His patronymic included, Gurbanguli Myalikgulyevich Berdymukhamedov can probably claim to have the longest name of any national leader. But Mr B is giving short shrift to opposition hopes of a more open, democratic Turkmenistan as the central Asian country plods towards presidential elections on February 11. His almost inevitable victory over token rivals poses a larger problem for the US and Europe, whose interest in promoting "freedom's march" is surpassed only by their appetite for cheap energy. Turkmenistan has some of the world's biggest natural gas fields, producing the equivalent of 11% of total EU consumption annually. But its pipeline export routes remain firmly under Russian control, a legacy of the Soviet era. Last September Moscow's state energy giant Gazprom won access to the large Yolotan field and an option on any surpluses until 2009. The deal marked the end of President Saparmurat Niyazov's bid to weaken Russia's grip. ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk
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Editor - 09:43:00 01-26-07
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 Israel tries to cut off Tehran from world markets |
Israel is launching a campaign to isolate Iran economically and to soften up world opinion for the option of a military strike aimed at crippling or delaying Tehran's uranium enrichment programme.Pressure will be applied to major US pension funds to stop investment in about 70 companies that trade directly with Iran, and to international banks that trade with its oil sector, cutting off the country's access to hard currency. The aim is to isolate Tehran from the world markets in a campaign similar to that against South Africa at the height of apartheid.Meanwhile, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is to be pursued in international courts for calling the Holocaust a myth, and saying Israel should be wiped off the map. The case will be launched under the 1948 UN convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide, which outlaws "direct and public incitement to genocide"....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1998992,00.html
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Editor - 09:40:00 01-26-07
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| Farmer 'skinned victim on meat hook' |
A Vancouver pig farmer on trial for murdering six women and accused of killing 20 more, hung and skinned one of his victims on a meat hook, a court was told yesterday.Jurors in the trial of Robert William Pickton, 56, heard the allegation as they were played videotapes of police interviews with the accused. In the footage, played to the jury on the fourth day of the trial, Mr Pickton was being interviewed by Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers after his arrest in February 2002. A police officer tells Mr Pickton that a witness saw him hang a woman on a meat hook at his farm on the outskirts of Vancouver. Mr Pickton - who has pleaded not guilty - is seen on the video responding with laughter and saying sarcastically, "yeah, right". In another section of the interview Mr Pickton appears to acknowledge some of the murders....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1999606,00.html
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Editor - 09:32:00 01-26-07
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| Factional Fighting Marks Hamas Anniversary Continued Conflict Forces Scale-Back Of Celebrations Marking Election Victory |
Thousands of Palestinians rallied in Gaza to celebrate the election victory that brought Hamas to power a year ago. But underscoring a year of turbulent rule, there were more bloody clashes between gunmen from Hamas and the rival Fatah faction, reports CBS News correspondent Robert Berger(audio). Meanwhile, a spokesman for the moderate Fatah Party said his group was suspending coalition talks with the rival Hamas movement to protest a flare-up in factional fighting. In the year since Hamas was elected, it has been crippled by international sanctions, Palestinians have sunken deeper into poverty, and it is on the verge of civil war with the rival Fatah faction. Hamas seems to have a firm grip on power, however....
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/26/world/main2401391.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_2401391
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Editor - 09:30:00 01-26-07
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| Bomb kills 15 as Pelosi visits Baghdad |
A bomb killed 15 people and wounded 55 in the second attack in as many months on Baghdad's much-loved Friday pet fair, the latest in a string of bombings at the city's markets that have killed over 150 this week. One of President George W. Bush's key critics in Congress -- new House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record) -- met Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and other officials. An opponent of Bush's plan to send 20,000 more troops, Pelosi said she also came to applaud the courage of Americans fighting in Iraq. A police source said witnesses believed Friday's market bomb was planted in a cardboard box that the bomber had punched with air holes to pass it off as containing birds. Parrots, canaries and more exotic pets are prime attractions at the Ghazil market. Two months ago, three people were killed at the Friday fair, which attracts weekend sightseers in the beleaguered city. Blood stained the ground and small birds chirped in battered cages ...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070126/ts_nm/iraq_dc
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Editor - 09:26:00 01-26-07
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| Federal Judge Dismisses Charges Against National Security Agency Protesters |
A federal judge dropped charges against 13 peace activists arrested for protesting outside the headquarters of the secretive National Security Agency. An NSA security officer lacked the legal authority to charge the protesters and did not provide a statement of probable cause, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Gauvey ruled Thursday. The law only prohibits illegal entry, not remaining on NSA property, and the protesters were never told the NSA objected to their presence, the judge said. ...
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2826529
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Editor - 09:18:00 01-26-07
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