Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Nancy Kovack aka Medea in "Jason and the Argonauts" aka Odette Mallotte DuClasse in "Diary of a Madman" aka Annie Oakley in "The Outlaws Is Coming - The Three Stooges" aka Barbara in "The Silencers" (age 75)
[Tolo News] An elderly cousin of President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabanni in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... has been killed during a Nato operation in the southern city of Kandahar.
Haji Yar Mohammad Karzai, a second cousin of the Afghanistan's Caped President has reprotedly been killed during a night raid in Karz village of Dand district in Kandahar province.
The Afghanistan's Caped President's brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, has confirmed that Haji Yar Mohammad has been killed accidentally during a Nato operation in Dand district.
Mr Ahmed Wali Karzai declined to comment further on the murder.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... a front man for Kandahar governor also confirmed the death.
The funeral cermony of Haji Yar Mohammad was held in the province today at which senior tribal elders including Mr Wali Karzai had gathered.
President Karzai's Spokesperson Waheed Omar has said the President has ordered the Afghan cops to immediately investigate about the incident.
"Like always with any other civilian casualty the president was saddened because he takes the loss of life extremely seriously," Mr Omar has told Guardian.
It is not clear why the operation was launched in the district what exactly happened.
Mahmoud Karzai, one of the president's brothers, has said the killing was a "shocking development" and that he could not understand why Nato forces would be hunting for Death Eaters in Karz, which he believes is a relatively peaceful village of Dand district.
Karz is the birth place of the Afghanistan's Caped President Hamid Karzai. It is not clear whether the operation in President Karzai's village will futher strain his relation with the United States that is already believed to be frosty.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
MOGADISHU -- The Somali pirates holding a Danish family hostage on Thursday killed eight Puntland government troops who were heading towards their mountain hide-out, security officials said.
Officials said forces from the northern Somali breakaway state where the seven hostages -- four adults and three teenage children -- are held were approaching the pirates' lair and were intercepted on the way.
"Puntland armed forces clashed with pirates near Bandar Beyla and the information we're getting indicates that there were casualties," said Abdifatah Mohamed, a security official based in Bosasso.
"Some of our soldiers were killed and one of our trucks was destroyed," he said, adding that communication with the remote area near Bandar Beyla was bad, making it impossible for him to confirm the number of dead.
"A reinforcement of 11 armed vehicles has left Garowe," the administrative capital of Puntland, he added.
Another security official who refused to be quoted, however, said eight Puntland troops were killed in the ambush.
#2
Totally sucks, for shua, where are the RLI and Selous Scouts when you need them? Logistics aside, what was needed was a couple of waves of Fire Force with Int from a Scout making a picture in the sand first. Next time, maybe.
[Ennahar] The army's air raids on the Libyan city of Ras Lanuf oil, held by rebels in the east of Tripoli Wednesday hit several oil installations," said the spokesman of the National Council set up by representatives of the insurgency.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
If the GreenBook man captured the city... then why is he still bombing it?
Posted by: Water Modem ||
03/11/2011 13:18 Comments ||
Top||
#2
As of 2 hours ago he lost it again.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
03/11/2011 14:43 Comments ||
Top||
[Tolo News] A BBC team trying to reach the western city of Zawiya, have reportedly been jugged and beaten up by Qadaffy forces.
The news hounds were beaten with fists, knees and rifles, hooded and subjected to mock executions by members of Libya's army and secret police, BBC says.
The men have now flown out of Libya after being held in jug for 21 hours.
Qadaffy forces are currently in a fierce fight with rebels to regain control of Zawiya.
The city has come under artillery and tank attacks over the last four days.
The team had been seeking to get around government restrictions by reaching besieged Zawiya.
The three-member team was taken to a huge military barracks in Tripoli, where they were blindfolded, handcuffed and beaten, according to BBC.
One of the three, Chris Cobb-Smith, has said he and his other colleagues were lined up against the wall and a man put a small sub-machine gun on their necks.
Feras Killani, a correspondent of Paleostinian descent - has reportedly been singled out and was beaten repeatedly.
The captors called him a spy and told him they did not like his reports of the Libyan popular uprising, BBC writes.
Goktay Koraltan, BBC cameraman, has said they were all convinced they were going to die.
The BBc team claimed to have seen evidence of torture against Libyan detainees who were mainly from Zawiya.
Koraltan, another member of the team, has said: "I cannot describe how bad it was. Most of them [other detainees] were hooded
and handcuffed really tightly, all with swollen hands and broken ribs. They were in agony. They were screaming."
The incident has followed an apology from a Libyan government official. But the BBC has condemned the incident describing it as "abusive treatment".
"The safety of our staff is our primary concern especially when they are working in such difficult circumstances and it is
essential that journalists working for the BBC, or any media organisation, are allowed to report on the situation in Libya
without fear of attack," said the statement from Liliane Landor, languages controller of BBC Global News.
The BBC has said it will continue to report about Libya despite the threats.
Qadaffy forces have launched fierce air and ground attacks to take back control of the rebel-held cities.
After the recent news about possibly imposing a no-fly zone on Libya, Col Moammer Qadaffy said Libyan will fight back if any no-fly zone is imposed.
US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Timothy Pickering ... , has said any decision on no-fly zone should be made by the UN and not by Washington.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Hmmmm, how do I feel about this?
