, the exercise is the first joint peacekeeping exercise that China has held with another country. It also marks the first joint military training between China and Mongolia.
- Macleans – Suspected insurgents gunned down a village chief in Thailand’s restive south on Sunday, police said. Police Sgt. Sarawut Suwanmanee said Mayuso A-dae, the chief of a village in Yala province, was shot dead by suspected insurgents as he rode his motorcycle home from a tea house
- The National – Australia is planning to double the number of military personnel stationed at its permanent base in the UAE. Some 500 Australian Defence Force (ADF) staff could be stationed at Al Minhad Airbase in Dubai – where the ADF’s regional military headquarters is based – by the beginning of next year, according to Jeremy Bruer, the Australian ambassador to the UAE.
Europe
- UK FCO – EU Foreign Ministers have condemned the continued arrest and detention of peaceful demonstrators in Iran, and have called for the immediate release of Iranian staff working at the British Embassy in Tehran. EU Foreign Ministers condemn the unjustified expulsion of two UK Diplomats and the detention of several Iranian staff working at the British Embassy in Tehran.
- swissinfo – Libya has withdrawn most of its assets from Swiss bank accounts in a continuing diplomatic crisis between the two countries. The north African country last year pulled out SFr5.6 billion ($5.2 billion) of its SFr5.75 billion deposited in Swiss banks, according to statistics by the Swiss National Bank.
- Javno – The Croatian Embassy in Ljubljana has received a protest note from the Slovenian Foreign Ministry over a violation of Slovenia’s airspace. The Croatian Embassy will prepare a response to the note, the Croatian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday. According to sources close to the Croatian Defence Ministry, at least three to four violations of Croatia’s airspace by small sports aircraft from Slovenia are recorded on a monthly basis.
- Balkan Insight – Prime Minister Sali Berisha, of Albania’s Democratic Party, has a comfortable lead on his Socialist rival Edi Rama, according to three exit polls published after Sunday’s parliamentary elections.
- RTE News – The leadership of the Ulster Volunteer Force and the Red Hand Commando have confirmed they have completed the process of putting all their weaponry irreversibly beyond use.
- Vladimir Socor – Russia’s Lukoil has broken into Western Europe’s most lucrative oil refining and retail market by taking over Dow Chemicals’ 45 percent stake in Total Raffinaderij Nederland (TRN), a choice morsel
Africa
- Garowe – At least five people were killed and 14 others wounded Sunday in the Somali capital Mogadishu after suspected insurgents targeted the presidential compound with mortars and government forces responded with artillery fire, Radio Garowe reports.
- Shabelle – The TFG president Sharif Sheik Ahmed has held a press conference in the Somalia capital Mogadishu on Sunday and said that the clashes against his government are led by Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys and planned by Eritrean officials in Somalia.
- Sudan Tribune – Eritrea during the weekend criticized the decision of the US Administration provide weapons to Somalia’s beleaguered government in a first visible support to Mogadishu from Washington.
- Mareeg – Somalia’s Federal Government of Somalia (TFG) and Ethiopia are discussing plans to redeploy Ethiopian troops back in the country in order to provide protection to the TFG against Islamist groups who are trying to oust it, sources privy with the two parties told Mareeg online on Sunday.
- The Citizen – At least ten people have been reported dead in ethnic clashes that occurred on Thursday morning at four villages in Rorya and Tarime districts, Mara region. Reports said that the clashes were a result of cattle rustling that took place on June 24 at Mang’ore village in Rorya District. He said on the same day more than 70 houses and properties whose value was not identified were destroyed.
- France24 – Months after soldiers killed former President Joao Bernardo Vieira, Guinea-Bissau goes to the polls Sunday to elect a replacement amid widespread hopes for stability in the poor, coup-wracked African nation.
- This Day – The threat by militants to cripple Nigeria’s oil export is gradually being actualised as Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) has suspended its entire operations in the Western Niger Delta, covering Delta State and parts of Bayelsa State, THISDAY has learnt.
- Vanguard – Ijaw militants in the creeks weekend hijacked a speedboat conveying about twenty Itsekiri passengers from Escravos to Warri. The incident which took place around the Burutu river is said to be causing ripples between both ethnic groups that have been enjoying cordial relationship since the end of the seven years Warri crisis which pitched the Ijaw, Urhobo and Itsekiri in a bloody war.
Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, tours the Russian Military Academy of the General Staff, in Moscow, June 27, 2009. On the second day of his visit to Russia, Mullen also visited the Russian Army 27th Separate Motorized Rifle Infantry Brigade and the Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War. (photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Chad McNeeley)
The Global War
- NATO – Twenty-nine Foreign Ministers of the NATO-Russia Council (NRC), joint by the Prime Minister of Greece, Mr. Konstantínos Karamanlís and by the Prime Minister of Italy, Mr. Silvio Berlusconi, gathered on the Greek island of Corfu on 27th July 2009. This was the first NRC meeting at ministerial level for over a year. The meeting was chaired by NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. The Ministers also agreed to open the door for renewing military cooperation in the framework of the NRC.
- Ahmed Quraishi – The stench of a multimillion dollar scam can be smelled in the Pakistani capital. This time it has to do with the estimated $1.5 to 2 billion deal that the Pakistan Navy has almost finalized with Germany. But it seems there are strong lobbies in Islamabad that want to oblige France and buy French vessels because Paris is willing to pay heavy bribes. To ensure the deal is sealed with France instead of Germany, a junior bureaucrat has been appointed as Pakistan’s ambassador in Paris bypassing the Pakistani foreign office. Reports accuse President Asif Ali Zardari of orchestrating this appointment
- Australia DoD – Lending a helping hand to Australia’s neighbours is all part of the job for Australian Defence Force engineers and medical personnel joining the multinational PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP 2009 team in the South West Pacific from 30 June to 18 September 2009. PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP is an annual U.S sponsored Humanitarian Civic Assistance mission aimed at strengthening international relationships and interoperability for disaster relief throughout Oceania and Southeast Asia.
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3 June, 2009 (01:03) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba
A brief world news roundup for 3 June 2009.
United States & the Americas
- Washington Institute – In his conversation with the Saudi king, Obama will be seeking more than a list of platitudes. That the visit is taking place at all suggests that Obama is expecting some definitive policy achievements to emerge.
- Senate Armed Services Cmte – Advance Questions for Lieutenant General Stanley A. McChrystal, USA Nominee for Commander, NATO International Security Assistance
- NY Times – The federal government mistakenly made public a 266-page report, its pages marked “highly confidential,” that gives detailed information about hundreds of the nation’s civilian nuclear sites and programs, including maps showing the precise locations of stockpiles of fuel for nuclear weapons.
- IPT – The investigation into the man accused of killing an Army recruiter and wounding a second soldier Monday in Little Rock, Ark. may lead to a Salafi preacher in Yemen’s tribal area, the Investigative Project on Terrorism has learned
- Dipnote – Secretary Clinton, Carribbean Counterparts Discuss Security Cooperation, Trade and Development
- COHA – How Mexico’s drug war washed up on Canada’s West Coast
- Miami Herald – President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday alleged that U.S. intelligence agencies were behind a purported assassination plot that prevented him from visiting El Salvador.
Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia
- RIA Novosti – Russia’s Navy. The Northern Fleet
- Times of India – Russia and Oman have signed an agreement on nuclear energy cooperation that could see the two countries building reactors and conducting
research together, Russia’s atomic agency said on Tuesday.
- Moscow Times – Gazprom warned on Tuesday that Ukraine may have supplies of gas reduced should it fail to make payments in full for deliveries after President Dmitry Medvedev cast doubt on the country’s ability to pay.
- Javno – Hundreds of workers blocked a motorway in northern Russia on Tuesday when anger at job cuts and unpaid wages boiled over. Trade unions say about half the inhabitants of Pikalyovo are living in poverty after the town’s three main employers stopped production. Residents say they cannot feed their families.
- NY Times – Kazan Journal: Russia’s Knotty Policies on Islam, Mirrored in Trial; The prosecution of members of an Islamic fundamentalist group underscores the country’s ambivalence toward its Muslim minority.
- Kyiv Post – Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has sent a telegram to Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko asking her to provide assistance to the victims of the Tuesday blast at the state-run Oschadbank’s department in Melitopol, Zaporizhia region
- RFERL – Tajik police in the northern Soghd province have detained 11 suspected members of the Islamist Hizb ut-Tahrir group, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service reports. Local prosecutors told RFE/RL that those arrested were officially charged with igniting ethnic and racial hatred and attempting to oust the Tajik government.
- Interfax – The National Nuclear Center (NCC) and Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) have finalized all preliminary procedures to embark on the project of a 50Mwt fourth-generation nuclear reactor, Kairat Kadyrzhanov, the general director of NNC said. Kadyrzhanov said that Russia is a potential partner for the HTGCR project, as it may contribute both funds and professionals.
U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Bryon Clark listens to an Iraqi farmer voicing his concerns in the village of Ka bashe in Kirkuk, Iraq, May 31, 2009. U.S. coalition forces partner with Iraqi police to inspect irrigation systems and meet with local farmers who have agriculture concerns. (photo by Spc. Bobby Allen)
Middle East
- Kuwait Times – Lawmakers strongly blasted their Iraqi counterparts for attacking Kuwait, with some urging the government to recall the Kuwaiti ambassador from Baghdad and at least one MP calling to sever ties with Iraq. But at the same time, there were calls for restraint and wisdom in dealing with issue and that relations with neighboring Iraq should be settled only through diplomatic and official channels
- RIA Novosti – Russian diplomats were finally given access to Russian students, who have been held in custody in Egypt for almost a week, as Cairo authorities released 10 others on Tuesday, a Russian embassy official said. On Wednesday night, Egyptian authorities held a string of raids on apartments rented by foreign students in a Cairo district and arrested dozens of students from different countries, including 34 from Russia, mainly from the North Caucasus region
- BBC – Ahead of key elections in Lebanon, BBC News has gained rare access to a fighter of the powerful military wing of Hezbollah, which stands a strong chance of making political gains via the ballot box.
- Al Manar – Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem condemned on Tuesday the US-Israeli meddling in the Lebanese parliamentary elections scheduled to take place next Sunday. Speaking while receiving Baabda Shiite candidate Said Alameh, Sheikh Qassem said that the opposition’s victory in the upcoming elections is necessary to safeguard the country’s sovereignty, independence and unity
- Naharnet – Arrested Col. Shahid Toumiyeh has admitted in his interrogation that he was recruited by Israel in the mid-1990s and entrusted with spying on both the Lebanese and the Syrian armies as well as on Hizbullah. In a related development, Lebanon’s General Security Department known as Surete Generale arrested an Egyptian in the southern village of Aita al-Shaab on suspicion of spying for Israel.
- MEMRI – Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has belatedly acknowledged that Muhammad Al-’Awfi, a senior commander in the group, turned himself in to the Saudi authorities of his own free will.
- Xinhua – Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug said Turkey was determined to eradicate the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported on Tuesday.
Iran
- Fars – Iran’s Judiciary Spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi strongly criticized the silence shown by the West over the recent terrorist attacks in Iran.
- MEMRI – The Iranian Sunni-Baluchi organization Jundallah has called on Sunni clerics in the country to stand fast under regime pressure, and has threatened to carry out martyrdom operations (istishad) against regime institutions in the big cities with the aim of paralyzing them.
- ISNA – Iranian Deputy Oil Minister for International Affairs Hossein Noghrehkar Shirazi said on Tuesday Iran is ready to start gas pump to Switzerland as soon as Bern-Ankara agree on gas delivery through Turkey.
- Payvand – Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari has announced that Iran plans to drill an exploratory well in the Caspian Sea as the preliminary step for the construction of the Iran-Alborz semisubmersible drilling rig.
- IRNA – Syrian Transportation Minister Yaaroub Suleiman Bader here on Tuesday stressed the need to link Syrian railway to that of Iran. Talking to IRNA in Damascus, he said that connecting the two countries’ railways will help develop transportation between Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq. He further noted that his ministry is planning to establish cargo and passenger transportation networks among the four countries. Syria’s railway will be linked with Iran through Iraq, he said, adding that this means that Syria will gain access to Iran’s production centers and Iran to Mediterranean Sea.
- Press TV – Presidential hopeful Mir-Hossein Mousavi has explained why Iran resumed its uranium enrichment activities after a voluntary suspension in 2003.
South Asia
- AFPS – Combined forces killed several militants in a firefight in Paktika province during a mission to capture a Taliban commander operating in the northern region of the province. In the area’s Mata Khan district, forces identified a vehicle carrying the wanted Taliban commander and other suspected militants at a remote location near Abd Ol Kala village.
- UK MoD – One of the most dangerous Taliban leaders in Helmand, believed to be behind suicide attacks that have killed British and Afghan troops, was killed during a planned UK Apache helicopter strike yesterday.
