Somalia to Get 1 Million Kids Into School to Help End Poverty and Instability

by Katy Migiro
6 September 2013

Somalia, taking advantage of improved security, is launching an ambitious campaign on Sunday to get one million children into school in the next three years.

Fewer children attend school in Somalia than almost anywhere else in the world. Only 36 percent of girls and 45 percent of boys enroll in primary school, far fewer in the war-torn south and central regions.

"There has never been a more opportune time during the last two decades than now, to act on behalf of Somali children," the United Nations children's fund (Unicef) said in a statement.

Somalia's federal government, with the backing of African Union peacekeepers, has extended its control across southern and central Somalia over the last year. It has pushed the al Qaeda-linked Islamist rebel group al Shabaab out of several major towns in the region, increasing access for aid agencies.

This has "opened up a rare window of opportunity" to revive education in the country, Unicef said.

It will spend $117 million on school reconstruction, teacher training and salaries, textbooks and support to education ministries in Somalia and the semi-autonomous northern regions of Somaliland and Puntland.

Some 4.4 million Somali children never attend school, out of a total population of 9.2 million people.

Around 67 percent of Somali youths are unemployed, one of the highest rates in the world. Mass illiteracy and unemployment has deprived a generation of hope and left many vulnerable to radicalization.

"Education will be the foundation of a new Somalia," Somali Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon said at a national education conference in Mogadishu in June. "My government will give education the same priority as defense and security."

Education is key to pulling Somalia out of crisis. It can give young people skills to become productive members of society, rather than joining militias, and knowledge to improve their health and wellbeing.

"Without a stable path to education, the cycle of poverty and instability will extend beyond generations," Unicef said.

Somalia has been in conflict for two decades with no single entity ever fully in control. Despite the African peacekeepers' success in securing urban centers, the rebels still control much of the countryside.

Source: allAfrica.
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/201309090559.html.

Rohingya kids in Myanmar: hard labor, bleak lives

October 16, 2013

MAUNGDAW, Myanmar (AP) — The 10-year-old struggles up the hill, carrying buckets filled with rocks. Though he tries to keep a brave face in front of his friends, his eyes brim with tears. Every inch of his body aches, he says, and he feels sick and dizzy from the weight.

"I hate it," whispers Anwar Sardad. He has to help support his family, but he wishes there was a way other than working for the government construction agency. He adds, "I wouldn't have to live this life if I wasn't a Muslim."

The lives of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya children like Anwar are growing more hopeless in Myanmar, even as the predominantly Buddhist nation of 60 million wins praise for ending decades of dictatorship.

Muslim victims say Myanmar police aided attackers

October 06, 2013

THANDWE, Myanmar (AP) — Even as the president came to western Myanmar to urge an end to Buddhist violence last week, security forces could not prevent Buddhist mobs from torching the homes of minority Muslims or hacking them to death, at times, unwittingly, even encouraging them.

That has raised questions about the government's ability to quench a virulent strain of religious hatred blamed for the deaths of more than 240 people in the last 18 months. Five Muslims were killed in the attack Tuesday in Thandwe township, just hours before President Thein Sein touched down for a scheduled visit.

He promised an immediate investigation and, with uncharacteristic speed, state-run media by Saturday night said 44 suspects had been arrested, though few other details were released. Still, as soldiers walked the dusty streets in the hardest-hit village of Thabyuchaing, semi-automatics slung across their shoulders, Myint Aung and other Muslims residents were afraid.

They said authorities had plenty of opportunities to prevent a series of attacks Tuesday, each more brutal than the next, but did nothing. More than 110 homes were burned to the ground, and nearly 500 people were left homeless.

Initially, the Buddhist mobs numbering about 150 entered before dawn, setting one house on fire, but Muslim residents were able to push them back, said the 52-year-old, standing before a charred mosque and several homes.

Police detained three suspects soon after, but released them almost immediately following threats of more violence, he said. Though police promised the Muslims villagers protection — and disarmed them and ordered them back into their homes — the mobs returned in even greater numbers at 9:30 a.m., and then again at 2:30 p.m.

Among the dead were a 94-year-old woman and an 89-year-old man, both too old to run, each with multiple stab wounds. "We had no way to protect ourselves" said Win Myint, 51, another resident, standing in front of his demolished home, echoing complaints heard by victims in other attacks across the state.

"And the police did nothing. They just looked on. Now everyone is living in fear now." In an interview with Associated Press in New York, Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin denied the charges that law enforcement or government troops failed to take necessary action.

There was more Buddhist violence in Myanmar late Saturday, this time in the southern delta region, with police and residents saying Buddhist mobs destroyed a pair of Muslim homes. It was the first time Buddhist unrest was reported in the area since the violence started in June 2012.

The violence in the town of Kyaunggon, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of the main city of Yangon, came after news spread that a 14-year-old girl had allegedly been raped by a Muslim man. Kyaunggon resident Myint Soe said mobs destroyed the rape suspect's home, as well as the home of another Muslim man elsewhere in the town. Police confirmed the violence and said Kyauggon was calm Sunday.

Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist nation of 60 million, is undergoing a mind-boggling political transformation after a half-century of brutal military rule. But greater freedoms of expression have had a dark side, exposing deep-seated hatred toward Muslims that, fueled by radical monks, have ignited attacks first in western Rakhine state and then from Meikhtila in the country's center to Lashio near the Chinese border.

Under the new democratization, a poorly trained and ill-equipped police force — made up almost exclusively of Buddhists — is now tasked with dealing with Buddhist violence, the army only stepping in at the invitation of civilian authorities or during states of emergency.

The results, on many occasions, have been disastrous. "From the facts as presented, it appears the police failed to do their job properly," said Jim Della-Giacoma, the Asia program director for the International Crisis Group, a research organization.

