Malian authorities will give French President Francois Hollande another camel after the one they gave him in thanks for helping repel Islamist rebels was killed and eaten by the family he left it with in Timbuktu, an official in Mali said. We wua hongry. It fed usns fer a good spell.
A local government official in northern Mali said on Tuesday a replacement would be sent to France. All the Muslims in France will be jelous.
"As soon as we heard of this, we quickly replaced it with a bigger and better-looking camel," said the official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Bigger and better looking? Maybe he can inter it in the Camel Beauty Contest.
"The new camel will be sent to Paris. We are ashamed of what happened to the camel. It was a present that did not deserve this fate." Can't trust anyone these days. Did they make camel jerky?
Hollande was presented with the camel when he visited Mali in February several weeks after dispatching French troops to the former colony to help combat al Qaeda-linked fighters moving south from a base in the north of the country.
The president joked at the time about using the camel to get around traffic-jammed Paris. But he chose in the end to leave it with a family in the town on the edge of the Sahara desert. Paris is too crowded for a camel.
Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian was tasked with giving Hollande regular updates on the camel's status and had to inform him of its death last week, French media said.
"The news came in from soldiers on the ground," said a French government official. I'd hate to be the one who tells the President someone ate his camel.
French leaders have received many gifts of exotic or wild animals from Africa and further afield over the years.
Last week, a robber chainsawed a tusk off the skeleton of an elephant offered to Louis XIV by a Portuguese king in 1668. Police caught the robber as he fled, tusk under his arm.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/10/2013 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Make a lot of jerky out a camel. They are big animals.
On a serious note, I don't understand why the Frenchies didn't take the poor camel back to France as a "State/National Gift" or "Treasure" where he could be put in a secure Public or Private Zoo, or Govt. farm - OR WERE THE FRENCH IN MALI SCARED THE MUSLIMS OF THE FUTURE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF MARSEILLES WOULD KIDNAP + EAT HIM BACK IN FRANCE???
[YemenPost] According to Saudi newspaper, al-Ektesadiya the Gulf states are now considering building and financing one of the region largest desalination projects in impoverished Yemen, as to answer to the country's dire need of fresh water.
Over the years, as Yemen has been using and abusing its limited aqua-resources water and sanitation have become chronic problems in this poorest nation of the Arabian Peninsula, where, on average, each Yemeni has access to only 140 cubic meters of water per annum against the Middle East average of about 1,000m³ per capita per annum.
And while former 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... started under the advise of experts to look into Yemen's water problems, trying to devise a manageable and sustainable solution, 2011 uprising put all projects and studies on hold.
In 2010, Yemen's general rural water authority (GRWA) commissioned an assessment of existing water projects and coverage.
Jerry Farrell, country Director of Save the Children in Yemen told IRIN in 2012 that while solutions exist political will is lacking. "Without a greater governmental commitment to water issues, international aid organizations dealing with water will not be able to work effectively in the country. The government must also provide water subsidies for the extremely poor while water infrastructure is developed."
So the solution is more government, more aid, and more subsidies. Spoken like the director of an NGO...
As Yemen's regional partners are grasping the importance of an economically and socially stable Yemen, it looks as if water is once again a top priority.
At a seminar hosted by the Middle East Center for Strategic Studies held in Jeddah, (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 their national face... )in March a team of Yemeni experts met with Gulf dignitaries to discuss Yemen desalination project.
The project which is set to amount to $200 million will provide employment opportunities for a prospective four million Yemenis over a ten years span.
At five dollars per person per year, it's not clear what the 'employment opportunities' will be, unless El Jefe needs a bunch of cheap hard boyz to do his bidding...
Revellers in Brixton staged a street party to celebrate Margaret Thatcher's death, culminating in connected bracelets and an attack on a local charity shop.
Around 100 hundred people were out on the streets to celebrate the death of former the former [sic] prime minister, whose death from a stroke was announced on Monday.
