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Life, Liberty & The Pursuit of Happiness
news & views you may not have seen about...iran, the middle east, terrorism, islam, human rights, media bias, us politics, freedom, democracy & much, much more
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US House Foreign Affairs Panel passes Iran Sanctions Bill
2007-06-27 18:13:00
Good news. CNN Money has the headline.A key House panel Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to pass a wide-ranging bill that would toughen U.S. sanctions on Iran and on companies that invest in the country.The Foreign Affairs Committee voted 37-1 to pass the Iran Counter- Proliferation Act of 2007. The bill is part of a concerted congressional effort to tighten an economic stranglehold on Iran to deter it from a nuclear fuel enrichment program which the U.S. and other countries believe is for nuclear weapons. ...
House
Iran
Sanctions
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Iran: End child executions
2007-06-27 17:46:00
From Amnesty Int'l. The full report can be downloaded here.Amnesty International is calling on Iran's judicial and political authorities to order an immediate moratorium to prevent further executions of child offenders and to amend the laws so no children who commit crimes can be sentenced to death. In a new report, the organization said at least 71 child offenders were awaiting execution in Iran, where more child offenders have been executed than in any other country since 1990."Iran stands virtually alone as a country in which child offenders - persons under 18 at the time of the crime of which they were convicted - are put to death," said Malcolm Smart, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme. "It is high time that the Iranian authorities put an end to this shameful practice - for once and for all - and bring themselves in line with the rest of the international community, which has long recognized the obscenity of executing those who commit crimes while children." ...
Child
Executions
Iran
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Iranian troops cross into southern Iraq; attack British troops
2007-06-26 16:34:00
Latest act of war from Iran. Latest response from the UK: nothing.IRANIAN forces are being choppered over the Iraqi border to bomb Our Boys, intelligence chiefs say.Military experts claim this worrying move means we are at WAR with Iran in all but name…Our Boys picked up the Iranian helicopters on radar crossing into empty desert.The sightings have been confirmed to The Sun by very senior military sources.At least two Brit squaddies are thought to have been killed by bombs planted during these incursions into Maysan province — Corporal Ben Leaning, 24, and Trooper Kristen Turton, 27…Until now, secret units from Iran’s fanatical RGC have restricted themselves to just training and arming Shia rebels in Iraq. ...
British
Cross
Iraq
Troops
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Iran wages war on 'immoral' cell phone messages
2007-06-26 16:17:00
I thought I saw an article about this weeks ago, but maybe it was just inspired foresight for something that would obviously eventually happen under the mullahs (?). Fox News has the story.Iran’s state telecommunications company is offering rewards to citizens who turn in their neighbors for sending or receiving “immoral” messages on their cell phones, according to a report in The News International."There are rewards for those who report senders of immoral multimedia messages to the judiciary," Vafa Ghaffarain, head of Iran's telecommunications company, was quoted as saying. ...
Cell
Cell Phone
Iran
Phone
War
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Reuters = propaganda tool for Iran
2007-06-25 18:07:00
May as well add in virtually every other European-rooted major media establishment/outlet.Good for LGF for picking up on this specific incident of propaganda for the Iranian thug regime from al-Reuters. As Iranian thugs beat men dressed in Western clothing and force them to drink human waste, the Reuters wire service publishes absolutely blatant Iranian propaganda intended to “humanize” Mahmoud Ahmadinejad—in their “Oddly Enough” category: Iran president turns to butcher for economy tips.TEHRAN (Reuters) - Highlighting a common touch that has become a trademark of his presidency, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said he keeps his finger on Iran’s economic pulse by talking to his butcher, newspapers reported on Saturday.“We have hardworking shopkeepers in our neighbourhood from whom I get important economic information because they are living among the people,” Ahmadinejad, the son of a blacksmith, was quoted by Iran’s Sharq daily as saying. ...
Iran
Propaganda
Reuters
Tool
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U.S., Britain drafting stricter Iran sanctions
2007-06-25 17:56:00
Like what? "Iran, if you do something naughty again, we will write an ultimatum which says that if you do something naughty in the future we will issue an even more heated statement." ?Well, apparently this will (finally) be more serious. Proposed measures include: travel bans on top military & security officials, cargo inspections of flights and ships, ban on the importing & exporting of arms, freeze certain assets, etc. Sounds promising, but we'll have to wait and see I guess.The story can be found here.The United States and Britain are preparing drafts for a punishing new U.N. resolution against Iran that could impose sweeping travel bans on the country's top military and security officials, require inspections on its cargo flights and ships, forbid all import and export of arms shipments, and freeze the assets of major Iranian banks, according to U.S. and European officials.The new Security Council resolution would be the third against Iran for failing to comply with a U.N. ...
