^^Anything to show the TFG has some sort of support dee. Sheekada meelahan ka socda fahan dee saxib!

^^Quite true! He has been nominated so maybe this year. http://www.100greatblackbritons.com/people_data.html#O Bio Rageh Omaar is the BBC's Africa correspondent, whose sterling work during the Iraq war made him a household name. He was born in Somalia, and educated at Cheltenham Boy's School and Oxford University, where he gained a BA in Modern History. He began his journalistic career as a trainee for the Voice newspaper, and in 1991 he moved to Ethiopia where he freelanced as a foreign correspondent, working mainly for the World Service. A year later, he returned to London to work as a producer and broadcast journalist for the BBC. He moved to South Africa after being appointed the BBC's Africa correspondent. During his coverage of the Iraq war, nearly 90% of the population watched him on either the weekday BBC news bulletins, or on News 24. Many of his broadcasts were syndicated across the U.S., where the Washington Post labelled him the 'Scud Stud'. Rageh has never forgotten his Somali roots and is a strong advocate for the Somali community in Britain. He is the recipient of an EMMA award for the best media correspondent.

Met some, watched some and have never heard of others. 100 Great Black Britons The List

Originally posted by Baashi: Hardball. That's waht it is. Pro-secessionists are organized and are pressuring their reps (MPs as they are called in UK) to give their cause a fair hearing. Likewise the opposing group, the pro-unity, are equally active and doing what they can to air their side of the issue. Hence the demo. The hardcore secessionists in this forum are expected to throw their usual tantrums. After all it is way too difficult for them to understand that every push will find a counter push from the opposing side. It is funny how these folks color this simple political game in the hate lingo -- a la we are making a great strides and the other side is doing whatever they do, or are doing, simply cuz of that fact. Nonesense. It is a hardball politicking. Disappointed with the turn out ya Baashi? It is obvious who was protesting and I guess you missed the Yeey pics next to the 'peace' sign ey

^^LoL Originally posted by NGONGE: ^^ Is Jacaylbaro busy today? Read the 'do not disturb' thread in General. He only posts pro SL stuff. I do the anti TFG stuff

Somalia govt executes convicted soldier MOGADISHU, Somalia Jan 13 (Garowe Online) - Somalia's interim government has executed a soldier convicted of killing a civilian, making it the second execution in less than a year. Somali soldier Shukri Hussein Mohamed was killed by firing squad in the national capital Mogadishu on Sunday, with hundreds of witnesses and senior military commanders present. Somali troops Col. Mohamed Osman Dinih, commander of Somalia's navy, told reporters that the soldier was executed after being convicted of intentionally killing an innocent woman last year. He was charged with murder and sentenced by a military court, according to Col. Dinih. "This is a clear warning to other soldiers who commit crimes against civilians," he said. In 2007, two soldiers were convicted of killing fellow soldiers and civilian bystanders. They were both executed on the same day. Many Mogadishu residents have complained about the behavior of Somali troops, with many reports of robberies, torture and premeditated killings. On Sunday, a local market in central Mogadishu was forced to shut down after local businesses were robbed overnight by "men in government uniform," according to locals. Ali Sheikh Mohamed, a shop-owner in Mogadishu's Shibis district, told Garowe Online that property worth more than US$7,000 was stolen from his shop, including cigarette boxes and phone cards. He said he pays taxes to the government, but does not know why government security forces targeted the market. Other businesses lost valued property as well, Mr. Mohamed said. Barre Mohamed Mohamud, business association chair for the market in Shibis, spoke to reporters after the association held an emergency meeting today regarding this latest incident. He said the association asked the Mogadishu municipal government to take tough measures against the culprits. Baidoa killings Two people were shot to death overnight Saturday in the south-central town of Baidoa, 250km northwest of Mogadishu. Sheikh Abdullahi Balbalow, a judge with the Bay Regional Court, and a security guard for the Red Cross died from gunshot wounds. Unidentified gunmen opened fire on the judge and guard while both victims stood in front of Sheikh Abdullahi's house, witnesses said. The gunmen escaped before police reinforcements arrived on the scene. Baidoa residents said the killing took place minutes before a nighttime curfew took affect. The town has been under curfew for the past five months. Before his violent death, Sheikh Abdullahi was also regional spokesman for Ahlu-Sunnah-Wal-Jame'a, an Islamic group that runs charities, educational and health services in many parts of Somalia. The Somali parliament is temporarily based in Baidoa, while government troops and allied Ethiopian forces try to secure Mogadishu from Islamist-led insurgents. Senior Somali government officials, including Prime Minister Nur "Adde" Hassan Hussein, are currently in Baidoa. Source: Garowe Online

Liverpool beat Newcastle 3-0 at St James' Park but could easily have been 6! Don't read too much into Scum Utd's win. Arsenal did'nt turn up vs Birmingham who are known for their pack the midfield style. As for Liverpool, well another 4th place finish will have to do. Rafa nearly got the sack it has emerged so maybe now he will start with a better attitude than one lone striker vs Wigan at home!!!

