From Iran Chaos, Emerges A Hero
(CBS)
Like everyone paying attention to the epic political power struggle going on in Iran, we'd heard there was to be an opposition rally in the afternoon.
Then we heard there wasn't, because it had been declared illegal by the Interior Ministry. Anyone who marched could expect to face the riot police and their truncheons… or worse.
Then, suddenly, there was. The word flowed in digital streams from cell phone to cell phone, computer to computer — and, of course, from mouth to mouth.
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Afghan Minister: Officials Assisting Taliban
Afghan Interior Minister Muhammad Hanif Atmar on Sunday blamed government officials for assisting militant forces, as more than 78 civilians and policemen were killed and more than 172 wounded as a result of 126 incidents last week.
Talking to the media, Atmar claimed the attacks were planned and supported outside of Afghanistan's borders. Some government officials were complicit in such strikes, he said, without giving further information.
He added that the fatal assault in which 176 fighters were killed and another 36 wounded, suggested a 70 percent surge in violence in 25 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces.
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Talking to the media, Atmar claimed the attacks were planned and supported outside of Afghanistan's borders. Some government officials were complicit in such strikes, he said, without giving further information.
He added that the fatal assault in which 176 fighters were killed and another 36 wounded, suggested a 70 percent surge in violence in 25 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces.
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Syria Hopes For "Natural Relations" With U.S.
U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell, the highest-ranking administration official to visit Damascus since 2005, said on Saturday that Washington was seeking Damascus' help in securing a lasting peace in the Middle East.
A week after U.S. President Barack Obama pledged in his Cairo speech to pursue a broad-based, comprehensive peace agreement in the region, Mitchell arrived in Syria from Lebanon to see if the time is right.
The two-day visit is the most concrete sign yet of rapprochement between Washington and Damascus — a radical departure from the Bush administration. U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, who also arrived here on Friday, attended the talks.
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A week after U.S. President Barack Obama pledged in his Cairo speech to pursue a broad-based, comprehensive peace agreement in the region, Mitchell arrived in Syria from Lebanon to see if the time is right.
The two-day visit is the most concrete sign yet of rapprochement between Washington and Damascus — a radical departure from the Bush administration. U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, who also arrived here on Friday, attended the talks.
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Iran Election Will End In Disappointment
(AP)
What a spectacle this election is. It has galvanized young people and polarized the country.
Two main candidates – President Ahmadinejad (left), a hard-line conservative, against Mir Hossein Mousavi (right), a mild reformer. In admittedly unreliable polls, they are neck and neck.
President Ahmadinejad's well-oiled political machine will make sure his mostly poor and working class supporters turn out in droves.
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Top White House Envoy Visits Syria
(AP Photo/Nader Daoud)
U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell arrives in Damascus on Friday for talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, to see if the time is right to jump-start Syria-Israel peace talks.
His visit comes a week after President Obama pledged in his speech to the Muslim world in Cairo to pursue a broad-based, comprehensive peace agreement in the Middle East.
Mitchell will be the highest-ranking administration official to visit Syria since 2005, in the most concrete sign yet of rapprochement between Washington and Damascus — a radical departure from the Bush administration.
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Pakistan's Quick Strike Taliban Strategy
(AP Photo)
Scores of Taliban were killed in two days of fighting after the military went on the offensive earlier in the week to block up to 800 Taliban militants from traveling from Waziristan to the nearby Bannu region, Pakistani government officials said Thursday. There were conflicting accounts of the number of people killed.
News of the intensified military activity comes just two days after a devastating attack by suspected Taliban militants at the luxury Pearl continental hotel in Peshawar, the northern city and capital of the northwestern frontier province (NWFP) where Waziristan and Swat are both located. At least 16 people, including two U.N. officials were killed and up to 70 injured in that attack.
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Report: Detainee Deal With Saudis Close
5030327The United States is nearing a deal that would send nearly 100 Yemeni detainees held at Guantanamo Bay to Saudi Arabia, according to a Wall Street Journal report Thursday.
Officials told the Journal the deal could speed up President Obama's plan to close the U.S. military facility that houses alleged terrorists.
Of the nearly 250 people held at Guantanamo, nearly half are from Yemen and are among the most difficult to transfer given their alleged ties to al Qaeda, the Journal reports.
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Officials told the Journal the deal could speed up President Obama's plan to close the U.S. military facility that houses alleged terrorists.
Of the nearly 250 people held at Guantanamo, nearly half are from Yemen and are among the most difficult to transfer given their alleged ties to al Qaeda, the Journal reports.
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Recession Tough For Al Qaeda, Too?
As the global economy languished in the throes of deep recession, so, it seems, did al Qaeda.
An audio message intercepted by CBS News, sent by the terror group's chief financial manager (a label used by Sept. 11 Commission), portrays a rare image of the terrorist enterprise: hard-up.
This audio was not intended for mass consumption. It was not one of the typical propaganda speeches so often released on the jihadists' preferred Internet chat rooms and forums.
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An audio message intercepted by CBS News, sent by the terror group's chief financial manager (a label used by Sept. 11 Commission), portrays a rare image of the terrorist enterprise: hard-up.
This audio was not intended for mass consumption. It was not one of the typical propaganda speeches so often released on the jihadists' preferred Internet chat rooms and forums.
Continue »
Some Israelis Insulted By Obama Picture
(White House Photo/Pete Sousa)
They saw the incident as somewhat akin to an incident last year, when the Iraqi reporter threw a shoe at President Bush in Baghdad.
It is considered an insult in the Arab world to show the sole of your shoe to someone. It is not a Jewish custom necessarily, but Israel feels enough a part of the Middle East after 60 years to be insulted too.
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Putin Erupts In Struggling Russian Town
(NTV)
The solution was promptly offered by Russia's Prime Minister. Vladimir Putin arrived on an emergency visit in this company town and blamed the town's woes on local officials and delinquent private owners of the Pikalyovo industrial enterprises.
"Why did you start running around like cockroaches only on the eve of my arrival here? Why wasn't there anyone capable of making the right decisions well before that?" Premier Putin asked, sternly eyeing a group of businessmen and officials.
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Syria Claims Vote Fraud In Lebanon
This story was filed by CBS News' George Baghdadi, reporting from Damascus, Syria.
A government-run Syrian newspaper on Monday accused the Western-backed political coalition which won this weekend's parliamentary elections in neighboring Lebanon of rigging the vote.
"Buying of votes, accusations of election manipulations, shootings in some areas... were reported in yesterday's election in Lebanon," said the al-Baath daily — a mouthpiece of the ruling al-Baath Party, in a front-page roundup on Lebanon's Sunday vote.
"The election atmosphere wasn't void of security difficulties, amid accusations against the pro-government forces that they bought votes, offered bribes and committed forgery... on a large scale," it added.
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(AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
"Buying of votes, accusations of election manipulations, shootings in some areas... were reported in yesterday's election in Lebanon," said the al-Baath daily — a mouthpiece of the ruling al-Baath Party, in a front-page roundup on Lebanon's Sunday vote.
"The election atmosphere wasn't void of security difficulties, amid accusations against the pro-government forces that they bought votes, offered bribes and committed forgery... on a large scale," it added.
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Castro Blogs About U.S. Spy Couple
(CBS/iStockphoto)
Castro declares the "confrontation with the United States is ideological and has nothing to do with the security of that country." He also questions the timing of their arrest, suggesting it is intended to undermine the beginnings of a new policy toward Cuba launched by President Obama. And Castro predicts that the couple will not get a fair trial as prosecutors use the case to obtain political goals and the press crucifies them in advance as "traitors."
Castro, 82, who retired as Head of State one year ago, says he met with thousands of Americans in the period that the FBI indictment says he held a four-hour meeting with the Myers (in 1995) and can hardly remember a meeting with just 2 people. Around that time, he notes, he even held a very long meeting with hundreds of American students participating in the Semester at Sea program.
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e-Jihadists Rail Against Obama's Speech
President Obama's address to Muslims was the buzz of the Jihadi blogs and chat rooms today, and I have the feeling that the e-muj just hated it!
On Ansar al-Jihad chat room on Paltalk, participants expressed their surprise at the way many people, including Muslim scholars, welcomed the speech. One member going by the name "al_brsteej" was furious at how some clerics rebuked al Qaeda chief, Osama Bin Laden, over his comments on Mr. Obama just hours before the president delivered his speech.
"Sheikh Garni was so upset with Sheikh Osama .. he was saying that the sheikh should not be talking about his Obama 'darling' .. may Allah fight the traitors," the commentator said. Garni, a renowned Saudi cleric, had earlier said that Muslims should open their hearts and extend their hands to Obama. He also attacked Osama Bin Laden, and claimed that what he said about Obama reflects his ignorance.
Another member, "3EUON AL ZARQAWI," commenting on Mr. Obama's citation of Quranic verses in his speech, said: "Even [if] he reads out the entire Quran, he is still the devil of the Black House."
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(CBS)
On Ansar al-Jihad chat room on Paltalk, participants expressed their surprise at the way many people, including Muslim scholars, welcomed the speech. One member going by the name "al_brsteej" was furious at how some clerics rebuked al Qaeda chief, Osama Bin Laden, over his comments on Mr. Obama just hours before the president delivered his speech.
"Sheikh Garni was so upset with Sheikh Osama .. he was saying that the sheikh should not be talking about his Obama 'darling' .. may Allah fight the traitors," the commentator said. Garni, a renowned Saudi cleric, had earlier said that Muslims should open their hearts and extend their hands to Obama. He also attacked Osama Bin Laden, and claimed that what he said about Obama reflects his ignorance.
Another member, "3EUON AL ZARQAWI," commenting on Mr. Obama's citation of Quranic verses in his speech, said: "Even [if] he reads out the entire Quran, he is still the devil of the Black House."
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Egyptians Hope Obama Words "Turn Into Reality"
Reactions to President Obama's speech to the Muslim world were overall positive in Egypt, with the different parties expressing their satisfaction with the U.S. president's "reconciliatory rhetoric" but also hopeful "good intentions turn into reality."
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There was little reaction from the government. However, Egyptian politician and Chairman of Egypt's People's Assembly Foreign Relations Committee, Mostafa al-Fiqi, told Aljazeera TV network that though the tone of the speech was different, it did not reflect the commitment of the U.S. administration towards anything but to Israel's security.
Fiqi noted that Mr. Obama's speech took a softer line towards Hamas, as he did not describe it as a terrorist organization. Fiqi said that he did not sense that there would be any change in the U.S. foreign policies from what he heard in Mr. Obama's speech.
Dr. Saad al-Katatni, member of the Brotherhood Guidance Office and head of the Muslim Brothers' parliamentary bloc, said the speech held positive signs. "Obama touched on several topics that we need to study well and reflect upon, as they address numerous and complex dimensions," he said. "But we could not respond to what's been said till we see these words turning into action."
Katatni rejected Mr. Obama's call for an Arab recognition of the State of Israel and denounced his remarks on the United States' commitment to supporting Israel. He pointed out that "this relationship brought nothing to the Middle East and the Palestinians but ruin and devastation." He nonetheless praised President Obama for his remark that the U.S. would support the implementation of democracy and would urge governments to respect such democracy.
Copts seemed quite pleased with Obama briefly addressing their situation in his speech, though it seems to have angered the Egyptian government. Tharwat Basily, an Egyptian politician, businessman and deputy of the Orthodox Ecclesiastical Council, defended what Mr. Obama said about the freedom of religions. He said that comparing Egypt's Copts to Maronites in Lebanon did not mean that Copts were a minority. "We refuse to be labeled as such at the Egyptian Church," said Basily, insisting that the U.S. president was simply talking about religious freedoms in general.
Hossam Zaki, a spokesperson for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, also commented on Mr. Obama's mention of Egypt's Coptic community in his speech, a very sensitive issue in Egypt.
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5061351
There was little reaction from the government. However, Egyptian politician and Chairman of Egypt's People's Assembly Foreign Relations Committee, Mostafa al-Fiqi, told Aljazeera TV network that though the tone of the speech was different, it did not reflect the commitment of the U.S. administration towards anything but to Israel's security.
Fiqi noted that Mr. Obama's speech took a softer line towards Hamas, as he did not describe it as a terrorist organization. Fiqi said that he did not sense that there would be any change in the U.S. foreign policies from what he heard in Mr. Obama's speech.
Dr. Saad al-Katatni, member of the Brotherhood Guidance Office and head of the Muslim Brothers' parliamentary bloc, said the speech held positive signs. "Obama touched on several topics that we need to study well and reflect upon, as they address numerous and complex dimensions," he said. "But we could not respond to what's been said till we see these words turning into action."
Katatni rejected Mr. Obama's call for an Arab recognition of the State of Israel and denounced his remarks on the United States' commitment to supporting Israel. He pointed out that "this relationship brought nothing to the Middle East and the Palestinians but ruin and devastation." He nonetheless praised President Obama for his remark that the U.S. would support the implementation of democracy and would urge governments to respect such democracy.
Copts seemed quite pleased with Obama briefly addressing their situation in his speech, though it seems to have angered the Egyptian government. Tharwat Basily, an Egyptian politician, businessman and deputy of the Orthodox Ecclesiastical Council, defended what Mr. Obama said about the freedom of religions. He said that comparing Egypt's Copts to Maronites in Lebanon did not mean that Copts were a minority. "We refuse to be labeled as such at the Egyptian Church," said Basily, insisting that the U.S. president was simply talking about religious freedoms in general.
Hossam Zaki, a spokesperson for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, also commented on Mr. Obama's mention of Egypt's Coptic community in his speech, a very sensitive issue in Egypt.
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There Was No "Tiananmen Square Massacre"
This story was filed by CBS News correspondent Richard Roth, who was detained by Chinese authorities for 20 hours on June 4, 1989, while covering the Tiananmen Square "crackdown".
For years now (certainly by the time of the 10th anniversary of Tiananmen) scholars — and many journalists — have been describing it as a weekend massacre, a massacre in Beijing, the "Beijing massacre" or the "crackdown" in Tiananmen, but not a "Tiananmen Square massacre."
"Tiananmen massacre" is a phrase that still has currency, but it does tend to be used a lot less now in careful accounts of what happened there.
Behind this is the weight of eyewitness accounts, de-classified Western government reports, and historians' work that supports the story of a brief period of negotiation between the army and some student hold-outs (there weren't all that many left in the square by then) when troops began entering the square in force just before dawn -- silencing the public address system loudspeakers with a volley of gunfire. The last group of protestors filed out of the square to the south soon after.
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(AP (file))
"Tiananmen massacre" is a phrase that still has currency, but it does tend to be used a lot less now in careful accounts of what happened there.
Behind this is the weight of eyewitness accounts, de-classified Western government reports, and historians' work that supports the story of a brief period of negotiation between the army and some student hold-outs (there weren't all that many left in the square by then) when troops began entering the square in force just before dawn -- silencing the public address system loudspeakers with a volley of gunfire. The last group of protestors filed out of the square to the south soon after.
Continue »
