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Saleh again refuses to sign power transfer
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 11/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot

Daisy Fuentes aka Kenzie Pearson in "Shutterspeed (TV 2000)" aka Host in "Style World (TV Series 2000–2003)" aka Clara in "Curdled" aka Host in "America's Funniest Home Videos from 1998 to 1999" aka first Mind, Body, Spirit Superstar (age 45)



Devout
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 11/17/2011 1:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Daisy is not just pretty. She spends a lot of time on charity work, some of which is innovative (e.g., using running to get girls to have self esteem).
Posted by: Lord Garth || 11/17/2011 6:41 Comments || Top||

#3  Carole Landis died at 29. Very active short life.
Drug overdose. Two suicide notes one to her mother and the other to Rex Harrison. Issue was he would not divorce his wife to marry Landis.
Posted by: Dale || 11/17/2011 9:02 Comments || Top||

#4  Devout eh?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 11/17/2011 13:09 Comments || Top||

#5  Carole was one of the Great Bosoms of the 20th Century. Wotta waste...
Posted by: Fred || 11/17/2011 14:37 Comments || Top||

#6  Actually, I saw two devouts.
Posted by: gorb || 11/17/2011 14:38 Comments || Top||

#7  Bit of a rant at Obama's corruption.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 11/17/2011 14:53 Comments || Top||

#8  BP that was magnificent. From cascade to clawback covers this situation so well. They have eyes yet they do not see. Ears and yet they do not hear. They have a brain yet cannot comprehend what they have seen or heard. That comes from the Bible,Dumas and from my memory recalled. Bold decision. Ann Barnhardt and moral certainty.
Posted by: Dale || 11/17/2011 16:41 Comments || Top||

#9  Indeed BP, good find. An eye-opener to the extent of the rot in D.C. and in the hedge funds. Leveraging has come to mean using funds that you have never had any intention of ever paying back. In my book that is stealing. These people ought to be in jail.
Posted by: JohnQC || 11/17/2011 17:27 Comments || Top||

#10  I reviewed Ms. Barnhardt's website where she has much, much, much more on the MF Global disaster. I don't understand it all but what I do understand makes it clear that Corzine, and the regulatory agencies, are crooked as hell.
Posted by: Steve White || 11/17/2011 17:39 Comments || Top||

#11  BP I normally don't react so quick but your post reflected what I have been seeing. Her blog site is very active right now. I will pause and see how things develop. I hope this story has a run.
Posted by: Dale || 11/17/2011 19:52 Comments || Top||

#12  A very principled, Christian fund adviser, that Ann Barnhardt...

I'm about to take a very chilling, though fully anticipated; bath.
Posted by: Angoper Smith4384 || 11/17/2011 21:53 Comments || Top||

#13  Hope it's in a tub and not on the street Mr. Smith.
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/17/2011 22:48 Comments || Top||

#14  I'm starting to wonder why anyone trusts ANY major financial institution any more. The level of corruption & willingness of the big players to rob & defraud the less wealthy is truly monstrous.
Perhaps this is a good time to invest in mattresses & basement safes.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 11/17/2011 23:24 Comments || Top||

#15  My main hope, such as it is, are some attorneys general at the state level. The Nevada AG today secured a conviction of a notary public on one count of notarizing a signature of a person not in the presence of the notary. The AG's office states tens of thousands of fraudulent documents were filed in Clark County Nevada in the last 6 years, so there may be a great many more cases coming up. Today the Nevada AG indicted 2 California 'robo-signer' supervisors on over 600 counts ranging from gross misdemeanors to felonies.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 11/17/2011 23:50 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Air strike kills 27 Afghan insurgents: Nato
[Dawn] A NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions...
air strike killed 27 bully boyz in eastern Afghanistan Wednesday after they opened fire on an international military patrol, officials said.

The attack came in Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
province, close to the border with Pakistain where bully boyz have hideouts and many of the 10-year war's bloodiest battles take place.

"Coalition aircraft killed 27 bully boyz this morning in the Nazyan district of Nangarhar province," said a front man for the NATO-led International Security Force (ISAF) in eastern Afghanistan.

"Insurgents attacked a coalition patrol with small arms and RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades). Air weapons teams responded immediately. There were no coalition or Afghan civilian deaths reported." The Taliban were not immediately contactable for comment on the incident.

Last week, up to 70 Taliban fighters were killed after trying to attack an Isaf troop outpost in the eastern province of Paktika
...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo...
, Afghan and Isaf officials said.

There are around 140,000 international troops in Afghanistan, most of them from the United States, fighting a Taliban-led insurgency which started after their hardline regime was ousted from power by a US-led invasion in 2001.

All foreign combat forces are due to leave the country by the end of 2014, but a sizeable mission to train and mentor Afghan troops is set to remain beyond that date.
Posted by: Fred || 11/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa Horn
African Union to join Kenya in fighting Shabaab
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Kenya and the African Union are to combine their forces in the campaign against 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...
in a major strategic shift which could change the face of the Somalia war.

The operation will bring together African Union forces operating around Mogadishu, Kenya Defence Forces and Transitional Federal Government forces to fight the thug group throughout Somalia.

