Mexico offers satnav to illegals crossing into the USWould-be illegal immigrants planning to cross the desert and enter the United States on foot are to be given hand-held satellite devices by the Mexican authorities to ensure they arrive safely.
Those who get lost or fall sick during the dangerous four-day crossing will be able to activate the device, to alert frontier police on both sides of the border.
The satellite tracking service will require would-be illegals to register their intentions b... (more)
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Global super-union within a decade, says Amicus chiefAn international trade union, working in at least three countries, could be created within a decade, the leader of one of Britain’s biggest unions has predicted.
Amicus, which has 1.1 million members and is soon to merge with the T&G, has forged solidarity agreements with IG Metall in Germany and two American unions, the Machinists and the United Steel Workers. The T&G also has links with the SEIU, the US service industry union.
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Secret U.S. plan to overthrow Syrian government The Bush administration is secretly funding political opposition to the Syrian government in a bid to topple President Bashar al-Assad's regime, according to a classified document seen by the Time Magazine.
The two-page document states that the U.S. is already “supporting regular meetings of internal and diaspora Syrian activists" in Washington, Europe and even Syria to facilitate “a more coherent strategy and plan of actions for all anti-Assad activists."
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'Illegal' Execution Enrages ArabsBAGHDAD, Jan 2 (IPS) - The execution of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein carried out at the start of the Muslim festival Eid al-Adha has angered Iraqis and others across the Middle East.*
Saddam Hussein was hanged on what is held to be a day of mercy and feasting in the Islamic world. It is usually celebrated with the slaughter of a lamb, which represents the innocent blood of Ishmael, who was sacrificed by his father, the prophet Abraham, to honour God.
Judge R... (more)
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Former Longtime Confidant Accuses Ariel Sharon of Assassinating Yasser ArafatLongtime and now recently deceased confidant to former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Uri Dan, published a book in France that may have been his 2006 one titled Ariel Sharon: An Intimate Portrait in which he accused the former prime minister of assassinating Palestinian Authority (PA) President Yasser Arafat by poisoning him. Dan claimed Sharon got approval from George Bush by phone early in 2004 to proceed with his plan after he told the US president he was no longer committed to "not" li... (more)
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Iran terms Saddam's execution as victory for Iraqi people Tehran- Iran on Saturday termed the execution of Saddam Hussein as a "victory for the Iraqi people", state news agency IRNA reported.
"The execution of Saddam Hussein was a victory for the Iraqi people and no other country should take credit for that," Deputy Foreign Minister Hamid-Reza told IRNA in a first reaction by Tehran to the execution.
Assefi however criticised the swift execution and speculated that the United States preferred to avoid disclosure of more d... (more)
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General says Prime Minister puts soldiers' lives 'unnecessarily at risk' Tony Blair is today accused of "disgraceful hand-washing" in Iraq by a former British Army chief, the latest attack on the Government by an increasingly outspoken military.
General Sir Michael Rose, the former commander of British troops in Bosnia, accuses the Prime Minister of putting British soldiers at "considerable and quite unnecessary risk" in Iraq, in an article for today's Independent on Sunday.
His remarks follow those of the ... (more)
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Saddam's 'final message' urges Iraqis to unite against US In what may prove to be the final message from Saddam Hussein before his execution, the ousted dictator urged Iraqis to unite against the US and Iran and portrayed himself as a potential martyr.
"The enemies of your country, the invaders and the Persians, have found your unity a barrier between you and those who are now ruling you. Therefore, they drove their hated wedge among you," he said in a handwritten letter released by his lawyer yesterday.
"O faithful peopl... (more)
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Afghan heroin supply on rise across AmericaLOS ANGELES - The amount of high-quality heroin throughout America is surging because of an increasing supply from Afghanistan, and with it the fear that record-breaking poppy harvests after the U.S. invasion are fueling more addictions and overdose deaths back home.
Heroin-related deaths in Los Angeles County soared from 137 in 2002 to 282 in 2004 before dropping to 239 in 2005, still a jump of nearly 75 percent in three years, a period when other factors contributing to overdos... (more)
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In Somalia, a reckless U.S. proxy warNAIROBI: Undeterred by the horrors and setbacks in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon, the Bush administration has opened another battlefront in the Muslim world. With full U.S. backing and military training, at least 15,000 Ethiopian troops have entered Somalia in an illegal war of aggression against the Union of Islamic Courts, which controls almost the entire south of the country.
