KGB kidnaps, disembowels and sells human organs of young men and women in Siberia

17 February 2012

According to news coming from Russian-occupied Siberian country of Baikalia, local residents in Irkutsk report on the Internet about mass disappearance of young people and local KGB men trafficking in human organs they extract from their living victims.

Since February 15, Irkutsk residents send SMS-messages about horrible crimes committed by money greedy KGB (FSB) men. One such message states that a dead body of a girl has been found with her internal organs missing.

Local residents write in social networks that young men and women are kidnapped by KGB officers and killed during the extraction of their organs from living bodies. Some bloggers give a detailed description of how the KGB operates in Irkutsk: two KGB officers armed with automatic rifles forcibly put people into their black "Gazel" vehicle and take them to an unknown destination. Afterwards, their dead bodies are sometimes found with removed internal organs.

Messages of bloggers are confirm by official local media. Thus, the local edition of Komsomolskaya Pravda writes about two missing school students in Novo-Lenino district, a missing 28-year-old woman, two "disappeared" local university students Daniel Semakov and Aleksey Butorin, a pregnant woman Irene Stroganova, and many other young men and women in the city.

Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center

Source: Kavkaz Center.
Link: http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2012/02/17/15835.shtml.

Fierce fightings on border between Chechnya and Dagestan continue for 5th day

17 February 2012

On Friday morning, February 17, Mujahideen killed at least 2 puppets and wounded another one. These data has been reported by the media of Russian invader terrorists who always understate their casualties.

On the eve, Russian media distributed information on elimination of five and injury of six Russian puppets. The Russians say nothing about possible casualties among the Mujahideen.

The Russian media referring to the command of their invader terrorists reported on Friday that combat helicopters had conducted massive strikes on woodland in Khasavyurt district of Dagestan.

The enemy also uses heavy artillery. Local residents could see and hear powerful explosions from Russian shells and missiles.

There is a large-scale front warfare going on with participation of different armed forces. The number of enemy forces and facilities, as well as enemy casualties make the fightings on the internal border between two provinces of Caucasus Emirate unprecedented over the past few years.

And taking into account that the fightings are taking place in harsh winter and that the Mujahideen have actually no logistical support and places to evacuate their wounded fighters, the current battles could be regarded as a unique military event.

Russian invader terrorists say that one of the Mujahideen groups could have tried to leave the combat zone. However, no details were given.

The area of hostilities expanded. Battles are taking place in Nozhai-Yurt district of the Province of Nokhchicho, as well as in Kazbek and Khasavyurt districts of the Province of Dagestan.

It is to be recalled that the command of Russian invaders partly acknowledged on Thursday heavy losses among their puppets.

A KGB news agency, Interfax, reports that during the heavy fightings on Thursday, February 16, on the border between Chechnya and Dagestan, 5 members of the gang "special forces" were killed and at least 6 others seriously injured.

Russian aggressors reported that during the day the joint forces of invaders and minions entered two times in the contact battle with the Mujahideen, and both times were forced to retreat.

Thus, according to Russian sources, taking into account losses occurred on Friday, since February 13, 13 enemy elements have been killed and not less than 18 other Russians and puppets wounded. No casualties among the Mujahideen were reported by the Russians.

It is to be mentioned in this connection that, according to sources of the Kavkaz Center, on the morning of February 17, at least 15 puppets have been eliminated.

On the first day of the fightings on February 13, the KC sources reported about 5 killed and 6 injured puppets near the village of Sim-Sir. The Mujahideen trapped a minions' gang from "Vedeno police department". Once trapped, the puppets were attacked from two sides, taking them into a kettle.

In turn, Russian invaders reported on that day about 3 killed and 6 wounded Kadyrovites. It was stated that at the squad of the Mujahideen included 30 to 40 fighters and that they escaped from enemy encirclement.

Next day, February 14, the invaders reported that 2 more puppets were wounded. The number of Mujahideen was radically "reduced" to 5-7 fighters.

On February 15, the sources of Russian invaders said that another 4 Kadyrov's minions were eliminated in the battle. The invaders did not report about any losses among the Mujahideen.

According to Russian invader terrorists, the fightings were taking place in Kazbek district of Dagestan and Nozhai-Yurt district of the Province of Nokhchicho, or Chechnya.

On February 16, the command of the Russian invader terrorists suddenly announced that they confronted with as much as 3 three detachments of the Mujahideen, numbering a few dozen fighters, in the border area between Dagestan and Chechnya. Throughout the day of February 16, very scanty information was reported from the zone of fightings.

The Russian invader terrorists and minions lamented on bad weather, deep snow, fog and difficult terrain, which prevented them from using armoured military vehicles.

Joint gangs of Chechen and Dagestani minions and army formations of Russian invader terrorists have been fighting against the Mujahideen. The enemy is using aircraft.

The command of Russian invaders claim that the Mujahideen units are headed by Emirs Ruslan Temirkayev, Arslan Mamedov (call sign "Muaz", both natives of Dagestan), and a native of Nozhai-Yurt district of Chechnya, a 47-year-old Makharbi Timiraliyev (call sign "Makharbi").

Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center

Source: Kavkaz Center.
Link: http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2012/02/17/15834.shtml.

Sri Lanka police fire tear gas during fuel price protest

COLOMBO, SRI LANKA (BNO NEWS) -- Police fired tear gas and used water cannons on Friday to disperse a protest against fuel prices and the rising cost of living in Sri Lanka's capital of Colombo, local media reported on Saturday.

Thousands of people joined the protest which was organized by opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe and members of his United National Party (UNP) outside Colombo's main railway station. Police used tear gas and water cannons after barricading the road to disperse protesters who were trying to march towards the president's residence.

Protesters pelted stones at police officers in retaliation of the tear gas and water cannons and sat on the main road, the Colombo Page reported. Police closed the main road, affecting thousands of rush hour commuters.

Friday's protest came after one demonstrator was killed on Wednesday when police officers opened fire on fishermen who were protesting against fuel prices in the town of Chilaw in northwestern Sri Lanka. Thousands of fishermen in the region have been staging protests since the Sri Lanka government increased fuel prices on Saturday evening.

