Spain approves a drug whose active ingredient marijuana

Por: Agencia EFE

“Sativex”, is a drug for the treatment of spasticity in multiple sclerosis patients.

Spanish health authorities authorized the marketing of “Sativex, a cannabis-derived medicine to treat spasticity in multiple sclerosis patients.

The Spanish Minister of Health, Trinidad Jimenez, said that the therapeutic use of cannabis has been discussed since “many years”, so there’s “trials and scientific evidence” of its utility in certain diseases.

The use of the substance to alleviate symptoms of several diseases is a very controversial but the truth is that some patients with diseases that present with pain turn to marijuana to alleviate the suffering.

From now on, multiple sclerosis patients with muscle spasms from mild to severe may consume this product by an oral spray, if prescribed by a specialist.

Companies Almirall and GW Pharmaceuticals will market the drug in Spain, but before the Ministry of Health must approve the price and reimbursement, a process that is expected before the fourth quarter end of the month.

The minister denied that the medical use of this drug is spreading to other ailments, as it could be cancer, and emphasized that in this case, is “a very specific use, if other treatments have failed, always given by a specialist and for a very small group of patients. “

Jimenez recalled that the product is first used in Canada and from there, has been imported to Spain in a “very controlled” and for a number of “very small” patients.

Both before and now, “Sativex” will have to be approved by the specialists, provided that did not work other drugs indicated for such illness.

The owner of Health said that Spain allows certain drugs can be prescribed, in very specific cases, for a different use for which they were originally authorized, alluding to other possible treatments with cannabis.

“You could study whether it is appropriate medical specialist and when they have failed other medications, but it would be case by case for a tightly controlled group of patients”, detail.

GW Pharmaceuticals has started registration procedures for the approval of “Sativex” in other EU member countries, including major markets like Germany, France and Italy.

For Justin Gover, the director general, the approval and launch the drug in the UK, in June 2010, regulatory approval in Spain and the submission of application for approval in other European countries mark the beginning of the international expansion of the product.

• Agencia EFE | Elespectador.com

HAARP at work?

HAARP at work?, posted with vodpod

Turkmenistan is interested in a peaceful settlement in Afghanistan and the construction of the TAPI

[The fact that Nabucco, Europe's salvation from Gazprom, depends upon Turkmenistan for the bulk of its gas, even though there is no reliable data on Turkmen gas reserves, shows the dicey nature of the whole pipeline pipe dream.  They are in such a hurry to make the pipelines a reality before the total American economic and military collapse that they are trying to build pipelines without knowing beforehand that sufficient quantities of gas will be available.] Gundogar

At a July 23 meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan PresidentGurbanguly Berdymukhammedov pleased briefed the Foreign Minister, Deputy Prime Minister Rashid Meredov on the participation of the Turkmen side in a number of international meetings and conferences: an informal meeting of foreign ministers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Alma-Ata, International Conference on Afghanistan in Kabul, as well as the regional meeting on the issue of water management in Central Asia in Ashgabat, the State News Agency of Turkmenistan (TDH).

The President drew particular attention to issues relating to Afghanistan, noting that Turkmenistan actively supports the peaceful settlement of the situation in the neighboring country, offering the development of new political and diplomatic mechanisms for solving existing problems and to stabilize the situation in this country, in particular, their willingness to provide the political space for inter-Afghan peace talks under UN auspices. As the Foreign Minister of Turkmenistan, in this regard, special significance in the context of the forum in Kabul was to discuss the possibility of the project for the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI), which promises, according to the Turkmen side, an enormous socio-economic benefits not only the direct project participants, but also all countries in the region. As is known, the TAPI gas pipeline project worth $ 8 billion, the length of 1,68 square kilometers and a capacity of about 30 billion cubic meters. m per year discussed with the 1990′s. Originally, construction was scheduled for 2010 and 2015, the pipeline was supposed to earn. The project is supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). U.S. supports a plan to build TAPI as an alternative to export gas to Pakistan and India from Iran. Directly project prevented at least three reasons: the unstable situation in Afghanistan, the Indo-Pakistan conflict and the lack of reliable data on gas reserves of Turkmenistan.

