Attacted to now Taliban launch string of attacks on key Afghan city

Watches Taliban launch string of attacks on key Afghan city



May 2011 KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The Taliban unleashed a wave of attacks including six suicide bombings on government targets in the major southern Afghan city of Kandahar Saturday, leaving at least 14 people wounded.
Militants with guns and rocket-propelled grenades launched an assault on the governor’s office, and ten explosions including six suicide blasts rocked the city — the birthplace of the Taliban — after the attacks began at about 1:00 pm (0930 GMT).

Gunmen occupied a hotel near the local office of Afghanistan’s intelligence service, while suicide bombers tried to attack two police offices in the south’s de facto capital but were shot before they could reach their targets.

In chaotic scenes, an AFP reporter said gunfire was still ringing out as ambulances evacuated the wounded, who included three policemen, from the area.

“Small-arms fire is still going on. Two RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) have been fired onto the (governor’s) building so far,” provincial spokesman Zalmay Ayubi told AFP.

“The northern and eastern sides of the compound are under direct attack,” he said, also giving details of the other attacks.

It is believed that Kandahar governor Tooryalai Wesa was holed up in his compound.

A spokesman for Kandahar’s main hospital, Doctor Hashem, said that 14 people had been brought in with injuries, including three police.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks, with spokesman Yusuf Ahmadi claiming that “heavy casualties have been inflicted on the enemy”.

The militia had warned on Friday that this week’s killing of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by US forces in Pakistan would give “a new impetus” to their fight against foreign and Afghan forces.

They had already announced the start of their annual spring offensive last week.

But Ahmadi did not mention bin Laden’s death in the context of the Kandahar attacks in his comments to AFP.

The assault against the heavily guarded governor’s compound was launched from two nearby buildings including a shopping mall which the attackers had ordered shopkeepers to leave shortly before the violence began.

There are around 130,000 international troops in Afghanistan, two-thirds of them from the United States, battling the Taliban and other insurgents.

Limited withdrawals from seven relatively peaceful areas, only one of which is in southern Afghanistan, are due to start in July ahead of the planned end of foreign combat operations in 2014.

International forces claim that Kandahar and the surrounding area are now safer following months of intense fighting to clear traditional Taliban strongholds.

But government officials and other targets are still frequently targeted by militants in the city.
Coppied by http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/international/2011/May/international_May317.xml§ion=international

We are know the Law of Nations or a Nation's Law?

Watches Law of Nations or a Nation's Law?


Displaying the audacity of courage against the cowardice of despair and revenge, Navi Pillay, the UN Human Rights Chief, has just called for an investigation and full disclosure of the legalities and circumstances surrounding the Obama Administration's raid against Osama bin Laden, leader of Al Qaeda. It is a courageous act in the sense that, for years the United States has disregarded the idea of an international order, one built on mutual agreements and an honorable trust to comply with the laws of the United Nations.

The United Nations developed and was finally realized only after centuries of illegal invasions, military raids, and utter chaos between nation-states that caused millions of unnecessary deaths. It was Thomas Aquinas, a 13th century Christian theologian, who first proposed the idea of "the law of nations." He made a clear distinction between the laws of individual states-to keep peace and order-and the possibility of the "law of nations" which all states should obey and which would govern the relationships between them.

In the 16th century, the Spanish Jesuit theologian Francisco Suarez elaborated on Aquinas' "law of nations." He wrote that a nation should always respect another nation's natural laws, or the right to their own life, their own sense of liberty, their own property, and their own happiness-popular sovereignty. Later, the Dominican Francisco de Vitoria advocated laws "created by the authority of the whole world" and not just pacts or agreements between certain states. Such laws would be created and agreed upon by the authority of the whole world.

As a result of World War I and II, a new urgency prevailed regarding the prevention of wars and their horrific consequences. Initially, the United Nations was formed as a collaborative system that would solve international conflicts while enforcing peace, security, and the international rule of law. In practice, though, five permanent security council members have often used the United Nations for their own nationalistic self interests. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the hegemony of a single superpower, the United States, has disregarded the "law of nations" by acting as a global policeman.

The role of the United States an imperial power that is undermining the United Nation's rule of international laws, was evident right after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The Bush Administration rejected overtures from the Afghani authorities and the Taliban, who wanted to work through the United Nations and with the United States in capturing, arresting and trying Osama bin Laden. Not only was this a clear violation of the United Nations Charter and "the law of nations," but so were the preemptive wars against Afghanistan and Iraq, including their ongoing military occupations.

This self-absorbed "United Nations" within a United Nations has also dishonored its commitment to the Geneva Conventions by pursuing torturous acts against suspected enemy combatants at secret locations. It has even captured and detained indefinitely hundreds of innocent civilians from other nations. The military raid that assassinated Osama bin Laden violated Pakistan's air space and its national sovereignty. It was another violent act that blatantly disregarded the international rule of law. It sends a clear message to other nations that the United States considers itself outside of the "law of nations."

One must also wonder what Americans would think if a foreign nation like Iraq or Afghanistan-both of which had hundreds of thousands of people killed due to America's preemptive wars and its ongoing military occupations-violated United States airspace by sending in military hit-men and assassinated George W. Bush or Dick Cheney in their multi-million dollar buttressed mansions? How would Americans respond if Chile sent their special forces to South Kent, Connecticut and captured Henry Kissinger to be imprisoned and then tried for instigating Chile's own Sept. 11, 1973?

The United States and its policies and laws might generally appear benign, but it is not immune to the distortions of self-interests and committing acts of injustice and revenge. As the United States monopoly of power comes to an end, Americans must be vigilant against becoming a rogue (but dying) superpower. They must guard against their leaders destroying the "law of nations" and resorting to a kind of hyper-revenge. The preemptive invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and the assassination of Osama bin Laden regrettably points to a new and fatal code: An eye for a body, and a tooth for a nation.

Dallas Darling (darling@wn.com)

(Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John's Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.worldnews.com. You can read more of Dallas' writings at www.beverlydarling.com and wn.com//dallasdarling.)
Coppied by http://article.wn.com/view/2011/05/07/Law_of_Nations_or_a_Nations_Law/

Watches Indonesia's changing face of terrorism

Indonesia's changing face of terrorism


BY BINSAR BAKKARA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HAMPARAN PERAK, Indonesia -- Muslim militants wearing black masks stormed the tiny police precinct in western Indonesia and unloaded their assault rifles - riddling officers' bodies with bullets and shining a spotlight on the country's changing face of terrorism.