- Pentagon – DoD News Briefing with Maj. Gen. Schloesser From Afghanistan
- Dawn – Security forces rescued on Tuesday morning 81 students and teachers of the Razmak Cadet College after an exchange of fire with militants in Garyom area of North Waziristan, according to a senior government official. But, 35 students and two teachers are still missing. There were conflicting reports about the number of students and teaching staff kidnapped by the Taliban in Bakkakhel of the Bannu Frontier Region when they were going home on Monday.
- Geo – Security forces killed 21 more militants in the past 24 hours in pockets of the northwest, while three soldiers were martyred. According to the ISPR, in the last 24 hours, 21 miscreants-terrorists were killed and 18 apprehended in various areas of Swat, whereas three soldiers embraced shahadat (martyrdom).” Most of the suspected militants were killed on the outskirts of Charbagh
- Geo – Twenty-six militant commanders have been killed in Malakand division, interior secretary informed National Assembly’s standing committee on defence, sources said. He said 92 militants including foreigners have been arrested so far
- The News – People in the Haripur district of Hazara are actively helping the police and intelligence agencies to tackle the Taliban, pinpointing their hideouts, 15 to 20 of which have already been busted. A large number of militants running away from Swat have come to the Hazara Division.
- The News – Dozens of unidentified armed men gunned down a policeman and security guard of the Nato supply terminal before setting on fire four trailers loaded with supplies for the Nato forces in Afghanistanon Tuesday, police said.
- VOA – The leader of a banned Muslim charity India accuses of masterminding last year’s Mumbai terror attack has been released by a Pakistani court. The decision is seen as a setback for the investigation into the terror attack, as well as relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbors and long-time rivals.
Far East & Pacific
- Chosun Ilbo – North Korea has begun preparations to fire three or four medium-range missiles, the South Korean military reported to the National Assembly’s National Defense Committee on Tuesday. Defense Committee members quoted military officers as saying this when they visited the command post of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They said the North is preparing to fire medium-range missiles near Anbyon-gun, Gangwon Province
- RSIS – China’s Re-emergence as an Arms Dealer
- China Daily – Seven terrorist cells have been uncovered and destroyed in just four months in one of the country’s most remote border regions. Zhang Jian, Party Secretary of Kashi, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, said the terrorists were caught in the city of Kashi, which shares a border with Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
- Reuters – Philippines is determined to end decades-old conflict in the restive south and wants a “true” ceasefire with Muslim rebels to move the peace process forward, the interior secretary said on Tuesday.
- Irrawaddy – The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), a ceasefire group, has begun forcibly recruiting people to serve as border guards in compliance with orders from Burma’s ruling junta, according to Karen sources.
- Phnom Penh Post - The commander of an RCAF brigade at Preah Vihear said Monday that they were closely monitoring a road construction project undertaken by Thailand that they said was approaching Phnom Trop, located two kilometres from the temple.
- Canberra Times – Defence has released details of how it plans to save $20 billion over the next decade, allowing it to implement the reforms contained in the white paper.
- The Australian – A long, bitter wrangle over plans for an Islamic school in a rural township southwest of Sydney has ended, with the NSW Land and Environment Court finally rejecting the controversial proposal.
Europe
- Finland Government – The Prime Minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin, will pay a working visit to Finland on 3 June at the invitation of Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen. The Prime Ministers’ discussions will take place in Helsinki. Topics to be discussed include economic cooperation, energy and transport issues, and preparation of the Copenhagen Climate Conference to be held in December
- Barents Observer – August 1 2009 the Norwegian Operational Command Head Quarters opens in Reitan outside Bodø, thus making Norway the first country to move its military command leadership to the Arctic.
- Copenhagen Post – Denmark will send additional troops to Afghanistan to bolster security ahead of the national elections in August. The Defence Forces will be sending further specialised military and naval personnel temporarily to Afghanistan ahead of the national elections on 20 August.
- euobserver – Here is a simple guide to the EU Parliament elections – who votes when; who is running; and, most importantly, when the results will be clear.
Africa
- Shabelle – Unknown gunmen have abducted Ibrahim Mohamed Ali known as Jekey, the director of Universal TV office in Mogadishu, witnesses told Shabelle Radio on Tuesday.
- Sudan Tribune – More than 140 Zambian police officers have arrived in Sudan’s war-torn Darfur as first batch of troops to join the African Union-UN peacekeeping mission there.
- Magharebia – Algerian security forces arrested four suspected terrorists for allegedly planning to kidnap foreigners in Algiers, El Khabar reported on Tuesday (June 2nd). One suspect works at a popular public garden near the Rias El Bahr museum that sees a high volume of foreign tourists in the spring and summer months. According to investigators, the worker was tasked with monitoring the movements of British and American tourists to prepare for kidnappings.
- IRIN – Talk openly about rape. That is the gist of a new campaign in Cameroon, where according to a study an estimated 432,000 women and girls have been raped in the past 20 years.
- New Vision – The United Kingdom and Uganda yesterday signed an agreement that will allow for the transfer of prisoners to their respective countries.
U.S. Air Force basic trainees, equipped with combat gear, march in two columns from a mock air base where they practiced a defensive scenario during basic military training on Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, May 27, 2009. (photo by Master Sgt. Cecilio Ricardo)
The Global War
- Al Jazeera – Calling Obama a “criminal”, Ayman al-Zawahiri told Muslims not to heed the “elegant words” of the US leader whose speech in Cairo on Thursday is aimed at repairing ties with the Islamic world damaged by his predecessor’s “war on terror” policies.
- JCS – 28th Annual Conference on U.S.-Turkish Relations
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21 May, 2009 (01:45) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba
A brief world news roundup for 21 May 2009.
United States & the Americas
- NY Times – An unreleased Pentagon report provides new details concluding that about one in seven of the 534 prisoners already transferred abroad from the detention center in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, has returned to terrorism or militant activity, according to administration officials.
- AP – In a major rebuke to President Barack Obama, the Senate voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to block the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the United States and denied the administration the millions it sought to close the prison.
- Jurist – A US military judge on Tuesday granted a government motion to postpone hearings for Saudi Guantanamo Bay detainee Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Haza al-Darbi. Chief judge for military commissions Colonel James Pohl granted the government’s motion for a continuance until September 24, 2009, reasoning that such a delay will permit the government to implement changes, complete the Detention Policy Review, and finish reviewing individual cases in a way that will serve the interests of justice
- WNBC – Four New York City men were arrested Wednesday in connection with an alleged plot to blow up New York City synagogues and other city locations, WNBC’s Jonathan Dienst was first to learn. Raids by the FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorist Task Force in the Bronx captured the suspected ringleader and three followers in what law enforcement sources are calling a homegrown terrorist plot
- El Universal – The Ministry of Energy and Petroleum (Venezuela) reported on Wednesday on the seizure of 35 oil service suppliers which operated mainly in Lake Maracaibo, in addition to 39 business that were taken by the state last week.
- Columbia Reports – 112 members of the drug gang ‘Los Rastrojos’ Wednesday demobilized and handed over their weapons to authorities, the Colombian Army announced.
- LAHT – Two former police officials in the central Mexican state of Morelos have been arrested for their alleged ties to organized crime groups, the Attorney General’s Office said
- Reuters – Drug gangs have forced open a bloody new front in Mexico’s drugs war, extending their battles over smuggling routes into a formerly quiet northwestern state and further stretching the army
- Miami Herald – President Fernando Lugo dismissed the heads of Paraguay’s army, navy and engineering corps for allowing nearly 1,000 Marxist youth to host a congress on military grounds, the government said Wednesday.
- COHA – Guadeloupe – Another French Caribbean Hot Spot; The social unrest that plagued the French départments d’outre-mer earlier this year has largely subsided. Yet Paris’ problems with its organically connected Caribbean dependences are far from resolved. In fact, they’ve only just begun.
Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia
- Russia Today – Tempers flared in Geneva where representatives of Russia, Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia attempt to put aside raw memories of last year’s war and strike a compromise
- Georgia Foreign Ministry – The fifth round of the Geneva Discussions was marred by the efforts of the Russian Federation to disrupt the discussions over the most serious issues. It is now obvious that Russia is trying to use the Geneva peace talks as a tool to blackmail the international community. This time Russia resorted to the threats to quit the Geneva Discussions, using it as a leverage on the developments in the United Nations. Yesterday the co-chairs expressed their strong regret over the actions of Russia
- Pavel Baev – Putin Raises the Stakes in his Black Sea Gas Gamble; On May 16 while Moscow was captivated by the spectacle of the “Eurovision” song contest, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin escaped to Sochi to devote himself to gas politics. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was his first guest, followed by the ceremony marking the signing of deals between Gazprom and its counterparts from Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia on constructing the South Stream gas pipeline. He then met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Putin usually excels at this high-level networking, but this time tensions existed even with his close ally Berlusconi
- Asia News – Last week premier Putin signed various deals with Ulaan Baatar. Russia’s real target appears to be uranium reserves and to draw the nation into it’s sphere of influence. Mongolia matins a balance in its’ relationship with China, Russia and other powers.
- UPI – Russian development of Mongolia’s nascent massive uranium deposits will not be a one-way street, however. Bayar said during his meeting with Putin, “The two countries agreed to pay more attention in promoting Mongolia’s mineral resources sector and its infrastructure, and Mongolia intends to speed up cooperation with Russia in exploitation of nuclear energy for peace purposes.” To that end, among the items on the bilateral agenda is discussion of a joint Russian-Mongolian venture for processing nuclear fuel, which Putin said was “a matter of several weeks.”
- Itar-Tass - The construction of the ground section of the Nord Stream gas pipeline is “entering the home stretch”, Gazprom Board Chairman Valery Golubev said on Wednesday. “There is no doubt that the remaining 320 kilometres will be built by 2010 so that the gas pipeline could be commissioned by the middle of next year,” he said.
- RIA Novosti – Russia has put on a hold a contract to deliver MiG-31E Foxhound interceptor-fighters to Syria, a Russian business daily reported on Wednesday, citing defense-industry sources. There has been no official comment on the decision to freeze the contract, but an industry source quoted by the daily said the contract was terminated due to Damascus’s financial problems.
- Russia Today – Police in Russia’s Northern Caucasus republic of Ingushetia say they are hunting a group of up to 60 suspected militants, thought to be connected to recent attacks in the region.
- Kavkaz Center – Intensive fightings has been taking place for several days already in the mountains of the Provinces of Nokhchicho (Ichkeria/Chechnya) and G1alg1ayche (Ingushetia). Kavkaz Center’s sources reporting about fierce clashes in the vicinity of villages of Vedeno, Elistanzhi and Eshelhatoi. The infidels and apostates using heavy machinery supported by helicopter gunships. Assault aircraft a few time bombed the alleged positions of the Mujahideen.
- RFERL – Tajik Interior Ministry forces are conducting special operations against drug traffickers in Tajikistan’s Rasht Valley, amid reports that the operation is being used against leading warlords who are hiding in the region, RFER/RL’s Tajik Service reports. Tajik Interior Ministry spokesman Mahmadullo Asadulloev told RFE/RL that the operations have nothing to do with media reports that security forces are moving against former opposition warlord Mirzokhuja Ahmadov and his followers in the eastern part of the country.
- Chatham House – During the economic boom, Kazakhstan’s banks borrowed heavily on international markets to finance massive investments in construction and real estate. The international credit crisis has left the country’s banks extremely exposed, in turn putting a large section of the economy under threat.
- Israel MFA – Israel will open an embassy in Ashgabat, capital of Turkmenistan for the first time. The decision to open the embassy was reached in view of the development of the good bilateral relationship with Turkmenistan and the new momentum in relations with Central Asian countries.
Middle East
- CNN – A parked car rigged with explosives blew up outside a Baghdad restaurant Wednesday evening, an Iraqi government official said, killing at least 37 people and wounding 74 in the worst attack in nearly a month.
- MEMRI – Iraq has turned down an invitation by Turkey to a meeting in Ankara, the Turkish capital, of the ministers of water and oil of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. National Center for the Management of Water Resources director-general ‘Oun Dhiab Abdullah said that it was unfair to trade water for oil because water is not a commodity, and because the Euphrates has been in existence since the Creation.
- Asharq Al Awsat – A high-level official in the Kurdish Peshmerga Affairs Ministry, has denied US reports about opening Kurdistan airspace for Israeli warplanes to attack the Iranian nuclear reactor.
- Jerusalem Post – A Lebanese deputy mayor who has been arrested for alleged involvement in a network accused of spying for Israel has admitted that he received orders from the Mossad last year to get close to the Hizbullah-led opposition and its leadership, the Lebanese newspaper As-Safir reported on Wednesday.
