A suicide car attack killed at least five people in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, police and a hospital doctor said.
The blast occurred soon after a convoy of presidential security guards passed through Qalat, the provincial capital of southern Zabul province, on their way back to Kabul from a visit to the south by President Hamid Karzai. Residents said they believed the guards were the intended target.
The bombers car hit the vehicle of a provincial police officer who was some distance from the convoy, a policeman said.
The officer and 14 other people were wounded. Most of the victims were civilians, including children, a doctor said.
Also on Thursday, hundreds of tribesmen protested in the southeastern province of Khost demanding the punishment of foreign troops who killed at least four people, including a teenage girl, in a raid in the province on Tuesday. Villagers say those killed were civilians and two were government employees, but the US military said it killed four suspected militants.
Separately, NATO warplanes bombed a compound serving as a Taliban command post in volatile southern Afghanistan, killing a number of insurgents, the NATO-led force said on Thursday. The airstrike targeted the hideout in Kandahar provinces troubled Panjwayi district late on Wednesday destroying it completely, a statement from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
The caption that goes with that picture is
"Watch closely, I'm only going to show you this once"
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/15/2006 19:58 Comments ||
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(SomaliNet) Heavily armed militia loyal to Islamic Courts Union has taken control of Salagle town near Buale city, the provincial capital of middle Juba region. The Islamists seized the town without war, as sources through VHF radio confirm. It is the second town seized by the Islamic Courts within weeks.
The Islamic Courts forces received warm welcome from the local residents, reports say. "Head for the hills! The krazed killers are here!"
The fighters who captured Salagle were reportedly come from the southern port town of Kismayo in Lower Juba region. Sheik Hassan Jabril, one of the Islamic Courts army officers, said the villagers asked for Islamic officials in juba regions to reach the Sharia law in the town.
Islamic leaders addressed crowds of people who rallied in the Salagle announcing that all kinds of drugs including the narcotic Khat leafy is banned and any one who is caught for selling or consuming Khat will face punishments.
The Islamist forces continue to grab fresh towns in southern of Somalia in an effort to reach their rule throughout Somalia. But this military advance might damage the peace process between transitional federal government and Islamic Courts Union.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2006 00:00 ||
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#2
That's in the deep south of the country, down towards Kenya, right? Which would put it away from the Ethiopians, Punts, and Somalilanders. Who'd they seize it from, a particularly charismatic branch of vacuum? Associated Khat Smugglers Local 5761?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
12/15/2006 11:22 Comments ||
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#6
Islamic leaders addressed crowds of people who rallied in the Salagle announcing that all kinds of drugs including the narcotic Khat leafy is banned and any one who is caught for selling or consuming Khat will face punishments.
Yup. I'm sure they were "rallying" for the courts.
#7
I still think we should quordinate with Ethiopia garantee them Air support with some SOF spotters for when they go offensive. Somalia could be a Afghanistan with a Ethiopia being the N Alliance and the ICU playing the Talibs. Only difference would be instead of mountianous Warizistan their would be a healthy swim.
Either way with very near 0 sacrifise on our part short the actual bombing expense we could get a new ally in Africa and at best crush a Islamist center at worst open a new front to draw off some of those Jihadi's and resources now heading to Iraq/Afghanistan. We have killed a boat load of Sudanese maybe they would go to Somalia instead to die.
(AHN) - The Department of Defense announced today that it had transferred 16 detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to Saudi Arabia because an administrative review board recommended that action. That brings the total number of detainees transferred out so far this year to 96.
Today's transfer leaves approximately 450 detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The review board determined that 100 of those detainees are eligible for transfer or release. The exact date those detainees will depart is the subject of discussions between the United States and other nations.
According to the DOD press release: "The United States does not desire to hold detainees for any longer than necessary. The department expects that there will continue to be other transfers and releases of detainees."
"Since 2002, approximately 360 detainees have departed Guantanamo for other countries including Albania, Afghanistan, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Maldives, Morocco, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom, and Yemen," the press release stated.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2006 00:00 ||
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#7
Is the term "100% recidivism rate" an oxymoron?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/15/2006 11:49 Comments ||
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#8
I'm beginning to see the "big picture" with these detainees. We can't shoot 'em as long as they're captives. We release 'em, they go back to the battlefield, and THIS TIME we whack 'em. DANG, that Rove is brilliant!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/15/2006 15:17 Comments ||
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#9
Thanks, OP. I figured I could count on you all here at the 'burg.
Posted by: Karl Rove ||
12/15/2006 15:45 Comments ||
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#10
LUCIANNE > Gitmo detainees transferred to other = home countries are often SET FREE/RELEASED once get there.
(Itar-Tass) - - Three participants in illegal armed groups have given themselves up to the Chechen police. As head of the press service of the Chechen Interior Ministry Magomed Deniyev told Itar-Tass on Thursday, a 30-year-old resident of the village of Gekhi, registered in Grozny, gave himself up to the interior department of the Urus-Martan region. According to him, he joined a gang led by Akhmed Zakayev in November of 1999.
As a result of a battle in the village of Gekhi-Chu of the Urus-Martan region on February 1, 2000, he got an injury of the left arm and was pospitalized, a representative of the Interior Ministry said. According to the former militant, he lived in Baku from May 2002 to December 2006. Besides, according to the Interior Ministry, two residents of the Nozhai-Urt region and Vedeno gave themselves up to the police. Both of them were accomplices of gunmen. In particular, the resident of the Vedeno region said that he helped a gang led by Supyan Abdullayev.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2006 00:00 ||
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Placed in WoT because the game against Golden Dragon HS has already begun, whether officially acknowledged or not, IMO.
.SAN JOSE, Calif. A Chinese-Canadian engineer was charged Thursday with stealing trade secrets from a California company that made military training software and attempting to sell them to Asian governments.
Xiaodong Sheldon Meng, 42, a Chinese national with Canadian citizenship, was indicted on 36 felony counts, including the rare charge of economic espionage to benefit a foreign government and various violations of military technology export laws.
Prosecutors said Mr. Meng stole the code for software made by his former employer, Quantum3D Inc., that's used to train military fighter pilots and tried to sell it to the Royal Thai Air Force, the Royal Malaysian Air Force and a company with ties to China's military.
