[angelize56]

I couldn't find a thread to put this in! And since there are other parts of the world where there is news besides the Middle East...well here's a thread for that kind of news/updates! Take care. angel

Bomb kills Chechen president
Sunday, May 9, 2004 Posted: 1:26 PM EDT (1726 GMT)

GROZNY, Chechnya (CNN) -- Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov and at least five others died in an explosion at a stadium in the Chechen capital, officials said.

A Russian government official said along with Kadyrov, Sunday's explosion killed the chairman of the Chechen state council, two of Kadyrov's bodyguards, a Reuters journalist and a child.

Another 56 people were wounded -- among them Gen. Valery Baranov, the commander of Russian forces in Chechnya.

Grozny's Dynamo stadium was crowded with people celebrating Victory Day, which marks the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

The blast happened beneath the VIP stand where political and military leaders were reviewing a military parade.

A spokesman for the Chechen Interior Ministry said that the bomb may have been buried in concrete as many as three months ago while the stadium was undergoing a renovation.

The spokesman said that there were detailed security checks on Saturday evening and Sunday before the event.

There were scenes of pandemonium at the stadium after the blast with people running around in panic and smoke rising from the wreckage.

Shots rang out around the stadium, apparently fired by security forces.

Television showed a man carrying a young boy, unconscious and bleeding from the mouth, down the terraces.

An old man, blood pouring through a bandage on his head, was helped away by two men.

Reuters journalist Adlan Khasanov, who was covering the event, was among those killed.

Although elected on a platform that promised to unite the troubled republic, Kadyrov was routinely criticized by human rights groups.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said: "He was a genuine and heroic person who showed in everything he did that there can never be any equality between bandits, terrorists and an entire people."

Russian political analyst Andrei Kortunov said Kadyrov was Putin's man in Chechnya.

"It's a major personal setback for Vladimir Putin because he really invested too much into a single person," Kortunov said.

"Akhmad Kadyrov was not just a leader, he was the Kremlin's person in Chechnya and it would be very difficult if possible to find a substitution."

The blast comes a few weeks after Putin, in his annual state of the nation address, proclaimed the "military phase of the conflict may be considered closed" in Chechnya.

Chechen separatists have been fighting for independence from Russia since the mid-90s.

[angelize56]

U.S. Embassy In Japan Gets Threat Of Attack This Week

POSTED: 7:28 a.m. EDT May 10, 2004

TOKYO -- There's been a warning for American citizens in Japan.

The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo said it received an e-mail threatening a bomb attack sometime this week.

The embassy said in a notice to Americans that it can't determine whether the threat is credible. Officials refuse to say if extra security steps are being taken. The notice doesn't spell out any steps that Americans in Japan should take.

Last month, a Japanese college student posted a fake bomb threat against the embassy on a popular Internet bulletin board. The 21-year-old later surrendered to police.

[angelize56]

Nice how they protect the area!

Last Update: Thursday, May 13, 2004. 11:05am (AEST)
Police search for ute load of 'bombs'

Police are seeking a man who left two of the unexploded practice bombs at a hotel in The Rock, near Wagga Wagga in New South Wales's south-west, and reportedly has a ute loaded with more.

Witnesses say they saw he had many more World War Two training bombs loaded in the tray of his white Holden one tonne utility.

The area around The Rock was home to a Flying Training School in World War Two.

Acting Inspector Rod Smith from Wagga Wagga police says army bomb experts will travel to The Rock today to destroy the old bombs.

He says the man who collected them is not in trouble but may be a danger to himself and others.

"There's no offence committed," he said.

"We just want to facilitate the safe disposal of the bombs so there's no danger posed to the public."

