[Iran Press TV] The presence of the convoy of the son of the Saudi King Salman ...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, Cutodian of the Two Holy Mosquesand Lord of Most of the Arabians.... bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in central Mina prompted the stampede that killed hundreds of pilgrims on the outskirts of the holy city of Mecca, a report says.
The Arabic-language daily al-Diyar said in a report on Thursday that the convoy of Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud played a central role in the deadly crush on the third day of the annual Hajj pilgrimage earlier in the day.
The report said that Salman, who had sought to attend the huge gathering of pilgrims in Mina, a large valley about five kilometers (three miles) from Mecca, arrived at the site early on Thursday accompanied by a huge entourage.
The report said 200 army forces and 150 coppers escorted the prince.
The report said the presence of the prince in the middle of the population prompted a change in the direction of the movement of the pilgrims and a stampede.
The Lebanese daily further said that Salman and his entourage swiftly abandoned the scene, adding that the Saudi authorities seek to hush up the entire story and impose a media blackout on Salman's presence in the area.
However, if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well... officials in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... have denied the report, calling it "incorrect." The Saudi health minister has blamed the pilgrims for the tragedy. "If the pilgrims had followed instructions, this type of accident could have been avoided," Khaled al-Falih said.
According to Iran's Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization more than 1,300 people, including 125 Iranians, were killed in the crush. This as Saudi officials put the corpse count at 717 and the number of injured at 863.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/25/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
at over 1300 dead and climbing one expects, perhaps, a few friendly shot or gestures to the Iranian pilgrims from the prince's retinue?
Sort of like the "riot" at the haji shortly after the Iranian revolution.... I had the pleasure of chatting with a British SOF sgt major who had been working with the palace guard just before they went to Mecca to deal with the Iranian protesters that time. His story was quite different then the reported one an required a lot of Scotch on the Rocks to properly enjoy.
heh..
#3
Betcha right now there are imams who preach that the stampede is a sign of Allan's displeasure because Muslims don't kill enough (cross out the inappropriate) Sunnni/Shia/Jews/Christians/Buddhists.
Maybe if you'd written the "instructions" on bomb vests, they would have been more likely to.
Posted by: Barbara ||
09/25/2015 9:57 Comments ||
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#5
"Believed to have been caused by the driver of the Prince's limo blowing the horn, which plays 'La Cucaracha'..."
Posted by: ed in texas ||
09/25/2015 12:43 Comments ||
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#6
The American Stampede is scheduled for the day after Thanksgiving.
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Maybe the folks in mecca could use cranes to lift the people over the crowds?
[Iran Press TV] The Colombian government and the rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia FARC or FARC-EP, is either a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary guerrilla organization or a drug cartel based in Colombia. It claims to represent the rural poor in a struggle against Colombia's wealthier classes, and opposes United States influence in Colombia, neo-imperialism, monopolization of natural resources by multinational corporations, and the usual raft of complaints. It funds itself principally through ransom kidnappings, taxation of the drug trade, extortion, shakedowns, and donations. It has lately begun calling itself Bolivarian and is greatly admired by Venezuela's President-for-Life Chavez, who seemingly fantasizes about living in the woods and kidnapping people himself. He provides FARC with safe areas along the border. (FARC) have reached an agreement on a peace deal that would end 50 years of war within the next six months.
On Wednesday, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC leader Rodrigo Londono, also known as Timochenko, agreed to sign a definitive peace deal aimed at ending the conflict.
Santos said the two sides "have agreed that at the latest in six months -- six months -- these negotiations must conclude and the final peace accord must be signed."
The FARC leader also said the group was prepared to reach a deal sooner than the March 23 deadline.
"We don't want anything to stop this overflowing desire for peace and hope it will be forged in a hug of reconciliation," Timochenko said.
'Not an easy job'
During the ceremony, which was held in the Cuban capital, Havana, Timochenko agreed that the leftist guerrillas would lay down arms within two months of signing the deal.
Santos and the FARC leader also agreed to establish special tribunals for former rebels and offer an amnesty, which would, however, exclude those responsible for committing war crimes or crimes against humanity.
"It's not going to be an easy job because there are still difficult points to agree upon, but that is the instruction we have given to our delegations: they must complete the accord as soon as possible," Santos said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/25/2015 00:00 ||
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[AlAhram] Russia's defence ministry on Thursday said it would hold naval drills in the "east Mediterranean" region in September and October, as the West frets over a military buildup by Moscow in Syria.
The exercises include three warships from Russia's Black Sea Fleet, including the Saratov landing ship, the Moskva guided missile cruiser and the Smetlivy destroyer, the ministry said in a statement.
The drills will involve "40 combat exercises, including rocket and artillery fire at sea and airborne targets," the statement said.
The ministry said that the Mediterranean drills -- which were restarted in early 2013 -- had been planned since the end of last year and did not link them to the conflict in Syria.