- Daily Star – Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Wednesday that the resistance was proud of its alliance with Syria and Iran and called for “awarenesss” among Lebanese to thwart a US-Zionist plot to stir strife between Sunnis and Shiites
- News Yemen – A suspected al-Qaeda operative has announced al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula benefits from tension in southern Yemen and conflict with al-Houthis in Sa’ada as such events weaken the regime and enable al-Qaeda to control power. Ghalib Abdullah Azzaidy said al-Qaeda is ready to stand by the movement in southern Yemen only if the southern leaders show commitment to the Islamic Shariah values and give up socialist or communist governance ideologies.
Iran
- Defense Update – Iran has successfully test-fired a Sejjill-2 medium-range surface-to-surface missile, a solid-fuelled missile developed in Iran (with North Korean assistance). This missile is also known by the names Ghadr-110 and Samen. The missile is capable of striking targets at ranges beyond 2,000 km (1242 miles) carrying a 1.2 ton warhead. Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad confirmed the news on a visit to Iran’s space and missile center at Semnan, from where the missile was launched
- Fars – The continued presence of the terrorists in Iraq is unacceptable to the Iranian and Iraqi nations and governments, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Saeed Jalili stressed on Wednesday.
- Al Arabiya – Iran’s electoral watchdog cleared three candidates on Wednesday to challenge incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the June 12 presidential elections. The three candidates approved by the Guardians Council are former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, ex-parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi and the former head of the Revolutionary Guards Mohsen Rezai, an interior ministry statement said.
- Rooz – In his third set of remarks about the upcoming presidential election, and with only 25 days left until the election day, the Islamic Republic Supreme Leader once again praised the ninth administration’s performance and attacked Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s opponents.
- Press TV – Iran’s Defense Ministry has inaugurated the production line of advance surveillance systems, radars and electronic warfare equipment. Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said Wednesday that the ministry had successfully completed 30 projects on modern electro-optical surveillance systems.
- IRNA – Iran’s Embassy here has rejected a recent report by a US newspaper about Tehran-Beijing nuclear cooperation calling it a fabrication made by those who are against close ties between Iran and China. Releasing a statement, the embassy’s press department rejected on Wednesday the newly-published report which was written by Iranian-born journalist Amir Taheri who lives in Europe and his activities are against Iran.
- IRNA – Intelligence companies and institutions operating in the West, including the UK and the US under the guise of non-government organizations, are tools for exerting influence on other countries, particularly those in the Third World. Illegal activities of western intelligence companies in other countries, especially after the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, and the illegal actions of members of these companies in the two states, including killing and kidnapping, torture, blackmailing local officials, looting cultural and historical relics and interfering in policy making, have been the focus of attention by civil and human rights organizations and media.
- Payvand – Photos: Security Maneuver in Zahedan, Iran
An Afghan National Army artilleryman pulls the firing lever on a D-30 Howitzer during training on Forward Operating Base Airborne in Wardak province, May 5, 2009. U.S. Army soldiers assigned to the 4th Battalion, 25th Field Artillery Regiment and the French Operational Mentor Liaison Team instructed the Afghans during a 30-day training program. (photo by Spc. Matthew Thompson)
South Asia
- AFPS – Afghan army commandos, assisted by coalition forces, have killed 18 enemy fighters and confiscated significant arms and drug caches in the city of Marjeh in the Nad Ali district of Afghanistan’s Helmand province yesterday and today, military officials reported.
- NATO – National Security Forces (ANSF) and International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) have reported intense fighting in the Marjah area of Helmand province; over the last few days. Marjah is known to be an insurgent stronghold, and recent events suggest there is an ongoing and concerted effort to build up the number of militants in the region. These militants include foreign fighters particularly from Balochistan, Pakistan
- Daily Times – e government has directed law-enforcement agencies to arrest seven “highly trained militants and Al Qaeda masterminds in Iraq” who – according to reports by intelligence agencies – have entered Pakistan, reported BBC Urdu. According to an official document the BBC claimed it had received, those who have entered Pakistan are planning to train ‘like-minded people’ and target key government officials, including President Asif Ali Zardari, the chief ministers of the four provinces and intelligence agencies’ officers and commanders
- Geo – Security Forces have cleared Sultanwas after intense clashes while 80 terrorists were killed during clearance of the area, Director General ISPR Major General Athar Abass said in a media briefing on Operation Rah-e-Rast, here on Wednesday. He said six vehicles of militants, which were under their, were also destroyed during the operation. Meanwhile, the ISPR confirmed that the security forces have successfully secured the Binai Baba Ziarat, near Shangla, a stronghold and a main terrorist den in the area
- The News – Security forces on Wednesday claimed to have killed over 200 militants during the ongoing military operation in Maidan area of Dir Lower since the launch of the offensive.
- IslamOnline – With the security forces making big gains on the grounds and seizing controls of more strongholds, the local Taliban group in restive Swat is reaching out for Uzbek and Tajik militants operating from North and South Waziristan for help
- Times of India – Responding to Pakistan’s queries, India on Wednesday handed over to it the third dossier of evidence on Mumbai attacks, which includes certified DNA report and statement of the lone arrested terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab
- Walid Phares – In the May 2009 edition of India and Global Affairs, a Review of geopolitics published in India, I published an article titled “Countering Jihadi Strategies,” in which I analyzed the pre and post 9/11 and pre and post Mumbai strategies of the regional Jihadists from Afghanistan, Pakistan to India. I made a number of sugegstions for regional counter strategies.
- Sri Lanka MoD – Troops have positively identified bodies of seven LTTE leaders, says defence sources in Wanni. Accordingly, bodies of self-styled “Brigadier” Soosai, leader of the Sea Tigers, “Lieutenant Colonel” Verti, a senior intelligence leader, “Lieutenant Colonel” Ram Kumar, an Intelligence leader, “Lieutenant Colonel” Manimekala alias Komali , a senior female intelligence leader, “Lieutenant Colonel” Anna Thurai , political head in Batticaloa, “Colonel ” Rangan, a senior Sea Tiger leader, “Lieutenant Colonel” Vinodan , a senior intelligence leader have been identified.
Far East & Pacific
- Stephen Blank – China has exploited the current global economic crisis to intensify and accelerate its previous strategy for obtaining energy security and political influence abroad. Exploiting other countries’ and firms’ distress, using its enormous cash reserves, and benefitting from the fact that its economy appears to be less adversely affected than others have been, China, through its oil companies CNOOC, CNPC, Petro China, SINOPEC, or through governmental agencies, is either lending afflicted firms and countries money to obtain long-term contracts, access to energy, and other comodities at below market prices if possible, and at the current low market prices where necessary. China’s economic activities abroad during this crisis are not tied exlcusively to Central Asia or to energy alone. But its most striking recent moves have occurred in the energy sector.
- Gulf News – Malaysia has turned over five suspected Al Qaida-linked militants who have been sought for alleged involvement in high-profile kidnappings and deadly bomb attacks in the Philippines.
- Phnom Penh Post – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations Tuesday expressed “grave concern” but ruled out sanctions in its first official reaction to the trial of Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
- Manila Times – A series of attacks by suspected militant factions on moderate Moro traditional political leaders in the predominantly Muslim areas in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is feared to escalate as the May 2010 national elections draw near, according to some political observers in the South during the meeting of the royal family of Maguindanao held recently.
Europe
- Italy Foreign Ministry – Minister for Foreign Affairs Franco Frattini’s planned visit to Iran will not take place as a result of Teheran’s request to hold the protocol meeting with the Iranian president in a location other than the capital, Semnan. The Minister for Foreign Affairs did not accept the request received this morning, expressing his deep regret for a missed opportunity to examine the possibility and modalities for involving Iran in the stabilization of Afghanistan and Pakistan
- AKI – A trial of over 30 American and Italian officials for the alleged kidnapping of an Egyptian terrorism suspect in 2003 will continue, an Italian judge ruled on Wednesday. Oscar Magi threw out objections by defence lawyers and said the trial of 26 American and seven Italian officials for the CIA’s alleged 2003 kidnapping of Egyptian cleric Abu Omar will resume next Wednesday in the northern city of Milan.
- Ennahar – The Spanish police arrested on the night from Tuesday to Wednesday in Bilbao (northern) thirteen people, of North African origin, who might be connected with the nebulous Al-Qaeda in North Africa, told AFP the Spanish police source. According to these media, those arrested are of Algerian and Moroccan origins and suspected of drug trafficking and financing of the nebulous Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb.
- Xinhua – Leaders from China and the European Union (EU) kicked off their 11th summit in Prague Wednesday to exchange views on bilateral relations and major international and regional issues of common concern.
- euobserver – With Gazprom’s profits dwindling and its debt rising, supply contracts with EU countries could be renegotiated and pipeline politics are likely to sharpen, energy experts have told EUobserver.
- New Europe – In a move that may give fresh momentum to South Stream, Russian gas monopoly Gazprom on May 15 signed agreements with transit states Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and Italy to construct the Gazprom-backed natural gas pipeline to Europe. The agreements were appropriately signed in the Russian resort of Sochi since the pipeline will run through the nearby Black Sea.
Africa
- Garowe - A meeting between government ministers and ex-warlords was held Tuesday in the Somali capital Mogadishu, where attendees agreed to ‘declare war’ on Al Shabaab hardliners, Radio Garowe reports.
- Shabelle – Al-Shabab has formed a new Islamic administration in Jowhar, the regional capital of Middle Shabelle Region in Southern Somalia, officials said on Wednesday. Jowhar is the home town of Somalia’s president Sharif Sheik Ahmed.
- Mareeg – At least one civilian was killed and five others were wounded after Islamist rebels have launched heavy attack on two bases of African Union troops in Mogadishu overnight, witnesses said on Wednesday.
- CSM – Somalis near the border with Ethiopia say that country’s troops have crossed over, raising speculation of another battle with the militant Islamists closing in on Somalia’s government.
- Sudan Tribune – The Sudanese army reacted strongly to statements by Chadian officials in which they said that they preparing for an offensive inside Sudan to pursue rebel groups seeking to oust president Idriss Deby. This week the acting Chadian defense minister Adoum Younousmi said that his army will “pass across the border to deal with these pockets of mercenaries”.
- Daily Independent – About 300 homes were razed by the Nigerian Joint Task Force (JTF) on Wednesday in Oporoza, the largest Ijaw community and headquarters of the Gbaramatu clan in Delta State. It was the sixth day of offensive which on Tuesday had hit Okerenkoko in the search for militants holding Nigerians and foreigners hostage
- UN – The United Nations humanitarian wing is urging greater protection for civilians in the South Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which has witnessed a surge in sexual violence since the beginning of this year.
- BBC – Malawi’s main opposition party has called for the release of results from Tuesday’s general election to be stopped, citing “irregularities”. The Malawi Congress Party says its election agents were denied access to counting centres in its traditional stronghold in the Central Region.
Deputy Secretary of Defense William J. Lynn, left, escorts Brazilian Minister of Defense Nelson Jobim through an honor cordon into the Pentagon, May 20, 2009, to discuss bilateral defense issues. (photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Molly Burgess)
The Global War
- Asia Times – As a part of its plan to create a strategic corridor stretching from Afghanistan through Pakistan to Iran, al-Qaeda wants to ally with Jundullah, an Iranian insurgent Sunni Islamic organization opposed to Tehran. A similar alliance between al-Qaeda and a Pakistani militant group proved highly successful.
- US Navy – The U.S. ambassador to Bahrain and the commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command cohosted a reception aboard Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) (Ike) May 17, during the carrier’s historic pierside port visit. Eisenhower became the first Nimitz-class aircraft carrier to pull in pierside in Bahrain May 16
- HS Today – Reveal Imaging Technologies Inc., Bedford, Mass., a developer of threat detection solutions, has announced an undisclosed client in Kuwait has purchased Reveal CT-80 automated explosives detection systems (EDS) to be deployed by the Ministry of the Interior
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23 April, 2009 (00:22) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba
A brief world news roundup for 23 April 2009.
United States & the Americas
- McClatchy – The chief justice of the British High Court on Wednesday gave the British government one week to obtain the U.S. release of classified information about the alleged torture of a British resident who’d been detained at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
- Naharnet – In opening arguments in federal court Tuesday, U.S. prosecutors argued that Ousama Kassir, a Swedish man of Lebanese descent, was planning to set up an al-Qaida terrorist training camp in the United States.
- FBI – Reynaldo Jimenez, who served as an active duty Finance Technician in the United States Army, pled guilty to charges arising out of his theft of identity information belonging to over 35 active duty United States military service members and his use of that information to steal pay due to those service members.
- canada.com – Federal prosecutors asked an Ontario judge Wednesday to deny bail to the first person prosecuted in Canada for allegedly violating United Nations Security Council resolutions prohibiting the export of certain products to Iran. Mahmoud Yadegari, 35, was arrested last week at his north Toronto home and accused of trying to export two “pressure transducers” that were allegedly destined for Iran. Transducers are small parts with many commercial applications, such as in air conditioners. Certain types of transducers, however, can help centrifuges produce enriched uranium and may have military applications.
