National Guard Soldiers operating a remote viewing system at the Naco crossing area saw marijuana smugglers using a catapult to fire packages of marijuana across the border fence. The smugglers beat feet before they could be apprehended, the Mexican authorities were able to capture the catapult and 500100 45 lbs of marijuana stems and seedswith a street value of 25 million dollars. No report on whether the Mexican authorities used crossbows.
Bill Keller, the editor of The New York Times, has published a detailed account of his newspaper's dealings with WikiLeaks in the past six months. In it, Keller describes his and his reporters' relationship with the website's "elusive, manipulative and volatile" founder, Julian Assange, and how the newspaper's various exclusives came together. Here, the key takeaways from Keller's piece .... Enjoy. :-) The question is still, who's the tool in all of this?
In sum, the complexity of the system impedes both the imagery and the ability of operators on the ground to receive it - let alone figure it out. It cannot reliably find and track human targets; it has additional problems for moving targets, and the random location inaccuracy makes the system virtually unusable for prosecuting even stationary targets.
The testers ultimate view was to recommend against fielding Gorgon Stare until seven serious issues were fully addressed.
#1
The Center for Defense (Dis)Information is a lefty think-tank whose mission is to discredit US weapon systems and get the US to turn guns into welfare programs. It opposed every major weapon system we have in operation today. It will likely oppose any future weapon systems more lethal than a closed fist.
#2
A system like Gorgon Stare is planned for deployment with the Blue Devil blimp which is tentatively scheduled to be fielded in Oct '11. I suspect any problems are software, not hardware related.
#5
This article is bullshit. Certainly improvements can be made. Also, a new capability can be used for what it has now. Which side of the spectrum this system is on cannot be determined from this information.
[An Nahar] A desperate Turkish man living in Germany has turned to the police for protection from his insatiable wife's constant demands for sex, authorities said on Wednesday.
The man came to his local police station in southwestern Germany on Tuesday saying that he had been sleeping on the sofa for the past four years to escape the clutches of his wife of 18 years and mother of their two children.
"Now he has decided to get a divorce and to move out... in the hope of finally getting some rest, particularly as he is anxious to arrive at work well rested," police said in a statement.
"At the moment this is impossible because he says his wife keeps coming into the living room demanding that he perform his marital duties. He asked for police help in getting some sleep at night."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Heh heh. Marrying her seemed like a good idea at the time, didn't it?
A one-mile cordon has been established around a volcano on Mount Kirishima after it erupted scattering rocks and ash across southern Japan and sending smoke billowing 5,000ft into the air.
The Meteorological Agency raised the volcanic alert to level 3 as ash today continued to spew from Shinmoedake on Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu, and residents have been banned from going within a mile of the volcano following its worst eruption in 50 years. Very interesting pictures at the link. My thanks to the proper Halliburton division for solving the global warming problem. Just don't over-do it, guys...
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/27/2011 12:56 ||
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A US military base that carries out tests to protect troops against biological attacks was locked down on Wednesday to resolve a "serious concern", officials have said. The base in Dugway, Utah, reopened early Thursday to allow staff in and out. There were reported to be 1,200 to 1,400 people inside Dugway at the time. Could be a lot of things, security breach, threat received, alarm system some where on base went off, etc..
Base commander Col William King said on Wednesday no-one was in danger. "Nothing to see here. All is well. Move along."
"That pink mist that was released earlier today? That's not a problem at all, that's just an air freshener, no need for..." [GASP] [gurgle] [hack] [groan] [THUMP!]
No information was given on the nature of the problem.
The primary mission for the base, which is located about 85 miles (135km) south-west of Salt Lake City, is defending troops against biological and chemical attacks. "Measures like these are not taken lightly. No-one is in immediate danger, but these steps are required," Col King said.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
01/27/2011 10:11 ||
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#1
The zombie apocalypse has started! The virus is airborne!
#3
After inventory yesterday, a vial of Vx was missing prompting the shut down. It has been found and the base reopened but no further details were released re: who, where, or why.
[Ennahar] The Tunisian Central Association UGTT called for a "general strike" on Thursday in Sidi Bouzid (West Central), home of the revolution that caused the downfall of President Ben Ali, to demand the resignation of the transitional government, said union source.