Extremists, better known for targeting Western nightclubs and hotels, are now going after Indonesia's state. And for the first time in more than a decade, the army has waded into the fight.

"It happened so fast, there was no way to react," said Irsol, the chief detective at the precinct on Sumatra island, who narrowly escaped the midnight assault by turning off the lights and hiding in the bathroom.

By the time the militants had sped off, one of his friends was sprawled on the floor with a hole in his head and 10 others in his arms and chest. Another friend was slumped over his computer, and a third lay motionless in a pool of blood in front of a holding cell.

"It was like they were sending a message to police and soldiers everywhere," said Irsol, who like many Indonesians goes by only one name. Still shaken after the Sept. 22 strike, he said the message was simple: "Watch out ... you're next."

Indonesia, a secular nation with more Muslims than any other in the world, was struck by a massive terrorist attack in 2002, when members of the al-Qaida linked network Jemaah Islamiyah carried out twin suicide bombings on crowded nightclubs on the country's resort island of Bali. 202 people were killed, many of them foreign tourists.

Though Jemaah Islamiyah has since abandoned such tactics, saying too many Muslim civilians were among the victims, members of a violent offshoot led by the late bomb-making expert Nordin Top continued to carry out near-annual strikes on embassies, beach-side restaurants and glitzy hotels, killing more than 60.

But the attacks have been far less deadly, in part because hundreds of suspects have been arrested and convicted - making the government and its security forces yet another target.

Indeed, the discovery of a new terror cell's jihadi training camp in westernmost Aceh province in February made it clear the game was about to change.

Several arrested militants said they wanted to punish the state for lending support to the U.S.-led war on terrorism, said Maj. Gen. Ansyaad Mbai, the head of the newly formed National Anti-terrorism Agency.

Their weapons of choice were guns, not bombs, he said, so they could be more precise.

Sidney Jones, a leading international expert on Southeast Asian terrorist groups, said the Aceh cell - which brought together militants from different networks - has been influenced in part by the Middle East.

"They have a long-term strategy of building an Islamic state and Muslim officials who hinder that objective are the enemy and need to be confronted," she said.

"That doesn't mean attacks on foreigners are a thing of the past. But for now, at least, police appear to be the number one target."
Coppied by http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/10/10/1866469/indonesias-changing-face-of-terrorism.html

Watches Kyrgyz vote in landmark poll amid fears of violence

Kyrgyz vote in landmark poll amid fears of violence


Poll organisers are hoping the vote goes without a hitch
People in Kyrgyzstan are voting in a landmark parliamentary election, the first since 400 people died in inter-ethnic violence.

Twenty-nine parties fielding over 3,000 candidates are competing for 120 seats.

Six or seven parties are expected to dominate, although none is expected to easily win a majority of seats.

Authorities have vowed that the elections will take place without a renewal of the violence that hit the south of the country in June.

Continue reading the main story
Kyrgyzstan Turmoil

Desperate flight of ethnic Uzbeks
Kyrgyzstan's anger boils over
Kyrgyzstan vote: 'We need change'
Q&A: Kyrgyzstan's ethnic violence
Polling stations across the country opened at 0800 local time (0200 GMT) and will close at 2000 (1400 GMT).

The BBC's Rayhan Demetrie, in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, says the level of participation and the unpredictability of the outcome make the election significantly different from every other election that has ever taken place in Central Asia.

The vote is the first to be held under a new constitution adopted in a June referendum that changed the form of government from a presidential system to a parliamentary democracy.

The country's former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted following a popular uprising in April.
Coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11508349

Watches this Chileans hope to begin rescue of miners Wednesday

Chileans hope to begin rescue of miners Wednesday
SAN JOSE MINE, Chile – After more than two months trapped deep in a Chilean mine, 33 miners are enjoying Sunday tantalizingly close to rescue.

Drillers have completed an escape shaft, and Chile's mining minister says a video inspection shows the hole's walls are firm enough to allow the men to be hoisted out as early as Wednesday.
Officials said late Saturday that workers first must reinforce the top few hundred feet (almost 100 meters) of the tunnel and had begun welding steel pipes for that purpose.
The completion of the 28-inch(71-centimeter)-diameter escape shaft Saturday morning caused bedlam in the tent city known as "Camp Hope," where the miners' relatives had held vigil for an agonizing 66 days since a cave-in sealed off the gold and copper mine Aug. 5.
Miners videotaped the piston-powered hammer drill's breakthrough at 2,041 feet (622 meters) underground and could be seen cheering and embracing, the drillers said.
On the surface, the rescuers chanted, danced and sprayed champagne so excitedly that some of their hardhats tumbled off.
Later, a video inspection of the shaft gave rescuers enough confidence in the tunnel's stability that they decided they will encase only its first 315 feet (96 meters).
The plan is to insert 16 sections of half-inch(1.27 centimeter)-thick steel pipe into the top of the hole, which curves like a waterfall at first before becoming nearly vertical for most of its descent into a chamber deep in the mine. That work would begin immediately, Mining Minister Laurence Golborne said.

AP – A relative of a trapped miner gestures after the announcement that a drill reached the trapped miners
Then an escape capsule built by Chilean naval engineers, its spring-loaded wheels pressing against the hole's walls, can be lowered into it via a winch and the trapped miners brought up one by one.
"All rescues have their risks," Golborne said. "You can never say that an accident couldn't happen."
Golborne and other government officials had insisted that determining whether to encase the whole shaft, only part of it or none of it would be a technical decision, based on the evidence and the expertise of a team of eight geologists and mining engineers.
Encasing the full shaft would have added another week or so before the rescue could begin — if it could actually be done.
While the possibility of an accident can never be ruled out, the hole "is in very good condition, and doesn't need to be cased completely," Golborne said.
The political consequences were inescapable. Chile's success story would evaporate if a miner should get stuck on the way up for reasons that might have been avoided.
Some miners' families wanted the entire shaft lined with pipe, but some engineers involved said the risk of the capsule getting jammed in the unreinforced hole was less than the risk of the pipes getting jammed and ruining their hard-won exit route.
Many experts doubted whether encasing the entire shaft was even possible.
"Based on my experiences it cannot be done. Nor does it need to be done," Brandon Fisher, president of the U.S. company that built the drill that broke through, told The Associated Press on Saturday.
"The rock is very confident down there," he added.
Health Minister Jaime Manalich said the miners' anxiety is growing about starting their rescue, an operation that should take about a day and a half to complete as they are pulled out one by one in a specially built capsule.
Manalich also confirmed that a list has been drawn up suggesting the order in which the 33 miners should be rescued. The final order will be determined by a Navy special forces paramedic who will be lowered into the mine to prepare the men for their journey.
The completion of the escape shaft thrilled Chileans, who have come to see the rescue drama as a test of the nation's character and pride.
Coppied by http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101010/ap_on_bi_ge/lt_chile_mine_collapse

