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Al-Qaeda Draws New Recruits Via Internet Al-Qaeda is using the Internet to recruit vulnerable young people to its terrorist network, according to a programme aired on Saudi Arabian TV late on Tuesday. Umm Osama, the founder of al-Qaeda's first women-only website, al-Khansa, joined several others on the programme to discuss how they renounced jihadist ideology. Among those who sought a response to this question was an imam from the Medina mosque, Saleh Ibn Awad al-Mudamsi, and the father of a young al-Qaeda suspect held in an Iraqi prison. Read More Qaeda Targets U.S. Oil Interests in North Africa U.S....

GOVERNMENT'S unceasing recourse to one economic destruction measure after another belatedly forces an inevitable conclusion that, albeit for some inexplicable motive, it is resolutely determined to destroy the Zimbabwean economy in its entirety. No one can be that stupid as to resort to one catastrophic economic policy after another to the extent that the Zimbabwean Government has done over the last 11 years, unless it is with the deliberate intent to achieve a total implosion of the entirety of the economy. With actions ranging from extreme profligacy, governmental spending being continuously at astronomic levels beyond the nation's means, to the...

President George W. Bush signed an executive order expanding sanctions against the Government of Zimbabwe Friday morning. The executive order focuses on targeting individuals and entities who support the regime of Robert Mugabe.

Inflation figures are always a little slippery, but the government of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe has managed the virtually impossible feat of generating a hyperinflation that has exceeded that of the Wiemar Republic of the 1920s. From The Rand Today: As the woes continue in Zimbabwe, the central bank’s governor in Zimbabwe, Gideon Gono said today, “Statistics provided by the CSO (central statistical office) indicate that it is now at 2.2 (million percent).” This referring to the rate of inflation in the country. This is clearly the highest rate of inflation in the world. And this figure released of 2.2m%...

In 1945, as the war in Europe was winding down, American soldiers began to discover the death camps built by the Third Reich in which Jews and others considered too imperfect were murdered and treated with such savagery that every thought about civilization and civilized nations was proven to be only provisional. Dwight D. Eisenhower proved to be extremely farsighted. Looking at all of the cadavers and the hills of human ash, he ordered that every available photographer and film crew in the European theater be brought to the camps because, the general said, unless this is recorded, 50 years...

may not be surprising that, as befits any mad dictator, President Mugabe is now the proud owner of a palatial £4.5 million mansion in Harare and a similarly lavish country hideaway, each fitted with the latest electronic security systems, including anti-aircraft missiles. But why should all this have been provided for him by the People's Republic of China? The explanation lies in a deal struck in 2005 whereby Mr Mugabe handed over to China his country's mineral rights, including the world's second largest reserves of platinum, worth £250 billion.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) -- Zimbabwe's troubled central bank introduced new $100 billion banknotes Saturday in a desperate bid to ease the recurrent cash shortages plaguing the inflation-ravaged economy. The new bills officially come into circulation Monday, although they were already on the foreign currency dealers market Saturday. As high as they are, though, the new bills still aren't enough to buy a loaf of bread. They can only buy four oranges. The new note is equal to just one U.S. dollar Once-prosperous Zimbabwe has seen an unprecedented economic meltdown since it gained independence in 1980, with the official inflation rate...

For decades, China has been a stalwart ally of Robert Mugabe. This relationship began in the 1970s, when China armed Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) guerrillas against white rule in Southern Rhodesia.[1] Subsequently, it was no surprise when China and Russia vetoed a July 12 United Nations Security Council resolution to sanction Mugabe and key figures in his government for their role in unleashing a campaign of violence and intimidation that forced opposition presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangarai to withdraw from last month's Zimbabwean run-off election. This incident is only the most recent example of the detrimental role China plays...

Zimbabwe’s EnablerBy Brett D. Schaefer and John J. Tkacik, Jr.The Heritage Foundation | 7/17/2008 For decades, China has been a stalwart ally of Robert Mugabe. This relationship began in the 1970s, when China armed Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) guerrillas against white rule in Southern Rhodesia.[1] Subsequently, it was no surprise when China and Russia vetoed a July 12 United Nations Security Council resolution to sanction Mugabe and key figures in his government for their role in unleashing a campaign of violence and intimidation that forced opposition presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangarai to withdraw from last month's Zimbabwean run-off...

President Bush met with President Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso, a small country located in western Africa. The two leaders are united against the corrupt “government” of Zimbabwe. (Transcript) President Bush: We deeply care about the plight of the citizens of Zimbabwe. And we hope there's a peaceful resolution soon. I told the President, in the meantime our government is looking at, you know, sanctions beyond that which would have been levied out of the U.N. Security Council.* * Last week Russia and China vetoed a U.S.-sponsored Security Council resolution that would have imposed an arms embargo on Zimbabwe and...

