Maldini

Kenya holding 2 Americans as suspects By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN and TOM MALITI, Associated Press Writer MOGADISHU, Somalia - Two Americans were among at least 10 foreigners caught by Kenyan police at the Somali border after allegedly fighting with Somalia's ousted Islamic movement, an official said Friday. One of the Americans is wanted in the U.S. for links to radical movements, the Kenyan police official said. Kenya was preparing to deport the foreigners, seized after escaping advancing Ethiopian troops who helped oust the Islamists, to their home countries. In the Somali capital, an explosion at an Islamic school for women and girls Friday capped one of the worst weeks of violence since the Islamic group was routed and the government took on the challenge of restoring order. One student was killed and six were wounded in the attack on Umu-A'isha religious school in southern Mogadishu, witnesses said. The attackers were unknown. Overnight, at least eight people were killed and 20 were injured in mortar attacks on Mogadishu's seaport, a hotel and an Ethiopian military base. Violence has been escalating in the city riven by clan rivalries and believed to still be harboring remnants of the Islamic movement, whose members have vowed to wage an Iraq-style insurgency. Deputy Defense Minister Salad Ali Jelle blamed the attacks on hardline remnants of the Islamic group, known as the Council of Islamic Courts. He said his interim government was in control. "We have suspects and we know the areas where they plan their attacks," he told The Associated Press by telephone. "We will punish them." An Islamic movement official, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, denied his group was behind the attacks, calling them a popular uprising. Eric Laroche, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, said the attacks have been relatively isolated and infrequent but the international community must act urgently to prevent further deterioration. He said his agency would soon help the government develop a police force. Meanwhile, the UN Security Council in New York renewed its support for the African Union's decision to deploy peacekeepers in Somalia, stressing that such a force was needed to help restore peace and stability in the war-ravaged country. In a statement, the council "underlined the urgency of its (the AU force's) deployment in order to help create the conditions for the withdrawal of all other foreign forces from Somalia and the lifting of emergency measures currently in place." The council also welcomed a decision by Somali President Abdulahi Yusuf to convene a national reconciliation conference aimed at trying to end 16 years of conflict in the country — a step that paved the way for the deployment of the AU force, despite strong opposition to foreign peacekeepers by many in the country including within Yusuf's administration. Among the foreigners in Kenyan custody were four Britons, a Frenchman, a Tunisian woman, Syrians and other Arabs, said the Kenyan official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information. The date of their deportation was not yet known. Kenyan authorities have told the British Embassy that four British nationals are being held, an embassy spokeswoman said. The men were detained on Jan. 20, she said. "We continue to press urgently for consular access so that we can confirm their nationality and offer every assistance," the spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity in line with embassy policy. One of the Americans was arrested with his 9-year-old child, the Kenyan police official said. The U.S. Embassy had no comment. Kenya has deported at least 34 people to Somalia, including people who hold Canadian, Eritrean and Kenyan passports. Kenyan authorities are holding up to 70 people believed to have fled Somalia. Harun Ndubi, a lawyer who represents some of the people in Kenyan custody, said the deportations violated human rights conventions. Senior Kenyan foreign ministry official Thuita Mwangi said that he had no details about anyone being held in Kenya after fleeing Somalia.

