Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Shirley Jones aka Lulu Bains in "Elmer Gantry" aka Laurey in "Oklahoma!" aka Julie Jordan in "Carousel" aka Marian Paroo (Marian the librarian) in "The Music Man" aka Jenny in "The Cheyenne Social Club" aka Shirley Partridge in "The Partridge Family" (age 77)
[Arab News] A new maximum-security prison opened in northern Somalia on Tuesday, raising hopes that it can help relieve the burden on other nations affected by piracy that are reluctant to imprison pirates.
Most suspected pirates captured by international warships are released because other nations don't want to jail them, and most Somali prisons and courts are not up to international standards. Navies -- who nickname the problem "catch-and-release" -- say it's one reason pirates continue to threaten one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.
There have been notable exceptions: A US court this month sentenced five men convicted of piracy to life in prison. A US court is also trying 13 Somalis and a man from Yemen over a February hijacking of a yacht that left four Americans dead.
As piracy has flourished and turned increasingly violent, an unprecedented 17 countries are prosecuting pirates.
Still, Somali jails have borne most of the burden.
Officials in Somalia's semiautonomous region of Puntland have had to release low-level criminals to make room for pirates in the overcrowded jail in the port city of Bosasso. ...Puntland's major (maybe only) port, population about 250,000, most of them shady characters who hang around waterfront dives and carry knives and brass knuckles...
The UN, which paid for the $1.5 million refurbishment of Hargeisa prison, says the facility is equipped to receive international transfers of prisoners. Compared to the overcrowded, rusty lockups elsewhere around Somalia, its cream corridors and 10-man dormitories seem spacious, sanitary and relatively comfortable.
Inmates say they get three meals a day and that they receive medical attention and visits from family members.
Somaliland, a breakaway republic in northern Somalia, has already said it will accept any convicted Somalilanders, and officials hope that other nations may eventually transfer convicted pirates from other regions in Somalia.
"It's entirely a matter for Somaliland, but we'd be delighted if they said yes," said Alan Cole of the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime.
He said the UN plans to build two 500-bed prisons in Somalia over the next few years to help house more convicted pirates. One will be in Garowe, capital of the semiautonomous Somali region of Puntland. The other location has yet to be decided.
There are currently about 70 convicted pirates in jug in Somaliland, most of whom were captured by the local coasties and are now housed in the new prison. But government officials say security worries mean they are reluctant to take Somalis from other regions, especially from the region's archrival Puntland.
"Some pirates have already attacked our private transport cars," said Somaliland Minister of Justice Ismail Mumu Aar, describing attacks on Somaliland vehicles that began in October. "Our people have been threatened ... (The pirates) said, 'bring our people back or your people will stay with us."' Cole said that problem could be solved if Somaliland agreed to only accept volunteers for transfer. Many pirates wanted to come back to Somalia to be closer to their families, he said. Seventeen countries currently hold around 950 pirates, he said, about two-thirds of which have been convicted.
Regional nations also encouraged Somaliland to consider taking prisoners from other regions. In the island nation of Seychelles, pirates make up about 20 percent of the prison population.
"We are a small nation -- 86,000 people," said Joseph Nourrice, the High Commissioner from Seychelles. "We have done our part. Our position is that once we prosecute and convict the pirates they should serve their sentence in their country of origin." The new prison is just the first of several reforms that are needed for Somalia to one day be able to convict and jail its own pirates, the ultimate aim of the UN
strategy. Somaliland is the most stable and secure of Somalia's three regions. But it still lacks an anti-piracy law and officials acknowledge evidence is sometimes circumstantial.
In the local cop shoppe in Berbera, five men recently sat huddled in a stinking cell. They insisted, like almost all the prisoners interviewed by The News Agency that Dare Not be Named, that they are fishermen unjustly jugged. The local coasties said they were caught with a GPS navigator, no fishing equipment and that they threw weapons over the side of their boat.
The men gave different stories: They were fishing with their hands for lobster, or scouting for fish.
"I'm innocent," said Omar Abdullahi Abdi while squatting on his knees. "We are all innocent." They will probably be convicted but unless the coasties can produce weapons, it's unclear under what law. The typical sentence for piracy in Somaliland is about 15 years in prison but that can be reduced or overturned on appeal.
Ahmed Mohamed Adam, one of the inmates in the new prison, was one whose sentence was reduced. The lanky 23-year-old wore the canary-yellow cotton issued to high-risk prisoners. He said he was sentenced to 20 years for sailing in a skiff the coasties claimed was marked as a pirate boat by international navies. He said he was a fisherman and had no weapons when tossed in the calaboose. Ahmed's sentence was reduced to 20 months on appeal. He will leave the new maximum security prison next month.
UN officials acknowledge that the justice system is flawed but say they are working on it. Puntland recently signed a new anti-piracy law and Somaliland is expected to soon, Cole said. There are programs in place to support and train court officials. But it will take years.
In the meantime, the new prison will gradually fill up with men in yellow uniforms.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Davy Jones still has plenty of room in his brig for them.
[The Nation (Nairobi)] A ship laden with more than three tonnes of heroin had anchored in Kenya's territorial waters for more than 10 days -- from where local and international narcos purchased the drug -- before police intercepted a consignment worth more than Sh200 million.
"Speedboats were used to ferry the heroin from the ship which came from Pakistain," one of the detectives said.
Anti-narcotics coppers, who spoke to the Nation on Tuesday on condition that they are not named, said among the buyers were a suspected Nigerian international drug baron based in Nairobi, Somalis linked to piracy and a Mombasa-based businessman.
"Speedboats were used to ferry the heroin from the ship which came from Pakistain," one of the detectives said.
Police commissioner Mathew Iteere has said investigations into the heroin saga are ongoing and more suspects are likely to be jugged.
"Investigations are still going on. We want to know their (suspects) connections outside Kenya. We are talking to them since it's clear they were not working alone," the police boss had said.
It also emerged that the seizure of the 102 kilogrammes of the drug haul was a result of differences between the drug kingpin and the ship owners following a change of plans on who they should hand over the heroin.
"Following the sudden turn of events the kingpin alerted members of the Special Crimes Unit who moved in and intercepted a heroin consignment which had left the ship," the detective told the Nation.
He added that the seized heroin was part of a one-tonne haul that had left the ship in different boats. The whereabouts of the other consignments is not known.
The disclosure that the illicit drug trade had happened for more than 10 days in Kenya's territorial waters has raised questions about the surveillance of the country's coastline which is supposed to be monitored by the Kenya Navy around the clock.
The seizure of the heroin haul came at a time when diplomatic cables released by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks revealed that Kenya is among African countries which have been turned into playgrounds for international narcos.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2011 00:00 ||
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A breakout of the hometowns of Libyan jihadists who showed up in Iraq:
Note that the 84% of the jihadists came from Darnah and Benghazi, both rebel strongholds that were (as pointed out in the West Point study) previously the scene of Islamist uprisings in the mid-1990's.