The government raised diesel prices by 35 percent and kerosene prices by 49 percent, both fuels used by the fishermen. Private bus owners also launched a strike but it was settled when the government allowed them to increase bus fares by 20 percent.

The government has pledged to spend 2 billion rupees ($17 million) a month to provide fuel subsidies to affected sectors such as the bus and rail service and fisheries. The government says the petroleum authority is losing billions of rupees from subsidizing fuel and the government has to follow global market trends.

Saturday, February 18th, 2012

Source: Newstro.
Link: http://newstro.com/article/sri-lanka-police-fire-tear-gas-during-fuel-price-protest.html.

Alaska Bill Would Criminalize TSA Screening Procedures

Written by Raven Clabough
Friday, 17 February 2012

Alaska State Representative Sharon Cissna (left) has introduced a bill to criminalize TSA pat-downs and naked-body scans, adding The Last Frontier to a growing list of states battling the intrusive screening procedures of the Transportation Security Administration.

Cissna has suffered her own negative experience with the federal agency. Last year at the Seattle-area Sea-Tac International Airport, after a naked-body scan revealed her breast-cancer surgery scars, the TSA insisted on putting her through an intrusive pat-down. She refused.

“Facing the agent, I began to remember what my husband and I’d decided after the previous intensive physical search," she related. "That I never had to submit to that horror again! It would be difficult, we agreed, but I had the choice to say no; this twisted policy did not have to be the price of flying to Juneau.”

The TSA responded by barring her from her flight.

Cissna’s bill, HB 262, states:

A person commits the offense of interference with access to public buildings or transportation facilities if the person, as a condition for access to a public building or transportation facility, requires another person to consent or otherwise submit to

(1) physical contact by any person touching directly or through clothing the genitals, buttocks, or female breast of the person seeking access; or

(2) any electronic process that produces an electronic image of the genitals, anus, or female breast or otherwise creates an electronic image of the person seeking access that exposes or reveals a physical characteristic that is normally hidden by clothing and is not normally visible to the public.

Texas state lawmakers attempted last year to pass similar legislation called the Traveler Dignity Act, but federal government officials threatened to ground all flights into and out of the state — essentially creating a "no-fly zone" over The Lone Star State — if the bill was passed. Eventually the measure was defeated by a procedural move after a protracted battle in the state legislature.

But Cissna’s bill goes further than the Texas measure in that it outright bans the naked-body scanners. The X-ray machines drew negative attention once again this week after a Dallas woman was forced by TSA agents at DFW International Airport to go through the body scanner three times so, she alleges, the screeners could get a "good look" at her naked image.

According to the Associated Press, Cissna “told the [Alaska] House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that rights guaranteed in the constitutions of Alaska and the United States are violated by security measures that require unwanted physical contact or exposure of physical traits usually not visible in public.”

Utah is also among the states fighting back against the TSA. Lawmakers there have introduced a resolution that would eliminate pat-downs and launch a congressional investigation into the various reported abuses of the TSA.

“If they can do that [intrusive pat-downs], what can’t they do?” demanded Rep. Ken Ivory, the sponsor of the resolution. “Can you imagine George Washington or Thomas Jefferson going to the airport and saying, ‘Go ahead and stick your hand down my pants. I need to get where I’m going’?" Ivory contends that Americans are slowly being conditioned to “just submit” to the feds. “Our liberties are being conditioned away,” he told the Deseret News.

Meanwhile, Texas State Rep. David Simpson, who plans to run for reelection to the 2013 biennial session, is preparing to reintroduce his Traveler Dignity Act to criminalize the TSA pat-downs statewide. Likewise, lawmakers there are gearing up to consider a new measure that would allow airports to ban the TSA from the screening process altogether.

TSA controversies have been a constant source of news over the past few years.

Over the 2011 Christmas break, for example, TSA agents confiscated several holiday desserts but allowed a sword to go through security undetected.

Last April, former Miss USA Susie Castillo accused a TSA agent of molestation during her security screening at the Dallas-area DFW International Airport. Donna D’Errico, a former Baywatch actress who has posed for Playboy, made similar accusations against the TSA, contending that she was deliberately targeted for the naked-body scanner: “It is my personal belief that they pulled me aside because they thought I was attractive. After the search, I noticed that the male TSA agent who had pulled me out of line was smiling and whispering with two other TSA agents and glancing at me. I was outraged.”

The concerns voiced against the TSA's intrusive screening procedures with one group — children — have been confirmed by experts at Child Lures Prevention (CLP). According to the organization, in an effort to make youngsters cooperate with the TSA screenings, agents call the pat-downs a “game.” As a result, those who undergo the enhanced pat-downs may become desensitized to sexual molestation.

CLP's Ken Wooden explains that telling children they are participating in a game “is one of the most common ways” for sexual predators to engage them in inappropriate contact. Likewise, because children “don’t have the sophistication” to differentiate between the pat-down at the airports and sexual assault, the TSA procedures are setting a dangerous precedent for those who experience the procedures.

Perhaps the most significant criticism of the TSA’s screening procedures, in addition to the privacy intrusions, is the potential danger of radiation exposure.

A report filed by ProPublica on airport X-ray scanners reveals that despite evidence that the scanners could cause “anywhere from six to 100 U.S. airline passengers each year [to] get cancer,” a variety of expert testimonies on the dangers of the technology, and European policies that have actually banned the use of the scanners, the TSA has elected to continue the use of the TSA scanners nationwide. As noted by The New American’s Michael Tennant, “What’s worse, the TSA has other, safer types of scanners, known as millimeter-wave scanners, that the agency says are as effective as the backscatter scanners; but it has chosen to continue deploying the backscatter scanners even though they could adversely affect the health of the flying public.”

Last year, the Transportation Security Administration reneged on a promise to conduct further studies into the safety of radiation-firing body scanners used at airports nationwide. However, following reports of cancer clusters among TSA screeners at Boston-Logan Airport, the TSA is now obligated to test the operators of the naked-body scanners for radiation exposure. But the TSA still refuses to test the actual machines.

