Moscow Car Bomb (UPDATED)

Cable news outlets are now reporting what appears to be a car bomb near a subway station in Moscow: eight dead and ten injured at this hour.

More as I find it online.

(AFX)

At least eight people were killed and 10 others injured after a car exploded outside a Moscow subway station, the Interfax news agency reported, quoting emergency ministry sources.

“There are children among the wounded,” a police source told the RIA Novosti news agency.

The emergencies ministry told the Interfax agency that the blast happened at 8.17 pm outside the Rizhskaya metro station in northern Moscow, just shortly after rush hour.

Initial reports had said two cars exploded at the same time.

(AP)

A car exploded near a Moscow subway station Tuesday night, killing eight people and wounding 10, the Interfax news agency reported, citing emergency ministry officials.

The emergency ministry could not immediately be reached for comment. A duty officer at the Federal Security Service’s Moscow branch confirmed there was an explosion that caused injuries.

News reports said the blast took place near the Rizhskaya station in northern Moscow, in an area between the entrance to the station and a supermarket-department store complex.

UPDATE:

Russian security authorities say that the blast was caused by a female suicide bomber.

Iran says it arrested several nuclear spies

JERUSALEM POST: Iran says it arrested several nuclear spies

Iran said Tuesday it has arrested dozens of spies, including several people who passed the country’s nuclear secrets to Iran’s enemies, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi did not identify those arrested but said members of the armed opposition group Mujahedeen Khalq, played the main role.

“The Intelligence Ministry has arrested several spies who were transferring Iran’s nuclear secrets out of the country,” IRNA quoted Yunesi as saying. He did not provide further details.

“The hypocrites (Mujahedeen) had the leading role in passing information (about Iran’s nuclear facilities) and have already said they were proud of spying against Iran,” Yunesi was quoted as saying.

(Keep this all in mind when the Iranians laud Mordechai “Traitor” Vanunu as a hero and former “prisoner of conscience”)

French Minister Attacked, Rebels Take Haitian Town

Reuters reports that a French minister was chased out of a Haitian slum under gunfire on Monday, while former soldiers who helped oust President Jean-Bertrand Aristide took control of a southern town:

The French diplomatic source said the country’s junior foreign minister, Renaud Muselier, had to be bustled out of the Cite Soleil slum in Port-au-Prince after his entourage was attacked by rock-throwing youths.

When Haitian police fired into the air, gang members pulled out shotguns, pistols and other weapons and shot at the visitors, who had been planning to visit a hospital in the slum that still seethes with anger over Aristide’s departure.

From California Yankee.

Explosion Reported in Afghanistan Capital, Children Killed in School Explosion

Just breaking…

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) A big explosion badly damaged a house in downtown Kabul Sunday, killing at least one person. The building was in flames.

The blast occurred in the Shar-e Naw district of central Kabul, an area housing the offices of international organizations and guesthouses used by their staff.

One building was badly damaged and was burning fiercely minutes after the blast. The body of one man lay in the street in front. He appeared to be in uniform, but it was unclear if he was a soldier or a security guard.

Police and foreign security personnel apparently American cordoned off the street.

Earlier today in Afghanistan, nine children were killed in a school explosion:

In Afghanistan, a powerful bomb explosion has killed at least nine children and injured 15 others. A separate attack on election workers has caused the United Nations to suspend its operations temporarily in the eastern part of the country.

Afghan officials and the U.S.-led military coalition say the children were killed Saturday evening when an explosion ripped through a school in the town of Zormat, in the southeastern Afghan province of Paktia.

Simon's E. Asia Overview: Aug 25/04

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too.

It’s time to have a look at East Asia and what’s been making the news in Asian blogs over the past month. Simon World has a twice weekly post called Asia by Blog, and this is an excerpted set from over the past month.

N.B. Simon’s new blog showcase features the newest blogging talent from around the world… and speaking of new talent - big congratulations on the birth of Simon’s new baby boy.

• China, Taiwan & Hong Kong
• Korea & Japan
• South-East Asia
• Miscellany

1-2 Russian Planes Crash (UPDATED)

Fox News Channel reports that one Russian airliner has crashed south of Moscow and another is missing between Moscow and the Black Sea.

Click here for full size version

I’ve moved the updates/original chronology into the extended entry below. I’ve made a post updating the situation as it relates to probable terrorism in the GWOT section.

UPDATES
Reuters:

Air controllers on Tuesday lost contact with the second airplane with 44 passengers on board, Interfax news agency reported.
It quoted Emergencies ministry as saying contacts with Tu-154 flying from Moscow to the Black Sea resort of Sochi were lost at 3 p.m. EDT when it was expected to be 90 miles from the southern city of Rostov-on-Don.

Earlier Russian news agencies said that around the same time one more Russian passenger plane with more than 40 people on board went missing near the town of Tula south of Moscow.

In an apparently unrelated incident in Moscow, an explosion at a bus stop Tuesday evening was determined to be terrorist-related.

BBC:

A plane with 62 people on board has crashed in the Tula region in the centre of the country.

The Itar-Tass news agency reports that the plane went down near the village of Buchalki, about 180km (110miles) south of the capital, Moscow.

Meanwhile air controllers said they had lost contact with a second plane with 44 passengers on board, near the southern city of Rostov-on-Don.

It is not yet known whether there were casualities in either incident.

Emergency officials were quoted by the Itar-Tass agency as saying they had reached the site of the first crash in the Tula region, but there was no news on what they found.

The plane had disappeared off radar screens on its way to the southern city of Volgograd late on Tuesday.

The second plane, said to be a Tu-154 flying from Moscow to the Black Sea resort of Sochi, vanished when it was expected to be 140 km (90 miles) from the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, the emergencies ministry said, according to the Interfax news agency.

6:31 EDT UPDATE
NEWS.com.au:

ITAR-Tass news agency reports a second plane crash in Russia, saying two occurred almost simultaneously.

Earlier reports said a plane carrying 62 people has crashed in Russia’s Tula region, south of Moscow.

Itar-Tass said the aircraft, with 54 passengers and eight crew on board, crashed near the village of Buchalki, about 180km south of Moscow.

Fox News is confirming the crashes and that there were unconfirmed eyewitness reports of an explosion before one crash.

6:45 UPDATE: Some reports say both planes were Tu-154s, others say one was a Tu-134. Information on both aircraft are at the bottom of this post.

Novinite:

Government sources reported nobody sirvived the first crash.

The first plane flying from Moscow to Volgograd was carrying 54 passengers and a crew of eight when it crashed near the village of Buchalki, the agency said, citing a duty officer at the regional center for civil defense and emergencies.

The Tula region is about 180 km south of Moscow.

The second plane was carrying 44 people when it crashed near Rostov, the state-run RIA Novisti news agency informed, citing an Inter-State Aviation Committee official. Rostov is about 1,000 km south of Moscow.

AP:

In Washington, a senior U.S. State Department official said, “We are obviously concerned by the news. We’re following developments closely and trying to determine the facts.”

7:05 UPDATE: CNN and Fox are both reporting the first plane crashed and that the 2 planes took off back-to-back and that the 2nd plane disappeared 3 minutes after the first plane crashed. Both channels are reporting an unconfirmed explosion before the first crash.

There were no survivors in the first crash.

The 2nd plane’s crash hasn’t been officially confirmed. It was last over a deserted area near Rostov. There probably were no witnesses on the ground in that area.

There has been no government response from Russian officials yet. Terrorism hasn’t been ruled out or ruled in. Regional elections are 5 days away.

7:15 UPDATE: A teaser on Fox News Channel as they went to a break quoted the Russian ambassador to the United Nations as saying something generic along the lines that terrorism had to be looked into as a cause.

CNN reports that the planes took off approximately 3.5 hours ago.

BBC:

Aviation expert David Learmount told the BBC it was “very, very strange indeed” to have “two unconnected safety accidents in the same country on the same day”.

The second plane, said to be a Tu-154 flying from Moscow to the Black Sea resort of Sochi, vanished when it was expected to be 140 km (90 miles) from the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, the emergencies ministry said, according to the Interfax news agency.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is currently on holiday in Sochi.

7:25 UPDATE: Fox News reports that the FSB (successor to the KGB) is investigating.

A Reuters report correcting the number of engines on each plane seems to confirm that one plane was a Tu-154 and one was a Tu-134.

7:30 UPDATE: MSNBC reports 42 passengers on the first plane and the second plane was carrying 62 people. The Tu-154 is the missing aircraft. Helicopters are being used to search for the missing plane.

7:35 UPDATE: Homeland Security officials have said they are monitoring the situation with no increased security measures in the U.S.

Reuters:

Interfax quoted major Russian air carrier Sibir as saying it owned the plane which has gone missing near Rostov-on-Don.

But a company spokesman told the agency 38 passengers were on board the plane, in operation since 1982.

It was not immediately clear which company owned the plane that crashed near Tula.

Itar-Tass news agency quoted a Moscow air controllers’ source as saying that there had been no reports of any problems from the crew of the TU-134 before it crashed near Tula.

Sibir had a plane accidentally shot down in October 2001 by Ukrainians conducting air-defense exercises.

7:45 UPDATE: Fox News reports there is a fire on the ground in or near Rostov-on-Don and that the 2nd plane’s crash may have started it.

8:07 EDT: Athena has a lengthy post analyzing possible root causes of terrorism directed against Russia dating back to the Afghanistan invasion as well as including the Chechen situation.

8:14 EDT: Fox News said there are conflicting reports about whether the second plane crashed. Reports of tightened security at Russian airports.

8:23 EDT: Putin visited Chechnya Monday preceding the Chechen elections.

9:10 EDT: Mentions on all the cable news channels are a rehash so far with no new information.

9:15 EDT: CNN Headline reviewed all of the previous information and mentioned that the 2nd plane was still missing with no official confirmation of a crash but that search-and-rescue workers were looking for it.

CNN and Fox News have had lots of experts speculating on whether its terrorism or not. Leading suspects are Chechen rebels and suspicions of terrorism are heightened because of the origin of both flights and the timing of the crash and loss of communications.

10:00 Update: Fox News via a producer in Moscow reports the explosion was seen before the first crash and that Russian authorities have been on alert for terrorist attacks this week. They also mentioned Putin was in Sochi and reported on attacks over the weekend in Grozny. Rebels have said that the winner of the election will be assassinated.

I believe Dennis Dubrovin of ITAR-TASS told Fox News that officials believe that it may have been a “incident” (accident) and no evidence of terrorism was found. He also says the planes took off 30 minutes apart. (He spoke with a pretty heavy accent on a bad phone connection.)

