[VOA] Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... plans to discuss potential arms deals with Indian officials during a trip to New Delhi this week, officials said, at a time when tensions are running high on Afghanistan's disputed border with Pakistain.
Kabul's overtures to New Delhi are likely to rile Islamabad where a new government led by two-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... is set to take office soon, promising improved ties with India.
Pakistain has long resisted Indian involvement in Afghanistan, seeing it as a plan to encircle it, and any fresh wrangling between the rivals would add to Afghanistan's problems as the Western military withdrawal draws near.
Karzai's front man Aimal Faizi said the Afghan leader would discuss in New Delhi the flare-up on the Durand Line, the colonial-era border between Afghanistan and Pakistain, in addition to ways to strengthen Afghan security institutions.
"Afghanistan has already agreed and signed a strategic pact with India and based on that agreement, India assists Afghanistan on several grounds, including the military sector," Faizi said.
"In order to strengthen Afghan cops, we will ask India to help us with military needs and shortages," he said.
India has been training a limited number of Afghan military officers for years at its military institutions, but provided little weapons assistance except for some vehicles.
[Ynet] Two Egyptian journalists at a newspaper critical of President Mohamed Morsi were ordered on Sunday to face an expedited criminal trial for defamation.
Public Prosecutor Talaat Ibrahim - appointed by Morsi last November - ordered the trial for Magdy El Gilad, editor in chief of El-Watan newspaper, and Alaa El-Ghatrify, its managing editor, state newspaper Al-Ahram reported. El-Watan is fiercely critical of Mursi and the Moslem Brüderbund. Recently, activists accuse the government of using the courts to target its liberal and secular opponents.
What a discreet, diplomatic way to describe it. Manolo, give that reporter an ambassadorship.
[YemenPost] A report published by the foreign ministry this month confirmed serious discrepancies in the issuance of diplomatic passports, with a ratio per employee of about 15. While there are 1,000 foreign ministry workers 15,000 passports were issued, about 15 passports per employees.
I've never had a diplomatic passport. I wonder if Mr. Wife would give me one as an anniversary present?
Very often Yemeni nationals are trying to obtain diplomatic passports as a way to by-pass visa restrictions and border control as Yemeni nationals have often great difficulties obtaining traveling visas.
Officials revealed that foreign agencies were well aware of Yemen's diplomatic discrepancies and as a result were always treating diplomatic passport holders as potential security risk.
Security sources have also theorized that individuals with links to terror groups could have used diplomatic passports to forge new identities and travel outside of the country undetected by the authorities.
Yafee Press, an online news website, published several testimonies from legitimate diplomats who said they often chose to travel with their regular passport as to avoid the "embarrassment associated with a Yemen diplomatic passport."
Sources within the foreign ministry explained that under the former regime, relatives and associates of diplomats were regularly issued diplomatic passports.
Yemeni refugees abroad confessed that many of them had resorted to buying a diplomatic passport in order to leave Yemen and start a new life in countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada or the United States of America.
#4
Duel meaning in some instances, yes. Those bearing such credentials enjoy what is known as "diplomatic immunity" from host-nation criminal prosecution. Instead of prosecution they are simply declared "persona non grata" or PNG, and sent back to their country of origin.
I suspect [but have absolutely no proof] that the Soodi fella who was injured, then detained in the Boston bombing, carried a Soodi DIP passport.
[NaharNet] North Korea Sunday test-fired a short-range missile off its east coast, its fourth in two days, despite pleas from South Korea and the U.N. chief to halt the launches at a time of high tensions.
The guided missile was fired into the East Sea (Sea of Japan) on Sunday afternoon, a defense ministry front man told Agence La Belle France Presse without elaborating.
On Saturday the North fired three short-range missiles off its east coast, apparently as part of a military drill.
The North's short-range missile launches are not unusual but come at a time of heightened alert on the peninsula, following Pyongyang's February nuclear test which sparked tougher U.N. sanctions.
Angered by the sanctions and by a joint U.S.-South Korean military exercise, the North for weeks threatened nuclear or conventional attacks on Seoul and Washington.