Texas Congressman and GOP presidential contender Ron Paul has adamantly opposed the TSA procedures from the start, having introduced the American Traveler Dignity Act to “protect Americans from physical and emotional abuse.” Dr. Paul and other constitutionalists across the country contend that the TSA's procedures are a violation of 4th Amendment rights.

Paul explains his solution:

What we need is real privatization of security, but not phony privatization with the same TSA screeners in private security firm uniforms still operating under the "guidance" of the federal government.

Real security will be achieved when the airlines are once again in charge of protecting their property and their passengers.

Source: The New American.
Link: http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/10896-alaska-bill-would-criminalize-tsa-screening-procedures.

Maine Caucuses Finish Closer Than Expected, Strange Recount

Written by Thomas R. Eddlem
Sunday, 19 February 2012

Washington County, Maine — Texas Congressman Ron Paul won strong victories in rural Maine caucuses February 18, but the Saturday caucuses do not quite appear to have lifted Paul to victory statewide over his chief rival, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. But there are new questions about some of the vote tallies in the updated Maine GOP count, especially where the results for the Portland caucus were reversed in favor of Romney.

The official tally for Washington County — a rural Maine county that had postponed its scheduled February 11 caucuses because of snow — showed 163 votes for Paul, 80 for Romney, 57 for Santorum, and three for Gingrich. Neither Gingrich nor Santorum had an official campaign presence at the caucuses in Maine.

The two-to-one Paul victory over Romney in Washington County alone won't put Paul over the top statewide, however. According to the Paul campaign, the Texas congressman and obstetrician also picked up 39 votes in caucuses in neighboring Hancock County and a handful of other area caucuses February 18. A number of other towns were caucusing February 18 as well, but by the Paul campaign's count at 5:00 p.m. they were still 84 votes short after counting Hancock and Washington Counties. The Bangor Daily News put Romney's margin of victory at 117 votes.

Paul campaign state chairman Paul B. Madore told The New American it was "unlikely" the Paul campaign would come out of the non-binding presidential preference poll with the most votes if current GOP numbers stand. The Republican Party declared Romney the winner after the February 11 caucuses by less than 200 votes, even though Washington, much of Hancock County, and a dozen or so other towns across the state had yet to caucus. Moreover, Maine GOP Chairman Charlie Webster ran into angry Paul campaign officials after they had found out that several towns that had voted in favor of Paul, such as Belfast, did not have their results published on the official party list. Webster vowed not to update the list, but bowed to a barrage of criticism from party leaders across the state and released updated numbers February 17. The revised results released by the Maine GOP before Saturday's caucuses showed a larger 229-vote margin of victory for Romney.

When The New American asked Madore about the revision in the Portland caucus numbers, Madore became upset. "This really disturbs me, when I see numbers like this," he said. In Portland, the state GOP reported February 11 that Paul had won the caucus by a vote of 106 to 91. But in the February 17 revision, Romney had won the state's largest city, by an identical 106 to 91 vote. Moreover, the revised numbers appear not to have taken any votes away from Romney in any town, except for a single vote from Hancock's Verona Island. (In the same county, Romney lost five votes in Bar Harbor, but it's possible that in the February 17 revision those "lost" votes were moved to nearby Trenton, where Romney gained five votes.) Paul, on the other hand, not only lost 15 votes in Portland, he also lost every single one of the 20 votes he had garnered in York County's Limington according to the results the state GOP initially reported on February 11.

The mood at the Washington County caucus Saturday was symbolized by the lapel sticker "You WILL count me" that members of all the campaigns were wearing. The stickers were a clear reaction to Webster's claim a week earlier that he would not update the results. "They're hurting themselves if they don't have Washington County counted," Madore told The New American.

Both the Paul and Romney campaigns touted the turnout in Washington County, which was a significant increase over the 2008 numbers. "The story is the record number of people here," Romney staffer Greg Gallivan told The New American. "There's a good turnout, a strong turnout," Madore agreed. "That's a job well done."

Source: The New American.
Link: http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/10921-maine-caucuses-finish-closer-than-expected-strange-recount.

Over 57 puppet terrorists killed or wounded in one Chechen district alone

17 February 2012

As reported by Russian enemy sources, more than 21 Russian puppet terrorists were killed and over 36 other Kadyrov's thugs wounded in 5 days of continuous fightings in Chechnya's Nozhai-Yurt district alone. The Russians always understate their fatalities and casualties. The figures of enemy casualties, according to enemy sources, are not yet final because some puppets missed in action and are probably dead. Sporadic clashes in Nozhai-Yurt district are still ongoing.

Meanwhile, residents of Sim-Sir village in Chechnya reported that 5 Mujahideen, including Emir Nozhai-Yurt sector Makharbi, martyred (Insha'Allah) during the five days of fightings in Nozhai-Yurt district.

Information about the martyrdom of five Mujahideen was confirmed by Kadyrov's puppets who showed dead bodies of 5 martyrs (Insha'Allah) on their propaganda TV on Friday night.

It is to be recalled that the ringleader of Chechen minions Kadyrov earlier claimed that seven Mujahideen had allegedly martyred.

It is to be mentioned in this context that the number of the Mujahideen detachment fighting the Russians troops and puppet troops in that district includes 30 to 40 warriors.

Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center

Source: Kavkaz Center.
Link: http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2012/02/17/15836.shtml.

Jordan Set to Open First Refugee Camp for Syrians

Written by Abdullah Omar
Thursday, February 16, 2012

[Amman] Jordan is putting the final touches on a refugee camp being set up near the border with Syria to house its share of the thousands of Syrians fleeing their homes out of fear of being caught up in the ongoing violence between President Bashar Al-Asad’s troops and opposition forces.

In the northern city of Sarhan, near Mafraq, a large plot of land has been paved; and wiring for electricity and piping for water installed in anticipation of arriving refugees.

The camp, under round-the-clock police guard, is the first in the kingdom and in the Arab region since the uprising against the Al-Asad regime began eleven months ago. Neighbors Iraq and Lebanon remain undecided over the developing situation in Syria and are so far refusing to establish refugee camps inside their borders.