The annual rate of inflation in Zimbabwe, already the highest in the world, has hit a new high of 2.2 million per cent. "Statistics provided by the CSO (central statistical office) indicate that it is now at 2.2 (million per cent)," central bank governor Gideon Gono said in a brief address in Harare ahead of a speech by veteran President Robert Mugabe. The figure is the first from the authorities in Zimbabwe since the announcement of the rate for February, when it was put at around 165,000 per cent. The head of the CSO, Moffat Nyoni, confirmed the figure but...

Agreeing with THOMAS FRIEDMAN: ...<excerpt> ... ... But when it comes to pure, rancid moral corruption, no one can top South Africa’s president, Thabo Mbeki, and his stooge at the U.N., Dumisani Kumalo. They have done everything they can to prevent any meaningful U.N. pressure on the Mugabe dictatorship.As The Times reported, America’s U.N. ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, “accused South Africa of protecting the ‘horrible regime in Zimbabwe,’ ” calling this particularly disturbing given that it was precisely international economic sanctions that brought down South Africa’s apartheid government, which had long oppressed that country’s blacks.So let us now coin the Mbeki...

As with Darfur and Burma, the depredations of Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe have become a target of the world's moral outrage. Also like those two countries, the chances of anyone doing something about Zimbabwe are falling into the diplomatic abyss that is the United Nations. The Bush Administration has been prodding the Security Council to impose an arms embargo and pass ... sanctions that would pressure the Mugabe regime to sponsor honest elections and stop killing democratic opponents... But ... Russia and China vetoed the sanctions on grounds that they amounted to interference in Zimbabwe's internal affairs... And in a...

UNITED NATIONS - Fresh from a controversial victory over American and British efforts to impose U.N. Security Council sanctions, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe intends to head to New York City this September to attend the 2008 U.N. General Assembly. "Yes, definitely he will come," Zimbabwe's U.N. Ambassador Boniface Chidyausiku told Newsmax. Should Mugabe follow through, that would put him in the Big Apple the week of Sept. 23. The controversial African leader might actually find some friends at the U.N. confab, as Newsmax has learned two key Mugabe supporters also intend to be in the city at the same time....

Just how bad does the tyranny in Zimbabwe have to get before the world takes action? Robert Mugabe has already installed himself as President-for-life, having stolen two elections and had more than 5,000 of those who supported the opposition party either killed or imprisoned. He also ensured that a further 200,000 were evicted from their homes. Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition, sensibly decided there was no point in continuing to co-operate with Mugabe's grotesque parody of democracy. Mugabe then claimed victory in a sham of his own creation. ...The leaders of the democracies in Europe and America tried to...

Dear Family and Friends, In the main supermarket in my home town this weekend there were too many empty shelves to count. In the fortnight since Mr Mugabe was sworn in as President for his sixth term, everyday life has gone from struggle to complete crisis. No one is coping now and in the last two weeks virtually all foodstuffs, toiletries and household goods have completely disappeared from stores. On what should have been a busy weekend morning in our once thriving town, the car park was virtually empty and the only things to buy in the cavernous supermarket were...

HARARE (AFP) - President Robert Mugabe's government was triumphant Saturday at the failure of a UN bid to impose fresh sanctions on Zimbabwe as Britain pledged to return to the Security Council if political violence continued. Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown would discuss further measures with EU partners next week, a spokesman for the premier said in a statement. "We will continue to stand firmly for human rights and democracy and will return to the Security Council in the absence of early progress on mediation, humanitarian access and an end to violence," the statement added. Mugabe's government, meanwhile, thanked those...

Last Tuesday, Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, stood shoulder to shoulder with his fellow G8 leaders when they threatened the regime of Robert Mugabe with "financial measures". On Friday, Russia wielded its Security Council veto to block the same sanctions it purported to support just three days earlier. The dramatic change of tack would seem to suggest that the Kremlin either could not resist the temptation to irritate the West or that Moscow simply does not hold much truck by G8 agreements. While perhaps not surprised that Russia has chosen to be obstreperous once more, Britain and the United States...

Britain and the US have condemned Russia and China for vetoing a draft UN Security Council resolution to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe's leaders. UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the veto was incomprehensible. The US said it brought into question Russia's reliability as a G8 partner. Zimbabwe and its main ally South Africa welcomed the result. Zimbabwe's Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu described the resolution as a Western plot and welcomed its rejecton.... There has been growing international criticism of Zibabwe since the re-election of Mr. Mugabe in a run-off boycotted by the opposition. The opposition's Morgan Tsvangirai and his Movement...

