(source)Usa: «Pronti ad attacchi preventivi in Iran»

WASHINGTON - "Se necessario non escludiamo l'uso della forza prima che un attacco nemico possa avvenire, anche se ci fosse incertezza sulla data e il luogo dell'attacco". Un documento diffuso in anticipo al previsto dalle agenzia di stampa spiega la posizione ufficiale degli Stati Uniti sulla crisi nucleare iraniana. Il documento della Casa Bianca sulla strategia per la sicurezza nazionale afferma che l'Iran è la nazione al momento che pone la maggiore sfida.

SFORZO DIPLOMATICO INTERNAZIONALE - Proprio "per evitare uno scontro" con l'Iran, il documento americano esorta uno sforzo diplomatico internazionale per dissuadere Teheran dalle sue ambizioni nucleari. Il documento di 49 pagine riafferma la dottrina dell'amministrazione Bush che contempla possibili attacchi preventivi contro terroristi e "Paesi ostili". Per la Casa Bianca ci sono altri motivi di preoccupazione sull'Iran: sponsorizza il terrorismo, minaccia Israele così come gli sforzi di pace in Medio Oriente e la democrazia in Iraq, e nega la libertà al popolo iraniano. Questi nodi - afferma il documento - possono essere sciolti soltanto se l'Iran sarà in grado di cambiare radicalmente la sua politica imboccando la strada delle riforme e consentendo le libertà civili.

RICE: "IRAN BANCA DEL TERRORISMO" - La posizione americana è stata sottolineata dal segretario di Stato Condoleezza Rice, in visita in Australia. "L'Iran è la banca centrale del terrorismo. Deve ascoltare gli appelli della comunità internazionale e sospendere il suo programma nucleare", ha detto Rice.

E con la banca centrale del terrorismo (in euro, ovviamente) siamo a posto anche per oggi.

(source)Firm Failed to Protect U.S. Troops' Water

E' un circo:

WASHINGTON - Halliburton Co. failed to protect the water supply it is paid to purify for U.S. soldiers throughout Iraq, in one instance missing contamination that could have caused "mass sickness or death," an internal company report concluded.

The report, obtained by The Associated Press, said the company failed to assemble and use its own water purification equipment, allowing contaminated water directly from the Euphrates River to be used for washing and laundry at Camp Ar Ramadi in Ramadi, Iraq.

The problems discovered last year at that site - poor training, miscommunication and lax record keeping - occurred at Halliburton's other operations throughout Iraq, the report said.

"Countrywide, all camps suffer to some extent from all or some of the deficiencies noted," Wil Granger, Theatre Water Quality Manager in the war zone for Halliburton's KBR subsidiary, wrote in his May 2005 report.

AP reported earlier this year allegations from whistleblowers about the Camp Ar Ramadi incident, but Halliburton never made public Granger's internal report alleging wider problems.

The water quality expert warned Halliburton the problems "will have to be dealt with at a very elevated level of management" to protect health and safety of U.S. personnel.

Halliburton said Wednesday it conducted a second review last year that found no evidence of any illnesses in Iraq from water and it believes some of its earlier conclusions were incomplete and inaccurate. The company declined to release the second report.

The company said it has "worked closely with the Army to develop standards and take action to ensure that the water provided in Iraq is safe and of the highest quality possible."

Halliburton was headed by Vice President Dick Cheney for several years before he ran for vice president. Its KBR subsidiary, also known as Kellogg Brown & Root, works under contract to provide a number of services to the U.S. military in Iraq, including providing water and purifying it.

The contaminated, non-chlorinated water at Ar Ramadi was discovered in March 2005 in a commode by Ben Carter, a KBR water expert at the base. In an interview, Carter said he resigned after KBR barred him from notifying the military and senior company officials about the untreated water.

A supervisor at Ar Ramadi "told me to stop e-mailing" company officials outside the base and warned that informing the military "was none of my concern," Carter said. He said he threatened to sue if company officials didn't let him be examined to determine whether he suffered medical problems from exposure to the contaminated water.

Granger's report cited several countrywide problems:

- A lack of training for key personnel. "Theatre wide there is no formalized training for anyone at any level in concerns to water operations."

- Confusion between KBR and military officials over their respective roles. For instance, each assumed the other would chlorinate the water at Ar Ramadi for any uses that would require the treatment.

- Inadequate or nonexistent records that could have caught problems in advance. Little or no documentation was kept on water inventories, safety stand-downs, audits of water quality, deliveries, inspections and logs showing alterations or modifications to water systems.

- Relying on employees the company identified as semiskilled labor, and paid as unskilled workers in the pay structure.

The report said the event at Ar Ramadi could have been prevented if KBR's Reverse Osmosis Units on the site had been assembled, instead of relying on the military's water production facilities.

"This event should be considered a 'near miss' as the consequences of these actions could have been very severe resulting in mass sickness or death," Granger wrote.

The report said that KBR officials at Ar Ramadi tried to keep the contamination from senior company officials.

"The event that was submitted in a report to local camp management should have been classified as a recordable occurrence and communicated to senior management in a timely manner," Granger wrote. "The primary awareness to this event came through threat of domestic litigation."

Beginning last May, Halliburton said it began using its equipment to remove contaminants, bacteria, and viruses in Ar Ramadi, and disinfect the water with chlorine. The company said KBR has worked closely with the Army to develop safe water standards.

It said its subsequent review in August-September 2005 found nonpotable water used for washing "was effectively filtered" to remove at least 99 percent of the parasite giardia and 90 percent of viruses. The Ar Ramadi water also tested negative for bacteria, Halliburton added.

(source)Italiani pagherebbero tassa di 18 euro al mese

Una tassa di 18 euro al mese per aumentare la sicurezza e i controlli antiterrorismo nella propria città.

Per fortuna lo Stato doveva già garantire la sicurezza.

Sarebbe disposto a pagarla un terzo dei cittadini di Milano, Firenze e Roma, secondo quanto emerge da uno studio realizzato dall'Istituto di ricerca Acqua presentato nel nuovo quartiere di Fieramilano durante il convegno inaugurale di Sicurezza-Sicurtech Expo-Chiusure tecniche, in programma fino al 18 marzo cui ha preso parte il sottosegretario agli interni, on.Michele Saponara.

L'indagine "Citta italiane: la percezione del pericolo terrorismo", commissionata da Fiera Milano Tech che organizza l'evento, costituisce il Rapporto Sicurezza 2006 ed è stata effettuata nei primi giorni di marzo. Gli attentati terroristici avvenuti a Madrid e Londra, secondo la ricerca, hanno modificato le abitudini di vita per il 43,5% della popolazione tra i 18 e i 24 anni e soprattutto per le donne: oltre il 20% delle persone evita infatti i luoghi pubblici e il 15,6% ha rinunciato ai viaggi verso le località considerate a rischio.

Per questo motivo, il 35,8% dei cittadini intervistati sarebbe disposto ad accettare una Security Tax pur di incrementare la sicurezza delle proprie città. Il dato, se rapportato a livello nazionale, significherebbe un introito per le casse dello Stato di circa 5 miliardi di euro, che potrebbe significare un incremento per le forze dell'ordine di 140 mila unita'. Sono gli stessi cittadini (il 29,5%) a chiedere una maggiore presenza di Polizia e Carabinieri per fronteggiare il pericolo terrorismo.

Due o tre dati sul campione del sondaggio non li vogliamo proprio dare?

Per ottenere maggiore sicurezza, il 33,8% degli intervistati sarebbe disposto a sottoporsi a controlli più accurati, a costo di attendere anche più di 15 minuti. Se dovessero richiedere pochi minuti di attesa, il 47,7% di milanesi, fiorentini e romani sarebbe disposto ad accettare controlli su persone e bagagli simili a quelli che vengono effettuati negli aeroporti anche nei pressi delle stazioni metropolitane, nelle stazioni ferroviarie e negli stadi o in altri luoghi di intrattenimento.

Dal raffronto tra le città emerge una maggiore 'fretta' dei milanesi, per i quali la disponibilità scende al 29,4% contro il 35,8% dei fiorentini e il 36,1% dei romani. Un ultimo dato riguarda l'utilità delle esercitazioni antiterrorismo che si sono svolte a Milano e Roma: il 57,2% degli intervistati ha dichiarato che sono state utili, meno utili invece per il 42,8%. Secondo il sottosegretario Saponara "i cittadini non dovrebbero allarmarsi più di tanto, perchè altrimenti non si vivrebbe più. Se c'è da rinunziare a un minimo di privacy a causa delle nuove tecnologie (le famose videosorveglianze), che lo si faccia. Fare le file, farsi controllare: la cittadinanza può solo assoggettarsi a questo. Il resto tocca allo Stato".

Anche mettere le bombe? Così per dirne una...

E come si sta muovendo lo Stato nei confronti della minaccia terroristica? "Il ministero si sta muovendo - ha risposto il sottosegretario - monitorando quelli che secondo noi, secondo l'intelligence sono terroristi, possono essere sospetti. Poi, cercando di dialogare con le comunità islamiche, capirli un po' di più, cercando di isolare, togliere consensi ai terroristi, che sono certo una minoranza, ma la più virulenta, la più pericolosa. Perchè poi, i primi a essere vittima di questo terrorismo sono gli stessi islamici moderati, che vengono accomunati ai terroristi e sono per questo malvisti da tutti".

Le autorità che hanno preso parte al convegno inaugurale hanno poi visitato gli stand, soffermandosi soprattutto in quello della Polizia di Stato dove campeggiava una delle due "Gallardo" che Lamborghini ha regalato alla Stradale: un'auto da 305 km/h che fa servizio in autostrada e interviene in caso di gravi infrazioni ai limiti di velocità. "Non per reprimere crimini - afferma un ufficiale - perchè i posti sono due secchi e non sapremmo dove mettere il reo".

Invece per coloro che corrono troppo è efficace, come ricorda il motociclista che recentemente è stato affiancato e costretto a fermarsi mentre, procedeva alla modica andatura di 272 km/h, oppure l'automobilista fermato mentre sfrecciava sulla Salerno-Reggio Calabria e che sorridendo non voleva firmare il verbale, convinto come era di essere su candid-camera.

E con il finale divertente abbiamo sdoganato tutto il resto.

(source)Right-wing activists arrested for throwing rocks at Arabs

By Jonathan Lis, Ha'aretz staff

Notare la parola activists.

Jerusalem police have arrested five religious right-wing extremists, two of whom are minors, for a range of offenses including hurling rocks at cars driven by Arabs, and vandalizing police cars.

The five are suspected of puncturing the tires of police cars and the private cars of police officers within the past few months, as well as throwing rocks at the cars of Arabs.

A search of their homes uncovered canisters of orange spray paint and makeshift knives.

The five are also suspected of vandalizing the Sadigora Yeshiva and physically assaulting the head of the yeshiva.

The remand of the five is expected be extended on Wednesday afternoon.

(source)U.S. may veto bid for UN condemnation of jail siege

By Haaretz Service and agencies

The threat of a U.S. veto hovers over planned closed-door deliberations Wednesday over Qatar's bid for a UN Security Council to condemn Israel's Jericho jail siege and its capture of the killers of former cabinet minister Rehavam Ze'evi.

Troppo strano! No ma veramente!

A draft statement by Qatari Ambassador Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, representing Arab nations, would have condemned "Israel's violent incursion" in besieging the Jericho jail, and would have demanded that Israel return the prisoners it seized "and to return the situation to that which existed prior to the Israeli military attack."

Security forces went on high alert Tuesday fearing Palestinian reprisal attacks after Israel Defense Forces troops laid siege to the Jericho prison and arrested six wanted inmates.

A tense, gunfire-punctuated nine-hour IDF siege of a Jericho prison complex ended after dark on Tuesday with the abrupt surrender of Ahmed Sa'adat and five other Palestinian militants.

Sa'adat, leader of the Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine, is believed to have ordered the assassination of cabinet minister Rehavam Ze'evi in a Jerusalem hotel in 2001.

One of the other militants was Fuad Shobaki, the alleged mastermind of an illegal mass weapons shipment to the Palestinian Authority in 2002.

The six arrested wanted militants are to be held in prison in Israel, officials said.

The PFLP threatened that "Israel will pay a heavy price for the operation."

Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert spoke with Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz and asked them to keep military forces on high alert.

In New York, council diplomats said the 15-nation council would discuss the draft behind closed doors on Wednesday after Al-Nasser revised it overnight in response to council members' initial comments, diplomats said.

Palestinian UN Observer Riyad Mansour called on the council to "uphold international law" by supporting the Qatari measure. He said the Israeli raid grew out of "a desire to negate the Palestinian elections" won by Hamas.

But the text would almost certainly face a veto from the United States, Israel's closest ally, if brought to a vote in its current form, the diplomats said.

The drama began early in the day, when American and British monitors supervising the detention of the six left the prison. The monitors had been stationed there as part of a compromise reached between Israel and the PA, which had guaranteed Israel that it would keep Ze'evi's killers behind bars.

The monitors were withdrawn in response to a statement last week by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who said that he was prepared to free Sa'adat, drawing an angry response from Israel. Abbas said Tuesday that the British and American monitors bore "full responsibility" for the raid.

One of the five PFLP members had vowed earlier on Tuesday that the group would not surrender.

"Our prison is surrounded on all sides by Israelis. They are asking us over loudspeaker to come out," Ahed Abu Ghoulmi, one of the targeted prisoners. "We will not come out under any circumstances."

"We are not going to surrender. We are going to face our destiny with courage," Sa'adat later told the Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera.

Security Council issues milder statement

As a result of the dispute over the wording of the UN resolution, the council issued a milder statement Tuesday afternoon. It expressed concern about an upsurge in violence, urged all sides to exercise restraint, and called for the release of foreigners who were kidnapped in retaliation.

Representing Arab nations on the council and backed by the Palestinian government, Qatar distributed a draft presidential statement that would call on Israel to end its "continued onslaught" against the Palestinian-run prison.

A second, milder resolution is expected to be introduced on Wednesday.

Mofaz: No politics in timing of operation

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz of Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Kadima party Wednesday dismissed criticism of the Jericho siege as politically motivated.

The timing of the siege was tied entirely to decisions by the Palestinians, and had nothing to do with the fact that elctions are two weeks away.