France declares war against Algerian Militant Group

http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2010/07/27/01016-20100727ARTFIG00291-fillon-le-combat-contre-al-qaida-va-se-renforcer.php

France declares war against al-Qaeda

PARIS – The Associated Press

France embraces a US-like strategy on terrorism as the country declares war against al-Qaeda after the terror network killed a French aid worker in Islamic Maghreb. Although the PM refuses to say how France will act, the French-backed Mauritanian forces have attacked an al-Qaeda camp on the border with Mali, killing at least six suspected terrorists

French President Nicolas Sarkozy delivers a speech during a limited security and defence council at the Elysee Palace. AP photo.

France has declared war on al-Qaeda, and matched its fighting words with a first attack on a base camp of the terror network’s North African branch, after the terror network killed a French aid worker it took hostage in April.

The declaration and attack marked a shift in strategy for France, usually discrete about its behind-the-scenes battle against terrorism. “We are at war with al-Qaeda,” Prime Minister Francois Fillon said Tuesday, a day after President Nicolas Sarkozy announced the death of 78-year-old hostage Michel Germaneau.

The humanitarian worker had been abducted April 20 or 22 in Niger by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and was later taken to Mali, officials said.

The killers will “not go unpunished,” Sarkozy said in unusually strong language, given France’s habit of employing quiet cooperation with its regional allies – Mauritania, Mali, Niger and Algeria – in which the al-Qaeda franchise was spawned amid an Islamist insurgency.

The Salafist Group for Call and Combat formally merged with al-Qaeda in 2006 and spread through the Sahel region – parts of Mauritania, Mali and Niger. Officials suggest France will activate accords with these countries to stop the terrorists in their tracks.

“It’s a universal threat that concerns the entire world … not just France or the West,” Defense Minister Herve Morin said Tuesday on France-2 television. “We will support local authorities so these assassins and (their) commanders are tracked, judged and taken before justice and punished. And, yes, we will help them.”

Algeria, Mauritania, Mali and Niger in April opened a joint military headquarters deep in the desert to respond to threats from traffickers and the al-Qaeda offshoot. U.S. Special Forces have helped the four nations train troops in recent years.

The United States said it would help the French “in any way that we can” to bring those who killed Germaneau to justice, according to U.S. State Dept. spokesman P.J. Crowley. “There is no religion that sanctions what can only be described as cold-blooded murder,” Crowley said Tuesday.

Fillon refused to say how France would act. “But we will,” he said in an interview with Europe 1 radio. And perhaps it already has. On Thursday, the French backed Mauritanian forces in attacking an al-Qaeda camp on the border with Mali, killing at least six suspected terrorists. It is the first time France is known to have attacked an al-Qaeda base.

France said it was a last-ditch effort to save its citizen, while Mauritania said it was trying to stop an imminent attack by fighters gathering at the base.

For the French, the move may have backfired. The al-Qaeda group said in an audio message broadcast Sunday that it had killed Germaneau in retaliation for the raid. However, French officials suggested, however, that the hostage, who had a heart problem, may already have been dead. Even now, “We have no proof of life or death,” Morin said.

“We can expect an increase in the French riposte,” said Antoine Sfeir, an expert on Islamist terrorists who has traveled in the region. An estimated 400-500 such fighters are thought to roam the Sahel region, a desert expanse as large as the European Union.

Despite meager numbers, the region’s al-Qaeda fighters pose a clear threat. Among the more recent victims, a British captive was beheaded last year and two Spanish aid workers were taken hostage in Mauritania in November. Spain is working to free them. Mauritanian soldiers also have fallen in numerous attacks.

The head of the French Institute of Strategic Analysis suggested the French government’s rhetoric was normal. “It’s important to make that kind of announcement,” Francois Gere said. “I think it’s made of the same stuff” as former U.S. President George W. Bush’s tough line on al-Qaeda.

