Obama hosts dinner for Islamic holy month

President Barack Obama on Tuesday praised American Muslims for enriching the nation's culture at a dinner to celebrate the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

President Barack Obama on Tuesday praised American Muslims for enriching the nation's culture at a dinner to celebrate the Islamic holy month of Ramadan

"The contribution of Muslims to the United States are too long to catalog because Muslims are so interwoven into the fabric of our communities and our country," Obama said at the iftar, the dinner that breaks the holiday's daily fast.

The president joined Cabinet secretaries, members of the diplomatic corps and lawmakers to pay tribute to what he called "a great religion and its commitment to justice and progress."

Attendees included Congress' two Muslim members -- Reps. Keith Ellison and Andre Carson as well as ambassadors from Islamic nations and Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren.

Obama shared the story of Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir, another invited guest, who broke a state record for most career points as a Massachusetts high school student.

"As an honor student, as an athlete on her way to Memphis, Bilqis is an inspiration not simply to Muslim girls -- she's an inspiration to all of us," he said.

President Barack Obama speaks during a dinner celebrating Ramadan in the state dining room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009. (AP, Gerald Herbert)

Obama also noted the contributions of Muhammad Ali, who was not in attendance, though the president borrowed a quote from famous boxer, explaining religion.

"A few years ago," Obama said, "he explained this view -- and this is part of why he's The Greatest -- saying, 'Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams -- they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do -- they all contain truths."'

Ramadan, a monthlong period of prayer, reflection and sunrise-to-sunset fasts, began Aug. 22 in most of the Islamic world. It is believed that God began revealing the Quran to Muhammad during Ramadan, and the faithful are supposed to spend the month in religious reflection, prayer and remembrance of the poor.

White House dinners marking the holy month are nothing new. Former President George W. Bush held iftars during his eight years in office.

Obama has made a special effort since taking office to repair U.S. relations with the world's Muslims, including visits to Turkey and Cairo. In a June speech at the Egyptian capital, as well as in one to another important Muslim audience, in Turkey, Obama said: "America is not -- and never will be -- at war with Islam."

Obama also released a video message to Muslims before the start to Ramadan. In the video, he said Ramadan's rituals are a reminder of the principles Muslims and Christians have in common, including advancing justice, progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.

President Barack Obama speaks during a dinner celebrating Ramadan in the state dining room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009. (AP, Gerald Herbert) President Barack Obama introduces Bilqis Abdul-qaadir, a University of Memphis student, who, as a high school student in Massachusetts, broke the high school career points record in women's basketball for her state, as he makes remarks during a dinner celebrating Ramadan in the state dining room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009. (AP, Gerald Herbert)

Indonesian quake leaves 57 dead

Rescuers dug through rocks and debris with their bare hands Thursday in search of dozens of villagers believed buried in a landslide triggered by a strong Indonesian earthquake that killed at least 57 people and damaged thousands of buildings.

At least 110 people were hospitalized with injuries from the 7.0 magnitude quake just off the coast of densely populated Java island, Disaster Management Agency spokesman Priyadi Kardono said, adding 10 were in critical condition.

The earthquake Wednesday afternoon caused destruction across West Java province, where more than 18,300 homes and offices were listed as damaged, about 9,000 seriously, Kardono said. At least 5,300 people were forced into temporary shelters.

Some rural areas could not be reached by telephone and there may be more victims and damage, officials said.

Many of the deaths and injuries were caused by falling debris or collapsed structures.

The death toll continued to rise Thursday. More bodies were found in Cianjur district, where a landslide buried a row of homes under tons of rock and mud in the village of Cikangkareng. Villagers were still searching for dozens of others believed missing.

"Everything is gone, my wife, my old father-in-law and my house ... now I just hope to find the bodies of my family," farmer Ahmad Suhana, 34, said as he pried at giant stones with a crowbar.

Heavy digging equipment had not reached the remote village, which President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was to visit later Thursday. Police, military personnel and villagers used their hands to remove rubble.

Maskana Sumitra, a district administrator, said 11 houses and a mosque were buried by the landslide and estimated more than 50 people were trapped and feared dead.

"The chance of survival is so slim ... but we have to find them," Sumitra said.

When the quake struck it was felt hundreds of miles (kilometers) away on the neighboring resort island of Bali. In the capital, Jakarta, 125 miles (190 kilometers) north of the underwater epicenter of the temblor, thousands of panicked office workers flooded out of swaying skyscrapers onto the streets, some of them screaming.

A tsunami warning was issued after the quake but was lifted an hour later. Several dozen aftershocks were measured by geological agencies.

Hospitals in towns and cities across West Java quickly filled with scores of injured people, most with broken bones and cuts.

In Cikangkareng, Dede Kurniati said her 9-year-old son was playing at a friend's house when the earthquake struck and is now "buried under the rocks."

