Important Political News

[Rasputin]

مظنونان اصلی حملات یازده سپتامبر اعتراف می کنند

خالد شیخ محمد در ایام حبش ریش طولانی گذاشته است
خالد شیخ محمد و چهار متهم دیگر که گمان می رود طراحان اصلی حملات یازده سپتامبر 2001 به آمریکا بوده اند، به قاضی دادگاهی نظامی در بازداشتگاه گوانتانامو گفته اند که قصد دارند اعتراف کنند که گناهکارند.

سرهنگ استیون هنلی، قاضی جلسه مقدماتی دادگاه گفت که او شخصا از متهماندر این رابطه سوال خواهد کرد تا مطمئن شود که اعتراف، خواسته واقعی آنهاست.

شیخ محمد به رغم آنکه پیشتر گفته بود آرزو دارد او را اعدام کنند تا به مقام شهادت نائل شود، به دفاع از خود ادامه داده بود.

پنج متهم اگر به مشارکت در کشته شدن 2 هزار و 973 نفر در حملات انتحاری یازده سپتامبر به نیویورک و واشنگتن محکوم شوند، حکم اعدام دریافت خواهند کرد.

تاریخ دقیق محاکمه کامل نظامی پنج زندانی گوانتانامو تعیین نشده است. حضور آنها در دادگاه روز دوشنبه (8 دسامبر) در پی جلسه مقدماتی دیگری انجام گرفت که قاضی آن ماه گذشته استعفا کرد.

جاناتان بیل، گزارشگر بی بی سی می گوید که جلسه مقدماتی امروز دوشنبه در حالی برگزار شده که سرنوشت بازداشتگاه گوانتانامو روشن نیست. در این بازداشتگاه 250 نفر به ظن مشارکت در اقدامات تروریستی زندانی هستند.

در حال حاضر بحث ها و جنجال های بسياری در ارتباط با جایگاه زندانیان این بازداشتگاه از منظر قانون و روش های به کار گرفته شده برای بازجویی از آنها مطرح است و اين امر خود باعث می شود در باره ادامه محاکمه خالد شیخ محمد و چهار متهم دیگر این پرونده شک و تردید زیادی وجود داشته باشد.

در همین حال باراک اوباما، رئیس جمهوری منتخب آمریکا که ماه آینده کار خود را رسما آغاز خواهد کرد، وعده داده است که بازداشتگاه گوانتانامو را برخواهد چيد.

بدون ارعاب
برای اولین بار، ارتش آمریکا 9 تن از خویشاوندان قربانیان حملات یازده سپتامبر را به کوبا برده است تا آنها از نزدیک شاهد روند جلسه مقدماتی محاکمه مظنونان باشند. یک دیوار شیشه ای متهمان را از اقوام قربانیان جدا کرده بود.

در آغاز جلسه امروز، قاضی نظامی با صدای بلند نامه ای را قرائت کرد که متهمان در آن گفته اند که می خواهند فورا "همه دفاعیات خود را پس بگیرند و ... به اتهامات خود اعتراف کنند."

در این نامه آمده: "ما به توافق رسیده ایم که از کمیته رسیدگی کننده به این پرونده بخواهیم فورا یک جلسه مقدماتی برگزار کند تا ما اعتراف کنیم ... ما برای دادن درخواست اعتراف از سوی هیچ طرفی تحت فشار و تهدید نبوده ایم و با ارعاب یا وعده دریافت امتيازی به این کار وادار نشده ایم."

آقای محمد به سوال قاضی دادگاه که آیا حاضر است به همه اتهامات اعتراف کند، پاسخ مثبت داد.

خبرگزاری فرانسه به نقل از خالد شیخ محمد گزارش کرده که او افزوده است: "ما ديگر نمی خواهیم وقت تلف شود."

آقای محمد، که زاده کویت است، همچنین گفته که به وکیل تسخیری خود اعتماد ندارد.

متهمان این پرونده متهمان ديگری نيز دارد:

-رمزی بن الشیبه، یمنی الاصل، که آمریکا او را مامور هماهنگی حملات یازده سپتامبر توصیف کرده است. ظاهرا قرار بوده او یکی از هواپیما رباها باشد اما چون ویزای آمریکا را نداشته، نتوانسته این ماموریت را انجام دهد.

-مصطفی احمد الحوسنی، اهل عربستان سعودی، که مقامات اطلاعاتی آمریکا گفته اند یکی از دو نفری بوده که به تامین هزینه حملات کمک کرده است.

-علی عبد العزیز، که به عمر البلوشی شهرت دارد، یکی از دستیاران اصلی شیخ محمد بوده است؛ خالد شیخ محمد عموی اوست.

