[NBC Nightly News] TWO US SECURITY CONTRACTORS FOUND DEAD ON MAERSK ALABAMA. NBC Nightly News (2/19, story 6, 0:30, Williams, 7.86M) reported that two former US Navy SEALs working as private security contractors were found dead in a cabin on the Maersk Alabama, the ship made famous by the Somali pirate hijacking depicted in the Tom Hanks film, Captain Philips. The discovery was made while the containerized shipping vessel was moored in the Seychelles.
USA Today (2/20, Winter, 5.82M) reports that according to local police, Jeffrey Reynolds and Mark Kennedy, both 44, were found dead Tuesday afternoon in Kennedys cabin. While police did not give any information about how the men may have died, Maersk Line spokeswoman Meredith Siviter said in a statement that their deaths were not related to vessel operations or their duties as security personnel.
The AP (2/20, Straziuso) reports that police said that a post mortem has been scheduled, and the US Coast Guard said that it is also investigating the deaths.
#1
Radio this morning is stating drugs were involved. Supposedly, needles and empty vials found near bodies.
Posted by: BA ||
02/21/2014 9:55 Comments ||
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#2
the ship made famous by the Somali pirate hijacking depicted in the Tom Hanks film, Captain Philips. Navy SEALS making amazing shots off the fantail while Obama was busy hurrying an FBI hostage negotiator to the scene.
#3
BA: I mean, dayum, it's almost like needles and vials aren't something the perps could have picked up from the medbay on their way to the assasination mission.
[FOX] Perhaps a few discreetly placed FCC Navigators in media newsrooms might make this unpleasantness finally go away. The FCC Navigators will make a lot of things go away. That is, of course, the point...
#1
Old info about the man [behind the man] at the center of Saddam's alleged WMD trailers in Iraq. General Powell's UN presentation, 5 Feb 2003. Some things simply never change;
Libyans were electing a panel on Thursday to draft a new constitution they hope would help defuse a potentially deadly conflict between powerful militias and parliament members backed by armed factions. The panel is due to draft Libyas first constitution since the 2011 ouster of dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Nearly 700 candidates are competing for a seat on the panel.
The vote comes after demands this week by powerful militias that interim parliament members resign or face detention. The United Nations in Libya counselled that legislators should call for new elections as soon as possible.
The standoff has brought the restive North African countrys long-running political crisis to a head. Parliament, elected in 2012, is split between Islamist and non-Islamist blocs. Its mandate was to have expired this month, but the Islamists led a motion to extend it by another year.
The crisis coincided with the third anniversary of the Feb. 17, 2011 uprising that toppled Gadhafis 42-year-old dictatorship.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/21/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Abeer al-Hassani's ex-husband was famed for his beautiful voice.
He used it, she says, singing poetic hymns to martyrdom and jihad to try to draw youth from their neighborhood of the Yemeni capital into joining Al Qaeda.
He sang at weddings of fellow members of the terror group, and held discussions with young men at local mosques.
''One woman complained to me that her son wanted to go fight in Iraq after speaking with him,'' the 25-year-old Al Hassani recalled in an interview with the News Agency that Dare Not be Named.
For most of her young life, Al Hassani has been entangled with Al Qaeda through family bonds she has tried to shake off.
Three of her brothers became fighters for the group, and all three are now dead, two of them killed by US drone strikes on consecutive days in January 2013.
Her story provides a rare look into one of the most dangerous branches of the terror network, which has withstood successive blows and yet continues to thrive.
It has moved to fueling conflict elsewhere in the region, sending fighters and expertise to Syria and to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
Her ex-husband, Omar Al Hebishi, backed up his recruiting with cash.
During their four-year marriage, she says, he received large bank transfers or cash delivered overland from Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... -- money, he told her, that was to support the families of ''deaders.''
She and Al Hebishi divorced in 2010.
A month ago, he left for Syria to fight alongside Al Qaeda -- inspired faceless myrmidons -- but not before trying to recruit the older of their two sons, 8-year-old Aws, to come with him by showing the boy videos of Al Qaeda gunnies jogging and swimming.
''Mom, I want to go because they have a swimming pool,'' Aws told her, Al Hassani said.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, as the Yemen branch is known, has been hit hard in the past few years.
A US -- backed government offensive in 2012 drove it out of southern cities that it seized a year earlier.