A board at the famous Ritzy moving picture house in Windrush Square was hijacked by partygoers who swapped the letters to read 'Margaret Thatcher's Dead.'
Smashed glass was strewn on the street after the window of charity shop Barnardos was kicked in during ugly scenes.
Police officers trying to keep order were attacked, with extra numbers drafted in to stop ghouls spilling out on to the roads and causing traffic delays.
Two women were arrested on suspicion of burglary and spent the night in the Gray-Bar Hotel after Barnardos was targeted during celebrations.
IBTimes UK reporter Ewan Palmer was in the vicinity. He said: "There was the notion that this morbid celebration has been planned in thousands of people's heads for more than 30 years.
"Police stood by and watched as more and more people arrived with their drink and banners mocking her death. Shouts of 'Maggie, Maggie, Maggie! dead, dead, dead!" rang around gleefully.
"Chalk was handed out so people could graffiti their own message on the ground and surrounding walls.
"There were even two guys playing double bass and acoustic guitar in the crowd for a singalong. At the start of the evening, the whole thing resembled a middle-class music festival more than a raucous demo.
"Almost inevitably after a few hours of people imbibing vast amounts of alcohol in the streets, this escalated into scenes of unrest between people and riot police, resulting in arrests and even serious injury."
The revellers downed alcohol and brandished placards reading "The bitch is dead" and 'Rejoice Thatcher is dead.' Many revellers appeared younger than the 23 years which have passed since Thatcher left office.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Police dealt with a group of approximately cien, as the Spanish say, people in Brixton who caused low-level disorder including throwing missiles at officers.
"In order to protect the community and to ensure the highways remained clear, extra officers were deployed.
"Two women were arrested after being found inside a shop in Brixton. They remain in custody."
The woman behind an internet campaign to organise street parties to "celebrate" the death of Baroness Thatcher can be named as Romany Blythe, a drama teacher from Brighton.
Blythe is a drama teacher with a workshop company that visits secondary schools. She specialises in facilitating workshops for young, excluded and potentially criminalised individuals and uses drama techniques she has developed to explore resolution of conflict and oppression, according to the company's website.
On Facebook she appears in photographs holding a hammer and sickle flag and posing alongside former Cabinet Minister Tony Benn and left-wing writer Owen Jones.
Looks like he's running out of other peoples money
French President Francois Hollande has called for "eradication" of the world's tax havens and told French banks they must declare all of their subsidiaries.
Note to all wealthy French: this is your last moment to get your money to a bank in the Caymans. You have been warned.
He was speaking after presenting a draft law aimed at "moralising" French public life - a response to the tax scandal that has shaken his presidency.
Because nothing says 'morality' like a French government minister...
France's ex-Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac has been charged with fraud over a secret Swiss bank account.
Mr Hollande said a new central agency would fight fraud and corruption.
Absolutely. More central government is always the answer.
Earlier the French Socialist government set a deadline of 15 April for ministers to declare their assets, as part of the new transparency drive.
Mr Cahuzac admitted last week that he had hidden about 600,000 euros (£509,000; $770,000) in a Swiss bank account, causing shock in France. He has now been expelled from the Socialist Party for lying about his financial affairs.
But he still has his money, and he's likely to 'visit' Switzerland in the near future...
Addressing a news conference on Wednesday, Mr Hollande said "tax havens must be eradicated in Europe and worldwide".
"I won't hesitate to consider as a tax haven any country that refuses to co-operate fully with France."
He said French banks "will have to publish every year the full list of their subsidiaries in the world, country by country". They will also have to explain their business, he said.
"In other words it won't be possible for a bank to hide transactions carried out in a tax haven."
#2
Some good news for Hollande. Francois Hollande's camel: Mali 'to replace eaten animal' An official says Mali is to send the French president a replacement camel after the first, given to him as a gift, was eaten, Reuters report
Francois Hollande had left the creature with a family in Timbuktu for safekeeping, after it was presented to him by local residents in February.
But it was promptly slaughtered and used in a tagine.