Under U.S. law, anyone attempting to sell such information overseas must first obtain a licence from the U.S. State Department and is subject to strict regulations. Mr. Meng never applied for such a licence.
No foreign government or agent was named as a conspirator in the case and prosecutors declined to discuss whether any of the secrets were sold or whether any foreign officials or agents knew about the alleged scheme.
In economic espionage cases, the law does not require proof of complicity by a foreign government and investigators often don't know the extent of foreign involvement.
Mr. Meng's case marks only the third time in a decade prosecutors have charged someone with economic espionage to benefit a foreign government, the most serious crime under the Economic Espionage Act of 1996. A conviction carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.
Mr. Meng's defence lawyer, Angela Hansen, called the charges baseless and said in a statement the government has misinterpreted innocent acts.
U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan said the case highlights the threat U.S. businesses face from thieves looking to sell hard-won intellectual property overseas. Few cases allege intent to benefit a foreign government because it's difficult to prove but he said U.S. companies are frequently targeted by overseas concerns.
Silicon Valley understands full well the threat they are faced with here, he said. It's not only a threat to the economic value of the products being produced, but in some cases it's a threat to our national security and military infrastructure."
#1
the game against Golden Dragon HS has already begun, whether officially acknowledged or not
Unlike Japan, where we had an actual military engagement, communist China has gone directly to the economic warfare phase of the battle. The Chinese politburo is doing everything possible to circumvent all known laws and diplomatic conventions in advancing its own cause. This is a precise duplicate of the Cold War with Soviet Russia, right down to our opponents near-religious indoctrination. The one crucial difference is that this time it is not the intense but misplaced zealotry of Marxism, but one of the oldest racial memories on earth. This is no joke. The cultural arrogance of Chinas elite makes the USSR's military smugness look like a schoolyard bully's swaggering bravado.
For a quick review of the uphill climb that China faces, please scan posts #2 and #13 in the "Most lakes in China now are wrecked" thread posted last Friday. Post #13 explicitly deals with both Chinese espionage and, to a lesser degree, the military implications of how China is destroying America's industrial base. Recommended reading includes the short five page 2006 report titled, "Hearing on Chinese Military Modernization and Export Control Regimes", made before The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. Post #13 in the "China Lakes" thread contains some important excerpts.
It's not only a threat to the economic value of the products being produced, but in some cases it's a threat to our national security and military infrastructure."
This is an understatement. The network centric shift of America's military makes it highly dependent upon laptop computers and, increasingly, DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) integrated circuits produced outside of our borders, more specifically, in China. A silicon foundry's production line cannot be jump-started overnight like other ordinary manufacturing processes. Gaining control over defect sensitivity and contamination issues that affect baseline yields requires time consuming, lengthy feedback loops of reject analysis and corrective measures. Quickly reverting to domestic production of such critical microelectronic components is not an option. Such fabrication expertise and in-place capital equipment are extremely costly to assemble and cannot just be thrown together at a moment's notice. Modern fab-lines cost billions of dollars to construct and can take the better part of a year to get running.
Considering China's across-the-board impact upon almost every single aspect of American manufacturing, their ravaging of our economy can only be considered some sort of military assault. Our politicians are so beholden to campaign contributions from those who do business with China that they are nearly blind to the implications involved.
For some insight regarding how China tilts the playing field, please read the "China Shipping" thread from last Tuesday. Untold millions of Chinese subsidized international shipping containers are literally abandoned in America with no profitable way of returning them. This is a prime indicator of how unidirectional trade is with communist China. The massive hemorrhage of American wealth flowing into Chinese hands is matched in danger only by Middle Eastern petro-dollars being put towards terrorist causes. China is arming itself with the money we, their principal trading partner, send it. The crimes of Muslim terrorists, by terrorism's very nature, are far more sensational than the slow, steady Chinese water torture of economic erosion we experience here. China is such a past master of misdirection and misinformation as to make the KGB look like so many slackers.
Consider the tremendous danger represented by China's triangulation against us involving both North Korea and Iran's nuclear programs. The polituburo laughs up their silk sleeves at the West's futile attempts to negotiate with Kim il Sung and Ahmadinejad. All the while, we spend billions of dollars combating the repercussions of just these two aggressors.
As .com notes, the war with China has already begun. They represent one of the last true threats to the ascendancy of democratic rule. Our one saving grace is that the communist Mandarins have built themselves a house of cards that teeters on the precipice of economic, environmental and societal disaster. One puff of American resolve in the face of Chinas threat could collapse their shambling lean-to almost overnight. Sadly, our politicians are so beholden to direct or indirect Chinese interests that we are being sold down the proverbial Yangtze River. A quick trade boycott of China could push them over the edge into economic ruin in a matter of weeks. This will not remain the case for long as China rushes to normalize its currently out-of-control parameters.
We most certainly cannot adopt a wait-and-see attitude. Europe is on the verge of succumbing to the lure of Chinese money being dangled in front of them for advanced military hardware. Our own trade imbalance will finance such purchases. China must be made to pay the piper before they can well and truly afford it. That window of opportunity is closing rapidly and along with it Americas well-earned and just status as this globes sole superpower.
Do not be fooled by the outward trappings of capitalism, free market reforms and quasi-democratic leanings in China. These are permitted only so much as they continue to serve the politburos aims and goals. They will just as cheerfully crush any rebellion or opposition should it arise. So long as the Chinese people see their country rise in prestige and continue to satisfy their national longing for cultural ascendancy, little internal confrontation will occur. Any corrections are up to America and, at present, our political will seems to be failing on so many fronts that prospects for the future are quite grim.
#4
So, China intends to be a superpower. Can anybody resonable expect them not to?
A superpower? No. Another communist superpower like Soviet Russia? No sane person should be willing to countenance such a prospect. We do not, repeat DO NOT, need a rerun of Marxist Stalinism's rise and fall. How many more millions must be thrust into the meat grinder of socialist planned economies to prove this?
The Global War on Terrorism is consuming enough precious blood and treasure as it stands. Do we really need the expense and global millstone of a Cold War redux to teach what we should have learned in spades from the first one? Do we have the collective memory and attention span of a damned fruit fly? (Don't answer that.)