#5
Zhang,
The problem with this study is that it is wildly at odds with other studies of foreign fighters in Iraq. This is addressed in Appendix 1 of the same study.
It is likely that the national origin of foreign fighters changed over time. It is also possible different networks recruited in different countries.
What IS clear is that most of the Libyan recruits came from eastern Libya, and well over 100 Libyans fought in Iraq (and hopefully died there).
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
03/31/2011 15:28 Comments ||
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#6
Did some more reading of the study:
Turns out 85% of the Libyans were suicide bombers. This is what is called a self correcting problem.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
03/31/2011 15:39 Comments ||
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#7
Turns out 85% of the Libyans were suicide bombers. This is what is called a self correcting problem.
AKA Islam's Useful Idiots
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/31/2011 15:47 Comments ||
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#8
Al-Qaeda in Libya allied with al-Qaeda in Iraq, because doing so oriented large numbers of Libyans to regional jihad-terror. At least the Muslim Brotherhood is efficent in piecemeal islamic aggression; the Libyan islamonazis are closer to Wahabi terrorists. Hussein Obama should have been supporting Libyan nationalists in the military, to the end of toppling Gaddafi and assisting a broad based government without an aggressive foreign policy. He went with the terrorists, as usual.
#11
Egypt's government may soon become Hamas's principle arms supplier. From Rubin Reports:
Just read this article and compare it to what we were told during the revolution:
"Egypt's relations with Israel and the U.S. are likely to become more difficult in the months ahead with an infusion of Arab nationalism and skepticism about Egypt's landmark peace treaty with Israel. Many of those who helped oust President Mubarak, including secular democracy activists and Muslim Brotherhood leaders, say the 32-year-old treaty should be respected for now. But they add that when stability is restored, the pact should be submitted to the Egyptian people for approval, through a new parliament scheduled to be elected in September and then perhaps in a public referendum."
In other words, all the commitments made by the military government are not valid after September and Egypt is quite likely to abrogate or simply stop paying any attention to its treaty commitments. And what is the U.S. government, the Obama Administration, going to do at that point since it is the guarantor of the treaty? Absolutely nothing.
The article continues:
"'There was no real end to the war with Israel, just a truce,'" said Shadi Mohammed, 26, a leader of the movement that helped promote the Tahrir Square demonstrations. Mohammed Maher, a Muslim Brotherhood activist, said that if his group gains influence through the elections, Egypt is likely to pursue closer ties with Gaza, opening border crossings and promoting trade as a way to undermine the Israeli blockade."
Did you notice that? He's a Muslim Brotherhood activist and a leader in the Tahrir Square movement. Only yesterday I received a letter from a New York Times employee--full of curse words and insults, by the way--saying that he spoke to many people in Tahrir Square and none of them said they were Brotherhood supporters. So obviously there weren't any Brotherhood supporters.
Yes, honestly this is the kind of reasoning that often shapes mass media coverage of the Middle East. Sort of like the president's advisor on counterterrorism explaining that Hizballah can't be a terrorist group because it has lawyers among its members.
Yet the facts about the movement's alliance with the Brotherhood and anti-American leftists was already on the public record before the revolution even began.
#12
Too many weddings with the AK-47 for celebratory effect?
No. They didn't have much to begin with, and the rebels have wasted a lot of ammo in "celebratory effect" every time they get rumor of a victory, not to mention poor fire discipline. a.k.a. 'spray and pray'.
[Al Jizz] Libyan opposition fighters will be given extra support from the US, after President Barack B.O. Obama reportedly signed a secret order - authorising covert operations to hasten the downfall of longtime leader Muammar Qadaffy. ... a proud Arab institution for 42 years ...
The armed rebels - who have found themselves outgunned and outflanked by Qadaffy's forces, despite a NATO-patrolled no-fly zone - could be boosted by CIA interventions in Libya, since the decision was allegedly endorsed by the White House.
Obama signed the order, known as a presidential "finding", within the past three weeks, four unnamed US government sources told the Rooters news agency.
But US officials did not confirm or deny reports. Jay Carney, White House press secretary, said:
"As is common practice, for this and all administrations, I am not going to comment on intelligence matters ... No decision has been made about providing arms to the opposition or to any group in Libya.
"We're not ruling it out or ruling it in. We're assessing and reviewing options for all types of assistance that we could provide to the Libyan people, and have consulted directly with the opposition and our international partners about these matters."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
"The United States of America has done what we said we would do!"
(few days later) P.S. we also have CIA doing covert operations on the ground besides the no-fly zone.
#2
Well when General Ham told the rebels (through the MSM) that they "needed to slow down" we knew there was no command and control mechanisms to monitor and advise. It was only a matter of time.
"Covert advisors", thier US State Department 'regulator' sidekicks and USAID "Nation Building" weenies, will need airlift. Airlift means USAF, which means a secure place to land...which means Combat Control Teams (CCT's) and communications packages, generators, C-Wire, CHU's, HESCO barriers, a nice secure FOB, vehicles, US Army Field Hospitals, DFAC, golf course, new 3000 person US Embassy compound, US PX, Dutch PX, British Naffie, Pizza Hut, .....contractors, Booze Allen, Northrop Grummand, General Dynamics, KBR, Lockheed Martin.
#4
four unnamed US government sources told the Rooters
Four? Sounds like Barry's administration is having its own little civil war. It is not just someone dropping a dime on this 'covert' business, but people are lining up outside the phone booth, waiting their turn.
#7
Re: 'Rebel Leaders with AQ ties'
1. give them secure commo equipment 'for coordination with NATO forces'
2. let them get comfortable with it - make sure they get results with it
3. have a big meeting with all rebel high level types on the conference call clustered around secure gear
4. using secure commo's known position, nuke them
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
03/31/2011 7:10 Comments ||
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#8
For those who might worry that this could give 'rebel leaders with AQ ties' a heads up, they can never know if ANYTHING they get from NATO or ANY other outside support source does not have surveillance and target positioning capabilities.
Let their sleep be most unsound, and may their daily lives be a living torment.
These are not friends. Treat them accordingly.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
03/31/2011 7:17 Comments ||
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#9
It ain't covert if you tell everybody! Dufus O.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
03/31/2011 8:13 Comments ||
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#10
"nuke them"
Hell yeah, that's change I could believe in! :)
Posted by: Jefferson ||
03/31/2011 10:10 Comments ||
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#11
The most likely reason for this 'Executive Finding' was for targeting and threat assessment prior and during the initial attack. However, lasers on a static AAA is long haul from training and coordinating rebel attacks. This "leak" to the media is probably a head fake.