"I lost my son ... now I just want to see his body, I want to bury my lovely son properly," she said, weeping.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago, straddles continental plates and is prone to seismic activity along what is known as the Pacific Ring of Fire. A huge quake off western Indonesia caused a powerful tsunami in December 2004 that killed about 230,000 people in a dozen countries, half of them in Aceh province.

Photos:

A resident inspects the ruins of a house destroyed by earthquake in Tasikmalaya, West Java, Indonesia, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. A man salvages roof tiles from the ruin of his house destroyed by an earthquake in Sindangbarang, West Java, Indonesia, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. Residents displaced after an earthquake look after an elderly woman at a temporary shelter in Tasikmalaya, West Java, Indonesia, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. Residents sit near a house damaged by an earthquake in Tasikmalaya, West Java, Indonesia, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. Man scavenges roof tiles from the ruin of his house destroyed by an earthquake in Sindangbarang, West Java, Indonesia, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. In this photo released by China's Xinhua news agency, residents inspect a landslide caused by an Earthquake in West Java, Indonesia, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. Rescue workers search for victims of an earthquake in Cikangkareng, South Cianjur, West Java province September 3, 2009. Rescue workers find the leg of a boy in the rubble following an earthquake in Cikangkareng, South Cianjur, West Java province September 3, 2009. Two men ride past a damaged road after an earthquake in Pangalengan, West Java September 3, 2009. A man prays beside his injured wife in a makeshift tent set up by local medical teams after an earthquake in Pangalengan, about 30 km from the city of Bandung, West Java September 3, 2009. Rescue workers find the body of a boy in the rubble following an earthquake in Cikangkareng, South Cianjur, West Java province September 3, 2009. Rescuers for victims after an earthquake-triggered landslide burried a village in cianjur, West Java, Indonesia, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. Villagers walk past a damaged house after an earthquake in Pangalengan, West Java September 3, 2009.

New NATO chief is Islam’s ‘major foe,’ Taliban says

Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgents say the incoming NATO chief is the “major enemy” of Muslims for defending the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad when prime minister of Denmark. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Danish prime minister until earlier this month, is due in August to become secretary-general of NATO, which leads a 56,000-strong international force fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The publication of the cartoons in a Danish newspaper in 2006 led to riots across the Muslim world, including bloody protests in Afghanistan in which several people were killed. Rasmussen had defended the publication of the cartoons on the grounds of free speech and refused to apologize to Muslim countries. In an article posted on the Taliban’s Web site (http://alemarah1.org/english/), the insurgent group said Rasmussen’s appointment would “further strenghten the faith of the Muslims” to fight against NATO and would lead to “intensification of war” in Afghanistan.

“The major enemy of Islam’s Prophet ... has become the secretary general of NATO,” said the undated article. Turkey, NATO’s only mainly Muslim member, dropped its veto to Rasmussen’s appointment this month after US President Barack Obama offered promises that one of Rasmussen’s deputies would be a Turk and Turkish commanders would be present at NATO command. Turkey had said Rasmussen’s appointment would exacerbate hostility towards the West in Muslim countries, including Afghanistan, where NATO’s military operation is the biggest in its history.

EU lost in Gaza once more

As in almost every major international crisis, the European Union is having great difficulty creating a consistent response to the Israeli invasion of Gaza.
The mixed messages stemming from the EU and member countries have led to criticism that Brussels is once again far from being a heavyweight in international forums.

While EU institutions and member countries issue contradictory statements, the EU term president, the Czech Republic, made an unprecedented blunder by supporting Israel's ground offensive and then quickly withdrawing it. The concurrent initiatives taken by the Czech presidency and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have also contributed to the confusion, as questions over who will represent the EU and whom Israelis and Palestinians should listen to have started to circulate both in Brussels and among EU capitals. Like the Arab countries feeling the heat from the streets, some EU countries, too, have started to see mounting criticism in EU capitals over Israel's massacres in Gaza.

Pro-Palestinian marchers took to the streets in the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Austria, Sweden, Poland, Greece and Cyprus, with reports of skirmishes outside Israeli embassies. In Paris, 20,000 people marched in support of the Palestinians on Saturday while a crowd of 12,000 showed its solidarity with Israel on Sunday.

The big blunder

The Czech EU presidency, speaking on behalf of 27 members, claimed that the ground attack by Israel was "more defensive than offensive." However, in the face of mounting civilian casualties, the Czechs quickly withdrew their earlier verbal statement with a written one in which they softly criticized Israel. The withdrawn statement, which was blamed for a youthful mistake by its spokesman, Jiri Potuznik, has been replaced by "even the undisputable right of the state to defend itself does not allow actions which largely affect civilians."

Another EU actor, French President Sarkozy, who has embarked on a mission in the Middle East, has also been giving contradictory messages. While he was accusing Israel of disproportionate use of force last week, the French president in an interview on Monday laid the lion's share of blame on Hamas. "Hamas, which decided to break the truce and resume rocket fire against Israel, bears a heavy responsibility for the suffering of the Palestinians," he told Lebanese newspapers An Nahar, As Safir and L'Orient Le Jour.

