Posted by: Fred ||
04/07/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Silvana Arias aka Paloma Lopez-Fitzgerald in "NBC television soap opera Passions" aka Marta in "Las Angeles" aka Lilián Martínez in "Encrucijada" aka Susana 'Susanita' Peña López in "María Emilia: Querida" (age 29)
#3
Denise, what was that you said about salad? Oh yeah you were making chicken salad. I'm doing something wrong because I have never, ever had that much fun making chicken salad.
SUICIDE bombers and gunmen stormed a police compound in southern Afghanistan overnight, opening fire and setting off explosions in a coordinated attack that killed six Afghan security forces.
American Black Hawk helicopters and at least eight US armoured vehicles rushed to support dozens of Afghan troops battling the assailants at the three-building police complex in restive Kandahar province.
One suicide bomber pretended to be an ambulance driver and detonated his explosives after wounded officers were placed inside the marked rescue vehicle, said Kandahar Police Chief Khan Mohammad Mujahid.
All three attackers blew themselves up, Mr Mujahid said.
"I heard a blast and after that continuous fighting with rocket launchers," said Kandahar provincial policeman Ashrafullah Agha. After a third large explosion, Mr Agha cut off the interview.
#2
It is even worse than that. I learned late yesterday that Karzai is now consulting with Chinese and Iranian firms.
This actually could be fortuitious as would might be able to hand the entire Afghan effort off to the Chinese and Iranians. FOB Walton suffered a complex attack yesterday. Rockets, RPG's and small arms fire, following by an ambulance IED attempting to crash the gate. No US KIA.
[Tolo News] At least 6 Isaf troops, 2 Afghan soldiers and 80 forces of Evil were killed during joint Afghan and foreign forces operations in eastern Kunar province, ... which is right down the road from Binny's house in Chitral... Isaf said in a statement on Wednesday.
The operation was launched in Marawara district of Kunar province last week to wipe out the Islamic fascistiduring which 80 Islamic fascistiwere killed, but 6 Isaf troops and 2 Afghan soldiers also bit the dust, Isaf said in the statement.
Foreign and Afghan forces have seized some Pak weapons and Improvised Explosive Devices during the operation, added the statement.
The operation will continue until the district is cleared of bad boys, Isaf added.
Afghan officials said there has been no civilian casualties in the operation.
The Taliban have not yet commented about the operation.
Bordered by Pakistain, Marawara district has been a hotbed of insurgency in the province. According to Afghan officials Islamic fascistiuse the highway of Marwar district to traffick drugs out of the country.
During the operation foreign and Afghan forces have seized 280 Kg of drugs, Isaf said in the statement.
Afghan and foreign forces have recently launched military operations in different parts of Afghanistan to wipe out bad boys.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/07/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Taliban have not yet commented
Does this mean we've learned, and there were no survivors?
[Tolo News] At least 7 gunnies were killed in attack on Nangarhar airport on Tuesday night in the east of Afghanistan, local officials said.
The incident happened at 12:00 am local time last night while seven gunnies attacked on Nangarhar airport who were killed in festivities with Afghan forces, Alishah Paktiawal, police chief of the province told TOLOnews.
Afghan forces have seized many weapons after the gunnies were killed, he added.
Mr Paktiawal said Afghan and foreign forces suffered no casualties in the attack.
No civilians were hurt in the incident, he added.
No group including the Taliban has grabbed credit for the attack.
Previously gunnies have many times attacked on Nangarhar airport without success.
Nangarhar province is bordered by Pakistain and violence has recently increased in some parts of the province.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/07/2011 00:00 ||
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[Arab News] Egypt's military rulers said Tuesday they would form a panel to investigate the wealth of toppled President Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... as part of a sweeping probe into corruption, the official MENA agency reported.
"The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces issued a decision Tuesday to form a judicial committee to begin investigations into the wealth of ousted geriatric President Hosni Mubarak and his family," MENA reported.
Mubarak, his wife Suzanne and his two sons Alaa and Gamal and their wives have already been banned from travel and their assets ordered frozen by general prosecutor Abdel Magid Mahmud.
The committee will next week question Gamal, the news agency said. The agency did not say where Gamal, once seen as a leading candidate to take over from his father, would be questioned.
Gamal held a leading post in Egypt's former ruling party. A widely-held belief that he was being groomed for the presidency helped galvanize opposition that toppled him.
The hearing will be chaired by Essam El-Gawahri, a senior Justice Ministry official, who heads the committee.
Egypt's new rulers have appeared to respond to demands for tough steps against Mubarak.
The judiciary has banned several ministers, officials and members of Mubarak's National Democratic Party from leaving the country pending further investigations.
A number of them are currently on trial on charges of corruption.
Mubarak, who was forced out of power on Feb. 11 following almost three weeks of anti-government demonstrations, handed power to a military council that pledged to bring to justice all those found guilty of abuse.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/07/2011 00:00 ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] An Egyptian panel formed to uncover illicit gains acquired during the rule of deposed President Hosni Mubarak, ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... will next week question his younger son about corruption, the state news agency said Tuesday.
The agency did not say where Gamal, once seen as a leading candidate to take over from his father, would be questioned by the panel, which was set up last week as part of an anti-graft campaign targeting figures from Mubarak's era.
Gamal Mubarak held a leading post in Egypt's former ruling party. A widely- held belief that he was being groomed for the presidency helped galvanize opposition that toppled him.