"There will be a general strike tomorrow in Sidi Bouzid and a demonstration to bring down the government," said to AFP deputy secretary general of the UGTT for the region, Ali Zari.
This call comes following another "general strike" organized Wednesday in Sfax (center), the second largest city, where thousands of protesters demanded the resignation of the transitional government due to the presence within it of many ministers who served under Ben Ali.
The self-immolation of a young fruit seller humiliated by the police, Mohammed Bouazizi, December 17 in Sidi Bouzid, had triggered an unprecedented revolt against the authoritarian and corrupt regime of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who has decamped the country on January 14 for Soddy Arabia.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2011 00:00 ||
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(Xinhua) -- Tunisia issued an international arrest warrant for ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his family members, the justice minister said Wednesday.
The former leader and his wife are being sought for "illegal acquisition" of assets and "illicit transfers of funds abroad," Lazhar Karoui Chebbi said, according to state-run TAP news agency.
Ben Ali, who had been in power since 1987, decamped to Soddy Arabia on Jan. 14 following mass protests against his government over unemployment, price hike and corruption.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2011 00:00 ||
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(Xinhua) -- Cote d'Ivoire's incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo has ordered the seizure of the country's assets from the West African central bank, media reports said Wednesday.
According to the report, Gbagbo's finance minister Desire Dallo has announced on state television on Tuesday evening that all offices and employees of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) were being requisitioned by Cote d'Ivoire's government and would answer to local officials instead of their regional director in Senegal.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2011 00:00 ||
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[The Nation (Nairobi)] Cote d'Ivoire strongman Laurent Gbagbo has dispatched emissaries to various countries in Africa to seek support and shed light on alleged irregularities during the disputed presidential elections.
Mr Gbagbo's special advisor, Williams Atteby, who is expected to meet President Kibaki on Thursday, said his colleagues have already been to Togo, Mozambique and Zimbabwe and that he would be heading to Ethiopia after the Kenyan visit.
"We are not coming to undermine the mission of the African Union. We want to get African countries informed about the situation on Cote d'Ivoire," Mr Atteby said during an interview at a Nairobi hotel.
The official further said that Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who is the AU-appointed mediator and who had been rejected by Mr Gbagbo's camp, is still welcome in Abidjan "but his term of reference should be clear and not that Gbagbo should step down for Allassane Ouattara."
"Mr Odinga is welcome as he is coming to work for peace. What we need is clear objective of his mission statement. We have no problem with him," Mr Atteby said.
He insisted that Mr Gbagbo won the country's election and that there was massive rigging in favour of Mr Ouattara in his northern stronghold. (Read: UN envoy says Ouattara won)
Mr Atteby said the country's constitutional court has the sole mandate of declaring the poll winner, adding that the Independent Electoral Commission only gives provisional results.
While the electoral body declared Mr Ouattara the winner, the court nullified the results and declared Mr Gbagbo the winner, leading to the current stalemate.
Mr Atteby accused La Belle France and the US of having allegedly arm-twisted the electoral commission to unlawfully declare Mr Ouattara the winner.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has also called on the international community to investigate allegations of malpractices in Cote d'Ivoire's polls.
However, The infamous However... Mr Atteby said his team has been unable to meet acting Foreign Affairs minister George Saitoti and Thursday's meeting with the President was also uncertain.
On Tuesday, ODM MPs accused PNU of inviting Mr Atteby's team to discredit Mr Odinga's efforts in the West African country.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
interesting, Fred
Don't you all think the wrangling has gone on too long? If the AU was going to intervene militarily they would have done so by now
as is usually the case nobody wants to get involved
and who can blame them
when the machetes come out in africa nobody want to be involved
the african leaders just can't help themselves, they love clinging to power. You can't get rid of them unless by force
especially not after 2 terms.
it's almost so universally entrenched in Africa, the refusal to admit defeat and leave office, one might almost think it is a genetic characteristic and thus immutable.
#2
It's no different than the behavior of European nobles in the dark and middle ages, anon1, many of whom held lands and titles on the flimsiest of excuses.
#5
China had its three kingdoms, the Macedonians and Alexandar, the Russians had their fair share, so it is a genetic disposition it is universal and also mutable; imagine the Gore/Bush election back in the day, would that have been a Rubicon moment?
