[AnNahar] Egypt on Sunday extended by three months a state of emergency in force since late October in areas of North Sinai after an attack that killed 30 soldiers.
The authorities are battling a dogged insurgency in North Sinai, where jihadists have carried out regular attacks on security forces since the army ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in July 2013.
On October 24, a jacket wallah and gunnies killed 30 soldiers near the historic provincial capital of El-Arish.
The cabinet decided to extend the emergency by three months, including a night-time curfew between 7:00 pm (1700 GMT) and 6:00 am (0400 GMT).
The military is building a buffer zone along the border with Gazoo to prevent gunnies infiltrating from the Paleostinian enclave.
Egypt’s top appeals court Saturday revoked death and life sentences against more than 500 backers of deposed Islamist president Mohammad Mursi and ordered a retrial for them in a case that has raised international concerns over the operation of the justice system in the country.
The Court of Cassation delivered the ruling at a hearing in which prosecution and defence lawyers alike demanded the cancellation of the verdicts delivered by a lower court last year, citing legal flaws.
In April, the Criminal Court in the southern Egyptian city of Minya sentenced 37 Islamists to death and 491 co-defendants to life after convicting them of killing a senior security officials and torching a police station and other state institutions in the city amid the unrest that followed the mid-2013 dispersal of two pro-Mursi camps in Cairo that left hundreds dead.
On Saturday, lawyer Mohammad Toson argued in a brief hearing that the Criminal Court issued the rulings without listening defence lawyers and witnesses. No date has been set yet for the start of the retrial.
Most defendants in the case were tried in absentia. At the time, the United Nations condemned the verdicts, saying they breached international law and were “rife with procedural irregularities”. The rulings also triggered an outcry among the usual rights advocates.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/26/2015 00:00 ||
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The Obama administration last year vetoed an agreement between Israel and Nigeria whereby Jerusalem would sell US-made Cobra helicopters to the African nation, The New York Times reported on Monday.
Washington blocked the transaction due to concerns that the Nigerian government was not doing enough to avoid civilian casualties in its war against the Boko Haram jihadist organization.
#3
Factor in Joe of the Jungle's remark about the US pulling intel and other support from Philippine forces doing anti-MILF ops in Mindanao, and one has to wonder if it's "human rights" or some other... concern.
[AnNahar] Shiite militia fired warning shots Sunday to disperse a protest against their takeover of Sanaa as parliament failed to convene to discuss the president's resignation, prolonging a dangerous power vacuum in Yemen.
President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, a key U.S. ally in the fight against al-Qaeda's Yemen-based deadly franchise, tendered his resignation along with Prime Minister Khalid Bahah on Thursday, saying he could no longer stay in office as Yemen was in "total deadlock".
The Shiite Huthi militia, who have controlled most of the capital since September, overran the presidential palace last week prompting Hadi to tender his resignation, shortly after Bahah quit.
As demonstrators began to gather near Sanaa University early on Sunday to protest against the increasing Huthi control, the Shiite hard boyz fired warning shots to disperse them and made several arrests.
The hard boyz also attacked journalists and smashed their cameras, deploying in force around the university to prevent any renewed protest.
Berlin -- Germany has decided to stop arms exports to Saudi Arabia because of "instability in the region," German daily Bild reported on Sunday. The decision was taken on Wednesday by the national security council, a government body that includes Chancellor Angela Merkel, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel and seven other ministers, it said.
"According to government sources, the situation in the region is too unstable to ship arms there," added the daily.
The kingdom is "one of the most important clients of Germany's arms industry," with 360 million euros ($400 million) of arms shipments authorised in 2013, Bild said. But it has also come under fire from human rights groups for its harsh treatment of religious minorities and women, as well as the lack of transparency in its legal system.
A survey carried out for Bild found that 78 percent of Germans believe Berlin should stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia -- and a further 60 percent want to break off trade ties all together -- due to human rights violations.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/26/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
The Kingdom seems to be one of the more stable bits in the region (yeah, a low bar indeed). I don't get it. Taking sides in the Shia/Sunni war?
North Korean leader Fat Boy Kim Jong-un took an American light aircraft during a visit to the provinces, NK News reported on Thursday.
The U.S. news provider said the Cessna 172 Skyhawk could be spotted in a clip on state TV that showed Pudgy Kim visiting an air and anti-air force unit in March last year.
Given the size of His Enormity I was thinking he'd need a 'light' plane at least the size of a Citation...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/26/2015 00:00 ||
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North Korea and Russia are pushing ahead with a project to repair and improve the North’s notoriously paltry power grid and build a transmission network, a source said Thursday.