The ruling military council to which Mubarak handed power has faced calls for tougher measures against figures from his administration. Reformists have also demanded steps to recover former officials' assets frozen by foreign governments.
The hearing will be chaired by Essam el-Gawahri, a senior justice ministry official who heads the panel.
Friday, thousands of Egyptians demonstrated in central Cairo demanding that Mubarak and his brass hats be put on trial and accusing them of corruption and illegal profiteering.
Egypt's new rulers have appeared to respond to demands for tougher steps against former Mubarak officials. Last week, three senior figures from his era were banned from travel.
The ill-gotten gains panel also decided Monday to freeze the assets of the three: Fathi Sorour, Safwat el-Sherif and Zakaria Azmi.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/07/2011 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] NATO has vowed to protect Libya's civilian population and give priority to the besieged city of Misurata, a day after rebel fighters accused the military alliance of acting too slowly.
That sounds like boots on the ground to me...
"We have a clear mandate and we will do everything to protect the civilians of Misurata," Carmen Romero, deputy spokeswoman for NATO, said on Wednesday, adding "Misurata is our number one priority".
Oana Lungescu, NATO'S spokesperson, told Al Jazeera that the alliance was enforcing the UN mandate to protect civilians against the threat of attack.
"In the last six days we've flown over 1,000 sorties and out of those over 400 were strike sorties.
"Yesterday we flew 155 sorties, today almost 200 are planned. So we are taking our mandate very seriously indeed, we've been striking tanks around Misurata and we've also been striking armoured vehicles, air defence systems, rocket launchers around Misurata, Ras Lanuf and Brega," she said.
Britain also said it would move four Typhoon fighter jets currently being used to police the no-fly zone to a ground attack role in Libya in response to criticism that forces were not protecting civilians.
Alain Juppe, the French foreign minister, said he would discuss with NATO the situation in Misurata, where residents have been under siege from forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi for the last 40 days.
"Misurata is in a situation which cannot continue and I am going to discuss it in a few hours time with the secretary general of NATO," he told France Info radio.
But he also said that military operations in the country were becoming more complicated as pro-Gaddafi forces adopted tactics that raised the risk of civilian casualties.
"We've formally requested that there be no collateral damage for the civilian population," he said. "That obviously makes operations more difficult."
Brigadier General Mark van Uhm, NATO's chief of allied operations, previously said that human shields were being used in Misurata to prevent the coalition from identifying targets.
He added that Gaddafi's troops have been adjusting their tactics to deal with the threat from coalition airstrikes, travelling in trucks and light vehicles to the front line and hiding their tanks and armoured vehicles from sight.
'More airstrikes needed'
Admiral Edouard Guillard, the head of France's armed forces, said the slow pace of NATO operations was frustrating, but that "protecting civilians means not firing anywhere near them".
On Tuesday Abdul Fatah Younis, the head of the Libyan opposition's armed forces, said the military alliance had "disappointed" them by being too slow to hit targets, such as pro-Gaddafi convoys, that would help protect civilians.
"Civilians are dying daily because of lack of food or milk, even children are dying. Even by bombing. If NATO waits for another week, it will be a crime that NATO will have to carry. What is NATO doing? It is shelling some defined areas only," he said.
"When a large force of tanks, and even artillery, is on its way to Benghazi, Ajdabiya or Brega, we always inform NATO straight away. Because we don't have such weapons. NATO's reaction is very slow. By the time the information reaches from one official to another until it reaches the field commander, it takes hours.
Hoda Abdel Hamid, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Benghazi, said rebels were expecting more airstrikes.
"They say that when France and the US were in charge there were more airstrikes, they say especially on the frontline that when those airstrikes happened it helped them to make their push towards the west.
"Now they've been retreating badly towards the east, nearly at their starting point," she said.
"They say the NATO airstrikes are needed in the west of the country because there's an understanding here in the east that they can't continue this uprising alone."
She added that there were fears that if the situation continued the country could be divided between the east and the west.
Supply lines reopened
Doctors said last week that 200 people had been killed in Misurata since the uprising began on February 17, a figure that is likely to have risen in recent days.
Meanwhile, Gerard Longuet, the French defence minister, said on Wednesday that Libyan rebels would now be able to supply the city by sea.
"We are going to ensure that... aid comes from [the rebel stronghold] Benghazi and that at no moment Gaddafi's military forces will be able to stop this," he told France Inter radio.
"Previously, the interpretation of the embargo meant that no boats could supply any towns," he said.
"Today, we have reopened [marine] traffic at Tobruk and Benghazi, and so boats from Benghazi will be able ... to supply Misrata, because the coalition will prevent any action by the Gaddafi navy," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/07/2011 00:00 ||
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[Tolo News] Two sons of the Libyan Leader Muammer Qadaffy have proposed transition to a constitutional democracy in which Qadaffy would have to step down, reports say.
Anonymous officials have told the New York Times that the transition would be started by Qadaffy's evil spawn son, Seif al-Islam.
How about instead a constitutional democracy with the new king being, for example, one of the sons of the King of Morocco? He's descended from Big Mo', you know.
However, The well-oiled However... it is unclear if President Qadaffy has agreed to the proposed transition.
A person close to Qadaffy's sons have told the Times that the father appeared willing to accept the plan.
The sons want to take the country in a new direction without their father, the source has said.
They'd prefer to pile up their own supply of Krugerrands...
The anonymous person has said if the sons have the go-ahead, they will rapidly bring the country up.