^^Yep. We had a driver. The food!!!! The food!!! :cool: Will go back IA but in a time of year when it's a bit warmer :cool: Next stop blighty

^^I'm wondering where to go and what to do today.

The sword is mightier An unarmed civilian observer mission can't offer balanced policing to Palestinians in Hebron, a city where the IDF runs the show It's easy to claim that the pen is mightier than the sword from the safety of a university lecture hall, or a middle class soiree in a suburban dining room. However, in the bandit country that is Hebron, the adage rings somewhat hollow, as I found after spending a day out on patrol with Temporary International Presence in the City of Hebron (TIPH). What I saw during my six-hour shadowing of the dedicated yet ultimately toothless members of the TIPH team made me question the wisdom of their presence in the troubled city. Established in the wake of Baruch Goldstein's shooting spree in a local mosque, TIPH's raison d'etre is to "monitor the situation in Hebron and record breaches of international law." In essence, they are stationed in the city to bear witness to the almost daily violent incidents that erupt between the Jewish settlers of Hebron and their Palestinian neighbours. So it was on Wednesday, as I set out with Sibyll and Mortens, respectively Swiss and Danish TIPH workers, who are old hands at dealing with the explosive situation using the limited tools at their disposal. Our first incident was fairly mundane by comparison with what we'd see later - a youth protesting to the pair that every time Palestinian Authority workmen came to try and fix a sewage blockage in the souk, Israeli soldiers ordered them to leave the area without allowing them to carry out their repairs. "This is the third time we've heard this story in four days," said Sibyll, as she noted down the boy's complaint in her notebook. "All we can do is to try and get our liaison officers to try to intervene with the army and the PA, and attempt to get permits for them to complete their work [unimpeded]." Mortens concurred with her plan of action: "It won't happen overnight, though - we have to write a report, contact the DCO, and hope that they can achieve results." And in the meantime, the stench of raw sewage hangs over the market and adds to the sense of discomfort that the shopkeepers are forced to endure. There had been reports that it was the settlers who had blocked up the sewage system, causing the problem, although that was hard for the team to verify. However, the next incident they were called to appeared far more clear cut. In a busy street underneath a barred window of one of the settlement buildings, a couple of tin cans with unidentifiable viscous liquid oozing from them lay on the edge of the pavement. "They tried to light it before hurling it at us," declared a middle-aged Palestinian man breathlessly, pointing up in the direction of the offenders' homes. "They were 16 or 17," he continued, "not small kids at all." Hanging from the bars of the windows were sandbags filled with stones, which Sibyll said, "are prepared by the children, who then throw the rocks down at the Palestinians. The IDF come, but always deny that anything has happened." All that TIPH can do in such circumstances is pull out their notebooks, log a record of the incident, and then file the report with the DCO, which does little to placate the injured parties or to reassure them that anything tangible is being done to protect them. "There's a feeling of real frustration amongst us," said Ghassan, a Swedish member of TIPH. "We can't intervene in a situation; all we can do is turn up and take photos." He explained that this causes inevitable resentment on the part of the Palestinians, while others on the Palestinian side "don't like us because they're convinced we work for the Israelis." As we continued along the route of the patrol, we came across a gaggle of teenagers surrounding a dishevelled-looking man sitting askew in a wheelchair. His T-shirt badly ripped from shoulder to shoulder and covered in bloodstains, he shook as he turned plaintively to Mortens and Sibyll and pleaded for their help. "The army did this," he began. "They beat me, and there are 15 of them still in my house now - you've got to go and do something." After taking photos of his injuries to use as evidence, we hurried off in the direction of his house in the company of one of the boys who was acting as guide. However, our way was obstructed by a shaven-headed Russian IDF soldier who ordered us to take a far longer, circuitous route, since the Palestinian boy was banned from walking past the Cave of Machpela. When we eventually got to the raided house, the operation was still in full flow, with heavily-armed soldiers milling around on every floor of the building as the children of the house nervously looked on. Thanks to the terms of their mandate, TIPH members are unimpeded in their monitoring work, thus the soldiers had to let them photograph the ongoing search and interview the commander once he'd declared the building safe. "There were rocks being thrown from the roof," he stated flatly when questioned. "I didn't see anyone in a wheelchair," he went on, looking to his charges for confirmation, "and if there had been, I promise you he'd still be here with us." "It's a bit fishy that he managed to get out of the house and all the way down the road in a wheelchair in the middle of a raid." He proposed that the man's injuries might instead be a result of him jumping off the roof and trying to escape arrest, implying that the wheelchair was merely a prop used to garner sympathy from the TIPH team. Once the soldiers had left, we entered the house and interviewed the wounded man's children, who assured us that he had been beaten by the troops. However, they also admitted that their younger brother had been throwing rocks at the army, and refused to stop when his older siblings and father remonstrated with him. At the same time, they couldn't give a convincing explanation for how their apparently wheelchair-bound father had made it up the impossibly narrow stairs onto the roof to chastise their brother. This prompted Sibyll to complain that the hardest part of her job was trying to decide who was being honest and who just wanted to apportion all the blame to the other side. The commander's parting words to us had been "We were just doing our job - no one should have rocks thrown at them, should they?" While entirely right, his concern seemed pretty ironic given the complete ambivalence the army showed earlier when Mortens and Sibyll tried to report the missile attacks on the Palestinians. That the IDF runs the whole show in the city, and TIPH can do little more than meekly complain from the sidelines is the heart of the problem when it comes to policing the area fairly. Of course, Israel is hardly likely to agree to arm the likes of TIPH, just as they have all but repealed the authority's mandate to be in charge of keeping order in the Palestinian half of the city. However, given that a large part of TIPH's purpose is to try and afford the same level of protection and security to the Palestinians that the settlers enjoy, it is clear that there is no balance whatsoever at present. Well-meaning but ultimately impotent foreigners wielding notebooks and pens are no match for M16-toting soldiers when it comes to delivering justice to the city's residents. Therefore it is no surprise that, despite what TIPH was set up to deliver, the Palestinians feel no better looked after now than they did before 1994. And that is no more likely to assuage their frustration and fears than any other half-hearted internationally-led initiative - meaning that their ongoing feeling of abandonment is entirely understandable while the best they've got is TIPH. http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/seth_freedman/2008/01/the_might_of_the_sword.html