Suicide bomber kills 121 in Baghdad By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide truck bomber struck a market in a predominantly Shiite area of Baghdad on Saturday, killing at least 121 people and wounding scores among the crowd buying food for evening meals, the most devastating strike in the capital in more than two months. The attacker was driving a truck carrying food when he detonated his explosives, destroying stores and stalls that had been set up in the busy outdoor Sadriyah market, police said. The late-afternoon explosion was the latest in a series of attacks against mainly Shiite commercial targets in the capital. No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but it appeared to be part of a bid by Sunni insurgents to provoke retaliatory violence and kill as many people as possible ahead of a planned U.S.-Iraqi security sweep. Mortars reportedly struck predominantly Sunni areas hours after the attack. Many of the injured were driven to overwhelmed hospitals in pickup trucks and lifted onto stretchers. "It was a strong blow. A car exploded. I fell on the ground," said one young man with a bandaged head, his face still streaked with blood. Officials said at least 121 people were killed and 226 wounded. The Kindi hospital, Baghdad's main emergency facility, quickly filled and asked ambulances from the bombing to take the injured elsewhere. T he Sadriyah market sits on a sidestreet lined with stores and vendors selling produce and other food. The market is about 500 yards from a Sunni shrine in an adjacent neighborhood. The blast was the deadliest attack in the capital since Nov. 23, when suspected al-Qaida in Iraq fighters attacked the capital's Sadr City Shiite slum with a series of car bombs and mortars that struck in quick succession, killing at least 215 people. A suicide bomber also crashed his car into the Bab al-Sharqi market, near Sadriyah, on Jan. 22, killing 88 people. South of Baghdad, a pair of suicide bombers detonated explosives Thursday among shoppers in a crowded outdoor market in the Shiite city of Hillah, killing at least 73 people and wounding 163, police said. Iraq's senior Shiite cleric called for Muslim unity and an end to sectarian conflict — his first public statement in months on the worsening security crisis. The Iranian-born Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani urged all Muslims to work to overcome sectarian differences and calm the passions, which serve only "those who want to dominate the Islamic country and control its resources to achieve their aims." In the northern city of Kirkuk, eight bombs exploded within two hours, beginning with a suicide car bomber who targeted the offices of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Massoud Barzani, leader of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, police said. Two people were killed in the first explosion, which devastated four nearby houses. Nobody claimed responsibility for the attacks in the oil-rich region, but there are concerns that insurgents have fled north to avoid the impending crackdown in Baghdad. Ethnic tensions also have risen in the area over a Kurdish bid to incorporate it into their autonomous region to the north. At the Kurdish party offices, guards opened fire as the attacker drove up, and the explosives detonated about 15 yards from the building, killing at least two people and wounding 30, including five KDP guards, police Col. Dishtoun Mohammed said. Concrete blast walls protected the offices from serious damage, but the explosion devastated four nearby houses. Five charred cars were near the entrance of the Kurdish building, in a mainly Turkomen district. "We are upset and angry about the existence of a party office in our area," Um Khalid, a 52-year-old Turkomen housewife, said as she examined her damaged home. "Had the office not been here, the suicide bomber would not have chosen to explode his car near our houses." Another car bomb exploded about 20 minutes later near a girls' school in the south of the city, but the school was closed for the weekend and no casualties were reported, police Col. Anwar Hassan said. A third car bomb hit a gas station in southern Kirkuk, followed by two other parked car bombs 20 minutes later near a popular pastry shop. Eight people were wounded in those explosions. "I heard the sound of the explosion as I was adding water to the flour inside the shop. I rushed outside to see smoke and fire rising from the car bombs while some moving cars were colliding with each other," said Mohammed Faleh, who works in the Shaima pastry shop. A sixth car bomb wounded five other people in the mainly Arab al-Wasiti area in southern Kirkuk, while two roadside bombs targeted police patrols at about the same time in a predominantly Christian area in the north of the city. Razqar Ali, a Kurdish leader and head of Kirkuk provincial council, accused the militants of trying to destabilize the city. "They want to depict the city as unsafe to provide a pretext to other groups to interfere," he said, an implicit reference to Turkey's objections to the Kurdish efforts to incorporate the city. Turkey, Iraq's northern neighbor, is pressuring the Iraqi government to protect the interests of the Turkomen, ethnic Turks who once were a majority in the city. Ankara also fears Iraqi Kurdish ambitions could fuel hostilities with Kurdish separatists at home. In Mosul, northwest of Kirkuk, armed insurgents and Iraqi forces fought for several hours and authorities imposed a temporary curfew on the city. There was no immediate word on casualties. Police spokesman Brig. Abdul Karim al-Jubouri said Iraqi security forces backed by U.S. air power were moving in. Gunmen also attacked a police checkpoint at the northern entrance to Samarra 60 miles north of Baghdad, killing four policemen and wounding another, police said, adding that three militants were killed and one was wounded in the fighting that lasted for about 30 minutes. In Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad, a convoy of 15 cars carrying gunmen brandishing weapons and banners declaring the establishment of an "Islamic State" drove through the Sunni town while businessmen quickly closed their stores for fear of trouble. The show of force followed the Iraqi government's announcement on Tuesday that it had arrested a provincial leader of al-Qaida in Iraq and broken a major cell in the area.

Chirac backtracks after gaffe on Iran bomb threat By Francois Murphy and Kerstin Gehmlich PARIS (Reuters) - FrencH President Jacques Chirak backtracked on Thursday after saying it would not be dangerous for Iran to have a nuclear bomb, a sudden departure from the position France has long held with key allies. Chirac made the comments to two U.S. newspapers and a French magazine but called the reporters back for another interview the next day and said he thought he was speaking off the record. His comments raised doubts about where France stands after years spent jointly spearheading a diplomatic push aimed at ensuring Iran does not develop atomic weapons, and prompted Chirac's office to say France's position has not changed. "What is dangerous about this situation is not the fact of having a nuclear bomb -- having one, maybe a second one a little later, well, that's not very dangerous," Chirac, was quoted as telling the reporters from the International Herald Tribune and New York Times newspapers, and weekly Le Nouvel Observateur. If Iran used a nuclear weapon against arch-foe Israel its capital Tehran would be obliterated in retaliation, he said. Chirac's office said the decision to publish the remarks was an attempt to spark "a shameful scandal." France and allies the United States, Britain, Germany, Russia and China, have been pressuring Tehran to abandon technology that could be used to make atom bombs. Tehran denies charges that it is seeking nuclear weapons, saying it only wants atomic technology to generate electricity. Influential French daily Le Monde said Chirac's comments represented "a radical turning point," adding: "One asks what credibility the French position will now have." But Washington and London played down Chirac's remarks. "It is not a sentiment I share. What is more I understand the president of France doesn't share it any more either," British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said. IMMEDIATE RETALIATION Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told Iranian state radio that Chirac's comments would "only worsen the current unbalanced atmosphere which is the result of the wrong U.S. policies." The newspapers said that in the first meeting Chirac, 74 and approaching the end of his second mandate, appeared distracted at times and struggled to remember names and dates, but was more alert in the second interview. Speculation about Chirac's health has mounted since he was secretly admitted to hospital in September 2005 for a blood vessel problem that affected his vision and caused headaches. Chirac said in the first interview the main danger from Iran developing a nuclear bomb was that others, such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt, would follow suit, not that Tehran would use it. "Where will it drop it, this bomb? On Israel? It would not have gone 200 metres (650 ft) into the atmosphere before Tehran would be razed to the ground," the reporters quoted Chirac as saying. The following day, the French president backtracked: "I retract it, of course, when I said, One is going to raze Tehran'," the IHT and New York Times quoted him as saying. Chirac also withdrew his prediction that a nuclear Iran could encourage Arab states to build a bomb. "It is I who was wrong and I do not want to contest it ... I should have paid better attention to what I was saying and understood that perhaps I was on the record," the IHT quoted him as saying. Chirac's office said the president had not changed his stance on Iran and said the U.S. dailies had acted improperly, even though the French magazine also reported his U-turn. "France, with the international community, cannot accept the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran," it said in a statement. "It does not surprise us on the part of certain media from the other side of the Atlantic, which will use any opportunity to attack France," his office said.