An agreement reached by Presidents Kibaki, Uganda's Yoweri Museveni and Somalia's Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed will see Ugandan and Burundi-led AU forces backed by soldiers from Kenya. (Read: Missiles strike rebels as more support Kenya)

Operations against the group will now be coordinated more closely between the two groups as more forces are expected from Djibuti, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.

This would more than double the current number of AU troops operating in Somalia from 9,000 to 20,000.

Most of these will be deployed to areas where KDF and Amisom forces have defeated Al-Shabaab.

On the day marking exactly one month since Kenya sent its troops into Somalia to chase the bully boyz accused of abductions in Kenya, Presidents Museveni and Shariff flew to Nairobi for a meeting with President Kibaki.

Al-Shabaab used the occasion to criticise Kenya's military incursion and made an appeal to Kenyans to prevail upon the government to withdraw the forces.

Al-Shabaab front man Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage said in interviews that the Kenyan military was not advancing any further.

But the front man for the KDF, Maj Emmanuel Chirchir, dismissed the allegations, saying the operation was about to move to phase two which would also include an exit strategy.

He did not expound on the statement but Kenya's military operation swiftly took towns and centres in the south of the country and they are now camped outside Afmadow, a town 105km inside Somalia and near Kismayu.

The Kenya Air Force and Navy are also operating unchallenged within Somali air space and waters.

A joint communique issued after the State House meeting said: "The meeting discussed the status of the joint Kenya-Somalia security operation in pursuit of Al-Shabaab forces of Evil and noted the gains already made by Amisom, TFG and KDF forces and the need to galvanise international support for this purpose."
Posted by: Fred || 11/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


Arabia
Thousands of Kuwaitis 'Storm Parliament'
[An Nahar] Thousands of Kuwaitis stormed parliament on Wednesday after police and elite forces beat up protesters marching on the prime minister's home to demand he resign, an opposition MP said.

"Now, we have entered the house of the people," said Mussallam al-Barrak, who led the protest along with several other politicians and youth activists also calling for the dissolution of parliament over alleged corruption.

The demonstrators broke open parliament's gates and entered the main chamber, where they sang the national anthem and then left after a few minutes.

The police had used batons to prevent protesters from marching to the residence of Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed al-Ahmed al-Sabah, a senior member of the ruling family, after staging a rally outside parliament.

Witnesses said at least five demonstrators were maimed and treated on the site.

Some activists said they will continue to camp outside parliament until the premier is sacked.

Chanting "the people want to remove the prime minister," the protesters started to march to the nearby premier's residence when police blocked their way.

This was the first political violence in the oil-rich Gulf state since December, when elite forces beat up protesters and MPs at a public rally, though activists have been holding protests since March.

Tension has been building in Kuwait over the past three months after it was alleged that about 16 MPs in the 50-member parliament received about $350 million in bribes.

The opposition has been leading a campaign to oust the premier, whom they accuse of failing to run the wealthy nation and fight corruption, which has become wide-spread.

Earlier on Wednesday, about 20 opposition politicians boycotted a parliamentary session, a day after the government and its supporters succeeded in rejecting a bid by the opposition to quiz the premier over allegations of corruption.

After the rejection, three opposition MPs filed a fresh request to question Sheikh Nasser over allegations of graft involving MPs and illegal overseas money transfers.

The premier, 71, has been a target of opposition criticism since he was appointed to the job in February 2006, forcing him to resign six times.

Parliament has also been dissolved three times in the same period.

Posted by: Fred || 11/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Yemenis Urge Arab League to Suspend their Country
[An Nahar] Anti-regime protesters, inspired by the suspension of Syria from the Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
, staged a massive rally in Sanaa on Wednesday to urge the regional grouping to do the same with Yemen.

"Arab League, we demand the freezing of (Yemeni) membership," chanted the protesters who marched from Change Square, the epicenter of anti-government demonstrations, towards al-Hasaba -- both in the north of the capital.

"No immunity for the killer, resist, people, resist," they chanted, in allusion to a Gulf plan to end 10 months of unrest under which veteran President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
would step down in return for immunity from prosecution for himself and his family.

"Silence after today is shameful, after the bombs and the destruction," they shouted.

Security forces fired warning shots in the air when protesters passed by a house owned by Saleh. No casualties were reported.

Saleh, who has been in power in Sanaa since 1978, has come under mounting domestic and international pressure to step down in line with the Gulf-brokered peace blueprint.

Saleh has welcomed but has yet to sign off on the plan.

The Arab League voted on Saturday to suspend Syria from the pan-Arab bloc and impose sanctions after more than 3,500 people were killed since protests erupted in March against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
regime, according to U.N. figures.

Eighteen of the bloc's 22 members voted to suspend Syria, while Leb, Syria and Yemen voted against the move, and Iraq abstained.

Posted by: Fred || 11/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Death of 7 al-Qaeda Fighters in Abyan
[Yemen Post] According to local government officials in Yemen's southern region of Abyan the government troops would have killed 7 al-Qaeda snuffies this Tuesday as assaults between the two parties continue.