But Jordan has already allowed thousands of refugees to enter and has provided them with needed care. Until now, the burden of supporting the unexpected guests from Syria has fallen on local communities in the border areas that have provided food, shelter and medical care to the refugees. Children of the Syrian refugees have even been allowed to attend public schools for free. The new camps, set up with support from UNHCR -- the United Nations refugee agency -- will lift the burden from the locals.

According to Ahmed Emian, secretary general of the Hashemite Charity Foundation, the camp will be open and ready to receive its residents shortly. “We have set up the camp in terms of paving the ground, putting electricity and providing it with sanitation and water,” he told The Media Line. “We will be opening the camp next week, or at latest by the end of the month,” he added.

For nearly eleven months into the anti-Asad uprising, and despite the rising number of Syrians seeking the safety of its borders, pro-Western Jordan resisted the temptation of setting up camps. Observers and western diplomats say Jordan, possibly the most experienced in the region in terms of hosting refugees, waited for a political decision from higher authorities and its allies before erecting tents on the borders.

At the start of the uprising last year, Jordan imposed a media blackout on the presence of refugees in order to avoid angering Syria and its strong neighbors. But now, a number of philanthropic groups have been given the nod to provide for the needs of refugees in certain areas, including the border, Amman and as far south as the city of Ma’an.

Estimates of the actual number of asylum seekers vary. The government says nearly 5000 have entered the kingdom since the uprising began in Syria in March 2011, while estimates offered by the philanthropic groups put the number of asylum seekers in the tens of thousands. Yet, the UN-agency UNHCR pegs the number of registered refugees at about 3,000 – less than the government estimate but twice the number it reported only one month ago, according to Jamal Arafat, chief representative of UNHCR in Amman.

He told The Media Line that no camps have been set up yet, suggesting that such a move is more of a political choice than a logistical one. “We are ready to open refugee camps, but we do not see any need for that yet,” he said.

Abu Ahmed is a Syrian activist fleeing from the city of Harak, a hotbed of anti-Asad protests in Deraa. He arrived in Mafraq three weeks ago after a long chase by Syrian security forces. Abu Ahmed currently lives in a mosque in Mafraq, awaiting accommodations for his family. “I fled without my family or anybody. I crossed illegally into Jordan and now I live in this mosque,” he told The Media line in a telephone interview. Abu Ahmed said many Syrians want to flee but they are unable to do so because of the heavy security procedures and fear of arrest on the borders. Jordan has not broken-off relations with Damascus and has said it will not ask the Syrian ambassador leave even though Syrian ambassadors posted in the oil rich Gulf States have been expelled.

Privately, officials say the kingdom will be hurt in case it severs diplomatic ties with its much larger neighbor, and prefers to keep diplomatic channels open. In the meantime, residents of Deraa warn that the Syrian army has intensified its patrols along the long border in order to prevent a mass influx of refugees and to stop activists wanted by the regime in Syria from fleeing to Jordan.

But arriving refugees escaping the continued shelling in areas in the Huran region say it will be extremely difficult for Al-Asad’s forces to stop local residents from leaving.

Source: The Media Line.
Link: http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=34442.

Motorists to circle Moscow in anti-Putin protest

19/02/2012

Moscow drivers flying white balloons and ribbons prepared to circle the Kremlin on Sunday in protest against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's likely return as president in March 4 polls.

The second such auto rally in three weeks was due to be picked up in other cities as the opposition sought to keep up momentum after launching the biggest wave of anti-Putin rallies in his 12-year rule in December.

"The closer we manage to get to the Kremlin, the more effective this event will be," the protest movement's League of Voters said in a statement.

Nearly 3,500 people had signed up for the event on its Facebook account a few hours before the scheduled 2:00 pm (1000 GMT) start in Moscow.

Russia has witnessed a month of weekly rival rallies between Putin foes and his state-backed supporters in advance of elections that the 59-year-old former KGB spy is almost certain to win.

A poll of likely voters conducted by the Kremlin-linked Public Opinion Foundation showed Putin reclaiming the seat he held from 2000 to 2008 with 60 percent support.

Putin's youth movement backers attempted to steal the opposition's thunder by quickly arranging their own car run around Moscow's 16-kilometre (10-mile) Garden Ring Road on Saturday night.

They displayed pictures of Putin -- looking youthful and wearing sunglasses that played up his strongman credentials -- and floated Russian flags from their cars in an event the city police said drew 2,000 vehicles.

"With Putin driving, everything will go smoothly," one sign said.

"Putin in the driver's seat," said another slogan stamped on hundreds of cars.

State news reports said some of the participants blasted Louis Armstrong's "Blueberry Hill" in commemoration of Putin's surprise performance of the jazz classic at a charity event two years ago.

At least 50,000 people attended rallies in support of Putin across Russia on Saturday in advance of a mass demonstration called for Thursday in Moscow on Defenders of the Fatherland Day.

The opposition for its part intends to create a human chain around the Garden Ring next Sunday.

Source: Bangkok Post.
Link: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/280578/motorists-to-circle-moscow-in-anti-putin-protest.

Latvians reject Russian as national language

February 19, 2012 — RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Latvian voters resoundingly rejected a proposal to give official status to Russian, the mother tongue of their former Soviet occupiers, though the referendum defeated Saturday is expected to leave scars on an already divided society.

Russian is the first language for about one-third of the Baltic country's 2.1 million people, and many of them would like to accord official status to the language to reverse what they claim has been 20 years of discrimination.

But for ethnic Latvians, the referendum was a brazen attempt to encroach on Latvia's independence, which was restored two decades ago after a half-century of occupation by the Soviet Union following World War II.

Many Latvians still consider Russian — the lingua franca of the Soviet Union — as the language of the former occupiers. They also harbor deep mistrust toward Russia and worry that Moscow attempts to wield influence in Latvia through the ethnic Russian minority.

"Latvia is the only place throughout the world where Latvian is spoken, so we have to protect it," said Martins Dzerve, 37, in Riga, Latvia's capital. "But Russian is everywhere." With over 93 percent of ballots counted, 75 percent of voters said they were against Russian as a national language, according to the Central Election Commission results.