-ولید بن عطاش، یمنی الاصل، که بنا به گفته پنتاگون، اعتراف کرده که طراح بمبگذاری در ناو شکن "یو اس اس کل" در سال 2000 میلادی در آب های یمن بوده و در حملات یازده سپتامبر مشارکت داشته است.

[Rasputin]

مدير بنياد علوي در آمريكا بازداشت شد


خزانه داري آمريكا به دنبال ضبط دارايي هاي ايران در آمريكاست


پليس فدرال آمريكا (اف بي آي) رئيس ايراني بنياد علوي را در ارتباط با پرونده ضبط دارايي هاي به گفته آمريكا متعلق به بانك ملي ايران در شهر نيويورك، بازداشت كرده است.

اف بي آي مي گويد فرشيد جاهدي، رئيس بنياد علوي، قصد نابود كردن مدارك مربوط به اين پرونده كه بايد به دادگاه ارائه مي شد، را داشته است.

وكيل فرشيد جاهدي يا خود او هنوز به اين اتهام به طور رسمي واكنش نشان نداده اند.

بنياد علوي پيش از انقلاب ايران به بنياد پهلوي شهرت داشت. اين بنياد در حال حاضر از زير مجموعه هاي بنياد مستضعفان است.

بنياد علوي مالك 60 درصد سهام يك ساختمان 36 طبقه معروف به ساختمان شماره 650 در خيابان پنجم در شهر نيويورك است.

دولت آمريكا مي گويد 40 درصد سهام اين ساختمان به طور غير مستقيم از دارايي هاي بانك ملي ايران است و درصدد مصادره آن برآمده است.

وزارت خزانه داري آمريكا روز پنج شنبه (17 دسامبر) شركت آسا ASSA Co، مستقر در نيويورك، را متهم كرد كه به نمايندگي از سوي بانك ملي ايران به اقدامات غير مجاز در آمريكا دست زده است و براي ضبط دارايي هاي آن پرونده اي را به جريان انداخت.

در جريان تحقيقات درباره اين پرونده است كه ماموران اف بي آي رئيس بنياد علوي را در نيويورك بازداشت كردند و پرونده اي عليه وي به راه انداختند.

هنوز روشن نيست كه رئيس اين بنياد به قيد وثيقه آزاد شده باشد.

[Rasputin]

برنامه نصب سپرموشکی لغو می شود

اگر روسیه همکاری نظامی با ایران را قطع کند

پیشنهاد اوباما به روسیه

برای معامله بر سر ایران

یک دیپلمات ارشد در کابینه "اوباما" مسئولیت تماس رسمی امریکا با ایران و مذاکرات دو طرفه را برعهده خواهد گرفت. اوباما به روسیه اطلاع داده که مذاکرات مستقیم و بدون پیش شرط با ایران، در گرو محدوده زمانی برای رسیدن به نتیجه است و این نتیجه قطع آن دسته از برنامه های اتمی ایران است که سمت گیری نظامی دارد.




فاکس نیوز در شماره روز گذشته خود از طرحی خبر داد که اوباما رئیس جمهور جدید امریکا، در آستانه تحویل گرفتن کاخ سفید از بوش، به روسیه پیشنهاد کرده است. بموجب این طرح امریکا در نصب سپر موشکی در اروپا تجدید نظر می کند و در برابر آن روسیه از همکاری نظامی با جمهوری اسلامی منصرف شود. هنوز مقامات رسمی دو کشور درباره این خبر اظهار نظر نکرده اند. فاکس نیوز در ادامه همین خبر نوشت که "اوباما" در طرحی که به روسیه پیشنهاد کرده، به مذاکره اتمی با جمهوری اسلامی نیز اشاره کرده و اطلاع داده که سیاست او مذاکره مستقیم و بدون پیش شرط با رهبران ایران است اما برای این مذاکرات یک محدوده زمانی در نظر گرفته شد و در پایان این محدوده زمانی باید نتیجه مذاکرات خاتمه آن بخش از فعالیت های اتمی ایران باشد که سمت گیری نظامی دارد.

پیش از انتشار این خبر، واشنگتن تایمز نیز در روز جمعه گزارش داد "باراک اوباما" سرگرم ایجاد سمتی در دولت خود است که مسئولیت تماس با مقامات ایران را بر عهده خواهد گرفت. به نوشته واشنگتن پست؛ یک مقام رسمی گفته است اعضای تیم اوباما در نشست های اخیرشان با "هیلاری کلینتون" وزیر خارجه دولت آینده امریکا در باره هماهنگ کننده ارشد تماس با ایران گفتگو و رایزنی کرده است.

[Rasputin]

صدها هزار نفر در اعتصاب فرانسه شركت كردند

صدها هزار نفر از نيروي كار فرانسه در اعتصابي يك روزه در اين كشور شركت كرده اند تا به آنچه عدم اقدام دولت در قبال حفاظت از مشاغل و دستمزدها در دوره كساد اقتصادي مي دانند، اعتراض كنند.