Meanwhile, ...back at the hoedown Bob finally got to dance with Sally... the Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Abdelati Obeidi is in Greece to discuss solutions to the current conflict. Greece is believed to have enjoyed good relations with the Libyan government in the recent years.
The Libyan envoy visiting Greece has said Col Qadaffy wants the fighting to end. Greek officials have said the Libyan government is serious about finding a solution to the crisis.
The news comes as Libyan rebels are struggling to retake some of the towns that recently fell back to the government forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/07/2011 00:00 ||
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[Ennahar] According to security sources, the jacket wallah who was been eliminated near the border center of Debdeb, in the province of Illizi, near the Libyan city of Gdams, is an Algerian national, Abdelkader Dekkar, aged 23, from the province of El Oued.
According to the same sources, the suicide bomber rubbed out by security services had refused to surrender and his body was charred but he was identified thanks to documents found on him. The same sources added that he was wanted for belonging to terrorist groups and being part of "Katibet al Sahara" led by Abdelhamid Abou Zeid. He had been sent by Abu Zeid in Libya to commit a suicide operation against the forces of Qadaffy in the city of Gdams where he was unmasked. He then managed to escape and tried to infiltrate the Algerian territory through Debdeb where he was rubbed out by security forces.
This operation is a proof of the capabilities of the terrorist organization Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat ... now known as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb... to infiltrate Libyans bad boys. The terrorist organization tries to exploit the current situation in Libya to expand its scope of activities and profit from the proliferation of weapons in the region.
According to the sources, Droukdal would have prepared a number of suicide bombers to bring down the regime in Libya, he sent in many border regions, including countries of the African Sahel. Contacts were established with the smugglers to bring weapons from Libyan battle fields.
The same sources added that the terrorist organization would have taken possession of sophisticated weapons from Libya, which has prompted the Algerian security services to strengthen their presence along the borders with the Sahel countries and Libya over a distance of 3877 Km including 982 km with Libya.
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04/07/2011 00:00 ||
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[Ennahar] Libyan Deputy Minister for European Affairs, Abdelati Obeidi, was appointed foreign minister, replacing Mousa Kousa, who had defected, told AFP Tuesday night the Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Khaled Kaim.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Ennahar] The Moroccan government has promised reform of the current press code "based on democratic benchmarks" during a meeting with news hounds who called for "striking red lines" that the media must not cross. If you need a license to report news you don't have a free press.
"We presented to the government a reform bill on a philosophy that is liberal, and have requested the deletion of articles on "red lines"," said Wednesday Younes Mujahid, president of the National Union of the Moroccan press (SNPM ). If the government can shut you down and throw you in jail for something you wrote, no matter how stoopid or how accurate, you don't have a free press.
Moroccan journalists complain about the current press code ambiguity of some items, particularly those relating to the monarchy, Islam and "territorial integrity". If you have a "press code" you don't have a free press...
"My goal is to balance freedom with responsibility. We'll be able to find appropriate solutions, refining the text to make it look more modern," said Khalid Naciri, the Moroccan Minister of Communication. Mussolini's fascist state doled out what it considered adequate freedoms to its citizens.
The working conditions of journalists, their independence and articles on custodial sentences for crimes of opinion dominated discussions at the meeting Tuesday night in Rabat between Naciri, the Moroccan Federation SNPM and newspapers Publishers.
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04/07/2011 00:00 ||
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[Arab News] NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... is keeping up the pace of air strikes in Libya despite the use of human shields by Muammar Qadaffy's forces as a tactic in fighting rebels, the Western military alliance said on Wednesday.
NATO, accused by the head of Libya's rebel army of being too slow to order air strikes to protect civilians, said it had not lowered its sights.
The besieged Libyan city of Misrata, the only major town in western Libya where the revolt against Qadaffy has not been crushed, is still top priority, NATO spokeswoman Carmen Romero said.
"The situation on the ground is constantly evolving. Qadaffy's forces are changing tactics, using civilian vehicles, hiding tanks in cities such as Misrata, and using human shields to hide behind," she said.
Despite that, "the pace of our operations continues unabated. The ambition and the position of our strikes has not changed," Romero said. "Misrata is our number one priority."
The head of Libya's rebel army earlier accused the Western alliance of being too slow to protect civilians in Misrata, which is under daily attack by Libyan army tanks and snipers.
Romero also reiterated NATO's position that it had destroyed 30 percent of Qadaffy's military capacity.
NATO leads air strikes on Qadaffy's military infrastructure and polices a no-fly zone and an arms embargo, roles it took over on March 31 from a coalition led by the United States, Britain and La Belle France.
A rebel military leader lashed out at NATO, saying it was falling short in its mission to protect Libyan civilians.
Abdel-Fattah Younis, chief of staff for the rebel military and Qadaffy's former interior minister, said on Tuesday he was asking the opposition's leadership council to take their grievances to the UN Security Council, which authorized force in Libya to stop government troops from wiping out the anti-Qadaffy uprising that began Feb. 15.
NATO forces "don't do anything" even though the United Nations ... aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... gave them the right to act, Younis said. He said bureaucracy means that NATO strikes sometimes come eight hours after rebels' have communicated targets.
"The people will die and this crime will be on the face of the international community forever. What is NATO doing?" Younis said.
NATO last week took control over the international Arclight airstrikes that began March 19 as a US-led mission. The Arclight airstrikes thwarted Qadaffy's efforts to crush the rebellion in the North African nation he has ruled for more than four decades, but the rebels remain outnumbered and outgunned and have had difficulty pushing into government-held territory even with air support.