The South and its U.S. ally had earlier been on heightened alert for any test of medium-range Musudan missiles by the North. But a U.S. defense official said early in May the two mid-range missiles had been moved from their launch site.
South Korea's unification ministry, which handles cross-border relations, said the launches pose threats to the region and should be stopped immediately.
"We find it deplorable that the North does not stop provocative actions such as the launch of guided missiles yesterday," said unification ministry front man Kim Hyung-Seok, speaking before the latest exercise.
"We call on the North to take responsible actions for our sake and for the sake of the international community."
U.N. chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... , speaking in Moscow, also called for Pyongyang to "refrain from" further missile tests. He said it was time for it to resume talks with the international community and reduce tensions.
The U.S. State Department urged Pyongyang to exercise restraint, without specifically commenting on the launches.
It was unclear what type of missiles were fired Saturday and Sunday.
Seoul military officials quoted by Yonhap news agency said they may be KN-02 surface-to-surface missiles with a range of up to 160 kilometers (99 miles), or rockets of at least 300mm in caliber fired from a multiple launcher.
Cross-border relations have also been soured by the suspension of operations at a jointly-run industrial complex.
Kaesong Industrial Complex, established just north of the border in 2004 as a rare symbol of inter-Korean cooperation, fell victim to the two months of elevated military tensions.
The North barred South Korean access to the zone and pulled out its own 53,000 workers early last month. Seoul withdrew the last of its nationals early this month.
When the South Koreans left, they loaded up cars with bundles of products, but were still forced to leave much stock behind.
The North last week rejected the South's call for talks on removing goods from the complex, calling it "a crafty ploy" to deflect blame for the suspension of operations.
"It is very regrettable that the North denigrates our offer for talks... and shifts blame for the suspension of the Kaesong complex to us," unification ministry front man Kim said Sunday, urging Pyongyang to come forward for talks as soon as possible.
Gangs of youth angered by the police shooting death of an elderly man hurled rocks at police and set cars and buildings on fire in a Stockholm suburb early Monday, forcing the evacuation of an apartment block.
Around 50 youths were involved in the riots in the suburb of Husby, west of Stockholm, police spokesman Lars Bystrom said.
The youths set light to a parking garage, compelling police to evacuate residents from an adjacent apartment block, Bystrom said. Residents were allowed to return home after a couple of hours.
Husby is one of several neighborhoods of apartment blocks in western Stockholm occupied primarily by immigrants.
Bystrom said police responded to calls of burning cars and were met by masked youths hurling rocks at them. Three officers were injured and several cars and buildings were damaged.
However, residents said they had gathered to protest against the shooting death and that police responded with sending in SWAT teams that cordoned off the area.
"I understand that people react like this," said Rami Al-Khamisi from the organization Megafonen, which represents citizens in Stockholm's suburbs.
The organization said police had used excessive violence against the youth and also attacked passers-by with batons and dogs.
Police have launched an internal probe to investigate the shooting death on May 13 of a 69-year-old man in Husby . They say they shot the man in self-defense because he had attacked police with a knife when they broke down the door to an apartment, where he had locked himself up with a woman.
However, Megafonen has criticized police for initially releasing a faulty report saying the man was taken to hospital. They said residents had seen his dead body being transported from the scene hours after the shooting in a hearse, which police later admitted was correct.
#6
This Yurpeon use of "youth" gets curiouser and curiouser. Is perhaps "youth" a euphemism for "boy" -- a term used not so long ago by the less-than-polite in the USA for blaque men?
[Naharnet] European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... foreign ministers will discuss end of May a British request to brand Hizbullah's military wing a terrorist organization despite reservations in Gay Paree that are also shared by several other EU states, informed French sources said.
The sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat published Sunday that Britannia asked the EU presidency to designate the military wing a terrorist organization over the party's involvement in the war in Syria.
La Belle France, which has been the most influential opponent of the move, has lately seen a change in stance and could approve the measure given that Hizbullah members are fighting alongside Syrian regime troops against the rebels, the sources said.
They told al-Hayat that the French leadership is mulling only putting some Hizbullah leaders on the terror list and not the entire military wing of the party.
