. « Ambas organizaciones comparten un cierto número de objetivos y sobre todos mismos enemigos. La voluntad de destabilizar Marruecos es común a Al-Qaïda y al Polisario. Ambos grupos también hicieron de Mauritania uno de sus principales blancos en la región y una base logística tanto más importante como este país es una de las puertas de África subsahariana », anade el informe. « Un grupo transnacional como Al Qaïda necesita paradas locales y tendría todo interés en apoyarse en elementos activos del Polisario », explica el centro. La explicación del centro, presidido por Claude Moniquet, no es solamente una  presunción , sino se apoya  en hechos bien establecidos. « En diciembre de 2003, los servicios mauritanos de seguridad procedieron a la detención de Bab Ould Mohamed Bakhili, miembro activo del Polisario mientras  estaba robando grandes cantidades de explosivos en los depósitos de la Sociedad nacional mauritana de la industria minera. hay que notar que las 153 botellas de productos inflamables y unos 12 kilómetros de hilo utilizado para explosiones teledirigidas que se había proporcionado no forman parte del material utilizado habitualmente por las guerrillas sino más bien por las organizaciones terroristas deseosas de fabricar bombas », observa el centro. rapto, recientemente, de una quincena de soldados mauritanos encontrados degollados en la frontera de su país ha sido considerado por los observadores internacionales como la obra " del binomio Al Qaïda-Polisario.ya que lleva sus firmas
La mudanza terrorista de los elementos de Polisario corre peligro de acentuarse particularmente entre los jóvenes saharauis, advierte el informe. El bloqueo del proceso de negociaciones debido a la posición,dictada por intereses argelino, del Polisario, la ausencia de alternativa al conflicto, la interdicción del pluralismo y democracia en los campos de Tindouf, el hecho de que la cupula familiar y la tribu de la junta que hoy dicta ordenes en los campamentos prisiones y que concentra todas la riquezas del movimiento, y el deterioro de la situación humanitaria agravada por el desvío de las ayudas internacionales, corren peligro de acelerar la radicalización en los campos de Tindouf. Un polvorín verdadero para la región del Magreb y la orilla meridional de Europa.

Daniel Pearl (October 10, 1963 – February 1, 2002) was an American journalist who was kidnapped and murdered in Karachi, Pakistan. ...

The Daniel Pearl Foundation promotes cross- cultural understanding through journalism,music and innovative communications.

In his memory, the Pearl family has established Daniel Pearl Music Day. His mother, commentator Ruth Pearl, recalls her son's love of music and shares family recordings of Daniel playing the violin.

Daniel Pearl's WORLD MUSIC DAY

Samantha Robichaud, an award-winning Canadian violinist and recipient of the Daniel Pearl Memorial Violin in 2005.

Seventh Annual Daniel Pearl World Music Days Set For October 1-31, 2008

Best Laptops Under $500
By Nick Mokey, Digital Trends

Lenovo ThinkPad R61e
$487.69

Although ThinkPads have a reputation for being pricier premium notebooks intended for business travelers, a little smart shopping can land you this budget model on a shoestring. It's not as fast as the flagship T-series, or as light as the X-series, but the R61 has been reviewed favorably in its price range and includes many of the same features Lenovo rolls into those pricier ThinkPads. When ordering, make sure to choose the second-from-cheapest model to get an Intel Dual Core processor rather than a Celeron M (a bargain upgrade for only $32 more tacked onto the final price). Also make sure to select the cheapest Windows Vista option to sneak in under the $500 mark. The coupon code USP3PAYPAL will take an extra 15 percent off when ordering from Lenovo, lowering the notebook to $487.69.

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Dell Vostro 1000
$399.99

Dell's bottom-of-the-line notebook won't turn any heads, or win any head-to-head benchmark comparisons, but its $399 starting price makes it impossible to ignore. Since this isn't from a sale, mark-down or coupon, you're also free to add the options you really need. For instance, laying out $25 for the Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core processor instead of the Sempron would be wise. But travelers beware: A starting weight of 6.26 pounds makes it heavy by modern standards, and the AMD's heat output will also make it a battery killer, so you may wish to look elsewhere if you'll be taking it anywhere besides around the home and office.

Acer Aspire AS4315-2535
$459.90

Looking for something a little smaller than the 15.4-inch notebooks that normally seem to hit the bargain bin? This Acer falls one notch down on the size and weight scale, making it a little more portable for the on-the-go user. However, in exchange for the 14.1-inch screen and 5.7 pound weight, you'll sacrifice some performance by moving to a single-core Intel Celeron processor. If you're the type of person who imagines using a laptop to surf the Web in a coffee shop or tap out documents on a plane, you probably won't notice much of a difference, though, and may favor the portability.

