Hamas Considers Suspending Participation in Cairo Dialogue

31/05/2009 | AlmanarTV

The Palestinian Hamas Resistance movement said on Sunday it considers the possibility to suspend participation in inter-Palestinian dialogue following the killing of its two members during clashes with security forces in the West Bank.

"We are now studying the suspension of our participation in the Cairo-hosted dialogue as part of the response to the assassination of two holy fighters in Qalqilya city in the West Bank," Salah al-Bardaweel, a Hamas spokesman, told reporters in Gaza.

Three policemen and a civilian were also killed in the armed clashes which broke off early Sunday between the two Hamas members and the security forces.

Al-Bardaweel reiterated that what happened was "a plot the Palestinian (National) Authority (PNA) and Israel planned to end the resistance and uproot Hamas," in the West Bank, ruled by Abbas ' Fatah party.

Petronas: The next "rape" victim ?

When can there be an ultimate serenity in Malaysian politics? Can we ever achieve it or just continue on listening to rhetoric and pranks of the deceiving politicians of the day?

Or is there any serious intention in the first place to arrive at a political tranquility by any of the ruling politicians, as many politicians of late survive through political tribulation and misfortune?

There are questionable actions taken by our top leader which outcries the people of late. The appointment of Omar Ong, the so-called young economic savvy in the 4th floor at JPM to the Board of PETRONAS is another issue under serious public watchfulness.

Now, there are rumors circulating that Syed Hamid Albar is going to chair the Board of PETRONAS and if the rumors turns real than there is another flaw that DS Najib commits…and it is an absolute crab.

PETRONAS has never been touched by politician and all the while that petroleum company has been growing up on its own independently under direct supervision of the reigning Prime Minister.

If there is any politician sitting on the Board, we are at risk of facing another round of political misadventure and would be a tough issue to mitigate.

I pray that the rumor is unsubstantiated. It abhors if it is the real finality that had been decided.

What does Tengku Razaleigh (TR), the architect of PETRONAS has to say about this?

If Mahathir interminably gives comments to leaders who succeeded him, TR should come up with opinion on this issue as he is the living founder of PETRONAS which he built for free of charge…no salary. No allowances…no car. No nothing.

TR should come up with his voice upright because he was the one who went through the pains sweat, tears and hell in getting PETRONAS in existence and subsequently becomes one of the giants of the world.

TR is duty bound to tell the people on the endurances that he had to go through in setting up PETRONAS with everyone in the world were going against the forms and the fundamental motives of setting up this National Petroleum Company.

It was purely for the sake of the needful Malaysian and the generation there after and if current leaders are all out to fulfill their personal advantages, the doors are wide ajar for them to leave us.

He (TR) must tell us why politicians were not welcomed to the Board and why the company was totally given to professionals to manage.

This is his inheritance for the people and he must help us to protect this astute organization from going through shambles and muddle.

Tun Razak’s Cabinet gave him (TR) the task to set up our own National Petroleum Company, and TR was given very wide parameter within which he decided on every little thing as to how PETRONAS should be organized.

Malaysian of younger generation do not know all the hind side stories as to why PETRONAS was set up the way we make out today.

The unpatriotic leaders of the day are not able to actualize all the reasoning behind much stuff surrounding PETRONAS existence.

It is obligatory on the part of TR to recount detailed history of PETRONAS; it is for the generation after to understand the significance of its existence that no element of personal greed creeps in it.

We are in defense of the few left for the people and we wish not to see any further sordid, distasteful and squalid decisions by current leaders as we don’t want to bear witness for our leader’s wrong doings any further. We have had enough of it.

I would advocate everyone who has the platform to express views over this matter, and be vigilant of what is there to come for PETRONAS.

Let us put up defense for PETRONAS till the end from encroachment of unreliable persons with mischievous intent.

I hope what we heard; as I have said in a line above is just an unfounded rumor. No one should be blaming us for being so protective of PETRONAS, as that is the only one of the few left for us to have pride and to rest our laurels on…the rest have gone to the backyard.

