Four Filipino UN peacekeepers abducted by armed men while patrolling in the demilitarised area between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights have been released, officials have said. The UN and the Philippine army both say that the four are in good health.
They are now with the Philippine battalion in the Golan Heights, a Philippine army spokesman told AFP.
Martyrs of Yarmouk rebels abducted them on Tuesday "for their own safety" amid clashes in the Yarmouk Valley.
"They are fine, but as a matter of procedure they will have to undergo stress debriefing and a medical check-up," Philippine Brigadier General Domingo Tutaan told AFP. "We are happy that this has been resolved and the soldiers have been released seemingly unharmed."
[An Nahar] The national council of Morocco's conservative Istiqlal party, the main ally of the ruling Islamists, decided on Saturday to pull out of the government, a party official said.
The decision by Istiqlal, which holds several ministerial portfolios including education and the economy, could mean a general election or a cabinet reshuffle by the government headed by the Party of Justice and Development, the PJD.
In a statement, Istiqlal's national council criticized the Islamist head of the government, Abdelilah Benkirane, for failing to take "into consideration the gravity of the social and economic situation."
Istiqlal also said Benkirane, head of the PJD, was "monopolizing decisions at the center of government".
A front man for the party, Adil Benhamza, said they would send a note to King Mohamed VI to "explain the reasons that pushed our party to take such a course of action," adding that it was up to Benkirane to decide what step to take next.
Prior to Saturday's decision, Istiqlal head Hamid Chabat had been increasingly critical of Benkirane's government in the media.
The PJD, which has led the government since it dominated elections in late 2011, will have to find a new ally in government to replace Istiqlal if it wishes to avoid a new vote.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Tunisian Foreign Minister Othmane Jarandi told Agence La Belle France Presse on Saturday that some 800 Tunisians are fighting in Islamist rebel ranks in Syria and said the country would work to repatriate its citizens taken prisoner there.
"We don't have exact numbers, since several people left the country illegally, but the most accurate estimate is a maximum of 800," fighting in Syria, he said.
Tunis has been criticized by non-government organizations and the opposition since diplomatic relations with Damascus were severed in February 2011, and has been accused of abandoning Tunisians in Syria to their fate.
"The repatriation of Tunisians can be facilitated by the embassy in Leb after the government makes contact with the Syrian authorities about imprisoned Tunisian citizens," Jarandi said.
In March, an inquiry was begun into Islamist networks in Tunisia that channel fighters into the ranks of Islamist groups battling forces loyal to the regime of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... The interior ministry said border controls had prevented the departure of some 1,000 Tunisians headed for Syria, where the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... says more than 70,000 people have been killed since the March 2011.
Local Tunisian radio station Express FM said 132 Tunisian fighters were killed in and round the northern city of Aleppo in February alone, mostly from the town of Sidi Bouzid, birthplace of the first Arab Spring uprising.
Tunisian experts say the country's mosques play a key role in spurring young jihadists to leave for the conflict in Syria, influenced by the teachings of radical imams.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2013 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] At a Saturday presser, Egyptian Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim voiced his willingness to withdraw a complaint filed earlier against April 6 Youth Movement founder Ahmed Maher.
Maher was locked away Book 'im, Mahmoud! on Friday afternoon upon his arrival to Cairo International Airport en route from Vienna, following a visit he made to the United States.
Maher will reportedly be held by authorities for four days pending further investigation.
On Saturday, the office of the prosecutor-general ordered Maher's release, although charges against him remain in place.
According an interior ministry official cited by state news agency MENA, Maher has been charged with inciting demonstrations outside the interior minister's Cairo residence in March.
On 29 March, four April 6 members were arrested and charged with rioting and resisting police after security forces dispersed a protest organised by the youth group outside Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim's home in the capital's New Cairo district.
Protesters held up banners -- along with women's undergarments -- accusing the ministry of "prostituting" itself to the administration of President Mohamed Morsi.
One month later, a New Cairo court ordered the four April 6 members' release. It remains unclear, however, whether the charges against the four activists have been dropped.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Polisario Front chief Mohamed Abdelaziz has warned that his movement could take up arms to seek independence from Morocco if the U.N. fails to resolve the Western Sahara conflict, Algeria's APS news agency reported Saturday.
"We have believed in the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... , but if it fails to organize a referendum on self-determination in Western Sahara to allow the Sahrawi people to recover independence, then we will take up arms to liberate our territory," APS quoted Abdelaziz as saying.
Morocco annexed the Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, in 1975, a move never recognized by the international community.