Asked if there was such a link, Mofaz told Army Radio:

"Certainly not. About a week before, we knew that it could happen any day, after the [British] sent a clear letter that the Palestinians were violating the agreement, but did someone plan the timing of this??

"We didn't know that Ahmed Sa'adat would be freed. That was the decision of [Hamas leader and PA prime minister-designate] Ismail Haniyeh. We didn't decide that the British and American monitors would leave, in fear for their safety, in view of the fact that a Hamas government was about to arise.

Asked if the IDF would have acted in any case, had the monitors remained in place, Mofaz said "If the monitors had remained in place and watched over what was happening there, apparently not. I say apparently, because we don?t know how things would have unfolded in the future.?

The evening surrender that came at 6:45 P.M. followed heavy gunfire directed at the prison complex. Large numbers of soldiers surrounded the prison, where six Palestinian militants were jailed.

Three Palestinians were reportedly killed in exchanges of fire with IDF soldiers. GOC Central Command Yair Naveh expressed regret at their deaths, noting the operation was not aimed at the PA security forces, but rather at arresting the six wanted inmates.

(source)Ready or Not, Bird Flu Is Coming to America

By BRIAN ROSS

March 13, 2006 - In a remarkable speech over the weekend, Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt recommended that Americans start storing canned tuna and powdered milk under their beds as the prospect of a deadly bird flu outbreak approaches the United States.

Niente legge marziale?

Ready or not, here it comes.

It is being spread much faster than first predicted from one wild flock of birds to another, an airborne delivery system that no government can stop.

"There's no way you can protect the United States by building a big cage around it and preventing wild birds from flying in and out," U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Michael Johanns said.

U.S. spy satellites are tracking the infected flocks, which started in Asia and are now heading north to Siberia and Alaska, where they will soon mingle with flocks from the North American flyways.

"What we're watching in real time is evolution," said Laurie Garrett, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. "And it's a biological process, and it is, by definition, unpredictable."

Industry Precautions

America's poultry farms could become ground zero as infected flocks fly over. The industry says it is prepared for quick action.

"All the birds involved in it would be destroyed, and the area would be isolated and quarantined," said Richard Lobb of the National Chicken Council. "It would very much [look] like a sort of military operation if it came to that."

Extraordinary precautions are already being taken at the huge chicken farms in Lancaster County, Pa., the site of the last great outbreak of a similar bird flu 20 years ago.

Other than the farmers, everyone there has to dress as if it were a visit to a hospital operating room.

"Back in 1983-1984, we had to kill 17 million birds at a cost of $60 million," said Dr. Sherrill Davison, a veterinary medicine expert at the University of Pennsylvania.

Can It Be Stopped?

Even on a model farm, ABC News saw a pond just outside the protected barns attracting wild geese.

It is the droppings of infected waterfowl that carry the virus.

The bird flu virus, to date, is still not easily transmitted to humans. There have been lots of dead birds on three continents, but so far fewer than 100 reported human deaths.

But should that change, the spread could be rapid.

ABC News has obtained a mathematical projection prepared by federal scientists based on an initial outbreak on an East Coast chicken farm in which humans are infected. Within three months, with no vaccine, almost half of the country would have the flu.

That, of course, is a worst-case scenario - one that Lobb says the poultry industry is determined to prevent with an aggressive strategy to contain and destroy infected flocks and deny the virus the opportunity to mutate to a more dangerous form but one that experts say cannot be completely discounted.

The current bird flu strain has been around for at least 10 years and has taken surprising twists and turns - not the least of which is that it's now showing up in cats in Europe, where officials are advising owners to bring their cats inside. It's advice that might soon have to be considered here.

(source)Fourfold gas price rise is forcing production cuts, industry warns

Terry Macalister and David Gow
Wednesday March 15, 2006
The Guardian

The price of gas hit a record yesterday, leading to warnings from the business community that it faced a potential "emergency" and another major political row over government energy policies.

Alan Johnson, the trade and industry secretary, was forced to make an unscheduled appearance in parliament where he insisted the gas pipeline operator, National Grid, could cope "even were there to be an emergency situation".

The minister accepted the problems were serious and hurting industrial users but said there were signs of demand easing in response to the weather-induced price spike. "We must not be relaxed about the situation [but] it is equally important that we do not cause unnecessary panic. The present situation does not threaten domestic or the vast majority of commercial and industrial supply," he said.

But Edward Davey, the Liberal Democrat industry spokesman, accused the government of incompetence. "Only last November the energy minister told the house that Britain was 'awash with gas'. Yesterday British industry was warned to expect its gas power supplies to be shut off... Labour's incompetence and inability to support British industry's basic needs is astonishing," he said.

The price of gas hit 255p a therm in early trading yesterday - more than four times last Friday's level. The Grid issued an unprecedented warning on Monday that demand was outstripping supply.

Jeremy Nicholson, of the Energy Intensive Users Group (EIUG), which represents steel, glass and chemical manufacturers, said firms were having to cut production because of soaring costs. "This is as close as the UK has got to a national gas emergency, where supplies would effectively be rationed to industry to keep supplies maintained to households," he said.

There could be no confidence that next winter would be any better because Britain would not have sufficient storage or import capacity before 2007. "We could be at least paying as high prices," Mr Nicholson said. The EIUG urged the government to allow the Grid to establish a special reserve to help the market.

The Confederation of British Industry said the fiasco underlined the fact that warnings it gave about shortages last November were well founded and should not have been dismissed by ministers as "scaremongering". Sir Digby Jones, the CBI's director general, said: "UK energy supplies are seriously overstretched. We have got away with it so far but surely the energy policy of a major economy should not rely on 'getting away with it'."

Mainland European companies rejected criticism that they were failing to provide much-needed reserves, saying they were under long-term contracts to look after their local customers.

Distrigas, the Belgian monopoly supplier owned by the French group Suez, said the expanded Interconnector pipeline between Zeebrugge and Bacton, Norfolk, was working at two-thirds capacity even though the cold snap had squeezed gas storage facilities in mainland Europe. The company, which is tripling the cross-Channel pipeline's capacity, also blamed French strikes over the merger between its parent and Gaz de France for disruptions to supplies.

Officials also blamed the closure of Britain's Rough storage facility in the North Sea as well as problems with Norwegian gas fields for the high prices.

(source)Berlusconi e Prodi si sfidano in TV

PRODI, MAI PROPOSTO SERVIZIO CIVILE OBBLIGATORIO

"Non ho mai proposto il servizio civile obbligatorio. E' una cosa molto seria. Ho solo chiesto ai giovani cosa ne pensassero, poi prenderemo una decisione".

Prodi ha chiesto ai giovani che cosa pensano del servizio civile obbligatorio.

La logica suggerisce che i giovani favorevoli siano già volontari, quindi cosa cazzo lo chiedi a fare? Mi prendi per il culo?

Leggiamo:

Prodi: "Tremonti ha portato l'Italia al degrado"

Pochi giorni fa Prodi aveva lanciato l'idea di sei mesi di servizio civile obbligatorio per tutti, ragazzi e ragazze. L'idea aveva suscitato reazioni contrastanti. Prodi rilancia: ditemi voi se devo mettere questo punto nel programma dell'Unione. Aiutatemi a decidere, chiede, se mettere l'aggettivo "obbligatorio".

Già immagino i giovani tutti in fila per avere il servizio civile obbligatorio. Non vedono l'ora, non avendo un cazzo da fare dalla mattina alla sera.

Avanti:

Cosi' Romano Prodi ha risposto a Silvio Berlusconi nel corso del faccia a faccia televisivo sulla questione del servizio civile. Abbiamo avviato una discussione - ha aggiunto - ci potrebbero essere sei mesi di servizio o tre tappe di due mesi ciascuna: "Si fara' sei i ragazzi diranno si".

Ovvero: i ragazzi potranno decidere liberamente se volere il servizio civile obbligatorio. Cosa c'è, carenza di schiavi?

PRODI A BERLUSCONI, SE UNO DA' DEI NUMERI LI DEVE DARE GIUSTI

"Il presidente Berlusconi prima nel novero delle trentasei riforme fatte dal suo governo ci ha messo anche l'abolizione della leva, che l'ha fatta il centrosinistra...

Bravo. E non hai neanche proposto il servizio civile obbligatorio. Vuoi un biscotto?

Beh, vorrei dire che se uno da' i numeri li deve dare giusti senno' nessuno gli crede...". Lo ha detto il leader dell'Unione Romano Prodi durante il duello tv.

BERLUSCONI, PATROCINIO GRATUITO A DONNE PER REATI VIOLENZA

Il prossimo governo Berlusconi "e' pronto a dare il patrocinio gratuito per i reati di violenza sulle donne e i bambini", nonche' ad "aumentare le pene" per questi reati: lo ha annunciato il premier nel corso del duello tv di questa sera.

Tradotto: gli altri si fottano.

BERLUSCONI, AUMENTEREMO QUOTA DONNE NEL GOVERNO

Indovina?

"Aumenteremo il numero delle donne ministro. Abbiamo gia' aumentato notevolmente la presenza delle donne nelle nostre liste". Lo ha affermato Silvio Berlusconi chiarendo che non sono stati centrati alcuni obiettivi sulle quote rosa perche' e' stato difficile fino ad ora trovare molte donne disposte a lasciare le famiglie per trasferirsi a Roma.

Potresti andare a prenderle armi alla mano, e chiamarlo servizio politico obbligatorio!

PRODI, SCANDALO IMMIGRATI; PREMIER, SIAMO ORGOGLIOSI

Non mi dire?

Per Prodi le lunghe file di immigrati davanti agli uffici postali di tutta Italia "sono uno scandalo".

Aspetta, che tra un po' te lo faccio vedere io un altro scandalo.

Mentre per il premier la situazione clandestini "e' assolutamente sotto controllo".

E tanti saluti al cazzo?

Anzi, il modo in cui l'Italia ha affrontato il problema "e' un motivo di orgoglio" visto che il nostro Paese "e' quello che in Europa ha il numero piu' basso di immigrati".

Tradotto: "ma ci stiamo lavorando."

Nel duello Tv il premier e il leader dell'Unione si scontrano anche su immigrati e clandestini. Il primo difendendo la Bossi-Fini. Il secondo sparando a zero su quella legge e ricordando con nostalgia le cose buone fatte dal suo governo e poi "cancellate" da quello del centrodestra. Il Cavaliere respinge le critiche al mittente dicendo che si "stropiccia gli occhi e le orecchie" di fronte a quello che sta sostenendo Prodi. Mentre quest'ultimo si chiede dove viva Berlusconi visto che lui le file davanti agli uffici postali non le vede. Per Prodi comunque servono "riforme serie e profonde" sull'immigrazione perche' gli imprenditori chiedono manodopera e servono regole e tutele precise.

Tradotto: in pratica andate avanti a parlare di servizio civile obbligatorio, quote rosa che non interessano a nessuno, "integrazione" (col suo mega-post a parte) ed altre amenità che non ci spostano una virgola.

BERLUSCONI, PRODI RIBALTA REALTA' SU OPERE PUBBLICHE

Perché il governo Berlusconi è liberista, mica interviene nell'economia...

Quella di Romano Prodi e' "demagogia pura, un ribaltamento totale della realta"'. Lo dice Silvio Berlusconi nel corso del confronto tv con Romano Prodi. "I 4 governi nei 5 anni della sinistra - dice il premier - hanno messo in circolo 7 mld euro per opere pubbliche, noi con il prossimo Cipe ne stanzieremo 73.

E te ne vanti pure?

Abbiamo fatto esattamente dieci volte quello dei governi di sinistra. I nostri cantieri sono i piu' grandi del mondo. Vi lavorano 450mila persone".

Bravo Berlusconi, hai creato un milione di posti di lavoro con la refurtiva fiscale, per realizzare le Grandi Opere che nessuno ti aveva chiesto.

BERLUSCONI A PRODI, CHE SPUDORATEZZA

"Abbiamo fatto tutto cio' che non e' mai stato fatto nel passato e ci viene detto che non abbiamo fatto nulla: che spudoratezza". Cosi' il presidente del Consiglio Silvio Berlusconi ha replicato a Romano Prodi che lo aveva accusato di parlare come qualcuno che e' stato all' opposizione in questi anni.

Pensi che ce ne sbatta qualcosa?

PRODI, BERLUSCONI PARLA COME FOSSE OPPOSIZIONE

"Ha ereditato tutto dal passato? Dopo cinque anni di governo parla da opposizione. E' mai possibile che con 120 deputati di maggioranza ha fatto solo leggi che interessavano a lui?". E' questo l'attacco di Romano Prodi durante il 'faccia a faccia' con Silvio Berlusconi su Rai1.

Ancora:

BERLUSCONI, SE SINISTRA AL GOVERNO STOP OPERE PUBBLICHE

"Se la sinistra dovesse andare al governo si troverebbe con una parte importante di essa che si opporrebbe alla costruzione delle opere pubbliche". Lo ha detto il presidente del consiglio Silvio Berlusconi.

Orrore! E le quote rosa? E il servizio civile? Parliamo di questi grandi temi! E l'integrazione come va?

PRODI, SULL'IMMIGRAZIONE SITUAZIONE SCANDALOSA

Appunto.

"Se il governo avesse fatto funzionare i computer, se ci fosse stata una discussione con gli imprenditori, non avremmo avuto la situazione scandalosa che abbiamo avuto in questi giorni". Lo ha detto il leader dell'Unione Romano Prodi durante il duello tv e parlando delle code alle poste legate al decreto flussi. "E' inutile - ha attaccato Prodi - dire che se ci fosse stato un rapporto diverso con gli imprenditori le cose sarebbero andate meglio, e' proprio quello che volevamo noi!".

Eh!

"Invece - ha aggiunto - si e' creata una situazione che non si deve mai piu' ripetere e questo perche' si continua a considerare la questione dell'immigrazione come staccata da tutto il resto". "Ma non si puo' - ha concluso Prodi - volere i lavoratori di giorno e cacciarli di notte".

Perché non facciamo fare il servizio civile obbligatorio ai migranti per conquistare la cittadinanza? "Combatti gli insetti, diventa un cittadino!"