Lastly may I repeat, I hope it is just an unsubstantiated rumor. I am dreadful if it is real.


Thanks……………………………………………..Aspan Alias

'Judge Dredd' weapon may come to life

Fri, 29 May 2009 | PressTV

The high-tech weapon does not require a soldier to visually follow his target.

The idea behind a weapon used in a Sylvester Stallone movie comes to realize as the US Army moves to test a new high-tech weapon used against targets out of line of sight.

The computerized, projectile launcher, the XM-25 Individual Air Burst Weapon nicknamed the "Judge Dredd" gun after a Stallone movie, is a shoulder-weapon that uses laser beams to precisely target and destroy objects and people.

"The way a soldier operates this is you basically find your target, then laze to it, which gives the range, then you get an adjusted aim point, adjust fire and pull the trigger," deputy program manager Richard Audette told Army News Service, according to a FOX News report on Thursday.

"Say you've lazed out to 543 meters ... when you pull the trigger it arms the round and fires it 543 meters plus or minus a one-, two- or three-meter increment, then it explodes over the target."

The lightweight XM-25 "smart weapon" would allow the soldier wielding it aim to a spot near the target and have a fused grenade explode exactly at the targeted area.

"For example, in Iraq we had many instances where there was a sniper firing from a rooftop and you have a squad trying to engage that target, but the soldiers couldn't get to him with the weapons they had, so they'd call in the Air Force to drop a JDAM (joint direct attack munition)," said Audette. "We can take out the target at $25 per XM round as opposed to a $20,000 to $50,000 JDAM."

German arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch and the US company Alliant Techsystems (ATK Corporation) have jointly developed the smart gun. The weapon comes with five-round magazine and weighs in at around 14 pounds (6.3kg) - about the same weight as an M-16. It is equipped with a 203 grenade launcher.

US, Koreas prepare for peninsula war

Thu, 28 May 2009 | PressTV

South Korean and US troops go on higher alert amid Pyongyang's threats of 'a powerful strike' and growing fears of a full-scale war in the peninsula.

"As of 7:15 am Thursday (2215 GMT Wednesday), the US-South Korea Combined Forces Command upgraded Watch Conditions by a notch to Stage Two," Seoul's Defense Ministry said in a statement released on Thursday.

"Surveillance over the North will be stepped up, with more aircraft and personnel mobilized," AFP quoted spokesman Won Tae-Jae as saying.

The remarks come in response to North Korea's Wednesday announcement, saying it was withdrawing from the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

The North also warned that it could launch a military offensive on the South as it faced further pressure over test-firing an atomic bomb for the second time on Monday.

Following the test fire, Seoul said it planned to join the US-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), which is aimed at halting shipments of weapons technology.

The decision enraged the North which said it would respond to "any tiny hostile acts…, including the stopping and searching of our peaceful vessels," with a strong military strike.

Responding to the threats, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned North Korea against "provocative and belligerent" and highlighted the US firm commitment to the armistice and defending South Korea and Japan -- both in easy range of North Korean missiles.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Pyongyang's angry rhetoric will only aggravate its isolation, and that the peace has held despite the North's repeated threats to end the truce.

Nearly 28,500 US troops remain stationed in South Korea in what Washington calls a deterrent force against Pyongyang.

Won said the surveillance step-up -- the fourth since 1982 -- to stage two would be focused along the borderline Demilitarized Zone, the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom village and the disputed Yellow Sea border of Northern Limit Line.

He added the tight defense measure was aimed at preventing the North's military provocations, vowing "the military will deal sternly with provocative acts."

Somalia blocks air, sea ports to curb rebels

Tue, 26 May 2009 | PressTV

The Somali government has announced an immediate blockade on airstrips and seaports in the rebel controlled center and south of the war-torn Horn of Africa nation.