It has proposed broad autonomy under Moroccan illusory sovereignty for the phosphate-rich region.
But this is rejected by the Polisario, which first took up arms to fight for an independent state two years before the Spanish withdrawal, and continued its guerrilla war against Morocco until a U.N.-negotiated ceasefire in 1991.
The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution last month extending the mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping mission for another year but omitting a U.S.-backed plan to task it with human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. monitoring after Morocco lobbied furiously to have the proposal dropped.
Abdelaziz, the self-styled Sahrawi president, was speaking at a news conference on the second day of ceremonies marking the 40th anniversary of the creation of the Algeria-backed Polisario movement.
On Friday he also insisted on the right of Sahrawis to a U.N.-monitored referendum on independence.
"It is time for the international community and Morocco to comply with the resolutions of the United Nations so that the Sahrawi people can achieve their right to self-determination," APS quoted him as saying.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2013 00:00 ||
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[ALLAFRICA] Federal Government, yesterday, told a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja that investigations revealed that the Islamist sect, Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... , received sponsor-ship from another terrorist organization based in Algeria.
The Federal Government, which made the disclosure on a day the high court commenced trial of one of alleged kingpins of the sect, Kabiru Umar, a.k.a Kabiru Sokoto, who allegedly criminal masterminded the Christmas day kaboom that killed about 44 persons and maimed 75 others at St. Theresa's Catholic Church at Madalla, Niger State, in 2011, gave the name of the Algerian terrorist group as Muslimiyama.
Witness' account
A masked witness, who was identified as Mr. XYZ in his testimony, further told the court that the sect not only received funds from the foreign terror network, but also robbed Christians whenever the need for money arose.
He added that the accused person, in a statement he made on January 14, 2012, confessed that it was in the process of sharing a particular fund that was received from Muslimiyama, that the Boko Haram sect became factionalised.
Narrating how Kabiru Sokoto was caught, the witness, who told the court that he was a terrorism expert, said the accused person had confessed that he was inducted into the sect by Hameel Abdulrazak in 2007, noting that prior to that time, the accused worked as a laboratory assistant at a Specialist Hospital in Sokoto State.
He told the court that before the accused person was apprehended at Borno State Government Lodge on January 13, 2012, after the police searched for him in so many northern states following his alleged complicity in sundry acts of terrorism, he had been an ardent follower of the late leader of the sect, Mohammed Yusufu, who was killed in 2009.
The witness said: "I had trailed the accused to Abaji where he has a house, I stayed there three days but he was nowhere to be found.
"However, a person who gets all wrapped up in himself makes a mighty small package... I later got information that he was sighted at Borno State Governor's Lodge, so I immediately went there with my team. We searched the lodge and got to the boys quarters where he ran and hid at room two.
Given away by phone
"When we knocked for over 30 minutes and he didn't open, I decided to break the door with my leg, but the accused pushed from the inside until I called my team and we overpowered him.
"Because we didn't know him in person then, I asked him if he was Kabiru Sokoto and he denied. Then I searched him and found an LG phone on him which I used and dialed my own number only for Kabiru Sokoto's number, which we have been using to trail him to appear.
"Then I asked him again, and he said he was not Kabiru Sokoto but Kabiru Umar.
"My Lord, he spoke in fluent English and told me he lives at Abaji but hails from Sokoto State."
The witness told the court that when he took the accused to the station, he informed the dismissed Commissioner of Police for the FCT, Mr. Zakari Biu, who he said arrived from Kano.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Yes I read that as Boko Haram Gets Scholarship From Algeria and was on the verge of acute cognitive dissidence until I remember Algeria is Division III.
[DAILYPOST.NG] As controversy continues to trail the proposed amnesty for the Islamic fundamentalists, Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... , respected holy man and President, Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, has advised President Goodluck Jonathan ... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau... not to waste his time pampering the outlawed group, stating that amnesty was not the way forward.
Oritsejafor, gave this advise in Abuja after receiving an award of "A True Servant of God" given to him by the Christian Elder Forum of Northern States,NOSCEF.
He also called on the federal government to set up cattle ranches for Fulani herdsmen, instead of allowing them to wander around major cities across the country.
Oritsejafor who wept openly for victims of Boko Haram insurgency dismissed the amnesty deal, coupled with the earlier quoted statement by Abu Qaqa. He said that they had reinforced their stance that the sect's only interest is to eliminate Christians and enthrone an Islamic state in Nigeria.