Relentless US drone strikes have killed several senior figures and dozens of lower-level fighters, keeping the group on the run.
Still, several Yemeni security officials say Al Qaeda has spread to operate in every province of the country of more than 25 million.
Al Qaeda's branch demonstrated its capabilities with a sophisticated and brutal attack in December on the Defense Ministry in the capital, Sanaa, that killed more than 50 people.
The group benefits from Yemen's political instability since the ouster of longtime 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... .
While his replacement Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi is battling the group, Saleh's loyalists still infusing security and intelligence agencies have quietly backed Al Qaeda gunnies to keep the government unstable, the officials told the AP.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the press.
''The former regime forged a close relationship with Al Qaeda,'' said Fares al-Saggaf, an adviser to Hadi.
In the southern province of Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... ''entire army camps have been handed over to Al Qaeda.''
Al Saggaf said Al Qaeda is on the ropes, in large part due to the drone strikes.
He said sympathy for the group has fallen, particularly after the December attack, during which fighters broke into a hospital inside the Defense Ministry complex and killed patients, doctors and nurses.
Hadi ordered security camera footage of the bloodshed released to the public, a move Al Saggaf said ''dealt the image of Al Qaeda a serious blow.''
But Al Hassani's tale illustrates the pull that Al Qaeda has in a society where poverty is rife, the population is deeply conservative and many resent a corrupt government and abuses by security forces.
''I can guarantee you that my two sons, Aws and Hamza, will follow in the footsteps of their father if we stay in Yemen,'' Al Hassani said.
''We need to get out of Yemen.''
Diminutive and soft-spoken, wearing an enveloping black niqab veil and robes that leave only her large dark eyes visible, Al Hassani has lived under the full weight of Yemen's patriarchal society.
She was first married off at the age of 15, but she kept running away from her husband, so they divorced after only a month.
Soon after, her older brother Bandar brought home a new husband for her -- Al-Hebishi, a man 20 years her senior.
Al-Hebishi, known by his is the renowned in bully boy circles as a ''munshid,'' or singer of Islamic hymns and anthems.
His voice is often heard singing in Al Qaeda propaganda videos showing footage from their attacks and of deaders.
The Yemeni security officials confirmed to AP that he works in the media branch of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
A veteran jihadi who fought in Bosnia in the 1990s, he was a secretive man who didn't like having his picture taken, Al Hassani said.
She showed one of the few photos she has of him -- their wedding picture, where he stands grim-faced.
''He was unhappy my mother was photographing him,'' she said.
''He was so courteous and convincing when he spoke to the teenagers he wanted to recruit," said Al Hassani.
In one case, she said, he used the money he received to buy a car and house for a Yemeni who lost both his legs while fighting alongside miltiants in Iraq, she said.
At home, she said, he was abusive, striking her and the children.
After their divorce, her brothers forced her at one point to hand custody of their sons to Al Hebishi.
During the time they were with him, Al Hebishi told her he burned matches on their younger son, Hamza, as part of his toilet training, Al Hassani said, showing photos of her son with the burns.
She said she received word two weeks ago that her ex-husband was now in Syria.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/21/2014 10:10 ||
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[Jihad Watch] This lawsuit was a craven attempt to end NYPD counter-terror efforts. If it had succeeded, it would have given a green light to Islamic jihad activity, with the NYPD handcuffed and unable to do anything to stop jihad terror plots. Judge William Martini ruled in favor of common sense: The police could not have monitored New Jersey for Muslim terrorist activities without monitoring the Muslim community itself. The motive for the program was not solely to discriminate against Muslims, but to find Muslim terrorists hiding among the ordinary law-abiding Muslims.
AP suffers a blow with this decision as well: they disclosed the surveillance in order to bring an end to it. They failed. But there is no doubt that Islamic supremacists and their allies in the mainstream media will try again, and again, and again, until they get the outcome they want, while free people stand by on the eroding bank of their freedoms and refrain from getting involved in anything controversial. A Federal judge will no doubt toss out U.S. District Judge William Martini's ruling.
[DAWN] The special court constituted to try former military ruler Gen (retd) Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... ruled on Friday that the treason trial of the former president would not take place in a military court and has summoned him before it on March 11, DawnNews reported.