OMG, Poland did it:D In spite of Poland defeated Germany before, but I think that Germany will defeat Poland in the Final match

I think he need some food to eat:thinking:

If you don't know their name, then it's your problem not mine or them problem. I'm didn't shocked because you don't know them, because you don't know anything about anything, or you know but hiding the truth. How you compare the Neturei Karta (the peace and truth seekers) with a terrorists groups. You don't listen for the truth callers, from what I read I can understand you stand in favour of disaster callers and they are a liars. Instead of you consider the peace seeker a terrorist, then I will understand thats why you always calling the palestinians patriots as terrorists. I didn't met any Jew before, but it's not necessary to know someone to meet him, it's enough to know his opinion about anything. You know that because you always call me jews hater, anti-Semitic and dickhead, in spite of you didn't see me before. I will give you a reason to not call me like that again. I like the peaceful Jews and I hate who want harm me Yes the harmful Jews are responsible for every bad thing happened to my people. Now I think you know that I'm not living in my little bubble and I haven't a closed mind

Congratulation Germany, bad luck France Very very very good match

Holes found in Wolfowitz's style World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz may be dedicated to freeing the world from poverty - but he seems unable to afford a new pair of socks. Mr Wolfowitz's sartorial deficiencies were revealed when he took his shoes off while visiting a mosque in Edirne, western Turkey. Both of the grey socks sported holes with his big toes peeking through. The last World Bank annual report, for 2006, puts the president's salary as of 1 July, 2005, at $391,440 (£200,279). Shelter Mr Wolfowitz was in Turkey on a two-day visit that included a meeting with Prime Minister Reycep Tayyip Erdogan. Mr Wolfowitz strongly backs Turkey's bid to join the European Union. On his trip he also met homeless men at a shelter in Istanbul who are being helped by a World Bank-financed scheme. In an earlier sartorial foray in the media, in the Michael Moore film Fahrenheit 9/11, Mr Wolfowitz was seen to spit on his comb before running it through his hair ahead of a television appearance.

Sorry, I can't understand you

I didn't said that I don't care about the facts. I said I don't care what the Russian Court said Read the Protocols and see the reality What you mean about the Middle East?