The government pushed back rebel forces in a strategic oil town to the east Tuesday, while rebels claimed they fended off an attack by Qadaffy's forces in one of a string of opposition-controlled towns southwest of Tripoli, the capital. The rebels have maintained control of much of the eastern half of Libya since early in the uprising, while Qadaffy has clung to much of the west.
Qadaffy has been putting out feelers for a cease-fire, but refuses to step down as the opposition is demanding. On Tuesday his government announced a new foreign minister: Abdelati Al-Obeidi, who has been in Europe seeking a diplomatic solution. He replaces Moussa Koussa, who defected last week.
Al-Obeidi's deputy Khaled Kaim said the opposition council doesn't represent most Libyans and that Al-Qaeda is exploiting the crisis. He accused nations supporting the Arclight airstrikes of supporting terrorism "by arming the militias, by providing them with materials, and the coalition's decision to starve 85 percent of the Libyan population, while there was another course for solving this crisis, which was the political course." Kaim said "history will not forgive" Libyans who sought foreign help to change the regime. "People will reject them whether they are with or against Muammar Qadaffy," he said.
Some nations, including the US, have considered arming the rebels but have not done so.
Brig. Gen. Mark Van Uhm of NATO said Tuesday that Arclight airstrikes have so far destroyed 30 percent of Qadaffy's military capacity.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/07/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
First, they complain there's too much no fly zone - people are being killed!
Now there's not enough.
Sorry, folks, the only 'Invisible Shield' comes with Colgate toothpaste.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/07/2011 7:27 Comments ||
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[Arab News] Libyan rebels headed out of the eastern town of Brega on Wednesday, trying to regain territory lost in a retreat to Qadaffy's forces.
Qadaffy's forces pushed the rebels at least 40 kms east of the oil port of Brega on Tuesday as an inconclusive see-saw conflict continued along the Mediterranean coastal road.
Pick-up trucks loaded with machineguns and rocket launchers headed west from Ajdabiyah while several families fleeing the fighting in cars loaded with their belongings passed them in the opposite direction.
Hossam Ahmed, a defector from Qadaffy's army, said the frontline was 40-60 km west of Adjabiyah, saying Tuesday's retreat "wasn't a full withdrawal, it's back and forth.
Ajdabiyah, gateway to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, is about 80 km east of Brega.
Like other rebels at Ajdabiyah's western gate, Ahmed expressed frustration at the lack of NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... action. "There have been no air strikes. We hear the sound but they don't bomb anything," he said.
Another rebel, Khaled Al-Obeidi said: "What has NATO done, what has NATO bombed?"
Journalists were banned on Wednesday from heading west from Ajdabiyah, making it difficult to assess the fighting.
"Can you go with Qadaffy's militias and do interviews with them and photograph the tanks? Well now you can't with us either," said Al-Obeidi.
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04/07/2011 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Bahraini security forces have attacked the funeral procession of an anti-government protester in the western village of Karzakan, dispersing the mourners by force.
Witnesses say security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd attending the funeral of Hassan Jassim Fardan, who was killed during a brutal government crackdown.
Also on Wednesday, the body of another Bahraini anti-government protester was found in a bin near a petrol station in the city of Saar, a few kilometers west of the capital Manama.
Seyyed Hamid Mahfood went missing on Tuesday. His funeral was held under heavy security presence in Saar. There were no reports of festivities during his funeral.
The city has witnessed a series of anti-government protests in the last couple of weeks. On March 31, a 15-year-old boy was shot in the head by a police shell in Saar.
There are reports suggesting that Bahraini authorities remove the body organs of those killed in anti-government protests.
"The bodies of the youths, who are being taken out of hospitals and killed, are being returned to their families with their organs missing," Ralph Schoenman, the author of The Hidden History of Zionism told Press TV.
Since the beginning of the uprising in Bahrain, dozens of anti-government protesters have been killed and many others went missing. Their bodies were often found days after.
However, The well-oiled However... many still remain missing.
Six opposition leaders have also been tossed in the slammer and the Manama government has so far refused to provide any information on their fate. The opposition leaders, five Shia and one Sunni, were rounded up on March 17.
Among the opposition leaders is Hassan Mushaima, the head of the Haq party. He returned to Bahrain from Britain in mid-February after Manama dropped charges against him. His family members say Saudi troops were among Bahraini forces taking part in the arrest operation.
In the latest round of arrests, opposition Waad party said on Wednesday that the head of its central committee, Abdulhameed Murad, was tossed in the slammer.
According to Bahrain's leading Iranian catspaw Wefaq, over 450 opposition activists, including 14 women, have been also tossed in the slammer since the uprising began in the tiny Persian Gulf state in mid-February.
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04/07/2011 00:00 ||
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[Arab News] Three people were killed and more than 50 injured on Tuesday when soldiers of Maj. Gen. Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmer, the commander of the First Armored Division -- which defected to the opposition -- opened fire on a rally in front of Al-Ahmer's office in the capital, Yemen's state media claimed.
The protesters were demanding Al-Ahmer change his mind about backing the opposition.
The dissident general accused Saleh's forces of trying to kill him. Members of the presidential guard, who had masqueraded as part of the delegation of tribal envoys that was visiting the headquarters of Ahmer's rebel division, pulled out weapons and opened fire on the general, a statement from his office said.
"Thank God and the vigilance of Gen. Al-Ahmer, this plot was unmasked," said the statement issued in the name of the "information office of the armed forces supporting the young people's revolution." It said there had been "numerous" casualties but gave no precise figures.