conference IMF meets amid threat of currency war

IMF meets amid threat of currency war


WASHINGTON (AFP) – The specter of a damaging global currency war is set to dominate a meeting of economic powers in Washington Friday, amid bleak hopes for a deal between China, the United States and other powers.
Finance ministers and central bankers from 187 countries will convene for an annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund amid warnings that beggar-thy-neighbor policies could wreck the global recovery.
With the recovery still painfully slow, recent weeks have seen a range of countries from Japan to Colombia intervene to stop their currencies from rising to levels that would make exports prohibitively expensive.
But the summit is set to be dominated by a long running and increasingly antagonistic dispute between the United States and Beijing -- whose weak yuan policies are accused of slowing the global recovery and hurting American jobs.
While the US Congress moves toward slapping retaliatory sanctions on Chinese goods, Washington has ratcheted up the pressure by hinting that China may not be allowed a bigger say at the IMF unless the currency issue is resolved.
US officials are adamant that the IMF meetings should address the need for "market oriented exchange rates" and a fundamental "rebalancing" of the global economy.
On the eve of the meeting IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said there was no "formal" link between the two issues, but the United States was "right" to call for reform.
"I think it is right to insist on the fact that the more an emerging country will have a voice and representation in the fund, the more they have a responsibility in the stability of the system."
"You can be at the center of the system, or you can be at the border of the system. But if you want to be at the center of the system... it goes with having more responsibility."
China has rebuffed pressure to lift the value of the yuan, fearing it would put Chinese businesses at risk.
Meanwhile European officials said a rapidly rising euro, victimized by an undervalued US dollar and Chinese yuan, could threaten eurozone recovery and vowed to press both Washington and Beijing to take action.
India warned that imbalances in the global economy have become "unsustainable" but called on major economies to avoid confrontation to avert a feared currency war.
On Thursday Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, speaking ahead of a meeting of top economic policymakers in Washington, said that building an international consensus was the best way forward.
But reaching that consensus appears to be an uphill struggle.
Youssef Boutros-Ghali, who heads the International Monetary Fund's steering committee, said a quick agreement on currency exchange rates was unlikely.
When asked if action before next month's G20 summit in Seoul was feasible, Boutros-Ghali said "this late in the game, no. But in the coming three to six months, yes absolutely."
Some are pressing for quicker action. The IMF has warned that rich and emerging economies must dramatically change the way they trade with each other or risk throttling the recovery.
In its latest economic outlook, the IMF said growth would slow more than previously expected in 2011, as the United States, Europe and Japan continue to struggle and China remains overly dependent on exports.
Wading into sensitive political waters, the IMF said China must allow its currency to strengthen to boost domestic demand and reduce its reliance on exports.
"To the extent that a stronger Chinese currency eases this process, other surplus countries in the region could follow suit, which would facilitate the needed shift towards domestic sources of growth."
As part of that rebalancing IMF members are also expected to discuss how to reform decision-making at the fund, giving more say to emerging and developing economies.
Europe, seen as a major loser from the reshuffle, has been reluctant to reduce its voting share or representation on the IMF's decision-making board.
European finance ministers last week agreed to review representation at the Washington-based international lender, but attached significant conditions.
Coppied by http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101008/bs_afp/imfeconomyforex

Watch Hungary says clean-up of toxic spill could take a year

Hungary says clean-up of toxic spill could take a year


Budapest: A damburst of toxic sludge that killed at least four people and left scores needing treatment for chemical burns and other injuries could take up to a year to clean up, officials said on Wednesday.

"The clean-up and reconstruction could take months, even a year," Environment Secretary Zoltan Illes said.

On Monday, the retaining walls of a reservoir at an aluminium plant in Ajka in western Hungary collapsed, sending a toxic soup of industrial waste cascading through seven villages.

The devastation spread across an area of 40 square kilometres (15.4 square miles) in what officials say is Hungary's worst-ever chemical accident.



Three adults and one child were killed and 123 people were injured, while three people are still missing.

Karoly Tily, the mayor of Kolontar, the village where all four victims died, declared on Wednesday a day of mourning, and the company which owned the reservoir, the Hungarian Aluminium Production and Trade Company (MAL), said it would foot the costs of the funerals.

Illes told online publication Langlovak in an interview that the overall costs of the clean-up and reconstruction "could reach tens of millions of euros (dollars)”.

If MAL was unable to drum up the funds, "the sum will be borne by the Hungarian government, or it might be necessary to ask the European Union for aid”, he said.

The tidal wave of sludge overturned cars, swept away possessions and raised fears that pollution leeching from it could reach the Danube River, which courses through Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine before flowing into the Black Sea.


Related Stories
Hungary toxic sludge spill reaches Danube
Late Wednesday, officials said they were confident the contamination would not reach Europe's second longest river

"If our calculations are right then by the time the sludge reaches the Danube contamination will be under the acceptable levels," Emil Jenak, president of Northern Transdanubian Water Management, said.

A pollution expert, quoted by the Hungarian news agency MTI, said rain and neutralising agents used so far had already led to a drop in alkaline levels in the Marcal river "and the connecting Raba will suffer much less damage" than feared.

But environmental organisation Greenpeace detected lead, chrome and arsenic in samples taken from a tributary of the Marcal, the river Torma.
Coppied by http://www.zeenews.com/news660066.html

Enjoy Hundreds of Kenyan teachers sacked over sex abuse

Hundreds of Kenyan teachers sacked over sex abuse
More than 1,000 teachers have been sacked in Kenya for sexually abusing girls over the past two years, the authorities say.

Most cases of abuse reported have occurred in rural schools

Senior government official Ahmed Hussein told the BBC that most of the victims were aged between 12 and 15.

He said a nationwide confidential helpline set up to help victims had revealed that the problem was much more widespread than previously thought.

Most of the cases have occurred in rural primary schools.