"The North and Russia are discussing a plan whereby Russia will get rare earth metals from the North in exchange for assistance in improving the dilapidated power grid," the source in Beijing said. The project is estimated at US$20 to 30 billion.
The two countries are also talking about ways to siphon off surplus electricity from Russia's Far East to the North.
Maybe they should send the excess electricity to Pakistain...
Some 60 to 70 percent of electricity is lost in transmission and distribution in the North because of the outdated equipment.
The two countries are huddling closer together as both become more isolated in the international community. Russian exports of steel and copper to Europe have taken a hit from sanctions in the West in the wake of the Ukrainian conflict.
Russia apparently hopes to use the steel and copper stockpiles to modernize the North's railway lines and power grid.
A Russian businessman who spearheaded a $25 billion project to modernize a railway between Pyongyang and Moscow in October was arrested on charges of delaying wage payments late last year, suggesting that Moscow is keen to get on.
Trade volume between the North and China amounted to $6.54 billion in 2013, but with Russia it is a mere $100 million, making it doubtful whether the pivot to Russia can work.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/26/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Way to pick a loser, Putin.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/26/2015 0:10 Comments ||
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#2
I have a roll of Romex in the garage; you guys need it?
#7
Any country connected to Russia for power or power resources will be at the very least influenced by Russia's desires, if they don't want to be cold and hungry in the dark the next winter. As the Ukraine and countries downstream on the natural gas pipeline are now learning.
Kim Pyong-il, a half-brother of former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, has been appointed ambassador to the Czech Republic. He served as ambassador to Poland for 17 years.
The new North Korean ambassador to Poland is Ri Kun, who was formerly responsible for American affairs and the six-party nuclear talks in the Foreign Ministry.
Kim Pyong-il was born to North Korea's first leader Kim Il-sung and his second wife Kim Song-ae and was kept at arm's length from the regime for most of his half-brother's life.
Whether the move to the Czech Republic is a reward or a punishment or something else entirely is unclear, though Prague is generally seen as a pleasanter city than Warsaw.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/26/2015 00:00 ||
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The comment from the North's foreign ministry came after Obama spoke of the eventual collapse of the regime ruling what he called "the most isolated, the most sanctioned, the most cut-off nation on Earth".
"We will keep on ratcheting the pressure, but part of what's happening is... the Internet over time is going to be penetrating this country," Obama said in an interview on YouTube from the White House last week. Things look like they're getting a little personal between Mr. Obama and the world.
[AnNahar] Thousands of people joined a march by the German anti-Islamization PEGIDA movement on Sunday, the group's first rally since threats surfaced against the group and its leader resigned over "Hitler" photos.
The new demonstration in Dresden came after Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier voiced concern that the group's anti-Moslem sentiments were harming Germany's image.
Police estimated that 17,000 people had turned up for the rally.
Many carried signs saying "They don't do anything, they move here and they deal", "For a sovereign country", "Honest people, get up at last" and "Thank you Pegida".
There were also chants of "We are the people", a reference to the spontaneous movements that preceded the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Sunday's rally was the first since PEGIDA's founder and leader Lutz Bachmann stepped down on January 21 after a photo of him with a Hitler-style haircut and mustache appeared on Facebook, along with racist slurs.
It was also the first since a rally was canceled in Dresden after threats were made against Bachmann and other leaders of the self-styled "Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the Occident."
PEGIDA marches -- which have voiced anger against Islam and "criminal asylum seekers" -- began with several hundred supporters in October and have since steadily grown, drawing a record 25,000 people on January 12 just after the Gay Paree Islamist attacks.
"We are not against Moslems who want to work in Germany, we are not neo-Nazis. But those who want to live in Germany should adapt to the reality of the country," 57-year-old Gabriele Schoenherr told Agence La Belle France-Presse at the rally.
Steinmeier said Germany underestimates the damage caused by "PEGIDA's xenophobic and racist slogans and placards".
International scrutiny makes "it all the more important that we say clearly and strongly that PEGIDA does not speak in Germany's name," he said in an interview with daily newspaper Bild.
He also said that mobilising crowds with attacks on scapegoats like immigrants and asylum seekers was "easier than by (raising) complex subjects like insufficient infrastructure or the ageing of the population."
The movement has also prompted anti-PEGIDA protests in Germany.
On Saturday, Aiman Mazyek, chairman of the Central Council of Moslems, condemned the increasing Islamaphobic attacks in Germany, including "insults" against veiled women, mosques "vandalized" and violence against imams.
[REUTERS] A Turkish court has ordered Facebook to block a number of pages deemed insulting to the Prophet Mohammad, threatening to stop access to the whole social networking site if it does not comply, state broadcaster TRT reported.