But “a government has to make clear it must respond strongly” while maintaining the discretion needed to ensure cooperation, Gere said. In the past France has been cautious because those governments don’t want the appearance of interference from the West, he said.

Spain has maintained a low profile as videos by the al-Qaeda franchise regularly call for the conquest of “al-Andalus” – a reference to the period of Muslim rule of much of Spain in medieval times.

US Envoy to Azerbaijan Talks-Up Old TAPI Pipeline Project–(Turkmen., Afg., Pak., India)

U.S. Special Envoy: Trans-Afghani gas pipeline project is interesting from commercial point of view

You can read the rest of the American diplomat’s enlightening comments on the Trans-Afghani gas pipeline (TAPI, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India) if you are a paid subscriber to Trend news service.

Since I am not, I dug-up the following link that confirms that the original pipeline planned by Texas oil companies and supported by the Taliban, at one time.  TAPI remains a reality and its scheduled completion date is for 2015, one year after the end of “Enduring Freedom.”

It has always been about war and we have always known it.   Pretending from the beginning that we were in Afghanistan for reasons of self-defense, the American people have simply played along because we wanted the gas and oil.

The world now knows that this has all been a big monstrous lie.  It remains to be seen whether the rest of the world is also without morals, or whether we will be called to task for the war crimes that are being revealed on a daily basis.

Trio sign up for Turkmen gas

Alternative source: Turkmenistan

related stories

• Turkmenistan in charm offensive
• Turkmen call for UN pipeline pact
• Turkmenistan’s gas output slides

Representatives of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan signed a framework deal in Islamabad yesterday to buy natural gas from Turkmenistan, Pakistani media reported.

Upstream staff

The US-backed deal allows India to join a pact signed in 2002 to begin importing gas from Turkmenistan by 2015, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper said in its online edition.

The agreement, which will require the building of a pipeline projected to cost $7.6 billion, is seen as an alternative to the so-called Peace pipeline plan to bring Iranian gas to India and Pakistan via Afghanistan.

The US is opposed to the Peace pipeline because it hopes to isolate Iran over its controversial nuclear programme.

The newspaper said uncertainty about the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline continued amid ongoing disputes between the partners about transportation fees and tariffs.

The Turkmenistan pipeline will supply 90 million cubic feet of gas per day to the Dauletabad field to Fazilka on the Pakistan-India border.

Under today’s deal, Afghanistan is proposing to tap 5 million cubic metres per day from the pipe during the first two years of operation and 14 MMcm per day thereafter. India and Pakistan will split the remaining capacity.

However, Pakistan and India both reportedly said following the signing that they remained commited to the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline.

“There is no pressure on us over the IPI and we will move forward on the project,” Pakistani Oil Minister Khwaja Asif said at a press conference, Iran’s official IRNA news agency said.

Indian Energy Minister Morli Deora was quoted as saying: “We are still committed to the IPI”.

The pair said they would discuss the IPI pipe in talks in Islamabad today.

Asia Development Bank director Peter Fedon said the bank had assisted in the signing of the Turkmenistan pipe deal. However, he reportedly would no say whether the bank would play a role in the Iranian pipe project.

The Worst Idea Ever–Indian Troops In Afghanistan

Indian boots in Afghanistan?

Bidanda Chengappa

US Special Representative for AfPak Richard Holbrooke’s recent statement that Pakistan is critical to stabilise Afghanistan has serious implications for Indian security interests. Considering he was also dismissive of New Delhi’s concerns over reconciliation with the Taliban, calls for a radical review of India’s Afghanistan policy.

New Delhi can no longer afford to kowtow to US policy interests, given Pakistan’s insecurity vis a vis India. With the ground being laid for the creeping return of the Taliban to Kabul, India faces a far greater threat to its national security interests from Afghanistan than the US. New Delhi therefore seriously needs to consider the possibility of military deployment in Afghanistan to support and strengthen the US led coalition military efforts against the Taliban terrorists.