"But it is not just the authorities fault here," he said. "The community is being riled up by extremists. There is no justification for such violence." Tensions started to build in Thandwe one week ago, when a Buddhist taxi driver accused a Muslim shop owner of being abusive over a parking space dispute.

Several houses were burned or damaged in the hours that followed, and by Tuesday the anger exploded into mass violence. Thein Sein was quoted by state media as saying he was "suspicious of the motives" of those who turned a "trivial argument and ordinary crime into racial and religious clashes."

"According to the evidence in hand, rioters who set fire to the villages are outsiders," he said. "Participation of all is needed to expose and arrest those who were involved in the incident and those instigating the conflict behind the scene."

"Action will be taken in accordance with the law, without discrimination on the grounds of race and religion," he said. In what appeared to be rare criticism of "969," a state media report said some organizations had distributed religious flags that were hung in front of thousands of Buddhist-owned homes and shops.

A Buddhist-led campaign, "969" has taken root nationwide with its supporters urging Buddhists to shop only at Buddhist stores and avoid marrying Muslims or selling homes to them. Billboards with the logo were seen lining the bumpy roads.

Muslims in and around Thandwe also blamed outsiders, saying they had existed peacefully side by side with Buddhists for generations and never imagined it could be otherwise. "Now, suddenly, anyone who believes in Islam is seen as the enemy," said U Win Myint, a 51-year-old member of the ethnic Kaman Muslim minority. "They are targeting us just for our beliefs."

Others specifically blamed 969 and "northern Rakhines." Zaw Lay Khar, 62, who lost her mother in the attack, described how mobs waving swords and knives came into the village. "There was nothing we could do but run," she said, adding that while the faces of the attackers were largely unfamiliar, she saw some Buddhist neighbors pointing out Muslim homes.

"I don't know how this happened," she said.

Myanmar hit by fresh round of Buddhist violence

October 01, 2013

THANDWE, Myanmar (AP) — Buddhist mobs killed a 94-year-old Muslim woman and torched more than 70 homes on Tuesday as Buddhist violence again gripped Myanmar's Rakhine state despite a visit by President Thein Sein, officials and residents said.

With attacks reported in several villages on the outskirts of Thandwe, where tensions have been mounting for days, the number of causalities could rise. More than 700 rioters, some swinging swords, took to the streets in Thabyuchaing, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of the coastal town, on Tuesday afternoon, police officer Kyaw Naing said.

An elderly Muslim woman died from stab wounds in the clashes that followed, the officer said, putting the number of houses set on fire at between 70 and 80. Smoldering buildings — and several injured Buddhist Rakhines — were seen by The Associated Press in Shwe Hlay. A police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity because he did not have authority to talk to the media, said Linthi also was hit by rioters.

Both villages are about 17 kilometers (10 miles) from Thandwe. The visit by Preisdent Thein Sein to the divided region was his first since Buddhist violence broke out more than a year ago. He arrived in the Rakhine state capital of Sittwe under tight security early Tuesday and was scheduled to travel to several more towns, including Maungdaw to the north and, on Wednesday, Thandwe to the south, said a senior official in the president's office, declining to be identified because he was not authorized to speak about the sensitive trip.

He said Thein Sein "is going there to help find a long-term solution to the problem" and would meet with government officials and residents. A heavy security presence failed to deter the attackers, however, with witnesses saying soldiers and police made no efforts to step in. A 6 p.m. curfew was imposed.

Buddhist violence that began in Rakhine in June 2012 have since morphed into an anti-Muslim campaign that has spread to towns and villages nationwide. So far, more than 240 people have been killed and more than 140,000 have fled their homes, the vast majority of them Muslims.

Thein Sein, who has been praised for making moves to transition from half a century of harsh military rule, has been criticized for failing to contain the unrest and protect the country's embattled Muslim minority.

Many of those targeted so far have been ethnic Rohingya Muslims, considered by many in the country to be illegal migrants from Bangladesh, though many of their families arrived generations ago. But in the latest flare-up, the victims were Kamans, another Muslim minority group, whose citizenship is recognized.

The trouble started Saturday, when a Buddhist taxi driver alleged he'd been verbally abused by a Muslim shop owner while trying to park his vehicle. Hours later, rocks were thrown at the man's home. And by Sunday, as anger spread, two houses owned by Muslims were burned to the ground.

The violence has proven to be a major challenge for Thein Sein's government, which rights groups say has done little to crack down on religious intolerance and failed to bridge a divide that has left hundreds of thousands of Muslims marginalized, many of them trapped in prison-like camps for those who have been displaced.

Initially confined to Rakhine state, Buddhist attacks have spread this year into Myanmar's heartland, ravaging several other cities across the country. At the same time, a Buddhist-led campaign called "969" has taken root nationwide. Its supporters urge Buddhists to shop only at Buddhist stores and avoid marrying, hiring or selling their homes or land to Muslims.

While radical monks have helped fuel the crisis, saying Muslims pose a threat to Buddhist culture and traditions, critics say a failure by the government and society as a whole to speak out is helping perpetuate the violence.

"Political, religious and community leaders need to condemn hate speech," Jim Della-Giacoma of the International Crisis Group said in a statement. "Those who are spreading messages of intolerance and hatred must not go unchallenged. Otherwise, this issue could come to define the new Myanmar, tarnishing its international image and threatening the success of its transition away from decades of authoritarianism," he said.

Muslims, who account for about 4 percent of Myanmar's roughly 60 million people, have been the main victims of the violence since it began. But most criminal trials have involved prosecutions of Muslims rather than members of the Buddhist majority.

