Play Video Reuters  – Peshawar attack nr. U.S. consulate

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AP – Map locates Peshawar, Pakistan, where four bombs exploded near the U.S. Consulate

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Islamist militants unleashed a car bomb and grenade attack against a U.S. consulate in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, killing four people and striking back after months of American missile strikes against Taliban and al-Qaida fighters in the region.

Hours earlier, a suicide bomber killed 45 people and wounded more than 70 at a rally by a secular political party in the northwest that has supported recent Pakistani army offensives in the region close to Afghanistan, where the United States is battling a related insurgency.

The attacks follow a lull in violence since the beginning of the year, illustrating the militants' resilience.

The multi-pronged strike against the consulate in Peshawar city was the first direct assault on a U.S. mission in the country since 2006. Officials said the four attackers in two vehicles hoped to breach the heavily fortified compound and kill people inside, but they failed to do that and caused only minor damage.

They detonated their first suicide vehicle at a checkpoint some 20 meters (yards) from the entrance to the consulate, said Peshawar police chief Liaquat Ali Khan. The second vehicle, which was carrying a larger amount of explosives, was stopped at another security barrier some 15 meters (yards) from the entrance, he said.

"The driver had no option, but to detonate the vehicle right there," said Khan.

The second blast killed two militants wearing suicide vests who were walking ahead of the pickup truck, said Khan.

Some officials and witnesses reported a third or possible fourth explosion. The blasts, some of which were filmed by local television stations, sent huge mushroom clouds over the city. One piece of footage showed a bomb exploding several meters (yards) from two people who had their arms raised in the air as if surrendering.

In Washington, a White House spokesman condemned the blasts.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a statement that she was "outraged and deeply saddened" by the attack.

"The assault this morning is part of a wave of violence perpetrated by brutal extremists who seek to undermine Pakistan's democracy and sow fear and discord," Clinton said. "The Pakistani people have suffered grievous losses, but they are standing firm in the face of this intimidation — and the United States stands with them."

The style of the attack — multiple suicide bombs and attackers with conventional weapons — has become an increasingly common one both in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The attackers who fired at the consulate were wearing security uniforms, another tactic insurgents have used in both countries to slip into guarded areas, said a Pakistani intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

The four people killed in the attack included three security personnel and one civilian, said Khan. Two of the security personnel were employed by the consulate, said the embassy. The third was a Pakistani paramilitary soldier, said police official Sattar Khan.

Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

Last week, Waliur Rehman, a senior militant commander warned the insurgents were preparing more strikes.

"We know our enemy and will target its installations and facilities for which our special wing is fully ready," he said in an interview in the tribal regions a few hours' drive from Peshawar. "Pakistan has initiated army action in tribal areas to please America. Now the whole of Pakistan is like a battlefield for us."

Al-Qaida and Taliban militants have long had their sights set on the U.S., which has fired scores of missiles at them in their northwestern strongholds over the last 1 1/2 years. Washington has also given billions of dollars in aid to the Pakistani army.

Family members of people assigned to the American embassy in Islamabad and the country's three other consulates in Pakistan were ordered to leave in March 2002 and have not been allowed to return.

The U.S. is only one of three countries to have a diplomatic presence in Peshawar, which has seen repeated militant attacks over the last 18 months. The city is the largest in the northwest and home to its regional government and security force commands.

It has long been a vital hub for American interests in the region.

Much of the funds that were handed to Afghans fighting Soviet rule in Afghanistan in the 1980s were channeled through the city. Post Sept. 11, its proximity to the tribal areas, a likely hiding place for Osama bin Laden, has meant it is vital for U.S. officials to be stationed there. The mission is also important for coordinating the millions of dollars in development funds Washington is spending to try to dry up support for militancy in the desperately poor and badly governed tribal regions.

In August 2008, the top U.S. diplomat at the consulate survived a gun attack on her armored vehicle. Three months later, gunmen shot and killed an American in Peshawar as he was traveling to work for a U.S.-funded aid program in the region.

