Woman sentenced for forcing minor daughters into prostitution

Chennai, train station
Photo: Wikimedia

CHENNAI: A mahila court on Friday sentenced a woman and two others to 10 years rigorous imprisonment and seven years rigorous imprisonment, to be served concurrently, for forcing her juvenile daughters into prostitution.

Additional sessions judge Meena Sathish slapped a penalty of Rs 35,000 on Jaya Shree from Madurai and Rs 20,000 each on Kannan and Anand, both hailing from Puducherry. Another accused, Tamilvanan, hailing from Puducherry, died during the course of the trial.

International Justice, an NGO, lodged a complaint with the CB-CID in 2005 alleging that Jaya Sree had forced her juvenile daughters into prostitution with the help of Kannan, Anand and Tamilvanan.

Police booked them on charges of kidnapping, selling minors for the purpose of prostitution and immoral trafficking for prostitution and filed a chargesheet before the additional sessions judge on completion of the investigation.

The judge passed the order after examining 14 witnesses and other evidence produced by the prosecution.

Courtesy: The Times of India

New York police designate mosques as terrorist organisations

Prayer service at the Islamic Society
of Bay Ridge mosque.

New York: The New York Police Department has secretly labelled entire mosques as terrorist organisations, a designation that allows police to use informants to record sermons and spy on imams, often without specific evidence of criminal wrongdoing.

Designating an entire mosque as a terrorism enterprise means that anyone who attends prayer services there is a potential subject of an investigation and fair game for surveillance.

Since the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the U.S., the NYPD has opened at least a dozen "terrorism enterprise investigations" into mosques, according to interviews and confidential police documents. The TEI, as it is known, is a police tool intended to help investigate terrorist cells and the like.

Many TEIs stretch for years, allowing surveillance to continue even though the NYPD has never criminally charged a mosque or Islamic organization with operating as a terrorism enterprise.

The documents show in detail how, in its hunt for terrorists, the NYPD investigated countless innocent New York Muslims and put information about them in secret police files. As a tactic, opening an enterprise investigation on a mosque is so potentially invasive that while the NYPD conducted at least a dozen, the FBI never did one, according to interviews with federal law enforcement officials.

The strategy has allowed the NYPD to send undercover officers into mosques and attempt to plant informants on the boards of mosques and at least one prominent Arab-American group, whose executive director has worked with city officials.

The revelations about the NYPD's massive spying operations are in documents recently obtained by The Associated Press and part of a new book, "Enemies Within: Inside the NYPD's Secret Spying Unit and bin Laden's Final Plot Against America." The book by AP reporters Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman is based on hundreds of previously unpublished police files and interviews with current and former NYPD, CIA and FBI officials.

The American Civil Liberties Union and two other groups have sued, saying the Muslim spying programs are unconstitutional and make Muslims afraid to practice their faith without police scrutiny.

Both Mayor Mike Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly have denied those accusations. Speaking Wednesday on MSNBC, Kelly reminded people that his intelligence-gathering programs began in the wake of 9/11.

"We follow leads wherever they take us," Kelly said. "We're not intimidated as to wherever that lead takes us. And we're doing that to protect the people of New York City."

The NYPD did not limit its operations to collecting information on those who attended the mosques or led prayers. The department sought also to put people on the boards of New York's Islamic institutions to fill intelligence gaps.

One confidential NYPD document shows police wanted to put informants in leadership positions at mosques and other organizations, including the Arab American Association of New York, a secular social-service organization.

Linda Sarsour, the executive director, said her group helps new immigrants adjust to life in the U.S. It was not clear whether the department was successful in its plans.

The document, which appears to have been created around 2009, was prepared for Kelly and distributed to the NYPD's debriefing unit, which helped identify possible informants.

Around that time, Kelly was handing out medals to the Arab American Association's soccer team, smiling and congratulating its players for winning the NYPD's soccer league.

Sarsour, a Muslim who has met with Kelly many times, said she felt betrayed.

"It creates mistrust in our organizations," said Sarsour, who was born and raised in the U.S. "It makes one wonder and question who is sitting on the boards of the institutions where we work and pray."

Before the NYPD could target mosques as terrorist groups, it had to persuade a federal judge to rewrite rules governing how police can monitor speech protected by the First Amendment.

The rules stemmed from a 1971 lawsuit over how the NYPD spied on protesters and liberals during the Vietnam War era.

David Cohen, a former CIA executive who became NYPD's deputy commissioner for intelligence in 2002, said the old rules didn't apply to fighting against terrorism.

Cohen told the judge that mosques could be used "to shield the work of terrorists from law enforcement scrutiny by taking advantage of restrictions on the investigation of First Amendment activity."

NYPD lawyers proposed a new tactic, the TEI, that allowed officers to monitor political or religious speech whenever the "facts or circumstances reasonably indicate" that groups of two or more people were involved in plotting terrorism or other violent crime.

The judge rewrote the rules in 2003. In the first eight months under the new rules, the NYPD's Intelligence Division opened at least 15 secret terrorism enterprise investigations, documents show. At least 10 targeted mosques.

Doing so allowed police, in effect, to treat anyone who attends prayer services as a potential suspect. Sermons, ordinarily protected by the First Amendment, could be monitored and recorded.

Among the mosques targeted as early as 2003 was the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge.

"I have never felt free in the United States. The documents tell me I am right," Zein Rimawi, one of the mosque's leaders, said after reviewing an NYPD document describing his mosque as a terrorist enterprise.

Rimawi, 59, came to the U.S. decades ago from Israel's occupied West Bank.

"Ray Kelly, shame on him," he said. "I am American."

The NYPD believed the tactics were necessary to keep the city safe, a view that sometimes put it at odds with the FBI.

In August 2003, Cohen asked the FBI to install eavesdropping equipment inside a mosque called Masjid al-Farooq, including its prayer room.

Al-Farooq had a long history of radical ties. Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind Egyptian sheik who was convicted of plotting to blow up New York City landmarks, once preached briefly at Al-Farooq. Invited preachers raged against Israel, the United States and the Bush administration's war on terror.

One of Cohen's informants said an imam from another mosque had delivered $30,000 to an al-Farooq leader, and the NYPD suspected the money was for terrorism.

But Amy Jo Lyons, the FBI assistant special agent in charge for counterterrorism, refused to bug the mosque. She said the federal law wouldn't permit it.

The NYPD made other arrangements. Cohen's informants began to carry recording devices into mosques under investigation. They hid microphones in wristwatches and the electronic key fobs used to unlock car doors.

Even under a TEI, a prosecutor and a judge would have to approve bugging a mosque. But the informant taping was legal because New York law allows any party to record a conversation, even without consent from the others. Like the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge, the NYPD never demonstrated in court that al-Farooq was a terrorist enterprise but that didn't stop the police from spying on the mosques for years.

And under the new guidelines, no one outside the NYPD could question the secret practice.

Martin Stolar, one of the lawyers in the 1971 case, said it's clear the NYPD used enterprise investigations to justify open-ended surveillance. The NYPD should only tape conversations about building bombs or plotting attacks, he said.

"Every Muslim is a potential terrorist? It is completely unacceptable," he said. "It really tarnishes all of us and tarnishes our system of values."

Al-Ansar Center, a windowless Sunni mosque, opened several years ago, attracting young Arabs and South Asians. NYPD officers feared the mosque was a breeding ground for terrorists, so informants kept watch on it.

The NYPD was particularly alarmed about Mohammad Elshinawy, 26, an Islamic teacher at several New York mosques, including Al-Ansar. Elshinawy was a Salafist - a follower of a puritanical Islamic movement - whose father was an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center attacks, according to NYPD documents.

The FBI also investigated whether Elshinawy recruited people to wage violent jihad overseas. But the two agencies investigated him very differently.