بسياري از مردم فرانسه از اصلاحات اقتصادي كه رئيس جمهوري اين كشور در نظر گرفته است، ناخشنودند


هشت اتحاديه كارگري فرانسه از اين اعتصاب حمايت كرده اند.

رئيس بزرگترين اتحاديه كارگري فرانسه گفته است كه بالغ بر يك ميليون نفر در اين اعتصاب شركت كرده اند.

اما جين كربي، گزارشگر بي بي سي در پاريس، با اشاره به اظهارات تابستان سال گذشته نيكولا ساركوزي، رئيس جمهوري فرانسه، كه گفته بود اين روزها وقتي در اين كشور اعتصابي صورت مي گيرد، كسي توجه نمي كند، گفت اين بار فرانسه به خوبي اعتصاب را حس كرده است.

اعتصاب سراسري يك روزه در فرانسه، خدمات حمل و نقل شهري را مختل كرده و باعث لغو بسياري از پروازهاي داخلي و خارجي شده است.

اما به رغم حمايت عمومي مردم فرانسه از اين اعتصاب به نظر مي رسد كه اعتصاب نتوانسته آن طور كه گردانندگان آن انتظار داشته اند، اين كشور را به طور كامل فلج كند.

امروز (29 ژانويه)، فعاليت مدارس، بانك ها، بيمارستان ها، پستخانه ها و دادگاه ها در فرانسه مختل بوده چون بسياري از كارمندان و كاركنان در خانه مانده و سركار خود حاضر نشده اند.

پليس پاريس گفته است كه 65 هزار نفر از باستيل تا مركز شهر دست به يك راه پيمايي اعتراضي زده بودند.

پيشتر، نزديك به 30 هزار نفر در شهر ليون دست به تظاهرات زدند و در مارسي برخلاف گفته پليس اين منطقه كه گفته است فقط 20 هزار نفر در تظاهرات شركت داشته اند، سازمان دهندگان و مسئولان اعتصاب در مارسي گفته اند كه 300 هزار نفر تظاهرات كرده اند.

گزارشگران مي گويند كه اين اعتراض انعكاس وحشت نيروي كار فرانسه از بيكاري و همچنين نرضايي از تدابير اقتصادي نيكولا ساركوزي بوده است.

بسياري از مردم فرانسه مشوق هاي اقتصادي كه آقاي ساركوزي معرفي كرده است را پاداش دادن به بانك ها تعبير كرده اند. بانك ها و شايعه پراكن هاي اقتصادي به طور گسترده براي كساد اقتصادي فرانسه سرزنش شده اند.

بسياري از مردم فرانسه عصباني هستند كه دولت به بانك هاي اين كشور ميلياردها يورو كمك كرد تا ورشكست نشوند اما در مقايسه به صنايع و تجارتخانه ها كمك ناچيزي كرد.

در حالي كه به نظر مي رسد ميزان بيكاري در سال آينده به 10 درصد برسد فرانسوي ها به رئيس جمهوري خود چشم دوخته اند تا با صرف نظر كردن از اصلاحات اقتصادي خود و توجه به احياي مجدد اقتصاد اين كشور به آنها در ارتباط با آينده شغلي شان اطمينان دهد.

تيري دديو، از اتحاديه كارگري CFDT به بي بي سي گفت كه مردم فرانسه احساس مي كنند كه تاوان بحراني را مي دهند كه سهمي در ايجاد آن نداشته اند.

چند روز پيش وزير اقتصاد فرانسه برگزاركنندگان اعتصاب را محكوم و آنها را به ايجاد ارعاب در ميان مردم در دوره بي اطميناني اقتصادي در اين كشور متهم كرد.

[Rasputin]

CAIRO (Reuters) - A bomb killed a French teenager and wounded at least 20 other people in a crowded square near a popular tourist bazaar in the Egyptian capital Cairo on Sunday, officials said.

The blast was the first fatal attack on tourists in Egypt since bombs killed at least 23 people at an Egyptian resort in the Sinai peninsula in 2006. Sunday's bomb went off near the 14th-century Khan el-Khalili market in eastern Cairo, where tourists shop for trinkets and sit at outdoor cafes.

"I was standing in front of my store selling to the tourists and we heard a big explosion," a shop owner told Egyptian state television. "We ran away, and when we came back we saw bodies lying on the ground."

The Health Ministry said a 17-year-old French girl was killed and 13 French tourists, three Saudis and four Egyptians had been wounded. The German Foreign Ministry said one German had been injured.

Egyptian state new agency MENA quoted security officials as saying the bomb had exploded under a bench in a garden in the square, and that a second bomb had been defused by security forces.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but security sources said two suspects had been taken into custody.

Islamic militants have hit Egypt's tourist industry in recent years through bomb and shooting attacks, though there has been a lull since 2006.