PROTOCOL No. 5 Despotism and Modernism 1. What form of administrative rule can be given to communities in which corruption has penetrated everywhere, communities where riches are attained only by the clever surprise tactics of semi-swindling tricks; where loseness reigns: where morality is maintained by penal measures and harsh laws but not by voluntarily accepted principles: where the feelings towards faith and country are obligated by cosmopolitan convictions? What form of rule is to be given to these communities if not that despotism which I shall describe to you later? We shall create an intensified centralization of government in order to grip in our hands all the forces of the community. We shall regulate mechanically all the actions of the political life of our subjects by new laws. These laws will withdraw one by one all the indulgences and liberties which have been permitted by the GOYIM, and our kingdom will be distinguished by a despotism of such magnificent proportions as to be at any moment and in every place in a position to wipe out any GOYIM who oppose us by deed or word. 2. We shall be told that such a despotism as I speak of is not consistent with the progress of these days, but I will prove to you that is is. 3. In the times when the peoples looked upon kings on their thrones as on a pure manifestation of the will of God, they submitted without a murmur to the despotic power of kings: but from the day when we insinuated into their minds the conception of their own rights they began to regard the occupants of thrones as mere ordinary mortals. The holy unction of the Lord's Anointed has fallen from the heads of kings in the eyes of the people, and when we also robbed them of their faith in God the might of power was flung upon the streets into the place of public proprietorship and was seized by us. MASSES LED BY LIES . Moreover, the art of directing masses and individuals by means of cleverly manipulated theory and verbitage, by regulations of life in common and all sorts of other quirks, in all which the GOYIM understand nothing, belongs likewise to the specialists of our administrative brain. Reared on analysis, observation, on delicacies of fine calculation, in this species of skill we have no rivals, any more than we have either in the drawing up of plans of political actions and solidarity. In this respect the Jesuits alone might have compared with us, but we have contrived to discredit them in the eyes of the unthinking mob as an overt organization, while we ourselves all the while have kept our secret organization in the shade. However, it is probably all the same to the world who is its sovereign lord, whether the head of Catholicism or our despot of the blood of Zion! But to us, the Chosen People, it is very far from being a matter of indifference. 5. FOR A TIME PERHAPS WE MIGHT BE SUCCESSFULLY DEALT WITH BY A COALITION OF THE "GOYIM" OF ALL THE WORLD: but from this danger we are secured by the discord existing among them whose roots are so deeply seated that they can never now be plucked up. We have set one against another the personal and national reckonings of the GOYIM, religious and race hatreds, which we have fostered into a huge growth in the course of the past twenty centuries. This is the reason why there is not one State which would anywhere receive support if it were to raise its arm, for every one of them must bear in mind that any agreement against us would be unprofitable to itself. We are too strong - there is no evading our power. THE NATIONS CANNOT COME TO EVEN AN INCONSIDERABLE PRIVATE AGREEMENT WITHOUT OUR SECRETLY HAVING A HAND IN IT. 6. PER ME REGES REGNANT. "It is through me that Kings reign." And it was said by the prophets that we were chosen by God Himself to rule over the whole earth. God has endowed us with genius that we may be equal to our task. Were genius in the opposite camp it would still struggle against us, but even so, a newcomer is no match for the old-established settler: the struggle would be merciless between us, such a fight as the world has never seen. Aye, and the genius on their side would have arrived too late. All the wheels of the machinery of all States go by the force of the engine, which is in our hands, and that engine of the machinery of States is - Gold. The science of political economy invented by our learned elders has for long past been giving royal prestige to capital. MONOPOLY CAPITAL 7. Capital, if it is to co-operate untrammeled, must be free to establish a monopoly of industry and trade: this is already being put in execution by an unseen hand in all quarters of the world. This freedom will give political force to those engaged in industry, and that will help to oppress the people. Nowadays it is more important to disarm the peoples than to lead them into war: more important to use for our advantage the passions which have burst into flames than to quench their fire: more important to eradicate them. THE PRINCIPLE OBJECT OF OUR DIRECTORATE CONSISTS IN THIS: TO DEBILITATE THE PUBLIC MIND BY CRITICISM; TO LEAD IT AWAY FROM SERIOUS REFLECTIONS CALCULATED TO AROUSE RESISTANCE; TO DISTRACT THE FORCES OF THE MIND TOWARDS A SHAM FIGHT OF EMPTY CLOQUENCE. 8. In all ages the people of the world, equally with individuals, have accepted words for deeds, for THEY ARE CONTENT WITH A SHOW and rarely pause to note, in the public arena, whether promises are followed by performance. Therefore we shall establish show institutions which will give eloquent proof of their benefit to progress. 9. We shall assume to ourselves the liberal physiognomy of all parties, of all directions, and we shall give that physiognomy a VOICE IN ORATORS WHO WILL SPEAK SO MUCH THAT THEY WILL EXHAUST THE PATIENCE OF THEIR HEARERS AND PRODUCE AN ABHORRENCE OF ORATORY. 10. IN ORDER TO PUT PUBLIC OPINION INTO OUR HANDS WE MUST BRING IT INTO A STATE OF BEWILDERMENT BY GIVING EXPRESSION FROM ALL SIDES TO SO MANY CONTRADICTORY OPINIONS AND FOR SUCH LENGTH OF TIME AS WILL SUFFICE TO MAKE THE "GOYIM" LOSE THEIR HEADS IN THE LABYRINTH AND COME TO SEE THAT THE BEST THING IS TO HAVE NO OPINION OF ANY KIND IN MATTERS POLITICAL, which it is not given to the public to understand, because they are understood only by him who guides the public. This is the first secret. 11. The second secret requisite for the success of our government is comprised in the following: To multiply to such an extent national failings, habits, passions, conditions of civil life, that it will be impossible for anyone to know where he is in the resulting chaos, so that the people in consequence will fail to understand one another. This measure will also serve us in another way, namely, to sow discord in all parties, to dislocate all collective forces which are still unwilling to submit to us, and to discourage any kind of personal initiative which might in any degree hinder our affair. THERE IS NOTHING MORE DANGEROUS THAN PERSONAL INITIATIVE: if it has genius behind it, such initiative can do more than can be done by millions of people among whom we have sown discord. We must so direct the education of the GOYIM communities that whenever they come upon a matter requiring initiative they may drop their hands in despairing impotence. The strain which results from freedom of actions saps the forces when it meets with the freedom of another. From this collision arise grave moral shocks, disenchantments, failures. BY ALL THESE MEANS WE SHALL SO WEAR DOWN THE "GOYIM" THAT THEY WILL BE COMPELLED TO OFFER US INTERNATIONAL POWER OF A NATURE THAT BY ITS POSITION WILL ENABLE US WITHOUT ANY VIOLENCE GRADUALLY TO ABSORB ALL THE STATE FORCES OF THE WORLD AND TO FORM A SUPER-GOVERNMENT (European Common Market?). In place of the rulers of to-day we shall set up a bogey which will be called the Super-Government Administration. Its hands will reach out in all directions like nippers and its organization will be of such colossal dimensions that it cannot fail to subdue all the nations of the world.