Russia officially alerted the airport in Cyprus earlier this month through the international aviation authorities to divert aircraft from the area between Syrian port of Tartus, where Russia has a naval facility, and Cyprus.
#1
Actually, the Rooshuns have formed a separate command for their naval deployment in the Med. It is beginning to sound, at least for their naval component, that the new command will operate directly out of Moskva, just as their Transcaucusus Front did in the 2nd Chechen War.
This naval exercise will likely test the command/control coordination between their ships, which will act as radar pickets and the ground based SAM launchers.
As I have said repeatedly, watch the naval deployment, not the ground forces.
#3
VladVedev + RussNav must be feeling confident, since it appears that no Fleet Salvage Tug(s) have been deployed wid this force in case of vessel breakdown.
* ION DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Sputnik] RUSSIA'S NEWEST MILITARY BASE IN EUROPE WILL BE JUST 40-KMS FROM NATO FACILITIES IN CYPRUS. | [Hurriyet Daily News] GREEK CYPRUS SPATS WID BRITAIN OVER RUSIAN USE OF MILITARY BASES.
* PRAVDA > RUSSIAN UNMANNED NUCLEAR SUBMARINES TO ENCIRCLE US.
VERSUS
* INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES [IBT] > US-RUSSIA NUCLEAR STANDOFF: USAF WON'T STATION NEW ATOMIC BOMBS IN GERMANY UNTIL [Year] 2020, as these BL-62 NuvBombs themselves won't be ready for production until FY20.
* RELATED PRAVDA > OFFICIAL: US NOT TO DEPLOY NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN GERMANY, for at least another five years.
#6
The Russian Naval Infantry will be highly concerned whether Hizbollah will do as it's told when it's told before significant upgrades will begin.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
09/25/2015 12:10 Comments ||
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#7
Skidmark, I would think Russia would want to be friends with Turkey if they are going to be in the Eastern Med and need access through the Bosporus.
Of course if you are right, they might provoke Turkey into something rash and then take the Bosporus. Greece might want it back although now that the population is like 99% Muslim maybe they don't.
[Iran Press TV] Armenian​ officials say three women have bit the dust after the Azerbaijani army shelled Tavush region in northeastern Armenia.
"A 70-year-old woman was killed in the village of Paravakar, and two other women, aged 94 and 41, were killed in the village of Berdavan. Two other civilians were maimed," said Armenia's Interior Ministry Spokesman Ashot Agaronyan on Thursday.
Agaronyan added that the Azerbaijani armed forces continued to target the area with "large-caliber mortars" on Thursday evening.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Council of Boskone, Kinnison began his slow infiltration of the sewer system... Armenia's Defense Ministry condemned the deadly attack as an "act of provocation," saying it will derail diplomatic efforts to resolve the decades-long border conflict between the two states.
"Our neighbor's military leadership shows complete disdain towards diplomatic efforts aimed at finding a negotiated solution to the (Karabakh) conflict," the ministry said in a statement, adding, "Armenia will take appropriate steps to pacify Azerbaijani armed forces."
This is while reports say that the foreign ministers of the two countries are scheduled to hold talks on the sidelines of the the United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... General Assembly in New York.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/25/2015 00:00 ||
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h/t Gates of Vienna
European banks' bad loans have increased to about 1 trillion euros, more than double their level in 2009, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday.
The IMF said levels of non-performing loans (NPLs) in the euro area had risen to 932 billion euros at the end of 2014, or about 9 percent of the region's gross domestic product (GDP).
High levels of NPLs are limiting credit supply and holding up funds that could otherwise be used for lending.
"The levels are particularly high in the south of the euro area," the IMF said.
It added that a reduction of bad loans was crucial to help revive credit supply, above all for small and medium-sized companies that are more reliant on banks for financing.
#2
And Bambi (piss be upon him) will insist the American taxpayers (of which he's guaranteeing there will be fewer every year) have to bail them out. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara ||
09/25/2015 10:00 Comments ||
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#3
Does that include Greece, which has been doing what it thinks of as its best?
#4
"In other news, Germany was granted a repossession order for Italy for nonpayment. Field Marshall Albert Kesselring could not be reached for comment."
Posted by: ed in texas ||
09/25/2015 12:38 Comments ||
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#5
Just print some more money to cover the bad loans; that'll fix it...
The old "quis custodiet" question, answered at last!
[DAWN] Rangers on Wednesday arrested two policemen of the Gulistan-i-Jauhar police station for allegedly depriving a man of Rs85,000, officials said.
They said that the two constables — Abdul Ghani and Shah Mehmood — intercepted Shahid Siddiq during a snap check in Gulistan-i-Jauhar near the Continental Bakery and snatched Rs85,000 from him.
Scores of people, however, gathered around them when the victim raised a hue and cry. Some of the people informed the paramilitary soldiers about the incident. The Rangers reached the spot, arrested the policemen and handed them over to police.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/25/2015 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
