Most U.S. government workers, families evacuated from Tunisia, Sudan

Most U.S. government workers, families evacuated from Tunisia, Sudan:
CAIRO — The Obama administration ordered the evacuation of all but emergency U.S. government personnel, and all family members, from diplomatic missions in Tunisia and Sudan on Saturday and warned Americans not to travel to those countries.
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Craig Reynolds - Book Reviews

Craig’s Book Reviews

Police to acquire 72 MB5 guns from Indonesia

Police to acquire 72 MB5 guns from Indonesia:
State Secretary for Security, Francisco Guterres

ETLJB 15 September 2012 The Secretariat of State for Security will purchase 72 MB5 guns for the police force from Indonesia.

The State Secretary...



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Governemnet Recovered $300 Million, Oil Company take TL to Court

Governemnet Recovered $300 Million, Oil Company take TL to Court:

Tempo Semanal-Dili, 14/09/2012

Many ordinary Timorese have not aware that there were some oil companies owe hundreds of millions even billions of tax to Timor Leste that need to be paid to the country. The government also have not informed yet the East Timorese people that TL have been recovered hundreds of millions from those companies has not yet fulfill their duties and committed some irregularities. The minister for natural resources during a door stop by the journalist in President office (14/09) said his part follow it very closely. 

"The cases that now the taxes department identified some discrepancies in terms of tax need to be paid and the government through our findings felt those taxes needed attended too.  So relevant papers has sent to the companies on different issues. Until today government, I can say collected around $300 million and the government still look at other issues, may have issues of tax that have not been paid yet," said Alfredo pires East Timor Minister for natural resources.

After TL Government request the payment from these companies international company has taking TL government to a court. "Some issues companies may have reasons why they felt that they do not owe tax but this is between tax and the companies’ discussions need to be take place."

Alfredo explain further, "What specifically happened was some cases were the government issues tax notices but companies felt that perhaps did not to pay. And if you have discrepancies you can go to arbitrations or you can go to the courts to settle the issues and one company has taken government to court then government is now defending it self in our local court on regard to these issues. Those things on going so we have to let the procedures to take place."

The companies wants to make profit and some times not fulfill they obligations to pay their tax. There are several multinational oil companies  ConocoPhillips, Inpex, Santos, Eni, Woodside and many others. One of the company has been lodge in a case against East Timor government.

The head of Conoco Philips, Todd Creeger  boss with diplomatically said, "the tax audit will resolve in the due course and we have very good relations over the ten years with the government and we expect to be continued."

The conoco philips is operating the bayu Undan oil filled and mr. Todd informed some of their activities and some of the project they have work on including hire some Timorese employes.   

Organs Taken From Prisoners

Organs Taken From Prisoners:
China has been extracting organs from living prisoners in addition to its much publicized and criticized practice of taking vital body parts from executed convicts, experts told a U.S. congressional hearing this week.

Two-thirds of transplant organs in China come from prisoners, and the government says it plans to abolish organ harvesting from death-row inmates within the next five years, according to state media reports.

Researcher Ethan Gutman told the hearing that he began gathering details of organ-taking from prisoners in 2006 through interviews with Chinese medical professionals, law enforcement personnel, and over 50 former prisoners of China’s laogai labor-camp system.

Based on his research, Gutman said, he believes that the practice of taking organs from Chinese prisoners began in the remote Xinjiang region—where ethnic Uyghurs say they are discriminated against by Han Chinese—in the 1990s and had expanded nationwide by 2001.

Though at first the victims of this practice were executed prisoners, he said, doctors began to take organs from living prisoners as well, he told the Oversight and Investigation and Human Rights Subcommittees of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.

'Like from hell'

One man that Gutman interviewed—Nijiati Abdureyimu, a former special officer in the Urumqi Public Security Bureau—said that a fellow officer once heard screams “like from hell” coming from a “harvesting” van parked at a prison’s execution ground.

“Two years later, the prison’s medical director confessed to Nijiati that organ harvesting from living human beings—they would expire during the surgery of course—was now routine,” said Gutman, an expert at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Another of Gutman’s witnesses, a young doctor, said that he was once ordered to blood-test prisoners in the political wing of a prison in Xinjiang's capital Urumqi on behalf of six senior ruling Chinese Communist Party officials who needed “healthy organs.”

