Vice President Dick Cheney arrived Saturday in Saudi Arabia for talks with King Abdullah, apparently seeking the Sunni royal family’s influence and tribal connections to calm Iraq after an especially violent week. Cheney’s one-day visit comes at a time of upheaval across the region and as regional diplomatic efforts to calm several potentially explosive situations have foundered. In Iraq, the slaughter Thursday of 215 people in car bombs by suspected Sunni insurgents in a Shiite neighborhood prompted a new political crisis ahead of talks scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday in Jordan between the Iraqi premier and President Bush. A top Shiite political party that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki depends on for power threatened to withdraw from the government if he meets Bush. Developments in Iran, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories also have heightened worries of further regional instability and are expected to be on the agenda of Cheney’s talks with Abdullah... http://www.msnbc.msn.com censor News |
Editor - 11:24:00 11-25-06 |
Taliban Drug Trade: Echoes Of Colombia Is Afghanistan's Notorious Taliban Drug Trade Becoming Another FARC? |
As Afghanistan's narcotics trade explodes past $3 billion a year, there is concern that the Taliban is becoming another FARC, Colombia's notorious leftist insurgent group that draws much of its funding from the drug trade. The Taliban and FARC — the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia — both got their start protecting peasants from corrupt governments. There's evidence both initially fought narcotics traffic but then levied taxes on the trade for much-needed cash. Over time, the FARC began to use its soldiers to protect shipments, and took over coca factories. They forced farmers under their control to grow coca. Eventually, they became self-sufficient and set up a parallel government in their semiautonomous zone. They now earn an estimated $500 million a year from cocaine... http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/21/world/main2203295.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_2203295
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Editor - 11:21:00 11-25-06 |
Polygamists say Jeffs case distorts their image Criminal case in Utah depicts sect leader as a controlling abuser |
A criminal court case here paints a polygamist sect's leader as a controlling abuser who breaks up families and forces girls to marry men sometimes decades older.But polygamists who aren't associated with Warren Jeffs' group say the case is giving people unfair perceptions of their way of life."I think everyone that lives the lifestyle now is guilty by association," said Rachel Young, 45, a polygamist wife and mother of 12, who is a member of the Davis County Cooperative Society, a polygamist group. Polygamy is illegal under Utah and federal laws. Opponents say the practice is abusive to women and children, who often live in poverty and are unable to leave.... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15881301/
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Editor - 11:02:00 11-25-06 |
21 Shiites gunned down in front of families |
Sunni gunmen stormed two Shiite homes in Diyala province overnight and slaughtered 21 men in front of their families, Diyala authorities said Saturday.The attacks north of Baghdad add to the series of sectarian reprisals that followed Thursday's assault on the Baghdad Shiite enclave of Sadr City, considered the single worst attack in Iraq since the war began.At least 200 people were killed and 250 more injured in that attack, which Sunni militants are widely believed to have carried out.In response, officials have imposed a strict curfew and shut down Baghdad's airport, forcing Iraqi President Jalal Talabani to postpone a trip to Iran on Saturday. He was to meet with Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to discuss ways for Iran to help stabilize Iraq.... http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/11/25/iraq.main/index.html?eref=rss_world
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Editor - 10:53:00 11-25-06 |
Canada arrests 'illegal' spy from Russian intelligence, faces deportation or prosecution for fraud in a |
Canada's security service recently arrested a deep-cover Russian intelligence officer posing as a Canadian citizen in what officials say is a rare capture of an "illegal" spy. Court papers identified the man as Paul William Hampel and said he was a member of Russia's foreign intelligence service, or SVR, and an "illegal" spy operating without the protection of diplomatic cover. A Canadian federal court report made public earlier this week stated that the Canadian Security and Intelligence Services thinks Mr. Hampel "is a danger to the security of Canada" and was thus "inadmissible" to the country. Mr. Hampel was arrested at Montreal's Pierre Elliot Trudeau Airport on Nov. 14 and found to be carrying three passports that authorities said were obtained fraudulently using a Canadian birth certificate. He also was found carrying about $6,876 worth of five different currencies, along with several bank and credit cards, index cards containing historical data on Canada, ... http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20061124-105912-7400r.htm
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Editor - 10:39:00 11-25-06 |
Many die in fresh Iraqi violence |
US forces say they have killed 22 militants in renewed violence in Iraq, despite a curfew imposed on the capital in response to recent killings. US forces say they killed 10 insurgents in a raid on a bomb-making facility north of Baghdad, and 12 in a convoy. Elsewhere, the bodies of 21 Iraqi villagers were discovered north-east of Baghdad in Diyala province. President Jalal Talabani has had to postpone a much-anticipated trip to Iran, as Baghdad's airport is closed. Mr Talabani had been due to meet Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for talks on Iraq's security situation. An Iranian news agency is now reporting that he will leave Baghdad for Iran on Sunday, provided the airport reopens. Separately, US Vice-President Dick Cheney has arrived in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, for talks with King Abdullah on the situation in the Middle East, particularly Iraq. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6183688.stm
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Editor - 08:37:00 11-25-06 |
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