The bombing is embarrassing for the government, which has tried hard to project an image of security and stability, but angered public opinion at home and across the Arab world by helping Israel to enforce a blockade on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, and failing to condemn its recent onslaught on the Palestinian territory more forcefully.

Security sources had earlier told Reuters that four people had died -- two tourists and two Egyptian street children. A similar blast in the same area killed three tourists in 2005.

The office of French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a statement in Paris that one French national had died and seven others had been wounded.

SOCCER MATCH

The attack happened just after dark as people were gathering around coffee shops to watch a televised soccer match, a witness, who did not give his name, told Reuters.

"There was a big noise but at first we thought it could be people celebrating," he said. "But then some people running away started screaming and fell on the ground. There was a lot of screaming."

Egyptian television showed spots of blood on the paved square as police officers combed the area, which was quickly cordoned off as ambulances and police cars poured in.

"We heard a huge sound but we didn't know what it was," a witness told state television. "These are just innocent tourists who are not involved in politics coming to visit our country."

[siamak]

El Salvador – A leftist television journalist has won El Salvador's presidential election, bringing a party of former guerrillas to power for the first time since a bloody civil war and ending two decades of conservative rule.

Mauricio Funes, a moderate plucked from outside the ranks of the rebel-group-turned-political-party Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, became the latest leftist to rise to power in Latin America at a time of uncertainty over how President Barack Obama will approach the region.

With 90 percent of the vote counted late Sunday, Funes had 51 percent compared to 49 percent for Rodrigo Avila of the ruling conservative Arena party, said Walter Araujo, president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

Avila, accompanied by current President Tony Saca, conceded defeat and wished Funes luck.

Funes reported on the 12-year war that ended 17 years ago with 75,000 people dead, and he later hosted a popular interview show. He promised to unite the country after one of the most polarizing campaigns since the conflict.

"This is the happiest night of my life, and I want it to be the night of El Salvador's greatest hope," Funes said. "I want to thank all the people who voted for me and chose that path of hope and change."

Jubilant, red-clad Funes supporters poured into the streets of San Salvador, whooping, clapping, blowing whistles and waving large party flags. Colorful fireworks shot up into the night sky.

Funes, 49, rode a wave of discontent with two decades of Arena party rule that have brought economic growth but done little to redress social inequalities. Fuel and food prices have soared, while powerful gangs extort businesses and fight for drug-dealing turf, resulting in one of Latin America's highest homicides rates.

Funes promised to crack down on big businesses which he says exploit government complacency to evade taxes.

"The time has come for the excluded, the opportunity has arrived for genuine democrats, for men and women who believe in social justice and solidarity," he told a rally of roaring supporters early Monday.

Avila, 44, a former police chief, had warned that an FMLN victory would send El Salvador down a communist path and threaten the country's warm relations with the United States. He vowed Sunday to lead "a vigilant opposition that would ensure that the country does not lose its liberties."

Close U.S. ties saw El Salvador keep troops in Iraq longer than any other Latin American country and become a hub of regional cooperation with Washington against drug trafficking. The country's economy depends on billions of dollars sent home by 2.5 million Salvadorans who live in the U.S.

The Obama government has assured Salvadorans it would work with any leader elected — a marked departure from the Bush administration, which in 2004 suggested that an FMLN victory would hurt ties.

But U.S relations with some leftist leaders remain tense, including Venezuela's fiery Hugo Chavez and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, who lashed out last week at the United States for holding back aid over an election dispute.

Funes hopes to start off relations fresh with the Obama administration and promises to respect a free trade agreement with the United States and keep the dollar as El Salvador's currency.

"Integration with Central America and strengthening relations with the United States will be the priority of our foreign policy," Funes said.

During the campaign, television broadcasts were flooded with campaign ads warning that a Funes victory would turn El Salvador into a Venezuelan satellite and emphasizing long-standing ties between the FMLN and Chavez. That stoked fears among many Salvadorans with bitter memories of the 1980-1992 leftist insurgency.

"We don't want communists in this country," said Jose Daniel Avila, a 65-year-old retired pilot of no relation to the candidate. "Look what has happened in Nicaragua and Venezuela. Those are not examples to follow."

Chavez said earlier Sunday that his government was not taking sides in the election, adding that Venezuela wants to broaden its relations with whoever won.

[siamak]

A saga that began in the violent cauldron of California's 1970s radical counterculture and took a dramatic turn into a quiet middle-class neighborhood in Minnesota is about to come to an end.

Sara Jane Olson, who was a fugitive for a quarter-century after attempting to kill Los Angeles police officers and participating in a deadly bank robbery near Sacramento as a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, is scheduled to be released from a California prison next week.

Her bid for freedom after serving seven years is not ending quietly.