However, in the eastern region of Latgale, which straddles the border with Russia, a majority of voters approved changing the constitution to make Russian a national language. The region is Latvia's poorest and has a high percentage of ethnic Russians and other minorities.

"Society is divided into two classes — one half has full rights, and the other half's rights are violated," said Aleksejs Yevdokimovs, 36. "The Latvian half always employs a presumption of guilt toward the Russian half, so that we have to prove things that shouldn't need to be proven," he said.

The referendum sparked high voter participation, with more than 70 percent of registered voters casting ballots — considerably higher more than in previous elections and referendums. Long lines were seen at many precincts both in Latvia and abroad, with voters in London reportedly braving a three-hour wait.

In Chicago, Mara Varpa, 57, said she voted against the proposal since Latvian is an integral part of the national identity and should therefore remain the sole official language. "I don't think there should have been a referendum to begin with because it's already in the constitution, but since there was I had to vote," Varpa said.

Though the Russians who spearheaded the referendum admitted they had no chance at winning the plebiscite, they at least hope the approximate 25 percent of support will force Latvia's center-right government to begin a dialogue with national minorities.

Hundreds of thousands of Russians, Belorussians and Ukrainians moved to Latvia and the neighboring Baltic republics during the population transfers of the Soviet regime. Many of them never learned Latvian and were denied citizenship when Latvia regained independence, meaning they don't have the right to vote or work in government.

According to the current law, anyone who moved to Latvia during the Soviet occupation, or was born to parents who moved there, is considered a noncitizen and must pass the Latvian language exam in order to become a citizen.

There are approximately 300,000 noncitizens in Latvia. Politicians and analysts said the plebiscite will widen the schism in society and that the government will have to undertake serious efforts to consolidate the country's two groups.

Many fear the disgruntled minority will keep up the pressure by calling for more referendums to change Latvia's constitution for minorities' benefit.

Associated Press writer Tim Jacobs in Chicago contributed to this report.

Iran shows of military prowess go on: Warships enter Mediterranean

2012-02-18

By Mohammad Davari - TEHRAN

Iranian warships entered the Mediterranean after crossing the Suez Canal on Saturday to show Tehran's "might" to regional states, the navy commander said, at a time of simmering tensions with Israel.

In Jerusalem, the foreign ministry said Israel will be watching the ship's movements closely to ensure they do not approach its coast.

"The strategic navy of the Islamic Republic of Iran has passed through the Suez Canal for the second time since the (1979) Islamic Revolution," Admiral Habibollah Sayari said in remarks quoted by the official IRNA news agency.

He did not say how many vessels had crossed the canal, or what missions they were planning to carry out in the Mediterranean, but said the flotilla had previously docked in the Saudi port city of Jeddah.

Two Iranian ships, the destroyer Shahid Qandi and supply vessel Kharg, had docked in the Red Sea port on February 4, according to Iranian media.

Sayari said the naval deployment to the Mediterranean would show "the might" of the Islamic republic to regional countries, and also convey Tehran's "message of peace and friendship."

The first Iranian presence in the Mediterranean in February 2011 provoked strong reactions from Israel and the United States, with Israel putting its navy on alert.

During the 2011 deployment, two Iranian vessels, a destroyer and a supply ship, sailed past the coast of Israel and docked at the port of Latakia in allied Syria before returning to Iran via the Red Sea.

The latest announcement comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and Israel, fueled by a longstanding dispute over Tehran's nuclear program and rising speculation that Israel might launch pre-emptive strikes against Iranian facilities.

Israeli officials are also accusing Tehran of orchestrating anti-Israeli bombings in India and Georgia as well as blasts in Thailand. Iran denies the allegations.

Israeli leaders has denounced the naval deployment as a "provocation" and a "powerplay."

And on Saturday, an official of the Israeli foreign ministry said without elaborating that "we will closely follow the movement of the two ships to confirm that they do not approach the Israeli coast."

Iran's navy has been boosting its presence in international waters in the past two years, deploying vessels to the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden on missions to protect Iranian ships from Somali pirates.

And Iran sent submarines to the Red Sea last June to "collect data," its first such mission in distant waters, while its naval commanders say they plan on deploying ships close to US territorial waters in the future.

Iranian naval forces are composed of small units, including speedboats equipped with missiles, which operate in the Gulf and are under the command of the elite Revolutionary Guards.

The navy, using small frigates, destroyers, and three Russian-made Kilo class submarines, oversees high seas missions in the Gulf of Oman and Gulf of Aden.

It now permanently has at least two vessels in those areas to escort merchant ships, and has been involved in more than 100 confrontations with armed pirates, according to the navy commander in December.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=50710.

Algeria elections: 'Hoax' or 'path to democratic change'?

2012-02-18

ALGIERS – A secular party in Algeria has announced it will boycott elections in May. Rally for Culture and Democracy party chief Said Saadi said Friday the elections would be a "hoax" and the assembly chosen could just be dissolved by the new president set to be elected in 2014.

The party's power base is the ethnically Berber Tizi-Ouzou region east of the capital. It boycotted elections in 2002, but ran in 2007, gaining 19 seats in the 390-person assembly and 3.36 percent of the vote.

Meanwhile, Ali Laskri, general secretary of the Socialist Forces Front said upcoming elections may spark real change in Algeria, as political figures came forward to launch parties after the relaxing of laws in the wake of the Arab Spring.

"It is not too late that (the elections) become a path to democratic change and towards a more transparent institutional framework, more predictable and reassuring," said Laskri, a longtime dissident party in Algeria.

Laskri spoke at the party's national convention set to debate participation in the May 10 legislative elections, a question facing many of Algeria's political movements, some only just created.

Political figures, including several former ministers, have scrambled to create parties after the regime, dominated by the National Liberation Front, or FLN, freed up political laws in response to the protest movement that has swept the Arab world.

Seventeen new parties have been authorized to hold their first congresses under a new law passed last month following reforms announced by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Ex-Industry Minister Abdelmadjid Menasra announced the creation of a new Islamist party on Friday while former Health Minister Amara Benyounes announced his secularist party would participate in the May poll.

