Remember the bombings last month at the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott in Indonesia? Police now say a mild-mannered hotel florist was a key plotter.

Police on Wednesday disclosed that Ibrohim — Suhandi's roommate and friend of three years, whom he described as a "polite" man who used to give flowers to their neighbors on Valentine's Day — had smuggled in the explosives used in the bombings. He allegedly orchestrated the attacks with Southeast Asia's most wanted terrorism suspect, Noordin Muhammad Top.

The florist was killed in a police raid last weekend. It was initially thought that the raid killed a top-level al-Qaida person, but DNA tests showed it was the florist, now described as a "planner and arranger" of the bomb plot.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday was demanding an end to rampant sexual violence that has engulfed war-ravaged eastern Congo. The United Nations has recorded at least 200,000 cases of sexual violence against women and girls in the region since conflict erupted in 1996, something Clinton deplored as "one of mankind's greatest atrocities" before she arrived. "The entire society needs to be speaking out against this," she said. "It should be a mark of shame anywhere, in any country. . . ." Clinton came to Goma aboard a U.N. plane over the objections of some top aides who were concerned about security and logistics for the visit.

In Goma, Clinton was meeting with Congolese President Joseph Kabila in a tent at a compound on the shore of Lake Kivu. She also plans to meet with victims of the sexual violence and officers in the U.N. peacekeeping force that is deployed in the Congo. . . . "We have to speak out against the impunity of those in positions of authority who either commit these crimes or condone it," Clinton said.

(Emphasis supplied.)

Via Confluence:

President Obama's statement. More . . .

John Podesta, who headed up the Obama-Biden transition team (currently of Center for American Progress) was part of former President Bill Clinton's Korea delegation to free Current TV journalists Ling and Euna Lee. Chris Nelson, described as "a veteran Washington foreign-policy watcher who covers Asia policy" says Al Gore was not an acceptable candidate for mission:

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "always wanted to send Al Gore," Nelson continued, noting the two detained journalists worked for Current TV, a media company connected to the former vice president. "And apparently that was OK with Hillary and Obama, [whose wish was to] just get this out of the goddamned way."

"But here's where it gets interesting," Nelson continued. "I do not know how it was delivered. But 10 days ago, North Korea sent the U.S. a list of acceptable names. And I am very authoritatively told that not on that list was Al Gore. And Bill was on the list."

A Senior U.S. official told a Chinese publication that the families of the detained journalists wanted Bill Clinton to go.

Here's another photo released by N. Korea of the meeting with Bill Clinton.[More...]

Former President Bill Clinton has arrived in North Korea where he will attempt to negotiate for the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, two Current TV reporters jailed and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor.

Will he succeed?

Scott Snyder, a North Korea expert for the nonprofit Asia Foundation, said Clinton's standing as a world statesman carried weight with Pyongyang.
"The North Koreans have a lot of nostalgia for the end of the Clinton administration," he said.

"The question is going to be how could he go to Pyongyang without some assurance that they would be released," Snyder said. "For someone at his level to go without a prior assurance of some kind would be to risk a huge loss of face."

I think he'll do it. He rocks.

Very ugly reports are coming out about the treatment of detainees in Iran after the election.

Some prisoners say they watched fellow detainees being beaten to death by guards, in overcrowded, stinking holding pens. Others said they had their fingernails ripped off, or were forced to lick filthy toilet bowls.

....More bruised corpses have been returned to families in recent days, and some hospital officials told human rights workers they have seen evidence that well over 100 protesters have been killed since the elections.

The article contains links to the sites where you can read the personal stories. The Times says some of the sites have been reliable in the past.

Reuters:

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya agreed on Saturday to give his enemies a share of power if he is allowed to return to office, but they rejected any deal that puts him back in the presidency. Zelaya, who was toppled in a military coup on June 28 and is in exile in neighboring Nicaragua, backed the proposal for a government of national reconciliation put forward by the mediator in talks aimed at ending Honduras' political crisis.

