Sri Lanka is searching for a new hangman after the latest recruit got upset on seeing the gallows for the first time and quit, officials said on Tuesday. It's just ICKY!
The Prisons Department appointed the new hangman, the third most qualified from 176 applicants, last week, months after two hangmen chosen late last year failed to show up for work. What qualifications does a Hangman need? Place the noose, put the hood over the head, pull the leaver
"We gave him one week's training, but he resigned after seeing the gallows, saying that he didn't want the job," Nope, nope, I figured out it is icky.
Chandrarathna Pallegama, commissioner general of prisons, told Reuters.
"He told me that after seeing the gallows he got upset... Next time, we will show the gallows to the new recruits before giving them basic training." How much does it pay?
But it's not as if he would have been likely to hang anyone anyway. The job is light administrative work only. Interesting term for execution.
The Indian Ocean island nation, a predominantly Buddhist country, has not carried out an execution since 1976, despite the fact that there are at least 405 convicts on death row. That's a long time to be on death row.
But an alarming rise in child abuse, rapes, murders, and drug trafficking in the country since the 25-year war against Tamil Tiger separatists ended in 2009 has prompted some lawyers and politicians to push for the death penalty to be reintroduced. New crop of criminals. The old one is now pining for the fijords.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/11/2014
14:34 ||
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#1
So, they get trained, and then see the gallows for the first time? How does that work? Scaffold simulator?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/11/2014 17:33
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[DAWN] Federal Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal has said the media coverage of the turban forces should be proportionate to their following in the country and such elements should be downplayed.
Speaking at a marketing moot here on Monday, he said: "As turban forces have only one per cent representation in the country, the media should give them only one per cent from their total airtime and allocate the rest of time for highlighting positive image of the country."
The minister believed if the media boycotted the turbans, people would witness a visibly good change in the country in the next six months.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
00:55 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[DAWN] The Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... (PTI) on Monday agreed to partake in the dialogue being held between the government and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) and has named Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... MNA Gulzar Khan as its representative in the government committee, DawnNews reported.
The government had virtually dissolved a committee formed last month when its members recommended the formation of a fully empowered team comprising the interior minister, officials of the army and ISI and the governor and chief minister of KP for direct talks with TTP.
PTI chief Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality problems... has been a staunch supporter of dialogue and has consistently said that a military operation against Taliban is not a solution to the problem.
The PML-N had reportedly been approaching PTI to agree to the inclusion of KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak in the government committee for holding direct talks with the Taliban leadership.
Well-informed sources had told Dawn on Sunday that Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had been in constant touch with Khan and had met him several times in recent days at the Parliament House and at his Islamabad residence.
A source in the PTI had also confirmed the meetings and said the interior minister had requested Khan to let Khattak join the government committee.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
00:53 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[DAWN] Taliban and al Qaeda snuffies have planned an liquidation attempt on former president Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... , the Interior Ministry said in a letter Monday, prompting media speculation that the former military ruler may not appear in court on Tuesday.
In the letter sent to the Home Secretary Punjab, the Islamabad police chief, the chief commissioner and other officials, the Interior Ministry warns that snuffies affiliated with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) and Al Qaeda have planned to target General (R) Pervez Musharaf in the near future.
According to the letter, a copy of which is available with DawnNews, the ministry warns that the attackers have planned to assassinate Musharraf inside or outside the court. The ministry advises extreme vigilance and fool-proof security measures be taken to avoid any untoward incident.
Media reports on Monday quoted Musharraf's lawyer Ahmed Raza Kasuri as saying that his client would not appear before the special court on Tuesday until he is provided fool-proof security.
The former military's chief's lawyers have previously warned the court that snuffies have been planning to kill judges and Musharraf's lawyers
"I have received some information that snuffies are planning to assassinate the honourable judges (of the Special Court), two defence lawyers and a prosecutor," Musharraf's lawyer Rana Ijaz told the court last week.
The special court set up to try the retired military general for treason has summoned him on March 11 for indictment. The court has previously rejected a request by Musharraf's lawyers to postpone the hearing.
The interior ministry's letter comes less than a week after a bloody gun and kaboom on the district courts in Islamabad left 11 people, including a district and sessions judge, dead and 29 injured.
The attack last Tuesday was the first time a judge was killed in a terrorist rampage inside a Pak courtroom.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
00:52 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
fool-proof security measures
yeah. In Pakland. About that.....bye, Perv
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/11/2014 12:48
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[DAWN] A British terror convict has told a New York trial he met the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now among the dear departed, though not among the dearest... up to 50 times and was recruited by Al Qaeda to blow up a passenger jet.
Saajid Badat was sentenced in 2005 to 13 years in jail as a co-conspirator in the notorious shoe bombing plot in December 2001, a time of worldwide concern over air travel after the September 11 attacks in the United States.
The 34-year-old has been dubbed a "supergrass," slang for informant, by the British media for agreeing to testify against a slew of former associates.
He was released early from prison in Britannia, where authorities have given him accommodation and financial help, and he gave evidence from some holy man's guesthouse an undisclosed location on Monday because he faces arrest in America.
Badat is the second US government witness to appear at the trial of Suleiman Abu Ghaith, a son-in-law of bin Laden and former Al Qaeda front man, who is on trial in Manhattan for conspiracy to kill Americans, conspiracy to provide support and providing material support to terrorists.
The prosecution showed the jury two videos of the defendant in October 2001 threatening Americans with a "storm of airplanes," which they say implicates him in the shoe bomb plot.
"The storm shall not lessen especially the storm of the airplanes," Abu Ghaith shouted in one of the propaganda clips.
But the defence says there is no evidence tying Abu Ghaith, 48, to the conspiracy and brands Badat, who looked worried and unhappy throughout more than two hours of testimony, the real terrorist.
Asked how many times he met bin Laden in Afghanistan, where he says he spent three years training and fraternising with top Al Qaeda leaders, Badat replied: "Around 20 times, maybe up to 50 times."
Fluent in English, Arabic, Urdu and Gujarat ...where rioting seems to be a traditional passtime... i, Badat said he smuggled explosives from Afghanistan to Britannia in late 2001 after being recruited by Al-Qaeda to blow up jetliners with bombs hidden in shoes.
Fellow British recruit Richard Reid, known as the shoe bomber, is serving a life sentence in the United States for trying to blow up a Gay Paree to Miami flight in December 2001. Badat, then 21, said he worked directly with Reid from October to December that year in Afghanistan, and testified that they were supposed to blow up different planes.
He said he "brainstormed for ideas" with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-declared 9/11 plotter, and planned with Mohammed's nephew in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... to bomb a US, transatlantic or intra-Europe flight.
The witness, who grew up in a pious Mohammedan family in the English town of Gloucester, said he was introduced to the idea of violent jihad in London in 1997.
In 1998 he went to Bosnia, where he met veterans of the Balkans war and was taught how to use weapons. In 1999, as a 19-year-old he traveled to Afghanistan, via Dubai and Pakistain, to train for jihad.
In the Afghan city of Kandahar he said he met senior Al Qaeda lieutenant Saif al-Adel ...holed up in Iran from 2002 until 2010, when he made bail and moved back to the Pak-Afghan border... and volunteered to arrange the training of future British recruits.
"If you want to take part in attacks against Jews in America, I could arrange that," Badat quoted Saif as telling him at the time.
In 1999, Badat said he underwent his first training, being taught how to fire weapons, abseil, use military-grade explosives and make explosives.
For a week he also dolled out explosives training at Derunta camp near the Afghan city of Jalalabad and spent six weeks on the frontline between the then ruling Taliban and opposition Northern Alliance.
Badat told the court he spent a total of six to nine months in Al Qaeda guest houses in Afghanistan, once working in a shop selling drinks and snacks, and as an English translator for a Taliban magazine.
In early 2001 received his first formal Al Qaeda military training at a camp near the southern city of Kandahar, and did three follow-up courses in security and intelligence, including tips on how to blend into Western society.
But none of his testimony related to Abu Ghaith. Badat said he never met or spoke to the defendant about any terror plot, and knew nothing about him speaking to anyone else or even knowing about the plot.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
00:52 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
Pfffttt - big deal, I can claim the same iff nor more, + I could tell about the OBL before OBL.
[DAWN] TALKS with the TTP continue to keep Pak pundits preoccupied. Even as the government is taking talks forward, the national debate ... an expenditure of personal wind at the national level that leads to face-making and other histrionics but can't be shown to have ever solved an issue ... continues to centre on whether there should be a military operation.
Normatively speaking, I am agnostic when it comes to the operation. Neither do I find myself agreeing with the liberal left who want the government to go for the kill irrespective of the fallout, nor with the part of the right who sympathise with the Taliban.
That said, we are out of options here. And the longer an operation is delayed, the tougher it will become for the state.
Why do I say this? First, talks won't deliver any permanent gains. There's no common ground on the key contentions of both sides. You can get to ceasefires, prisoner exchanges, strategic pauses, and buy-out deals but the TTP has an ideological bend that cannot accept the modern constitutional remit.
Moreover, the TTP feels it has held off the state successfully and is not about to buckle. It has tasted power in Fata and won't be willing to give it up so easily. Also, the leadership knows they can find sanctuary across the Durand Line; usually, when hard boy leaderships are likely to survive, the chances of a major compromise on their part are even lower. Bottom line: both sides will use the talks as a strategic pause but both already know that at the end of the day, they will have to go after each other.
Why an operation sooner rather than later? Because all variables in play suggest that the longer you delay this, the tougher it will become.