He said, "This is why we are again calling on President Goodluck Jonathan not to waste taxpayers' money on a futile exercise. He should review the amnesty deal for Boko Haram, in view of the bravado by the sect leader, Mallam Shekau. Boko Haram is not only a local terrorist organization; it has a ring of international connection to it. Do not waste time pampering the sect members because amnesty deal will not work.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2013 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] International rights watchdog Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... (HRW) has asked the Bangladeshi authorities to immediately set up an independent commission to investigate the large numbers of deaths and injuries during the Hefajat-e Islam-led protests in Dhaka and elsewhere on May 5 to 6.
The commission should also investigate violence that killed dozens in February, March, and April after protests and counter-protests broke out following the announcement of verdicts by the country's international crimes tribunals (ICT), said a press statement of the New York-based rights body which was published on May 11.
The exact number of deaths during the May 5 to 6 protest remains unclear, with figures ranging from the official government figure of 11 deaths to Hefajat's estimate of thousands.
Independent news sources put the figure at approximately 50 dead, with others succumbing to injuries later. The dead include several security personnel, said the blurb.
However, a person who gets all wrapped up in himself makes a mighty small package... the HRW said that claims of "genocide" by Hefajat and other opposition parties are unfounded and have only served to heighten tensions.
"The toxic swirl of rumour and rhetoric surrounding the protest of May 5 to 6 will only get worse unless the government acts quickly in a transparent manner," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
"Given the lack of trust between various parties, it is imperative that these answers come from an independent and impartial body," he added.
"Bangladesh will see a plethora of demonstrations this year in response to additional verdicts from the ICT and in the run-up to national elections," said Adams.
"Without an independent investigation, accountability, and improved policing methods, we could see serial bloodbaths," he further added.
The HRW also called on opposition parties, including BNP and 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... , as well as independent organizations such as Hefajat, to condemn and take steps to deter their supporters from carrying out unlawful attacks, including on law enforcement officers or members of the public with different political views.
The rights body also expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... that Hefajat recruited boys from madrasas to participate in the "siege." Many of the boys were unaware of the risks of marching into Dhaka.
Independent journalists told the HRW that after the protests were broken up by security forces, they encountered groups of boys who had never been to Dhaka before and were terrified by the experience of seeing dead bodies and large-scale violence.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2013 00:00 ||
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This is the People's Daily, the English version of the official Chi-com party. They don't say anything that isn't backed up by the highest officials in Beijing. So if they're unhappy with Pudgy, the Chinese are officially unhappy. This is worth waiting for. Now they need to tighten the screws on the financial transfers and the oil.
According to the London Telegraph, an apartment in a tower block in Dandong, the largest Chinese city on the China-North Korea border, was shut down by Chinese authorities in March. That apartment has been reported as a "key financial node in North Korea's weapons of mass destruction apparatus."
Some media outlets are guessing that this shows China can no longer bear North Korea's belligerent actions. There are increasing speculations about whether China will change its policy toward North Korea.
The Pyongyang regime has repeatedly clamored for war recently. As one of the permanent members of the UN Security Council and also a major neighbor of North Korea, China's actions on this issue will definitely draw global attention, especially since Beijing has recently imposed its own sanctions on North Korea to punish its continuously unfriendly actions toward China and other actions, after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un took office, that may threaten peace in Korean Peninsula.
Beijing voted for UN sanctions on North Korea in March, and it has already strictly inspected North Korea's illegal banks in China.
China has its difficulties in dealing with the North Korean issue. The US and its military allies have enhanced their strategic deployment around the peninsula. Such military deployments exert huge negative impact on China's security interests. However, China cannot blame the US for making these deployments because according to the US, these arrangements are aimed at North Korea. China has to punish North Korea for its stirring up regional instability. But China cannot permanently cut off its military assistance to North Korea as the West is trying to persuade China to do.
Read that again: China accepts that North Korea is the problem, not us.
In short, we cannot simply "abandon" North Korea. No matter the nature of the regime in North Korea, China always has security interests in the Korean Peninsula.
There are other ways of handling your legitimate interests, comrades. We could divide North Korea between us: let the ROK take part, and you take part. The U.S. will stay in the south, and the ROK can fund reunification. The Nork people get to move to whichever side they want. Just a thought...
Beijing has already adjusted its policies toward North Korea. Targeting North Korea's unfriendly actions, which have threatened peace on the peninsula, China has issued warnings and punishments. The relationship between China and North Korea has reached its lowest point since 1953.
Nevertheless, this does not mean that China wants to completely abandon North Korea. North Korea is not a satellite state of China. We cannot "abandon" it. China's punishment and sanctions on North Korea are aimed to maintain our own security interests.