PRODI, HO VISTO TROPPE INAUGURAZIONI OPERE PUBBLICHE

Ma l'integrazione come va? E le quote rosa? Grandi, grandi temi.

"In questi anni ho visto troppe inaugurazioni di opere pubbliche, opere mai finite con soldi mai stanziati". Cosi' il leader dell' Unione, Romano Prodi, risponde sul tema delle opere pubbliche. "Dall' esecutivo e' venuta solo demagogia, le opere pubbliche - conclude Prodi - valgono quando si finiscono".

Forse occorrono più soldi!

PRODI, OPERE? GOVERNO PENSAVA 250 MILIARDI E NE HA SPESI 10%

Ma le opere pubbliche rispettano le quote rosa, oppure dobbiamo far operare gli operai?

Il governo aveva progettato di spendere 250 miliardi di euro per le opere pubbliche, "ne ha stanziati il 20% e ne ha spesi il 10%".

"Oh no!"

Lo afferma Romano Prodi durante il confronto televisivo con Silvio Berlusconi. Il Professore aggiunge che le grandi opere come la Tv si fanno con il dialogo con le comunita' e le amministrazioni interessate.

Ma le quote rosa? E l'immigrazione?

PRODI, SU IMMIGRAZIONE SONO MANCATI ACCORDI CON PAESI VICINI

Secondo voi, ci pigliano per il culo?

"Senza accordi con i Paesi vicini non sara' possibile fermare gli sbarchi dei clandestini".

Proviamo a spedire altri soldi?

Lo ha affermato nel corso del duello tv il leader dell'Unione, Romano Prodi, secondo il quale una programmazione della politica per l'immigrazione presuppone intese con i Paesi del Mediterraneo. "Senza questi accordi - ha affermato Prodi - la situazione e' drammatica".

Ma come, prima erano profughi, poi erano una risorsa, ora la situazione è drammatica? Impieghiamo i migranti nelle opere pubbliche, con le quote rosa!

BERLUSCONI, FILE IMMIGRATI SOLO A ROMA E MILANO

E' un problema molto sentito e attuale, ma vorrei sapere cosa ne pensate sulle Grandi Opere.

Le file degli immigrati davanti agli uffici postali per regolarizzare la loro posizione ci sono state solo a Roma e Milano. "Se i datori di lavoro avessero usato le tecnologie informatiche e internet" non ci sarebbero state neanche queste file. Lo ha precisato il premier Silvio Berlusconi nel commentare le polemiche che hanno accompagnato le procedure per regolarizzare i 170 mila immigrati che hanno un posto di lavoro in Italia.

Il governo provvederà a fornire Internet a tutti! Ma con un fondo di garanzia per le minoranze rosa.

PRODI, GOVERNO BENE SU IMMIGRATI? BERLUSCONI NON SO DOVE VIVA

Vorrei saperne di più sulle Grandi Opere, ne possiamo parlare?

"Berlusconi non so proprio dove viva. Ci vuole affogare con una serie di numeri, ma e' evidente che non e' stato fatto nessun conto preciso dal governo senno' non saremmo in questa situazione". Lo ha detto il leader dell'unione Romano Prodi durante il duello tv con Berlusconi a proposito delle code alle poste per il decreto flussi.

Ma com'è la situazione dei migranti?

BERLUSCONI, RIDOTTO DEL 51% INGRESSI IMMIGRATI CLANDESTINI

Oh, finalmente se ne parla!

"Siamo il Paese che in Europa ha il numero minore di immigrati. Con la sinistra la situazione era preoccupante. Abbiamo ridotto del 51% l'ingresso dei clandestini", mentre 65 mila extracomunitari illegali sono stati portati fuori dai confini.

Allora siamo a posto!

Cosi' Silvio Berlusconi che cosi' prosegue: "abbiamo fatto una politica dell'immigrazione migliore di quella della sinistra che invece vuole aprire le porte completamente a questa immigrazione".

Bravo Berlusconi, raccontamene un'altra così la aggiungo al mega-post.

PRODI, ENORME QUANTITA' DI CONDONI, BILANCIO DISASTROSO

Ma chi se ne frega? Possiamo parlare di Grandi Opere e immigrazione?

"L'enorme quantita' di condoni ha portato notevoli irregolarita' nel sistema tributario, abbiamo un bilancio in situazione disastrosa".

"Oh no! Non abbiamo rubato abbastanza soldi!"

Lo dice Romano Prodi nel corso della sfida tv con Silvio Berlusconi. Prodi aggiunge che "non troveremo mai i soldi per ridurre il cuneo fiscale se la spesa pubblica crescera' senza controllo come in questi anni, quando ha ridotto l'avanzo primario praticamente a zero. Se non avremo il controllo della spesa non avremo mai soldi per il cuneo fiscale ma un paese decente controlla la spesa pubblica come si conviene di fare".

Perché non provi a controllare lo sfintere prima di parlare?

BERLUSCONI, CON NOI PER DUE ANNI CONTI IN ORDINE

Ma le quote rosa?

"Noi abbiamo ereditato da chi ha distrutto i conti pubblici un deficit sopra il 3%: abbiamo riportato i conti sotto il 3 e per due anni sono stati in ordine. Siamo riusciti a ridurre le tasse, aumentare gli investimenti, aumentare le pensioni minime senza mettere le mani nelle tasche degli italiani, una conduzione miracolosa rispetto a quanto abbiamo ricevuto, rispetto a chi ci ha preceduto, cioe' il debito piu' alto in Europa e il terzo nel mondo". Lo ha detto il presidente del Consiglio Silvio Berlusconi nel corso del duello tv con Romano Prodi.

Bravo! Due parole su credito, immobili e affitti?

PRODI, CONTI PUBBLICI? FANNO TREMARE LE VENE AI POLSI

Prova a tagliarle, vedi se funziona?

"Se si deve essere contenti di un deficit al 4,1% del Pil vuole dire che il paese e' messo male".

Il paese, il villaggio, il quartiere, neanche fosse casa tua.

Romano Prodi, durante la sfida televisiva con Silvio Berlusconi, torna cosi' sul tema conti pubblici. "La preoccupazione per i conti futuri - aggiunge il leader dell'Unione - fa tremare le vene ai polsi di chi dovra' governare. Vogliamo subito la trimestrale di cassa, non ci bastano piu' le previsioni mancate, non possiamo piu' andare avanti cosi'. Serve un quadro preciso per potere governare quando saremo chiamati a governare". Prodi ricorda i giudizi di Moody's e assicura: "Noi abbiamo la capacita' di tenere i conti sotto controllo e la serieta"'.

Tradotto: se verrò eletto, racconterò la favola dei conti disastrosi in eredità dal governo precedente, e continuerò a prendere soldi in prestito (oltre a quelli rubati.)

BERLUSCONI, LA NOSTRA GESTIONE MIRACOLOSA

Sta ridendo anche Gesù Cristo!

"Il deficit eccessivo l'hanno creato loro.

L'hanno creato gli arabi cattivi! Chiedi a Pisanu?

Abbiamo garantito la parte sociale con importanti investimenti del 5% in più per un totale di 70miliardi di euro. Abbiamo ridotto le tasse ed aumentato le pensioni. La nostra e' stata una gestione miracolosa". Lo dice Silvio Berlusconi nel corso della sfida tv contro Romano Prodi.

Amen!

PRODI, EURO UN TRIONFO; PREMIER, CI FU TROPPA FRETTA

Ma gli amici al Bilderberg come stanno? Tutti bene?

L'introduzione dell'euro "fu un trionfo, poi e' diventato un problema con il governo Berlusconi".

E la bolla non esiste, e siamo due imbecilli messi qui a prendervi per il culo.

"Non e' vero", l'euro venne introdotta "con troppa fretta" e senza "le precauzioni necessarie".

E i tassi storicamente bassi del tuo amico Ciampi?

Romano Prodi e Silvio Berlusconi sull'euro, durante il duello Tv, la vedono in modo completamente diverso. Per Prodi la moneta unica non ha creato alcun problema nel resto d'Europa, mentre per il premier problemi ce ne sono stati e ovunque. "L'incursione dell'euro nei bilanci familiari - dichiara Berlusconi - ha prodotto un aumento dei prezzi in tutta europa.

Perché l'euro fa l'incursione nei bilanci familiari, lo Stato invece chiede un legittimo contributo.

La verita' e' che e' stata introdotta in troppa fretta e senza le necessarie precauzioni".

Prova a metterti un preservativo in testa. Indovina cosa devi fare dopo?

Il governo della Cdl, assicura, non ha colpe perche' con i grossi gruppi di distribuzione ha stretto degli accordi, mentre con i piccoli commercianti ("che rappresentano il 70% del mercato") questo non e' stato possibile.

Tradotto: se rappresentano il 70% del mercato, indovina da dove usciranno i soldi?

Pero' ha aiutato le fasce piu' deboli.

Cosa stai dicendo?

Il professore contesta e spiega che non sono state convocate neanche le commissioni centrali create ad hoc dal governo precedente. "Non avevano poteri - obietta il Cavaliere - e servivano solo ad ospitare le varie clientele...". La tesi secondo la quale le colpe sono tutte del governo della Cdl, aggiunge, "e' davvero bislacca!". Prodi naturalmente non condivide puntando ancora il dito contro l'esecutivo di centrodestra che non ha tutelato a sufficienza gli italiani dal caro-prezzi.

Guarda questo dito, ti piace?

BERLUSCONI, OGGI SIAMO AL 4,1% RAPPORTO DEFICIT/PIL

"Abbiamo cambiato il trattato di Maastricht e siamo oggi al 4,1%. Il 2006 e' gia' positivo per gli acquisti, l'immatricolazione di auto e i grandi organismi internazionali hanno previsto in media una crescita dell'1,8%". Lo dice Silvio Berlusconi nella sfida tv con Prodi.

E se lo dicono i grandi organismi internazionali...

BERLUSCONI, CDL TROVO' BUCO DI 37 MILA MILIARDI

No! Dai?

"Prodi parla di conti disastrati ma forse non sa che oggi l'Ecofin ha approvato i nostri conti 2006, che il presidente dell' Ecofin ha apprezzato come il nostro Paese, pur essendo in campagna elettorale, ha approvato nella finanziaria grandi riforme come quella delle pensioni, capace di riportare al 3% il deficit annuale. In più, siamo stati noi ad avere ricevuto un buco dal governo precedente di 37 mila miliardi". Così Silvio Berlusconi ha replicato a Romano Prodi, che aveva definito disastroso lo stato dei nostri conti pubblici.

Parliamo di cose serie: come si fa ad avere indietro i soldi?

PRODI, DOPO GOVERNO BERLUSCONI BILANCIO STATO DISASTROSO

"Il bilancio dello Stato è in una situazione disastrosa". Lo ha detto Romano Prodi, durante il 'faccia a faccia' con Silvio Berlusconi su Rai1, aggiungendo che la ricetta del governo Berlusconi fatta di "condoni più imposte" ha fatto solo danni senza centrare risultati.

Ma l'integrazione come procede?

BERLUSCONI, CON SINISTRA AUMENTO TASSE GARANTITO

Invece a forza di regalare box interattivi...

La sinistra al governo comporterà un automatico aumento della pressione fiscale. Lo ha sottolineato il premier Silvio Berlusconi nel corso del faccia a faccia con Romano Prodi. Lo dimostrano - ha spiegato- le numerose voci nuove contenute nel programma dell'Unione, "una pletora di addendi che faranno aumentare la spesa dello Stato". Il premier ha quindi respinto le critiche dell'Unione sulla mancata attivazione di commissioni di controllo sull'aumento dei prezzi dopo l'introduzione dell'Euro.

Yaaawn.

PRODI, CON CAMBIO LIRA-EURO A 1500 SAREBBE STATO UN DISASTRO

Un genocidio!

"Con il cambio lira euro a 1500 sarebbe stato un disastro". Lo ha detto il leader dell'Unione Romano Prodi intervenendo al confronto tv con il premier Silvio Berlusconi.

Una strage!

PRODI, QUANDO SI E' ENTRATI IN EURO E' STATO UN TRIONFO

Un'impresa epica!

"Quando siamo entrati nell'euro era un trionfo, poi è diventato un problema" e "la colpa è del governo", "gli italiani lo sanno". Lo ha detto il leader dell'Unione Romano Prodi durante il confronto tv con il premier.

Un miracolo!

PRODI, ABBASSEREMO CUNEO FISCALE SENZA INTACCARE PENSIONI

Amen!

"L'ho detto e lo confermo, nel primo anno abbasseremo il cuneo fiscale di cinque punti e nessuna pensione sarà intaccata". Lo afferma il leader dell'Unione Romano Prodi durante il confronto televisivo con il presidente del Consiglio Silvio Berlusconi. Il Professore assicura che, sempre e comunque, sarà preservato il potere d'acquisto delle persone che hanno redditi bassi.

Tradotto: indovinate un po'?

PRODI, E' NECESSARIO RIPRISTINARE ETICA DEL DOVERE

Dai?

"E' necessario ripristinare l'etica del dovere per tutti i cittadini italiani.

Un'etica mazziniana? Ho indovinato?

Quando eravamo noi al governo, ogni tre mesi che guardavamo il consuntivo delle imposte, senza variare minimamente il tasso di imposte, arrivavano più soldi del previsto, perché noi le imposte le facevamo pagare". Lo dice Romano Prodi nel corso della sfida tv con Silvio Berlusconi.

"Arrivavano più soldi!" Da dove?

BERLUSCONI, EURO INTRODOTTO CON TROPPA FRETTA

"L'Euro è stato introdotto con troppa, senza tenere le altre monete in corso per un po'". Lo ha sottolineato Silvio Berlusconi rispondendo ad una domanda sull'aumento dei prezzi a causa dell'introduzione della moneta unica.

Credito? Bolla? Tassi? Chi se ne frega? Parliamo d'altro!

BERLUSCONI, UNIONE USA PRODI COME FRONT MAN

"Per il professor Prodi è difficile, certe volte, dare assicurazioni, perché ha una coalizione non solo rissosa, ma che lo usa come front man". Lo afferma il presidente Silvio Berlusconi durante il confronto televisivo con il leader dell'Unione Romano Prodi, spiegando che i leader del partito più forte del centrosinistra "non sono presentabili" perché vengono dal Partito comunista italiano. Il premier fa questo ragionamento tornando sul tema del cuneo fiscale.