What are the prominent arguments in favour of a delay? First, that even if talks won't work, they'll allow the government to gain the high moral ground. Delusionary. We have a discredited state up against a TTP that has succeeded in conflating its agenda with anti-Americanism, poor governance of the state and a narrative of political Islam that may not find sympathy but is also seldom rejected outright by conservative segments. There is confusion within the polity; more is being sown by countless, ill-informed debates on the media.
The natural outcome will be a split view as it is now. On the other hand, if consensus is so important, it can be created instrumentally. All the state needs to do is to consciously put the TTP's dark side out in the open. Remember the flogging video during Swat? Bring out those flogging videos, those showing brutal killings of Pak personnel at the hands of the TTP, and the like. See how the nation galvanises.
Second, some argue that there is need for political consensus for an operation. Presumably, the prime minister would like to get the PTI (and less importantly, the religious parties) to accept that the TTP was given a fair chance through talks.
Sharif must ask himself: why would they want to grant him this victory? They'd much rather keep opposing the operation; backing the army when the operation begins, branding themselves as true patriots, and then bashing the government when the bully boy backlash begins and it is clear that the operation has not resolved Pakistain's terrorism problems.
Third, they say the state needs time to prepare. For what? The military is as ready as it will be. As for the civilian apparatus needed to protect the cities, what you haven't been able to do in years, you can't now. Efforts to enhance counterterrorism capacity involving police, civilian intelligence, etc. go on constantly and there is little you can do except step up surveillance in times like these. Ask the police -- they'll confirm this.
Fourth, some argue against an operation saying that the element of surprise is gone. True. But waiting isn't going to bring it back either.
Finally, some believe that the TTP's potency will diminish automatically once the US leaves. More likely: Afghan Taliban declare victory as soon as the US leaves; the TTP piggybacks on this to raise its own morale; if more trouble spills over from Afghanistan, the TTP will find more space to operate; and with Isaf forces gone, the TTP will also enjoy a much freer existence in Afghanistan as and when needed.
To be sure, the military operation will neither finish off the TTP as we know it, nor will it be the military's last counterinsurgency operation. It will only manage to disrupt the TTP's operational capacity temporarily. But the alternative seems to be an increasingly emboldened TTP (and company) penetrating Pakistain in a manner that may soon make the trend irreversible. So the operation is not a great option but the alternatives seem even worse. No point in procrastinating.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
00:50 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[DAWN] Maulana Mohammad Khan Sheerani, chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), said on Monday that the laws regarding second marriage of a man in the presence of first wife were against religious principles.
"Sharia allows men to have more than one wife and we demanded that the government should amend the law," he told news hounds after a CII meeting.
The marriage laws were discussed in reply to letters sent by citizens seeking advice.
The laws require a man to have written approval from his existing wife or wives for another marriage.
"The government should amend the law to make the issue of more than one marriage easy and in accordance with Sharia.
"We urge the government to formulate Sharia-compliant laws related to nikah, divorce, adulthood and 'will'," Maulana Sheerani said.
It was decided that the CII would write a letter to the Supreme Court to seek information about pending cases related to religious issues. Maulana Sheerani, who is a JUI-F MNA, said the issues included implementation of interest-free economy.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
00:49 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[An Nahar] Libyan authorities stopped a North Korean-flagged tanker as it left a rebel-held port on Monday with an "illegal" shipment of crude, a military source said.
Former rebels calling for autonomy for eastern Libya have been blockading the port of al-Sidra and other key export terminals in the region since July last year.
On Saturday, they began loading crude onto the North Korean-flagged Morning Glory which docked in al-Sidra.
On Monday, the navy intercepted the ship as it left the terminal with orders to escort it "towards a port controlled by the state," a military source told Agence La Belle France Presse on condition of anonymity
The country's highest political authority, the General National Congress, confirmed the interception, Libyan broadcaster al-Nabaa reported.
Walid al-Tarhuni, front man for the former rebels who had been blockading the terminals, told al-Nabaa the tanker was probably heading for the port of Zawiyah, 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of the capital Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... , to unload its cargo.
Oil Minister Omar al-Shakmak had said earlier that the ship had interrupted loading late Sunday and put back to sea.
The 350,000 barrel-capacity vessel had only loaded 234,000 barrels of crude, according to a member of a crisis team formed by the government.
The official told AFP the navy would not allow the vessel to enter international waters, resulting in a standoff offshore.
Warships had deployed to block the Morning Glory after Culture Minister Amin al-Habib warned Sunday the tanker would be "turned into a pile of metal" if it tried to leave port.
The defense ministry had also deployed the air force, the official LANA news agency said.
Washington said Sunday it was "deeply concerned" over the loading of the "illicitly obtained" oil.
"This action is counter to law and amounts to theft from the Libyan people," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
00:46 ||
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Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[An Nahar] Unknown assailants on Monday assassinated a high-ranking Fatah Movement official in the Ein el-Hellhole Paleostinian refugee camp near the southern city of Sidon.
"Fatah Movement official Brig. Gen. Jamil Zeidan died of his wounds after he was shot by unidentified gunnies in the al-Fawqani area," state-run National News Agency said.
It noted that he succumbed to his wounds at a Sidon hospital and that cautious calm was engulfing the camp.
According to LBCI television, two masked gunnies riding a cycle of violenceshot up Zeidan.
A Fatah camp official told Agence La Belle France Presse that Zeidan was shot in front of his home.
"He was transferred to a health center but was pronounced dead on arrival," the official added, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity.
A camp medic said Zeidan had been sprayed with at least 15 bullets.
Voice of Leb radio (100.5) said tensions surged and gunnies deployed in the streets in the wake of the murder.
On February 2, Wissam Abul Kel, a member of Fatah, died after masked men shot him near the camp's grocery market.
Ein el-Hellhole, the largest Paleostinian camp in the country, is home to about 50,000 refugees and is known to harbor bully boyz and runaways.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
00:45 ||
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Top|| File under: Fatah
#1
Brig. Gen. Jamil Zeidan
Anybody ever run across a mention of a Palestinian sergeant or lieutenant---just curious?
[An Nahar] Arrest warrants were issued on Monday against Naim Abbas, a top official in the al-Qaeda-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades ... Leb's current al-Qaeda affiliate, named after a guy whose car the current head of al-Qaeda had boomed... , and a female suspect on terrorism charges.
Military Examining Magistrate Judge Sawan issued arrest warrants against Abbas and Joumana Hmayyed for belonging to an armed terrorist group for the purpose of carrying out terrorist attacks.
They were also charged with preparing and transporting booby-trapped vehicles from Syria to Leb to detonate them in residential areas.
Hmayyed is the driver of the booby-trapped Kia vehicle that the army intercepted on February 12 on the Arsal-al-Labweh road.
Abbas is a Paleostinian described as Abdullah Azzam Brigades' number two man in Leb.
He was previously charged with belonging to an armed terrorist network.
He was also charged with involvement in two bombings that have rocked the Haret Hreik district of Beirut's southern suburbs.
He was jugged Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! by the Lebanese army in the Beirut neighborhood of Corniche al-Mazraa on February 12.
Several of the latest bombings in Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... strongholds in Beirut's southern suburbs and the Bekaa valley have been claimed by the Abdullah Azzam Brigades whose leader, Majed al-Majed, was captured by Lebanese authorities in December and died in jug later.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
00:44 ||
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Top|| File under: Abdullah Azzam Brigades
[An Nahar] Detained suspect Sheikh Omar al-Atrash denied on Monday claims that he had transported booby-trapped vehicles to Leb, reported LBCI television.
It said that he confessed to only transporting weapons from Leb to Syria.
He did not transport weapons from Syria to Leb.
Al-Atrash was tossed in the calaboose Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! in January.
An arrest warrant was issued against him for carrying out terrorist activities in the country.
He was also questioned over his role in transporting jacket wallahs to Leb.
Al-Atrash, 24, has also been charged with detonating bombs and explosive-rigged vehicles, attacking the army in Majdelyoun and al-Awwali bridge areas in the southern city of Sidon in December and launching rockets on Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
00:44 ||
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Top|| File under: Abdullah Azzam Brigades
[An Nahar] Qatar defended its independent foreign policy Monday after 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... and two other Gulf countries recalled their envoys from Doha accusing it of meddling in their internal affairs.
"Our policy is based on openness towards all, and we do not want to exclude anyone," Foreign Minister Khalid al-Attiya said during a visit to Gay Paree, in remarks aired by Doha-based Al-Jazeera ... an Arab news network headquartered in Qatar, notorious for carrying al-Qaeda press releases. The name means the Peninsula, as in the Arabian Peninsula. In recent years it has settled in to become slightly less biased than MSNBC, in about the same category as BBC or CBS... television.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain recalled their ambassadors last week in a move widely seen as signaling their anger at Qatar's support for the Moslem Brüderbund of deposed Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... .
Saudi Arabia and other conservative Gulf countries welcomed the military's overthrow of Morsi last July and pledged billions of dollars in aid while Qatar, which had strongly supported him, has seen its influence in Cairo evaporate.
Doha said it "regretted" the decision to recall the envoys, which it said was based on differences concerning regional issues.
Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies have long been hostile towards Egypt's Moslem Brüderbund and its affiliates across the region, fearing that its brand of grass-roots activism and political Islam could undermine their authority.
The Brotherhood is widely banned in the Gulf, and the UAE has sentenced scores of alleged members to jail, while Qatar has served as a refuge for Brotherhood sympathizers from other countries.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
00:43 ||
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Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood
[An Nahar] Egyptian police said they tossed in the clink Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! a man Monday suspected of carrying out a deadly kaboom in the capital Cairo, accusing him of having fought with jihadist groups in Syria.