India has never flexed its military muscles against Pakistani-sponsored cross border jehadi terrorism —except occasionally for some shallow penetration trans-border commando raids — besides the December 2002 coercive diplomacy through military mobilisation. A sizeable and powerful Indian military presence in Afghanistan could however rattle Pakistan, support /strengthen US /ISAF force levels and help to hit the Taliban harder.

Today President Hamid Karzai is being coerced by Islamabad and Washington to talk to the Taliban, mainly because Washington is dependent on Islamabad for support in logistics, intelligence and operations. Evidently Islamabad’s rationale in pursuing such a policy is to ensure that Afghanistan continues to remain under its sphere of influence and a sanctuary for cross border terrorism against India.

For India therefore to curtail Pakistan’s capability to foster cross border terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir, the first step would logically be to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan. With the US led NATO/ISAF forces making little headway against the Taliban, Indian military participation would certainly contribute to the counter-insurgency effort underway.

It can be argued that Indian involvement should be avoided because the Taliban would massacre our troops deployed there. The Indian experience in Sri Lanka notwithstanding, the Indian Army is not a para-military force that the Taliban can easily slaughter. It did succeed in Somalia where even the US Army Rangers failed to deliver in 1992.

The case for military intervention can be buttressed with the argument that while Western forces have an option to exit Afghanistan, considering their countries are not vulnerable directly to cross border terrorism, India has no such luxury.

It goes without saying that only strict rules of engagement for Indian troops would prevent indirect or direct clashes with Pakistan soldiers to avoid a shooting match between them.

Objections about a shortage of military manpower to secure our territorial interests are equally invalid. India has massive para-military forces trained for precisely these tasks unlike the army which fights wars. The almost 9000 Indian troops deployed on UN peace keeping missions could easily be re-deployed in Afghanistan.

The US picked Pakistan as its primary entry point into landlocked Afghanistan. However after the US-led global war on terror gained momentum in 2001, India’s attempt to dilute Pakistan’s monopoly as a gateway into Afghanistan began by building a strategic corridor that connects the hinterland of Afghanistan with the Iranian port city of Chahbahar. The 280-km road from Delaram on the Kandahar-Herat highway to Zaranj on the Afghanistan-Iran border brings the landlocked country 1,000 km closer to the sea. From an Indian security perspective this strategic road implies that New Delhi, with the concurrence of Iran, can transport military logistics overland to support a war fighting role in Afghanistan after reaching it to Chahbahar by sea. That Iran too wants the Americans out of Afghanistan but not at the cost of seeing the Pakistan backed Taliban re-entry is another factor.

Clearly, Afghanistan forms part of India’s neighbourhood and New Delhi needs to work against the US and Pakistan’s Taliban-centric policy by involving other neighbours like Iran and the Central Asian states to counter Pakistan’s strategy in Afghanistan to keep India out as far as possible. Its time India asserted itself as the regional power that it is.

(The writer is a Visiting Fellow with the Centre for Land Warfare Studies, New Delhi)

India politician held over murder in Gujarat

Mr Shah is a close ally of the chief minister Narendra Modi

A former minister in India’s Gujarat state has been arrested in connection with the 2005 killing of a man by police.

Amit Shah, former junior home minister in the state’s Hindu nationalist BJP government, has been remanded in custody.

He said the charges against him were “fabricated and politically motivated”.

The Gujarat police have said that Sohrabuddin Sheikh, a Muslim civilian, was killed in a staged gun-battle.

At least three top policemen in the state were charged with the murder of Mr Sheikh.

They are alleged to have attempted to cover up the killing by claiming he belonged to an Islamic militant group.

The Gujarat government, headed by Mr Narendra Modi, then admitted that the missing wife of Mr Sheikh, Kausar Bi, was also killed and her body was burnt.

‘Fake encounter’Mr Shah was detained shortly after appearing in public to protest his innocence. He resigned on Saturday when the charges against him were first filed.

A close ally of Gujarat’s chief minister, Narendra Modi, he said the charges of murder and kidnap are politically motivated

Mr Sheikh and his wife had been travelling by bus when they were taken away by the Gujarat police in November 2005.