The last attack against a U.S. mission in Pakistan was in Karachi in 2006 when a militant rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the car of an American diplomat near the consulate, killing him and three others.

Shortly before Monday's attack, a suicide bomber struck a rally held by a Pashtun nationalist party in Lower Dir to celebrate the government-supported proposal to change the name of North West Frontier Province to Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa, said local police chief Mumtaz Zarin Khan.

"A police official spotted the bomber a second before he exploded," said Khan. "The official shot at him, but by that time, he had done his job."

He said 45 people at the rally in the town of Timergarah were killed and 77 wounded.

"Such acts only reflect the barbarian approach of the militants," said an Awami National Party lawmaker from the district, Malik Azmat. "They are not humans."

Lower Dir lies next to the Swat Valley, which was the target of a major military offensive last year that succeeded in driving out the militants. Other major operations in the Afghan border region followed, including one in the Pakistani Taliban's tribal stronghold of South Waziristan.

The frequency of militant attacks in Pakistan over the last three months has dropped compared to the final quarter of last year, but experts have cautioned it is far too early to say this means the insurgents are in retreat.

"It seems that those who have been disrupted or dismantled and denied space in the Waziristan region finally managed to reorganize themselves at least for these attacks in Peshawar," said Imtiaz Gul, director of the Center for Research and Security Studies in Islamabad.

____

Posted by biginla at 10:19 PM BST

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AP – In this undated photo provided by Christine Mott, Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, 31, is shown. Two law enforcement …

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PHILADELPHIA – A pregnant American charged in a global terrorism plot will plead not guilty this week in Philadelphia, her lawyer said Monday.

Nothing in the indictment unsealed last week supports the terrorism charges against 31-year-old Jamie Paulin-Ramirez of Colorado, defense lawyer Jeremy Ibrahim said.

Paulin-Ramirez has been in federal custody in Philadelphia since voluntarily returning from Ireland on Friday, the same day an indictment was unsealed adding her name to charges filed last month against a Pennsylvania woman, Colleen LaRose.

LaRose is charged in all four counts, the most serious being her alleged pledge to kill a Swedish artist who had offended Muslims. Paulin-Ramirez is charged only in the first count, conspiring to give material aid to terrorists intent on jihad, or holy war.

As evidence, the indictment cites several e-mails between the women last year in which Paulin-Ramirez allegedly agrees to come to what LaRose expected to be "a training camp as well as a home" in Ireland. She arrived Sept. 13, and the same day married a suspected terrorist from Algeria whom she had never met, prosecutors said.

"What was the overt act?" Ibrahim asked Monday. "Flying to Ireland? Marrying someone she'd never met? That's an act of foolishness, not an act of terrorism."

He met with Paulin-Ramirez in prison Saturday and said she is worried about the fate of her 6-year-old son, who had moved with her to Ireland last fall. He was placed with social services upon her arrest, just as he was when she was briefly detained in Ireland last month in a roundup of suspected terrorists that included her fourth husband.

"She's distraught, incredibly concerned about her son," Ibrahim said. He also confirmed she is pregnant but did not say who the father is.

Paulin-Ramirez is due to be arraigned Wednesday. Ibrahim was unsure whether he would seek bail or if his client's mother, Christine Mott of Leadville, Colo., or other family members would be able to attend.

Mott has described her daughter as a very lonely person seduced by strangers over the Internet. Likewise, the 46-year-old LaRose let an isolated life, caring for an elderly parent in the apartment she shared with a live-in boyfriend in Pennsburg, about an hour from Philadelphia. She was twice-divorced, with no children, after two early marriages.

Ibrahim described his client's transformation from working mother to terrorism suspect as "mind-boggling."

"That a straight-A nursing student with a loving family would one day up and convert, and leave her country and her home, within the span of less than a year, and make national news, is mind-boggling," he said.

