Friday, March 04, 2011
FRANCE TARGETED BY ISLAMISTS OVER BURQA BAN
China Confidential analysts see a heightened risk of Islamist terrorist attacks--and rioting and street violence--in France for the next several months, starting in April, when a ban on wearing (barbaric) full-face Muslim veils in public goes into effect. Read all about the new law here.THOUSANDS PROTEST IN AMMAN
SUNNI-SHIITE CLASHES IN BAHRAIN
RIVERS OF BLOOD IN LIBYA
US Gasoline Prices Soar
Click here to read about America's soaring gasoline prices. Left/liberal loons--who traditionally believe that things must get worse before they get better--are actually pleased by the bad news, believing, like fools, that a magical transition to renewable energy is at hand, waiting only for government incentives.NEW FEARS ABOUT LIBYAN ARMS
Thursday, March 03, 2011
Saudis Prepared to Intervene in Bahrain
N. Korean Defector Warns More Provocations Likely
CLINTON: IRAN MEDDLING ACROSS MIDEAST
China Threatens to Expel Foreign Repoters
Friday, 4 March 2011
EARLY WARNING FORECAST: THIS APRIL IN PARIS COULD BE UNUSUALLY HOT
Analysts believe we could be only a month away from a truly bizarre and unprecedented development--namely, the spectacle of a European ally of the United States rocked by violent Islamic protests--with the effective backing of an incumbent U.S. President. As previously reported, Obama opposes the ban on burqas and full-face veils; and the U.S. Embassy in Paris has become a center of support for Muslim minority rights in France.
10TH STRAIGHT FRIDAY OF MANIFESTATIONS
AS REGIME REJECTS RADICAL REFORM CALLS
Thousands of protesters took to the streets in Jordan's capital city of Amman after Friday prayers, repeating their demand for government reforms.
The protesters gathered a day after Jordanian Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit rejected calls for a constitutional monarchy.
SECTARIAN VIOLENCE ERUPTS
AS SHIITES PRESS MONARCHY
Protests in Bahrain between Sunni and majority Shiite Muslims have erupted into sectarian violence for the first time since anti-government demonstrations started some two weeks ago.
Residents of Hamad town said Friday that police intervened to disperse young Sunnis and Shiites who clashed late Thursday.
Media reports say several people were injured in the violence. It is unclear what caused the incident.
Anti-government protesters gathered throughout the small Gulf island nation for the past two weeks, demanding the resignation of the government.
Unlike those held elsewhere in the Arab world, the protests in Bahrain are largely built around the competition for power between the Sunni minority and the Shiite majority, who complain of discrimination and lack of opportunity. Protesters say they want the Sunni monarchy to transfer powers to an elected government that is representative of the Gulf state's majority Shiites.
A government crackdown on opposition protests that began February 14 killed seven demonstrators before the island state's rulers agreed, under pressure from their Western allies, to allow peaceful demonstrations to continue.
-VOA
They are dead wrong. There are no viable substitutes for oil and gas. None. Zero. Especially oil. Our civilization depends on oil.
Regarding Iranian attempts to shape outcomes in Egypt and across the Middle East, America's Secretary of State appears to agree with China Confidential, as shown by remarks made yesterday. Click here for the story.
Related:
China is changing how foreign journalist can work in the country and reporters are being warned they risk expulsion if they try to cover pro-democracy rallies. Some tourist areas of the capital and Shanghai now have the same off-limits rules governing sensitive areas such as Tibet.
In a tense news conference Thursday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu accused some journalists of deliberately inciting trouble while covering pro-democracy protests.
She warned those journalists accused of flouting the rules could not be protected under Chinese media laws.
Jiang said, however, that journalists who respect the rules will have the protection of the law.
She said there is no law to protect those who journalists who create what she described as "disturbances".
Jiang spoke after Chinese police warned foreign journalists this week to obey new restrictions on covering rallies called by an on-line protest campaign, or risking having their work visas canceled.
Jasmine Revolution
Last Sunday, more than 16 journalists were physically harassed by plainclothes and uniformed police in Beijing, with one American journalist hospitalized after a severe beating.
The journalists went to an area in Beijing known as Wangfujing. An on-line campaign called for people to go to that area, and other locations around China, on Sunday afternoons, to show support for the revolutions sweeping the Middle East, and to seek justice and reform in China.
It appears, however, that few actual protesters showed up Sunday. In Wangfujing, journalists reported seeing scores of security officers.
Beijing and Shanghai have clamped down on security in response to calls for rallies. Some dissidents said they face new restrictions on their activities.
On Thursday, Jiang said repeatedly there had been no change in the reporting regulations that were made law after the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
These allowed reporters to interview people as long as they had their consent - and permitted foreign correspondents to travel without permission, except to sensitive areas, such as Tibet.
Media restrictions
But security officials have told some foreign journalists they must seek official permission to conduct interviews and to report in public in many areas.
Journalists were told they must have permits to report from Wangfujing, a shopping street popular with tourists next to Tiananmen Square.
Officials told some foreign journalists they can report freely anywhere else in China except in the protest areas - and to stay away from those.
Some journalists have applied to report from the protest sites this coming Sunday, but have been denied permission.
The United States, the European Union and media groups have condemned the media curbs.
-VOA
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