Police leagues in Los Angeles and Minnesota are objecting to the terms of her parole, her attorneys are nervous after Olson was mistakenly released and sent back to prison a year ago, and people in her home state have conflicting views about the return of a woman with two identities — a quiet, caring community volunteer and a domestic terrorist.

Olson was freed by California corrections officials a year ago when they miscalculated her parole date. She was re-arrested five days later as she was about to board a flight to Minnesota, the state she adopted as her home during her life on the run.

"After what happened last year, I think she won't feel comfortable until she's back in Minnesota," said David Nickerson, one of her lawyers. "She is just anxious about getting out ... until she's home, until she knows it's real. She wants to be with her family."

Olson, 62, her red hair turned long ago to gray, is scheduled to be released Tuesday from the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, about 150 miles southeast of San Francisco.

Where she goes next is a point of contention. Police leagues in Los Angeles and Minnesota object to having her paroled to Minnesota. Both have written to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, urging him to have Olson serve her parole in California, where her crimes were committed.

Former Los Angeles police officer John Hall was a target of one of two 1975 attempted bombings by the Symbionese Liberation Army, the urban guerrilla group most notorious for its kidnapping of newspaper heiress Patty Hearst. The pipe bombs were placed beneath two police cars.

One bomb, packed with nails, failed to explode as Hall and his partner drove away from a restaurant in Los Angeles' Hollywood Division on an August night. A similar unexploded device was found under another police car miles away.

"That bomb should have gone off that night," Hall said. "I would have been just one of many people that would have been dead. It just brings up a lot of anger knowing that she's going to be released."

Hall recalls that a girl about 8 years old was watching from the restaurant.

"That little girl was waving at us as we drove off. If that bomb would have gone off, she would have been killed along with her family," said Hall, who served 31 years with the department. "I haven't forgiven her (Olson) in the least for what she's done and what she could have done to many more innocent people."

In addition to the attempting bombings and the Hearst kidnapping, the SLA had a long list of high-profile crimes during the mid-1970s, including the assassination of an Oakland schools superintendent and the shotgun slaying of Myrna Opsahl, a 42-year-old mother of four who was depositing a church collection at a bank near Sacramento when the group robbed it.

Olson was in the bank during that 1975 heist, which netted the SLA $15,000.

After her 1999 arrest, she pleaded guilty to the attempted bombings of the police cars and the death of Opsahl.

Olson, was born Kathleen Ann Soliah in North Dakota and grew up in Palmdale, in the high desert north of Los Angeles.

If her release goes as planned, her attorneys say she will be paroled to her mother's house in Palmdale and will have 24 hours to report to her California parole agent. Unless there is a change, she then will be allowed to return to St. Paul, Minn., where she changed her name and married Dr. Gerald "Fred" Peterson.

"Her release of course is a great relief," Peterson said in an e-mail to The Associated Press, declining a request for an interview. "We need to regroup in our home, and preserve our privacy as much as possible, and get our lives coordinated again. We're very happy to reunite."

Many of Olson's friends and former associates in Minnesota declined to comment about her release, fearing any statements might hurt her chances of getting out on schedule.

And some have simply run out of patience with the attention the case has gotten.

"I don't have anything to say," snapped Wendy Knox, artistic director of the Frank Theatre and a longtime friend of Olson's. "Every time something happens in that case I get 50,000 calls from reporters."

Others said they couldn't wait to see her again.

"I'm planning on giving her a big hug when she gets back and am going to count on her to do what she did before, which was read the New York Times to the blind and volunteer in all sorts of activities to help the less fortunate," said Andy Dawkins, a longtime family friend from St. Paul.

Not everyone will be happy to have her back. After Olson's arrest in 1999, Minneapolis gun store owner Mark Koscielski (koh-SHEL'-skee) countered supporters with bumper stickers that said "Fight Terrorism — Jail Kathleen."

"She's a ... terrorist and she shouldn't be out of jail," Koscielski said.

The president of the St. Paul Police Federation, Dave Titus, wrote to Schwarzenegger last week arguing against letting Olson serve her parole in his city.

"Returning Soliah to the same neighborhood that harbored her during her 24-year flight from justice is hardly conducive to strict parole monitoring," Titus wrote. "If having a convicted domestic terrorist living in their midst didn't bother her neighbors, why would the State Department of Corrections think they would report her if she violated parole?"

Olson, then Soliah, was in her late 20s when she joined the SLA. The small band of mostly white, college-educated children of middle-class families was started in 1973 by an ex-convict named Donald DeFreeze. He died with five members of the group in a 1974 shootout with police at their Los Angeles hideout.

After the attempted bombings of the LAPD police cars, Olson fled to St. Paul, 1,900 miles away, where she acted in community theater, joined a church, taught English to immigrants, worked with senior citizens and raised the couple's three daughters.

She was arrested in June 1999 on a tip from the "America's Most Wanted" television show.