The prisoners, who had not been formally sentenced to death, panicked and had to be restrained, he said.

And in 1995, Gutman said, Enver Tohti, a general surgeon based in an Urumqi hospital, removed the liver and kidneys of a condemned prisoner at an execution ground outside the city.

The man had been shot in the chest, not so that he would die, but only so that he would go into deep shock and not struggle during the extraction, Gutman said.

Medical exams

Speaking separately, eight practitioners of the Chinese spiritual sect Falun Gong who were formerly held in labor camps across China told Gutman that they were given “strikingly similar” medical exams.

“The doctor drew a large volume of blood. Then a chest x-ray. Then a urine sample, probing of the abdomen and, in most cases, a close examination of the corneas.”

No other health tests or examinations were made, Gutman said.

Gutman said that based on research material he has studied, he believes that 65,000 Falun Gong practitioners may have been murdered for their organs from 2000-2008.

Beijing admits it relies on executed inmates for organ transplants but strongly denies that it deliberately executes prisoners to harvest organs.

Responding to allegations that the organs of executed prisoners were harvested for transplant purposes, Vice Minister of Health Huang Jiefu stated in 2009 that inmates are not a proper source for human organs and that prisoners must give written consent for their organs to be removed.

But overseas and domestic media and advocacy groups continued to report instances of organ harvesting, particularly from Falun Gong practitioners and Uyghurs, the U.S. State Department said in its latest annual human rights report covering the globe.

Living donors

Also testifying before the congressional panel,  Damon Noto, spokesperson for the Washington-based group Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting. said that doctors outside China have been alarmed at the “rapid” increase in organ transplants occurring in China.

Transplant centers in China have blossomed in number from 150 in 1999 to over 600 by early 2007, he said.

According to China’s Vice Minister of Health, the total number of transplants performed each year went from several hundred in 1999 to well over 10,000 per year in 2008, but the China Daily newspaper reported that the actual transplant number for 2006 was 20,000.

Prisoners sentenced to death cannot account for the large number of organs made available in China for transplants that are often scheduled in advance, Noto said.

“The only way they can be doing this is if they have another source of living donors that are available on demand," Noto said. 

"And I say living donors.  And this is where, in some cases, the actual transplant operation itself becomes the method of execution.”

Noto called on the U.S. government to support further investigations of China’s organ-harvesting practices and to release any information it may already have.

Reported by Richard Finney.

Guide Teaches Uyghur Rights

Guide Teaches Uyghur Rights:
A Beijing-based charity has issued a handbook to help the Muslim, ethnic minority Uyghurs stand up for their rights under Chinese law, including applying for passports, from which the ruling Communist Party typically bars them.

The health charity and rights group Aizhixing published the guides earlier this month in a bid to explain the rights of Uyghurs under Chinese and international law, as well as how to overcome common barriers when trying to obtain passports.

The charity first began working with Uyghurs living in Beijing via AIDS prevention and advocacy programs in 2006, and became increasingly concerned about discrimination against Uyghurs in housing, education, medical care and government services.

Uyghurs currently face a number of obstacles in applying for passports, the group said, citing a bewildering amount of red tape, complicated regulations and stonewalling from the bureaucrats involved in the process, Aizhixing said in a statement.

Uyghurs frequently report being unable to obtain passports for overseas business trips, study or to visit relatives outside China, it said.

"One Uyghur netizen complained that the police required him to produce tickets from a travel agency when he applied for a passport to go on holiday with his family, and also levied a fee of 800 yuan per person, along with a "deposit" of 5,000 yuan," Aizhixing said in its guide to the passport issue.

U.S.-based AIDS expert Wan Yanhai, who heads Aizhixing's research department, said the group had issued the guides because it was part of its brief to stand up for the disadvantaged.

"This is a very serious problem," Wan said in a recent interview. "It is basically impossible for the Uyghur people of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) to obtain a passport."

"A lot of younger people would like to go overseas to study...or to attend international conferences," he said. "It is very hard for all of them because the [government] won't give them passports."

He said the government was engaging in blatant discrimination against Uyghurs.

"There is nothing in the law that specifies that passports can be withheld from an entire ethnic group," Wan said. "Most Uyghurs are regular people, who have little to do with politics."

"To behave in this way turns them into enemies of the state."