I'm really get bored from this word (hater of jews) What about the Jews who attacking the Zionism. Are they haters of Jews also?

N.Korea eyes 2nd test if dispute not resolved By Benjamin Kang Lim BEIJING (Reuters) - North Korea will feel compelled to announce plans for another nuclear test if a financial row with Washington is not settled, a source said on Wednesday as the latest talks wound up with no signs of a breakthrough. U.S. Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Daniel Glaser, after meeting North Korean officials in Beijing on the financial dispute, described discussions as "painstaking." The U.S. Treasury has accused North Korea of using Macau's Banco Delta Asia to launder earnings from counterfeit U.S. dollars and drug trafficking. But a source close to the North Korean government said Pyongyang felt Washington lacked evidence of wrongdoing and wanted a quick solution. North Korea was likely to express its frustration when it comes to six-party talks, aimed at dismantling its nuclear programs, scheduled for February 8 in Beijing, the source said. "If the United States does not resolve it, North Korea will have no choice but to announce at the six-party talks that it plans to conduct another test," the source told Reuters after being briefed by a North Korean official. The last session of talks grouping the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and host China was held in December -- two months after Pyongyang dramatically raised the stakes by holding its first nuclear test. It yielded no breakthrough. The December session snagged over Pyongyang's complaints about the U.S. financial crackdown that led to Macau freezing $24 million in North Korean accounts. Glaser told reporters he was sure North Korea was up to no good at the Macau bank. "We've been vindicated with respect to our concerns," he said. But he said the latest talks, following negotiations in December, had yielded hopes of a settlement. The negotiators had discussed almost 50 account holders in the Macau bank, he said. "We got some information that was very helpful to us," Glaser said, adding there was hope "to start moving forward and trying to bring some resolution to this matter." There would be more financial talks, but no date has been set, Glaser said, adding that U.S. concerns went well beyond the Macau bank. EFFORT REQUIRED China's envoy to the six-party talks, Wu Dawei, told reporters that the next session could be relatively short, apparently placing an onus on negotiators, including North Korea's, to reach a deal this time. "I hope the meeting can complete its talks in three to four days," Wu said. The success of the talks, he said, "requires efforts of all parties." But U.S. officials have held out little hope of a quick resolution to the financial dispute, and Russia and South Korea also cautioned against expectations of a breakthrough. "I think there is almost no chance of finding concrete, significant agreements during these talks," Russia's Alexander Losyukov, a deputy foreign minister, told Interfax news agency. The Beijing-based source described the U.S. financial curbs as a "huge insult" to a sovereign country. "If the United States does not resolve it, North Korea would be a 'sinner' taking part in the six-party talks ... North Korea would have no face and could not be on equal footing with the other parties at the six-party talks. "The United States has no evidence, just like it had no evidence Iraq had weapons of mass destruction," the source said. In Washington, the State Department said the U.S. view was that the financial dispute was separate from the six-way talks. "The financial discussions are not being held as part of six party talks and they are not related to issues of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula," spokesman Tom Casey told reporters. The North Korean Embassy in Beijing declined to comment. The Chinese Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment.

More peacekeepers heading to Somalia By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN and TOM MALITI, Associated Press Writers MOGADISHU, Somalia - Three battalions of peacekeepers from Uganda and Nigeria will be airlifted as soon as possible into Somalia amid rising violence that threatens the government's grip on power, an African Union official said Wednesday. Somalia's Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi began imposing martial law in areas his government controls, beginning with a curfew Tuesday night in the southern town of Baidoa. Gedi warned remnants of an ousted Islamic movement have returned to towns and cities and were planning to try to further destabilize the lawless country. "From now on martial law would be implemented across government-controlled areas, starting with Baidoa," Gedi said late Tuesday. The measure was taken under a three-month emergency law passed by parliament on Jan. 13. Since last month when Somali government troops with crucial support from Ethiopian soldiers, tanks and war planes ousted the Council of Islamic Courts, factional violence has again become a feature of life in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Ethiopia says it does not have the resources to stay as a peacekeeping force and already has begun withdrawing, presenting the possibility of a dangerous power vacuum. In neighboring Ethiopia, a senior African Union official said Wednesday that three battalions of peacekeepers from Uganda and Nigeria were ready to be deployed in Somalia and will be airlifted in as soon as possible. The African Union was pressing ahead with its peacekeeping mission to Somalia despite securing only half the 8,000 troops needed at a key summit of African leaders that ended Tuesday. So far five nations — Uganda, Nigeria, Malawi, Burundi and Ghana — have pledged around 4,000 troops. The African Union official, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said securing the 8,000 troops would not be difficult. The main challenge, he said, was raising the estimated $34 million a month to pay for the mission. The EU has pledged $20 million for a peacekeeping force and $40 million in overall support has been offered by the U.S. The U.S. also has pledged to offer airlift support. An important consideration for the African Union peacekeeping mission is ensuring the majority of troops are Muslim, given that most Somalis are Muslim. The troops will have a narrow mandate: protecting the transitional government. On Tuesday, Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf agreed to a national reconciliation conference. But that was followed Wednesday with what could be seen as a setback for building unity: Sheik Adan Mohamed Nor was elected speaker of parliament. The former speaker, Sharif Hassan Sheik Aden, was voted out on Jan. 17 because of his close ties with the Islamic movement. Both the EU and the U.S. have called on the government to reinstate Aden as speaker, saying he could play an important role in promoting reconciliation and peace. His replacement is a government loyalist. On Tuesday, extremists in Somalia said they would try to kill any peacekeepers. In a videotape posted on the official Web site of the Islamic movement, a hooded gunman read a statement saying that any African peacekeepers would be seen as invaders. The United States has accused Somalia's Council of Islamic Courts of sheltering suspects in the 1998 al-Qaida bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Osama Bin Laden has said Somalia is a battleground in his war on the West. The U.S. launched at least two airstrikes against fleeing Islamic fighters, although details of the attacks are unknown. Somalia has not had an effective national government since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on one another, throwing the country into anarchy. The transitional government was formed in 2004 with U.N. help.