The FBI closed the case after many months without any charges. Federal investigators never infiltrated Al-Ansar.

"Nobody had any information the mosque was engaged in terrorism activities," a former federal law enforcement official recalled, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the investigation.

The NYPD wasn't convinced. A 2008 surveillance document described Elshinawy as "a young spiritual leader (who) lectures and gives speeches at dozens of venues" and noted, "He has orchestrated camping trips and paintball trips."

The NYPD deemed him a threat in part because "he is so highly regarded by so many young and impressionable individuals."

No part of Elshinawy's life was out of bounds. His mosque was the target of a TEI. The NYPD conducted surveillance at his wedding. An informant recorded the wedding and police videotaped everyone who came and went.

"We have nothing on the lucky bride at this time but hopefully will learn about her at the service," one lieutenant wrote.

Four years later, the NYPD was still watching Elshinawy without charging him. He is now a plaintiff in the ACLU lawsuit against the NYPD.

"These new NYPD spying disclosures confirm the experiences and worst fears of New York's Muslims," ACLU lawyer Hina Shamsi said. "From houses of worship to a wedding, there's no area of New York Muslim religious or personal life that the NYPD has not invaded through its bias-based surveillance policy."

Courtesy: NDTV Ltd

US military action would 'inflame Middle East', Syria warns

[Editor: Why is the US thinking of such bizarre actions, when their economy  has just started to show some improvement? The US, should leave this matter to the UN, to solve the problems in the middle-east. This blog  has always advocated for maintaining the balance of power between Shi'ia--Sunni groups in Middle-East/ Africa. Any change of this equation could have adverse effects not only in Asia but also in other continents, especially in the Europe where there are large Muslim population]. 

BEIRUT: Syria warned the United States against any military action over a suspected chemical weapons attack in its civil war, saying it would "create a ball of fire that will inflame the Middle East".

President Bashar al-Assad's closest ally Iran also said Washington should not cross the "red line" on Syria, where doctors said hundreds were killed in a poison gas attack.

A team of United Nations inspectors are waiting in a hotel in Damascus a few miles from the site of the attack, but Syria suggested they would not be allowed to visit as it was not on a list agreed in July of alleged chemical attacks this year.

US President Barack Obama met his top military and national security advisers on Saturday to debate options. US naval forces have been repositioned in the Mediterranean to give Obama the option of an armed strike.

Syria said any military action would be "no picnic".

"US military intervention will create a very serious fallout and a ball of fire that will inflame the Middle East," Syrian information minister Omran Zoabi was quoted by state news agency SANA as saying to Lebanon-based al-Mayadeen TV.

Obama authorised sending US weapons to Syrian rebels in June but shipments were delayed due to fears that radical Islamist groups in the opposition could gain further ground in Syria and become a threat to the West.

The head of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front has pledged to target communities from Syria's Alawite faith, followed by Assad, with rockets in revenge for Wednesday's incident, according to an audio recording published on YouTube.

"For every chemical rocket that had fallen on our people in Damascus, one of their villages will, by the will of God, pay for it," Abu Mohammad al-Golani said in the recording.

Obama has been reluctant to intervene in Syria's civil war, but reports of the killings near Damascus have put pressure on the White House to make good on the president's comment a year ago that chemical weapons would be a "red line" for the US.

Iran said any intervention by Washington would have "severe consequences", according to the Fars news agency.

"America knows the limitation of the red line of the Syrian front and any crossing of Syria's red line will have severe consequences for the White House," Massoud Jazayeri, deputy chief of staff of Iran's armed forces, according to Fars.

Syrian opposition accounts that between 500 and well over 1,000 civilians were killed this week by gas in munitions fired by pro-government forces, and video footage of victims' bodies, have stoked demands abroad for a robust, US-led response after 2-1/2 years of international inaction on Syria's conflict.

The medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said three hospitals near Damascus had reported 355 deaths in the space of three hours out of about 3,600 admissions with nerve gas-type symptoms.

UN inspectors

Major world powers — including Russia, which has long blocked UN-sponsored intervention against Assad — have urged the Syrian leader to cooperate with the UN inspectors.

But Russia said the rebels were impeding an inquiry and that Assad would have no interest in using poison gas for fear of foreign intervention.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deaths in a rebel-held Damascus suburb a "terrible crime" on Sunday but, in a sign Syria's neighbour fears escalation, avoided any direct call for US military action in his public comments.

A senior UN official arrived in Damascus on Saturday to seek access to the site but Syria reiterated on Sunday that it had not yet agreed.

Information Minister Zoabi said Syria and the UN had previously agreed on inspections of certain sites around Syria from before Wednesday's allegations and will not allow any "inspection that will prejudice national sovereignty".

Syria "will not allow the existence of inspection committees under any pretext, and this position is final," he said.

Opposition activists in Damascus said the army was using surface-to-surface missiles and artillery to strike eastern Damascus, including neighbourhoods where the alleged chemical attack occurred.

The White House declined to list what options were discussed on Saturday and said Washington was still gathering details about the attack.

"President Obama has asked the Defense Department to prepare options for all contingencies," US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told reporters in Malaysia as he began a week-long trip to Asia.

"We have done that and we are prepared to exercise whatever option — if he decides to employ one of those options."

Opposition sources said on Sunday four hundred tonnes of arms had been sent into Syria from Turkey — one of the single biggest to reach rebel brigades — to boost insurgent capabilities against Syrian government forces following the alleged chemical strike.

The UN says more than 100,000 people have been killed during the Syrian conflict, which started with peaceful protests against decades of Assad family rule but turned into a civil war following a crackdown.

Courtesy: The Times of India

Nearly half of cancer patients say disease is a death sentence despite advances in treatment

24 August 2013: More than two in five Britons say a cancer diagnosis is a ‘death sentence’ – double the proportion of those surveyed in the US.

In reality, 56 per cent of women and 46 per cent of men are still alive five years after being diagnosed. Survival rates for different types of the disease range from 8 per cent for lung cancer to 85 per cent for breast cancer and 98 per cent for testicular cancer.

These figures have improved dramatically since the 1970s, up between 33 per cent and 50 per cent for some common types.

Patients and carers here are also pessimistic about other aspects  of cancer care, with three-quarters saying it takes too long for new medicines to be available.

A report last year by the Office for Health Economics showed on average it takes two-and-a-half years for the NHS ‘rationing’ body to decide whether the Health Service should fund a new drug.

The survey, conducted in six countries, found almost half of those questioned in the UK believe not enough is being spent on cancer research. More than two thirds said ‘current challenges’ facing the UK economy could stifle innovative work on the disease in future.

The study, by cancer care campaign Lilly PACE in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US involved 4,000 cancer patients, carers and members of the general population, including 700 Britons.

Results showed that three out of four Britons are satisfied with recent progress in fighting cancer, but 42 per cent still feel a diagnosis is a death sentence – compared to only 21 per cent of Americans.

Steve Hindle, of Macmillan Cancer Support, said: ‘It’s important that we bust this myth … Thanks to advances in the way we diagnose and treat cancer, more people than ever are surviving their illness

Courtesy: Daily Mail

Kashmir is our jugular vein, says Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif

Nawaz Sharif with his daughter Mariyam Nawaz Sharif. 
Photo: Ajit Sahi

Describing Kashmir as the "jugular vein" of his country, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, on Monday, said India and Pakistan should join hands to tackle poverty and disease instead of wasting their resources on wars.

Kashmir is a "national issue and the jugular vein of Pakistan" and its resolution is as dear to him as other Pakistanis, Sharif said in his first address to the nation since assuming office in June.

Sharif cautioned that Pakistan cannot achieve any target without strengthening its economy. "Alongside the Kashmir issue we will have to pay attention to strengthening our economy resolve our internal and external problems and tackle the power crisis and terrorism," he said.