Breaking news. Nothing follows other than background on Mugabe...as of yet.

http://www.un.org/webcast/

GENEVA (Reuters) - The U.N. refugee agency urged South Africa on Friday to stop mass deportations of Zimbabwean migrants, since some of those deported may be asylum seekers who have fled violence and political persecution at home. South Africa has deported some 17,000 Zimbabweans in the last 40 days alone through the main border crossing at Beit Bridge, despite the UNHCR's appeal in late May, the agency said. "Our concern is that with these refugees who are fleeing political violence and upheaval in Zimbabwe, they could be at risk of being sent back to danger if they are caught up...

The growing importance of clearly communicating in another language was lost on President Bush this week as he called Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi “amigo.” Berlusconi did not protest, however, since he was spared the backrub treatment German Chancellor Angela Merkel received at last year’s G8 Summit. This year, the environmental crisis and elections in Zimbabwe were issues of top importance for national leaders from Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the U.S., Japan and Russia. Meeting in Japan, they decided to seek targeted sanctions against Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe’s government in response to last month’s rigged elections. While reaching...

Dozens of teenage girls have been made pregnant after being taken into the bush and raped in torture camps by President Robert Mugabe’s youth militia operating near Mudzi, a town 100 miles northeast of Harare, human rights workers allege. Amid the continuing chaos, there are as yet no clear statistics, but the sharp rise in teenage pregnancies seems almost certain to have been repeated elsewhere in rural districts. Some of the victims will have contracted HIV-Aids, which has ravaged Zimbabwe for years and helped reduce average life expectancy to 34 for women, the lowest in the world. ... There are...

ZIMBABWE'S government said today that the G8 leaders' rejection of President Robert Mugabe's legitimacy and threats of financial measures against his regime are racist and an insult to African leaders. "They want to undermine the African Union and (South African) President Mbeki's (mediation) efforts because they are racist, because they think only white people think better," said Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga. "It's an insult to African leaders," Mr Matonga said. Mr Matonga insisted that Mr Mugabe, elected last month in a widely denounced one-man vote, was the southern African nation's rightful leader. The party has often said Mr Mbeki...

Patson Chipiro, a democracy activist, wasn’t home when Robert Mugabe’s thugs showed up looking for him. So they grabbed his wife, Dadirai, and tormented her by chopping off one of her hands and both of her feet. Finally, they threw her into a hut, locked the door and burned it to the ground. That has been the pattern lately: with opposition figures in hiding, Mr. Mugabe’s goons kill loved ones to send a message of intimidation. Even the wife of the mayor-elect of Harare, the capital, was kidnapped and beaten to death. When the white supremacist regime of Ian Smith...

The crisis in Zimbabwe is "infecting the whole of southern Africa, UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband has said after visiting refugees. On a visit to Johannesburg, S Africa, he said victims of political repression were fleeing there in their thousands. He said it was now "imperative" that there was a new government in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe was declared the winner of a one-candidate run-off election, amid reports of the violent intimidation of his opponents. After meeting some of the 2,000 refugees who have taken refuge in the Central Methodist Church in downtown Johannesburg, Mr. Miliband said: "This is now...

Former President Bill Clinton called for Zimbabwe leader Robert Mugabe to step down immediately or form a power-sharing arrangement with his chief opponent. The former presidentcalled Mugabe "a puppet of the military establishment" and singled out a Washington Post story that exposed coercion, intimidation, beatings and profession killings by the ruling-party s militias. The crisis in Zimbabwe was the main focus of a public one-on-one interview tonight with Jane Wales, a former Clinton advisor and current Aspen Institute vice president of philanthropy and society, at the annual Aspen Ideas Festival.

Picture exclusive: The tyrant and his bride...a 'liberal' Mugabe at his wedding in 1961 Last updated at 00:26am on 06.07.08  In white gloves and smart suit, with a carnation in his buttonhole, this smiling bridegroom is the man who has brought Zimbabwe to its knees.When Robert Mugabe married his first wife Sally in 1961, he was a 37-year-old liberal nationalist who wanted to make his country - then Southern Rhodesia - a model multiracial democracy.The man who took this never before published photograph, retired airline manager Kevin Nolan, was a guest at the ceremony.     Love and politics:...