Gateway T-6815
$499.99

The priciest notebook in our roundup may be refurbished, but that's the only thing
moving this otherwise well-equipped notebook into the sub-$500 category. It gets the fastest processor, Intel's vaunted Core 2 Duo, and the largest hard drive, 160GB. With a 14.1-inch screen and weight of only 5.55 pounds, you're also looking at the lightest machine on our list. Individual opinions on refurbished items vary, but if you're willing to trust Gateway's recertification team, you can land a laptop comparable to far pricier units for much less cash. Just remember: the manufacturer's warranty lasts 90 days, so be sure to put it through its paces before you run out of time to discover potential problems.

Compaq C700T
$479.99

Compaq's cheapest notebook doesn't stand out too far from the crowd, but it makes a nice option for those who don't want to be bothered filling out rebates, using coupons, or chasing sales. You get a no-nonsense machine with a 1.73GHz Intel Dual-Core Processor, 1GB of RAM, and an 80GB hard drive. Spectacular? Not really, but you can snag one any time, and Compaq will allow you to round it out with whatever options you need. The only drawback would be the machine's 6.4-pound weight, which makes it even more of a desk anchor than Dell's cheaper (and slower) Vostro 1000.

Update: Sahra Media is reporting on the story, if anyone comes across other sources, please let me know!

Consulting a Mauritanian historian resulted in this email (posted with permission):

سيد أحمد لعروصي (العروسي) بن مولاي عمر جد قبيلة لعروصيين .
تقول أهم الروايات عنه إنه جاء من صحراء تونس إلى مكناس ثم انتقل ـ حسب رواية من خوارق العادات عبر الجو ـ إلى الساقية الحمراء في عصر مولاي أحمد الذهبي (1578ـ1603) وأنشأ زاوية في الساقية الحمراء ، وتقول الأساطير إنه كان صديقا لسد أحمد الرقيبي، الثالث، الذي أعطى للقبيلة اسمها.
وتدعي القبلتان الشرف، وأنهما  أدارسة وهو ما تدعيه أيضا أولاد بالسبع، ويطعن فيه الكثيرون (الشيخ ماء العينين بالنسبة لأولاد بالسبع).
وفي ما يخص العلاقات بين القبيلتين فقد مرت بمراحل ، فعند ما كان الجميع تحت وصاية تكنه الذين هم سادة الجنوب المغربي وشمال الصحراء الغربية، كانوا زوايا مسالمين، ومنذ القرن التاسع عشر وتحول الرقيبات إلى محاربين أصبحوا ندا لتكنه واستقلوا في مساحة شاسعة من الصحراء الغربية، بعد أن تغلبوا مع نهاية القرن 19 وبداية القرن العشرين على أولاد بالسبع وأولاد ادليم وتجكانت تيندوف جزئيا، وحتى على بقايا أنصار سيد امحمد الكنتي بن الشيخ سيدي محمد بن الشيخ سيد المختار الذي كاد أن يقيم كيانا إسلاميا في شمال موريتانيا وأسس بعض المراكز مثل بير أم اقرين.
إذن الرقيبات كانوا طلبة ثم تحولوا إلى مقاتلين، ولعروصيين ظلوا زوايا لكنهم أيضا أخذوا السلاح وحصلوا على نصيبهم من التحول إلى مقاتلين. وبين القبلتين صداقة عريقة وجداهما : سيد احمد العرصوي وسيد احمد الرقيبي مدفونان في الساقية الحمراء.
(أنظر كتاب:(2 tom) l,H,rmattaan 1989 Paris ) Les Rgaybat de Sophie Caratini

Long story short, alle is right, and I was unfortunately confused.

Shall be an internationally valid insurance, which ideally includes A French translation. If this insurance is not available, must be at the point of entry or at the latest in Nouadhibou completed. A carnet de passage is not necessary as the vehicle for a fee of around 10 euros when entering the passcode is entered. In the near future, however, a carnet for vehicles older than 5 years are required.

In case of loss of the vehicle is absolutely spot a police protocol apply to the high Entzollungsgebühren at the exit to escape.

Domestically:  The 6 October deadline for " the return to  constitutional order through the unconditional restoration of Mr. Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, in his functions" passes with an indignant shrug.

The political discussion is increasingly gravitating towards a scenario in which Abdallahi would be returned to office so that he can redact his decree sacking the military and resign soon thereafter. Taking his place as interim president for 45 days, constitutionally, would be Ba-M'bare, the head of the Senate, who would call for new elections. All of this would go on with HCE still in operation and no prosecution would take place either for them or for Abdallahi and his wife. The HCE members would even be allowed to keep their positions in the armed forces.