Unlikely to work

Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress, said the booklets published by Aizhixing were "helpful."

"They will help people to understand and be concerned about the actual situation of Uyghurs," Raxit said. "We welcome them."

But he said the advice they contained was unlikely to work, however.

"If a Uyghur applies for a passport according to the rules set down by the public security ministry and according to due legal process, he will never be given one," Raxit said.

"This is because internal government policy actually bans Uyghurs from leaving China."

Chinese authorities in the troubled northwestern region of Xinjiang tightened travel restrictions on Uyghurs since the regional capital Urumqi was rocked by deadly ethnic rioting in 2009, which left some 200 people dead, according to official figures.

Uyghurs took to the streets en masse in July 2009 in an initially peaceful demonstration to protest a violent attack weeks earlier against Uyghur migrant workers in far-off Guangdong province, which officials allegedly failed to quell promptly.

Xinjiang is home to mostly Muslim ethnic Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and Tartars, among other recognized ethnic groups.

Uyghurs, who number more than 16 million, constitute a distinct, Turkic-speaking, Muslim minority in northwestern China and Central Asia.

They declared a short-lived East Turkestan Republic in Xinjiang in the late 1930s and 40s but have remained under Beijing's control since 1949, with many calling for independence.

Reported by Xi Wang for RFA's Mandarin service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

Court Delays ‘First Lady’ Release

Court Delays ‘First Lady’ Release:
A U.N.-backed war tribunal in Cambodia announced Friday that it will delay the release of a high-ranking official of the notorious Khmer Rouge regime pending an appeal by co-prosecutors, who want measures put in place to ensure she remains within the court’s jurisdiction.

Ieng Thirith, 80, is among four surviving members of the ultra-Maoist movement’s leadership currently on trial for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Up to two million Cambodians died of disease, exhaustion, starvation, and execution during the regime’s rule from 1975-1979.

On Thursday, the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), as the tribunal is officially known, ruled that the former Khmer Rouge social affairs minister be released from detention after reaffirming its assessment that she is unfit to stand trial due to a degenerative illness.

Ieng Thirith was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease last year and had been excused from court proceedings while she received medical treatment in prison.

But ECCC Press Officer Neth Pheaktra said Friday that the tribunal will delay her release while it considers an appeal of the trial chamber’s decision to grant her “unconditional” freedom.

“This morning the co-prosecutors appealed the trial chamber’s decision in order to delay the release of the accused, Ieng Thirith,” he told RFA’s Khmer service.

“The co-prosecutors want to make sure that her release will have conditions in place.”

Proposed conditions

Neth Pheaktra went on to explain the conditions stipulated by the co-prosecutors, which included restrictions on residency, travel, and contact with participants in the ongoing trial of her co-defendants.

“The conditions require the accused to reside at a specified home address to be provided by her co-lawyers. She must make herself available for a weekly safety check by authorities or officials, to be designated by the trial chamber. She must surrender her passport and ID card,” Neth Pheaktra said.

“She can’t contact, directly or indirectly, the other co-accused, excluding her husband, accused Ieng Sary,” he said. Former Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary is one of the other three members of the leadership on trial.

He said that the co-prosecutors had also requested that Ieng Thirith be restricted from contacting—directly or indirectly—any witness, expert, or victim who the trial chamber had proposed to hear testimony from, and that she refrain from “interfering in the administration of justice.”

Ieng Thirith would also be subject to medical examinations every six months by a medical practitioner appointed by the trial chamber.

ECCC statement

The ECCC released a statement Friday saying co-prosecutors “fully agree with the trial chamber that Ieng Thirith should be released from detention based on the findings of national and international experts that she is currently unfit to stand trial,” but said they took issue with her “unconditional” release.

“Whilst accepting the trial chamber’s findings relating to the accused’s cognitive impairment, the co-prosecutors also take note of the chamber's holding that there exists a possibility (albeit remote) of a change in the circumstances, and a resumption of the trial at a later point in time,” the statement said.

“Taking this into account, the co-prosecutors consider that the trial chamber has the legal authority to consider and apply limited, reasonably necessary and proportionate restrictions on Ieng Thirith's liberty.”

It said the purpose of such restrictions would be to ensure that Ieng Thirith does not flee the jurisdiction of the court and does not interfere with witnesses or other accused giving evidence at trial.