Posted by: peter carroll ||
03/11/2011 17:58 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Red-on-red.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/11/2011 18:03 Comments ||
Top||
Prime rib? Lobster Thermidor? Escargot? Waiter! A menu!
[Arab News] The Arab League is studying all options, including one involving military action, to protect Libyan people and end the bloodbath in the country, Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said on Wednesday.
Speaking to news hounds at the Foreign Ministry's office in Jeddah, he said the decision on a possible no-fly zone in Libya would be taken by the vaporous Arab League Ministerial Council meeting in Cairo on Saturday.
"The main objective (of this no-fly zone) is to stop the bloodbath and protect Libya's independence and territorial integrity, and it comes under Arab League's responsibility," he said. The GCC foreign ministers who met in Abu Dhabi recently had supported the no-fly zone proposal. Hmmmmmm...no mention on who they plan on having enforce this "no fly" thingy. The Mighty Moroccan Air Force maybe? Ruritanian Air Force. Look for F-16s with a large lavendar ostrich feather painted on the vertical stabilizer... Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... a high-ranking member of the Libyan military flew to Cairo on Wednesday with a message for Egyptian army officials from Muammar Qadaffy, whose troops pounded opposition forces with artillery barrages and gunfire in at least two major cities.
The two sides in Libya traded barrages of artillery shells and rockets Wednesday afternoon about 20 km west of the oil port of Ras Lanuf, an indication that regime forces were much closer than previously known to that city. Ras Lanuf is the westernmost point seized by rebels moving along the country's main highway on the Mediterranean coast.
In Cairo, an Egyptian Army official told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named on condition of anonymity that Maj. Gen. Abdul-Rahman bin Ali Al-Saiid Al-Zawi, the head of Libya's logistics and supply authority, was asking to meet Egypt's military rulers.
There have been no public contacts between the Libyan regime and Egypt's ruling generals since the Libyan uprising broke out on Feb. 15, and there have been no known government-related flights during that time.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... Qadaffy said in a Turkish television interview that Libyans would fight back if Western nations imposed a no-fly zone to prevent his regime from using its air force to bomb government opponents staging a rebellion.
He said imposing the restrictions would prove the West's real intention was to seize his country's oil wealth. "Such a situation would be useful," Qadaffy said. "The Libyan people would understand their real aims to take Libya under their control, to take their freedoms and to take their oil and all Libyan people will take up arms and fight."
In another development, the Libyan government and rebels fighting it accused each other of blowing up oil facilities in the east of the country on Wednesday.
The rebels said Qadaffy's forces had hit an oil pipeline leading to Es Sider and dropped bombs on storage tanks in the Ras Lanuf area. Libyan state television blamed the kaboom on "Al-Qaeda-backed" armed elements who had blown up an oil storage tank as pro-Qadaffy forces advanced into Ras Lanuf.
"He (Qadaffy) is playing a dirty game trying to hit pipelines and make the Americans jittery so they resort to a land intervention which would boost support for Qadaffy among Libyan people," Essam Gheriani, a rebel official in Benghazi, said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
[The Nation (Nairobi)] French President Nicolas Sarkozy will propose air strikes on Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy's ... an Arab institution for 42 years ... command headquarters to EU leaders, a source close to discussions told AFP on Thursday.
At an EU summit on the Libyan crisis, he will propose "striking an extremely limited number of points which are the source of the most deadly operations" by forces loyal to Qadaffy, said the source, who asked not to be named.
The three sites being considered are Qadaffy's Bab al-Azizia command headquarters in Tripoli, a military air base in Syrte, east of Tripoli and another in Sebha in the south, the source added.
In Tripoli, Libyan state media reported today a "grave secret" will prompt the fall of Sarkozy.
"The Jamahiriya ... An Arabic neologism coined by Muammar al-Qadaffy. The word jamahiriya was derived from jumhuriya, which is the usual Arabic translation of republic. It was coined by changing the component jumhur ‐ public ‐ to its plural form, jamahir -- the masses. Thus, it is similar to the term People's Republic, only more denigrating to the actual inhabitants of the country... news agency has learned of a grave secret that will trigger the fall of Sarkozy, maybe his trial in connection with fundings for his presidential campaign," state television reported. ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
The "urgent" statement was displayed on state television's shortly after La Belle France became the first country to officially recognise the self-proclaimed rebel national council.
"La Belle France has recognised the national transition council as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people," one of the opposition movement's envoys, Ali al-Issawi, told news hounds after meeting with Sarkozy on Thursday.
"On the basis of this recognition, we are going to open a diplomatic mission, that is our own embassy in Gay Paree, and an ambassador from La Belle France will be sent to Benghazi," a key rebel-held city, he added.
A French presidential official confirmed Issawi's statement but declined to give further details. Late on Thursday, Libya said it is planning to cut its diplomatic relations with La Belle France.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... Qadaffy's forces sent rebel forces fleeing from a key oil hub today and recaptured a town near Tripoli, as the Red Thingy warned the conflict in Libya had escalated into civil war.
With their fighters in retreat, the opposition appealed to Western powers meeting in Brussels to follow the lead of La Belle France by recognising the rebel national council as Libya's "legitimate representative."
Rebels packed into dozens of vehicles and, under rocket fire, decamped from Ras Lanuf, a coastal oil town in eastern Libya they had captured last Friday, AFP news hounds said.