"Beginning today [May 25] sea ports and airports not under the government's control will be closed to any flights or shipments except for humanitarian purposes," Press TV correspondent quoted Information Minister Farhan Ali Mohamud as saying.
Al-Shabaab militants hold sway over large areas of
south central Somalia.

The announcement comes on the heels of a proposal put forward by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) calling for the imposition of an embargo on south-central Somali airports and seaports run by extremist al-Shabaab militias.

Speaking after a closed-door cabinet meeting in the capital Mogadishu, Mohamoud said the sanctions were aimed at curbing the flow of arms and foreign fighters into the country and would not extend to humanitarian flights or shipments.

The minister further called on the United Nations to adopt a similar measure to the one taken by the six-nation regional bloc -- comprising of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan and Somalia.

Earlier on Monday, Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who has been facing the Herculean task of patching together the country's divided factions, called for international assistance in dealing with the fresh wave of insurgency.

He also blamed Iraqi and Afghan fighters for backing rebel forces in their latest tug-of-war with government forces over the control of Mogadishu.

The latest fighting has left more than 180 people dead and an estimated 60, 000 homeless since it broke out almost two weeks ago.

The militant group al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the recent round of car bomb attacks which killed at least 10 people, including seven government forces, and has confirmed that the group has foreign fighters within its ranks.

The armed rebels control most of south-central Somalia where a number of airstrips and the two main ports of Kismayu and Marka are located.

The latest blockade comes as Somalia has been subject to a UN arms embargo for many years. However, weapons are still freely available in the Mogadishu weapons market.

Somalia has not had a functioning national government since 1991 and years of fighting in the country have left some three million people - a third of the population - in need of humanitarian aid.

RM12 billion PKFZ scandal - six times bigger than RM2.5 billion BMF scandal of Mahathir

MCA President and Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat should stop running from the question why he had failed to honour his repeated public undertakings to “tell all” and make public the full report of the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) audit into the mega-billion ringgit Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal. Malaysians want to know what he is hiding.

The PwC audit report into the PKFZ scandal has been described in the media as “a damning disclosure of mismanagement, clandestine deals, conflicts of interest and a total disregard for transparency and accountability” for a project which was supposed to cost RM1.845 billion in 2002 under the then MCA President and Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Ling Liong Sik but ended up at RM4.6 billion under MCA Deputy President and Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy.

Now, horror of horrors, it is reported that the final cost of the PKFZ scandal under MCA President and the third MCA Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat is the frightening figure of RM12 billion, which would have to be borne by the Malaysian taxpayers although the Cabinet had been assured in 2002 that the PKFZ project was a feasible, self-financing project that would not require a single sen of government financing!

If the PKFZ scandal had ballooned from RM1.8 billion in 2002 to RM12 billion in seven years under three MCA Ministers, it will be six times bigger than the first Mahathir mega financial scandal – RM2.5 billion BMF scandal!

RM12 billion of public funds is no chicken feed – it could build three Penang Bridges at RM4 billion each, 120 hospitals at RM100 million each, 1,200 schools at RM10 million each or 300,000 low-cost houses at RM40,000 each!

The MCA national leadership must fully account as to how three MCA Ministers in the past seven years had presided over one of the biggest financial scandals in the nation’s 52-year history.

The latest excuse of a “technical issue” preventing the full publication of the PwC report – that the Port Klang Authority Chairman Datuk Lee Hwa Beng had only written to the PcW on April 30 to seek its consent to release the report – is most laughable and a terrible reflection of Ong’s Ministerial irresponsibility to honour his 14-month pledge to reveal the whole truth about the PKFZ scandal.

(LKS - Dinner speech in Sungai Lalang, Sungai Patani on Saturday, 9th May 2009 at 9 pm)

Drug lords have friends in high places

May 10, 2009 - Tom Lasseter: Afghan drug trade thrives with help, and neglect, of officials

War on drugs and Mexico's potential demise

May , 2009 - Collapse of traditional economy created the space for the cartels to grow

US-funded militarization didn't stop Colombian drug trade, and won't in Mexico either

Islamic World Today

Afghan students condemn civilian deaths in US air strikes

Fayez Khorshid, Press TV, Kabul

Sun, 10 May 2009 14:59:00 GMT

Fresh fighting rocks Somali capital

May 10, 2009 - Fresh fighting has erupted in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, between fighters loyal to the government and their opponents from al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam.

