Norway Terror Suspect Claims More Active 'Cells', Police Doubtful

Though Anders Breivik is in custody for allegedly going on a mass bombing and shooting spree that claimed at least 76 lives in Norway Friday, he claims the threat of violence is not over and reaches far beyond Europe. 

He is willing to offer information to police about two other active "cells" of his organization in Europe and several others abroad in exchange for better prison conditions, a police prosecutor told ABC News today. 

But according to Norwegian investigators and U.S.-based fringe group databases, such a group may only exist in Breivik's head. 

Breivik has confessed to carrying out a bombing in Oslo, which killed 8, and then a shooting rampage at a liberal political youth camp on nearby Utoya island that took another 68 lives. According to a meticulous 1,500-page online manifesto, Breivik believes his attack is just the beginning of a European Christian conservative revolution, led by members of the new Knights Templar, against Muslim integration in Europe. 

Breivik, who in the manifesto calls himself a Justiciar Knight Commander in the organization, claims that in 2008 there are anywhere from 15 to 80 others with his rank in the group in Western Europe alone. Breivik said the Knights Templar organization, heir to a famed group of Crusades-era Christan knights , was resurrected in 2002 in London by representatives from several European countries to "seize political and military control of Western European multiculturalist regimes." 

Breivik planned on a 60-plus year struggle against mutliculturalism until the Knights would take control over Europe. One of the order's primary weapons, Breivik writes, is the use of one-man terror cells

"Chop-chop <3 For those of you who does [sic] not want to wait this long, should immediately ordinate yourself as a Justiciar Knight for the KT [Knights Templar]," he writes. "Any self-appointed Justiciar Knight has been given the authority by [Knights Templar]... to act as a judge, jury and executioner until the free, indigenous peoples of Europe are no longer threatened by cultural genocide." 

But anyone appointing themselves Justiciar Knights may be joining a fictitious group.

Source : ABC News

Indonesian Maid : Escapes Execution in Saudi Arabia

Just three weeks ago, Darsem binti Dawud Tawar was facing execution by beheading in Saudi Arabia for murder, which she claims was an act of self-defense. Now, finally back home in Indonesia, she is a free woman -- after the Indonesian government paid more than $500,000 in "blood money." 

 

Holding her young son tightly, as she faced the glare of the media, Darsem was reunited with her family on Wednesday at the Indonesian Foreign Ministry in Jakarta. She first left her West Java hometown for a job as a maid in the Middle East in 2006, when her son was just a baby.

Darsem's pardon followed the recent beheading of another Indonesian maid convicted of murdering her employer in Saudi Arabia.

In May 2009, a Riyadh court sentenced Darsem to death for murdering a relative of her Yemeni employer in Saudi Arabia. She claimed she acted in self-defense, after he allegedly tried to rape her.

Earlier this year, the dead man's family agreed to pardon her so long as she paid them compensation, known as diyat or "blood money." 

The Indonesian government offered to pay the required compensation of 2 million riyals ($533,000). 

Indonesia Foreign Ministry says the diyat was paid on June 25 to the family through the courts. A day later, Riyadh's Vice Governor Prince Satham Abdulazis signed Darsem's release papers, and she was able to return to Indonesia on Wednesday.

Another Indonesian maid working in Saudi Arabia, Ruyati binti Sapubi, was executed on June 16. Her beheading caused public outrage in Indonesia and a diplomatic protest when Saudi Arabian authorities failed to inform Indonesia about the date of her execution.

The Indonesian government announced a full moratorium on sending workers to the Gulf kingdom, demanding an agreement be first signed to ensure the protection of workers' rights.

It was to take effect on August 1 but a month before that, Saudi Arabia announced its own ban, halting the issuance of visas to domestic workers from Indonesia and the Philippines.

Migrant workers' rights groups have long demanded better working conditions and protection for more than a million Indonesian workers in Saudi Arabia.

Indonesian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Michael Tene said the two sides held meetings in Saudi Arabia on July 11 and 12 on this issue. 

While talks are at an early stage, Tene said Indonesia is hopeful a memorandum of understanding could be signed this year with stipulations for improved rights and conditions for workers, enabling them to again work in Saudi Arabia.

Tene also said government efforts continue to ensure that all legal avenues are exhausted and assistance is given to all other Indonesians on death row, not only in Saudi Arabia, but also in other countries.

After Ruyati's execution, Indonesian President susilo bambang Yudhoyono created a special task force from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and also Manpower and Law and Human Rights to focus on protecting Indonesian migrant workers. On Thursday, Yudhoyono announced that a government team, part of the task force, had been dispatched to Saudi Arabia. Thanks : CNN

Agencies in Africa drought appeal

A group of leading British humanitarian agencies have been launching a joint appeal to help more than 10 million people in the grip of East Africa's worst drought in decades.

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) will broadcast a series of televised appeals in a bid to drum up support for thousands of families caught up in the crisis.

Many have left their homes with children to trek barefoot for days across parched scrubland to Kenya in the hope of finding food and water.

According to the DEC, which co-ordinates responses to major disasters overseas, more than 1,300 people - the majority of whom are youngsters - are arriving in the Dadaab refugee camp in eastern Kenya near the border with Somalia every day.

The camp is already believed to be the largest of its kind in the world with a population of around 350,000.

DEC chief executive Brendan Gormley stressed the need for a "long-term solution" but said the immediate priority was to prevent a "tragedy".

"Slowly but surely, these people have seen their lives fall apart - crops, livestock and now their homes have been taken by the drought," he said. "They've been left with no alternative but to seek shelter and life-saving help elsewhere. We have a duty to help quickly before the situation spirals out of control."

Large areas of Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia are currently affected by the drought conditions, leaving millions in dire need.

Earlier this week, the Department for International Development (DfID) pledged £38 million to the World Food Programme which will provide the food aid that the DEC will be distributing. But its members are continuing to pursue further funding to bridge the shortfall in East Africa.

The DEC appeals will be broadcast on ITV/ITN, BBC, Sky, Channel 4 and Channel Five.

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