The order, made by the court on Sunday, followed a request by a prosecutor, TRT said. A source familiar with the matter told Rooters on Monday that Facebook had blocked one page in response to a valid legal request from Turkish authorities.
The court order is the latest move to crack down on material seen as offending religious sensibilities in the largely Moslem nation, where the government of President Tayyip Erdogan is widely seen as pursuing an Islamist-leaning agenda.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/26/2015 11:40 ||
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#1
OK Now the Turkofascists can demand that Rantburg be banned... LOL
Leading from behind (the awareness curve, apparently).
U.S. officials routinely ask media outlets to keep the identity of the 26-year old American woman held hostage by Islamic State a secret. White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough mistakenly ignored the administration’s own policy Sunday morning when he mentioned her first name on national television.
Speaking on ABC News’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos” following the beheading of Haruna Yukawa, one of the two Japanese hostages held by the Islamic State, McDonough used her first name while outlining efforts to get her home.
“And as it relates to our hostages, we are obviously continuing to work those matters very, very aggressively. We are sparing no expense, and sparing no effort, both in trying to make sure that we know where they are and make sure that we’re prepared to do anything we must to try to get them home.”
Then, in what administration officials conceded was a gaffe, McDonough used the woman’s first name before adding that her “family knows how strongly the president feels about this. And we will continue to work this.”
This is the first time that any part of the aid worker’s name was revealed by the administration. U.S. officials and the hostage’s family maintain the release of her identity draws more attention to the case, making it harder to negotiate her release. Foreign Policy will not publish her name.
In an email to Foreign Policy, the White House said it would not address McDonough’s misstatement.
“We won’t discuss ongoing cases out of concern for the safety of the victims. The U.S. Government will spare no effort to recover U.S. hostages and hold those who take them hostage accountable,” National Security Council spokesperson Alistair Baskey wrote.
The woman was taken hostage while doing humanitarian work in Syria in 2013. She is the fourth American to be held hostage by the Islamic State. The other three — aid worker Peter Kassig and journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff — were beheaded last year. There are fears she could meet the same fate.
#3
I'm no really sure I see what is so bad about outing the captive. I'm pretty sure ISIS knows the name by now and have probably googled and nexus searched everything they could possibly know about them.
The relatives also are likely to know. I guess they might have wanted to keep it secret from the rest of us lest we think the Administration is incompetent but they don't really need to worry about that.
#5
rjschwarz: It's not about her security, it's about the PR. Easier to handle a sudden execution of a nameless individual that will fade than have that person's life dug up, and shown on television. That causes outrage when that person dies, gives the hostage time to sink into the public psyche.
Politics is what this is about.
Posted by: Charles ||
01/26/2015 22:24 Comments ||
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President Obama was “not surprised” the Yemeni government fell into the hands of rebels backed by Iran, White House chief of staff Denis McDonough said Sunday.
The senior Obama aide said the president has had concerns about the Middle Eastern country since the early days of his administration.
“Governance in Yemen has always been difficult,” McDonough said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
McDonough touted counterterrorism efforts in Yemen that he said were designed to keep Arabian Peninsula terrorists “off-kilter.”
“But the government fell,” host Bob Schieffer said. “I mean, the strategy obviously didn’t work.”
The president’s chief of staff continued to defend the policies that led to the overthrow of the U.S.-backed Yemeni government this week.
“We were not surprised that this government collapsed,” McDonough said. “We knew this was an ongoing challenge over the course of the last several months.”
He said the White House is focused on a strategy that empowers “actors on the ground” in Yemen to combat al Qaeda.
“We can’t be responsible for every government in the region. We have to make sure they’re doing that themselves,” McDonough said. I saw Mr. McDonough on Chris Wallace's "Fox News Sunday" this a.m. McDonough stayed with his sometimes outright ludicrous talking points in spite of Wallace's (seemingly mediocre) attempts to get the story advanced.
#3
Obama is never surprised when a shining success story collapses. He also expects friends to betray him (check) and allies to run away from him (check).
Just another day between Barry, the Prince of Kenya's ears.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
01/26/2015 7:24 Comments ||
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#4
We've had our 'top men' monitoring events in Yemen for quite some time.
#6
Yemen's government was not exactly filled with good pro-western people. Yes the next government will probably be worse but there is a bit of freedom in knowing who are enemies vs those that play friend while helping enemies under the table.
#8
That's not "speculation" Hup, that's a potential enemy Course of Action (COA). Log it in! We'll factor the probabilities and construct a matrix as more supporting data arrives.
The new top general in the Marine Corps released a 16-page plan on Friday detailing his vision for the service, emphasizing a realignment of troops to meet demands in the Pacific and Africa, better coordination with Special Operations units, and new psychological testing to assess resiliency in recruits.