- CTB – The Return of the Shining Path: Latin America’s Downward Spiral
Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia
- RIA Novosti – Russia’s state arms exporter Rosoboronexport is expecting $7 billion in foreign sales in 2009 despite the ongoing global economic crisis, a defense industry official said on Wednesday.
- Russia Today – Three soldiers have been killed in an attack in the Russian republic of Chechnya. It’s reported that unidentified gunmen fired on a vehicle carrying the servicemen on Tuesday.
- MEMRI – During Syrian independence day celebrations at the Syrian Embassy in Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov said that relations between his country and Syria were of a deep strategic nature.
- EurasiaNet – The White Stream gas project could prove the Georgian government’s trump card as it focuses on maintaining Georgia’s business-friendly image among foreign investors, some energy analysts believe.
- Asia Times – German energy giant Rheinisch-Westfaelische Elektrizitaetswerk has entered what could become a breakthrough agreement with Turkmenistan on offshore gas field development and gas deliveries. Alongside a public clash on a pipeline explosion, it is a sign of a new era in Turkmenistan’s policies
- Robert Amsterdam – What happens when the largest exporter of natural gas in Central Asia (and the fourth largest reserves on the planet) declares its open disagreement with the Russia-led natural gas OPEC? At the very least, it makes for an energy conference of heated diplomacy when heads of state meet in Ashgabat this week, as the Europeans fight for the Nabucco supply route direct to Europe (the word “bypass” is misleading), while the Russians fight for Gazprom’s continued total monopoly over the country’s exports.
- Trend – The Baku conference of the heads of the law enforcement agencies of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) will contribute to fight against international terrorism, Iranian Deputy Police Chief Ahmad Rza Radan told Trend News in Baku.
Middle East
- Press TV – Iraq’s Defense Minister has dismissed reports that a recent US-Iraqi military exercise was aimed at sending a message to Iran. Abdul Qadir Mohammed al-Obeidi said that the war game was held as part of the security agreement between Washington and Baghdad and was merely aimed at training Iraqi troops to take over security from the US forces; IRNA reported on Wednesday, citing the Iraqi media.
- Al Sumaria – The US Senate approved on Tuesday on the nomination of Christopher Hill as new US Ambassador to Iraq by a majority of 73 votes vs. 23 votes at the end of a long debate about his nomination which was subject to reservations by some opponent Republican Senators
- Voices of Iraq – Two car bombs went off on Wednesday targeting Peshmerga forces in northwest of Mosul, without leaving casualties, a police source said.
- Reuters – Tensions between Kurds and Sunni Arabs are rising in Iraq’s volatile northern city of Mosul and the surrounding province following local elections in January which saw Sunni representation jump dramatically. Kurdish-led provincial council members and Kurdish-run towns have vowed to boycott the now Sunni-dominated provincial council, some going as far as to say they want to join the nearby semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
- Asharq Al Awsat – The new Governor of Karbala demanded the return of the regions that were annexed by the Saddam Hussein regime from the Karbala province to the neighboring Al-Anbar province.
- Press TV – A newly-opened private bank in Gaza plans to hold the accounts of Hamas members despite opposition by the Palestinian Authority. The National Islamic Bank opened on Tuesday in the Israeli-blockaded coastal territory with 20 million dollars in start-up capital. Rafati did not mention where the bank’s start-up capital came from.
- ITIC – Since a Hezbollah network was exposed operating on its soil, Egyptian security forces have increased their activities to counter terrorist networks and the smuggling of weapons in Sinai. On April 20 there were exchanges of fire between the Egyptian police and smugglers in Sinai ( Al-Yawm Al-Sabaa , April 20, 2009 ). Five smugglers who had $200,000 in their possession were detained. They were trying to smuggle the money into the Gaza Strip for Hamas
- NOW Lebanon – Following the withdrawal of former Speaker Hussein al-Husseini’s candidacy for a Shia seat in the Baalbek-Hermel district on Wednesday, former MP Assem Kanso announced that he was informed by Hezbollah that the party would include him on its electoral list in the district. Kanso would be the sixth Shia candidate on the list that also includes Hussein al-Hajj Hassan, Hussein al-Moussawi, Nawwar al-Sahili, Ali Moqdad and Ghazi Zeaiter.
- Daily Star – The Lebanese Armed Forces raided the Baalbek regions of Al-Fakiha and Jdeideit al-Fakiha on Tuesday night, Lebanese media reports said on Wednesday. Clashes erupted between the LAF and armed men, resulting in the arrest of a member of the Zaarour family and another man known to be one of the biggest drug dealers in the area
- Saba – On his visit to Saudi Arabia where he handed over a Saleh letter to Saudi King, Yemen Deputy Prime Minister for Defense and Security Affairs Rashad al-Alimi met Wednesday in Riyadh with Saudi Interior Minister prince Nayef Bin Abdul Aziz. The two discussed aspects of cooperation between the two neighbors in the security field in addition to ways to promote joint coordination to tackle terror threat.
- Today’s Zaman – Ten people, including four military officers currently on active duty, were arrested yesterday as part of an investigation into Ergenekon, a clandestine terrorist organization, 146 of whose suspected members are currently facing trial for plotting to overthrow the government.
- Hurriyet – Turkey has recalled its ambassador to Canada after Canadian government ministers reportedly took part in an event that labeled the Ottoman-era killings of Armenians as genocide, the Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed.
- Turkey MFA – Turkey and Armenia, together with Switzerland as mediator, have been working intensively with a view to normalizing their bilateral relations and developing them in a spirit of good-neighborliness, and mutual respect, and thus to promoting peace, security and stability in the whole region.
Iran
- Xinhua – Iran’s former Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Mohsen Rezaei Wednesday declared himself as an independent candidate in the upcoming presidential election, the official IRNA news agency reported
- Mehr – The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRCC) is banned from taking side or campaigning in favor of a particular candidate in the run-up to the June presidential elections, cleric Ali Saeedi, the Supreme Leader’s representative to the IRGC, has said
- Payvand – Iran’s oil export revenues stood at nearly $9 billion in the first quarter of 2009, according to statistics released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the U.S. Department of Energy. EIA data shows the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries earned $96 billion in Q1 2009 and the figure could reach $476 billion through the year.
- NCRI - Iran under mullahs rule has become the world’s largest importer of wheat, the country’s staple, in a blow to the regime’s goal of achieving self-sufficiency in the crops that is key to food security, Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
- Washington Times editorial – Bloggers are taking on Iran’s mullahs and winning. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, bloggers are on the front line of the struggle for freedom. Today, there are about 80,000 bloggers in Iran living under constant threat of surveillance, harassment and imprisonment.
- MEMRI – The Iranian Sunni opposition organization Jundallah, which operates in the Sistan-Baluchistan province in southeastern Iran, announced that on April 19 it had kidnapped a senior Iranian intelligence officer who came to the province from Tehran. The Ayandenews website reported that in clashes between the military arm of the Kurdish opposition group Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) and Iranian forces, in Marivan, four Iranian troops were killed – not 17 as the group had claimed.
- Xinhua – Two Iranian border police were killed and two others wounded in Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan-Balouchestan, Iran’s Police News Center reported on Wednesday. “The policemen who had taken food items from Sarbaz city in Sistan-Balouchestan to the outpost of Azadeghan (bordering Pakistan) were targeted by armed rebels on their way back,” the report said.
Lance Cpl. Kingley Arrajo remains vigilant at an observation post April 10, 2009, in Farah province, Afghanistan. Arrajo is a mortarman with Company I, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment (Reinforced), the ground combat element of Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force-Afghanistan. SPMAGTF-A's mission is to conduct counterinsurgency operations, with a focus on training and mentoring the Afghan national police (photo by Lance Cpl. Monty Burton)
South Asia
- Khaleej Times – The top US military commander Admiral Michael Mullen met American soldiers deployed in Afghanistan on Wednesday, kickstarting his second visit to the war-torn country in just weeks, an official said.
- Pentagon Briefing, Maj. Gen. Tucker From Afghanistan – Well, the activity — the insurgent activities are obviously in the south. Probably about 80 percent of them — of the activity’s in the south right now. The activities in the Swat do concern us. We’re keeping an eye on it, and are working daily with the Pakistan military, with bilateral communications, and continue to, in fact, work our operations even further into the south, into Baluchistan.
- AFPS – Afghan and coalition forces killed an insurgent and detained six suspects following an operation early today in eastern Afghanistan’s Konar province. In the Pech district, about 50 miles northeast of Jalalabad, the combined force searched two compounds to remove a key enabler of the al-Qaida foreign terrorist network in Konar.
- Dawn – Tehrik Taliban Swat halted armed patrolling, road blockades, and other activities in volatile Swat valley and returned to their positions and camp bases on the directives of Maulana Fazlullah on Wednesday.
- Geo – District courts in Buner have been shut down by force while all the records from the courts have been removed. According to sources, TNSM Amir Maulana Sufi Muhammad had given a deadline of April 23 for appointment of Qazis after removing judges besides setting up of Darul Qaza. This has led to the closure of the district courts, sources added.
- The News – JUI chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Wednesday made the startling disclosure on the floor of the National Assembly that the Taliban had reached near Mansehra and might soon reach Tarbela Dam. The Maulana said the Taliban had reached the Kala Dhaka area (near Mansehra) and the main Mansehra city was not far. “After occupying Buner, they have reached Kala Dhaka and may also be taking over the water reservoir of the Tarbela Dam.”
- Daily Times – Orakzai Agency residents have been warned to leave the area before a major military offensive against the Taliban, as army gunship helicopters and air force jets pounded the Taliban’s positions in the tribal agency on Wednesday, witnesses and officials said.
- Times of India – Pakistan on Wednesday alleged that India was backing the banned militant group Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) for fuelling unrest in its southwestern Balochistan province. “The BLA was raised with funding from the Soviet Union (during the Soviet-Afghan war) and it is now backed by India,” Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said during a debate in the Senate on the situation in Balochistan.
- Sri Lanka MoD – The 58 Division troops backed by the Commando and Special Forces troops yesterday continued their humanitarian operation to rescue the civilians trapped inside the Safe Zone after reaching the Eastern beachfront dividing the Safe Zone into two enabling more civilians to arrive into the military controlled areas as huge influx of civilians continued till yesterday evening. The Security Forces were able to rescue more than 62,000 within the last 48 hours ending midnight yesterday and more than 10,000 other civilians are awaiting to reach the Security Forces controlled areas. This brings the total number of civilians who fled the LTTE grip to over 122,000.
- Daily Star – BDR jawans have taken positions at the bank of Naaf river in Palongkhali union of Ukhiya upazila as Myanmar border force Nasaka again started erecting earth embankment within 80 yards of the zero point. The Nasaka has deployed 300 workers to build the embankment without consultation with Bangladesh government though they stopped the work yesterday following a protest from BDR.
Far East & Pacific
- Xinhua – Sea change in thinking about China’s navy
- China MFA – Nepal and Sri Lanka are both friendly neighbors of China. We have all along supported the efforts made by the two Governments to safeguard their sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity and to maintain national stability and economic development
- Simon Roughneen – In scenes redolent of 1930s Europe, for over a year now color-coded political protesters have fought street battles and blockaded government buildings, amid a battle for control of Thailand’s government. The upheaval – and the official reaction – took a turn for the worse over the past week, when the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) was driven from the streets by the Thai army following a violent confrontation in Bangkok.
- TIME – How the Strait of Malacca Purged Its Pirate Problem
- Guardian – Exports fell 16.4% last year to ¥71.1 trillion as makers of consumer electronics and cars – the driving force of the economy – counted the cost of plummeting demand in the US, Europe and China. Japan last year suffered its first trade deficit for almost 30 years, figures out today showed, but the bad news was tempered by signs that the export slump may be bottoming out.
- Gulf News – Islamist militants have been carrying an Italian Red Cross aid worker as they escaped military attacks in the southern Philippines, officials said.
Europe
- Islam in Europe – For the first time, Dutch also seem to have gotten military training by the most feared terrorists in the world. The Dutch left last year for the area of the Pakistani-Afghani border, where Al-Qeada is preparing new attacks on the West. This according to the AIVD intelligence service. AIVD head Gerard Bouman did not want to say how many people this involved.
- AKI – The Al-Qaeda linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan on Wednesday released a video threatening the “criminal” German government and citizens of the Jewish faith, according to German media.
- Javno – Slovenia and Croatia were unable to reach an agreement on Wednesday to resolve a dispute blocking Zagreb’s progress towards joining the bloc, but talks will continue, EU officials said. EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn met the Croatian and Slovenian foreign ministers in Brussels to present them with a new compromise proposal and the two ministers also met a trio of counterparts from the Czech EU presidency, France and Sweden
- euobserver - A loosely-worded promise by a non-relevant European Commission official in Strasbourg on Wednesday (22 April) ended an 11-year long stalemate in EU-Turkmenistan relations.