Amongst the dead were one Iranian man, a Pak and 2 Somali nationals, confirming fears of an intricate terror network within the country.

Military sources confirmed the government statement which announced that its forces had to shell 2 key government buildings in Zinjibar after the Islamist snuffies managed to seize it.

As Yemen continues to be locked into a political and power stalemate, security in its southern and now northern region has fallen apart, allowing gangs to vent and implement their take-over plans. The nation is now sandwiched in between the threat of al-Qaeda in the south and al-Houthis territorial ambitions in the north.
Posted by: Fred || 11/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


Saleh again refuses to sign power transfer
[Yemen Post] The UN envoy to Yemen, Jamal Benomar was received yesterday by President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
to discuss the matter of the signature of the power-transfer as demanded by the 2014 UN Security Council resolution on October 21st.

Under the unanimously approved resolution, Saleh had a month to ink the GCC brokered proposal aimed at easing in a new government and the organization of presidential elections while guaranteeing Saleh, his family and close aides' legal immunity.

Despite claiming that he was favorable to a power-transfer and even welcoming the UNSC resolution, the embattled Yemeni President has been stalling the process as he continues to want to define the terms of "the implementation mechanism".

An official close to the President said under cover of anonymity: "President-for-Life Saleh
... exemplifying the Arab's propensity to combine brutality with incompetence...
refused to sign the Gulf Cooperation Council ( GCC) initiative upon request of Benomar during the meeting in the presidential palace, instead, Saleh asked Benomar to arrange direct dialogue between his deputy Abdo-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and the opposition leaders to set up a mechanism for implementing the GCC initiative."

The source further added that Benomar categorically refused to engage in further talks as he said that enough time had been wasted already.

Interestingly, as President Saleh is once again putting road blocks before a swift resolution of the current political deadlock, the state-run Saba news agency announced that the president was favorable to more dialogue and that all he demanded was a "practical mechanism and timetable" before the deal could be signed.

Benomar is due to give his report on Yemen in only a few days, November 21st as it would mark the end of the timeframe given by the Security Council to Saleh before taking things further.

In the streets, protesters are becoming restless as many feel that Saleh will have to be forced out rather than eased out, signaling for Yemen a descent into yet more violence and bloodshed.

Saleh actually seemed willing to face the possibility of a civil war as he defiantly warned La Belle France 24 in an interview that it was an "eventuality".
Posted by: Fred || 11/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Caribbean-Latin America
More on the Zacatecas firefights that killed 20 -- UPDATED
exclusive from RantburgFor a map, click here. For a map of Zacatecas, click here New infromation released about a third disappeared.

By Chris Covert

A series of armed confrontations between Mexican security forces and armed suspects starting Tuesday afternoon has ended up with 20 armed suspects dead and 20 detained in Zacatecas state in north central Mexico, according to Mexican news accounts.

At the moment it is uncertain if the firefights started as a result of a federal effort to locate two national newspaper employees reported missing Monday afternoon between Zacatecas, the capital of Zacatecas state and Guadalajara, Jalisco to the southwest of the state.

Osvaldo Garc"a Iniguez, a regional circulation manager for El Financieros newspaper and his driver Jose de Jesus Ortiz Parra were reported missing Monday afternoon aboard a Nissan pickup truck. The two men left Zacatecas at around 1618 hrs on Monday along Mexican Federal Highway 44 and have not been heard from since.

Latest reports from the Zacatecas attorney general office (PGJE) said that at least seven municipal police agents in Zacatecas municipality are under investigation fro their role in the disappearance.

El Diario de Coahuila published a report that said a third individual was with the pair when they disappeared, who was identified as Filiberto Munguia AKA El Fili who had apparently been released from prison in Fresnillo. Munguia was arrested November 6th in eúl Gonzalez Ortega municipality, which borders Jalisco state to the south, for possession of munitions. Munguia has been described as a member of the Gulf cartel.

The Gulf cartel has operated in alliance with the Sinaloa cartel in drug manufacturing/shipping operations in northern Jalisco.

Many highways in Zacatecas are used by organized crime for carjacking and to extract tribute from travellers, especially in the northwest quadrant of the state. In that area a few weeks ago two Catholic ministers were robbed and carjacked with an hour of one another.

On Tuesday, Zacatecas government officials reported federal security forces were operating in Fresnillo, about 30 kilometers northwest of the capital and a national road node leading to Durango state, Coahuila state and San Luis Potosi state.

Reports were gunfire was heard in areas around Fresnillo and, fixed and rotary winged aircraft were seen patrolling the area. At least one exchange of gunfire took place near a Centro de Readaptacion Social (CERESO) in Fresnillo where manned and unmanned aircraft had been seen.

Later, clashes between Mexican Army and Naval Infantry troops, and armed suspects took place on the highway between Fresillo and Valparaiso some 40 kilometers southwest of Fresnillo. Reports say the gunfights took place at the border between Fresnillo and Valparaiso, where one criminal-operated vehicle had overturned, and an undisclosed number of other bullet pocked vehicles were presumably abandoned. The road between the two municipalities had been closed due to the combat.