Commandant Gen. Joseph F. Dunford’s planning guidance is intended to outline how the Marine Corps “will set the conditions to fight and win against future enemies,” he wrote. He took over as the service’s top officer on Oct. 17, replacing the retiring Gen. James F. Amos.
Dunford, who previously served as the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, said in his planning guidance that the need for Marines is strong, citing recent operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Liberia and South Sudan. He outlined broad changes, including a new plan that will provide each four-star geographic combatant commander with a “properly tailored and effective Marine component.
“This will include changes to General Officer assignments and organization/manning of the staffs,” Dunford wrote. “The sources realigned to our components will come from other headquarters elements… The desired end state is the effective employment and support of assigned, allocated and apportioned Marine Corps forces.”
The service will focus heavily in 2015 and 2016 on preparing to fight from the sea in an “anti-access, area denial” environment, military-speak for an area in which enemies can contest U.S. troops reaching it with a variety of weapons. Fighting from the sea has long been considered a Marine Corps mission, but the service did much less of it as it deployed tens of thousands of troops at a time to Iraq and Afghanistan.
The commandant also signaled a desire to have Marine units work more closely with Special Operations troops — something Maj. Gen. Joseph Osterman, the top general overseeing Marine Special Operations, also indicated was coming in a recent interview with Checkpoint. Marines and Special Operations units are “highly complementary,” Dunford wrote, making it “only natural” that the service should improve its ability to operate with U.S. Special Operations Command.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/26/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Unfortunately, this is probably a high-performance military man, whose actions will be guided by a mentally-defective child of a Commander-in-Chief.
[Dawn] ISLAMABAD: Pakistain and Afghanistan's military commanders on Monday met at the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi to discuss security-related matters of the two countries' border.
A high-level delegation of the Afghan Border Police (ABP) was led by Lt Gen Shafiq Fazli while Chief of General Staff (CGS) Lt Gen Ishfaq Nadeem Ahmad led the Pakistain army in the talks.
"Matters relating to border security and measures to enhance the existing border coordination mechanism were discussed," according to a statement released by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
The Afghan commander apprised Pakistain about the joint operations launched against suspected terrorist hideouts in Afghan territory and said hundreds of Lions of Islam have been killed by the army.
The ISPR said the visit by the Afghan delegation is a sequel to the series of meetings planned on both sides of the border after the recent visits of Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Gen Raheel Sharif to Afghanistan and his meetings with senior Afghan civil and military leaders in the aftermath of the Dec 16 deadly assault in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. 's Army Public School that killed 150 people, most of whom were children.
The visits from both sides are aimed at boosting military-to-military cooperation between the two countries' armies.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/26/2015 06:16 ||
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#1
Be about as effective as securing America's southern border. Too many political issues, local and national, that prohibit what needs to be done.
[Dawn] RAWALPINDI: In keeping with the government's National Action Plan to counter terrorism and extremism, the Special Branch has been asked to conduct search operations in areas populated by Afghan refugees and those displaced from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) to verify the immigration status of all Afghans and rustics who reside in each district of North Punjab.
In the wake of Operation Zarb-e-Azb ..the Pak offensive against Qaeda in Pakistain and the Pak Taliban in North Wazoo. The name refers to the sword of the Prophet (PTUI!)... , law enforcement agencies were apprehensive that Lions of Islam from the tribal areas could migrate to other parts of the country and hide amongst their families or other rustics.
Orders to this effect were circulated to the Rawalpindi city police officer (CPO) and district coppers (DPOs) in Attock, Jhelum and Chakwal. The aim of this verification exercise, according to official documents available with Dawn, was to establish whether the people living with such families were who they said they were.
Police were provided a pro forma for registration of all Afghans and Fata residents and were directed to forward all data collected to the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) for authentication. Those Afghans or rustics whose family trees could not be verified, the orders say, should be proceeded against.
As per the Special Branch pro forma, every Afghan or Fata resident is required to provide law enforcement officials their full name, National Identity Card number, and current residential address along with the name of their concerned cop shoppe. Apart from those whose data cannot be verified by Nadra, all those with prior criminal records will also be prosecuted.
In response, law enforcement and intelligence officials submitted a detailed report on the number of Afghan refugees and Fata residents living in their respective areas.
Police had already been conducting searches in Rawalpindi division and had detained dozens of people in a crackdown against Afghan nationals. However, corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds... most of these people were eventually released.
In their report, police and intelligence agencies suggest that following the military operation in North Wazoo, a large number of displaced persons had migrated to other parts of the country. These droves of internal refugees offered Lions of Islam the ideal cover and they could be moving freely around the country under the guise of IDPs.