Reported by RFA’s Khmer service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Freedom of Speech Roundup

Freedom of Speech Roundup:
In the weekly Freedom of Speech Roundup, Sampsonia Way presents some of the week’s top news on freedom of expression, journalists in danger, artists in exile, and banned literature.

Protests in Jenin for the release of Zakaria Zubeidi, co-founder of the Freedom Theatre. September 10, 2012. Photo: Sawt Al-Mana

This week, US ambassador Christopher Stevens died during protests over an anti-Islamist film. Zakaria Zubeidi, co-founder of the Freedom Theater in the occupied West Bank, announced that he will be on a death fast until he is released from captivity in a Palestinian Authority prison. Indian authorities jailed cartoonist Aseem Trivedi for cartoons he made mocking the Indian government, and Chinese authorities removed some installations from an upcoming art show in Shanghai.
In other news, the Ethiopian government pardoned two Swedish journalists who were sentenced to 11 years in prison, and the Lebanese organization MARCH has launched a virtual Museum of Censorship highlighting censorship in Lebanon since the 1940′s.
Follow the links below covering these stories and more for the week of September 9-15.

Urgent Call to Action: Free Zakaria Zubeidi

On September 9, Zakaria Zubeidi, co-founder of the Freedom Theatre in Jenin, announced that he will embark on a complete food and fluid strike in response to the postponement of his release from Palestinian Authority prison. More information here.

“The Satanic Verses,” the Fatwa, and a Life Changed

The New Yorker. Salman Rushdie recounts the day he learned the Ayatollah sentenced him to death over his novel The Satanic Verses. He explores his writing process for the novel and the world’s reaction to the controversial book. Read here.

Indian Cartoonist Jailed for Images Criticizing Government

CPJ. Aseem Trivedi was arrested last Saturday for cartoons he posted on the internet that “insulted national honor” by “mocking national symbols” and “criticizing corruption.” A Mumbai court ordered that Trivedi be held until September 24, but a trial date has not yet been set. Read here.

Swedish Journalists Schibbye and Persson pardoned by Ethiopia

Voice of America. After being sentenced to 11 years in prison for “supporting an illegal terrorist group” and illegally crossing the Ethiopian border, two Swedish journalists have been released as part of a mass amnesty to mark Ethiopia’s New Year. Read here.

Censors Monkey With China Art Show before 18th Party Congress

Reuters. “…the digitally manipulated photo of China’s legendary Monkey King facing Tiananmen Gate, by Beijing-based artist Chi Peng, was one of several works at the Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair deemed unfit for display by Shanghai’s culture police.” Read here.

Lebanon: A Virtual Museum for Censorship

Global Voices. On September 2 Lebanese organization MARCH launched a Virtual Museum of Censorship, an online database of censorship cases in Lebanon since the 1940s. Read here.

Filling in the Gaps: Reading the Ramil Safarov Case in Azerbaijan

Radio Free Europe. Katy Pearce, an assistant professor in the University of Washington’s Department of Communications, looks at how, since Ramil Safarov’s alleged murder of an Armenian serviceman in 2004, the Azerbaijani media has framed the case and constructed a narrative of the killing that is at odds with facts presented at the trial. Read here.


Radio Free Europe presents responses from Azerbaijani citizens about Rami Safarov’s recent pardon.

Rights Charter Attempts to Unify Iranians

Radio Free Europe. Inspired by Czechoslovakia’s renowned Charter 77, a group of Iranian intellectuals have penned a new document that aims to unite the Iranian people around a common human rights and civic agenda—but will Iranian citizens sign it? Read here.

“I play a gay man in Uganda, where homosexuality is illegal.”

France 24. Homosexuality carries a life sentence in Uganda. A proposed law, which is currently in the hands of parliament, would make it punishable by death, and would make those who discuss homosexuality in public run the risk of spending seven years in prison. A new play fights against this. Read here.

Libya: There is good reason to ban the hateful anti-Muhammad YouTube Clips

The Guardian. Andrew Brown expresses his opinion about when banning material from YouTube is appropriate. As his example, he analyzes a YouTube video of clips from a film which, it is claimed, provoked the attack on the American embassy in Libya. Read here.