Germany, Italia, Spain, Cyprus and Greece are among the 27 EU states that are resisting such a move, the sources said, despite confirmed information by La Belle France that around 1,500 Hizbullah members are participating in the battles in Syria.
"The starting point of the discussions next week will be the Burgas bombing," they said.
The U.S. has urged the EU to follow Washington's lead by designating Hizbullah as a terrorist group in a move that would lead to a crackdown on its fund-raising activities over the party's alleged involvement in the deadly attack on Israeli tourists in the Bulgarian resort of Burgas last year.
The Bulgarian government accused Hizbullah in February of being behind the kaboom that killed five Israelis and their Bulgarian bus driver.
It's them low-level officials acting up again. The Blaze reports another leak. "The U.S. has apologized to Israel for leaking details of the attack in Syria. Senior administration officials said to their [Israeli] counterparts that they are examining the issue and that low-level [officials] were responsible for the leak. US officials told that they [will] review the matter. The leak forced Assad to react harshly."
Barry Rubin, director of the Global Research in International Affairs Center, told TheBlaze, "It requires the Syrians to react officially rather than deny that it happened or that it was an accident. It forces Syria and Hezbollah and Iran to react officially and say they want to seek revenge, which makes things more dangerous for Israel."
"Can you imagine if things were reversed and somebody did that to the U.S.?" he added.
[Xinhua] A Pak court on Monday granted bail to former President Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... in the 2007 liquidation case of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... , court officials said.
Musharraf had been accused of failing to provide security to Benazir Bhutto, who died in a suicide kaboom in December 2007.
In spite of the Anti-Terrorism Court's release order, Musharraf will remain in detention as he has also been tossed in the calaboose Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! in another case of keeping judges in illegal confinement when he imposed emergency rule in 2007.
The former president has been kept at his Islamabad house over security concerns and his house has been declared sub-jail.
Last month, the Lahore High Court had rejected an application by Musharraf's lawyer for the extension of his interim bail. He was then formally arrested over the case and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), which is investigating the liquidation of Benazir Bhutto, had questioned him about the case.
Musharraf's lawyer told the court on Monday that there were no solid proofs against the former military ruler and that he should be granted bail.
Musharraf returned to Pakistain in March after nearly four years of self-exile to take part in elections and to run election campaign for his All Pakistain Mohammedan League party.
However, a woman is only as old as she admits... he was barred from running in the May 11 general election that led to boycott of the polls by Musharraf's party.
He is facing several serious criminal cases. Lawyers have petitioned the Supreme Court to put him on trial for treason for imposing emergency and he also faces charges over the death of Baloch leader Akbar Bugti in a 2006 military operation.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Breakfast, elevenses, lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner will be served, of course. That nothing will be otherwise accomplished is incidental.
[Naharnet] An Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... committee on Syria will hold an emergency meeting on Thursday ahead of an international peace conference on ending the country's civil war, the bloc's deputy leader said on Sunday.
The foreign ministers of Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Oman, Qatar and Sudan would discuss a U.S.-Russian push for a conference aimed at finding a political solution to the Syria conflict, Ahmed Ben-Hilli told news hounds.
Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... and the United Arab Emirates would also join the meeting "to follow up on developments in Syria in light of the U.S.-Russian understanding," he said.
The conference is meant to include both rebels and members of the regime -- a difficulty considering some opposition members' refusal to recognize Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... as a negotiating partner.
Moscow is also calling for the inclusion on this occasion of its trading partner Iran and U.S. ally Saudi Arabia as a counterweight.
[Naharnet] Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party.... called on Sunday for joint Sunni-Shiite prayers after a spate of attacks on places of worship, saying the attackers wanted to ignite sectarian strife in Iraq.
"I call for holding joint prayers... in one of the large Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... mosques" each Friday, Maliki said in a statement.
"Those who target mosques are enemies of Sunnis and Shiites alike, and are planning to ignite (sectarian) strife," he said.