"We are going to contribute to change Algerians yearn for and offer hope to the young," Menasra said at the launch of his party, the Change Front.

The Socialist Forces boycotted the last two legislative elections in 2002 and 2007 and opposition parties have repeatedly denounced fraud by the FLN ever since the introduction of a multi-party system in 1989.

The current parliament is dominated by the FLN, which has played a key role in Algerian politics since it led the way to independence from France in 1962.

Algeria is a major oil and gas producer, a sector that accounts for almost all of its foreign earnings.

Other sectors of the economy are underdeveloped, however, and youth unemployment was running at 21 percent last year, according to the World Bank.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=50713.

Yemen separatists urge 'civil disobedience' to disrupt poll

2012-02-18

ADEN (Yemen) - A faction of Yemen's separatist Southern Movement on Saturday called for a day of "civil disobedience" to disrupt next week's presidential election.

The Higher Council of the Peaceful Movement for the Liberation of the South, in a statement, called on its supporters to "take every possible peaceful action" against Tuesday's election to prevent it going ahead.

The group is one of several factions that make up a broader separatist coalition known as the Southern Movement that seek autonomy, and in some cases, independence, from the central government in Sanaa.

The Southern Movement opposes the election and has repeatedly called on its supporters to boycott the poll.

The Higher Council warned that election day could turn violent and that their supporters would try to prevent voters from casting their ballots at polling stations in the former South Yemen.

"The Southern Movement will prevent the elections using peaceful means but we expect some violent actions may take place, especially in the big cities," the Higher Council's vice president, Saleh Yahia Said, said.

Witnesses say posters have been plastered throughout the streets and on buildings in Yemen's southern port city of Aden calling for a boycott.

"No to elections, yes to cessation" said one poster. "Ensuring the failure of the elections is a national and religious duty," reads another.

On Friday, southern militants opposed to the election exchanged fire with police outside a polling station, leaving three civilians wounded, residents said.

Under a Gulf-sponsored accord signed in November, Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi will stand as the sole candidate to replace embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Saleh agreed to a power-transition deal after months of mass protests demanding his ouster.

The violence and political deadlock that engulfed Yemen since last January has left hundreds dead and thousands more wounded. It has also crippled Yemen's already weak economy and pushed millions of Yemenis further into poverty.

Shiite rebels in northern Yemen have also called on their followers to boycott the election.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=50721.

Protest fever reaches Damascus: Syrians call for 'new phase' in resistance

2012-02-18

DAMASCUS - Embattled Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's forces unleashed their heaviest pounding yet of the central protest city of Homs, monitors said, as thousands rallied for his ouster.

The protesters emerged from mosques after the main weekly Muslim prayers on Friday, including in Damascus, following a call by Internet-based activists for a rally for a "new phase of popular resistance."

"Get out! Get out!" they chanted at gatherings across the unrest-swept country, according to YouTube videos.

"We want revenge against Bashar and Maher," some shouted, in reference to the president's brother, who heads the feared Fourth Armored Division.

Activists said the scattered protests were among the most widespread in Damascus of the 11-month uprising against the Assad regime inspired by the Arab “awakening”.

The protesters turned out after the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly backed an Arab League initiative calling on Assad to step aside, and ahead of a visit by a Chinese envoy pushing for peace.

Assad, in remarks to visiting Mauritanian Prime Minister Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf, said reforms have to be synchronized with a "return to peace".

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 26 people were killed on Friday, one of them at a demonstration that was fired upon in the capital.

At least 10,000 people demonstrated in the southern town of Dael, in Daraa province, where the protest movement was born in March 2011, said the Britain-based monitor.

In Homs, rockets crashed into strongholds of resistance at the rate of four a minute, according to an activist, who warned the city faces a humanitarian crisis.

Thirteen of the dead were in the Homs district of Baba Amr.

"It's the most violent in 14 days. It's unbelievable -- extreme violence the like of which we have never seen before," said Hadi Abdullah of the General Commission of the Syrian Revolution.

"There are thousands of people isolated in Homs ... There are neighborhoods that we know nothing about. I myself do not know if my parents are okay," he said by telephone.

A tank fired into a residential part of Homs, before bursts of machinegun fire clattered across the neighborhood, a YouTube video showed.

Swedish mobile live video streaming site Bambuser said Friday its services had been blocked in Syria shortly after a user had broadcast a bombing in Homs.

"Dictators don't like Bambuser," company chairman Hans Eriksson said, adding it appeared Assad's regime saw the site as a "major threat."

Human rights groups estimated the two-week assault on Homs has killed almost 400 people, and a medic reached on Skype said 1,800 have been wounded.

"There are injuries that cannot be treated because of a lack of medical equipment," Dr Ali al-Hazzuri said.

The violence came as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hailed an "overwhelming international consensus" against Damascus after the UN General Assembly voted on Thursday to demand an immediate halt to the crackdown.

The strongly worded resolution, adopted by a 137-12 vote, calls on Damascus "to stop all violence or reprisals immediately, in accordance with the League of Arab States initiative."

It was referring to a peace plan put forward by the pan-Arab bloc calling on Assad to hand power over to his deputy and for the formation of a unity government ahead of elections.

Russia, China and Iran opposed the non-binding resolution. The vote came just days after Beijing and Moscow vetoed a similar resolution at the UN Security Council.

The vote "demonstrated an overwhelming international consensus that the bloody assaults must end," Clinton said at a press conference with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

"In the face of this global condemnation, the regime in Damascus, however, appears to be escalating its assaults on civilians, and those who are suffering cannot get access to the humanitarian assistance they need and deserve," she said.

"So we will keep working to pressure and isolate the regime, to support the opposition and to provide relief to the people of Syria."

France and Britain pledged to help the opposition in its struggle against Assad's regime but said conditions were not right for a foreign intervention, as in Libya.

Meeting for a summit in Paris, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron expressed support for a conference to form an international coalition in Tunis next week dubbed the Friends of Syria.

