KABUL — An Afghan policeman opened fire on British soldiers in the volatile southern province of Helmand, killing five, British and Afghan authorities said Wednesday, raising concerns about discipline within the Afghan forces and possible infiltration by insurgents.
The incident came almost exactly a month after an Afghan policeman on patrol with U.S. soldiers opened fire on the Americans, killing two before fleeing. …
The five British soldiers were killed in Helmand’s Nad-e-Ali district on Tuesday afternoon, Britain’s defense ministry said, bringing the total number British forces personnel who have died in Afghanistan to 229. Britain has 9,000 troops in the country.
BreakingNews: NATO says 6 British soldiers and two Afghan soldiers were also injured in shooting that killed 5 British soldiers.
The killing of five British soldiers in Afghanistan, apparently at the hands of a member of the Afghan Police Service, has raised further questions about Britain’s continuing role in the war-torn country: here.
Why Can’t the Corporate Media Just Tell the Truth About Iraq & Afghanistan? Here.
Britain: Six peace activists are in court facing charges of “serious disruption to the community” for staging a die-in protest against NATO’s bloody war in Afghanistan: here.
Abdullah Abdullah, the Afghan presidential candidate who quit the runoff vote, has described as “illegal” his rival Hamid Karzai’s re-election as the country’s president: here.
USA: Kucinich: Why Is It We Have Finite Resources for Health Care but Unlimited Money for War? Here.
At least two people have been killed and scores injured in clashes between textile workers and police in Bangladesh, police have said.
The violence broke out as workers protested over unpaid salaries in the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka, on Saturday.
“Law-enforcers had to fire rubber bullets from shot guns to disperse the workers who hurled stones and bricks at our officers,” Shafiqul Alam, a police inspector, said.
Why did Inspector Shafiqul Alam not just say, factually, that police “fired rubber bullets”? Why did he say that they “had to fire rubber bullets”? Granted, this police spokesperson is hardly alone in using this ideological euphemism. Police spokespeople in many countries do so. Even worse, theoretically “fair and balanced media” use this euphemism as well, whenever police kill people.
“So far two people have died.”
Workers coming to work at the Nippon Garments factory north of Dhaka found a notice at the gate saying authorities were closing the factory for a month, citing losses and falling orders.
Angry protest
They then took to the streets to protest, and police said as many as 15,000 people were involved in the protests.
Maleka Begum, a police official, said at least 100 workers and a number of police officers were injured in the clashes.
The protesters were demanding three months’ back pay, she said.
Bangladesh have ordered an independent probe into clashes between riot police and protesting garment factory staff on Saturday that left two workers dead and around 100 injured: here.
A gay Bangladeshi couple have been battling to gain citizenship in Australia for 10 years. The Refugee Review Tribunal knocked back their claims three times, and three times a higher court has overturned the rulings: here.
Horrifying situation for Georgian political prisoners
October 30, 2009 by georgiamedia
To mark ‘Political Prisoners Day’ which is commemorated on 30th October, two leading human rights NGOs in Georgia will hold a vigil outside Gldani prison, Tbilisi under the banner “Freedom for political prisoners, Truth for society”.
According to the Human Rights Centre, one of the NGOS taking part, families of the detainees, along with their legal representatives and politicians will take part in the protest to call for the release of political prisoners in Georgia.
The conditions in the notorious Gldani prison are said to be horrific. Filthy conditions in cells, poor nutrition, and inadequate medical treatement has resulted in terrible health problems for the prisoners, including the spread of tuberculosis, HIV/AIDs and Hepatitis C.
Today, tuberculosis and pneumonia are some of the most common diseases in Georgian prisons. Despite the fact that both are very treatable they are the primary reason for the high levels of prisoner mortality.
Being imprisoned in Georgia is a virtual death sentence. According to statistics, nearly 4 out of every 10 inmates die but mortality is highest among young prisoners – those from the age from 21 to 31. “Infections spread because of poor hygiene in the cells and poor nutrition,” said medical expert Levan Labauri.
Despite the denials of the Saakashvili regime, the International Federation of Human Rights has confirmed there are political prisoners in Georgia, based on a study of a number of cases.
But Saakashvili’s government did not allow the Federation fact-finding mission to meet with several alleged political prisoners despite their formal request.
Picture: A prison cell in Tbilisi, (source Interpressnews)
Many ordinary Georgians feel their personal economic situarion has got worse, not better, despite the strong economic growth of the early years of Mikheil Saakashvili’s presidency: here.
One consequence of the Georgian state’s direction of the national broadcasters and the political complicity of the judicial system is that day after day they report the guilt of the arrested and suspected before any trial: here.
In the second of his occassional columns for the Georgian International Media Centre, leading Georgian writer, former editor in chief of “Peace Times” magazine and Peace Studies Professor at Cornell University, Irakli Kakabadze examines the real reasons why Mikheil Saakashvili and his allies have fallen out with the Catholicos Patriarch, Ilia II: here.