Persecuted Writers Find Solace in International Cities of Refuge Network

The Epoch Times. As of May 2012 ICORN reported that 10 new applications from writers had been received since January, putting the waiting list at 50 writers. Out of those, ICORN had seven placements lined up and 11 were “temporarily safe.” Read here.

Hong Kong Retreats on ‘National Education’ Plan

The New York Times. Hong Kong’s chief executive put off implementing a “moral education” plan until 2015 amid backlash from large student protests. This is uncharacteristic of the Hong Kong youth who have rarely taken to protest in the past, giving hope for the future of activism in mainland China. Read here.

Syrian Filmmaker Orwa Nyrabia Freed

The New Yorker. Syrian authorities detained Syrian filmmaker Orwa Nyrabia on August 23rd amid the ongoing protests in Syria. He was recently freed due to a coalition of filmmakers throughout the world who called for his release. Read here.

Bishops blast Coptic Christians behind anti-Muslim film - Washington Post (blog)

Bishops blast Coptic Christians behind anti-Muslim film - Washington Post (blog):

abc7.com

Bishops blast Coptic Christians behind anti-Muslim film Washington Post (blog) Coptic Christian leaders in the United States distanced themselves from an anti-Muslim film that has sparked protests in more than 24 countries, and denounced the Copts who reportedly produced and promoted the film. “We reject any allegation that the ... Local Coptic Christians React to Anti-Muslim FilmPatch.com Copic Christians in Egypt anxious, fear troubles over anti-Muslim filmDenver Post Alleged Anti-Muslim Filmmaker Attends Coptic Churches in Calif.Christian Post abc7.com -89.3 KPCC (blog) all 669 news articles »

Why is the Muslim world so easily offended? - The Washington Post

Why is the Muslim world so easily offended? - The Washington Post

Turkey would rather jail journalists than address the Kurdish question | Fazel Hawramy | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Turkey would rather jail journalists than address the Kurdish question | Fazel Hawramy | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

The state has too long shaped the Kurdish issue as one of terrorism. About 100 journalists are now in prison – it must end

In Turkey, Alawite sect sides with Syria's Assad - Washington Post

In Turkey, Alawite sect sides with Syria's Assad - Washington Post:

The Daily Star

In Turkey, Alawite sect sides with Syria's Assad Washington Post Anti-American demonstrations spread throughout the Muslim world. This ancient pilgrimage town in southern Turkey is populated by Alawites, adherents of a heterodox offshoot of Shiite Islam, who share their faith with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Turkey: Lessons From the Syrian Crisis?Council on Foreign Relations (blog) Turkey tightens security along Syrian borderThe Daily Star Turkey Seeks Financial Aid From UN to Deal With Syrian RefugeesBloomberg International Business Times -Corvallis Gazette Times all 427 news articles »

Turkish forces kill 80 Kurd rebels in week-long assault - Chicago Tribune

Turkish forces kill 80 Kurd rebels in week-long assault - Chicago Tribune:

Deutsche Welle

Turkish forces kill 80 Kurd rebels in week-long assault Chicago Tribune DIYARBAKIR (Reuters) - Turkish armed forces have killed more than 80 Kurdish militants near the border with Iran and Iraq over the past week as a major offensive involving air strikes and several thousand ground troops intensifies, officials said on ... Turkish PM Calls for End to BDP ImmunityVoice of America Officials: 75 Kurdish rebels killed in weeklong clashes in southeast TurkeyWashington Post all 167 news articles »

Taliban take credit for British base attack

Taliban take credit for British base attack: Two US soldiers killed in "complex" assault on military post in Helmand province where Britain's Prince Harry is based.

Panwaslu probes Nachrowi over ethnic slur allegations

Panwaslu probes Nachrowi over ethnic slur allegations: Nachrowi Ramli, running mate of incumbent Governor Fauzi Bowo, paid a visit to the city poll supervisor’s office on Friday to clarify allegations that he told Jakartans to leave the capital city if ...

Komnas HAM eyes joint investigation of RI workers case

Komnas HAM eyes joint investigation of RI workers case: The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) expects to conduct a joint investigation with the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, or Suhakam, to look into the killing of five Indonesian ...

31 regions to seek autonomous status

31 regions to seek autonomous status: As many as 31 regions in Papua have demanded autonomy status, 29 as new regencies and three as new provinces. “The regions enthusiasm to separate into new regencies and provinces is quite high. We, ...