Wednesday afternoon at about 1500 hrs, a gunfight took place near the General Hospital in Fresnillo where as many as 250 military effectives supported by five helicopters, surrounded a number of armed suspects, according to the Mexican daily NTR Zacatecas. This latest gunfight is where 20 armed suspects reportedly died at the hands of Mexican federal security forces, and another 20 were detained.

However, the Zacatecas attorney general's office said no one was reported killed and two individuals were wounded,although that report did not provide much detail.

Zacatecas state was the recent recipient of three newly raised rifle battalions, presumably part of the 18 rifle units funded by the Mexican Chamber of Deputies earlier in the year. One of the bases housing a rifle company is already occupied.
To read a Rantburg report on Zacatecas' security crisis click here
Posted by: badanov || 11/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Many highways in Zacatecas are used by organized crime for carjacking and to extract tribute from travellers,

Given that such activities were traditionally the province of the Federales, perhaps this is yet another indication of how out of control the whole mess has gotten.

Thanks to badanov for the updates and coverage of events which, for some reason, seem to escape notice by the MSM.
Posted by: SteveS || 11/17/2011 2:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Bitch and whine about a war to allow them to fuel their cars, and not be Haji'd, but then ignore a war at their back door.

Posted by: newc || 11/17/2011 4:02 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
N.Korean Elite Sniper Defects
An ex-member of an elite North Korean special warfare unit defected across the West Sea on Oct. 30. He crossed the sea on a raft made of tires, it emerged on Tuesday.

Under questioning by the National Intelligence Service, the military and police, the man, who is in his early 30s, said he had been discharged from the marine sniper brigade five years ago and then worked as a civilian member in a military unit.

He set out in the raft from South Hwanghae Province in the morning of Oct. 29 and rowed while riding the tidal currents southward. He was spotted by a South Korean Navy ship in waters near Yeonpyeong Island around 3:10 a.m. on Oct. 30.

A former North Korean Navy officer who defected earlier said, "Members of the marine sniper brigades undergo more than 20,000 miles (36,000 km) of training at sea on floating tubes. The regular North Korean Navy also get swimming training, but it’s much more rigorous for marine snipers so they withstand longer hours at sea eating only chocolate bars."

The marine sniper brigades are among the top special warfare units in the North. According to the 2010 Defense White Paper, the North has two marine sniper brigades with about 12,000 members. Each brigade has about 3,000 combat troops and the remaining 6,000 troops are backup troops, the former North Korean Navy officer said.

They are trained to infiltrate South Korea to strike radar facilities and naval bases, destroy ships at anchor, and secure vantage points on the shore using high-speed boats, hovercraft or semi-submersibles.

They would be the first to be dispatched to the five northernmost South Korean islands in the West Sea in case the North launches a surprise attack, the South Korean military speculates.

The government is trying to find out whether this man actually served in the North Korean marine sniper brigade and why he decided to defect. A government official said, "Many defectors tend to overstate their experience, so we need to question him further."
Posted by: Steve White || 11/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Kimmie just calls them snipers. They're not actually long-range marksmen.
Posted by: gromky || 11/17/2011 10:11 Comments || Top||

#2  20,000 miles???? I'm hoisting the BS flag on this. The earth's circumference is 25,000.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam || 11/17/2011 11:11 Comments || Top||

#3  I don't think they do it all at once, Sam...
Posted by: Steve White || 11/17/2011 13:23 Comments || Top||

#4  I think I saw that guy. Scrawny little Asian dude sitting by overpass wearing scruffy BDUs, chocolate smeared face and a bolt action rifle with a sign saying "WILL DEFECT FOR FOOD"? Yeah, that's him!
Posted by: SteveS || 11/17/2011 19:08 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Explosives recovered near Pir Chambal shrine
[Dawn] In a joint operation, police from Jhelum, Chakwal, Pind Dadan Khan and Khushab along with Elite Force commandoes recovered explosives and other material under the use of hard boyz near the shrine of Pir Chambal.
This is where the intel guys were rubbed out by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi a few days back...
The items were traced by the teams led by senior coppers, including the DPO of Chakwal, from a small cave about five kilometres from the shrine.

The recovered goods included around five kilogrammes of high explosive, plastic explosives along with live fuse attached to it and items of personal use in four bags.

Some other items, including a bucket and a wall clock, which probably had been stolen from the shrine, were found placed deep inside a rock opening.

"The situation indicates that the belongings were the personal items of the criminals who had been hiding in the shrine and who are responsible for the killing of four federal intelligence officials and their local guide on Saturday," said a police officer present at the site.

The bodies of the victims were found in the compound of Pir Chambal shrine.

"Since all of them are not hardened hard boyz -- some are even petty criminals -- it seems logical to assume that someone had stolen the wall clock from the shrine."

The police search operation continued in the area to find clues to the terrorists. Apart from the regular police force from the adjoining districts and the Elite Force personnel sent from Rawalpindi, who searched the surrounding areas, the whole shrine was screened by a team of Punjab Forensic Scientific Agency which arrived in the area from Lahore.

After the recovery of high-explosive powder in a special plastic briefcase, the bomb disposal experts were called to the hilltop for its safe carriage which even had wires for detonation.