Obviously drunk. This video was recorded during a press conference held by recently elected French president Nicolas Sarkozy during the G8 summit on june 2007. …
French TV did not release this video (this recording comes from a Belgian TV show). Sarkozy said many times during the campaign drinking goes “against (his) lifestyle” and that he never drinks alcohol.
Sarkozy spends £250,000 of EU budget on shower he did not use
Audit slams ‘opaque’ accounting as French EU presidency found to have spent £160m on events and refurbishment
Wednesday 28 October 2009
French financial watchdogs slammed Nicolas Sarkozy for spending £160m during his country’s six-month stint in charge of the EU – including £250,000 on a personal presidential shower that he never used.
The vast expense is set out in a report blaming poor management and a lack of transparency by the president’s staff.
Costs soared because so many of the EU-related events were organised at the last minute, said the report.
On one occasion Sarkozy triggered the cancellation of an entire EU event he was due to host in Evian, because he wanted to sleep in his own bed at the Élysée palace. By then, hundreds of journalists, EU officials and national delegations had either already arrived in Evian or were on their way. …
Figures show that previous French EU presidencies were much cheaper – £12m in 1995, and £54m in 2000.
The National Union of Journalists has called for “tough and urgent” police action in response to the physical violence, intimidation and death threats members covering far-right demonstrations endure: here.
This video from Britain is called Andy Rook on CWU strike action against Royal Mail.
Britain: Royal Mail bosses backed down on Sunday to concede talks with the union after last week’s strikes by more than 100,000 postal workers proved the strength of resistance to management’s attacks on staff: here.
Postal union says use of 30,000 temporary workers during the strikes breaches employment law: here. See also here.
‘Unless there is a substantial breakthrough the strikes are going ahead on Thursday, Friday and Saturday,’ CWU London District Chairman John Denton told News Line yesterday: here.
Royal Mail strikes will get longer, says CWU: here. See also here. And here.
The state directed media censor reports about other countries too
One of the biggest stories to come out of the Caucasus this year has been the trial to two bloggers, Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli, in Azerbaijan for making a satirical video about official press conferences and the attitudes of the state controlled media in that country.
This video is called VideoPetition for Adnan Hacizade and Emin Milli.
Internet use in Georgia is growing, rapidly, if from a very low base. But outside Tbilisi it hardly exists at all: here.
Officials from Saakashvili’s government are harassing and intimidating teachers, according to school principals from the Gurjaani region of Georgia, east of the capital Tbilisi: here.
According to RFE/RL, which covered the summit, “EU officials make it clear that Georgia no longer enjoys front-runner status in the region. All three governments have serious problems with democratic standards, harbor prisoners of conscience, and harass free media in their countries: here.
This video from the USA is called “Balloon Boy” Falcon Henne [sic; Heene] Admits: “We Did This For The Show”.
The “Balloon Boy” hoax has been the subject of wall-to-wall coverage by the major US news networks. Yet another episode in which an unhealthy celebrity culture and media sensationalism have revealed themselves: here. See also here.
Danny came from West Ham, & he’d been a dad 8 months
Joey came from Birmingham, & he was just 18
Billy came from Bromyard & his Captain told the press he was a “a key part of a closely-knit platoon”
The Corporal came from Kings Lynn he was “the perfect soldier”
The Rifleman from Yorkshire “saw the lighter side of life”
The private from the Welsh Guards had ” a tremendous sense of humour”
The Rifleman from Maidenhead, was “1st in everything”
And we’ll all be home by Christmas in a land that’s fit for heroes
We’ll all have beer & medals, we’ll all get jobs for life
Next time you see your colonel, you can sell him a Big Issue
& he’ll take you home for Christmas & he’ll let you shag his wife
Tommy came from West Ham, or maybe it was Glasgow
Or maybe it was Birmingham, but he was just 18
Tommy came from Bromyard, or maybe some where else
But it’s somewhere else he’ll never see again
Tommy come from West Ham…
Jimmy come from Birmingham…
What business did they have being here?
What business did they have dying here?
What business do we have being here On the Northwest Frontier?
HILARY CLINTON ADMITS USA CREATED ISLAMIC EXTREMISM IN AFGHANISTAN: here.
‘Comic’ retells Honduran coup and Manuel Zelaya arrest
Graphic history frames overthrow of president in relation to century of US skullduggery in central America
* Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent
* Wednesday 21 October 2009 12.11 BST
At first glance it could be a children’s comic – but in fact it’s a journalistic take on the Honduran crisis with an attention to context that puts conventional media coverage to shame.
The Honduran Coup, A Graphic History by Dan Archer and Nikil Saval frames the overthrow of the president, Manuel Zelaya, in relation to a century of US skullduggery in central America.
Most media reports go back only to June this year when conservative opponents ousted the leftist leader because he was getting cosy with Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez.
Archer and Saval do not accuse Obama of fomenting Honduras’s current trauma but they do suggest, like many analysts and Latin American leaders, that the administration could be doing more to restore Zelaya to power. By flipping the pages of history this graphic novel reminds us why the White House is dragging its heels.