At the time, police claimed Mr Sheikh belonged to a banned militant group and was plotting to assassinate Mr Modi.

Gujarat has been heavily criticised for the treatment of its religious minorities.

According to official figures, more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed during the riots that broke out after nearly 60 Hindus were killed when a train was set on fire in Godhra town, allegedly by a Muslim mob, in 2002.

The state administration was accused of not doing enough to stop the riots.

Security forces in India have on occasion admitted to extra-judicial killings – described by the local media as “fake encounters” – in which they had at first said they had killed militants after coming under gunfire.

More on This Story

Related stories

• Fury over Gujarat leader speech 06 DECEMBER 2007, SOUTH ASIA
• Gujarat police face murder charge 24 APRIL 2007, SOUTH ASIA
• Gujarat admits wrongful killing 23 MARCH 2007, SOUTH ASIA

Japanese Tanker Attacked Leaving the Strait of Hormuz

In this undated photo released by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines in Tokyo, Japan’s shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines’ tanker M. Star is shown. The Japanese shipping company said Wednesday, July 28, 2010, an explosion, suspected to be an attack, has damaged the oil tanker near the mouth of the Persian Gulf, causing one minor injury but did not cause an oil leak. (AP Photo/Mitsui O.S.K. Lines)

Explosion rocks Japanese tanker in Persian Gulf

By ADAM SCHRECK (AP) – 45 minutes ago

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — An explosion damaged a Japanese oil tanker as it exited the Persian Gulf on Wednesday. Though the cause of the blast was not immediately known, the ship’s owner said the vessel may have been attacked.

If an attack, it would be a rare assault on a tanker in the Gulf or at the Strait of Hormuz, a transit point for about 40 percent of oil shipped by tankers worldwide. Al-Qaida has in the past carried out attacks on oil infrastructure on land in nearby Saudi Arabia, as well as a 2002 suicide bombing against a French oil tanker off the coast of Yemen.

The blast onboard the M. Star supertanker happened shortly after midnight as it entered the strait, heading out of the Gulf, Japanese shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines said.

Mitsui said the explosion at the back of the ship was believed to be caused by “a suspected attack from the outside” while the ship was passing through Omani waters in the western part of the strategically vital strait, a narrow chokepoint between Oman and Iran at the Gulf’s mouth.

“We believe it’s highly likely an attack,” Mitsui spokeswoman Eiko Mizuno said. “There is nothing that can explode in that part of the vessel.”

One of the ship’s 31 crew members noticed a flash of light right before the explosion, she said, suggesting something may have struck the vessel. The explosion occured at the back of the tanker, near an area where rescue boats are stored, causing cuts to a crew member who was struck with broken glass.

Yuki Shimoda, an official at Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said the ministry was not immediately suspecting an attack, but added that the possibility cannot be ruled out.

The tanker, loaded with 270,000 tons of oil, was heading from Das island in the United Arab Emirates to the Japanese port of Chiba outside Tokyo, the ministry said. It said the tanker is registered in the Marshall Islands.

It was not immediately clear what caused the blast.

The Strait of Hormuz is a vital shipping lane for crude oil and other goods headed out of the Persian Gulf. It is far from areas where Somali pirates typically prey on slow-moving ships, though smugglers are known to operate in the area between Iran and an enclave of Oman on the other side of the strait.

The Japanese ministry said none of its ships has been attacked by pirates in the area.

Omani officials couldn’t immediately be reached. Officials in the UAE, whose waters ships cross on both sides of the strait, said they had no immediate information.

Iran has in the past threatened to close the strait if the United States attacks it over Tehran’s disputed nuclear program, though there were no immediately signs of Iranian involvement.

The U.S. Navy’s Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, which patrols the region, said it is investigating the explosion but does not know what caused it.

“We’ve heard about it. We’re still in the process of trying to get details,” said Commander Amy Derrick-Frost.

Initial reports from the ship’s owner say one life boat was blown off the ship, and some starboard hatches were damages, according to the Navy. It said it offered to assist the tanker after the explosion but was told no help was needed.