The state run agency Saba said tribal leaders, including Al-Ahmer's elder brother, were trying to meet Al-Ahmer to mediate between him and Saleh but were not allowed to see him.
Saleh urges opposition to join GCC talks Meanwhile, ...back at the precinct house, Sergeant Maloney wasn't buying it... Saleh urged his opponents on Tuesday to join GCC-led dialogue to be held in Soddy Arabia to end the political crisis, according to Rooters.
GCC Secretary-General Abdullatif Al-Zayani said his organization was awaiting the approval of all parties in Yemen for the mediation. "The GCC wanted to make contributions toward protecting Yemen's security and stability. These efforts will never be an alternative for what the Yemeni people want for their country," he said.
"Consequently, the GCC's mediation requires its acceptance by all relevant parties without any exception," Al-Zayani said, adding that the date for mediation would be decided after that approval.
According to Rooters, Saleh accepted the Gulf states' invitation and urged the opposition to follow suit. "I promise that we will make every effort to return things to normal through talks with rational people from the Joint Meetings Party (Yemen's main opposition coalition)," he told supporters in his hometown of Sanhan.
"We repeat our invitation to them to sit at the table of dialogue and we call for a restraint from violence."
Aides to General Ali Mohsen, a key military leader who recently threw his weight behind the protesters, said he had also accepted the call for talks in Soddy Arabia.
"Saleh will fall within a week"
"I think Saleh will fall within a week," said Yemeni analyst Ali Seif Hassan. "Especially after what happened in Taiz. The people cannot stand it any more. They are not going to wait in their tents after they saw so many of their peers killed."
In the capital, a protester was killed on Tuesday and many others injured when gunnies intercepted a rally bound to Change Square, a local source said.
Scuffles between government loyalists and protesters renewed on Tuesday in the city of Taiz. At least 400 protesters were maimed when the two sides got involved in fierce hand-to hand fighting, a local journalist told Arab News.
Police stepped in and fired tear gas and bullets to disperse the crowd. The demonstrators were marching to protest against the killing of their peers in earlier festivities.
In the restive southern province of Abyan, two soldiers were killed and two others were kidnapped by local rustics. No information was available about the motive behind the attack.
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(Important to note that all of the headlines in the news reports in Portuguese call the murderer an Islamic suicide bomber and report that his letter refers to Islam, while none of the English outlets are reporting this.)
At least 11 people, mostly children, died Thursday and more that 15 were wounded when an armed man attacked a school in Realengo in the poor suburbs of Rio de Janeiro.
According to a preliminary police report, the attacker - a 24- year-old former student at the school - was among the dead after shooting himself in the head. He attacked Tasso da Silveira school, where some 400 students ages 9-14 were in classes.
the attacker was friendly as he went into the school, chatting with administrators and teachers and asking for permission to address the children. When he reached the third floor of the building, the suspect entered one of the classrooms and started to shoot at students, killing nine girls and one boy.
The attacker apparently committed suicide upon being chased by a police officer who had been called in by a student who managed to escape the building.
Police stressed, however, that there was no concrete evidence that the attack had either a religious or a political motive.
"It is a massacre, a true massacre," said Roni de Macedo, a fireman who arrived on the scene shortly after the shooting began and dragged eight seriously injured children from the school.
"There is blood on the walls, blood on the chairs. There are 15 to 20 dead I think," said De Macedo, who was covered in blood. "I've never seen anything like this. It's like something in the United States."
(Xinhua) -- Colombian police said on Wednesday it had seized at least 7 tons of explosives in the Arauca department near the border with Venezuela.
"Through the development of an intelligence operation we were able to seize 7 tons of ammoniac nitrate," which is the base of powerful explosives, Arauca's Police Commander William Guevara told local radio station La FM.
Guevara said that this substance mixed with hydrocarbon and aluminum becomes amonal, an explosive known to be used by Colombia's illegally gangs in car booms, antipersonnel mines and other bombs.
He said that the based on the volume of kaboom seized in the operation "the seven tons could be used to load 20 car booms and about 2,500 antipersonnel mines."
Guevara did not reveal when the operation was carried out, but said it had been done when the load was transported in a truck coming from Villavicencio, the capital of the east-central Meta department.
He added that police had placed in durance vile two people who allegedly were members of the "10th front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia," FARC or FARC-EP, is either a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary guerrilla organization or a narco mob based in Colombia. It claims to represent the rural poor in a struggle against Colombia's wealthier classes, and opposes United States influence in Colombia, neo-imperialism, monopolization of natural resources by multinational corporations, and the usual raft of complaints. It funds itself principally through ransom kidnappings, taxation of the drug trade, extortion, shakedowns, and donations. It has lately begun calling itself Bolivarian and is greatly admired by Venezuela's President-for-Life Chavez, who seemingly fantasizes about living in the woods and kidnapping people himself. He provides FARC with safe areas along the border. also known as the FARC guerilla group.
A total of 459 individuals were found in eight gravesites in the Mexican northern state of Tamaulipas Tuesday, according to Mexican news accounts.
Reports say the discovery was the result of a joint Mexican federal and Tamaulipas state investigation of a hijacking that took place March 25th involving a public bus.
Incident to the discovery was the arrest of 11 suspects suspected in the kidnappings.
The graves were found on the ejido La Joya within the San Fernando town limits.
A number of shootings have taken place on Tamaulipas' highways around the same time as the hijacking.