PRODI, GOVERNO NON HA ABOLITO IRAP PUR AVENDO 5 ANNI DI TEMPO

"Il governo, pur avendo 5 anni di tempo, non ha abolito l'Irap: se fosse stata una imposta cosi' disgraziata l'avrebbe potuta cambiare ma non e' stato cosi"'. Cosi' Romano Prodi replica a Silvio Berlusconi che aveva attaccato il governo dell' Ulivo per avere istituito l'Irap.

Com'è che questi parlano solo di soldi rubati dalla mattina alla sera?

BERLUSCONI, SU CUNEO FISCALE PRODI SMENTITO DA FASSINO

"Prodi e' stato smentito da Fassino. Il primo ha parlato di abbassare il cuneo fiscale nei primi 100 giorni mentre il segretario dei Ds ha detto in cinque anni". Lo afferma il premier Silvio Berlusconi durante il duello televisivo con Romano Prodi.

Provate in duemila anni, così quando arriva il prossimo Messia gli fate lo sconto!

BERLUSCONI, PRODI VUOL RIDURRE TASSE MA IN PASSATO FECE IRAP

"Prendo atto che Prodi ha annunciato di avere a cuore la riduzione del costo del lavoro. Ma ricordo che ai tempi del suo governo, il suo ministro Vincenzo Visco fece approvare l'Irap, una tassa che esiste solo in Italia, negativa per le aziende, che noi chiamiamo imposta-rapina". Cosi' il presidente del Consiglio Silvio Berlusconi ha risposto alla prima domanda sul fisco, replicando immediatamente a quanto appena affermato dal leader dell' Unione Romano Prodi.

Tasse.

PRODI, NON SI AUMENTANO IMPOSTE PER ABBASSARE CUNEO

"Non si aumentano le imposte per diminuire il cuneo fiscale". Lo dice Romano Prodi durante la sfida Tv con Silvio Berlusconi, ribadendo la volonta' di abbassare di cinque punti le tasse sul lavoro.

Grandi opere.

REGOLE FERREE NON SOLO PER GLI SFIDANTI...

Regole ferree negli studi Rai di via Teulada non solo per gli sfidanti ma anche per i cronisti che seguono la sfida tv in diretta fra Berlusconi e Prodi. I numerosi cronisti giunti per seguire l'avvenimento sono stati tenuti a distanza dai due protagonisti. Un cordone ha impedito a chiunque di avvicinarsi ai due sfidanti che sono entrati senza rilasciare cosi' alcuna dichiarazione. Nessuno e' stato poi ammesso in studio, dove oltre al conduttore e ai due giornalisti in studio non e' presente nessun altro, se non i due portavoce Paolo Bonaiuti e Silvio Sircana, 'confinati' pero' dietro un pannello nello studio di Porta a Porta, ristrutturato per l'occasione.

Tasse. Grandi opere. Servizio civile.

UNDICI CRONOMETRI A SCANDIRE IL TEMPO IN STUDIO

Box interattivi.

Non ci sara' il rischio per Berlusconi, Prodi e per i giornalisti in studio di sforare i tempi rigidamente regolati per il match televisivo. Sono undici, secondo quanto si apprende, i cronometri sparsi nello Studio 5, che ospitera' il primo faccia a faccia tra i leader dei due schieramenti. Tre timer sono posizionati sul tavolo in plexiglas dietro al quale saranno seduti il moderatore del dibattito Clemente Mimun e i due giornalisti Marcello Sorgi e Roberto Napoletano. Anche i due sfidanti, Berlusconi e Prodi, avranno un cronometro sistemato sui braccioli delle poltrone bianche sulle quali siederanno, e posizionate di fronte al tavolo. Un altro cronometro e' stato sistemato sulla parete alla sinistra del tavolo; scandirà il passare dei minuti anche un timer posizionato sotto ognuna delle cinque telecamere fisse che riprenderanno i vari protagonisti della sfida tv.

Tasse.

BERLUSCONI GIUNTO NEGLI STUDI DELLA RAI

E' giunto alle 20.56 il presidente del Consiglio Silvio Berlusconi negli studi Rai di via Teulada per la sfida tv con il leader dell'opposizione Romano Prodi. Il premier, arrivato pochi minuti prima dell'inizio della trasmissione (prevista in diretta alle 21.15), e' accompagnato dal sottosegretario e portavoce Paolo Bonaiuti e dal consigliere Valentino Valentini. Fino all'ultimo momento il premier (vestito con un abito scuro, camicia azzurra e cravatta scura anch'essa) ha letto dei fogli nell'auto blindata che l'ha portato a via Teulada. Il Cavaliere, come prima di lui il Professore, e' stato accolto dal direttore delle direzioni istituzionali della Rai Pierluigi Malesani.

Quote.

PRODI ARRIVA PER PRIMO A STUDI RAI

Alle 20,15 il leader dell'Unione Romano Prodi e' arrivato nella sede Rai di via Teulada, dove nello studio 5 affrontera' alle 21 il presidente del Consiglio Silvio Berlusconi per il primo faccia a faccia televisivo. Accompagnato dagli stretti collaboratori Richi Levi e Silvio Sircana, il Professore e' entrato in auto nel cortile della Rai blindatissimo e off limits per giornalisti e fotografi, costretti a stare dietro le transenne. Prodi, vestito grigio scuro e cravatta blu, e' apparso sorridente e, dopo aver lasciato il cappotto in auto, e' entrato negli studi televisivi. La sicurezza e' garantita con la massima cura, con auto della polizia e agenti schierati fuori dalla Rai.

Integrazione, tasse, quote, grandi opere.

SU RAI NEWS 24 IN REPLICA, DIRETTA SU INTERNET

Anche su Internet si potra' seguire stasera la sfida tra Silvio Berlusconi e Romano Prodi, sul portale Rai.it, a cura di Rai Net. Al termine si potra' rivedere l'intero programma che sara' reso immediatamente in video-on-demand. La trasmissione sara' poi replicata su Rai News 24, come tutti gli altri dibattiti televisivi elettorali previsti dalla Commissione di Vigilanza Rai. Questa notte, dopo il notiziario della mezzanotte, Rai news 24 alle 00,20 trasmettera' il primo appuntamento con Berlusconi e Prodi della serie di cinque previsti fino a quello del 3 aprile.

Badombe> Quando si parla di tasse?

Dopo le Grandi Opere.

Badombe> Prima o dopo le quote?

Prima ti devi integrare.

Badombe> Quando la bolla fa il botto cosa dirà il governo?

Che è colpa a) del governo precedente b) degli arabi cattivi c) dei comunisti.

Badombe> E i bambini fanno ohhh...

(source)Israel adviser switches to top FO job

The British Foreign Office has appointed a controversial Israeli government adviser to one of its most sensitive posts as head of the legal department.

Ma che strano?

Advice from Daniel Bethlehem QC in 2002 to the then Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, led Israel to block a UN inquiry into the battle of Jenin. The Israeli refusal to cooperate was widely condemned at the time by various human rights organisations.

Mr Bethlehem, who was Israel's external legal adviser, also took the lead for the Israeli government at the International court of justice in The Hague in 2004 to defend the barrier being built along the West Bank. Israel lost the case.

The Foreign Office said: "Our view is Mr Bethlehem has had a distinguished career in international law, including acting on behalf of the UK government in a number of international proceedings. He has also acted for or against a number of other states. His experience in this area equips him strongly for this job."

The legal team 45-year-old Mr Bethlehem will head challenged the legitimacy of pre-emptive action in the run-up to the Iraq war, and the deputy head of the team, Elizabeth Wilmshurst, resigned just before the invasion.

He will have to advise Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, on a host of issues ranging from Guantánamo Bay to the legality of any pre-emptive strike against Iran.

Betty Hunter, spokeswoman for the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said yesterday the group would write to Mr Straw. "We are appalled that the Foreign Office is employing someone who has a very distinct bias."

The job was advertised last October. On his appointment, the Foreign Office published a lengthy CV listing 27 international disputes in which he has been involved but omitting Jenin.

Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, ordered an inquiry into Jenin after the Palestinians claimed there had been human rights abuses on a grand scale. The Israeli government insisted that the heavy casualties - on both sides - had been the result of the ferocity of the Palestinian defence of the town.

Mr Sharon initially agreed to cooperate with the UN inquiry. But days later the Israeli government changed its mind after advice from Mr Bethlehem.

Mr Bethlehem, a specialist in international law at Cambridge University, warned in a memo for the Israeli government that if the inquiry's findings "uphold the allegations against Israel - even on a poor reasoning - this will fundamentally alter the dynamics of the Israeli-Palestinian leadership and may make it impossible for Israel to resist calls for an international force, the immediate establishment of a Palestinian state and the prosecution of individuals said to have committed the alleged acts."

In the memo, a copy of which was leaked to the Israeli daily Ha'aretz, Mr Bethlehem said the seriousness of the inquiry should not be minimised and that "for all practical purposes, Israel is faced with a war crimes investigation".

The question mark over his involvement in Jenin was raised with the Guardian by a British lawyer, who requested anonymity. Another lawyer, Philippe Sands QC, who knows Mr Bethlehem well, said: "He is a first-class international lawyer and an individual of impeccable integrity. Some may say he has a conservative disposition but he is independent and very much his own man."

A pointer to Mr Bethlehem's view on attacking Iran can be found in his evidence last year to the Commons foreign affairs committee. Although an Israeli pre-emptive strike on an Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak in 1981 was judged to be illegal, a good case could have been made for it both then and now, he said.

Backstory

Israel launched a huge offensive into the West Bank in spring 2002 after a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings. The attack on Jenin began on April 3 and there were heavy casualties on both sides. The Palestinians claimed there had been widescale human rights abuses, denied by Israel. The UN launched an inquiry and Israel initially agreed to cooperate. After a few days, Israel made a surprise, and at the time mysterious, turnaround, saying it had decided to withdraw its cooperation. The inquiry team interviewed Palestinians but was denied access to Israelis. The inquiry, in its final report, concluded there had been no massacre by Israel.

(source)Scientists aim to regenerate soldiers' lost limbs

PITTSBURGH - Like no war before, the war in Iraq has seen unprecedented numbers of injuries due to surprise bomb attacks.

Ne valeva la pena, per esportare la democrazia e cercare le WMD.

And like no other war before, troops are often surviving those attacks, though many of them lose limbs or suffer severe burns. That has led researchers to create the Soldier Treatment and Regeneration Consortium with the goal of growing back body parts, like ears and fingers, and treating burns.

Researchers say the advancements could have a broad impact well beyond the battlefield. The consortium, which includes the backing of the military, received $1 million in funding from the federal government last week.

"It's a starting point and it will enable us to get organized and prepare and hopefully treat one or two patients this year and generate clinical experience," said Alan J. Russell, director of the University of Pittsburgh's McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine and executive director of the Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative.

The new consortium's five-year goal is to create a fully functioning finger.

For about five years, researchers at the Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative have been running the National Tissue Engineering Center, a Defense Department-supported institute that strives to improve the survival of those with life-threatening injuries.

But the need for speedier developments became apparent as American military forces became injured in Iraq, Russell said. According to the Department of Defense, 6 percent of the more than 16,000 soldiers wounded in Iraq have required amputations.

"The need is very, very easy to see unfortunately," Russell said.

Other partners in the effort include the Texas-based U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and the North Carolina-based Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Russell said at least one patient has already been identified as a candidate for some of the procedures that researchers are pursuing. Those procedures include delivering certain kinds of molecules in a powdered form to injured body parts in hopes that the body will begin to heal itself, and growing certain tissues outside of the body that later can be put inside the body.

Dr. Anthony Atala, director of the Wake Forest center, said it's already possible to create some simple body tissues. He said the key will be learning how to combine those smaller tissues to form something larger, such as a finger or an ear.

Atala said the best option for amputees right now is prosthetics, which have come a long way.

"There are good options, but obviously, there's no better option than having your own tissue," Atala said.

Non l'avremmo mai immaginato...

(source)Car parts smuggled from Israel to Iraq

By Yaakov Katz and JPost Staff

Sicurezza al confine:

Stolen car parts are being smuggled out of Israel into Jordan, and from there are shipped to Iraq, the police's anti-car theft unit Etgar has discovered.

Etgar recently cracked one of the car parts smuggling rings and stopped five shipments on their way to Jordan. Following the discovery, security forces decided to put an end to the transfer of replacement car part via border crossings, Army Radio reported.

In December, citing a drastic increase in car thefts, Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra announced the reestablishment of the Etgar unit. Etgar was initially established in 1998 but was dismantled at the beginning of 2004, due to cuts in the police's operational budget, after police succeeded in lowering the number of car thefts from 40,000 to 25,000.

Ezra said that there was a connection between the lull in terror attacks and the recent increase in car thefts. The Trans-Israel highway or Road 6, Ezra added, assists car thieves in quickly transporting stolen cars from one part of the country to another part.

'Once the car is stolen in the North it can be found within less than an hour in a chop shop in the South,' he said. The main reason for the reestablishment of the unit was the partnership the police struck with the National Insurance Association, in which the NIA has agreed pay for 40 percent of the unit's budget. The other 60% will be funded by the police and the Treasury. 'Without the National Insurance Association we would not have been able to establish the unit,' Ezra admitted.

'The police, as everyone knows, have budget problems and we are constantly struggling with our list of priorities according to the money we have. Our [in]ability to solve every problem is problematic.'

But the funding was not the only reason Ezra decided to reestablish the unit. In 2005 over 34,000 cars were stolen - close to 10,000 more than the last year - 2003 - that the unit was operational. The insurance companies admitted that they have a financial interest in establishing the unit. 10,000 stolen cars, they said, costs them NIS 500 million - a lot more than the 40% of the unit's budget.

Head of the National Insurance Association Moni Bar said that the wave of car thefts has brought several car rental companies to the brink of bankruptcy.

'When the unit was dismantled two years ago there was a drastic increase in the number of stolen cars,' Bar said. 'With its reestablishment we are confident that it will succeed in continuing to lower the number.'

(source)Perché non potrebbe liberarsi?