. . . Costa Rica's Nobel Peace Prize-winning president, Oscar Arias la[id] out seven points for discussion, including Zelaya's return to power to complete his term ending in January 2010 and the formation of a coalition government with all the country's political parties represented. Arias also proposed an amnesty for any political crimes committed after the coup and that Zelaya abandon his plans to hold a referendum on extending presidential terms. But a spokesman for Micheletti's interim government again insisted it will not allow Zelaya's return to power.

(Emphasis supplied.) Strange that. Seems the logical compromise. I wonder what is behind this refusal. Zelaya obviously has given up the dream of becoming the Honduran Chavez.

Speaking for me only

Photo by @dregar. More twitter pics of scene here.

Update: The bodies of two suicide bombers have been located in the debris. Indonesia authorities are blaming Muslim extremists and say that the perpetrators rented rooms in the hotel.

A police spokesman Friday said the suspects in the Marriott bombing were staying in the hotel disguised as guests, though he didn't give a number of people suspected to be involved. Police detonated what they described as a homemade explosive found in room 1808. The spokesman described the hotels' security measures as adequate.

The suicide bombers used explosive they were keeping in a room at the Marriott, Mr. Danuri said. The first bomb was detonated at the Marriott at 7:47 a.m. local time at the lounge in the lobby, near a meeting of foreign business people. That explosion killed five. The second bomb was detonated at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel 10 minutes later, on a second floor restaurant, killing two. One person later died in a hospital.

[More...]

AP:

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday that Costa Rican President Oscar Arias will serve as international mediator in the Honduran political crisis. . . . [Clinton] said Zelaya as well as the politician who took over as Honduran leader, Roberto Micheletti, agreed to the Arias role as mediator. . . . "He is the natural person to assume this role," she told reporters.

In addition, the BTD Plan gained traction (snark):

NYTimes:

As the ousted Honduran president, Manuel Zelaya, headed by plane toward Honduras Sunday evening, huge crowds of his supporters clashed with soldiers and riot police at the airport as the interim government vowed to prevent him from landing. As all of Honduras stood in suspense, the interim president, Roberto Micheletti said he was willing to negotiate with the Organization of American States . . .

I do not know what Micheletti has in mind but it might be this - offer to reinstate Zelaya in exchange for a promise by Zelaya to completely forego his attempt to alter the Honduran Constitution to allow him to run for another term (as Hugo Chavez in Venezuela did and as Alvaro Uribe of Colombia is proposing.) the Honduran Supreme Court ruled Zelaya's attempts unconstitutional but he put forth a "nonbinding" referendum anyway. It was Zelaya's determination to hold the referendum that precipitated the coup that removed him. I speculate that if Zelaya agrees to let that go, he could be reinstated. Elections are currently scheduled for November 29. Zelaya can not run in that election under current Honduran law.

Pro-Zelaya reporting by my friend Al Giordano, who reports Zelaya landing in Nicaragua. Not exactly helping Obama out on this one - Venezuelan planes landing in Nicaragua? Oy.

speaking for me only

There are reports of brutal assaults on protesters in Tehran. There are eyewitness reports of people being thrown off bridges.

At least two trusted sources described wild and violent conditions at a part of Tehran where protesters had planned to demonstrate. “They were waiting for us,” the source said. “They all have guns and riot uniforms. It was like a mouse trap.”

“I see many people with broken arms, legs, heads — blood everywhere — pepper gas like war,” the source said. Around “500 thugs” with clubs came out of a mosque and attacked people in the square, another source said. The security forces were “”beating women madly” and “killing people like hell,” the source said.

Best way to follow the updates live is on Twitter. Try #Tehran, #IranElection. HuffPo is live-blogging information. and CNN is on it as well.

Four men who stole three cell phones and two assault rifles have been sentenced under Sharia law in Somalia. Each will have their right hand and left leg (probably above the foot) amputated in public.

Amnesty International is protesting the sentence.

"We are appealing to Al-Shabab not to carry out these cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments," said Tawanda Hondora, Amnesty International's Africa Deputy Director. "These sentences were ordered by a sham Al-Shabab court with no due process or guarantees of fairness."

The four young men were not represented by lawyers or allowed to appeal the sentence. The sentence was not immediately carried out because it was so hot outside there was fear the men would bleed to death.