The Czech EU presidency and Sarkozy are leading EU efforts to broker a cease-fire and inject humanitarian aid into Gaza, each sending a separate diplomatic mission to the region this week.

Besides the contradictory messages by the term president and France, the EU has another serious snag in its dealings with the Palestinians as Hamas is on the EU list of terrorist organizations. Asked whether EU delegations would meet with Hamas leaders, EU spokespersons said Hamas was on the terror list and that EU representatives would instead talk to Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority.

Don't confuse Hamas with PKK

Commission spokespersons reacted strongly to a comparison between the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and Hamas after a journalist asked why the European Commission was silent over Israel's attacks on Hamas while Brussels had criticized Turkey over its land operation against the PKK. The spokespersons said the comparison was "inappropriate."

Superpower keeping super silent on Gaza

As the response of the global public to the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip grows larger and more organized, the only power that can stop the Israeli atrocities, the United States of America, continues to keep silent.

Many believe that America’s role in Israel’s reoccupation of Gaza is not mere silence but an active green light. Though it is impossible to prove this allegation, the public conscience has already convicted the US of being a party to the crime perpetrated against humanity on the Gaza front. The condemnations of the US in street protesters in Turkey’s larger cities this weekend were not in fact unique to Turkey. In almost all Arab countries, protests were organized against Israel for what it is doing and the United States for what it is not.

The public conscience knows very well that when Israeli state officials mention an "international understanding" about Israel's reasons to attack Gaza, they mean the "American understanding." And, in fact, Israel has so far been rewarded with a clear "understanding."

The Bush administration has put the onus on Hamas, saying Hamas was the one responsible for the breaking of the cease-fire. Though the administration called for an immediate halt to the violence, it has not clearly demanded an end to the Israeli attacks. The UN Security Council has also failed to agree on a statement calling for a cease-fire, despite nearly four hours of closed-door talks late on Saturday.

As major world powers have failed to condemn the Israeli atrocities with clear language, Israeli officials have made it clear that they feel little international pressure. An Israeli government spokesperson said on Sunday that the international community understands Israel's reasons for launching its offensive in the Gaza Strip. "There is, on an international level, much understanding of the fact that we are exercising our legitimate right to self-defense against attacks perpetrated from the territory of Gaza by Hamas terrorists," said Israeli government spokesperson Avi Pazner in an interview with French radio station Europe 1.

Observers do not expect any meaningful change in US policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after Barack Obama is sworn in to the presidential office. Obama and his advisors have kept silent on the current situation in Gaza as would be expected, but Obama visited the southern Israeli town of Sderot last July and, while speaking there, he said from the very first moment after taking office he will try to seek a breakthrough. But he added that it was unrealistic to expect him to "suddenly snap his fingers and bring about peace." Sderot is one city in southern Israel that is being hit by Qassam rockets from Hamas.

Retired Gen. Kürşat Atılgan, a Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) deputy, told Today's Zaman that American power has shown its influence not only on the UN Security Council, but also among Arab leadership. "Three quarters of Arab states are under American control. The international community cannot do anything about this. This is not a new tragedy. Israel knows very well from its past experience that the international community does nothing tangible to stop Israel. This shows Israel's political power. Israel tops the list of countries that have a disproportionate amount of political power compared to its national power," he said.

The US has consistently vetoed UN Security Council decisions condemning Israel for atrocities in the region, even though Israel has violated Security Council resolutions 242, 338, 1397 and 1515 several times in the past. The Syrian foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, said yesterday that he and his country are not expecting any real solutions from the UN Security Council, as the US is working at the beck and call of Israel.

On the other hand, many observers believe that it is not willingness but effectiveness that the US administration lacks when it comes to forcing Israel to take a particular position. Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy Suat Kınıklıoğlu told Today's Zaman that the fact that the pro-Israeli lobby has managed to penetrate US political circles is a very important element that explains America's silence. "Another problem is the current state of the US administration. The old administration is not yet out of office fully and the new administration has not yet been finalized," he said. Kınıklıoğlu noted that he thinks the timing of the Israeli attacks is not random. "The country that has perpetuated these attacks would have calculated all these facts," he said.

Onur Öymen, deputy chairman of the Republican People's Party's (CHP), stated that whereas the US does not have the willingness or effectiveness to force Israel's hand, the Turkish government's misperception that it can force Israel to declare a cease-fire is self-deception. "The prime minister of Israel came to Turkey just before the planned attack. He spoke to the Turkish prime minister and said nothing [about it] to him. They say they informed Egypt. This means they do not take Turkey seriously. Furthermore, the countries the [Turkish] prime minister is visiting are in no position to influence Israel," he told Today's Zaman.

Is there an alternative to the US?