Previously, China was always friendly toward North Korea, while receiving only a few positive responses. The current problem is that since Fat Boy Kim Jong-un's coming to power, China has received almost no positive response from the North.
But even so, we cannot draw the conclusion that the Pudgy Kim Jong-un administration will never respond positively to China.
Nevertheless, not abandoning North Korea cannot be equalized to China admitting the North's status as a nuclear weapons state. Denuclearization has always been one of China's principles on the North Korean issue. No country believes that North Korea wants to pursue peace by owning nuclear weapons.
Some scholars have raised the possibility that if China does not admit North Korea's nuclear status and doesn't meet North Korea's requirements, and Washington then sends friendly messages to North Korea, a North Korea that possesses nuclear weapons may put pressure on China in return.
For my part, it is just one possibility. North Korea's mistrust toward the US is deeply rooted, just like its dependence on China.
The Pyongyang regime and the juche ideology have their own quirks. North Korea has little trust in China, let alone the US. If Pyongyang completely cuts down its relationship with China and turns to the US, it will worry about the future integrity of its regime.
But such a situation may appear strategically. North Korea has long been playing such games with China and the US. We can take this possibility into account, but need not worry a lot about it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/12/2013 00:00 ||
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Well they can't rely on their military which they emasculated in favor of Islamists
Turkey accused a group with links to Syrian intelligence of carrying out car bombings that killed 46 people in a Turkish border town, and said on Sunday it was time for the world to act against the government of President Bashar al-Assad. You go right ahead, Mr. Prime Minister. We'll sit back and watch. Put on a show for us...
The two car bombs, which ripped through crowded shopping streets in Reyhanli on Saturday, increased fears that Syria's civil war is dragging in neighbouring states, despite renewed diplomatic moves to end it.
Damascus denied involvement, but Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said those behind the attacks were from an "old Marxist terrorist organisation" with ties to Assad's administration.
"It is time for the international community to act together against this regime," he told a news conference during a visit to Berlin.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech broadcast later on Turkish television: "We will not lose our calm heads, we will not depart common sense, and we will not fall into the trap they're trying to push us into."
But he added: "Whoever targets Turkey will sooner or later pay the price."
Turkish citizens believed to have links to the Syrian intelligence agency have been detained in connection with twin car bombings that shattered a Turkish border town, officials said Sunday. Turkey's prime minister insisted the country wouldn't fall for a "dirty scenario" and be dragged into its neighbor's civil war.
The bombings left 46 people dead and marked the biggest incident of violence across the border since the start of Syria's bloody civil war, raising fears of Turkey being pulled deeper into the conflict.
Despite harsh accusations between Turkey and Syria signaling a sharp escalation of already high tensions between the two former allies, Recep Tayyip Erodgan insisted that Turkey would "maintain our extreme cool-headedness in the face of efforts and provocations to drag us into the bloody quagmire in Syria."
Nine people were detained overnight, including the mastermind of the attack, and more were expected, officials said during a joint press conference in Hatay, near the border town of Reyhanli where the bombs struck. Syria denies involvement in the bombings.
"This incident was carried out by an organization ... which is in close contact to pro-regime groups in Syria and I say this very clearly, with the Syrian mukhabarat," said Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Guler. He did not name the organization.
Among the nine people detained overnight was the mastermind of the attack and more were expected, Guler said.
#1
"...Recep Tayyip Erodgan insisted that Turkey would maintain our extreme cool-headedness in the face of efforts and provocations to drag us into the bloody quagmire in Syria."""
some turks will see this as cowardly
Posted by: lord garth ||
05/12/2013 13:04 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] Turkish police have boosted security around Patriarch Bartholomew I after an alleged plot to assassinate the Orthodox Christian leader, his office said Saturday.
A front man at the patriarchate in Istanbul said they had been informed that one person had been jugged Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! and that others were being sought.
Turkish media said the arrested suspect, identified as Serdar A., allegedly planned to assassinate Bartholomew I on May 29, the 560th anniversary of the Turkish capture of Constantinople, present day Istanbul.
"Police have strengthened security at the patriarchate," said front man Father Dositheos Agnathostomatous. "It is doing everything to ensure the security of the patriarchate and the patriarch."
Agnathostomatous said however that Bartholomew I, the Archbishop of Constantinople, did not take the plot very seriously.
"His holiness does not believe that it is something serious," he said.
