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Rebels claim Brega
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 6: Politix
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 04/03/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Looks like Bela Lugosi in drag...
Posted by: Warthog || 04/03/2011 0:57 Comments || Top||

#2  It IS Bela Lugosi in drag.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 04/03/2011 2:11 Comments || Top||

#3  Birthday/Daily Gam Shot

Jan Sterling aka Sally McKee in "The High and the Mighty" aka Julia in "1984" aka Madge Pitts in "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" aka Nelly Bain in "Man with the Gun" aka Arlene Williams in "High School Confidential!" (Died in 2004 at age 82)



Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 04/03/2011 3:33 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Obama burned in effigy in Afghanistan - again
In the eastern city of Jalalabad, hundreds of demonstrators peacefully blocked a main road for three hours on Sunday.

The crowd shouted for US troops to leave Afghanistan and burnt an effigy of Mr Obama, according to an Associated Press photographer at the scene.

The UN's coward in chief (the story calls him chief envoy) to Afghanistan, Staffan de Mistura, blamed Friday's violence in the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif on the Florida pastor who burnt the Koran on 20 March.

youtube of an Obama effigy buring in 2009 here. and here
Posted by: Lord Garth || 04/03/2011 10:58 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  blamed Friday's violence in the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif on the Florida pastor who burnt the Koran on 20 March.

And women in tight clothes are to blame for their rapes.

You think there'll come a time when Obama is burned in effigy here?
Posted by: AlanC || 04/03/2011 13:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Nah! That would probably be racist and a hate crime. No matter about 1st amendment rights. But then again 2012 is a long way off.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/03/2011 14:29 Comments || Top||

#3  You think there'll come a time when Obama is burned in effigy here? After the food riots.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/03/2011 18:02 Comments || Top||

#4  Can we leave this hell hole now. Please. These savages are not worth on more dime of our treasure or one more drop of our blood.
Posted by: remoteman || 04/03/2011 20:59 Comments || Top||

#5  "And women in tight clothes are to blame for their rapes."

That is the way these savages "think," Alan. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/03/2011 21:11 Comments || Top||

#6  Now the Marxists Democrats are chimming in sayin Americans have too many freedoms or somethin.
Posted by: Large Huputer7595 || 04/03/2011 23:34 Comments || Top||


10 Killed, 81 Hurt in Kandahar Koran Protest
[Tolo News] At least 10 people were killed and 81 others were maimed on Saturday during a demonstration protesting at the recent burning of the Koran by a US pastor, local officials said.

Zalmai Ayubi, a front man for governor of Kandahar, told TOLOews that 10 people were killed and 81 others were maimed in the incident.

The demonstrators erupted into the streets shouting anti-US slogans but slowly turned violent.

Witnesses said the protesters gathered in front of Kandahar Police HQ, but the protest suddenly turned violent and still gunfire can be heard.

Protesters have reportedly burnt cars and rickshaws and car tyres in different parts of the city.

Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs ordered police forces to use their utmost possibilities to curb the out-burst of such demonstrations in the future.

The demonstration comes a day after people in Mazar-e-Sharif burnt staged a protest against the Koran burning which turned violent in which 7 UN foreign workers and 4 Afghan non-combatants were killed.

Meanwhile,
...back at the laboratory the fumes had dispersed, to reveal an ominous sight...
a protest was staged in Herat city on Friday during which people condemned the burning of the Koran and called it an insult to all the Mohammedans of the world.
Posted by: Fred || 04/03/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


4 Suicide Bombers Killed in Attack on Nato Base in Kabul
[Tolo News] At least four burka-clad jacket wallahs were killed on Saturday morning while approaching Camp Phoenix, a Nato base in Kabul, officials said.

The incident happened when four suicide kaboomers reached near Camp Phoenix on the Kabul-Jalalabad highway near the city with two blowing themselves up, but foreign forces bumped off the other two, Head of Kabul Criminal Investigation Department, Mohammad Zaher told TOLOnews.

One Afghan civilian was also killed in the attack and there were no reports about anyone being maimed, he added.
Summary: four cross-dressing walking bombs sacrifice themselves to send one fellow-believer to Paradise, while they end up with their intestines roasting over hot coals in Hell. How clever they must feel just now.
One of the suicide bombers attacked with small arms before they were both killed, officials said.
Well done, O Camp Phoenix guards!
The Taliban have grabbed credit for the attack.

"I came here to buy something when I heard a blast and firing in the area" an eyewitness told TOLOnews news hound.

Camp Phoenix is a Nato base in eastern part of the Afghan capital where dozens of US soldiers are stationed.

Insurgents have recently increased their activities in different parts of the country.

Foreign and Afghan forces have launched many military operations in the country to clear volatile areas of cut-thoats.

The first phase of foreign troops' withdrawal process is to begin in July this year, when Afghan forces are expected to take over security responsibilities of 7 areas.
Posted by: Fred || 04/03/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa Horn
Clashes kill 38 people in Mogadishu
At least 38 people have been killed during heavy festivities between Somali government troops backed by African Union forces and al-Shabaab
... Harakat ash-Shabaab al-Mujahidin aka the Mujahideen Youth Movement. It was originally the youth movement of the Islamic Courts, now pretty much all of what's left of it. They are aligned with al-Qaeda but operate more like the Afghan or Pakistani Taliban. The organization's current leader is Ibrahim Haji Jama Mee'aad, also known as Ibrahim al-Afghani. Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, a Kenyan al-Qaeda member, is considered the group's military leader...
fighters in Mogadishu.

Nearly 17 Somali soldiers died on Saturday after fighting broke out in Mogadishu's northern districts of Bondhere and Yaqshid.

More than 21 al-Shaboobs were also killed during the bloody fighting, the Press TV correspondent in Mogadishu reported.

Boilerplate follows...
Somalia has not had a functioning government
since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

The Somali government has struggled for years to restore security but efforts have not yet yielded results in the nation.

Over the past two decades, up to one million people have bit the dust in the fighting between rival factions and due to famine and disease.

There are more than 1.4 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in Somalia, and over 300,000 IDPs are sheltering in Mogadishu alone.