Bill Gertz of the Washington Times, also on FNC, says there should be caution in calling it terror but it could be al Qaeda or Chechen terrorists if it is terrorism. Gertz also says terror tactics developed in Chechnya have migrated to Iraq.

Dubrovin’s connection dropped before he was returned to. Gertz discusses ties between the Chechen rebels and Middle East terrorists and the goal of an Islamic State in Chechnya.

11:45 UPDATE
Interfax:

A Tu-134 passenger plane crashed near Tula on Tuesday evening, and another passenger liner, Tu-154, went missing in the Rostov region. Both planes had flown out from Moscow’s Domodedovo airport.
The Tu-134, owned by Volga-Aviaexpress air company, was bound to Volgograd and the Tu-154, owned by Sibir air company, was on its flight to Sochi, sources in the Russian aviation authorities told Interfax.
Radio contact with the two passenger liners was lost at 10:59 p.m. on Tuesday. Several hours later, the scene of the Tu-134’s crash was discovered near the village of Buchalki in the Kimovsky district in the Tula region, the regional administration informed Interfax. None of the local residents was injured.
The regional emergency situations department said witnesses saw an explosion on board the plane before it crashed.
The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry’s information department confirmed these reports, adding that the tail of the plane and parts of the fuselage had been discovered at the scene. The search for other parts of the plane and flight recorders is underway.
The Rostov regional services are searching for the missing Tu-154.
Emergency Situations Ministry spokesperson Marina Ryklina said contact with the plane was lost at 10:59 p.m. on Tuesday, when the plane was at a distance of 138 kilometers from Rostov-on-Don.
But the plane was not found in this area, Ryklina said.
The Rostov regional emergency situations department reported, meanwhile, that a fire was discovered near the village of Zelenovka in the Rostov region’s Tarasovsky district at about 3:05 a.m., Moscow time, on Wednesday. A local search and rescue team set out to the place in search for the missing air liner.
Sibir air company told Interfax that the plane flying from Domodedovo to Sochi, Flight 1047, disappeared from radars at about 11 p.m. on Tuesday.
The plane (No. RA-85556) had been in service since 1982. The air company opened a hotline for the passengers’ relatives.
The Interstate Aviation Committee has confirmed reports about the two air incidents.
A Committee spokesman told Interfax that a commission will be set up to investigate the incidents….

“President Vladimir Putin has instructed the Federal Security Service to launch an investigation into the two incidents immediately,” presidential spokesman Alexei Gromov told Interfax.
Putin was immediately informed about the crash and about the missing air liner, he said.
He also said that the president is being informed about the situation by officials of the Emergency Situations Ministry, FSB and other law enforcement agencies.
Security measures have been tightened in all of the country’s airports, informed sources told Interfax

Interfax:

A Russian aviation security expert does not rule out terrorism behind the air incidents involving two Russian airliners.
“Both the planes took off from the same Moscow airport and disappeared from radar screens at about the same time, all of which suggests that terrorist attacks, planned in advance, may have been involved,” the expert told Interfax on condition of anonymity on Wednesday.
“Experts working at the Domodedovo airport and in the area in the Tula region, where one of the planes crashed, will make a final conclusion,” he said.
He said prosecutors and officials of the Federal Security Service and Interior Ministry are examining the lists of passengers and questioning personnel who prepared the planes for the flight at the Domodedovo airport, from which the two planes flew out to Volgograd and Sochi on Tuesday evening.
“What is important now is to get informtion from the scene of the crash in the Tula region quickly. An examination of the wreckage and flight recorders will help reveal causes of the crash and establish whether there was an explosion on board the plane before it crashed,” the expert said.

8/25/2004 12:20 A.M. EDT
ABC News via Rusty Shackleford:

The Russian plane that went missing around the time as another jet crashed issued a siugnal indicating a hijacking or seizure before disappearing from radar, the Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed government source as saying Wednesday.
The signal came at 11:04 p.m. Tuesdau from the Tu-154 airliner that went missing in southern Russia’s Rostov region, Interfax quoted the source in Russia’s “power structures” as saying.

Other Links:
Current Time in Moscow
Large list of Russian blogs (page has problems in some browsers - Firefox works best.)
Russian Blogs
Globe of Blogs: Russia
Aeroflot
Domodedovo Airport
Tupolev 134 (Tu-134)
Tupolev 154 (Tu-154)
The Moscow Times
Rusnet
MosNews
The Moscow News
Gazeta.ru
Interfax
ITAR-TASS
RIA Novosti
Pravda
Kavkaz Center (Chechnya News)
Other Chechnya News
Federal Security Service (in Russian)
FSB information (English)

Other blogging:
Rusty Shackleford
In the Bullpen
Blogs of War
Chris Short
Instapundit
Freedom of Thought
Michelle Malkin
Armies of Liberation
M.H. King
Baldilocks
James Joyner
Slant Point
Wizbang!
Pejmanesque
Tacitus
Dean Esmay

Cross-posted:Backcountry Conservative

Sudan to Cut Paramilitary Forces in Darfur

AP: Sudan to Cut Paramilitary Forces in Darfur

In a goodwill gesture on the eve of peace talks, Sudan said Sunday it would reduce paramilitary forces in Darfur by 30 percent to try to ease tensions in the western region, where an 18-month conflict has killed an estimated 30,000 people.

The reduction of the volunteer force was ordered to build confidence ahead of African Union-sponsored peace talks starting Monday in Nigeria between government officials and two African rebel groups, said Sudan’s state minister for interior affairs, Ahmed Mohamed Haroon.

North Korea Seethes in Prelude to Talks

As far as I know, Michael Moore has not been employed as the new DPRK spokesman. Despite appearances to the contrary… from Reuters, via the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) :

Six-party working-level talks on the communist North’s nuclear weapons ambitions had been planned for August but have yet to materialise. The date for more senior talks is also in question, although diplomats note Pyongyang often raises its rhetorical voice before attending talks or compromising.
[…]
In a strongly worded statement published by the official KCNA news agency, a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said Mr Bush had hurled “malignant slanders and calumnies” against Pyongyang’s leadership under Kim Jong-il.

”This clearly proves that the DPRK was quite right when it commented that he is a political imbecile bereft of even elementary morality as a human being and a bad guy, much less being a politician,” the spokesman said.

“Bush is a tyrant that puts Hitler into the shade.”

The spokesman said it had been impossible to hold working-level talks between the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States because of hostile US policy. He said the latest comments made matters worse.

“This made it quite impossible for the DPRK to go to the talks and deprived it of any elementary justification to sit at the negotiating table with the US,” he said.

A South Korean official told Reuters the North was not unequivocally ruling out talks and noted there were still five weeks until the end of September, by which time full six-way talks are supposed to have been held.

Strengthen The Good: A Charley Fund With Matching Grants

The Strengthen The Good Network is profiling The Gulf Coast Community Foundation Of Venice Hurricane Charley Disaster Relief Fund as its first Strengthen The Good charity. The fund, administered by a foundation in the disaster area, is matching all donations up to $100,000, so it’s a great opportunity to get extra good for your buck. Go to Strengthen The Good to learn more, and to strengthen the good yourself.

One buck is all it takes to help someone in need. One buck (which in this case, makes two!).

China says Taiwan's Chen out to sabotage Sino-US relations

Straits Times: China says Chen out to sabotage Sino-US relations

BEIJING - China yesterday urged the United States not to be duped by the 'tricks' of Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian who Beijing said would use US stopovers en route to Latin America to sabotage Sino-American ties.

Mr Chen will transit Hawaii on Aug 29 on his way to Panama and stop by Seattle on Sept 3 on the way back home from Belize.

'The Taiwan administration is using the excuse of stopovers to try and split China and violate Sino-US relations,' the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

'This is a trick they have used before. We urge the US side not to allow ranking Taiwan officials to carry out splittist activities with the excuse of a stopover.'

Iran Threatens Preemptive Strike Against U.S. Troops

The Australian reports that Iran has threatened a preemptive strike against US troops:

“We will not sit (with arms folded) to wait for what others will do to us,” Iran’s defence minister, Rear-Admiral Ali Shamkhani told Al-Jazeera TV yesterday when asked if Iran would respond to a US attack on its nuclear facilities.

“Some military commanders in Iran are convinced that preventive operations which the Americans talk about are not their monopoly, “America is not the only one present in the region. We are also present, from Khost to Kandahar in Afghanistan; we are present in the Gulf and we can be present in Iraq,” said Rear-Admiral Shamkhani.

From California Yankee.

Georgia & South Ossetia On The Brink

Georgian President Mikheil Saakasvhili is offering the separatist South Ossetian government (alleged to be a Russian-armed proxy) a final chance for peace.

“That is why we offer that 500 Georgian peacekeepers, which are the part of joint peacekeeping troops, will be stationed in the Georgian villages. All other extra troops, which we have dispatched in the region after the deterioration of situation there, will be pulled out,” President Saakashvili said.

“We want to use every chance to solve the crisis peacefully. But this will be the last chance for peace,” Saakashvili added.

He said that Georgian Defense Minister Giorgi Baramidze, together with the Georgian peacekeepers deployed in the conflict zone, will be in charge of ensuring security of the Georgian villages.

He said that Georgian is ready to undertake “even the toughest measures, but these measures will be provoked only by the separatists.”

“I want to tell the Georgian people that we cannot lose in case a large-scale military confrontation is launched… Georgia has succeeded in its state-building process recently, but our enemies are unhappy about this and try to engage us in war. I am not afraid of this, but we cannot lose again,” Mikheil Saakashvili said.

Seemingly a small, regional conflict, the outcome of the situation stands a strong chance of shaping for years to come not only how Russia interacts with its neighbors but how the United States and Russia will or will not cooperate in Central Asia & the Caucasus.

Randinho's Latin America Briefing: Aug 18/04

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Latin America, courtesy of Randy Paul.

TOP TOPIC

• Venezuela’s referendum. Hugo Chávez wins big, but what will the future hold? More inside…

Other Topics Include: Leonel Fernandez takes over as President of the Dominican Republic again and his work is cut out for him; Colombian paramilitary terrorists visit Colombia’s Congress and get a negative reception, including from the US Ambassador; Who’s Number One? Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo places first in a contest no one would want to win; Castro celebrates his 78th birthday and some bloggers celebrate Cuba while excoriating Fidel.

Read The Rest…

Items Needed for Charley Victims

From Kat:

WWSB has an updated list of desperately needed supplies for the hurricane victims. The Salvation Army says the donations needed include duct tape, work gloves, plastic silverware, paper products, extra duty garbage bags, tarps, feminine hygiene products, water, diapers, canned goods, bread. They also need 4 giant freezers to deliver ice.