"They had placed live plastic explosive along with the fuse wires attached at the mouth of the hiding place possibly to act as a mine or a booby trap," another police officer said. "We can only thank the Almighty that the device did not work."

While the police operation launched on Saturday has been limited to a few kilometres around the shrine, the presence of their belongings some five kilometres away from the scene of the crime in the remote and wild area showed the ability of the hard boyz to melt down in the wilderness.

"There are chances that the hard boyz might be hiding in caves just a few hills away," a police constable said.

Mohammad Asghar adds from Rawalpindi:

A joint investigation team, comprising intelligence, counterterrorism wing and police officials, has been constituted to probe into the killing of the intelligence officials. The JIT visited the scene and investigated some local people regarding the incident.

Sources said a few suspects had also been taken into custody by the security agencies though none of them has been formally placed in long-term storage so far.

A senior law enforcement agency official said temporary `pickets` were being established in the hilly area.

According to security sources, eight sections of Elite Force commandoes from Rawalpindi, each comprising five personnel, had been sent to Pir Chambal where they started the search operation and also set up the pickets.

The post-mortem on the bodies of the five victims showed that they were shot in the chest and the bodies bore multiple bullet injuries.

Though there were no torture marks on the bodies, one of the victims had scalds on his foot which looked like burn injuries.
Posted by: Fred || 11/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan


Blast kills three militants, two police officials in Karachi
[Dawn] A kaboom blew up a white colour Suzuki Bolan near Salt n Pepper Village restaurant at Sea View and killed three Islamic fascisti and two police official on Wednesday, DawnNews reported.

Another police official got injured in the blast.

According to the Sindh Home Minister Manzoor Wasan the jacket wallahs, riding a white Suzuki Bolan, blew themselves up on being stopped for the routine search by the police.

The home minister, who reached at the blast site without delay, said the security had been increased in the area specially around the Abdullah Shah Ghazi Shrine amid fear of further terrorist attacks after the blast.

He announced Rs 2 million compensation for the family of deceased police personnel while Rs 500,000 for the maimed.

Manzoor Wasan also announced to give jobs to sons of affected police personnel.

He also appreciated the police personnel for showing courage to stop the suspects.

The Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Qaim Ali Shah said the event was a cowardly act of terrorism which had been foiled by the police with great courage.

The Sindh CM was talking to media at the site of incident near Seaview in Defence Housing Authority.

He told a questioner that the police has found a suicidal vest and a Kalashnikov from the site of blast.

He said that the concerned police officials have been directed to present their report about the incident.

He said the initial reports have indicated that the suspects were travelling in a vehicle and when they saw coppers approaching them, they blew themselves up.

However investigations were underway and it was premature to give any final statement about the incident, the Sindh CM added.
Posted by: Fred || 11/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan


US terror drone kills 18 in Pakistan
At least 18 people have been killed in yet another US assassination drone campaign in northwest Pakistan, Press TV reports.

Officials and local sources told Press TV that a US drone fired four missiles at a house in Jandola area of South Waziristan Agency on Wednesday, killing 18 people and injuring several others.

The building was completely destroyed in the attack, they added.

After the aerial attack, the drone was flying over the area, causing panic among people.

The United States has deployed its assassination drones to launch airstrikes inside Pakistan's tribal belt.

Relations between Islamabad and Washington have soured over the unauthorized attacks. Pakistan insists that the airstrikes by the remotely controlled, unmanned aircraft violate its sovereignty.

Washington claims its drone strikes target militants, although casualty figures indicate that the aerial bombings have led to the loss of hundreds of Pakistani civilians.

Rights activists have condemned the US assassination drone strikes as extra-judicial assassinations against civilians, deemed anti-American by US authorities.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "You can run, but you'll just die tired."
Posted by: mojo || 11/17/2011 10:15 Comments || Top||

#2  technically, Ahmad, they're not "assassination drones". They're "Reconnaissance by BDA drones"
Posted by: Frank G || 11/17/2011 12:41 Comments || Top||


Pakistan briefly detains 14 US nationals
Pak security forces have briefly placed in long-term storage at least 14 US nationals as they took photos of sensitive military facilities in the country's eastern province of Punjab, Press TV reported.

Pak police and military personnel ordered the Americans, traveling in three large embassy SUVs, to pull over on a road in Rawalpindi, which is located 224 kilometers (138 miles) southwest of the Pak capital Islamabad, as they took photographs of sensitive installations in the city.

The US citizens were jugged for about an hour on a military base before the US Embassy in Islamabad explained in a statement that the performers were not aware of restrictions placed on photography in or near the area, and had no intention to photograph sensitive Pak government or military installations.

Pak police destroyed the images before releasing the group.

Tensions between Islamabad and Washington increased following a secret US raid into Pakistain in May that killed al-Qaeda leader the late Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden is dead.
He took two shots to the head.
That made him frown
and he had to lie down.
Osama bin Laden is dead.

Pak military has since been under pressure to explain why US military helicopters freely carried out the operation on Pak soil.

Pakistain's defense ministry later ordered the United States to leave a remote desert airbase in the southwestern Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
Province.