During today's hearing, the bench announced its decision, which had been reserved earlier, of rejecting Musharraf's plea that had challenged the jurisdiction of the special court and had sought to hold the treason trial at a military court.
"This application is dismissed," Judge Faisal Arab said at the end of today's hearing.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/21/2014 10:26 ||
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[DAWN] Pakistain and Iran on Friday agreed to take joint steps to fight bad boy groups and curb the menace of cross-border terrorism. Pakistain assured the Iranians that it would make all possible efforts for the recovery of five kidnapped Iranian border guards.
High level officials from both sides met for a third day to remove misunderstandings which had developed in the aftermath of the abduction of the five border guards.
"Pakistain will strictly act if we get any information regarding the presence of kidnapped Iranian soldiers on our soil," Chief Secretary 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... , Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad told news hounds at a joint presser in Quetta.
The guards were seized on February 6 in the Iranian province of Sistan-Balochistan by gunnies who allegedly took them across the border to Pakistain. A Sunni- bad boy group, Jaish ul Adl (Party of Justice), had grabbed credit for the kidnapping.
Following the incident, the Iranian interior minister had threatened to send troops into Pak territory if the kidnapped soldiers were not recovered.
The three-day meeting of officials from both sides thoroughly discussed border issues, trade, extradition of criminals, fisheries and violations of the international border.
The chief secretary said that both countries have decided to form a joint committee comprising bigwigs from both sides to keep a vigilant eye on border violations and other issues relating to the Pakistain-Iran border.
He said the committee would present its report to the border commission after three months, adding that both sides have agreed to boost coordination to avoid misunderstanding and promote bilateral relations. "Less communication can lead to misunderstandings," he said.
Ali Asghar Shikari, the deputy governor of Sistan-Balochistan who was representing the Iranian delegation, expressed serious concern over the kidnapping and said that the incident had harmed the feelings of the Iranian people. "It is important for us to address the issue of kidnapping of the border guards," he told news hounds during the joint presser.
He said that the Pak delegation had passionately listened and assured cooperation with regard to the recovery of Iranian kidnapped border guards. "Some bad boy groups have vicious plans to disturb us," he said.
Shikari said that the next meeting of the joint border commission would be held in Sistan-Balochistan on August 24 to discuss issues relating to the border. He said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... , Governor and Chief Minister Balochistan had already been invited by the Iranian government to visit the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/21/2014 10:24 ||
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[DAWN] After being convinced by the top military leadership of Pakistain, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... gave a go ahead for the Arclight airstrikes in North Wazoo and Khyber agencies that killed at least 35 suspected bad boys, highly placed credible sources told Dawn.com.
High level civil military consultations continued for three days which culminated on these strikes, they said.
Army Chief General Raheel Sharif and intelligence heads briefed the prime minister over rapid developments in the tribal areas and also shared images of bad boy hideouts procured through their own spy drones.
Authorisation of the premier was sought for more strikes at other locations, which according to the sources has been granted.
In last night's Arclight airstrikes in Mir Ali, 16 Uzbek turbans were also killed while identification process of the other dead was underway.
There is no presence of military in Mir Ali where fighter jets of Pakistain Air Force were used to destroy the hideouts.
According to military sources, in Arclight airstrikes in Khyber Agency earlier today, seven terrorists, including three jacket wallahs and a key Taliban capo, were killed.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/21/2014 10:08 ||
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[DAWN] Pakistain's Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan Thursday said that carrying on with peace talks with the Pak Taliban amid terrorist attacks throughout the country would be injustice to the victims of such attacks, DawnNews reported.
Speaking at a presser, he said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... and the military leadership do not intend to carry on with dialogue amid terrorist attacks.
The minister was accompanied by State Minister for Interior Balighur Rehman.
He said Pak security forces would not hesitate to take action in self defence, if they came under attack.
"We cannot take away the right of self defence from our security forces," he added.
"He (PM Sharif) wanted to eradicate terrorism through dialogue with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP). Sincere efforts were put in that regard by forming a negotiating committee," said the minister.
"However, you can observe a lot just by watching... citing recent terrorist attacks, the government has decided to counter force with force upon consultation with the country's military leadership," he announced.
The statement came after at least 35 bully boyz were killed earlier today as fighter jets targeted suspected hard boy hideouts in three different tehsils of the North Wazoo tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
Chaudhry Nisar reiterated that peace talks and terrorist attacks cannot go side by side.