Referring to his desire to forge good relations with India, Sharif said both countries should realise that "instead of wasting their energies and resources on wars they should wage war against poverty ignorance and disease".

Pakistan and India will have to join their heads together to address common issues like poverty and ignorance, he said. "History bears testimony to the fact that progress and development of a nation is deeply linked to cordial relations with neighbours. It is because of this that we want good relations with all neighbours, including India," he said.

Sharif said he had "always wanted good relations with India" and the people had supported his contention during the general election in May.

Without referring to clashes along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, Sharif said the country is "fully prepared to defend the motherland along with its valiant armed forces". Sharif's PML-N party won the polls with a clear majority but has been struggling with an array of challenges, ranging from a crippling energy crisis to a Taliban insurgency.

Ties between Islamabad and New Delhi too have soured since five Indian soldiers were killed in an attack by Pakistani troops along the LoC.

Turning to domestic issues, Sharif expressed his government's resolve to eliminate terrorism improve the economy and address the power crisis.

"Pakistan is today facing serious challenges like terrorism, endangering the very survival of the country, and the worst kind of load-shedding that has paralysed the economy," he said.

Sharif said his government is determined to tackle terrorism "either through dialogue or with the full might of the state" and all state institutions are on the same page on this issue.

"The government has more than one option to tackle the problem but wisdom demands that there is no loss of innocent lives," he said. Sharif invited those "treading the path of terrorism to (join a) dialogue to end the vicious cycle of bloodshed".

He said the country's foundations had shaken by poor administration rampant corruption and the inefficiency of the past 14 years that has brought national institutions like PIA Pakistan Steel and Pakistan Railways to the verge of "virtual collapse".

National debt, which was Rs 3,000 billion in June 1990, has now soared to Rs 14,500 billion, he said. Sharif listed steps taken by his government to overcome the energy crisis, including increasing the generation of electricity by 1,700 MW.

Long-term measures are being initiated to counter the power shortage and coal-based power plants with a capacity of 6,600 MW will soon be inaugurated.

Sharif further said the time had come for a bold review of Pakistan's foreign policy as scant national resources cannot be exploited for the good of the poor and the progress of the country without this. He said his dream to make Pakistan an Asian tiger is deeply linked to this.

He said his government has a "clear cut position" on US drone attacks, which are a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty, and this was directly communicated to Secretary of State John Kerry.

Kerry was urged to stop the drone attacks, he said. The UN Secretary General too expressed concern at the killing of peaceful civilians in these attacks, he said.  

Courtesy: IBN Live

Nawaz halts execution of death sentences
 ~~Ahmad Noorani

[Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, has proved that he is heading a government what different than what the UPA coalition in India, represent. This blog has always supported these kinds of humane acts, for the greater good of mankind. But if he starts giving safe passages to the Islamic Terrorists only, then such gestures are simply farce]

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has ordered an immediate halt to the carrying out of the death penalty in the country, a government spokesman has confirmed.

The spokesman told The News that reports aired on some TV channels that President Zardari had stopped the implementation of the death sentence on some condemned prisoners were incorrect.

The spokesman said that the president of Pakistan had sent a letter to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that he wanted to meet the PM to discuss the issue of the long-pending death sentence on hundreds of convicted prisoners.

The spokesman said that as the date of executions was approaching and the president was out of the country, the prime minister had directed the Interior Ministry to hold everything regarding the execution of death sentences till the conclusion of the meeting between the prime minister and the head of state.
 

It is important to mention here that the previous government had stopped the implementation of the death sentence of many terrorists and hardcore criminals and some experts considered this as one of the basic reasons for rising terrorism and the freedom of terrorists to act with impunity.

During the last more than two decades, only one killer, Saulat Mirza, was convicted and sentenced to death and even the implementation on his death sentence has been pending for more than seven years.

While terrorism in Karachi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and other parts of the country is on the rise, the PML-N government’s decision will be seen as the weakness of the state, and experts fear the situation in Karachi and KP will further deteriorate in coming days because of the soft policies of the central government.

Earlier, according to an NBC News report, campaign groups appealed to Pakistan not to resume executions after a moratorium on the death penalty expired in June.

In a joint letter to Pakistan’s president and prime minister, Human Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists (IJP) said the resumption of the death penalty “puts Pakistan in opposition to the global and regional movement towards the abolition of the death penalty.”

“The decision not to renew the moratorium on executions and carry out executions constitutes a major step back for human rights in the country. This decision is all the more alarming given that more than 7,000 people are on death row in Pakistan,” it said.

The moratorium began in June 2008; a soldier found guilty of murder was executed in November 2012, but that was the only exception.

The letter said the groups understood that an anti-terrorism court in Sindh province had issued warrants for the execution of two members of the banned sectarian and militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

Attaullah alias Qasim and Muhammad Azam alias Sharif were convicted by an anti-terrorism court in July 2004 for the killing of a doctor, according to the letter. They are scheduled to be executed between August 20 and 22.

The Pakistani Taliban has warned the newly elected government not to execute the men, saying they would try to kill Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the Chief Minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif in response.

“The ICJ and Human Rights Watch believe that those who commit acts of terrorism should be prosecuted before competent, independent and impartial courts that meet international due process standards,” the letter said.

“However, we oppose the death penalty under all circumstances as an inherently cruel and irreversible punishment that violates the right to life.”

Some 150 countries worldwide, including 30 states in the Asia-Pacific region, have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice, the letter said.

Courtesy: The International News

Saudi Arabia Blames America for the Turmoil in Egypt
~by Bruce Riedel

President Barack Obama meeting with Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, seated left, June 29, 2010, in the Oval Office of the White House. (Ron Edmond/AP)

In an unprecedented comment this weekend, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah blamed American "ignorance" for the crisis in Egypt. Without mentioning America by name, the king blamed Washington's "interference" in Arab politics for the last two years of turmoil.

In a scathing statement, the king urged Muslims to stand behind the Egyptian Army in fighting terrorism and extremism. Speaking in sorrow, Abdullah blamed outsiders ignorant of Arabism, Islam, and Egypt for senseless interference in the politics of the Arab world's most populous state. Clearly referring to President Obama's decision two years ago to push for Hosni Mubarak's ouster, the king suggested Washington played with fire and has now been burned.

The Saudis were shocked when Obama abandoned Mubarak, a close Saudi ally, in 2011. They saw a dangerous precedent for their own future. Since then the kingdom has been the leader of the counterrevolution in the Arab world, bucking up regimes in Bahrain, Yemen, and Jordan. The Saudis were early supporters of the coup in Cairo and have rallied their Gulf allies, Kuwait and the UAE, to promise $12 billion in aid to the military government that has ousted the Muslim Brotherhood. The UAE issued its own statement this weekend fully backing Abdullah.

Both the UAE and the kingdom see the Brotherhood as a menace. More importantly Abdullah fears that if democratic elections begin to flourish in the Arab world, then sooner rather than later Saudis will want elections and change in the kingdom itself.

The king called for the “ignorant” to come to their senses and stop interfering in Egypt. Criticizing the army crackdown, as Obama has done, only helps the "terrorists," the king argues.

Courtesy: The Daily Beast

Saudi Arabia sponsoring terrorists who kill Muslims

As the Muslim holy month of Ramadan came to an end this year, Saudi King Abdullah marked the occasion of Eid al-Fitr with a “generous” donation.

Iraqis inspect the site of a car bomb explosion
in Sadr City in Baghdad on July 29, 2013.

The Saudi monarch revealed that the oil-rich kingdom was donating $100 million to the United Nations’ Center for Counter-Terrorism, based in New York.

With typical sycophancy, the Saudi state-backed Arab News said that the gift from the “Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques of Islam … underlined the prominent role that he and the kingdom have long played in the challenging campaign, not just against the hidden killers of Al-Qaeda, but also against the distortion of Islam that lure young and impressionable people into the ranks of terror groups”.