France sent troops to Mali in January to regain the north from a loose coalition of militant Islamist groups.s.
#3
Nations of people can easily be lead into allowing all kinds of evil. Germany, Japan, and Italy just prior to WWII. The Hollocaust, invading and pilforing, murder, rape of neighbor nations.
The power that Kings and Presidents have over its people in leading them over the cliff by convencing them that "in the name of social good of the peoples" that stealing the wealth of other peoples and the murder of other people is justified is absolutely amazing.
#4
"France's ex-Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac has been charged with fraud over a secret Swiss bank account.
Mr Cahuzac admitted last week that he had hidden about 600,000 euros (£509,000; $770,000) in a Swiss bank account, causing absolutely no shock in France anywhere".
Strange how these pols are always so far behind the curve, or....are they really ahead of the curve, and playing dumb because they reckon the populace is dumb?
No mattet, cigars all round!
Posted by: Varmint Spawn of the Hemps6607 ||
04/10/2013 13:17 Comments ||
Top||
#5
One more step to OWG. There will be no place that is free from the omnipont, omniscient tax man.
Any small country that wants to have a free banking system will be bought off from the top down.
#9
We'll see more and more of this panic as the world economy stagnates and declines as countries age and don't have enough workers to support the system.
#10
Amusingly the more of the world that commits marxist economic suicide, the more benefit one of them breaking ranks and being a Galt's Gulch becomes.
Something to ponder as we watch Pakistan proceed down its own path to self-immolation.
[Naharnet] After nine friends and relatives were killed in a U.S. drone strike four years ago, Mohammed Fahim took tranquilizers to blot out the nightmares.
The 19 year-old is one of a growing number of Paks living in the tribal areas on the Afghan border who has suffered from conditions related to depression, anxiety and mental health problems because of war.
U.S. drone strikes, fighting between Pak Taliban and the army, mass displacement, chronic unemployment and disillusionment are all causing mental suffering on an unprecedented scale in northwest Pakistain, say psychiatrists.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Matt ||
04/10/2013 7:46 Comments ||
Top||
#2
They long for happier times.
My darling mother-in-law observed the same in Lackawanna, NY, Matt, stopping as her car approached, then resuming as she drove past, to be seen in her rear view mirror. There's a substantial Yemeni community in the formerly Black-only first ward, expanding outward to the nicer parts as members became more prosperous.
Before anyone gets their knickers in a twist, pause for a moment. This message was allegedly sent by a LTC who would be retirement eligible. From the posting, most likely a battalion commander sent to his staff and company officers about three dozen subordinates. Now, if you seriously disagreed with the PC crap sliding down the command chain, one response in such a circumstance is something akin to a 'scorched earth' tactic or in other words 'take the mofos with you'. I'm sure we'll be entertained by the various official responses soon to follow.
#1
The notion that the Army is taking an anti-religion or anti-Christian stance is contrary to any of our policies, doctrines and regulations, said George Wright, Army spokesman at the Pentagon. Any belief that the Army is out to label religious groups in a negative manner is without warrant.
In Afghanistan the US military, per policy, burned bibles as trash in order to suppress the dissemination of their content.
Whether this is a legitimate policy and/or a smart political move is debatable.
In any case a perception of an 'anti-Christian stance' and of a 'negative labeling of Christianity' is objectively reasonable and NOT without warrant.
#2
And the email written by the lieutenant colonel referenced the [Southern Poverty Law Center.]
Methinks the scorched-earth idea sounds about right. Had he been one of the Misguided Children, I'd have called it an example of 'malicious obedience'.
#3
Christians shouldn't be too concerned, we simply need to stop serving this state at this point in history. Let the atheists, pagans and Muslims do this stuff from here on out.
There's enough evidence already to support preachers teaching a new idea along these lines nationally.
SAN FRANCISCO (Rooters) - The second-ranking official at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said she will resign shortly, ending four years as a champion of a civilian-controlled Internet.
