"Mardin Amin, an Iraqi arrested at O'Hare airport now faces serious felony charges of disorderly conduct. He could get three years in prison. A female security guard claims Amin uttered the word "bomb" when she was examining a small black squeezable object she'd taken from his bag.
For his part, Amin, on his way to Turkey with his mother and his children, claims he was whispering to his mother that it was a "pump" in fact a penis pump."
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I support the call by Palestinian film-makers, artists and others to boycott state sponsored Israeli cultural institutions and urge others to join their campaign.
YAMOUN, West Bank (AP) -- They were struggling in a boy band, working the West Bank wedding circuit and dreaming of stardom.
Now the five singers who make up the Northern Band have come a little closer to their goal, with help from an unwitting ally -- Hezbollah guerrilla chief Hassan Nasrallah.
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Beirut the city that never sleeps, fighting through the years to be a town for those who want peace, love and fun. 2006 was a promising year for the B-City, where its locals were expecting one of the hottest time ever and its regular visitors where going to experience one of the hottest cities full of joy and entertainment.
Starting from New Year’s Eve while most of the region leading artists were performing in most of the city venues, as well international artists, djs and bands. A big number of Djs came to Beirut starting with Anthony Pappa, Above & Beyond, John Digweed, Mario Ochoa, Steve Lawler, Deep Dish, Hernan Cattaneo, Carl Cox, Marco V, Tall Paul, Nick Warren, Judge Jules, George Acosta, Jess, Paul Van Dyk, As well legendary artists such as Ricky Martin, 50 Cent, G-Unit, Francis Cabrel, Barbara Hendricks and many others….
While Fairuz were to start its new piece “Sah El Nom” At Baalback Internation Festival the ghost of war haunted and reigned over this lovely peacefull city. Many artists canceled such as Sean Paul, Deep Purple, Liza Minelli, and so on local artists events such as Magida Al Roumi, CARACALLA DANCE THEATRE…
All these, to mention a few of many examples of what we are suffering today, tourists left the country, many locals left as well, citizens were displaced from their houses, children being massacered, mothers weeping, fathers eyes full of tears, and a country dying only to await I’s rebirth like the phoenix.
We as Lebanese people full of hope as usual, have suffered before and we are suffering today, but We came to this world and earned the right to live a happy life, we are not here for war or destruction we are here to build and satisfy, so for those trying to destroy this country and for those who are trying to have this country a war - zone we tell them NO!!! this place is made to be heaven on EARTH.
With Love and peace, as well our best condolences for the families of all who passed away in this war.
One answer is that it had some eminent salesmen. On July 2 2005, Tony Blair secretly landed in Riyadh to persuade the Saudi princes that this flying scrapheap was the must-have accessory for every fashionable young despot. Three weeks later the defence secretary John Reid turned up to deploy his subtle charms. Somehow the deal survived, and last week his successor, Des Browne, signed the agreement. All of which raises a second question. Why are government ministers, even Blair himself, prepared to reduce themselves to hawkers on behalf of arms merchants?
In Defense of War Photographers 
The plaque outside the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, 
"The civilian population in Lebanon and in northern Israel have been the biggest losers in this senseless cycle of violence that is now exactly one month old...Civilians were supposed to be spared and in this conflict they are not."
Hadia Ties the Knot in Front of the Ruins of her Destroyed Home
The 32 day bombing of Lebanon targeted civilians, hospitals, clearly-signed ambulances and aid convoys, schools and universities. Shops, warehouses, gas stations, bridges, roads, harbours, the main Beirut airport, phone and tele-communications, postal service networks, residential areas, were all attacked. Large parts of southern Beirut have been destroyed—homes, schools, universities and even cemeteries and archeological sites.
Churches and mosques were destroyed, the sea and rivers polluted and underground water tables severely corrupted. The livelihood of farmers and fishermen, has been ruined.
This war involved a sort of ‘cleansing’, the scale of the bombing indicating a wish to remove entire towns and villages, the culture and memory of a whole people under siege.
The media was attacked with journalists assaulted and wounded. The UN itself was attacked and their observers killed. The Israelis say they comply with UN resolutions whilst killing UN personnel. Given this history what will be the situation for the UN forces there to enforce Resolution 1701?
Despite all this people are returning to their homes and Hezbullah are providing temporary shelters and funding for rebuilding homes and infrastructure.
I met doctors with suspicions as to the weapons used by the Israelis. There have been three categories of wounds. Firstly bodies in small pieces. The original death figure for Qana was 54 (eventually scaled down to 29). This was not an attempt at propaganda but there were 54 body pieces brought to the hospital, which indicates possible use of bombs which cut people to pieces. Secondly, there were bodies burnt in such a way that the bodies were left abnormally shrunk. Some skulls were left the size of an orange. Thirdly some bodies had unusual rigor mortis with a stiffness indicating possible use of a nerve gas.
We have to be careful what we say about all this and how we articulate our thoughts but we are expressing the doubts of the medical staff we met and talked with in hospitals such as that in Tyre.
It has been claimed that Hizbullah launched rockets from inside or close to civilian centres but photos and video evidence show this is not the case.
Israelis have one of the most advanced military forces in the world with the Condor 2 laser-guided target system. So targets are not ‘mistakes’. Yet one third to half of those killed were women and children. One third of these deaths were kids under the age of 15. Why no UN resolutions condemning this?
What can we expect from UN intervention? We must remember that in 1982 the UN were in southern Lebanon and moved aside as soon as the Israelis attacked. When Israel killed UN people then, there was silence at the UN, just as the UN has been almost silent this time, when Israel has yet again killed UN staff.
Today the Israelis are still violating Lebanon airspace and blockading the ports. This is humiliating for the Lebanese people and is why Hezbullah draws on increasing support - not just from Muslims and the Shia community but from Christians and those with no religious faith, since they are viewed as the resistance.
Britain, the US, France, Germany, Norway, Japan and representatives from Arab nations are among those invited to the conference on August 31 in Stockholm, it emerged today.
A female bear resting at the entrance
By Donald Macintyre in Metulla, Israel
PLEASE KEEP ON GOING FORWARD! DO NOT TURN AROUND>>>JUST LEAVE!!