Political observers hope that public protests in the streets can act as leverage against Israeli actions in Gaza. Kınıklıoğlu highlighted the fact that thanks to the media, public opinion is no longer decided by decisions from the UN Security Council or their respective states. "There is an alternative picture in the media and this picture has the power to shape public perception of what is going on in Gaza. This is true also for the Arab public. The streets of Arab cities are demonstrating that their leaders have failed to show the necessary reaction to Israel. That is an important observation," he explained.

Others foresee an increased European Union role in world politics. The fascinating performance of the negotiating couple of France and Turkey during the Russian invasion of Georgia last year suggests that together with Turkish help, the EU could be more effective, constructive and active in conflict resolution. But Öymen criticized the hypocrisy of the EU particularly with regard to regional disputes. "When it came to Georgia, Europe showed a greater response. [Nicolas] Sarkozy worked very hard to push Russia to a cease-fire. Why is he not so active here? The [Czech EU presidency spokesman Jiri Potuznik] claimed that this is a 'defensive attack.' Why did they not say the same for Russia? They are claiming that Hamas started this fight in the first place. Well, Georgia was the first to start that fight also. The international community has lost its trustworthiness," he said to Today's Zaman.

A small country proposes a small but effective solution

According to a well-informed source in the Office of the Prime Ministry, Qatar has prepared a small but effective plan to be put in front of the UN Security Council in order to ease the tragedy that Palestinians are facing in Gaza. The plan, supported by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), is a proposal to create safe havens in certain schools in Gaza for students. According to the proposal, the UN would declare a number of school buildings "untouchable" and would put highly visible signs over these buildings. The schools would provide both first aid and educational facilities for the students. This would help give a hope of normalization to Palestinians and reduce the number of children and teenage casualties. If the Qatari proposal is accepted and any one of the UN protected buildings is hit by Israeli bombardments, this would automatically receive greater international condemnation. The Qatari officials are hoping that the US won't veto this humanitarian proposal as it does not include any condemnation of Israel. Such UN protection would mean the prevention of random bombardment, the use of cluster bombs and the new Israeli air-to-ground missile "flare." Whether Israel will submit to the Qatari proposal or a UN Security Council decision in the same direction is yet to be seen.

Israel uses cluster bombs, phosphorus shells against civilians

Reports have been coming in from the Gaza Strip indicating that Israel has been using cluster bombs and other controversial weapons in its ongoing assault on the region, which escalated from days of air strikes into a ground invasion on Saturday afternoon.

Military analysts examining the latest video footage from the region have confirmed the use of cluster bombs by Israeli forces.

Since the beginning of the Israeli invasion, at least 500 Palestinians have been killed, including 70 children and 27 women. By now a total of 2,650 Gazans have been injured, including 270 children and 650 women. The Israeli daily Haaretz, meanwhile, reported on Sunday that as Israeli ground forces invaded Gaza last Saturday “hundreds of shells were fired, including cluster bombs aimed at open areas.”

Cluster bombs, which scatter hundreds of smaller individual sub-munitions or “bomblets” that often remain undetonated after impact, are especially dangerous when used in a location like the Gaza Strip, which is densely packed with people, Turkish military analysts say.

In 2007, a former Israeli defense official said, “The Israeli military used cluster bombs for two weeks during the 2006 Lebanon war without telling the Israeli government.” At the time, the UN decried the use of the bombs was “completely immoral.”

In May 2008 diplomats from 111 countries meeting in Dublin agreed to a ban on cluster bombs, but the biggest producers and users of the munitions didn’t even participate in the talks that led to the treaty.

The United States, Russia, China, India, Pakistan and Israel all failed to participate in the 10 days of talks that ended with the agreement unveiled on May 30 last year. The treaty bans the majority of current designs of cluster bombs and requires signatory states to destroy their stockpiles within eight years.

Turkey is also among the countries that did not sign the treaty.

In his closing address to the conference, Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin said, "Rarely have we seen such single-minded determination to conclude a convention with such high humanitarian goals in such a concentrated period of time."

Cluster bombs have been used in such countries as Cambodia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Lebanon.

Countries including the US, India, Pakistan and Israel claim that such munitions are very useful on the battlefield, but opponents say that when the bomblets fail to explode they pose a deadly threat to civilians.

When details of the treaty were announced in May 2008 the US said it would not alter its policy. A statement from the Pentagon said, "While the United States shares the humanitarian concerns of those in Dublin, cluster munitions have demonstrated military utility, and their elimination from US stockpiles would put the lives of our soldiers and those of our coalition partners at risk."

Turkey produces cluster bombs locally

Turkey has developed its own cluster bombs domestically and exhibited its model during an international defense fair held in Ankara in 2005.

It is believed that the Turkish Air Force tested these bombs during a 2006 exercise code named Anatolian Eagle in the central Anatolian province of Konya.

Turkey also has an unspecified number of US-made cluster bomb munitions, such as CBU-87s, CBU-102s and AGM-154s, in its inventory.

Turkey's domestically developed cluster bombs are based on CBU-87s, which are said to have been successful during the first test trials staged in 2005. The domestically produced bombs are believed to each contain 800 bomblets.