Dear Family and Friends, It is now clear that the will of the Zimbabwean people as expressed in the March 29th elections has been ignored and, as a result we find ourselves in the deepest crisis. Hundreds of people: men, women and children have started arriving at foreign embassies in Harare, begging for temporary refuge and humanitarian assistance. First it was the South African embassy, then the American embassy: crowds of people who are cold, tired, homeless, hungry and frightened and who have nowhere else to go and no one to turn to. They don't shout, scream, protest and demand,...

The Dirty Half-Dozen: The generals who are even more ruthless and bloodthirsty than Mugabe By Andrew Malone Last updated at 12:35 AM on 05th July 2008 His Excellency was perspiring, even though there was frost on the ground. In the palatial gardens of State House, the oak-panelled home of former British colonial rulers, Robert Mugabe's face glistened with sweat as he was declared President of the Republic of Zimbabwe. He pulled at his cuffs and glanced over his shoulder. After 28 years of bloody rule - and two hours before the election results were announced 'live' on state-controlled TV -...

Harare—John Robertson, a Zimbabwean economist, went to the dentist yesterday with a painful tooth that needed urgent work, but before he could get it done, he had to arrange payment. His choices were these: Either he could pay in Zim dollars, in which case he'd need a bag of them, because the bill for his dentistry was $1.3 trillion, plus the limit for cash withdrawals from his bank account was only $25 billion daily. Or he could pay by check on his Zimbabwean bank account, in which case, since it takes a week to clear the check and the Zim...

Botswana has deployed units of its army along its border with Zimbabwe as "a precaution" against trouble in its crisis-torn neighbour spilling into the country, sources close to the government have said. Relations between the two countries have become strained by the influx in recent years of tens of thousands of refugees from Zimbabwe who have crossed the border illegally, fleeing the violence of Robert Mugabe's supporters. Botswana, one of the most prosperous and successful countries in Africa, built an electrified fence along its 300-mile border, largely desert scrub, with Zimbabwe five years ago and tightened controls at its border...

HARARE - A pall of fear a campaign of post-election retributive violence that has claimed nine lives since Friday has descended over Zimbabwe. President Robert Mugabe is frantically trying to shrug off massive international condemnation over his fraudulent re-election to entrench himself for a further five years. In the aftermath of Friday’s widely-condemned one candidate runoff election, Mugabe’s supporters have intensified a witch-hunt of perceived opposition activists and supporters. Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, told a news conference at his Strathaven residence Wednesday that groups of soldiers and Zanu-PF youth militia had been carrying out a...

A newly emboldened Robert Mugabe plans to drum up false charges of rape and robbery against MPs opposed to his Zanu (PF) party, to enable him to regain control of the parliament. The president's party lost its majority for the first time since independence in March, when the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) won most seats in the lower house and drew level with Zanu (PF) in the senate. Now, after employing a terrifying campaign of violence to hold on to his presidential power, Mugabe believes he can overturn the MDC majority with underhand methods including false imprisonment, kidnap and...

At the TM supermarket in Borrowdale, in Harare's western suburbs, many shelves were bare yesterday. But a kilo of mince cost Z$490 billion, a kilo of sausage Z$170 billion, and a tin of baked beans Z$30 billion. Despite Zimbabwe's desperate shortage of food, heavy import duties have been slapped onto edible products, and a litre of imported orange juice cost an eye-watering Z$303 billion.

A defiant President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe on Tuesday fended off an effort by African leaders to sanction him for his country's recent election violence, telling them that their claims to power were no more legitimate than his. President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal said Mugabe chastised another head of state during a closed-door session Tuesday night for having "worse elections than I did." A two-day summit of the 53-nation African Union that was dominated by talk of Zimbabwe's political crisis ended with leaders issuing no public rebuke. Instead, African leaders encouraged Mugabe to enter into dialogue and form a power-sharing...

Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has rejected forming a unity government if he is not recognised as the winner of presidential elections. African leaders called for a unity government days after Robert Mugabe won a run-off boycotted by the opposition. Mr. Tsvangirai, who won the first-round vote, said the African Union should appoint another mediator to join South Africa's leader Thabo Mbeki. Earlier, a spokesman for Mr. Mugabe welcomed the AU call for dialogue....... Mr. Tsvangirai said the resolution did not acknowledge the illegitimacy of the 27 June run-off vote. "The resolution endorses the concept of a government of national...

The African Union (AU) has called on Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai to negotiate a government of national unity (GNU), with the aid of a special envoy, much to the ire of the Zanu-PF leader, who stormed out of the Red Sea summit before it came to a close. The resolution came just hours after both men said a GNU was not an option. Speaking on behalf of Mugabe earlier in the day, spokesperson George Charamba said Zimbabwe must not attempt to emulate Kenya in dealing with its problems. "The Zimbabwean way, not the Kenyan way. Not at all," he...