The vehicles streamed east from the town after hours of heavy shelling and rocket attacks that swept from the western outskirts of Ras Lanuf to the east.
Other groups of rebels appeared to stay in town, but dejected fighters in the exodus said they had been defeated as rockets went kaboom! and there was at least one air strike.
"We've been defeated. They are shelling and we are running away. That means that they're taking Ras Lanuf," said a rebel fighter, dressed in military fatigues who gave his name as Osama.
At least four rockets struck the centre of the town earlier, prompting medics to hurriedly evacuate the hospital, crushing into ambulances with patients and speeding away.
Doctor Mahmud Zubi was the only man left after everyone decamped the hospital, besides the body of a man laid out on a stretcher, his nose and the top of his head blown away, and puddles of blood on the floor.
"We have evacuated the hospital. They were shelling us. It's only me here," the doctor told AFP. Rebel fighters boarded pick-up trucks and drove out of town.
"They're getting too close. Some of us are still there, but a lot of us are pulling out. They're getting too close," shouted one rebel.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#4
You have to ask yourself: What Would Bush Do? But sadly I think the chance to kick Momo to the curb may have past Momo brought in some foreign fighters to keep the rebels busy while he got his personal army together (his sons each have a private army as well). You can cheer for the rebels (and really I do), but they are about to be pounded into dust.
#5
If Gaddafi survives there will not be a return to the Status Quo Ante(*). Gaddafi will first massacre his domestic enemies while the west looks on and then he will organize terror attacks on the US and Europe as he did in the past.
Sarkozy is alone in calling for air strikes that would neutralize Gaddafi, but the West is unanimous in calling on Gaddafi to resign.
Provoking Gaddafi's wrath while simultaneously signaling military impotence is not really a sound political strategy. That's a recipe for disaster.
(*) The 'Status Quo Ante' was Gaddafi explicitly rejecting the terms of his rehabilitation 'on good behavior' (see Lockerbie bomber release and Swiss hostages.) Even without the rebellion he was returning to his old persona.
Posted by: Big Spusoter2654 ||
03/11/2011 15:53 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Sarkey has claimed that France + UK are ready to impose a NFZ agz Muammar.
[Ma'an] The United States is moving to shut down the official Libyan embassy in Washington, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Bainbridge Colby ... said Thursday.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
[Iran Press TV] Employees at the main hospital in Libya's northern city of Ras Lanuf have evacuated the medical center following an air strike launched against it by pro-Qadaffy forces that injured over 17 people.
On Thursday, Libyan warplanes launched a blitz on revolutionary forces' positions in the oil port, maintaining a counteroffensive against opposition fighters in an effort to contain their advance toward the embattled Muammar Qadaffy's stronghold in the capital Tripoli.
The shells landed about 500 meters (0.3 mile) from the hospital in the center of the city, AFP reported. The blitz comes as Qadaffy's military has been making more use of its air power advantage to attack protesters.
Libyan forces loyal to Qadaffy closed in on revolutionary forces on Wednesday in the city of Zawiyah, located 50 kilometers (31 miles) west of Tripoli, and surrounded them with tanks and snipers in the main square.
Rising casualties, threats of starvation and a refugee crisis have mounted pressure on foreign governments to to adopt appropriate measure against the Qadaffy regime. Britain and La Belle France are seeking a UN resolution to authorize a no-fly zone over Libya's airspace to stop Qadaffy's air force from launching further air strikes against anti-government forces.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another John Quincy Adams ... has asserted that such measures must only be taken by the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society.
Libyan anti-government forces, inspired by revolutions that toppled authoritarian rulers in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt, are fighting to drive Qadaffy out of power after more than 41 years of despotic rule.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
[Al Jazeera] Opposition fighters have been forced to withdraw from the central port city of Ras Lanuf as forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Qadaffy ... dictator of Libya since 1969. From 1972, when he relinquished the title of prime minister, he has been accorded the honorifics Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya or Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution. With the death of Omar Bongo of Gabon on 8 June 2009, he became the longest serving of all current non-royal national leaders. He is also the longest-serving ruler of Libya since Tripoli became an Ottoman province in 1551. When Chairman Mao was all the rage and millions of people were flashing his Little Red Book, Qadaffy came out with his own Little Green Book, which didn't do as well. Qadaffy's instability has been an inspiration to the Arab world and to Africa, which he would like to rule... launched a major offensive against rebels fighting to end the Libyan leader's decades-long rule.
Pro- and anti-government forces are locked in intense fighting for control of several other cities and towns along the coastline to the east of Tripoli, including Brega and Bin Jawad, as well as in Az Zawiyah to the west of the capital.
Rebel forces in the port city of Ras Lanuf, which is the site of a key oil installation, are now retreating from their positions and heading further east.
Opposition fighters were seen trooping into cars and trucks by the hundreds and fleeing eastwards, after coming under intense mortar and rocket fire, as well as aerial bombardment earlier in the day.
Pro-Qadaffy forces hit a natural gas installation, as well as bombing a civilian house and the area around a hospital, opposition forces said.
In an interview with Rooters news agency, Qadaffy's son Saif al-Islam said that the time had come for full scale military action against the rebels.
"There is no more chance for negotiations with rebels fighting the Libyan government," he said on Thursday.
He said the military would never give up, that they will fight in Libya and die in Libya.