The Salvation Army also needs volunteers. You can call 941-954-4673 for more information.

You can drop off items right at the TV station if you live in the SRQ area and the SA will take them down to the people who need them.

The address to drop off is:
ABC 7
1477 10th Street
Sarasota, FL 34236

Orlando and Surrounding Areas

(This is cross posted at Road Warrior Survival)

I wanted to bring you what information I’ve been able to get on Orlando and the surrounding area’s. I did hear that the Orlando airport reported gusts of 145 mph while the storm was passing over. That is unbelievable considering how far that is from where the storm came aground.

Here is an article from the Orlando Sentinel. It gives a county by county breakdown of information. I’ll post the points that jump out at me.

*Also, hundreds of sewer lift stations, which pump sewage to treatment plants, are dead because of the power failures, and the sewage is beginning to back up and leak at the lift stations. More than 200 in Orange County are thought to be leaking already.

“With more than 400 [lift stations] out, that pretty much means sewage can be backing up all over the place,” said Bill Toth of the Orange County Health Department.

*There were also several structure fires blamed on careless use of candles.

Orange County:

*The estimated $3.2 billion in property damage in the county turns out to be more than the $2.7 billion estimated for coastal Lee County.

*“Several ice manufacturers have suffered damage as a result of the storm,” said Jerry Demings, Orange County public-safety director. “Ice is in short supply across the state, and we are just awaiting shipments.”

Seminole County:

*County officials estimated damage in unincorporated parts of the county at $250 million. The county’s seven cities are still assessing damage.

Osceola County:

*Anarchy ruled Sunday at many of the traffic lights that remained out, including along busy U.S. Highway 192. NOTE: This is the Kissimmee area folks - Disney. Disney is up and running, and there are a lot of tourists here, already unfamiliar with the area. Add all that together with no Traffic Lights! Yeah, I’m staying off the road unless I have to!!!

*Adding to the misery, raw sewage backed up into many streets Sunday because there was no electricity to power the sewage-pumping stations, said Brian Wheeler, general manager of Toho Water Authority, which provides water and sewer service in Kissimmee and some other parts of Osceola County.

Heavy storms Saturday and Sunday afternoons made things worse.

Polk County:

*Damage-assessment teams in the area have been able to get to only one-fifth of the area, slowed by tending to residents without food or water or imperiled by ruptured gas lines.

*The hurricane damaged three power plants in the county and downed transmission lines and county-service lines.

Volusia County:

*Up to 80 percent of Deltona remained without power, and Ormond Beach and South Daytona reported about 70 percent without electricity. In Lake Helen, where large trees cover much of the city, up to 90 percent of residents remained without power.

Go and read the entire article. I just pulled out information I thought might not be known outside of this area.

Bush Announces Major Troop Realignment

Promising “a more agile and more flexible force,” President Bush announced on Monday a major realignment of U.S. forces around the world.

Bush said about 60,000 to 70,000 uniformed personnel would move from overseas to posts in the United States over the next decade. The move would also involve about 100,000 family members and civilian employees, Bush said.

“Our service members will have more time on the home front,” Bush said, outlining his plans in a speech before a convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Read more…

Chavez Claims Victory

AFP:

Venezuela’s charismatic President Hugo Chavez has won yet another battle on Monday, fending off a recall after earlier surviving a coup and a ruinous strike aimed at wrenching him from power.

Fireworks lit up the night sky in Caracas and supporters near the presidential palace roared their approval when electoral authorities announced that Chavez won a referendum aimed at shaving two years off his mandate by 58 to 42 per cent.

Turnout was massive, delaying the close of voting until well past midnight, and Chavez hailed the vote as the “Olympics of democracy”.

Millions turned out for the vote, the results of which are being called fraudulent by the opposition, which claims it won 59% of the vote.

Meanwhile, oil prices dipped slightly after the news of Chavez’s victory was announced.

See also this Venezuelan blog for a personal look at the election.

Ways to Offer Help

Here is a link to a Sarasota Blog My Single Mom Life with a list of local drop off areas for supplies and contact numbers if you want to help with the relief process.

More Information From Central Florida

(This is cross posted from Road Warrior Survival)

FEMA has now declared 25 counties in Florida as disaster areas. That’s good news for those victims further inland. Aide will be more readily available for the rebuilding efforts.

Storms rolled through central Florida this afternoon - 2000+ lightening strikes recorded in an hour with more than 3” of rain in spots. According to local news additional rain will coming in off of the gulf in the Punta Gorda & North Port areas now.

They are expecting to put a figure to the fatalities in Lee County sometime tomorrow. One optimistic thing is that many people in the hardest hit areas had left for the summer, so it is possible the number will be lower than expected.

The Bradenton Herald is a very good source for information, so I wanted to make sure you had that link available to you.

Still looking for grass roots charities that will be able to offer relief and aid to the victims. The Red Cross is still requesting monitary contributions and that information can be found HERE. They are still the quickest way to get water, food, shelter and comfort to the victims. I will update with additional information when it is available.

Local Update on Hurricane Charley Aftermath

(cross posted here at Road Warrior Survival)

Bay News 9, the local all news channel has been issuing updates. I figured since some many can’t get to this information I’d provide a link to their web page and give a brief run down.

The Lt. Gov had a news conference just moments ago. Points of interest:

1) 7M pounds of ice have already been distriubted. Food and water are also available to victims.

2) 1.1M are currently without power. 900,000 have been restored within the last 24 hours. A timeline is being constructed to layout the plans for the restoration of power. It’s important to note that it isn’t just a matter of down wires. Substations and transformers have been destroyed. It’s matter of reconstruction and that can take time.

3) No update on the damage to the Citrus Industry. (or other argicultural industries). This will be very significant. The majority of fruit supplied for OJ is grown and produced in this area. Also - Plant City and surrounding area is a large supplier of strawberrys and tomatoes. More info as that becomes available.

4) FEMA has already been distributing money to victims. If you or anyone you know needs to register for assistance the contact number is 1-800-621-FEMA (3362). For the speech or hearing impaired the number is 1-800-462-7581.

5) The state of Florida is serious about price gouging. It Will Not Be Tolerated. Violators Will Be Prosecuted.

Locally - Flager County, on the east close is also feeling the effects of Hurricane Charley. 50% of residents are without power and it will be approx. 1 week before they will see complete power restored.

The Orlando Airport is functioning now. There was sustained damage to the passenger transports to and from the terminals as well as the outer gates. The airport opened yesterday, but it would be prudent to check with your airline to verify scheduling and such.

Hardee County, is now experiencing flooding due to the large amount of rain that has been delivered. The town hardest hit is Springhill. No extensive damage at this time, just standing water. But with more rain in the forecast it bears watching. Also - please remember, in Florida we have snakes, spiders and gators. They have been uprooted and distrubed with all the havoc that has been wrecked and it is important to be watchful.

That’s all for now.

Tammi

A Call To Bloggers: Join Together To Strengthen The Good

The Idea: Create a network of bloggers who raise awareness of “micro charities”—charitable opportunities that are simple, personal, non-bureaucratic, and inspiring. Charitable opportunities where someone can feel great about giving $1, or even just from reading the story of the charity, it’s sponsors, and it’s beneficiaries.

The Call To Action: I’ll find them, if you’ll link to them. Every third Sunday night at Strengthen The Good I’ll post about a micro-charity with enough detail that people can qualify the charity and feel good (or even inspired) by what the charity stands for and who it benefits. I won’t ask for donations; the mission is only to raise awareness.

All I ask is that you join the network and every third Monday link to that month’s charity post. To help us all remember, I’ll email a reminder and permalink to the network on Sunday night.

To join the network and use your blog the strengthen the good, click here.

To read the full story and background, read the extended entry.

The Full Background

This past May, I made an open call at The Command Post to counter the evil of Nick Berg’s murder by strengthening the good of Susan Tom and her kids. It was an easy promise to make—we would donate any funds deposited in our PayPal account over a 48 hour period to the Tom Family Education Trust—and I never really thought we’d meet the $10,000 goal. Indeed, I had been casually planning my “well, we gave it a good show and at least we helped” post literally from the moment I made the initial request. People are, I thought, just too often asked to contribute to charity, from their United Way Drive at work to the CF candy bar drive at their door to their church tithe.

But people DID respond, and not only did we meet the $10,000 goal—we did far better, raising $15,000 for the education of the Tom children.

From reading the comments and emails I received, it wasn’t just the idea of countering evil by helping good that attracted people to Susan Tom and compelled those people to give. For many, it was just reading her story and hearing about something noble and caring in this difficult world. It was about having a break from constant reminders of death and terror and crime. And for many, it was the chance to help in a way that was immediate, simple, and very, very personal. The chance to give to something they could trust … something with a face where they knew their impact would be felt, even if they only gave $1. The chance to actually make a difference.

I think there are many, many such chances in the world. I also think the sentiment to read about something good and strong, and to have the opportunity to make a difference if one so chooses, runs very deep.

And so, in late May I had an idea, and now I have a proposition.

With The Command Post, regular folks from all walks of life and from all points of the world—over 120 bloggers in all—came together to create something wholly new: decentralized journalism … journalism by the people. And while the Post isn’t the day-to-day bandwidth hog she was during the run to Baghdad, her power is in her network, and the model still works: when news happens … be it the 2003 Northeast Blackout, the New Hampshire Primary, or Hurricane Charley, our contributors know where to post, and people all over the world know where to turn to get the story from multiple sources in real time.

It’s proof not just of the power of the Web. It’s proof of the power inherent in the global network of blogs, and in the end, of the power of people within that network to create something greater than the sum through individual but coordinated action.

Now I think it’s time to extend that power to something good … to make the leap from decentralized journalism to decentralized charity.

Here’s the idea: Create a network of bloggers who raise awareness of “micro charities”—charitable opportunities that are simple, personal, non-bureaucratic, and, like Susan Tom, inspiring. Charitable opportunities where someone can feel great about giving $1, or even just from reading the story of the charity, it’s sponsors, and it’s beneficiaries.

We’ve had starts at this … TroopTrax and Wiggles’ work being examples. But what we’ve lacked so far is the critical mass in the network to create truly widespread attentiveness to charitable opportunities. Metcalfe’s Law states that the usefulness, or utility, of a network equals the square of the number of users. Command Post worked not because it was a great idea, but because of the size of it’s network: we had over 100 people all over the world posting to, and more important, linking to the site.

While the Command Post was about aggregating information, Strengthening The Good is about amplifying awareness. And for that to work, the size of the network is everything.

So here’s the proposition: I’ll find them, if you’ll link to them.