Most of the displaced live in poor and degrading conditions on makeshift sites in southern and central Somalia, according to the United Nations
... aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society...
High Commissioner for Refugees.
Posted by: Fred || 04/03/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


Africa North
Tunisian soldiers fire on protesters
[Al Jazeera] Tunisian soldiers have fired in the air to disperse demonstrators in the southern town of Tozeur, injuring several people, a witness said.

About 50 unemployed workers had gathered on Saturday outside the local government offices in the town demanding to see the governor to voice their anger about a lack of jobs, Imed Bedoui, a union worker, said. When the governor refused to meet the young men and women, they tried to storm the building and soldiers opened fire, he said.
That's one way to handle a townhall meeting...
"Soldiers fired to disperse the demonstrators and some people were maimed, one seriously," Bedoui said by phone.

"He was hit in the chest. I took him myself to hospital. He was in [a] very serious condition."

Government officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

The previous day, police in the capital fired tear gas at a group of an estimated 1,000 demonstrators, some of whom were throwing stones and burning tyres.

Quoting the interior ministry, the national news agency TAP said no one had been injured in Friday's festivities, which came after earlier peaceful demonstrations in Tunis, the capital.

Protesters held two parallel demonstrations in the neighbourhood of the Kasbah, one by a group demanding more economic freedoms and the other by young Islamists shouting "God is great" and other religious slogans.
The Jasmine situation in a nutshell.
Many protesters said security forces continue to act in a repressive manner and words of reforms have not been converted into action.

"There is no change, the people and their understanding of freedom has changed, but the government has not changed and is not attempting to change itself," Wajdi Saeed, one of the protesters in the Kasbah, said on Friday.

The violence in Tozeur and Tunis disrupts a period of relative calm since the popular revolt that ended the autocratic rule of president Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali.

Ben Ali was toppled when rolling mass protests forced him to flee to Soddy Arabia on January 14, ending 23 years in power.

Interim authorities have struggled to restore stability, but last month laid out a plan for a transition to democracy. Tunisia's interim authorities appointed a new government on March 7 and disbanded much of the state security apparatus, notorious for human rights
...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state...

abuses under Ben Ali.
Posted by: Fred || 04/03/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Rebels claim Brega
[Bangla Daily Star] Libyan rebels were claiming victory yesterday in the battle for Brega as heavy fighting
... as opposed to the more usual light or sporadic fighting...
ensued around the oil town amid reports four civilians were among the dead in a Nato air strike nearby.

Although there was no immediate confirmation of the claim Brega had fallen to the rebels, a correspondent at the scene saw seven bodies of pro-Qadaffy fighters and at least 10 burnt-out pick-up trucks along the road between Ajdabiya and Brega, 80 kilometres to the west.

A coalition air raid late on Friday killed 13 people, four of them civilians, some 15 kilometres east of the battleground town of Brega, a rebel civilian official told AFP.

The four civilians were an ambulance driver and three medical students from the second city of Benghazi, who were part of a rebel convoy of five or six vehicles, said Issa Khamis, liaison officer for the rebels' transitional government in the town of Ajdabiya, east of Brega.

The strike came as rebel fighters were shooting tracer fire into the air to celebrate the entry of an advance column into Brega.

"It was a mistake (by the rebel fighters)," Khamis added. "The aircraft thought they were coming under attack and fired on the convoy."

A spokeswoman for Nato, which leads the international coalition, said the alliance was concerned about reports of civilian deaths.

"We are looking into these reports," said Oana Lungescu.

"We are always concerned by reports of civilian casualties. Nato's mission is to protect civilians and civilian areas from the threat of attack," she said, adding no formal investigation had been launched.

Jubilant rebel fighters told how a strike by international aircraft took out at least two vehicles in a convoy of seven heavily armed pick-up trucks and they finished off the rest with rocket-launchers from their hideout in a eucalyptus grove overlooking the highway.

A crater, five metres wide and two metres deep, close by the wrecked trucks, marked where the rebels said the aircraft struck late on Friday.

Brega, 800 kilometres east of Tripoli, has been the scene of intense exchanges over the past few days when pro-Qadaffy forces returned after being driven out by the rebels.

But it has been unclear since Thursday who actually held the town with the rebel forces regrouping in Ajdabiya, 80 kilometres to the east.

Overnight, fighting flared around the rebel-held city of Misrata and air strikes were reported elsewhere in the country after Qadaffy's regime rejected a rebel offer of a ceasefire.

And at the United Nations
... aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society...
, the thorny issue of Western governments arming the rebels set alarm bells ringing.

Coalition forces, meanwhile, strafed positions held by loyalist forces in the Al-Khums and Al-Rojban regions east and southwest of the capital Tripoli late Friday, according to Libyan state television.

An Al-Khums resident told AFP he heard kabooms coming from a local naval base, about 120 kilometres east of the capital, which had been bombed by coalition forces earlier.

Forces loyal to Qadaffy also attacked the third city of Misrata with tanks and rocket fire, a rebel front man said.

In the rebel bastion of Benghazi, Transitional National Council leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil said the opposition was ready for a truce, provided Qadaffy's forces end their assaults on rebel-held cities.

But government front man Mussa Ibrahim rejected the offer, saying Qadaffy's forces would not withdraw from towns they control.

"The rebels never offered peace. They don't offer peace, they are making impossible demands," Ibrahim told news hounds, calling the truce proposal a "trick".
Of course. That's what a hudna is. And ten years maximum, don't forget, just like the Prophet Mohammed did.
"We will not leave our cities. We are the government, not them," he said, adding however that the government was always ready to negotiate and wanted peace.
Posted by: Fred || 04/03/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ION PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > GADDAFI REGIME CAN ONLY BE OVERTURNED?

Yeeeeeep short of covert assassination or death in war, the only other way to entice him to leave is to offer Gaddafi something that will satisfy his massive ego = self-image.

Read, BIG + EXPENSIVE + LUXURIOUS + GUARANTEED.

* SAME > LIBYAN CONFLICT DESCENDING INTO STALEMATE AS US WINDS DOWN AIR STRIKES.