Among those congratulating the Saudi king was US Secretary of State John Kerry, who said: “His majesty's generous donation, on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, demonstrates once again the kingdom's commitment to supporting multilateral institutions and strengthening international cooperation on counterterrorism.”

It was quite a feat in doublethink and duplicity. Even a mainstream publication like the Business Standard had to admit that there was more than a hint of incongruity. “In announcing the donation, the Saudi ruler has further reaffirmed his nation's position worldwide, belying some of the misperceptions about Saudi Arabia being a backer and funder of terrorism,” it wrote.

    While King Abdullah was spilling Saudi coffers to ostensibly help fight terrorism, Ramadan was ending with thousands of Muslims having their blood spilled by terrorists funded by Saudi Arabia - terrorists of the state and non-state variety alike.



That would explain the generosity of Al Saud. A public relations exercise of enormous magnitude had to be wheeled out to cover up the appalling reality of Saudi-sponsored mayhem and bloodshed, and more, especially because that bloodshed was flowing from Muslims at the behest of the so-called Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.

In Iraq, more than 1,000 people lost their lives in car bombs and gun attacks that targeted mainly Shia districts of the capital, Baghdad. It was the highest monthly death toll since 2007, according to UN figures. It is well-known that the House of Saud has been financing extremist Wahhabi groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda in Iraq over many years - even when these terrorists were killing thousands of soldiers belonging to its American sponsor.

    This Saudi role was confirmed recently with the release of classified US cables in which former American ambassador, Christopher Hill, acknowledged that Saudi Arabia was a major backer of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.



But the Saudi sponsorship of terrorism is, of course, not confined to Iraq. During this Ramadan, there was a noticeable gear change in increased killings in Syria. Car bombs ripped through the capital, Damascus, and several neighboring districts. One of the deadliest bombings was in Jaramana, in which 18 people were killed on 7 August. It was the second such attack in two weeks on the same district. Then
there was the sickening slaughter of more than 120, including women and children, in the village of Khan al-Assal on 27 July. Also, on what should have been the joyous occasion of Eid al-Fitr on 8 August, the holy Shia shrine of Sayyideh Zainab, near Damascus, was attacked with mortars injuring more than 20 pilgrims.

While Muslims were fasting and praying for Ramadan, the House of Saud and its associates were all the time gorging on the deaths of thousands. During the holy Muslim month, it was revealed that Saudi Arabia bought $50 million worth of weapons from Israel to send to its mercenaries - to kill Muslims in Syria. The historic assassination of Imam Ali by treacherous "Muslims" as he knelt saying his Ramadan prayers resonates disturbingly.

All these attacks in Syria were carried out by Takfiri groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and supported by Saudi Arabia. The escalation in terrorism came after Saudi Arabia took over the lead role in the Western-backed regime-change operation in Syria, after Qatar was sidelined in this duty two months ago. It was reported that Saudi intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan had earlier used his strong connections with American counterparts in order to oust the smaller Persian Gulf rival from the driving seat.

It was also reported that the Saudi spy chief set about his new task as terror paymaster with zeal, holding meetings with both US and Israeli military to plan the stepping up of attacks across Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. The method was to intensify sectarian strife through mass killings. The objective was to sow chaos in order to undermine the central governments of those states. That would not only further the
regime change agenda in all three countries, it would, very desirably, serve to isolate the main Shia power, Iran.

On 5 August, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Army, General
Martin Dempsey, met with Israeli minister for military affairs Moshe Ya’alon in Tel Aviv. Top of the agenda were discussions on Iran and how to undermine
the so-called “Axis of Evil,” a defamatory accusation leveled by Ya’alon against Iran, Syria and Lebanon. It is very plausible that Saudi Prince Bandar would have been privy to those discussions given his new US-appointed role as the region’s terror paymaster.

This is the context for the deadly bombing in Beirut this week. More than 20 people, including women and children, were killed when a massive car bomb hit the Zahiyeh district on Wednesday during evening rush hour. Hundreds more were injured in the mainly Shia area, which is strongly supportive of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Two little-known groups reportedly claimed responsibility: The Ayesha Brigade released a video statement gloating that more such violence was to follow soon; e another outfit calling itself the Special Forces 313 Brigade also claimed responsibility. They are probably just a front to hide the identity of the real authors of the terrorist act.

The day before the bombing - the second such attack in that area in four weeks - Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah made a defiant televised speech on the seventh anniversary marking the defeat of the US-backed Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 2006. Nasrallah also revealed for the first time that Hezbollah carried out the explosion on August 7 that injured four Israeli soldiers after they had illegally entered south Lebanese territory.

Following the Beirut blast, Lebanese President Michel Sleiman voiced the conclusion of many observers when he said that it bore “the fingerprints of Israel.”

    The precise identity of who carried out the atrocity in Beirut this week may never be known. But we can be sure that this latest terrorist act is just one part of a continuum of chaos and suffering across the entire region. It is integral with state and non-state terrorism, attempting to unleash sectarian bloodletting between Sunni and Shia and between Muslims and Christians.

The state terrorism that we see in Egypt where hundreds have been killed this week bears the hallmarks of the state terrorism in Bahrain. This is, in turn, is consistent with the terrorism running amok in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. We know this because the same protagonists are involved in all cases. The US, Israeli and Saudi-backed murderous regimes in Egypt and Bahrain are but the official incarnations of the
US, Israeli and Saudi-backed terrorist mercenaries who are killing innocent people in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. To this Axis of Evil, we can also add the old colonial states, Britain and France.

Each of these terrorist sponsors has its own particular interests, some of which overlap, some of which may at times seem contradictory. But the bottom line that unites all of them is this: the defeat of democracy.

If democracy - that is, genuine people power and justice over the huge economic resources of the Middle East -were to prevail, then all the members of the nefarious imperialist, Zionist, Wahhabist Axis of Evil would be finished. That is why all of them are aligned to kill democracy using all means necessary, including mass murder of civilians.

And if we were to assign seniority in this axis of evil, it has to be the United States because its capitalist ruling elite has most to lose from democratic freedom, which is something of an irony, given that the phrase “Axis of Evil” was coined by one of its presidents, George W Bush, back in 2003.

FC/NN

Courtesy: Press TV

Dr.Subramanian Swamy's Janta Party merges with BJP

[Editor: This move should have been done long back, at least before Narendra Bhai Modi was given the charge to manage the BJP's poll campaign.  Dr.S Swami is an experienced leader, from the Brahmin Community of South India; but he should control his emotions and spend his energy in the right direction. Sometimes, it looks he is going out of the track, like his vain move to try to establish that the Juvenile in the Delhi Rape Case, should face normal trial, like an adult]

New Delhi, Sun Aug 11 2013: Dr.Subramanian Swamy today announced the merger of his Janata Party with BJP ahead of the 2014 general elections. The announcement was made by Swamy in the presence of BJP president Rajnath Singh, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley and former BJP chief Nitin Gadkari. Ahead of the merger, Swamy held discussions with senior BJP leaders at Rajnath Singh's residence, who accepted the merger of his party in BJP and hoped it will make BJP stronger. "Dr Subramanian Swamy is national president of Janata Party and he has decided that the Janata Party and BJP should merge. Today, I accept the merger of Janata Party with BJP. I am confident that with Swamy's joining the BJP and the merger of his party will benefit the BJP...I welcome Dr Swamy in BJP," Singh said after Swamy's decision. Singh said Swamy has been a leader of the Jana Sangh earlier and has accepted that it is the need of the hour in national interest to work together and unite.