White phosphorus in Israeli arsenal

Israel has also been using white phosphorus shells in its assault on Gaza, according British daily The Times.

White phosphorus is a chemical agent used to produce smokescreens, but can cause serious burns or death if it comes into contact with human skin. White phosphorus weapons are controversial today because of their potential use against civilians.

While the Chemical Weapons Convention does not include white phosphorous as a chemical weapon, many groups consider it to be one. In recent years, the United States, Israel, Russia and Argentina have used white phosphorus in combat.

Its use by the US has resulted in considerable controversy.

Initial field reports from Iraq referred to the use of white phosphorus against insurgents, but this was officially denied until November 2005, when the Pentagon admitted to the use of white phosphorus, although arguing that its use for producing obscuring smoke is legal and does not violate the Chemical Weapons Convention.

A Pentagon spokesman also admitted that white phosphorous "was used as an incendiary weapon against enemy combatants" in Iraq, although not against civilians.

Meanwhile, it is not yet clear whether Israel has used depleted uranium during its Gaza assault.

Depleted uranium weapons have been used in armed conflicts over the past 15 years, despite being radioactive and chemically toxic. They cause serious health problems after the conflict for both soldiers and civilians.

On Nov. 7, 2006, Gulf News quoted a doctor at a Palestinian hospital as accusing Israel of using a type of chemical ammunition that caused burns and injuries in soft tissue that could not be traced by X-ray.

Chemicals or depleted uranium could have been used in producing the new type of ammunition, according to Dr. Jomaa al-Saqqa, head of the emergency unit at Gaza's main medical facility, the Al-Shifa Hospital, Gulf News said at the time.

On July 8, 2006, Global Research quoted Professor Paola Manduca from the University of Genoa as saying that new and strange symptoms had been reported amongst the wounded and the dead during Israel's assault against Hezbullah targets in Lebanon in the summer of 2006.

"Bodies with dead tissue and no apparent wounds; shrunken corpses; civilians with heavy damage to lower limbs requiring amputation, which is nevertheless followed by unstoppable necrosis and death; descriptions of extensive internal wounds with no trace of shrapnel; corpses blackened but not burnt; and others heavily wounded that did not bleed," were amongst the unprecedented injuries cited by Professor Manduca, according to Global Research.

Photos

The bodies of Ahmed (R), Mohamed (C) and and Issa Samouni (L) who were killed in an israeli strike, are seen during their funeral in Gaza City, Monday, Jan. 5, 2009. Israeli forces pounded Gaza Strip houses, mosques and smuggling tunnels on Monday from the air, land and sea, killing at least seven children as they pressed a bruising offensive against palestinian militants.

A Palestinian girl who was injured in an israeli strike is rushed to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Monday, Jan. 5, 2009. The expansion of Israel's offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers into ground battles and artillery salvos is taking a heavier toll on the civilians of the crowded sliver of land, including three toddlers killed monday by the blast of a crashing shell.

Palestinian children who were killed in an Israeli strike are seen at the morgue of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Monday, Jan. 5, 2009. The expansion of Israel's offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers into ground battles and artillery salvos is taking a heavier toll on the civilians of the crowded sliver of land, including three toddlers killed monday by the blast of a crashing shell.

A Palestinian man carries a child who was injured in an Israeli strike for medical treatment in Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Monday, Jan. 5, 2009. Israeli forces pounded gaza strip houses, mosques and smuggling tunnels on monday from the air, land and sea, killing at least seven children as they pressed a bruising offensive against palestinian militants.

Palestinians carry a baby who was killed in an Israeli strike to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Monday, Jan. 5, 2009. Israeli forces pounded gaza strip houses, mosques and smuggling tunnels on monday from the air, land and sea, killing at least seven children as they pressed a bruising offensive against palestinian militants.

06.01.2009

Shoe protest in the US

After a journalist threw his shoes at US President George Bush during a press conference in Iraq, antiwar activists are now using shoes as their symbol of protest. The antiwar group "Code Pink" has written down the names of those who have died in Iraq on pairs of shoes and then used them to decorate the streets of the capital. Shoes have been donated by citizens and each are labeled with the name of someone who has died in Iraq. Meanwhile, the Iraqi journalist El Zeydi, the inspiration fro the shoe protest, has requested a pardon from the Iraqi parliament.

Four ships hijacked in 24 hours

''We are concerned for the crew on the Turkish ships''
Somali pirates have hijacked four ships in 24 hours. One of which is a Turkish ship. Denmark, in an attempt to contain the situation has opened cross-fire on the pirate ships.

The NATO-connected Denmark war ship opened fire on the Somali pirate ship as well as arrested the Somali ship's crew.

As of right now, not counting the ship hijacked yesterday, the pirates have also taken hostage two other Turkish ships named Karagöl and Yasa.