Court convictions?
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote

We had over 20 girls who were pregnant and nearly half the number were actually impregnated by the teachers themselves”

Brian Weke
Cradle
Fear of rape 'traps Kenya women'
"Initially we were not able to know what was happening in the country because of the poor communication, but now communication is everywhere - there's mobiles across the country," Mr Hussein, from the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Development, told the BBC's Network Africa programme.

Last year, 600 male teachers were dismissed and so far this year 550 teachers have lost their jobs for either kissing, touching or impregnating girls out a total teaching staff of 240,000 countrywide.

"A number of them have been taken to court, and they have been sentenced accordingly," Mr Hussein said.

Brian Weke, programme director for the Cradle, a child rights foundation in Kenya, agreed the problem was widespread.

He gave an example of a case in Nyanza province last year: "I found that in one primary school we had over 20 girls who were pregnant and nearly half the number were actually impregnated by the teachers themselves."

However, he said the officials investigating the abuse were not passing on vital information to get convictions.

"Our biggest problem is the fact that the district education officers - they do not report the matters to the police," Mr Weke told the BBC.

The BBC's Will Ross in the capital, Nairobi, says often teachers who are caught defiling their students end up paying the parents in order to prevent cases going to court.
Coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11492499

Watch US official sees signs of inter-Korean engagement

US official sees signs of inter-Korean engagement


SEOUL, South Korea — North and South Korea are showing positive signs of improving relations, a U.S. diplomat said Thursday, but he cautioned that Pyongyang has yet to indicate it is serious about moving forward on denuclearization.
The two Koreas agreed last week to hold their first reunions in a year for families divided by the Korean War, while South Korea is considering a proposal by North Korea to hold talks aimed at restarting a stalled joint tourism venture.
Military tensions between the two sides remain high over the March sinking of a South Korean warship that Seoul and Washington blame on North Korea, which Pyongyang denies.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell, on a brief visit to Seoul to meet South Korean officials, said that the two Koreas must resume dialogue.
"The first step has to be re-engagement between North Korea and South Korea," Campbell told reporters Thursday, noting "some signs of dialogue, engagement between North and South Koreas and we encourage that process to continue."
Campbell also called on North Korea to live up to its promises to give up its nuclear programs.
"I think we're also looking for a clear and demonstrable commitment on the part of the North Koreans to fulfill their commitments that they made on denuclearization in 2005," he added, referring to an agreement made in six-nation negotiations.
Campbell was in Seoul a week after North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's third son, Kim Jong Un, was promoted to top military and ruling party posts, signaling he is in line to succeed his ailing father.
Campbell's visit also came a day after an adviser to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said in published comments that the threat posed by North Korea's nuclear program has reached an "extremely dangerous level."
Last week, the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security said that satellite images from Sept. 29 showed new construction activity in the area surrounding North Korea's nuclear reactor at Yongbyon.
"The North Korean nuclear threat has, in reality, been accelerating and has now reached an extremely dangerous level," deputy national security adviser Kim Tae-hyo said, according to the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper. He confirmed the comments to The Associated Press, but declined to elaborate.
North Korea, which has active nuclear and missile programs, conducted underground atomic tests in 2006 and 2009, drawing tough international sanctions in response.
South Korea, along with the United States, China, Japan and Russia, have been negotiating with the impoverished country since 2003 to get it to dismantle its nuclear facilities, which they consider a threat to regional security.
Separately, North Korea has ordered its officials in China to pledge their allegiance to Kim Jong Un, a news report said Thursday.
"North Korean diplomats and traders in China are believed to be sending letters pledging their loyalty to Kim Jong Un and Kim Jong Il since last week" the Dong-a Ilbo newspaper said, citing an unidentified source in China.
The letters, which may also have been ordered in other countries, might be an attempt to bolster the transition, the source told the newspaper.
A North Korean official at the country's embassy in Beijing reached by telephone said he had no information. He spoke on condition of anonymity, citing internal policy.
Presidential adviser Kim also suggested that there is potential danger in the emergence of Kim Jong Un as heir apparent.
"Kim is young and lacks experience, so there is a chance that he might develop an appetite for yet another risk or be tempted to engage in provocation to prove himself to the outside world," the presidential adviser said.
Little is known about Kim Jong Un. For the first time, state media reported Tuesday on him observing military exercises with his father. The Korean Central News Agency also said in a report released early Thursday that he attended a concert with Kim Jong Il and other top party, state and military officials
coppied by http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/7235381.html

Exited things Allauddin Khan 9 Killed, 26 Wounded In 2nd Day Of Kandahar Blasts

Allauddin Khan 9 Killed, 26 Wounded In 2nd Day Of Kandahar Blasts


KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - President Hamid Karzai condemned the "enemies of Afghanistan" on Wednesday after roadside bombs killed nine people, including five children, as insurgents fight intensified NATO-led operations in the south.

Meanwhile, NATO and Afghan forces reported killing 16 militants - including a "shadow" governor of a northern province.

In the roadside bombings Tuesday night in Kandahar city, Interior Ministry said nine people were killed and 30 injured, including many police officers. The blasts targeted a police vehicle and ripped through an intersection - a day after four officers died in coordinated bombings that were also aimed at police.

Karzai strongly condemned the latest attack.

"The enemies of Afghanistan, far from following Islamic principles, are targeting civilians including children," a statement from his office said.

Control of Kandahar, the Taliban movement's birthplace, is seen as key to reversing Taliban momentum in the war. Afghan and NATO forces are engaged in a major operation there, dubbed Dragon Strike, to keep insurgents from staging attacks inside the city. In response, Taliban have intensified a campaign targeting police and local officials.

On Monday, Noor Ahman, deputy mayor in Kandahar, was also killed in an insurgent attack, and later in the day, Habibullah Aghonzada, a former district chief in Arghistan, was gunned down by assailants as he prayed at a packed mosque.

NATO described the two as "dedicated public servants who sought to improve the lives of their fellow countrymen."

The Taliban said Tuesday the NATO-led operation was doomed to fail.

"America is operating in the districts of Kandahar, but the result will be that they will walk out with blood-filled, empty hands," Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef said. "They could not achieve victory in nearly a decade ... this shows they never will."

Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said the operation was scattering insurgents from the restive region.

"Dragon Strike is continuing to put the pressure on these guys. Those who have remained and dug in and who are determined to fight are feeling enormous pressure ... The Taliban is clearly feeling it."

The NATO coalition is also fighting an uphill battle to win the allegiance of people in Kandahar.