After the merger, Swamy said, "I am very pleased that the President of BJP and the leaders of BJP have welcomed me into BJP as a part of the merger process." He said the country is passing through "very difficult times" and "This is the time for unity, for national and nationalist purpose...I hope to work together and work for the Bharatiya Janata Party along with my colleagues to see that a new future for India can be built in the coming months." Swamy has served as member of the Planning Commission and a former Cabinet Minister at the Centre and has been a five-time MP. Swamy is an ardent proponent of Hindutva philosophy outside the Sangh Parivar and has been active in exposing the 2G Spectrum scam. He recently questioned the Jet-Etihad deal.

Courtesy: Indian Express

Gunmen shoot Lebanese mayor as Syria war ignites local rivalries

BEIRUT, 11/ 08/ 2013 - Gunmen shot the mayor of a town in Lebanon and killed two of his companions only hours after he oversaw a hostage swap with a rival clan in an area increasingly riven by sectarian divisions, security sources said on Sunday.

The attack near the border with Syria highlights how the civil war there has worsened enmity between Lebanese Shi'ite and Sunni Muslim militias that support opposing sides of the two-year-old conflict.

Mayor Ali Hujeiri, a Sunni from the town of Arsal, was shot in the majority Shi'ite town of Labweh as he returned from the hostage exchange with a rival Shi'ite clan. The sources said the attack was carried out by residents of the area, but did not elaborate.

The Bekaa Valley region, where the attack happened, is religiously mixed. Some areas are controlled by the Shi'ite militant Hezbollah group which is helping President Bashar Assad crush the revolt. Other parts, like Arsal, are Sunni, and residents provide a safe haven for majority-Sunni Syrian rebels.

The hostages were being held in relation to an incident in June in which four of Labweh's residents were killed by rebel fighters, the sources said.

The recapture of the Syrian border town of Qusair in June by Assad's forces, spearheaded by Hezbollah guerrillas, led to an influx of Syrian rebel fighters and civilians into Lebanon and more violence spilling over into the Bekaa region.

Rockets fired from areas believed to be controlled by Syrian rebels have targeted the Shi'ite town of Hermel, while Syrian helicopters have crossed into Lebanon and fired at buildings in Arsal.

Courtesy: The Jerusalem Post

Vietnam executes first prisoner by lethal injection

Aug 6, 2013: Vietnam executes first prisoner by lethal injection Photo: Vietnam has executed its first prisoner by lethal injection after a two-year hiatus in carrying out capital punishments. (ABC News)
Map: Vietnam

Vietnam has executed its first prisoner by lethal injection after a two-year hiatus in carrying out capital punishments due to problems obtaining the chemicals.

The communist country stopped using firing squads in July 2011 in favour of more humane lethal injections but was unable to import the necessary drugs due to a European Union export ban.

In May this year, Vietnam amended the law to allow locally produced chemicals to be used, a move which was widely expected to bring about a resumption of executions.

Vietnam's Thanh Nien newspaper reported online the first death row prisoner, convicted murderer Nguyen Anh Tuan, was administered three injections "for anaesthesia, paralysing the nervous and muscle system, and stopping the heart".

It was not clear where the drugs used to execute the 27-year-old man, who was on death row for more than three years, were from.

Vietnam's Ministry of Public Security says execution by lethal injections will be implemented in other places to solve the problem of prisoners with death penalties having to wait for execution following the case in Hanoi.

Vietnam does not disclose the number of executions carried out each year.

Rights group Amnesty International recorded five executions in 2011 and said 23 new death sentences were handed out that year, mainly to drug traffickers.

Courtesy: Australia Network News

Feds call off death penalty in Jacques case
'We believe this is a just resolution of the case,' defense attorney says

Michael Jacques of Randolph Center appears
Monday, June 30, 2008, in Chelsea District
Court in Chelsea. / AP

Aug. 9, 2013: The upcoming death penalty trial of Michael Jacques has been called off, the United States Attorney’s Office announced Friday.

As part of a plea deal worked out with lawyers for Jacques, the alleged killer of his 12 year-old niece Brooke Bennett in 2008, Jacques, now 47, will instead plead guilty to the crime and agree to a sentence of life without parole.

The announcement came less than four weeks before the jury selection process for the Jacques trial was set to begin, and just six days before a final pre-trial hearing in the case.

“The U.S. Attorney for the District of Vermont announced today that Attorney General Eric Holder has directed the United States to withdraw the notice of intent to seek the death penalty against Michael Jacques,” the statement released by the office of U.S. Attorney Tristram Coffin said.

The statement said Holder made the decision based on a recent request by Jacques’ defense team to reconsider the government’s intention to seek a death penalty sentence if it succeeded in convicting Jacques of kidnapping and killing Bennett.

“The request for reconsideration raised issues related to the certainty and finality in the process that would be achieved by a plea of guilty to a sentence of mandatory life and the potential impact on a victim-witness of a trial, among other issues,” the statement said.

The statement said Jacques will appear in court soon to plead guilty to the charges he is facing. Coffin said no date for that has been set as yet.

Jacques is being held in federal custody in an out-of-state prison.

Coffin declined comment Friday on how long the government has been considering accepting a lifetime sentence instead of pursuing a death penalty sentence, or when the decision to call off the trial was made.

“I can say we have informed the victims of the attorney general’s decision,” Coffin said.

Efforts to reach Bennett’s parents, who are divorced, Friday evening were unsuccessful.

David Ruhnke, a New Jersey attorney and member of Jacques’ defense team who is an expert in death penalty cases, welcomed the decision by Holder.

Courtesy: Burlington Free Press.com

Hamas 'to publicly execute two men in Gaza'

The two men reportedly facing execution are
among 40 prisoners on death row in Gaza.
Photograph: Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Corbis

Friday 9 August 2013: Amnesty calls for Gaza's ruling party to halt 'inhuman and degrading' executions it says will be carried out next week.

Hamas plans to publicly execute two prisoners in Gaza next week as a "lesson" to others, according to Amnesty International, which has described the move as "deeply disturbing".

The human rights organisation said a 23-year-old man had been sentenced to death for "collaboration with an enemy entity". He told his lawyer he had been beaten during interrogation, Amnesty reported.

An appeal at a military court is scheduled for Wednesday but he will be at risk of imminent execution if it is unsuccessful.

The second man, 27, confessed to the rape and murder of a six-year-old boy in 2000. He was sentenced to death despite being a minor at the time. Amnesty said he was "apparently tortured to 'confess'" to the crime.

The pair are among 40 prisoners on death row in Gaza. The most recent executions, of two men convicted of collaborating, took place in June at a police compound.

One of them reportedly confessed after being tortured, Amnesty said, adding: "Torture and other ill-treatment of detainees in the custody of Hamas security agencies are widespread and systematic."

Philip Luther, the organisation's Middle East and north Africa director, called on Hamas to immediately halt imminent executions and commute all death sentences.

"This and other recent announcements by the Hamas authorities that they will carry out further executions are deeply disturbing," he said.

"The death penalty is cruel and inhuman and there is no evidence that it deters crime more effectively than other punishments. Public executions are degrading and compound the cruelty of the death penalty."

Hamas has carried out at least 16 executions since April 2010, according to Amnesty. Six suspected collaborators were shot dead in the street by masked gunmen shortly before the end of the war in Gaza last November.

 

Courtesy: The Guardian

Death row inmate commits suicide in cell THREE DAYS ahead of execution

• Billy Slagle was discovered hanging in his cell on Sunday, ahead of his scheduled execution for Wednesday.
• The 44-year-old was given the death penalty for the 1987 fatal stabbing of his neighbor.
• Slagle had recently been denied a retrial aimed at giving him a life in prison without parole sentence instead of execution.

4 August 2013: A killer facing execution Wednesday was found hanged in his cell Sunday on Ohio's death row, prison officials said.

Prison spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said Billy Slagle, 44, was found hanging in his cell about 5 a.m. at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution south of Columbus.