LoL@JB Nice one LooooL

Bush is in town (Dubai). You wont see me protesting as they gave everyone who works in the city the day off Dubai: Monday, January 14, has been declared a holiday for ministries, government establishments, schools and private sector companies in Dubai due to the closure of some main roads, bridges and tunnels. Official sources urged all residents to avoid using main roads on Monday. Major roads are closed ahead of US President George W. Bush's arrival in Dubai. http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/General/10181630.html Thanks Bush :cool:

LG, if you fail to understand where I'm coming from then I cant help you I'm afraid. Marc Try to at least put some sort of synopsis to your videos in future. This may encourage more of a broader debate and those who do not have access to youtube will actually know what your talking about. Back to Somalis and democracy. I really dont think we are ready for a full fledging democracy at the moment and for a long time to come. What to do? I hear you ask. Well tribalism failed Somalis but, in my opinion, only a tribal system of governance, at least at lower levels, will save it. I'm not sure of the exact dynamics but a lower house system of Suldaans elected by their clansmen would be a good start followed by signed treaties between all tribes. The suldaans get to discuss/vote on many of the issues/decisions to be taken by the govnt. How does it sound so far?

I agree with most of what you said except the democracy part. I dont think Somalia is in a position to have a democracy in the way many European countries do. The democracy I have in mind is on a smaller scale. Will more tomorrow IA. Getting late over here.

Back to Sharjah!

Back in Damascus Mr Ayoubi, raximullah. Khalid Ibn Waleed Mosque with his Tomb

Where do you get a T junction heading to two immensely historical cities? Iraq was some 600 kms away if I'm not mistaken.

A Roman amphitheatre The Collonade Time to head back to Damashq

lol, yeah saxib. Watch your back

Valley of the Tombs ^^Flip the pic 90 degrees and you have place for a family to place there bodies which is then enclosed with a sculpture of their head made when they were ate their 'best' ie in their 20s.

Originally posted by Thierry: nice one Norf you spent the holiday back in history It was surreal saxib I tell ya. Everywhere I went there was some sort of history to it. If only I travelled further east to the Euphrates. That would have capped things off but next time IA.

Saxib, as previously conveyed to you, responding to a video is not like responding to a written piece.

It was time to travel to Palmyra Bel Temple A date plantation in Palmyra

Yes dude

^^Do you have the transcript?