After the blast, the tanker was headed to the Emirati port of Fujairah under its own power.

___

Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed reporting.

(This version corrects headline to say tanker was in the Persian Gulf instead of near)

“Whatever game is being played with Afghanistan, India, Russia, and America, I know about all of it.”

Forget about the Wikileaks scandal for a moment and focus on the real threat to the games being played to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes..  The Wikileaks have brought the story of the kidnapping of Pakistani ISI agent Col. Imam to a head, and it is about to pop.  The proof of the importance of this issue is found in the way that the story is being reported in the media.  There is a strange consistency in all of the reports, regardless of where the story is surfacing in the “legitimate press.”

Every news site reports quotes this sentence, “[I] will reveal all the weaknesses of our nation,” as though it reflected the real meaning of Col. Imam’s message.  Coincidentally (?), every report omits Imam’s next sentence naming the weaknesses that he threatens to reveal:

The fact that the message is being censored in both the Pakistani press and in all the Western media, reveals that it is not only Pakistan that wants to hide from Col. Imam’s secret revelations.  If he spills his guts, then the world will know that the Afghan war has been nothing more than a massive “wild goose chase,” or an international “snipe hunt,” wasting billions of dollars and thousands of lives in pursuit of the dead terrorist mastermind and his merry band of alleged super-terrorists.

I hope that Col. Imam sings like a big bearded canary!

The following news is censored:

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=20107\28\story_28-7-2010_pg1_5

http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/Kidnapped-Former-Pakistani-Intelligence–99322154.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/27/colonel-imam-video-afghanistan-pakistan

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hkiMxbHNH0BqgpWA2ZG6VD6wVTmAD9H7AD5O2

http://www.thewesternstar.com/Canada—World/Society/2010-07-27/article-1618293/Former-Pakistani-spy-kidnapped-by-militants-threatens-to-reveal-state-secrets/1

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/27/1749244/pakistans-support-for-militants.html

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=253138

Irked BHC Takes Suo Moto Action Against Missing Person’s Killing

The Baloch Hal News

QUETTA: The Balochistan High Court (BHC) has taken suo moto notice of the killing of two “missing persons” and directed the concerned Station House Officer to submit a complete report about the incident.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice of Balochistan High Court Justic Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Noor Miskanzai passed this orders on a petition regarding missing of Ashfaq Ahmed Mullazai whose dead body was found along with dead body of Farooq Mengal from Qambrani Road area of Quetta city a day earlier on Monday.

The court directed that the report should include copies of FIR, medical report, progress made in the matter and any statements recorded under Section 161 Cr.P.C. by or before the next date of hearing. Issue notice to learned DAG and AG.

The petition was filed by the father of Ashfaq Ahmed. The petitioner stated in the petition that his son, namely Ashfaq Ahmed who was a student of Baluchistan University was picked up on 28.05.2010 by some unknown persons and he was not seen ever since.

The court had issued notice to the respondents and the matter was fixed for August 3, 2010.

“It is brought to our attention that the said Ashfaq Ahmed was found dead in the area of Killi Qambrani within the jurisdiction of Police Station Shalkot, Quetta. Mr. Zahoor Baloch, learned counsel for the petitioner further points out that the body of Ashfaq Ahmed was discovered along with the body of Farooq Mengal in respect of whom another petition i.e. C.P. No.356 of 2010 was filed. Learned counsel has placed on record the news report in this regard published in daily ‘Mashriq’ and ‘Jang’ of 27^th July 2010,” court observed.

Chief Justice said “We are extremely perturbed with the deaths of Ashfaq Ahmed and Farooq Mengal and the same are of great concern.”

Accordingly, SHO Shalkot, within whose jurisdiction the said bodies were found, is directed to submit complete report about the said incident. Such report should include copies of FIR, medical report, progress made in the matter and any statements recorded under Section 161 Cr.P.C. by or before the next date of hearing. Issue notice to learned DAG and AG.

Office is directed to fix both petitions, i.e. the instant petition and CP No.356/2010 together on the next date of hearing.