Opsahl's son, Jon Opsahl, said he is glad the saga is coming to an end.

"She did her minimal time and has paid her debt to society after all these years," he said. "As far as I'm concerned, she can leave the state as soon as possible and get back to her life."

[siamak]

http://www.didanihaa.com/archives/2009/03/081850.php

[Rasputin]

http://zamaaneh.com/news/2009/03/post_8367.html

[Rasputin]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/2009/03/090331_he_yemen_iran.shtml

[Rasputin]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/world/2009/04/090403_wkf-ny-shooting.shtml

[Rasputin]

A man armed with two handguns killed 13 people at an immigration services center before apparently turning the gun on himself, authorities in Binghamton, New York, said on Friday.

Police Chief Joseph Zikuski told a news conference the gunman blocked the back entrance of the building with a car, walked in the front door and shot two receptionists, one of whom died, before entering a classroom and killing 12 more people and then apparently committing suicide.

He said that four other people were critically wounded in the latest U.S. shooting incident with multiple casualties.

One of the receptionists survived, pretending to be dead before crawling under a desk where she managed to call police, Zikuski said. She was in critical condition in a hospital.

"We have no idea what the motive is," Zikuski said, adding that the man was no stranger to the center.

Representative Maurice Hinchey, whose district includes Binghamton, told The New York Times that indications are the gunman was an immigrant from Vietnam and the car he used was registered to his father.

Local media reported the man was in his early 40s.

"It was definitely premeditated. He barricaded the back door -- put his car right against the door so nobody could escape," Zikuski said.

Zikuski said 37 people were evacuated safely from the building, 26 of whom had sought refuge in the basement.

All the shots were fired before police reached the scene on a main street in Binghamton, a town of some 45,000 people about 150 miles northwest of New York City.

President Barack Obama, in France and Germany for a NATO meeting, said in a statement he was "shocked and deeply saddened" by the shooting.

TARGETS 'AMERICAN DREAM'

The American Civic Association building is used to teach English and provide other services to recent immigrants to the United States who are preparing for U.S. citizenship.

New York Governor David Paterson said it was a "senseless act of violence" that targeted people "who wanted to be part of the American dream."

Zikuski said police believed the gunman was among the dead because the body of a man wearing a satchel holding ammunition was found, as well as two handguns. Police also tracked down the owner of the car who had lent it to the suspect.
Local media reports said authorities requested a Vietnamese translator to speak with the gunman.

Vice President Joe Biden told a civil rights meeting in New York City the victims were in the process of taking exams to become citizens when the shooting started.

"We've got to figure a way to deal with this senseless, senseless violence," Biden said.

There have been several mass shootings in recent years in the United States, where guns are widely available for purchase and the right to own weapons is enshrined in the Constitution.

Last month, a man killed 10 people, many of them family members, in a shooting rampage in Alabama.

On April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech, a university in Blacksburg, Virginia, became the site of the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history when a student gunman killed 32 people and himself.

"When are we going to be able to curb the kind of violence that is so fraught and so rapid we can't even keep track of the incidents?" Paterson asked at a news conference.

[Rasputin]

Jiverly Wong was upset over losing his job at a vacuum plant, didn't like people picking on him for his limited English and once angrily told a co-worker, "America sucks."

It remains unclear exactly why the Vietnamese immigrant strapped on a bulletproof vest, barged in on a citizenship class and killed 13 people and himself, but the police chief says he knows one thing for sure: "He must have been a coward."

Jiverly Wong had apparently been preparing for a gun battle with police but changed course and decided to turn the gun on himself when he heard sirens approaching, Chief Joseph Zikuski said Saturday.

"He had a lot of ammunition on him, so thank God before more lives were lost, he decided to do that," the chief said.

Police and Wong's acquaintances portrayed him as an angry, troubled 41-year-old man who struggled with drugs and job loss and perhaps blamed his adopted country for his troubles. His rampage "was not a surprise" to those who knew him, Zikuski said.

"He felt degraded because people were apparently making fun of his poor English speaking," the chief said.

Wong, who used the alias Jiverly Voong, believed people close to him were making fun of him for his poor English language skills, the chief said.

Until last month, he had been taking classes at the American Civic Association, which teaches English to immigrants and helps them prepare for citizenship tests.

Then, on Friday, he parked his car against the back door of the association, burst through the front doors and shot two receptionists, killing one, before moving on to a classroom where he claimed 12 more victims, police said.

The police chief said that most of the dead had multiple gunshot wounds. Wong used two handguns — a 9 mm and a .45-caliber — for which he had obtained a permit more than a decade ago.

The receptionist who survived, 61-year-old Shirley DeLucia, played dead, then called 911 despite her injuries and stayed on the line while the gunman remained in the building.

"She's a hero in her own right," he said.