Bush warns Iran, Syria, Hezbollah on Lebanon WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George Bush deplored recent violence in Lebanon and warned that Iran, Syria and Hezbollah must be "called to account" for trying to destabilize that country. "While Lebanon's friends seek to help the Lebanese government build a free, sovereign, and prosperous country, Syria, Iran and Hezbollah are working to destabilize Lebanese society," Bush said in a statement. "All those who seek a peaceful, constitutional solution to the crisis in Lebanon deserve the support of the international community, but those responsible for creating chaos must be called to account," he said. Four people were killed and 152 injured Thursday in clashes between Sunni and Shiite Muslims apparently triggered by a row in a cafeteria at Beirut's Arab University between government supporters and opponents. "I am deeply disappointed by the recent violence and bloodshed on the streets of Lebanon. It is all the more troubling that the violence occurred while Lebanon's legitimate leaders and friends were gathered together in Paris to help secure a peaceful and prosperous future for the country," said Bush. The United States has pledged 770 million dollars in new aid to Lebanon as part of a major international drive to rebuild the country and bolster the embattled pro-Western government of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora. "This is a strong symbol of the American people's support for and commitment to the future of Lebanon," said Bush, who had tough words for Damascus, Tehran, and the militant Shiite movement Hezbollah. Bush said they sought to derail the creation of the international tribunal to try suspects in the murder of Lebanon's former premier Rafiq Hariri and stall Hezbollah's disarmament as called for by the UN Security Council. "Their goals are clear. They foment violence in order to prevent the establishment of a Special Tribunal in response to former Prime Minister Hariri's assassination, to prevent full implementation of UN Security Council resolutions calling for Hezbollah's disarmament, and to bring down Lebanon's democratically elected government," said Bush.

Ex-Israeli justice minister convicted By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer TEL AVIV, Israel - An Israeli court convicted former Justice Minister Haim Ramon on Wednesday of forcibly kissing a young female soldier, a stunning censure of a top official that could reshape the Israeli Cabinet. Ramon, who faces up to three years in prison, joined a growing list of politicians who have fallen from grace — including Israel's president, who is facing rape charges. The 56-year-old Ramon was charged with sexual misconduct after kissing the 21-year-old woman at a party at the Defense Ministry on the first day of Israel's war with Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon last summer. Ramon, who is divorced, said the woman, who cannot be identified under Israeli law, had flirted with him and the kiss was consensual. With its salacious details and high-profile defendant, the case captured the nation's attention for months, and Ramon's conviction sent a stark message to high officials that behavior once considered a perk of the job would no longer be tolerated. "There are some lines that cannot be crossed," said Judge Hayuta Kochan, who read the unanimous verdict by a three-judge panel. "This was not a kiss of affection. This has all the elements of sexual crime." Ramon, who will be sentenced Feb. 21, said he would appeal. A close ally of veteran statesman Shimon Peres, Ramon once appeared to be on the fast track toward the premiership, serving as minister in several Cabinets. He bolted the dovish Labor Party ahead of elections last year and joined Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Kadima Party, serving as justice minister until he was charged last August. In a statement, Olmert "expressed sorrow" at Ramon's conviction. Ahead of the verdict, hordes of reporters and TV cameras swarmed around Ramon as he pushed toward the small courtroom at the Tel Aviv Magistrates Court. As the verdict was read, a visibly anxious Ramon held his head in his hands. His girlfriend hugged him in support. The verdict said Ramon's defense was full of contradictions, and said it was obvious the young soldier was "authentic and trustworthy" and had suffered a "traumatic experience." "We completely endorse the plaintiff's version," it said. Ramon declined to comment on the verdict. His accuser, in an interview with Israel's Channel 10, denied ever flirting with him. "You understand the gap between us? He's eight years older than my father. There is no chance I could look at him and say that I would go out with him, that I could hit on him," she said, her face hidden in shadows. "Who would ever think such a thing?" The conviction will force changes in the Cabinet. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has also been serving as justice minister while the government awaited a verdict. Olmert's spokeswoman, Miri Eisin, said Olmert would fill the job, as well as the vacant welfare minister's post, "in the near future." Ramon's permanent replacement is expected to be Interior Minister Ronnie Bar-On, of Kadima. The hard-line Yisrael Beiteinu party is also likely to be given a second Cabinet seat, political analyst Hanan Crystal said. But unpopular Defense Minister Amir Peretz is likely to keep his job until the government commission investigating the war in Lebanon releases its findings, which might implicate Peretz and force him to step aside, Crystal said. No date has been given for the commission's report. The Ramon conviction came amid a spate of scandals involving Israeli leaders. Last week, Israel's attorney general said he plans to indict President Moshe Katsav on charges of raping and sexually assaulting former female employees. Katsav has taken a leave of absence. Authorities also have launched a criminal investigation into Olmert's role in the government's sale of a controlling interest in a bank in 2005, when he was finance minister. Investigators suspect Olmert tried to steer the bidding in favor of a supporter. Tzachi Hanegbi, another Kadima member, has been indicted on charges of fraud, bribery and perjury in connection with appointments he made as a minister. Legal analyst Moshe Goraly said the actions taken against top officials stood in stark contrast with the hands-off attitude government watchdogs and prosecutors previously took toward politicians. Given the relatively minor charge in Ramon's case — and the way his credibility was "completely destroyed" — the verdict could be a sign of trouble for his accused colleagues, Goraly said. "It does not bode well for all the others," he said.