The report also points out that instead of obtaining alien registration cards, several Afghan nationals had ‐ in connivance with local authorities ‐ managed to obtain CNICs and were posing as Pak citizens. This made it harder for law enforcement agencies to identify them.
"This could help suspected Lions of Islam to remain undetected," the report said.
The report suggests that the authorities conduct a comprehensive search operation in all Afghan-populated areas and confiscate all such forged or fake NICs and cancel them immediately.
Survey report
The survey report available with Dawn does not give an exact number of Afghans and Fata residents residing in the different districts of North Punjab. However, corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds... it does provide a list of neighbourhoods where such individuals reside. According to the survey, there is a large presence of Afghans in the Rawalpindi city and Cantt areas, who live and work in the city. In addition, people from the Bajaur Agency, aka Turban Central ...Smallest of the agencies in FATA. The Agency administration is located in Khar. Bajaur is inhabited almost exclusively by Tarkani Pashtuns, which are divided into multiple bickering subtribes. Its 52 km border border with Afghanistan's Kunar Province makes it of strategic importance to Pakistain's strategic depth... , Mohmand Agency ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... and Karak also live in Race Course Police precincts. A large colony of Afghan families is also based around Golra Mor, Motorway Chowk and its surrounding areas.
The report suggests that most of the Afghans living in Rawalpindi district are associated with different businesses, including clothing and apparel, shoes, fruit and dry fruit as well as daily wagers who sell their wares on carts.
The survey reveals that more than 1,500 Afghans live in Gujar Khan, while several Afghan nationals live in Murree, Attock, Hazro, Fatehjang, Jhelum, Dina, Sohawa, Chakwal, Kallar Syedan, Kallar Kahar, Talagang and Taxila.
The report points out that a large number of Afghan families lived in the immediate vicinity of the Taxila Heavy Mechanical Complex (HMC) and Wah Cantonment. A number of families from Parachinar and Mohmand lived in the Munirabad locality of Wah. They have laid down permanent roots by buying houses and starting their own businesses.
[Dawn] In early 2007, four illegally constructed mosques in the federal capital were demolished. In retaliation, the Lal Masjid ...literally the Red Mosque, located in Islamabad and frequented by all sorts of high govt officials. The proprietors, Ghazi Abdul Rasheed and Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi, unleashed their Islamic storm troopers on the city, shutting down whorehouses and beating people up who weren't devout enough. The Musharraf govt put an end to the nonsense by besieging the place. Abdul Aziz Ghazi was nabbed while he was trying to escape dressed up like a girl. BBC reported that the corpse count at 173, but other claims, usually hysterical, say there were up to 1000 titzup. Among their number was Abdul Rashid Ghazi. Everyone then said tut-tut and what a nice guy he had been... brigade came together. Their acts of defiance against the state, including kidnapping of coppers, led to an operation against them. The events of 2007 made the capital police wary of taking direct action against religious groups.
Last year, however, the capital police on the directives of the government decided to take action against those involved in preaching religious and sectarian hatred and violence in the capital.
Police officers close to the move, on the condition of anonymity, told Dawn that out of fear of retaliation by holy warriors, it was decided that a generalised action would be taken rather than focusing on a specific individuals or groups. "With the help of the amplifier act and the ban on the use of loudspeakers, cases can be registered against those who are involved in preaching hate or inciting violence," a police official said.
Loudspeakers are generally used in places of worship to deliver sermons and give azan. However, a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... through these laws, prayer leaders were told that except when delivering the azan their voices should not be heard outside the mosque.
Following the decision, in October 2014, police officials met the organisers and prayer leaders at all the mosques and imambargahs in the city and requested them to not violate the ban by using amplifiers and loudspeakers when delivering sermons. "The police also warned them that legal action would be taken against the violators."
The official said the police had identified some places where religious and sectarian hatred and violence were preached. "There are no more than four or five such places in the capital," he said.
Other officials said the police were currently using the excuse that action was being taken against everyone using amplifiers and loudspeakers without discrimination. Otherwise supporters of those enjugged Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! could begin protesting all over the country.
According to the officials, a majority of prayer leaders are cooperating with the police and obeying the law. If they receive a warning from the police, they give assurance that they will obey the rules in the future.
However, a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... the particular individuals who the police believe are preaching religious hatred and violence are also generally uncooperative. In some cases, when the police requested them to switch off their loudspeakers, they refused. "They even threatened the police and told the officials that they were welcome to register cases against them," police officials told Dawn.
They officials said since October 2014, 223 cases had been registered with various cop shoppes against the violation of amplifier act, the use of loudspeakers and delivering hate speech.