Africa
- Garowe – The interim president of Somalia has reportedly asked the Egyptian government for military assistance, Radio Garowe reports.
- Sudan Tribune - A Sudanese special court today sentenced to death more eleven Darfur rebels for their participation in an attack on Khartoum in May last year.
- AKI – A North African Al-Qaeda leader, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, has resumed his armed struggle in Algeria after two years of inactivity, security officials said on Tuesday, quoted by Algerian daily el-Khabar.
- Reuters – Two Canadian diplomats and two European tourists held hostage by al Qaeda’s north African wing in the Sahara desert have been released, a spokesman for Mali’s president said on Wednesday
- BBC – A huge turnout in South Africa’s general election has left officials struggling with long queues at polling stations and too few ballot papers. The election is expected to be the most competitive since the end of apartheid in 1994. The ruling ANC – led by Jacob Zuma – is expected to win.
- afrol – A plot believed to have been targeted at Lesotho’s Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili was foiled in the early hours today, when an armed group launched an attack at the state house gates
- Reuters – A Rwandan court has rejected a suit seeking the release of Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda on the ground that he is being held illegally, his lawyer said on Monday.
- IPS – While Russia is undergoing an economic transformation and is predicted to become one of the fastest growing of the world, it is rather unfortunate that only a few African countries have made relations with Russia a priority
- Africom – A U.S. Africa Command delegation led by General William E. Ward met with Rwandan defense leaders and watched displays of Rwandan Defense Force (RDF) capabilities during a two-day visit April 20-21, 2009
The Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS San Francisco pulls into its new homeport at Naval Submarine Base Point Loma. San Francisco was placed in the dry dock facility after colliding with an uncharted undersea mountain approximately 350 miles south of Guam, Jan. 8, 2005 (photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Rialyn Rodrigo)
The Global War
- Air Force – Twelve F-22 Raptors departed here recently following a deployment marking the first time F-22 Raptors and B-2 Spirits, the key national strategic stealth assets in the Air Force inventory, deployed together outside the continental United States.
- CSM – Petraeus: What I learned in Iraq, and how it applies to Afghanistan; The US general credited with turning around a bleak war effort spoke yesterday to Harvard students
- UK MoD – A fleet of nearly 200 new armoured vehicles to support front line troops on operations has now been ordered by the MOD, it was announced Tuesday. The £74m order for around 110 enhanced Jackal 2 vehicles and more than 70 Coyote Tactical Support Vehicles has been awarded to vehicle manufacturer Supacat, which has formed an alliance with Babcock.
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22 April, 2009 (02:07) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba
A brief world news roundup for 22 April 2009.
United States & the Americas
- WSJ – Computer spies have broken into the Pentagon’s $300 billion Joint Strike Fighter project, the Defense Department’s costliest weapons program ever, according to current and former government officials familiar with the attacks. Similar incidents have also breached the Air Force’s air-traffic-control system in recent months, these people say. In the case of the fighter-jet program, the intruders were able to copy and siphon off several terabytes of data related to design and electronics systems, officials say, potentially making it easier to defend against the craft.
- FBI – Somalian Pirate Brought to U.S. to Face Charges for Hijacking the Maersk Alabama and Holding the Ship’s Captain Hostage
- Globe and Mail – 30,000 Tamil protesters pack Parliament Hill; In largest rally of 14-day demonstration, community leaders call on Harper government to take a stand on civil war plaguing Sri Lanka
- Xinhua – The European Union (EU) has earmarked 4.5 million euros (5.8 million U.S. dollars) in a project designed to help Central American countries combat organized crimes and international drug trafficking, chief of Nicaraguan National Police (PN) Aminta Granera said on Tuesday.
- Xinhua – The Ecuadorian government has formally began negotiations with a Chinese firm to build the country’s biggest hydropower plant, the Energy Ministry said on Tuesday.
- Washington Post – Violence has plummeted here since President Felipe Calderón dispatched thousands of soldiers to take over public security, a strategy designed to crush the drug gangs that turned Juarez into a symbol of lawlessness.
- Independent – A Venezuelan opposition leader who says he is a victim of political persecution by the government of President Hugo Chavez has arrived in Peru but has not requested political asylum, Peru’s foreign minister said today.
- AFPS – The Navy’s longest-running annual multilateral exercise got underway yesterday off the Florida coast, with 11 participating nations working together to promote maritime security and stability in Latin America. Navy Adm. James Stavridis, commander of U.S. Southern Command, called the 50th UNITAS Gold exercise a milestone for naval cooperation in the Western Hemisphere. Initially launched to strengthen participants’ capability to defend the Americas against Soviet submarines, the exercise changed over time to address evolving security challenges, Stavridis noted.
Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia
- Energy Business Review – Russian Energy Ministry official said that Moscow and Beijing have signed a $25 billion agreement under which Russia will transport China with oil for 20 years in exchange for loans to Russian state companies, media sources reported
- SRI – Kazakhstan refused on Tuesday to take part in NATO-organised war games in Georgia in a show of support for Russia, which has bitterly criticised the plan.
- RIA Novosti - The first six Mi-28N Night Hunter attack helicopters have been delivered to Russia’s North Caucasus military district, a military source said on Tuesday. “The first six Mi-28N helicopters have been put in service with combat units [in North Caucasus],” the source told RIA Novosti, without specifying the schedule for further deliveries. The Mi-28N is the latest modification of the Mi-28 attack helicopter, manufactured by the Rostvertol plant in southern Russia.
- Itar-Tass - The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) “exposed and cut short the operation of an officer of the Georgian intelligence who wormed his way into Russia for intelligence and other subversive activities,” a FSB representative told Itar-Tass on Tuesday. The FSB reported the arrest of a career officer of the Georgian special service of foreign intelligence, Mamuke Maisuradze, who was engaged, on orders of his superiors, “in creating a network of agents in the Krasnodar Territory”.
- RIA Novosti – A member of an illegal armed gang that targeted law enforcement officers in Ingushetia has been shot dead in the North Caucasus republic’s Nazran District, security services said Tuesday.
- RFERL – Chechen authorities have launched special operations to locate what they say are hundreds of resistance fighters in the mountainous Vedeno region of the southern Russian republic, RFE/RL’s Russian Service reports. Local law enforcement officials told RFE/RL that some 500 rebels, led by the self-proclaimed leader of a “Caucasus Emirate,” Doka Umarov, are still active in the Itum-Kala and Vedeno districts.
- ISN – President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s 15-19 April state visit to China may have gotten Kazakhstan over a big financial hump, but at a substantial cost. In a deal that emerged as the centerpiece of Nazarbayev’s visit, the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), the state energy giant, gained a major stake in the MangystauMunayGaz (MMG) energy concern
- EurasiaNet – With its energy strategy for Central Asia in grave danger of unraveling, Russia is striving to create an appearance of normalcy as the first step in reasserting its energy role in the region
- Robert Cutler – The leaders of Russia and Turkmenistan have been unable to agree on terms for the (re)construction of a Soviet-era gas pipeline in western Turkmenistan. While subsequent negotiations are not excluded, Ashgabat has declared its intent to allow companies other than Gazprom, including Western companies, to bid for the work. In the context of recent developments, a pattern begins to form that may signify the breaking of what is left of Russia’s hold on Central Asian gas transport, to which its relationship with Turkmenistan has been central in the post-Soviet era.
Middle East
- Al Sumaria – Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki reaffirmed his rejection to the return of defunct Baath Party to the political process. He stressed that Iraq which has overcome dictatorship and faced challenges, terrorism and outlaws still needs awareness and unity.
- MNF Iraq – Tikrit Emergency Response Battalion planned, led and facilitated an operation April 13, which led to the arrest of three suspected key members of a Bayji-based insurgent cell. According to Iraqi intelligence, the cell [comprised of members of the former Iraqi Army] led kidnapping raids and coordinates attacks against ISF and Coalition forces.
- Voices of Iraq – Joint security forces on Tuesday arrested five gunmen of the so-called “al-Naqshabandiya” group in east of Baaquba city, according to a security source.
- Israel MFA – Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day 2009
- Haaretz – Egypt has accused Lebanese officials of providing Hezbollah operatives with false documents that they approved with official stamps, the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat on Tuesday quoted Egyptian sources as saying.
- NOW Lebanon – Egypt’s foreign ministry summoned an Iranian official on Tuesday after Tehran criticized Egypt’s claim that it had arrested members of Hezbollah for allegedly planning attacks in the country. Foreign ministry official Mohammad el-Zarqani summoned Mohammad Rajabi, the head of Iran’s special interests office in Egypt, to Cairo’s “absolute rejection” of the criticism, a statement said.
- NOW Lebanon – Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammad Reza Shibani said on Tuesday that the partnership between Tehran and Beirut remained and assured that his government would provide Lebanon with the necessary support when needed. Shibani told al-Alam Iranian TV that accusations against Iran for supporting a specific Lebanese party, a reference to Hezbollah, came from biased parties, referring to the March 14 alliance.
- Daily Star – Unidentified men robbed a jewelry store in the Bekaa town of Anjar, and another five robbed Al-Mawarid Bank in the Bekaa town of Chtaura, the National News Agency (NNA) reported on Tuesday.
- Daily Star – Dubai’s top police officer denied claims Tuesday that a key suspect in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri had been arrested in the emirate after spending over a year on the run. Mohammad Zuhair Siddiq was “not arrested on Dubai territory,” Dubai’s police chief General Dahi Khalfan told the Ash-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper, adding that he had no knowledge off his arrest elsewhere in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
- International Rail Journal – Jordan plans to start construction next year of a 1600km railway running from the Syrian border via the capital Amman to the Red Sea port of Aqaba with links to the Iraqi and Saudi borders. The project, which is due for completion in 2013, will cost Dinars 4.5 billion ($US 6.4 billion).
- Javno – A Turkish court on Tuesday sentenced the mayor of the biggest city in the Kurdish southeast to 10 months in prison for spreading propaganda for PKK separatist rebels, state-run Anatolian news agency said.
- Asharq Al Awsat – Turkish police detained 19 people in raids on suspected al Qaeda militants on Tuesday, state-run Anatolian news agency said. The operations took place in five provinces in central and southern Turkey. Police also seized guns and computers from suspected al Qaeda cell houses, Anatolian said.
Iran
- Press TV – Iran has explained why it needs a nuclear program, stressing that all nations should have the right to use peaceful nuclear energy. Mohammad Saeedi, the deputy director for international affairs of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), issued a statement on Iran’s nuclear program in a conference in Beijing. Saeedi stressed that all countries should have the right to have nuclear power plants “without any discrimination.” He noted that Iran’s need for energy is rapidly increasing and the country will be forced to use new energy resources.
- IWPR – Tehran Accused of Complicity in Growing Weapons Trade; Officials in west of Afghanistan seeing more and more Iranian-made weapons in hands of insurgents. (I had posted about that here)
- Middle East Quarterly – A Target of Convenience by Michael Rubin; On April 13, Roxana Saberi, a 31-year-old Iranian-American journalist, appeared before a closed hearing of a revolutionary court to answer charges of spying for the United States — potentially capital charges.
- Rooz – Veteran politician Hashemi Rafsanjani coupled his “silence” over the mismanagement by ?Mahmud Ahmadinejad’s administration with his differences of view with ayatollah ?Khamenei and the latter’s express support of the current ninth administration.
- Fars – Meeting of the Iranian and Pakistani officials for finalizing a deal for exporting Iran’s gas to the energy-hungry south-Asian nation through a multi-billion-dollar pipeline would be held in May, an Iranian official said.
- UAE Daily News – Turkey’s Petrochemical Holding Corp. (Petkim) said monday it would build petrochemical facilities in Iran, the first-of-a-kind petrochemical cooperation between both countries. Petkim said in a statement it signed a prelimintary contract with Iran’s NPC International Limited (NPCI) to establish facilities to to produce 1.65 million tons of methanol and 300,000 tons of polyethylene each year
- ISNA – The Managing Director of Iran’s South Aluminum Corporation (Salco), Mohammad Mehdi Mostaghimi said Iran and China are working to implement Iran’s biggest aluminum industrial project.
- MEMRI – Iranian Judiciary Authority spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi has said that the authority will deal harshly with websites that disseminate propaganda for the Baha’is.
U.S. Marines conduct a security patrol through the abandoned village of Now Zad in Helmand province, Afghanistan, April 12, 2009. (photo by Cpl. Pete Thibodeau)
South Asia
- AFPS – One militant was killed and a suspect was detained during a joint operation today by coalition and Afghan forces in southern Afghanistan. The operation’s target was an associate of a local Taliban leader suspected of aiding the transport of weapons, ammunition and fighters into northern Kandahar province.
- UNS – A Coalition forces precision strike destroyed an anti-aircraft weapons system in the Nad Ali district, Helmand province, in the early morning hours April 21. Coalition forces learned through villagers that militants in the area had obtained a ZPU-1 anti-aircraft gun and were staging it on the back of a pick-up truck for use against friendly forces’ helicopters.