Robert Mugabe has kept his embattled regime in Zimbabwe afloat on a sea of paper money. Now, he'll have to try to do it without the paper. The Munich-based company that has supplied Zimbabwe with the special blank sheets to print its increasingly worthless dollar caved in to pressure on Tuesday from the German government for it to stop doing business with the African ruler. Mr. Mugabe's regime relies on a steady supply of the paper -- fortified with watermarks and other antiforgery features -- to print the bank notes that allow it to pay the soldiers and other loyalists...

HARARE, July 1 (Reuters) - Armed groups attacked and seriously wounded at least three white farmers in Zimbabwe after last Friday's run-off presidential election, a farmers' union said on Tuesday. Zimbabwe's Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU) said the farmers were abducted, assaulted and thrown off a moving vehicle in Chegutu district, 100 km (62 miles) west of Harare. "Serious injuries have been inflicted on all three, all of whom have sustained serious head injuries," it said in a statement.

IRAN today said it "respects" the outcome of Zimbabwe's one-man presidential election which saw veteran incumbent Robert Mugabe stay in power but was denounced as a farce by the West. "We respect the will of the Zimbabwean people expressed in the second round of the presidential elections, whatever it is," foreign ministry Mohammad Ali Hosseini said. "We hope that these results are in the interest of the independence and the development of Zimbabwe," he added, according to the ISNA student news agency. Mr Mugabe was sworn in for a sixth term after being declared the winner of Friday's election runoff...

Ben Freeth did not expect to be alive today.

Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwean thug-o-crat and faux President was sworn in for a sixth term after a reign of terror launched against all who opposed his bid for re-election. Mugabe, who has taken an economically sound nation which had a strong manufacturing base, mining industry (it is rich in natural resouces) thriving agricultural as well as tourism industies, and turned it into one of the world’s biggest economic basket cases.

London (agencies) Agents of Robert Mugabe’s regime are harassing and intimidating Zimbabwean dissidents in Britain in an attempt to silence his political rivals and disrupt vital fundraising for Morgan Tsvangirai’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change. Mugabe’s feared security force, the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), is waging a highly-organised campaign to terrify the 4,000 MDC members living in the UK. It involves surveillance, threats against family members in Zimbabwe, menacing late-night phone calls and bogus messages saying that fundraising activities are cancelled or disrupted. The existence of the campaign was confirmed last night by British security sources, who said the targeting...

Ben Freeth did not expect to be alive today. Just after midnight this morning, the white farmer was lying face down next to a bonfire, beside Mike and Angela Campbell, his wife's parents. He had no idea where his own three small children and his wife, Laura, were, only that a marauding band of loyalists from the ruling ZANU-PF party was hitting all the white farms in their district near the town of Chegutu, about 60 miles southwest of Harare. The three had been abducted from their farm by an armed gang and brought to their base. By midnight, they...

UNITED NATIONS, June 30 (Reuters) - A U.S.-drafted U.N. sanctions resolution calls for the U.N. Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Zimbabwe and freeze the assets of specific Zimbabwean individuals and companies. The draft, obtained by Reuters on Monday, says the council would not recognize Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's June 27 re-election and would freeze the assets of and ban travel for anyone who helped the government "undermine democratic processes" or supported politically-motivated violence.

Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe 'a hero', say African leaders By David Blair, Diplomatic Editor Last Updated: 8:47PM BST 30/06/2008 African leaders gathering for a summit have greeted President Robert Mugabe as a "hero", dashing hopes that Zimbabwe's regime would come under immediate international pressure. President Omar Bongo of Gabon, who has held power for 41 years and won a series of widely criticised elections, gave his public backing for Mr Mugabe as leaders met in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. "He was elected, he took an oath, and he is here with us, so he is President and we cannot...

With pomp, ceremony and a massive dose of defiance, His Excellency Commander Robert Gabriel Mugabe was yesterday sworn in as Zimbabwe's president. Inside the oak-panelled rooms of State House, as fighter jets roared overhead, he declared himself winner of an election in which he was the only candidate. Even before he took the oath, he had set in motion bloody recriminations against those who worked against him. Secret documents outlining the strategy against the opposition Movement for Democratic Change have been seen by the Mail. They reveal that, in the runup to the polls, Mugabe had plotted to 'eliminate MDC...

.." Odinga also responded to media reports that Mugabe said that the Prime Minister of Kenya [is] persona non grata in Zimbabwe..."