Pakistan Taliban prison raid frees hundreds

30 Jul 2013

About 250 inmates escape in attack that also left 12 dead and eight injured in northwest city of Dera Ismail Khan.

Taliban fighters armed with mortars and grenades have attacked a prison in northwest Pakistan, escaping with about 250 prisoners after a gunfight with security forces, officials have said.

At least 12 people, including six police. were killed and eight others wounded in the assault, staged by fighters disguised in police uniforms, officials said.

The attack in the town of Dera Ismail Khan began late on Monday with a huge explosion, intelligence officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.

The fighters then detonated a series of smaller bombs to destroy the prison's boundary wall.

Security forces engaged the attackers, who were chanting "God is great" and "Long live the Taliban".

"Police and other law enforcing agencies are busy in clearing the jail," a senior government official Mushtaq Jadoon said, adding authorities have imposed a curfew in the city and asked residents to stay at home.

Pakistan's military confirmed that it had deployed forces to respond to the raid.

Al Jazeera's Imtiaz Tyab, reporting from the capital, Islamabad, said: "I would describe it [the attack] as extremely calculated."

Some of the Taliban fighters were using loudspeakers and calling the individual names of inmates to come out of the badly damaged prison, he said.

Officials have said that 40 to 45 so-called high-profile or high-value prisoners were freed, our correspondent added.

Taliban claim responsibility

Provincial prisons chief Khalid Abbas said the attackers escaped after a three-hour long gunfight with security forces.

"Security forces have entered the prison and cleared the building after which we have started counting prisoners with flashlights as there is no power in the prison and it is making our job difficult," Abbas told AFP news agency.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack, according to a spokesperson. The group said that "over 100 fighters" had attacked the prison.

The Taliban have been waging a deadly uprising against the government for years that has killed thousands of security personnel and civilians.

Dera Ismail Khan, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, is located on the edge of Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal area, the main sanctuary for Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters.

The jail, which housed about 5,000 prisoners, is near the bordering town of Tank and adjacent to volatile South Waziristan Agency, the main area of influence of the outlawed TTP.

In April 2012, Taliban fighters armed with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades battled their way into a prison in the city of Bannu in northwest Pakistan, freeing close to 400 prisoners, including at least 20 described by police as "very dangerous" fighters.

Source: al-Jazeera.
Link: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2013/07/2013729201057462974.html.

Turkey appoints new military commanders as government asserts control

Sat Aug 3, 2013
BY DAREN BUTLER

(Reuters) - Turkey appointed new military commanders on Saturday in an overhaul of its top ranks that underlined the government's control over armed forces which once dominated political life.

NATO's second largest army is facing multiple challenges as conflict in neighboring Syria spills across the border and a peace process with Kurdish militants looks increasingly fragile.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who chaired the Supreme Military Council meeting, has eroded the army's power since his Islamist-rooted AK Party first came to power in 2002. The secularist military staged three coups between 1960 and 1980 and pushed the first Islamist-led government out of office in 1997.

The council decides on promotions and retirements of top officers every year at its three-day August meeting and had been expected to make major changes at this week's gathering.

The forced retirement of paramilitary gendarme force commander General Bekir Kalyoncu, who had been the leading candidate to take over land forces, was the most unexpected of the Council's decisions.

Media reports said Ankara was opposed to Kalyoncu leading the country's land forces as he was regarded as a government critic and his name had cropped up in testimony in the trial of the alleged Ergenekon conspiracy against Erdogan's government. A verdict on that trial is scheduled for Monday.

Instead, General Hulusi Akar was given the job and, according to custom, would be expected to replace General Necdet Ozel as overall armed forces head in 2015.

The General Staff also announced on its website the appointment of Vice-Admiral Bulent Bostanoglu as commander of the navy, Lieutenant General Akin Ozturk as head of the air force and General Servet Yoruk as commander of the gendarme.

The Council's decisions were announced after approval by President Abdullah Gul.

Two years ago, a major upheaval in the military - when the chief of staff and three other generals quit - allowed Erdogan to install a chief of staff of his choice, General Ozel, and relations between government and military have since improved.

A series of judicial investigations of military officers have undermined morale in the Turkish armed forces in recent years.

Last September, a Turkish court sentenced more than 300 military officers to jail for plotting to overthrow Erdogan almost a decade ago in the so-called Sledgehammer plot.

Among defendants facing a verdict in the Ergenekon trial on Monday is retired General Ilker Basbug, chief of staff between 2008 to 2010, who is accused of being among the leaders of what was prosecutors say is a shadowy arch-nationalist group.

(Editing by Louise Ireland)

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/03/us-turkey-military-idUSBRE97206J20130803.

'I want justice': Islamist cleric threatens to boycott retrial in Jordan

2014-01-30

AMMAN - Islamist cleric Abu Qatada threatened on Thursday to boycott his retrial in Jordan on terror charges, demanding that the court respect a deal that led to his deportation from Britain.

"I asked you at the last hearing (January 16) to publicly declare your commitment to the agreement signed by Jordan. If you do not do that, I will boycott the trial and I will not deal with the court," Abu Qatada told judge Ahmad Tarawneh, who led a panel of three civilian judges at the military state security court.

Tarawneh said, without elaborating, that "the court is committed to the agreement" with Britain.

Palestinian-born preacher Abu Qatada was condemned to death in absentia in 1999 for conspiracy to carry out terror attacks, including on the American school in Amman.

However, the sentence was immediately commuted to life imprisonment with hard labor.

In 2000, he was sentenced in absentia to 15 years for plotting to attack tourists in Jordan during millennium celebrations, and videotapes of his sermons were allegedly found in the Hamburg flat of 9/11 ringleader Mohammed Atta.

Abu Qatada has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Britain expelled him last summer after Amman and London ratified a treaty guaranteeing that evidence obtained by torture would not be used in his retrial and that the proceedings would be transparent.

After his deportation, Abu Qatada was granted a retrial in line with Jordanian law, and military prosecutors charged him with conspiracy to carry out acts of terrorism.

If convicted, he could face a minimum of 15 years' hard labor.

On Thursday, at a hearing also attended by representatives from the US and French embassies, Human Rights Watch and other activists, he complained of delays.

"Procedures are taking too long. You must declare your commitment. Otherwise, I will leave it to the lawyers. I want justice," Abu Qatada said.

His lawyer Hussein Mobaidin said that "the period between each hearing should be shorter", but was not more specific.

The case was adjourned until February 13.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=63914.

Large rally in Spain to protest abortion law

February 01, 2014

MADRID (AP) — Tens of thousands of people marched to Spain's parliament on Saturday to protest the conservative government's new law that aims to restrict abortion, allowing the practice only in cases of rape or serious risk to health.

The rally was organized by dozens of women's groups and entities that fight for reproductive rights. Protesters carried banners saying, "Because I decide," ''Allow mothers to decide," and "Mothers and fathers in freedom."

The previous Socialist government made abortion before the 14th week widely legal. But the ruling Popular Party has long sided with the Roman Catholic Church on moral and social issues and made changing the law one of its main promises in the 2011 vote that brought it to power.

The law needs parliamentary approval where the Popular Party has a large majority. "I am fighting for the rights of our children because I am 60 years old already and this no longer affects me directly," protester Pilar Rubio said.

Cristina Bermejo, 31, said she felt the introduction of the new law would set Spanish society back 40 years. "In the rest of Europe, where previously many viewed us as an example of freedom and civil rights, now, they are questioning us, asking what on earth we are doing," Bermejo said.

A separate protest against Spain's new abortion law also took place near the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Among the protesters was Anne Hidalgo, Socialist candidate for mayor, and Inna Shevchenko of the Ukrainian branch of the feminist group Femen.

In Kiev's protest camp, determination strong

February 01, 2014

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — The clock over Kiev's protest encampment showed 4:40 a.m. and minus-19 C (minus-2 F). Despite the brutal conditions, Alexander Kravchuk laughed lightly about how he'd ended up standing guard at a first-aid point thrown together with tents and rough planks.

"I came here for a couple of days, and now it's two months," he said, his chin tucked into his thick coat's collar on Maidan Nezalezhnosti, or Independence Square, the focal point and symbol of Ukraine's opposition protests.

The 20-something Kravchuk was one of hundreds of true believers manning the tent camp in the dead of night, both committed to keeping the anti-government protest going until their demands are met and gripped by a larger sense of belonging they can't quite articulate.

"It's like a drug," said Lolita Avetsiyan, who travels an hour from her home on Kiev's fringes every night to help out at a field kitchen. Their firmness in the face of discomfort and constant worry of a violent police sweep have kept the protests going longer than many expected. Despite authorities' nominal concessions over the past week, the core protesters are unmoved.

Although the protests are rooted in the same issues as when they started in December, the mood is both darker and more determined. In the early weeks, thousands came to the square nightly for a spirited round-the-clock show of stirring political speeches, performances by the country's rock best bands that rattled windows into the wee hours and a chance to see friends, flirt and hang out. When squadrons of riot police streamed to the edge of the square about 1 a.m. one night, apparently preparing to break up the camp, there were so many demonstrators still out that they stood firm en masse and the police backed off a few hours later.

The crowds started dwindling, though the square — the center of Ukraine's Orange Revolution in 2004-2005 — could still draw tens of thousands on weekends. President Viktor Yanukovych, either impatient with the demonstration's persistence or sensing that the resolve was eroding, rammed through harsh anti-protest laws in mid-January. Days later, demonstrators launched clashes with police, pelting them with firebombs and stones. Three demonstrators died, two of them from gunshots.

The violence may have scared some away and a fierce cold spell surely caused others to stay away. But the core protesters, the ones who work the camp during the night, found their resolve hardened. "Those guys who were killed, they were killed for something," Avetsiyan said. "It's our one chance. If we give up now, we'll be slaves for the rest of our lives."

There's little live music on the square lately; often the only entertainment is old movies shown on a large screen next to the otherwise empty stage. And since the clashes, there's an edge to the encampment. Many of its denizens walk around with clubs and wear protective gear — including one who strode around with football pads over his heavy coat — and the demonstrators' own security detail at the tall barricades built of ice and lumber and scrap materials give long looks to everyone passing through.

Yet it is as oddly comfortable as it is unsettling. Wood stoves churn out smoke with an aroma redolent of camp-out vacations. Several Christmas trees, complete with lights, stand outside some of the hundred-odd tents. Volunteers circulate with trays of open-face sandwiches. What started as flimsy improvisation in the heat of the moment now has a strange air of permanence.

It's a true community, said Mykhailo Havrilyuk, a protester seen in online video last week being stripped naked and abused by police in clashes. "People here in Maidan meet more new people, make new friends, get together. Get married, and sleep around, so to speak," he said. "Life goes on, even here in these conditions."

For the committed, like Avetsiyan, it's almost as if life doesn't go on elsewhere. "We go home in the morning and try to get some sleep, but you can't even sleep because you're always thinking you want to do something," she said. Maidan for her was the reason to break with an unsatisfactory former life working as a baby-sitter for wealthy people.

Those people, she said "they think 'she's not our class.' They think there are only stupid people here." Kravchuk, the security guard at the first-aid station, wants to return to his hometown 200 kilometers (120 miles) southwest of Kiev.

"But only when there's victory," he said, shivering. "Maybe it can come today."

Vitnija Saldava in Kiev contributed to this story.

Serbia: 1,000 evacuated from snow-hit cars, buses

February 01, 2014

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Rescuers, army and police have evacuated more than 1,000 people from cars and buses stranded in deep snow in northern Serbia, but several hundred people still remain stuck, the government said Saturday.

Authorities have closed down snow-hit roads and banned river traffic on the Danube river because of strong winds, said the government statement. "The Serbian government is urging citizens not to travel until all danger is fully removed," the statement added.

Winter so far in Serbia had been exceptionally mild, but over the last week a cold spell and snowstorms have swept across parts of central and eastern Europe. Heavy snow in Bulgaria left dozens of villages without electricity and water and Romanian authorities declared a "code red" weather warning on Wednesday.

Emergency officials in Serbia reported that dozens of cars and two passenger trains remain stranded in the country's north, flat area where strong winds have been piling up snow drifts, cutting off villages and roads. By late Saturday, some roads were cleared and hundreds more people evacuated.

Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic — who is tipped to become the new prime minister after snap elections in March — toured the area with other government ministers. Vucic — who was filmed by state TV carrying a child through the storm — said there are about a dozen columns of cars still stranded.

Blic daily said tennis player Novak Djokovic also came to the rescue of the trapped people. Vlatko Jovicevic, one of the stranded travelers, told B92 Television and Radio Station that he has been stuck for more than 20 hours.

"I walked for two kilometers (miles) to get more fuel and some water," he said. "We are running out of fuel." Snow drifts in places are 3.5 meters high (11.5 feet high), prompting authorities to close the main border crossing with Hungary.

The state railway company said it would evacuate several dozen passengers stranded on two trains going to and from Hungary that were stuck because of snow on the tracks.

Golden Dawn chooses backup name in case of ban

February 01, 2014

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — If Golden Dawn is banned, the name National Dawn will do instead.

Ilias Kassidiaris, lawmaker and spokesman for the extreme right party, has announced the founding of National Dawn, a party that would serve as a way to circumvent a possible ban on Golden Dawn. "Patriots will have a party to vote for in the next election if (authorities) go ahead with the coup to ban Golden Dawn," he told a gathering of about 3,000 Golden Dawn supporters Saturday.

Kassidiaris was the keynote speaker at the Golden Dawn rally held to commemorate a 1996 incident which cost the lives of three navy officers and brought Greece and Turkey to the brink of war. Golden Dawn has been holding the rally for years at the monument dedicated to the three officers, in central Athens.

While the extreme rightists dispersed peacefully, there were scuffles between leftists staging a counter-rally at Syntagma Square, a few hundred meters away outside the Greek parliament. Police had banned both right and left extremists from marching through central Athens to prevent bloody clashes between the two. The scuffles broke out when the leftists spotted a man carrying a Greek flag, attacking and injuring him slightly.

Riot police used stun grenades and tear gas to disperse the crowd. The chase eventually ended at a subway station, where police again used tear gas amid protesting commuters and chased protesters through the tunnels. Protesters set fire to garbage cans and an ATM but the riot was short-lived. Police detained six persons and eventually arrested one.

Golden Dawn leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos, his deputy and four other lawmakers, a third of Golden Dawn's 18-member caucus in the 300-strong Greek parliament, are behind bars pending their trial for allegedly being part of a "criminal organization." Michaloliakos was arrested last September, days after a leftist rapper was murdered by an alleged Golden Dawn member.

A prosecutor's report called Golden Dawn a "criminal organization" that has engaged in attacks on people, some fatal, with migrants a favorite target. The report said Golden Dawn functioned as a top-down organization with a strict hierarchy, with Michaloliakos as a "fuehrer-like leader" who was aware of all criminal actions.

Since the arrest of Michaloliakos and his acolytes, there have been calls to ban the party and Saturday's move is a contingency response to provide a legal front in case of such a ban. "We will contest the elections, whatever happens. Greek patriots have founded National Dawn, which does not include the Golden Dawn 'murderers,'" Kassidiaris said with a heavy dose of irony, referring to his imprisoned colleagues. He himself is running for mayor of Athens in the May local elections, but also faces charges similar to those of the jailed lawmakers.

A formerly marginal group with neo-Nazi roots, Golden Dawn exploded in popularity amid Greece's financial crisis, a growing sense of insecurity and an expanding migrant presence. It entered Parliament for the first time in June 2012, as the No. 5 party, gaining 7 percent of the vote. Despite the jailing of its leaders, it consistently comes in third place in opinion polls, although its appeal has dropped back to single digits.

Associated Press journalists Vassilis Katsardis and Zacharias Ioannidis contributed to this report.

Syria becoming magnet for young French Muslims

February 01, 2014

PARIS (AP) — Two high school classmates, both French Muslims, headed off to Syria this month instead of going to school. They were located, brought home — one fetched by his father — and are now being investigated on terrorism-linked charges.

The unfolding drama of the teenagers, aged 15 and 16, highlights how Syria has become a magnet for a vulnerable fringe of young Muslims in the West. It is among a small wave of cases that are putting French authorities, and some families, on edge.

The bloody three-year-old conflict in Syria has drawn thousands of Muslims to join the ranks of battalions trying to topple the regime or other fighting groups looking to conquer the region in the name of Islam.

French authorities say that more than 600 French have gone to Syria, are plotting to go or have returned, and more than 20 French have been killed in fighting. As of mid-January, a dozen French adolescents were in Syria or in transit, according to authorities.

Many of the alleged would-be jihadis are clearly amateurs. "He's a victim. He's not a terrorist," said the father of the 15-year-old before his son was handed a preliminary charge linked to terrorism on Friday — a rare event for a minor. "He never touched a weapon," said the father, calling his son's trip "an error of youth."