Britain
Iran
Sanctions
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Does anyone care that Iran has taken multiple US hostages?
2007-06-25 17:52:00
Kathryn Jean Lopez tries to answer this fairly perplexing question.It’s not 1979, and we’re not watching it every night on television. But Iran has taken hostages again. Does anyone care? The sounds of near silence out of Washington suggest, “not as much as we should.” ......As its humiliation of Britain earlier this year proved, Iran is clearly in the mood to test how far it can go — how much the United Nations and the United States will let it get away with. The answer appears to be, pretty far. A recent report from the International Atomic Energy Agency tells us that over the course of a year, Iran has gone from 164 centrifuges to 1,312. Maybe 8,000 by year’s end? Clearly, we have no time to be messing around. I’m all for diplomacy in general — but with Iran? The country fomenting violence against our troops and allies in Iraq? The country that wants to wipe Israel off the map? The country that answers our diplomatic olive branches with hostage-taking?But we’re in ...
Hostages
Iran
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Japanese banks curb loans to Iran
2007-06-25 17:43:00
Good for Japan, good for the free world. Bad for Guy Dinmore, who I'm sure was saddened to report the setback for one of his favorite regimes.Japan's private sector, responding to signals from Washington, is adding to financial pressure on Iran by restricting loans and rejecting an Iranian request to pay for oil imports in currencies other than the dollar, banking and official sources say.A senior banker said three big banks - Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ, Mizuho and Sumitomo Mitsui - had told the Iranian authorities in April that they would not conduct new business in Iran.The development puts Japanese banks in a different position to many European counterparts that have reduced dollar transactions with Iran but are still willing to conduct business in euros.The banker, who asked not to be named, said the banks' action followed pressure from Washington and reflected a hardening line towards Iran by Shinzo Abe, Japan's prime minister. ...
Iran
Loans
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Iran president turns to butcher for economy tips
2007-06-25 17:38:00
No, not the Butcher of Tehran...an actual butcher (who kills animals, not his own citizens). Well, saying that, he probably asks his human butchers advice on many things too.Highlighting a common touch that has become a trademark of his presidency, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said he keeps his finger on Iran's economic pulse by talking to his butcher, newspapers have reported. "We have hardworking shopkeepers in our neighbourhood from whom I get important economic information because they are living among the people," Ahmadinejad, the son of a blacksmith, was quoted by Iran's Sharq daily as saying. "For example, there is an honourable butcher in our neighbourhood who is aware of all the problems of the people and I also get important economic information from him," he said in a meeting with worker unions, Sharq reported. ...
Economy
Iran
President
Tips
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Iran supplied missile that hit UK helicopter
2007-06-25 17:35:00
Think the UK will do anything about it? The correct answer has two letters. Softly, softly...appease, appease...free oil, free oil...just for a little longer...A ROYAL NAVY helicopter that crashed in flames in Basra last year, killing all five on board, was shot down by a sophisticated surface-to-air missile supplied to Iraqi militants by Iran, according to US officials. America knew that the Mahdi Army, the radical Shi’ite militia, had obtained the shoulder-launched missile from the Iranians but failed to tell the British because of a row between the State Department and the CIA over the reliability of the source, US intelligence sources said. ...
Iran
Missile
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Dissenters jailed in Iran's 'total freedom'
2007-06-25 17:30:00
Ahmadinejad's Web site doesn't mention numerous reformists arrested in last six months. What else would you expect from the two-faced peasant who does the bidding of the mullahs? The full story from AP is here. ...