Yep.

* SAME > TRIPOLI STANCE [Gaddafi rejection of Ceasefire Proposal-Terms]WILL PROLONG CONFLICT, SAYS LIBYAN REBELS.

Yep again.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/03/2011 0:37 Comments || Top||

#2  Yeeeeeep short of covert assassination or death in war, the only other way to entice him to leave is to offer Gaddafi something that will satisfy his massive ego = self-image.

How about head of the UN Human Rights Commission?
Posted by: phil_b || 04/03/2011 3:12 Comments || Top||

#3  How about head of the UN Human Rights Commission?

Uh, are we talking 'head' as in job title or 'head' as in head? I'm OK with giving him either one, actually.
Posted by: SteveS || 04/03/2011 3:53 Comments || Top||

#4  Rebels claim a lot of things.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/03/2011 6:05 Comments || Top||

#5  * SAME > LIBYAN CONFLICT DESCENDING INTO STALEMATE AS US WINDS DOWN AIR STRIKES.


IIRC there's a word for that isn't there? Something beginning with a Q?
Posted by: AlanC || 04/03/2011 10:11 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Oman protests resume after deadly clashes
[Arab News] Dozens of protesters staged a sit-in Saturday in the Omani capital to demand probes into alleged state abuses after festivities with security forces left at least one person dead and sharply boosted tensions in the country.

The unrest Friday in the northern industrial city of Sohar -- where the protest movement began more than six weeks ago -- suggests that high-level shake-ups and other concessions by Oman's rulers have fallen short of the demonstrators' demands for greater political freedoms.

In a sign of worries about more violence, military imposed a nighttime curfew in Sohar and stationed units around government offices and other key buildings in the city, about 200 km northwest of the capital, Muscat.

Medical officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media, said a 22-year-old man died early Saturday from injuries in the festivities and at least four other protesters were maimed.

The precise cause of death was not immediately known.

Authorities say they used tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets in "self defense" after the crowds began pelting riot police with stones and brandishing knives, according to a statement by Oman's prosecutor's office.

Protesters, however, claim that police opened fire with live ammunition.

It was the second protest-related death in Oman since protests broke out in late February to demand more job opportunities and a greater public voice in political affairs in the tightly controlled nation. Oman's ruler, Sultan Qaboos bin Said, has replaced more than a dozen Cabinet officials and promised other reforms such as 50,000 new civil servant posts.

But the government has failed to halt the wave of rallies, sit-ins and strikes to pressure for changes that include more media freedoms and weakening the ruling system's grip on power. The protest demands so far have not included the sultan's ouster.

In Muscat, several dozen protesters staged a sit-in outside the chief prosecutor's office to demand the release of people jugged in recent security crackdowns. The demonstrators also appealed for a judicial investigation into the deaths of the two protesters since February.

Protest leaders have urged more demonstrations in Muscat and other cities around the country.
Posted by: Fred || 04/03/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The whole house of cards MME is collapsing.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/03/2011 6:03 Comments || Top||


Military operations to take back hijacked ship
[Emirates 24/7] Anti-Terrorist Special Forces have started a military operation to take control of the ship Arrilah 1 which was hijacked by pirates on Friday morning in the Arabian Sea, an official source from the Headquarters of the UAE Armed Forces, Wam said.
An Abu Dhabi-owned ship has come under attack from pirates in the Arabian Sea while sailing from Australia to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, state news agency WAM said Saturday.

The bulk carrier MV Arrilah-I, was attacked in the early hours of Friday, WAM said quoting a statement by the Abu Dhabi government-owned operator.

"We have been assured that all crew members are safe and in good health. Company management is monitoring the situation closely in coordination with relevant government authorities," it said, without specifying clearly that the vessel had been hijacked.

The statement also did not specify where the ship was in the Arabian Sea when the attack happened.

MV Arrilah-I is a "37,000 metric tonne deadweight, Handy Size Bulk Carrier", according to the statement

It is owned by Abu Dhabi National Tanker Company (ADNATCO) and National Gas Shipping Company (NGSCO) which are subsidiaries of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, and own and operate a fleet of carriers for transporting LNG, petroleum products and sulfur.

They are also involved in the marine transportation of petroleum products, ship bunkering and the bulk transportation of sulphur.
Posted by: Fred || 04/03/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Pirates


Yemen protesters clash with police
[Al Jazeera] Yemen's opposition has proposed a transition plan which would see the country's longtime president hand power to a vice-president while steps are taken towards a national unity government and new elections.

As protests continued across the country calling for Abdullah Ali Saleh to step down, opposition officials said on Saturday that he had yet to respond to the five-point plan.

The president, in power for 32 years, has said he is prepared to leave eventually but an abrupt exit would cause chaos.

On Saturday, he thanked thousands of supporters gathered near the presidential palace for backing the constitution.

"I salute you for your heroic stand and thank you for supporting constitutional legitimacy," he told the crowd amid a sea of his portraits and banners supporting his continued rule.

Yet in the southern province of Aden, thousands of anti-government protesters clashed with anti-riot police backed by tanks.

Protesters demanding the ouster of the president called for a general strike on Saturday and witnesses said many of residents responded by not going to work. Public transport shut down and many shops were closed.

Demonstrators set tyres on fire, sending black smoke in the sky. Troops fired in the air to disperse young people who had erected barricades with large rocks at the entrance of main roads to prevent tanks from moving, witnesses said.

And in the western port of Hudaida, seven protesters were maimed when riot police used batons and teargas to disperse demonstrators calling for Saleh's resignation, residents said.

Saleh has warned that if he is ousted, Yemen will descend into chaos and boost the al-Qaeda presence already in the country.

The opposition plan would see the army and security forces restructured by a vice-president acting as temporary president.

Wide discussions could then be held on constitutional changes, a unity government and new elections, Yemen's opposition coalition said in a statement.

"President-for-Life Saleh
... exemplifying the Arab's propensity to combine brutality with incompetence...
and his entourage are still involved in their crimes and continue to refuse to understand the demands of the people," the opposition said.