#5
(1) China is not an enemy of USA, it's a rival. Do take the trouble to understand the difference.
(2) Chinese are motivated by nationalism, not communism.
(3) If you look at history, the current situation of one dominant superpower cannot last---nature abhor vacuum. And this is a good thing because competition is good for everyone concerned.
(4) Competition is especially good for USA. It's your ability to outcompete others that made you a superpower.
#6
And, pray tell, how exactly does one manage to "outcompete" a ruthless and incorrigible cheater? Rivalry only happens on a level playing field. When the pitch is tilted, then it becomes a matter of predation, like any other rigged game. Arguing otherwise merely exposes a gaping inability to comprehend reality. China's incessant outright piracy of copyrighted materials and intellectual property are glaring violations of the ethical minimums required to qualify as an honest player on the world stage. Granting them the least credibility is to validate the very worst business practices and condone what essentially amounts to economic extortion.
So long as China's national face is communist, it is the enemy of mankind. If communism specifically and socialism in general have not taught you this one single lesson, you are impenetrable, condescending attitude notwithstanding.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/15/2006 8:05 Comments ||
Top||
#8
how exactly does one manage to "outcompete" a ruthless and incorrigible cheater?
The Soviets were not ruthless and incorrigible cheaters?
We can wait and see with China because time is not on their side, nor are the Indians. They are envious rivals, but they would do well to look at the results of others tangling with the U. S.; Britain, Germany, Japan and Russia. It doesn't make sense for them to pick a fight, just to get rich. And if you're really worried about a DRAM drought, specify Micron DRAM in all your electronic purchases.
#9
Rivals are nothing more than future enemies. Make no mistake, China is doing everything it can to beat us without open warfare. But if it comes to blows, they are doing their best to make sure they come out on top. Stolen tech, spying, electronic warfare and economic warfare is already being waged on the US. Mr. Zu's methods are alive and well and working for them and a lot of funds are going into protecting our military electronic infrastructure from the Chinese.
#10
Zenster, with all due respect, I can't agree with you.
"#1 the game against Golden Dragon HS has already begun, whether officially acknowledged or not"
As gromgoru pointed out, China is a rival not an enemy. Actually I wouldn't go that far. China is a complement to the US. The sooner they realize that the better it will be for both sides. Just read Adam Smith on division of labor.
New and high technology has contributed tremendously to the growth of US economy in recent years. The U.S. has eliminated some of the labor-intensified manufacturing sectors of low added value, and it has worked hard to expand its service trade. China has, in its process of globalization, taken up in a huge way the general manufacturing industry, which has been transferred by globalization . Meanwhile, it is universally acknowledged that the China-made products are cheap and of good quality to American consumers. At the time when the overall US trade deficit is on rise, it is not difficult to understand that its China trade deficit grows accordingly.
"Unlike Japan, where we had an actual military engagement, communist China has gone directly to the economic warfare phase of the battle. The Chinese politburo is doing everything possible to circumvent all known laws and diplomatic conventions in advancing its own cause. This is a precise duplicate of the Cold War with Soviet Russia, right down to our opponents near-religious indoctrination."
That's over the top. There is no comparison with the USSR, mainly because goods from the USSR were shit.
" The one crucial difference is that this time it is not the intense but misplaced zealotry of Marxism, but one of the oldest racial memories on earth. This is no joke. The cultural arrogance of Chinas elite makes the USSR's military smugness look like a schoolyard bully's swaggering bravado."
China has a lot to be smug about.
"For a quick review of the uphill climb that China faces, please scan posts #2 and #13 in the "Most lakes in China now are wrecked" thread posted last Friday. Post #13 explicitly deals with both Chinese espionage and, to a lesser degree, the military implications of how China is destroying America's industrial base. Recommended reading includes the short five page 2006 report titled, "Hearing on Chinese Military Modernization and Export Control Regimes", made before The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. Post #13 in the "China Lakes" thread contains some important excerpts.
If you are saying that China has internal problems, of that there is no doubt. Environmental degregation is widespread. Air pollution is chronic in the south. But they are openly discussing how to solve the problem in all the media, newspapers, TV and the internet.
It's not only a threat to the economic value of the products being produced, but in some cases it's a threat to our national security and military infrastructure."
This is an understatement. The network centric shift of America's military makes it highly dependent upon laptop computers and, increasingly, DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) integrated circuits produced outside of our borders, more specifically, in China. A silicon foundry's production line cannot be jump-started overnight like other ordinary manufacturing processes. Gaining control over defect sensitivity and contamination issues that affect baseline yields requires time consuming, lengthy feedback loops of reject analysis and corrective measures. Quickly reverting to domestic production of such critical microelectronic components is not an option. Such fabrication expertise and in-place capital equipment are extremely costly to assemble and cannot just be thrown together at a moment's notice. Modern fab-lines cost billions of dollars to construct and can take the better part of a year to get running.
Considering China's across-the-board impact upon almost every single aspect of American manufacturing, their ravaging of our economy can only be considered some sort of military assault.
Our politicians are so beholden to campaign contributions from those who do business with China that they are nearly blind to the implications involved.
For some insight regarding how China tilts the playing field, please read the "China Shipping" thread from last Tuesday. Untold millions of Chinese subsidized international shipping containers are literally abandoned in America with no profitable way of returning them. This is a prime indicator of how unidirectional trade is with communist China. The massive hemorrhage of American wealth flowing into Chinese hands is matched in danger only by Middle Eastern petro-dollars being put towards terrorist causes. China is arming itself with the money we, their principal trading partner, send it. The crimes of Muslim terrorists, by terrorism's very nature, are far more sensational than the slow, steady Chinese water torture of economic erosion we experience here. China is such a past master of misdirection and misinformation as to make the KGB look like so many slackers.
China's surplus with the US is vastly overblown.
China is a transactional manufacturing country. Take for example, the sale of a woolen good by China to the US.