IMHO it comes down to culture and circumstance. Culture changes over generations (at least it used to, I have a theory that communications ability directly affects the rate of change but anyways...). Yes this is a new concept for government, Yes there is a lot at stake. To be honest, I am surprised the machetes are not already being cleaned. It could be that some org somewhere is prepping for an intervention. Could be politically savvy to know that a lot of bigwigs are watching and no matter how one feels about how this situation happened, may know that whoever draws first will likely look like the bad guy.
The commanders of Russia's Baltic fleet will be rubbing their hands with glee over the government's decision to scrap the RAF's £4 billion Nimrod aircraft.
As I wrote this morning, for 40 years Nimrod has been central to our attempts to prevent Russia's fleet of nuclear submarines from penetrating our defences.
But without the sophisticated maritime reconnaissance capability that Nimrod provides, we have, in effect, abandoned the North Sea to the Russians.
Defence officials insist that our Nato allies in Scandanavia, who also have a vested interest in keeping the Ruskies at bay, will be able to help us out by sharing the intelligence they collect from their own surveillance patrols.
This may well be true, but I suspect the quality of the information they provide will be inferior to that provided on a daily basis by the teams of RAF specialists who have honed their skills over many years of detecting and tracking Russian submarine movements.
I can see why the government felt it had no option other than to scrap the Nimrod programme. Once the Strategic Defence and Security Review had decided to stick with the new aircraft carriers, and that the Army must remain immune from wholesale cuts while it is still operational in Afghanistan, there were few other options left.
Nor did the RAF do itself any favours by presiding over a programme that was more than a decade behind schedule and massively over budget.
But the retired service chiefs who penned the letter in today's Daily Telegraph are spot on. By cancelling Nimrod the government has left a gaping hole in our defence capabilities. And while we must now learn to live without the protection provided by Nimrod, the government must, as a matter of urgency, come up with an alternative, effective and cost efficient surveillance system to protect our seas from the antics of those meddlesome Russians.
#3
Meh, don't worry, the Russians are putting all of their fleet development money into that turkey Bulava anyway. Even if it eventually works, they'll never get to use it. (I hope)
#5
Nothing, I guess. they're planning on being starved into surrender the next serious war they're getting into. And hoping it never happens.
It seems everyone wants to buy a carrier these days, even if they can't afford to put planes on it or make sure it survives more than fifteen minutes of the next war.
I think the US has the same problem; I don't think that, for instance, the DF-21 is "unstoppable," I can think of a lot of things I'd want to try to defend against that sort of threat, but it seems the USN is concentrated on maintaining its eleven carriers than coming up with weapons or weapons platforms/escorts that would actually help the carrier survive. Our last attempt at coming up with a fast transport/minesweeper (with little in the way of CIWS systems) wound up costing over half a billion a piece.
After the presentation of the Human Rights Watch (HRW) annual report on Monday where the NGO labeled as "precarious" human rights ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you... situation in Venezuela, pro-government deputy Jesús Faría (United Socialist Party of Venezuela, PSUV), replied that the organization is trying to "build a case" to state that Venezuela is "a rogue state" and present a negative image of the country abroad.
"Human Rights Watch has become an international spokesperson of Venezuela's opposition; it is an ideological tool of imperialism," Farías said in an interview with the state-run TV network VTV.
In addition, "we are characterized as drug pushers, terrorists, in order to present an entirely negative image of the country," Farías said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Huh. They should be best friends. Wonder what happened to start yet another intra-left spat?
#3
Per Procopius, Communism has historically sought to liquidate its fellow but deviationist leftists as its initial victims.
___________________
Trotskyite Deviationist Wrecker Borgboy.
MOSCOW - Russias parliament approved the first nuclear arms reduction treaty with the United States in nearly a decade on Wednesday, voting to ratify the pact at the center of improved ties between the former Cold War foes.
The Federation Council, Russias upper parliament chamber, unanimously passed a bill required for ratification of the New START treaty, which Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev signed in April 2010.
The treaty, approved by the US Senate last month and by Russias lower house of parliament Tuesday, will commit the countries to ceilings of 1,550 deployed strategic warheads in seven years. It limits each side to 700 deployed long-range missiles and bombers and establishes verification rules, absent since the US-Soviet Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) expired in 2009, enabling them to keep tabs on each others arsenals.