Bombs near the Saria Sunni mosque in Baquba, north of Storied Baghdad, killed 41 people on Friday, a day after a jacket wallah detonated an explosives-rigged belt at the entrance of al-Zahraa husseiniyah, a Shiite place of worship in the northern city of Kirkuk, ... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time... killing 12 people.
Tensions are festering between the government of Maliki, a Shiite, and Iraqi Sunnis who accuse authorities of marginalizing and targeting their community, including through wrongful detentions and accusations of involvement in terrorism.
Protests broke out in Sunni areas of Iraq almost five months ago.
The government has made some concessions, such as freeing prisoners and raising the salaries of Sunni anti-al-Qaeda gunnies, but underlying issues have not been addressed.
IDF fire did not kill or injure 12-year-old Gazan Muhammad al-Dura a Palestinian icon of the second intifada or his father Jamal in 2000, an Israeli committee tasked with reviewing the incident said on Sunday.
The findings were presented to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in a 36-page report. Apologies from EU press in 5..4..3 eons.
#1
an Israeli committee tasked with reviewing the incident said on Sunday.
C'mon. These are the evil Juice, you can't trust anything THEY say.
I don't believe that they did have anything to do with it, but I don't expect anyone else to believe my way based on an Israeli report, anymore than I would believe Obama on Benghazi, or the IRS, or the AP, or FOX news, or.........
The U.S. is trying to stop the gold rush to Iran in a bid to undermine the Islamic Republic's plummeting currency, but critics say the move is more likely to hurt ordinary citizens than the rogue regime's leadership.
A top Treasury Department official told lawmakers that, starting July 1, the U.S. plans to crack down on all transfers of gold to the Iranian government or its citizens. The move appears aimed largely at banks and gold brokers in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. Companies operating from within those nations have shipped large amounts of gold to Iran as Tehran attempts to stabilize its currency, the rial, amid increasing international economic isolation.
"We have been very clear with the governments of Turkey and the UAE and elsewhere, as well as the private sector that is involved in the gold trade, that as of July 1 all must stop, not just the trade to the government," Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen told members of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee last week.
The rial has lost two-thirds of its value against the dollar since late 2011, largely as a result of U.S.-led sanctions targeting the banking system and oil exports. The sanctions are in response to Iran's ongoing nuclear weapons program. The U.S. can impose sanctions on foreign companies that violate the Iran policy, as long as those companies also seek to do business with parties in the U.S. To date, the Obama administration has not penalized any companies in Turkey or the UAE for trading in gold with Iran.
Oday Aboushi leads a double life. On the one hand, he is an American football player with professional-level athletic skills. On the other, he is a fundamentalist Muslim with radical associations and a heritage that pushes him towards a destructive world of violence and hate.
When the New York Jets football team chose Oday Aboushi with the eighth pick of the fifth round of the April 2013 NFL Draft (141st pick overall), the organization knew that it was getting an elite player who could wreak havoc on the field one of the top offensive linemen in the entire draft. At 6-foot-5, 310 pounds, no doubt, Abousi is an imposing figure. What the Jets didnt know, though, was the type of havoc he could potentially cause off the field.
Although Aboushi was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, he proudly refers to himself as a Palestinian-American. His parents both arrived in the U.S. from the town of Beit Hanina in the West Bank. The first time he had been to the area was during his freshman year of college. In an article published by ESPN, the sports network stated about Aboushis trip, It was a completely different world, although filled with the same kinds of people he knew growing up in Brooklyn.
One long-time friend of the family is Linda Sarsour, a rabid anti-Israel activist, who has Hamas-related family serving prison sentences in Israel and has herself been questioned by U.S. authorities. Less than one year ago, Sarsour posted on her Twitter account, Nothing is creepier than Zionism. In a May 2012 tweet, she claimed that the al-Qaeda Underwear Bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who plotted to blow up a civilian aircraft, was actually a CIA operative.
When Aboushi was chosen by the Jets in the draft, Sarsour used that same Twitter account she placed her fanatic missives on to post two dozen messages about it, including Twitter conversations with Aboushi. She also tweeted photos of herself with Aboushi.
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.
Nawaz Sharif
North Korea
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
Pervez 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Nouri al-Maliki