Even after the junta banned protests, the FNDD went ahead with one anyhow, netting about 50 people. (Abdallahi's son, about 34, was arrested at the protest for driving a government vehicle on which he had changed the license plate.) It should be noted that the pro-restoration protests following the 2005 coup against Tayya numbered in the hundred -- which should say something about Sidi Ould Sheikh Abdallahi.

In Nouakchott, it is being said that many Mauritanians are reacting to talk of sanctions by hoarding dollars and euros and preparing to move their cash overseas, if they've not started to already. In a cash economy where most things are paid for up front and in cash, this is not a good thing.

Geopolitically:

The Americans and Europeans have passed authority for the coup on to the AU. Algeria has taken the lead in pushing for a forceful, if unproductive, response. The Algerians are, as I have said before, using the Mauritania situation as ammunition against Morocco. At the same time, they may be using it as a diversion from their efforts in Sudan (they are working to get Bashir off the hook with the ICC/ICJ), which says something about the broader AU process. Bankrolled by Qaddafi and a country club for ineffectual bureaucrats and dictators, the AU comes with little authority to Mauritania. It is being used as a tool in Algeria's rivalry with Morocco, and at least in part to obstruct the Sudanese process. The 6 October deadline is likely to go un-enforced. Mauritanians seem quite peeved by the African effort to reverse the coup, for reasons that will be mentioned later. In general, the attitude goes something like this: If the AU is so eager to put Sidi back in power, then take him and make him president of Somalia or any other country they like. Reinstatement is not a popular idea. As a Mauritanian put it, abdication of activity on African affairs to the AU is proof of laziness and hypocrisy on the part of the West ("Where was this concern for democracy when Tayya was beating and jailing us?" as one put it). Mauritanians wonder if their country's political jumble is more important than Darfur or Somalia or Zimbabwe. In any event, the Moroccans seem to have recognized that they were out maneuvered by Algeria, and have quite diplomatically said that they are looking to find a way to meet the bare minimum of continental and world demands for Abdallahi's return while still preserving the meat of the coup (i.e., they would like to see "appropriate conditions" before a return to constitutional order, after meeting with the FNDD).

The US has kept to the African line, and has embraced the idea of sanctions. The Americans have reduced "democracy in Mauritania" into a synonym with "Sidi ould Shekih Abdallahi" and their policy has succeeded in privileging this misconstruction over the facts of Mauritania's politics and culture. The Americans ignore the means and extent to which Abdallahi's political career was fabricated by the military. Abdel Aziz, Vall, Ghazouani and all the rest practically made this man president in after 2005. Before becoming president he had been a man begging leaders in the Brakna region because he had no natural political constituency, no political party, no charisma and no political vision to speak of. His party (Adil, for those who may have forgot, since it disintegrated rather quickly) was made up of former Tayya lackeys -- kleptocrats, thieves, etc. -- who had become "independent" MPs, and his ascendence and election engineered by the very military men that deposed him (he said as much on Aljazeera even before the coup). His party abandoned him when things got rough. And when he was left to decide whether  to call for new elections or to sack the military chiefs, he opted for the later.

This selective memory is part of a broader problem in which policy makers lack serious knowledge of Mauritanian politics and its context. As late as 2004, the West Africa desk chief for Mauritania was refusing to admit that slavery existed in the country and continued to do so up until the practice was criminalized in 2007 (this during meetings with anti-slavery activists no less!). The State Department seems to miss the backdrop of Mauritanian politics in a "who's who" kind of way (from talking to people in the DoS and in Mauritania). Though the US has yet to provide anything resembling leadership on the Mauritanian file, its stance remains consistently rigid and misinformed nevertheless.

The EU, too, has shied away from leadership and has managed to irritate Mauritanians with its heavy handed and stiff approach. Talk of targeted sanctions is popular among all the primary external actors, and the major opposition parties (except for Spain, who opposes sanctions because it wants access to Mauritanian fisheries). This talk is dangerous. Mauritania has two primary institutions: the first being the military and the second being the state-owned iron ore company. Targeted sanctions on the wealthy praetorian class, or on the caste of oligarchs that bought up most of the privatized industries under Tayya (e.g., Abolallahi Ould Noueigigh, Abdallahi Ould Abdallahi, Sidina Ould Berrou, etc.) would paralyze the economy. Severe enough sanctions and stubbornness (on the military's part) could destroy the country's economic infrastructure, which would destroy the political structure. There are few places that Mauritania could fall back on in the event of sanctions. The tribal business networks (the Ideiboussat and Tajakanit ones in particular, who are very active in import-export transactions) would end up relocating and moving their money abroad, ceasing to bring goods into the country. These networks are the second tier of the economy and hold much of the country's wealth. Targeting the super rich would have a terrible effect on the local economy. Phrases such as "they're trying to starve us" or "we're going to sink" frequently come up when talking to fearful Mauritanians. Ahmed Sidi Camels is quite happy to say "tiyer" at the mention of European sanctions, which he sees are being intended to starve, crumple and kill him. The Europeans are not prepared to deal with the consequences of sanctions, the flow of people, the power vacuum, the collapse of Mauritania and the prospect of two gaping holes on opposite sides of the geopolitical map of Africa.