As many as 259 people were booked between October and January and over 100 of them, including seven booked under PPC 295, were arrested. The remaining obtained bails. The officials said only those involved in preaching hatred and inciting violence were arrested while the rest were given bail.
Those who are not in the police list for preaching hatred are usually given pre-arrest bail and the next hearing date is fixed for two or three months later. However, a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... the police have requested magistrates and assistant commissioners to not grant bail to the ones who were known to have preached violence and religious hatred.
Such actions by the police are becoming effective tools to curb the preaching of religious hatred. Moreover, these laws also allow the police to visit places of worship and religious seminaries to keep an eye on their activities. Earlier, such visits and collection of information was near impossible for the police. "Now the administrators of mosques and seminaries cooperate with the police as they fear that cases would be registered against them," a police official said.
There are over 900 places of worship in the city and cases have been registered against 239 prayer leaders. The officials said the naib khateeb of Lal Masjid was booked twice but so far he has not been arrested.
[IsraelTimes] PA withholds salaries from loyalists of expelled security chief, who has seen a surge of support from Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,
So much excitement in that part if the world that, contra common wisdom, has nothing whatsoever to do with Israel.
The economic situation in Gazoo has been deepening in recent days and with it the conflict between supporters of Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... and backers of former Fatah strongman Mohammad Dahlan.
Amid escalating tensions between the two men, the PA has decided to withhold the salaries of some 200 of its Gazoo employees who are known as Dahlan loyalists.
In response, Dahlan stalwarts published the names of around 100 PA officers in Gazoo whom they accused of informing for the PA security forces in Ramallah. Meanwhile, ...back at the barn, a little lightbulb figuratively appeared over Bossy's head... a car belonging to one of the PA officers was torched.
Dahlan, a longtime opponent of Abbas who was expelled from Abbas's Fatah party in 2011, is considered a legitimate contender by some Paleostinians and PLO leaders to replace the president, who's been in power since 2005.
He once held the internal security portfolio and headed the powerful security forces in the Gazoo Strip, but fell from grace in June 2007 when Hamas drove Fatah from Gazoo after days of fierce street battles.
Hamas, which alone holds sway in Gazoo -- despite a nominal power-sharing agreement with Abbas's Fatah ‐ has sided with Dahlan, publishing a statement supporting the 200 unpaid civil servants.
A Fatah source accused Dahlan's loyalists of sending anonymous, threatening text messages to 2,000 Fatah men in the Gazoo Strip.
The withholding of salaries from PA workers linked to Dahlan was all the more conspicuous in light of the fact that Ramallah was only able to pay its other workers 60 percent of their salaries, after Israel withheld Paleostinian tax revenues.
The delaying of Paleostinian funds by Jerusalem was a punitive move in response to Abbas's application to join the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... and sue Israel for alleged war crimes.
Increased cooperation between Hamas and Dahlan in recent months has corresponded with the steady unraveling of the Hamas-Fatah unity deal, and has seen Hamas cooperate with Dahlan's loyalists in organizing a rally against Abbas.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/26/2015 7:44 Comments ||
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#3
Israeli leftards used to use a stock question: "what will it make to convince you that Peace With Palestinians is possible? I had a stock answer: "when they live for 10 year, hell for 10 days, in peace among themselves."
[IsraelTimes] Islamist terror group claims surge in Abbas-ordered 'attacks' on its activities in West Bank
The Paleostinian Authority tossed in the clink Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! over 1,000 Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, members in 2014, the terror group alleged in a report issued over the weekend, confirming claims that Ramallah is actively engaged in battling Islamists in the West Bank.
Continued on Page 49
[IsraelTimes] The military prosecution has submitted an indictment against two Palestinian teens in connection with a December firebombing attack that left 11-year-old Ayala Shapira critically wounded.
Thursday’s indictment named two Kfar Azzun residents — the teenaged Muhammad Beduan, whose exact age was not disclosed, and a 16-year-old — and alleged that the pair prepared a Molotov cocktail and threw it at Shapira’s car on December 25 as her father, Avner, drove on Route 55 between the Ma’ale Shomron settlement and the illegal outpost of El Matan, where the family lives, Israeli media reported Sunday.
Ayala’s father, Avner, was lightly injured in the attack.
Her parents said the Molotov cocktail smashed through the car window while they were on their way home after picking up their daughter from an extra-curricular math class.
The two suspects confessed to the attack when they were arrested days later after a joint IDF-Shin Bet investigation.
The two teens also threw a firebomb that struck the car of Ruth Shapira, Ayala’s mother, a month earlier.
Shapira suffered third-degree burns over much of her body and face in the attack and was initially described as being in critical condition.
Her condition has steadily improved, and last Sunday she was transferred to the children’s ward at the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer.