The development comes as several incidents have sown concerns among Turkey's Christian minority, which numbers 100,000 people.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2013 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] President Barack Obama We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us... 's administration fought back on Friday against Republican accusations that it covered up details of last year's deadly assault on a US mission in Libya, after a news report that memos on the incident were edited to omit a CIA warning of a threat posed by al Qaeda.
The report by ABC News gave new momentum to the highly partisan flap over whether the administration tried to avoid casting the Sept. 11, 2012, attack as terrorism at a time when the presidential election was less than two months away.
ABC released 12 versions of the administration's "talking points" on Benghazi that appeared to show how various agencies - particularly the State Department and the CIA - shaped what became the Obama's administration's initial playbook for explaining how four Americans, including US Ambassador Christopher Stevens, were killed in the attack.
The report came two days after a hearing by a House of Representatives committee in which Gregory Hicks, a former US diplomat in Libya, gave a dramatic account of the night of the attack and what he described as a poorly handled response to it.
The hearing was the latest in a series of efforts by Republicans to raise questions about the administration's response to the attack by suspected Islamist bully boys, with an increasing focus on the role of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as The Heroine of Tuzla and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Henry Clay ... , a possible Democratic presidential contender in 2016.
The White House has cast Republican questions as an attempt to manufacture a scandal. But the reaction to Friday's report by those in both parties suggested that Benghazi was not fading as an issue. Obama's administration appeared to acknowledge that on Friday. White House front man Jay Carney held a hastily scheduled background briefing for news hounds, as officials tried to defuse any political fallout from the talking-point memos.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2013 00:00 ||
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3200 psi, 55 gallons of Krud Kutter, entire WH basement to ceiling. Let dry 48 hours, repeat, then fumigate and call the bug man and insist on extended warranty.
#3
the only reason this is a "highly partisan flap" is because Democrats have put their own political interests over national security, accountability, and good governance. The Democrat committee members were more interested in covering for Champ and Hillary than to find out why they lied, allowed Americans to die, went back to sleep, and then took the next day to fly to a FUNDRAISER in Vegas. Un-American doesn't even begin to describe them
*spit*
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/12/2013 9:51 Comments ||
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Benghazi posts that reference the home front should be posted in 'Home Front: WoT'. Thanks. AoS.
ABC's Jonathan Karl, who broke news on the multiple revisions to the Obama administration's Benghazi talking points, added a new piece to the puzzle on Sunday, revealing that then-CIA director David Petraeus thought the final product was "essentially useless."
Those particular words are Karl's, but he quotes from an e-mail in which Petraeus, who only put eyes on the talking points the afternoon before Susan Rice's infamous Sunday Show tour, says of the talking points "I would just as soon not use them, but it's their [the White House's] call."
The talking points had been denuded of any reference to terrorism, al-Qaeda, or Ansar al-Sharia, the local jihadist group who took credit for the murder of four Americans and the destruction of the U.S. facility in Benghazi.
An Islamic community in the US state of Virginia is said to be in uproar after it emerged a Boston bombing suspect was buried at a nearby rural cemetery.
An imam said local Muslims were upset their loved ones would have to use the same graveyard as that where Tamerlan Tsarnaev was secretly laid to rest.
His body was interred on Thursday after protests at the Massachusetts funeral home where it was kept. Officials fear the site might become a shrine for anti-US sympathisers.
Tsarnaev was interred at a small Islamic cemetery in a rural area just north of the state capital, Richmond. His burial follows a long search for a community that would accept the body, after several states rejected his remains.
Imam Ammar Amonette, of the Islamic Center of Virginia, said the move made "no sense whatsoever".
He's absolutely right.
"The whole Muslim community here is furious," he said. "Frankly, we are furious that we were never given any information. It was all done secretly behind our backs."
Correct again. How come no one came to him up front?
"Now everybody who's buried in that cemetery, their loved ones are going to have to go to that place."
County and state officials say they were not told of the burial in advance, although that is not required. Floyd Thomas, chairman of the board of supervisors for Caroline County, told CNN that if any protocols had been flouted in the burial, "we would look into undoing what happened".
Martha Mullen, a private citizen of Richmond, is credited with having co-ordinated efforts behind the scenes to resolve the problem of where to bury Tsarnaev.
"It was an interfaith effort," she told the Associated Press. "Basically because Jesus says love your enemies."
So how does Ms. Mullen have the influence to coordinate a burial at an Islamic cemetery? How can Ms. Mullen arrange for a burial there without the local imam finding out about it in advance? How about a little history on Ms. Mullen? Who is she?