Major offensive underway
"We've been wondering for the last few days about why Qadaffy has not employed his full forces, and today we've seen those forces in action," reported Al Jizz's Tony Birtley, who is in Ras Lanuf.
"We were caught right in the middle as his forces out-flanked, and then out-bombed and out-shot the opposition forces. There was sustained aerial and artillery and mortar bombardment, and then following in by a flanking movement.
"There have been a number of casualties. We've seen trucks going along the highway, but that's being shelled by Qadaffy forces all the way along. I counted ... 50 shells falling.
"We've seen trucks with maimed lying in the back of pick-ups, and I think the casualty toll is going to be high. We also saw and heard extensive ground fire coming from the beach [in the north], we think there's been a flanking movement from the beach.
"But it seems like the major offensive that we thought was going to happen is underway now."
Birtley reported that while many opposition fighters had now left the town, a "hard core" was going back in to fight.
He said the attack showed the "professionalism of Qadaffy's troops, and it shows that ... he's hitting back."
Engineers at the town's oil facilities have been burning off poisonous gas in case of a direct hit on the refinery, rebels say.
"We've been defeated. They are shelling and we are running away. That means that they're taking Ras Lanuf," a rebel fighter, dressed in military fatigues who gave his name as Osama, told the AFP news agency.
"The town of Ras Lanuf has been purged of armed gangs and the green flags have been hoisted over all [government] buildings," Libyan state television reported. ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
on Thursday evening. The report said that government forces were "advancing on Benghazi".
Rebel confidence low
Hoda Abdel-Hamid, our correspondent in Benghazi, reported that officials confirmed that Ras Lanuf and Brega, another town with key oil installations, had come under attack from gunboats. Brega, a key oil and gas hub, was also under attack from the air.
She reported that rebels in Benghazi feel the tide "may be reversing", and that there is a "realisation that this is going to be a long, long uprising".
Qadaffy's men also pounded Az Zawiyah with tanks and war planes.
"The revolutionaries control the centre of Zawiyah and Gadhafi's forces are surrounding it. It's 50-50," a resident who decamped the city said.
"There was no one in the streets, the town is completely deserted, and there are snipers on the roofs," he said, adding that he did not know which side they were on.
An official at one of Libya's largest refineries, which is located in Zawiyah, said it has remained shut for the fourth consecutive day, and would only reopen on Friday if there was no fighting overnight.
Conflicting claims
Forces loyal to Qadaffy say they have wrested the city from the hands of rebels, a claim denied by those fighting against the Libyan leader.
Any independent confirmation of the claims and counter-claims, however, is difficult since journalists are unable to reach the city.
The rebel fighters are largely inexperienced. Abdul Razik Bubakar, 32, car mechanic who has joined anti-Qadaffy forces, told the AP news agency that he is learning how to use anti-aircraft gun on the fly.
"I didn't know anything about it. I just learnt in two or three days. Now I know how to use it, thanks to God. Now I am really quick using it, cleaning it and fixing it," said Bubakar.
"Maybe I don't have enough knowledge for this, but when I do it, thanks to God, it works out."
The battles are raging as rebels pile on pressure on the international community to impose a no-fly zone over Libya to cripple Gaddaf's airforce.
While several world powers have backed such a measure, the modalities are yet to be worked out with Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Dean Rusk ... , the US secretary of state, saying such a move should be driven by the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society and not the United States.
NATO and the European Union began fresh talks on a no-fly zone on Thursday, with Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Nato's secretary-general, saying that "further planning will be required" if a no-fly zone were to be enforced, under the UN's mandate.
Jakob Kellenberger, the president of the Interational Committe of the Red Thingy (ICRC), on Thursday warned that Libya was in a state of "civil war", and appealed for aid workers to be given greater access to the country.
Amid such discussions, Qadaffy has launched his own diplomatic effort, sending emissaries to Brussels and Cairo.
Opposition forces vowed to continue fighting against Qadaffy, even if a no-fly zone was not imposed.
"If they implement a no-fly zone we will ask for other things. Even if they do not implement it, we will fight," Iman Bugaigis, a media officer with the rebel February 17 Coalition, told news hounds in Benghazi.
"There is no return for us. This nation will not bear both of us. It is us or his (Qadaffy's) family. After what happened in Zawiyah, how can we live with this person?" she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
More Hillary pix. Ugh! I can take the pix of Daffy. I'm sure it's not funny if his boyz are shooting at you but he's actually kinda comical looking.
[Ennahar] The Libyan regime of Muammar Qadaffy pledged Wednesday a reward to anyone who would deliver the president of the National Council set up by the rebels, when his forces multiplied their attacks in the east, forcing the snuffies to decline.
The award of $ 410,000, will be awarded to any person delivering Mustapha Abdeljalil to the authorities announced the Libyan state television on the 23rd day of unprecedented insurgency.
The Transition Board, established on February 27 by opponents to prepare for the transition, in Benghazi, Libya's second city and epicentre of the uprising at 1,000 km east of Tripoli. It is chaired by Mr. Abdeljalil, former Minister of Justice.
Colonel Qadaffy has also sent an envoy to Cairo, Abderrahmane al-Zawi, a member of his inner circle. An emissary of Qadaffy was also en route to Portugal, to meet with the chief diplomat of Portugal, Luis Amado, on the eve of a meeting in Brussels of EU foreign ministers devoted to Libya, told the AFP a European diplomat.