[IsraelTimes] Damian Pachter says his life was in danger in Argentina ...a country located on the other side of the Deep South. It is covered with Pampers and inhabited by Grouchos, who dance the Tangle. They used to have some islands called the Malvinas located where the Falklands are now. They're not supposed to cry for Evita... , came to Jewish state because 'this is the place where I feel safe'
The journalist who was first to report the gunshot death of federal prosecutor Alberto Nisman landed in Israel on Sunday, having fled from Argentina because he believed his life was in danger.
Damian Pachter, of the English-language Buenos Aires Herald, left the country Saturday, and arrived at Ben-Gurion airport on Sunday evening.
He said he was being chased by Argentinian security forces, that his phones were being tapped, and that he "had to move as fast as I could" to "leave the country right away."
Pachter said he came to Israel because he is an Israeli citizen "and this is the place where I feel safe."
"I intend to return to Argentina when my sources tell me conditions have changed," he had told a local internet site on Saturday. "I don't think that will happen in the term of this government."
In a statement, Pachter's employer said the journalist had not expressed his concerns to the newspaper and that the Buenos Aires Herald was ready to help him in any way possible.
Meanwhile, ...back at the palazzo, Count Guido had been cornered by the banditti... authorities said Diego Lagomarsino, a computer expert and colleague who said he had brought prosecutor Alberto Nisman a handgun Saturday night at his request, has been barred from leaving Argentina.
Lagomarsino, who spoke to authorities soon after Nisman's death, said he had given a .22-caliber pistol to Nisman because the prosecutor wanted it for protection.
Nisman was found dead last Sunday, the day before he was to testify before congress about his explosive allegations that President Cristina Fernandez Kirchner shielded Iranian officials wanted in the South American country's biggest terrorist attack.
[Ynet] The Committee to Break the Siege of Gazoo, a committee run by Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,' government, announced on Sunday its intention to open a sea route to Gazoo in March. The committee said in a presser held earlier today that in two months, a vessel carrying students and maimed will leave the Strip, as part of the launching of the waterway.
Hamas assumes both Israel and Egypt will accept their little venture... The Times of Israel adds:
The port in Gazoo City is currently restricted to fishermen, whom Israel only allows to fish up to a maximum of six nautical miles from the shore. Israeli forces routinely fire near vessels close to the outer limit in an effort to redirect them back to Paleostinian waters.
Opening a port was one of the main Paleostinian demands to be tabled during negotiations with Israel to firm up a truce agreement that ended the 50-day Operation Protective Edge in July and August. But the negotiations failed to get off the ground and the demand was never tabled.
"We are taking the necessary measures to allow maritime transport and to prepare for the construction of a port that will link Gazoo with the outside world," Batta said.
There was no immediate reaction from Israel to the Gazoo port plan.
Several ships manned by pro-Paleostinian activists have tried to run the blockade and reach the shores of Gazoo, but they have all been repelled by the Israel Navy.
#1
Yesp. While Islamist/Panarabists are killing and raping by the tens of thousands in Darfur. While the ISIS is crucyfing an murdering Cristians by the Bushels. While Boko Haram is well on icourse for killing over 50 thousand this year they only care about those who want the Jooooos exterminated.
#2
Opps. Hamas. I believed it was some initiative from Western leftists. Anyway I doin't d doubt many leftists will side with Hamas and help in this initiative.
The White House approached senior U.S. officials and advisers of President Reuven Rivlin on Saturday, to examine the possibility of a meeting between Rivlin and President Barack Obama during the former’s upcoming visit to the United States. Rivlin finally declined the American offer. No Israeli lovin' for "The One." Too effing bad.
Am certain Mr. Obama is totally oblivious to the fact that he is a BIG topic of discussion betwixt world leaders.
Some invitations have to be turned down for the sake of protocol. It wouldn't do for the national figurehead to enjoy what had been witheld from the chief executive.
#2
I believe that no matter what part of the vast political spectrum that is Israeli politics, there is a consensus on the loathing and distain for the empty chair.
#6
I believe that no matter what part of the vast political spectrum that is Israeli politics, there is a consensus on the loathing and distain for the empty chair.
You could have knocked me over with a feather when my ex mother in law: who's as left as they come---she still believes you can make peace with Paleos; referred to O as that idiot.
[Ynet] Prime Minister says he has moral obligation to 'go wherever invited to make Israel's position heard and to protect its future and its existence'.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended on Sunday a planned speech to the US Congress about Iran, saying he had a moral obligation to take every opportunity to speak out on an issue that poses a mortal threat to his country.
