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Salah Abdeslam 'refused to blow himself up', says brother
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Page 6: Politix
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
8 Cartel Gunmen Killed in Ambush Turned Firefight near Texas Border
[Bretbart] MATAMOROS, Tamaulipas -- Mexican Federal Police helicopters, soldiers, federal agents and state police officers all took part in a large scale gun battle just south of this border city that killed 8 cartel gunmen.

The gun battle began on Thursday afternoon in the rural community of Valle Hermoso, information provided to Breitbart Texas by the Tamaulipas government revealed. Valle hermoso is about 30 miles south of Brownsville, Texas.

The firefight began when a squad of Gulf Cartel Gunmen who were hiding in the brush ambushed a convoy of police officers with Fuerza Tamaulipas. The officers had been patrolling the highway that connects this border city with the state capital of Ciudad Victoria. The police officers sought cover and began to fight off the attack as they called for help.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/03/2016 07:22 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Narcos


War on Cops: Law-Enforcement Deaths by Gunfire Up by 150% This Year
[BREITBART] The number of coppers killed by gunfire in the line of duty this year is up 150% according to the Officer Down Memorial Page, a website dedicated to chronicling the deaths of law-enforcement officers.

March was the deadliest month for police deaths so far in 2016, with a total of 16 law-enforcement officers killed. Five of those March deaths were due to gunfire.

Although the overall death total is down 3% from 2015 and the same period this year, the jump in gunfire related deaths is alarming, especially given the constant barrage of anti-police rhetoric by leftist protest groups, including Black Lives Matter.

Some of the deaths appear to be directly traced to animosity towards police. For example, the recent murder of Virginia state police trooper Chad Dermer at a Greyhound bus station in Richmond on March 31 was committed by a man, James Brown III, whose ex-girlfriend told the News Agency that Dare Not be Named"frequently expressed his hatred towards the police."

As Breitbart News reported, the Black Lives Matter movement in Minneapolis recently carried out protest action in March that ended up in front of a local cop shoppe, where protesters burned the American flag. That protest came after the state of Minnesota announced it would not be seeking criminal charges against two coppers who were involved in the death of convicted criminal Jamar Clark.
Posted by: Fred || 04/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  and Obama voiced his concerns.

Just kidding
Posted by: Frank G || 04/03/2016 9:18 Comments || Top||


Britain
Children On Easter Egg Hunt Form Human Arrow To Direct British Police Helicopter To Suspects
Children on an Easter egg hunt formed a human arrow to direct a police helicopter to two suspected burglars.

The group of 30 youngsters and adults were in a field in Capel, Surrey, on Good Friday when they spotted the aircraft circling overhead.

The National Police Air Service (NPAS) helicopter had been called by Surrey Police after a report of intruders at a disused building.

The quick-thinking children spotted two men fleeing across the field and formed an arrow to direct officers to them.

The helicopter crew told officers on the ground, who arrested two men.
Who were desperately trying to figure out how to arrange themselves on the ground in the shape of a big middle finger in response to the children's arrow.
NPAS Sergeant Paul Sochon said: "The swift action taken by the group of parents and their children was the sort of thing you would usually associate with an Enid Blyton adventure but their ingenuity proved a great help for our crews.

"As a thank you for their efforts, the NPAS crew landed nearby to thank the children for the role they played in the incident and they even shared a few chocolate treats with the team, which was an added bonus after a busy shift."

A 28-year-old man and a 27-year-old man were arrested on suspicion of burglary.

They were released on bail until 13 May pending further inquiries.
Posted by: gorb || 04/03/2016 04:08 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Arrows, being weapons, are doubleplus ungood. Reeducation for the 30 young degenerates is in order.
Posted by: PBMcL || 04/03/2016 14:25 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Ukrainian, rebels continue to exchange artillery fire


For a map, click here. You can enlarge the map, if you open it separately.

Ukrainian forces continue to exchange artillery fire with rebel forces along the line of contact, specifically in southern Donetsk and in western areas near Donetsk city, according to Russian language news reports.