Since the army ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... in July last year, gunnies have launched frequent attacks on police and troops across the country, but particularly in the Sinai Peninsula.
Four blasts targeting the police hit Cairo on January 24, killing six people. An al-Qaeda-inspired myrmidon group based in the Sinai, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, claimed the attacks.
Police arrested Mohammed Durri Ahmad al-Taliawi, a 35-year-old vendor, on Monday in an apartment in the Nile Delta province of Menufiya, an interior ministry statement said.
Taliawi, who was found in possession of firearms, admitted to carrying out one of the bombings, the ministry said.
The statement also charged that he "took part in terrorist acts in Syria and Libya" and he was wanted on two charges, one involving members of Morsi's Moslem Brüderbund, and the other connected to Mohammed al-Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... , brother of al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri.
On September 5, a jacket wallah detonated his explosives-rigged vehicle as the interior minister passed in a car.
The minister survived, and in a video recorded before the bombing and published online by Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, the bomber claimed to have fought in Syria.
Officials in Egypt's security services have said that some myrmidon Islamists have returned from fighting abroad to join jihadist groups in the Sinai.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
00:42 ||
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Top|| File under: Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis
[An Nahar] Australian police on Monday said they had locked away Book 'im, Mahmoud! a man after a drone allegedly carrying drugs was seen "hovering in the vicinity of a prison".
Victoria state police said the unmanned aerial vehicle, which was carrying a small quantity of drugs, was found near the Metropolitan Remand Centre in Melbourne's west on Sunday.
"A man and a woman were located in a car ... with what was believed to be a drone with four engines and a small quantity of drugs," Victoria Police said in a statement.
The 28-year-old man was charged with possessing a drug of dependence and attempting to commit an indictable offence and was bailed to appear in court later this month.
Police refused to give any details on the size of the drone, a technology already deployed by the military but increasingly used in aerial photography and law enforcement.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
00:41 ||
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Top|| File under: Narcos
[An Nahar] A French court sentenced four men to up to seven years in jail Monday for having tried to wage jihad abroad, at a time of concern over the mounting number of nationals going to fight in Syria.
The four were accused of having tried -- and failed -- to reach jihadist hotspots in 2009 and 2010 and of having facilitated the departure to a zone on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistain of two other Frenchies who were later killed in a U.S. army raid.
Ibrahim Ouattara, 26, one of the accused and the leader of the group, was sentenced to seven years in prison.
Of Malian origin, Ouattara converted to Islam when he was 16 and later attempted on several occasions to join jihadists in Pakistain, Afghanistan or Somalia, without ever managing to do so.
In the Pak city of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. , for instance, he asked to be taken to a madrassa, according to one of his testimonies in court last month.
"I was brought to a mosque, but I was phoning my wife in La Belle France and it annoyed them. They chased me away," he said.
"Another mosque said I couldn't stay as I was black. Have you been to Peshawar? When you're black, everyone looks at you."
He also tried to reach the Somali al-Shabaab ... the personification of Somali state failure... bully boy group, which has links to al-Qaeda, via Egypt and Sudan.
"Egyptian police placed in durance vile Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! and tortured me, before deporting me to La Belle France", he said.
Another member of the group was also tossed in the clink Book 'im, Mahmoud! for seven years, and two co-defendants were sentenced to four and five years in prison.
The court case came amid mounting concerns over the number of young jihadists heading to fight in Syria, whom authorities fear could pose a major security threat if they return home as battle-hardened veterans.
According to Interior Minister Manuel Valls, as many as 700 Frenchies could have joined the fighting in Syria.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
00:40 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Europe
[An Nahar] U.S. officials including FBI agents are in Kiev helping a Ukrainian-led investigation into corruption under ousted president Viktor Yanukovych, the U.S. ambassador to Kiev said on Monday.
"We are doing what we can to unpack the enormous kleptocracy which surrounded the Yanukovych government," Geoffrey Pyatt said at a presser in Kiev.
"We have already on the ground here in Ukraine experts from the FBI, the Department of Justice and the Department of the Treasury," the ambassador told news hounds.
Pyatt also said there were "a variety of other international governments" assisting in the Ukrainian investigation "to uncover the financial crimes that were committed by the previous regime and to see what can be done to recuperate some of those assets."
The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... last week froze the assets of Yanukovych, ex-premier Mykola Azarov and 16 former ministers, businessmen and security chiefs -- all on grounds of fraud.
Swiss authorities have also ordered a freeze on the assets of both Yanukovych and his multi-millionaire son Oleksandr, as well as 18 other former ministers and officials.
Ukraine ranks 144th out of 177 countries on Transparency International's corruption perceptions index.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
00:39 ||
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#1
Not to get pushy or disrupt an ongoing investigation, but has anyone at the Bureau turned up anything yet on the murder of the four US persons that took place in Benghazi a while back ?
They plan to stand between the genocidaires and their victims, arms akimbo, shouting, "Stop!" because everyone obeys U.N. investigators.
[An Nahar] U.N. Sherlocks left for the Central African Republic Monday to launch a probe into human right violations in the conflict-ravaged country amid fears of genocide and ethnic cleansing.
The three international Sherlocks will spend two weeks traveling the country, in the throes of bloody Mohammedan-Christian festivities, speaking to victims, witnesses, and the main actors in the conflict.
They expect to draw up a list of suspected perpetrators that could be used for possible future prosecution, possibly by the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... , which is conducting a parallel probe.
"We have to put an end to the impunity," said Bernard Acho Muna, head of an international commission of inquiry appointed by U.N. leader the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... in January.
Speaking to news hounds in Geneva before leaving for Bangui, the Cameroon Supreme Court lawyer and former deputy chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda said he hoped his mission could help ward off a feared genocide.
"We are hoping that our presence and the investigations we are doing will be a signal (that will prevent) the people who are making this hate propaganda (from moving) to action," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
00:39 ||
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[An Nahar] A Tel Aviv court on Monday handed an Arab Israeli a 25-year prison term over the 2012 bombing of a bus during a major Israeli campaign in Gazoo.
Mohammed Mafarja, 19, was sentenced three months after being convicted on charges of aiding the enemy during war, attempted murder, causing an kaboom and wounding 24 people.
A resident of Taibe in central Israel, Mafarja boarded the Tel Aviv bus on November 21, 2012, and placed a bomb inside before getting off, according to the District Court.
Shortly afterwards it was triggered remotely by a cellphone used by his accomplice Ahmed Moussa, a Paleostinian from the West Bank.
The two had decided "to carry out an attack to end the war in Gazoo," which began when Israel killed Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, military commander Ahmed Jaabari on November 14, 2012, the court said in Monday's sentencing.
The Gazoo conflict ended several hours after the kaboom with an Egyptian-brokered truce, in a development unrelated to the attack.
The kaboom left two people in moderate-to-serious condition, while another eight people were lightly maimed and 14 more suffered from shock. The blast damaged the bus and vehicles nearby.
The court also mentioned Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... hard boy Mohammed Assi who planned the attack. Assi was rubbed out during an Israeli attempt to arrest him near the West Bank city of Ramallah in October 2013.
Moussa's trial, which is being heard in a military court, is ongoing.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
00:37 ||
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[An Nahar] 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... on Monday slammed as "aggressive and irresponsible" accusations by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party.... that the kingdom was supporting global terrorism.
"The kingdom condemns the aggressive and irresponsible statements made by the Iraqi prime minister," an unidentified official told the SPA state news agency.
In an interview aired on Saturday, Maliki charged that Saudi Arabia and neighboring Qatar were supporting bully boy groups in Iraq and across the Middle East as well as terrorism worldwide.
"Nouri al-Maliki knows very well, more than anyone else, the clear and categoric position of the kingdom against terrorism... and is aware of the kingdom's efforts to combat this phenomenon locally and globally," the official said.
"Instead of making haphazard accusations, the Iraqi prime minister should take measures to end the chaos and violence that swamp Iraq."
The Saudi official accused Maliki's Shiite-led government of sectarian policies towards sections of the Iraqi population, an apparent reference to the disgruntled Sunni Arab minority.
The official said the violence convulsing Iraq was taking place "clearly with the blessing and support of the sectarian and exclusionary policies of his government."
"It is clear that those statements are aimed at turning the facts on their head, and blaming others for the domestic failures of the Iraqi prime minister."
In an apparent allusion to Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia's Shiite rival Iran, the official said that Maliki's failings had "subordinated Iraq to regional parties who have contributed to sectarian violence unprecedented in Iraq's history."
Maliki's alleged failings have also "endangered Iraq's territorial and national unity," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
00:36 ||
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[An Nahar] The Gazoo Strip's two principal krazed killer groups, Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, and Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... , have already shown they are able to strike Israeli population centers as far away as Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Ashkelon. anyway. But what's a little geography between friends?
But their capabilities could have been extended significantly, Israel claims, had it not intercepted a ship carrying weapons it says were on their way from Iran to Gazoo.
The M-302 rockets found aboard the Klos-C have a range of up to 160 kilometers (100 miles), according to Israel's military, and could therefore have struck anywhere in the Jewish state when fired from Gazoo.
During the last major war in November 2012 between Israel and Hamas, which governs the besieged Paleostinian territory, the Islamist movement fired M75 rockets, which have a range of 75 kilometers, that hit the areas around Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Islamic Jihad at the same time fired Iranian Fajr-5 rockets, which have a similar range.
The head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps, Mohammad Ali Jafari, has denied that Iran sent Fajr-5 rockets directly to the Strip, saying instead that Hamas and Islamic Jihad possessed the expertise to manufacture them inside Gazoo.
It is unclear what type and how many rockets Gazoo-based groups currently possess.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad have also manufactured other 200mm rockets, which have a range of 80 kilometers.