Premier Sharif has favored peace talks over military action to end the bloodshed in the country. Those efforts made limited progress this month when a government-appointed committee met with representatives nominated by the bad boys.
But negotiations were troubled from the start as bad boy attacks continued. A deadly bombing claimed by the Pak Taliban last week killed 12 coppers in the port city of Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... . A faction of the Taliban also claimed they killed 23 soldiers on Sunday in reprisal for the killing of some of their members.
After that, government negotiators told the prime minister they couldn't continue the talks unless the bully boyz renounced violence.
TTP front man Shahidullah Shahid said Wednesday they would agree to a ceasefire only if government negotiators could assure them there would be no more killings of their members.
During the presser today, Chaudhry Nisar said that the deadlock in peace talks persists, however, the government's peace initiative will continue with the bad boy groups which believe in the dialogue process.
"I still think that there are clear indications that the dialogue process will be on track again. I am very hopeful," he added.
The minister said that the government did not carry out any military action against the hard boyz since inception of the grinding of the peace processor in September. "What else could the government have done to show its sincerity of observing a ceasefire," he questioned.
The Pakistain Moslem League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader, in an obvious reference to the Pakistain Peoples Party (PPP), said those who are demanding a military offensive should have conducted the operation during their five years in power.
The minister said due to government's steps, coordination had improved among the country's intelligence agencies.
"Thousands of terrorists, hit mans and criminals were jugged Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! in Karachi due to proactive and focused efforts of intelligence agencies," he said.
The information minister said that a Joint Intelligence Directorate will be set up to coordinate the work of 26 intelligence agencies working in the country.
A rapid response force at the federal level would be replicated in the provinces, he said adding a helicopter unit would be on call in case of any incident in the provinces and the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) would be made vibrant.
He said the Internal Security Policy was ready and would be presented before the federal cabinet in its next meeting for approval.
More modern gadgets from China had arrived to equip the security forces, while in the coming months 50 bomb disposal vehicles, eight of which equipped with robots, would be handed over to the police.
He assured that Islamabad was now a safe city and in the last few months, only a couple of incidents had occurred and the law enforcement agencies busted two major terrorist networks.
A major drive of registration of citizens living in Islamabad was carried out and now the interior ministry exactly knew every person living in the federal capital, the minister said adding about 80,000 people were registered in 24 slum areas of Islamabad.
Those Afghans who were living illegally in the capital would be sent back to the refugee camps, he said.
Chaudhry Nisar said the British government had sought legal assistance from the government in MQM leader Dr Imran Farooq murder case and after taking legal advice, any step would be taken on the issue.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/21/2014 10:06 ||
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[DAWN] TTP front man Shahidullah Shahid on Friday said the Taliban were ready for talks despite the fact that the recent bombardment in North Wazoo was proof of the government's insincerity, DawnNews reported.
Speaking to journalists at some holy man's guesthouse an undisclosed location, the front man added that the war has been started by the government and it should also take the lead on a ceasefire.
Shahid said the Taliban were aiming to resolve issues through talks whereas the government was more focused on establishing its writ and the supremacy of the Constitution, which he said did not have a single element reflecting Islamic injunctions.
He said the TTP was serious about the dialogue, adding that the negotiators representing it were more independent than those representing the government.
Speaking to media representatives later, Professor Ibrahim Khan of the Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... (JI), who is also a negotiator for the TTP, said the Constitution was based on the injunctions of Islam and democratic in spirit.
Khan said the constitution had been signed by key religious figures, adding that he would comment on Shahid's statement if the subject is later brought up by the TTP's political shura.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/21/2014 10:05 ||
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NEW DELHI: Indias top court on Thursday blocked the release of three of former premier Rajiv Gandhis killers after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh denounced their freeing as against all principles of justice.
They were among seven Tamil terrorists extremists who had been due to walk free from prison by this weekend after the chief minister of Tamil Nadu state on Wednesday ordered their release, sparking political uproar.
Announcing legal action against the move, Singh staunchly rejected any right to freedom, saying Gandhis 1991 assassination by a female terrorist suicide bomber was an attack on the nations soul.
The assassination of Shri (honorific) Rajiv Gandhi was an attack on the soul of India, Singh said in a statement on Thursday.