A news report which appeared in lb.ua said that rebel forces fired artillery on their positions 65 times on Friday.

Localities west of Donetsk city hit by the rebels include Marinka, Peski, Avdievka and Zaytsevo. Rebels used small arms and RPG fire on Ukrainian positions.

On Saturday, according to a separate lb.ua report, rebels fired on Ukrainian positions a total of 36 times. Localities hit by rebel fire include Staraya Avdievka (industrial zone), and Peski.

Six Ukrainian soldiers were wounded in the last two days.

According to the Donetsk ministry of defense website news release, Ukrainian forces violated the ceasefire a total of 36 times, firing 252 times on rebel positions in Donetsk.

Among the localities hit were Yasinovataya, Spartak, Petrovsky district, Zhabichevo and the Donetsk airport.

The rebel report said that Petrovsky district was hit by Ukrainian artillery for 38 minutes Friday night. A separate report said that Ukrainian 30mm autocannon fire and RPGs were fired into the area as well.

Another rebel report said that Zaytsevo was hit by mortar fire for 60 minutes.

Localities in southern Donetsk hit by Ukrainian artillery include Sahanka, Kominternovo and Dokuchaevsk. A separate rebel report said that Sahanka was fired on by 82mm mortar fire for 53 minutes.

Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com and on Twitter. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraine by clicking here.
Posted by: badanov || 04/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


31 reported killed in fighting between Armenian, Azerbaijani forces
BAKU, Azerbaijan — At least 30 soldiers and a boy were reported killed as heavy fighting erupted Saturday between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces over the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The fighting was the worst outbreak since a full-scale war over the region ended in 1994. Since then, mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh — officially part of Azerbaijan — has been under the control of local ethnic Armenian forces and the Armenian military. Armenian forces also occupy several areas outside Nagorno-Karabakh. The sides are separated by a demilitarized buffer zone, but small clashes have broken out frequently.

Each side blamed the other for Saturday’s escalation.
Of course.
In a statement, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said 12 of its soldiers “became shahids” — Muslim martyrs — and one of its helicopters was shot down. The statement also claimed that more than 100 Armenian forces were killed or wounded and six tanks and 15 artillery positions were destroyed.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan told his national security council that 18 Armenian soldiers were killed and 35 wounded.

Armenia earlier claimed to have inflicted heavy damage on Azerbaijani forces but did not immediately give figures. A statement from the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Ministry claimed more than 200 Azerbaijani soldiers were killed, but there was no corroboration for that figure.

“This is the most wide-scale military action that Azerbaijan has tried to carry out since the establishment of the 1994 cease-fire regime,” Sargsyan said.

The Armenian Defense Ministry said Azerbaijan used aircraft, tanks and artillery to try to make inroads into Nagorno-Karabkh and that “Azerbaijani authorities bear all responsibility for the unprecedentedly supercharged situation.”

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said the fighting began when Armenian forces fired mortars and large-caliber artillery shells across the front line. Ministry spokesman Vagif Dargyakhly told the Associated Press that more than 120 shots were fired, some of which hit civilian residential areas.
Destroy any baby milk factories?
David Babayan, a spokesman for Nagorno-Karabakh’s separatist president, said a boy of about 12 was killed and two other children were wounded in a Grad missile barrage by Azerbaijani forces.

Years of negotiations under the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have brought little progress in resolving the territorial dispute.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Aleksandr Khramchikhin of vpk-news.ru says that the Armenian Army has a total of five army corps organized on the Russian establishment of four to five brigade/regimental elements per corps.

Sez Khramchikhin of Armenian military equipment: The tank park consists of 137 T-72 and T-55 8. There are 120 BRDM-2, 12 BRM-1K, 10 BMD-1, 159 BMP-1 and BMP-8, 1K, 5 BMP-2, as well as more than 200 BTR - 6 BTR-152, BTR-19, 60, 54 BTR- 70, 114 BTR-80, up to 40 MTLB.