The more crude Qassam rocket that some bully boyz in the Strip possess has a range of four to 15 kilometers.
None of the rockets have a guidance system, making accurate strikes difficult.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
00:35 ||
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#1
Break out the Juice's Can of Whoop-Ass!
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/11/2014 12:50
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#2
"Firing" and "Hitting" are two different things.
They can "Fire", all they want.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/11/2014 16:22
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[An Nahar] Suspected al-Qaeda bully boyz on Monday attacked an army vehicle in Yemen's southern province of Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... wounding six soldiers, a security official said.
The assailants shot up the vehicle east of the coastal town of Ahwar before fleeing, the official said.
Yemen has seen regular attacks on its security forces usually blamed on Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which remains active in the south and east despite several military campaigns to crush the group.
The Arab world's poorest country is also grappling with an increasingly violent separatist movement in the south, which was independent between the end of British colonial rule in 1967 and union with the north in 1990.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
00:34 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia
[Dhaka Tribune] Alleging that the Awami League-led government wanted to stay in power "forcibly," BNP Chairperson the loathesome Khaleda Zia Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... yesterday asked it to initiate dialogue for holding a fresh election immediately.
She also announced that after the completion of the upazila polls, she would visit different districts across the country.
"Come to dialogue leaving the gun. The consequences will be dire if you think you can stay in office killing people. If you want to stay in power forcefully, people will be compelled to take to the street," she said while addressing a group of Thakurgaon Jatiya Party ...aka Jatiya Front; a political party established by Bangladictator Lieutenant General Hussain Muhammad Ershad in 1986 to lend a veneer of respectability to his rule. Since nobody was amused he was forced to resign by popular demand in 1990. The party remains in existence with about a dozen seats in Bangla's parliament... activists who joined the BNP at her Gulshan office.
Khaleda asked them to work together to ensure victory of the party-backed candidates in the upazila elections.
She said the only way out of the "current crisis" was an election. "People did not vote in the January 5 election. The people of the country as well as the whole world are talking about an inclusive election."
The former premier claimed that the opposition men had been "killed and kidnapped" and human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. was violated in every step.
Khaleda alleged that the ruling party-backed candidates had won in some upazilas forcefully.
The BNP-supported candidates would have won in more upazilas if their agents had not been evicted from the polling centres.
She said: "Now I will visit Thakurgaon and hold a rally there. This way, I will visit all the districts."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
00:29 ||
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[Dhaka Tribune] At least 59 crude bombs along with huge number of publications of Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... and Islami Chhatra Shibir ... the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh... were recovered from a book store in the capital's Banglabazar last night.
Sutrapur police made the seizure at "Imaniyat." Owner Abul Hasan was also nabbed Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! , OC Khalilur Rahman Paywary told the Dhaka Tribune.
He said: "Acting on a tip-off, we raided the store on Brookline Road in Banglabazar around 8pm and found the crude bombs, huge number of leaflets, posters and banners."
Khalilur said the book store was run by pro-Jamaat people, who preserved the explosives for carrying out subversive activities, the OC said adding that the detainee was an active member of the Jamaat.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
00:28 ||
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[Dhaka Tribune] A meeting that was supposed to be held yesterday between BNP Chairperson Khaldea Zia and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary General Iyad Ameen Madani could not take place, reportedly because of a "protocol mismatch."
However, women are made to be loved, not understood... BNP officially said the meeting could not take place because of a "schedule mismatch."
Saying the OIC secretary general on Sunday had expressed wishes to meet the BNP chief, the loathesome Khaleda Zia Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... 's Press Secretary Maruf Kamal Khan told the Dhaka Tribune: "We told the OIC delegation that we must be informed one hour before the meeting for our preparation; but there was a schedule mismatch."
Initially, the journalists were informally informed that the meeting would take place at 3pm at Khaleda's Gulshan residence; but when the journalists went there, they were told that the meeting had shifted to 5pm.
However, women are made to be loved, not understood... at 4pm, officials of the BNP chief's press section said the meeting had become uncertain because of a "schedule problem."
Meanwhile, ...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Big Shirley was still trying to snatch Nunzio bald-headed. She was already halfway there... a senior BNP leader, on condition of anonymity, told the Dhaka Tribune that the meeting could not take place because of "protocol mismatch."
An official of the foreign ministry said under the existing protocol, Khaldea Zia, officially three times former prime minister, did not currently hold any official post.
"She is nothing but a politician, as there is no protocol provision for any former prime minister," he said. The OIC secretary general, on the other hand, holds the status of a minister.
When contacted, the BNP chief's adviser Sabihuddin Ahmed, however, said: "I am not aware of any such meeting between the BNP chairperson and OIC secretary general."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
00:27 ||
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[Dhaka Tribune] Several of the missing Malaysian plane passengers' mobile phones were connecting when called by their relatives but the calls were not picked up, family members claimed.
The sister of one of the Chinese passengers among the 239 people on board the vanished flight rang his phone live on TV, the Mirror reports.
"This morning, around 11:40am, I called my older brother's number twice, and I got the ringing tone," said Bian Liangwei, sister of one of the passengers.
At 2pm, Bian called again and heard it ringing once more.
"If I could get through, the police could locate the position, and there's a chance he could still be alive."
She has passed on the number to Malaysia Airlines and the Chinese police.
A man from Beijing also called his missing brother on the plane, and reported to the airlines that the phone connected three times and rang before appearing to hang up, according to Shanghai Daily.
Media reports claim that the brother had called the number in the presence of news hounds before informing the airline.
The Strait Times reported that many of the family members told MAS commercial director Hugh Dunleavy that the commuters' mobile phones were ringing but they were not picked up.
To this, Dunleavy replied that MAS was calling the mobile phones of the crew members as well, which were ringing, and that he had given the numbers to Chinese Sherlocks.
Relatives of the passengers are urging the authorities to search for the location of phones that rang using the Global Positioning System.
However, a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth... at a presser in Beijing, MAS front man Ignatius Ong said one of the numbers that had been passed on to the airline's command office in Kuala Lumpur failed to get through.
"I myself have called the number five times while the airline's command centre also called the number. We got no answering tone," said Ong.
A phone company in Singapore that was investigating this number said the number was out of credit.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
00:26 ||
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#1
A ring-tone could [could] be possible if the crash took place over land. Over the water.... not so much.
#3
I call my wifes cell phone daily. When she has it switched off I get a ringing indication followed by the voice response ... "please enjoy the music while your party is reached" ... followed by a request to leave a message.
#4
If the phones are really ringing you can locate them from the Call Detail Logs of the telco to within a few feet.
Even without GPS it means the phones are still doing registration. To do that they sample the power/signal/strength of the various Base stations and choose to tell the best one they are there. When they do this they give the power/signal/strength of a large number of base stations and carriers to the selected base station. If it is to busy it will select one of the other stations from their list and tell the phone to listen to that one.
From the PS measurements alone on the base station and the known locations of the other base stations you can triangulate to the cell phone.
However, I expect they are not live and it's just the last known location of the phones being rung.
That said .. when 911 happened some co-workers (friends) put together some modified base stations as back packs and got a special flight to NYNY to look for survivors. They found lots of working phones but no people.
[Shabelle] The trial of 19 Belgians on terrorism charges began Monday under tight security amid concerns the 15 men and 4 women were part of a local jihadist recruitment network.
They face charges of either fighting alongside jihadist groups in Somalia, having attempted to go to Somalia or Syria, or of having provided support to a Belgian-based recruitment operation.
All 19 face the charge of "belonging to a terrorist group."
One of the accused, Brussels hairdresser Hassan Khafi, has admitted to the court that he left Belgium in 2011 in an attempt to join the Somali al-Shabaab ... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord... bully boy group, which has links to al-Qaeda.
Khafi, 39, told the criminal court in Brussels that he had not taken part in fighting in Somalia and the al-Shabaab gunnies he met had not trusted the Belgians and had confiscated their passports, the Belga news agency reported.
He was tossed in the clink Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! in Kenya in May 2012 and was extradited to Belgium last year.
Three of his associates are imprisoned there on charges of illegal entry but are expected to be sent back to Belgium shortly.
According to Le Soir daily, one of the three men in Kenya, Rachid Benomari, has appeared in photos brandishing a knife with which he promised to "cut the throat of infidels."
The Brussels trial, which is taking place under heightened security, comes amid mounting concern over the number of Belgians believed to be traveling to Africa, Syria and the Afghan-Pak border to fight alongside jihadist groups.
Scores of Europeans have already bit the dust in Syria's bloody three-year-old conflict, with more and more believed to be going to fight there.
The fear is that, upon their return to Europe, the now trained and experienced gunnies could help terrorist groups and boost recruitment.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
00:21 ||
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[The Peninsula] ISLAMABAD: The federal government of Pakistain is quietly pushing for peace deals with individual Death Eater groups after some members of its peace committee have concluded that reaching an 'all inclusive agreement' with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) may not be possible.
At least two members of the committee, who wished not to be named, said that they expect the government to reach an understanding only with parts of TTP.
"Realistically speaking, it is not possible to strike a peace deal with all groups working under the TTP umbrella," said a member.
He pointed out that the government was in the process of identifying groups which are willing to reconcile.
"The government is using backdoor channels to contact such groups," said another member.
Efforts to reach out to 'reconcilable elements' within the TTP stem from the realisation on the part of the government that the Death Eater group does not exercise full control on all its affiliated outfits.
