Iraq’s Abu Ghraib jail break!

A manhunt is underway in Iraq for hundreds of convicts, including senior al Qaeda terrorists, who broke out of Abu Ghraib prison after a military-style raid to free them, authorities said on Monday.

Between 500 to 1,000 prisoners have escaped as a result of the attack, “most of them were convicted senior members of al Qaeda and had received death sentences," said Hakim Zamili, a senior member of the security and defense committee in parliament.

Suicide bombers drove cars with explosives into the gates of the prison on the outskirts of Baghdad on Sunday night, while gunmen attacked guards with mortar fire as well as rocket propelled grenades.

Other militants held the main road, fighting off security reinforcements sent from Baghdad, as several insurgents wearing suicide vests entered Abu Ghraib on foot to help free the inmates.

Ten policemen and four militants were killed in the fighting, which continued until early Monday, when military helicopters arrived to help regain control.

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101 East : Into Patani

Published on 28 Jun 2013 : More than 5,000 people have been killed in Thailand's restive southern provinces since 2004. The deadly insurgency is shadowy and shapeless. Attacks often come with no formal demands, causing a vicious circle of violence between Malay-Muslim separatist groups and death squads backed by security forces. The innocent live in fear of the next hit. No government in this predominantly Buddhist nation has been able to get a grip on the unrest, despite measures ranging from brutal to conciliatory. Unprecedented high-powered peace talks this year were supposed to signal hope, yet the killings escalated. How will it stop?

Protesters Call for Ouster of Thai Prime Minister

The group which calls itself ‘V for Thailand’ has already organized three mass assemblies in Thailand’s capital this month demanding the ouster of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Wearing white Guy Fawkes masks, protesters have decried the alleged corruption in the government.

So far, the group has only managed to gather more than a thousand people in Bangkok although it claims it has strong support in many provinces.

Yingluck is the younger sister of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who is convicted of plunder. Her critics accuse her of being a puppet of her brother.

In recent years, various groups have organized massive street rallies which made a huge impact on Thai politics. Among the big groups are the Yellow Shirts (anti-Thaksin and pro-monarchy) and Red Shirts (mostly pro-Thaksin).

Ecuador has received asylum request from NSA whistleblower Snowden - FM Patino

 

 Two cars of the embassy of Ecuador in Moscow are parked outside the terminal where Edward Snowden, the former contractor for the U.S. National Security Agency, is believed to have landed in Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, June 23, 2013.(Reuters / Maxim Shemetov)

The former CIA contractor, Edward Snowden, has asked Ecuador for political asylum, the country’s foreign minister, Ricardo Patino Aroca, wrote on Twitter. The whistleblower is now in Moscow after fleeing Hong Kong in a bid to elude US extradition.

Ricardo Patiño Aroca @RicardoPatinoEC

The Government of Ecuador has received an asylum request from Edward J. #Snowden

12:35 утра - 24 июня 2013

1 085 ретвитов 139 избранных

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Snowden Eludes Extradition, Boards Flight to Moscow on Route to Undisclosed Destination

Kimberly Paxton |  Activist Post

With the aid of the whistleblowing organization, WikiLeaks, Edward Snowden has left Hong Kong and is on a circuitous journey to an undisclosed location.

Hong Kong has not complied with the US’s extradition order, which requested that they detain Snowden and transfer him to the custody of American officials, who would take him back to the United States to stand trial for espionage, theft, and conversion of government property.

The HSKAR Government issued a statement on the situation:

Mr. Edward Snowden left Hong Kong today (June 23) on his own accord for a third country through a lawful and normal channel. The US Government earlier on made a request to the HSKAR Government for the issue of a provisional warrant of arrest of Mr. Snowden. Since the documents provided by the US Government did not fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law, the HSKAR Government has requested the US Government to provide additional information so that the Department of Justice could consider whether the US Government’s request can meet the relevant legal conditions. As the HSKAR Government has yet to have sufficient information to process the request for a provisional warrant of arrest, there is no legal basis to restrict Mr. Snowden from leaving Hong Kong. 

The HSKAR Government has already informed the US Government of Mr. Snowden’s departure.

China to build huge canal across Nicaragua

Published on 14 Jun 2013 : A Chinese company has been granted permission to build a multi-billion dollar canal across Nicaragua. Once completed, it will link the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and compete with the Panama Canal for lucrative shipping fees. And as Adam Raney reports, it could be a windfall for the impoverished country.

Bilderberg Conference Convenes

Heery Kravis, head of KKR, an “equity acquisition firm,” and king of the LBO game. Few represent the capitalist disease as well as Kravis.