Police initially said it took 90 minutes to rescue her. On Saturday, Zikuski said it was actually 39 minutes, and he said the police response followed all proper procedures.

"The police did the right thing," he said.

DeLucia remained in critical condition Saturday. The chief said she and three other hospitalized victims were all expected to survive, and that police were in no hurry to question her.

"We're giving her a break. There's no reason to put her through that," he said.

Binghamton police are withholding the names of victims until they have notified relatives and can release all the names at once. Each autopsy takes two to four hours, and authorities are struggling to track down families around the globe.

Wong's tactics — including the body armor and copious ammunition — fit him into a category of killers called "pseudo-commandos," said Park Dietz, a criminologist and forensic psychiatrist at UCLA who analyzed the Columbine High School shootings in Colorado in 1999.

Barricading the back doors to trap his prey "was his way of ensuring that he could maximize his kill rate," Dietz said. "This was all about anger, paranoia, and desperation."

Wong was born in Vietnam to an ethnically Chinese family. He moved to the States in the early 1990s and soon afterward became a citizen, friends and relatives said. He worked at IBM for a time, friend Hue Huynh said, but decided to move to California.

There, he worked for seven years at a caterer called Kikka Sushi, eventually making $9 an hour, said Paulus Lukas, the company's human resources manager.

"He was really good at doing his job — we respected him for that," Lukas told the Los Angeles Times. "He's never late, he's always punctual. And when he finishes his job, he goes home. He doesn't complain, he doesn't argue with people. He gets along."

But one day he simply didn't show up for work, Lukas told the Times. Early last year, he called asking the company to send his tax forms to a New York state address.

Back in New York, he worked at the Shop-Vac plant in Binghamton. Former co-worker Kevin Greene told the Daily News of New York that Wong once said, in answer to whether he liked the New York Yankees, "No, I don't like that team. I don't like America. America sucks."

Zikuski said Wong was fired from that job, where he assembled vacuum cleaners. That's apparently when things really started to go downhill.

"People who end up doing this particular thing have an accumulation of stressers in their lives, and ultimately there is the one that broke the camel's back," Dietz said. "Job loss is one of the big ones, and those stressers are happening more often this year."

Huynh, the 56-year-old proprietor of an Asian grocery store in Binghamton frequented by the gunman's sister, ran into Wong at the gym recently and noted that he was complaining about how he couldn't find work.

His unemployment benefits were only $200 a week, and he lamented his bad luck, she said.

"He's upset he don't have a job here. He come back and want to work," Huynh said. Her husband tried to cheer him up by saying that he was still young and had plenty of time to find work.

Wong's story is similar to how friends were describing the recent trials of a man accused of opening fire on Pittsburgh police officers during a domestic dispute Saturday, killing three of them. They said he had recently been upset about losing his job; police say that, like Wong, he was wearing a bulletproof vest.

A woman reached at the home who identified herself as Wong's sister told The Associated Press late Friday she did not believe he was the gunman. "I think somebody involved, not him," she said.

That's not an unusual response, Dietz said.

"What will be revealed if the investigation goes deep enough is that many people in a shooter's world knew that he was angry, mad, unreasonable, scary at times, and recently some of them came to learn that he was threatening and armed," said Dietz, who is not involved in the Binghamton investigation.

"They've known that for a long time, but none of them did what they should have done with that information."

State police got tips suggesting that Wong may have been planning a bank robbery in 1999, possibly to support a crack-cocaine addiction, Zikuski said. But the robbery never happened, and Zikuski had no other information.

Wong's father was well-known in the Binghamton area through his work years ago at the now-defunct World Relief Organization, helping recent immigrants find a doctor and obtain food stamps.

"Everyone, when they come to America, he's the one who helps," said Ty Tran, who came to the United States in 1990.

Mark Preston, 48, a neighbor of the gunman in Johnson City, outside Binghamton, said people in the family keep to themselves but often tended the bushes in their yard.

"They grow great vegetables and roses," he said.

[Rasputin]

دادگاه جنايى مصر در روز پنج شنبه 21/5/2009 حكم به اعدام مردى داد كه گمان مى كرد جايگاه و نفوذ او مانع آن مى شود كه وى و دستيارش تسليم پنجه ى عدالت شوند.

هشام طلعت مقام برجسته ى حكومتى پيشين مصر به همراه محسن السكرى افسر پليسى كه به فرمان وى، سوزان تميم خواننده ى زيباروى عرب را در ژوئيه ى گذشته در دبى به طرز فجيعى كشته بود، به اعدام محكوم شدند.

گفتنى است كه هشام طلعت، نه تنها يك مقام بلند مرتبه ى حزبى، و پارلمانى در مصر بوده است بلكه سرمايه دارى پرقدرت در اين كشور محسوب مى شد و در خارج از مصر نيز سرمايه گذاريهايى داشت.