The warhead caps are up to 30 percent lower than those set by the 2002 Moscow Treaty and down nearly two-thirds from START I, signed in 1991, the year the Soviet Union collapsed.
The 10-year treaty will leave the nations with more than enough firepower to create a nuclear catastrophe, but it sets the stage for potential talks on further cuts that could eventually include other nuclear-armed nations.
All 137 deputies present in the 186-seat chamber supported ratification. The upper house vote sends the ratification bill to Medvedev for his signature. The treaty will enter force with an exchange of ratification documents by US and Russian officials, expected within weeks.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/27/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
RUSS DUMA + START
versus
* PEOPLES DAILY FORUM > RUSSIA [Medvedev] THREATENS NATO WID NUKES.
'Cuzin Dimitri demands formal NATO clarification of how it sees Russia's role in All-EURO MISSLE DEFENSE - otherwise, Dimitri warns that LACK OF NATO-RUSS AGREEMENT MAY INDUCE RUSSIA TO ONCE AGAIN TARGET "OFFENSIVE" NUCWEAPS AT WEST = NEW EURO-UNION.
[Al Jazeera] Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, has been quoted by the state media as urging citizens to voice their criticisms of the government and speak out about injustice during a visit to the country's highest petition bureau, where people are allowed to file complaints against officials. "Yeah. Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom."
Wen met farmers and workers condemning land grabs and unpaid wages among other complaints at the State Bureau for Letters and Calls in Beijing, official media reported on Wednesday, in a rare public show of worry about discontent with the government.
"Please don't hold anything back, and give me the facts," Wen told the people, according to a report on the central government's website.
"Our government is a government of the people, and our power is granted by the people."
The official Xinhua News Agency said late on Tuesday that it was the first time since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 that a premier had met ordinary petitioners.
China Central Television quoted Wen as telling visitors and staff at the bureau on Monday afternoon that the government must "create conditions that allow citizens to criticise and supervise the government, and enable government to responsibly resolve the problems and difficulties of the masses".
Human rights
Millions of petitioners visit government offices across China every year to demand redress and are often treated by officials as an embarrassing nuisance, even a threat to control, despite rules that say they should be given a hearing.
People with complaints are often held in a government-run centre in Beijing to be sent home, or nabbed in illicit "black jails".
Al Jizz's Melissa Chan, reporting from Beijing on Wednesday, said petitioners in some cases have been punished and even committed to mental institutions even though there was nothing wrong with them.
"To our knowledge this is the very first time for anyone from the top leadership to have stepped onto the street and try to speak to these petitioners directly," she said.
Wen has won widespread public affection in China by casting himself as a servant of the people, and he pressed that role again by meeting people who journeyed to Beijing to demand a hearing from central officials at a special petitions office.
But Wen's meeting with petitioners amounted to an unusually blunt acknowledgement that China's feverish economic growth had also brought discontent, especially over land confiscations, harsh work conditions and scant support for the many poor people.
"This may be the first time a central leader has done this. Even minor officials usually stay away from us," Liu Anjun, a veteran petitioner in Beijing who has run a support group for complainants, told the Rooters news agency.
"It may be staged, but it's a signal to people. It may be related to Hu Jintao's visit to the United States, which strengthened the focus on human rights ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you... . The petitioners reflect all the most basic human rights problems in China, and Wen may want to show that at least he's concerned."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
urging citizens to voice their criticisms of the government and speak out about injustice
#2
If Hu is serious about this, or even creating the impression that he is serious about this, it will be very popular.
An oddity of China is that the people as a whole like the central government, and hate the regional and local governments. So if Hu would clamp down on them, he would be wildly popular.
#3
Mao did the same thing. But don't worry, I'm sure that THIS time, the government won't brand those who complain as "counter-revolutionary wreckers" or anything...
#5
An oddity of China is that the people as a whole like the central government, and hate the regional and local governments
Not so hard to understand. Sort of a corollary to "the mountains are high and the emperor is far away". The central gov is off annoying the Japanese and Americans for the greater glory of the Middle Kingdom, while the local and regional guys are involved in the corruption and thuggishness that affects everyday life.
CBO expects that production and employment will expand in the coming years but at only a moderate pace, leaving the economy well below its potential for some time. We project that real GDP will increase by about 3 percent this year and again next year, reflecting continued strong growth in business investment, improvements in both residential investment and net exports, and modest increases in consumer spending.