Chances are they bought their wool from Australia along with the gas and oil to generate the power to manufacture the good in the factory. Chinese government public owned electricity is shocking, so each factory has to produce their own along with that they may have multi-million dollar machines from say, Korea, the US and Germany. So the product that end up in the US will only return China say 10% or at most 20% The rest is globalised amongst numerous countries. Puts the scaremongering about the trade deficit in a new light, doesn't it?
"Consider the tremendous danger represented by China's triangulation against us involving both North Korea and Iran's nuclear programs. The polituburo laughs up their silk sleeves at the West's futile attempts to negotiate with Kim il Sung and Ahmadinejad. All the while, we spend billions of dollars combating the repercussions of just these two aggressors.
As .com notes, the war with China has already begun. They represent one of the last true threats to the ascendancy of democratic rule. Our one saving grace is that the communist Mandarins have built themselves a house of cards that teeters on the precipice of economic, environmental and societal disaster. One puff of American resolve in the face of Chinas threat could collapse their shambling lean-to almost overnight. Sadly, our politicians are so beholden to direct or indirect Chinese interests that we are being sold down the proverbial Yangtze River. A quick trade boycott of China could push them over the edge into economic ruin in a matter of weeks. This will not remain the case for long as China rushes to normalize its currently out-of-control parameters.
The main benefit of China is their position on the food chain.
They are top of the ladder of third world countries, so by definition, any Muslim country that want to move up the food chain has to jump over China.
That's not going to happen. They have their niche, and they need the US. Any other country that wants to get close to the US has to move China out of the way.
So our best defense against the Muslims are the Chinese, because it's in their interest to keep them on the bottom of the feeding chain
"We most certainly cannot adopt a wait-and-see attitude. Europe is on the verge of succumbing to the lure of Chinese money being dangled in front of them for advanced military hardware. Our own trade imbalance will finance such purchases. China must be made to pay the piper before they can well and truly afford it. That window of opportunity is closing rapidly and along with it Americas well-earned and just status as this globes sole superpower."
The United States and China are the biggest trade partners and they should look after they own best interests. The last thing they should worry about is trade surpluses. China is upgrading of its industries in order to expand its domestic consumption, they should also invest in high tech industries in the US, Just sas US companies are moving in , on a big way, on the Chinese services sectors(where they have a surplus) such as banking and insurance.
At the same time, the United States also needs to makemoves on bilateral trade by the means of extending service trade and lifting bans and restrictions on its high-tech export to China, so as to maintain the healthy growth of bilateral trade. If they don't the Europeans will fill the vacuum.
"Do not be fooled by the outward trappings of capitalism, free market reforms and quasi-democratic leanings in China. These are permitted only so much as they continue to serve the politburos aims and goals. They will just as cheerfully crush any rebellion or opposition should it arise. So long as the Chinese people see their country rise in prestige and continue to satisfy their national longing for cultural ascendancy, little internal confrontation will occur. Any corrections are up to America and, at present, our political will seems to be failing on so many fronts that prospects for the future are quite grim."
#13
#6 Enemy is somebody who wants you dead---no matter the costs e.g. Muslims vs. humans.
Rival is somebody who wants the same things you do. And is willing to compromise.
Incidentally, except for the guy's ethnic origins, where's the Chinese connection in the article?
p.s. When an American defense firm accuses a foreign national, former employee of stilling secrets, I for one would think twice re whose intellectual property the info was.
Hint, american firms don't hire foreigners unless they're damn good (look up INS form I-129).
#17
At the same time, the United States also needs to makemoves on bilateral trade by the means of extending service trade and lifting bans and restrictions on its high-tech export to China, so as to maintain the healthy growth of bilateral trade. If they don't the Europeans will fill the vacuum.
tipper, nowhere do you address China's habitual theft of intellectual property or violation of copyright laws. For America alone, these acts represent an annual loss of billions of dollars. If you bothered to read the "Hearing on Chinese Military Modernization and Export Control Regimes", you would see that not only are export restrictions on high technology to China being circumvented but that they represent a major concern in terms of national security. You ignore the wisdom of retaining our own manufacturing base in favor of abandoning it like Europe is so ready to do.
Neither do you account for the huge uptick in China's military expenditures. If our relationship is so peaceful, why the massive acquisition of modernized weapons needed to fight another superpower? Tibet has already been absorbed and China continues to make rumblings from the Kuril Islands to the Spratleys. Especially worrisome is China's attitude regarding one of Asia's few functional democracies, namely Taiwan. The communists are salivating in their sleep, dreaming of how to rape that little industrial powerhouse. A common Taiwanese saying refers to outsourcing manufacturing to China as: "Feeding the tiger with one's own flesh." Note how all promises of autonomy for Hong Kong seem to have fallen off of the table. Freedom of speech and other basic rights have been curtailed. None of this bodes well for Taiwan. In your analysis, you evidently give all of this a pass.
Moreover, you also seem to cast aside critical issues within China itself that represent significant violations of human rights. The world's largest medically caused AIDS epidemic is a good starting point. Medical activists like Wang Zhi are arrested for publicly confronting the government over this travesty. Furthermore, China has attempted to extort favorable pricing on AIDS medications from Western pharmaceutical houses by threatening to circumvent patents and reverse-engineer the drugs themselves. The upshot has been domestically produced copycat drugs of such shoddy manufacture that patients abandon medication due to side effects worse than the disease itself. There are villages in Henan province with infection rates topping 65%. Yet, far too little has been done so late in the game that the politburo has needlessly guaranteed a monstrous pandemic that will kill millions. Do not think for one minute that this scourge will contain itself within Chinas borders.
Let us also not forget the SARS outbreak. In a brazen attempt to protect tourist revenue, Chinas suppression of any news concerning this crisis only magnified the epidemics scope, causing its spread to other countries. Canada alone suffered a major downturn in Asian tourism resulting in millions of lost dollars. That is just one country. Multiply the ramifications on a global scale and Chinas greedy reluctance to issue timely health alerts cost untold billions of dollars. Once again we see Chinas poor regulation of industrial hygiene at the center of an avian flu outbreak that has required the precautionary slaughter of millions of animals around the globe. Chinas refusal to divert top-heavy military spending toward more pressing civilian issues continues to burden our entire world with costly epidemics.