He declined to comment on whether her mental health will be an issue in the legal case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams also declined to comment Monday.

LaRose, who authorities said called herself "Jihad Jane" online, pleaded not guilty to all four counts after returning to the United States last month. She faces a May 3 trial date, although it's unclear whether she will go to trial. She had been cooperating with authorities, according to Rep. Charles Dent, R.-Pa.

The seven suspects arrested in Ireland, in addition to Paulin-Ramirez and her husband, included another Algerian, two Libyans, a Palestinian and a Croatian.

According to the indictment, LaRose complained to Paulin-Ramirez in the Aug. 1 e-mail that their brothers in the movement were being called terrorists for defending their faith and their homes.

"Thats right ... if thats how they call it then so be it i am what i am," Paulin-Ramirez allegedly responded.

LaRose had been taking care of her boyfriend's father and left for Ireland on Aug. 23, days after the man died. Paulin-Ramirez followed on Sept. 12.

___

Posted by biginla at 9:56 PM BST

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MSNBC bad boy David Shuster may be on his third strike.

Shuster won't be on the air today for his 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. shows, according to MSNBC insiders. Whether he returns before his contract expires in December is up for debate.

Shuster's last appearance was at 10 a.m. Friday. MSNBC boss Phil Griffin pulled him from his 3 p.m. gig after learning, via The New York Observer, that the anchor had recently shot a pilot for CNN without having informed his bosses.

Griffin, vacationing in Florida, ripped Shuster a new one over the phone, network sources say. A repeat performance is expected today in the office.

It's not the first steel cage match between Shuster and Griffin, but it may be the last.

In February 2008, Shuster was suspended for two weeks and forced to apologize after a tasteless on-air crack about Chelsea Clinton's presidential politicking for her mother, then-Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Most recently, in January, MSNBC ordered Shuster to stop tweeting after his Twitter attack on conservative video producer James O'Keefe.

In the past, MSNBC reps have been downright temperate in their official reactions to Shuster's mishaps. This time, however, they've taken a giant step - for MSNBC, anyway -- beyond temperate. If Shuster is guilty, he will "be punished appropriately."

At this point, "appropriately" may mean keeping Shuster off the air and eating the remainder of his contract. Anything less "sends a message from management that this is OK," says an MSNBC executive, speaking on condition of anonymity. "It's just ridiculous."

According to The Observer, Shuster co-anchored the CNN pilot with NPR's Michele Martin. CNN legal eagle Jeffrey Toobin was a contributor. CNN had no comment. Martin and Toobin did not return calls. When reached on his cell, Shuster said, "I can't talk about it," and hung up.

Posted by biginla at 9:48 PM BST

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April 5, 2010 | News covering the UN and the world	Sign up  |  E-Mail this  |  Donate

Chinese coal ship accident damages Great Barrier Reef A Chinese bulk coal vessel crashed into the Great Barrier Reef, Earth's largest corral reef and one of its most sensitive ecosystems. The ship carried some 300,000 gallons of heavy oil, and observers are worried that a major leak could develop, threatening the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park off the coast of Queensland, where the ship is stranded. Los Angeles Times (4/5) , BBC (4/4) Ban urges Central Asia to save Aral Sea  IP laws could imperil HIV treatment in East Africa  Putin, Chavez see eye to eye on oil  Former Rwandan diplomat turns up in Alabama  Pakistani militants take aim at U.S. Consulate  Career Center  Skip to a section:  United Nations | Development Health and Poverty | Development Energy and Environment | Human Rights | Peace and Security

If you and the international community pressure me more, I swear that I am going to join the Taliban." Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Read the full story. "Guinea-Bissau's stability has ... been challenged by the increasing levels of illegal trafficking occurring within its borders. South American drug smugglers have been taking advantage of Guinea-Bissau's 100 or so small, uncontrolled islands as a transit point for shipping drugs to Europe -- so much so that the country has earned the unfortunate nickname of 'Africa's first narco-state.' " UN Dispatch