- CSIS – a discussion with Michèle Flournoy, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, on U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan (video and audio)
- Daily Times – After a peace deal with the NWFP government, the Swat Taliban are expanding their operations into nearby regions. Dozens have been streaming into the Buner district to take over mosques and government offices, BBC reported. On Tuesday, local sources told Daily Times the Taliban were patrolling bazaars in some tehsils of the Buner district. They said armed Taliban were guarding the entry and exit points of Gadezai, Salarzai and Ghashezi tehsils and other areas of the district.
- The News – The frightened people of Buner, which has now fallen into the hands of the Taliban, have given horrible accounts of their ordeal, saying they were driven out of their homes at gunpoint by Afghan Tajiks. Let the whole Pakistan know that we have been invaded by the Afghan Tajiks who have come from the other side of the border. They are not the local Taliban the media has wrongly reported,î said an elderly man. These Afghan Tajiks are said to be using interpreters to communicate with the local Pakhtoons as they do not understand Pashtu.
- Times of India – The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM) have now banned political parties in the Bajaur region of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Both the separatist organizations have also issued a jirga banning meeting of more than three persons at a same place. According to the Daily Times, the decision was taken after four persons were killed in a clash between the activists of these two groups. The latest ban adds to the long list of activities that the Taliban has prohibited in the region.
- Geo – Advisor to Prime Minister on Interior, Rehman Malik asked on Tuesday Tehrik Nifaz-e Shariat-e Mohammedi (TNSM) chief Maulana Sufi Mohammed to read the Constitution before challenging it as all state affairs were being run in accordance with the national document, what he said, is Islamic and conforms to the teachings of the Holy Quran and Sunnah. Malik said that over 10,000 foreign militants were taking refuge in tribal areas and Afghan currency and arms were being used in terrorist activities in Pakistan.
- Sri Lanka MoD – 53 Div makes-inroads as LTTE face last stand at Mullaittivu; Thousands of civilians kept pouring seeking safety with Sri Lankan security forces from LTTE hostage with latest estimates of the exodus surpassing 49,000: the most successful hostage rescue operation ever launched by a military force in modern time. Meanwhile, 53 Division troops operating Northwest of Karaiyamulliavalai have flanked the western edge of the NFZ facilitating safe passage of civilians across the shallow water stretch since yesterday evening (April 20). At least 12 terrorists were killed and 15 others wounded
- CBS – Sri Lanka’s Tamil rebels said Tuesday that 1,000 civilians died in a government raid on their territory that the military says freed thousands of noncombatants from the war zone. The military denied the accusation.
Far East & Pacific
- JoongAng – North cuts short meeting on Kaesong, South Korean delegation leaves after only a 22-minute session at complex; South Korea and North Korea met briefly at Kaesong for their first government-level encounter in more than a year but no details of the meeting were available as of press time.
- Yonhap – North Korea claimed Wednesday that South Korea has arbitrarily moved a military demarcation line marker in a “serious military provocation” violating the armistice of the Korean War.
- Xinhua – Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie met with U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Gary Roughead here on Tuesday on the sidelines of a four-day celebration to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy.
- Irrawaddy – Burma’s military junta is carrying out a policy of “Burmanization” in areas under its control, using land confiscation and intermarriage, sometimes by force, to dilute ethnic identities, according to a new report by three exiled ethnic groups released on Tuesday.
- Straits Times – A powerful homemade bomb exploded at a public market in the southern Philippines, injuring two people, the military said on Wednesday. The improvised explosive device was fashioned from a 60mm mortar shell rigged to a timing device, and went off late on Tuesday at the market in a town in Sultan Kudarat province
Europe
- DutchNews – The security service AIVD on Tuesday warned companies, local government and other institutions to be aware of espionage, arguing that there are many foreign spies active in the Netherlands. ‘The Netherlands is an interesting target for many countries because of its high-value technological industry and the presence of large groups of migrants,’ the AIVD said at the presentation of its 2008 report. Morocco had attempted to build up a network of informers and Russia is also active in the Netherlands, the AIVD said. And China has not only tried to influence political decisions but has also attempted to access government and company computer networks, the organisation claims.
- Spiegel – Germany’s biggest terror trial since the 9/11 attacks begins on Wednesday. Four men will be put in the dock, but prosecutors still haven’t been able to catch a fifth man who is believed to have supplied detonators for bombs and also served as an informant for the Turkish secret service.
- David Perl, JCPA - The Growing Threat of Radical Islamic Groups in Germany
- CNN – Nine of the 11 Pakistani nationals being held in an alleged terror plot in northern England were released Tuesday, according to police
- HS – Finland expected to opt out of joint Nordic air patrols over Iceland; Disagreements in ministries over Nordic projects in Arctic Ocean
Africa
- Garowe – At least 7 people were killed and 15 wounded in southern Somalia after Al Shabaab hardliners attacked a clan militia base in the outskirts of Kismayo, Radio Garowe reports. The fighting erupted overnight Monday and continued into Tuesday morning, in a town called Bulo Haji, which is located 90km southwest of Kismayo, a strategic port city and the capital of Lower Jubba region.
- Garowe - A senior commander of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) was gunned down in Mogadishu Tuesday for the second time in six days, Radio Garowe reports. Sheikh Mohamed Mohamud “Agoweyne” was shot to death by two young men armed with pistols, according to witnesses.
- Sudan Tribune – A Sudanese diplomat said today that some rebel groups in his country may have collaborated with the Lebanese group Hezbollah in smuggling arms to Egypt. It is not clear if he was referring to Darfur rebel groups fighting in Western Sudan. Khartoum has long accused Israel of providing support to Darfur rebels.
- Reuters – Gunmen in Nigeria attacked an oil tanker off the coast of the Niger Delta on Tuesday, kidnapping the ship’s captain and an engineer, private security sources said.
- The Standard – It had taken only 30 minutes to snuff out the lives of up to 30 men on Monday night, only hours after hordes of armed young men arrived in the village, in motorbikes and on foot, in clear view of the police. It was not immediately clear why the murders were committed, but residents suspect the proscribed Mungiki sect was avenging the killing of 15 of their members in neighbouring Kirinyaga District, actions that were similarly ignored by the police. The suspected Mungiki members were killed by self-styled four vigilante groups going by the name of ‘The Hague’, alluding the UN International Criminal Court that has been proposed for local leaders implicated in last year’s post-election violence.
- The Citizen – Three people are feared dead while four were seriously injured in fresh ethnic clashes on Friday between Kurya and Ngoreme tribes at a village in Serengeti District. More than 40 houses were torched at Mosongo village after three youths from Ngoreme tribe reportedly sparked the latest clashes.
The amphibious assault ship USS Boxer pulls pier side during a port visit to U.S. Naval Base, Marianas Islands. The Boxer Expeditionary Strike Group and the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit are on a scheduled deployment supporting global maritime security (photo by Cpl. Karl Launius)
The Global War
- DOT, Maritime Administration – piracy resources and links
- Russia Today – A pro-al Qaeda magazine, Jihad Recollections, has put fitness tips and special diets for Osama bin Laden followers alongside articles of terrorist activity on its website, Gazeta.ru reports. The magazine warns Islamists against visiting Western style gyms, which are “full of music and semi-naked women.”
Sights & Sounds
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9 April, 2009 (01:10) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba
A brief world news roundup for 9 April 2009.
United States & the Americas
- HS Today – Cyberspies have penetrated the US electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system, according to current and former national-security officials.
- DoD – Department of Defense Conference Call with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Gen. James Cartwright with Internet Security Writers (transcript)
- Miami Herald – In Havana, the seven Democrats visited the families of the prisoners and came away inspired. The members of Congress raised concerns about human rights, lengthy prison sentences and the suffering on both sides of the Florida Straits.
- Reuters – Shunning the gem-studded pistols and gold chains flaunted by their fathers, a savvy new generation of drug smugglers is moving up the ranks of Mexico’s cartels wielding college degrees and keeping low profiles to outsmart police.
- Telegraph – Mexican police detained 21 suspected hitmen for the powerful Tijuana drug cartel a statement said on Wednesday.
- LAHT – The army seized nearly $3.1 million in cash during raids on homes of suspected drug traffickers in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, the Mexican Defense Secretariat said on Wednesday.
- MercoPress – The coming Americas summit in Trinidad Tobago, bilateral affairs and regional issues was the long agenda addressed by Uruguay’s Foreign Affairs minister Gonzalo Fernandez during a meeting Monday with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the US State Department.
Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia
- RIA Novosti – Abkhazia has decided to reinforce protection of its border with Georgia, which will be done together with the Russian military contingent, the former Georgian republic’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.
- Georgian Times – Russian occupants have unloaded two echelons of heavy military hardware on Ochamchire military base, close to the newly constructed railway in Abkhazia, Georgia. Late last night they also delivered armament to the military base.
- Civil Georgia – Experts from Russia’s Design Institute have studied South Ossetia’s landscape to select an area for construction of an airport, the breakaway region’s envoy to Moscow, Dmitry Medoev, told Russia’s online news agency, Regnum. Regnum, however, reported, quoting its “sources” that a military airfield, not a civilian airport was planned to construct in the area of Achabeti and Kekhvi, two villages which were populated mainly by the ethnic Georgians and controlled by the Georgian authorities before the August war.
- Russia Today – Opposition parties in Georgia are planning mass rallies for April 9 in Tbilisi. The demonstrators are expected to express their contempt for President Mikhail Saakashvili, and demand his resignation.
- Itar-Tass – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will leave for Ashgabad, the capital of Turkmenistan, on Thursday to attend a meeting of the Council of CIS foreign ministers slated for April 10. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko, the agenda will include about 28 issues on key directions of multilateral cooperation inside the CIS.
- Alexandros Petersen – Nabucco Pipeline: Over Before It Started?
- Taras Kuzio – Russian “National Identity” and the Ukraine-EU Pipeline Deal
Middle East
- Al Jazeera – At least seven people have been killed in a bomb blast near the most important Shia shrine in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital. Another 23 people were injured in the explosion in the northern Kazimiyah district on Wednesday, which is believed to be part of an organised campaign against Shia targets, police said.
- Al Sumaria – A senior source reported that the United States and Europe countries have signed contracts to purchase 50 military helicopters to be delivered during the next two years in order to fight terrorism. The source told AFP that the United States will equip Iraq with around 30 helicopters.
- Voices of Iraq – A joint force on Wednesday arrested a member of the Naqshabandiya group in southern Kirkuk city, according to a local police source
- Michael Totten – One year ago, Moqtada al Sadr’s radical Mahdi Army militia strongholds in Basra and Sadr City were two of the biggest threats remaining to the Iraqi republic. I visited Sadr City on my recent trip to Iraq, and I expected to be horrified when I got there. It was safer than it had been, of course, but it was still known as the great slum of Baghdad.
- Xinhua – High-ranking leaders of rival Fatah and Islamic Hamas movement held a meeting on Wednesday night in Gaza City to discuss reconciliation and reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. Four Fatah leaders, headed by Abdallah el-Ifranji arrived at the office of Hamas spokesman in Gaza Ayman Taha to hold talks with four Hamas leaders headed by senior Hamas leader Salah el-Bardawil.
- Al Arabiya – Egypt’s state prosecutor on Wednesday accused the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah of plotting to carry out attacks inside the country. “The state prosecutor has received a statement from state security which shows that leaders from the Lebanese Hezbollah have called on its cadres to recruit members to its movement,” according to a statement from the prosecutor.
- Haaretz – Egypt’s attorney general has announced that 49 agents of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group have been arrested on suspicion of carrying out hostile operations. The government statement Wednesday said that the men were looking to destabilize Egypt’s general security.
- Saba – Iranian takfeeri groups are propagating extremist ideas and financing terrorist activities in Yemen, deputy Parliament Speaker Himyar Abdullah Bin Hussein al-Ahmer has said. In an interview with the Saudi Okaz Newspaper he also said these groups have links to al-Qaeda and the Houthi rebels in the north.
Iran
- Fars – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Wednesday said that he is due to commission new stage of the country’s peaceful nuclear program during a provincial visit to central Iran.
- Payvand – Iran’s Deputy Oil Minister for International Affairs Hossein Noghrehkar Shirazi said Nabucco project would not be implemented without Iran. The project is to send Asia’s gas to European markets through Turkey. The pipeline is 330 kilometers long and is expected to cost 7.900 billion euros.
- IRNA – Deputy Oil Minister for International Affairs said on Wednesday that Iran plans to develop cooperation with African, Latin American and neighboring countries in the oil sector.
- Press TV – Iran’s annual inflation rate stood at 25.4 percent in the twelve months ending March, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has announced.