Actors may sue director of lauded film on PKI killings

Actors may sue director of lauded film on PKI killings: A documentary film about the massacre of Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) members in North Sumatra in 1965 has created a stir after its recent screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, ...

Police boost security at embassies

Police boost security at embassies: The Jakarta Police are increasing security at embassies in the capital as local Muslims join protests over a low-budget anti-Muslim film that has fueled anti-US sentiment in the Islamic ...

Suspected terrorists flown to Jakarta

Suspected terrorists flown to Jakarta: Personnel from the National Police’s Densus 88 counterterrorism unit transported on Saturday three suspected terrorists they had arrested during raids in Ambon and Tual, Maluku recently to Jakarta ...

Ha Noi’s Old Coffee-Houses, Sip Back & Let the Mind Wander

Ha Noi’s Old Coffee-Houses, Sip Back & Let the Mind Wander:
By: Phan Thanh Truc

Recently, I was lucky enough to take a field trip to Ha Noi, in which I had the opportunity to explore many interesting things. In my experience, the most amazing way to discover Ha Noi’s unique culture was not to visit its historic museums, or wander about the street, or visit famous pagodas. In fact, it was taking a sip of egg-coffee in an old house that proved a perfect introduction to the ancient capital.

Coffee drinking, the old style

Turn back to the old days in a coffee house

The first time visiting a coffee house in Ha Noi, my curiosity grew when I was led to an extremely small and low-roofed house. The more than 100-hundred-year old house looked like an old and cranky chair which had not been used for a long time and was left alone in a corner of an antique store. There was neither a signboard nor any visible signs telling people that this place was a coffee house. Surprisingly, it turned out this place was one of the four most famous coffee houses in the capital.

We climbed the stairs and entered the second floor, which was foggy with  from cigarette smoke and incense. Being here, time seemed to have stood still. The stained yellow walls, milk cans from the old days, stainless steel funnels and the black and white pictures brought us back to hundred years ago, when people did not have to drink coffee in a hurry to keep up with the modern industrialized pace. A time when they still had enough time to wait for every drop of the brown liquid from the ill-shaped filter and appreciate every gulp. There was something peaceful and quiet in the atmosphere, which made us whisper. People here seemed to do nothing, no chatting, no reading nor listening to music. It was a tranquil yet strange thing, drinking coffee in an ancient house in Ha Noi.

Egg-coffee – the traditional drink of an ancient city

The most special drink of most long-standing cafés in Ha Noi is egg-coffee. The sweet fragrance of egg with the aroma of coffee captivated us immediately. The unique taste, a hint of sweetness with bitterness of the coffee lingered on the palate. It was hard to say whether the cup was actually tasty or not. The fragrance and taste, coupled with the atmosphere made the whole experience seem something of a distant past, when people were not busy running after the clock, when they enjoyed a cup of coffee for as long as they wanted.

Egg coffee anyone?

Coffee unites

At that moment, I thought I knew why old-time coffee houses like this one became one of the most popular features in Ha Noi, and still are to this day. Even though this coffee house was old, dark and plain, it carried a special and captivating tacit charm, which inveigled people who once walked in to keep coming again and again.

For a unique atmosphere and a unique cuppa...

Commentary: Insult to Indonesian Muslims: Aceh's latest sharia victim - Jakarta Post

Commentary: Insult to Indonesian Muslims: Aceh's latest sharia victim - Jakarta Post:

Commentary: Insult to Indonesian Muslims: Aceh's latest sharia victim Jakarta Post But anyone intending to join such protests would miss a much graver insult to themselves, both as Indonesians and Muslims. This is the news of the death of a 16-year-old girl, identified only as PE, in Langsa regency, Aceh. She was discovered hanging ...

Dozens of Brooklyn Gang Members Caught after Oversharing on Facebook

Dozens of Brooklyn Gang Members Caught after Oversharing on Facebook: Okay, people, we can't emphasize this enough: don't post anything dumb on Facebook.

Test of New Dengue Vaccine Shows Promise

Test of New Dengue Vaccine Shows Promise: A clinical trial of a new vaccine against dengue fever shows progress toward fighting the most common mosquito-borne disease.  The drug is less successful than hoped, but seems to be effective at preventing three of the four related viruses that cause dengue.

