“I don’t rule out that this is one and the same gang,” Putin said at a televised Cabinet meeting.

President Dmitry Medvedev said later the attacks were “links of the same chain.”

The Moscow subway bombings were the first suicide attacks in the Russian capital in six years and shocked a country that had grown accustomed to having such violence confined to its restive southern corner. Those attacks followed a warning from an Islamic militant leader that the militants would bring their struggle to the heart of Russia.

On Wednesday, a suicide bomber in a car detonated explosives when police tried to stop the car in the town of Kizlyar near Dagestan’s border with Chechnya, Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev said.

written by ylb

MAKHACHKALA, Russia – Two suicide bombers — including one impersonating a police officer — killed 12 people Wednesday in southern Russia. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the blasts may have been organized by the same militants who attacked the Moscow subway.

The powerful former president had previously vowed to “drag out of the sewer” the terrorists behind the attacks in Moscow, which killed 39 people and injured scores of commuters during Monday’s rush hour.

Wednesday’s blasts struck in the province of Dagestan. Bombings and other attacks occur almost daily in Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia, provinces in Russia’s North Caucasus region where government forces are struggling against a separatist Islamist insurgency.

written by ylb

“It is not for a Muslim individual or a Muslim group to announce and declare war or engage in combative jihad … on their own,” said the declaration issued Sunday in Arabic and later provided to Reuters in English.

The declaration is the latest bid by mainstream scholars to use age-old Muslim texts to refute current-day religious arguments by Islamist groups. A leading Pakistani scholar issued a 600-page fatwa against terrorism in London early this month.

Another declaration in Dubai this month concerned peace in Somalia. Such fatwas may not convince militants, but could help keep undecided Muslims from supporting them, the scholars say.

The Mardin conference gathered 15 leading scholars from countries including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, India, Senegal, Kuwait, Iran, Morocco and Indonesia. Among them were Bosnian Grand Mufti Mustafa Ceric, Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayyah of Mauritania and Yemeni Sheikh Habib Ali al-Jifri.

written by ylb

A conference in Mardin in southeastern Turkey declared the fatwa by 14th century scholar Ibn Taymiyya rules out militant violence and the medieval Muslim division of the world into a “house of Islam” and “house of unbelief” no longer applies.

Osama bin Laden has quoted Ibn Taymiyya’s “Mardin fatwa” repeatedly in his calls for Muslims to overthrow the Saudi monarchy and wage jihad against the United States.

Referring to that historic document, the weekend conference said: “Anyone who seeks support from this fatwa for killing Muslims or non-Muslims has erred in his interpretation.

“It is not for a Muslim individual or a Muslim group to announce and declare war or engage in combative jihad … on their own,” said the declaration issued Sunday in Arabic and later provided to Reuters in English.

The declaration is the latest bid by mainstream scholars to use age-old Muslim texts to refute current-day religious arguments by Islamist groups. A leading Pakistani scholar issued a 600-page fatwa against terrorism in London early this month.

written by ylb

Since then, those costs accept coiled out of ascendancy and Rand hopes the new law lets him basin his workers in state-run exchanges to access his purchasing power.

“This legislation is absolutely a absolute footfall in the appropriate direction, acceptance us to get aback in the business of authoritative our aggregation able to action a bloom plan,” Rand said.

Michael Widmer, admiral of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation — which accurate the accompaniment law — said the claim for near-universal advantage has been a abundant bigger affair for bounded businesses than the fines for not alms insurance.

That provision, accepted as the alone mandate, is costing bounded businesses amid $500 actor and $750 actor added annually, he said.

“There is no agnosticism that with the alone authorization there will be added administration acrimonious up the tab,” he said.

Other administration said the Massachusetts law has helped accomplish their businesses stronger.

when he nears the 50-worker mark and is no longer exempt from penalties. Newman now pays 60 percent of his employees’ individual premiums and 40 percent of their family premiums.

“The 51st employee could mean $100,000 in costs. I’ve been calling it the concrete ceiling,” he said. “No employer is going to hire No. 51 if it brings all these mandates down on you, because they’re pretty onerous.”

Don Day is also worried. Day owns eight small businesses in McKinney, Texas, including two restaurants, a boutique hotel and several retail shops.

Although he employs 125 workers, he offers health care for just a few key employees. Just an extra $200 a month per employee for health care could set him back hundreds of thousands of dollars a year — a cost he can’t afford.

when he nears the 50-worker mark and is no longer exempt from penalties. Newman now pays 60 percent of his employees’ individual premiums and 40 percent of their family premiums.

“The 51st employee could mean $100,000 in costs. I’ve been calling it the concrete ceiling,” he said. “No employer is going to hire No. 51 if it brings all these mandates down on you, because they’re pretty onerous.”

Don Day is also worried. Day owns eight small businesses in McKinney, Texas, including two restaurants, a boutique hotel and several retail shops.

Although he employs 125 workers, he offers health care for just a few key employees. Just an extra $200 a month per employee for health care could set him back hundreds of thousands of dollars a year — a cost he can’t afford.

written by ylb

Ascioti, who owns Reliable Temps Inc., in Agawam, Mass., and hires about 1,000 workers each year, ran afoul of the state mandate that he insure 25 percent of his workers.

“They took a cookie-cutter approach to an issue that wasn’t general enough for a cookie cutter,” he said.

Such penalties make Doug Newman, owner of Newman Concrete Services in Richmond, Maine, nervous. In the past 18 months, as the economy battered the construction industry, Newman’s work force shrunk from 125 employees to just 25.

He is worried that once the economy turns and he begins to hire back workers, he’ll face a critical decision when he nears the 50-worker mark and is no longer exempt from penalties. Newman now pays 60 percent of his employees’ individual premiums and 40 percent of their family premiums.

written by ylb

The national law also grants tax credits for businesses with 25 or fewer workers with average annual wages below $50,000, which Democrats say that will benefit 3.6 million business nationwide. And beginning in 2014, businesses with up to 100 employees will be able to pool their employees in state-created insurance exchanges to increase their negotiating clout with insurance companies — a move supporters say could aid 29 million businesses.

For critics, one of the most troubling aspects of the laws is the fines. Massachusetts has already fined more than 1,000 companies over $18 million for failing to offer medical insurance to their workers.

written by ylb

While there’s been plenty of grumbling among business owners that the state law has squeezed them financially during a tough recession, there’s little evidence the law is forcing employers to close or sending them fleeing for the border. Other businesses have welcomed the law and business leaders helped guarantee its passage.

Drawing parallels between the state and national laws is tricky. While both share many of the same tenets — requiring businesses to shoulder more of the burden of health coverage — there are major differences.

The national law doesn’t require businesses offer insurance but hits employers with 50 or more workers with an annual $2,000-per-employee fee if the company doesn’t insure them and the government ends up subsidizing their workers’ coverage.

written by ylb

BOSTON – Small-business owner Joe Ascioti says Massachusetts‘ 2006 health care law has left him facing $15,000 in fines since it took effect. Now, he’s worried the nation’s new health care overhaul could bring similar woes to employers nationwide.

“The state has mandated something that is one size fits all, which is what this national bill is looking like. And guess who gets to pay for it? The employer,” said Ascioti.

As business owners across the country weigh the new law, they’re looking to Massachusetts for harbingers of things to come.

Massachusetts’ law, which mandates near-universal coverage and requires that businesses with 11 or more workers offer insurance, provided the blueprint for the health law signed by President Barack Obama. Massachusetts employers who don’t comply face annual fines of $295 per worker.

written by ylb