- VOA – Senior diplomats of five permanent Security Council member states and Germany say they will ask EU chief diplomat Javier Solana to invite Iran to meet soon to seek diplomatic solution to ‘critical’ nuclear issue
- Babylon and Beyond – For six years, groups of American and Iranian academics and others have been secretly traveling to Geneva and other European cities for closed-door brainstorming sessions on how to break through three decades of hostility between the two nations, a Swiss newspaper is reporting.
- MEMRI – Saudi Interior Minister Prince Naif bin ‘Abd Al-’Aziz met yesterday with Iranian ambassador to Saudi Arabia Muhammad Husseini, and his advisor Hussein Rahmanian. It was reported that they discussed issues that concern both countries.
South Asia
- USA Today – Military commanders in Afghanistan reduced their reliance on airstrikes in 2008, records show, a change that experts say reflects the limitations of air power against a resilient insurgency. From 2004 to 2007, the overall tonnage of munitions dropped from planes rose from 163 tons to 1,956 tons, a 1,100% increase, Air Force data show.
- Dawn – Four dead in suspected drone attack in South Waziristan
- Dawn – Three police officials, two Lashkar (militia) men and sixteen militants were killed in overnight clash between Taliban and Qaumi Lashkar in Buner district, police and residents said on Tuesday. The fierce fighting erupted on Monday night when the Qaumi Lashkar and local police force made efforts to enter the Gokand valley via Rajagaly Kandow from Pir Baba side to flush out Taliban militants who had sneaked in to the district on Saturday from neighbouring Swat.
- AFP – Police in Pakistan’s financial capital said Wednesday they had arrested five members of one of the country’s most feared militant groups for allegedly plotting to bomb sensitive sites in Karachi. He said the suspects belonged to Pakistan’s banned Sunni extremist group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ), which is accused of close links with the Taliban and is blamed for killing hundreds of Shiite Muslims since the early 1990s.
- Spiegel – The United States is paying increasing attention to Pakistan in its bid to bring stability to Afghanistan, amid fears that the nuclear state could collapse. Rival Islamic militant groups are joining forces to make their country into a stronghold — and are receiving support from Pakistan’s ISI intelligence agency.
- Dr. Subhash Kapila – Afghanistan And Pakistan: Comparative Analysis Of Geo-Strategic And Geo-Political Significance
- Times of India – Union home ministry on Wednesday sought a report from security agencies about the reports that Taliban groups may have entered into the Kashmir valley though Army denied reports to this effect. The move comes after a wireless intercept reportedly suggested that a group of nearly 20 militants, said to be Taliban, were fighting the Army.
- Sri Lanka MoD – Sri Lanka Army 53 Division soldiers are now maneuvering towards the northern bank of the Nanthikadal lagoon which is still under terrorist hold.
Far East & Pacific
- Asahi Shimbun – Defense Ministry officials will have to rethink Japan’s air defense plans after U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday that production of the costly high-tech F-22 fighter jet is to be halted. The ministry had picked the F-22 to replace the Air Self-Defense Force’s aging F-4 jets.
- Bangkok Post – The UDD has demanded three members of the Privy Council and Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva step down within 24 hours. The announcement came as thousands of protesters rallied outside the home of Privy Council president Prem Tinsulanonda. Between 80,000 and 100,000 protesters marched from their main rally site outside Government House where they have been rallying since March 26.
- news.com.au – Indonesia and Thailand are perceived as Asia’s most corrupt economies, with last year’s cellar-dweller the Philippines making a marked improvement, an annual survey of foreign business executives shows.
- Inquirer – Seven bodies were recovered yesterday from the rain-soaked wreckage of the presidential helicopter that crashed Tuesday afternoon with eight people aboard, all aides of President Macapagal-Arroyo, in a thickly forested area in Ifugao, officials reported.
- Radio Free Asia – The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee is set to launch a review of U.S. policy toward Burma, with an eye toward seeing if it can be made more effective in spurring democratization and other Western goals for that country. The review, which will kick off next month, comes as President Barack Obama’s administration is also reviewing U.S. Burma policy and follows a meeting last month between a senior U.S. diplomat and the Burmese Foreign Minister, Retired Major General Nyan Win, in the Burmese capital.
- Yonhap – North Korean leader Kim Jong-il renewed his term as top military chief on Thursday when the country’s parliament met for his reappointment.
- Phnom Penh Post – Cambodia is set to dispatch 40 peacekeepers to Chad and the Central African Republic for one year as part of an ongoing UN security mission
The first C-130J Super Hercules to be assigned to Ramstein Air Base, Germany, taxies under pressured water from two base fire trucks during an arrival ceremony, April 7, 2009. This aircraft is the first of 14 J-models scheduled to arrive over the next 12 months to replace the older E-model Hercules. (photo by Airman 1st Class Kenny Holston)
Europe
- Balkan Insight – On Wednesday, Moldova’s president Vladimir Voronin accused Romania of involvement in the violent protests which have swept Chisinau, local press report. Moldova has also decided to expel the Romanian ambassador and to introduce visa requirements for its Western neighbour.
- Romania MFA – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has taken note with indignation about the latest decision of the authorities in Chi?in?u regarding the Romanian ambassador. MFA categorically rejects the accusations of the authorities of the Republic of Moldova regarding the alleged involvement of Romania in the domestic affairs of this country.
- Austrian Times – The Austrian public prosecutor’s office has reportedly been investigating an Austrian cell of worldwide terror network Al-Qaeda for three years. The magazine claims US officials informed their Austrian counterparts at the end of 2005 that Austrian citizen Abdulrahmen H., born in Mödling, Lower Austria in 1983, and four others had trained as para-militaries at an Al-Qaeda camp in Pakistan from August to October 2005.
- AP – British police arrested 10 men Wednesday in anti-terrorist raids across northwest England. Greater Manchester Police said the suspects were detained in raids across a wide area including the cities of Manchester and Liverpool. Police would not say whether the arrests concerned alleged terrorism in Britain or abroad.
- AKI – Jihadist users of Al-Qaeda linked websites have been rejoicing at the devastating earthquake that hit Italy’s central Abruzzo region on Monday, describing it as a “divine punishment” for “the enemies of Islam”.
- Javno – On Wednesday, Slovenia and Serbia signed a bilateral agreement in the field of defence. The agreement defines their cooperation up until now in that field, and it enables the implementation of more interesting projects this year, said the Slovenian Minister of Defence Ljubica Jelusic at a joint press conference with the Serbian Minister of Defence Dragan Sutanovac.
- Ioannis Michaletos – This article examines the situation in Kosovo in relation to the dependence of the region with drug trafficking. In Kosovo, the main managers of illicit drugs are the so-called 15 families which represent the core power of the state, because of their financial clout and political connections. Reports by the German intelligence service in 2005, described the former Prime Minister of Kosovo Ramous Haradinaj as related in drug trafficking, extortion and protection business.
- NATO – Photos: Ceremony to mark the accession to NATO of Albania and Croatia at NATO HQ
Africa
- Garowe – Secret talks have began between Somalia’s interim government and a group of Islamist hardliners, with independent sources saying Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys is now part of the ongoing process, Radio Garowe reports.
- IRIN – Hundreds of families in Somalia’s self-declared republic of Somaliland have fled inter-clan fighting in the mid-west Satiile area in Gabiley region, officials said. The fighting, the second flare-up in three months, started on 7 April after a group of men drove into Satiile settlement area and shot dead a local farmer and wounded his brother.
- Asharq Al Awsat – The Sudan’s People’s Liberation Movement [SPLM] have condemned reports coming from sources within Khartoum saying that President Al-Bashir summoning Sudanese Foreign Minister Deng Alor for questioning on statements he made during a his recent visit to Washington.
- France24 – Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s amnesty to former Islamist rebels who have reject violence has won him some backers among the old guard of renounced Islamists. But not all have signed up for the cause.
- Mmegi – The (Botswana) Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs has revealed that a sizeable number of its officers are corrupt. The ministry’s PS, Segakweng Tsiane, said that it is disappointing that many officers are taking bribes.
- New Times – Rwanda is in a difficult position because 95 percent of its main import-export route lies outside its direct policy jurisdiction. Corruption along the two major transport routes of northern and central corridors has been identified as one of the key drivers of Rwanda’s high transport costs.
- AFRICOM – Soldiers from U.S. Army Africa continue to build noncommissioned officer capacity in Rwanda through a partnership effort with British counterparts. During a recent visit to Rwanda, senior U.S. Army Africa NCOs met with British and Rwandan officers to prepare for an upcoming assignment to mentor Rwandan NCOs on leadership.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, right, escorts Lebanese Minister of Defense Elias Murr through an honor cordon into the Pentagon, where they discussed bilateral defense issues, April 8, 2009. (photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Molly Burgess)
The Global War
- NEFA Foundation – Core Al-Qaida in 2008: A Review
- TIME – There’s a quiet revolution underway at the CIA and its sister agencies. A new generation of analysts, determined to drag their Cold War–era colleagues into the world of Web 2.0 information-sharing, have created Intellipedia, a classified version of Wikipedia they say is transforming the way U.S. spy agencies handle top-secret information by fostering collaboration across Washington and around the world.
- Shawn Woodley – Islamic finance, an approach to economic activity that incorporates Shariah religious law, is gaining momentum as an alternative to the Western capitalist economic model as the global recession continues. The Western capitalist model is on the defensive as leaders, entrepreneurs, and economists chafe against growing protectionism and erect regulations. Champions of Islamic finance cite its resilience in the current economic climate, but what are the implications of it as a global system?
Sights & Sounds
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2 April, 2009 (00:35) | Daily Roundup | By: Jeff Kouba
A brief world news roundup for 2 April 2009.
United States & the Americas
- US Senate Armed Services Cmte – Testimony, Gen. Petraeus; Commander United States Central Command
- US Senate Armed Services Cmte – Testimony, Admiral Olson, USN; Commander United States Special Operations Command
- DoD Buzz – President Barack Obama is expected to approve a new constellation of highly classified multi-billion dollar spy satellites in the next few days, injecting a major new expenditure into the Defense Department budget that was not planned when the administration began its budget deliberations.
- Jurist – A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Wednesday granted a habeas corpus petition filed by Yemeni Guantanamo Bay detainee Yasin Muhammed Basardh, ordering his release from the prison.
- UN – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the announcement by the United States that it will seek a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council, saying it embodies the country’s commitment to a “new era of engagement.”
- HS Today – The United States will expand its use of security cameras on the Canadian border to see whether it can set up an extensive monitoring system similar to what protects the Mexican boundary, the Homeland Security Department announced Tuesday.
- Dawn – Canada has brokered a deal to improve security along the porous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Tuesday. Cannon made the announcement at a 72-country meeting on Afghanistan in The Hague, where all eyes were on the new US administration and its beefed-up commitment in the region.
- Miami Herald – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Wednesday that he has little hope of better relations with Washington under President Barack Obama, saying the United States is still acting like an “empire” in his eyes. Chavez made the comments after arriving in Tehran on a two-day visit to Iran.
- COHA – Panama’s Upcoming Elections Mired in Scandal and Corruption
Russia, Caucasus & Central Asia
- Kremlin – Press Statements following Meeting with President of the United States Barack Obama
- EurasiaNet – Executives for the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic and Azerbaijani energy experts are insisting that a recent memorandum of understanding signed with Gazprom in no way means that Baku will abandon the Nabucco pipeline project, or other Western-backed natural gas ventures.
- Itar-Tass – The Verkhovna Rada’s decision to call a presidential election for October 25 is unconstitutional and politically motivated, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said. “This decision is unlawful, unconstitutional and political,” the president said during his working trip to the Poltava region on Wednesday.
- APA – State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) has today held a meeting on the implementation of anti-crisis program, warning about the probability of negative impacts. Rovnag Abdullayev, President of SOCAR, said a more than threefold drop in oil prices on world markets brought about a remarkable decline in the company’s revenues.
- SRI – Abu Dhabi’s government-owned Al Hilal Bank plans to set up an Islamic bank in Kazakhstan. The bank will be headquartered in Kazakhstan’s financial capital Almaty and will open in the second half of 2009 with an initial capital of USD27 million, Reuters reported. “It will be (one of) the first Islamic bank in Kazakhstan, which has a majority Muslim population,” Reuters quoted the bank’s chairman Ahmed Ateeq al-Mazrouei.
- Civil Georgia – Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov will pay an official visit to Georgia on April 1-2, the Georgian Foreign Ministry reported.
- Georgian Times – Russian occupants continue to oppress ethnic Georgians in Gali district, Abkhazia, Georgia. The drunken soldiers of the occupant army were shooting from various types of arms whole night and driving armored tanks in the villages of Otobaia and Saberio. The drunken occupants were insulting ethnic Georgians. They also raided medical center in the village Saberio.
- RFERL – Tajik Interior Ministry officials say a member of the banned Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) was detained in the northern village of Navgilem.