The background of the two previous two ships taken over by Somalis is as follows:

TURKISH CARGO SHIP TAKEN OVER BY SOMALI PIRATES- December 16th, 2008

A ship belonging to the Isko Denizcilik company, based in Istanbul, has been hijacked by Somali pirates.

The Turkish cargo ship, named "M/V Bosphorus Prodigy," was hijacked off of the Golf of Aden. The ship was said to have carried Antigua-Barbuda flags. The Isko Denizcilik Company has yet to make an announcement regarding the incident.

SOMALI PIRATES HIJACK TURKISH SHIP October 30th, 2008

Somali pirates, known for hijacking numerous ships from various countries have now hijacked a Turkish ship.

The "M/V Yasa Neslihan" ship, belonging to Yasa Denizcilik, carrying 77,000 tons of steel, and sporting a Marshall Island flag was hijacked yesterday at 12:30 off in the Gulf of Aden by Somali pirates.

There were twenty crew members on the ship at the time.

Following attempts made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NATO security forces went into action in order to save the Turkish personnel. However, because there are crew members on the ship, security forces are unable to attack directly.

Meanwhile, company attorneys are saying that so far they have not been contacted by the pirates for any ransom requests.

El Zeydi is the man of the day for throwing his shoes at Bush

Everyone around the world is talking about the Iraqi journalist's "attack by shoes" on US President George Bush. The journalist, who was arrested following the incident which occurred in Baghdad, has been declared a 'hero.'

The 28-year-old journalist Muntazar El Zeydi has now become the hero of antiwar Bush adversaries! Zeydi a correspondent for the independent El Bağdadi television station has now become a worldwide conversation piece after throwing his shoes at US President George Bush the night before last during a press conference with the Iraqi President. Seen as a big insult in the Arab culture, the journalist who threw his shoes at the president and then yelled; "this is your goodbye present, dog" is still under custody. Zeydi, who was taken in for questioning by Iraqi President Nuri El Maliki's security, passed both alcohol and drug tests. As the journalist was being questioned regarding whether he had been paid for his actions, thousands of citizens hit the streets holding slogans of support for the journalist.

'EXPRESSION OF FREEDOM'
The television station which employs Zeydi has stood up for their staff member. The television station manager based at the station's center in Egypt, Aldülhamid El Sayeh stated, "many worldwide establishments have offered their support." He also added; "according to the concept of the USA's promise of freedom of expression, Zeydi needs to be set free." The editor of the London-published El Kuds El Arap newspaper, Abdülbari Etvan, qualified the incident as being; "an appropriate goodbye for a person who has committed war crimes." Meanwhile, the Iraqi government claims the incident was "barbaric." The Iraqi Religious Representatives Sunni Council made an announcement stating the incident was "representative of how Iraqis feel about the occupation." Attorney Tarık Harb states however that Zeydi may be facing at least two years in prison.

Bush feels sympathy for shoe-tossing journalist

US President George Bush has requested the journalist who threw his shoes at him during a press conference not be treated harshly.



Bush, responded to questions asked by CNN regarding the Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at the president, by stating, "I am not sure what Iraqi authorities plan to do with him, however I hope they don't exaggerate the situation."

Bush stated; "there was no time to think about it at that moment because I was trying to duck the shoes being thrown at me. This was the one of the strangest incidents I have experienced since I have been president."

Bush also stated; "I was ready to answer questions in a democratic Iraq, by the independent press. Then this young man started throwing his shoes at me. This was a unique and interesting way of self expression."

The 29- year-old journalist, Muntazır Zeydi yelled out; "Take this as a goodbye kiss, dog!" Then he proceeded to throw his shoes at the US president and missed, and was then roughly taken into custody by security.

Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Alexy II dies at 79

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II, who presided over a vast post-Soviet revival of faith but struggled against the influence of other churches, died on Friday at age 79, the church headquarters said.


The Moscow Patriarchate said he died at his residence outside Moscow, but did not give a cause of death. Alexy had long suffered from a heart ailment. Alexy became leader of the church in 1990, as the officially atheist Soviet Union was loosening its restrictions on religion. After the Soviet Union collapsed the following year, the church’s popularity surged. Church domes that had been stripped of their gold under the Soviets were regilded, churches that had been converted into warehouses or left to rot in neglect were painstakingly restored and hours-long services on major religious holidays were broadcast live on national television.

By the time of Alexy’s death, the church’s flock was estimated to include about two-thirds of Russia’s 142 million people, making it the world’s largest Orthodox Church.

But Alexy often complained that Russia’s new religious freedom put the church under severe pressure and he bitterly resented what he said were attempts by other Christian churches to poach adherents among people who he said should have belonged to the Orthodox church.

These complaints focused on the Roman Catholic Church, and Alexy refused to agree to a papal visit to Russia unless the proselytization issue was resolved. Nonetheless, the Vatican praised his efforts to discuss the problems.