[Al-Firdaus]

US Troops Forced To Retreat From Pakistan; Taliban Hit Convoy
May 12, 2004
By Zafir Jamaal, JUS

The third cross border venture by American forces into Pakistan was costly for the coalition forces as Mujahideen engaged them and forced them to retreat. One American was killed in the fighting. It is not known if the Taliban or local tribesmen sympathetic to Taliban were responsible.
Pamphlets were distributed in the area stating that American forces came across the border for the third time conducting an operation against Atman Khel and Tani tribes in broad daylight. Atman Khel tribesmen engaged the coalition forces and launched missiles, RPGs and fired GM-3 guns. The coalition was forced to retreat, leaving behind some heavy weapons and two vehicles. The Atman tribes took those vehicles and weapons as spoils of war.

Meanwhile In Ouruzgan, a Taliban attack on a convoy in the district of Chora has resulted in the deaths of two Afghan army trainees and several others were wounded. The convoy was attacked on Saturday when some trainees and their trainers were going to their barracks. The attack also destroyed two vehicles. Also in Oruguzgan, an American soldier was killed when Taliban attack another convoy near the district of Daeh Rawud. No other information about that attack is available.

In Khandahar, the district of Shah Wali Kot was attacked by Taliban and the Inspector General of Police of the district along with 6 other men were wounded. Six military vehicles were destroyed and one check post was also set on fire. The police chief of Khandahar, Abdul Wasi, confirmed that attack took place and confirmed the casualties. The Taliban captured a large cache of arms and ammunitions before they escaped without incident.

Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi told Sana News by satellite phone that 50 Taliban were involved in the attack on the district Thursday night. The Taliban remained in the district until 1200 hrs and no Afghan police came to challenge them. The Taliban later escaped with their spoils of war to the surrounding areas. (JUS)

[Al-Firdaus]

Statement From The Islamic Brigade of Shaheeds On The Kadyrov Operation
May 18, 2004
Source: Kavkaz Center

Kavkaz Center's has received a statement via e-mail from the Commander (Amir) of the Islamic Brigade of Shaheeds 'Riyadh as-Salihiin' (Gardens for the Righteous), Abdallah Shamil Abu-Idris. The statement points out that the operation to remove of the head of the invaders' administration Kadyrov was carried out on the sentence pronounced by the Shariah Court as part of Operation Retaliation.

Here is his statement, uncut and uncensored, as published by Kavkaz Center.

We remind our viewers that the statements, opinions and points of view expressed in this article are those of the author and shall not be deemed to mean that they are necessarily those of Jihad Unspun, the publisher, editor, writers, contributors or staff.

Operation Retaliation

In The Name Of God, Most Compassionate, Most Beneficent

Praise Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, Who created us Muslims and who blessed us with Jihad on His Straight Way!

Peace and blessing be to Prophet Muhammad, to his family, to his disciples and to all of those who follow the Straight Way until the Day of Judgment!

And then:

In His Holy Quran Allah says:

"Those who believe fight in the way of Allah, and those who disbelieve fight in the way of the Satan. Fight therefore against the friends of the Satan; surely the strategy of Satan is weak!" , 4:76 "The Women"

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said "Out of my community, the group that fights for the truth will be winning until the Day of Judgement" Muslim.

By the mercy of Allah, the Chechen people have celebrated the double holiday on May 9: victory over fascism and a small yet important victory over Russism (Russian nationalistic chauvilism).

As part of Operation Retaliation, our fighters (the Mujahideen) have successfully carried out the NAL-17 Operation and served the sentence pronounced by the Shariah Court concerning national traitors and apostates Kafir-ov (Kadyrov) and Isayev.

We apologize to President of Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (CRI) Aslan Maskhadov for not being able to bring Kadyrov's head to his feet literally, as we promised a month ago.

We hope that in the near future Almighty Allah will also allow us to successfully accomplish special operation Hersi-4.

We are calling on all Munafiqs (hypocrites, national traitors) to come to their senses and stop being lackeys and cannon fodder for Russians. It is never too late to repent and to stop.

We are warning that the motto of the Mujahideen (Fighters) in this season is "Each Munafiq gets decorated with Medal of Courage posthumously!"