Inspectors: Millions in Iraq aid wasted By HOPE YEN and PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press Writers WASHINGTON - Major U.S. companies with multimillion-dollar contracts for Iraq reconstruction are being forced to devote 12.5 percent of their expenses for security due to spiraling violence in the region, investigators said Wednesday. Meanwhile, tens of millions of U.S. dollars have been wasted elsewhere in Iraq reconstruction aid, some of it on an Olympic-size swimming pool ordered up by Iraqi officials for a police academy that has yet to be used. The quarterly audit by Stuart Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, is the latest to paint a grim picture of waste, fraud and frustration in an Iraq war and reconstruction effort that has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $300 billion and left the region near civil war. According to the report, nine of the largest U.S. contractors in Iraq reported paying significant amounts of money for personal security for their workers, protection against violence at their construction sites and elsewhere. Contractor security costs ranged from 7.6 percent to 16.7 percent, or an average of 12.5 percent, the report said. "The security situation in Iraq continues to deteriorate, hindering progress in all reconstruction sectors and threatening the overall reconstruction effort," according to the 579-page report. Calling Iraq's sectarian violence the greatest challenge, Bowen said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press that billions in U.S. aid spent on strengthening security has had limited effect. He said reconstruction now will fall largely on Iraqis to manage — and they're nowhere ready for the task. Former Rep. Lee Hamilton, co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group, said Wednesday that the report shows the uphill battle for the United States and the international community in their efforts to bring stability in Iraq. "There are very, very few things that hurt our effort more in trying to succeed in Iraq than that kind of performance, because it turns all people off," Hamilton during testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The audit comes as President Bush is pressing Congress to approve $1.2 billion in new reconstruction aid as part of his broader plan to stabilize Iraq by sending 21,500 more U.S. troops to Baghdad and Anbar province. Democrats in Congress have been skeptical. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., has suggested the U.S. is spending too much on Iraq reconstruction at the expense of Hurricane Katrina rebuilding in New Orleans, while California Rep. Henry Waxman plans in-depth hearings next week into charges of Iraq waste and fraud. According to the report, the State Department paid $43.8 million to contractor DynCorp International for the residential camp for police training personnel outside of Baghdad's Adnan Palace grounds that has stood empty for months. About $4.2 million of the money was improperly spent on 20 VIP trailers and an Olympic-size pool, all ordered by the Iraqi Ministry of Interior but never authorized by the U.S. U.S. officials spent another $36.4 million for weapons such as armored vehicles, body armor and communications equipment that can't be accounted for. DynCorp also may have prematurely billed $18 million in other potentially unjustified costs, the report said. Responding, the State Department said in the report that it was working to improve controls. Already, it has developed a review process that rejected a $1.1 million DynCorp bill earlier this month on a separate contract because the billed rate was incorrect. A spokesman for DynCorp, Greg Lagana, did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment. Bowen, whose office was nearly eliminated last month by administration-friendly Republicans in Congress, called spending waste in Iraq a continuing problem. Corruption is high among Iraqi officials, while U.S. contract management remains somewhat weak. With the United States' $21 billion rebuilding effort largely finished, it will be up to the international community and the Iraqis to pitch in to sustain reconstruction, Bowen said in the interview. "That will be a long-term and very expensive process," he said. According to the inspector general: _Shoddy construction was widespread at the $73 million Baghdad Police College, including plumbing problems that posed health risks to Iraqi recruits. _Bowen's office opened 27 new criminal probes in the last quarter, bringing the total number of active cases to 78. Twenty-three are awaiting prosecutorial action by the Justice Department, most of them centering on charges of bribery and kickbacks. Still, "fraud has not been a significant component of the U.S. experience in Iraq," Bowen said. As of the end of 2006, contracts had been let for all of the $21 billion that Congress put into the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund it created in 2003. Some 80 percent of the money has been paid out, the report said. Since 2003, use of the reconstruction aid changed several times as U.S. officials shifted priorities to spend more on security problems or programs critical to supporting elections or developing the new government. For example, money was cut from what had been originally planned for electricity, water, oil projects and transportation and communication so it could be used to help pay for such things as health care, elections, democracy programs and training Iraqi security forces. Overall, the largest single expense was security. The total was spent in the following way: _34 percent for security and justice. _23 percent to try to generate and distribute electricity. Still, the report noted, output in the last quarter averaged below prewar levels. _12 percent for water. _12 percent for economic and societal development. _9 percent for oil and gas. _4 percent for transportation and communications. _4 percent for health care. Auditors had "significant concern" about the way ahead, partly because of the Iraqi government's bad track record on budgeting for such projects, the report said. It said the Iraqi government had "billions of budgeted dollars remained unspent at the end of 2006." Unemployment remains high, contributing to the insurgency because it sours the population and leaves idle young men to their own devices, according to the report. The government's "most significant challenge continues to be strengthening rule-of-law institutions — the judiciary, prisons and the police," the report said. "The United States has spent billions of dollars in this area, with limited success to date."