No government or party should be soft in our fight against terrorism, he added. The release of the killers of a former Prime Minister of India and our great leader, as well as several other innocent Indians, would be contrary to all principles of justice.
After agreeing to an urgent hearing, a Supreme Court bench ordered the Tamil Nadu government to maintain the status quo for three of the seven terrorists until it had a chance to examine the issue thoroughly. The bench headed by Chief Justice P. Sathasivam said although Tamil Nadu in the countrys south had the right to release the prisoners, it was concerned about procedural lapses. The court said the Congress-led national government could file a fresh petition for the remaining four terrorists who are serving life sentences, although it was unclear if this could halt their release by the weekend.
Government lawyer Ashok Bhan, who was involved in the case, told NDTV that Tamil Nadu was unlikely to go ahead with releasing the four terrorists given the mood of the court.
In a surprise move, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa had ordered the sevens release one day after the Supreme Court commuted the death sentence handed down on three convicted terrorists over their role in the assassination in her state.
Rajiv Gandhi, whose widow Sonia is now president of Singhs Congress party, was targeted by Tamil Tiger terrorists separatists while he was campaigning in the southern state in May 1991 before an election. His killing was seen as retaliation for a 1987 Indian government pact with Sri Lanka to disarm the Tamil terrorists guerrillas. India later withdraw its troops deployed to the island after losing 1,200 at the hands of the terrorists rebels. Rajiv became Indias youngest-ever leader after his mother, prime minister Indira Gandhi, was assassinated in October 1984. He ruled until losing an election five years later.
His son Rahul, who is the Congress vice president and the partys frontman for the looming general elections, voiced his sadness on Wednesday over Jayalalithaas decision. If some person kills the PM and is released then how will a common man... get justice? said Rahul. He was only 20 at the time of the suicide bomb attack which killed 16 other people.
In this country even the PM does not get justice. This is my hearts voice, Gandhi was quoted as saying by local media.
Several newspapers said Thursday Jayalalithaas decision was motivated by a desire to woo Tamil voters for her regional party at the elections due by the end of May, with The Times of India declaring in a front-page headline: Jaya plays politics.
Neelam Deo, director of the Mumbai-based Gateway House think-tank, said Jayalalithaa had been a staunch critic of the Tamil Tigers, but was nevertheless sensitive to the sympathy felt by voters in her state towards the minority Tamil population in neighbouring Sri Lanka.
There is no popular backing for the LTTE (Tigers) in Tamil Nadu. That evaporated after Rajiv Gandhis assassination. What remains is support for the rights and dignity of Sri Lankan Tamils, said Deo.
Amid the growing controversy over the release order, the daughter of two of those who had been due to go free appealed for forgiveness from the Gandhi family, saying she understood the pain felt by Rahul.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/21/2014 00:00 ||
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ISLAMABAD: The special court constituted to try Pervez Musharraf for high treason would announce its verdict about his counsels six different petitions tomorrow (Friday).
The three-member bench of the special court headed by Justice Faisal Arab resumed the hearing of the case against Musharraf for breaching the constitution by imposing emergency in the country on November 3, 2007. During Wednesdays proceedings, the special court reserved the decision over the issue of the biasness of judges raised by Anwar Manoor Khan, counsel for the accused.
Anwar Mansoor argued over the petition filed against the alleged biasness of the judges in the treason case. He also argued that Justice Faisal Arab disposed of his clients election petition from the Sindh High Court and barred him from participating in general elections. Musharrafs counsel said that the judge accused of prejudice should recuse, adding that a bench of unbiased judges was a prerequisite for fair trial. In his remarks Justice Faisal Arab said that the court would formulate the guiding principle as on what bases judges should dissociate themselves from the hearing.
Anwar Mansoor said that Chiles former military dictator General Augusto Pinochet accused judges of biasness and got relief from his countrys courts. He said that many cases can be quoted when judges recused after allegations of biasness. On this, Justice Faisal Arab asked Anwar Mansoor to submit details of the case that he was referencing. Anwar Mansoor completed his arguments relating to the two biased judges in the bench.
Of course they're biased: they think Perv is guilty...
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/21/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Ideas proposed by US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... to Paleostinian president the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... cannot "serve as the basis for a framework accord" with Israel, a Paleostinian official said Friday.