"Recent terrorist incidents clearly indicate that TTP may only have loose control on these groups," said the committee member. "Had all the groups been listening to TTP these terrorist attacks would have never have taken place after the ceasefire," he added. There is also growing concern within the country's security establishment that the TTP is only 'buying time' and may not be interested in a peace deal.
A senior military official insisted that the Taliban should have condemned attacks in Islamabad's district courts complex and Khyber Agency instead of merely denying its involvement in its statement.
That is why the army is reluctant about joining the peace committee," he added. Top military commanders on Friday decided not to become part of the government's new proposed committee to hold direct talks with the TTP and its affiliates.
However, a clean conscience makes a soft pillow... the committee member maintained that the army might take part in the process if it realised that a deal could be reached with certain groups.
At the same time, he did not rule out the possibility of a full-scale military offensive against elements which might not enter into the peace deal. Analysts, meanwhile, say time is running out for the government to take a final decision.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
00:18 ||
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[The Peninsula] The Taliban yesterday vowed to target Afghanistan's presidential election, urging fighters to attack polling staff, voters and security forces before the April 5 vote to choose a successor to Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani 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... .
Previous Afghan elections have been badly-marred by violence, with at least 31 civilians and 26 soldiers and police potted on polling day alone in 2009, as the Islamist gunnies displayed their opposition to the US-backed polls.
Another blood-stained election would damage claims by international donors that the expensive military and civilian intervention in Afghanistan since 2001 has made progress in establishing a functioning state system.
NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... combat troops are withdrawing from the country after 13 years of fighting a fierce Islamist insurgency, which erupted when the Taliban were ousted from power after the 9/11 attacks on the United States.
"We have given orders to all our mujahideen to use all force at their disposal to disrupt these upcoming sham elections -- to target all workers, activists, callers, security apparatus and offices," the Taliban said in an emailed statement.
"It is the religious obligation of every Afghan to fulfil their duty by foiling the latest plot of the invaders that is guised in the garb of elections."
Billions of dollars have been spent on military operations and development in Afghanistan, but the country remains crippled by poverty and violence, with weak government structures and a fragile economy dependent on aid money.
The next president will face a testing new era as the Afghan army and police fight the Taliban without NATO assistance and international funding declines.
Efforts to open peace talks with the Taliban have so far failed. Negotiations look set for another push by the incoming government as it tries to bring stability to areas in the south and east where gunnies hold sway.
The Taliban's statement yesterday is the first explicit threat against this year's vote.
The group has targeted every election since 2004. Among the front-runners are Abdullah Abdullah ... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun... , who came second in 2009, former foreign minister Zalmai Rassoul ... former foreign minister and a very close confidant of Hamid Karzai. Before serving as foreign minister Rassoul also spent seven years laboring as a national security adviser to the president. An ethnic Pashtun born in Kabul, Rassoul was the valedictorian of his class at the illustrious Franco-American school in Kabul, Lycee Istiqal. He has an MD from the Paris Medical School in France..... and former World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
00:18 ||
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[The Peninsula] At least 62 children have died in a district of southern Pakistain where thousands are suffering from malnutrition, officials said yesterday, as the country's top judge called the situation a national shame.
The disaster has sparked public outcry and diverted media attention away from the regular glut of Death Eater attacks, with both Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... and Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... 's heir Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari visiting the afflicted region.
Local authorities last week ordered a probe into the deaths, which occurred in a stretch of the Thar desert, which begins around 300 kilometres from Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... and runs up to the border with India.
Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani summoned brass hats to the Supreme Court in Islamabad yesterday and said the country should "hang down our heads with shame" over the conditions that led up to the deaths and the failure of government to prevent them.
Mumtaz Ali Shah, the home secretary for Sindh province where the desert lies earlier told the court: "At least 62 children died, mostly because of unusual cold weather leading to outbreak of pneumonia and poor medical facilities during last three months in Thar."
But the province's advocate general Fateh Malik said the situation was not as bad as had been portrayed by the media, claiming disasters were the norm in the impoverished area.
He said 120,000 bags of food have been distributed so far and a compensation of rupees 200,000 to the families of the dead.
The court directed the officials to file a detailed statement about the situation with a plan of action next Monday.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also arrived yesterday in Mithi, the capital of the Tharparkar district, to personally look into the situation, accompanied by Bhutto-Zardari, whose Pakistain People's Party rules the province.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
00:17 ||
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[The Peninsula] With huge numbers of visitors and patchy law enforcement, Thailand has a booming black market for fake identity documents, and it was here that two passengers on a missing Malaysia Airlines jet were apparently able to get hold of stolen passports.
Thai authorities struggle to track thousands of lost or stolen passports each year. Some are known to be sold on through syndicates to narcos. Others are suspected to have ended up in the hands of Islamist Death Eaters.
"Fake passports and identity fraud in general is a massive problem in Thailand," police commander and Thailand's Interpol director Apichart Suriboonya said. Sometimes documents are sold by their owners to cover travel costs, Apichart said.
They are passed on to middlemen, Thai or foreign, who work with criminal networks, he said. The passports may be altered, for example with a new photograph, but sometimes the fraudulent user hopes to pass as the real owner.
The passenger manifest issued by Malaysia Airlines included the names of two Europeans -- Austrian Christian Kozel and Italian Luigi Maraldi -- who were not on the plane. Both had passports stolen on the Thai holiday island of Phuket. The passports were used to buy tickets from travel agents in the resort town of Pattaya, to Beijing and on to Europe. Thai and foreign Sherlocks were questioning staff at one travel agent yesterday.
Thailand's fake document business has been flourishing for years. In 2010, Thai and Spanish authorities enjugged Book 'im, Mahmoud! suspected members of an international ring providing forged passports to Death Eaters. Thai authorities say the ring may have passed fake documents to those behind the Madrid train bombings in 2004.
Pockets of Bangkok are notorious counterfeit goods emporiums with fake drivers' licences, press cards and airline cabin crew identity cards on display. The Thai capital also boasts experts in forging visas. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said more than 60,000 passports -- both Thai and foreign -- were reported missing or stolen in Thailand between January 2012 and June 2013.
Police in Phuket said Maraldi reported his passport stolen in June last year, while Kozel's passport was reported stolen in March 2012. Police said they get reports of up to 10 lost passports a month in the province.
Phuket police officer Angkarn Yasanop said foreigners can earn $200 to sell their passport and then report it stolen. Many lost or stolen passports end up with Thais and other Southeast Asians trying to migrate for work, he said.
Interpol's stolen and lost travel documents database contains 40 million records from 167 countries but its secretary general, Ronald Noble, says not enough countries are using it.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
00:16 ||
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#1
In the mid 70s, I was in Tangier (don't ask) and was in the Suq with a lady friend when one of the shopkeepers offered me $1,500 for my Official passport and $500 for my Tourist passport (How he knew I had an Official passport has bothered me for years).
He went on to say it was a thriving business in Tangier as many American students looking for good Hashish could sell their passports for more drug money and get a new one reporting the old one stolen. I reported this all to my superiors and got the "Sea Bee salute" in return for my discomfort with the market in US passports and the security threat it presented (this was during the Red Army Faction/Baader Meinhoff/Carlos days and it still bothers me...
I bet half the lost passports in Europe are either stolen or sold.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
03/11/2014 15:19
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#2
I lost my passport in Germany in the 1970's. Interesting that I noticed the old American guy next to me at the consulate counter being catered too (poor guy! we understand how you can lose a passport) while I got the 3rd degree; it was obvious they thought I'd sold it (undoubtedly because of my age).
I wouldn't even know where to sell a passport, and have never been greedy enough to try it if I could have found out.
Posted by: Barbara ||
03/11/2014 16:19
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[The Peninsula] Russia said yesterday it will unveil its own solution to the Ukrainian crisis that runs counter to US efforts and appears to leave room for Crimea to switch over to Kremlin rule.
The unexpected announcement came as Ukraine's new pro-European leaders raced against the clock to rally Western support in the face of the seizure by Kremlin-backed forces of the strategic Black Sea peninsula and plans to hold a referendum on Sunday to switch its allegiance from Kiev to Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... 's threat to invade Ukraine after last month's ouster of a pro-Kremlin regime by pro-EU leaders has set off the most explosive crisis in East-West relations since the Cold War.
US President Barack Obama I inhaled. That was the point... and his European allies are urging Russia to call its Crimean troops back to their barracks and launch immediate negotiations with a Ukrainian leadership that Putin claims rose to power thanks to an "unconstitutional coup".
But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Putin yesterday that proposals he had received from US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... on resolving the stand-off "do not suit us very much".
Lavrov said documents he had received from Kerry on Friday were "framed as if there exists a conflict between Russia and Ukraine."
He added that Washington was basing its solution on a recognition of Kiev's new leaders while Russia still considered the ousted Viktor Yanukovich as the legitimate president of Ukraine.
"Our partners proposed moving forward on the basis of a situation born out of a state coup," Lavrov told Putin.
But Lavrov gave no indication about when or where Russia's proposals would be made public. He added that Kerry had delayed a visit to Moscow he planned for yesterday to finalise the details of Washington's crisis plan.
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03/11/2014
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#1
I'm not convinced - I'll be surprised iff Moscow = econ-fragile/troubled Russia does formally annex the Crimea, or supports the partition of now-sovereign Ukraine.
It is in both Russia's + the West's interests to be in a strategic military position in the Black Sea should thingys go wrong in nearby Muslim powers, e.g. Turkey falls to hardline Islamists, Obama's new BFF + soon-to-be-Nukulaar Iran once again goes "rogue", + Count Dooku's Hard Boyz somehow find success on the ground agz Putin's Boyz in the Caucasus.
THE CRIMEA IS MORE THAN JUST RUSSIA OR PUTIN.