“His personal commitment to improving relations with the Catholic Church in spite of the difficulties and tensions which from time to time have emerged has never been in doubt,” said Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

Alexy lived long enough to see another major religious dispute resolved. In 2007, he signed a pact with Metropolitan Laurus, the leader of the breakaway Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, to bring the churches closer together. The US-based Church Outside Russia had split off in 1927, after the Moscow church’s leader declared loyalty to the Communist government. Alexy successfully lobbied for the 1997 passage of a religion law that places restrictions on the activities of religions other than Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism. Under his leadership, the church also vehemently opposed schismatic Orthodox churches in neighboring Ukraine, claiming the Ukrainian church should remain under Moscow’s control. A top representative of Russia’s Muslims praised Alexy’s efforts to restore religion’s prominence in post-Soviet Russia.

“All the activities of this man were devoted to unifying our country, developing state-religion relations and the dialogue of Russia’s traditional faiths,” said Albir Krangov, a deputy chairman of the Muslim Central Spiritual Administration, according to the RIA-Novosti news agency. In a demonstration of the close relations between church and state, President Dmitry Medvedev canceled plans to travel from India to Italy, so he can return for the funeral, whose date has not been announced. “He was a great citizen of Russia. A man in whose destiny the whole difficult experience of our country’s changes in the 20th century are reflected,” Medvedev said.

Under Alexy, the church’s influence grew strong enough that some public schools instituted mandatory religion courses -- a move that human rights advocates criticized as likely to increase xenophobia. “The church strengthened nationalism, without a doubt,” said Alexander Verkhovsky of the Moscow human rights group SOVA. But he also gave the church under Alexy credit for speaking out against violent, radical nationalists.

New Delhi admits security ‘lapses’ in Mumbai attacks

A Muslim boy holds a sign during a rally against Mumbai's recent attacks, in the northeastern Indian city of Siliguri on Friday. India’s top law enforcement official admitted on Friday there were government “lapses” in last week’s terror attack on Mumbai, amid a public uproar over security and intelligence failures in the deadly siege.

“There have been lapses. I would be less than truthful if I said there had been no lapses,” Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram told reporters, saying he was seeking to bolster the country’s security.

The assault on India’s financial capital left 171 dead and 239 wounded. Chidambaram, only days in the post after the previous minister was ousted after the attacks, made the acknowledgment as new details surfaced that a Pakistani militant group had used an Indian operative as far back as 2007 to scout targets in the Mumbai plot. Indian officials have accused Pakistani-based extremists in the Nov. 26-29 attacks, an assertion echoed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday.

“The territory of a neighboring country has been used for perpetrating this crime,” Singh said after meeting with visiting Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. “We expect the international community to wake up and recognize that terror anywhere and everywhere constitutes a threat to world peace and prosperity.”

The surviving gunman, Ajmal Amir Kasab, 21, told interrogators he had been sent by the banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba and identified two of the plot’s masterminds, according to two Indian government officials familiar with the inquiry.

Kasab told police that one of them, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Lashkar’s operations chief, recruited him for the attack, and the assailants called another senior leader, Yusuf Muzammil, on a satellite phone before the attacks.

The information sent investigators back to another reputed Lashkar operative, Faheem Ansari. Ansari, an Indian national, was arrested in February in north India carrying hand-drawn sketches of hotels, the train terminal and other sites that were later attacked in Mumbai, Amitabh Yash, director of the Special Task Force of the Uttar Pradesh police, said Thursday.

During his interrogation, Ansari also named Muzammil as his handler in Pakistan, adding that he trained in a Lashkar camp in Muzaffarabad -- the same area where Kasab said he was trained, a senior police officer involved in the investigation said.

In Pakistan, the Interior Ministry chief told reporters he had no immediate information on Lakhvi or Muzammil. According to the US, Lakhvi has directed Lashkar operations in Chechnya, Bosnia and Southeast Asia, training members to carry out suicide bombings and attack populated areas. In 2004, he allegedly sent operatives and funds to attack US forces in Iraq.

Lashkar, outlawed by Pakistan in 2002, has been deemed by the US a terrorist group with ties to al-Qaeda. The group has derived some of its funding from organizations based in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, with its leaders making fundraising trips to the Middle East in recent years, US officials say.

Obama wins historic US election

The son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas, Barack Obama ,the Democratic senator from Illinois, sealed his historic triumph Tuesday night by defeating Republican Sen. John McCain in a string of wins in hard-fought battleground states — Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Iowa and more.

On a night for Democrats to savor, they not only elected Obama the nation's 44th president but padded their majorities in the House and Senate, and come January will control both the White House and Congress for the first time since 1994.

Obama's election capped a meteoric rise — from mere state senator to president-elect in four years.

In his first speech as victor, Obama catalogued the challenges ahead. "The greatest of a lifetime," he said, "two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century."

He added, "There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president, and we know that government can't solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face."

McCain called his former rival to concede defeat — and the end of his own 10-year quest for the White House. "The American people have spoken, and spoken clearly," McCain told disappointed supporters in Arizona.