On the ground, where fighting has left hundreds dead and forced to flee nearly 200,000 people since February 15, Qadaffy forces seemed to gain ground on the eastern front against the Islamic myrmidons. They control the eastern oil region and some localities in the West, while near Tripoli and its region are in the hands of pro-Qadaffy.
After coming under fire from artillery and air strikes by loyalist forces, numerous rebel fighters, collected in dozens of vehicles, retreated to Ras Lanuf (east), strategic oil town held by Islamic myrmidons, according to an AFP journalist.
A fighter has launched an attack about a mile from the refinery on the outskirts of Ras Lanuf.
Earlier, large kabooms were followed by huge flames and fireballs in the sky above the refinery in As-Sidra.
But the rebels appeared to have previously gained a little ground to the west. But government troops have fired a dozen shells, forcing the rebels to retreat eastward.
The rebels had taken Ras Lanuf Friday and reached Ben Jawad, forty miles west, before being ousted on Sunday by pro-government forces.
Moreover, witnesses claimed that loyalist forces converged in number to Misrata, held by the opposition, 150 km east of Tripoli.
Nearby, the opposition controlled Zenten, still encircled, according to a witness.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
[Arab News] Libya's opposition battled for military and diplomatic advantage against Muammar Qadaffy's regime on Thursday, winning official recognition from La Belle France and hitting government forces with heavy weapons on the road to the capital.
La Belle France became the first country to formally recognize the rebels' newly created Interim Governing Council, saying it planned to exchange ambassadors after President Nicolas Sarkozy met with two representatives of the group based in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.
"It breaks the ice," said Mustafa Gheriani, an opposition front man. "We expect Italy to do it, and we expect England to do it." Germany said it froze billions in assets of the Libyan Central Bank and other state-run agencies. The US , UK, Switzerland, Austria and other countries have also frozen Qadaffy's assets.
"The brutal suppression of the Libyan freedom movement can now no longer be financed from funds that are in German banks," Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle said.
Both sides in Libya are lobbying for support from Western countries as their leaders debate whether to protect the rebels from Qadaffy's air force by putting a no-fly zone over some or all of the country. Britain and La Belle France have backed the rebels' calls for a no-fly zone, but the Obama adminstration has expressed deep reservations about involvement in another conflict in the greater Middle East.
NATO said it had started round-the-clock surveillance of the air space over Libya, and British Foreign Secretary William Hague said a meeting of EU foreign ministers would discuss how to isolate the regime.
Russia cuts off arms to Libya
The Libyan government tried to stave off tough action, sending envoys to Egypt, Portugal and Greece.
But in another blow to the Libyan leader, the Kremlin on Thursday said Russia will ban all weapons sales to Libya, effectively suspending its arms contracts with the government of Qadaffy.
Libya's top oil official said the unrest had cut output to about half a million barrels per day from 1.6 million, but the oil industry was still centrally coordinated. Brent crude oil rebounded above $116 a barrel, renewing fears global economic recovery could be hit.
Qadaffy has said he will die in Libya rather than flee. But a Libyan-born analyst said Qadaffy's inner circle had approached countries in Africa and Latin America about giving him refuge.
Grueling battles
The international Red Thingy said dozens of civilians have been maimed or killed in recent days in grueling battles between Qadaffy's army and the opposition movement trying to oust him.
The fighting intensified on the main front line between the Mediterranean oil port of Ras Lanouf and the city of Bin Jawwad, where the rebels appeared to be have established better supply lines bringing heavy weapons like multiple-rocket launcher trucks and small tanks to the battle.
Youssef Fittori, a major in the opposition force, said a mix of defectors from Qadaffy's special forces and civilain rebels were fighting government forces about 12 miles west of Ras Lanouf on the main coastal road to Bin Jawwad.
"Today, God willing, we will take Bin Jawwad. We are moving forward," he said.
Fighting between rebels and forces loyal to Muammar Qadaffy around Ras Lanouf set two oil installations ablaze Wednesday and inflicted yet more damage on Libya's crippled energy industry.
In the west, Qadaffy claimed victory in recapturing Zawiya, the city closest to the capital that had fallen into opposition hands. Western journalists based in Tripoli were taken late Wednesday to a stadium on the outskirts of Zawiya that was filled with Qadaffy loyalists waving green flags and launching fireworks. Libyan TV cameras filmed the celebrations as food, drinks and cooking oil were distributed.
Government escorts refused journalists' requests to visit the city's main square; phone lines there have not been working during a deadly, six-day siege.
Red Thingy President Jakob Kellenberger said local doctors over the past few days saw a sharp increase in casualties arriving at hospitals in Ajdabiya, in the rebel-held east, and Misrata, in government territory.
Both places saw heavy fighting ... as opposed to the more usual light or sporadic fighting... and air strikes, he said.
Kellenberger said 40 patients were treated for serious injuries in Misrata and 22 dead were taken there.
He said the Red Thingy surgical team in Ajdabiya operated on 55 maimed over the past week and "civilians are bearing the brunt of the violence." He said the aid organization is cut off from access in western areas including Tripoli but believes those are "even more severely affected by the fighting" than eastern rebel-held territories.