Last May I registered the domain www.strengthenthegood.com, which now is the home for a blog of the same name. (It’s a placeholder design for now while Sekimori works her magic.) Every third Sunday night I’ll post about a “Susan Tom-esque” micro-charity. I’ll find them, I’ll qualify them, and I’ll post their story with enough detail that people can qualify them for themselves, and feel good (or even inspired) by what the charity stands for and who it benefits.

I will NOT ask for donations, or set a goal for donations, as I did with Susan Tom. Instead, the mission of the site is only to raise awareness of the charity in question … to simply say “Look at this, it’s a great and inspiring example of good in the world, and if you’d like to contribute $1 or more or get involved in some way, here’s where you go to do so.”

All I ask is that you join the network: every third Monday, link to that month’s charity post. To help us all remember, I’ll send an email to every blog in the network as a reminder on Sunday night, including the permalink for the post.

With enough blogs in the network, we should be able to generate significant awareness for each micro-charity, and benefits for each charity should naturally follow. Further, if traffic on the site is high enough to support ad revenues, I’ll donate all revenues for that period to its appropriate charity. I’ll also pay the hosting fees.

Now, to action: Charley presents the first opportunity. Indeed, I threw the blog up before Seki’s design was ready because we’re already getting requests from readers about how they should help. Rather than give to the Red Cross, however, I’m working to identify a more local cause, which should pop up in the next day or so. When it does (and it will), I’ll post it as the first Strengthen The Good micro-charity. I’ll send the reminder email, and I hope you’ll join in with your link.

One link is all it takes. The Strengthen The Good blogger network. If we can do it for Carnival of the Vanities, we can do it for people in need.

I’ll keep you posted as things progress. If you’re not interested, no worries. If you DO want to join the network, please join the mailing list. I’ve posted this same note to the site, and I’d be glad if you’d link to it as well. I’ll also build a blogroll as I go, and will roll everyone in the network on the site.

And if you have any questions, please email those as well.

Thanks for reading this long post, and thanks for being such a great blogger. It is a hell of a hobby, and now, it just might become a wonderful way to strengthen the good.

Charley Bloggers

This is a partial list of blogs and bloggers who either reside in Florida or are providing coverage of the hurricane and its aftermath. If you have any additions to it, please post them in the comments section of this post.

Road Warrior, Boudicca’s Voice, Sekimori, On The Third Hand, Twisted Spinster, Hog On Ice, Babalu Blog, DeCloah Blog, and DebWire

I continue to think that Bush would be well served to go to the interior, and break the media myopia on Punta Gorda. As for me, I am going to turn things over to Tammi, Boudicca, and the other Bloggers who are on the spot. I also want to thank Alan and Michele for this opportunity, and for all the great work they do.

Ten Killed in India Blast

A bomb exploded during an Independence Day parade in northeastern India on Sunday, killing at least 10 people, just an hour after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pledged to fight terrorism.

The outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom was suspected of being behind the attack in Assam state, said Assam Inspector General of Police Khagen Sharma.

“Ten to 12 people are killed and several injured, at least five critically,” Sharma told The Associated Press.

Read More…

Two Posts You Need To Read

You are hearing a lot about Punta Gorda and the area around it. Word of advice to the news anchors: If you keep calling it Puta Gorda, don’t ever go to Florida again. What you are not getting is the news of the interior, the poor counties, the counties that count. If you want to know what is going on there, go read this and this. If Karl Rove and any of the staff has a brain in their heads, they will hit this area tomorrow. The damage to the economy from what has happened to the OJ area is huge, and being vastly under-reported. Never mind all the rest, which is huge in and of itself. And this is only the first storm of the season for all intents and purposes. More later.

30

Weathering Charley on Ocean Boulevard

[The following was written by Phillip Caston, who covered Hurricane Charley’s landfall in Myrtle Beach today for the Charleston Post & Courier. It was his first guest post at Backcountry Conservative and I’m also cross-posting it here for TCP’s readers.]

Weathering Charley on Ocean Boulevard
by Phillip Caston

I woke up at 5 a.m. at the Comfort Inn on Business Highway 17 in Surfside Beach. I had driven down Friday night on a short-minute’s notice with Post and Courier photographer Yolanda James. It was first-time hurricane coverage for both of us, and our inexperience as well as our youth probably prepared us to get a little crazy.

After monitoring the storm, we grabbed the continental breakfast and chatted with a man who is two days away from his 90th birthday. He lives in a mobile home and had to evacuate. His family had come down for his birthday and were not only forced to stay at the hotel, but had to postpone birthday plans for the day. He didn’t seem too bothered by the storm, though.

“What happens will happen,” he said.

Yolanda and I checked out before 7 a.m. and made our way to Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach. We parked at the corner of 3rd Avenue South and walked to the ocean. To our surprise, there were no surfers in sight. We think police had shooed them away. The waves were starting to get nasty. A woman stopped by to take a peek at them before she went to work at a towing company.

“It’s beautiful like this,” she said. “There’s no reason to be afraid. Every time I see the ocean coming in and see it going back, I know God is watching us.”

Good words to live by.

Yolanda and I walked up 3rd Avenue. I was dressed in a long-sleeve T-shirt, a light rainjacket, baseball cap, jeans and tennis shoes. Needless to say, I was quite unprepared for what was coming. We stopped at the Chip Inn and talked with the owner, who was tossing pool furniture into the water. His 7-year-old daughter, who was experiencing her first hurricane, admitted she was scared.

Next door, we met one spectacular couple that owns the Venture In (yes, spelled correctly). If you ever want somewhere quaint to stay on Myrtle Beach, hit up Davis and Brittie Edge. Aged 70 and 69, respectively, they are two of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. Don’t be fooled, though, they’re one tough pair. They’ve weathered Hazel and Hugo and just scoffed at Charley. Amazingly, their motel has never suffered anything more than light exterior damage through all hurricanes. Brittie refuses to evacuate unless forced by police.

After saying goodbye to the Edges (we would be back, though), we drove out in my Jeep Grand Cherokee to Carolina Forest Elementary, one of the shelters in the area. The principal showed us around and we met up with dozens of Irish college students working in Myrtle Beach for the summer. They were forced to evacuate and had nowhere to go. I felt bad for all of them hunched up in the hallway and experiencing their first hurricane, yet also kind of envious that they had a close group of friends to snuggle up with during the storm (plus, some of the girls were cute). All of them were in awe since they never thought they’d experience a storm like this.

With Charley less than an hour away, we stopped at a Thrifty Car Rental to photo some last minute window boarding. A Romanian employee who had just moved to the U.S. two months ago said, ““I’ve never seen anything like this, but this is the life sometimes.”

Back at the corner of 3rd and Ocean, the waves were pounding. Traffic was scarce except a few officers, who paid us no attention. At about 10:30 a.m., Yolanda and I began to walk down Ocean to see what the police were up to, but suddenly the rain went horizontal and the wind smacked us right upside our heads. I insisted that we retreat to the car and drive for a bit rather than get stuck on the street.

By the time we got back to the car, our rainjackets had grown useless… and Charley was here. We drove to a parking garage and went to the very top to shoot photos. The force of the wind up there was incredible… I almost fell over a couple of times. I called my editor to tell him where we were. He joked later that he said three hail marys for the two of us after that phone call.

We ventured back to the street in my Jeep and drove down to a beach access. As onlookers in a van stared at us in disbelief, we pushed through the wind down to the beach. It was impossible to face to our left because of the sand, wind and rain. As Yolanda took some shots on the beach, I looked down at my feet. My shoes were already completely buried in sand and I had only been standing there for about half a minute.

After retreating to the Jeep, two Horry County deputies pulled up and shooed us away. That was the only real interaction we had with police for the day.

We stopped at the Firebird Motor Inn after spotting our first pedestrian in the storm. He was a supervisor at the motel. A super nice guy, he told us how the wind literally lifted him in the air and knocked him down. He had been carrying a sign, but the wind whipped it out of his hands and sent it flying away. He stood outside the motel in the wind, peeking around the corner now and then. Just another person who wasn’t going to let it faze him.

Before going back to the car, we intercepted two locals and another Irishman heading to the beach to videotape the waves. The Irishman wants to be a journalist as well and was absolutely enthralled by the storm. He didn’t even wear any protective headwear… whereas Yolanda, the other two, and myself were trying to cover every bit of our faces from the wind.

We returned to the Jeep (and stupid me, I parked in ankle-deep water) and ventured north on Ocean. One motel was losing all its shingles in the wind. It was so bad we had to stop until they stopped flying across the street.

As we passed the Holiday Sands North hotel, we saw a large group (full of large men) yelling and drinking beer in the parking lot. We pulled in. They told me I had just dodged a large metal sign that flew behind my Jeep. These jovial folks had come down from Virginia for a golf trip—and had no intention of canceling due to weather. They were howling and screaming with joy at any piece of debris that flew between the hotel’s two buildings… including trashcans, luggage carts and metal signs. They kept cheering for a mini-van to flip over as it shook back and forth.

Finally, three hotel employees tried to carry a large garbage bag full of towels from the other building to the one we were standing at. We knew it spelled disaster. The wind knocked one of them down, causing the other two to drop the bag. Towels flew everywhere as Yolanda snapped shots and the onlookers squealed with laughter. When the towels (what was left of them) were finally recovered, one of the employees angrily shouted for everyone to go back inside.

After they retreated and Yolanda got names for her photos, I heard a loud boom. A huge metal trashcan flew across my path and slammed into the mini-van, shattering a window.

Yolanda and I ventured further up Ocean as the eye arrived. Damage near the Pavilion was much more significant. Downed powerlines, shattered windows, smashed satellite dishes and overturned portajohns littered the streets and parking lots. The Schooner II had a five-foot chunk (I counted em) torn out of its side and you could see into the units. There was another large chunk torn out of the other side. Stucco, wood and insulation were scattered for two blocks. The Poindexter had several decks and railings destroyed, as well as the “R” in its sign bent backwards.

Folks who ignored the evacuation ventured out to survey damage and look at the waves, which were at their highest (they’d tame even the best surfers, IMO). That was shortlived, though, as the eye passed and the winds returned. However, this blast was much shorter with less rain as Charley began to die down.

We returned to the Venture In where Brittie and Davis let us change into some warm clothes. Again, the Venture In had survived… it only lost a gutter. Powerlines and large, fallen signs surrounded it, but it was pretty much unscathed. That place must be blessed.

Finding a meal, let alone a hot meal, was impossible. Power was out from Myrtle Beach to Awendaw, so almost all restaurants were closed. Portions of Highway 17 was closed in Georgetown due to flooding—made evident by a stuck Ford F150 swamped up to its doors. We finally ate at 4 p.m. in Mt. Pleasant—our first meal since 6:30 a.m.