Days earlier, Saleh made a fresh offer to demonstrators, proposing he stays in office until elections are held and that he will transfer his powers to a caretaker government.

The offer was made on Tuesday at a meeting with Mohammed al-Yadoumi, head of the Islah party. It was the first time the president had dealt with Islah, once a partner in his government, an opposition spokesmen said.

"The opposition could pick a head of government of its own choosing and there would be parliamentary elections by the end of the year," an opposition source said of Saleh's offer.

The opposition promptly rejected the offer, with a front man calling it "an attempt to prolong the survival of regime".

Weeks of protests by many thousands in Sanaa, the capital, and other cities have sent Saleh's rule to the brink of collapse.

However,
The ever-popular However...
the United States and top oil producer Soddy Arabia, a key Yemen supporter, are worried over who could succeed their ally. They have long regarded Saleh as a bulwark of stability who can keep al-Qaeda from extending its foothold in an Arabian Peninsula country.

Yemen's al-Qaeda wing grabbed credit for a foiled attempt in late 2009 to blow up an airliner bound for Detroit, and for US-bound cargo bombs sent in October 2010.

Some 82 people have been killed during the protests so far, including 52 people shot by government snipers on March 18.
Posted by: Fred || 04/03/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Seven Ant-Saleh Protesters Wounded in Hodeida Province
[Yemen Post] At least seven anti-Saleh protesters were maimed in Yemen's western port of Hodeida during an attempt by Yemen's security forces to enter a sit-in at the center of Hodeida where thousands of protesters have been demonstrating against 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. ...
's regime for two months.

Sources said that the police forces attacked the protesters using batons and firing live bullets in the air to disperse the protesters wounding seven of them.

President-for-Life Saleh
... exemplifying the Arab's propensity to combine brutality with incompetence...
's regime has been facing nationwide protests in 15 provinces demanding the fall of his regime since two months.
Posted by: Fred || 04/03/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Opposition Reveals Five-Point Vision for Power Transfer
[Yemen Post] The Joint Meeting Parties, the opposition coalition, announced on Saturday its vision that included steps and measures for power transfer in Yemen.

The vision included five points:

1- Saleh steps down and transfers all powers to vice president Abdu Rabu Hadi.

2 -- Vice President Hadi announces as he takes office the restructuring of the national security, the central security and the republican guard systems to ensure they do their duties according to the Yemeni constitution and law under competent and patriot commanders and under the supervision of the Interior and Defense Ministries.

3- Agreement with the new president, Hadi, on an interim government based on national reconciliation.

Under this point: an interim national council including all political, social, youth, civil society, women and businessmen spectrum should be formed. The council will be in charge of holding a comprehensive national dialogue bringing together all political forces inside and outside Yemen to address various issues including the south and reaching a vision for constitutional reforms to ensure better rights and freedoms.

In addition, the council will be responsible for forming a committee of experts and specialists to draw up the constitutional reforms in the light of the outcomes of the national dialogue, forming a transitional national unity government headed by the opposition but including all political forces, the youths and businessmen to manage all constitutional affairs, managing the public affairs, fixing the national economy, and forming a military council including representatives for retirees.

4 -- Forming the supreme commission for referendum and elections to be responsible for the vote on the constitutional reforms and holding presidential and parliamentary elections according to the new constitution.

5 -- Ensuring freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful protests and sit-in and investigating the attacks on the killings of the protesters calling for the ouster of the current regime.

Earlier today, the coalition and its partners within the dialogue preparatory committee held a meeting and expressed their pride of the crowds that flooded into the squares of change across the republic to call for the resignation of President-for-Life Saleh.
... exemplifying the Arab's propensity to combine brutality with incompetence...
They also saluted the determination of the people, who have been conducting protests and sit-ins in almost 15 provinces, saying Yemen is passing a through a moment it has never witnessed in its history.

Furthermore, they condemned the continuous attacks on the protesters, criticizing in a statement the stupidity of Saleh and his regime, and condemned the attacks against the officials who announced support to the peaceful popular uprising and their houses as well as the continuous attacks on and arrests of journalists and blocking news websites.

Calling for journalists and organizations to document the crimes of the regime against the people, particularly those who have been demanding the ouster of President Saleh, they claimed that the government is continuing its old ways to deceive and mislead the people as well as creating crises.

The shortage of gas and power outages must be blamed on the regime, which commits various illegal acts but accuses others of this, they said.
Posted by: Fred || 04/03/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Britain
N Ireland car bomb targets police
A 25-year-old Catholic policeman who had just joined Northern Ireland's police force was killed when a booby-trap bomb went kaboom! as he got into his car in the town of Omagh.

No group grabbed credit for Saturday's attack, but police and politicians universally blamed Irish Republican Army (IRA) dissidents who have repeatedly planted bombs underneath the private cars of off-duty coppers.

Until Saturday, such booby-trap attacks had badly maimed two other officers but killed nobody. It was the first lethal attack on Northern Ireland security forces in more than two years.

In previous statements, the dissidents have stressed their determination to target any Irish Catholic who joins the Northern Ireland police force.

Building Catholic support for the previously Protestant-dominated police force is a central goal of Northern Ireland's grinding of the peace processor.

But reflecting the exceptional political solidarity in Northern Ireland today, leaders from both the British Protestant and Irish Catholic sides of the community condemned the bombers and vowed to bring them to justice.

In Dublin, newly-elected Irish prime minister Enda Kenny called the killing "a heinous and pointless act of terror."

"Those who carried it out want to drag us back to the misery and pain of the past. They are acting in defiance of the Irish people. They must know that they can never succeed in defeating the democratic will of the people,'' said Kenny.

Neighbours of the victim in the Gortin Road district of Omagh - a town synonymous with the greatest horror of the entire Northern Ireland conflict - said he had just entered his car when it went kaboom!. The car was turned into a blazing wreck.
Posted by: Fred || 04/03/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  We've barricades and gelignite
And gunman walk the street
We've CS gas imported
For the hungry kids to eat
Our town's an old sand castle now
and the waves begin to pound
And I'll tell you, John,
I've oft time longed to leave old Belfast town.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 04/03/2011 15:49 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Mexico's top law enforcement officer resigns
Mexican attorney-general Arturo Chavez has resigned from his key post in the fight against drug trafficking after just 18 months in office.