We wonder who will be appointed president of Russia, - Katya or Masha, - if by mercy of Allah we successfully accomplish special operation Moska–2.

Great and Almighty Allah says:

"Soon shall the hosts be routed, and they shall turn (their) backs. Nay, the hour is their promised time, and the hour shall be most grievous and bitter". 54:45-46 "The Moon",

And may Allah help us on His Straight Way!

Allah Akbar! (God is Great!)

Amir of Islamic Brigade of Shaheeds "Riyadh as-Salihiin",

Abdallah Shamil Abu-Idris

2004-05-18 00:18:39

Chechen Mujahideen Kill Eleven Russians, Four Puppet Police In Double Ambush
May 18, 2004
Source: Agencies

Chechen rebels killed eleven Russian soldiers and four pro-Moscow police in a double ambush in the restive province, security officials said on Tuesday.

The rebels attacked the policemen when their vehicle hit a mine near the town of Urus-Martan on Monday, a Chechen police spokesman said by telephone.

An armored troop carrier with eight interior ministry troops went to their aid, but ran into another mine and also came under fire from the rebels.

In Moscow, a spokesman for interior ministry forces confirmed eight Russian servicemen had been killed in the ambush but he had no word on Chechen police casualties.

The Chechen police spokesman said seven people were wounded in the clash, but could not specify whether they were Russians or Chechens.

In 2000 Russian troops ended a short-lived independence for Chechnya won in the first war with Russia in 1994-96. But Chechen separatists have kept up a guerrilla war against Russian forces.

Chechnya's pro-Moscow president, Akhmad Kadyrov, was killed on May 9 by a bomb at a tightly guarded stadium in the regional capital Grozny.

[plschwartz]

al_F
Perhaps I missed some of your posts but have you mentioned the strife in Plateau state Nigeria :
here is a hint from a norwegian site:
The federal government of Nigeria today declared a state of emergency in the central Plateau state after massacres between two ethnic groups were turning into a religious war. President Olusegun Obasanjo feared the violence here could "spread across the country."

Federal President Obasanjo announced the decision in Abuja today, after he had suspended state governor Joshua Dariye - whom he accused of being "weak and incompetent" - and other Plateau state officials. Governor Dariye yesterday had been rapidly called to Abuja, the federal capital.

Nigerian politicians already last week feared a state of emergency would be announced as President Obasanjo started getting personally involved in the crisis. Top politicians, traditional rulers and others expressed worries that any move to declare a state of emergency "would plunge the state into further crisis," the Lagos-based daily 'Vanguard' had noted.

During the last months, the unrest in Plateau state has built up from a lesser dispute over land rights and livestock between the Tarok people - a mostly Christian people of cultivators - and the Fulani livestock breeders, who are mostly Muslim. The conflict turned violent early this year.

In February, an armed Fulani group massacred 50 Taroks while in church. This was revenged as a larger Tarok group attacked several Fulani villages earlier this month, killing an estimated 300 villagers. As the violence has escalated in Plateau state, a religious element has grown stronger.

State governor Dariye is accused of siding with the Tarok people based on religion. Christianity is the majority religion in Plateau state and Mr Dariye is reported to recently have encouraged Muslims to leave the state. Religious leaders not belonging to the two clashing peoples have increasingly become involved in the conflict.

Last week, the Plateau unrest started spreading to other Nigerian states. In the predominantly Muslim state Kano in northern Nigeria, large crowds on 11 May demonstrated against the attacks on fellow Muslims in Plateau. The protests soon turned violent against Christians. According to Christian leaders in Kano, over 600 people were killed and 12 churches burnt in two days.
http://www.afrol.com/articles/12417

I believe that the numbers on both sides far exceed those in Israel or even Iraq.
Are you for the fair treatment of Moslems or just taken over by the PLO propaganda machine

[plschwartz]

Culture clash in the South Seas

By Nick Squires
BBC correspondent in Sydney

The mysterious John Frum movement has existed peacefully on an island in the South Pacific for decades; but a violent feud has now broken out between its followers and a new Christian movement.