"The ideas proposed cannot be accepted by the Paleostinian side as the basis for a framework accord between the Paleostinians and Israel as they do not take into account the legitimate rights of the Paleostinian people," he told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... , after Abbas and Kerry met in Gay Paree this week.
"The Paleostinian position explained to Mr Kerry is that the proposed ideas, particularly the insistences on recognition of the state of Israel as the Jewish nation-state, are unacceptable," the official said.
Proposals for the future of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, which the Paleostinians claim as the capital of the state, are "vague", the official added.
Abbas, the official said, "restated the Paleostinian position and his vision of a solution based on United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... resolutions and the positions of the Paleostinian leadership and 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... ."
The US State Department described the Gay Paree meetings on Wednesday and Thursday as "constructive", and said Kerry and Abbas had agreed to stay in touch in the coming weeks.
Kerry, who pushed the Israelis and Paleostinians back to the negotiating table after a three-year gap, has no immediate plans to travel back to Israel or the West Bank after making 11 trips during his first year in office.
But he is likely to meet early next month in Washington with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of an annual conference organised by a powerful American-Israeli lobbying group.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/21/2014 10:28 ||
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#1
Finally the Israelis and Palestinians agree: Kerry's peace plan sucks.
Iran and six world powers ended the opening round of nuclear talks on an upbeat note Thursday, with both sides saying they had agreed on a plan for further negotiations meant to produce a comprehensive deal to set limits on Tehrans nuclear ambitions.
In a joint statement, they said the next round of negotiations would begin in Vienna on March. 17, continuing a process likely to take at least six months and probably longer.
Expectations had been modest as the talks started Tuesday, and the upbeat tone on a framework for future talks appeared aimed at least in part to encourage skeptics both inside and outside Iran that the negotiations had a chance to succeed despite huge gaps between the Iranians and the six powers.
We have ... identified all of the issues we need to address for a comprehensive and final agreement, said Catherine Ashton, the EUs top diplomat who convened the talks between Iran and the six powers the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/21/2014 00:00 ||
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#3
Just a feeling. The Iranians wouldn't have agreed to talks unless the mullahs think the sanctions could topple them, or they're close to getting a working weapon.
The relief agency supporting Palestinian refugees resumed food distribution inside the rebel-held district of the Syrian capital that has suffered from crippling shortages of food and medicine for months, a United Nations spokesman said Thursday.
Someone has to explain to me how it is that the Paleos get all the help when so many other people are starving and destitute...
The UNRWA announcement comes as Western and Arab nations supporting a UN Security Council resolution demanding immediate access across in Syria to deliver desperately needed humanitarian aid to civilians under siege called for a vote this week, even though diplomats say Russia is opposed to key provisions.
Chris Gunness, a spokesman for UNRWA agency that administers Palestinian refugee camps around the Middle East, said in a statement that the Syrian government granted access for relief workers to enter Yarmouk on Wednesday after an 11-day halt. He said 280 families received food parcels on Wednesday, adding that they are preparing to deliver more food to about 18,000 Yarmouk residents on Thursday.
The Yarmouk refugee camp, located in southern Damascus, is one of the hardest-hit opposition enclaves that have been under tight blockades imposed by forces loyal to President Bashar Assad. More than 100 people have died in Yarmouk since mid-2013 as a result of starvation and illnesses exacerbated by hunger or lack of medical aid, according to the UN figures.
UNRWA staff heard passionate and vocal demands by Yarmouk civilians for substantial, sustained humanitarian access to Yarmouk, for the restoration of UNRWA services, and for Yarmouk to be rapidly opened for normal civilian life, Gunnnes said in a statement, urging the Syrian government and the rebels to respond positively and immediately to these demands.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/21/2014 00:00 ||
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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.
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.
Old info about the man [behind the man] at the center of Saddam's alleged WMD trailers in Iraq. General Powell's UN presentation, 5 Feb 2003. Some things simply never change; 
Pervez 
Nawaz Sharif
Wazoo
ISLAMABAD: The special court constituted to try Pervez Musharraf for high treason would announce its verdict about his counsels six different petitions tomorrow (Friday).
[DAWN] Ideas proposed by US Secretary of State 
Iran and six world powers ended the opening round of nuclear talks on an upbeat note Thursday, with both sides saying they had agreed on a plan for further negotiations meant to produce a comprehensive deal to set limits on Tehrans nuclear ambitions.