Artillery: 38 SAU - 10 2S1, 28, 2S3, 147 towed guns - 85 D-30, 26 2A36, 34 D-20, 2 D-1, about 80 mortars - 19 PM38 to 62 M-43, 51 MLRS - 47 BM-21, 4 WM-80

Aircraft and missiles: 15 Su-25 (including two combat-capable Su-25UB) and possibly 1 interceptor MiG-25PD. Transport aircraft 3 IL-76, AN-2 3-6 and possibly one An-24 and An-32. Training: 6 L-39, 10-14, Yak-52, Yak-1, 55, 5 Yak-18T. Attack helicopters: 12 Mi-24 (Mi-8 24V / R, 2 Mi-24RA, 2 Mi-24K). Multipurpose: 11-20 Mi-8/17, 8-9 Mi-2. Helicopters - Air KP: 2 Mi-9. Surface air defense includes 3 divisions (36 CP) S-300PT and 2 divisions (24 CP) S-300PS, Division 1 S-75 (6 CP), 5 battalions of S-125 (20 CP), 3 SAM "Circle" (27 CP).

Karabakh tank park includes: 140 T-72 tanks and up to 34 T-55, 5 BRM-1K, 80 BMP-1, 153 BMP-2, 9, BTR-70

Karabakh artillery/missiles: 12 SAU, 2S1 and 2S3, 30 100mm guns, D-30, D-16, of about 50 D-20 and 2A36, 24 MLRS BM-21, 6 self-propelled ATGM "Sturm-S" and BRDM-2 ATGM "Competition", not less than than 6 SAM "Wasp" and ZSU "Shilka", several SAM "Strela-10".

Aircraft and SAMs: one battalion of S-300PS and SAM "Cube", the batteries 5-6 (15-18 PU) SAM "Circle", 2 Su-25, 3 combat Mi-24 and 5 Mi-8

The Russians maintain a base in the region with one motorized rifle brigade and an artillery/missile brigade.
Posted by: badanov || 04/03/2016 9:29 Comments || Top||

#2  I have a nephew and his wife who live in Azerbaijan teaching English to rich kids. Is it time to pull them out?
Posted by: jpal || 04/03/2016 13:45 Comments || Top||

#3  This has been brewing for about 9 months.
Posted by: badanov || 04/03/2016 13:57 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
N. Korea tries to jam GPS, fires missile, too
[NWAONLINE] North Korea fired a short-range missile into the sea and tried to jam GPS navigation signals in South Korea on Friday, Seoul officials said, hours after U.S., South Korean and Japanese leaders pledged to work closer together to prevent North Korea from advancing its nuclear and missile programs.

Officials said the attempt to jam GPS signals, which began Thursday, did not cause any major disruptions of South Korean military, aviation and sea transport and telecommunication systems. However,
some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them...
more than 130 fishing boats reported problems with their navigation systems and some were forced to return to their ports, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said.

South Korea's Defense Ministry called the jamming attempt a provocation that threatened public safety and military operations in the South. A ministry statement warned North Korea to immediately stop the jamming efforts or face unspecified consequences.

South Korea has blamed North Korea for several previous jamming attempts. This week's jamming signals are the first since 2012, according to South Korea's Science Ministry. North Korean state media had no immediate comment.

North Korea also fired a surface-to-air missile off its east coast Friday, three days after it launched a projectile that hit land in its northeast, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said without elaborating.

North Korea has launched a number of short-range missiles and other projectiles since the start last month of annual South Korea-U.S. military drills it views as a rehearsal for an invasion. It also has repeated threats of nuclear strikes on Seoul and Washington and warned it will test a nuclear warhead and ballistic missiles capable of carrying it.

Posted by: Fred || 04/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  What is it that the hate about the sea so much?
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 04/03/2016 12:58 Comments || Top||

#2  warned it will test a nuclear warhead and ballistic missiles capable of carrying it.

Both at the same time would prove interesting.
Posted by: phil_b || 04/03/2016 20:55 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin launches and successfully lands rocket
[MONEY.CNN] "Launch. Land. Repeat."

That's the approach Jeff Bezos' space company, Blue Origin, is taking to test its New Shepard, which launched and landed safely on Saturday.