All in all, it was a harrowing experience, even if a only a Cat 1. I don’t know how anyone could survive being outside in a Cat 4. We were swamped, cold, battered by winds and exhausted. Battling the winds was a physical trial in itself.

Would I do it all over again? You better believe it.

[Cross-posted at Backcountry Conservative.]

Another Opportunity To Strengthen The Good

We’re already getting questions about how to help victims of Charlie. While you can donate to the Red Cross disaster fund, those donations do not go only to Charlie victims; instead they go into the general disaster coffers.

Some of you might remember our effort to “Strengthen the Good,” when Command Post readers raised $15,000 in 48 hours for the Tom Family Education Trust. I think this is a good opportunity to strenthen the good once again, and we’ll be providing a venue for donations as quickly as we find one that we think is appropriate.

In the meantime, continue to watch this space for updates, and when we find the right fourm for financial assistance, we’ll post it here ASAP. Given that they’re all still in cleanup, I presume it’s going to take a day or so for something local to be established …

[For ways to help immediately, see here and here.

Gov. Bush: "Our Worst Fears Have Come True"

Charlotte County Emergency Management Director Wayne Sallade said that he had ordered 60 body bags and two refrigerated trucks for the recovery effort.

Sallade said that he did not know the number of deaths yet and that he had ordered that number of bags as a precaution.

[Ed note: most sources say the death count is at 15]

Dozens of people were treated for serious injuries, including crushed bones and cut arteries, according to Josh Putter, CEO of the Charlotte Regional Medical Center in Punta Gorda.

He said 50 or 60 injured people drove up “or dragged themselves into” his hospital in the hours after the storm passed Friday evening. The flow of patients stopped at around 2 a.m. ET Saturday.

Other news:

Officials in Lee County, FL are estimating 3 billion dollars in damage.

Charley may be weakening, but it is still leaving a trail of death and damages in the Carolinas.

More Local News (And Advice)

Blogger Tammi announces the arrival of Earl, who is looking to follow the same path as Charley.

Below that, she has some advice on how to give help to Charley’s victims and also some advice on what NOT do to do.

Laughing Wolf has links to more Florida bloggers who have up to the minute news and.

Charley hits S.C. Coast (UPDATED)

Initial news reports are hitting the wires now.

The Associated Press reports that, “The National Weather Service says Hurricane Charley has made landfall in South Carolina with winds of 85 mph.”

Other wire reports below in the extended entry.

AP/Storm Watch:

Hurricane Charley made its second landfall in South Carolina on Saturday and, with winds of about 85 mph, was not nearly the deadly storm that trampled Florida a day earlier….

…But it was a downsized Charley that rolled into South Carolina, still potent enough to spawn tornado warnings and flood watches in its wake. Charley, moving at 28 mph, was expected to quicky pass through the Grand Strand and move further north along the Eastern Seaboard.

Charley found a largely empty Grand Strand when he arrived. One of the state’s biggest vacation spots was mostly abandoned after Gov. Mark Sanford ordered a mandatory evacuation for Georgetown and Horry counties east of U.S. Business 17. Many of the area’s 180,000 tourists and residents rolled out of town Friday night and early Saturday….

…Horry County spokeswoman Lisa Bouchier said the region expected winds of 50 to 60 mph through the early afternoon.

The main roads out of the Grand Strand were clear Saturday morning, very different from about eight hours earlier when bumper-to-bumper traffic stretched for about 60 miles as people evacuated from Charley’s path….

…Sanford told several hundred National Guardsmen across the state to get ready just in case he needs them.

And Attorney General Henry McMaster warned businesses that a new state law targeting “unconscionable” increases in prices for goods, services and temporary housing would be used to curb storm-related price gouging.

Myrtle Beach Online:

Hurricane Charley is beginning to make landfall along the S.C. coast, with the storm’s eye wall grazing Georgetown County. According to Weather Channel and National Weather Service reports, the storm is packing 85-mph winds and its center will be near Bucksport by 10:45. Tropical storm force winds are being felt across the area, with the worst of Charley still to come for most areas.
Gov. Mark Sanford is on his way to the Georgetown County emergency operations center, spokesman Will Folks said. He’ll be there to assess local needs, Folks said. Sanford is scheduled to arrive around 11:30 a.m., said Georgetown County spokesman Greg Troutman.

There were no reports of damage, flooding or road closures in Horry County as of 10 a.m. The county was under a flood warning from the National Weather Service. Restaurant signs were reported blown down on the Murrells Inlet Marshwalk around 10:20. Georgetown County had removed its emergency vehicles from the road around 10 a.m., a move associated with winds reaching 40 mph.

Power was reported out in some areas of Georgetown County, although the extent of the outage was unclear. This is the county’s first real test of its new 800 megahertz system, which went online about months ago….

Hurricane Charley was churning up the southeastern N.C. coastline, with turbulent weather already affecting eastern counties by early morning. About 100 people decided to stay on the island of Sunset Beach despite its bridge being closed. Heavy rain was pelting Brunswick County by 10:45 a.m., with water starting to accumulate on the side of some secondary roads.

Myrtle Beach International Airport was open as of 8 a.m., but airlines had canceled most morning and afternoon flights. Late-evening flights will depend on Charley’s path and impact. Passengers are advised to check directly with airlines concerning flights.

…Horry County meanwhile moved to its Disaster Operations stage. The county said residents can expect to see tropical storm force winds (40 mph) between 8-9 a.m. and hurricane force winds (50-60 mph) around noon. Gusts are forecast to reach 80 mph.

All 10 Horry County shelters are open, with 1,600 seeking refuge from the storm there. Charley is expected to be gone from the area by late this afternoon….

…Flooding possibilities were increased following rains Thursday from Tropical Storm Bonnie that dumped from two to about five inches of rain on parts of the Grand Strand.

The storm could deliver winds up to 60 mph, gusts to 80 and storm surges up to 6 feet in Horry County and 8 feet in Brunswick County, N.C.

“The peak winds will happen about the same time as low tide and that should help,” Hawkins said. He also said isolated tornadoes will be a threat until the storm passes.

Horry County residents may get hurricane updates by calling the county’s automated hurricane information line at 915-5005. Updates also are available on the Web at www.horrycounty.org.

Georgetown residents may listen to the city’s radio station for updates and information. The station is WGEO-FM, 105.7.

Cross-posted at Backcountry Conservative.

Reports From Florida (Updated)

Orlanda Sentinel has a blog that’s tracking hurricane news:

8:41 a.m.
A fire station in Point Sienna was one of Hurricane Charley’s first victims in Osceola County, where part of a garage roof caved in, possibly on top of one of Station No. 45’s engines, according to an Osceola County spokesperson.

Looks like they are updating frequently.

AP reports on a widely distrubuted story (the stacks of bodies)

Charlotte County authorites said there were several fatalities in mobile homes, but earlier characterizations of bodies being stacked up are being discounted.

Mother Nature, while devastating at times, does present some incredible photo ops:

The outer band of Hurricane Charley makes its way across downtown Orlando.(COURTESY OF BRIAN DUQUETTE/Orlando Sentinel).

More precise reports of fatalities are coming in now:

An electrocuted woman in Daytona Beach is Florida’s fourth confirmed victim of Hurricane Charley. That brings the death toll to eight in the United States, Cuba and Jamaica.

Daytona Beach police on patrol in the dark found a woman lying at the bottom of a power pole in a residential area. She was on fire from the waist down, and a downed power line was touching one of her feet. The victim’s name has not been released.

One death each has been reported in Lee, Sarasota and Orange counties.

The Charlotte County director of emergency management said there are “a number of fatalities” at a mobile home park in Punta Gorda where residents ignored evacuation orders.

Wayne Sallade said deputies were standing guard over bodies because the area was inaccessible to ambulances.

Charley nears S.C. Coast (UPDATED)

Click for larger image

Storm Watch has the exact details.

9:07 Update from Myrtle Beach Online:

Hurricane Charley remains on a track for a possible landfall in Horry or Georgetown counties. At 8 a.m., the storm was 35 miles south-southeast of Charleston, packing 85-mph winds and moving north-northeast at 28 mph.

Their previous report:

» Eye’s arrival expected midday
» Category 1 storm has 85-mph winds
» Hurricane warning in effect; tornado watch until 1 p.m.; flood watch through afternoon
» Airport open, but most flights canceled
» Charley could deliver winds up to 60 mph, gusts to 80 and storm surges up to 6 feet in Horry County and 8 feet in Brunswick County, N.C.

10:00 UPDATE:

Hurricane Charley is poised to make landfall along the Grand Strand, with the storm’s eye wall moving into Georgetown County around 9:30 a.m. According to Weather Channel reports, the storm is packing 85-mph winds and its center will be near Pawleys Island by 10 a.m. and Bucksport by 10:45. Tropical storm force winds are being felt across the area.

From MyrtleBeachOnline.com and wire reports

10:20 MyrtleBeachOnline.com Update:

Hurricane Charley is beginning to make landfall along the S.C. coast, with the storm’s eye wall grazing Georgetown County. According to Weather Channel and National Weather Service reports, the storm is packing 85-mph winds and its center will be near Bucksport by 10:45. Tropical storm force winds are being felt across the area, with the worst of Charley still to come for most areas.

Cross-posted at Backcountry Conservative

Links to regional and local resources and media outlets are below.

Blogs:
Storm Watch
Mike

Other Resources:
S.C. Emergency Management
Evacuation Routes
Road Conditions
Traffic Cameras
Shelter information
Horry County
SCE&G Storm Center
S.C. Webcams
Active Tropical Cyclones
Intellicast Storm Center
National Hurricane Center

Media (sites with extensive coverage are near the top):
S.C. ETV
Myrtle Beach Sun News
The State
Charleston Post & Courier
WIS-TV
WCSC-TV
WBTW-TV
WPDE-TV
WCIV-TV
WCBD-TV
WRNN-AM
WSC-FM
WTMA-AM
WVOC-AM

More Ways To Help

This from contributor Jay Caruso, who lives in Palm Coast, FL:

Here are some numbers for anybody that wants to help out the people on the Gulf Coast who were really hit hard by Charley. There’s also some numbers for information.

• 1-800-HELP-NOW – Red Cross
• 1-800-SAL-ARMY – Salvation Army
• 1-888-835-9966 - Governor’s Information Hotline
• 1-888-786-7601 – Donations Hotline
• 1-800-427-4661 – National Flood Insurance Program
• 1-877-368-4968 – Department of Transportation (Road Closings)
• 1-919-715-9679 – Animal Air Lift

Current Track: Charleston Next, Then Command Post Central

The current track from the Tropical Prediction Center (click to see full-sized):

Looking at the track, it seems Michele (Long Island) and I (Philadelphia) will have some tropical weather tonight … she’s under a tropical storm warning, and we a tropical storm wind warning, so we might have some candlelight blogging tonight ourselves.

