World

NOVANEWS Most Yemenis See al-Qaeda Presence as ‘Myth’ November 4, 2010 History of Fake Attacks Cement Belief Saleh Govt Using AQAP as Excuse by Jason Ditz, November 03, 2010 “The truth is there is no al-Qaeda.” Such a comment rarely finds currency in a nation’s popular consciousness but in Yemen, home to what the CIA calls the most dangerous of al-Qaeda’s many affiliates (al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP), it is all too common. For some AQAP is just a cynical excuse for the Saleh government to get increased foreign military aid from the US and others. Other Yemenis, particularly in the south, see it as an excuse to attack separatist groups that have nothing to do with international terrorism. It isn’t naivete on the part of Yemenis, however, but a natural function of the ...

NOVANEWS   02 Nov 2010 By Joseph El-Khoury Yesterday night I came face to face with Saad Hariri for the first time. I had shaken hands in a past life with his late father more than 12 years ago and was looking forward to draw a comparison between father and son. The Lebanese Embassy in London provided the backdrop to an evening reception where the banking industry was overrepresented. Having sampled the canapés and exchanged opinions on the resilience of the Lebanese economy, they laid down their glasses to clap in their hero as he appeared past a group of heavily botoxed ladies. A friend pointed out that Saad Hariri looked a defeated man. Perhaps I thought! I rather found that his tone, posture and demeanour still revealed a degree of discomfort in his role, despite the 5 years of ex...

NOVANEWS November 2, 2010 by crescentandcross Foiled Bomb Plot Heightens Talk of Putting Elite U.S. Squads in CIA Hands  By JULIAN E. BARNES And ADAM ENTOUS WASHINGTON—The foiled mail bombing plot by suspected al Qaeda militants in Yemen has added urgency to an Obama administration review of expanded military options that include putting elite U.S. hunter-killer teams that operate secretly in the country under Central Intelligence Agency authority. View Interactive Officials said support was growing both within the military and the administration for shifting more operational control to the CIA—a move that would allow the U.S. to strike suspected terrorist targets unilaterally with greater stealth and speed.  Allowing the U.S. military’s Special Operations Command un...

NOVANEWS Hanan al Samawi, woman busted in Yemen for role in cargo plane bomb plot, was ‘set up’: lawyer October 31, 2010 by crescentandcross  By Michael Sheridan DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER October 31st 2010,   AP Yemeni female students protest the arrest of female computer engineering student Hanan al-Samawi, 22, a student of the University of San’a, at the gate of the campus of the university. Dubai Police Photo shows parts of alleged bomb sent to Chicago synagogues. A woman busted in Yemen for sending explosives through the mail targeting Chicago synagogues was set up, her lawyer said on Sunday. According to NBC News, Hanan al Samawi‘s lawyer claims she was nabbed by authorities because her telephone number was on the packages loaded with explosives. However, the attorney ar...

NOVANEWS October 30, 2010 by crescentandcross  Officials Insist No Cargo Planes Even Left Yemen in Last 48 Hours by Jason Ditz, October 29, 2010 With the eyes of the world on Yemen and officials pointing the finger squarely at the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) group based in the nation’s south, Yemen’s government is cautioning against jumping to conclusions, and denying that the bomb plot packages came from Yemen at all. “No UPS or DHL cargo packages heading to Chicago through Yemen took place in the last 48 hours,” insisted Yemenia Airways’ Air Cargo Director Mohammed Shaibah. Officials with the nation’s Civil Aviation Authority insisted that ono US cargo aircrafts left the nation at all in the past 48 hours. All reports have indicated that the packages were marked as hav...

NOVANEWS Ankara’s National Security Council names Israel as central threat to Turkey’s security for first time since 1949, fails to mention Iran, Syria. Turkey’s already tense relations with Israel continued their apparent downward spiral on Saturday as Channel 10 reported that a central Ankara policy paper defined Israel as a central threat to Turkey’s security, blaming Jerusalem’s policies for destabilizing the entire region. A banner featuring a picture of Turkey PM A banner featuring a picture of Turkey PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan outside a souvenir shop in Gaza City outside a souvenir shop in Gaza City, June 6, 2010. Photo by: AP Tensions between Israel and Turkey peaked earlier this year, following a deadly Israeli raid aboard a Turkish aid ship sailing to Gaza in at...

NOVANEWS October 30, 2010 by crescentandcross  ANKARA, Turkey, Oct. 26 (UPI) — Turkey’s intelligence establishment has severed working ties with Israel’s Mossad, further proof of strained relations between the countries, officials said. A report in the Sabah newspaper quoted officials as saying the two agencies that once enjoyed close cooperation have stopped exchanging intelligence and conducting joint operations. High-ranking Israeli officials privy to the matter neither confirmed nor denied the Turkish report and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s office refused to comment, Haaretz reported Tuesday. In June, Israeli security officials expressed concern on the appointment of Hakan Fidan to lead Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization. Fidan, a close associate of Prime Minister Re...

NOVANEWS by Michael Leon The road leading to Khyber Pass, Salem-News.com - Photo by Tim King By Zahir Ebrahim for Veterans Today and Salem-News.com (CALIFORNIA) – The BBC News reported on October 06, 2010 that ‘Nato contractors ‘attacking own vehicles’ in Pakistan’. It stated in its carefully worded “limited hangout”: ‘Nato supply convoys travelling through Pakistan to Afghanistan have regularly come under attack in the past, but following Pakistan’s decision to block their route through the Khyber Pass, they now face an even bigger security threat. Hundreds of tankers and trucks have been left stranded on highways and depots across Pakistan, with little or no security. Taliban militants have regularly been targeting the convoys, even when they are heavily protected. But many believe it i...

NOVANEWS http://www.democracynow.org/2010/10/27/acclaimed_indian_author_arundhati_roy_faces AMY GOODMAN: We turn to the award-winning Indian author Arundhati Roy, facing possible arrest in Indian on sedition charges after recent comments she made about Kashmir. Earlier today, an Indian politician from the right-wing BJP party filed a written complaint against Roy after she publicly advocated for Kashmir independence and challenged India’s claim that Kashmir is a, quote, "integral part of India." The area of Kashmir has been at the center of a decades-long dispute between India and Pakistan. Arundhati Roy made the comment at a conference organized to call on India to formally admit that Kashmir is an internationally recognized dispute. If charged and convicted of sedition, Arundhati Roy ...

NOVANEWS Turkish group slams Netanyahu’s praise of Gaza boat raid October 29, 2010 by crescentandcross ANKARA (AFP) – A Turkish rights group denounced Wednesday the praises showered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the naval commandos whose raid on a Gaza-bound aid boat killed nine Turks. “Netanyahu’s insolence has no limits,” Bulent Yildirim, head of the Islamic charity IHH (Foundation of Humanitarian Relief), which owned the boat in question. “Killing innocent and defenceless people is not heroic,” he added. On Tuesday, Netanyahu lauded the commandos’ action as “vital, necessary, legal and of the utmost importance,” during a visit to their base near the Israeli city of Haifa. The deadly May 31 raid that killed the Turkish activists and left scores injured sparked inter...