#12
hey, Oblahblah's supplied Mexican Narco gangs with arms, why not Libyan AQ hardboyz? Next, he'll profess complete surprise when those arms are turned on Americans somewhere in the world. Feckless crapweasel
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/31/2011 10:32 Comments ||
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#13
So much for only enforcing a no-fly zone.
So much for, "This will be over in a few days."
NATO is very much against this "excutive finding". They only want to enforce a no fly sone. Not get into another war. But Obama hates America's allies.
Posted by: Whese Scourge of the Weak1836 ||
03/31/2011 10:51 Comments ||
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#14
The 'covert help' news has torqued off a bunch of leftists who had supported Obama until now. A few pictures (even if they are bogus) of rebels slaughtering civilians (or fluffy bunnies) and the even the NYTimes and MSNBC will get wiggly on this.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
03/31/2011 12:35 Comments ||
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#17
#5 Bobby, CNN last night. Talking head commenting on the not-so-covert op said it was looking like a quagmire.
Posted by: Matt ||
03/31/2011 14:16 Comments ||
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#18
It is interesting to see the MSNBC and CNN leftards try to spin this "kinetic military action" into a humanitarian effort. If I knew what the mission was, I might say that signs of "mission creep" are in evidence. And there are non-boots on the ground? Waaaaaaa!
#20
A few pictures (even if they are bogus) of rebels slaughtering civilians (or fluffy bunnies) and the even the NYTimes and MSNBC will get wiggly on this.
There's somewhat credible rumors that it's happening. But the odds that the photogs there will jeopardize their 'photo ops' with the rebels by taking pics of rebel-killed civilians are quite low.
[Maghrebia] Algerian contract teachers clashed with law officers on Monday (March 28th) near the Presidential Palace in El Mouradia, Tout sur l'Algerie reported. At least 15 teachers were maimed, according to National Council of Higher Education Teachers (CNES) spokesperson Mériem Maarouf. For more than a week, the teachers had been staging a peaceful sit-in to demand a status change. The situation reportedly escalated when the teachers attempted to block a road into the centre of Algiers.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2011 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Forces loyal to beleaguered Libyan ruler Muammar Qadaffy have pushed back Libyan revolutionaries and taken back eastern Libyan oil town of Ras Lanuf.
Qadaffy forces recaptured the eastern oil town of Ras Lanuf on Wednesday, forcing the revolutionary forces to flee to the east, AFP reported.
On Tuesday, Qadaffy troops reportedly launched a new attack on the positions of the revolutionary forces in Misratah, the town located some 200 kilometers east of the capital Tripoli.
Representatives from the UN, NATO, the African Union and the vaporous Arab League who attended London conference on Tuesday formed front in order to continue the Western alliance's mission in the country and unanimously agreed that Qadaffy must leave Libya.
The Libyan regime says that at least 114 people, mostly civilians, have been killed and 445 others injured in the campaign of US-led military Arclight airstrikes in Libya since March 20.
Although Qadaffy has sworn to battle the revolutionary forces to the last soldier in his army, his government has admitted that US, French and British Arclight airstrikes in recent days have pushed his forces back to the west.
Before the Arclight airstrikes, authorized under a UN resolution, Qadaffy's tanks had rolled up to the gates of Benghazi.
Now, with the battle being taken towards Tripoli, the revolutionary leaders are formulating a new civilian structure for the country, saying they would begin exporting some of the 130,000 barrels of oil -- Libya's vital export resource -- they are pumping daily to finance their aims.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
These, in the days when heaven was falling,
The hour when earth's foundations fled,
Followed their mercenary calling
And took their wages and are dead.
Their shoulders held the sky suspended;
They stood, and the earth's foundations stay;
When God abandoned, these defended,
And saved the sum of things for pay.
Troops loyal to longtime Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy ... a proud Arab institution for 42 years ... have capitalised on an apparent slowdown in the frequency of coalition air strikes in the east and have pushed back opposition rebels, taking the strategic oil town of Ras Lanuf.
Regime forces shelled rebel fighters with mortars and possibly Grad rockets on Wednesday, forcing them to retreat from Bin Jawad through Ras Lanuf, more than 200 kilometres east of Sirte, Qadaffy's well-defended hometown.
The reversal for Libya's nascent opposition came after their forces had made a speedy, two-day advance from Ajdabiya under the protection of international air cover.
The rebels had advanced 20 kilometres beyond Bin Jawad on Monday, reaching the village of Nawfaliya before meeting stiff resistance. After shelling on Tuesday, they fell back to Ras Lanuf, a major coastal oil facility, and then appeared to lose the town entirely on Wednesday.
The sound of jet aircraft could be heard in the skies above the fighting, as well as kabooms that seemed to indicate air strikes were taking place on the road between Ras Lanuf and Brega, the next strategic town on the road to Ajdabiya. But the possible air strikes didn't seem to help the rebels hold their defenses.
Rebels rely on air cover For 10 days, an international coalition including forces from La Belle France, the United Kingdom, the United States and Qatar has been patrolling the skies and pounding Qadaffy's troops and facilities on the ground in order to enforce a UN Security Council resolution aimed at protecting Libyan civilians.
The military campaign opened a path for the rebels to advance out of Benghazi, the opposition's eastern stronghold, which Qadaffy's troops had threatened to overrun on March 19.
If the regime troops continue to advance east down the main coastal road toward Ajdabiya, an important crossroads and the last major town before Benghazi, they could expose themselves to coalition jets, who could "pick off tanks" as they have done before, Turton said.
But on Wednesday, control of the no-fly and "no-drive" zone is set to pass into NATO hands after days of slow negotiations during which Turkey - a NATO member - reportedly raised objections to the aggressive coalition ground attacks.
It remains to be seen whether the switch in command will involve a shift in tactics away from the intensive ground attacks that drove Qadaffy's tank columns back from Benghazi and, the rebels say, saved the city from a massacre.
Opposition fighters in the western town of Misurata have also come under renewed attack from pro-Qadaffy forces, an opposition front man there said on Tuesday.
He said eight civilians had died that day and described the humanitarian situation in Misurata as "catastrophic," with water and electricity cut off and residents running short of essential supplies, including medicines.
Arming the rebels
The stall in the rebel advance has raised questions about the need to supply the opposition with weapons. For the past two days, untrained rebels hae been powerless to stand against the bombardment from regime troops.
"They have nothing like the weight of firepower that Qadaffy's forces have," Turton said.
During a 40-nation conference on Libya held in London on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Daniel Webster ... left the door open to arming the rebels.
"It is our interpretation that [Security Council] resolution 1973 amended or overrode the absolute prohibition [on providing] arms to anyone in Libya," Clinton said. "So there could be a legitimate transfer of arms, if a country were to choose to do that."
In an interview with NBC News Barack B.O. Obama, the US president, also refused to rule out the possibility.
