China: Olympic terror plot foiled

China is ramping up security ahead of the Beijing Games.

BEIJING, China (CNN)

24/07/08

Police in China have “cracked” an international terrorist group that was planning to attack Olympic venues in Shanghai, state media reported Thursday.

There were few specific details of group or what it was said to be plotting, with the Xinhua news agency quoting Chen Jiulong, the deputy Shanghai’s Public Security Bureau, saying it had acted on information.

Chinese authorities have previously announced terror crackdowns in the run-up to the Olympic Summer Games, which kick off on August 8 in host city Beijing and other venues including the eastern financial capital of Shanghai.

It said two weeks ago that it disrupted five “terrorist” groups in the predominantly Muslim Xinjiang region in China’s far west because it suspected them of plotting to attack the games.

The six-month crackdown netted 82 suspected terrorists and marked the end to the first phase of China’s Olympic Security Protection, according to Xinhua.

A Human Rights Watch analyst raised concerns that China may be using the Olympics as an excuse to crack down on dissidents.

“It’s clear that the police are simply adding cases of people who they think are engaging in activities that are critical of Chinese rule,” Nicholas Bequelin told CNN.

The government has not produced any evidence of terror plots, and nearly all of the arrests are based on the confessions — sometimes forced — of those detained, he said.

“What the government appears to be doing is to conflate terrorism with criminal acts and other cases of dissent,” he said.

Sudan : Bashir arrest does not have to wait

New Vision, Uganda

24/07/08

South Sudanese president Salva Kiir wants the International Criminal Court (ICC) to delay the indictment of Sudan president Omar el Bashir until the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) with the South has been implemented and a peaceful settlement in Darfur has been reached.

Kiir has a point. Others have even cited ICC’s alleged double standards and the West’s perceived plan to split up Sudan as justification to delay the indictment. But there is another side.

True, Sudan must remain a strong state and peace must return to the South and East. But hinging these to one man’s stay in power is simplistic.

Firstly, the human rights violations in the two regions are partly rooted in the regime’s philosophy. It is defeatist to say those responsible for the problem are the ones with a solution.

Secondly, Bashir is mortal; it is wrong to imagine that Sudan cannot stand without him at the helm. The Government of South Sudan has outlived the signatory to the CPA. The state of Sudan, the CPA and peace initiatives in Darfur can as well outlive Bashir.

If Bashir’s indictment was to wait for peace to return to the two regions, are there guarantees that he would not delay the return of peace so as to delay his own indictment?

Many have complained that international bodies are too slow; that they do too little too late to prevent genocide.

The 1990-94 massacres in Rwanda and those in Bosnia (1992-95) are cited as examples where the UN should have moved against the leaders to prevent more deaths rather than waiting to do post-mortem.

About 17,000 lives could have been saved in Bosnian had Radovan Karadzic (arrested this week) been indicted earlier. How many more people should be killed, starved or raped in Darfur before the ICC can come in?

Nobody would derive pleasure from seeing Bashir behind bars at the ICC. But for ending impunity, preventing more human suffering and sending a warning to other sitting presidents, the ICC should be allowed to do its work.

Ethiopia : killed nine civilians in central Somal….

Independent Online

Mogadishu

24/07/08

Ethiopian forces on Thursday killed nine civilians in central Somalia after coming under attack from insurgents, witnesses said.

The troops, who had been attacked as they were entering their camp in Beledewyne town, 350 kilometres north of the capital Mogadishu, responded by opening fire on civilians, they said.

“We collected nine dead civilians killed by shooting and shelling,” said Mohamed Moalim Adbullahi, an elder.

Beledweyne resident Musa Sheikh Haji confirmed the fatalities that occurred after the insurgents fled the township.

“Seven civilians were shot dead near a bridge in town and two others killed in the shelling of the town,” he added.

Ethiopia sent troops into Somalia in late 2006 to help dislodge Islamists who had taken control of much of south and central Somalia and continues to back the country’s weak transitional government.