Dominoes, anyone?

More On Punta Gorda

It’s looking like things are quite bad in Punta Gorda, Florida. There are (were) over 30 mobile home parks in the area, and many people in the region expected Charlie to make landfall 70 miles north of where he ultimately came ashore. It had also been some time since the last hurricane in the area.

15,000 people live in the area, and most are seniors and retirees.

You can visit Punta Gorda’s government website, which is still online, here. At the site, they offer this update (issued Thursday):

Important telephone numbers

• 575 5580 – Punta Gorda Emergency Operations Center
• 639 4111 – Police Non-Emergency Calls
• 911 – Emergency

Emergency Shelters will open at 3:00 PM today at the following locations:

• Port Charlotte Cultural Center
• Liberty Elementary School
• Port Charlotte Middle School

At present no shelters are open within Punta Gorda City.

How To Help Hurricane Charley Victims (UPDATED)

You can help the victims of Hurricane Charley by making a donation to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to those in need.

You can make a secure online contribution by visiting the Red Cross Online Donation Page.

You can also donate by phone:

1-800-HELP-NOW
(1-800-435-7669)

English speaking

1-800-257-7575
Spanish Speaking

1-800-220-4095
For TDD Operator

UPDATE: The Salvation Army has mobilized equipment including 43 mobile feeding units to provide initial assessment and emergency relief in the affected areas.

Donations to help in disaster relief can be made to any local Salvation Army or on line here or by calling 1-800-SAL-ARMY.

Catholic Charities USA is collecting financial donations in anticipation of helping communities recover from Hurricane Charley. Donations will be used to fund local Catholic Charities agencies’ emergency and long-term disaster recovery efforts in areas hit by Charley. You can contribute online here (select 785 Hurricane Charley as your donation allocation), by mail:

Mail Checks Payable To:
Catholic Charities USA
Hurricane Charley
PO Box 25168
Alexandria, VA 22313-9788

or by calling (800) 919-9338.

From California Yankee.

"It's Andrew All Over Again"

As the Carolinas brace for Charley, the residents of the hardest hit areas of Florida are starting the process of cleaning up and estimating the damage. The death toll is unclear, but one of the big stories is how the track of Charley changed suddenly and hit the area where many of the evacuees had gone for shelter.

From blogger Kat in Sarasota:

I am watching the news this morning and it’s full of apologies from local news. They are apologizing for being so over dramatic and over encouraging people to go to the shelters. In Acadia, (still looking for an online link for this one) people went to the shelter. Lot of them. The roof came down on top of them during the brunt of the storm. Not sure how many dead there yet.

..

Such horrible misinformation problems yesterday.
Relatives and friends up north looking at the footage on CNN and other major news channels thought we were in severe peril and people who have relatives in the hard hit towns and cities that weren’t even warned, now face the dreadful news late last night and this morning.

This AP report echoes Kat’s fears:

In Florida, hundreds of people were missing in Charlotte and thousands were left homeless, Sallade said. He compared the devastation with 1992’s Hurricane Andrew, which the National Hurricane Center directly blamed for the deaths of 26 people, most in South Florida. “It’s Andrew all over again,” he said. “We believe there’s significant loss of life.”

Lake Wales Airport Completely Destroyed

Florida’s Fox 13 in Tampa is reporting that the airport in Lake Wales is “completely destroyed.”

Carolnia Webcams

Charley’s coming ashore again in the Carolinas, likely in the next few hours. A number of Carolina webcams are still broadcasting, and here are two:

• Charleston (which should be close to landfall)
• Windjammer cam

A local pic from the Charleston cam:

Solonor In The Dark? (Updated)

One of our contributors, Solonor, is in Orlando. His last post:

To hear the TV news crews, we’re all under 40 feet of water and expecting more. But Charley’s weakening, and hopefully by the time it gets here in another couple of hours, it should be a little less of a threat. We haven’t seen much of anything around here. I think it had enough fun ripping up the poor people in Port Charlotte and Fort Myers.

I’m going to go try to watch the Olympics. If the power goes out or anything, I’ll blog about it by candlelight. Deal?

I presume he’s one of the 270,000 without power today, as there’s been no update since.

Update: This just in from Florida blogger Kat:

I just talked to Solonor by phone. The emergency blogging system does work!! He and his family lost power last night around 10pm and still don’t have it back yet. He said there is very little yard debris. A few trees here and there and fence came down so all his neighbors could see all the junk in his back yard. (heh) But he said he and his family are all fine and not to worry. He will post as soon as the power comes back on and not to worry. They are good.

Thanks, Kat!

Orlando Press Conference Simulblog

Emergency official in Orlando / Orange County is holding a press conference as of thiw writing on CNN. This is a simulblog:

• Very devastating storm.
• The situation could have been a lot worse than it was.
• We were indeed blessed.
• Lots of property damage.
• No evidence of loss of life or even severe injuries.
• Similar to Andrew in the extent of the power outages; 272,000 people without power.
• 600 911 calls per minute at the peak last night.

CNN TV: 60 Body Bags Ordered In Punta Gorda

CNN TV has a reporter on the ground in Punta Gorda, FL, reporting that local emergency management officials have ordered 60 body bags for the area (although he hopes not all will be needed). Most of the loss of life seems to be in mobile home parks, although damage is widespread.

The same reporter noted that a weather station at the local hospital, which is now closed, reported wind gusts of 180 miles per hour.

Early Hurricane Damage Reports (UPDATED)

The Associated Press reports:

The death toll rose Saturday, as a county official confirmed additional deaths, guards watching over stacks of bodies at a mobile home park in Punta Gorda, and hundreds of people missing. Three other deaths were confirmed earlier. More than a million utility customers lose power.

- In Charlotte County, which includes Punta Gorda: Three hospitals out of service because of damage. Emergency Operations Center not operational. Two shelters significantly damaged. Sheriff’s office destroyed. Seven fire stations destroyed. Numerous trailer homes destroyed.

- In Desoto County, which includes Arcadia: Reports of roof blown off at Turner Agri-Civic Center, a hurricane shelter where 1,200 people had gathered. Twelve injuries. Top floor of hospital damaged. Emergency operations center roof blown off. Water tower collapsed.

- In Highlands County: Radio tower knocked down.

- In Lee County, which includes Fort Myers: County property appraiser estimates 250,000 buildings structures, homes and churches were damaged, causing just under $3 billion in damage.

- In Osceola County: Four wells at water treatment plant shut down. Multiple fire stations damaged.

UPDATE: CNN reports:

More than 1.8 million people were reported to be without power, and widespread building damage and uprooted trees were said to have been sighted from the Fort Myers area in the southwest — where the hurricane slammed ashore Friday afternoon — to Daytona Beach, where it moved off the state’s eastern coastline just before midnight.

[. . .]

Just north of Fort Myers, Charlotte County emergency authorities reported several fatalities in Punta Gorda after what may have been a tornado spawned by Hurricane Charley uprooted several mobile homes, according to the county’s emergency director, Wayne Sallade.

[. . .]

To the south, in Lee County, the sheriff’s office reported one hurricane-related death in North Fort Myers when a man in his early 20s stepped outside during the full force of the hurricane to smoke a cigarette.

A fatality was reported ahead of the storm in Orange County, when high wind blew a moving van into oncoming traffic on a freeway Friday afternoon, killing a young girl and seriously injuring seven others, according to Kim Miller, a spokeswoman for the Florida Highway Patrol.

UPDATE: The Associated Press reports that Hurricane Charley killed at least 15 people in Florida:

Hurricane Charley’s devastating tear across Florida flattened oceanfront homes, killed at least 15 people and left thousands more homeless before the weakened storm pushed north and struck the Carolinas on Saturday.

[. . .]

Ten deaths had been confirmed in Charlotte County, said Wayne Sallade, the county’s director of emergency management, but no exact death toll was available.

“Not hundreds. I would hope that it would be limited to dozens, if that,” Sallade said. Deputies were standing guard over bodies because they were in areas not immediately accessible by ambulances.

Charley Aftermath: "Significant Loss of Life"

The death toll from Hurricane Charley rose early Saturday, when a county official said there had a been “significant loss of life” at a mobile home park and deputies were standing guard over stacks of bodies because the area was inaccessible to ambulances.

Wayne Sallade, Charlotte County’s director of emergency management, said early Saturday that there were “a number of fatalities” at the mobile home park, and that there were confirmed deaths in at least three other areas in the county….Hundreds of people were missing in Charlotte and thousands were left homeless..

Read More…

President Bush declared Charlotte, Lee, Manatee and Sarasota counties disaster areas.

There are currently warnings in place for the Carolinas, which you can see here.

Here is the three day predicition, with warnings.

Mandatory Evacuations in Myrtle Beach Area

The 8:00 p.m. Situation Report from the S.C. Emergency Management Division had some changes since the 8 a.m. one. They are now at OPCON 1.

Some excerpts from Sit Rep #3 (which was issued at 8 p.m. EDT):

Hurricane Charley has made landfall on the southwest Florida coast and the 1700 hours forecast track issued by the National Hurricane Center indicates that Charley will cross Florida, enter the Atlantic Ocean and make landfall along the northern SC coast. The Governor has declared a state of emergency and issued a mandatory evacuation order for Georgetown and Horry Counties as of 2000 hours. The evacuation of Georgetown County will include all residents and tourists east of US 17 and US 17 Bypass in the northern
portion of the county, residents living in low lying areas along rivers, streams, and creeks, and all manufactured housing residents. Evacuation of Horry County will include all residents and tourists east of Business US 17 in the southern Grand Strand and east of US 17 in the northern Grand Strand area, all residents living in low lying areas along rivers, streams, and creeks, and all manufactured housing residents. US Highway 501 North will be reversed beginning at 2000 hours this evening to accommodate the increased traffic.

If you’ve never read one of these reports, be sure to read the whole thing.

Voluntary evacuations in other coastal counties took place Friday afternoon.

Other information and links in the extended entry below.

Related blogs:
Storm Center
Mike

Other Resources:
Evacuation Routes
Road Conditions
Traffic Cameras
Shelter information
S.C. Outdoor Webcams
Active Tropical Cyclones
Intellicast Storm Center
National Hurricane Center

Media (sites with extensive coverage are near the top):
S.C. ETV
Myrtle Beach Sun News
The State
Charleston Post & Courier
WIS-TV
WCSC-TV
WBTW-TV
WPDE-TV
WCIV-TV
WCBD-TV
WRNN-AM
WSC-FM
WTMA-AM
WVOC-AM

Cross-posted from Backcountry Conservative

Parts of Florida Declared Disaster Area

Hurricane Charley struck the Florida mainland at Charlotte Harbor as a dangerous Category 4 storm Friday, pummeling west-central Florida with winds reaching 145 mph and a wall of water up to 15 feet high.