Sitting beneath a tattered Stars and Stripes flag hanging limply from a bamboo pole, Jack Yahlu recalls the bloody jungle battle which shattered the peace of this little known corner of the South Pacific.

"They wanted to kill us and we wanted to kill them," 27-year-old Yahlu told me.

"We used slingshots, axes, bows and arrows. Many people were cut with knives."

The fight he is referring to happened last month on Tanna, an island of about 20,000 people in the archipelago of Vanuatu.

The John Frum cult... believed he would drive out their colonial masters and re-establish their traditional ways

The confrontation was between the members of a long-established cargo cult called the John Frum movement, and a breakaway faction which wants to move with the times and embrace Christianity.

Shadowy figure

The John Frum cult first emerged in Vanuatu in the 1930s, when the island was jointly ruled by Britain and France as the New Hebrides.

Rebelling against the influence of Presbyterian missionaries, dozens of villages on Tanna put their faith in the shadowy figure of John Frum, variously described as either a real person or a spirit.

They believed he would drive out their colonial masters and re-establish their traditional ways.

There are now dozens of these so-called John Frum villages on Tanna.

The cult was reinforced during the Second World War, when the US military arrived with huge amounts of cargo, such as tanks, ships, weapons, medicine and food.

Islanders were stunned to see black and white troops working and living together, in contrast with the French and British officials who had treated them as colonial subjects.

Mysterious saviour

The Americans' wealth and racial co-operation seemed to dove-tail perfectly with their own beliefs. So they became convinced that John Frum, their mysterious saviour, was an American.

In the past we believed in John Frum but now we believe in Jesus
A Tanna Islander

Since then, the villagers have spent the last six decades dressing up in home-made US army uniforms, drilling with bamboo rifles and parading beneath the Stars and Stripes in the hope of enticing a delivery of cargo once again.

They dream of the arrival of cars and refrigerators, roads and medicines.

They have even hacked air strips out of the jungle and built crude wooden aircraft to tempt the speedy return of American generosity.

A thatched hut in Tanna's main John Frum village contains a shrine with a sign painted on an old school black board. "John Promise America," it reads. "One day, He will be returning."

But now a split in the movement has brought violence to this island of black sand beaches, dense jungles and rough dirt roads.

'Prophet Fred'

Thousands of islanders have renounced their old beliefs and put their faith in Fred Nasse, a softly-spoken villager who calls himself Prophet Fred and preaches Christianity.

The two sides glower at each other from their respective villages, crouched in the shadow of Mount Yasur, an active volcano which regularly belches great clouds of sulphurous smoke over the surrounding jungle.

Villagers say that Prophet Fred convinced them to turn to the Church by foreseeing a number of natural events.

He predicted that a lake at the base of Mt Yasur would be swept into the ocean. Five months later the lake burst its banks and drained into the sea.

Now all that remains is a black volcanic plain covered in grass, where horsemen ride and cattle graze.

"In the past we believed in John Frum but now we believe in Jesus," said one of Fred's followers. "The John Frum people do not go to church and they do not send their children to school," he said. "They are heathens."

Bloody fight

Last month's clash between the rival groups involved about 400 men. It was a brief but bloody fight which has had lasting repercussions on this normally quiet island.

Half a dozen houses and a thatched Presbyterian church were burned down.

As 25 seriously injured villagers were taken to hospital on the other side of the island, armed police were rushed from Vanuatu's capital, Port Vila.

Since then, the two sides have come together in a reconciliation ceremony, in which pigs and promises of goodwill were exchanged in front of chiefs who had gathered from all over Tanna.

But few on either side of the divide believe the feud is at an end, and there are dark forebodings of further violence.