The insurgents have vowed to fight on until Ethiopian forces pull out of the troubled Horn of Africa nation that has been wrecked by lawlessness since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. – Sapa-AFP

Kosovo editor fined for naming witness

A man walks past graffiti on a wall reading: ”Kosovo is the heart of Serbia”, in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, July 18, 2008. Russia will help Serbia file an appeal with the U.N.’s International Court of Justice in The Hague against Kosovo’s independence declaration, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic

24/08/07

By MIKE CORDER 

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP)

The Yugoslav war crimes tribunal convicted and fined an award-winning journalist $11,000 Thursday for publishing the name of a witness who testified anonymously in the trial of Kosovo’s former prime minister.

Baton Haxhiu, editor of the daily Kosovo Express, was convicted of contempt of court for endangering the witness and his family. The witness had testified at the trial of former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj under a pseudonym and with his face and voice distorted.

Haradinaj was acquitted of all charges of war crimes allegedly committed in 1998 against Serbs and their supporters in Kosovo. Judges said his trial was overshadowed by repeated cases of witness intimidation.

Haxhiu pleaded not guilty to contempt of court. He argued that the witness’ identity was already known.

Presiding judge Alfons Orie said Haxhiu’s actions undermined confidence in the tribunal’s protective measures and could dissuade witnesses from cooperating with the tribunal.

The editor had faced a maximum sentence of seven years imprisonment and a 100,000 euros ($157,000) fine. He is one of six Kosovo Albanians charged with contempt of court in the trial of Haradinaj and two other defendants, Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj.

Haxhiu previously had appeared at the tribunal as a prosecution witness in two other trials, including the genocide case against former Yugoslav President leader Slobodan Milosevic. Orie said judges took his previous cooperation with prosecutors into account when setting his fine.

In 1999, Haxhiu was honored with an International Press Freedom Award by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, for his impartial reporting of the crisis in Kosovo and for publishing the independent Pristina daily Koha Ditore, despite harassment and death threats.

Only one general among the most senior 38 military officers is black

Image google search ( adalvoice)

Members of the Class of 2009 spend their first day at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y., preparing for the next six weeks of Cadet Basic Training, June 27, 2005. Trips to the barber, the uniform factory and reporting to the cadet first sergeant are all part of the day’s activities. U.S. Army photo by Leslie Gordnier

STARTRIBUNE.COM

24/07/08

WASHINGTON – Blacks have made great strides in the military since it was integrated 60 years ago, but they still struggle to gain a foothold in the higher ranks, where less than 6 percent of U.S. general officers are black.

At a ceremony commemorating the day President Harry Truman ordered the desegregation of the armed forces, military officials and black leaders said the United States must not rest on its laurels. “My hope and expectation is that, in the years ahead, more African-Americans will staff the armed forces at the highest levels,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a crowd that included many black former service members.

While blacks make up 17 percent of the total force, they are just 9 percent of all officers.

The rarity of blacks in the top ranks is apparent in one startling statistic: Only one of the 38 four-star generals or admirals serving as of May was black. And just 10 black men have ever gained four-star rank — five in the Army, four in the Air Force and one in the Navy, according to the Pentagon.

Still, officials this week can point to some historic gains by blacks in the service.

Best known among the four-stars is retired Gen. Colin Powell, who later became the country’s first black secretary of state, under President Bush.

In a stirring salute in the Capitol Rotunda on Wednesday, Powell said that as a youngster in 1948, it never occurred to him that he could rise to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

But when he joined the military 10 years later, “they no longer cared whether I was black or white, immigrant kid or not,” Powell told the crowd. “The only thing my commanders ever told me from 1958 for the rest of my career, is ‘Can you perform?’ And that’s all we have ever asked for.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Oil: What goes up…

Stocks have gained ground in the past two weeks, despite more dreary earnings news, as oil prices have fallen

After months of rising oil prices, crude has finally started to

fall from record levels. Is it possible that oil below $100 and

gas under $4 a gallon are in sight?