President Felipe Calderon accepted the resignation on Thursday and nominated 41-year-old lawyer Marisela Morales to take over, the first woman to hold the post if she is approved.

The departure came three weeks after the release of a 2009 US diplomatic cable by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks in which US embassy officials found Chavez's appointment to be "totally unexpected and politically inexplicable".
"I have to withdraw from this important position to deal with strictly personal and urgent issues," said Chavez 18 months after he took the job amid widespread scepticism for his weak image in a country fighting a drug war.

Al Jizz's Mariana Sanchez, reporting from Mexico City, said the attorney-general's resignation comes at a time when there has been increasing criticism over the war on drugs.
Calderon lauded Chavez's role in a crackdown on organised crime launched at the start of his presidential term in late 2006.
But rights groups had criticised the appointment for Chavez's apparent inaction over the killings of dozens of women in Ciudad Juarez when he was attorney general of northern Chihuahua state in the 1990s.

Spiralling violence
Chavez was the second attorney-general under Calderon to resign, following the departure of Eduardo Medina Mora, who is now ambassador to Britain.

His departure comes at a time of spiralling violence in the drug war, which has claimed some 35,000 lives since it was launched, according to official figures.

In nominating Marisela Morales, Calderon said the current head of the organised crime special investigations unit "enjoys prestige inside and outside the country".

As head of the organised crime unit, Morales made more public appearances in the capture of major drug lords than her boss.
Posted by: Fred || 04/03/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Narcos


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Azeri police disperse anti-govt. rally
[Iran Press TV] Azeri riot police have attacked and dispersed a rally of anti-government protesters, who were calling for democratic reforms, in the capital city of Baku

On Saturday, Azeri riot police prevented protesters from Musavat and Popular Front opposition parties from gathering in Baku's Fountains Square by sealing off the streets leading to the square, an IRIB correspondent reported.

Protesters demanded that the government resigns and cried, "We want freedom."

Leader of the Musavat opposition Party Isa Qambar says more than 200 protesters have been incarcerated.

The Baku Prosecutor General's Office had summoned Qambar and chairman of Popular Front party Ali Karimli, warning them against organizing the rally on Saturday.

Azeri authorities had taken security measures in Baku and other cities, and incarcerated tens of members of Musavat and Popular Front parties during past week.

The Islamic Party of Azerbaijan, which had not supported the April 2 rally, has announced that it would probably hold a rally in Azadliq Square on April 8.

The Baku government's anti-religion agenda has caused uproar in the predominantly Mohammedan nation. Baku bans Azeris from openly observing their religious rites.

Protesters want to the government to respect religious values and prevent Azerbaijan from falling into a crisis.

Mohammedan communities in Azerbaijan blame the growing non-democratic secularism in the country on Tel Aviv and accuse Israel of being behind anti-Islamic programs in the country.
Naturally. Who else could it be, after all?
The Great Satan?
Shia Mohammedans make up a vast majority of the population in Azerbaijan.
Posted by: Fred || 04/03/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Terrorists leader, two group members killed in Dagestan
(Itar-Tass) -- The leader of a group of snuffies and two members of the group were killed in a special operation in Dagestan, National Anti-Terrorist Committee (NAC) Information Centre front man Nikolai Sintsov told Itar-Tass.

"On Friday, at 21:30 Moscow time, law enforcement officers during a raid to neutralise members of the bandit underground at the 7th km of the Makhachkala-Buinaksk road in the Kumtorkala district of Dagestan attempted to stop a Lada Priora car, in which there were bandidos. Fire was opened on the law enforcement officers. The gunnies were killed in the return fire," the NAC official said.

The bodies of Yahya Aslanov, the leader of the "Karabudakhkent" subversive and terrorist group, and two members of the same group - Batrutdin Salimov and federal-search-wanted Rustam Batyrov were in the car.

"According to intelligence information, they are involved in numerous terrorist crimes and also money extorting from businessmen of the villages of Karamakhi and Chabanmakhi," Nikolai Sintsov said. In particular, they participated in the terrorist act committed by Vitali Razdobudko and his common-law wife Maria Khorosheva in the village of Gubden, the Karabudakhkent district, on February 14. According to law enforcement authorities' information, they participated in shooting attacks against coppers.

Besides, according to the NAC, they were involved in robbery and banditry on roads under the guise of law enforcement officers, the murder of hunters near Gubden and the kaboom in a grocery store in Buinaksk.

"Today as well Aslanov's brother is jugged, who also provided complicity assistance. A laptop, in which, according to security officials, there is information important for operative work, is seized from him," the NAC front man said.

The kabooms near the village cop shoppe in Gubden in February this year killed three people and injured 26. The first kaboom was committed by a young woman stopped by a serviceman of the Russian Interior Ministry's troops. Later, when Sherlocks were working on the scene, a Lada Priora attempted to run through a police post, and when the car was stopped for identity checking, there was a second blast equivalent to up to 40 kg of TNT. Immediately after that, the post was fired on from the forest.
Posted by: Fred || 04/03/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Chechen Republic of Ichkeria


India-Pakistan
At least 25 dead in suicide bombing at Sufi shrine
A suicide bombing at a Sufi shrine in central Pakistan on Sunday killed at least 25 people and wounded dozens of others.

The bomber entered the Sakhi Sarkar shrine and detonated his explosives, according to a senior government official. The shrine is in the outskirts of the district capital, more than 249 miles south of Peshawar.
Posted by: ryuge || 04/03/2011 10:30 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The religion of pieces strikes again.
Posted by: AlanC || 04/03/2011 10:55 Comments || Top||


Four killed in separate incidents in Karachi
[Pak Daily Times] Four people, including a bookie and a news hound of a local newspaper were killed in separate incidents of violence and mishaps in the metropolis on Saturday.