"Perhaps we will eventually have peace," said Maliwan Taroai, a bearded, barefoot Presbyterian minister who supports Prophet Fred, "but it will not be for 1000 years."

Mount Yasur roared in the distance, sending piglets and chickens skittering into the bush.

The John Frum cult may be one of the most intriguing cultural movements in the South Pacific, but its days could be numbered.

The Christians may yet have the final say.

From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Thursday, 20 May, 2004 at 1100 BST on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/h...nt/3729715.stm

[Al-Firdaus]

Other nations don't hate the US because "you are free". They hate you because the US Government loves to screw around with their governments.

United States Senate resolution on Venezuela signature validation process fails

Radio Nacional de Venezuela and Reuters report: United States Senators withdrew a resolution that would have asked for respect for the signature validation process in Venezuela. The signatures are being validated on a petition for a recall referendum to be held against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias.

Senate sources said that the resolution was withdrawn due to differences between legislators on the final language.

According to a copy of the resolution obtained by Reuters, the Senate resolution called upon respect for the results of the signature validation process, and, if it occurs, the recall referendum itself.

But, Democratic Senator Bill Nelson of Florida sought to insert a warning that the relation between the Chavez government and the United States will suffer “irreparable damage” if Chavez doesn’t respect the verification process, an option that was rejected by other Senators.

“Senator Nelson’s office insisted that we include language in the resolution that emphasizes that if the Chavez government commits fraud in the process of signature validation, US/Venezuelan relations will suffer irreparable damage,” said one congressional source to Reuters.

“After a day of conversations between the Senators’ offices, the project was withdrawn from consideration,” the source added.

The initial resolution counted on the support of Republican Senators Richard Lugar and Norm Coleman, and Democratic Senators Christopher Dodd and Joseph Biden, all members of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The Venezuelan opposition says that it has managed to obtain the 2.4 million signatures necessary to convene the recall referendum, but electoral authorities recognize only 1.9 million as valid, and another 1.2 million are going to a process of validation known as repair.

Venezuela, one of the main oil suppliers for the United States, is going through a period of tension just a few days before the signature validation process, which could force the recall referendum.
http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=21277

[jackal969k]

Nuclear jet crash 'could kill millions'


19:00 26 May 04

Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition.

Fears that the UK's nuclear plants are vulnerable to a 9/11-style attack or accident are growing. Evidence is emerging that the no-fly zones around nuclear plants are regularly breached by both military and civilian aircraft. And a report for the UK parliament leaked to New Scientist says that such an attack might kill millions.

Since the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington DC, the area of the ban has been doubled to cover a radius of two nautical miles (3.7 kilometres). Planes also have to stay above a certain height, which varies for different sites.

But these restrictions have been flouted on numerous occasions. Over the past five years, the operators of 19 nuclear sites around Britain have lodged more than 100 complaints about aircraft flying too close. The sites include reactors and stores of radioactive waste or nuclear bombs.


Alleged breaches of no-fly zones around UK nuclear sites
Declassified reports from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) reveal that there were 56 alleged breaches of the no-fly zones by military aircraft between 2000 and 2003.

Four of the complaints came from the MoD's own nuclear weapons sites at Aldermaston and Burghfield in Berkshire, and at Faslane near Glasgow. Most of the other complaints were made by the government agencies and private companies that run the UK's civil nuclear programme.

The incidents include one on 24 April 2002, when a jet flew so close to the Torness reactors in East Lothian that it set off three intruder alarms on the perimeter fence. And on 10 June 2003 three military jets were seen rehearsing a flypast for the queen's birthday near the Sizewell reactors in Suffolk.


Hot air balloon


The MoD's internal investigations have confirmed only five breaches of the no-fly zones: three at Berleley in Gloucestershire, one at Torness and one at Dungeness in Kent. "We can only confirm that a breach has occurred when we have proof," an MoD spokesman says.