On March 23rd on the Valle Hermosa-Reynosa highway a Mexican Army detachment fought a group of armed suspects killing 13, and seizing seven vehicles and a number of munitions. To see the Rantburg report on the March 23rd firefight, click here.
Seventeen individuals were killed in several incidents March 25th and March 26, including a traffic stop by a detachment of the Mexican Army which resulted in a fire and explosion from munitions that killed three armed suspects. To see the Rantburg report on the March 25th and March 26th shootings, click here.
San Fernando, which is halfway between Ciudad Victoria and Reynosa on the main highway, was the site last summer where 72 migrants from Central and South America were massacred by a Los Zetas group. To see the Rantburg report on the August 2010 massacre of Central and South American migrants, click here.
(Itar-Tass) - Dagestan's Deputy Minister of Agriculture Bilal Omarov was seriously maimed in an liquidation attempt on Wednesday, senior aide to the director of the regional department of the Investigation Committee (SK) Alkhas Amirkhanov told Itar-Tass.
"As the official was leaving his apartment house # 14A in Irchi Kazak Street at 08:30, Moscow time, an unidentified man shot him in the back of the head with a pistol. Omarov was hospitalized at death's door to the republic's trauma center," Amirkhanov said.
A group of detectives is working at the scene of the crime.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/07/2011 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
The Administration strongly opposes House passage of H.R. 1363, making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2011, and for other purposes. The White House doesnt offer one specific substantive point in opposition to HR1363.
This might be a big bluff, but the President may be looking for a way to rally his dispirited base.
I am an avid follower of the events surrounding this cold blooded massacre and wounding of dozens of defenseless, unarmed troops at Ft Hood, Texas. However, if I had not Googled this case tonight, I would not have found out about this latest event that occurred a week ago. Clearly, the extreme left wing MSM Obama shills do not care to cover this event that occurred under our incompetent Commander in Chief's command. FORT WORTH, Texas -- The Army psychiatrist charged in the Fort Hood shooting rampage won a delay Wednesday that is expected to move his case to the incoming commander who will decide whether he will go to trial and face the death penalty.
Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the departing commanding general, granted a request by Maj. Nidal Hasan's attorney to delay proceedings until late April, when Maj. Gen. Donald Campbell is expected to assume command at the post. Hasan's lead attorney, John Galligan, contended Cone wouldn't have been impartial because he was at Fort Hood on Nov. 5, 2009, and received information about the case early on that may not have been accurate.
Campbell has led the Army Recruiting Command at Fort Knox, Ky.
In a statement to The Associated Press on Wednesday night, Fort Hood officials gave no reason why Cone granted Galligan's request for the delay to meet with the commanding general -- the military official who will decide if Hasan will be court-martialed and face death for 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. Two Army colonels already have made that recommendation.
No meeting date has been set, (not a good sign when the incoming Commander has not put this on his calendar of priorities)
but Galligan likely will meet with Cone's successor, according to the statement. Cone's date of departure hasn't been set. Senate approval is pending for his nomination, announced three weeks ago, to the rank of general and to lead the Army's Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe, Va.
#2
Clearly, the extreme left wing MSM Obama shills do not care to cover this event that occurred under our incompetent Commander in Chief's command.
If and when the Court Martial ever begins, Hasan's attorney will likely profer some very interesting facts, and timelines with regard to the knowledge the Army and FBI might have had about Hasan in the years leading up to his traitorous attack. I doubt the Army, Justice Department, or Executive branch is eager to see these preceedings begin. Should they actually take place, my guess is an executive envocature will be levied and the court martial will be closed and all pertinent documents and testimony will be classified due to an alleged "potential impact upon National Security." Just my guess.
#3
One aspect of courts martial that most people do no understand is that unlike civilian trials, the courts martial board actually can question witnesses. The members are not stuck with the dialogue produced by the lawyers, but can make further inquires into pertinent issues arising in testimony. The military judge acts as a technician to validate the questions asked. The military judge is not subject to command influence of the charging authority, but comes from a separate independent command.
1. The accused can request a judge-alone (bench) trial, which is common if they're scared a jury of their peers would be too "emotional" and "judgmental," and neatly avoids that whole questions-from-the-panel thingy.
2. I have never heard of any convening authority (the CG) agreeing to personally meet with defense counsel. That is seriously fishy and bizarre (or is being reported inaccurately).
#6
"That is seriously fishy and bizarre (or is being reported inaccurately)."
I'l take Door #2, RJD.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/07/2011 14:27 Comments ||
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#7
We can take comfort in the fact that in the meantime Maj. Dr. Hasan is stuck in a hospital bed, depending on those he hates to wipe his bottom, turn him to prevent bed sores, and make sure he can breathe properly. Of course the clock on the television is accurate, but will the nurse really tell him today's times for prayers correctly? (Of course he/she will as a matter of professionalism, but liars believe others lie, too.) And he can't even commit suicide, unless he's attained serious yogi skillz while we weren't looking. Even the smell of bacon floating down the hall must be torture.
#9
I hope that the military judge has the stones to reject any irrelevant material about how the command should have stopped him, or how Hasan felt bad that America is killing Muslims.
To me it is an open and shut case - the SOB deliberately and with malice aforethought took his weapons into a room filled with unarmed soldiers and deliberately shot at them with the intent to kill as many as he could. But then, I am not a lawyer. I realize that to a lawyer, there is no such thing as an open and shut case.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
04/07/2011 17:26 Comments ||
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#10
SonOfABitch is still drawing a paycheck and benefits isn't he?
