Docudharma Times Friday November 28

Black Friday?

Perhaps Its The Wrong Kind Of

Black Friday  

Live feed from IBN=CNN India

Indian Commandos Storm Jewish Center



By KEITH BRADSHER and SOMINI SENGUPTA

Published: November 28, 2008

MUMBAI, India – Indian commandos slid down ropes from a hovering army helicopter Friday morning as security forces stormed a Jewish center that had been seized by terrorists during a coordinated series of attacks on Mumbai, India’s commercial and entertainment capital.

The blue-uniformed commandos landed on the roof and soon made their way inside Nariman House, home to the Orthodox Jewish group Chabad-Lubavitch. A gunbattle then broke out inside the building, with hundreds of shots being fired over the next four hours.

Elsewhere in the city, Indian Army and paramilitary commandos made their way through two charred luxury hotels, searching for survivors of the bands of gunmen who unleashed two days of chaos beginning Wednesday night.

Home-grown militants are prime suspects

Raid involving the taking of hostages suggests only marginal link to al-Qaida

Jason Burke

guardian.co.uk, Friday November 28 2008 00.01 GMT

The Mumbai attacks are unique in the history of recent violent militancy, Islamist or otherwise. As Indian security agencies race to work out who was behind them they will be negotiating a maze of conflicting clues.

A group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen claimed the operation. The name indicates a local group – the Deccan is the central Indian plateau – and a probable link to the Indian Mujahideen who started a bloody bombing campaign a year ago.

It is this group, too, that threatened the people of Mumbai with “deadly attacks” two months ago and has credibly claimed responsibility for the series of attacks in recent months.

USA

Cyber-attack on Defense Department computers raises concerns

The ‘malware’ strike, thought to be from inside Russia, hit combat zone computers and the U.S. Central Command overseeing Iraq and Afghanistan. The attack underscores concerns about computer warfare.

By Julian E. Barnes

November 28, 2008

Reporting from Washington — Senior military leaders took the exceptional step of briefing President Bush this week on a severe and widespread electronic attack on Defense Department computers that may have originated in Russia — an incursion that posed unusual concern among commanders and raised potential implications for national security.

Defense officials would not describe the extent of damage inflicted on military networks. But they said that the attack struck hard at networks within U.S. Central Command, the headquarters that oversees U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, and affected computers in combat zones. The attack also penetrated at least one highly protected classified network.

Military computers are regularly beset by outside hackers, computer viruses and worms. But defense officials said the most recent attack involved an intrusive piece of malicious software, or “malware,” apparently designed specifically to target military networks.

Area’s Other Obamas Revel in Rare Moniker



By Steve Hendrix

Washington Post Staff Writer

Friday, November 28, 2008; Page B01

Nicanor Obama began to realize he might be on to a good thing when he didn’t get a speeding ticket not long ago. After stopping the 28-year-old for a little lead-footing near the Verizon Center, a District police officer looked at his driver’s license and put the citation book away.

“He said, ‘Well, I’m going to let you go because you have the Obama name’ ” is how the Arlington County resident recalled the encounter.

Since Election Day, his moniker has sparked goodwill, from nightclub freebies to hearty handshakes from fellow students at the University of the District of Columbia, where he studies political science. “I’m not related to the president, but I think Obama is a good name to have right now.”

Asia

Besieged prime minister declares state of emergency in showdown with protesters

• Thailand Cabinet poised to order police to end airport sit-ins

• UN and other offices close early as coup fears mount

Ian MacKinnon in Bangkok

guardian.co.uk, Friday November 28 2008 00.01 GMT

Thailand last night declared a state of emergency at Bangkok’s airports, setting the scene for a showdown with anti-government protesters who have occupied both transit hubs, halting all flights and stranding tens of thousands of travellers.

The cabinet resolved to use emergency powers and appeared to be preparing to send in police and some military units to clear the airports, the closure of which has been strangling the tourist industry.

Earlier the prime minister, Somchai Wongsawat, urged the military to remain in barracks as rumours of a coup reached fever pitch in the capital, with many offices, including those of the UN, closing early so staff could go home before dark.

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso condemns ‘hobbling malingerers’



From The Times

November 28, 2008

Leo Lewis in Tokyo

He has ridiculed doctors, mocked the mentally ill and made light of wartime atrocities, but this time Taro Aso may have taken things too far: the Prime Minister of the world’s fastest-ageing nation has condemned Japan’s elderly as a bunch of “hobbling malingerers”.

Having shattered a sacred taboo, the nationalist Mr Aso, who is 68, added: “I pay my taxes, so why should I pay money for people who laze around eating and drinking and never do anything?”