There have been 71 complaints of civilian aircraft breaching the no-fly zones since the beginning of 1999. According to the Civil Aviation Authority, there was only enough evidence to launch formal investigations in 12 cases, including three at Aldermaston, two at Burghfield and two at Sellafield in Cumbria.

Four investigations are ongoing, and there have been two successful prosecutions: one for a hot air balloon at Aldermaston in 2001 and the other for a powered hang-glider at Heysham nuclear station in Lancashire in 2003.

The breaches will do little to reassure the public that nuclear sites are adequately protected from a terrorist attack or an accidental aircraft crash. In 2002 the UK House of Commons Defence Committee requested a report on the risks of terrorist attacks on nuclear facilities, and the UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology is due to publish its long-awaited reply in the next few weeks.

New Scientist has seen a copy of the report and can reveal that it says that a large plane crashing into a reactor could release as much radioactivity as the Chernobyl accident in 1986, while a crash into waste tanks at Sellafield in Cumbria could cause "at worst, several million fatalities".


Confidential information


The report acknowledges that the risks are difficult to assess because so much information - including operators' estimates of the health impacts of radiation releases - is kept secret.

[angelize56]

Isn't that a lovely scenario!

[angelize56]

This is extremely sad!

Hundreds of bodies found in Caribbean
Death toll reaches 500 in wake of storms
Wednesday, May 26, 2004 Posted: 2:04 PM EDT (1804 GMT)

JIMANI, Dominican Republic (AP) -- Soldiers searched for more flood victims Wednesday, burying corpses quickly and telling families that not all bodies could wait to be identified. More than 500 died and hundreds were missing in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

The death toll from the floods rose as the Haitian government said more than 200 bodies were recovered, mostly in southern Haiti.

Using dogs and shovels, Dominican soldiers searched for remaining victims, finding at least 20 badly decomposed, half-buried bodies Wednesday morning and raising the toll around the border town of Jimani to more than 300.

Families in the town were given forms asking them to list missing relatives.

"The victims we find will be buried where they are," said Eddy Olivares with the Dominican Republic's Civil Defense. He said many corpses were in an advanced state of decomposition and could not be moved.

In Haiti, meanwhile, workers recovered about 100 corpses in southern Grand Gosier and 100 more in the neighboring town of Mopou, said Haiti's Civil Protection Director Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste.

At least 158 were missing in Fond Verette, a Haitian border town, and Dominican officials said more than 250 were unaccounted for on their side of the border.

Trucks dumped more than 100 bodies into a mass grave on Tuesday outside of Jimani, a town of about 10,000 on the Haitian border, and largely populated by Haitian migrants. Sobbing families, meanwhile, waited for the tiny caskets of their children to be buried.

In the days leading up to the flooding heavy rains pelted the island of Hispaniola, which the Dominican Republic and Haiti share, causing the shared Solie River in the southern border town of Jimani to burst its banks. Many were sleeping on Monday when torrents of mud swept away entire villages.

"We can't find her anywhere," cried Norma Cuevas, 32, as she desperately searched for her 63-year-old mother among dozens of other families reaching their hands through mud Tuesday.

An Associated Press reporter counted at least 200 bodies on the Dominican side of Hispaniola island by Wednesday. Officials said another 100 or so had been dumped in a mass grave, according to Lt. Virgilio Mejia, with the Dominican National Rescue Commission.

"I've looked at the bodies in the morgue and couldn't recognize any of them," said Jude Joseph, 30, who came from Haiti's capital of Port-au-Prince to sell rice at a border market and visit family members in the Dominican Republic. Their neighborhoods -- Bobmita, La Cuarenta and Barrio El Tanque -- had vanished.

Troops return

Troops from a U.S.-led multinational force sent to stabilize Haiti after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted on February 29 returned to badly affected Haitian towns early Wednesday, ferrying bottles of drinking water, medical supplies and food.