Another two Baloch forced-disappeared persons found dead

on 2010/7/27 0:00:00 (73 reads)

ccupied Balochistan: The bullet-riddled bodies of two men who had been missing since May 2009 were found on Qambrani Road here on Monday morning. According to officials, residents of Qambrani Road spotted the two bodies lying in a field and informed local police. Police said the victims’ hands and feet were bound. The bodies were taken to Bolan Medical College for an autopsy and were later shifted to Provincial Sandeman Hospital, where they were identified as 25-year-old Ashfaq Mullahzai and 30-year-old Farooq Mengal. The victims received multiple bullet wounds on their heads and died on the spot, Dr Noor Baloch of Sandeman Hospital told The Express Tribune. According to families of the victims, both men had been missing for more than two months. “Farooq Mengal was picked up by secret agencies from Lakh pass area, at the exit point of Quetta city, on May 10, this year,” claimed one of his relatives. The relative added that Ashfaq had been whisked away from Saryab area of Quetta on May 21. The victims were residents of Jail Road Hudda. A case has been registered against unknown persons at New Saryab police station and officials say they are investigating the murders. Meanwhile, the advocacy group Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) held a demonstration before the Quetta Press Club on Monday, demanding that authorities trace the whereabouts of missing persons immediately. Protestors carried placards and photographs of missing persons and chanted slogans against the government and judiciary, condemning them for their failure to locate missing people. Addressing the protestors, VBMP Chairman Nasurrallah Baloch said the ‘democratic’ government and the ‘independent judiciary’ did not seem to be sincerely invested in the plight of missing persons and their relatives. “Missing persons are being killed and the list of deaths has been increasing every day,” Baloch claimed, adding that “after the killing of Najeebullah Lango, Faiz Baloch and Farooq Mengal there is threat to the lives of other missing people.” Other relatives at the protest also criticised the United Nations and international humanitarian organisation for their silennce regarding issue of missing persons. They warned that if the missing persons issue was not taken up by the UN soon, they would organise a long march in protest and attempt to disrupt Nato supply lines from Pakistan to Afghanistan. http://tribune.com.pk/story/31499/two-missing-persons-found-dead

Army Arrests German Suspected of Spying for Israel

The Lebanese army intelligence has arrested a German engineer on suspicion of spying for Israel in eastern Lebanon, media reports said Tuesday.
An Nahar daily said the army raided “Liban Lait” dairy factory in the town of Talya on the Riaq-Baalbeck road at 1:30 pm Monday and arrested Manfred Peter Mog, the engineer in charge of maintenance of the factory’s machines.

As Safir said the army is questioning Mog, 58, over his use of transmitters.