"We cannot accept that a dictator massacre his own people, but the revolution will not be brought from outside, it will rise from inside Syria, as it has done elsewhere," Sarkozy told a joint news conference.

"What is happening in Syria is appalling, for the government to be butchering and murdering its own people," Cameron said.

The two said France and Britain were working together to help the opposition, with Sarkozy urging anti-Assad forces to unite and be better organized.

Meanwhile EU foreign policy chief Ashton denounced the arrest of blogger Razan Ghazzawi, rights campaigner Mazen Darwish and several other Syrian activists, calling for their immediate release.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=50709.

Bahraini forces kill 85-year-old man

Sat Feb 18, 2012

Bahrain’s opposition has announced that an 85-year-old man has been killed by regime forces in the kingdom’s northeastern city of Sitra.

The victim died of inhaling poisonous tear gas fired by troops during attacks on Sitra.

The people of Sitra held a funeral ceremony for the 85-year old Mansour Salman on Saturday.

The death is the latest among scores caused by regime forces since rallies began last February.

In the village of Dair, clashes have erupted between anti-regime protesters and Bahraini forces which used tear gas and sound bullets to disperse protesters.

Despite the ongoing crackdown, demonstrations have escalated in the kingdom, demanding freedom and the ouster of the Al Khalifa regime.

Several hundred of people have been detained and many more have lost their jobs for taking part in anti-regime protests.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/227327.html.

Senegal police attack anti-Wade rally

Sat Feb 18, 2012

Senegalese riot police have attacked opposition activists protesting against President Abdoulaye Wade's bid for a third-term in office.

Riot police fired volleys of tear gas at protesters, who were calling for the departure of the 85-year-old leader on Friday in downtown Dakar.

Police also used grenade launchers to throw tear gas down a wide boulevard in Dakar, hitting a mosque full of worshipers.

Burning tires, debris and rocks filled the streets surrounding Independence Square as police on trucks and on foot chased protesters to prevent them from assembling.

An opposition leader blasted the police violence and called for another demonstration on Saturday.

The activists, who staged the protest in defiance of a government ban, are a part of the June 23 Movement (M23) of opposition and civil society groups that are opposed to Wade's candidacy.

The protesters held their arms up in an X, a symbol used by the opposition activists to indicate the bound hands of the people.

There are fears in Senegal that there may be unrest if Wade is declared the winner of the vote. He has said that he hopes to win a clear majority.

Tensions escalated in Senegal on January 27 after the Constitutional Council, appointed by Wade and known as the “five wise men”, gave the president the green light to run in the February 26 election.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/227264.html.

Fireworks as Libya celebrates uprising, but also tension

Feb 17, 2012

Benghazi, Libya - Thousands of Libyans gathered in the eastern city of Benghazi, waving flags and cheering as they celebrated the first anniversary of the uprising that ousted late leader Moamer Gaddafi.

But there was also tension as 25 people were wounded in clashes between government forces and gunmen loyal to Gaddafi.

Benghazi however was the center of the celebrations as the birthplace of the opposition protests against Gaddafi last year. Those protests spread into a country-wide armed conflict that ended with his capture and death in October.

Libyans made a 17-kilometer long flag, to commemorate the February 17 uprising, and carried it through the coastal city as they set off fireworks.

The interim government said there would be no official celebrations, out of respect to the families of the thousands killed in the conflict. But people took to the streets singing and cheering throughout the day, and were expected to continue well into the night.

In the capital Tripoli, the new red, black and green national flags were flying over the Martyrs Square as nationalistic music was played throughout the day.

Earlier on Friday, authorities in Benghazi seized around 75 rockets believed to have been prepared for attacks on the celebrations, broadcaster Al Arabiya reported. A group of people were also detained in Benghazi for carrying Gaddafi portraits.

The news came as Libyan authorities tightened security across the country for fear that Gaddafi loyalists would mount terror attacks to mar Friday's festivities.

The head of the interim ruling National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, vowed in a televised address late Thursday to quash attempts to destabilize Libya.

Gaddafi, who ruled the North African country for 42 years, was captured and killed in his hometown Sirte in October, after a violent eight-month conflict with his opponents.

Prime Minister Abdul-Rahim al-Kieb has toured several eastern cities this week, along with other officials, to take the pulse of the country and ask people about their needs and demands in the country's new era.

They were told that security remained the top priority, followed by reconstruction of the country and its institutions as well as help for families of martyrs.

In the south-eastern town of Kufra, clashes erupted between government forces and gunmen loyal to Gaddafi. Witnesses said that 25 people, including women, were wounded and taken to Benghazi for treatment.

Libya has witnessed periodic clashes between former rebel forces who back the interim ruling National Transitional Council and Gaddafi loyalists.

The National Transitional Council is under intense pressure to speed up implementation of economic, social and security reforms.

Another key challenge for the country's interim government has been disarming former rebel fighters and attempting to reintegrate them into society or the national security forces, as many Libyans were given weapons during the eight-month rebellion against Gaddafi.

In Washington, the United States congratulated the people of Libya on the anniversary and saluted the 'peaceful protesters in cities from Benghazi to Tripoli' who brought down the dictatorship.

'Through their courage and great sacrifice, and with the support of the United States and an international coalition, the Libyan people defeated a brutal regime and won their freedom,' White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement.

Source: Monsters and Critics.
Link: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/africa/news/article_1691720.php/Fireworks-as-Libya-celebrates-uprising-but-also-tension.

Police clamp down on satellite TV users ahead of election

Feb 18, 2012

Tehran - Police in Iran on Saturday forcefully removed satellite television dishes in northern Tehran, as part of what is seen as an ongoing clampdown on illegal broadcasters ahead of elections.

'Police came, broke the door to the roof and removed all satellite dishes and all other relevant equipments,' said a housekeeper in the district of Shemiran said.

The main target of the clampdown appears to be Persian news programs from abroad which authorities accuse of broadcasting 'anti-revolutionary programs.'

Iran is to hold parliamentary elections on March 2.

Parliament banned the use of satellite equipment some 16 years ago. However, many Iranians still subscribe and camouflage satellite dishes as air conditioners on rooftops.