Your glowing assessment of Chinas prospects does not square with its massive drain upon the global economy. China is a thief turned economic gangster. Any further coddling of their communist kleptocracy will only embolden further incursions, both economic and military. Far better would be to improve trade relations with India than continue this parasitic relationship with China.
And if you're really worried about a DRAM drought, specify Micron DRAM in all your electronic purchases.
I used to perform fundamental R&D on million dollar CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) blanket tungsten reactors used by Micron. The company is literally subsidized by our government in order to retain a domestic DRAM manufacturing base. Much like Planar and their production of color plasma displays.
Incidentally, except for the guy's ethnic origins, where's the Chinese connection in the article?
gromgoru, did you even bother to read the article? How about if you purchase a clue as follows:
Prosecutors said Mr. Meng stole the code for software made by his former employer, Quantum3D Inc., that's used to train military fighter pilots and tried to sell it to the Royal Thai Air Force, the Royal Malaysian Air Force and a company with ties to China'smilitary.
As for this bit of rubbish:
p.s. When an American defense firm accuses a foreign national, former employee of stilling secrets, I for one would think twice re whose intellectual property the info was.
Hint, american firms don't hire foreigners unless they're damn good (look up INS form I-129).
You seem to condone employee theft of intellectual property if they have contributed to its creation. I'd advise you against ever trying this in America. Massive penalties and real jail time are the frequent upshot of doing so. Your questioning of this vital contract between employer and employee demonstrates a distinct lack of ethics and moral integrity. Much like China shows when they wink at entire provinces pirating copied software.
Plus, your attempts to distinguish between enemy and rival are pathetically misguided. Someone who steals your material possessions is taking your life, if only an incremental part of it. Time is money. Such theft is still a form of slowly killing someone. The same goes for China. Their predation upon our economy destroys jobs and renders American people homeless. They are stealing our lives one Wal-Mart purchase at a time. I can only assume from your foregoing statements that your morals are flexible enough to ignore this simple fact.
#18
China is not an enemy of USA, it's a rival. Do take the trouble to understand the difference.
You have in eighteen words, just proven conclusively that you're an idiot. China believes themselves to be our enemy, why do you not?
The U.S. has any number of rivals on many different levels. None present as veiled a threat as China. Islam has made clear their intentions overtly, China less so, that so many choose to pretend it isn't real is where the real tragedy lies.
#19
The Soviets were not ruthless and incorrigible cheaters?
Who said they weren't? America had a solid trade embargo against the USSR that helped choke the crap out of their totally artificial economy. Grain was sold to them only because our modernized agriculture produced far more than we could ever consume. We do not have any such protection from China's ravages and they laugh at our idiocy all the way to the bank.
#20
The Soviets were not ruthless and incorrigible cheaters?
Of course they were, they just weren't as good at as the Chinese are. Also, Soviet made stuff was/is crap, at least the Chinese can copy things effectively.
#22
I'll certainly try to admire your optimism, NS, despite how misplaced I consider it to be. Attempting to defeat Chinese communism by throwing vast sums of money at it is like putting out a fire with gasoline. Without precipitating some sort of catalytic circumstance (e.g., the Soviets bankrupting themselves trying to compete in the SDI arms race), it is far less likely that we will see any catastrophic breakdown in China. Most of the disastrous tipping points I noted in the "China Lakes" thread can be, and are being, overcome through massive financial outlay.
America still has a huge chance in developing commercial applications for nanotechnology, quantum dot materials and MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems). These three scientific frontiers represent some of the few avenues left whereby we can regain an insurmountable technological lead over our opponents. Our government had best learn to shelter and nurture these golden geese as the flock has gotten mighty thin of late.
#23
Zenster, your gloom and doom perspective on China is a bit over the top IMO. Yes, they do engage in industrial and military espionage which is something we need to stop and they don't protect copywrite laws, another thing we can focus upon. But their economy and the average well being of their population gets better every year. That is not something that the Mandarins in their silk boxers are going to risk and not something that the people are going to let them risk. We were never intertwined with the Soviets. Theirs was a closed society. We are very intertwined with the Chinese and becoming more so every year. This too reduces the chance of overt conflict. Sorry, I'm much more wound up about goat herders that want to kill me and enslave my daughters for their moon-god than I am about the cunning Chinee.
#24
IMHO Zen is over the top a bit, but his point that strategic commodities need to have a domestic production capacity in the event of shutoff by foreign "opponents" is well taken. Same is true of energy resources....
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/15/2006 19:51 Comments ||
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#25
ASIA TIMES > DENG XIAOPING > Need universal "material abundance" before achieving SOCIALISM, then must achieve SOCIALISM before achieving COMMUNISM. UTOPIANISM???
#26
Further note: This traitorous bastard has been released on $500,000 bail. How did he cough up $50,000 and where did it come from? Shouldn't arrestees charged with espionage be held without bail?
Fei Ye and Ming Zhong, caught boarding a flight from SFO to China had checked luggage crammed with thousands of pages of trade secrets stolen from the Silicon Valley offices of NEC, Sun Microsystems, Transmeta and Trident Microsystems are also out on bail.
These two had planned to start a microprocessor fabrication company with financial backing from various communist Chinese government agencies. One can only ponder just how deeply China looked into their qualifications as chip designers, not to mention if they even had any functional block diagrams to begin with.
I'll ask that you consider exactly why .com placed thius article in the WoT section of Rantburg. Yes, I've gone to considerable lengths to show just how corrupt China is. That corruption costs the USA and many other countries billions of dollars every year. How can this be considered responsible conduct, or at least not meriting some sort of retaliation?
I've also tried to point up how China is a strong patron of terrorism sponsoring nations and rogue regimes like North Korea. The cost to China is minimal, yet the impact upon America and the West is intensely leveraged. For pennies on the dollar, China keeps us chasing our tails while they make steady progress against us. I find this to be unacceptable, even if others do not.
Let's add:
Yes, they do engage in industrial and military espionage which is something we need to stop and they don't protect copywrite laws, another thing we can focus upon.
to:
his point that strategic commodities need to have a domestic production capacity in the event of shutoff by foreign "opponents" is well taken. Same is true of energy resources....
What do you get? It adds up to active erosion of the very industries that have proven critical to our national security. Yet, this is dismissed as being "over the top."