More than 60 killed amid as Shiite festival ends As violence rages in Iraq, details emerge about arrests after a raid that killed five U.S. soldiers. By Borzou Daragahi, Times Staff Writer January 31, 2007 BAGHDAD — Sectarian warfare directed mostly at Shiite Muslim pilgrims and worshipers celebrating the climax of an important religious holiday left more than 60 Iraqis dead Tuesday. In addition, details emerged about arrests in the wake of a bold Jan. 20 insurgent raid on a joint U.S.-Iraqi security compound in Karbala in which a U.S. soldier was killed and four other American soldiers were captured and shot to death miles away. A police official in Hillah said four Saudi Arabians staying in a Karbala hotel were arrested in connection with the attack. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said U.S. and Iraqi officials had seized maps and other documents. The official also said U.S. officials were heading the investigation of the well-synchronized raid, in which gunmen posing as American soldiers or contractors stormed the compound, disabled U.S. vehicles and whisked away the soldiers. Four others of undetermined nationality also were arrested near the site where the gunmen shot the soldiers, shed their equipment and fled. Aside from a news release issued Friday, U.S. officials have declined to comment on the raid. Thousands of Shiite pilgrims from around the world, including Saudis, descend on Karbala for Ashura, the religious festival. Tuesday's violence was concentrated in religiously mixed areas of the capital and a province to the northeast. The day's deadliest incident took place in Diyala, a religiously and ethnically mixed province that borders Iran. In the Balad Ruz region, 40 miles east of the provincial capital, Baqubah, a suicide bomber detonated an explosives belt among worshipers engaged in Ashura street demonstrations, killing at least 23 Shiites and injuring 57. In nearby Khanaqin, a town of Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites along the border, at least eight people were killed and 30 injured when a bomb planted along a roadway near a mosque exploded during an Ashura procession. In southwest Baghdad, at least 18 pilgrims were killed and 18 wounded when gunmen opened fire on buses ferrying people home from Karbala, the shrine city where hundreds of thousands of Shiites commemorated the 7th century martyrdom of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the prophet Muhammad. Mortar battles raged between Sunni and Shiite enclaves of the capital. At least a dozen mortar shells landed in Adhamiya, home to an important Sunni shrine, killing 10 people and injuring 16. A mortar shell struck a building in the northern Baghdad district of Kadhimiya, home to a Shiite shrine, killing one and injuring nine. Another struck a house in the mostly Sunni neighborhood of Jihad, inflicting casualties on the family inside. Gunmen in the Sunni-dominated Dora district shot to death a Shiite man helping his mother remove furniture from their home, which they had abandoned because of sectarian threats, police said. The mother was also killed and the man's wife wounded. Iraqi authorities in the capital discovered the bodies of at least eight young men who had been fatally shot in apparent sectarian death-squad killings. A U.S. soldier was killed Monday near the southern city of Nasiriya when his vehicle rolled over in an accident, the U.S. military said Tuesday. The death brought the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion to 3,081, according to icasualties.org. The U.S. military also reported a weekend suicide bombing of a fire station that killed 16 people near Ramadi. A driver plowed a dump truck filled with explosives and a chlorine tank into the compound. "There are no indications of any casualties caused by the release of chlorine gas," the military statement said.

I didn't watched it, I watch a soccer match now 42:41:stunned:

Welcome:)

Is that beause England didn't paly in this Championship?

I like this giant guy of Spain, I think his name is Ronaldo

Easily entertained:dozey: Germany at the semi-final, you want him set to cry

OMG, it's totally prejudice to Spain. The final penalty for Germany was tottaly wrong:\ But great match for both.

They want goals of course, but did you think he will benefit Milan:rolleyes: