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12. desember 2005
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Is Bin Laden now only a figurehead for the global terrorist network?
Osama Bin Laden may no longer have operational control of his terrorist network, the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan said Monday.
Ryan Crocker said bin Laden cannot communicate with his followers because he likely is hiding in a remote area, Pakistan's Geo Television and state-run PTV reported after the ambassador met with local journalists.
U.S. Embassy spokesman Peter Kovach, who was at the gathering, confirmed the substance of the reports. He said the comments were made at a lunch for senior Pakistani journalists.
According to Geo, Crocker also doubted suggestions that bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, had effective control of al-Qaida, saying the fact that he issues occasional video and audio taped statements does not prove anything.
Either way.
9:51:19 PM 
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The Iraqi election has started.
Voting in Iraq’s second parliamentary elections has begun this morning; this coincides with the deadline for all campaigning activities by all lists and parties who are required now to enter “electoral silence”.
The first votes are coming from army bases, detention centers and hospitals.
Omar has lots of pictures and updates.
On Tuesday, Iraqis outside the country will be allowed to cast their ballots. Thursday is the big day.
9:38:28 PM
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Researchers say the alleged positive effects of food rich in antioxidants, which had been believed to minimize the danger of the so-called free radicals, is not very well supported by evidence.
Tired of trying to keep track of all the so-called superfoods you're supposed to eat?
You know, oregano that packs 42 times more antioxidants than apples, cooked tomatoes that may prevent prostate cancer, and chocolate and wine that may or may not be health foods?
Then here's the good news — you can stop trying.
Leading researchers say all those breathless headlines, food packaging claims and seemingly contradictory studies about what antioxidants can and can't do have fostered a faulty silver bullet mind-set that can hinder health more than help.
Instead, experts advise focusing on balance, moderation and variety, and leaving the phytochemicals, flavanols and phenolic acids to scientists.
There is no silver bullet or super-food that will mysteriously boost your health. It's as simple as that.
10:03:24 AM
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A car bomb attack in Beirut has killed an anti-Syrian member of the Lebanese parliament.
Gibran Tueni's convoy was targeted as it travelled in the Christian-dominated eastern suburb of Mekallis.
At least two other people were killed and several injured in the powerful blast during rush hour.
This happens on the same day as the German investigator Detlev Mehlis has issued a second report into the killing of Rafik Hariri, where he elaborates on the evidence against Syrian government officials.
The Anti-Lebanese fractions make it clear they have no intention of allowing the country to stabilise.
9:54:57 AM
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The London Times is reporting that the Israeli government doesn't necessarily agree it can't take out Iran's nuclear programme, and is indeed intending to do just that by the end of March.
ISRAEL’S armed forces have been ordered by Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, to be ready by the end of March for possible strikes on secret uranium enrichment sites in Iran, military sources have revealed.
The order came after Israeli intelligence warned the government that Iran was operating enrichment facilities, believed to be small and concealed in civilian locations.
Iran’s stand-off with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over nuclear inspections and aggressive rhetoric from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, who said last week that Israel should be moved to Europe, are causing mounting concern.
The crisis is set to come to a head in early March, when Mohamed El-Baradei, the head of the IAEA, will present his next report on Iran. El-Baradei, who received the Nobel peace prize yesterday, warned that the world was “losing patience” with Iran.
This, of course, begs the question whether this is an unintentional leak that can blow the whole operation, or if this is a planned leak to put more pressure on the Iranians (or it is all nonsense).
Whatever the case may be, there are some indications of nervousness in Iran:
Iran opened the door Sunday for U.S. help in building a nuclear power plant — a move designed to ease American suspicions that Tehran is using its nuclear program as a cover to build atomic weapons.
The offer, which did not seem likely to win acceptance in Washington, was issued as Israel said it had not ruled out a military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.
"America can take part in international bidding for the construction of Iran's nuclear power plant if they observe the basic standards and quality," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said in a news conference.
A quite bizarre offer, if you ask me, probably intended for propaganda purposes, but it may also indicate that Iran is becoming more desperate to avoid a showdown.
9:17:02 AM
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Time Magazine's Viveca Novak has suddenly come forward to say she indeed was personally involved in the Valerie Plame leak case, and like Bob Woodward, she didn't think this was a piece of information she needed to share with her employer. Greg Mitchell sees a pattern.
Where will it end, and when will reporters pay with their jobs? First we learn that Bob Woodward failed to tell his editor for years about his role in the Plame/CIA leak case. Today, we find out that Time reporter Viveca Novak not only kept her editors in the dark about her own involvement, but even had a two-hour chat with the special prosecutor about it well before telling her superiors.
At the end of her first-person account at Time online today, we are told in a brief editor's note that she is by ”mutual agreement” now on a “leave of absence.” Has she been taken to the woodshed and, if not, why not?
James Wolcott is even more scathing.
So-called reputable journalists have completely forfeited their high horse when it comes to complaining about bloggers as a species of riffraff--they no longer have the right to lament bloggers' slapdash sourcing, to deplore their invective and lack of couth, to act as if they're civilized reporters forced to fend off laptop barbarians. No blogger has comported him or herself with the lazy arrogance and sloppy ethics of some of the Big Names in journalism (Bob Woodward, Judith Miller, Bob Novak), nor has done as much damage to the public's right to know and their own profession.
Contempt for journalists seem to be the one thing that unites the left and right blogosphere, which is quite ironic considering the symbiotic relationship that is evolving between the mainstream media and bloggers.
Another obvious irony: the press is no doubt justified in asking what the Plame/CIA leak case says about the ethics of the Bush administration. But so far, it has taught us far more about ethics, or lack thereof, in the press corps.
9:07:25 AM
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Chinese authorities first laid the full responsibility for the killing of demonstrators in Dongzhou on the villagers themselves, but in a new development the paramilitary commander has been arrested and at least partly blamed for the incident.
The commander of paramilitary forces who opened fire on villagers protesting land seizures has been detained by the authorities in connection with the shootings, an extraordinary response that suggested high-level concern over whether the crackdown was justified.
The official New China News Agency said in a dispatch Saturday evening that three people had been killed and eight others injured after security forces shot protesters in the village of Dongzhou in Guangdong Province on Tuesday. Villagers have given varying estimates of the death toll, including some who said as many as 20 people had been killed.
Guangdong's provincial government issued a statement Sunday saying that the "wrong actions" of the commander, who was not identified by unit or rank, were to blame for the deaths. The statement said he had been detained by civilian authorities in the area.
That is at least a positive development, and an indication Chinese authorities are not planning to put down demonstrations with lethal force in the future.
Update: Gateway Pundit has video footage and photos from the village, as well as an impressive roundup of details and links.
8:53:47 AM
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Not only are the Sunni-Baathist component of the Iraqi becoming increasingly supportive of the election, they are even warning al-Qaeda to not attack voters, or else.
Saddam Hussein loyalists who violently opposed January elections have made an about-face as Thursday's polls near, urging fellow Sunni Arabs to vote and warning al Qaeda militants not to attack.
In a move unthinkable in the bloody run-up to the last election, guerrillas in the western insurgent heartland of Anbar province say they are even prepared to protect voting stations from fighters loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.
Graffiti calling for holy war is now hard to find.
Instead, election campaign posters dominate buildings in the rebel strongholds of Ramadi and nearby Falluja, where Sunnis staged a boycott or were too scared to vote last time around.
"We want to see a nationalist government that will have a balance of interests. So our Sunni brothers will be safe when they vote," said Falluja resident Ali Mahmoud, a former army officer and rocket specialist under Saddam's Baath party.
"Sunnis should vote to make political gains. We have sent leaflets telling al Qaeda that they will face us if they attack voters."
Full of surprises, aren't they. Yes, both the 'insurgents' and Reuters, who brought us this news.
Update: Paul Reynolds, who I have always seen as a quite balanced BBC reporter, has an interesting take on a recent opinion poll of Iraqis' attitudes to democracy, the future, and their own institutions.
1:09:47 AM
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© Copyright 2005 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 31.12.2005; 03:37:45.
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