Brazilian newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo reported Thursday that it lost direct contact a week ago with its correspondent who was covering the unrest in Libya, and the paper said it feared he had been taken prisoner along with another unnamed journalist and a Libyan guide.
The newspaper, one of Brazil's largest, said it had been receiving until Sunday what it characterized as "indirect information" indicating Andrei Netto was alright in the region of Zawiya.
But on Wednesday the newspaper said it received information suggesting Netto had been taken prisoner by Libyan government forces, and that a Libyan official said the information was "probably correct." Netto entered Libya on Feb. 19 from the border with Tunisia and worked his way toward Zawiya, the newspaper said. He is the publication's Gay Paree correspondent.
Brazil's government, its embassy in Libya, the Red Thingy and other groups are trying to find out more about Netto and to determine he is safe, the newspaper said.
The British Broadcasting Corp. staff said three of its staff were jugged, beaten and subjected to mock executions by pro-regime soldiers in Libya while attempting to reach the western city of Zawiya.
The news organization said the crew, members of a BBC Arabic team, were jugged on Monday by Muammar Qadaffy loyalists at a check point about 6 miles (10 kilometers) south of Zawiya.
Chris Cobb-Smith, a British journalist and part of the crew, said the group were moved between several locations, in some cases alongside civilian captives who had visible injuries from heavy beatings.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
But fear not, Syria was prompt in sending weapons to "brother Leader".
[Arab News] Thousands of protesters in Bahrain demanded Wednesday that naturalized immigrants be stripped of their citizenship and sent out of the country.
The latest demand comes after three weeks of marches for political change in the kingdom.
Thousands marched on the immigration office in the Bahraini capital of Manama, carrying slogans that said in Arabic "The naturalized must get out."
"All those that are naturalized will be pro-government, and those in the police and army will follow their orders even if they are against the Bahraini people," said protester Khaled Ali.
Protesters said they only oppose settling those foreigners who are recruited to serve in the armed forces.
The opposition also complains that families of naturalized immigrants have better access to government services such as housing, education and health. "We want them out because they're sharing the services with original Bahrainis. We have to wait 15 years for (government) housing, and they get it immediately after arriving," said Ali.
Opposition activists estimate that up to half of Bahrain's approximately 20,000-strong national security apparatus could be made up of immigrants from Pakistain, Jordan and Yemen.
The government says there is no plan to change the country's sectarian balance and that all naturalization is done with full transparency and in accordance with Bahrain's immigration policies.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... the country's opposition groups met to try to curb sectarian tensions that have escalated into street fights after weeks of protests aimed at bringing down the government.
"The two sides agreed that political disagreements... must not turn into a sectarian dispute," the seven parties said in a statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
naturalized immigrants be stripped of their citizenship and sent out of the country?
The Bahranians are not even talking about illegal immigrants. I guess they don't have any such thing as undocumented democrats?
[Emirates 24/7] The Middle East Broadcasting Centre (MBC) television channels, including the 24-hour news service Alarabiya, have been jammed and their officials said they had no idea where the jamming came from.
The group's 12 satellite TV channels went off air on Tuesday night and most of them were still off by Thursday, prompting the company to announce alternative frequencies for the viewers to see the channels.
The jamming also affected the news service Alarabiya, which said it had received many calls enquiring about the disruption.
The Saudi-owned MBC, the first private free-to-air satellite broadcasting firm in the Arab world transmits via a satellite owned by the Egyptian group Nilesat.
"Sources inside MBC said they do not know yet who is doing the jamming of its channels and why," the Saudi Sabq newspaper said.
But according to a late night announcement by Alarabiya, the jamming is possibly coming from "somewhere southeast of Tripoli" in Libya.
MBC was launched in London in 1991 and later moved its headquarters to Dubai. The company, owned by a group of Saudi businessmen and chaired by Sheikh Walid Al-Ibrahim, comprises 12 channels including Alarabiya, MBC 1, MBC2, MBC 3, MBC 4, MBC Action, MBC Drama, MBC Max and others.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
[Al Jazeera] President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh, ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, after serving as a lieutenant colonel in the army. He had been part of the conspiracy that bumped off his predecessor, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, in the usual tiresome military coup, and he has maintained power by keeping Yemen's many tribes fighting with each other, rather than uniting to string him up. ... Yemen's president, has promised to put a new constitution to a referendum this year and move the country to a "parliamentary system" but opponents say the move fails to meet the demands of anti-government protesters.
The Yemeni president said on Thursday that the new constitution would guarantee the separation of legislative and executive powers and prepare for the holding of new general elections that would assure an effective parliamentary rule.
"Firstly we will form a new constitution based on the separation of powers. A referendum on this new constitution will be held before the end of this year," he said.
"I'm already sure that this initiative won't be accepted by the opposition, but in order to do the right thing, I am offering this to the people and they will decide," Saleh said.
The president made the promise in a speech to thousands of people at a political rally in the capital Sanaa, a day after two people were killed in fresh unrest.
Hashem Ahelbarra, Al Jizz's correspondent in Sanaa, described the pledge as a major concession which could change the political system in Yemen since the embattled president also plans decentralisation of power -- giving more say to the provinces.
After the planned new reform, parliament will decide the future of the country rather than the president, our correspondent said.
Opposition rejects offer
The opposition has, however, rejected the offer. Its front man said the president's offer came too late and it did not meet demands of protesters.