A renowned bookie was bumped off at Khayaban-e-Rahat area, DHA Commercial Phase VI in the limits of Gizri cop shoppe. The victim Ishtiaq alias Ganja, 44, son of Nazeer, resident of the same area, was standing with his watchman when an armed man on a cycle of violence opened fire on him. As a result, he received nine bullets and was struck down in his prime.

SHO Tasawur said the victim was a noted bookie. "He had some dispute with other bookies and they might be involved in his murder", the officer added. The body was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) for medico-legal formalities.

In another incident, a crime news hound of local newspaper was bumped off on Sheedi Village road within the remits of Storied Baghdadi cop shoppe. A 40-year-old Zaman was going on his cycle of violence when two armed motorcyclists shot him dead near Lea Market. The body was shifted to the Civil Hospital Bloody Karachi (CHK) for medico-legal formalities. The victim was performing duties as a crime news hound in local newspaper.

SP Lyari Javed Baloch said that the victim went to the area for meeting someone and was going back when culprits targeted him. The victim was the resident of Khadda Market and hailed from Gilgat. Zaman was performing duties as a crime news hound for more than five years and had worked in different local newspapers.
Posted by: Fred || 04/03/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Two killed, three injured in bomb explosion in Kohlu
[Pak Daily Times] At least two persons were killed and three others injured in a remote-controlled bomb kaboom in Kushk, a mountainous area of Kohlu district, on Saturday.

According to official sources, a convoy of government backed tribal elder Rab Nawaz Marri was heading home in Gazni from Kohlu city when it was attacked with a remote- controlled bomb planted by the side of a road.

As a result of the explosin, two of his nephews identified as Bahar Khan and Muhammad Din was struck down in his prime while three others, including Habibur Rehman, Mian Khan and Saifullah, sustained injures. The dear departed and injured were taken to the Civil Hospital Kohlu. Vehicles were completely damaged as a result of the kaboom.

Levis force reached the site soon after the incident. Later, they handed over the dead bodies to the heirs. Local law enforcement agencies are investigating the matter and have launched manhunt for the persons responsible for the attack.
Posted by: Fred || 04/03/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


One injured in Badhaber car blast
[Pak Daily Times] One person was injured when a bomb placed inside a car went off in Badhaber area on Saturday. According to the Rescue 1122, a bomb placed inside the vehicle parked at a roadside near a mobile tower in Badhaber area went kaboom! with a big bang. As a result of the kaboom, one person identified as Asghar sustained minor injuries. He was rushed to the Lady Reading Hospital, where his condition was stated to be out of danger. Meanwhile,
...back at the hoedown Bob finally got to dance with Sally...
police placed in durance vile two suspected beturbanned goons and recovered a truck packed with kabooms in the jurisdiction of the Chamkani Police Station. Police chief, Liaquat Ali Khan, told news hounds that the police, while acting on a tip-off, raided an under-construction house near Chamkani By-pass Road and seized huge cache of explosives, which included 2,250 safety fuses and 10,000 detonators. Two alleged beturbanned goons were also placed in durance vile. The placed in durance vile persons were identified as Dawod of Kamar Bara and Khurshed of Kachori. They were shifted to an unidentified place for interrogation.
Posted by: Fred || 04/03/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Lashkar-e-Islam fights against its deserted commanders
[Pak Daily Times] Mangal Bagh-led Lashkar-e-Islam's (LI) volunteers and their opposition force, led by commander Toti Khan, attacked each other's posts in the far-flung areas of Bazaar Zakha Khel in Landikotal sub-division of Khyber Agency on Saturday.

So far, four people have reportedly been killed, including an LI commander identified as Khan, while, 12 people from both sides were maimed, local sources of Zakha Khel confirmed. Many prisoners decamped from the private jails of the LI when the two sides fought each other, a source in Malik Deen Khel tribe in Kata Koshata informed.
Sounds like a good time was had by all, And the herds were thinned -- a two-fer!
The angry armed people of Zakha Khel tribe under the leadership of Toti Khan have also reportedly set fire to the houses of LI commanders, Khan, Qandahar Khan and Roza Gul, in Bazaar Zakha Khel area for standing with Mangal Bagh against their own tribe of Zakha Khel, local sources said, but the official sources have not confirmed this yet. The Zakha Khel tribe elders have also accused the LI commander "Khan" of involvement in the murder of Maulana Hashim Khan, adding that LI chief Mangal Bagh was not justified for kidnapping former Zakha Khel commander Ghuncha Gul Afridi, which led to the emergency of a new terrorist group led by Toti Khan.

The Zakha Khel rustics have also blocked the ways leading to Tirrah where there are the bases of the LI, which has created problems for them as they may face shortage of edibles etc, a local person said. It was also learnt that some armed people from Malik Deen Khel tribe have also left for Bazaar Zakha Khel to support the LI opposition, but this could also not be confirmed from the official and LI sources. The casualties could multiply if the battle continues in the area.
Posted by: Fred || 04/03/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar-e-Islami


Iraq
6 dead in attack on security post west of Baghdad
[Pak Daily Times] Six members of the Iraqi security forces were killed just before dawn on Saturday, when their control post in the village of Kubisa, 200 kilometres west of Storied Baghdad, was attacked by armed raiders, a police front man said.

The men -- three soldiers and three coppers -- died in the attack at 5am. Eight other people, including four civilians, were maimed in the attack in al Anbar province.

None of the gunnies was killed or captured. Al Anbar, which covers Iraq's western desert, is a former stronghold of the Arab rebellion. Violence in the province had begun to tail off after tribal chiefs, weary of al Qaeda attacks and backed financially by the US, rose up against the beturbanned goons in September 2006, forming militia dubbed "Sahwa", or Awakening.

Elsewhere, one militiaman was killed when a control post was attacked by gunnies in two cars in the village of Hawija, 230 kilometres north of Storied Baghdad, militia front man captain Tahar al-Salehi said.
Posted by: Fred || 04/03/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hamas warns Israel as three killed in raid
[The Nation (Nairobi)] Paleostinian Islamist group Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, yesterday denied that three of its Islamic fascisti killed in a Gazoo air strike were plotting to kidnap Israelis and warned of "consequences".
"We shall have Dire Revenge™!"
The Israeli air force launched a missile in the early hours of Saturday at a car travelling in the southern Gazoo Strip, killing three members of the Hamas armed wing and wounding a fourth person.