"I'm not ruling it out," Obama said. "But I'm also not ruling it in. We're still making an assessment partly about what Qadaffy's forces are going to be doing."
Arming the rebels raises several controversial issues for the United States. It might necessitate sending in American troops to help train the fighters, and it would mean handing over weapons to forces whose composition is not entirely known.
Both issues have raised concerns among US politicians and are not likely to disappear, especially after NATO's top commander, US Admiral James Stavridis, testified before the US Senate on Tuesday that he had seen "flickers" of intelligence indicating Hezbullies and al-Qaeda involvement among the rebels.
Turton said opposition officials in Benghazi, most of them "everyday people", aren't concerned about an bully boy influence in their ranks.
"It is a conservative society here in Libya, but they're not talking about those people within their ranks, and their concern is that that's the sort of proaganda, they say, that Colonel Qadaffy was putting out when they first started this push against him, and in a way, even talking about it is playing into his hands," she said.
Obama justifies intervention
Hours before the rebel retreat from Bin Jawad, Barack Obama, the US president, defended his country's involvement in the military campaign in Libya in a televised address to the nation.
Speaking to military officers and news hounds at the National Defence University in Washington on Monday night, Obama said he refused to wait for images of the slaughter of civilians before taking action.
Obama said the Western-led air campaign had stopped Qadaffy's advances and halted a slaughter that could have shaken the stability of an entire region and "stained the conscience of the entire world".
"Some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries," he said. "The United States of America is different."
But he said that broadening the international mission to include regime change would be a mistake.
Political developments
"If we tried to overthrow Qadaffy by force, our coalition would splinter," he said.
The US took the initial lead in the Western-led military action against Qadaffy before the recent NATO decision to take over the operations. Obama said the United States will transfer control to NATO on Wednesday.
Obama said once that transfer occurs, the risk and cost to US taxpayers will be reduced significantly.
Al Jizz's Patty Culhane, reporting from Washington, said Obama's speech had two striking contradictions.
"The president said we must stand alongside those who work for freedom and at the same time he said we cannot be the policeman of the world only when it applies to our national interest," Culhane said.
"The president [seems to] be trying to explain why we have seen a lesser response to allies like Bahrain or Yemen."
[Emirates 24/7] Uganda would welcome Muammar Qadaffy if he requested asylum, Al Arabiya reported on Wednesday after Western and others states suggested the Libyan leader should go into exile to end the conflict in his country.
The television channel did not give further details about the African state's offer.
The United States, Britain and Qatar, which joined others at a meeting on Libya in London on Tuesday, suggested Qadaffy and his family could be allowed to go into exile if they took up the offer quickly to end six weeks of bloodshed.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2011 00:00 ||
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[The Nation (Nairobi)] China's President Hu Jintao ...Hu has been involved in the Communist party bureaucracy for most of his adult life, meaning his viewpoint has a lot more theory than it does practice. He espouses a Harmonious Society approach, suggesting everybody should play nice or they'll be shot... Wednesday warned French leader Nicolas Sarkozy ...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... that air strikes on Libya could violate the "original intention" of the UN resolution authorising them if civilians suffer.
The tough talk from Hu came during a meeting at the start of Sarkozy's mini-tour of Asia, which will include a G20 meeting on global monetary reform and a stop in disaster-struck Japan.
"The aim of the UN's resolution is to stop violence and protect civilians," state television quoted Hu as saying in a meeting with Sarkozy. "If the military action brings disaster to innocent civilians and creates a bigger humanitarian crisis, that would violate the original intention of the Security Council resolution."
China has been increasingly critical of the current military operation in Libya, despite not having used its UN Security Council veto to block the resolution approving it. Instead, it abstained from the vote.
La Belle France, on the other hand, has taken the lead in the coalition campaign against Libyan leader Moamer Qadaffy ... Custodian of Wheelus AFB for 42 long years ... -- who is fighting an insurgency against his 41-year rule -- along with the United States and Britain.
The air strikes began on March 19 under the resolution approving a no-fly zone over Libya aimed at protecting civilians from the forces of Qadaffy as they battle rebels.
Hu told Sarkozy the use of force was no answer to problems, but would only make them more complicated, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
"Dialogue and other peaceful means are the ultimate solutions to problems," he was quoted as saying.
Sarkozy, meanwhile, said that La Belle France also hoped to resolve the Libyan crisis through political and diplomatic means, Xinhua reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2011 00:00 ||
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[Arab News] A sweeping array of world powers -- from the United States to the United Nations ... aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... , from the vaporous Arab League to NATO -- spoke from the same script Tuesday in forcefully calling for Libya's Muammar Qadaffy to step down. Some even hinted at secret talks on Qadaffy's exit.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton ... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another William Jennings Bryan ... and British Foreign Secretary William Hague led the crisis talks in London between 40 countries and institutions, all seeking an endgame aimed at halting Qadaffy's bloody onslaught against Libya's people.
Although the NATO-led Arclight airstrikes on Qadaffy's forces that began March 19 aren't aimed at toppling him, dozens of nations agreed in the talks that Libya's future does not include the dictator at the helm.
"Qadaffy has lost the legitimacy to lead, so we believe he must go. We're working with the international community to try to achieve that outcome," Clinton told news hounds.
As she spoke, US officials announced that American ships and submarines in the Mediterranean had unleashed a barrage of cruise missiles at Libyan missile storage facilities in the Tripoli area late Monday and early Tuesday -- the heaviest attack in days.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle echoed Clinton's point.
"One thing is quite clear and has to be made very clear to Qadaffy: His time is over. He must go," Westerwelle said. "We must destroy his illusion that there is a way back to business as usual if he manages to cling to power."
Both Clinton and the representatives of Libya's opposition -- who held a raft of talks on the margins of the London summit -- acknowledged there were few signs that Qadaffy is heeding those demands. There was no immediate comment from Russia, which abstained in the UN vote authorizing the no-fly zone over Libya to protect civilians.
"He will have to make a decision," Clinton said. "And that decision, so far as we're aware, has not yet been made." Diplomats rejected suggestions that Qadaffy could be granted immunity if he accepted the call to retreat but said work was under way to find a possible sanctuary for him.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
"One thing is quite clear and has to be made very clear to Qadaffy: His time is over. He must go," Westerwelle said.
That's big talk, Mr. Westerweinie. Whatcha gonna do about it? You gonna send Hillary after him?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/31/2011 11:36 Comments ||
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#2
Oh please, I so want to see her head on a stick.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/31/2011 14:58 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] Bahrain's Shiite opposition head Ali Salman on Wednesday warned Iran and Soddy Arabia against using his country as a "battlefield" in a proxy war.
Salman urged Iran to keep out of the Sunni-ruled state's affairs and called on Saudi troops to leave the country.
Bahrain's foreign minister, meanwhile, renewed accusations that Leb's Shiite gang Hizbullah, which is backed by Tehran, was "training" regime opponents in the Shiite-majority country.