Butwe have a long way to go on the employment front. Payroll employment, which declined by 7.3 million during the recent recession, rose by only 70,000 jobs, on net, between June 2009 and December 2010. So we spent 787 Billion for 70,000 jobs?
Posted by: James L. Petigru ||
01/27/2011 11:08 ||
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So we spent 787 Billion for 70,000 jobs?
It would have been cheaper to just have congress meet once and take the rest of the year off.
Real jobs. I'm sure, on the other hand, patronage 'employment' saw a major spike in opportunity and exploitation particularly leading up to November 2010, followed by a significant collapse before the end of the year.
#5
One of these days, Obean and his clown advisors will figure out that government's job is just to level the playing field and get the hell out of the way.
They exist in an environment in the accumulation of power to reward friends (UAW, GE, etc) and to punish enemies. A level playing field is the LAST thing they want.
#7
#5 One of these days, Obean and his clown advisors will figure out that government's job is just to level the playing field and get the hell out of the way.
There is no level playing field. We're competing globally with people who are smarter, faster, and work for less. The New Order. Better figure that out, faster.
Posted by: Fire and Ice ||
01/27/2011 22:12 Comments ||
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#8
We're competing globally with people who are smarter, faster, and work for less.
Himalayan glaciers are actually advancing rather than retreating, claims the first major study since a controversial UN report said they would be melted within quarter of a century. Wait, the UN just reported a fact instead of propaganda? So much for hell being hot.
Researchers have discovered that contrary to published and forced fed propaganda popular belief half of the ice flows in the Karakoram range of the mountains are actually growing rather than shrinking.
The discovery adds a new twist to the row over whether global warming is causing the world's highest mountain range to lose its ice cover. Or whether there is any "Global Warming".
It further challenges claims made in a 2007 report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that the glaciers would be gone by 2035.
Although the head of the panel Dr Rajendra Pachauri later admitted the claim was an error gleaned from unchecked research, he maintained that global warming was melting the glaciers at "a rapid rate", threatening floods throughout north India. Sorry, you are now a proven hack and a fraud. Please jump off a cliff to disprove gravity.
Rest of story at link tries to explain why if it is hotter glaciers may advance through dirt on the ice or other such bullshit. How about if there is more snow and cold the glacier advances faster? Makes too much sense?
#1
These glaciers provide a massive amount of water downstream, that has multinational importance. So if the glaciers are growing, what is happening to the water flow?
The president, by the way, isn't the first politician to use the phrase "Winning the Future." Maybe, but for some reason nobody made the connection.
Palin's fellow Republican Newt Gingrich entitled one of his books Winning The Future: A 21st Century Contract With America.
Palin also said that rather that Sputnik, the nation should declare "a spudnut moment," referring to the name of a Washington state coffee shop: "A family-owned business not looking for government to bail them out and to make their decisions for them. It's just hard-working, patriotic Americans in this shop." Heh heh. She said nut.
#1
The frightening thing is that neither BHO nor any of his 10,000 speechwriters, flacks and handlers saw this coming. Just how dumb are these guys? No, don't answer that.
And on the other hand, look at how quick Palin is to see the mistake and exploit it.
Posted by: Matt ||
01/27/2011 16:38 Comments ||
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#2
And on the other hand, look at how quick Palin is to see the mistake and exploit it.
#3
Fallon, NV (My parents/grandparent's home) also had a Spudnut Shop. It's a common name for a doughnut/coffee shop. This one had uncommonly good ones as I recall :-)
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01/27/2011 19:57 Comments ||
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#4
Katie Couric was shocked at the "vulgar" comment by Palin. Knowing "whose ass to kick" is a different matter altogether.
Dugway Proving Grounds was locked down yesterday around 5 pm, employees spent the night after a routine inventory found that a vial of VX nerve agent was missing. Vial found, intact; installation is reopened.
#1
Deutsche Bank, where have I heard of that one before.
Part of the problem here is Congress protecting banks and lawyers by making it a 'civil' offense rather than a criminal offense. They just write it off as the 'cost of business' rather than face time in jail. Time to classify military personnel as a 'protected' group like others who get criminal penalties added with existing laws to discourage flippant attitudes about these issues.
