A crowd in the Bab Amr section of the Syrian city Homs celebrates the end of Muammar Qaddafi with singing and fireworks
Amidst the drama and the uncertainty over the death of Muammar Qaddafi --- how exactly was he slain? from injuries in an airstrike, a shoot-out, or (most likely, I think) an execution as he was being transported on a truck? --- this message came in from an Egyptian activist, Mahmoud Salem:
"One fled, one tried, one dead. If this keeps on at the same rate, Bashar will be smitten by God or something."
Tajik was arrested in June 2010 and charged with acting against national security, propagating against the regime, and collaborating with the Centre for the Defence of Human Rights, co-founded by Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi.
Tajik has worked for several reformist newspapers.
Facing mounting concern about Iran’s nuclear program, a top U.S. and Israeli technical team has developed a computer “malworm” designed to take down all of Iran’s computer software.
Leaders of the three major software companies, Sergey Brin at Google, Steve Ballmer at Microsoft and Larry Ellison at Oracle have been working with Israel’s top cyber warriors and have now come up with new version of a Stuxnet-like worm that can bring down Iran’s entire software networks if the Iranian regime gets too close to a breakout, according to U.S. intelligence sources. Google, Microsoft and Oracle had no comment on the issue.
1. If you work hard, and become successful, it does not necessarily mean you are successful because you worked hard, just as if you are tall with long hair it doesn’t mean you would be a midget if you were bald.
2. “Fortune” is a word for having a lot of money and for having a lot of luck, but that does not mean the word has two definitions.
3. Money is like a child—rarely unaccompanied. When it disappears, look to those who were supposed to be keeping an eye on it while you were at the grocery store. You might also look for someone who has a lot of extra children sitting around, with long, suspicious explanations for how they got there.
On Tuesday we noted President Ahmadinejad's interview in Tehran with Tony Harris of Al Jazeera English --- covering the new topic of the alleged Iranian plot to kill the Saudi Ambassador to the US, as well as the ritual issues of Tehran's nuclear programme and the situation in Syria --- and concluded that there was very little of significance.
1935 GMT:The New York Times is now covering the story that we reported earlier of Saudi blogger Feras Bugnah, who was arrested for his a documentary "We Are Being Cheated" that was critical of the Saudi regime and the economic reality in Saudi Arabia. Bugnah's colleagues have responded that the Saudi government is “trying to control the new Internet media” by making the arrest.
1921 GMT: Bahrain's Minister of Interior Lt. General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa appeared on Al Arabiya. He expressed his concern about the alleged Iranian plot to bomb the Saudi embassy, insinuated that there were links between this plot and violence in the streets of Bahrain, he accused militants of attacking protesters and security forces, and he distinguished between legal protests, which, Khalifa said, were permitted, and illegal protests that were disrupted. When asked about the use of live ammunition, this is how he answered:
"First of all, I personally have never received orders from any officer to fire [on demonstrators]. This has never happened even on the days of the crisis, if it can ever be called a crisis, nor in any other event. On the other hand, if the Ministry of Interior ever issued an order during the said period [of dealing with demonstrators] who were present at the GCC roundabout, then such an order was to affirm commitment to the provisions of the Public Security Law on matters pertaining to the use of arms."
1835 GMT: Claimed video from a funeral for yesterday's martyrs in al Harak, Houran region, Daraa province, Syria. The sign that is held up has today's date:
1432 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Deputy Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Reza Bahonar has said the motion to summon the President for questioning in Parliament will be examined next week.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 at 12:46 | Scott Lucas
Hakkari, TurkeyTwenty-four members of the Turkish security forces were killed and 18 were injured in the southeastern province of Hakkari early on Wednesday in simultaneous attacks carried by the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Terrorists attacked several military and police buildings in the Çukurca district and Hakkari's city center and 24 soldiers and police officers were killed. At least 18 soldiers were also wounded when the terrorists opened fire on military outposts in Çukurca and Yüksekova districts in Hakkari province on the border with Iraq, the sources said. The attacks reportedly occurred simultaneously.
Friday, October 21, 2011 at 5:32 | 