Dengue fever increasing

Dengue fever is endemic across the tropics, with more than 2.5 billion people in 128 countries at risk. Symptoms can range from aches and fever to circulatory failure, coma and death.  Some 21,000 ...

In Egypt, Security Forces Make Arrests in Tahrir Square

In Egypt, Security Forces Make Arrests in Tahrir Square: Egyptian security forces, under intense pressure from the United States, arrested scores of protesters on Saturday as anti-American protests seemed to subside across the region.

U.S. Is Preparing for a Long Siege of Arab Unrest

U.S. Is Preparing for a Long Siege of Arab Unrest: The White House is girding itself for an extended period of turmoil that will test the security of American diplomatic missions and President Obama’s ability to shape the forces of change in the Arab world.

Xi Jinping Returns Amid Tumult in China

Xi Jinping Returns Amid Tumult in China: Xi Jinping reappeared on Saturday as diplomatic tensions boiled over with hundreds of demonstrators throwing rocks and eggs at the Japanese Embassy in Beijing.

Taliban Hit Base After Vow of Revenge

Taliban Hit Base After Vow of Revenge: Taliban insurgents attacked the U.S.-led coalition's main base in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, killing two service members, after vowing revenge for the inflammatory video that has sparked violent protests across the Middle East.

Prabowo impresses Huffington Post’s Weiss as presidential candidate for Indonesia

Prabowo impresses Huffington Post’s Weiss as presidential candidate for Indonesia:
If the Huffington Post‘s Stanley Weiss is right, and Prabowo is leading the pack among Indonesia’s presidential candidates, the implication is that SBY is Prabowo’s biggest electoral asset.

Prabowo: The future president of Indonesia?

Why? Because SBY’s namby-pamby, make-no-tough-decisions style is driving Indonesians to the level of frustration that Prabowo starts to look very good in contrast. In politics and logic this is called occupying the extremes. One someone else occupies an extreme position, you start to look good relative to that person.
So well done as Prabowo’s most effective campaigner, SBY!

The Courage to Jump in Indonesia

JAKARTA–Five years ago, one of the most respected soldiers in U.S. history died too soon. Wayne Downing was a West Point graduate and four-star general who served two tours in Vietnam and came out of retirement after 9/11 to serve as anti-terrorism advisor to President George W. Bush. Known as the father of the modern Rangers , Downing commanded America’s elite counter-terrorism teams in the 1990s and spent decades training foreign soldiers who came to Fort Bragg to learn about democracy. Not long before he died, I had lunch with General Downing at the White House. He told me that of all the foreign soldiers he ever trained, two stood out. One was Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein , the reigning King of Jordan. The other was Prabowo Subianto , the former commander of Indonesia’s special forces, and the current front-runner to be Indonesia’s next president in 2014.
Meeting with Prabowo , now a successful businessman, and his wealthy brother Hashim Djojohadikusumo here in this capital city, it’s not hard to see what General Downing saw. Prabowo is strategic and insightful, remarkably idealistic about his country and confident about its future. The scion of one of Indonesia’s most prestigious families, he grows passionate when he speaks about the nation’s income inequalities. He embodies a strength that is later captured well by Juwono Sudarsono , the respected former Minister of Defense, who tells me, “Prabowo leads the pack because he projects grit, firm leadership and decisiveness–which are seen to be lacking in our current leadership.”
That Prabowo is part of the conversation at all here is a testament to both his survival skills and the growing pains felt by this archipelago nation in its second decade of democracy. In some ways, he is the last person Westerners expected to be in a position of leadership–which has some wondering what his ascension means for Indonesia, and the future of Asia’s democracies.
Fourteen years ago, the former general was one of the most detested men in Indonesia . The then-son-in-law of former dictator Suharto, Prabowo was accused of leading deadly crackdowns against democracy activists in Suharto’s waning days, inciting riots that led to Suharto’s ouster and leading a coup attempt against his replacement. Although never charged with wrongdoing, Prabowo was found guilty of “exceeding orders ” by a military ethics committee and dismissed by the army . For his alleged role in the riots, he was the first person in U.S. history to be denied a visa for violating the United Nations Convention Against Torture. He is anathema to human rights organizations in the West- -but Indonesia may be willing to look past that history.
more…

Densus 88 nabs terrorist suspect in Maluku

Densus 88 nabs terrorist suspect in Maluku: Personnel from the National Police's Densus 88 counterterrorism unit and the Maluku Police apprehended a terrorist suspect, identified only as S, 30, in Tual, Maluku on Thursday evening.The ...