Freedom
Iran
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Israel says: watch human rights abuses in Iran
2007-06-25 17:25:00
Well, the West is watching. But for Europe, it is simply 'not in their interests' to report these kind of things. Just call up their journalists and ask them. That's the answer you'll get. Then the real research begins...the search to find why it's not in their interests. So the reply to the ambassador's plea below is: Yes, they can. And they are. Other recent 'protests' along these lines include:Iran, Genocide, and Human Rights: Is the UN Any Use at All? (blogcritics)Iran jails activists and gags dissent (The Australian)Israel said it sent letters to the U.N. secretary-general and the president of the General Assembly urging the international community to speak out against human rights abuses in Iran. "The international community cannot be silent in situations where the violation of human rights is systemic, grave, and widespread, and where states dismiss issues of human rights and refuse to engage in meaningful dialogue,'' Israel's deputy U.N. ambassador Daniel Carmon said ...
Human
Human Rights
Iran
Israel
Rights
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British school district recommends 'burkinis' for Muslims taking swimming lessons
2007-06-25 17:10:00
Now I've heard it all (for this week in England...). Next week they'll be saying nurses should wear burkafied outfits. Oh wait, they already did! Ree dick you luss! But that's not all...Ealing has also put forward a string of other proposals to help schools meet the needs of Muslim pupils, including setting aside designated “quiet” areas for prayer and honouring “a parent’s written request to take their child to the mosque for part of the afternoon”.Schools are also told that it is “good practice” to “reassure parents that their children would not be asked to join in with songs that contradict Islamic belief (eg Christmas carols or hymns) or perform music that could be considered to promote lust, seduction, unrestricted mixing and consumption of drugs, alcohol or other intoxicants”. ...
British
Lessons
Muslims
School
Swimming
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Iran launching 24-hour news station to compete with...
2007-06-25 16:55:00
...its supporters, like CNN Int'l and BBC World. Wow, so now instead of having 24-hours news stations subtly support the mullahs, they can have their own station which overtly does so. Clever thinking. Wonder what it's going to be called? Thug TV? Terrorist 24?The full story can be found here. It apparently launches on July 2nd. ...
Iran
News
Station
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Does the Czech Republic president make sense on global warming?
2007-06-22 16:39:00
Dunno, but he sure gives a lot of food for thought, that's for sure. Interesting comments about propaganda...It's funny how every media organization and their mother in the UK suddenly decided that they needed a green section / segment / discussion in their organization about 6-8 months ago.But I'm sure that was just a natural and organic process, not one orchestrated by the end-owners of the vast multinational news organizations such as Newscorp (who, by the way, around the same time mandated that all of their subsidiaries must become 'green', 'carbon neutral', etc.).The question we have to ask ourselves is why? Is it to take attention away from developing nuclear power, for example, which is the cheapest and can theoretically be the most environmentally friendly source of power? Why is there no campaign supporting that hypothesis? Possible answer: because the big boys don't want that...oil needs to remain the natural resource of the world for some time to come until all the p ...
Czech
Czech Republic
Global
Global Warming
President
Sense
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Something stinks about Iran's 'capture' of British troops
2007-06-22 16:24:00
Apparently (and this is apparently, because al-Beeb is the messenger), Iran tried to attack some Aussies who were near Iranian territory, but they were "having none of it." Makes you wonder if the Brits really tried that hard to avoid capture. Maybe it was indeed all arranged? Sounds odd, but you never really know what's going on these days. And why did they only learn about it now, if it took place before the British 'kidnapping'?Iranian naval forces in the Gulf tried to capture an Australian Navy boarding team but were vigorously repelled, the BBC has learned. The incident took place before Iran successfully seized 15 British sailors and Marines in March. The lessons from the earlier attempt do not appear to have been applied in time by British maritime patrols. The 15 Britons were searching a cargo boat in the Gulf when they were captured over a boundary dispute. ...
British
Capture
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Iran: Detained students at risk of torture
2007-06-22 16:21:00
Human Rights Watch decides to report it.The Iranian Judiciary should immediately release eight student editors and activists arrested in recent weeks for allegedly defaming Islam in student publications, Human Rights Watch said today.......“The Iranian authorities are using the flimsiest of pretexts to arrests student journalists and activists,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Even the Judiciary has admitted that these students had nothing to do with the forged publications. The government unleashed this crackdown just as the university prepared for student elections.” ...
Detained
Iran
Students
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British using BBC to destroy allied forces in Iraq?