Gorkha soldiers have long been known the world over for their valor and these khukuri-wielding warriors winning the British many a battle have become folklore.
A retired Indian Gorkha soldier recently revisited those glory days when he thwarted 40 robbers, killing three of them and injuring eight others, with his khukuri during a train journey. He is in line to receive three gallantry awards from the Indian government.
Slave girl Morgiana in the Arabian Nights used her cunning to finish off Ali Baba´s 40 thieves, but Bishnu Shrestha of Baidam, Pokhara-6 did not have time to plot against the 40 train robbers. He, however, made good use of his khukuri to save the chastity of a girl and hundreds of thousands in loot.
Shrestha, who was in the Maurya Express to Gorakhpur from Ranchi on September 2 while returning home following voluntary retirement from the Indian army--saved the girl who was going to be raped by the robbers in front of her hapless parents, and in doing so won plaudits from everybody.
The Indian government is to decorate Shrestha with its Sourya Chakra, Bravery Award and Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Medal and the 35-year-old is leaving for India Saturday to receive the first of the awards on the occasion of India´s Republic Day on January 26.
The formal announcement of the awards will be made on Republic Day and on Independence Day on August 15, said Shrestha, whose father Gopal Babu also retired from the same 7/8 Platoon of the Gorkha Regiment around 29 years ago.
His regiment has already given him a cash award of Indian rupees 50,000, and decided to terminate his voluntary retirement. He will get the customary promotion after receiving the medals. The Indian government will also announce a cash bounty for him and special discounts on international air tickets and domestic train tickets.
The band of about 40 robbers, some of whom were travelling as passengers, stopped the train in the Chittaranjan jungles in West Bengal around midnight. Shrestha-- who had boarded the train at Ranchi in Jharkhand, the place of his posting--was in seat no. 47 in coach AC3.
They started snatching jewelry, cell phones, cash, laptops and other belongings from the passengers, Shrestha recalled. The soldier had somehow remained a silent spectator amidst the melee, but not for long. He had had enough when the robbers stripped an 18-year-old girl sitting next to him and tried to rape her right in front of her parents. He then took out his khukuri and took on the robbers.
The girl cried for help, saying ´You are a soldier, please save a sister´, Shrestha recalled. I prevented her from being raped, thinking of her as my own sister, he added. He took one of the robbers under control and then started to attack the others. He said the rest of the robbers fled after he killed three of them with his khukuri and injured eight others.
During the scuffle he received serious blade injury to his left hand while the girl also had a minor cut on her neck. They had carried out their robbery with swords, blades and pistols. The pistols may have been fake as they didn´t open fire, he surmised.
The train resumed its journey after some 20 minutes and a horde of media persons and police were present when it reached Chittaranja station. Police arrested the eight injured dacoits and recovered around 400,000 Indian rupees in cash, 40 gold necklaces, 200 cell phones, 40 laptops and other items that the fleeing robbers dropped in the train.
Police escorted Shrestha to the Railways Hospital after the rescued girl told them about his heroic deed. Mainstream Indian media carried the story. The parents of the girl, who was going for her MBBS studies, also announced a cash award of Indian rupees 300,000 for him but he has not met them since.
Even the veins and arteries in my left hand were slit but the injury has now healed after two months of neurological treatment at the Command Hospital in Kolkata, he said showing the scar. Fighting the enemy in battle is my duty as a soldier; taking on the dacoits in the train was my duty as a human being, said the Indian army nayak, who has been given two guards during his month-long holidays in Nepal.
I am proud to be able to prove that a Gorkha soldier with a khukuri is really a handful. I would have been a meek spectator had I not carried that khukuri, he said.
He still finds it hard to believe that he took on 40 armed robbers alone. They may have feared that more of my army friends were traveling with me and fled after fighting me for around 20 minutes, he explained.
Karl, those are the baddest of the bad asses when it comes to tough sledding in a fight. Probably the only people in the world that can hold up to our special ops guys or the French Foreign Legion.
We should borrow a few of these guys and send them to Afghanistan. They might clean that mess up in a few days.
The United States on Monday removed several Indian government defense-related companies, including four subsidiaries each of DRDO (Defense Research and Development Organisation) and ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization), from the so-called Entity List, in an effort to drive hi-tech trade and forge closer strategic ties with India.
