A small explosion in Kosovo is quickly growing into a much bigger incident after the authorities in the capital, Pristina, arrested three Germans, alleged to be intelligence operatives, in connection with an attack on the building that houses the European Union’s special representative there.
A judge in Kosovo remanded the three men – who media outlets there and in Germany have reported are members of the German foreign intelligence agency, the BND – to 30 days of investigative custody Saturday. On Monday in Berlin, a government spokesman, Thomas Steg, called the charge that Germany was involved in terrorist attacks abroad “absurd,” but declined to comment on whether the men were intelligence agents or, as has also been alleged, members of the German Army, the Bundeswehr.
Tagglobal
Spree killers like Andrew Cunanan or John Muhammed ”the DC Sniper” riveted the attention of an entire nation or acheived international news coverge. Cunanan, while on the run from a national manhunt for earlier murders managed to assassinate celebrity designer, Gianni Versace before committing suicide; Muhammed and his junior partner managed to murder ten people in a metropolitan area blanketed with local, state and Federal law enforcement despite having gandiose plans that were the product of a confused and agitated mental state. “School shootings“, another form of spree killings, have almost become a macabre rite of Spring in the United States and the late 1990’s bank robbery gone awry in Los Angeles, that featured a heavily armed, body armored, pair of criminals holding off dozens of police in a savage shoot-out that may have been inspired by a scene in the Robert DeNiro movie Heat.
Spree killings, though rare, have previously been used to forment terror both by non-state actors as well as by states. A few examples:
In 1997, Gamaa Islamiya massacred 58 foreign tourists at Luxor, Egypt an action that led the Egyptian regime of Hosni Mubarak to crush Egyptian Islamist groups as harshly as Nasser had once cracked down on the Muslim Brotherhood. In 1990, the Tamil Tigers killed 147 Muslim men and boys at four mosques in Katthankudi, Sri Lanka ( the Tigers are a highly effective and innovative terrorist-insurgency, having pioneered both suicide bombing and naval-terror operations).
In 1941, the radically fascist and fanatically anti-semitic Iron Guard in Romania attempted a coup d’etat against the nationalist dictator and Nazi ally, Ion Antonescu, which featured wild street violence by Legionaires and a ghoulish pogram against Romanian Jewry so horrific that even German SS commanders on the scene in Bucharest were appalled. Despite having made use of such tactics himself in the Kristallnacht and the Night of the Long Knives and having his own genocidal program for the Jews, Hitler ordered the Wehrmacht and SS to assist Antonescu in crushing the Iron Guard revolt.
Today, around 500 protesters rioted at the Kai Da toy factory in Dongguan in the Pearl River delta, flipping over a police car and trashing computers in a dispute over payoffs to 80 fired workers. Tens of thousands of factories across the region have already shut their gates.
Yin Weimin, China’s Social Security minister, has revealed that employment is the Communist Party’s number one concern in the downturn and said the “situation is critical”. Unemployment is expected to rise from 4pc to 4.5pc by the end of the year and anecdotal reports have suggested that 3m people have already been fired in the industrial province of Zhejiang alone.
Two major provinces, Shandong and Hubei, have already responded by banning companies from firing staff without permission from the government.
China slashes interest rates as panic spreads – Telegraph.
(via Cryptogon)
Italian bloggers are up in arms at a court ruling early this year that suggests almost all Italian blogs are illegal. This month, a senior Italian politician went one step further, warning that most web activity is likely to be against the law.
The story begins back in May, when a judge in Modica (in Sicily) found local historian and author Carlo Ruta guilty of the crime of "stampa clandestina" – or publishing a "clandestine" newspaper – in respect of his blog. The judge ruled that since the blog had a headline, that made it an online newspaper, and brought it within the law’s remit.
How an Italian judge made the internet illegal – The Register.
(via Cryptogon)
A new study of the global future by U.S. intelligence agencies suggests that Al Qaeda may be on the decline, having alienated Muslim supporters with its indiscriminate killing and inattention to the practical problems of poverty, unemployment and education.
While not contradicting intelligence assessments suggesting that Al Qaeda remains a major threat with a strong presence in the tribal areas of Pakistan, the report says the group “may decay sooner” than many experts have assumed because of severe weaknesses: “unachievable strategic objectives, inability to attract broad-based support, and self-destructive actions.”
From an American point of view, the predicted decline of Al Qaeda is one of the few bright spots in the report, “Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World,” which predicts a significant relative decline in the world dominance of the United States as China, India and other powers assert themselves.
Full Story: International Herald Tribune
Or Download the report from the National Intelligence Council
Most of these are pretty mundane, some look extremely useful (like the mobile phone recharger). But then there’s this “used” (?) school girl panties machine. This probably doesn’t do much to fight the western stereotype of the Japanese as a bunch of weirdos, does it?
(via Peep Show Stories)
Seems like this idea is spreading: “India’s booming middle class has $420 billion to spend. Here’s how to grab your share.”
Experts are speculating that future wars will be fought over water. Here’s some info:
Village Voice: A World Without Water (via New World Disorder)
Getting high off lizard dung seems to be all the rage in Nigeria, and the authorities are getting worried (duh!). The best way to do it, apparently, is to “mix it with water and a blue laundry detergent.” According to a user Agence France Presse interviewed, “it produces a strong effect similar to the effect of drinking strong whisky to excess on a hot day.” Another user, who smokes it, said “I can’t find a job given my low academic qualifications. Since I discovered the use of lizard dung I have found peace because whenever I smoke it with tobacco all my worries are gone.”
Agence France Presse: Could It Possibly Be True Department — New African High?
(via Plastic)
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