At least 50 people have been killed and over 200 people have been hurt in fighting over the weekend.

The battles are another blow to the government of President Sharif Ahmed, which has little control over Mogadishu and large areas of the countrys south. Roza Ibragimova reports.

The Corporation

You'd think that things like disasters, or the purity of childhood, or even milk, let alone water or air, would be sacred. But no. Corporations have no built-in limits on what, who, or how much they can exploit for profit. In the fifteenth century, the enclosure movement began to put fences around public grazing lands so that they might be privately owned and exploited. Today, every molecule on the planet is up for grabs. In a bid to own it all, corporations are patenting animals, plants, even your DNA. Around things too precious, vulnerable, sacred or important to the public interest, governments have, in the past, drawn protective boundaries against corporate exploitation. Today, governments are inviting corporations into domains from which they were previously barred

Swine flu rapidly spreading in Asia

Sat, 09 May 2009 - PressTV

While officials believed that Asia had survived swine flu outbreak, the growing number of cases across the continent has raised concern.

The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare on Saturday confirmed the country's first three swine flu cases, adding that all three had recently returned from Canada.

Japanese authorities, who have been screening travelers for flu symptoms over the past month, are now tracking passengers on the same flight as the three individuals diagnosed with the new flu.

The first confirmed swine flu case was also reported on Saturday in Australia. The patient is said to be the victim of a weak strain of the virus.

New Zealand, the first country in the Asia-Pacific region infected with the virus, also reported two more cases on Saturday, increasing its confirmed cases to seven.

The seventh H1N1 case was also reported in Israel; the patient however was reported to be recovering from the disease.

Despite the increasing number of swine flu cases, WHO officials have not increased the global pandemic alert level, indicating that the disease is not rapidly spreading outside North America.

12-year-old boy registers for Iran presidential election

Sat, 09 May 2009 | PressTV

A 12-year-old Iranian boy, Kourosh Mozouni, has registered for the upcoming presidential election with a campaign promise of his own.

Speaking to reporters at the Interior Ministry's election headquarters in Tehran on Friday, Mozouni said he would ban computer games and raise wages of male parents so that mothers do not have to work.

"Mothers, children and young adults will vote for me," said the 12-year-old whose bid for presidency was rejected by Iran's Interior Ministry.

Mozouni has also promised to pass a law that lets women have jobs only if they have had babies for at least five years.

He said he would also negotiate with US President Barack Obama to buy Hawaii Islands and move Israelis there so that Palestinians can live peacefully in their lands.

When asked if he knew what yellow cake -- a substance used for nuclear fuel -- was, Mozouni said, "A president does not have to know everything."

The question came up as Iran's president would have to deal with a heated international debate regarding Iran's nuclear program.

"You all have refrigerators at home but do you know the different parts of it? All Iranians believe nuclear energy to be their legitimate right, but this does not mean that they should know everything about it," the 12-year-old explained.

He also said he would seek to stop the killing of the world's oppressed children, including Gazans, if he elected as president.

According to Iran's Interior Ministry, over one thousand candidates have so far registered for the country's June presidential election.

Following the official registration, the Guardians Council will evaluate the candidates and announce individuals meeting the council's approval on May 20th and 21st.

PERAK TURNING INTO A POLICE STATE

May 07, 2009 - Arrests galore at SUK [ State Secretariat Perak ]

Dozens arrested, including 8 lawmakers

Police arrested dozens of protesters including several legislators today outside the Perak state assembly where the government and opposition are tussling for control.

Hundreds of police and riot squad were deployed at the state assembly, which was blocked off with barricades to prevent black-clad protesters from reaching the building.

Missile data found on hard drives

Onslaught - The civilian slaughter