The US had long been carrying out its unauthorized drone attacks in Pakistain from the Shamsi airbase in Balochistan.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Since the Paks obviously don't understand "diplomatic immunity" we should return the favor to their "diplomats" to the UN and US whenever this happens.
Posted by: Water Modem || 11/17/2011 0:07 Comments || Top||

#2  What Press Iran doesn't say is it was a Hip-Hop dance troupe.

Pakistan Briefly Detains U.S. Hip-Hop Group

Were they busting caps in Paki ass?
Posted by: Eohippus Phater7165 || 11/17/2011 8:31 Comments || Top||

#3  Good find, Eohippus Phater7165. Thank you.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/17/2011 12:25 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Six wounded in a bomb blast in Samarra
SALAH AL-DIN / Aswat al-Iraq: Four cops and two civilians wounded today by a bomb blast directed against police patrol mid of Samarra', police sources said here.

The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the wounded were rushed to nearby hospital.
Posted by: Steve White || 11/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Blast hits Iranian pilgrim bus
BAGHDAD: A roadside bomb blew up near a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims in northern Baghdad on Wednesday, killing at least two people and wounding 18 others, security and hospital sources said.

The bus was attacked as the pilgrims returned from a visit to a Muslim shrine in the city of Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of the Iraqi capital.

Insurgents have frequently targeted Iranian pilgrims, who have flocked to holy sites in Iraq since the 2003 invasion.

On Sunday, a roadside bomb blew up near a bus in the northwestern Baghdad district of Kadhimiya, killing one Iranian pilgrim and wounding four others, according to a police source.
Posted by: Steve White || 11/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Shin Bet arrests members of 2 W. Bank terror cells
Suspects were responsible for shooting, bombing attacks against security forces, Shin Bet says.

One of the cells was arrested in early September and consisted of a number of members, ranging in ages from 18 to 22.
Boys will be boys.
They were old enough to buy a beer. If their society would let them buy a beer, which they wouldn't do. Which is a big part of the problem.
The cell members opened fire in late August on a Border Police jeep in the village of Shura near Bethlehem.

The cell members would initiate civil disturbances in the area to draw security forces and would then open fire at them with various weapons they had assembled. No one was injured in any of the attacks.

The Shin Bet said that the arrest of the cell members thwarted their plans to attack a Jewish settler who frequently drove villagers from Shura throughout the West Bank.

The second cell operated out of the village of Zuta near Nablus and was behind a kaboom against an IDF patrol near the village.

One of the cell's members served a two-year stint in Israeli jail for membership in Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,. The member, Ahmed Musa, built the bomb used in the attack against the IDF patrol and plotted additional attacks that were thwarted by the Shin Bet.
Posted by: || 11/17/2011 07:05 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Science & Technology
Mysterious Symbols in China Desert Are Spy Satellite Targets, Expert Says
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/17/2011 00:11 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Personally I was hoping for alien landing areas.....meh
Posted by: Ebbairt Cresh8651 || 11/17/2011 11:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Can't believe everything you read in print, Bairt.
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/17/2011 22:44 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Five bombs, no casualties in southern Thailand
Five improvised bombs went off at many different locations in Pattani province on Wednesday night but caused no casualties.
That's a nice change.
The first bomb exploded at about 10 p.m. in a toilet on the second floor of a building behind the Pattani Municipality office, destroying the ventilators and causing damage to the ceiling, walls and toilets. Then, the second went off in a bathroom on the ground floor of the CAT Telecom Plc office on Phiphit road, causing extensive damage.

This prompted a deployment of police and military units to set up check-points at intersections and provide security at important government offices. At about the same time, three other bombs exploded at three post offices in Panare, Yarang, and Yaring districts but inflicted no casualties.

Shortly afterwards, an M79 round landed and exploded in front of the office of Panare district. Nobody was hurt.

See also:
Buddhist minority declines in southern Thailand
Posted by: ryuge || 11/17/2011 04:21 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
France Recalls Ambassador to Syria over Missions Attacks
La Belle France has recalled its ambassador to Syria, Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Wednesday, after its diplomatic missions there were attacked amid ongoing protests against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators...
regime.

"There has been renewed violence in Syria, which has led me to close our consular offices in Aleppo
...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins...
and in Latakia, as well as our cultural institutes and to recall our ambassador to Gay Paree," Juppe told parliament.

Pro-Assad mobs attacked La Belle France's honorary consulate in the northern city of Latakia and the detached chancery in Aleppo on Saturday, sparking French condemnation and the summoning of Syria's ambassador to Gay Paree.

The Syrian government on Tuesday pledged there would be no repeat of attacks on embassies after a spate of recent assaults against countries deemed to be against Assad's beleaguered regime.

"We're working at the (U.N.) General Assembly with the Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
to get a draft resolution adopted," Juppe said.

On Tuesday, the U.N. Security Council condemned the recent spate of attacks on diplomatic missions in Syria.

Protesters stormed the Jordanian embassy compound on Monday after King Abdullah II became the first Arab leader to say openly that he thought Assad should step down.

It was the latest such protest by angry Assad loyalists against embassies since the vaporous Arab League voted on Saturday to suspend Syria from the pan-Arab bloc and impose sanctions.