He was declared dead within the hour.

No other details were immediately provided.

Slagle was sentenced to die for fatally stabbing neighbor Mari Anne Pope in 1987 during a Cleveland burglary while two young children were present.

In a rare move, the prosecutor in Cleveland asked the Ohio Parole Board to spare Slagle.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty said jurors today, with the option of life without parole, would be unlikely to sentence Slagle to death.

The parole board and Gov John Kasich both rejected mercy for Slagle.

Last week, Slagle's attorney argued that a jury never got the chance to hear the full details of his troubled childhood.

The attorneys, arguing for a new trial and to delay his execution, said that information met requirements for asking for a new trial, which normally must happen within four months of a conviction.

Slagle was 'unavoidably prevented' from filing his request because his original attorneys didn't develop and present the evidence, the filing said.

McGinty and Slagle's attorneys had cited his age - at 18, he was barely old enough for execution in Ohio - and his history of alcohol and drug addiction.

Courtesy: Mail Online

Florida executes mass murderer said by lawyers to be mentally ill
~~By David Adams

MIAMI,  August 5, 2013 - A Florida man who has spent 35 years on death row for killing eight people was executed on Monday despite a last-minute appeal by lawyers claiming he was insane.

John Errol Ferguson, 65, who was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 1978 for a pair of killing sprees, was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m. EDT from lethal injection, said Misty Cash, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Corrections.

Hours before his execution, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Ferguson a stay of execution. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) filed an amicus brief last week, along with three Florida mental health organizations, asking the top court to halt the execution, arguing Ferguson had a long history of severe mental illness.

The brief argued Ferguson's execution would violate the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requiring an individual to have a rational understanding of why he is being put to death and the effect of the death penalty.

"Mr. Ferguson is insane and incompetent for execution by any measure," his attorney, Christopher Handman, said in a statement after the court's decision on Monday.

"He has a fixed delusion that he is the 'Prince of God' who cannot be killed and will rise up after his execution to fight alongside Jesus and save America from a communist plot," Handman said. He has no rational understanding of the reason for his execution or the effect the death penalty will have upon him."

In his last statement, Ferguson uttered, "I just want everyone to know, I am the 'Prince of God' and I will rise again," Cash said.

In July 1977, Ferguson fatally shot six people execution-style during a drug-related home robbery in a northern Miami suburb. Six months later, he killed two teenagers after they left a church meeting.

State psychiatrists and other medical professionals have diagnosed Ferguson as a paranoid schizophrenic with a long history of mental illness, according to his defense team.

Courts, however, have repeatedly rejected claims he was too mentally ill to be executed.

Florida Governor Rick Scott signed Ferguson's death warrant in September, but a few weeks later delayed the execution while a team of physicians met to decide whether Ferguson was mentally competent.

After a 90-minute examination and brief consultation a panel of psychiatrists determined that Ferguson was sane. A state circuit judge agreed in a ruling.

The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in May rejected his appeal, ruling that Ferguson was mentally competent.

"That most people would characterize Ferguson's Prince-of-God belief, in the vernacular, as 'crazy' does not mean that someone who holds that belief is not competent to be executed," the appeals court found.

(Additional reporting by Kevin Gray in Miami; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Courtesy: Yahoo.com

On the Death of John Ferguson
When the sun rose this morning you had every reason to believe that the Eighth Amendment precludes the execution of the insane. When the sun sets tonight you have no such reason to so believe.

Aug 5, 2013: Last week, Justice Antonin Scalia excoriated his colleagues on the United States Supreme Court for not always saying what they mean. Today, with a man's life on the line, with lower courts in full-flowered rebellion, and with a clear and present opportunity to decisively affirm their own precedent, those same justices demonstrated that they don't always mean what they say. The result is yet another shocking example of the hollowness of constitutional doctrine in the Roberts Court era.

Today, the Supreme Court allowed Florida to execute a patently insane man named John Ferguson, a man with 40 years worth of paranoid delusions chronicled by government doctors, a man who considered himself the "Prince of God." This Court allowed the execution to proceed even thought it has for decades purported to forbid the execution of prisoners who are considered too ill, too mentally incompetent, to comprehend the nature of what is being done to them. Not a single justice dissented from the Court's decision to effectively abandon the core of its Eighth Amendment jurisprudence. Not a single justice explained the retreat. Not one. Here is the one-paragraph denial of his petition for certiorari (i.e. "for review").

This is not a column about the death penalty and the wrongfully convicted. It is not a study in professed innocence or ineffective assistance of counsel. You'll find no lament here about racial injustice or jury bias. Ferguson brutally murdered people and deserved to be punished. But what happened here goes beyond the man. It goes to a system where the language of the law says one thing and the implementation of the law says another. It goes to a constitutional regime where we all pat one another on the back for our common decency-- we don't execute the mentally retarded, we don't execute the insane-- while executing the mentally retarded and the insane. The smugness of that, the hypocrisy of it, is breathtaking.

Gone along with Ferguson is the essence of Ford v. Wainwright, the 1986 decision in which the Court struck down an earlier Florida attempt to execute an insane man. "It is no less abhorrent today that it has been for centuries to exact in penance the life of one whose mental illness prevents him from comprehending the reasons for the penalty or its implications," Justice Thurgood Marshall wrote. Today, his successor on the bench, Justice Clarence Thomas, was silent as Ferguson was put to death. Today, among these justices, it evidently is "less abhorrent than it has been for centuries" to execute a man who believed, as Ferguson did, that he would rise up after his death to fight with Jesus against Communists.

Also gone along with Ferguson is the essence of Panetti v. Quarterman, the 2007 decision in which the Court struck down an effort by Texas to get around the justices' command in Ford. In Panetti, the Court made it clear that states could not take a narrow view in interpreting the extent of a condemned man's competency; that the Ford standard was to be extended, not narrowed, to spare incompetent defendants from being put to death. In Panetti, the Court stated:

    Both the potential for this recognition and the objective of community vindication are called into question, however, if the prisoner's only awareness of the link between the crime and the punishment is so distorted by mental illness that his awareness of the crime and punishment has little or no relation to the understanding shared by the community as a whole. A prisoner's awareness of the State's rationale for an execution is not the same as a rational understanding of it.

It was this new standard that both the Florida Supreme Court and the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ignored or undermined in concluding that Ferguson was mentally competent to be executed. Let me put it another way. After the Supreme Court in 2007 broadened the constitutional standard in favor of mentally ill defendants, Florida and a federal appeals court ignored that broadened standard and applied a more restrictive test. They did precisely what the Court in Panetti said they couldn't do. And today the Court, without comment, permitted those lower courts to do so. Never mind saving Ferguson. Not a single justice sought to rescue Panetti.

When the sun rose this morning you had every reason to believe that the Eighth Amendment precludes the execution of the insane. When the sun sets tonight you have no such reason to so believe. The Court accomplished this dubious feat, this clear devolution in "standards of decency," this change in constitutional doctrine, without an oral argument, a complete round of briefing by the lawyers, or a single published decision. They simply refused to substantively rule on the merits of the case. As I wrote last week, this is not law but lawlessness; an abdication of the role of judges to abide by the standards they themselves set.

John Ferguson may have gone to his Maker believing in his addled mind that Florida executed him so that he could not "ascend to his rightful throne." But you and I both know that Florida executed him because it was willing to defy the High Court, because the 11th Circuit was willing to be overturned on appeal, and because the justices in Washington inexplicably countenanced those layers of judicial defiance. Maybe someday the justices will explain the timorous way in which they stepped back today from the ramparts of the "cruel and unusual" clause of the Eighth Amendment. Maybe they will explain why they so easily abandoned Ford and Panetti. Then again maybe not.