Ancora il nostro emetico eroe:

Si parla spesso di rendere il servizio militare volontario come già avviene in molti paesi del mondo. Si parla poco invece di rendere obbligatorio il servizio civile sia per gli uomini che per le donne. Un anno della propria vita da dedicare alla comunità: croce rossa, cooperazione internazionale, assistenza anziani, recupero territorio...

Se non si formeranno i cittadini allo svolgimento di mansioni utili per tutti, inevitabilmente si dovrà tornare a rendere obbligatorio il sevizio militare ovunque, perchè l'unico futuro possibile sarà la guerra. Ci spiace per i pigri e le svogliate, però se proprio qualcuno non lo volesse fare,

Sentite questa, lo schiavo che compra la libertà:

perchè non potrebbe liberarsi attraverso una penale corrispondente al doppio o al triplo del valore del lavoro che avrebbe dovuto prestare?

Perché invece non vai a farti fottere?

Se proprio non vuoi, puoi sempre pagare una penale.

(source)Minimum Credit Card Payments May Hurt Bank

By Joe Bel Bruno, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK - Making the minimum payment on your credit card bill might not be as easy as it used to be - and two of the nation's largest banks say their own finances might suffer as a result.

Both Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. said in recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that delinquencies and charge-offs might spike in the second half of the year. That's when the banks believe new federal guidelines that require significantly increased monthly minimum payments will begin to hurt customers already struggling to pay bills.

The new requirements imposed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency - which regulates banks and some credit card companies - are designed to help customers avoid getting deeper into debt.

E se lo dice lui...

However, a new spate of defaults as customers adjust to the new minimums could hurt profit at the nation's card issuers - especially those that cater to borrowers with weaker credit.

"Banks will not only have increased losses, but reduced revenue as well," said Lehman Brothers analyst Jason Goldberg. "For some customers, the banks will have to reduce interest payments in order to keep them from defaulting. There's a bit of uncertainty because it's hard to predict human behavior."

Banks have instituted the new minimum balances at a time when American families continue to reel from credit card debt. The Federal Reserve said last month in its survey of consumer finances that 46.2 percent of all families now carry a credit card balance - up from 44.4 percent in 2001.

Meanwhile, consumers are also carrying higher balances - with the mean balance growing to $5,100 from $4,400 in 2001, according to the report. The median income is currently $43,200 and the typical family's credit card balance is now almost 5 percent of their annual income, according the Fed said.

The new guidelines require credit card issuers to charge an amount that includes not just the outstanding fees and finance charges, but at least 1 percent of the principal owed. This could cost JPMorgan and Citigroup each about $500 million of losses and lost revenue this year, Goldberg said.

Citigroup, the nation's largest financial institution with about $120.32 billion in revenue last year, has more than 130 million credit card accounts. The majority of its card holders pay more than the minimum due, but the bank didn't have a specific breakdown available, according to Citigroup spokesman Samuel Wang.

At JPMorgan, which has more than 110 million credit card accounts and posted about $80 billion of revenue last year, customers were required to make the new minimum requirements at the end of 2005. Prior to the change, about 10 percent of its overall customers were making only the minimum payment, said JPMorgan spokesman Paul Hartwick.

Bill Hardekopf, chief executive of credit card Web site Lowcards.com, said many of the credit card companies will be affected as consumers move to consolidate their cards.

He believes most consumers will get over the "sticker shock" of being forced to make higher payments, and the amount of defaults will lessen as months go by.

"The new minimums could be very beneficial to credit card companies because they'll get their money quicker, but it could become very expensive if it has the effect of driving more consumers into bankruptcy," he said. "It's too early to tell, but this won't hurt the big boys as much as it will hurt the subprime lenders."

Subprime lenders have a higher incidence of charge-offs and delinquencies, and charge customers higher interest rates because they are deemed less credit worthy. Some of the bigger public companies that have large subprime businesses include issuers such as Capital One Corp. and Providian Financial Corp.

The actual impact of the new minimum payments won't be known for a few quarters, analysts said. In fact, JPMorgan said in its filing with the SEC that it expects the first six months of the year to see sharply fewer bankruptcies as a result of new laws that went into effect.

Credit card companies were besieged by losses stemming from a surge in consumer bankruptcies in the fourth quarter. Banks reported a sharp increase in loan charge-offs amid a rush of consumer bankruptcy filings prior to the Oct. 17 change in the nation's bankruptcy law, which made it more difficult for consumers to discharge their debts.

(source)The sun is going away, but don't panic...

ABUJA (Reuters) - The Nigerian government, anxious to avoid a repeat of riots that marked a solar eclipse in 2001, warned citizens they may suffer "psychological discomfort" during a new eclipse this month but urged them not to panic.

Information Minister Frank Nweke said an eclipse five years ago caused riots in northern Borno state because people did not know why it happened.

"Some people even felt some evil people in their communities were responsible for the eclipse," he said in a statement on Thursday aimed at reassuring Nigerians that the eclipse is expected to darken parts of the country on March 29.

"The eclipse is not expected to have any real damaging effect, only social and psychological discomforts are envisaged," Nweke said.

He did not explain what the discomforts might be.

Badombe> "In 15 to 25 years, we will put Nigerians into space. We will get there and we are not going to be found wanting." -- Olusegun Obasanjo

E se lo dice lui...

(source)Documents reveal Labor-Likud plans for West Bank

By Akiva Eldar

Highly confidential documents from the Ministry of Justice dating from the early 1990s, copies of which were sent to the ministers of defense, justice and housing as well as the attorney general, confirm the existence of a vast network of ties between Likud and Labor governments, and land dealers and settlers' associations, for the purpose of acquiring land in the West Bank.

The documents were presented to the High Court of Justice during the hearings for petitions submitted by residents of Bilin and the Peace Now organization against the construction of hundreds of apartments on village lands and against the route of the fence that bisects them.

In a highly confidential letter sent in November 1990 to the coordinator of activities in the territories, Plia Albeck, who was in charge of the civil department of the State Attorney's office, wrote that "because this area was apparently purchased by the Hakeren company, and it therefore hold the rights to this area and because it asked from the supervisor of government property to manage it, then this area is apparently government property," even though the senior representative of the Ministry of Justice is not convinced that Hakeren indeed purchased this land legally, and as proof thereof she inserts the word "apparently" twice, she permits the area to be declared "government property."

Albeck asks to maintain complete confidentiality claiming that the revelation of the deals may endanger the sellers' lives. It should be noted that one of the parties to this deal was land dealer Shmuel Einav, who's name was linked during Aryeh Deri's trial to a big land deal in the Har Shmuel neighborhood adjacent to Jerusalem, where Palestinian lands were obtained with the aid of falsified documents.

(source)Donald Rumsfeld makes $5m killing on bird flu drug

By Geoffrey Lean and Jonathan Owen
Published: 12 March 2006

Donald Rumsfeld has made a killing out of bird flu. The US Defence Secretary has made more than $5m (£2.9m) in capital gains from selling shares in the biotechnology firm that discovered and developed Tamiflu, the drug being bought in massive amounts by Governments to treat a possible human pandemic of the disease.

More than 60 countries have so far ordered large stocks of the antiviral medication - the only oral medicine believed to be effective against the deadly H5N1 strain of the disease - to try to protect their people. The United Nations estimates that a pandemic could kill 150 million people worldwide.

Britain is about halfway through receiving an order of 14.6 million courses of the drug, which the Government hopes will avert some of the 700,000 deaths that might be expected. Tamiflu does not cure the disease, but if taken soon after symptoms appear it can reduce its severity.

The drug was developed by a Californian biotech company, Gilead Sciences. It is now made and sold by the giant chemical company Roche, which pays it a royalty on every tablet sold, currently about a fifth of its price.

Mr Rumsfeld was on the board of Gilead from 1988 to 2001, and was its chairman from 1997. He then left to join the Bush administration, but retained a huge shareholding.

The firm made a loss in 2003, the year before concern about bird flu started. Then revenues from Tamiflu almost quadrupled, to $44.6m, helping put the company well into the black. Sales almost quadrupled again, to $161.6m last year. During this time the share price trebled.

Mr Rumsfeld sold some of his Gilead shares in 2004 reaping - according to the financial disclosure report he is required to make each year - capital gains of more than $5m. The report showed that he still had up to $25m-worth of shares at the end of 2004, and at least one analyst believes his stake has grown well beyond that figure, as the share price has soared. Further details are not likely to become known, however, until Mr Rumsfeld makes his next disclosure in May.

The 2005 report showed that, in all, he owned shares worth up to $95.9m, from which he got an income of up to $13m, owned land worth up to $17m, and made $1m from renting it out.

He also had illiquid investments worth up to $8.1m, including in partnerships investing in biotechnology, issuing reproductions of paintings, and operating art galleries in New Mexico and Wyoming. He also has life insurance with a surrender value of up to $5m, and received up to $1m from the DHR Foundation, in which he has assets worth up to $25m, and $773,743 from the Donald H Rumsfeld Trust, in which he has assets of up to $50m.

Late last week no one at Gilead Sciences was available to comment on Mr Rumsfeld's sale of its stock. In a statement to The Independent on Sunday the Pentagon said: "Secretary Rumsfeld has no relationship with Gilead Sciences, Inc beyond his investments in the company. When he became Secretary of Defence in January 2001, divestiture of his investment in Gilead was not required by the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Office of Government Ethics or the Department of Defence Standards of Conduct Office.

"Upon taking office, he recused himself from participating in any particular matter when the matter would directly and predictably affect his financial interest in Gilead Sciences."

(source)British soldier quits army in Iraq over "illegal" US tactics

LONDON, March 12 (Xinhuanet) -- A Special Air Service (SAS) soldier from Britain has refused to fight in Iraq and left the Army over the "illegal" tactics of United States troops and the policies of coalition forces.

Ben Griffin, 28, who spent two years with the SAS, told his commander after staying three months in Baghdad that he was no longer prepared to fight with American forces, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

He said he had witnessed "dozens of illegal acts" by U.S. troops, which he claimed regarding all Iraqis as sub-human. Many innocent civilians were arrested in night-time raids and interrogated by American soldiers, imprisoned in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison, or handed over to the Iraqi authorities and "most probably" tortured, he added.

"I did not join the British Army to conduct American foreign policy," said the soldier.

This is the first time an SAS soldier has refused to go into combat and quit the Army on moral grounds, said the report.

Griffin also noted that he now believed that Prime Minister Tony Blair and the British government had repeatedly "lied" over the war's conduct.

The move not only marks an end to Griffin's eight-year career with the Parachute Regiment but also serves an embarrassment to the government while exerting great impact on other soldiers who have refused to fight.

Coincidentally, a Royal Air Force doctor who has refused to return to Iraq for a third tour of duty on the grounds that the war is illegal will face pretrial on Wednesday.

So far there has been no comment from the Ministry of Defense.

(source)Internet blows CIA cover

By John Crewdson

WASHINGTON -- She is 52 years old, married, grew up in the Kansas City suburbs and now lives in Virginia, in a new three-bedroom house.

Anyone who can qualify for a subscription to one of the online services that compile public information also can learn that she is a CIA employee who, over the past decade, has been assigned to several American embassies in Europe.

E' tutta colpa di Internet: Internet = terrorismo, infatti Bin Laden ha un suo sito, allora occorrono nuove regole.

The CIA asked the Tribune not to publish her name because she is a covert operative, and the newspaper agreed. But unbeknown to the CIA, her affiliation and those of hundreds of men and women like her have somehow become a matter of public record, thanks to the Internet.

When the Tribune searched a commercial online data service, the result was a virtual directory of more than 2,600 CIA employees, 50 internal agency telephone numbers and the locations of some two dozen secret CIA facilities around the United States.

Only recently has the CIA recognized that in the Internet age its traditional system of providing cover for clandestine employees working overseas is fraught with holes, a discovery that is said to have "horrified" CIA Director Porter Goss.

"Cover is a complex issue that is more complex in the Internet age," said the CIA's chief spokeswoman, Jennifer Dyck. "There are things that worked previously that no longer work. Director Goss is committed to modernizing the way the agency does cover in order to protect our officers who are doing dangerous work."

Dyck declined to detail the remedies "since we don't want the bad guys to know what we're fixing."

Several "front companies" set up to provide cover for CIA operatives and the agency's small fleet of aircraft recently began disappearing from the Internet, following the Tribune's disclosures that some of the planes were used to transport suspected terrorists to countries where they claimed to have been tortured.

Bad, bad guys! Cuccia!

Although finding and repairing the vulnerabilities in the CIA's cover system was not a priority under Goss' predecessor, George Tenet, one senior U.S. official observed that "the Internet age didn't get here in 2004," the year Goss took over at the CIA.

CIA names not disclosed

The Tribune is not disclosing the identities of any of the CIA employees uncovered in its database searches, the searching techniques used or other details that might put agency employees or operatives at risk. The CIA apparently was unaware of the extent to which its employees were in the public domain until being provided with a partial list of names by the Tribune.

Unaware, però ci proteggono tutti dagli astuti terroristi islamici.

At a minimum, the CIA's seeming inability to keep its own secrets invites questions about whether the Bush administration is doing enough to shield its covert CIA operations from public scrutiny, even as the Justice Department focuses resources on a two-year investigation into whether someone in the administration broke the law by disclosing to reporters the identity of clandestine CIA operative Valerie Plame.

Not all of the 2,653 employees whose names were produced by the Tribune search are supposed to be working under cover. More than 160 are intelligence analysts, an occupation that is not considered a covert position, and senior CIA executives such as Tenet are included on the list.

Covert employees discovered

But an undisclosed number of those on the list--the CIA would not say how many--are covert employees, and some are known to hold jobs that could make them terrorist targets.

Other potential targets include at least some of the two dozen CIA facilities uncovered by the Tribune search. Most are in northern Virginia, within a few miles of the agency's headquarters. Several are in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah and Washington state. There is one in Chicago.

Some are heavily guarded. Others appear to be unguarded private residences that bear no outward indication of any affiliation with the CIA.

A senior U.S. official, reacting to the computer searches that produced the names and addresses, said, "I don't know whether Al Qaeda could do this, but the Chinese could."

E gli iraniani! E la Siria! E Milos... beh almeno un problema è risolto.