Massachusetts police said on Thursday: "As a result of our public appeal for help, a courageous and compassionate individual came forward to provide the assistance needed to properly bury the deceased."
Preparations are believed to have been made by Ruslan Tsarni, the suspect's uncle, after Tsarnaev's widow, Katherine Russell-Tsarnaev, released the body to her in-laws.
The BBC, like every other news outlet, refuses to use the widow's full, proper name...
Earlier, Mr Tsarni said the atrocity in Boston had brought shame to the entire Chechen community. The Tsarnaevs come from a family of ethnic Chechens and had been living in the US for about a decade before the attacks.
#1
How can Ms. Mullen arrange for a burial there without the local imam finding out about it in advance?
I know of at least one other cemetery, a Catholic one, where burials have happened without the pastor knowing about it. It's inside of an Indian reservation.
#3
"An imam said local Muslims were upset their loved ones would have to use the same graveyard as that where Tamerlan Tsarnaev was secretly laid to rest."
So have their bodies moved.
Posted by: Barbara ||
05/12/2013 18:31 Comments ||
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#4
Heh. Speedbump could end up being the only one buried there.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
05/12/2013 18:43 Comments ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Although Pakistain saw the largest ever voter turnout in its history, around 40 percent voters did not cast their votes for reasons including pessimism, sluggishness, lack of political awareness, errors in vote registration or shifting of their votes to other constituencies.
Over 2000 activists of the Tehrik-e-Minhajul Koran (TMQ) staged a protest sit-in against the elections on The Mall service lane near Masjid-e-Shuhda on the call of their leader Tahirul Qadri. The TMQ workers, including women and kiddies, participated in the sit-in which started at 8am and concluded at 3pm led by Dr Rahiq Ahmad Abbasi. The protesters were carrying banners and placards inscribed with different slogans against the "corrupt" polling system.
Talking to the participants of the sit-in through video link, Tahirul Qadri accused the election commission of paving the way for bogus degree holders and corrupt people to reach assemblies. He asked how can the ECP which, he claimed, has been formed against the constitution ensure that the elections are free and fair. "When the results of corrupt electoral system are made public, the media will voice the public's views and unveil the foul system," he remarked.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shouting match, a new, even louder, voice was to be heard... the activists of the All Pakistain Musselmen League (APML) also did not vote, as their leader Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... was barred by the courts from contesting elections. Those people who were fed up with the political systems due to the inability of the politicians to resolve the problems faced by the country, they decided to keep themselves away from the election process. They stated home and enjoyed the public holiday while criticising the politicians and the whole system.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2013 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Almost all political parties announced boycott of election in 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... and Hyderabad over alleged rigging and violence.
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) on Saturday announced it would boycott elections in Karachi and Hyderabad, accusing rival MQM of rigging and violence. "These are false elections, armed workers of the MQM are terrorising people and rigging the elections," Muhammad Hussain Mehanti, a JI party leader announced at a presser.
Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who ain't the brightest knife in the national drawer... 's Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... (PTI) also accused the MQM of major rigging in the city. JI withdrew all of its 29 candidates who were contesting for national and provincial seats, as well as withdrawing from Hyderabad.
The election commission also raised concerns about threats to its staff in the port city, which it says has prevented them from performing their duties. "In other instances, attempts have been made to hijack the vehicles transporting voting material from the returning officers to the polling stations. This has caused serious delays in polling," it said in a statement.
The independent Free and Fair Election Network tweeted from its account that three of its observers had been beaten up by MQM workers in a district of Karachi. Arif Alvi, a senior PTI leader, also charged that "extensive rigging" had taken place, claiming that thousands of its supporters had been prevented from voting. However, facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable... PTI only announced to boycott elections from Hyderabad. JI also complained of a delayed start in voting in many parts of Karachi, which last year saw record violence linked to ethnic and political tensions.
Meanwhile, ...back at the abandoned silver mine, there was another kaboom... MQM candidate Nabil Gabol announced to boycott elections from NA-248, PS-108 and PS-109 Lyari ...one of the eighteen constituent towns of the city of Karachi. It is the smallest town by area in the city but also the most densely populated. Lyari has few schools, substandard hospitals, a poor water system, limited infrastructure, and broken roads. It is a stronghold of ruling Pakistan Peoples Party. Ubiquitous gang activity and a thriving narcotics industry make Lyari one of the most disturbed places in Karachi, which is really saying a lot.... constituencies. During a presser in Karachi on Saturday, Gabol said MQM's polling agents were harassed in Lyari, adding that despite constant demands for extra security in area no such arrangements were seen. Following Jamaat-e-Islami's boycott, other political and politico-religious parties also announced to pull their candidates out of the polling race because of vote-rigging in Karachi and Hyderabad.