Courtesy: The Atlantic

Douglas Feldman, former financial analyst, executed in Texas for 1998 road-rage killings

Douglas Feldman, who was executed by the
state of Texas on Wednesday, July 31, 2013.
/ CBS Dallas

HUNTSVILLE, Texas: August 1, 2013, - A former financial analyst with a history of disruptive behavior was executed Wednesday for the shooting deaths of two truckers in the Dallas area 15 years ago.

Douglas Feldman, 55, received a lethal injection for gunning down Robert Everett, 36, of Missouri and Nicholas Valesquez, 62, of Texas.

Feldman mimicked the announcement a judge or jury makes when announcing a verdict, using the names of his victims and declaring he had found them guilty of crimes against him.

"I have sentenced them both to death. I personally carried out their executions," he said in a loud voice, adding that he carried out their executions in August 1998.

"As of that time, the state of Texas has been holding me illegally in confinement and by force for 15 years," Feldman said. "I hereby protest my pending execution and demand immediate relief."

He appeared very nervous, breathing quickly and his feet twitching under a sheet. As the drug began taking effect, he grimaced twice, took a few deep breaths and began snoring. Then all movement stopped.

Feldman was pronounced dead 13 minutes after the lethal drug was injected at 6:28 p.m. local time.

Feldman's attorney, Robin Norris, filed a clemency petition with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles that was turned down Monday. Multiple courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, earlier rejected appeals on Feldman's behalf.

Feldman, from Richardson, was riding his motorcycle the night of Aug. 24, 1998, and said Everett, driving an 18-wheeler, cut him off on a Dallas County freeway so he took out his 9 mm pistol, pulled up alongside the truck cab and shot him. Feldman testified at his capital murder trial that he was still angry about 45 minutes later when he spotted Valesquez, a gasoline tanker driver filling a Dallas service station, and shot him.

"A security camera catches him shooting the man in cold blood," Jason January, the former Dallas County assistant district attorney who prosecuted him, said. "Several counties were frightened as this unidentified motorcyclist was out acting like 'The Terminator.'"

Feldman was arrested more than a week later, after shooting and wounding a man at a fast-food restaurant and driving off. A bystander saw the shooting and reported his license plate number to police, who tracked him down and found Feldman with two pistols and nearly 300 rounds of ammunition. Ballistics tests confirmed one of the guns was used in all three shootings.

"It feels wonderful to cause their death and to watch their pain," he said in one of 81 letters he wrote to a former girlfriend while awaiting his trial. The writings from the magna cum laude Southern Methodist University graduate were introduced into evidence.

"God forbid I ever had my finger on the button to launch a nuclear explosive device because I guarantee that I would wipe as many of these bastards off the face of the planet as I am able!" he said in another letter.

Without remorse, he also acknowledged the killings while testifying at his capital murder trial.

Feldman became the 11th prisoner executed this year in Texas and third this month. At least seven other inmates are scheduled to die in the coming months in the nation's busiest capital punishment state .

Courtesy: CBS News

Revamp of Doordarshan has the stamp of Tewari
~~By Pratul Sharma

Tiwari was replying to questions in Rajat Sharma's
show Aap Ki Adalat on India TV.

NEW DELHI: 11th Aug 2013: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Manish Tewari has ensured the completion of the swanky National Media Centre at 7 Raisina Road, hailed as the new operational hub for both national and international press in New Delhi.

The New Media Wing will be headed by an official with the rank of joint secretary and would require Rs 22.5 crore during the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17). As parties gear up for the 2014 elections, they are increasingly engaging with young first-time voters through the social media. As an official spokesperson for the government, Tewari often sets the agenda with his acerbic early morning tweets against the BJP and its prime ministerial contender Narendra Modi. Tewari’s strategy is to draw critics into a successful debate, ministry sources claim. While, official party spokespersons hold forth at 24 Akbar Road, Tewari is tasked with presenting the government’s side on television. If former I&B minister Ambika Soni maintained a healthy distance from the TV channels, Tewari is a hands-on minister.

With less than 10 months in his first ministerial assignment, the erudite lawyer Tewari has not shied away from taking tough decisions that could have otherwise invited howls of protest against curbing the freedom of press. He told Parliament in a written reply two days ago, “Permissions of 71 channels have been cancelled till date due to reasons of non-operationalisation, non-submission of PBG (Performance Bank Guarantee) or surrender of permission.” Similarly, several channels were taken off air for several days for broadcasting obscene content.

His significant intervention has been the revamp of the government broadcasting company, Doordarshan. He pushed to recruit professional TV journalists to counter competition from private news channels during the 8 pm-10 pm prime time band, which did not take off as expected. Undeterred, the former Youth Congress president set up a committee under technocrat Sam Pitroda for a complete makeover for Prasar Bharti. “Please make Prasar Bharti totally independent if you want to, where it directly reports to Parliament. But the government needs its own TV channel to propagate its schemes,” he had argued.

The NDA government may have lost the image war during the 2004 elections after its India Shining campaign boomeranged, but Tewari is promoting the Rs 630 crore Bharat Nirman campaign to highlight UPA’s key schemes on air. Rs 200 crore would be spent in 2013 itself. Now, both Doordarshan and All India Radio run special programmes showcasing Bharat Nirman success stories. When Tewari took over last year, the ministry was undertaking the contentious digitisation of cable industry. Despite opposition from the states and stakeholders, Tewari pushed ahead with the project and 1.8 crore set top boxes were installed during the second phase.

Even the current project originally named National Press Centre has been rechristened as National Media Centre (NMC) as journalism has expanded to include online and social media. The state-of-the-art centre would serve as one-stop for all press conferences of ministries and government bodies, which for want of government space are held at different venues. Officials say that interactions with foreign dignitaries also could be arranged at the centre, since it has a large conference room which can hold 300 journalists, and boasts a video wall, wi-fi enabled halls, and several work stations to facilitate growing media needs.

Courtesy: The New Indian Express

Religious wars rattle Karnataka Congress

[Editor: The Hindu Religious Heads have started to call the shot like their Islamic counterparts in India and elsewhere? It is to be understood here that, lot of efforts have gone into uniting the Hindus (Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, etc included) under one banner, i.e. Hinduism. Though repeated attempts have been made by a section of "Radical Dalits" to break Hinduism, but till now they have not been much successful, inspite of their high profile, "Vicious" campaign in the Internet. In future also, it is expected that the sensible Hindus will reject such divisive ideologies and work towards a unified Hindu-Nation] 

MYSORE / TUMKUR, 11th Aug 2013: In Karnataka, the land of political seers and black magic, it is historically important for a chief minister to have god on his side.  Considered an atheist by other politicians, the state’s latest CM Siddaramaiah has realized the power of religion in politics. His “rationalist” stand has pushed the state’s powerful heads of religious mutts to seek a different patron in the form of Siddaramaiah’s main rival within the state Congress for the CM’s post, G Parameshwara. Some of them have openly expressed their wish for Parameshwara to be made the CM: a cause of unease to Siddaramaiah.

Deviating from ideology, the CM decided to bite the bullet last week, with a 10-minute puja at the Anjaneya Swamy Temple in Kalasthawadi near Mysore; reportedly to counter the effects of what astrologers described as ‘nara dosha’—often described as weakness of the nervous system. Siddaramaiah even skipped an important state banking event to pay an unscheduled visit to the temple. It enjoys a special place in the rationalist CM’s mind: he had reportedly offered puja there when he was the deputy chief minister during Janata Dal rule in 1996. Sources close to Siddaramaiah, say before the Assembly polls, he had vowed to return for a puja, if he ever became the CM. However, his supporters maintained the temple visit was unexpected.