An Israeli military front man said the raid, planned jointly with the Shin Bet domestic security agency, was a preemptive strike against Islamic fascisti planning to kidnap Israelis during the coming Jewish festival of Passover.

"An Israel air force aircraft hit a Hamas terror cell... planning to carry out kidnapping attacks in the Sinai peninsula and in Israel during the Passover holiday," he told AFP.

The Sinai coast of neighbouring Egypt is a popular destination for Israelis during the week-long holiday, which begins on April 18 and commemorates the biblical exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, despite repeated government warnings of the danger of attack.

Israeli public opinion is still inflamed by the capture by Gazoo-based Islamic fascisti of conscript Gilad Shalit in a deadly cross-border raid in 2006.
Shalit is still missing, believed held somewhere in the Gazoo Strip.

Hamas said in a statement that the three dead were members of the Islamist group's Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades and identified them as Ismail Lubbad, Abdullah Lubbad and Mohammed al-Dayah.

The three were to be buried later on Saturday.
This article starring:
Abdullah Lubbad
Ismail Lubbad
Mohammed al-Dayah
Posted by: Fred || 04/03/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Lets make it 3 thousand and see that happens.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/03/2011 6:02 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Motorcycle bomb injures 10 in southern Thailand
Ten people, including six army rangers, were injured in a motorcycle bombing in Songkhla province yesterday.

The bomb was hidden in a motorcycle parked outside a grocery store in Nikom Thepha fresh market, opposite a local military outpost. The blast, believed to have been triggered by a mobile phone signal, happened at 6:30 a.m.

Police believe the attack was the work of jihadis separatists.

Meanwhile, the Internal Security Operations Command yesterday held a forum attended by civic groups from Narathiwat province. More than 200 political and religious leaders took part in the meeting, aimed at brainstorming ways to ease the southern insurgency.

During the meeting, the representatives asked the army to assure ruthless jihadis separatist suspects of justice
actual justice or "social justice"
and safety if they surrender and join peace-building efforts.
They worry about being lynched by the populace? Perceptive.
They said many terrorists suspects still feared they may receive unfair treatment under the justice system.
Oh. Not bloody likely -- nobody has treated them as they deserve yet.
Safety was another concern as they were afraid they would be killed by other terrorists insurgents to prevent them giving information.
This seems to confirm the rumour that terrorists are not nice people.
The representatives thought that more than 100 jihadi militant sympathisers would surrender to authorities if the army guaranteed them fair treatment and safety and ponies.
Posted by: ryuge || 04/03/2011 04:11 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Philippine tribal gunmen kidnap 16: Police
[Straits Times] PHILIPPINE tribal gunnies kidnapped 16 teachers and students, demanding the release of an tossed in the calaboose comrade, police and local officials said on Saturday.

Members of the Manobo tribe led by Reyjoy Brital, kidnapped the group, including several minors, in the southern island of Mindanao on Friday, a police official and the local mayor said.

Speaking to negotiators through a cellphone, Brital threatened to kill the hostages if a rescue attempt was launched.

'They should behave because if they continue to come into our area we will make an example out of the hostages,' Brital said in the local dialect.
Posted by: Fred || 04/03/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
U.S. Embassy Employees Attacked with Stones in Sidon
[An Nahar] A group of angry Lebanese youths on Saturday threw stones and bottles at a group from the U.S. embassy visiting the southern port city of Sidon, a security official said. A front man for the U.S. mission confirmed there had been "an incident."

"The embassy can confirm that a group of employees went to Sidon today on a tourism trip. An incident occurred, and the group returned back to the embassy. No injuries," he said, without elaborating.

Local media had spoken of the presence in the group of the embassy's political attache.

"A group of youths intercepted a U.S. embassy delegation as they left a restaurant and insulted them before throwing stones and empty glass bottles at them," the security source said.

He said the youths accused the members of the group of being "criminals, Israelis... you have soiled the land of resistance and martyrs."

Lebanese security forces accompanying the U.S. group intervened, but stones continued to be thrown, breaking car windows. The army then arrived and tossed in the calaboose three of the attackers, the security official said.
Posted by: Fred || 04/03/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  youths accused the members of the group of being "criminals, Israelis.. Another example of the phenomenon of giving a dog a bad name so you can kill him.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/03/2011 5:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Being they are from the State Dept. It will be a "Why do they hate us?" moment followed by exhortations to grab their ankles harder...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 04/03/2011 10:22 Comments || Top||

#3  the youths accused the members of the group of being "criminals, Israelis...

Considering it's State, I can bet which one stung worse.
Posted by: Pappy || 04/03/2011 10:28 Comments || Top||


Fatah al-Islam terrorist group re-organizing in Ain al-Helwa
[Asharq al-Aswat] The Ain al-Hilweh Paleostinian refugee camp is in the spotlight once more, after more than 10 months of relative calm following a shake-up of the Fatah security operation in the camp, and the establishment of a monitoring committee made of various representatives of Paleostinian factions to deal with any daily problems. However the spotlight has returned once more to the Paleostinian refugee camp -- which witnessed fighting and festivities in 2007 between the Jund al-Sham terrorist group and the Lebanese army -- with reports that the Fatah al-Islam
A Syrian-incubated al-Qaeda work-alike that they think can be turned off if no longer needed to keep the Leb pot stirred.
Pakistan's ISI thought the same about their pets, and look at the fun they're having now.
terrorist group are set to attack a number of Lebanese targets. Paleostinian security sources have claimed that this plan is being driven by "suspicious Lebanese and regional hands."

Head of the Paleostinian Armed Struggle, Colonel Mahmoud Issa, who heads security in the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp, told Asharq Al-Awsat that "the remnants of the disbanded terrorist organization Fatah al-Islam are trying to re-organize their group at the Ain al-Hilweh camp to carry out suspicious [terrorist] operations."