President Bush declared the regions in Florida affected by Charley and Tropical Storm Bonnie a federal disaster area. Gov. Jeb Bush projected damage exceeding $15 billion. Bonnie hit the Panhandle on Thursday.

There were early reports of one person killed while driving during the storm and widespread damage, with some 335,000 customers losing power, Florida Power & Light said.

Charley Reaches Land/More Evacuations Ordered

Hurricane Charley came ashore as a Category 4 storm at Sanibel Island on Friday as it pounding west-central Florida with 145 mph winds and a wall of water expected to exceed 10 feet.

Almost 2 million people were urged to evacuate in advance of the storm, which rapidly gained strength in the Gulf of Mexico after swinging around the Florida Keys as a more moderate Category 2 storm Friday morning.

The Hurricane took aim at the most populous region on Florida’s west coast. Charley reached landfall at 3:50 p.m. EDT just southwest of Fort Myers, and about 160 miles southeast of the Tampa Bay area that includes Tampa and St. Petersburg.

Charley has already been blamed for three deaths:

urricane Charley claimed at least three lives and injured four other people as it roared across Cuba early Friday, battering the capital with heavy rains, ripping apart roofs, downing power lines and yanking up huge palm trees before taking aim at Florida.

The storm crossed the Caribbean’s largest island shortly after midnight, with gusts of up to 200 kilometres per hour reported in some areas. Before reaching Cuba, Charley drenched Jamaica, where one man died.

Lt.-Col. Domingo Carretero reported the Cuban casualties in a live early afternoon report on state-run television, but offered no specifics except to say the three deaths occurred in Havana province, which rings the capital.

More on the Cuba cleanup.

The first pictures are coming in. THis one is from AP.

The roof of a garage is blown off onto Charlotte County Sheriff’s cruisers from winds of Hurricane Charley in the parking lot of the Charlotte County Airport, Friday, Aug. 13, 2004, in Punta Gorda,Fla. (AP Photo/Scott Martin)

This just in from TCPer Solonor:

A MANDATORY ORDER TO EVACUATE has been issued for people living in
mobile, modular or manufactured homes. A hurricane wind warning has been issued for Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia County and residents living in mobile, modular or manufactured homes must seek safe shelter.**

WeatherBug blogger Ryan says reports of damages are already coming in. He also has a live cam from Naples, FL on his site.

Kat in Florida is blogging up a storm (no pun intended), with pictures.

[Updates will go on this post]

Bloggers in the Midst (Charley)

TCP’s own Solonor is in the eye of the storm and blogging while he can.

A good list of hurricane bloggers here.

Weatherbug has someone blogging for them. He just reported a tornado.

Charley Ready to Slam Florida

Hurricane Charley has been upgraded to a Level 4 Hurricane. We’ll try to keep you up to date on the lastest news and tracking info.

This post will be updated.

My Way News:

About 1.9 million people had been urged to evacuate as the storm rapidly gained strength in the Gulf of Mexico after swinging around the Florida Keys during the morning.

Latest projections from the National Hurricane Center suggested Charley would make landfall Friday afternoon near the line separating Sarasota and Charlotte counties, south of the Tampa Bay area that includes Tampa and St. Petersburg.

Forecasters feared Charley could generate a storm surge of up to 20 feet that could submerge miles of coastline.

Current Radar:

Three day forecast

Nearly two million people told to evacuate.

Updates:

The News Press, right in the thick of things, has up to the minute local coverage.

It’s expected that up to one million people will lose power.

MSNBC has a live satellite feed.

A list of delays and closures.

You can see a live stream of the storm here. (Windows Media)

Thwarted in Germany, Neo-Nazis Take Fascism to France

NYT: Thwarted in Germany, Neo-Nazis Take Fascism to France:

HIPSHEIM, France - Luis Branco, an artist in this small Alsatian village, first realized something was unusual about the young Germans partying at the local community hall two weeks ago when a conversation with one of them took a mildly racist turn.

Then the man shot his arm forward in a Nazi salute and declared, "Ich Allemagne," an awkward mix of German and French that translates literally as, "I, Germany," before rejoining as many as 400 skinheads dancing to heavy metal music nearby.

"They were very motivated," said Mr. Branco, standing this week outside the low concrete building that still bears traces of the swastikas and double lightning bolt insignias of Hitler's SS that had been scratched onto the wall.

When he came to take a closer look that Saturday evening, he saw that the hall had been decorated with a 10-foot wide red wooden eagle and a Gothic plaque bearing the inscription Elsass Beim Reich, a Nazi slogan declaring that this long-contested corner of France is part of the German empire.

A few days later, more than a dozen Muslim tombstones were painted with swastikas at a military cemetery on the outskirts of Strasbourg, the Alsatian capital, and several days after that, dozens of Jewish tombstones were scrawled with Nazi symbols and anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim slurs in Lyon in southern France.

US Boosts Anti-Proliferation Aid to Uzbekistan

UzReport.com reports that the US has earmarked an additional $21 million in defense aid. The aid is a supplement to a 2001 agreement on removing the threat from biological weapons and facilities left by the Soviet Union.

Funds will be used to creation of integrated monitoring system on infectious (epidemiological) illnesses within the territory of Uzbekistan.

The US side thinks that creation of the system will be example for other Central Asian countries to maintain monitoring of sanitary- epidemiological situation among people and animals both in civil and military sector.

In accordance with the agreement, the United States will assist Uzbekistan to create and equip Central Laboratory on research of serious infectious (epidemiological) sicknesses and form data base on them, organise 14 regional diagnosis centres on epidemiological monitoring.

The US side also decided to equip Defence Minister of Uzbekistan with 14 patrol boats for US$2.9 million. After completion of necessary legal procedures, the US Navy will deliver these boats.

In July, the State Department decertified $18 million of direct economic and military aid to the Uzbek government.

And, yes, despite being one of only two double-landlocked countries in the world, Uzbekistan does have a navy.

(Via Alisher Mirzabaev)

Iran tests latest Shahab missile

REUTERS: Iran tests latest Shahab missile

Iran says it has carried out a successful field test of the latest version of its Shahab-3 medium-range ballistic missile, which defense experts say can reach Israel or U.S. bases in the Gulf.

Defence Minister Ali Shamkhani said last week Iran was working to improve the range and accuracy of the Shahab-3 in response to Israel’s moves to boost its anti-missile capability.

The Defence Ministry, in a brief statement carried on the official news agency IRNA, said the test of the new Shahab-3 “was carried out successfully … The pre-determined targets were hit in the testing,” it said.

Iran says its missile program is purely for deterrent purposes.

Tehran also denies U.S. and Israeli accusations that it is seeking to develop nuclear warheads which could be delivered by the Shahab-3.

In Washington, the State Department said Iran’s attempts to improve its missile capability were a threat to the region and U.S. interests.

“We will continue to take steps to address Iran’s missile efforts, and to work closely with other like-minded countries in doing so,” State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said.

Based on the North Korean Nodong-1 and modified with Russian technology, the Shahab-3 is thought to have a range of 810 miles (1,300 km), which would allow it to strike anywhere in Israel.

Shahab means meteor in Persian.

The Arrow Missile Defense System is said to be unable to intercept Shahab-3 systems yet, but upgrades and research are progressing.

Sen. Bill Frist: Time to Act in Sudan

Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate Bill Frist has this piece in today’s Washington Post. Here’s what he has to say:

“I have spent the past few days on a fact-finding mission to the region of Darfur in western Sudan. I met the regional leaders, visited a refugee camp in Chad not far from the Sudanese border and talked with survivors — mostly women and children — of attacks by militias commonly known as Janjaweed. Their stories are horrific, and in most cases much the same: Janjaweed assaults are preceded by aerial attacks by government aircraft. In some cases, soldiers in government uniforms are present and references are made to “orders from Khartoum.” Survivors tell of racial slurs as the militia sweeps through the villages.

Read The Rest….

AfricaPundit's Regional Briefing: Aug 11/04

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Africa, courtesy of AfricaPundit.

TOP TOPICS

• In July, the US Congress declared the situation in Darfur a “genocide” and threatened sanctions against Sudan.

• Ahmed Ghailani, a Tanzanian al Qaeda leader wanted for the 1998 African embassy bombings, was arrested in Pakistan. Following the bombings, Ghailani spent time in Liberia where, with the cooperation of then-President Charles Taylor, he used West African diamonds to help finance terrorist operations.

• Good trade news for Africa: Southern Cross notes that the Doha round of WTO trade talks — mandating the reduction of agricultural tariffs — is back on track.

Other Topics Today Include: Darfur news and comment; “genocide” or “widespread killing”; Arab solidarity and anti-Semitism; War on terror news; Uganda news; Brain drain and farmer flight.

Arab League Covers for Sudan's Genocide

In the typical manner in which Arab crimes are covered over by the League, it’s no surprise at all when they continue to do so for Sudan in Darfur. Let’s momentarily review this return to a classic form, shall we?

Read the Rest…

Zdravstvuite Russia! 2004-08-10

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on the enigma that is Russia, via Joel Gaines of No Pundit Intended. Joel is a veteran of the Gulf War with the 3rd Armor Division, where he worked in an intelligence capacity. He speaks Russian, and has worked in several of the former soviet satellites.

TOP TOPIC

• Re-emergence of the 5th Directorate? Under President Vladimir Putin, three major security services reorganizations have taken place. Today, Russia has the FSB - great grandson of the KGB. When Putin created the FSB, several controversial policy changes also occurred - one was the return of “political surveillance”. The question is: Is President Putin out to destroy his political opponents in an attempt to ensure his continued rule?

Other Topics Today Include: Icon of Soviet era to privatize, Fewer Russians in poverty, YUKOS death struggle, Gulag legacy, Chechen seperatist leader dashes hopes of diplomatic solution, Will Alkhanov live long enough to be Chechnya’s President?, Russia RDF exercise in Central Asia, Georgia-Russia relations souring, Russia and Lithuania trade diplomatic body shots, Einstein duped by lady spy.

• Russia’s Economy
• Internal Politics
• Chechnya
• International Relations & Security
• Paging Mr. Bond…

Jewish Students Attacked At Auschwitz

While on a tour of the museum at the Auschwitz death camp in Poland on Sunday, a group of around 50 Jewish university students from Israel, the U.S. and Poland were verbally attacked by a three-member gang of French male tourists.