* OTOH BHARAT RAKSHAK > [Independent.UK] WESTERN LEADERS CAN'T FACE A "LOOMING" WAR, SO I GRANT THEY'LL PROBABLY GIVE SOMETHING UP, + LET RUSSIA GOBBLE PART OF UKRAINE.
In the GITMO Scenario I'm thinking of, Russia will agree to lease its Milbases in Crimea to Ukraine for an indefinite or interminable period, that only Moscow will have sovereignty over Crimea Milbases + physical land under its utility, + that Russia-n-only-Russia will decide when to leave or vacate the Milbases in future time.
Iff I'm wrong, IMO the outcome will only be MORE JIHAD, NOW NUKE-wMD, NOT LESS JIHAD AGZ RUSSIA + EASTERN EUROPE - THE GLOBAL JIHAD OF RADICLA ISLAM WILL GO ON UNABATED OR UNOPPOSED BY THE QUARRELING JUDEO-CHRISTIAN POWERS OF EUROPE.
Sectarian arguing + Geopol rivalry among Europe's Christian powers is how the Crusades in the ME were mainly defeated by Islam - ISLAM HAD THE UNITY + THE PATIENCE, CHRISTIAN EUROPE DID NOT.
#2
It is in both Russia's + the West's interests to be in a strategic military position in the Black Sea should thingys go wrong in nearby Muslim powers, e.g. Turkey falls to hardline Islamists, Obama's new BFF + soon-to-be-Nukulaar Iran once again goes "rogue", + Count Dooku's Hard Boyz somehow find success on the ground agz Putin's Boyz in the Caucasus.
Now if Da West was only sane enough to know where its interest lay.
[The Peninsula] Ten members of the security forces and two communist snuffies were killed in a string of guerrilla attacks targeting Philippine police and military yesterday.
At least 50 New People's Army (NPA) rebels overwhelmed a small group of coppers at the cop shoppe in Matanao on the southern island of Mindanao at dawn, said local military front man Captain William Rodriguez.
"They fell on the town riding trucks and a small bus, about 50 of them... thirty minutes later (other) rebels also attacked a (local military) detachment but they were not successful there," he told news hounds.
A photographer saw bloodstains on the floor in front of the cop shoppe, while ripped pieces of paper lay scattered on the hallway. Two coppers were killed and three others maimed in the raid on the cop shoppe itself, while the two of the raiders, who were wearing military uniforms, also died, Rodriguez said.
One of the three maimedcoppers later died in hospital.
Seven soldiers died and another seven were maimed about five hours later when their vehicle triggered a roadside kaboom as they pursued the retreating rebels.
The photographer saw a disabled camouflage-hued military truck sitting in the middle of the road amid civilian vehicle traffic in the afternoon, hours after the kaboom. The truck's windshield and hood were riddled with bullet holes.
Rodriguez said the rebels stole 10 firearms from the police armoury in Matanao, a hilly farming town of about 52,000 people located about 1,000km south of Manila.
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[The Peninsula] Turkey ordered the release of 19 men convicted of plotting a coup, days after an ex-military chief was freed in a case now entwined in a power struggle between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi only they haven't dumped him yet... and a US-based Mohammedanholy man.
The 19 people, including prominent journalists, lawyers, retired military officers, a convicted gang leader and the killer of a top court judge, were among hundreds convicted in the "Ergenekon" case, which lay at the heart of Erdogan's drive to break the political power of Turkey's military.
Cleric Fethullah Gulen is widely believed to have helped Erdogan by using a network of supporters in the judiciary and police to drive the Ergenekon trial forward. But the two men have since fallen out and the government now suggests the defendants may have been unjustly treated. The latest releases underscore how radically the Erdogan-Gulen feud has altered Turkey's political landscape.
In emotional comments on emerging from almost six years in jail, journalist Tuncay Ozkan said: "Turkey is today in a very dramatic situation, resembling a country on the edge of a cliff. We cannot leave it in the hands of thieves and murderers."
Retired General Ilker Basbug, the former chief of Turkey's armed forces, spoke with similar bitterness about his incarceration when he was released on Friday.
Murat Yetkin, columnist for Hurriyet daily, saw the release as symptomatic of a new political climate stirred by conflict between Erdogan and Gulen. "This new atmosphere seems like it will have further effects on political life as Turkey heads for critical local elections on March 30," he wrote.
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[TEHRANTIMES] Israeli troops on Monday rubbed out a Paleostinian Jordanian who allegedly tried to snatch a soldier's weapon at the main Jordan border crossing, with Amman saying the man was a judge.
The shooting took place at the Allenby Bridge crossing between the West Bank and Jordan. Paleostinian security officials identified the victim as 38-year-old Raed Zeiter.
Officials in Amman confirmed he also held Jordanian nationality.
The Israeli military said troops had opened fire after Zeiter tried to snatch a weapon from one of the soldiers.
The Jordanian justice ministry confirmed the information, saying he worked at a magistrates court in the capital. Family members in Amman expressed shock over his death.
Paleostinian security officials said he was originally from the northern West Bank city of Nablus, but had left the territories in 2011 and not returned.
It was a rare incident of violence at the crossing, which is located in the Jordan Valley, just east of the Paleostinian oasis town of Jericho.
The crossing, which lies 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Amman, is also known as the King Hussein Bridge. Following the incident, the terminal was closed but later reopened, an Israeli official said.
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[USATODAY] Ukraine may have to arm itself with nuclear weapons if the United States and other world powers refuse to enforce a security pact that obligates them to reverse the Moscow-backed takeover of Crimea, a member of the Ukraine parliament told USA TODAY.
They were nuclear when they disassociated themselves from the Soviet Union. Then they gave up nuclear weapons when the West promised to protect them from the big bad Bear. See how that worked out? That's why countries want nuclear weapons...
The United States, Great Britannia and Russia agreed in a pact "to assure Ukraine's territorial integrity" in return for Ukraine giving up a nuclear arsenal it inherited from the Soviet Union after declaring independence in 1991, said Pavlo Rizanenko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament.
"We gave up nuclear weapons because of this agreement," said Rizanenko, a member of the Udar Party headed by Vitali Klitschko, a candidate for president. "Now there's a strong sentiment in Ukraine that we made a big mistake."
His statements come as Russia raised the possibility it may send its troops beyond the Crimean peninsula on the Black Sea into the eastern half of Ukraine.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said lawlessness "now rules in eastern regions of Ukraine as a result of the actions of fighters of the so-called 'right sector' with the full connivance" of Ukraine's authorities.
Rizanenko and others in Ukraine say the pact it made with the United States under President Bill Clinton was supposed to prevent such Russian invasions.
The pact was made after the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991 and became Russia, leaving the newly independent nation of Ukraine as the world's third largest nuclear weapons power.
The communist dictatorship that was the Soviet Union had based nuclear missiles in republics it held captive along its border with Europe, and Ukraine had thousands. World powers urged Ukraine to give up the arsenal but its leaders balked, expressing fear they needed the weapons to deter Russia from trying to reverse Ukraine's independence.
To reassure the Ukrainians, the United States and leaders of the United Kingdom and Russia signed in 1994 the "Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances" in which the signatories promised that none of them would threaten or use force to alter the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine.
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#1
Meanwhile, not to be outdone by Nuke-wannabe Ukrainians ...
* JAPAN TIMES > [US-Japan] DEFENSE TALKS WID US LOOKING AT "GREY ZONE" CLASH SCENARIOS.
China.
ARTIC = Japan fears the day is coming [sooner than later?] when its ally the USA will no longer stand up or oppose China or China's interests.
versus
* GROONG > TURKEY MUST CHOOSE - EUROPE OR RUSSIA?
IMO TURKEY = UKRAINE = JAPAN + EAST ASIA vee USA right now.
* DEFENCE FORUM INDIA, BHARAT RAKSHAK > CHINA DEFENDS ITS TERRITORY CLAIMS, DEMANDS RESPECT - DAWN.COM.
Or else???
[ARETHA'S "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" here].
* CHINA DAILY FORUM > POSTER THREAD: CHINA NEEDS A LESSON FROM RUSSIA ON DEFENDING OVERSEAS ETHNIC CHINESE.
#3
I'm sure a lot of countries are thinking along the same lines.
The academics and other useful idiots in America for years have pushed for utopian unilateral nuclear disarmament without any understanding of the real world beyond their mantra of 'America's to blame'. They have no real understanding of how the human race has behaved for four thousand years - thus Kerry's 19th Century comment.
#4
So Ukraine is gonna fight a nuclear war against Russia? Riiiiiiight. They think Vlad is gonna sit and watch while they ramp up a nuke program? And who's gonna pay for it? Are they gonna borrow the money from Vlad, the EU or Obama?
#7
* Oh yeah, it is getting better in the Balck Sea Region, or "hotter" actually ... ...
To wit,
* TOPIX > UKRAINE SEEKS NATIONAL GUARD, CALLS UP RESERVES [+ Volunteers].
* BHARAT RAKSHAK > [Guardian.UK] UKRAINE PARLIAMENT DELIVERS ULTIMATUM TO CRIMEA ON [independence] REFERENDUM, CRIMEAN ASSEMBLY TO CALL OFF INDEPENDENCE REFERENDUM OF FACE DISSOLUTION AS US ATTEMPTS AT DIPLOMACY STALL.
Ironically, this action by Kiev does not necessarily go against my "Gitmo/Guantanamo" scenario for the Crimea.
versus
* RUSSIA TODAY > [Ria Novosti] CRIMEA DECLARES INDEPENDENCE FROM UKRAINE AHEAD OF REFERENDUM.