His visit to Washington in March has opened up a political rift in the United States and has drawn accusations in Israel that Netanyahu is undermining a strategic alliance to win an election due to take place shortly after the planned speech.
In his first public remarks about the speech to be made on March 3 to a joint session of Congress, Netanyahu said his priority was to urge the United States and other powers not to negotiate an Iranian nuclear deal that might endanger Israel.
"In coming weeks, the powers are liable to reach a framework agreement with Iran, an agreement liable to leave Iran as a nuclear threshold state, something that would chiefly imperil the existence of the State of Israel," he told his cabinet.
"As prime minister of Israel, I am obligated to make every effort to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weaponry that will be aimed at the State of Israel. This effort is global and I will go anywhere I am invited to make the State of Israel's case and defend its future and existence."
Netanyahu's rightist Likud party is running neck-and-neck in opinion polls with the centre-left list of Labor leader Isaac Herzog and former justice minister Tzipi Livni.
The prime minister's rivals say his acceptance of a partisan invitation to Congress showed he was willing to meddle in US politics for his own campaigning.
"Netanyahu is directly harming the president of the United States.
Such a frail and fragile creature an American president is, to be sure, that his fate rests on the words of distant politicians.
What Netanyahu is doing with this thuggish behaviour is to harm Israel's security interests," Herzog told Army Radio.
How could American's president possibly loathe him more than he did when he witheld bullets in the middle of a shooting war?
[AnNahar] Christians in the Bekaa Valley are reportedly taking up arms to combat any attack by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant as cautious calm prevailed in Ras Baalbek region in eastern Lebanon after deadly clashes between the Lebanese army and militiamen.
Ad Diya newspaper reported on Sunday that Christians in the Bekaa Valley began purchasing personal arms, grenades and rocket-propelled grenades to combat any threats imposed by jihadists.
The daily said that residents are also carrying out night watches around Ras Baalbek and al-Qaa, estimating that 200 people took up arms, forming a second defense line to support the army.
Eight Lebanese troops were killed and several others were wounded in bloody clashes that erupted between the army and gunmen in the Tallat al-Hamra clashes on Friday, “when terrorists attacked a military surveillance post in Ras Baalbek.”
According to An Nahar newspaper, cautious calm prevailed on the outskirts of Ras Baalbek on Sunday although the army regained its complete control on Tallat al-Hamra post and repelled the terror attack.
The daily said that the area turned into an “open frontier.”
A military source denied in comments published in the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat that a supply line for the armed groups was established in Ras Baalbek or any other area along the Lebanese border.
“We will not allow the establishment of any supply line,” the source stressed, pointing out that the army in Tallah al-Hamra hit with an iron fist and didn't back down.
“They are assaulting Lebanese soil and it's our duty to defend it.”
[IraqiNews.com] On Thursday, a source in the French Ministry of Defense announced, that dozens of former French soldiers, mostly from special forces including foreigners in the French Army, have joined the ISIS organization ranks in Iraq and Syria.
La Belle France Press Agency quoted a source in the Defense Ministry as saying, "Dozens of former soldiers in the French Army have joined the ISIS ranks in Iraq and Syria," adding, "Our concern is not the ex-soldiers only, but also preventing the phenomenon of extremism within our forces."
For his part, French Defense Minister Jean Yves Le Drian said, "The occurrence of former French soldiers being tempted by Lions of Islam is extremely rare," noting that, "We should not underestimate those rare cases. Those who go to Iraq and Syria have already been fighters and they possess knowledge of the French forces' methods of fighting."
The French Prime Minister Manuel Valls stressed on January 12, 2015 that approximately 1,400 people living in La Belle France either had left the country to join the ISIS organization in Iraq and Syria or are planning to do so.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/26/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
NEVER allow them to return to France, for any reason.
#7
No 'disrespect' intended. [notice I used the actual word, not popular ethnic slang] Get a shave and wear the proper uniform. Diversity in uniform is little more than tool of multiculturalism. Unfortunately, my rant is years too late, so whatever everyone wishes to do is fok'n fine with me.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
01/26/2015 7:30 Comments ||
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#10
The dumbing-down or distilling of established standards... [for the alleged purpose of social equality or whatever reason] has a far great impact on the organization than the cosmetic altering of physical appearance or uniforms.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Wazoo
...Smallest of the agencies in FATA. The Agency administration is located in Khar. Bajaur is inhabited almost exclusively by Tarkani Pashtuns, which are divided into multiple bickering subtribes. Its 52 km border border with Afghanistan's Kunar Province makes it of strategic importance to Pakistain's strategic depth...
Mohmand Agency
International Criminal Court
Was he allowed to keep his beard? Please advise. 
Works for the Brits and those nasty little fellows with curvy knives from Nepal. 