Police in Tehran have repeatedly warned that reception of satellite programs was a 'clear legal offense' and advised the capital's residents to dismantle equipment.

Critics of the ban say the forceful effort to block access to information and entertainment is futile.

Source: Monsters and Critics.
Link: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/news/article_1691762.php/Police-clamp-down-on-satellite-TV-users-ahead-of-election.

Syrian forces fire on funeral, killing at least two people

Feb 18, 2012

Beirut - At least two people were killed when Syrian government forces fired on a crowd during a funeral procession in the capital Damascus on Saturday, opposition activists said.

'The funeral was being held in the Mezzeh area (in Damascus) for three people who had been killed the day before in a crackdown on anti-regime protests,' the Syrian activist Munzer Abdullah told dpa.

Source: Monsters and Critics.
Link: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/news/article_1691769.php/Syrian-forces-fire-on-funeral-killing-at-least-two-people.

Palestinians rally to support hunger striker in Israeli jail

Sat Feb 18, 2012

Thousands of Palestinians have held demonstrations in Gaza and the West Bank to express solidarity with a Palestinian prisoner who has been on hunger strike for more than two months.

Members of all Palestinian movements attended the demonstration which began at the Al-Omari Mosque in Gaza City after Friday Prayers and ended at the headquarters of the Red Cross.

Demonstrators chanted slogans such as "We are all Khader Adnan" to express their support for the hunger striker.

"The Palestinian people, with all its components and its factions, will never abandon the hero prisoners, especially those who lead this hunger strike struggle," said Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who participated in the demonstration in Gaza.

"In his hunger strike, Khader Adnan is not fighting for a personal cause, but for the defense of thousands of prisoners," said Nafez Azzam, a Gaza leader of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Palestinians also demonstrated in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, while Palestinian officials said many other prisoners in Israeli jails had started hunger strikes in support of Adnan.

Thirty-three-year-old Khader Adnan is being held without charge or trial in what Israel calls “administrative detention.”

The prisoner started the open-ended hunger strike a day after his arrest 64 days ago to protest against his detention as a violation of his basic rights and to highlight abuse and humiliating treatment during his arrest and interrogation.

According to a medical report issued on Thursday, he is "in immediate danger of death.”

Last week, an Israeli military court rejected an appeal against the detention, stating that Adnan had to remain in jail until May 8, 2012.

He was reportedly beaten by Israeli forces and sustained injuries when they raided his home outside the city of Jenin in the north of the occupied West Bank.

According to Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics and prisoner advocacy groups, there are currently over 6,000 Palestinian prisoners, including legislators, in Israeli jails, many of whom have been rounded up without charge or trial. Independent sources put the number of the inmates at 11,000.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/227279.html.

Jordanian protesters call for reforms, ouster of prime minister

Sat Feb 18, 2012

Jordanian people have staged protest rallies across the country, calling for political and economic reforms, constitutional amendment and resignation of Prime Minister Awn Al-Khasawneh.

Protesters took to streets in several cities including Karak, Tafileh, Salt, Ma’an and Irbid after Friday prayers.

Citizens of Tafileh demanded the implementation of reforms promised by the government.

In Karak, hundreds of demonstrators urged the government to end the mounting “security pressures” on Jordanian people and protesters.

Chanting anti-government slogans, protesters in Tafileh announced their support for a nationwide strike by Jordanian teachers who demand better pay and full annual bonuses.

Most of the country's 1.4 million public schoolchildren are staying at home as a majority of the nearly 120,000 teachers have kept away from the kingdom's 3,370 public schools since early February.

Jordanians have been holding street protests since January 2011, demanding political reforms, including the election of the prime minister by popular vote and an end to corruption.

Since the beginning of protest rallies, Jordanian ruler King Abdullah II has sacked two prime ministers in a bid to avoid more protests. Khasawneh, a judge at International Court of Justice, became Jordan's third premier this year.

The king has also amended 42 articles in the 60-year-old constitution, giving parliament a stronger role in decision-making but the changes have failed to convince people.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/227280.html.

Occupy Wall Street a Super PAC Now

By Alex Johnston
February 16, 2012

The Occupy Wall Street movement now has a super political action committee (PAC), which is an organization that campaigns for or against candidates, initiatives, or legislation.

John Paul Thornton of Decatur, Ala., made the filing to the Federal Election Commission, which accepted his bid, which is called “Occupy PAC,” according to the filed papers. The mailing address for the PAC is “none and everywhere” and in the city registration section, it says, “all of them.”

Thornton told CBS Atlanta that he was “watching [‘The Colbert Report’] and I thought, ‘Wouldn’t be nice if Occupy had a PAC,’ and … like a light bulb it came to me!”

“This PAC is for everyone and if they want to contribute they are more than welcome,” Thornton said. “This is going to be uber-transparent down to the cent.”

Thornton said the filing is “utterly serious,” according to The Atlantic Wire.

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/united-states/occupy-wall-street-a-super-pac-now-192156.html.

China to do first manned space docking

BEIJING, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- The three astronauts on Beijing's next space mission will carry out China's first manned docking to a prototype space station, China's space agency said Friday.

The Shenzhou 9 spacecraft -- part of the Shenzhou manned spaceflight initiative that put China's first citizen in orbit in October 2003 -- will lift off for the Tiangong-1 experimental space station between June and August, the China National Space Administration said.

After docking, the astronauts will live and work in the space lab, conducting science experiments, said the agency, cited by the state Xinhua News Agency.

The Tiangong-1 lab was launched Sept. 29, 2011, followed by China's first unmanned space docking by the Shenzhou 8 spacecraft Nov. 3, 2011.

Tiangong-1 is expected to be "deorbited" next year, replaced by larger Tiangong-2 and Tiangong-3 modules, the space agency said.

China plans to build and launch a habitable space station made entirely in China around 2020, the space agency said.

The Chinese space station is planned as independent of the larger International Space Station. China is not an ISS partner, and no Chinese nationals have been aboard.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2012/02/17/China-to-do-first-manned-space-docking/UPI-93641329505059/.