• Ban urges Central Asia to save Aral Sea
  UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked Central Asian countries to take action to halt the decline of the Aral Sea, which has been shrinking since Soviet planners used the water in the 1960s for cotton irrigation projects in Uzbekistan. Much of the bed of the world's fourth largest lake stands as deserts, and the people living around the Aral Sea have suffered from declining fish stocks and increased sandstorms. Reuters (4/4)

• Other News

• 2 UN peacekeepers among dead in clashes between Congo military, militia
  Google/The Associated Press (4/5)

• IP laws could imperil HIV treatment in East Africa
  Health officials in East African countries and UN representatives warned that anti-counterfeit legislation being considered in the region could impede access to to anti-retroviral drugs instrumental in the treatment of HIV. Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda could be effected by the regional regulation. Business Daily (Nairobi, Kenya) (4/5)

Top five news stories selected by UN Wire readers in the past week.

• Terrorists strike Moscow subway, killing dozens (The Washington Post)

• Indian villagers resist resettlement, despite raging fires (The Wall Street Journal)

• Archeologists find door to the afterlife in Egypt (The Toronto Star)

• Annan's humanitarian organization closes its doors (The Globe and Mail (Toronto))

• Abused girls are at the mercy of Afghan justice (Reuters)

• Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.

• Putin, Chavez see eye to eye on oil
  Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez signed an $18 billion agreement that would pair Russian gas giants Lukoil and Gazprom with Petroleos de Venezuela on a new oil field development -- one predicted to eventually yield 450,000 barrels of oil per day. Chavez, who has worked to strengthen ties with Russia, has visited Russia eight times in 11 years and purchased $4 billion in Russian arms. Bloomberg BusinessWeek (4/2)

• Landslide dam on Pakistani river threatens valley
  Engineers in Pakistan are struggling to build a channel to relieve a natural dam that has formed on the Hunza River as a result of a January landslide -- a dam that threatens 45,000 villagers in the valley below. Officials hope that the Tarbela dam will capture some of the runoff but fear that rising waters after glacier melt could produce a catastrophic flood wave. The Independent (London) (4/4)

• Former Rwandan diplomat turns up in Alabama
  The Rwandan ambassador to the UN who served during the genocide, Jean Damascene Bizimana, disappeared shortly after the government was overthrown in 1994. Since then, he has apparently been living and working in Opelika, Ala., and is a U.S. citizen. Questions are being raised as to the extent of Bizimana's knowledge of and collaboration with perpetrators of genocide. The Washington Post (4/4)

• Syria works to revive Aramaic, but politics interfere
  An effort in Syria to boost the presence and usage of Aramaic -- a language that once dominated the Middle East but has all but disappeared in the modern era -- has run into trouble after a newspaper noted the similarities between the Aramaic and Hebrew scripts. A program within the government-run University of Damascus offering language classes and otherwise raising heritage awareness was scrapped after the incident. Though offshoots of Aramaic are spoken in Turkey, northern Iraq and elsewhere, only in Syria does the Western Aramaic dialect spoken by Jesus Christ still exist. The Christian Science Monitor (4/2)

• Former North Korean personal shopper pens tell-all
  North Korean exile Kim Jong Ryul will publish a book detailing his experiences as a personal shopper for North Korean leaders -- a position he left 15 years ago in exchange for a life of exile and constant fear in Austria. Operating primarily from Vienna, Kim worked to satisfy his bosses' tastes for collectibles and luxury goods -- as well as devices used for nuclear research. Though Kim fears the threat of assassination, he is publishing the book under his own name, unlike many exiles who write about their experiences in North Korea. Los Angeles Times (4/4)