محمدى قنصره قاضى دادگاه جنايى مصر حكم صادره ى دادگاه را همراه با مستندات پرونده به دفتر مفتى مصر ارسال داشت تا طبق قوانين اين كشور پس از اعلام موافقت مفتى حكم نهايى اعدام صادر شود. انتظار مى رود حكم نهايى اعدام هشام طلعت و دستيارش در تاريخ 25/6/2009 (حدود يك ماه ديگر) صادر شود.

خانم راندا ابوالعزم خبرنگار شبكه ى تلويزيونى (العربيه) با مخابره اين خبر افزوده است كه متهمان در پشت قفس اتهام با لباسهاى سفيد زندان ظاهر شدند. آنان و اعضاى خانواده هايشان شديداً از حكم صادره شوكه شدند و تنى چند از بستگان آنها دچار اغما گرديدند.

بعضى از خويشاوندان هشام طلعت با خبرنگاران و عكاسانى كه از متهمان در قفس تصوير بردارى مى كردند، درگير شدند و يكى از دوربينها را هم شكستند.

سمير ششتاوى كه عضو هيئت دفاع از هشام طلعت بود، اين حكم را قصاوت آميز، مخالف قانون و خلاف منطق دانست. وى افزود در پى صدور حكم نهايى براى نقص حكم اقدام خواهيم كرد. او همچنين پيش بينى كرد كه در صورت انتقال پرونده به دادگاهى ديگر، در حكم صادره تجديد نظر خواهد شد. اين وكيل مدافع مى گويد كه طلعت بيگناه است.

از سوى ديگر وكيل مدافع سوزان تميم خواننده ى عرب تنها به ابراز اين سخن اكتفا نمود كه: حكم دادگاه را قبول داريم و به قانون احترام مى گذاريم.

يادآور مى شود كه السكرى كه يك افسر دستگاه امنيى مصر بوده است، پس از آن كه در آگوست گذشته در قاهره بنابر گزارشى از پليس دبى دستگير شد، اعتراف نمود كه هشام طلعت وى را با 2 ميليون دلار به قتل سوزان تميم واداشته است.

ليكن هشام طلعت مصطفى ميلياردر معروف مصر، مالك يكى از بزرگترين شركتهاى عمران و شهرسازى، و از سردمداران حزب حاكم مصر (الوطنى) اين اتهام را رد كرد و خود را بيگناه دانست.

در مطبوعات مصرى و عربى اين صحبت مطرح شده است كه هشام طلعت "رابطه ى خاصى" با سوزان تميم داشته است. ليكن پس از آن كه اين زن مصر را به قصد اقامت در دبى ترك كرد، جسد كارد آجين شده ى او در آپارتمانش يافت شد.

جلسات 27 گانه ى محاكمه توجه رسانه ها را به ويژه در جهان عرب جلب كرد. دادگاه ادله ى جنايت را از صحنه ى جنايت به دست آورده است كه عمدتاً وسايل شخصى السكرى بوده اند و در ميان آنها كاردى كه بعداً ثابت شد وى از بازار خريده است وجود داشت، با اين حال هيئت دفاع گفته است كه اين مدارك مى تواند ساختگى باشد.


سوزان تمیم خواننده ی لبنانی




سوزان عبدالستار تميم كه به دليل زيبايى و صداى خوش خود، در جهان عرب محبوبيت داشت، ظاهراً به دليل اختلافات ترجيح داده بود كه مصر را ترك كند. او در ابتدا به لندن رفته بود و سپس با خريدن آپارتمانى در ماريناى دبى قصد داشت كه در آنجا ماندگار شود.

[Rasputin]

در دومین روز اعتراضاتی که گفته می شود در پی اقدام یک مامور پلیس یونان برای پاره کردن نسخه قرآن یک مهاجر مسلمان بوجود آمده، روز جمعه میان تظاهر کنندگان و پلیس درگیری پدید آمد.

همزمان با اقدام معترضین در پرتاب اشیا به سمت پلیس، مقامات امنیتی در آتن نیز به سوی تظاهر کنندگان گاز اشک آور شلیک کردند.

حدود ۱۰۰۰ مسلمان در برابر پارلمان دست به راهپیمایی زده و شعار سر دادند ودرگیری ها در پایان این گردهمایی اعتراضی به وقوع پیوست.

برخی از تظاهر کنندگان نسخه هایی از قرآن، کتاب آسمانی مسلمانان را در دست داشتند.

معترضان روز چهارشنبه گفتند پلیس پس از توقف یک مهاجر برای مشاهده اوراق شناسایی وی، قرآن او را پاره کرده است.


پلیس می گوید تحقیقات خود را پیرامون این سانحه آغاز کرده است.

صدها مهاجر مسلمان روز چهارشنبه نیز در مرکز آتن دست به تظاهرات زدند.