Yes, because he has a 'commission' which is by act of Congress. That commission can not be canceled for cause unless 'due process' has occurred. First conviction throwing in 'forfeiture of all pays and allowances', finalize appeals, then the Secretary of the Army must literally sign off on the paperwork to decommission. On lessor offenses, that is usually done voluntarily when the individual 'resigns for the good of the service' as part of a plea agreement to avoid the hassle and paperwork it all entails. On these matters, that option is not there.
#11
I realize that to a lawyer, there is no such thing as an open and shut case.
Oh my no, for most of us there is. A major reason I joined the Army was that law school highlighted how some disputes are much more efficiently resolved with overwhelming violence. Due process is often a f*cking drag, and even downright counterproductive. Quite a few knuckleheads I diligently labored to put in prison just needed a swift kick in the jimmies.
Chances are very good that just about everyone involved in the proceeding will arrive at the same judgment you have. Keep in mind, most MJs make evidentiary rulings skewed to the defense - to ensure that the conviction is not reversed on appeal. They're not just being weenies. They're making sure prosecutors' hard-earned convictions stick.
Militants in Pakistain's restive southwest have destroyed two tankers carrying fuel to NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... forces in neighboring Afghanistan, official reports say.
Pak officials say the forces of Evil set fire to the tankers in the south-western province of Balochistan.
According to the reports, the drivers of the vehicles beat feet unharmed, and their whereabouts are unknown.
The US military and NATO rely heavily on the Pak supply route into landlocked Afghanistan, where about 150,000 US-led international troops are situated.
But, during the past three years, NATO supply trucks and oil tankers have become the target of frequent attacks by gunnies across Pakistain.
In response, Pak authorities have deployed large contingents of police and military forces on all major arteries in the area to curb the attacks.
However, The emphatic However... attacks on NATO vehicles remain unabated.
Militants say the attacks are in response to the unauthorized US drone strikes inside Pakistain.
More than 700 people have so far been killed in such drone attacks since 2009. Over 90 percent of the victims have been civilians.
That would be the definition of civilians that means jihadis.
#1
Just a thought here, how about some drones shadowing the tablets. Jihadi...zap, jahadi...zap, just a thought.
Posted by: Steven ||
04/07/2011 10:08 Comments ||
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#2
How about fill one or 2 fuel trucks in each column with a mixture of fertilizer and fuel....
with a remote controlled self-destruct...
When the column is being swarmed by the gunnies... blow the truck.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
04/07/2011 12:49 Comments ||
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At least seven people have been killed and several others injured in separate incidents of violence across northwestern Pakistain.
On Tuesday morning, at least five people were killed and ten others maimed in a bomb kaboom in the northeastern province of Khyber Agency, a Press TV correspondent reported.
Pakistain's security forces have cordoned off the area and have shifted the injured to the hospital.
The corpse count is expected to rise as most of the injured are said to be at death's doors.
No group has yet grabbed credit for the blast.
In a different incident, unidentified gunnies shot down two coppers in targeted liquidations in the city of Dera Ghazi Khan, situated in southern Punjab province.
Witnesses say the officers were on a routine patrol when assailants opened fire on their van. One policeman was also injured in the attack.
Local forces have now increased their patrols in the conflict-hit areas.
During recent months, Taliban forces have stepped up their attacks on police forces, in what is seen as retaliation for a recent Pak offensive against the fighters.
More than 4,000 people have bit the dust in kabooms across Pakistain since 2007.
Gunmen on cycle of violences have attacked two NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... oil tankers, setting the vehicles ablaze in Pakistain's restive southwest, officials said.
Wednesday's attack took place near the town of Dadar in Bolan district, 90 kilometres southeast of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, Abdul Aziz, local tribal police official told the AFP news agency.
Unknown gunnies on motorbikes signalled the vehicles to stop and opened fire when the driver ignored them, Aziz said. There were no casualties, he added.
The tankers were carrying oil for NATO forces in Afghanistan. Local intelligence officials confirmed the attack.
NATO supply trucks and oil tankers are targets of frequent attacks in Pakistain.
They are blamed on hard boyz attempting to disrupt supplies for the 140,000 US-led international troops fighting the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Most supplies and equipment required by coalition troops in Afghanistan are shipped through Pakistain, although US troops increasingly use alternative routes through central Asia.
Baluchistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has suffers attacks by armed religious groups and an insurgency by rebels seeking political autonomy and a greater share of profits from natural resources.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/07/2011 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: TTP
Iron Dome's success Thursday marks the first time in history a short-range rocket was ever intercepted.
According to reports from the area, the interception could be seen in Israeli towns near northern Gaza. The second Iron Dome battery was positioned in the area of Ashkelon over the weekend, in addition to a battery already placed north of Be'er Sheva. Is that really cost-effective? I thought the Grads were not really doing much damace. Except to the psyche. It's protecting lives and letting the people in the area know that the government will protect them. Worth every penny and more.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/07/2011 14:32 ||
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#1
Rapid response: back-track the launch point and fire for effect.
#2
Part of the system is a go/no go whether the rocket will hit occupied/built up areas. That means the Grad was headed for an occupied area before it was taken out. This was becoming a political necessity that those rockets be stopped.
#3
Since they just deployed the system and haven't really had a chance to use it yet in the real world, the system may have been set to shoot at whatever came up just to prove that the system could even work.
If so, they'll probably tighten things up as time goes on, but for now the public knows that the system has proven the capacity exists, whether or not it is actually working.