As with Iraq in 2003, the United States has cast this as a war to curtail terrorism, but its real goal ... (more)
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Iran: What about Zionists' nukes?Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini says sanctions imposed by UN on Islamic Republic ‘cannot affect or limit Iran's peaceful nuclear activities but will discredit the decisions of the Security Council, whose power is deteriorating’; adds: Council doing nothing in response to Olmert's comments on Zionists' nuclear capabilities
Iran condemned the UN Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Iran's nuclear work on Saturday as an illegal measure outsid... (more)
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British troops attack Iraqi police station in BasraBAGHDAD - Hundreds of British soldiers assaulted a police station in the southern city of Basra on Monday, killing seven gunmen, rescuing 127 prisoners and ultimately reducing the facility to rubble.
When British forces eventually gained control of the facility, they found the prisoners being held in conditions that a spokesman, Major Charlie Burbridge, described as "appalling." He said that more than 100 men were crowded into a single 9-meter by 12-meter cell, or 30 feet by 40 fe... (more)
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Target IranFormer UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter and Investigative Journalist Seymour Hersh on White House Plans for Regime Change
The aircraft carrier Eisenhower and its strike group entered the Persian Gulf on Dec. 11. Another aircraft carrier, the Stennis, is expected to depart for the Gulf within the next month. The military said it is also taking steps to prevent Iran from blocking oil shipments from the Gulf. ... (more)
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Mexican Soldiers Freelancing for Drug Cartels on US Soil(CNSNews.com) - Gun-toting members of the Mexican military are crossing regularly into U.S. territory, where they are partnering with drug cartels and criminal gangs to protect sophisticated smuggling operations, according to Texas sheriffs and lawmakers.
Some of the Mexican infiltrators are suspected to have been trained by the U.S. military.
U.S. Border Patrol agents and local law enforcement officials operating along the southwestern border have come under attack... (more)
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Blackmail fear after Russia doubles the price of its gasFears that Russia is using energy supplies as a political weapon increased last night after Moscow forced Georgia to accept a doubling of gas prices.
The deal came within hours of a threat by Gazprom, Russia's statecontrolled energy giant, to cut off supplies to the former Soviet republic from January 1.
Georgia had called the price increase 'unacceptable' and 'politically motivated'.
Relations between the Kremlin and Georgia's pro-West leadership wer... (more)
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Bush 'brainwashed' Blair on Iraq Iraq's vice-president claims Tony Blair was "brainwashed" by President Bush into not setting a timetable for troop withdrawal from Iraq.
Tareq al-Hashemi suggested Mr Blair had supported his idea of announcing a timetable, but then changed his mind after talking to Mr Bush.
The two leaders discussed the issue about three months ago, after which the PM was to raise the issue with Mr Bush.
The US president has so far refused to set a timetable for troo... (more)
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Top general in Mideast to retireWASHINGTON — Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, has submitted plans to retire and will leave his post in March, a step likely to make way for a change in military strategy at a time the Bush administration is seeking a new plan for Iraq.
Abizaid has been the primary architect of U.S. military strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan since becoming head of the U.S. Central Command more than three years ago. He has strenuously resisted calls to inc... (more)
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Report: Pentagon planning Navy buildup as 'warning to Iran' The U.S. military is "planning a major buildup" of its naval forces in the Persian Gulf region "as a warning to Iran," reports CBS News, as quoted by Reuters.
A senior official in the Department of Defense said "the report was 'premature' and appeared to be drawing 'conclusions from assumptions,'" according to Reuters. The Pentagon declined comment, but an additional Defense official described the report as "speculative."
CBS said that "the buildup ... was not aim... (more)
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Pentagon Cites Success Of Anti-U.S. Forces in IraqThe Pentagon said yesterday that violence in Iraq soared this fall to its highest level on record and acknowledged that anti-U.S. fighters have achieved a "strategic success" by unleashing a spiral of sectarian killings by Sunni and Shiite death squads that threatens Iraq's political institutions.
In its most pessimistic report yet on progress in Iraq, the Pentagon described a nation listing toward civil war, with violence at record highs of 959 attacks per week, declining public ... (more)
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'Americans' helped Iraqi ex-minister escape jail The US launched an investigation yesterday after a former Iraqi minister was reported to have escaped from jail in Baghdad with the help of plainclothes Americans.
The US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, said the FBI had been enlisted to help find out the circumstances of former Iraqi electricity minister Ayham al-Samarraie's escape.
Initial reports said four SUVs had approached the police station in the green zone where Samarraie was being held, sparking rumo... (more)
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