As the boys from France's southern Toulouse region were questioned Friday by a judge Friday, the trial of three French Muslims caught heading to Syria was concluding in another wing of the Palace of Justice in Paris.

The three, ages 21 to 26, had made a long list of purchases, from camouflage hoods and vests to gun holsters and night vision goggles. But their trip in 2012 ended before they boarded the plane, aborted by their arrest at a French airport.

French intelligence is in close contact with western nations, from European neighbors to the U.S. and Australia, to try to spot would-be jihadis and track those who return and present a potential danger. French Interior Minister Manuel Valls plans to present a series of measures to President Francois Hollande in coming weeks aimed at stemming the tide of French Muslims to Syria.

France feels especially vulnerable. It has the largest Muslim population in western Europe, estimated at 5 million, and Syria, once under French rule, is familiar to some citizens. For Alain Chouet, a former intelligence director at France's DGSE spy agency, youth looking for a cause are attracted by Internet battle videos or recruitment forums, media attention and easy access from Turkey, a vacation destination for many French people. The western support for the Syrian National Coalition fighting Assad may have further legitimized Syria as a destination.

"It is considered a just cause (because of) the position of the French, Europeans and Americans," Chouet said. Not all would-be jihadis follow the ins and outs of the war, but "what people understand is that this revolution is just."

"There is a certain romanticism linked to armed warfare," Chouet said. Combine conviction and romanticism and "you give yourself an image boost." Two of the three young men on trial last week denied their goal was jihad, and all three said their intention was to film war widows and massacres of children. They bought much of their gear on sites for hiking and fishing.

Court testimony showed the three — two of whom live with their parents — were squabbling before their departure and their planning was erratic. One of the defendants, Fares Farsi, 21 but 19 at the time, refused to go by land because of possible car sickness.

"I don't see how I've been radicalized ...," as the charges claim, said another, Salah Eddine Gourmat, 24, in a final statement to the court. "It's like you're talking to someone from al-Qaida." The third defendant, Youssef Ettaoujar, 26, the only one held in prison, worked to convince the court that his numerous vacations in places like Mali and Syria were not aimed at making contacts with jihadis, and that the name of his 2 1/2-year-old daughter, "Jihad," did not reflect his intentions.

The prosecution is seeking three-to-six-year sentences for the defendants. The verdict was set for March 7. The cases — including the death this month in Syria of a 30-year-old man from Toulouse — has raised alarm bells in French households. Two mothers, in Nice and Avignon in southern France, whose children went missing have voiced fears they have taken off for Syria.

The father of the 15-year-old charged on Friday told a Toulouse newspaper this month that his son left the house the morning of Jan. 6 presumably to catch his bus for school, then called home late that evening to say "don't worry." He had used his father's bank card to buy two tickets to Turkey, for himself and his friend.

The father made two trips to the border area, and brought him home last Monday, a day after his friend returned. Christian Etelin, one of the lawyers for the 15-year-old, said the boy had crossed from Turkey to Syria on what was supposed to be a humanitarian mission, but "was placed in a camp of terrorists." He then left, the lawyer said.

The two teenagers were charged with criminal association in connection with a terrorist organization. If the charge is finalized after a full investigation, they would face up to 10 years in prison. The risk of a conviction, said Chouet, the former intelligence chief, "is to turn them into martyrs."

"I would not be very comfortable in the judge's seat," he said.

Former Bulgarian FM Appointed UN Envoy to Iraq

August 3, 2013, Saturday

Former Bulgarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikolay Mladenov has been appointed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as the organization's special envoy to Iraq.

This has been revealed by Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky.

Mladenov takes over the UN mission in Iraq from Germany's Martin Kobler.

The Bulgarian comes in in a situation of lasting instability within Iraq fueled by interfighting religious and ethnic groups, and intensified by the civil war in neighboring Syria.

Nikolay Mladenov served as Bulgaria's Minister of Foreign Affairs in the 2009-13 cabinet of former Bulgarian PM Boyko Borisov, initially serving for some months as Minister of Defense, before taking over Bulgaria's diplomatic service.

Source: Sofia News Agency.
Link: http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=152562.

Mexico legalizes vigilantes, nabs cartel leader

By E. EDUARDO CASTILLO and MARK STEVENSON
January 27, 2014

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico essentially legalized the country's growing "self-defense" groups Monday, while also announcing that security forces had captured one of the four top leaders of the Knights Templar drug cartel, which the vigilante groups have been fighting for the last year.

The government said it had reached an agreement with vigilante leaders to incorporate the armed civilian groups into old and largely forgotten quasi-military units called the Rural Defense Corps. Vigilante groups estimate their numbers at 20,000 men under arms.

The twin announcements may help the administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto find a way out of an embarrassing situation in the western state of Michoacan, where vigilantes began rising up last February against the Knights Templar reign of terror and extortion after police and troops failed to stop the abuses.

"The self-defense forces will become institutionalized, when they are integrated into the Rural Defense Corps," the Interior Department said in a statement. Police and soldiers already largely tolerate, and in some cases even work with, the vigilantes, many of whom are armed with assault rifles that civilians are not allowed to carry.

Vigilante leaders will have to submit a list of their members to the Defense Department, and the army will apparently oversee the groups, which the government said "will be temporary." They will be allowed to keep their weapons as long as they register them with the army.

The military will give the groups "all the means necessary for communications, operations and movement," according to the agreement.

The vigilante leaders, who include farmers, ranchers and some professionals, gathered Monday to discuss the agreement, but it was not yet clear for them what it would imply. It wasn't known if the army would offer anyone salaries.