The Pakistain People's Party (PPP) has also expressed its doubts in the fairness of the elections, saying that rigging is being carried in Karachi under an effective plan. Addressing a presser, senior PPP leader Taj Haider alleged elections have massively been rigged in Karachi and subsequently their results would also be tampered. The MQM also complained of rigging. Addressing a presser, MQM's Farooq Sattar alleged that rigging is underway at some polling stations of Karachi.
MQM chief Altaf Hussain telephoned Chief Election Commissioner Fakhruddin G Ebrahim and complained about delay in the start of polling in various constituencies. Chief of Muhajir Qaumi Movement-Haqeeqi Afaq Ahmed also announced boycott of elections in Karachi, saying that the polling was not being held free and fair. Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) also pulled its candidates out of the polling race in Karachi. The SIC alleged that rigging was being carried out in an organized way.
Another key religious party, Jamaat Ulema-e-Pakistain (JUP) followed suit. During a presser, JUP central leader Sahibzada Abul-Khair Muhammad Zubair complained of rigging in Karachi and Hyderabad and announced to boycotts elections in the two cities. The chief of Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) Talal Akbar Bugti announced to boycott the elections completely, terming them a fraud. While talking to the media, he claimed that elections were not free, fair and transparent, adding that candidates had been pre-decided for selection. The Jamiaat Ulema-e-Pakistain (JUP) also announced to boycott the elections of the National and Sindh Assembly constituencies of Karachi and Hyderabad.
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[Pak Daily Times] The party of cricket star Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who is the lightweight's lightweight... early on Sunday conceded defeat in general elections, but said it would form the next government in the terror-hit Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... Assad Omar, a big shot in Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... (PTI), sent his congratulations to the centre-right Pakistain Mohammedan League-N, which he said had emerged as the largest party, as results started to come through.
But speaking to private TV channel Geo, he refused to be defeatist.
"For Tehrik-e-Insaf it is a big day, a golden day. A party which has no existence in parliament has emerged the second largest national party and the leading party in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa where God willing it is going to form a government," he said.
Khan has called for an end to military operations and peace talks with the Taliban, making his party's win in the northwest an interesting proposition.
Omar said Imran Khan was following the results. "He will give his reaction tomorrow, but I will say he knows how to win and how to lose, and after losing, how to come back. He is taking these results like a sportsman," Omar said.
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Iraqi Kurds living near the border are wary of thousands of Kurdish fighters leaving Turkey for northern Iraq, and hope the move does not lead to more Turkish air and artillery strikes.
For years, Turkeys military has targeted fighters from the Kurdistan Workers Party in Iraqs autonomous Kurdistan region, keeping farmers from their land and sometimes killing and wounding civilians.
The PKK, which has fought a 29-year nationalist campaign against Ankara, is now withdrawing its fighters into Iraq, where it already has bases, as part of a peace drive with Turkey.
While it is a positive sign for peace prospects, the movement of some 2,000 additional PKK fighters into Iraq has not put residents at ease.
We hope not to hear the sounds of Turkish artillery and airplanes bombarding our mountains again, said Mohammad Saeed, 47, a resident of the town of Al-Amadia, near the border with Turkey.
We are afraid that the fighting will start again, Saeed said.
An Israeli official confirmed over the weekend that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will soon meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Will he have to wait three hours?
Israel has expressed concern over what Israeli officials say is an imminent sale of advanced Russian antiaircraft missiles to Syria. Israel is worried that advanced Russian weapons could reach militant groups hostile to the Jewish state, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israel has asked Russia to stop supplying "game-changing" weapons to Mr. Assad. The Israeli official wouldn't say if the weapons would be discussed. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the Netanyahu-Putin meeting hasn't been officially announced.
[Jpost] Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, gives Egyptian holy man diplomatic passport; PA leadership in Ramallah critical of holy man for deepening Paleostinian divisions.
The Paleostinian Authority announced over the weekend that Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi ...crackpot Egyptian Islamist theologian. He is best known for his program Shariah and Life on Al Jazeera, with an estimated audience of 60 million kindred souls worldwide. He is also well-known for IslamOnline, which occasionally advocates things like slavery and thumping the old lady with a rod no thicker than an inch, and has published more than 120 books, including Islam: The Future Civilization. Joe has long had a prominent role within the intellectual leadership of the Moslem Brüderbund. Some of his views have been controversial in the West, though less so among the rubes of the Mysterious East, and he was refused entry to the United Kingdom in 2008. In 2004, 2,500 Muslim academics from Saudi Arabia, Iraq and from the Palestinian territories condemned Qaradawi, and accused him of giving Islam a bad name.... , one of the world's leading Islamic scholars, is carrying a forged Paleostinian passport.