He added that "some parties that have an interest in targeting the security of the [refugee] camps and the surrounding area stand behind these operations and the attempt to revive Fatah al-Islam."

In a telephone interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Colonel Mahmoud Issa, who goes by the nom de guerre of "Al-Lino" revealed that the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp has been experiencing security breaches over the past week, and stressed that he would "strike these remnants [of the Fatah al-Islam group] with an iron fist."

He added that "we enjoy factional and popular support and we will not allow these groups to breath; we will deal with anybody who tries to circumvent Lebanese security."

Colonel Issa promised "to arrest these elements and to put an end to all the turban groups that use Islam as a cover." He added "despite the official declaration of the disbandment of the Fatah al-Islam group, it seems that the group's Emir Osama al-Shehabi has received orders to return to operations" stressing that "we are on the lookout for him and his group, who are well-known by us, and we will take action against them."

Over the past week, the Ain al-Hilweh Paleostinian refugee camp has seen armed confrontation between the Paleostinian Fatah group that is in charge of the camp's security and members of the disbanded terrorist organization Fatah al-Islam, resulting in a number of injuries to the group's members, as well as civilians.

Well informed sources within the Ain al-Hilweh camp informed Asharq Al-Awsat that "a series of security incidents have taken place at night over the past week...including grenades being thrown into the street, as well as explosives planted [in several areas]." The sources also indicated that there was a failed liquidation attempt on Fatah member Ayman al-Dajjani.

The source added that "security events culminated after a group made up of Fatah security guards confronted an gang of 6 individuals they believed were members of Fatah al-Islam, after 3 kabooms shook the camp's eastern side.

These successive security breaches in the Ain al-Hilweh camp have resulted in schools being closed, and the camp's monitoring committee holding emergency meetings, which announced that "there has been a series of security breaches carried out by suspicious figures with the aim of undermining the security and stability of the camp." The committee also confirmed that "all [Paleostinian] group's and factions stand together against any breach of security, on the basis of national participation and mutual respect."

The disbanded Fatah al-Islam group is a radical Sunni Islamist terrorist organization that was first formed in November 2006. It has been described as a bad turban jihadist organization, with some reports claiming the group has ties to Al Qaeda. The Fatah al-Islam group found itself in the news in May 2007 after taking part in bloody festivities against the Lebanese Army at the Nahr al-Bared UNRWA Paleostinian refugee camp, in northern Leb. In festivities which lasted for over three months, more than 400 people were killed, including civilians, before the Lebanese army was able to re-establish control of the camp. Fatah al-Islam leader, Abdul Rahman Awad was killed by the Lebanese army in August 2010; he was succeeded by Osama al-Shehabi.
Posted by: Fred || 04/03/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  COLONEL ISSA

versus

* WAFF > EGYPT BEGINS ITS INEXORABLE DECLINE INTO A JIHADI HELL-HOLE | [NYT] RELIGIOUS RADICALS' TURN TO DEMOCRACY ALARMS EGYPT.
["Liberalism" would be a disaster].

Using democracy = electoral process + Egypt's Constitution to inversely empower + entrench domination of Ultra-Conservative Sharia Law in Egypt.

D *** NG IT, THEY GOT RID OF MUBARAK IN ORDER TO SAVE HIM + TURN HIM INTO .....!?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/03/2011 0:16 Comments || Top||


Syria tightens security following protests
[Arab News] Syrian security agents tightened security and made sweeping arrests Saturday as President Bashar Assad tried to cut off two weeks of deadly pro-democracy demonstrations that are threatening his family's ruling dynasty.

The corpse count from two weeks of protests was around 80 people, after at least seven were killed Friday in festivities with security forces. Authorities began arresting dozens of people, mostly in and around 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...
, in the hours after the protests broke up and into early Saturday, activists said.

They asked that their names not be used for fear of reprisals.

The extraordinary wave of protests has proved the most serious challenge yet to the Assad family's 40-year dynasty, one of the most rigid regimes in the Middle East.

In the city of Douma, near Damascus, security forces were taking strict measures and checking identity cards of people trying to enter or leave, a resident said. At least five people were killed in Douma on Friday.

"Some shops are open but there is tension. Many people are staying home," the resident said on condition his name not be published for fear of government reprisals. "There are a lot of security patrols. I have never seen Douma like that." UN Secretary-General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon expressed deep concern about the violence and called on Syria's government to address the "legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people." The government blamed Friday's bloodshed on "armed gangs." However,
The emphatic However...
the state-run news agency
...and if you can't believe the state-run news agency who can you believe?...
acknowledged for the first time that Syria was seeing gatherings of people calling for reform.

The strength of the burgeoning protest movement is difficult to gauge because Syria has restricted media access and expelled journalists, making it difficult to determine the extent of the protests and how many people are turning out. Two News Agency that Dare Not be Named journalists were ordered to leave the country Friday with less than an hour's notice.
Posted by: Fred || 04/03/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria



Who's in the News
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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.
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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2011-04-03
  Rebels claim Brega
Sat 2011-04-02
  Deputy emir of Caucasus Emirate killed in Russian raid
Fri 2011-04-01
  Two UN staff beheaded and eight others murdered in protest against U.S. pastor who burnt Koran
Thu 2011-03-31
  Obama 'orders covert help for Libya rebels'
Wed 2011-03-30
  Libyan Foreign Minister quits, arrives in UK
Tue 2011-03-29
  Yemeni regime loses grip on four provinces
Mon 2011-03-28
  Rebels push towards Sirte
Sun 2011-03-27
  Libyan rebels say forces reach oil town of Brega
Sat 2011-03-26
  Libyan Rebels Reclaim Ajdabiya
Fri 2011-03-25
  Libya: French aircraft destroyed a dozen armored vehicles in 3 days
Thu 2011-03-24
  15 dead in new clashes in Deraa
Wed 2011-03-23
  Qaddafi attacks rebel towns
Tue 2011-03-22
  Western War Planes Hit Qadaffy Command Post
Mon 2011-03-21
  Gaddafi compound attacked again amid reports son killed
Sun 2011-03-20
  Crisis in Libya: U.S. bombs Qaddafi's airfields

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