The launch in West Texas is the third for the New Shepard rocket, which is named after Alan Shepard, the first American to go to space.

Both the rocket and the capsule, which will eventually carry paying customers, landed successfully. During this test, the capsule was carrying two microgravity experiments from the Southwest Research Institute and the University of Central Florida.

The SRI contributed its "Box of Rocks Experiment" (BORE) -- a box of loose rocks that "mimic the surface conditions on asteroids." The second experiment, "Collisions Into Dust Experiment" (COLLIDE), involved a box of dust and a marble that "mimic impacts between objects in microgravity."

Unlike other capsules, Blue Origin's is completely automated so no pilots are inside to control it -- this reduces risk of casualties and human error.

The rocket will continue to be relaunched and landed in order to test and improve upon it.

New Shepard had its first successful launch in April 2015 but because of issues with the hydraulic system, it wasn't recovered.

It was launched again in November and January and successfully landed both times. The tests are part of an effort to reuse rockets instead of disposing of them after they've been used to launch space craft. This new approach would greatly lower the cost of space flight.

"Now safely tucked away at our launch site in West Texas is the rarest of beasts -- a used rocket," Bezos said after the first successful landing. "Full reuse is a game changer, and we can't wait to fuel up and fly again."

Saturday's event was unique in that Blue Origin announced the test beforehand -- usually they're revealed after they've been completed.

The launch and landing were captured by drone cameras, according to tweets from Bezos. The founder of Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) tweeted the event and noted that the landing was "perfect."
Posted by: Fred || 04/03/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is excellent
Posted by: newc || 04/03/2016 2:29 Comments || Top||

#2  "...this reduces risk of casualties and human error."

Really, so the programming is perfect in every way right!

If man made it, human error is in there somewhere. Such is Murphy's law!
Posted by: Seeking a cure for ignorance || 04/03/2016 12:26 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Whatever Happenned to Iran's Super Stealth Fighter?
Several years back, Iran rolled out its Qaher F-313 'stealth fighter' in front of then President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Within hours it was met with near universal derision from defense and aerospace experts around the world.

While almost everyone outside Iran saw the project for the farce that it was, Tehran insisted that the project was real and that it was already flying. Further, the Iranian government insisted that the bizarre-looking aircraft--which was allegedly superior to the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter--would become operational in the very near future. But since then the project has disappeared. So, whatever happened to Iran's impressive plans for the Qaher F-313 stealth fighter?

The answer is nothing--as with much of Iran's bluster--the Qaher F-313 was a ham-handed hoax. Even at the time when Iran first showed off the Qaher, it was clear that the mockup was little more than a poorly executed propaganda stunt engineered for domestic consumption.

From even a cursory examination of the many photos and video imagery of the aircraft with a purportedly 'very small radar cross section' it was immediately apparent that this was not a serious development. At the very best, it is a subscale test-bed.

Perhaps the most immediate give away was the miniscule size of the craft. There didn't appear to be room for avionics and fuel--let alone weapons. Moreover, it's doubtful that there was an engine installed given the lack of a nozzle and the two tiny air inlets.

The other problem for Iran would have been to find an engine small enough to fit into such a miniscule airframe. Tehran's options seem limited to something like the General Electric J85--which Iran has previously reverse engineered--but without a nozzle the heat would have likely set this mock-up ablaze.

Additionally, the cockpit appeared to be too small in relation to the pilot. And the visibility through the material could only be described as horrendous.

The cockpit instruments were amongst the only items in the Qaher F-313 that could be described as real. The Iranians were using instrumentation developed for the home-build aircraft market with hardware sourced from Dynon and Garmin.

Furthermore, there were no access panels or weapons bays that were visible. Features such as access panels are found on every aircraft for routine maintenance. In the case of a stealth aircraft, internal weapons bays are necessary in order maintain the jet's low observable signature while carrying armaments. But as one engineer familiar with low observables design astutely pointed out at the time, while superficially resembling what one might imagine a stealth aircraft to look like, the Iranian machine had serious radar cross section (RCS) problems.