If that missile were headed towards a populated area and it wasn't shot down because the part of the system that makes the go/no-go decision wasn't working right, I'm sure there'd be some explaining to do.
#4
Is that really cost-effective? I thought the Grads were not really doing much damace. Except to the psyche.
There was a big fund drive by Magen David Adom a few years ago, to build an underground bunker playground/senior citizen center in Sderot, one of the Israeli towns nearest Gaza. That's how bad it's been, Bobby. Google "image missile damage Sderot", and draw your own conclusions.
#9
Grads don't hurt - unless they happen to fall on you.
Counter-battery fire is ineffective against what is essentially a big-ass bottle rocket that can be fired with a cinder block and an egg timer. The miscreants are long gone when it goes off.
Iron Dome is a defense for the coming war. Thanks to their Iranian benefactors and would-be rocket scientists like Uncle Sissy, the Paleos have improved missiles with longer range, better accuracy and bigger payloads. The old rockets were a dangerous nuisance. The new ones are a threat that cannot be ignored.
#11
Hizb'Allah is reported to have 30,000 to 40,000 rockets in southern Lebanon. If they start shooting them, then the Israeli response is going to have to cover a lot of real estate, quickly. There are not too many options for that.
Just thinking, 1 rocket fired per minute is 1440 per day. For 30K rockets, it will take 21 days to shoot them all. At 2 rockets a minute, it will take 10 days. At 10 rockets per minute, it will take 2 days. That can do a tremendous amount of damage.
I am just a sideliner, but I would put Damascus on notice that Pencil-neck and his government would cease to exist if Hizb'Allah starts up anything.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/07/2011 20:32 Comments ||
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#12
AP - If the IDF sees an incoming rocket every SIX SECONDS, even Saudi Arabia needs to be worried. At least that's the message I'd leave if I were in the Israeli diplomatic corps.
Residents in Ashkelon reported Thursday seeing Israel's new Iron Dome defense system intercept a Grad rocket fired towards the southern city from the Gaza Strip.
Eyewitnesses told Ynet they saw the rocket explode in midair and realized that the system had intercepted its first rocket.
#1
On Thursday, Kuwaiti newspaper Al Jarida reported that jailed Gazan engineer Dirar Abu Sisi gave Israeli intelligence 'valuable information' that led to the attack on the arms smugglers. According to the source, Abu Sisi passed along the sensitive information to Israel during his remand since he was abducted by a train in Ukraine last month
squeal, little piggy
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/07/2011 8:06 Comments ||
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#2
Even if Abu Sissy didn't drop the dime it's good to put the news out there anyway.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/07/2011 9:15 Comments ||
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#3
Those Juice. Is there anything they can't do? They even got a train to kidnap a guy.
Presuming the article meant "from" a train, that's still something. Didn't happen in Tel Aviv. So they got him off the choo-choo and from that country to Israel. Spooky.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
04/07/2011 9:49 Comments ||
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#4
"So they got him off the choo-choo and from that country to Israel. Spooky Coooool."
FTFY, Richard. No extra charge. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/07/2011 19:39 Comments ||
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At least four Palestinians have been wounded after Israeli F-16 warplanes pounded several targets in the southern Gaza Strip.
That's pretty impressive control, actually.
The attacks, the second in two days, occurred shortly after midnight on Wednesday, Xinhua reported.
Witnesses said that the Israeli warplanes first struck two tunnels used by the Palestinians to bring in essential items, destroying the tubes that cross under the border between the southern Gaza Strip and Egypt.
Another airstrike was carried out on Zeitoon neighborhood in southern Gaza City while a third one destroyed a plastics factory in a nearby area, medics and witnesses said.
All of the wounded were at the factory, they added.
Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli soldiers gunned down one Palestinian and wounded another in the northern Gaza Strip near the enclaves' Erez border crossing.
Israeli warplanes have repeatedly attacked Gaza during the last two weeks. Dozens of people, among them children, have been killed and injured in the airstrikes.
Tel Aviv has continuously attacked the besieged territory from the air, land and sea since the end of its devastating war on Gaza at the turn of 2009. The 22-day offensive left more than 1,400 Palestinians killed and thousands more wounded.
(Xinhua) -- Israeli F16 warplanes struck several targets in southern Gazoo Strip and in Gazoo city shortly after midnight on Thursday. No injuries were reported, witnesses said.
The witnesses said that the Israeli warplanes first struck tunnels that the Paleostinians are using for smuggling under the borderline between southern Gazoo Strip and Egypt, adding that two tunnels were destroyed.
Another Arclight airstrike attacked Zeitoon neighborhood in southern Gazoo City, and a third one was carried out on an underground weapon cache, said the witnesses, adding that ambulances rushed to the scene.
The Israeli Arclight airstrikes on Gazoo is the second in two days, which came in response to rockets attacks on southern Israel carried out by hard boyz from the Gazoo Strip.
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.
Egypt's military rulers said Tuesday they would form a panel to investigate the wealth of toppled President 
jacket wallah
[Ennahar] Libyan Deputy Minister for European Affairs, Abdelati Obeidi, was appointed foreign minister, replacing Mousa Kousa, who had defected, told AFP Tuesday night the Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Khaled Kaim.
[Ennahar] The Moroccan government has promised reform of the current press code "based on democratic benchmarks" during a meeting with 
[Arab News] 
Libyan rebels headed out of the eastern town of Brega on Wednesday, trying to regain territory lost in a retreat to Qadaffy's forces.
Khyber Agency
Punjab
cycle of violence