By Paul R. La Monica

CNNMoney.com

24/07/08

Okay, not really. At about $124 a barrel, crude is still up substantially from a year ago. But it’s down 15% in just a couple of weeks, and the threat of $150 oil has faded for now.

The stock market has taken notice. Despite some not-so-great news from many banks, stocks overall have rallied.

So why is oil falling? And can it continue to do so?

Talkback: Do you think oil and gas prices have peaked?

There’s a simple answer to the first question: Oil prices are down sharply because oil prices were up sharply.

The spike in oil has hurt consumers around the globe. So demand for oil is finally starting to cool. Oil prices have fallen as a result. And stocks have gained ground.

“It’s a circular phenomenon. Oil prices go up and it affects consumer confidence and stocks go down. When oil goes down, consumer confidence increases and stocks go up. It’s a little bit of a see-saw,” said Brandon Thomas, chief investment officer of Portfolio Management Consultants, investment arm of Envestnet Asset Management in Chicago.

With that in mind, there is a growing sense that oil could keep heading lower.

Some experts think that demand from emerging markets, most notably China, may finally slow down because of how high prices are.

“The ever deteriorating demand picture in the U.S. only seems to be getting from bad to worse and this contagion may even be spreading to China, the dynamo of demand growth,” wrote Nauman Barakat, an energy trader at Macquarie Futures, the trading arm of Macquarie investment bank, in a report Thursday morning.

What’s more, Stephen Schork, editor of oil industry newsletter The Schork Report, pointed out in his Thursday report that the fact that oil is below $125 is an important psychological milestone.

“We closed last night closer to $100 than $150 for the first time in seven weeks. We are closer to double-digit crude oil than some may want to admit,” Schork wrote.

Still, some say that oil will probably need to go below $100 to truly help the economy and convince investors that the recent stock market rally is for real.

“Oil at $125 is heck of a lot better than oil at $145 but it is still way too high,” said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist for PNC Financial Services Group in Pittsburgh.

“I think oil will go down to below $100 over the next six to nine months due to lower demand. And if that happens, stocks should go back up and the economy may avoid a global recession,” Hoffman added.

As for the United States, the most important number to keep an eye on probably won’t be oil but rather the price of gas. With oil heading lower, gas prices have come down too.

According to the latest daily survey from the American Automobile Association (AAA), the average national price of gasoline fell for the seventh consecutive day Thursday, hitting $4.026 a gallon.

So if we can get to a point where the price of gas begins with a 3 and not a 4, that would be significant.

“Consumers are concerned about paying more at the pump. Once you break down below the $4 gallon threshold that might be a real boost,” said Thomas. “That seems to be the psychological barrier for people. If we can get below that it will help the economy overall.”

Hoffman thinks that more declines in the price of oil and gas over the long haul are in the cards but warns that it could still be a bumpy ride for consumers and investors over the next few months.

Supply is the other key part of the oil price equation. So if anything happens to disrupt supply, say a hurricane hitting the Gulf of Mexico or increased tension with Iran, oil prices could spike higher again in the short-term.

“I’m not sure if oil has peaked. It will be a back and forth process and oil probably won’t go straight down,” Hoffman said. “But oil has already done so much damage to the global economy. We are past the point where oil prices were just threatening global economic growth.”

And it goes without saying that a further retreat in oil and gas prices would be a welcome relief for many.

Issue #1 – America’s Money: All this week at noon ET, CNN explains how the weakening economy affects you. Full coverage.

Have you had to raise cash this year for an unexpected expense? We’re looking for people who got the cash by doing one of the following: Took out a home-equity loan, borrowed money from family or friends, borrowed against a retirement account such as a 401(k), sold a life-insurance policy. Is that you?

Drop us a line at realpeople@moneymail.com, and you may be spotlighted in Money magazine and on CNNMoney.com. Please tell us why you needed the cash, how much cash you raised by doing it, when you did it and if you were happy with your decision. Also please include your name, age, city, contact information and a recent family photo.