Ditto as per my post above.
* FYI DEFENCE.PK.FORUMS > CHINA [Xi Jinping] REBUFFS OBAMA'S PLAN FOR CRIMEA | THE DAILY CALLER.
* TOPIX, WORLD NEWS > UKRAINE: WE WILL NOT INTERVENE IN CRIMEA.
* VOICE OF RUSSIA > CRIMEA TO CHANGE NAME - PM KONSTANTINOV.
The former Autonomous Ukrainian Republic of Crimea plans to change its name to the Republic of Crimea.
versus
* VOICE OF RUSSIA > "IT WILL BEST FOR THE UKRAINE IFF THE US JUST STAYED OUT OF THE ARGUMENT" - FORMER US CONGRESSMAN [Ron Paul].
Sorry, Ron, as much as I like a number of your platforms this is NOT what overseas US Allies JAPAN + PHIL + SOKOR + TAIWAN + VIETNAM + INDIA + MUSLIM ALLIES want to hear.
Iff Putin, etal. criticizes the USA = POTUS Obama, it is the Bammer's job as an alleged anti-US, OWG Marxist-Anarchist-Globalist to accept + let him [them].
PCorrectly-Deniably like a good National-now-Global Politico, of course.
AS A OWG GLOBIE, THE BAMMER'S JOB IS TO SURRENDER LIKE FRANCE TO AMER'S RIVALS WID THE FULL APPLAUSE + SUPPORT OF THE AMERIKAN PEOPLE.
* SAME > UKRAINE MAY BECOME THE WORST RUSSIAN-US SHOWDOWN SINCE THE CUBAN CRISIS - EXPERT.
Saudi Arabia has rejected accusations by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that Riyadh are funding Sunni fighters his troops are battling in Iraq's western Anbar province, Aljazeera reported.
"The kingdom condemns the aggressive and irresponsible statements made by the Iraqi prime minister," an unidentified official told the Saudi Press Agency on Monday.
I mean, whoever heard of Saudi nationals going to other countries to commit acts of murder and terrorism?
In an interview aired on Saturday, al-Maliki charged Saudi Arabia and neighbouring Qatar were supporting armed groups not only in Iraq but across the Middle East as well as terrorism worldwide.
"Nouri al-Maliki knows very well, more than anyone else, the clear and categorical position of the kingdom against terrorism... and is aware of the kingdom's efforts to combat this phenomenon locally and globally," AFP news agency quoted the official as saying.
Iraqi forces have been battling fighters of the al-Qaeda-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Anbar's two main cities since January 1. ISIL overran Falluja and parts of Ramadi after a tribal revolt provoked by the arrest of a Sunni legislator and the clearing of an anti-government protest camp.
The official said the violence convulsing Iraq was taking place "clearly with the blessing and support of the sectarian and exclusionary policies of his government."
"It is clear that the purpose of these remarks is to try and twist the facts and place the blame on others to cover up the Iraqi prime minister's shortcomings internally that have put Iraq at the service of regional factions who have stoked the fire of sectarian strife," the Saudi source told SPA.
Could be that both sides are right on this one...
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[NZHERALD.CO.NZ] New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has announced plans for a referendum on whether to change the national flag.
He said in a speech Tuesday that he wants a nationwide vote held within the next three years.
The nation's current flag depicts the Southern Cross star constellation in red and includes Britannia's Union Jack flag in the top left corner. Many complain the flag is too similar to Australia's and doesn't reflect New Zealand's independence from its former colonizer, Britannia.
Some want to keep the flag while others debate the best possible replacement.
Key has said he favors a silver fern set against a black background. Opponents say that would associate the flag too much with sports teams, who often use it, and is too reminiscent of a pirate ensign.
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Key has said he favors a silver fern set against a black background.
Sounds strangely familiar. Peter Jackson to the courtesy phone.
[THEHILL] Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has a nearly 40-point lead over his primary challenger, Matt Bevin, in a new Republican survey of the Kentucky Senate GOP primary.
The survey, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies for the pro-McConnell group Kentuckians for Strong Leadership, gives McConnell 61 percent support to Bevin's 23 percent support.
That's an increase in support from an early-February independent survey of the race, which showed McConnell ahead by only 26 points. But it's actually a decrease from the last GOP survey of the race, conducted by Wenzel Strategies at the start of February, which gave him a 42-point lead.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
In areas where Democrats stand no chance of winning, they flock over to the Republican primary and vote for the Rhinos. That is how Rhinos hold on to power.
#5
Citizens, registered voters, likely voters, or likely Republican voters? Only the last two interest me, and only the last if only the pre-registered as Republicans are allowed to vote in the primary.
In Ohio one can register for one of the parties as one signs in to vote, in which case "likely voters" is what counts.
[LATINO.FOXNEWS] Venezuelan authorities on Monday prevented a march by members of the medical sector most closely allied with the opposition, the leaders of which had intended to deliver to the government a list of requests to deal with what they describe as a crisis in the health care system.
Several dozen members of the national police thwarted the intention to head to the office of the vice president by the hundreds of doctors and supporters who had gathered on downtown Venezuela Square.
"We, the doctors, are in the struggle because our health is in crisis. The patients are suffering in view of the fact that we don't have supplies, the hospitals are chaotic, we don't have the means to treat our patients," internist Enrique Ramos told Efe.
"Greater security in the hospitals, so the patient doesn't have a long wait, a long stay in the hospital and ... because we don't have cotton, alcohol, we don't have syringes to work with in many hospitals," Ramos said.
The head of the Venezuelan Medical Federation, Douglas Leon, last November asked for the declaration of a state of emergency in the health care sector along with improvements in salaries and infrastructure.
Posted by: Fred ||
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spiraling the drain.
where's the Cubanos?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/11/2014 14:28
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Aden: An appeals court in the southern port of Aden upheld a 10-year jail term Sunday for 11 Somali pirates convicted of trying to hijack a ship in Yemeni waters. The group were convicted by a lower court in 2010 of hijacking a "foreign ship" in February 2009, using AK-47 assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and a ladder of the type used by pirates to board vessels.
Heavily armed pirates using high-powered speedboats have operated in the Gulf of Aden for years, preying on ships and at times holding them for weeks before releasing them for large ransoms paid by governments or shipowners. However, the number of pirate attacks has diminished since international warships began patrolling waters off the Horn of Africa.
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[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] As the March 31 Obamacare ... aka the Affordable Care Act, an ineptly designed and worse executed piece of legislation designed to bring 17 percent of the U.S. economy under the direct control of the government. The previous iteration, known as Hillarycare, was laughed out of Washington. This stinker was passed on a party-line vote without being read... sign-up deadline nears, Planned Parenthood ...has received federal funding since 1970, when President Richard Nixon signed into law the Family Planning Services and Population Research Act. It is sometimes described as the gynecololgical wing of the Democratic party. is going to bat for the White House, hosting more than 500 events in 18 cities to get Americans into the health insurance system.
In eight states, officials from the women's health and abortion provider will go to grocery stories and even indoor soccer fields to enroll people. It also plans to dispatch 500 canvassers to knock on 20,000 doors.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Teaching people how to prevent people, they've come to the surface and broke the water. The Holy Grail of Obamacare has surfaced.
There are "serious concerns" among some North Korean officials that North Korea could turn into a vassal state of China amid growing economic dependence on its sole ally, a defector said Monday.
Kim Chong-song, who under his real name used to be a senior member of the Workers Party, is the highest-ranking North Korean defector living in the South and spoke to media here for the first time.
"Without Chinese capital and goods, it would be impossible for the North Korean government to operate, and ordinary people would not be able to carry on with their daily lives," Kim said. "North Korea grew so dependent on China in the 20 years of Kim Jong-il's rule that it's now impossible to construct buildings, grow farm produce, or sustain the regime without imports of Chinese materials, fertilizer and pesticides."
Demonstrates most clearly that North Korea is indeed China's lap dog, and that the Norks do little of consequence without China knowing and approving of it.
Kim said North Korean officials are aware of problems like mounting trade deficits and loss of capital, but there is no alternative. The North is handing over mining rights and licenses to develop special economic zones to China, but at the same time the regime "doesn't trust China.
Sucks to be a failed state...
Kim recalled that nation founder Kim Il-sung, who signed a friendship treaty with China in 1961, warned North Koreans not to trust the Chinese. "This is why North Korea is unwilling to give up its nuclear weapons despite pressure from China."
North Koreans living in the border regions are so difficult to control that Kim Jong-il once asked whether they were part of North Korea at all. "If the central government issues orders, officials in the provinces just file false reports to maintain their privileges, which has become a chronic problem," Kim said. "Kim Jong-un basically just rules over Pyongyang, and even the Norths second city of Hamhung is a different world."
Kim said high-ranking officials live in constant fear of being purged. "Once in power, North Korean officials try to stash away as much wealth as possible and then resign quietly citing family matters or health problems," he said.
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#1
Yuuuppp.
Lest we fergit, the topic or subject of China formally annexing NOKOR was brought up for discussion in recent CPC annual plenums.
Luckily for "Pudgy", Beijing's focii remains rapprochement wid the US-Allies includ SOKOR + JAPAN, national econ modernization, + above all China's formal + permament reunification wid Taiwan.
I will say again that China is unlikely to agree to any inter-Korean Reunification unless it de fact gets back sovereign control of Taiwan, I.E. ITS VERSION OF "PEARL HARBOR NB/HAWAII" FOR PLA STRATEGIC ACCESS INTO WESTPAC, SOPAC + ULTIMATELY EASTPAC - EVEN IFF IT DOES, CHINA WILL LIKELY DEMAND CERTAIN PRO-CHINA SECURITY "CONDITIONS/
GUARANTEES" BE MET FIRST BY SOKOR + US-ALLIES.