"This initiative is too late. The demands on the street go beyond that and are bigger than that," Mohammed Qahtan, the front man, said.
The opposition called for anti-government rallies to continue.
The president has already made a number of concessions to his opponents, but has refused to bow to their central demand that he relinquish power immediately, saying he wanted to see out his term which expires in 2013.
There have been widespread pro-democracy protests throughout the Arabian peninsula country over the past month demanding an end to his 32-year rule.
Army troops stormed Sanaa University campus, the epicentre of the protests, on Tuesday, shooting live ammunition, rubber bullets and firing tear gas. About 90 protesters sustained gas inhalation and minor injuries in the raid.
An alliance of parliamentary opposition groups condemned the police action and said that it held Saleh "personally accountable for the crime committed by the central security and the Republican Guard against the students".
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
For a map click here For a map of Nuevo Leon, click here For a map of Monterrey,click here
Five armed suspects were killed in two separate gunfights in Monterrey, Neuvo Leon, and government offices in Santa Catarina were attacked with an unidentified explosive device Tuesday night.
City offices of Santa Catarina, Nuevo Leon were attacked by armed suspects using an unidentified explosive device Wednesday night. A building housing the Santa Catarina Secretaria de Finanzas y Tesoreria y Direccion de Patrimonios was hit by at least one detonation. Damaged was limited to two civilian vehicles and to glass in the building.
No one was reported hurt in the attack. Nuevo Leon state police agents responding to the scene would not speculate if the device was homemade or if it was a grenade.
Mexican security forces killed two armed suspects and one civilian was wounded in the crossfire in a gunfight in Monterrey Thursday.
Agents in the Nuevo Leon Secretaria de Seguridad Publica del Estado were patrolling on Calle Heroes del 47 in the Madero colony when armed suspects aboard a Jeepo SUV fired on them.
The gunfire exchanged was followed by a pursuit which ended on Calle Julian Villareal where three suspects were killed by police gunfire.
Shortly afterwards an SUV which was apparently another element of the suspects' convoy, dropped off a suspect who was immediately captured by police agents.
Weapons, the Jeep SUV and tactical gear were seized by police agents.
Three armed suspects were killed by a group of Reaccion Inmediata which included a unit of the Mexican Army, after the suspects initiated a firefight with security forces in San Nicholas de las Garza early Thursday morning.
The security unit was patrolling near the intersection of calles Juan Pablo II and Lopez Mateos in the Bosques del Nogal colony when they were fired on by armed suspects travelling in a convoy aboard two vehicles.
A subsequent pursuit ended up in the storage yard of a steel company where the armed suspects attempted to abandon their vehicles. All three were killed by security forces' gunfire before they could get away.
Following the exchange, soldiers seized two rifles, one handgun, weapons magazines, and the two vehicles.
For a map, click here. For a map of Tamaulipas, click here
Five armed suspects were killed by detachments of the Mexican Army in two separate gunfights in southern Tamaulipas, according to Mexican press accounts.
A detachment of the Mexican 4th Military Zone was fired on by armed suspects in the San Fernando municipality Wednesday. Army return fire killed one suspect.
Army personnel seized four vehicles, a rocket launcher, eight rifles, one handgun and three grenades in the aftermath.
San Fernando was the location last August where a group of Los Zetas criminal gang members has massacred 72 migrants who were transiting from South and Central America to the US. To see Rantburg's report of last August's massacre, click here.
Meanwhile in Villa Gonzälez municipality, elements of the 8th Military Zone were fired on by armed suspects on the Tampico-Ciudad Victoria road.
Army return fire killed four armed suspects.
Following the gunfight soldiers seized eight vehicles, 20 rifles, three handguns, one rocket launcher, ten grenades, and other materiel.
[Emirates 24/7] A US grand jury in Virginia has indicted 13 Somalis and one Yemeni for pirating a yacht with two American couples aboard who were later killed off the coast of Somalia, according to court papers unsealed on Thursday.
They were charged with piracy, conspiracy to commit kidnapping and the use of firearms during a crime, according to the indictment filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
The group seized the yacht last month and were negotiating with the US military to release the couples when a pirate fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the guided-missile destroyer USS Sterett.
Gunfire then broke out inside the pirated vessel, prompting the US military to send American special forces to board the vessel. The US military has said the pirates shot the hostages before US troops boarded the yacht.
US troops killed two pirates as they boarded the boat. Another two pirates were found dead when the US special forces arrived but they were not killed by US forces, the military has said.
The Americans killed last month were Jean and Scott Adam, from Caliphornia, and Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle from Seattle.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Pirates
[Emirates 24/7] A federal grand jury in Texas on Wednesday indicted a 20-year-old Saudi student accused in a bomb plot with targets including the Dallas home of former President George W. Bush.
Jurors determined federal authorities had enough evidence to take Khalid Aldawsari to trial on a charge of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. If convicted, the former chemical engineering exchange student could face up to life in prison.
US District Judge Sam Cummings issued a gag order in the case on Wednesday barring Aldawsari and attorneys involved in the case from talking to the media.
Federal Sherlocks accused Aldawsari of investigating power plants, nightclubs and Bush's home and purchasing chemicals to build a bomb in his second-floor apartment across from the Texas Tech University campus.
Tips from a North Carolina chemical company and a Lubbock freight company alerted the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to court documents. He was nabbed February 28.