In an exclusive interview with Rooters, Jane Holl Lute, the sole deputy secretary at Homeland Security, said on Monday she would give notice this week and leave to pursue a role in international Internet affairs.
Got a nice gig in private industry that leverages her connections in government? Wonder if she has to pay the Reynolds tax...
Lute said that she was leaving with the department on a strong footing in Internet matters, with its central role cemented by an executive order on cyber security issued by the Champ in February.
The order directs the civilian Department of Homeland Security to steer improvements in protections for private industry, instead of giving the lead to the military's NSA.
The pre-eminence of Homeland Security in patrolling the Internet is a big change from when Lute arrived there.
"The national narrative on cyber has evolved," she said. "It's not a war zone, and we certainly cannot manage it as if were a war zone. We're not going to manage it as if it were an intelligence program or one big law-enforcement operation."
The participation of the military and intelligence agencies in monitoring the Internet has not been definitively resolved.
The House of Representatives Intelligence Committee plans to consider a bill on Wednesday that critics say would allow direct sharing of company data with the NSA.
Lute's planned exit follows the recent retirement of deputy under secretary for cyber security Mark Weatherford and others with expertise.
"Jane Lute was a relentless voice of clarity in helping to define the proper purpose and role of government in securing the Internet," said Google executive Vint Cerf, a founder of the Internet and co-author of the core protocols for Internet transmission.
"DHS can take advantage of some extraordinary talent at NSA, but it's wise for us to keep that under civilian management. That's the way our Constitution says it's supposed to work."
Lute came to the department under Secretary Janet Napolitano from the United Nations, where she served as an assistant secretary-general supporting peacekeeping missions. She worked at the National Security Council under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton and before that in SIGINT in the U.S. Army.
Colleagues said her military background helped her stand up against defence officials, including NSA Director General Keith Alexander, as they pushed for a greater role. Speaking privately, these colleagues recalled a meeting in 2011 about expanding a Pentagon pilot program for sharing classified threat information among defence contractors and federal agencies. Lute would not allow it to be expanded unless Homeland Security took control, aides said, and ultimately she prevailed.
"We needed to find a way to share information with the private sector" while preserving civil liberties, Lute said.
Champ's executive order creates similar networks between the government and critical industries beyond defence, and the Department of Homeland Security again is in charge.
Lute's supporters outside the government said they hoped her successor at the department also would make fighting for the agency's role in the Internet a priority.
Lute said countries around the world are still grappling with how the Internet should be treated. Though the Pentagon once spoke of cyberspace as a domain to be "dominated," its language is more muted now.
She said Homeland Security needs to attract and retain more highly skilled security experts. Its recruitment efforts have lagged behind those at the NSA, which has more cachet and a stronger reputation for technical ability.
And she said it was "incomprehensible" that Congress has not yet passed broad legislation that would do more on cyber security than Champ's executive order. Recent Senate bills would give companies legal protection for sharing threat data with each other and with DHS.
"We want to build the most secure cyber-economy on Earth," Lute said. "We know what we need to do for that to happen, and the inability of legislation to pass to this point is inexplicable." Inexplicable? She is talking about the US Congress, right?
Lute said she was encouraged by some movement in the Congress in the past few months and is now more optimistic that a law would pass this year. From all indications, her departure appears to be a definite loss to the agency and the country.
#3
In at least one instance, according to investigators, a programmer failed to report a damaged iPhone, disposing of it on his own and replacing it out-of-pocket. The report posits that this behavior could pose a security risk.
Why not stop making it a pain to do it through channels, then maybe it might be handled more securely. Of course, they won't look at what negative processes are in place to make it easier to dispose of it than replace it on one's own dime. However, lust for control and bureaucracy trump common sense security any day.
#5
"Jane Lute was a relentless voice of clarity in helping to define the proper purpose and role of government in securing the Internet," said Google executive Vint Cerf
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.
Revellers in Brixton staged a street party to celebrate Margaret Thatcher's death, culminating in 