Down on 'The Farm'

For decades the CIA's training facility at Camp Peary, Va., near historic Williamsburg, remained the deepest of secrets. Even after former CIA personnel confirmed its existence in the 1980s the agency never acknowledged the facility publicly, and CIA personnel persisted in referring to it in conversation only as "The Farm."

But an online search for the term "Camp Peary" produced the names and other details of 26 individuals who according to the data are employed there. Searching aviation databases for flights landing or taking off from Camp Peary's small airstrip revealed 17 aircraft whose ownership and flight histories could also be traced.

Although the Tribune's initial search for "Central Intelligence Agency" employees turned up only work-related addresses and phone numbers, other Internet-based services provide, usually for a fee but sometimes for free, the home addresses and telephone numbers of U.S. residents, as well as satellite photographs of the locations where they live and work.

Asked how so many personal details of CIA employees had found their way into the public domain, the senior U.S. intelligence official replied that "I don't have a great explanation, quite frankly."

The official noted, however, that the CIA's credo has always been that "individuals are the first person responsible for their cover. If they can't keep their cover, then it's hard for anyone else to keep it. If someone filled out a credit report and put that down, that's just stupid."

One senior U.S. official used a barnyard epithet to describe the agency's traditional system of providing many of its foreign operatives with easily decipherable covers that include little more than a post office box for an address and a non-existent company as an employer.

Coverts especially important

And yet, experts say, covert operatives who pose as something other than diplomats are becoming increasingly important in the global war on terror.

"In certain areas you just can't collect the kind of information you need in the 21st Century by working out of the embassy. They're just not going to meet the kind of people they need to meet," said Melvin Goodman, who was a senior Soviet affairs analyst at the CIA for more than 20 years before he retired.

The problem, Goodman said, is that transforming a CIA officer who has worked under "diplomatic cover" into a "non-official cover" operator, or NOC--as was attempted with Valerie Plame--creates vulnerabilities that are not difficult to spot later on.

The CIA's challenge, in Goodman's view, is, "How do you establish a cover for them in a day and age when you can Google a name... and find out all sorts of holes?"

In Plame's case, online computer searches would have turned up her tenure as a junior diplomat in the U.S. Embassy in Athens even after she began passing herself off as a privately employed "energy consultant."

The solution, Goodman suggested, is to create NOCs at the very outset of their careers, "taking risks with younger people, worrying about the reputation of people before they have one. Or create one."

Shortage of 'mentors'

But that approach also has a downside, in that "you're getting into the problem of very junior, inexperienced people, which a lot of veteran CIA people feel now is part of the problem. Porter Goss has to double the number of operational people in an environment where there are no mentors. Who's going to train these people?"

In addition to stepping up recruiting, Goss has ordered a "top-down" review of the agency's "tradecraft" following the disclosure that several supposedly covert operatives involved in the 2003 abduction of a radical Muslim preacher in Milan, Italy, had registered at hotels under their true names and committed other amateurish procedural violations that made it relatively easy for the Italian police to identify them and for Italian prosecutors to charge them with kidnapping.

(source)Wiesenthal Center May Move Muslim Graves

Si sentiva proprio la mancanza di un altro museo della tolleranza...

JERUSALEM - The Simon Wiesenthal Center may relocate Muslim graves discovered on the Jerusalem site of its planned tolerance museum in hopes of soothing Muslim anger, a spokesman said Monday.

Idea: perché non colleghi lo scarico del water direttamente alla tomba, per promuovere la tolleranza?

Israeli developers and archaeologists have been removing the tombs to make room for the Los Angeles-based center's multimillion-dollar Museum of Tolerance, dedicated in part to promoting understanding among different religions.

That incensed Muslims, including the city's senior Islamic cleric, Mufti Ikrema Sabri. The site was the main Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem until 1948, when Israel gained independence.

In February, two Arab human rights groups filed a lawsuit in Israel's Supreme Court to stop construction. The court recently ordered the Simon Wiesenthal Center to halt the project and start mediation.

Moving the graves is just one of several options the Wiesenthal Center will present during the next few weeks of mediation, center spokesman Charlie Levine said.

"We are really trying in good faith to work out the situation," Levine said, declining to describe other options being considered.

The Wiesenthal Center has cited rulings by Muslim courts, the most recent in 1964, canceling the sanctity of the site because it was no longer used.

Durgham Saif, a lawyer for the human rights group Karameh, which is involved in the court case, said he did not know about the plans to relocate graves but said moving them would not satisfy the group's demands.

"We have criteria that there is no way to build anything on the cemetery," Saif said. "It's a holy matter."

The graves were discovered during pre-construction excavations at the site, a process legally required before any building project in Israel.

The Wiesenthal Center received the land about five years ago from the city of Jerusalem and was not told the site contained graves, although they knew it was near a cemetery, Levine said.

(source)De Menezes family furious over Met 'sex smear' on son

By Sophie Goodchild, Chief Reporter
Published: 12 March 2006

Scotland Yard was at the centre of a new row over the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes following allegations that he was the suspect in a rape case.

Fammi indovinare: allora hanno fatto bene a sparargli 7 volte in faccia...

It has emerged that the 27-year-old electrician, gunned down by armed officers at Stockwell Tube station, is being linked with a sex attack in London.

Officers have contacted lawyers acting for the dead man's family to ask for permission to examine DNA samples taken after his death. These are understood to be held by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) which has been investigating the shooting and has also been contacted by the Metropolitan Police.

The inquiry is in response to a call, more than six months after the Brazilian's death, from a rape victim who named Mr de Menezes as her attacker.

Sources close to his family have reacted with fury to the allegations. They accuse the Metropolitan police of deliberately leaking the details of the rape inquiry in an attempt to deflect attention from the investigation into the shooting of Mr de Menezes, who was mistaken for a terrorist by armed officers.

His relatives are already pursuing a complaint against Sir Ian Blair, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police who, they allege, misled the public in the wake of the shooting.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is also considering whether to bring charges against the officers involved in the death of Mr de Menezes.

A source told The Independent on Sunday: "This is a deliberate attempt to deflect the blame. First [the police] tried to say he was a terrorist and now this... he is no longer here to defend himself."

Last night, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that inquiries were continuing into the alleged rape, which happened in the West End of London.

The Met said in a statement: "The victim of a rape in the West End more than three years ago contacted us earlier this year and provided the name of a suspect. The name was given as that of Jean Charles de Menezes... and inquiries are continuing."

Mr de Menezes was shot dead by armed officers on 22 July, the day after the failed copycat bombings on the London Underground. Eyewitness accounts of the shooting initially suggested that the Brazilian electrician was a suicide bomber - an impression the police did not try to alter.

Surveillance officers searching for Hussein Osman, who was allegedly involved in the failed bombings, had been staking out the flats in Tulse Hill from which Mr de Menezes emerged.

The Independent on Sunday last month revealed that the IPCC report alleges police tried to fake evidence relating to the killing by altering the police log. According to the report an officer outside the flats wrongly identified Mr de Menezesas Osman and firearms officers were dispatched to stop him. Once it was known an innocent man had been killed, the log was altered so that instead of reading "it was Osman", it read "it was not Osman".

(source)UN war crimes tribunal denies request for Milosevic autopsy in Moscow

BRUSSELS, March 11 (Xinhuanet) -- The U.N. war crimes tribunal saidon Saturday it had denied a request by Slobodan Milosevic's lawyerto have the autopsy of the former Yugoslavia president conducted in Moscow instead of The Hague.

Dai?

A tribunal official also declined to comment on a claim by Milosevic's lawyer that he had been poisoned while in jail.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague on Saturday announced that Milosevic had been found dead on his bed in his cell at the UN detention unit in Scheveningen.

Milosevic, 64, has suffered from high blood pressure and heart problems.

On Feb. 24, the tribunal refused Milosevic's request to be temporarily released to Moscow in order to undergo medical treatment.

In a trial that started on Feb. 12, 2002, Milosevic faced 66 charges of war crimes, including genocide for his role in the Balkan wars following the breakup of the Yugoslav federation in the 1990s.

(source)Pakistan to stand by Iran in case of US aggression

By Saleemur Rahman

KASUR: Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri has said Pakistan strictly opposes any expected US attack on Iran, and will stand by Iran if this extreme step is taken by Washington.

Iranian foreign minister’s statement during his recent visit to Pakistan provides testimony to our policy towards Tehran. Pakistan aspires to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue according to the principles of the IAEA, he added.

Kasuri told newsmen here on Saturday neglecting defence would be a suicide in the present scenario and Pakistan would acquire latest technology and defence equipment at all costs to maintain a balance of power in the region.

The deferred purchase of F-16s has started. This was put on hold only for coping with the situation arising out of the Oct 8 earthquake, he said.

He said Pakistan has categorically told the United States that only the latest version of F-16s would be accepted and has also imposed the condition of transferring their technology to Pakistan.

India has made agreements with Russia, the US and other countries to pile up weapons and this situation has forced Pakistan to consider every option for its survival, he said.

Kasuri said Pakistan is examining the situation carefully and we have taken many steps to counter any situation. The entry into the Asean and improving relationship with the EU are some of these steps, he said.

On the Kashmir issue, Kasuri said Pakistan has shown flexibility and the international community has lauded this step. Due to our efforts, Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus service, visits of Kashmiri leaders from both sides and opening of five points at LoC for the relief of quake victims were made possible, he said.

But all this is unilateral and Pakistan has made it clear to India that this was maximum we can do and Pakistan cannot go beyond this. India will have to soften its stand on Kashmir because this issue could be solved only through reciprocal process, he said.

On the recent OIC summit, Kasuri said inclusion of the Kashmir issue in the Makkah Declaration is the distinctive success of Pakistan and every Islamic country has backed Pakistan on this issue.

He said Pakistan also submitted proposals in the conference to make OIC a viable organisation for resolving all the issues confronting Muslim countries.

All the proposals related to Kashmir, Palestine, taking steps to improve the economic condition of poor Muslim countries and promotion of science and technology have been included in the proposed draft of ten-year action plan approved by the OIC, Kasuri said.

This action plan will come under discussion in the OIC summit to be held in Azerbaijan.

He asked the oppositions to make only positive criticism and not create hurdles in the way of organisations and NGOs doing rehabilitation work.

Responding to a question on Israel, he said Pakistan would not restore diplomatic contacts with Israel till it recognises Palestine as an independent state.

Talking about the purchase of two planes for the president and prime minister, Kasuri said the old planes have been grounded on technical grounds. Both the personalities had to travel on hired planes of PIA which is highly expensive.

About the procedure adopted by the government for the distribution of aid among the quake victims, including their rehabilitation, Kasuri said a transparent method has been devised for this purpose and a website has been established for donors to get updates of all kinds about their donations and their use.

(source)Revealed: How suicide bomber used to work for the Government

By Ian Herbert, North of England Correspondent
Published: 11 March 2006

His raging hatred for the West, in a video justifying the London suicide bombings, has made him seem the most transparent of the four men who detonated bombs in rucksacks and killed 52 others on 7 July.

Sentite questa:

But Mohammad Sidique Khan's extraordinary and rapid transition from law-abiding citizen to terrorist is revealed in documents showing he used to work for the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), helping promote British firms overseas. He also helped Leeds police deal with confrontations between rival gangs of youths.

Leeds education authority's personnel file on Khan, obtained by The Independent under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act, shows details of his work for the DTI's export arm in Yorkshire in the mid-1990s, when Britain was seeking more trade links with Asia.

But the investigations reveal that Khan lied on his CV about the seniority of his role at the DTI, which escaped the Leeds primary school that hired him on the basis of it. But he did help in the government-led drive to get more trade missions off the ground between 1995 and 1996.

Khan prospered as a primary school learning mentor, and his file provides the first real sense of the charisma and empathy with young people which enabled him ultimately to recruit fellow suicide bombers Shahzad Tanweer and Hasib Hussain. But it also charts his sharp decline from 2003. Prolonged absences from school - when it is now known he was visiting Pakistan - were followed by an unexpected failure to return from extended sick leave in 2004.

He was told his pay was being stopped and he sent an undated typewritten letter to the headteacher, Sarah Balfour. "I'm sorry I've not been in touch for a while," he wrote. "A lot has happened in the last few months. There is no definite timeframe to when I will return. We are returning next week. Unfortunately this is a letter of resignation from my post."

Before Khan took his job with the DTI in August 1995, he had been on a trip to the US. Friends said he came back with cowboy boots and a leather jacket, telling his contemporaries he wanted a career in the US. He became an administration assistant with the Benefits Agency, which he said was dull. The DTI offered better prospects.

John Major's Conservative government had just published its Competitiveness White Paper which committed the DTI to boost overseas trade, in Asia among other places. Khan's role did not include "monitoring security" for visits by exporters to overseas British embassies, as he said on his CV. But his fluency in Urdu and Punjabi may have made him optimistic about his prospects of moving beyond his relatively lowly position.

Khan left to study at Leeds Metropolitan University in September 1996, and took a 2:2 in business management, his file reveals. He clearly believed his vocation lay in steering disenchanted youths away from crime. He took paid youth and community work from Leeds council while finishing his degree and juggled a job at a petrol station in Ilkley, West Yorkshire.

The youth work was for a Saturday club affiliated to Leeds Community School, itself linked to the Iqra bookstore where police later found DVDs glorifying terrorism.

He wrote on his school job application: "As a youth worker I have had extensive experience in managing difficult children. I was approached by a member of the community who told me in confidence [that] his younger brother had been suspended from school and his parents were extremely upset. I began... a discussion with the child [and] met his parents at their house and the situation was [resolved]."

Khan also detailed a "potentially dangerous" confrontation at a school. "I have an excellent rapport with the youth [community] so... I targeted the ringleaders and spoke to them, calming them down and offering sympathy as well as empathy.

"We then approached the teachers and as a large group casually walked together up Beeston Hill which [defused] the situation." Associates of Khan have confirmed his role as an interlocutor between police and youths.

Khan also described his interventions in the case of a young heroin addict, his help in getting excluded children back into school and how he arbitrated in a dispute between rival gangs. "I feel patience and understanding comes through experience and maturity," he wrote. "I constantly analyse society and speak to people regarding current issues. I consider my ability to empathise with others and listen to their problems as well as offer viable solutions to be one of my strong assists."

