Pakistan awakes to home-grown jihadists
The News Review:
- Pakistan awakes to home-grown jihadists
- Melbourne Magic
- ireland.com / The Douglas Gageby Irish Times Fellowship
- Zimbabwe: For Once, Let’s Have Free, Fair Elections
- Honeybees may be wiped out in 10 years
- CIA has evidence of Al Qaeda hand: paper
Pakistan awakes to home-grown jihadists
Modesto Bee – Jan 20, 2008
commanders have been asking for reinforcements for months as Taliban insurgents (“resurgents” might be more appropriate) have grown ever bolder and more aggressive, seeming to shrug off the heavy casualties they suffer from U. warplanes when they operate in the open. They have no trouble getting replacements and reinforcements from their Pakistani sanctuaries. The fear is that spring will bring an even greater Taliban offensive, backed by IED’s (improvised explosive devices) and suicide bombers — al-Qaeda tactics tested, refined and exported from the war in Iraq.
Melbourne Magic
Tennis-X.com – Jan 20, 2008
There goes the hype. Talking about hype, props go out to Casey Dellacqua for getting to the last 16, but her match against Amelie Mauresmo was hard to watch, while Jelena Jankovic should have finished her off 2 and 1. It was nice to see an unexpected surge from a home-grown girl, but don’t get your hopes up Australia. That forehand is just too rocky. Vaidisova flamed again in a big match. She definitely could have won at least a set from Serena, but is still making the same inexplicable unforced errors as she did two years ago. She gets as pissed off about them as before as well.
ireland.com / The Douglas Gageby Irish Times Fellowship
Irish Times – Jan 20, 2008
Egypt has long been an ideological and political crucible for the Muslim world. Some of Islam’s most prominent and influential thinkers, from traditional to reformist and radical, have been Egyptian. Its teeming capital is home to the venerable al-Azhar, Islam’s oldest centre of learning, dating back to the 10th century. Egypt has also played a crucial role in the development of Islamism, giving birth to political Islam with the founding of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928, and producing home-grown militant Islamist groups such as Gemaa Islamiyya and Islamic Jihad. Two of Osama bin Laden’s deputies, Ayman al-Zawahiri and Mohammed Atef, fine-tuned radical ideologies in their homeland of Egypt, as did Mohammed Atta, ringleader of the September 11th attacks. Both strains of Islamism have made their presence felt in the last year. The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood won an unprecedented number of seats in recent elections by standing as independents, their long-standing slogan “Islam, howa al hal” – “Islam is the solution” – dominating the campaign… Some of Islam’s most prominent and influential thinkers, from traditional to reformist and radical, have been Egyptian. Its teeming capital is home to the venerable al-Azhar, Islam’s oldest centre of learning, dating back to the 10th century. Egypt has also played a crucial role in the development of Islamism, giving birth to political Islam with the founding of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928, and producing home-grown militant Islamist groups such as Gemaa Islamiyya and Islamic Jihad. Two of Osama bin Laden’s deputies, Ayman al-Zawahiri and Mohammed Atef, fine-tuned radical ideologies in their homeland of Egypt, as did Mohammed Atta, ringleader of the September 11th attacks. Both strains of Islamism have made their presence felt in the last year. The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood won an unprecedented number of seats in recent elections by standing as independents, their long-standing slogan “Islam, howa al hal” – “Islam is the solution” – dominating the campaign. Militant Islamism has returned in the form of a series of bomb attacks in the beach resorts of the Sinai region, mostly blamed on alleged al-Qaeda infiltration of the local Bedouin population.
Zimbabwe: For Once, Let’s Have Free, Fair Elections
AllAfrica.com – Jan 20, 2008
SA President Thabo Mbeki’s visit last week appears to have hit a dead-end: Zanu Pf is not interested in a new Constutition. That much-amended document, even with Amendment No. 18, is still more Zanu PF-friendly than anything elseFor the opposition, a home-grown Constitution is vital for the obvious reason that, like other people with the experience of dealing with Zanu PF, they don’t trust the ruling party. Some critics of the opposition scoff at their threat of a boycott. They insist the divisions in the opposition are so deep-seated they know they would still lose if the elections were postponed to June, however level the playing field may be. Zanu PF has always preferred to have no competition in an election, a hangover from the days of the one-party system of the 1980s. For once, we urge the party to think outside the box — the box of self-interest, self-glorification and self-absorption.
Honeybees may be wiped out in 10 years
Telegraph.co.uk – Jan 20, 2008
The decline in honeybees is risking the sustainability of home-grown food. They pollinate more than 90 of the flowering crops we rely on for food. They are estimated to contribute more than £1 billion a year to the national economy yet the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), spends an average of only £200,000 a year on research to protect them. The BBKA will this week launch a campaign aimed at forcing ministers to take the plight of the bee more seriously, and to spend the £8 million over the next five years which it believes is essential to guarantee its survival. At their annual meeting held earlier this month, the association’s 11,200 members voted unanimously to condemn the Government’s position.
CIA has evidence of Al Qaeda hand: paper
Pakistan Dawn – Jan 20, 2008
The New York Times also reported that the Bush administration is currently considering proposals to step up covert actions against the Al Qaeda network in Pakistan