"When only the Taliban were ruling our land there was peace and tranquility. Since the Americans have set foot on our land, we don't have work and our health is no better," said Naseebullah Ghamjam, a 38-year-old laborer. "All we have seen is that Americans have constructed exceptionally massive compounds for themselves."

Resident Azizullah Saiyal, 29, said citizens have little trust in the international community or Afghan government officials.
coppied by http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/10/06/ap/asia/main6931066.shtml

baghdad Quarter of US Iraq deaths due to Iran groups - envoy

Quarter of US Iraq deaths due to Iran groups - envoy
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The new U.S. ambassador to Iraq said on Thursday he believed groups backed by Iran were responsible for a quarter of U.S. casualties in the Iraq war but that Tehran was not as influential in Iraq as thought.

More than 4,400 U.S. soldiers have been killed since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, battling Shi'ite militia the U.S. military has long said were armed, funded and trained by Iran, and Sunni Islamist insurgents.

A soldier stands guard at the site of a bomb attack in Baghdad August 25, 2010. (REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudan)
The U.S. military will formally end its combat operations in Iraq on Aug. 31 as President Barack Obama seeks to fulfil a promise to U.S. voters to end the war, despite continuing insecurity and political instability in Iraq.

Ambassador James Jeffrey said Tehran had not been able to dictate the outcome of Iraqi coalition talks after an election in March, despite efforts and widespread beliefs that Shi'ite Iran gained unprecedented influence in Iraq after the invasion.

The ousting of Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein propelled Iraq's previously oppressed Shi'ite majority into power.

"My own estimate, based just upon a gut feeling, is that up to a quarter of the American casualties and some of the more horrific incidents in which Americans were kidnapped ... can be traced without doubt to these Iranian groups," Jeffrey said.

He said Iran has sought to use Iraqi proxies to destabilise its neighbour and make it inhospitable for foreign forces.

"But I don't see any long-term impact that it, however awful, has had on the development of politics and society here," Jeffrey told Western reporters.

"I believe ... that Iraqis are Iraqi patriots, that they do not want to be dominated or dictated to by anybody, not the United States, not Iran, not any of their other neighbours."

Coalition talks since the inconclusive election have failed to produce a government, despite early agreement between Iraq's main Shi'ite blocs to form a parliamentary alliance and efforts by Tehran to encourage Iraq's Shi'ite parties to unite.
Coppied by http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/27/worldupdates/2010-08-27T033048Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-510970-1&sec=Worldupdates

Enjoy Kenya's new constitution sparks hopes of rebirth

Kenya's new constitution sparks hopes of rebirth

Supporters of the new constitution say it brings much-needed changes
Nairobi's Uhuru Park is awash with the red, green and black of the Kenyan flag.
Workers have been painting the stones, trimming hedges, and sweeping the leaves.

Performers have been stamping up and down the road that runs past the official dias, rehearsing for the moment that the nation's intellectuals are calling "the birth of the second republic".

And there is plenty to celebrate.

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“
Start Quote

We are trying to create a nation that runs on the competition of ideas and individuals rather than forcing people to coalesce around ethnicities in order to defend their interests”

Kwamchetsi Mokhoke
Political analyst
The debate over a new constitution began 20 years ago, then surged and receded with each national crisis. Finally, a referendum early this month approved the proposed document.

Through it all was a recognition that something fundamental had to change if Kenya was ever going to escape the repeated rounds of ethnic blood-letting that came with each election.

The fact that the troubles only emerged around election time was the clue to the problem.

It was not that there is anything inherently incompatible about the tribes; it was the way the original constitution encouraged politicians to exploit tribal differences.

Corruption 'rife'
The president was all-powerful; he was able to make appointments without parliamentary oversight.

Previous presidents were able to create a bloated cabinet filled with parliamentarians who owed them favours.

There was no clear separation between the government and the judiciary. The system of provincial government encouraged tribal competition for jobs and money. Corruption was rife, and accountability almost non-existent.

And land - an issue that lies at the very heart of tribal identity - was carved up and parcelled out as a way of manipulating electoral numbers and returning political favours.

Political analyst Kwamchetsi Mokhoke believes this new constitution tackles all those issues and more.

"It's a new experiment in which we are trying to create a nation that runs on the competition of ideas and individuals rather than forcing people to coalesce around ethnicities in order to defend their interests".

This is not just a tinkering at the edges of the way the country is designed.

The authors of the new document have utterly transformed the way power is distributed and managed.

The most significant changes include:

Parliamentary oversight of most presidential appointments and decisions
Constitutional limits on the number of cabinet posts
A senate to review parliamentary decisions
Powerful provincial governments replaced by a network of smaller counties
The creation of a Judicial Service Commission
A citizens' Bill of Rights
A land commission to return stolen property and review past abuses
All of those changes, in their own way, add checks and balances to the centres of power, and undermine tribal politics.

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I think the real changes will only come when the leaders also want to change”

Austin Ajowi
'Opened our minds'
The Kikuyus who live in the Pipeline camp for displaced people know about tribalism.

All 1,250 families who live in the squalid plastic tent city outside the Rift Valley town of Nakuru fled there to escape their neighbours after the elections of 2007.

Even now, almost three years later, they cannot go back. Yet people, like camp chairman Paul Thiongo, are surprisingly optimistic.

"Kenyans have now opened their minds," he said.

"They know what they are doing now. Not like before. They were being told things by their leaders and they were following them without question.

"Now we know our rights. And that's why I think everything will change."

Even so, a sceptical shadow still hangs over the celebrations.

Kenyan military have been rehearsing for the ratification ceremony
Austin Ajowi also experienced some of the worst of the bloodshed in the notorious Mathare Valley slum in Nairobi.

There, it was not only rival ethnic groups who were killing one another - the police got involved as well.

He organises football tournaments on a sloping, pitted and dusty square of reclaimed land, as a way of healing some of the rifts within his community.

"I think there will be some changes. But to me, I think the real changes will only come when the leaders also want to change," he said.

And asked about whether he thought the nation's politicians were ready for change, all he could do was shrug.

Still, there is a sense perhaps born of hope more than confidence, that something profound is about to happen in Kenya.

But the nation that is about to be reborn is far wiser than the one that emerged at independence almost half a century ago.
Coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11103008

How The Edict of Warsaw?

The Edict of Warsaw?