Hillside Primary was obviously impressed, giving Khan several extensions to an initial £200-a-month contract. He also drove the school minibus.

Mrs Balfour, wife of the Labour MP John Trickett, valued him and allowed him paid special leave. "He was great with the children and they all loved him," she has said. "He did so much for them, helping and supporting them and running extra clubs and activities."

Khan's handwritten notes, which seem to be a part of his appraisals, reveal more. "I'm energetic, I [look for a] way of bettering things," he wrote. "Can build up trust and rapport with disillusion, understanding and empathy."

Khan clearly became disenchanted with the modest form of Islam practised by his father, Tika Khan, and stepmother, Mamida Begum. But in 1999 he had started frequenting the mosque. His file shows the process to radical Islam had started by 2002, a year after he joined Hillside. He began taking leave on religious grounds.

He took more than two weeks in January/February 2002 for "Muslim religious obligation, Haj, pilgrimage" and a similar period for "religious observances" the next year. From November 2003, he took 18 months, costing his employer an estimated £6,000.

But the sharp decline came in September 2004 when he was signed off sick, first for three days, then a further 10 days, a further three weeks and another three weeks. He is believed to have cited depression.

On 9 December 2004, after 10 weeks of absence began, Mrs Balfour told her personnel department in an "urgent" memo: "Sidique Khan should have provided the school with a sick note from November 22. Despite several letters reminding him of the school's sickness-reporting procedures he has failed to provide a sick-note. I request you to stop [his] pay."

Three days before, Khan had flown to Pakistan via Istanbul with Shahzad Tanweer. A week later, they took a train to Lahore then Faisalabad, and disappeared, Pakistani security officers said. They surfaced in Britain on 8 February.

MI5 believes they met Muslim extremists during the visit. Khan died, killing seven others, when he detonated his bomb at Edgware Road station on 7 July.

The life of Mohammad Sidique Khan

* October 1974 Born, Leeds

* 1994 Works first for Benefits Agency, then DTI (1995), then learning mentor at Hillside Primary (2001)

* 2001 Upsets father and stepmother by marrying a girl of Indian-Muslim descent, Hasina Patel, whom he met at Leeds Metropolitan University

* 2003 Establishes gyms in Beeston, radicalising young British Muslims. Periods of absence from Hillside

* July 2004 Introduced to government minister Hilary Benn during school tour of Commons. Is also subject of routine MI5 threat assessment after his name crops up in an investigation; check not pursued

* September 2004 Begins long sick leave

* November 2004 Travels to Pakistan with Tanweer to prepare for London attacks

* July 2005 Bombs Edgware Road Tube station

(source)L'allegro angolo dei post-it

E' dovere di ogni devoto cittadino partecipare alla vita politica del paese, anzi volevo dire villaggio. Ma che dico? Quartiere.

Per fortuna il sito di Rifondazione Comunista accetta contributi per la campagna elettorale sotto forma di allegri post-it, ecco quindi l'occasione buona per mettere alla prova la loro capacità di discernimento consapevole prima della pubblicazione.

Al primo tentativo, si riesce ad infilare un ricco riferimento alle leggi speciali, a Ben Ladeen (sarà sfuggita la sottile ironia?) e alla USS Liberty: tre palle in buca!

Al secondo tentativo, si riesce pure ad infilare un ricco riferimento ai liberi muratori (qui l'ironia dev'essere sicuramente sfuggita.)

Al terzo, abbiamo le tasse globali e solidali, la moneta di carta straccia e le bombe sotto l'egida dell'ONU, che purtroppo risultano incomplete a causa della scarsa impaginazione.

Evviva!

Nel quarto, abbiamo i prezzi calmierati dal governo (pronto? c'è nessuno?) ed altre leggi speciali assortite.

Infine, abbiamo un riferimenti circolare tra mondialismo globale e globalismo mondiale (toc toc? McFly?), ed un ironico accenno alla banca centrale.

Purtroppo i suggerimenti più divertenti non sono passati, per chissà qualche strano e curioso motivo...

(dehe!)

(source)Poison claim over Milosevic death

Former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic claimed the day before he was found dead that he was being poisoned.

Milosevic, 64, who was on trial for war crimes, was found dead in his prison cell at the UN detention centre near The Hague.

A UN spokesman said he had died of natural causes.

Milosevic's lawyer, Zdenko Tomanovic, said: "I informed the Russian embassy on behalf of Mr Milosevic about his claims that his health was being wilfully destroyed, and that this should be (investigated) by the Russians."

Tomanovic told reporters at The Hague that he had now filed an official request to the tribunal for the autopsy to be carried out in Moscow.

The death of former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic does not absolve Serbia of responsibility to hand over war crimes suspects from the Balkan wars of the 1990s, the European Union said.

"Politically for Belgrade, the death of Milosevic does not alter in any way the need to come to terms with the legacy of the Balkan wars," said Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency.

Croatian President Stipe Mesic said: "It is pity he didn't live to the end of the trial to get the sentence he deserved."

The tribunal said Milosevic's family had been informed of his death.

His wife, Mirjana Markovic, who was often accused of being the power behind the scenes during her husband's autocratic rule in the 1990s, has been in self-imposed exile in Russia since 2003.

His son, Marko, also lives in Russia, and his daughter, Marija, lives in Serb-controlled half of Bosnia.

(source)Claims Of Poisoning Raise Stakes Of Milosevic Autopsy

PRAGUE, March 11, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- An autopsy has been ordered on former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic, the so-called "butcher of the Balkans" being tried for war crimes, after he was found dead today in his prison cell. He was 64.

Dutch television reports that forensic experts will examine the body at the Dutch Forensic Institute in The Hague on March 12. A Serb doctor despatched by the Serbian government will reportedly attend the autopsy.

The UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague says that there are no indications that Milosevic committed suicide and believes that he died of natural causes. Milosevic suffered chronic heart ailments and high blood pressure.

However, Milosevic's lawyer, Zdenko Tomanovic, said that his client had feared that he might be poisoned, comments that will fuel speculation in Serbia and Montenegro about the death of the country's former president. The deputy head of Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia, Milorad Vucelic, has already blamed the tribunal for Milosevic's death, saying its decision to reject his request for treatment in Russia had killed him.

The Milosevic family has said it does not trust the UN tribunal to conduct the autopsy impartially.

Chief UN war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte said she regretted Milosevic's death because she believed she would have won his conviction.

"I regret deeply what happened, first of all, because after more than three years of trials, we are reaching the end of the trials by the beginning of this summer, and I think that it is regrettable for all witnesses, for all survivors, for all victims, [who] are expecting justice, but we must expect now the result of the autopsy to see what is the cause of death," Del Ponte said.

Milosevic had been on trial since February 2002, defending himself against 66 counts of crimes, including genocide, in Croatia, Bosnia, and Kosovo. He was the first sitting head of state ever to be indicted for such crimes.

Supporters in Milosevic's homeland declared his death a "huge loss," while citizens of Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo said his death brought some justice to his victims.

The European Union, which has been urging Serbia and Montenegro to do more to capture the fugitive wartime leaders of the Bosnian Serbs Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, said that Milosevic's death does not relieve Serbia of its responsibility to continue to hand over war crimes suspects.

The U.S. administration called Milosevic "the principal figure responsible for the violent dismemberment of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, including the outbreak of two horrific wars in Bosnia and Kosovo," and said that it continues to support the work of the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague.

(source)"Una morte imprevista non escludo il suicidio"

L'AJA - Morte naturale o suicidio?

C'è una vasta scelta!

Un infarto nella notte o una manciata di pillole inghiottite per farla finita col processo? Un caso da archiviare senza problemi o un grande giallo internazionale? Alle nove di sera il chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, rientrata a precipizio da qualche giorno di vacanza in Svizzera, dopo un lungo summit con i vertici del tribunale e con i suoi sostituti, esprime amareggiata la sua prima valutazione: "Potrebbe averci lanciato la sua ultima sfida. E se si fosse suicidato?".

E se l'avessero rapito gli alieni, lasciando il corpo ma non l'anima immortale? E se l'avessero portato su Vega?

E' un'ipotesi forte: che cosa la fa propendere per l'idea che Milosevic si sia tolta la vita?
"Abbiamo avuto, soltanto la settimana scorsa, un caso di suicidio. In cella è morto Babic, un serbo della Croazia.

Che sfortuna!

E prima di lui se n'era ammazzato anche un altro, giusto poco prima della sentenza.

Che grossa sfortuna!

Non sarebbe quindi la prima volta che uno dei nostri accusati preferisce la morte alla condanna.

Una sfortuna globale.

Sappiamo per certo dalle cure mediche e da tutti gli accertamenti cui Milosevic era costantemente sottoposto che il suo stato di salute era monitorato di continuo, ma che lui era comunque in grado, e del resto lo aveva anche detto in aula, di ricevere ulteriori controlli anche da medici di Belgrado. E' ben strano dunque, anche se tutto è ovviamente possibile, che sia morto improvvisamente senza che gli stessi medici abbiano percepito un improvviso aggravamento".

Vuole dire che le verifiche erano così accurate da escludere un decesso improvviso?

"Non sono un medico ma penso che i check up e le cure continue avrebbero dovuto quantomeno segnalare un pericolo imminente. Un'allerta del genere, invece, non c'è mai stata. Peraltro, nelle ultime udienze osservando Milosevic, non ho notato anomalie. Tutt'altro. L'ex presidente serbo sfoggiava la sua solita grinta e la sua decisa avversione contro il tribunale".

Strano, vero?

E perché, secondo lei, Milosevic si sarebbe dovuto uccidere?

"Il processo era nella fase conclusiva. Gli erano rimaste solo 40 ore di udienza per terminare le audizioni dei suoi testi a difesa. Poi sarebbe toccato di nuovo all'accusa e avrei pronunciato la mia requisitoria. Prima dell'estate il processo sarebbe finito. Secondo le nostre valutazioni si sarebbe chiuso con una condanna alla reclusione a vita. Forse ha voluto evitare tutto questo".

Non si poteva suicidare dopo la condanna, era troppo complicato?

E come mai la moglie Mira Markovic vi accusa di averlo ucciso e il suo avvocato belgradese Tomanovic parla di avvelenamento in cella?

Perché sono brutti e serbi?

"Sono reazioni assurde.

Ti saluta Gary Webb.

Le condizioni di detenzione nel carcere di Scheveningen sono in assoluto le migliori che si possano ipotizzare. Nessuno si è mai lamentato. Anzi, i detenuti stessi riconoscono le molte attenzioni positive di cui sono oggetto. Milosevic, che aveva scelto di difendersi da solo, godeva poi di alcuni privilegi legati a questo stato particolare".

In che modo questo esclude l'avvelenamento?

E cioè?

"Aveva un suo ufficio dove riceveva i suoi consulenti legali e i testimoni che preparava per le audizioni in aula".

Ma questo non esclude un possibile avvelenamento.

Eh!

"In carcere, Milosevic veniva considerato e trattato da tutti come il "presidente", il suo vecchio status era tuttora riconosciuto. Inoltre, c'era molta attenzione nel preparargli i pasti, né erano possibili contatti anomali. E poi la sua morte è un gravissimo danno per la giustizia internazionale".

L'avrà fatto apposta per danneggiare la giustizia internazionale, il bastardo.

Non sarebbe stato meglio, quando lui ve l'ha chiesto prima di Natale, mandarlo in Russia per alcune cure mediche?

"La Corte ha deciso negativamente dopo aver assunto diversi pareri di specialisti, ritenendo che tutto quello di cui Milosevic aveva bisogno gli veniva già garantito nella prigione dell'Aja. La Corte aveva anche espresso il timore che l'ex presidente potesse non tornare più da Mosca per continuare e finire il processo".

Insomma, lei non ha alcuno scrupolo per questa morte?

"Scrupoli? Io sono arrabbiatissima.

Fagli causa!

Stamattina, quando mi hanno avvisato per telefono, lì per lì non volevo neppure crederci. Mi sembrava impossibile che tanti anni di lavoro, di energie, di minuziosi accertamenti, di continui ostacoli da superare improvvisamente fossero svaniti nel nulla. In un attimo tutto si è perso. Il processo Milosevic non c'era più.

E neanche Milosevic: è quasi una magia.

Come procuratore mi sono resa conto che non avrei più potuto finire il processo più importante della mia vita. Sei anni e mezzo di duro lavoro e di rinunce vanificati. Come rappresentante delle migliaia di vittime che chiedono giustizia da anni mi sono ritrovata all'improvviso a mani vuote. La morte di Milosevic rappresenta per me una sconfitta totale".

Piango.

Sta forse pensando che avevano ragione i suoi detrattori ad accusarla di aver messo in piedi una macchina complessa, con tempi troppo lunghi?

"No, non ho avuto assolutamente alcun ripensamento. Neppure oggi. Se avessi la possibilità di tornare indietro rifarei esattamente tutto quello che ho fatto. Imposterei le mie indagini e il mio atto di accusa proprio nello stesso modo. Milosevic per me era responsabile di 66 capi di accusa con centinaia di migliaia di vittime uccise nell'arco di dieci anni in Croazia, Bosnia e Kosovo.

Del resto, il processo è andato avanti perché i giudici hanno condiviso la mia impostazione. Io non ho mai avuto come obiettivo solo la condanna, ma l'accertamento dei fatti, della verità di quanto è successo, così come tante volte i sopravvissuti mi hanno chiesto con le lacrime agli occhi".

E adesso invece che cosa succederà?

"Il processo purtroppo è finito. Il presidente del tribunale ha ordinato un'inchiesta interna che dovrà stabilire le cause della morte.

Fammi indovinare: suicidio.

Milosevic verrà riconsegnato alla famiglia non appena gli accertamenti saranno terminati. Però il tribunale continua la sua attività perché i crimini dei quali doveva rispondere Milosevic riguardano anche altri responsabili politici e militari.

Speriamo che non siano depressi.

Non posso certo dimenticarmi che i principali responsabili del genocidio di Srebrenica Karadzic e Mladic sono tuttora in fuga".

Saranno in Iran?