Misael Gonzalez, a leader of the self-defense force in the town of Coalcoman, said leaders had accepted the government proposal. But the nuts-and-bolts "are still not well defined," he added. "We won't start working on the mechanisms until tomorrow."

Vigilante leader Hipolito Mora said in a television interview that the agreement also allows those who qualify to join local police forces. "The majority of us want to get into the police ... I never imagined myself dressed as a policeman, but the situation is driving me to put on a uniform."

Latin America has been bruised by experiences with quasi-military forces, with such tolerated or legally recognized groups being blamed for rights abuses in Guatemala and Colombia in the past.

While the cartel may be on its way out, "there shouldn't be abuses by those who come after, there shouldn't be what we would call a witch hunt; there should be reconciliation," said the Rev. Javier Cortes, part of a team of priests in the Roman Catholic diocese of Apatzingan who have publicly denounced abuses by the Knights Templar.

Before dawn on Monday, soldiers and police arrested one of the cartel's top leaders, Dionicio Loya Plancarte, alias "El Tio," or The Uncle. (The Interior Department spells his first name with an "s," but the Attorney General's Office and U.S. authorities spell it with a "c.")

National Public Safety System secretary Monte Rubido said the feared drug lord was arrested without a shot being fired. He said federal forces found Loya Plancarte in Morelia, the capital of Michoacan, "hiding in a closet" and accompanied only by 16-year-old boy.

The 58-year-old Loya Plancarte had a 30-million peso ($2.25 million) reward on his head from the Mexican government for drug, organized crime and money-laundering charges. He was considered one of the country's three dozen most-wanted drug lords in the late 2000s.

The Knights Templar ruled many parts of Michoacan with an iron fist, demanding extortion payments from businesses, farmers and workers, but the self-defense groups have gained ground against the cartel in recent months. Federal police and army troops were dispatched to bring peace to the troubled region, but the vigilantes have demanded the arrest of the cartel's major leaders before they lay down their guns.

Ramon Contreras, an activist in the vigilante movement from the town of La Ruana, which was the first to rise up against the Knights Templar, said the arrest "means a lot" to the vigilantes, but added that they won't rest until they see all the top bosses arrested.

Contreras voiced a common belief that the man who founded the cartel under the name La Familia Michoacana, Nazario Moreno, alias "El Chayo," is still alive, despite the government's statement in 2010 that he had been killed in a shootout with federal forces.

"He's still alive; there's proof he's still alive," Contreras said.

Loya Plancarte got his nickname, "The Uncle," because he is believed to be the uncle of another top Knights Templar leader, Enrique Plancarte Solis.

Loya Plancarte joined Plancarte Solis and Servando Gomez in forming the Knights Templar after the purported death of Nazario Moreno.

A local journalist from Michoacan recounted watching when Loya Plancarte led a sort of pilgrimage to a shrine erected to Nazario Moreno and had his assistants hand out 500-peso ($37) bills to people who attended.

Al-Jazeera America to hit airwaves August 20

2013-07-23

WASHINGTON - The US news channel of Qatar-based Al-Jazeera will be launched August 20, the group said Monday as it unveiled its top executive team.

Ehab Al Shihabi, executive director for international operations, has been named interim chief executive officer of Al-Jazeera America, and ABC News veteran Kate O'Brian has been named president, a statement said.

Shihabi is a five-year veteran of Al Jazeera who has overseen the network's worldwide bureaus and has participated in the creation and launch of Al-Jazeera's Balkans and Turkish channels.

Shihabi previously spent 12 years as a management consultant at Arthur Andersen, Andersen Consulting and Deloitte and holds a master's degree from Georgetown University.

O'Brian has been responsible for ABC's newsgathering operations, including all ABC News bureaus worldwide, since 2007, according to Al-Jazeera.

She has 30 years of experience with the US network and has won an Emmy, a Peabody and an Alfred I. duPont award.

She will be based at Al-Jazeera America's headquarters in New York and "will have full responsibility for defining and implementing the editorial strategy and operations across the network, including news, documentary and all other programming," the statement said.

"Al-Jazeera America will demonstrate that quality journalism is alive and well in the United States," she said.

"I'm looking forward to showing the Al-Jazeera viewers that there is a strong demand for the type of in depth reporting for which Al-Jazeera is so well known."

Al-Jazeera named CNN producer David Doss as senior vice president for news programming and former CBS News veteran Marcy McGinnis as senior vice president for newsgathering.

McGinnis was most recently associate dean of Stony Brook University's School of Journalism.

Shannon High-Bassalik, from CNN, will serve as senior vice president for documentaries and programs.

Al-Jazeera has announced plans to open offices in a dozen US cities, including Detroit and Chicago, as it seeks to gain a foothold in the US market.

Al-Jazeera in January acquired Current TV, a struggling cable channel that will give the Qatar-based broadcaster the access to millions of US homes it has long sought.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=60284.

Africa Union urges united stand against ICC trials

February 01, 2014

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — The African Union urged its members to "speak with one voice" to prevent criminal proceedings at the International Criminal court against sitting presidents, according to a statement Saturday.

The 54-nation organization said it was disappointed that a request to the U.N. Security Council to defer the trials of Kenya's leaders "has not yielded the positive result expected." The African Union also has sought the deferral of criminal proceedings against Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, who has been charged with genocide in Darfur.

Only Botswana has opposed the stand taken by the African Union, made in a statement received Saturday after a summit in Ethiopia attended by 34 leaders. "African states parties should comply with African Union decisions on the ICC and continue to speak with one voice," the statement said, adding "There is an imperative need for all member states to ensure that they adhere to and articulate commonly agreed positions ..."