"We urge Iran not to meddle in Bahraini internal affairs," opposition head Ali Salman said, also demanding the withdrawal of Saudi-led troops in a joint Gulf force deployed in Bahrain since mid-March to help quash the protests.
"We demand Soddy Arabia withdraw the Peninsula Shield forces," he told a presser. "We do not want Bahrain to turn into a battlefield" for Soddy Arabia, which is predominantly Sunni, and Shiite Iran, its arch-foe.
Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said last week that bringing in Gulf troops was a "strategic and political" blunder that would cost the Bahraini regime its "legitimacy".
Twenty-four people, four of them police, were killed in a month of unrest, Bahrain's Interior Minister Rashed bin Abdullah Al-Khalifa said on Tuesday, linking the troubles to Hizbullah.
Foreign Minister Khaled bin Ahmad Al-Khalifa, in an interview with Al-Hayat newspaper, said Manama had "proof" of "plotting with Hizbullah" and of training in Leb on how to organize mass protests.
But authorities in Bahrain have no intention of taking steps against Lebanese expatriates living in the kingdom, he said.
The foreign minister said his country, which has been widely condemned over the use of deadly force to crush unrest, had feared its Shiite-led protests could spark sectarian conflict in other Gulf states.
"There have been sectarian tensions everywhere" for centuries, he told Al-Hayat. "Bahrain was afraid sectarian confrontations would break out not only in Bahrain but in all other regions."
Sheikh Khaled argued that unrest in Bahrain was fired not so much by political opposition but rather a sectarian division.
"We want to affirm to the world that we don't have a problem between the government and the opposition ... There is a clear sectarian problem in Bahrain. There is division within society," he said.
At Wednesday's news conference, Salman who heads the opposition Shiite bloc Al-Wefaq, accused the government of using "the security option to shut the door to dialogue".
Last month, Bahrain's Crown Prince Sheikh Salman, with the encouragement of Washington, offered to start an open dialogue with all parties on the issues which sparked the protests.
But the opposition says it refuses to be coerced into talks.
Salman said opposition supporters were not being called on to stage fresh protests or to confront security forces. On Saturday, a day of mourning is to be held for the "martyrs" of the protests, he said.
On March 16, security forces drove the pro-democracy protesters out of central Manama's Pearl Square and demolished their camp under a state of emergency put in place for three months.
Bahrain's 40-member parliament on Tuesday accepted the resignation of 11 out of 18 MPs from Salman's Wefaq, exposing them to possible legal action, after a news blackout on the arrests of top activists.
Al-Wefaq MPs resigned en masse in February in protest at the use of deadly force against demonstrators.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
bet he said that with a *wink* to Iran
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/31/2011 11:19 Comments ||
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I wouldn't bet against that Frank G. since 90% of the Bahrainians are Shite. BTW, is there are silent e or not?
[Yemen Post] The Joint Meeting Parties, the opposition coalition, accused Yemen's regime of colluding with violent groups in the country including Al-Qaeda, as they condemned on Tuesday the blast at an ammunition factory in Abyan province in the south.
President-for-Life Saleh ... exemplifying the Arab's propensity to combine brutality with incompetence... and his relatives were the only responsible for the blast, the coalition said in a statement, adding that the blast was a heinous crime and a clear sign of the collusion of the regime with the illegal groups as the government has started handing over public institutions and military equipment in Abyan to Al-Qaeda.
The blast, which killed at least 150 people so far and injured scores of others, was orchestrated and came within chaos the regime is inciting as the public pressure on Saleh to resign intensifies, the statement said.
Calling its supporters to form popular committees in all cities, towns and villages to protect the citizens and public and private properties from chaos of the regime, the coalition said that the survival of President Saleh in office poses a serious threat to Yemen, its people, the foreign interests and the regional and international security.
Meanwhile, ...back at the palazzo, Count Guido had escaped his bonds... a spokesmen for the Dialogue Preparatory Committee has accused the Pentagon of colluding with the Yemeni government to face the popular uprising, saying spreading chaos and carnage including the blast in Abyan is a sign of coming organized crime.
Saleh's attempts to cling to power will not succeed because the people are very determined to oust him, Muhammad Al-Sabri said, as he offered condolences to the families of the victims.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2011 00:00 ||
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[Yemen Post] Group fights took place between members from Islah Party (pro Sunni) and Houthis (pro Shite) at Sana'a University's Change Square where thousands of anti President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, after serving as a lieutenant colonel in the army. He had been part of the conspiracy that bumped off his predecessor, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, in the usual tiresome military coup, and he has maintained power by keeping Yemen's many tribes fighting with each other, rather than uniting to string him up. ... protesters are demanding the fall of his regime.
This fighting resulted in wounding nine from both sides.
Eyewitnesses said the fighting started when the two sides differed on who should control the stage of speech at Sana'a University protest area.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2011 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Wednesday got time till May 15 to complete the investigation into the sensational Chittagong arms haul case.
Metropolitan Sessions Judge AKM Shamsul Islam extended the time upon a time prayer submitted by CID on Sunday, two days before the expiry of previously extended time, reports our staff correspondent in Chittagong.
CID's senior assistant superintendent of police (ASP) Moniruzzaman Chowdhury, also the investigation officer (IO) of the case, filed the petition seeking 60-day time extension for the 12th times in the case.
Public Prosecutor Kamal Uddin hoped that the CID would be able to complete its probe by this time and submit the report before the court timely.
Police and coastguards seized 10 truckloads of 10,000 arms, including submachine-guns, AK-47 rifles, and ammunition from the Chittagong Urea Fertilizer Limited (CUFL) jetty on April 2 in 2004.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2011 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] Britain has expelled Libya's military attache and four other diplomats in protest and for intimidating opposition groups in London, the foreign minister has said.
A government source quoted by Rooters said the diplomats, believed to be supporters of Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy, ... a proud Arab institution for 42 years ... have been given seven days to leave.
Speaking to British politicians, William Hague said the move was to "underline our grave concern at the regime's behaviour".
"... we have today taken steps to expel five diplomats at the Libyan embassy in London, including the military attache," he said in parliament on Wednesday.
"The government also judged that, were those individuals to remain in Britain, they could pose a threat to our security."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2011 00:00 ||
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[Straits Times] CHINESE authorities executed three Filipino drug mules on Wednesday, triggering condemnation in the Catholic Philippines and despair for relatives who witnessed their final moments.
'I just want to inform you that our three compatriots have been executed,' Vice-president Jejomar Binay announced over local radio, although there being no public announcement from the Chinese government. 'It is a sad day for all of us. Until the last moment, we did everything we could to save the three.'