Since no thinking person would desire a Saharan Somalia, one must hope that the Europeans are bluffing, at least in part. If they are not, the sanctions centered policy bodes to do more harm than good for all those concerned. The French compromise would somehow place Vall in the presidential palace, but feasibility of that is difficult (a typical line in Nouakchott is that he lied to every one of those million poets before he left office). This is the best idea France has come up with. Increasing one hears Mauritanians say that they created this pickle and that they can get themselves out of it, and that external efforts to solve the crisis may prolong it. That is highly debatable, especially if the half-way Moroccan plan mentioned above goes through and soon. But the alternatives to clear and workable internal compromise are bound to make the situation unworkable and most undesirable.

"You're in Mongolia!"

"What?"

These coordinates are in Mongolia! What are the coordinates?"

That topographer was Maaouya Ould Sidi Ahmed Tayya.

Much of the Arab World seems to me (an American) to be obsessed with Shakespeare!  Yes, I do think there is a place for Shakespeare in the literature curriculum, but I think it is being entirely overdone.  I think one or (certainly not more than three) Shakespeare plays should be included in the curriculum, but other time should be spent on more interesting and valuable literature.

I spoke with some British friends I have who told me that British children are started on reading Shakespeare at age 11!  When I asked what for, one of them finally told me that knowledge of Shakespeare is used as an adult mainly to impress other adults.  OK, I'm American, and I find much of the language terribly hard to understand.  I really can't see it being useful to most people to learn much of this sort of antiquidated language.  Yet, throughout the Arab World, so many university programs seem to focus on extensive reading of Shakespeare!

About fifteen years ago, I had a friend from Libya.  He went on and on about how when he was in school, they had performed Shakespeare's plays in Arabic, using all the correct classical Arabic endings for words (as opposed to using the local dialet of Arabic).   People in my present country have told me similar things.

Where I live now, I often have country nationals who have earned university degrees in English (as a second or third language) talk to me about how they read a lot of Shakespeare in university.  At the same time, their command of ordinary English vocabulary is often lacking.  Some of them cannot write clear English sentences.  Wouldn't the time spend studying Shakespeare be better spent in English composition classes, and/or reading literature that uses language currently used, particularly when they are subsequently in jobs requiring a good command of English?

Eileen

Much of the Arab World seems to me (an American) to be obsessed with Shakespeare!  Yes, I do think there is a place for Shakespeare in the literature curriculum, but I think it is being entirely overdone.  I think one or (certainly not more than three) Shakespeare plays should be included in the curriculum, but other time should be spent on more interesting and valuable literature.

I spoke with some British friends I have who told me that British children are started on reading Shakespeare at age 11!  When I asked what for, one of them finally told me that knowledge of Shakespeare is used as an adult mainly to impress other adults.  OK, I'm American, and I find much of the language terribly hard to understand.  I really can't see it being useful to most people to learn much of this sort of antiquidated language.  Yet, throughout the Arab World, so many university programs seem to focus on extensive reading of Shakespeare!

About fifteen years ago, I had a friend from Libya.  He went on and on about how when he was in school, they had performed Shakespeare's plays in Arabic, using all the correct classical Arabic endings for words (as opposed to using the local dialet of Arabic).   People in my present country have told me similar things.

Where I live now, I often have country nationals who have earned university degrees in English (as a second or third language) talk to me about how they read a lot of Shakespeare in university.  At the same time, their command of ordinary English vocabulary is often lacking.  Some of them cannot write clear English sentences.  Wouldn't the time spend studying Shakespeare be better spent in English composition classes, and/or reading literature that uses language currently used, particularly when they are subsequently in jobs requiring a good command of English?

Eileen

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Clearance operations make use of three main methods:

• Mechanical clearance relies on flails, rollers, vegetation cutters and excavators, often attached to armoured bulldozers, to destroy the mines in the ground. These machines can only be used in certain terrains, and are expensive to operate. In most situations they are also not 100% reliable, and the work needs to be checked by other techniques.
• Advances in technology have been made in recent years, both in mine detection systems and in mechanical means for destroying mines in place. However, in many situations manual clearance remains the preferred method, for reasons both of cost and reliability.
• Manual clearance relies on trained deminers using metal detectors and long thin prodders to locate the mines, which are then destroyed by controlled explosion;
• Mine detection dogs, which detect the presence of explosives in the ground by smell. Dogs are used in combination with manual deminers.