Article by WorldNews.com Correspondent Dallas Darling.
"Paris is well worth a Mass." --Henry of Navarre

As thousands of protesters gathered in Warsaw to either protect or remove a cross that honored the victims of the plane crash killing the late Polish president, Lech Kaczynski, long ago this very week, but not very far away, the Edict of Nantes was signed allowing religious freedom and toleration.

The religious wars that had torn France apart when Protestant Jean Valliere was burned at the stake in 1523, and which Huguenots (French Protestants) and Catholics resorted to murder and war (actually eight wars were fought) in defense of God's true faith, as they saw it, came to an end when Henry of Navarre became king.

Although he was a Huguenot and had been at the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre-where Huguenot nobles were attending a marriage ceremony and were slaughtered by Catholics, symbolizing the folly of religious fanaticism and the complete breakdown of order in France-for the sake of his war-weary nation Henry chose to become Catholic.

In 1598, Henry established the Edict of Nantes which allowed French Huguenots to live in peace with Catholics, fortify their cities, and to have houses of worship in some cities.(1) Even though it did not grant Huguenots absolute freedom, still they could practice their religion in certain cities, hold public offices, and sat in mixed Catholic-Protestant meetings.

But as often happens, the toleration of the Many is sacrificed for the religious and political ambitions of the Few. In 1610, a fanatic, who hated Henry's religious compromises, leaped into the royal carriage and stabbed Henry to death. The Edict of Nantes was repealed when a new king, Louis XIV, argued the unity of France was at stake.

The revocation of the Edict of Nantes aroused anger and fear. While King Louis XIV was demolishing Huguenot churches, thousands of Protestant families fled. Not only did France lose 500,000 people with talents, wealth, skills and industrial know-how, but hundreds of French soldiers deserted and joined forces with William of Orange against Louis XIV.(2)

Coppied by http://article.wn.com/view/2010/08/26/The_Edict_of_Warsaw/?section=TopStoriesWorldwide&template=worldnews/index.txt

maxico city Victims of Massacre in Mexico Said to Be Migrants

Victims of Massacre in Mexico Said to Be Migrants

By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD
Published: August 25, 2010
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MEXICO CITY — The bullet-pocked bodies of 72 people, believed to be migrants heading to the United States who resisted demands for money, have been found in a large room on a ranch in an area of northeast Mexico with surging violence, the authorities said Wednesday.

Initial reports after the victims were found Tuesday suggested that the mass of bodies was the largest of several dumping grounds, often with dozens of dead, discovered in recent months and attributed to the violence of the drug business.

But if the victims, found after a raid on a ranch in Tamaulipas State by Mexican naval units, are confirmed as migrants, their killings would provide a sharp reminder of the violence in human smuggling as well.

It was not clear if the victims, from Central and South America, were shot all at once. The police were relying on a harrowing but sketchy account from a wounded survivor, published by the newspaper Reforma and confirmed by government officials, who said several people were killed in short order after the migrants refused to pay or cooperate with the gunmen.

A law enforcement official said all were found in a large room, some sitting, some piled atop one another.

Alejandro Poiré, the government’s spokesman for security issues, said that though the investigation was just beginning, the killings seemed to be an outgrowth of pressure on drug gangs by a government crackdown.

“This act confirms that criminal organizations are looking to kidnapping and extortion because they are going through a difficult time obtaining resources and recruiting people willingly,” Mr. Poiré told reporters here.

United States law enforcement officials have warned that drug trafficking groups have increasingly moved into the lucrative business of human smuggling, extorting fees from migrants for safe passage across the border and sometimes forcing them to carry bundles of drugs. Smugglers are also known to rob, kidnap and sometimes kill migrants on both sides of the border.
coppied by http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/world/americas/26mexico.html?_r=1

British government and Church in Northern Ireland bombing cover-up

We are watch this British government and Church in Northern Ireland bombing cover-up
Police Ombudsman's report shows cardinal involved in shielding priest

Claudy, Northern Ireland: The British government, the police and the Catholic Church colluded to protect a priest suspected of involvement in a 1972 bombing in Northern Ireland that killed nine people, an official report said Tuesday.

The Police Ombudsman's report revealed that a cardinal was involved in moving Father James Chesney out of British-ruled Northern Ireland, highlighting anew the way the Church hierarchy shielded priests from allegations of criminal activity.
The inquiry showed that Secretary of State for Northern Ireland William Whitelaw had a private meeting with Cardinal William Conway, the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, in which they discussed the possibility of transferring Chesney.
"I accept that 1972 was one of the worst years of the ‘Troubles' and that the arrest of a priest might well have aggravated the security situation," Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson said.
But "the decision failed those who were murdered, injured and bereaved in the bombing."
No one was ever charged or convicted for the triple car bomb attack on the village of Claudy, but the republican guerrilla group the IRA was assumed to be responsible. Those killed included a nine-year-old-girl and two teenage boys.
Chesney, a priest in a neighbouring parish, always denied any involvement, though the police had intelligence that he was the leader of the IRA in south Derry and a sniffer dog found traces of explosive in his car when he was stopped at a checkpoint in September 1972.
Pressure
The current head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, who has been under pressure to resign over his role in concealing sex abuse cases, said it was regrettable that the bombing was not investigated properly but denied the Church took part in a cover-up.
"He [Cardinal Conway] was faced with an impossible situation but his primary consideration would be the prevention of any further acts of violence," said Cardinal Sean Brady.
"The actions of Cardinal Conway or any other church authority did not prevent the possibility of future arrest and questioning of Father Chesney."
The British government's representative in Northern Ireland apologised for the investigation of the Claudy bombings.
"I am profoundly sorry that Father Chesney was not properly investigated for his suspected involvement in this hideous crime, and that the victims and their families have been denied justice," Owen Paterson said in a statement.
The priest was transferred to Donegal in the Irish Republic in 1973 and died there in 1980.
July 1972 was the bloodiest month in the bloodiest year of three decades of conflict in Northern Ireland and the Claudy bombings came six months after British soldiers shot dead 13 unarmed civilians in a civil rights march in Londonderry.

Coppied by http://gulfnews.com/news/world/uk/british-government-and-church-in-northern-ireland-bombing-cover-up-1.672700

Enjoy UN investigates claims of mass rape by DR Congo rebels

UN investigates claims of mass rape by DR Congo rebels
The United Nations is investigating claims that rebel fighters raped more that 150 women and baby boys in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Thousands of women are raped each year in DR Congo, the UN says
The attacks happened over four days within miles of a UN base, a US aid worker and a Congolese doctor said.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon is sending two top aides to the country to help investigate the alleged assaults in the country's volatile eastern region.