• Kissing couple loses Dubai appeal
  A British man and woman sentenced to a month in prison for kissing in public in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, lost a court appeal and plan to appeal again. According to the defense, the harsh conviction is based on hearsay and contradictory evidence. Though Dubai authorities have in the past ignored the behavior of tourists with respect to severe cultural laws, recently Dubai has cracked down on all said to be violating strict rules for social conduct. BBC (4/4)

• Pakistani militants take aim at U.S. Consulate
  Pakistani militants took aim at the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar, attacking the facility and killing six people using a bomb and rocket launchers. The multifaceted attack, which showed the signs of advanced coordination, damaged the barracks that formed the outer defenses of the consulate but did not penetrate the interior. The New York Times (free registration) (4/5)

• Thai protesters occupy, freeze Bangkok commercial district
  Defying threats of arrest, thousands of Thai protesters occupied Bangkok's commercial district for a second day, pledging that they would remain until new elections are called. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva took to national television to ask demonstrators to leave the commercial district and return to encampments elsewhere. The Thai Chamber of Commerce estimates that economic losses resulting from the freeze of the commercial district could reach $15 million each day. Google/The Associated Press (4/4)

• Iraqi al-Qaida strikes Baghdad diplomatic center
  In the third day of attacks striking Iraq, three car bombs detonated in a busy diplomatic hub in Baghdad -- attacks orchestrated by the insurgent group al-Qaida in Mesopotamia to undermine Iraqi security at a delicate time after the election. With political coalitions shifting in the wake of elections whose outcomes are not yet final as well as the departure of U.S. soldiers from the country, Iraqi militants have revived attacks in hopes of reinvigorating sectarian conflict. The bombings, which killed at least 30, struck the Iranian Embassy and the residences of the Egyptian chargé d'affaires and the German ambassador. The New York Times (free registration) (4/4)

• Neo-Nazi leader's death provokes racial tensions in South Africa
  After the death of neo-Nazi Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB) leader Eugene Terreblanche during a labor dispute with workers, South African President Jacob Zuma called for calm among the movement's followers -- fearing that the incident could escalate a time of rising racial tensions. Terreblanche's AWB killed more than 20 people in terrorist attacks in the lead-up to the country's first all-race vote in 1994, a development that the neo-Nazi organization opposed. CNN (4/5)

• Islamic Jihad announces rocket cease-fire
  Announced as an effort to bring an end to the Israeli siege against Palestinians in Gaza, the Islamic Jihad militant organization said that it would cease firing rockets into Israel. Though Islamic Jihad officials said that it would not reverse this decision, it did warn that another Israeli attack on Gaza would force resistance operatives to take action. Islamic Jihad and Hamas have pledged in recent times to reduce the number of rocket attacks fired from Gaza into Israel. Ha'aretz (Tel Aviv, Israel) (4/5)

Posted by biginla at 9:44 PM BST

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ISP’s Alleged Hijacking of User Searches Demonstrates Urgent Need for Net Neutrality and Greater Transparency

WASHINGTON --Windstream Communications, a mid-size DSL Internet service provider, is believed to be hijacking user search queries made through the Firefox browser's search task bar, according to news reports and user comments. Windstream appears to be intercepting valid search queries entered via the Firefox tool bar, using either deep packet inspection technology or software installed on local computers by Windstream, and redirecting users to a search engine on a Windstream-owned page.

S. Derek Turner, Research Director at Free Press, made the following statement:

"We are still waiting for all the facts to come in, but if initial allegations are true, Windstream has crossed the line and is actively interfering with its subscribers' Internet communications. Hijacking a search query is not much different than deliberately ‘redirecting’ a user from NYTimes.com to WashingtonPost.com and a limited 'opt-out' capability is not enough to justify Internet discrimination. This is further proof of the need for strong open Internet rules, comprehensive transparency and disclosure obligations, and a process for relief at the FCC.

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Posted by biginla at 9:39 PM BST

Updated: Monday, 5 April 2010 9:43 PM BST

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