The three - Ramon Credo, 42, Sally Villanueva, 32, and Elizabeth Batain, 38 - were nabbed separately in China in 2008 for smuggling heroin and sentenced to death. The Philippine government had made repeated appeals in recent months to spare the lives of the trio, including by sending Binay to Beijing on a mission to have their sentences commuted to life in jail.
But the Chinese government insisted there would be no favours for the trio, and that their cases would be dealt with according to domestic laws. The three were allowed to meet their relatives for an hour before they were put to death through lethal injection, in what turned out to be devastatingly emotional encounters.
'She was crying, she was partly incoherent. She had a lot of things to say,' said Mr Jason Ordinario, a brother of Villanueva who along with another sister and their parents met her as the final verdict was read in a court in Xiamen city. 'She asked us to take care of her children and make sure they can finish studies,' he told DZBB radio from China.
Villanueva's relatives said she did not know that she was due to be executed on Wednesday, and was surprised to see her family there. 'I was the first one to see her, we locked eyes and we both cried. She said what are you doing here, why are you all crying, am I going to die,' younger sister Mylene said on DZBB.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
This approach would take care of our drug smuggler problems on our border.
[An Nahar] A court on Wednesday ordered the race hate trial of Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders to go ahead.
The trial opened in October last year, but was abruptly halted three weeks later when the judges trying him were ordered to step down by a panel of their peers who upheld the politician's claims of bias.
But the Amsterdam court on Wednesday dismissed the MP's objections that the court and prosecutors were not competent to try him because the alleged offenses were not committed in Amsterdam.
"The trial will continue," chief judge Marcel van Oosten told the court.
Wilders, 47, faces five counts of giving offence to Mohammedans and of inciting hatred against Mohammedans and people of non-Western immigrant origin, particularly Moroccans, in numerous public statements since October 2006.
Wilders has called Islam "fascist", likened the Koran to Hitler's "Mein Kampf" and campaigned for a ban on the burqa and the building of new mosques in the Netherlands.
He shot to international notoriety in 2008 with the release of his short film, "Fitna", which mixes Koranic verses with footage of Islamic exemplar attacks.
Wilders lawyers claimed that the film was released on the Internet in the United States and was not released in Amsterdam but van Oosten said the even so it was aimed at a Dutch audience.
"The film is, when you take into account its contents and sub-titles in the Dutch language, destined for a Dutch audience," he told the court.
The MP, whose Party for Freedom gives parliamentary support to a right-leaning coalition, faces up to a year in jail or a 7,600 euro (10,300 dollar) fine for comments made in his campaign to "stop the Islamisation of the Netherlands".
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2011 00:00 ||
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#2
In a sense, Good riddance.
At least to the Kleptokrats.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/31/2011 15:02 Comments ||
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#3
The last time they tried holding a trial, the prosecution called for the case to be thrown out as baseless, and the judges were dismissed for bias. It will be very interesting to see what MP Wilders and his legal team do this time to tie the Powers That Be in knots.
#4
This trial, the more unfair it gets, may prove to be the best vote getter that Wilders' party could hope for.
Right now, they are not in the government, but the government has to consult with them, in exchange for support. This is the cat bird's seat of considerable power but no responsibility. Yet without publicity, they could fade from view.
Enter the trial. Every time they open their mouths at Wilders, it refreshes the public mind about his parties issues, and why the government is trying to persecute him unfairly, for stating the truth.
Win or lose, at this point he wins. If they convict him, at the next elections, his party will probably be the majority.
BROWNSVILLE -- A new law enforcement bulletin warns that members of drug cartels have been overheard plotting to kill federal agents and Texas Rangers who guard the border, officials in Washington reported Thursday.
The bulletin, which was issued in March, said cartel members planned to use AK-47 assault rifles to shoot agents and Rangers from across the border. It did not name the cartels.
The information was released at a hearing before a panel of the House Committee on Homeland Security. The Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations and Management addressed "The U.S. Homeland Security Role in the Mexican War Against the Drug Cartels."
U.S. Rep. Michael T. McCaul, R-Texas, talked briefly about the bulletin at the hearing. He said this and other findings he cited "are acts of terrorism as defined by law. The shooting of Special Agent Zapata and Avila is a game changer, which alters the landscape of United State's involvement in Mexico's war against drug cartels."
He was referring to Jaime Jorge Zapata, 32, a Brownsville native and special agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who was killed on Feb. 15 while on duty in Mexico. Injured in the same attack was Special Agent Victor Avila. Members of the Zetas criminal organization are suspected in the attack.
In response to the attack, ICE has brought back its agents from Mexico for additional training, Alvarez said.
"We have provided them with some defensive driving tactics so they can carry out their mission and be prepared for whatever they are going to withstand down in Mexico," he said. I am sure arms provided by Holder and Obama via the ATF to the Drug Cartels will be in play as well. However, Obama said the agent in Mexico will not be armed. If this happens, prison time for Obama and Holder is a serious option. And the Texas Rangers should arrest them if they ever set foot in Texas again if more US Law Enforcement deaths occur.
#1
I wouldn't mess with the Texas Rangers. It's not the same thing as messing with ICE or local sheriff's. They will hunt you down and fuck up your day.
Posted by: Mr. Bill ||
03/31/2011 23:29 Comments ||
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#1
After repeated efforts, they just let them go. WTF?
"Now, don't come back unless you have guns or bombs or something, because we don't want to have to fill out a pile of paperwork if we have to arrest you."
A Portland, Ore.-bound flight made a "level two emergency" stop in Chicago Tuesday night after passengers said three men, reportedly of Middle Eastern descent, were acting strangely, even fighting with flight crews.
At least one of the men walked back to the area of the plane where flight attendants work, laid down and began complaining of illness. That man engaged in "some sort of altercation" with the flight attendant, a passenger said.
At one point another man, who was pacing back and forth in the aisles, also got into a "verbal altercation" with a flight attendant, according to a passenger.
Other men of Middle Eastern descent were passing notes and writing in their notebooks, a source told NBC Chicago.
United contacted officials at O'Hare and alerted them that the flight, which originated in Washington D.C., would stop. The flight was diverted to Chicago.
Three passengers were removed from the aircraft, and the remaining passengers were re-screened through security, before being sent on their way.
#3
Just shows that Mohamadeen warriors are all over the place in this country.
Posted by: Whese Scourge of the Weak1836 ||
03/31/2011 10:53 Comments ||
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#4
how about a no-fly for Jihadis here, Oblahblah? Profile these a-holes
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/31/2011 11:26 Comments ||
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#5
lotp and gromky are both right...
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/31/2011 12:18 Comments ||
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#6
Thats why you always take an asile seat, and elbow the moslems in the larynx when they get uppity on a flight. Scumbags. Charge them for the diversion, gate time, and sue them or their financiers if they do not pay. This childish bullshit happens way too much. If I see it on a craft - you had better believe I will act.
