OFFBEAT MAIL

Baker Atyani A Jordanian journalist identified as Baker Atyani, along with two of his Filipino crew, was kidnapped in Sulu. Was it a frame up kidnapping scenario or not? Nobody knows yet as negotiations are on-going to find out if he was really kidnapped. According to reports, Atyani came to the Philippines as a tourist.  Interior and local government Secretary Jesse Robredo said Atyani did not secure a working permit from the Bureau of Immigration before he went to Mindanao. His main objective in going to Sulu was allegedly to interview ranking members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf that is notorious for kidnap for ransom activities. However, there's a mystery in Atyani's visit to southern Philippines. Observations surfaced that Atyani may have other motives aside from his being a journalist why he visited Sulu. Political observers have thought that he could have been used as a courier to bring an important messag...

The Lebanese government is to blame for the fighting Sunday that now plagued the 12 refugee camps near Tripoli, Lebanon. With a population of more than 300,000 people, these refugee camps were transformed into a breeding ground for Muslim militants with ties to the Al-Qaeda group, which took advantage of the sub-human conditions of the refugees, who are not allowed to make a living nor join the mainstream of the Lebanese society. Without jobs and steady sources of income to survive in a dog-eat-dog competition in that of the world, some of the refugees wouldn't have a choice but to bite the bullets. So when the Lebanese authorities pursued individuals who holed up themselves at the refugee camp site after committing a bank robbery nearby, the armed refugees fought back and the escalation of war ensued Sunday. And for many years, the Lebanese government had allowed outsiders with sinister plans to dip their hands into the lives of the refugees, without even bothering to conduct a ce...