Evidently incited by the presence of an Israeli flag wrapped around the shoulders of Tamar Schuri, an Israeli student from Ben Gurion University, the first assailant ran at the group while its members were being guided through a model gas chamber and crematoria and began swearing and hurling anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli insults.

“He told us to go back to Israel and said that we were stupid and should be ashamed to walk around with an Israeli flag,” testifies Maya Ober, a 21-year-old Polish student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan and member of the Polish Union of Jewish Students (PUSZ), which organized the 16-day summer learning program along with the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS).

Read more…

Posted by Michele at 03:01 PM | Comments (12) | TrackBack

US official warns Syria of further sanctions

JERUSALEM POST: US official warns Syria of further sanctions

A top US official on Friday accused Syria, which has had US sanctions imposed against it, of failing to learn from the lessons in Iraq and become a positive player in the Middle East.

Richard Armitage, the US deputy secretary of state, said the Bush administration is studying Damascus’ response to sanctions imposed in May, and warned that stricter sanctions could follow.

“We have the ability to go to stage two, which will be a more draconian sanctions regime; but that decision hasn’t been made, ” Armitage said in an exclusive interview with the Lebanese Al-Hayat-LBC satellite station.

Tensions Extremely High in the Caucasus

As the conflict in Georgia’s South Ossetia region drags on between the Tbilisi government and de facto Russian-backed South Ossetian separatists, a new conflict has started to brew. The Georgian government, who has insisted that the conflict in South Ossetia is primarily a Georgia-Russia dispute, has now threatened to fire on all ships entering the waters of another separatist region, Abkhazia, including tourist vessels from Russia. Georgia has also threatened to shoot down Russian aircraft that violate the airspace over separatist regions.

Needless to say, tensions between Georgia and Russia are extremely high, and the US is stepping in to try to defuse the situation.

Blimp decision on hold

AP: Blimp decision on hold

A court postponed taking a decision Thursday on a request by a Greek civil rights group to ground an Olympic security blimp floating over Athens because it allegedly violates people’s right to privacy.

Judge Maria Klonari said she would rule late next week on a restraining order against the blimp demanded by a group called Democratic Rally for Privacy Rights.

The group last week asked the court to ground the 60-metre blimp that has been flying over Athens since July 24 as part of the city’s security network for the Olympic Games.

Government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos told reporters Thursday that the blimp did not violate people’s privacy. He said Greece’s Data Protection Agency - a privacy watchdog - had approved the government’s security plans.

“Nothing is taking place that violates any laws or the constitution,” Roussopoulos said.

Mass Desecration of Jewish Graves in New Zealand

Following on from the NZ Government’s recent harsh criticism of Israel, and their refusal to meet with an Israeli delegation, a large-scale and well-organised mass desecration of a Jewish cemetary has been pepetrated. An attack that must have taken considerable time and effort, completely wrecking a building. As many as 100 graves may have been damaged.

Details of graves vandalised, along with extensive pictorial coverage, are at Silent Running.

Photo © Kiwi Bob of Silent Running. All Rights Reserved

Olympic security fiasco revealed by stolen passes

(Via LGF)

TELEGRAPH: Olympic security fiasco revealed by stolen passes

Ten days before the Olympic Games start in Athens, passes allowing vehicles into several venues, including the Olympic village, have been stolen.

A security source told the Telegraph that the passes were taken from the windscreens of unattended official vehicles.

“Some people left the doors of their cars unlocked and the thieves just came in and took the accreditations,” he said.

It is not clear whether the thefts were opportunistic or part of a plot to breach the £700 million security operation for the games, which begin on August 13.

(In the Age of Biometrics, a slip of paper or plastic is the equivalent of a caveman’s club.)

General Assembly President appeals for States to observe Olympic Truce

UN NEWS: General Assembly President appeals for States to observe Olympic Truce

With less than 10 days to go before the start of the Olympic Games, the President of the United Nations General Assembly, Julian R. Hunte, today appealed to all States to demonstrate their commitment to peace by observing the traditional truce during the quadrennial competition.

“While conflicts in the world will not cease overnight, if we could have peace for 16 days, then, maybe, just maybe, we could have it forever,” Mr. Hunte said in a statement. The XXVIII Olympic Games are set to open on 13 August in Athens, where the first modern competition was revived in 1896.

Mr. Hunte noted that the sacred Greek tradition of ekecheiria (truce) was the cornerstone of the Olympic Games in ancient times, providing safety and a peaceful environment for both athletes and spectators alike.

“Its very adoption was dictated by the oracle of Delphi as a way to put an end to the wars that at the time devastated the Peloponnese. The longest lasting peace accord in history was thus created,” he said.

Robi & Nitin's S. Asia Briefing: Aug 4/04

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on South Asia, courtesy of Robi Sen and Nitin Pai of The Acorn

PAKISTANS TRUMP CARD

• Pakistan in part has been able to make the US ignore all of its failings because of its single powerful trump card which is access to Kashmir and various parts of Pakistan where Al Qaeda and other terrorists groups have taken refuge. This week we saw this power when the capture of several Al Qaeda terrorists in Pakistan lead to the intelligence which caused the heightened Orange alert in D.C., New York and New Jersey.

• While much has been made about how some of the information garnered from Al Qaeda members in Pakistan that triggered the Orange alert was developed before 9-11 readers will note that Al Qaeda develops plans and information over spans of many years. More recent information coming from Pakistan and various intelligence groups though points to a attack ‘60 days before the
  presidential election’.

• Regardless of if you believe Pakistan’s government aides the terrorists or not it certainly acts as a gate keeper to information and physical access to terrorists in its territory. It is not just a US problem either in that two top South African terrorists who where planning operations in Johannesburg where recently caught in raids against Al Qaeda groups as well. Uzbekistan officials this month claimed that 85 Islamic terrorists currently in custody where provided financing and training in camps in Pakistan.

Other Topics Today Include: Pakistan; Teflon-Mushie navigates through a perfect storm; South Asia grapples with Iraq hostage crisis; A suicide bomber-in-waiting for the PM-in-waiting; Shifting Alliances; Nonproliferation; Deluge and Drought; Wahhabi extremism visits Cambodia; Talking about the subcontinent’s border disputes.

Read the Rest…

New North Korean Missiles Could Threaten U.S.

R-27 / SS-N-6 SERB (from Global Security.org)

Jane’s Defence Weekly:

Emerging reports indicate that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea - DPRK) is developing— and is in the process of deploying—at least two new ballistic missile systems.

The first is a land-based road-mobile medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM)/intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) with an estimated range of 2,500-4,000km. The second is a companion submarine or ship-mounted ballistic missile system with a range of at least 2,500km. Both systems appear to be based on the decommissioned Soviet R-27 (NATO: SS-N-6) submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM).

The R-27 is a single-stage, liquid-propellant SLBM that became operational in the Soviet Navy during 1968. It weighs 14,200kg and is 9.65m in length, with a diameter of 1.5m and a range of 2,500km. The original version carried a single nuclear re-entry vehicle (RV), while the later R-27U carried three RVs, each with a 200kT payload.

It is believed that the R-27 technology originated with personnel from the VP Makeyev Design Bureau in Miass, Chelyabinsk. A group of 20 missile specialists from the bureau was detained in December 1992 as they were attempting to depart for the DPRK.

Reuters:

North Korea is deploying new land- and sea-based ballistic missiles that can carry nuclear warheads and may have sufficient range to hit the United States, according to the authoritative Jane’s Defense Weekly.

In an article due to appear Wednesday, Jane’s said the two new systems appeared to be based on a decommissioned Soviet submarine-launched ballistic missile, the R-27.

It said communist North Korea had acquired the know-how during the 1990s from Russian missile specialists and by buying 12 former Soviet submarines which had been sold for scrap metal but retained key elements of their missile launch systems.

Jane’s, which did not specify its sources, said the sea-based missile was potentially the more threatening of the two new weapons systems.

“It would fundamentally alter the missile threat posed by the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) and could finally provide its leadership with something that it has long sought to obtain — the ability to directly threaten the continental U.S.,” the weekly said….

…Ian Kemp, news editor of Jane’s Defense Weekly, said North Korea would only spend the money and effort on developing such missiles if it intended to fit them with nuclear warheads.

“It’s pretty certain the North Koreans would not be developing these unless they were intended for weapons of mass destruction warheads, and the nuclear warhead is far and away the most potent of those,” he told Reuters….

…Jane’s said North Korea appeared to have acquired the R-27 technology from Russian missile experts based in the Urals city of Chelyabinsk. It said one such group was detained in 1992 when about to fly to North Korea, but others visited later.

It said Pyongyang was also helped by the purchase, through a Japanese trading company, of 12 decommissioned Russian Foxtrot-class and Golf II-class submarines which were sold for scrap in 1993.

It said the missiles and electronic firing systems had been removed, but the vessels retained their launch tubes and stabilization sub-systems.

More from VOA via GlobalSecurity.org.

Cross-posted from Backcountry Conservative.

Narcocainia, South America

Back in September of 2002, I wrote the Terror, Inc. series of articles here on Winds of Change.NET. Part 2 took an especially close look at Colombia’s FARC narco-guerillas as a likely model for future terrorist organizations, and other posts and comments have bandied about the idea that there is effectively an unrecognized narco-state in South America.

Imagine my surprise, therefore, to find this thesis strongly confirmed in the pages of… National Geographic magazine. Cocaine Country in the July 2004 issue describes a land with its own economy and institutions, where raw coca is the main unit of everyday currency. Predictably, FARC’s professsed Marxism doesn’t stop them from selling the farmers’ raw product at a 10,000% markup.

The online version is only a 1-page excerpt (plus photos and field notes), and the entire article is worth reading in your local library.

A World Without Power

Worth reading at Foreign Policy: A World Without Power

Critics of U.S. global dominance should pause and consider the alternative. If the United States retreats from its hegemonic role, who would supplant it? Not Europe, not China, not the Muslim world, and certainly not the United Nations. Unfortunately, the alternative to a single superpower is not a multilateral utopia, but the anarchic nightmare of a new Dark Age.

90 Percent of Afghans Registered To Vote

About 90 percent of the Afghan electorate is registered to vote in October’s presidential election. The Associated Press reports :

According to the latest U.N. figures, 8.7 million of an estimated 9.8 million eligible voters have collected ID cards that will allow them to cast a ballot when polling begins Oct. 9 in Afghanistan’s first-ever direct national vote.

[. . .]

“The participation is amazing,” U.N. spokesman David Singh said. “There was a lot of skepticism about this process at the beginning, but the targets have been fulfilled.”

From California Yankee.