Siddaramaiah, whose socialist background is well known, had taken the oath of office by swearing on ‘truth’ rather than a god. He also stuck to his “non-believer” stand by choosing to enter the Chief Minister’s office on the third floor of the Vidhana Soudha through the “inauspicious” south door. This door was ordered shut in 1996 by another ‘socialist’ chief minister, J H Patel; since then, all CMs have only used the west door. But after being sworn in, Siddaramaiah strangely chose to do a puja to the CM’s chair holding a lemon, just as his former mentor H D Deve Gowda and KJP leader B S Yeddyurappa—both firm believers in black magic—had. Insiders say the chief minister has had a change of heart; he now says: “I am neither an atheist nor a theist.” Until now, Siddaramaiah, in his four-decade-long political career had kept away from temples and rituals, unless his official presence made it mandatory. Except when he and his wife Parvathi built a temple and installed a silver idol of their family deity at his native village on the outskirts of Mysore city. As the deputy CM and minister in charge of the Mysore district, he had participated in the Dasara pujas and also visited Tirupati a couple of times.

Last week, a group of seers from various mutts called on Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President Dr G Parameshwar on his birthday and wanted the high command to make him a minister. This is not a cause of worry for Siddaramaiah as he has left it to the party high command whether Parameshwar be made a minister.

Courtesy: The New Indian Express

The Hidden Facts About Islam and Hazarat Muhammad

~~ Commmentator: Al--Rassoli (Ex--Muslim)

Muhammad and Islam basing its monotheism on the Israelites and their Torah, strongly oppose idolatry, polytheism and associating anything or anyone with Allah (god).This contrast sharply with contentioin by Muhammad's Arab contemporaries who believe that Allah had associates.

Some of these associates are mentioned in the Qur'an, amongst them are three female deities, i.e. Al-Lat, Al--Uzzar and Manat, who were according to the religious belief of the pagan Arabs, the daughters of Allah, the supreme deity of the Kaaba.

Each has a shrine in separate places not far from Mecca in Arabia where Muhammad was born and began his mission. Although Qur'an in its present form, obviously reject these deities, Muslim history asserts otherwise.

The Islamic records asserts Muhammad actually spoke of Satan's words as if they were the world of Allah. This event is documented by several early Mohammedan Scholars and its reference in the Hadith and the Qur'an.

Later Muhammadan scholars, ashamed that their self-declared prophet spoke Satan's words, denied the event occurred. A myriad of excuses and concocted stories have been put forth by these later scholars to cover up Muhammad's errors.

It must be very clearly pointed out that the "Satanic Verses" event is not something made up by non--Muslims.

The event is recorded by the earliest Islamic source available, reporting on Muhammad's life. No one should think that it is a story made up by people who are critical of "Islam". It is an episode directly found in the early Islamic Records. This subject is one of  the most controversial in Muhammad and Islam because allegedly Satan was able to deceive Muhammad, and thus insinuating himself in the Qur'an, by causing Muhammad to recite his (own) words as if they were Allahs' words. Muhammadans always use the mantra "Bring forth the proof".
Well, the proof is as follow: This event is actually documented by the four early biographical writers of Muhammad's life: Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasullah, Wakidi, Ibn Sa'd's Kitab Al-Tabaqat al--Kabir, and Tabari's
History.

The Hadith & Qur'an also contain direct references. Additionally several other Islamic scholars on Hadith (traditions) support the event's occurance such as Ibn Abi Hatim, Ibn al--Mundhir, Ibn Mardauyah, Musa Ibn "Uqba, & Abu Ma'shar. It is all the more strange that Ibn Hajar, a recognized authority on traditions insists on the truth of this report and says, "As we have have mentioned above, three of its chains of narrators satisfy the conditions requisite for an authentic report."

Because of time constraints, the video in question explores Al--Tabari's version of th event and those who need more details should go to  the Definition's Section in our website: www.inthenameofallah.org (you may also visit www.al-rassoli.org).

Tabari VI.107--Satan casts a false revelation on the messenger of  Allah's tongue: The Messenger of Allah was eager for the welfare of his people and wished to effect a reconciliation with them in whatever ways he could.  He longed in his soul that something would come to him from Allah which would reconcile him with his tribe. With his love for his tribe and his eagerness for their welfare it would have delighted him if some of the difficulties which they made for  him could have been smoothed out, and he debated with himself and fervently desired such an outcome.

Then Allah revealed (Quran) Chapter 53 verse 19: "Have you thought upon al--Lat and Al--Uzza and Manat, the third, the other?" At this very moment, Satan allegedly cast on his tongue, because of his inner
debates and what he desired to bring to his people, the words:
53: 21. These are the exalted Gharaniq (intermediaries) 53.22 Whose intercessions is to be hoped for.  When Quraysh heard this, they rejoiced and were happy and delighted at the way in which he spoke of their gods, and they listened to him, while the Muslims, having complete trust in their prophet in respect of the messages which he bought from Allah., did not suspect him of error, illusion, or mistake. When he came to the prostration, having completed the surah, he prostrated himself and the Muslims did likewise, following their prophet, trusting in the message which he had brought and following his example. Those polytheists of the Quraysh and others who were in the mosque likewise prostrated themselves because of the reference to their gods which they had heard, so that there was no one in the mosque, believer or unbeliever, who did not prostrate himself.

The Quraysh left delighted by the mention of their Gods which they had heard saying, "Muhammad has mentioned our Gods in the most favorable way possible, stating in his recitation that they are the high flying cranes (Gharaniq) and that their intercession is received with approval".

It is very important to point out here and now, that Muhammad and his Muslim followers were prostrating themselves and praying in the purely pagan mosque (Kaaba), a house of idolatry since they were surrounded by the rock-god of Quraysh. Muhammad should not have done so at all, as an alleged monotheist.

This only shows he was always willing to compromise his belief until such time he could overcome or destroy all those who did not believe as he did, as in fact he eventually achieved.

Then Gabriel came to the messenger of Allah and said, "Muhammad, what have you done? You have recited to the people that which I did not bring to you from Allah., and you have said that which was not said to you." Then the messenger of Allah was much grieved and feared Allah greatly, "But Allah sent down a revelation to him, for He was merciful to him, consoling to him and making the matter light for him, informing him that there had never been a prophet or a messenger before him who desired as he desired and wished as he wished, but that Satan had cast words into his recitation, as he had cast words on Muhammad's tongue.

Then Allah cancelled what Satan had thus cast, and established his verses by telling him that he was like other prophets and messengers (Qur'an 22: 52) and replaced the authentic Satanic Verses with:

52:21 What! for you the male sex, and for Him, the Female?

53.22 Behold, such would be indeed a division most unfair!!

The question which any inquisitive mind will ask is: "How many other verses in the Quran were actually revealed to Muhammad by Satan and not Gabriel??""

The Satanic Verses also, destroy another challenge in the Quran. Surah Al-Isra (Children of Israel) 17: 88 say: "If the whole of mankind and Jinns were put  together together to produce the like of this Qur'an, they could not produce the like thereof, even if they backed up each other with help and support.

Ladies and gentleman, it is clear from above that in desperation and in the moment of weakness, Muhammad was wiling to compromise his monotheism by conceding to allow the daughters of Allah to remain as intercessors, in his Islam. That is, he was willing to allow three other associates with Allah. Muhammad actually sinned and all the excuses that we read and all the explanation are used to hide a very simple fact: Muhammad KAFARA because he associated other Gods with Allah.

When he realized the enormity of what he had done, he REPENTED (to himself) and to rectify his error he first accused the INNOCENT SATAN of having tricked him and then "REVEALED" the very conveniently DESCENDED ABROGATING verses followed by others in which, Allah only ADMONISHED him and made LIGHT BANTER of his SIN. Neither Satan, Gabriel nor Allah were involved; it was all Muhammad at  his very best: DECEITFUL, WILY, BEGUILING and very much in control of his mostly very Superstitutious IGNORANT, FEARFUL, ILLETERAGTE AND totally OBEDIENT FLOCK.