On June 5, the London Evening Standard headlined “No minutes, no press conferences – just the world’s power brokers chewing the fat on the issues of the day. It’s the Bilderberg conference – and it’s coming to a suburb near you.”

Cageprisoners launches campaign against airport harassment.

Cageprisoners launch website to detail the human misery behind “Schedule 7” stops at British airports and to campaign for reform.

At an event in central London last night, attended by around 100 people, Cageprisoners launched Schedule7stories.com.

Schedule 7 was introduced as part of the 2000 Terrorism Act and gives the police the right to stop and search people at airports, to fingerprint them and take their DNA, and to hold them for up to 9 hours without legal representation.

More than 70,000 people were stopped and questioned under the Schedule 7 law last year and although most of them were white a hugely disproportionate number were ethnic minorities or Muslims. And the most intrusive and humiliating searches were conducted on those of “Muslim appearance.”

Schedule 7 victims

A civilized divorce in Russia.

Putin and wife announce divorce.

Published on 7 Jun 2013 : Russian President Vladimir Putin and his wife, Lyudmila, have announced their divorce after 30 years of marriage. The Putins made the statement on state television after attending a ballet performance at the Kremlin.

Making fun of 'stiff upper lips'?

What kind of Asian are you?

Ecuador airport moved to avoid fatal crashes

Published on 19 Feb 2013 : Pilots landing in Ecuador's capital must weave around hills and buildings - diving sharply to reach the runway. During its 53 years of operation, there have been more than a dozen fatal accidents here - with planes either crashing near the airport, or skidding off the runway. But these days are almost over, the airport in the heart of the capital is closing and a new airport 44km away from Quito begins operations on Wednesday.

Germany's Geographic Challenge.

Published on Feb 18, 2013 : Stratfor examines Germany's need to maintain territorial unity inside the country and preserve a balance of power across Europe.

Nigeria's airplane graveyards

Published on 7 Feb 2013 : Nigerian transport authorities are trying to change the image of their airports. Many travelers complain about the lack of proper facilities and customer care. In fact, at some of the country's airports, travelers will come across veritable graveyards of damaged and abandoned planes.

Growing wealth gap are building in communist Cuba as well.

Not spring in Cuba yet -  Published on Feb 6, 2013 : Complaints about a growing wealth gap similar to those in many of the world's struggling economies are building in communist Cuba as well.This is in spite of reforms by the Raul Castro government, trying to tweak the one-party island's socialist model, to raise living standards.Economic growth last year was a nominal 3.1 percent, falling slightly short of the goal, which this year is 3.7 percent.

Castro has pried up the lid slightly on private initiative. The government still controls four-fifths of the economy, but it has given some 400,000 Cubans a small business licence; More restaurants are popping up around Havana, for instance. The government has promised to expand the range of activities people can try their hand at.

But it is not spring in Cuba yet.

It is hoped a new cornucopia measure to allow unused land to be cultivated will bear fruit, since the revolutionary island cannot grow enough to feed itself.Cuba still has to import 80 percent of what it eats, and that consumes 30 percent of its hard currency, valued at 1.3 billion euros per year.

In a country where the government has controlled wages and prices, and rationed commodities since 1959, some income gaps have narrowed.But even while recent social reforms have improved housing availability for instance, Odlanieris Cordero, a theatre wardrobe manager in the capital cannot get by on the monthly 20 euros she earns. Her husband working in Europe sends money home.

Cordero said: "I can't imagine what life would be without his help."

Cuba did distribute wealth more evenly, though old money and people in politics and the army enjoyed more of it. But there is a fear that the egalitarian ideal is dying.The editor of Temas magazine, Raphael Hernández, warned: "A growing income differential is a concern for everybody. It's a concern for the majority of Cubans. It's a concern for the government. But the question of different salaries, different incomes is part of what is accepted today in Cuba. This is not a classless society. This is not a uniform society anymore."

The most daring reform, some say, is liberalising property. If you owned a place, it used to be illegal to sell it. You could only trade it for another one. Not any more. But today it is almost impossible to buy unless a Cuban has some kind of income advantage over others. As market practices creep in and prices rise, those who can keep up are in a small minority.

A whistle-blower in the house?

Julian Assange runs for Australian Senate

Published on Feb 5, 2013 : Julian Assange is no stranger to controversy and this time the whistleblower is making headlines for a different reason. Australia has confirmed that the WikiLeaks co-founder is running for office. Assange has made a name for himself for exposing government secrets, but now he seeks a senate seat as a member of the WikiLeaks Party. So does candidate Assange have a fighting chance to infiltrate the political world?