Other missions targeted have included those of Qatar, Soddy Arabia and Turkey, all outspoken critics of the Assad regime's eight-month crackdown on dissent that the United Nations
...the Oyster Bay money pit...
says has cost more than 3,500 lives.

U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford, abruptly withdrawn last month because of security threats, is supposed to return to Syria in "days to weeks," Washington has said.

Turkey and members of the Arab League called Wednesday for "urgent measures" to protect Syrian civilians from violent repression.

In a statement issued after a Turkish-Arab cooperation forum in the Moroccan capital Rabat, they also declared they were "against all foreign intervention in Syria."

Posted by: Fred || 11/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


U.S. Says Opposition Violence Plays into Syrian Regime's Hands
[An Nahar] The United States said Wednesday that the use of violence by the Syrian opposition plays into the Syrian "regime's hands," adding it did not condone violent acts by either side.

State Department deputy front man Mark Toner was reacting to reports that Syrian army defectors had attacked a Syrian military intelligence base on Wednesday in one of the most daring raids in eight months of unrest.

Toner told news hounds that it was "not surprising" that the opposition is resorting to violence in response to the deadly crackdown by Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's
Supressor of the Damascenes...
regime.

"We don't condone it in any way, shape or form but ... it's the brutal tactics of Assad and his regime in dealing with what began as a non-violent movement (that) is now taking Syria down a very dangerous path," he said.

He squarely put the blame for the violence on the regime in Damascus
...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations...
"We don't condone violence, not on the part of the Syrian military, the Syrian regime, nor on the part of the opposition," Toner said without going as far as condemning opposition attacks.

"We think that this kind of violence ... it really plays into Assad's and his regime's hands when this becomes violent," Toner said.

"This was a peaceful movement in its inception and it's only because of the regime's repeated and brutal campaign of violence against innocent protesters that we're seeing the country move down this very dangerous path."

Toner appeared to allude to concerns the country could erupt into civil war with the risk of events spilling over into neighboring countries.

Posted by: Fred || 11/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Typical.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/17/2011 2:44 Comments || Top||

#2  So we have career diplomats that don't understand the mindset of the ME?

I would more expect Assad to say this or maybe the mental gymnast himself, Gilani, saying it. BUT to have a US official say something this illogical opens the door to a view of why we are so screwed up in our policies toward the ME.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 11/17/2011 12:37 Comments || Top||

#3  And in everything else government "careerism" touches.

Careerism at the management level in government is both a cancer and a plague, infecting all departments with a majority of decision makers who care only about their next step up the ladder and don't know Jaques Merde (to use the language of diplomacy) about the day-to-day duties and accumulated wisdom of their underlings.

And don't you DARE contradict them, or your behavior will be deemed inappropriate and/or insubordinate. Of course, if you are near retirement (like I was), such management obtuseness can turn out to be a feature rather than a bug.

Posted by: Pollyandrew || 11/17/2011 16:19 Comments || Top||


Arab League Gives Syria 3 Days to Accept Observers
The Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
on Wednesday gave the Syrian regime three days to halt months of deadly violence against its people or face economic sanctions, Qatar's prime minister said.

The 22-member League is "giving the Syrian government three days to stop the bloody repression" of its civilian population, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani told a presser after a meeting of member states in Rabat.

"But if Damascus
...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
does not agree to cooperate with the League, sanctions will be adopted against Syria," he said, when asked whether the League would slap sanctions on Damascus if it did not abide by the three-day deadline to sign a protocol on sending a team of Arab observers to Syria to monitor the situation on the ground.

He said that Arab patience was running out with the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Supressor of the Damascenes...
after a bloody crackdown against demonstrators that has killed over 3,500 people since March according to the United Nations
...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involves making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country...
"I don't want to speak about last chances so (the regime) doesn't think it is being given an ultimatum but we are almost at the end of the line," he said.

"The Syrian government must agree to Arab League decisions and stop the bloodbath in Syria," he said. "We do not interfere in Syria's internal affairs ... but the bloodbath must be stopped."

Syria was suspended by the League at the weekend, and refused to turn up at the meeting, which was also attended by Turkey, its northern neighbor.

In a statement after what was labeled the Turkish-Arab cooperation forum, ministers declared they were "against all foreign intervention" but said it was time for urgent measures.

"The forum declares that it is necessary to stop the bloodshed and to spare Syrian citizens from new acts of violence and killing, and demands that urgent measures are taken to ensure the protection of civilians," a statement said.

"Ministers also stressed the importance of Syria's stability and unity and the need to find a resolution to the crisis without any foreign intervention," it added.

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said "everything must be done to stop the ongoing bloodshed in Syria."

He said he hoped Arab moves to send observers to Syria would bear fruit within days, but reiterated that no observers would be sent before a clear agreement is signed.

The pan-Arab body had agreed to send 500 members of human rights
...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions...
groups, media representatives and military observers to Syria, which said it would welcome them to see the situation on the ground and help implement the peace deal.

As the ministers met, pro-Assad protesters attacked the Moroccan and UAE embassies in Damascus, officials said.