Mr Ban also urged the Congolese government to investigate the attacks.

Aid workers and UN representatives knew that rebels had occupied Luvungi town and surrounding villages in eastern DR Congo the day after the attack began on 30 July, the International Medical Corps (IMC) said on Tuesday.

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The secretary-general is outraged by the rape and assault”

Ban Ki-moon
UN Secretary-General
They could not get into the town until the rebels left, said the IMC's Will Cragin.

According to reports, the rebels gang-raped nearly 200 women and some baby boys over four days before leaving.

The region lies approximately 10 miles (16km) from a UN peacekeepers' base.

Mr Ban is sending Atul Khare, assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping, immediately to DR Congo to help investigate, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

He also ordered his special representative for sexual violence in conflict, Margot Wallstrom, to take charge of the UN's response to the attacks.

A UN joint human rights team confirmed allegations of the rape of at least 154 women by fighters from the Rwandan FDLR militia and Congolese Mai-Mai rebels in the village of Bunangiri, Mr Nesirky said.

"The secretary-general is outraged by the rape and assault. This is another grave example of both the level of sexual violence and the insecurity that continue to plague Congo," he told the Associated Press.

'World rape capital'
The victims are receiving medical and psychological care.

Ms Wallstrom condemned the rapes. She said: "It should be noted that this incident represents a very extreme case in terms of its scale and the level of organisation of the attacks.

The "terrible incident" confirmed her findings during a recent visit to Congo of the "widespread and systematic nature of rape and other human rights violations."

DR Congo has a shocking reputation for sexual violence. In April, a senior UN official said it was "the rape capital of the world".

A report by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative showed that 60% of rape victims in South Kivu province had been gang-raped by armed men.

More than than half of the assaults took place in the victims' homes, the report said, and an increasing number of attacks were being carried out by civilians.

More than 8,000 women were raped during fighting in 2009, the UN says.

Eastern DR Congo is still plagued by army and militia violence despite the end of the country's five-year war in 2003.

UN peacekeeping troops have been backing efforts to defeat the FDLR, whose leaders are linked to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and who are operating in eastern DR Congo.
coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11079135

Reports of mass rape by DRC rebels

Enjoy Reports of mass rape by DRC rebels

The UN says at least 5,400 women in the DRC are believed to have been raped in 2009 alone [
Almost 200 women have been raped by rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), during a four-day seizure of a town, aid groups have said.

A US aid worker and a Congolese doctor told the Associated Press on Monday that the attacks occurred within miles of a UN peacekeepers' base

Will Cragin of the International Medical Corps (IMC) said that aid and UN workers knew fighters from Rwandan rebel FDLR group and Congolese Mai-Mai rebels had occupied Luvungi town and surrounding villages the day after the attack began on July 30.

Three weeks later, the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo issued no statement about the attacks and said on Monday that it was still investigating.

Cragin also told the Associated Press that his organisation was only able to get into the town, which he said is about 16km from a UN military camp, after rebels withdrew on their own on August 4.

Systematic rape

"There was no fighting and no deaths, Cragin said, just "lots of pillaging and the systematic raping of women".

Luvungi is a farming centre on the main road between Goma, the eastern
provincial capital, and the major mining town of Walikale.

MONUC was based in the DRC since 1999 to help the government gain control of the east
Four young boys were also raped, according to Kasimbo Charles Kacha, the district medical chief.

UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said the peacekeeping mission has a military operating base in Kibua, about 30km east of the village, but villagers were prevented from reaching the nearest communication point as FDLR fighters blocked the road.

Civil society leader Charles Masudi Kisa said there were only about 25 peacekeepers and that they did what they could against some 200 to 400 rebels who occupied the town of about 2,200 people and five nearby villages.

"When the peacekeepers approached a village, the rebels would run into the forest, but then the Blue Helmets had to move on to another area, and the rebels would just return," Masudi said.

"During the attack [the rebels] looted [the] population's houses and raped several women in Luvungi and surrounding areas," Stefania Trassari, spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said
on Monday.

"International Medical Corps (IMC) reported that FDLR systematically raped the population during its four-day stay in Luvungi and surrounding areas. A total of 179 cases of sexual violence were reported," Trassari said, adding all of the cases
were of rape against women.

Harrowing accounts

The IMC said it was treating the victims.

"Nearly all reported rapes were described as having been perpetrated by two-to-six armed men, often taking place in front of the women's children and husbands," it said in a statement.

The United Nations has withdrawn 1,700 peacekeepers in recent months in response to demands from DRC government to end the mission next year, but still supports operations against several armed groups in the country's east.

Roger Meece, the new head of the UN mission called MONUSCO - which replaced predecessor MONUC - said last week that the rebels were still a huge threat to the population and the UN would keep trying to wipe them out.

Margot Wallstrom, the UN special representative on sexual violence in conflict, said in April the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers from the country would make the struggle against endemic rape "a lot more difficult".

Accurate figures for sexual violence are hard to come by as many rapes are unreported but according to the UN, at least 5,400 women reported being raped in neighbouring South Kivu province in the first nine months of 2009 alone.

MONUC had been in the former Belgian colony since 1999 to help the government of the DRC as it struggles to re-establish state control over the vast central African nation.

A war from 1998-2003 and the ensuing humanitarian disaster have killed an estimated 5.4 million people in the country.
Coppied by http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2010/08/201082402724259229.html

Watch Aid agency warns of 'double disaster' for Niger

Aid agency warns of 'double disaster' for Niger


More than 100,000 people are homeless after rains washed away their homes
Niger has been hit by a double disaster as recent floods compound an existing food crisis, a UK aid agency warned.

Aid workers are struggling to help thousands of people affected by the floods which have hit many areas of West and Central Africa.

Oxfam says the situation is stretching resources to the limit as it also tries to respond to the food shortages.

The agency urged donors to help Niger face what it calls a second emergency.

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In pictures: Niger's flood disaster
'Niger drought made me a beggar'
Niger's silent crisis
Oxfam issued its warning as nearly eight million people, or half the population, are already facing hunger because of failed harvests.

Now more than 100,000 people have been left homeless after heavy rains washed away their homes earlier this month, according to the United Nations.

Floods have destroyed crops, and thousands of animals have drowned.