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto face charges of crimes against humanity at the international court at The Hague for allegedly orchestrating post-election violence that killed more than 1,000 people following a disputed presidential election in late 2007. Both men deny the charges.

The International Criminal Court has recently come under strong criticism from African leaders who accuse it of racism in indicting only Africans. Countries such as Uganda have suggested they may decide to sever ties with the court in solidarity with Kenya. Some Africans also argue that the Kenyan leaders need to concentrate on governing their countries to ensure stability as the region faces unprecedented terrorist challenges.

Ruto's trial continues at The Hague but the case against Kenyatta may collapse. Kenyatta's trial was to start in November but was postponed to February after the prosecution and defense teams said they needed more time to prepare. The prosecutor in December asked for an additional three-month adjournment after one witness withdrew and another said they gave false evidence.

A Kenyan court on Friday refused to stop the arrest of a journalist wanted by the international court for allegedly interfering with prosecution witnesses in the case against Ruto.

Military halts ops vs. MILF breakaway group before start of Ramadan

July 8, 2013

The military has halted its operations against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF)—the armed wing of a breakaway faction of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)—in time for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, officials said Monday.

In a text message to reporters, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the military "will keep the peace during Ramadan" but "will act accordingly should harassment continue to persist."

Maj. Gen. Romeo Gapuz, commander of the Philippine Army's 6th Infantry Division, meanwhile said that troops have already "called off" their operations against the BIFF since they were only allowed three days to conduct operations against the group.

"We have to abide by that kasi ayaw naman natin na ma-derail 'yung peace process," Gapuz said in a separate interview.

He, however, added that government troops are "prepared" to "react" if the BIFF launches attacks during Ramadan.

2 clashes

On Saturday, five soldiers were killed in two separate attacks launched by the BIFF in Maguindanao and North Cotabato.

Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesman for the Philippine Army's 6th Infantry Division, said the attacks may have been launched by the BIFF to derail the peace talks between the Philippine government and the MILF, which formally resumed on Monday.

Last October, the government and the MILF signed a landmark framework agreement that would pave the way for the creation of a Bangsamoro territory to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

MILF vice chairman for political affairs Ghazali Jaafar earlier appealed to the BIFF to support the preliminary peace agreement with the government.

Not a holiday

Meanwhile, Malacañang reminded the public that July 9, the start of Ramadan, is not a non-working holiday.

The Twitter account of the Philippine government's official gazette made this reminder on Monday morning in response to queries it has been receiving.

Based on Proclamation No. 495, which lists all holidays this year, the next non-working holiday will be on August 21, or on Ninoy Aquino Day.

The government gazette also noted President Benigno Aquino III will issue separate proclamations declaring two other Muslim religious holidays—Eid'l Fitr and Eidul Adha—as national holidays.

Source: GMA Network.
Link: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/316533/news/nation/military-halts-ops-vs-milf-breakaway-group-before-start-of-ramadan.

Cherries a superfood? Research confirms this well-known fruit tackles cancer, insomnia, high blood pressure and gout

Thursday, July 11, 2013
by: Carolanne Wright

(NaturalNews) For those of you who love cherries, this ruby sweet fruit is much more than a tasty summer treat. Shown to combat cancer, improve sleep, balance blood pressure and ease gout, you really cannot lose. Compounds found within cherries also relieve pain as well as aspirin. Possessing potent anti-inflammatory properties, these delicious gems are an excellent way to ward off disease. Rich in vitamins and minerals as well as antioxidants, cherries are a powerhouse of nutrition and should be enjoyed often.

Relish the bounty of the season along with improved health

With the cherry season upon us, now is a great time for basking in all the pleasurable, health promoting benefits of the fruit. Here are a few examples of how cherries can enhance your well-being:

Cancer protection - Overflowing with beta carotene, vitamin C, boron and a class of powerful antioxidants called anthocyanins, cherries offer a formidable defense against cancer. As reported by Karen Ansel, M.S., R.D., in Eating Well, "... preliminary studies suggest the anthocyanin cyanidin may prevent genetic mutations that can lead to cancer and keep cancer cells from growing out of control. While tart cherries contain some anthocyanins, sweet cherries pack nearly three times as many (two-thirds are found in the skins). The riper the better: As cherries darken, they produce more antioxidants."

Better sleep - Cherries provide one of the few naturally occurring sources of melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep/wake cycles. According to a study published in the European Journal of Nutrition, "These data suggest that consumption of a tart cherry juice concentrate provides an increase in exogenous melatonin that is beneficial in improving sleep duration and quality in healthy men and women and might be of benefit in managing disturbed sleep."

Pain relief - Research at Michigan State University discovered anthocyanins in cherries relieve pain as effectively as aspirin. Lead researcher Muralee G. Nair, Ph.D., observes, "It is as good as ibuprofen and some of the nonsteriodal anti-inflammatory drugs." The lab results indicate consumption of 20 tart cherries can significantly reduce inflammation and discomfort.

Regulate blood pressure - Loaded with potassium, cherries are an exceptional food for easing high blood pressure. A balancing mineral, potassium helps to maintain fluid equilibrium within the body by offsetting the bloating effect of sodium. Cherries are also a good source of quercetin, an antioxidant that maintains blood vessel integrity.

Tame gout - A study conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that women, aged 22 to 40, who consumed approximately 45 sweet cherries after fasting had improved urinary uric acid levels and lowered C-reactive protein. Further research demonstrated anti-inflammatory characteristics of the fruit. When rats were fed 2 ounces of cherries, joint swelling was significantly reduced. Both findings indicate cherries are an exceptional food for painful gout flare-ups.

Source: NaturalNews.
Link: http://www.naturalnews.com/041145_cherries_tart_cherry_juice_inflammation.html.