[Arab News] US appeals court judges on Tuesday rejected what a Guantanamo Bay detainee's defense because they found it unlikely he was an innocent who repeatedly just happened to find himself at hot spots in the war against Al-Qaeda.
Uthman Abdul Rahim Mohammed Uthman of Yemen won a lower court decision granting his release after more than nine years at the US naval prison for terror suspects in Cuba.
But a three-judge appellate panel overturned that ruling.
Just because he was from Yemen...
Uthman says he was mistaken as an Al-Qaeda fighter fleeing US bombardment of Tora Bora when he was captured at the Afghan-Pak border in December 2001. The US government says Uthman was one of Osama Bin Laden's bodyguards and fought against anti-Taliban forces, claims he denied.
Uthman said he went to Afghanistan to teach the Qur'an
Because Afghanistan doesn't have enough madrassah teachers...
It seems Yemenis have the perfect accent, always worth paying extra to acquire.
and was doing so in Kabul on Sept. 11, 2001. He said he decamped after the United States began fighting the Taliban regime, but instead of taking the more direct eastward route to Pakistain he followed his interpreter south through the mountainous region toward Tora Bora. That's where Bin Laden had relocated as Al-Qaeda gathered for a major battle against the United States and its allies and where Uthman says he happened to meet up with some schoolmates he was later captured with.
Boy howdy but is the world ever a small place...
The school they had attended was the Furqan Institute, a religious school in Yemen where Al-Qaeda had recruited fighters. Among those schoolmates in Uthman's group were two admitted Bin Laden bodyguards and a Taliban fighter.
Even smaller...
The court also found that Uthman traveled to Afghanistan along a route used by Al-Qaeda recruits and was seen at an Al-Qaeda guesthouse. Uthman said none of that proved he was a member of Al-Qaeda.
"No, no, certainly not!"
"Uthman's account piles coincidence upon coincidence upon coincidence," the appeals court wrote. "Here, as with the liable or guilty party in any civil or criminal case, it remains possible that Uthman was innocently going about his business and just happened to show up in a variety of extraordinary places. But Uthman's account at best strains credulity, and the far more likely explanation for the plethora of damning circumstantial evidence is that he was part of Al-Qaeda."
US District Judge Henry Kennedy Jr. had ruled that the US government did not prove that Uthman received and executed orders from Al-Qaeda, the so-called "command structure test." But since that ruling, the appeals court has rejected that formal standard for determining whether a detainee was part of Al-Qaeda and instead ordered that judges look at each detainee's actions individually to determine if he was a member of the terrorist group.
An outbreak of common sense? Can't be the Ninth Circus Court...
The appeals court also found Uthman's version suspicious because he claimed he paid for his travel to Afghanistan himself primarily by working summers selling food at a roadside shack. But the government argued Uthman would have had to earn more than three times the average Yemeni's annual income in only a few summers of unskilled work. The lower court found that Uthman actually received the money from a well-moneyed sheik, and the appeals court said the false statement was strong evidence of his guilt.
According to a count by the Justice Department, judges in the Washington federal court have now ordered the release of 34 detainees and ruled that 21 are being properly held.
But many of those who have won their right to release remain at Guantanamo Bay because no other country will accept them.
But they're innocent, you know...
This article starring:
Uthman Abdul Rahim Mohammed Uthman
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2011 00:00 ||
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A jacket wallah on a cycle of violencewent kaboom!" near a police checkpoint in Swabi on Wednesday, killing ten people and wounding more than 20, police and hospital officials said.
Police chief Abdullah Jan said the checkpoint was close to a camp set up by a religious political party for a public meeting in the town.
"Seven people was struck down in his prime and three more gave up the ghost in the hospital," he said.
"We have recovered the body parts of the suicide bomber." Nurul Wahid, the doctor in charge of the emergency ward at the state-run Swabi hospital, confirmed the toll.
"We have 10 bodies. The dead included two coppers also," he said. A total of 21 people were receiving treatment, Wahid added.
The meeting was planned by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) party led by Maulana Fazlur Rehman. Known as Mullah Diesel during the war against the Soviets, his sympathies for the Taliban have never been tempered by honesty ... The event was cancelled after the bombing.
Rehman was on his way to the venue when the blast happened, party front man Jalil Jan told AFP.
"He is safe and the meeting has been cancelled," Jan told AFP. "We can't immediately identify the attackers. We don't know who is involved. But we can say the target appears to be the JUI leadership.
"Six party supporters were martyred and seven maimed," he said.
Police official Hayatullah Khan told AFP Rehman's convoy was set to enter the town when the blast hit.
"We were lined up and party members came out from a nearby reception camp. Suddenly there was a huge blast amid welcome slogans by party workers. Shrapnel hit me and I received injuries to my head and leg," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2011 00:00 ||
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A Pak security official said Wednesday that Umar Patek, an alleged criminal mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombing, has been nabbed by Pak security agencies.
The official would not say when and where he was nabbed.
"Yes it is confirmed we have nabbed him, he is in Pakistain," the official told AFP.
Asked if he was linked to any bad turban group in Pakistain he said they were investigating.
"Right now he is being interrogated," the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, ... for fear of being murdered... said.
Indonesian security officials will be given access to him, he added. "The Indonesians want access to him and they are coming," he said.
Patek, who has a $1million bounty on his head, was the alleged field coordinator for the attacks on night clubs on Bali, which placed mainly Mohammedan Indonesia on the front lines of the global battle against militancy.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2011 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] Israeli aircraft have killed a Paleostinian and maimed another as they rode a cycle of violence in the southern Gazoo Strip, medical officials have said.
Israel's military confirmed carrying out Wednesday's dawn strike, saying it targeted Paleostinians who had launched a short-range rocket across the border on Tuesday.
No one was hurt in that attack, which followed a surge in fighting around Gazoo this month.
A statement issued by the al-Quds Brigade, Islamic Jihad's armed wing, said the two belonged to their organisation, but had been going to pray when they were attacked.
Smuggling tunnel attacked
A second attack by Israeli warplanes targeted a tunnel in the southern Gazoo Strip used to smuggle goods from Egypt, said a member of the Paleostinian security services.
On Tuesday, an Israeli police front man said a rocket fired from the Gazoo Strip into Israel had went kaboom! in a field, causing no casualties.
But last Friday, Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, said Israel was ready to act with "great force" in response to rocket and mortar attacks.
When on Sunday an Israeli air strike killed two Gazoo fighters, the al-Quds Brigade threatened to respond.
Gazoo's Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, rulers later the same day issued a statement repeating a call for calm agreed with Islamic Jihad and other factions at a meeting on Saturday.
But exchanges of fire between Israel and Islamic Jihad have persisted.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2011 00:00 ||
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[Ma'an] A 40-year-old policeman was jugged by Israeli forces from the village of Awarta overnight Tuesday, a day after dozens were rounded up in connection to a murder investigation involving a settler family from the adjacent Itamar settlement.