President Bush added his congratulations from the White House.

In his speech, Obama invoked the words of Lincoln and echoed John F. Kennedy.

"So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder," he said.

He and his running mate, Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, will take their oaths of office as president and vice president on Jan. 20, 2009.

Obama will move into the Oval Office as leader of a country that is almost certainly in recession, and fighting two long wars, one in Iraq, the other in Afghanistan.

The popular vote was close — 51.3 percent to 47.5 percent with 73 percent of all U.S. precincts counted — but not the count in the Electoral College, where it mattered most.

There, Obama's audacious decision to contest McCain in states that hadn't gone Democratic in years paid rich dividends.

Obama has said his first order of presidential business will be to tackle the economy. He has also pledged to withdraw most U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months.

AP

Boom, bust and recovery in the world economy

This global economic crisis will go down in history as Greenspan's Folly. This is a crisis made mainly by the United States Federal Reserve Board during the period of easy money and financial deregulation from the mid-1990's until today. This easy-money policy, backed by regulators who failed to regulate, created unprecedented housing and consumer credit bubbles in the US and other countries, notably those that shared America's policy orientation. The bubble has now burst, and these economies are heading into a steep recession.

At the core of the crisis was the run-up in housing and stock prices, which were way out of line with historical benchmarks. Greenspan stoked two bubbles -- the Internet bubble of 1998-2001 and the subsequent housing bubble that is now bursting. In both cases, increases in asset values led US households to think that they had become vastly wealthier, tempting them into a massive increase in their borrowing and spending -- for houses, automobiles, and other consumer durables.

Financial markets were eager to lend to these households, in part because the credit markets were deregulated, which served as an invitation to reckless lending. Because of the boom in housing and stock market prices, US household net wealth increased by around $18 trillion during 1996-2006. The rise in consumption based on this wealth in turn raised house prices further, convincing households and lenders to ratchet up the bubble another notch.

This has all come crashing down. Housing prices peaked in 2006, and equity prices peaked in 2007. With the collapse of these bubbles, paper wealth of perhaps $10 trillion, or even as much as $15 trillion, will be wiped out.

Several complex things are now happening simultaneously. First, households are cutting back sharply on consumption, since they feel -- and are -- vastly poorer than they were a year ago. Second, several highly leveraged institutions, such as Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, have gone bankrupt, causing further losses of wealth (of these failed institutions' shareholders and creditors) and a further loss of credit that these firms once supplied.

Third, commercial banks also lost heavily in these dealings, wiping out much of their capital. As their capital declines, so, too, do their future loans. Fourth, and finally, the failure of Lehman Brothers and near failure of the insurance giant AIG, incited a financial panic, in which even healthy firms are unable to obtain short-term bank loans or sell short-term commercial paper.

The challenge for policymakers is to restore enough confidence that companies can once again obtain short-term credit to meet their payrolls and finance their inventories. The next challenge will be to push for a restoration of bank capital, so that commercial banks can once again lend for longer-term investments.

But these steps, urgent as they are, will not prevent a recession in the US and other countries hit by the crisis. The stock and housing markets are unlikely to recover any time soon. Households are poorer as a result, and will cut back sharply on their spending, making a recession inevitable in the short run.

The US will be hardest hit, but other countries with recent housing and consumption booms (and now busts) -- particularly the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Canada, and Spain -- will be hit as well. Iceland, which privatized and deregulated its banks a few years ago, now faces national bankruptcy, because its banks will not be able to pay off foreign creditors who lent heavily to them. It is no coincidence that, with the exception of Spain, all of these countries explicitly adhered to the US philosophy of "free-market" and under-regulated financial systems.

But, whatever the pain felt in the deregulated Anglo-Saxon-style economies, none of this must inevitably cause a global calamity. I do not see any reason for a global depression, or even a global recession. Yes, the US will experience a decline in income and a sharp rise in unemployment, lowering the rest of the world's exports to the US. But many other parts of the world that still grow. Many large economies, including China, Germany, Japan, and Saudi Arabia, have very large export surpluses, and so have been lending to the rest of the world (especially to the US) rather than borrowing.

These countries are flush with cash, and are not burdened by the collapse of a housing bubble. Although their households have suffered to some extent from the fall in equity prices, they not only can continue to grow, but they can also increase their internal demand to offset the decline in exports to the US. They should now cut taxes, ease domestic credit conditions, and increase government investments in roads, power, and public housing. They have enough foreign-exchange reserves to avoid the risk of financial instability from increasing their domestic spending, as long as they do it prudently.

As for the US, the current undeniable pain for millions of people, which will grow next year as unemployment rises, is an opportunity to rethink the economic model adopted since President Ronald Reagan came to office in 1981. Low taxes and deregulation produced a consumer binge that felt good while it lasted, but also produced vast income inequality, a large underclass, heavy foreign borrowing, neglect of the environment and infrastructure, and now a huge financial mess. The time has come for a new economic strategy -- in essence a new New Deal.