Multinational forces made 12 helicopter trips to Fond Verette on Tuesday to assess the needs of an estimated 3,000 people. The town's roads have been blocked by mudslides.

Help has not yet been able to reach Mopou and more than 150 are reportedly injured and without health care, the Haitian government said. Other towns were also in need.

"There are other places that need help but we can't do it all," said U.S. Marines Lt. Col. Dave Lapan, whose forces are set to make a handover to a U.N. force on June 1.

Poorly constructed homes

The death tolls have been high in Haiti because the impoverished nation is nearly 90 percent deforested and many of the poor build poorly constructed homes.

As Haitian officials released the figures of bodies collected on the Haitian side on Wednesday, officials said many of the dead on the Dominican side were also Haitians.

The border town of Jimani, about 100 miles (161 kilometers) west of the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo, is inhabited mostly by Haitian migrants who settled in makeshift villages to sell food at the markets held on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Dominican officials said some of the Haitians who lost family members may have been living in the town illegally and scared to identify bodies.

The Dominican government had issued an alert Sunday, warning people that rivers may swell with the rains. But Jimani has only limited access to radio broadcasts.

People whose houses still stood scooped water from their living rooms Tuesday while chairs and mattresses floated in pools of water. Hundreds of houses were destroyed on both sides of the border.

As rescue workers and families pulled bodies from the mud, medical teams draped work areas with mosquito netting. The insects can carry parasites that cause malaria and dengue fever. Some people were also being given tetanus shots.

The floods were some of the deadliest in a decade.

In 1994, Tropical Storm Gordon caused mudslides that buried at least 829 Haitians. More recently, nearly 30 people died in September during floods caused by heavy rain in St. Marc, about 45 miles (73 kilometers) northwest of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

[plschwartz]

Worker's sex diaries too hot for Capitol Hill
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click...0U214&set_id=1

By Stephanie Griffith

Washington - Washington loves nothing as much as a summer sex scandal, and the season is off to an early start this year, as a congressional aide was sacked after posting her love-making exploits on the Internet.

Jessica Cutler - who has become better known in Washington circles by her nom de plume (Washingtonienne) - was dismissed last week from her job as an entry-level aide to Republican Senator Mike DeWine.

Her jauntily written Internet diary includes lurid descriptions of sexual encounters on Capitol Hill and other venues in official Washington - some allegedly involving prominent, but unnamed, paramours.

The tawdry accounts, which have become "must-reads" in Washington, include descriptions of sexual favours for money, which she says she grants to supplement her paltry paycheck.

"Most of my living expenses are thankfully subsidised by a few generous, older gentlemen," she writes in one entry on her "blog" or Internet log.

"I'm sure I'm not the only one who makes money on the side this way. How can anybody live on $25 000 a year?"

"I just took a long lunch with F, and made a quick $400," she reveals in another entry.

"When I returned to the office, I heard that the boss was asking about my whereabouts. Loser."

DeWine's office said in a press release on Friday that it had fired an unnamed entry-level employee for using Senate computers "to post unsuitable and offensive material to an Internet log".

"Other inappropriate material was found in the employee's work area, as well," the statement said, without providing further detail.

Since the scandal erupted, Washingtonienne has been inundated with media interview requests, but, expressing incredulity at the hubbub, she told the online Washington tabloid Wonkette, which first broke the story, that she never posted her X-rated messages to gain celebrity.

"I wrote that blog not to ruin people's lives. It was just for the amusement of me and my friends," she said.

"People are sad if they're interested in such a low-level sex scandal," she said.

Since being fired, she said she has been "chilling" - and pondering her next move.

"I was thinking, I'll get another job in Washington, but it's going to be fun, not something stupid like working on the Hill," she told Wonkette.

"Now I'm realising I may have to go back to New York. In New York, they love this kind of thing," she said.

"They'll ask what happened at my last job, and I'll say I was fired for a sex scandal!"