In the early days of the investigation, two security officers living in the village were said to have been jugged. The village was then put on military lockdown, with a five day curfew. At least 40 were jugged during the curfew, who village officials said were fingerprinted and taken for DNA testing.
A second curfew was imposed last week, with several more jugged.
Tuesday morning's detentions saw dozens taken into the custody of Israeli forces.
Police identified the latest man jugged from the village of Awarta as Samih Ilias Al-Qadi. An Israeli military front man said he could not comment on events in the village.
The investigation of the grisly Itamar murders, which saw five members of the Fogel family stabbed in their beds on March 11, including two children and an infant, was put under gag-order by Israeli officials, and details of the investigation are prohibited in the country's media.
Israeli politicians pointed to Paleostinian thug groups as the investigation got underway, but no group came forward to claim the killings.
The Itamar settlement and Awarta village are both in Area C, and so under Israeli civil and military control.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2011 00:00 ||
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Two paramilitary rangers were wounded in an attack on their operations base in Yala province late Tuesday night.
An unknown number of attackers fired six M79 grenades at the rangers military outpost late last night. The two injured rangers have been identified as Surask Kaewpeng, 24, and Pramote Khunlum, 28.
The militants also sprayed bullets from M16s at the rangers, who returned fire. The attackers stopped after about 10 minutes.
In a separate attack, suspected terrorists militants fired M16 rifles at a police operations in Yalas Tarnto district late Tuesday night. Police returned fire and the attackers left after about five minutes. No injuries were reported.
[Straits Times] A LAWYER says three Mexican brothers jugged on suspicion of producing methamphetamine at a Malaysian factory face the death penalty if convicted of drug trafficking.
Prosecutor Umar Saifuddin Jaafar said Wednesday that the Kuala Lumpur High Court is scheduled to hear defense lawyers present their case in late April.
The three suspects were charged together with a Malaysian and a Singaporean in March 2008 with drug trafficking.
The offense carries a mandatory penalty of death by hanging on conviction.
All five were jugged at a factory in Malaysia's southern Johor state where police found more than 63 pounds (29 kilograms) of methamphetamine worth 44 million ringgit ($15 million).
The suspects' brother in Mexico has urged their country's government to help them in the case.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
I think that is an appropriate punishment for producing and selling drugs.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
03/31/2011 9:52 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV] Syrian security forces have disbanded a terrorist cell in the capital Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... as mass rallies were held throughout the country in support of hereditary President Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad. One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. Also head of Syria's Baath Party, an old-fashioned fascist operation that's seldom described as one in the press...
The seven beturbanned goons were caught in the Damascus neighborhood of Mezzeh-86 on Tuesday night, after police authorities received a tip off on their whereabouts, IRNA reported on Wednesday.
The terror elements, among them three non-Syrian Arabs, have been taken into police custody and a full-scale investigation is underway.
The arrests were made on the same day as millions of Syrians erupted into the streets across the country to stress the importance of preserving the national unity and stability and voice support for President Assad following some scattered protest rallies and armed disturbances against the government.
Syrian authorities say they have tossed in the calaboose foreign elements believed to be behind the recent unrest in the country.
Assad has been the president of Syria for the past 11 years. He took office in 2000 following the death of his father, Hafez al-Assad, who led the country for three decades.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2011 00:00 ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] Syrian hereditary President Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. Also head of Syria's Baath Party, an old-fashioned fascist operation that's seldom described as one in the press... blamed "conspirators" Wednesday for an extraordinary wave of dissent against his authoritarian rule, but he failed to lift the country's despised emergency law or offer any concessions in his first speech since the protests began nearly two weeks ago.
Assad said Syria is facing "a major conspiracy" that aims to weaken this country of 23 million. The Assad family has ruled Syria for nearly 40 years, using the feared security services to monitor and control even the smallest rumblings of opposition. Draconian laws have all but eradicated civil liberties and political freedoms.
"We don't seek battles," Assad, 45, said in an unusually short, televised speech before politicians who cheered for him and shouted support from their seats. "But if a battle is imposed on us today, we welcome it."
Assad's speech was surprising not so much for what he said but for what he left out. His adviser, Bouthaina Shaaban, said last week that Syria had formed a committee to study a series of reforms and constitutional amendments, including lifting the state of emergency laws, in place since Assad's Baath party took power in 1963.
Assad had been widely expected to formally announce those changes. But the fact that he failed to mention any of them was a major disappointment for thousands of protesters who have taken to the streets since March 18, calling for reform. Human rights groups say more than 60 people have been killed as security forces cracked down on the demonstrations.
Within minutes of his speech, social networking sites went kaboom! with activists expressing major disappointment, with some calling on Syrians to take to the streets immediately.
"The fact that he is blaming everything on conspirators means that he does not even acknowledge the root of the problem," said Razan Zaitouneh, a Syrian lawyer and pro-reform activist. "I don't have an explanation for this speech, I am in a state of shock ... There are already calls for a day of anger on Friday. This cannot sit well with the Syrian people."
Assad, who inherited power 11 years ago from his father, appears to be following the playbook of other autocratic leaders in the region who scrambled to put down popular uprisings by offering minor concessions and brutal crackdowns.
The formula failed in Tunisia and Egypt, where popular demands increased almost daily -- until people accepted nothing less than the ouster of the regime.
The unrest in Syria, a strategically important country, could have implications well beyond its borders given its role as Iran's top Arab ally and as a front line state against Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, a member of AMAL, a not very subtle Hizbullah sock puppet... assured on Wednesday that the government formation is underway and "it will be formed sooner or later, but the timing has not been set yet."
Addressing developments in Syria during his weekly parliamentary meeting, he said: "The situation in Syria was already stable and it will always stand as the fort of Arabism."
"It not only expresses the positions of the Syrian people, but those of the entire Arab world," he stressed.
"Yesterday's scenes from the Arab world confirm that Syrian President Bashar Assad's drive towards development and modernization will continue," Berri continued.
The speaker held a telephone call Assad during which they discussed the latest developments.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/31/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Why did I think that headline referred to our Barry and why would that not be unexpected?
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.
leader Muammar Qadaffy.
[Iran Press TV] Forces loyal to beleaguered Libyan ruler Muammar Qadaffy have pushed back Libyan revolutionaries and taken back eastern Libyan oil town of Ras Lanuf.
Hillary Clinton
Moamer Qadaffy
President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
[Straits Times] CHINESE authorities executed three Filipino drug mules on Wednesday, triggering condemnation in the Catholic Philippines and despair for relatives who witnessed their final moments.
jacket wallah
[Al Jazeera] Israeli aircraft have killed a Paleostinian and 
[Straits Times] A LAWYER says three Mexican brothers 
hereditary President Bashir 