Surveys say Jokowi more favorable in runoff

Surveys say Jokowi more favorable in runoff: Recent surveys have forecast Jakarta gubernatorial candidate pair Joko Widodo and Basuki Tjahaja Purnama to be a more favorable choice over competitors, Fauzi Bowo and Nachrowi Ramli, in the election ...

Hizbut Tahrir holds protest at US Embassy in Jakarta

Hizbut Tahrir holds protest at US Embassy in Jakarta: Indonesian Muslims shout slogans as they hold a banner which reads "Prophet Muhammad is symbol of Islam" during a protest against an anti-Islam film that has sparked anger among followers, outside ...

PAKISTAN: Sectarian violence slipping out of control in Balochistan

PAKISTAN: Sectarian violence slipping out of control in Balochistan:

QUETTA, 14 September 2012 (IRIN) - Ethnic and religious minorities in Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan have faced increasing intimidation and violence since 2009, according to a recent fact-finding mission by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).

PHILIPPINES: Anti-flood measures announced for Manila

PHILIPPINES: Anti-flood measures announced for Manila:

MANILA, 14 September 2012 (IRIN) - The Philippines government is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in anti-flood infrastructure in the Manila area in a bid to protect against the storms, typhoons and floods which displace thousands and kill hundreds every year, officials say.

Analysis: Kenya’s deadly mix of frustration, politics and impunity

Analysis: Kenya’s deadly mix of frustration, politics and impunity:

MOMBASA, 14 September 2012 (IRIN) - Recent deadly clashes in Kenya stem from widespread economic frustration, chronic impunity and the ambitions of politicians seeking office, according to analysts and activists.

WEST AFRICA: After the drought, floods - and harvest worries

WEST AFRICA: After the drought, floods - and harvest worries:

DAKAR, 14 September 2012 (IRIN) - An active monsoon and above normal temperatures triggered heavy downpours and flash floods during this year's rainy season across West Africa and the Sahel, killing hundreds of people, displacing hundreds of thousands more and devastating farms in some of the countries already hit by a severe drought and acute food shortages.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Farmers too hungry to adapt

CLIMATE CHANGE: Farmers too hungry to adapt:

JOHANNESBURG, 14 September 2012 (IRIN) - Small farmers in the developing world who are going hungry for long periods of time - in some cases for up to half the year in Ethiopia's Borana region - are failing to find ways to adapt to an increasingly erratic climate, a new survey has found.

Nigerian troops fire to disperse Muslim protesters in Jos - Reuters

Nigerian troops fire to disperse Muslim protesters in Jos - Reuters:

Nigerian troops fire to disperse Muslim protesters in Jos Reuters JOS, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian troops fired into the air on Friday to disperse Muslims protesting in the city of Jos against an American film about the Prophet Mohammad that has triggered unrest in several countries across the Islamic world. Nigeria ... and more »

Dozens storm, breach wall of US Embassy in Tunisia - CBS News

Dozens storm, breach wall of US Embassy in Tunisia - CBS News:

OregonLive.com

Dozens storm, breach wall of US Embassy in Tunisia CBS News Several dozen protesters briefly stormed the U.S. Embassy compound in Tunisia's capital, setting fire to cars and raising a flag with the Muslim profession of faith on it as part of the protests against an anti-Muslim film. The U.S. Ambassador to ... Muslim protests spread around world; embassies in Sudan, Tunisia attacked ...OregonLive.com US Embassy in Tunis Engulfed in Black Smoke as Protests Rage Across Muslim ...ABC News Muslim Rage ContinuesNational Review Online (blog) all 524 news articles »

Cambodia to free Khmer Rouge 'first lady'

Cambodia to free Khmer Rouge 'first lady': Un-backed court rules Ieng Thirith, the Khmer Rouge regime's highest-ranking woman, unfit to stand trial for genocide.

White House Report Details Effects of Automatic Budget Cuts

White House Report Details Effects of Automatic Budget Cuts: A line-by-line account of the effects if Washington fails to act to head off about $100 billion spending cuts scheduled to begin Jan. 2, 2013.