Published on the Web by IOL on 2004-05-26 10:39:02
© Independent Online 2004. All rights reserved. IOL publishes this article in good faith but is not liable for any loss or damage caused by reliance on the information it contains.

[Al-Firdaus]

Thirteen Killed In Mosque Blast In Karachi
May 31, 2004
JUS News Desk

At least 13 people were killed and more than 24 injured today when a bomb exploded inside a Shiite Muslim mosque in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, Agence France-Presse reported, citing police. More details of the attack weren't immediately available.

Pakistan's President Mushareef blames secretarian violence and says if it does not stop he will take serious action very soon.

Sunni Muslims rioted in the port city after yesterday's assassination of a Sunni cleric, Nizamuddin Shamzai.

Hundreds of people have been killed in the past 20 years in sectarian violence between Shiite and Sunni Muslims in Pakistan. Shiites account for about 20 percent of the South Asian country's 145 million people. Shiite Muslims and Sunnis split over the rightful successor to the prophet Mohammed.

[Al-Firdaus]

TELL US ANOTHER ONE!
France opposed the Us war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and is friendly to Arab countries. So of course "Al Qaeda" plots a bombing. It's only a coincidence that at the same time Israel's supporters are screaming that France isn't doing enough to combat "anti-Semitism".

Jun 11, 2004
PARIS: France targeted for strong stand against al-Qaeda
By Balan Moses in Paris

AS a plan to bomb the Paris Metro before Sunday’s European elections was uncovered yesterday by Italian police, a senior French judicial official warned that the nation was a constant target of the al-Qaeda movement. He said this was due to the terrorist movement having deemed the French Government an "accomplice" in the perpetration of alleged crimes by certain Arab governments friendly with France.

The official said France had made itself a target for terrorist activities by maintaining a strong stand against movements like al-Qaeda.

France’s support for the Algerian Government had also made it a target for acts of terrorism by the Algerian Armed Islamic Group, he added.

One of France’s best anti-terrorist initiatives has been the establishment of the five-member anti-terrorism court to actively investigate and prosecute terrorists.

The judges’ powers include, among others, authorising police to probe the activities of specific individuals and instal eavesdropping devices in premises occupied by suspected terrorists.

"France is a leading target for terrorists today and always targeted by the Al Qaedah movement. The fight against terrorism is a priority for us," he told a group of journalists from 12 Asian nations here to study the dynamics of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).

The official, who requested anonymity, said the differences between the French and American positions on the Iraq war had not made any difference to the terrorists.

"The French position on the Iraq war only had a short term political effect," he said.

Security has been tight in Paris since early this week, when US President George W. Bush, Queen Elizabeth of England, Chancellor Gerhard Shroeder of Germany and President Vladimir Putin of Russia, arrived for the 60th anniversary of the Allied landing in Normandy.

There has also been a visible police presence on the streets of the French capital, ostensibly because of the uncovering of the alleged plot in Milan to bomb the Paris Metro.

The Government has not, however, raised the national security alert level from orange to red, which is the highest on the four-level rating system.

Newspaper reports here stated that the alleged bomber in Milan had wanted to model the proposed attack in Paris on the March 11 attack in Madrid, in which 191 people died.

The French Government can be expected to take the alleged threat seriously because of the July 1995 bombing at the St Michel metro station in Paris, which saw eight killed and 100 injured.

There were nine other terrorist attacks in Paris in 1995, injuring hundreds.

According to the official, French anti-terrorism authorities were well-prepared to face the terrorist threat because of the sharing of intelligence with similar authorities around the world.

He said France had advanced tremendously in the fight against terrorism since the early 1990s, when it failed to take adequate measures to prepare for threats posed by terrorists.
http://www.emedia.com.my/Current_New...le/indexb_html

[buddhafabio]

perhaps some people cannot read the topic of the thread "Breaking News/Updates from Around the World" Not Including the Middle East