Lebanon on Edge after Hizbullah Revelation on STL Findings

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s disclosure that his party is likely to be implicated in the assassination of ex-premier Rafik Hariri could send the country sliding back to chaos, analysts warn. “This new situation is very alarming,” said Paul Salem, head of the Beirut-based Carnegie Middle East Centre. “Hizbullah is in a very worrisome position and the tribunal is just one symptom of this position,” Salem told AFP in reference to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL). “If there is movement towards peace in the region, then Hizbullah has a problem,” he added. “If there’s movement toward war, Hizbullah has a problem. And now if the tribunal moves forward, they will also have a problem.” Oussama Safa, who heads the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies, estimates Lebanon has a “50-50 chance” of descending into yet another round of violence in the light of Nasrallah’s surprise announcement late on Thursday. In a rare press conference, the Shiite leader said Prime Minister Saad Hariri, son of the slain ex-premier, had informed him months ago that Hizbullah members would be accused by the STL. He said Hariri had also assured him that he would publicly avow that it was “undisciplined” Hizbullah members, and not the party itself, who were implicated. “The country could go towards a confrontation and it could also go towards a way to contain this — certainly not by stopping the indictment,” Safa told AFP. “But I think all parties have an interest in containing this.” Politicians and judges, including STL president Antonio Cassese, have said they expect an indictment by the end of the year, sparking fears of a repeat of the violence in May 2008 that brought Lebanon close to a new civil war. More than 100 people were killed that month when Hizbullah staged a spectacular takeover of mainly Sunni west Beirut following a crackdown on the party. Omar Nashabe, a specialist in criminal justice and columnist with Lebanese daily al-Akhbar, said Nasrallah’s speech on Thursday was a well-timed wake-up call. “He is calling for a revision … by the group that chose the wrong path by accusing Syria, and now that same group is moving toward Syria,” Nashabe said, referring to Hariri’s alliance. “They should think carefully if they want to accuse Hizbullah to avoid repeating the same mistake as with Syria,” he added. “At a time when Hizbullah feels under attack and Nasrallah is making these statements, Hariri is in Syria meeting and making agreements and I think Hizbullah is wondering where Syria is going,” Salem said. Safa believes the newfound rapprochement bodes well for stability in Lebanon. “I think the better Hariri’s relationship with Syria gets, the more detente we will see and the more we are able to keep a lid on any violent reaction,” he said. Political blogger Elias Muhanna for his part says the commotion surrounding the U.N. tribunal’s finding could well be a ploy to defuse tension. “By the time that the STL gets around to indicting Hizbullah members a few months from now… the development will be old news, already dissected, analyzed and picked over by Beirut’s punditocracy,” Muhanna wrote on his blog Qifa Nabki. “No one will be surprised and (if Nasrallah and others get their way), no one will really care.”(AFP)

US, Israel Threaten Lebanon as Arabs Prepare to Visit Beirut

[The new crisis point that is nearing "critical mass" in Lebanon (just like the new crisis brewing in Pakistan over the Wikileaks and revelations of ISI support for the Taliban) is a smokescreen which hides the larger question--"Why is it acceptable for Israeli leaders to openly threaten to bomb their civilian neighbors?"   (In the Wiki case it is--"Why is it acceptable for the US to provide indirect support to the Taliban?") No other nation on the earth can get away with this brazen verbal terror and not be treated as a terrorist state.  Why does Israel enjoy special rights to act outside of acceptable norms?]

Hussein Assi Readers Number : 764

27/07/2010 Once again, Lebanon found itself in the middle of the storm… Nothing is new. The current stage is difficult and sensitive. Lebanon didn’t enter it as usual from the gate of an Israeli war or an internal sedition, but from the gate of the international tribunal, the latest Israeli scheme. It’s the tribunal believed by a Lebanese main bloc to be nothing but an Israeli project, a logic rejected by another bloc insisting that the tribunal constitutes a “red line” and therefore it’s forbidden to doubt its credibility. It’s the tribunal that awakened the Israelis from their long and deep sleep and made them remember the language of “threats” they used to be expert in before their humiliating defeat in July 2006 in Lebanon. Armed with the tribunal’s “hopes” to achieve the “unachieved” Israeli goals of disarming and dismantling Hezbollah, Israel threatened Lebanon and the US backed its “self-defense right” amid a suspicious international silence. The newest Israeli threat was launched by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak who warned that the next time violence breaks out, Israel would strike directly at the Lebanese government, which he said is allowing Hezbollah to rearm. “If Hezbollah fires a rocket into Tel Aviv, we will not run after each Hezbollah terrorist or launcher,” Barak told The Washington Post. “We will see it as legitimate to hit any target that belongs to the Lebanese state, not just to Hezbollah,” he claimed. Barak’s threats got a direct approval from the United States. In this context, US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley expressed his administration’s full support for the Israeli threats and said that every country has a right to defense itself. However, the Arabs won’t remain silent. They actually decided to act and expressed their “concern” for the current situation. Thus, Beirut started preparations to receive Syrian President Bachar Assad and Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz who would arrive in the Lebanese capital after visiting Egypt and Syria, in a tour in which the Lebanese files would be a priority according to Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit who simply joined the political internal club, confirming himself a side in Lebanon by claiming that the May 7 events should not be repeated.

Passenger plane crashes in hills near Pakistan capital

Passenger plane crashes in hills near Pakistan …, posted with vodpod