Aldawsari was in the United States on a student visa studying chemical engineering and business in Lubbock, according to court documents. Former roommates described Aldawsari as polite, private and not overtly religious.
But emails and journal entries released by Sherlocks in court documents have the exchange student writing of religious war and of founding his own chapter of the terror organisation al Qaeda.
He remained in the Lubbock County Jail on Wednesday. His attorneys late last week waived a detention hearing set for Friday.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
[Geo News] Two people were killed and 17 others sustained injuries when a convoy of OGDCL was attacked by a remote detonated bomb in Dera Murad Jamali on Thursday, Geo News reported.
According to police, the remote controlled bomb was planted in a motor-cycle at Dera Murad Jamali Highway. The explosives were detonated as the convoy of OGDCL was moved past that point.
Two vehicles forming part of the convoy were destroyed while two persons on board were killed on the spot. Seventeen people were also injured in the attack, five of them, reported to be, security personnel.
The maimed were shifted to hospitals in Dera Allah Yar, Jacobabad and Quetta.
The attack was also followed by a shootout between the attackers and security forces which continued for half-an-hour.
A body with a remote control was also recovered from the blast site, source said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
[Dawn] Three people were killed and two passenger buses were torched on late Thursday night as violence erupted in different areas of Bloody Karachi, DawnNews reported.
Panic gripped the city when unidentified gunnies resorted to gun sex in Liyari, Clifotn, Maripur and adjacent areas.
Miscreants set ablaze two mini buses and also hurled stones on the vehicles near the Boat Basin area.
Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza took notice of the violence and ordered the IG Police to take strict action against myrmidons.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan
[Ma'an] Two projectiles fired from the Gazoo Strip landed in Israel overnight, the Israeli army reported.
Israel's online news site Ynet said one landed after 10 p.m. in the Eshkol Regional Council, an area east of Gazoo, and a second around 7 a.m. Thursday in the Negev Regional Council, an area bordering the northeast corner of Gazoo.
No injuries were reported in either incident, and reports did not say how far into Israeli territory the projectiles landed. Resistance factions in Gazoo have not claimed either of the attacks.
Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, officials in Gazoo, in cooperation with resistance groups, have stemmed the flow of projectiles into civilian areas in Israel. Non-Hamas operatives are still firing on Israeli military infrastructure.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
[Straits Times] A POWERFUL blast killed at least five people and maimed three near a school on a southern island in the Philippines on Thursday, a marine general said.
No has grabbed credit for the attack but a small band of Islamist gunnies with close ties to al Qaeda and regional network Jemaah Islamiah (JI) operates on the island, Brigadier General Romeo Tanalgo, marine commander, said.
Since 2004, a small group of US soldiers is based on the island in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic state, helping train local soldiers fight Islamist turbans.
US-trained army commandos launched attacks on another band of Abu Sayyaf gunnies in nearby Sacol island on Thursday, tracking down a rebel leader wanted in the United States.
The Abu Sayyaf, with an estimated strength of about 300 fighters, has been blamed for bombings, kidnappings, and beheadings in the troubled south.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf
[Straits Times] PHILIPPINE military aircraft fired rockets and dropped assault troops on Thursday on a southern island where an Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf commander wanted by Washington has been sighted with his men, officials said.
Troops launched the assault at dawn after detecting the presence of Khair Mundos, his deputy Puruji Indama and about 15 Abu Sayyaf fighters in a mangrove area on Sacol island near Zamboanga city, military front man Lt Col Randolph Cabangbang said.
The notorious Abu Sayyaf group has been blamed for deadly kabooms, ransom kidnappings and beheadings. It was founded in the early 1990s on nearby Basilan Island, near Zamboanga, a bustling region 860km south of Manila where American counterterrorism troops have been stationed for a decade.
Lt Col Cabangbang said it was not immediately clear if anyone was killed or captured, adding the assault was continuing several hours after it started in an area that was far from communities. Sacol is one of about two dozen islands off Zamboanga city.
Military officials became concerned after receiving information that Mundos, who leads an Abu Sayyaf faction in Basilan province, has been spotted in Sacol, which is about 30 minutes by boat from Zamboanga. The Abu Sayyaf has carried out deadly bombings in the port city in the past.
'It's actually alarming because they were near the city,' Lt Col Cabangbang said. 'We immediately undertook an operation to thwart whatever plans they have.' Washington has blacklisted the Abu Sayyaf as a terrorist group and blamed it for deadly attacks on American troops and civilians in the southern Philippines.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf
[Straits Times] MALAYSIAN authorities have nabbed seven Indonesians who allegedly tried to rob a tanker off southern Malaysia.
First Admiral Zulkifli Abu Bakar of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency says the men, who were armed with axes and bayonets, boarded the Majuro-registered vessel anchored off Johor state before dawn on Wednesday.
But the crew, led by a Russian captain, managed to sound the alarm. Patrol boats rushed to the scene within minutes, and authorities caught the suspects and confiscated their wooden boat.
Admiral Zulkifli said on Thursday that police are investigating whether the men were involved in any of the 10 other attacks off Johor so far this year.
Authorities have stepped up patrols following the string of attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Pirates
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.
Hamid 
Hillary Clinton
leader Muammar Qadaffy's
Colonel Muammar Qadaffy
President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh,
[Straits Times] MALAYSIAN authorities have 