2007-06-22 16:11:00
Well, that would be similar to the way they used BBC World Service (Farsi) - paid for by Foreign Office, of course - to foment public opposition against the shah in the late 70's. Doesn't surprise me, but I assume most people would be shocked to learn the Aunty might be proactively trying to help American soldiers (and possibly some of her own) get killed...apparently the MoD wasn't even aware this was going on.Allahpundit reports:Politicians reacted in disbelief to the revelation that for over two hours yesterday, the BBC News website carried a request for people in Iraq to report on troop movements…[A]ccording to accounts last night, a story on a major operation by US and Iraqi troops against al-Qa’eda somewhere north of Baghdad contained an extraordinary request for information about the movement of troops.Last night the BBC confirmed the wording of the request was: “Are you in Iraq? Have you seen any troop movements? If you have any information you would like to share with ...
Bbc
British
Forces
Iraq
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Israeli Air Force preparing for Iran strike
2007-06-22 16:02:00
Jpost reports:The Israeli Air Force (IAF) has been training on long-range flights, including refueling in mid-flight, in preparation for potential strikes against Iranian nuclear targets. The training program has been taking place for some time but has only been released for publication Friday, the Ma'ariv daily reported. Intelligence assessments received by the defense establishment concur that once Iran passes the point of no return in its nuclear efforts, the entire Middle East will enter a frantic nuclear armament race. Egypt and Saudi Arabia are expected to take the lead should such a scenario become reality. At the end of 2007 the US and Israel are expected to hold a joint assessment to ascertain the influence of economic sanctions against Iran. ...
Force
Iran
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Khamenei to get knighted? Wouldn't surprise me much
2007-06-22 15:56:00
Great cartoon! Gets closer to the truth than most would think. The so-called honorary degrees that Khatami got from the UK were essentially doing the same thing that C&F imply here...he got a formal thank you from his dearest supporters... ...
Surprise
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Sir Osama bin Laden?
2007-06-21 16:15:00
How twisted can this guy be? Because of Rushdie's newfound knighthood, he thinks that Osama and Mullah Omar should also become 'Sirs'.A hard-line Pakistani parliamentarian and head of a religious political party on Wednesday demanded a "sir" title for Osama bin Laden, the leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist network, in retaliation for Britain knighting author Salman Rushdie."Muslims should confer the 'sir' title and all other awards on bin Laden and Mullah Omar in reply to Britain's shameful decision to knight Rushdie," Sami ul Haq, leader of the pro-Taliban Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, said in a statement, referring also to the leader of the Taliban.Such a move would not only go against the political grain of Britain, who joined in the international effort to drive the Taliban from power and al-Qaeda from their Afghan safe haven in 2001, but it would also break knighthood rules, under which foreigners may not be addressed as sir. ...
Bin
Bin Laden
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France expels Iranian suspected of ties to nuclear drive
2007-06-21 16:07:00
You're fired!Alan: "You know, Farshad, I wanted to give you a chance. But we know you're working with the regime, and we know we have a new president, and he has said he's going to be tough on your mullahs, so I gotta do what I gotta do, so, Farshad...you're fired! It's a shame, becuase you were really talented and a nice guy. Maybe you can get a job over in the States...I'll put you in touch with some of my people."France has expelled a 28-year-old Iranian engineering student suspected of links to the country's nuclear programme, the Le Parisien daily reported Thursday. The student, Farshad Mobasher Fard, was detained Monday when he appeared at a police station to reapply for his residence permit, and was expelled on Wednesday.The newspaper said French authorities declined to specify the reasons for the expulsion, with the court documents saying only Fard's "presence in France represents a threat to public order" and citing a UN resolution that bans travel of people connect ...
Drive
France
Nuclear
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Tehran blocks Iranian-French journalism student's exit
2007-06-21 16:02:00
Reporters Without Borders is on the case. They wouldn't pull another Kazemi now, would they? You can never be sure with the mullahs.An Iranian-French journalism student is being prevented from leaving Iran after spending a month in jail for interviewing opposition members, Reporters Without Borders said Wednesday.Mehrnoushe Solouki has been under de facto house arrest in Tehran since March when she was freed from Tehran's Evin prison where she was interrogated and confined to a cell with a permanently-lit neon light, the group said.Solouki, a doctoral student in Montreal, Canada, had obtained permission from Iranian authorities to produce a documentary film on the aftermath of the Iran-Iraq war, said Ajar Smouni, a spokeswoman for Reporters Without Borders. ...
Journalism
Student
Tehran
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