Oxfam warned that flooding is also hindering the delivery of aid in remote areas.

Floods will increase the risk of diseases, especially among young children suffering from acute malnutrition.

The World Food Programme recently acknowledged that it was forced to limit its food distribution to only 40% of those in need because of a funding shortfall.
Coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11066959

Sweden Defends Reversal of Warrant for Founder of WikiLeaks

We are saw the Sweden Defends Reversal of Warrant for Founder of WikiLeaks


Bertil Ericson/Scanpix, via Associated Press
Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, on Aug. 14, before he was accused of rape.

STOCKHOLM — The Swedish prosecutor’s office on Sunday defended its handling of allegations made by two Swedish women against Julian Assange, founder of the WikiLeaks Web site, saying that a senior prosecutor withdrew the arrest warrant that had been issued for Mr. Assange on a rape charge after reviewing a judgment made by a more junior official before additional information became available.
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Bertil Ericson/Scanpix, via Associated Press
Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, on Aug. 14, before he was accused of rape.

The abrupt reversal of the prosecutor’s office had added a new and bizarre turn to events involving Mr. Assange, a 39-year-old Australian. He has been locked in a dispute with the Pentagon over WikiLeaks’ posting last month of 77,000 classified Afghan war documents on the Internet, and its announcement of plans within weeks to post 15,000 additional secret documents that he has described as even “more explosive.”

Mr. Assange and others working for WikiLeaks said that “dirty tricks” by those seeking to destroy WikiLeaks were responsible for the developments here on Saturday, when prosecutors first announced that they had issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Assange, then reversed course within hours. The warrant was canceled after the chief prosecutor, Eva Finne, reviewed the case and found that “there is no longer reason to believe that Mr. Assange has committed rape,” in the words of a spokeswoman for the national prosecutor’s office, Karin Rosander.

“Another prosecutor was responsible for the matter on Friday,” Mrs. Rosander said Sunday in a telephone interview. “During Saturday, a new prosecutor took over, and new information came to light. When she looked into the matter, she found there was no reason to suspect” Mr. Assange of rape, and therefore no need for the arrest warrant.

Mrs. Rosander said a separate allegation against Mr. Assange that was cited in the prosecutor’s original statement on Saturday, involving molestation, remained under investigation. “The prosecutor will begin looking into the matter tomorrow, and she estimates that she will make a decision in the coming week,” she said.

The prosecutor’s office did not feel that an accusation of molestation — a term that covers a wide range of offenses under Swedish law, including inappropriate physical contact with another adult — was enough to justify an arrest warrant, Mrs. Rosander said. A molestation conviction carries a possible fine, or up to a year in prison.

Pending further investigation into the molestation claim, Mrs. Rosander said, the police have been trying, so far unsuccessfully, to “find” Mr. Assange, who has remained elusive since arriving in Sweden 10 days ago from Britain. He had said he hoped to establish a secure base for himself and WikiLeaks in Sweden because its press laws provide broad protections for news organizations that publish secret information. The Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet has agreed to take on Mr. Assange as a columnist in an arrangement that would qualify him for such protections.

Mr. Assange has told reporters in recent weeks that he believes he and other WikiLeaks activists are at risk of being arrested, or being singled out in other ways, in the wake of WikiLeaks’ release of the Pentagon documents.

Early Sunday, Mr. Assange responded to efforts by The New York Times to contact him with a brief e-mail to a reporter in which he described the sexual abuse accusations as “completely baseless, as I always said.”

Previously, he had responded to the Swedish accusations in Twitter feeds, a form of communication he has favored in recent weeks in his effort to disguise his whereabouts. On Twitter, he implied that the accusations were payback for WikiLeaks’ disclosures. “We were warned to expect ‘dirty tricks,’ ” he said. “Now, we have the first one.”

In its Sunday editions, Aftonbladet quoted Mr. Assange as saying that the rape claims had caused damage even though they had been dropped because WikiLeaks’ “enemies” could use them to discredit the organization.

“I do not know what lies behind this. But we have been warned that, for example, the Pentagon plans to use dirty tricks to undermine us,” Mr. Assange was quoted as saying in a phone interview from Sweden. “And I have also been warned about sex traps.”

The Pentagon press secretary, Geoff Morrell, said Sunday that any suggestion that the Pentagon was involved in the allegations was “absurd.”

Aftonbladet also quoted a woman who it said made the accusation of molestation as saying: “The accusations against Assange are, of course, not orchestrated by the Pentagon or anybody else. Responsibility for what happened to myself and the other girl lies with a man who has a skewed attitude to women and a problem taking no for an answer.” The newspaper did not identify the woman.

William Rankin contributed reporting from New York, Eric Schmitt from Washington and Ravi Somaiya from London.
Coppied by http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/world/europe/23wikileaks.html

Saw the Wikileaks founder Julian Assange accused of rape

Enjoy Wikileaks founder Julian Assange accused of rape

Julian Assange was cited as saying the release of the allegations was "deeply disturbing"
Swedish authorities say they have issued an arrest warrant for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, on accusations of rape and molestation.

The warrant was issued late on Friday, said Karin Rosander, communications head at Sweden's prosecutors' office.

Swedish police have been trying to contact Mr Assange, but have not yet been able to, she told the BBC.

Wikileaks, criticised for leaking Afghan war documents, quoted him saying the charges were "without basis".

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What is Wikileaks?
Weighing the impact of Afghan Wikileaks revelations
The message, which appeared on Twitter and was attributed directly to Mr Assange, said the appearance of the allegations "at this moment is deeply disturbing".

In a series of other messages posted on the Wikileaks Twitter feed, the whistle-blowing website said: "No-one here has been contacted by Swedish police", and that it had been warned to expect "dirty tricks".

More documents due
Last month, Wikileaks published more than 90,000 secret US military documents on the war in Afghanistan.

US authorities criticised the leak, saying it could put the lives of coalition soldiers and Afghans, especially informers, at risk.

Mr Assange has said that Wikileaks is intending to release a further 15,000 documents in the coming weeks.

Ms Rosander said there were two separate allegations against Mr Assange, one of rape and the other of molestation.

She gave no details of the accusations. She said that as far as she knew they related to alleged incidents that took place in Sweden.

Media reports say Mr Assange was in Sweden last week to talk about his work and defend the decision by Wikileaks to publish the Afghan war logs.

The allegations were first reported in the Swedish newspaper Expressen.
Coppied by http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-11047025