Stealth aircraft design is much more involved than simply mastering the low observable shapes. There are advanced materials sciences that need to be developed for the aircraft's skin and coatings. Advanced analytical tools are needed to shape the internal bulkheads and other structures. Moreover, one has to master the man-machine interfaces so that a pilot can manage the aircraft's RCS spikes in flight. There is no evidence--now or back in 2013--that suggests that Iran has mastered those technologies.

So where is the Qaher F-313? It was spotted only once after its initial debut in November 2013 being prepped for taxi tests--but it has never been seen again. It's likely the unimpressive mockup is sitting in the warehouse somewhere in Iran, or has been recycled for some other theatrical production.

The real mystery is--as it was then--how Iran's leaders might assume that they could present such a farce before the eyes of the world and not invite anything other than mockery.
I wonder if this article, or any like it, will ever be available for consumption in Iran.
Posted by: gorb || 04/03/2016 03:32 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  They're out there in force, but they're so good you just can't see them.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/03/2016 9:23 Comments || Top||

#2  It was sooo stealthy that they went out one morning and couldn't find it.
Posted by: ed in texas || 04/03/2016 10:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Found it!




Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 04/03/2016 16:55 Comments || Top||

#4  The twelfth imam ate it.
Posted by: charger || 04/03/2016 21:24 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
U.S. military suicides remain high for 7th year
h/t Instapundit
The Pentagon reported Friday that 265 active-duty service members killed themselves last year, continuing a trend of unusually high suicide rates that have plagued the U.S. military for at least seven years.

The numbers of suicides among troops was 145 in 2001 and began a steady increase until more than doubling to 321 in 2012, the worst year in recent history for service members killing themselves.

The suicide rate for the Army that year was nearly 30 suicides per 100,000 soldiers, well above the national rate of 12.5 per 100,000 for 2012.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/03/2016 01:19 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  hmmmm what has also lasted seven years...wait, it'll come to me
Posted by: Frank G || 04/03/2016 9:21 Comments || Top||

#2  The suicide rate for the Army that year was nearly 30 suicides per 100,000 soldiers, well above the national rate of 12.5 per 100,000 for 2012.

Except its not reflective of the national population. Apple-Oranges. Take the gender/age/race categories and then compare to that national grouping. Not including "Here, hold my beer while I do this."
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/03/2016 9:38 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
34[untagged]
17Islamic State
7Govt of Pakistan
2Taliban
2Sublime Porte
1Commies
1Hamas
1Hizb-i-Islami-Hekmatyar
1Houthis
1Baloch Liberation Army
1Narcos
1al-Qaeda in North Africa
1Govt of 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.
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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2016-04-03
  Salah Abdeslam 'refused to blow himself up', says brother
Sat 2016-04-02
  Nigeria’s Boko Haram Releases New Video Denying Surrender
Fri 2016-04-01
  Kurd Arab alliance drives ISIS troops from oil rich area near Raqqa
Thu 2016-03-31
  Gitmo aumnus Mullah Zakir ends rifts with Mullah Akhtar Mansoor
Wed 2016-03-30
  Houthis claim Daesh emir titzup in Taiz, andhis little mufti, too!
Tue 2016-03-29
  Belgium charges three more people with 'terrorist activities'
Mon 2016-03-28
  Two Arrested in Mali over Ivory Coast Resort Attack
Sun 2016-03-27
  Belgium charges suspected Brussels airport bomber, two others
Sat 2016-03-26
  Islamic State second in command likely killed - U.S.
Fri 2016-03-25
  Brussels police nab terror suspect at tram stop; bomb squad dispatched
Thu 2016-03-24
  Paris attacks fugitive Laachraoui named as second Brussels airport bomber
Wed 2016-03-23
  Hamas stages military exercises to test Gaza readiness
Tue 2016-03-22
  IS attacks at Brussels airport, metro, at least 34 dead, 200 injured
Mon 2016-03-21
  Yemen govt, rebels, agree on ceasefire: Officials say
Sun 2016-03-20
  Al-Qaeda claims attack on Algerian gas plant

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