Qaradawi was granted the Paleostinian diplomatic passport by Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh ...became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank... during his two-day visit to the Gazoo Strip, which ended on Friday.
The PA leadership, which had opposed Qaradawi's visit, said that it has notified all countries that the Egyptian-born scholar was carrying a forged passport.
The PA Interior Ministry in Ramallah called upon all countries "to take legal measures to seize the holder of the passport in accordance with international law."
An official in Ramallah was quoted on Saturday as saying that Interpol has contacted the PA leadership to ask for more details about the passport.
Qaradawi arrived in the Gazoo Strip on Wednesday at the head of a delegation of 50 top Islamic scholars from 14 countries.
The visit drew sharp criticism from the PA leadership in Ramallah, whose representatives accused Qaradawi of working to deepen Paleostinian divisions by recognizing Hamas as the legitimate government in the Gazoo Strip.
During the visit, Qaradawi expressed full support for Hamas. He expressed opposition to "giving up one inch of the land of Paleostine."
Qaradawi called for Paleostinian unity and refrained from directly attacking PA President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... Hamas said the PA's call for confiscating Qaradawi's passport was "rude."
A statement by Hamas said the call was issued by a PA ministry that "derives its legitimacy from Israeli occupation."
Ezat al-Risheq, a senior Hamas official, expressed regret over the PA's opposition to Qaradawi's visit. The scholar was granted a Paleostinian passport in honor of his "big and leading role in serving Paleostine and the causes of the Islamic nation," he said.
Risheq said the PA's stance on the passport was unjustified and harmful to all Paleostinians and would deepen divisions among the Paleostinians.
[An Nahar] The race for Iran's highest elected office was revitalized on Saturday when former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani ... the fourth President of Iran. He was a member of the Assembly of Experts until he was eased out in 2011 He continues, for the moment, as Chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council. In 2005 he ran for a third term as president, ultimately losing to rival Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was in Khamenei's graces back then. In 1980 Rafsanjani survived an assassination attempt, during which he was seriously injured. He has been described as a centrist and a pragmatic conservative without all that much reason. He is currently being eased out of any position of actual influence or power and may be dead by the end of 2012... and top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili officially registered for the June 14 election.
Rafsanjani, who was president between 1989 and 1997, registered at the interior ministry in the closing minutes of the five-day registration process for the presidential vote which wrapped up on Saturday.
The final line-up of candidates will not be known until later this month when the Guardians Council releases the approved list of names after the vetting process.
"I came to serve. It is the right of the people to choose me or not," Rafsanjani was quoted by Iranian media as telling news hounds.
He is seeking to succeed Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad whose two-term presidency has left the Islamic republic isolated internationally, while the ailing economy struggles to cope with international sanctions over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
Rafsanjani, who will be 79 in August, had polarized Iran's complex political spectrum in recent weeks by announcing that he was considering standing again.
He has been isolated by ultra-conservatives since Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election in 2009 sparked massive street protests, leading to a heavy-handed regime crackdown and the arrest of hundreds of journalists, activists and reformist supporters.
Rafsanjani at the time called for the release of those rounded up during the demonstrations.
Also on Saturday, Saeed Jalili, Iran's top nuclear negotiator and close figure to all-powerful supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, unexpectedly showed up at the ministry and registered his candidacy.
A veteran of the 1980s war with Iraq in which he lost his lower right leg, Jalili, 47, did not speak to news hounds, an Agence La Belle France Presse correspondent said.
Jalili heads the team in negotiations with world powers over Tehran's controversial atomic activities which the West fears are aimed at developing a military capacity, a claim denied by Iran.
In Istanbul on May 15 Jalili is scheduled to meet the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... 's top diplomat Catherine Ashton, who represents the so-called P5+1 group of Britannia, China, La Belle France, Russia and the United States plus Germany in nuclear talks with Iran.
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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.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[ALLAFRICA] Federal Government, yesterday, told a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja that investigations revealed that the Islamist sect, 
Goodluck Jonathan
Hillary Clinton
Pervez 
[Jpost] 
The PA leadership, which had opposed Qaradawi's visit, said that it has notified all countries that the Egyptian-born scholar was carrying a forged passport.
Mahmoud 