Lei non smette mai i suoi panni di "cattiva", neppure oggi. Se dovesse raccontare ai suoi nipoti chi era Milosevic che cosa direbbe?

"Era un uomo assetato di potere. Non ha mai esitato, per mantenerlo, ad avvalersi di mezzi illegali.

Allora è in ottima compagnia.

Purtroppo, con la sua morte, non si arriverà mai a un giudizio definitivo sulle sue gravissime responsabilità".

Come no? Ci sono le prove e l'inchiesta per la verità continua... (no?)

(source)History Now Will Be Milosevic's Judge

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - One of history's most important trials has ended abruptly with the death of former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic. After four years, hundreds of witnesses, tens of thousands of documents and tens of millions of dollars, Milosevic can never be pronounced guilty or innocent.

Come sta Saddam? Tutto bene? Respira ancora?

The trial's premature conclusion also raises questions about the conduct of tribunal judges who made key decisions that led to an exhausting, expensive five-year process.

"That's $200 million down the drain" said Michael Scharf, a former State Department attorney and an expert in international criminal law.

As in previous cases with the death of a defendant, the indictment was to be withdrawn.

"The proceedings will be terminated," tribunal spokeswoman Alexandra Milenov said.

Milosevic, 64, who was extradited to The Hague in June 2001, was found lifeless in his bed early Saturday at the U.N. detention center. He had been defending himself against 66 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo during the 1990s.

"It's a huge setback for justice," said Richard Dicker, legal adviser of Human Rights Watch. "Most of all, it's a setback for the victims."

Chief U.N. war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte said she regretted Milosevic's death because she believed she would have won his conviction.

According to the schedule dictated by the court, he had only a few weeks to go before winding up his defense and handing over the massive case to the three judges to begin their deliberations.

"Sfortuna!"

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia was created in 1993 to try those responsible for atrocities during the Balkan wars then raging. It was the first experiment in international war crimes jurisprudence since World War II, and was the model for the creation of more tribunals.

But the success of the court was being weighed by the happenings in Courtroom I, where the defiant, combative Serb leader sparred with witnesses and judges alike.

His victims and former enemies lamented their lost chance to hear the verdict of impartial judges.

"Justice was late," said Hashim Thaci, the leader of ethnic Albanian armed insurgency against Milosevic's forces in 1998-99 in Kosovo's capital Pristina. "God took him."

The possibility of his death before the trial's conclusion was the trial judges' nightmare. With his history of chronic heart problems, frequent flu attacks, late nights preparing his defense and the stress of the courtroom, Milosevic was always at high risk.

"Milosevic came from Belgrade with a heart problem, so they knew from the beginning they would have this problem. The problem was, it was impossible to change course part way through" and still be fair to both sides, said Heikelina Verrijn Stuart, a Dutch lawyer who has closely followed the trial.

Last year, the judges suggested splitting the Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo cases so that at least one could be completed quickly. Both Milosevic and the prosecutors objected, and the idea was dropped.

The judges also imposed a court-appointed legal team for Milosevic. Sensing his spotlight in history and the chance to grandstand for his home audience in Serbia, he refused to even speak to the two British attorneys. Ultimately, they withdrew.

The judges "were deathly afraid that they would try him to death. And they did. That's exactly what happened," said Scharf, director of the Frederick K. Cox International Law Center at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

In hindsight, the legal experts said, the judges made a series of mistakes. They should not have allowed an ailing man to defend himself, they should not have agreed to join the three indictments into a single case and they should not have isolated Milosevic from other defendants facing the same charges.

If others had been in the dock, the case would have continued.

Milosevic "ended up cheating history.

Bastardo dentro, eh?

One of main purposes of the tribunal was to create a historic record of atrocities and of who was responsible that would pierce years of propaganda," Scharf said.

The testimony and much of the records in the Milosevic case are still available to prosecutors to use in other war crimes trial and for scholars.

Mi raccomando, leggete tutto in fretta prima che salti fuori la legge speciale in tema.

More than 70 defendants are currently involved in court proceedings.

Those records also are being cited heavily in another U.N. court, the International Court of Justice, which is hearing a civil suit by Bosnia against Serbia for genocide - the first time a state has been put on trial for humanity's worst crime.

The evidence coming out at the two courts "is helping to build an indisputable record of criminality," said Dicker of the New York-based Human Rights Watch.

"It would have been far better to have a verdict handed down by the tribunal on Milosevic's responsibility," said Dicker. But "history has already passed its verdict on Slobodan Milosevic's role and responsibility."

Per fortuna Dio se l'è portato via e la Storia l'ha giudicato, così siamo sicuri che non gli scappi una parola di troppo al processo...

(source)Due ore di guerriglia urbana

MILANO - Milano come Genova durante i G8. Duecento-trecento giovani dell'ala più dura dei centri sociali hanno messo a ferro e fuoco il centralissimo corso Buenos Aires per contestare la manifestazione programmata nel pomeriggio dai neofascisti della Fiamma Tricolore.

Scarafaggi contro topi: chi vincerà?

Sono state due ore di tensione e guerriglia: vetrine infrante, auto e moto incendiate, edicole date alle fiamme, palazzi anneriti dal fumo, barricate nelle strade. E' stato assaltato e distrutto un punto elettorale di An. Una bomba carta, caricata a chiodi e bulloni, è esplosa all'angolo con Viale Regina Giovanna e Viale Tunisia. I fermati sono 45 e nove (5 poliziotti e 4 carabinieri) sono gli uomini delle forze dell'ordine rimasti feriti.

"Corso Buenos Aires sembrava Beirut", come ha testimoniato un commerciante. Tutto è cominciato poco prima delle 12, quando gli autonomi si sono raccolti all'altezza di piazza Lima, a metà di Corso Buenos Aires. Secondo quanto riferito dalle forze dell'ordine, i dimostranti appartenevano a tre centri sociali: l'Orso, il Vittoria e il Transiti.

I duri hanno dato il via alla violenza. Caschi o passamontagna scuri sulla testa, bastoni o spranghe in mano, hanno infranto le vetrine, ribaltato i cassonetti della spazzatura, spaccato le fioriere in cemento per ricavarne pietre da lanciare. Hanno aggredito la pattuglia di una 'gazzella' dei carabinieri e dato fuoco a una catasta di materiale raccolto al centro della strada.

Quattro auto, una moto e un'edicola sono state carbonizzate dal fuoco appiccato dalle bottiglie molotov. I pompieri sono stati costretti a far evacuare il palazzo vicino all'edicola. Ridotto in cenere un punto elettorale di An allestito in un negozio. Le fiamme erano così alte che hanno lambito i piani superiori e i negozi vicini: un altro stabile è stato sgomberato e la facciata è rimasta quasi completamente annerita.

Gli agenti con le maschere antigas hanno accompagnato lontano gli inquilini: i bambini piangevano, la gente fuggiva terrorizzata. La Polizia ha sparato i lacrimogeni, poi ha ordinato la carica e isolato i manifestanti più violenti. Questa volta la gente però non è scappata. Erano una trentina, milanesi che abitano nel quartiere, altri che erano andati in Corso Buenos Aires per vedere di persona ciò che stava accadendo. Si sono gettati su cinque giovani e voleva linciarli. Tiravano pugni e gridavano: "Ammazzateli; lasciateli a noi; per comprare case e auto dobbiamo fare sacrifici di anni e questi distruggono tutto".

Un atteggiamento stigmatizzato dal ministro dell'Interno Giuseppe Pisanu.

Quello che ci protegge dagli arabi cattivi?

"Capisco l'indignazione dei cittadini, ma non posso condividere la reazione fisica. La forza legittima dello Stato è solo in mano ai carabinieri e alla polizia, che garantiscono la sicurezza".

Badombe> Che garantiscono la...

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!

Speriamo che la prossima volta il negoziante di turno non interpreti in modo più creativo la legge sulla legittima difesa.

Dopo la carica, molti degli autonomi si sono dispersi e la vampata di violenza è andata poco alla volta spegnendosi. Non così la polemica sull'accaduto, in una crescendo di accuse e controaccuse alimentato dal clima preelettorale. "Mi auguro - ha detto ancora il ministro dell'Interno - che ora i magistrati confermino gli arresti". In corso Buenos Aires, i commercianti hanno programmato per giovedì sera una fiaccolata contro la violenza.

Ah ecco, con la solita fiaccolata del cazzo siamo tutti a posto.

La manifestazione della Fiamma Tricolore tanto contestata, si è svolta nel pomeriggio, come voleva il programma, ma il timore che potesse riesplodere la guerriglia si è mostrano vano: centinaia di simpatizzanti dell'estrema destra si sono radunati in Piazza San Babila per cantare Faccetta nera e gridare slogan a favore del Duce ("Viva il Duce") e contro Fini ("Fini boia, Fini boia"). Ma il corteo si è sciolto nel tardo pomeriggio senza altri disordini.

E due parole sull'affitto usuraio non le vogliamo aggiungere, così poi tiriamo lo scarico?

Saluti romani e inni al Duce

MILANO - Nessun incidente, ma tanti slogan fascisti, saluti romani e alla fine anche il coro "viva il Duce". Si è svolta così oggi a Milano la manifestazione della Fiamma Tricolore, formazione di estrema destra alleata della Casa delle Libertà, contro la quale era stato organizzato in mattinata il "presidio antifascista" degli autonomi sfociato nei gravissimi disordini di Porta Venezia.

Il corteo neofascista composto da qualche centinaio di persone si è svolto senza tensioni, accompagnato da un massiccio schieramento di forze dell'ordine. "La Fiamma Tricolore ha dato dimostrazione di stile, sfilando oggi, alla faccia dei democratici come il signor Fiano", ha detto il segretario nazionale del Ms-Fiamma, Luca Romagnoli, riferendosi alla polemica sollevata nei giorni scorsi dall'esponente della comunità ebraica milanese contro la manifestazione. Alcune settimane fa avevano fatto scalpore infatti le affermazioni negazioniste di Romagnoli sull'uso delle camere a gas nei campi di concentramento nazisti.

Lievemente monotematico? Andiamo avanti a rompere i coglioni per i prossimi duecento anni, oppure dopo la guerra nucleare ci prendiamo una breve pausa?

Dal palco nel pomeriggio ha preso la parola anche il leader del disciolto Movimento Politico Occidentale, Maurizio Boccacci. "Ecco il saluto fascista - ha detto Boccacci facendo dal palco il saluto romano - Ora mi denuncino per apologia del fascismo. Ne sono orgoglioso".

Ecco il saluto multiculturale:

Badombe> Pijombe 'Ngulu, Kojomba!

La piazza ha risposto con analogo saluto, al grido di "viva il Duce".

Badombe> "WC NET è in rete! Per risolvere i problemi di igiene e cura del bagno e degli scarichi. Tanti consigli utili e curiosità sull'intera gamma dei prodotti WC NET, il tuo esperto del bagno."

Quando si dice la Provvidenza. Si può ordinare il disincrostante in formato napalm?

Come usare WC NET

Farti risparmiare tempo, offrirti soluzioni efficaci, pratiche e sicure per l'igiene del bagno e la manutenzione degli scarichi è la specialità di WC NET.

Tu devi solo applicare il prodotto, seguendo le istruzioni per l'uso e le avvertenze specificate per ciascun prodotto. Poi sarà WC NET a lavorare per te.

Tutti i prodotti acidi sono in genere incompatibili con le candeggine.

Badombe> Che sfortuna!

Oltre all'obbligo di legge, previsto per la commercializzazione dell'ipoclorito di sodio, di riportare in etichetta l'indicazione di non miscelare i diversi prodotti, Bolton Manitoba ha scelto, per tutelare i propri consumatori, di inserire indicazioni analoghe anche per tutti quei prodotti acidi che specularmente non devono venire a contatto con l'ipoclorito di sodio.

WC NET Fosse Biologiche e WC NET Scarichi Domestici, non devono essere utilizzati insieme ad altri prodotti a base di acidi, mentre un uso moderato di candeggina non compromette la loro efficacia.

Riuscirà il libero mercato ad inventare una soluzione opportuna?

Badombe> E' un mistero misterioso!

(source)Would eavesdropping bill snag reporters?

WASHINGTON - Reporters who write about government surveillance could be prosecuted under proposed legislation that would solidify the administration's eavesdropping authority, according to some legal analysts who are concerned about dramatic changes in U.S. law.

But an aide to the bill's chief author, Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, said that is not the intention of the legislation.

"It in no way applies to reporters - in any way, shape or form," said Mike Dawson, a senior policy adviser to DeWine, responding to an inquiry Friday afternoon. "If a technical fix is necessary, it will be made."

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the draft of the legislation, which could be introduced as soon as next week.

The draft would add to the criminal penalties for anyone who "intentionally discloses information identifying or describing" the Bush administration's terrorist surveillance program or any other eavesdropping program conducted under a 1978 surveillance law.

Fines of up to $1 million, 15 years in jail Under the boosted penalties, those found guilty could face fines of up to $1 million, 15 years in jail or both.

Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, said the measure is broader than any existing laws. She said, for example, the language does not specify that the information has to be harmful to national security or classified.

"The bill would make it a crime to tell the American people that the president is breaking the law, and the bill could make it a crime for the newspapers to publish that fact," said Martin, a civil liberties advocate.

DeWine is co-sponsoring the bill with Sens. Olympia Snowe of Maine, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. The White House and Republican Senate leaders have indicated general support, but the bill could face changes as it works its way through Congress.

Existing U.S. law makes it a crime to disclose classified information to an unauthorized person, generally putting the burden on government officials to protect the information.

But a special provision exists to provide added protections for highly classified electronic - or "signals" - intelligence. That would include U.S. intelligence codes or systems used to break them.

Government officials potential targets

David Tomlin, the AP's assistant general counsel, said government officials with security clearances would be potential targets under DeWine's bill.

"But so would anyone else who received an illegal disclosure under the proposed act, knew what it was and deliberately disclosed it to others. That's what some reporters do, often to great public benefit," he said.

Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said the language would allow anyone - "if you read a story in the paper and pass it along to your brother-in-law" - to be prosecuted.

"As a practical matter, would they use this to try to punish any newspaper or any broadcast? It essentially makes coverage of any of these surveillance programs illegal," she said. "I'm sorry, that's just not constitutional."