You may think so, but this is terrorism waged on an altogether different scale. Just China's capital flow to Iran represents triangulation on a huge scale. That money builds nuclear weapons which may one day possibly be used to topple America's economy. This isn't "doom and gloom", it's a solid and quite likely scenario.
China has no qualms because, unlike us, they are completely prepared to glass over the entire Middle East if it gets the least bit squiffy with them. Our restraint poses another outcome entirely and one that is nowhere near as favorable.
I think Zen hit allot of good points but I'll simply add ...
Korea and Vietnam aside..
Given the ChiComs record of expansionism in the 20th & 21th century [at it's margins] and enforcement of serf like status for their citizens I'm not about to consider Communist China anything but they are until they establish a real record of Democracy and human rights.
It's up to them to prove in deed over time. I'll have to see it to believe it. A communist country like Russia/USSR can turn back on us on a dime.
To call the ChiComs just rivals is incredible naive at best.
gromgoru I do hope you weren't left with the impression that I was impugning your patriotism; I was judging your assesment of the ChiComs.
BAHAWALPUR: The roof of a seminary was blown away by an explosion in Hathechi village, 65 kilometres away from Bahawalpur. Nobody was injured because of the blast in Qasimul Uloom.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Those poor nuns and priests! I hope they weren't hurt.
Pakistan has arrested more than 500 suspected Taliban militants on its soil this year and handed over most of them to Afghan authorities, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. The suspected militants were arrested in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, and other cities, the ministry said in a statement. The Pakistani announcement came after Afghan President Hamid Karzais sharp accusations that Pakistan was harbouring and supporting the militia, which has stepped up attacks in Afghanistan. Pakistan has handed over 400 of the arrested Taliban to Afghan authorities, the statement said. The Pakistani statement said that the upswing in militant activity in Afghanistan called for increased security cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan. An intelligence sharing centre between Pakistan, Afghanistan and international coalition forces is in the final stages, the statement said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2006 00:00 ||
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Only 500. I thought the population of Pakistan was at least 162 million.
A Lashker-e-Taiba militant, involved in several dreaded attacks, including one on a Congress rally here in May this year and carrying a reward of Rs five lakh on his head, has escaped from jail, police informed the Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Thursday.
The High Court had asked the state police early this week to submit case diaries and other documents regarding Rafiq Ahmad Sheikh alias Mudasir Gujri after his mother filed a petition seeking court's intervention into disappearance of her son from the Kot Bhalwal jail here.
In reply to the petition, the state police submitted that the LeT militant escaped from custody on October 13 in Janipur area of Jammu region where he was taken for effecting recoveries of arms and ammunition, counsel for the petitioner Jaleel Andrabi said.
Police informed the Court that a constable, Ashok Kumar, has been suspended in connection with the case. Gujri was arrested along with four of his associates on July 22. He was involved in several attacks including ones on tourists at Dalgate, Kothibagh, Ram Munshibagh and on a Congress rally on May 21 this year.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2006 00:00 ||
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Central Baghdad was gripped by panic on Thursday as a heavily armed gang in police uniforms kidnapped four dozen businessmen in a brazen daylight raid on a busy commercial street. Twenty-nine of the hostages were freed later. A convoy of sports utility vehicles of the type issued to government security forces sealed off Rashid Street near the east bank of the Tigris. Around 100 gunmen, in police uniform and brandishing the Glock pistols issued by the US military to Iraqi security forces, went from shop to shop stealing cash and seizing between 40 and 50 hostages, witnesses said. Meanwhile, a car bomb in Mahaweel, 60 kilometres south of Baghdad, killed at least two people and wounded six, police said. Two more people were killed and nine wounded in a suicide car bombing at an Iraqi army checkpoint in west Baghdad, the military said. In a related development, gunmen attacked the convoy of Iraqs Shia vice president, Adel Abdul Mahdi, in Baghdad on Thursday, but there were no injuries, Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier Abdul Karim Khalaf said. An aide to Mahdi denied any attack had occurred, saying the vice president was in his office. Khalaf and two Interior Ministry officials said that Mahdi was in the convoy but was not hurt.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2006 00:00 ||
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Gunmen in military uniforms kidnapped dozens of people Thursday from a major commercial area in central Baghdad, the second mass abduction in the capital in a month. The attackers drove up to the busy al-Sanak area in about 10 sport utility vehicles and began rounding up shop owners and bystanders. Two police officers said 50 to 70 people were abducted.
The al-Sanak area one of the capital's main commercial districts holds stores selling auto spare parts, agricultural equipment and the small power generators that are ubiquitous in Baghdad due to severe power shortages. The stores are owned by a mix of Shiites, Sunnis and others and it was not immediately clear why the area was targeted. But suspicion fell on militias, which are believed to have infiltrated police forces and have killed hundreds in sectarian violence, personal vendettas and kidnappings for ransom.
Mohammed Qassim Jassim, a 37-year-old owner of a clothes store in the area, said the attack started about 11 a.m. "We heard cars and shootings in the area and then we saw gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms and driving SUVs who were snatching people from the shops and street. It took like 20 minutes for them to fan out and control the area."
Iraqi security forces sealed off the area and were interviewing witnesses, while panicked store owners closed their shops and fled the area.
A spokesman for the Defense Ministry, which oversees the army, said the Interior Ministry, which oversees the police, is in charge of the area, but stressed the difficulties in controlling the distribution of uniforms. "Anyone can buy military or police uniforms from the market although we have issued orders to confiscate these uniforms and punish the owners," spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said. "This issue (uniforms) can't be controlled as each soldier has more than one uniform."
AP Television News footage showed boarded and locked store fronts with the blue dome of a Shiite mosque in the background. Few people were on the street of what is usually a bustling area.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
"This issue (uniforms) can't be controlled as each soldier has more than one uniform."
Napalm is difficult to control as well, and that's precisely what you should be getting down there until you gain some "control" of the situation.
#5
This quote was definitely from a popcorn eater: Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh told Israel's Army Radio that government officials made the right decision not to let Haniyeh bring the money into Gaza, adding that if Haniyeh had been killed, "I wouldn't put up a mourning tent."