Members of Mr Aso’s own party told The Times that the attack on seniority and ill-health was “completely irresponsible” in a country where one in five voters is over 70 years old, where the healthcare system is in crisis and a general election is looming. “He seems to be saying that old people should feel guilty for visiting the doctor,” said one ruling coalition MP. “He must have said it without realising how many people that would upset.“

Europe

Smugglers run rife on the new frontline between east and west

Former Soviet republic fears it may be next on the Kremlin’s hit list

Ian Traynor in Tiraspol, Transdniestra

guardian.co.uk, Friday November 28 2008 00.01 GMT

Imagine a country where every man, woman and child eats nothing but chicken. For breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Every day.

On paper, at least, that “country” is Transdniestra, the Russia-backed breakaway strip of Moldova that meanders down to the Black Sea and the Ukrainian port of Odessa, where the frozen chicken arrives by the container-load for Transdniestra’s capital, Tiraspol.

“We’re not so rich, you know,” said Vladimir Yastrebchyak, the 29-year-old “foreign minister” of the separatist mini-state that is recognised by no one but maintained by the Kremlin. “People here can’t afford pork and beef, so chicken is very popular. It’s cheap.”

Transdniestra is the world’s biggest per capita importer of chicken, and also receives improbable volumes of cigarettes, alcohol and mobile phones. But the people are Europe’s poorest.

New palace leaves Berlin divided again

Controversy over plan to restore imperial building to site of Communist parliament

By Tony Paterson in Berlin

Friday, 28 November 2008

A decision that will set capitalism’s triumph over Communism in stone will be announced tonight when a jury of architects and politicians unveils a long-awaited design for the reconstruction of Berlin’s imperial palace.

The original 18th-century Baroque building served as the residence of the Hohenzollern family and the last Kaiser, Wilhelm II. But it was bombed during the Second World War and its ruined shell was razed in 1950 by Communist East Germany, which considered it a symbol of hated imperialism.

From the mid-1970s until long after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the site, in the centre of eastern Berlin, was occupied by the Palace of the Republic – a vast concrete and glass building that housed East Germany’s rubber-stamp parliament.

Africa

The desperate search for Congo’s hidden victims

After 15 months of exile, the rangers of Virunga Park have returned to the unique colony of mountain gorillas they protect. What will they find? By Daniel Howden in Rumangabo

Friday, 28 November 2008

Outside the headquarters of Virunga Park, three men with determined expressions are loading camping equipment into two pick-up trucks. Watching from the steps of the station are two park rangers carrying assault rifles. Rolled-up mattresses are tied down, jerry cans of fuel and kit bags are stowed. No one is chatting and everything is done quickly. Everyone has the same sense of urgency.

These men are the last line of protection for the most important population of mountain gorillas in the world. They have just got the order for which they have been waiting for nearly 15 months.

Sierra Leone navy battles pirates>

 Four men have been killed after Sierra Leone’s navy acted against a pirate attack, police say.

The BBC

A group of pirates from neighbouring Guinea opened fire on a Chinese fishing vessel, the Shanghai Three, police spokesman Ibrahim Samura told the BBC.

He said following the intervention of the navy, two pirates were shot dead and two men believed to be Guinean soldiers drowned.

A BBC reporter says pirate attacks are rare in West Africa, outside Nigeria.

At least four alleged pirates, from Guinea and Sierra Leone, were arrested.

“The pirates boarded the vessels… and put the crew under gunpoint. We responded to a distress call from one of the vessel’s captains and a three-hour battle ensued,” Mr Samura said.

Middle East

Foster and Hadid in running to remake Mecca

Two of Britain’s most-renowned architects are in the running for the single most audacious renovation in history: the redevelopment of Mecca.

By Alice-Azania Jarvis

Friday, 28 November 2008

Norman Foster and Zaha Hadid are among 18 architects to have been approached about redesigning Islam’s holiest city by building a mosque complex to host the three million Haj pilgrims who visit every year. The development would more than triple the central al-Haram mosque’s current 900,000 capacity, making it the highest-occupancy building in the world.

The plans are thought to be backed by Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz. The remit is to “establish a new architectural vision” for Mecca’s 356,800sq m mosques complex. The King is to be presented with the proposals by Hadid, 58, and Foster, 73, with those of the other designers at an exhibition at the end of the month.

With Iraqi parliament approving pact, Maliki’s stature grows

Iraqi parliament approves troop pact

By Adam Ashton | McClatchy Newspapers

BAGHDAD _ In a country where agreements are hard to reach, Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki built a broad political coalition to muscle through a divisive U.S.-Iraq security pact that could set his place in his nation’s history as the man who ended the American occupation.

He took the mantle of a nationalist in televised remarks Thursday night after the pact he helped broker passed parliament by a landslide 149-35 vote.

“We have gotten an important achievement by signing the withdrawal agreement for the foreign troops from Iraq and bringing back its sovereignty,” he said.