With this, the 13-year old squeeze on export of high-tech, dual-use items to the Indian defence and space entities, imposed after India's nuclear tests in 1998, comes to an end. "Today's action marks a significant milestone in reinforcing the US-India strategic partnership and moving forward with export control reforms that will facilitate high technology trade and cooperation," U.S Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said in a statement after the administration issued a federal notification removing the curbs.
The lifting of curbs, described by the administration as the "first steps" to implement the export control policy initiatives announced by President Obama and Indian Prime Minister Singh on November 8, 2010, precedes a visit to New Delhi on February 6 of Secretary Locke, who is leading 24 U.S. businesses on a high-tech trade mission to India hoping to snag billions of dollars of export orders. It also comes on the eve of India's Republic Day.
The Indian Government-run companies that have been relieved from the onerous curbs on U.S exports include Bharat Dynamics Ltd(BDL), which makes India's missiles and munitions; four subsidiaries of DRDO (Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), Defense Research and Development Lab (DRDL), Missile Research and Development Complex; and Solid State Physics Laboratory); and four subsidiaries of ISRO (Liquid Propulsion Systems Center (LPSC), Solid Propellant Space Booster Plant (SPROB), Sriharikota Space Center (SHAR), and Vikram Sarabhai Space Center (VSSC).
Removing the nine organizations from the Entity List eliminates a license requirement specific to the companies, and results in the removed companies being treated the same way as any other destination in India for export licensing purposes, U.S officials explained, rejecting the broad notion that the entities were under sanctions. Most import requests by the Indian entities were considered on a case-by-case basis, with presumption of denial changing to assumption of approval as ties improved after the tense months that followed the nuclear tests.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/27/2011 00:00 ||
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Drug smugglers trying to get marijuana across the Arizona-Mexico border apparently are trying a new approach -- a catapult.
National Guard troops operating a remote video surveillance system at the Naco Border Patrol Station say they observed several people preparing a catapult and launching packages over the International Border fence last Friday evening.
"It looks like a medieval catapult that was used back in the day," Tucson sector Border Patrol spokesman David Jimarez told Reuters.
Tucson TV station KVOA said Border Patrol agents working with the National Guard contacted Mexican authorities, who went to the location and disrupted the catapult operation.
The 3-yard tall catapult was found about 20 yards from the U.S. border on a flatbed towed by a sports utility vehicle, according to a Mexican army officer with the 45th military zone in the border state of Sonora.
The catapult was capable of launching 4.4 pounds of marijuana at a time, the officer said Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
"I have not seen anything like that in my time before as a Border Patrol agent ... although we are trained to handle any kind of a threat that comes over that border," Jimarez added.
Soldiers seized found 35 pounds of marijuana, the vehicle and the catapult device, the officer said.
The smugglers left the area before they could be captured.
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
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Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
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National Guard Soldiers operating a remote viewing system at the Naco crossing area saw marijuana smugglers using a catapult to fire packages of marijuana across the border fence. The smugglers beat feet before they could be apprehended, the Mexican authorities were able to capture the catapult and 
Bill Keller, the editor of The New York Times, has published a detailed account of his newspaper's dealings with WikiLeaks in the past six months. In it, Keller describes his and his reporters' relationship with the website's "elusive, manipulative and volatile" founder, Julian Assange, and how the newspaper's various exclusives came together. Here, the key takeaways from Keller's piece ....
In sum, the complexity of the system impedes both the imagery and the ability of operators on the ground to receive it - let alone figure it out. It cannot reliably find and track human targets; it has additional problems for moving targets, and the random location inaccuracy makes the system virtually unusable for prosecuting even stationary targets.
A one-mile cordon has been established around a volcano on Mount Kirishima after it erupted scattering rocks and ash across southern Japan and sending smoke billowing 5,000ft into the air.
(Xinhua) -- Tunisia issued an international arrest warrant for ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his family members, the justice minister said Wednesday.
[Al Jazeera] Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, has been quoted by the state media as urging citizens to voice their criticisms of the government and speak out about injustice during a visit to the country's highest petition bureau, where people are allowed to file complaints against officials.
Himalayan glaciers are actually advancing rather than retreating, claims the first major study since a controversial UN report said they would be melted within quarter of a century. 
The president, by the way, isn't the first politician to use the phrase "Winning the Future."