#7
Kalle, I assume this is more Sunni on Sunni for power. Hezbollah, on the other hand, is financed by Iran and Syria, so I'd assume they're majority Shi'a.
Posted by: BA ||
12/15/2006 13:57 Comments ||
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#10
Have you murderous chump-ass paleo-fools ever considered that Allan is tired of your embarrassing bloodthirsty behavior and, with the love of irony so characteristic of supreme beings, has decided you should exterminate each other on the grounds the the 'other guys' are not Islamic enough? Let the whacking begin! And pass the popcorn, please.
- both sides have stockpiled huge amounts of explosives
- both sides are represented in the govt and in fact no other sides have a significant role in the govt
- both sides are on the govt payroll (although only Hamas activists have been paid lately)
#12
Invoking a mutually shared deity. You just gotta know that things are hitting rock bottom. It is hard to imagine a more richly deserving bunch of obsessively genocidal bastards. How amusing to watch them play out their unsatisfied aggression against Islrael upon themselves. They cannot possibly kill each other fast enough.
#20
Calling Barbara Skolaut! You alone have the combo to the safe that holds the Special DeLux Five Star Popping Corn kernals. Please procure about 5 kilos of kernals. We be dang hungry out here. I have two kegs of beer, light and dark on tap. Hurry! Here's a lawn chair for ye, right next to Deacon. Got the RB boom box turned up for the play-by-play.
Don't mean to get merriment over someone's misfortune, but we are talking Hamas and it's Merry Men here.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/15/2006 16:55 Comments ||
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That's nice - but they have to take a number and get in line just like the rest of us.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/15/2006 17:44 Comments ||
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#23
AP and Sea - I'm popping as fast as I can! :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/15/2006 17:46 Comments ||
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#24
I'd propose French peacekeepers except I don't hate the common French soldier enough to ask them to die for their leaders' fecklessness. Now if De Villepin (who I'm told is a man) and Chirac could be forced to personally keep the peace....
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/15/2006 17:52 Comments ||
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#25
I gotta hope we've got people pumping messages into their communication lines, making sure to keep this thing going.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
12/15/2006 18:46 Comments ||
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#26
I like the way these monkeys conflate their boy's club with the Most High.
#28
Rats in a cage. Of their own making. It's all about the cages. Who makes 'em, who maintains 'em. But all rats in a cage nonetheless. Just beginning to squeak. We ain't seen nothin' yet.
Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz Thursday ordered the army to shut down the Rafah crossing, preventing Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haneya from transferring a large sum of cash into the Gaza Strip, the Ha'aretz daily reported. Haneya arrived in Egypt on Thursday and will return to the strip from his first tour of Arab and Muslim countries, including Iran and Sudan.
Haneya said that Iran had promised him to transfer 250 million U.S. dollars to his government in order to help defuse the financial crisis in the Palestinian National Authority. Israeli security sources said that the closure was not aimed at curbing Haneya from returning to the strip, but the cash transfer, the report said. The West has imposed financial boycott on Hamas since it formed a cabinet in late March. Hamas had to raise fund overseas in order to cover expenditure. Some senior Hamas officials have taken into the strip millions of dollars in recent months, according to Israeli security sources.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2006 00:00 ||
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Hamas says the shooting on the convoy of the Palestinian prime minister at a Gaza border post was an assassination attempt by a rival faction. Ismail Haniya's convoy came under fire when it was allowed to cross, after being held there for several hours. A bodyguard was killed and Mr Haniya's son was shot in the face as the fire fight erupted at the Rafah checkpoint.
Border guards allied to President Abbas' Fatah faction, exchanged fire with Mr Haniya's security forces. After the Rafah border crossing was closed by Israel, Hamas militants stormed the post and Mr Haniya's convoy came under fire.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2006 00:00 ||
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A bodyguard was killed and Mr Haniya's son was shot in the face as the fire fight erupted at the Rafah checkpoint.
Few things impress the girls like a third nostril.
If this was an outright attempt on Haniyeh, one can only hope for expect all-out civil war, despite any denials as to its existence in Palestinian vocabulary. Whatever Haniyeh wants to call it, let's all wish them a hot time in the old town as they sort out this latest batch of laundry.
#3
prolly too busy cursing the missed opportunity of getting '2 birds with one stone' .. Give em a couple of days and they will be back on track with the j00 hating
Hazard a guess and say that Haniya's convoy was laden with booty/cash
#4
ooh just seen the video , yeh Haniya blamed Israel for the firefight , cos they delayed him crossing the border , this built up his supporters tension then bang bang .
#7
actually its quite possible that Fatah WANTED israel to keep the money out. With tensions so high, they could hardly have wanted all that money to go to their main enemies.
It would be very silly of the Israelis not to maintain SOME (deniable of course) contacts with Abbas and Dahlan at this time.
#10
Hopefully what is confiscated in Egypt stays in Egypt, but somehow I end up thinking it will grow legs and sneak across in the middle of the night.
#11
If they split it into smaller sums theyd have a much better chance of getting SOME of it through, on the other hand some probably would get confiscated, and some would stick to the hands of the couriers, some of who might well never show up in Gaza. Probably why they tried to move it all in with Haniyah in the first place.
#12
"Hopefully what is confiscated in Egypt stays in Egypt, but somehow I end up thinking it will grow legs and sneak across in the middle of the night."
Hopefully used to buy lots of bullets by both sides.
Sounds like a win-win situation to me.
And here I am just going on a diet just when it gets interesting. Alas, no popcorn for me.
Posted by: kelly ||
12/15/2006 18:05 Comments ||
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A military official confirmed Thursday that the mainstream Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) has joined the Armed Forces in the hunt for leaders of the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah in Sulu. Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ben Dolorfino, who chairs the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group, said MNLF members joined government troops in an operation against the terrorists in Pandanpandan, Kalinggalang Kaluang. "This showed the sincerity of the MNLF in helping the government neutralize the terrorists," he said.
Dolorfino, current chief of the Armed Forces National Capital Region Command, was here Thursday to escort jailed former MNLF chairman Nur Misuari who flew to Jolo to register as a voter. Dolorfino said the MNLF has joined military operations since the Ramadan, vowing not to give Abu Sayyaf rebels sanctuary in any of its camps.