Turkey, once a close ally of Syria, has become increasingly outspoken in its criticism of Assad's regime since the uprising began.

"The cost for the Syrian administration of not fulfilling the promises it made to the vaporous Arab League is its isolation in the Arab world as well," Ahmet Davutoglu told his Arab counterparts.

"It is not possible for any administration to win the fight against its own people," he added.

Posted by: Fred || 11/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Pro-Assad Brownshirts Attack UAE, Morocco Embassies
[An Nahar] Protesters pelted the Moroccan embassy in Damascus
...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world...
with eggs and stones on Wednesday, Morocco's ambassador said as his country hosted an Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
meeting aimed at ending bloody unrest in Syria, amid another attack on the UAE embassy in Damascus.

Morocco's ambassador, Mohammed Khassasi, told Agence La Belle France Presse that more than 100 demonstrators had attacked the building and stripped it of its flag.

Khassasi said "between 100 and 150 people protested in front of the embassy and attacked the chancellery with stones and eggs and acted irresponsibly by also attacking the Moroccan flag."

Morocco immediately condemned the attack.

"I condemn the attacks against the Moroccan embassy in Syria ... and what is happening inside and outside the Arab embassies," Moroccan Foreign Minister Taib Fassi Fihri said in Rabat.

The UAE embassy in Damascus also came under attack on Wednesday, an Emirates foreign ministry official said as the Gulf state took part in the Rabat meeting.

"The UAE condemns the attack against its embassy in Damascus and the Syrian government bares responsibility for the safety and protection of the chancery and the security of its staff," said Jumaa al-Junaibi, quoted by the official WAM news agency.

He reminded Syria's government that international conventions required it to "protect diplomatic missions" on its territory, accusing it of "negligence."

On Monday Syria's foreign minister, Walid Muallem, apologized for protester attacks on foreign embassies after the vaporous Arab League voted to suspend his country from the bloc.

"I, as foreign minister, apologies for this matter," Muallem told a news conference in the Syrian capital, adding that protecting the embassies was part of Syria's responsibilities.

On Saturday, hundreds of angry demonstrators attacked the embassies of La Belle France, Qatar, Soddy Arabia and Turkey.

La Belle France recalled its ambassador to Syria on Wednesday while the U.S. envoy, abruptly withdrawn last month because of security threats, is supposed to return to Syria in "days to weeks," Washington has said.

Posted by: Fred || 11/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Free Syrian Army Forms Military Council to Oust Assad
[An Nahar] The rebel Free Syrian Army announced on Wednesday the creation of a temporary military council with the aim of ousting the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Light of the Alawites...
and protecting civilians from his forces.

"Based on the requirements of this phase and the demands of the Syrian revolution, the Free Syrian Army is establishing a temporary military council," a statement said.

The council aims to "bring down the current regime, protect Syrian civilians from its oppression, protect private and public property, and prevent chaos and acts of Dire Revenge™ when it falls."

Colonel Riyadh Asaad, who defected from the regular army to form the Syrian Free Army in July, will chair the council.

The council's leadership also includes four colonels and three majors.

The announcement came after Free Syrian Army fighters attacked a military intelligence base outside Damascus
...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world...
early on Wednesday in one of the most daring raids in eight months of anti-government unrest.

Posted by: Fred || 11/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Do they take donations?
Posted by: Creregum Glolump8403 || 11/17/2011 5:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Sounds like the old Soviet military councils of the early part of WWII. Originally, they were used as a liason between the military and political leadership of oblasts and raions to inventory, as it were, resources that can be used in the defense, and to assign individual civilian (communist party leaders and cadre) wartime responsibilities.
Posted by: badanov || 11/17/2011 6:49 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
42[untagged]
6Govt of Syria
4Govt of Pakistan
2Taliban
2al-Qaeda in Pakistan
1Govt of Iran
1al-Shabaab
1Jamaat-e-Islami
1al-Qaeda in Arabia

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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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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
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sherry
ryuge
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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2011-11-17
  Saleh again refuses to sign power transfer
Wed 2011-11-16
  Missile raid targeted top Shabaab leaders
Tue 2011-11-15
  Suspected suicide bomber killed near Afghan loya jirga site
Mon 2011-11-14
  Syria Calls for Urgent Arab Summit
Sun 2011-11-13
  Syrian brownshirts storm Saudi embassy
Sat 2011-11-12
  Iranian Terror Plot Against Bahrain Uncovered
Fri 2011-11-11
  Mexican minister who fought drug cartels killed in crash
Thu 2011-11-10
  Cash shortage threatens Pakistan flood aid
Wed 2011-11-09
  Kim Jong-il Death Rumors Rattle Markets
Tue 2011-11-08
  Syria Says U.S. behind 'Bloody Events', Urges Arab Help
Mon 2011-11-07
  19 Killed as Syrians Rally on Eid al-Adha
Sun 2011-11-06
  Suicide bomber kills six at mosque in Afghanistan
Sat 2011-11-05
  65 dead in Islamist raid on Nigerian town
Fri 2011-11-04
  Al-Shabaab militants fall back to defend Kismayu
Thu 2011-11-03
  Syrian tank fire kills two in Homs despite deal

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