Middle East
- MNF Iraq – Mosul Special Weapons and Tactics, with Coalition forces advisors, arrested the Muthana Battalion Sharia Judge on a Ninewah Operations Investigative Court-issued warrant and detained an additional suspected terrorist cell member March 28 during an operation in eastern Mosul. The arrested individual was suspected of ordering terrorist attacks and serving as a liaison between terrorist security and intelligence sections, stated the tactical commander directly involved in the operation. The arrested individual is not easily replaceable and is vital for the terrorist battalion’s operational capability, he added.
- Al Sumaria – Head of Iraqi Air Force Lt. Gen. Anwar Ahmed reported that Iraq wants to buy an initial squadron of Lockheed Martin Corp F-16 fighter aircraft this year to help prevent threats from Iran and Syria after U.S. forces withdraw from Iraq.
- CSM – As US pulls back in Iraq, lost urban footholds; Combat outposts – some 75 small bases credited with playing a crucial role in turning the tide of the war – are being shut down.
- Jerusalem Post – Hamas plans to establish a staff and command school to train its military commanders ahead of a future conflict with Israel, defense officials told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday. According to the officials, the school will be established in line with the lessons learned from Hamas’s poor showing in Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip in January.
- Hizballah – In the political program we are proposing several projects on reform of education, finance, morals and politics, and the common principles between the opposition parties and the Memorandum of Understanding with the Free Patriotic Movement. Hizbullah alone is committed to this program.
- ITIC – Hezbollah senior activist Omar al-Moussawi stressed that while Britain’s policy toward the organization had changed, the organization itself had not
- Press TV – Qatar becomes the second Arab country after Syria to get on the wrong side of Arab leaders over its close relations with Iran. A senior diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity on Wednesday that many Arab countries — Saudi Arabia in particular — believe the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom to be “courting” Tehran. He added that Qatari leaders have incurred Arab displeasure for standing with Iran — a stance that has squarely defied the growing calls for “a united front” against the Islamic Republic.
- Al Jazeera – Omar Hassan al-Bashir, Sudan’s president, is visiting Saudi Arabia on the latest leg of a foreign tour despite an international arrest warrant against him for alleged abuses in Sudan’s Darfur region.
Iran
- Press TV – Iran plans to construct a joint oil refinery facility in Syria’s Homs city as the two countries are resolute about improving cooperation in energy. “Iran will build the refinery in Syria in cooperation with Venezuela and Malaysia,” Iranian Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari said in Damascus.
- RIA Novosti – Iran is considering exporting gas to Europe via Iraq, Syria and the Mediterranean Sea, the petroleum minister of the Islamic republic said on Wednesday.
- IRIB – Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hassan Qashqavi denied any kind of negotiations between the Iranian and American delegations participating in the Afghanistan Conference in The Hague, Netherlands. Qashqavi told IRIB on Wednesday that no official, unofficial, ceremonial, non-ceremonial negotiation had taken place between the Iranian and American representatives in The Hauge. He reaffirmed Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mehdi Akhundzadeh’s remarks on Tuesday that the reports about holding talks between the Islamic Republic of Iran and America were false.
- IRNA – A spokesman of German Army here Wednesday confirmed in an interview with IRNA representatives of Iranian private firms negotiated with Germans regarding transferring some non-military facilities for German forces situated in Afghanistan.
- Mehr – State Foreign Ministry’s digital library started operationally in the presence of Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday. Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Ahmadinejad called the project a good opportunity for dissemination of the Islamic Revolution’s thoughts and views in different languages to the world.
- Payvand – Photos: Flooding in Qom, Iran
South Asia
- Asharq Al Awsat – Three Taliban suicide bombers disguised in army uniforms stormed a government office in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday after a fourth detonated a car bomb, officials said. At least 14 people, including the four assailants, died.
- Bakhtar – The Zabul Police Chief Brig Gen Abdur Rehman Sarjang said a vehicle of Romanian troops struck a roadside mine in the Spini Ghabrag area near Qalat City, centre of Zabul province, killing one soldier and injuring another. However, ISAF media office in Kabul says the troops suffered no casualty in the blast. In Nooristan province, two US soldiers are reportedly injured in a rocket attack by suspected militants.
- Daily Times – Twelve suspected operatives of the Baitullah Mehsud-led Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan were killed and 15 injured in what local residents called a US drone attack in Orakzai tribal region.
- Geo – According to a report issued by intelligence agencies, a group of militants have sent 14 terrorists in a form of Tablighee group in Lahore and Islamabad. The law enforcing agencies have bee advised to make strict security arrangements in Islamabad, Lahore and their adjoining areas.
- The Post – Five policemen were killed when unknown gunmen attacked a police mobile van in Shernagal area of Dirbala. The deceased also include a SHO and an ASP. According to a private television channel, the assailants first opened fire on the police mobile van before firing rockets on it, killing five police personnel.
- Times of India – Security agencies have been placed on high alert following an intelligence report that 7-8 trained pilots and around a dozen women fidayeen have entered the country on a mission to carry out terror strikes and hijackings. Security arrangements across the country have been beefed up following the input that was received six days ago by Maharashtra police and some other security agencies.
- Sri Lanka MoD – Troops of 58 Division engaged in fierce fighting with LTTE terrorists in east of Puthukkudiyiruppu have gained control over the Pachchapulmuddai area by this afternoon, 1 April, latest military report said. LTTE terrorists, given stiff resistance on advancing troops, have withdrawn the area leaving the bodies of terrorists killed in the face of effective gun fire launched by troops, military sources added. During the subsequent search operations conducted in the area troops uncovered 19 x bodies of LTTE terrorists killed during the fighting along with war materials left behind by the terrorists.
- Daily Star (Bangladesh) – Law Minister Shafique Ahmed yesterday said as many as 122 organisations are involved in terror activities in the country. Addressing a workshop on ‘Anti-Terrorism Act 2009′ he said Qawmi madrasas are turning into breeding grounds of religion-based terrorism.
Far East & Pacific
- Chosun Ilbo – North Korea has reportedly deployed fighter jets near the east coast and threatens to shoot down the U.S. reconnaissance aircraft monitoring the Stalinist country’s preparations to launch a missile if it enters its airspace.
- Yonhap – North Korea has begun fueling a rocket that carries a satellite at the launch pad of its northeastern base, CNN reported Wednesday, citing informed military sources.
- IRIN – Food insecurity is nothing new for many Rohingya in northern Rakhine State, most of whom live in abject poverty, but this year is particularly bad. Of the state’s almost one million inhabitants, about 85 percent are Rohingya, an ethnic, linguistic and religious minority that are de jure stateless in line with the country’s laws.
- Bangkok Post – The United States wants to forge a common strategy with Asia to coax military-run Burma out of isolation, a senior official said Wednesday, suggesting six-way talks with North Korea could be a model.
- Inquirer – Abu Sayyaf kidnappers have slipped out of their Indanan forest hideout on Jolo Island under cover of darkness with their three Red Cross hostages in tow, local authorities said Wednesday. Still, officials on Wednesday sought proof of life from the abductors following reported sightings of the hostages late Tuesday. The military also deferred any rescue operation. Sen. Richard Gordon said the kidnappers had sent him text messages asking why government forces had not pulled out of Jolo, but did not give details on the fate of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) workers.
- Canberra Times – Malaysia’s king has accepted Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s resignation, a senior official says, clearing the way for his deputy Najib Razak to take over.
Europe
- UK Parliament – Mr. Malcolm Moss (North-East Cambridgeshire) (Con): As well as selling air defence systems to Iran, Russia has continued to block attempts by the west to impose tougher sanctions on Iran. What are the Government doing to ensure that Russia does not continue to block the sanctions process? David Miliband: The hon. Gentleman has made an important point. I am sure that he will have seen, as I did, at least a report of the interview that President Medvedev did for the BBC on Sunday, when he stated unequivocally that Russia does not want see the development of an Iranian nuclear weapons capacity. That is why Russia has supported successive UN Security Council resolutions to that end. The hon. Gentleman is also right that it is important to recognise the urgency of the matter and the need to make it clear to the Iranians that the American offer currently being developed and made represents the best chance that Iran will ever have of normalising its relations with the rest of the world, and above all with the US. The whole world can play a role in supporting American outreach in that regard. It is not only for Europeans but for Russians and Chinese as well to make it clear that this is the best chance that Iran will ever have to regularise its relationships with the rest of the region and the rest of the world, but that cannot be done while there is so much concern about its nuclear weapons intentions.
- Politonomist – Albania and Croatia become NATO’s 27th and 28th members, just days before the North Atlantic Treaty Organization marks its 60th anniversary. NATO officials say that the inclusion of the two states, which until recently were at war, is a fitting occurrence given the importance of the six decade milestone being passed by the military alliance.
- BBC – China and France have agreed to restore high-level contacts, ending a rift that began after French President Nicolas Sarkozy met the Dalai Lama last year.
- euronews – Ageing and poorly-maintained equipment is being blamed for a gas pipeline explosion which severely cut supplies to eastern Europe. It happened in the separatist eastern Transdniestr region of Moldova. Initial inquiries ruled out terrorism, but said the pipe is more than 30 years old and in poor condition. The disruption cut deliveries of gas to the Balkans by 40 percent; Bulgaria said it would draw on state reserves, but Romania reported no problems.
Lt. j.g. Scott Bryant, assigned to U.S. Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 2, directs a civilian contractor to approach a safety boat provided by the Ugandan Civil Aviation Authority on Africa's Lake Victoria March 9. Bryant is the diving officer in charge of a search and recovery operation being conducted by Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa and the government of Uganda. (photo by Cory Drake)
Africa
- Garowe – Somalia’s new interim government, led by Islamist moderate Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, has received an $18 million donation from the Arab summit that concluded Tuesday in Qatar, Radio Garowe reports.
- MEMRI – On March 31, 2009, the media division of the Somali jihadist group Shabab Al-Mujahideen released a 31-minute video featuring “Abu Mansour Al-Amriki,” an American commander in the Al-Qaeda-linked group.
- Sudan Tribune – Unknown gunmen yesterday broke into one of Darfur peacekeeping mission in western Darfur attempting to steal two UNAMID vehicles. The two men asked the key of two vehicles parked in the UNAMID compound in Mournei, 80 kms from the capital El Geneina, West Darfur. However, the peacekeeper at the guest house escaped without suffering any injuries and was able to report the incident to Sudanese police. The bandits got away with a VHF hand held radio and DVD player. Since the issuance of an arrest warrant against President Omer Al-Bashir on March 4, the members of the hybrid African Union-United Nations peacekeeping operation in Darfur have been attacked several times.
- Magharebia – Mauritanian police and security forces arrested three suspected al-Qaeda terrorists planning attacks against Mauritanian and foreign institutions in the country during a combined operation earlier this week, Algerian daily Ennahar reported on Wednesday (April 1st). According to Mauritanian dailies Essiradj and Akhbar Nouakchott, the armed fighters are among Mauritanian “Salafist extremists” operating in northern Mali. The men are allegedly part of a terror cell that was planning attacks against Mauritanian and foreign institutions in the country.
- AllAfrica – Amnesty International today revealed that Francisco José Fadul, a Court President and former Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau, was beaten by military personnel at his home in Bissau in the early hours of this morning.
- Enough Project – The time has come to expose a sinister reality: Our insatiable demand for electronics products such as cell phones and laptops is helping fuel waves of sexual violence in a place that most of us will never go, affecting people most of us will never meet. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the scene of the deadliest conflict globally since World War II. There are few other conflicts in the world where the link between our consumer appetites and mass human suffering is so direct.
The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt transits the Suez Canal after five months of operations in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility. Theodore Roosevelt is underway back to its homeport of Norfolk (photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Feena Dwiggins)
The Global War
- Asia Times – Israel has overtaken Russia to become India’s number one defense supplier, signing a US$1.4 billion deal for an anti-missile air defense system. The sale was made right before elections were called, allowing the Congress-led government in Delhi to show voters that it doesn’t take security lightly.
- Geo – Pakistan and China have underlined the need for further improving and enhancing Military-to-Military and defence cooperation for the mutual benefits of the two sides. This was discussed on Wednesday at meeting between Federal Minister for Defence, Ch. Ahmad Mukhtar, and the visiting seven member Chinese Defence delegation led by LT General Jia Tingan Deputy Chief of General Political Department, PLA (China) called on the Minister. The meeting discussed the ongoing defence projects especially JF-17 Thunder Aircraft and F-22P Frigates projects being built with Chinese assistance and expressed satisfaction over the progress achieved so far.
- USNI – With tensions already rising due to the Chinese navy becoming more aggressive in asserting its territorial claims in the South China Sea, the U.S. Navy seems to have yet another reason to be deeply concerned. After years of conjecture, details have begun to emerge of a “kill weapon” developed by the Chinese to target and destroy U.S. aircraft carriers.
Sights & Sounds
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c.jpg "Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn escorts Brazilian Minister of Defense Nelson Jobim")