Meanwhile, Dolorfino said Jemaah Islamiyah bombers Dulmatin and Umar Patek and Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani are still holed up in the jungles of Sulu, based on information from MNLF commanders working with the AHJAG. Dolorfino said this debunked reports that the two terrorists are now hiding in Central Mindanao. "Except for one commander, the high-value targets are still hiding in Sulu," he said. Dolorfino said Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon has slipped back to Basilan.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2006 00:00 ||
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A patrolling combat maneuvering battalion discovered on Wednesday a big camp of New People's Army (NPA) in a mountainous and forested Kaguisokan area, Andap Valley Complex, Marihatag town, Surigao del Sur.
Maj. Samuel C. Sagun, regional Army spokesman, told Maj. Gen. Jose T. Barbieto, area command chief of the Army's Northeastern and Northern Mindanao Fourth Infantry (Diamond) Division, said the NPA camp was sighted on December 7 and was only occupied by the patrolling four sections of "Alfa" and "Bravo" Company of the 58th Infantry Battalion on Thursday morning.
A report of Brig. Gen. Luini Mirar, commanding general of the Army's 401st Infantry Brigade, stated that the abandoned enemy camp is spread into two adjoining high grounds, which can accommodate 200 personnel.
Gen. Mirar said the first high ground is 6x20 meters with makeshift huts made of bamboo and plastic tent materials. The second high ground is surrounded by communal farm planted with assorted vegetables and herbal plants.
The patrolling troops recovered one magazine with ammunition for M16, rain curtains, cooking/eating paraphernalia and five 20-gallon water containers.
"Our operating troops destroyed the camp before leaving for the next objective," Maj. Sagun added.
He added the seized camp was believed to be one of the command centers of the CPP-NPA Northeastern Mindanao Regional Committee (NEMRC).
Gen. Barbieto commended the operating troops for the seizure of the NPA as he renewed his previous directive to continue their combat operation without let up in reported rebels' lairs in Northeastern Mindanao region.
Meanwhile, an alleged former squad commander of Front Committee 21-B of the CPP-NPA NEMRC voluntarily surrendered to Lt. Col. Amador Tabuga, Jr., commanding officer of the 29th Infantry Battallion based in Agusan del Sur province, Gen. Barbieto said.
Based on the spot report of Col. Dante B. Fernandez, commanding officer of the 402nd Infantry (Stingers) Brigade, Gen. Barbieto said the former NPA squad commander, whose identity is being temporarily withheld for security reason, has also brought along with him one US caliber 30 M1 919A4 Browning Machinegun and live ammunitions.
Barbieto said the surrenderee is still undergoing custodial debriefing at 29th IB headquarters. (PNA)
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2006 00:00 ||
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The countrys largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), has said its forces were hunting down former guerrillas linked to the killing of a senior member in the southern Philippines.
Our forces are tracking down these former guerrillas who killed one of our commanders. They could mount attacks against civilian targets because they are extremely dangerous, a rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu told Arab News.
The hunt coincided with military reports on Wednesday linking rouge MILF members in a plot to bomb targets in the Davao City in the southern Philippines.
The military said it may have foiled a terror attack after soldiers raided a rebel hideout late Monday and recovered pipe bombs near Tagum City. It said two rebels had escaped the raid, but troops were pursuing them in the area.
Kabalu said MILF fighters were alerted about some former hardcore members who were behind the killing in late September of Bashir Takasan in Lupon town in Davao Oriental province. Takasan, he said, was a member of the MILFs peace panel ad hoc joint action group.
Kabalu did not say why Takasan was murdered, but claimed he was active in peace talks.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Voting with their bullets feet?
The MILF sounds like a bunch of boobs, no pun intended...
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.
A suicide car attack killed at least five people in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, police and a hospital doctor said. 
(SomaliNet) Heavily armed militia loyal to Islamic Courts Union has taken control of Salagle town near Buale city, the provincial capital of middle Juba region. The Islamists seized the town without war, as sources through VHF radio confirm. It is the second town seized by the Islamic Courts within weeks. 
(AHN) - The Department of Defense announced today that it had transferred 16 detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to Saudi Arabia because an administrative review board recommended that action. That brings the total number of detainees transferred out so far this year to 96.
(Itar-Tass) - - Three participants in illegal armed groups have given themselves up to the Chechen police. As head of the press service of the Chechen Interior Ministry Magomed Deniyev told Itar-Tass on Thursday, a 30-year-old resident of the village of Gekhi, registered in Grozny, gave himself up to the interior department of the Urus-Martan region. According to him, he joined a gang led by Akhmed Zakayev in November of 1999. 
Pakistan has arrested more than 500 suspected Taliban militants on its soil this year and handed over most of them to Afghan authorities, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. The suspected militants were arrested in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, and other cities, the ministry said in a statement. The Pakistani announcement came after Afghan President Hamid Karzais sharp accusations that Pakistan was harbouring and supporting the militia, which has stepped up attacks in Afghanistan. Pakistan has handed over 400 of the arrested Taliban to Afghan authorities, the statement said. The Pakistani statement said that the upswing in militant activity in Afghanistan called for increased security cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan. An intelligence sharing centre between Pakistan, Afghanistan and international coalition forces is in the final stages, the statement said.
A Lashker-e-Taiba militant, involved in several dreaded attacks, including one on a Congress rally here in May this year and carrying a reward of Rs five lakh on his head, has escaped from jail, police informed the Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Thursday. 
Gunmen in military uniforms kidnapped dozens of people Thursday from a major commercial area in central Baghdad, the second mass abduction in the capital in a month. The attackers drove up to the busy al-Sanak area in about 10 sport utility vehicles and began rounding up shop owners and bystanders. Two police officers said 50 to 70 people were abducted.
Hamas says the shooting on the convoy of the Palestinian prime minister at a Gaza border post was an assassination attempt by a rival faction. Ismail Haniya's convoy came under fire when it was allowed to cross, after being held there for several hours. A bodyguard was killed and Mr Haniya's son was shot in the face as the fire fight erupted at the Rafah checkpoint. 