Pudgy's troubles vee keeping Beijing at bay runs parallel to anything else going on in East Asia ala China-vs-JAPAN andor China-vs-PHIL, VIETNAM, INDIA, etc.
Iff Pudgy ever believes that Beijing will formally takeover NOKOR, HE MAY DO EVERYTHING IN HIS POWER TO UNILATER INITIATE A MAJOR US-CHINA WAR(S), INCLUDING NUCLEAR, IN NE + EAST ASIA.
[AyPee] U.S. intelligence officials are planning a sweeping system of electronic monitoring that would tap into government, financial, Google, Facebook, Verizon, voter registration roles, and other databases to scan the behavior of many of the 5 million federal employees with secret clearances, current and former officials told The Associated Press.
The system is intended to identify rogue agents, corrupt officials, enemies of the state, and leakers, and draws on a Defense Department model under beta testing development for more than a decade, according to officials and documents reviewed by the AyPee.
Intelligence officials have long wanted a computerized collar system that could continuously monitor employees, in part to prevent cases similar to former National Security Agency analyst Edward Snowden. His disclosures bared secretive U.S. surveillance operations. Didn't know Eddie was an analyst, I thought he was a SYSAD geek.
An administration review of the government's security clearance process due this month is expected to support continuous monitoring as part of a package of comprehensive changes. I recommend a network of orbiting drones, initially unarmed.
#4
Remember when the system fails because people short cut or did a run around the system, the answer is to have even more controls and more systems rather than holding people accountable for their management failure to follow the rules and procedures. /sarc off
#5
As long as they're letting people walk in and out of so called secure facilities with laptops, CDs, thumbdrives, etc. they're gonna have Snowdens, Mannings and, let's see, who was that Clinton associate who stuck the papers up his pant leg? Can't remember the name...
#6
Over the past year we've learned more about NSA high-level special intelligence tactics and techniques than we've learned about Champ's college classes. Has to tell you something about priorities does it not ?
#8
What this tells me is that the SCI "Lifestyle" polygraph is as useless as it is nasty to sit thru. The Aussies have dropped their requirement. The US should too, and spend that money on something like actual counter-intel surveillance.
I am so glad Im debriefed and not actively in the system, and will, (barring an act of God) never be read-in again. Im too old for this sh*t.
#9
Sorry OS, you know you can really never leave. Your PR has been indefinitely extended. You've been administratively indoc'd. Please get a shave, a haircut, and advise us of any pending foreign travel. We'll be in touch. :-(
#10
What this tells me is that the SCI "Lifestyle" polygraph is as useless as it is nasty to sit thru.
I've read the Rooskis don't use polygraphs because they consider them unreliable and actively train their people to defeat them.
Just an impression from outside the community, but it seems that while our guys are good at technical stuff - signals intell, photo-recon, etc - they fail badly at stuff involving humans. This leads to embarrassing mistakes like missing the fall of the fUSSR, blowing up a Chinese embassy and various Snowdens.
#12
Well I will admit I do have to do pre-clearance on things until I die (or 25 years). And they have a pretty solid lid-lock on me for the interim. Which was made very clear to me at my last debrief.
#2
Bushs escorting destroyers and cruisers, ... are presumably nearby.
Presumably? Aircraft carriers are social creatures and never go anywhere without friends and associates. Or is this just the suck-ass reporting we have come to expect from our highly-trained jouralists?
#4
I expect the Bammer + USDOD will keep the CVN outside of the Black Sea - even iff SHTF occurs, IMO any US retaliatory response agz Russian targets in the Crimea will come first from land-based US, NATO TacAir andor USN LR CMS.
The CVN + BG will be allowed into the Black Sea only after Russian-Allied Air + Missle firepower have been eliminated.
The World Food Programme said Monday insecurity in Syria was cutting off half a million people from the food aid they need, while a lack of funds has also forced the UN food agency to slash rations.
I confess that I'm less sympathetic than I should be as a good Christian. But neither side seems to be one that I care to support, and the folks caught in the middle just need to get to Turkey or Jordan.
Three years into Syrias bloody civil war, the WFP said in recent weeks it had reached a number of areas in the governorates of Damascus, Homs, Raqqa and Daraa that had long remained inaccessible.
But while providing food to some 71,500 people who had not received assistance in months, widespread insecurity had prevented deliveries to another 500,000 people in desperate need, the WFP said in a report.
On-off convoys into besieged areas can provide temporary relief but WFP still needs proper and sustained access to people to provide life-saving assistance and also to assess the scale of the needs, said WFP deputy chief Amir Abdulla.
The agency aims to reach some 4.25 million people inside Syria each month but in February it said it managed to get food rations to just 3.7 million, as well as to 1.5 million refugees in neighbouring countries.
Lacking funding was also a major challenge, WFP said, explaining that it was forced to cut the size of this months food basket for vulnerable families inside Syria by 20 percent.
As a result, families are receiving fewer nutrients than they require to stay healthy, the food agency said in a statement.
Each person was now receiving a daily ration of 1,530 calories, compared with the 1,920 calories the agency had originally planned, and well below the 2,100-calorie intake recommended by doctors.
It would be tragic to secure more access in Syria but to then find ourselves in a situation where we do not have the required funds to assist hungry people who have long been under siege, WFP regional coordinator for the Syria crisis Muhannad Hadi said in the statement.
Lots of hunger around the world; almost all of it in various hellholes and civil wars.
The agency has appealed for $2.0 billion to feed some seven million Syrians displaced in their country or who have fled to neighbouring countries. The WFP said it spends $40 million a week on its aid operation in Syria and urgently needs $309 million to cover the food needs of vulnerable Syrians until the end of May.
Abdullah told reporters he was hopeful that a March 18 conference following up on a donors meeting in Kuwait in January would help provide additional funds to WFP and other humanitarian agencies working in Syria.
But if WFP does not receive the required funds, it could be forced to reduce rations by up to 50 percent in April and May, he cautioned.
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There would be more money for Syrian sufferers had not the Palestinians sucked it all up.
This fight between the co-allied Government Forces and AMISOM soldiers against the Al-Shabaab occurred at a territory known as 'Jiidow' very near to Shalanbood in the Lower Shabelle region.
According to locals, they described to Shabelle that heavy as well as light ammunition and arms were used during the fight. Witnesses say that the fight was ongoing for at least a few hours and that it caused both losses in terms of death and casualties although it hasn't been fully specified.
Somali Federal Government Officials in the Lower Shabelle region confirmed to Shabelle that the fight did indeed prevail injuries to their soldiers.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/11/2014
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#1
The map really needs a color/shade for "gennerally f$%&*d up" plus ones for "totally f$*+/d up" and hopelessly f#@;&d up"
#3
No need for such a color designation. All of Africa is "hopelessly f#@;&d up", and will continue to be so as long as tribalism is the only source of loyalty.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/11/2014 16:23
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#4
The map really needs a color/shade for "gennerally f$%&*d up" plus ones for "totally f$*+/d up" and hopelessly f#@;&d up"
The number of Syrian refugees taking shelter in Turkey is nearly 900,000, a UN official said Monday. Ayman A. Abulaban, a representative of the Unicef for Turkey, told reporters in Ankara that 700,000 of the Syrian refugees are living outside of camps, reported Xinhua.
There are 21 camps for Syrian refugees near Turkish cities close to the Syrian border.
So most of the ones left in Syria are gunnies for one side or another, or their camp followers. Gonna be even more difficult for me to care whether they eat or not...
In collaboration with the Turkish government, Unicef has helped build schools and provide training for Syrian teachers both inside the refugee camps and outside.
So in three generations they can be like the Paleostinians are today, with their own UN relief organization...
About 3.5 million people have fled Syria, Abulaban said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/11/2014
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[NZHERALD.CO.NZ] Portland police had to be called in to subdue a 22-pound (10-kilogram) house cat that trapped its owners inside their bedroom after attacking their baby.
The baby was not injured in the Sunday incident.
Sgt. Pete Simpson, a Portland Police Bureau front man, said officers responded to an emergency call that evening from a couple who had locked themselves in their bedroom with the baby and their dog after the cat attacked the child.
Simpson said the operator could hear the cat screeching in the background as the couple awaited help.
Officers used a dog snare to capture the cat and placed it in a crate.
Simpson said the owners told the dispatcher the cat has a history of violence. He said the cat remained with its owners.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
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#1
It's hard to imagine that a man and his family living in an apartment on the other side of the tracks from the train station find themselves pinned down by a big bad fluffy housecat.
In real world, you take out house cat.
In Soviet Portland, house cat takes out you.
#2
A 22 pound cat is nothing to sneeze at. I've picked up a five pound feral mother cat to put it in a cage while wearing welder's gloves. I had to go in for a tetanus shot because it bit through them several times.
#4
For comparison, I have a 25lb-er. Fangs are over 1.5 inches and front claws 3/4". Combine that with a fighting frenzy and you damn well lock yourself in the bedroom... and break out the hardware....
#5
"the cat has a history of violence" "the cat remained with its owners"
So they're officialy NUTS. They were crazy to keep any animal with a "history of violence" in their home with a baby. After this attack, they were even more crazy to let the cat back in the home.
And I say that as one who loves (o the point of driving people nuts) cats.
Cat vs. baby - not even a second's hesitation which one I'd choose (and I've never had children).
Posted by: Barbara ||
03/11/2014 16:14
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Supposedly the cat scratched the baby, who was probably pulling it's tail. The story said the father then KICKED the cat which is when it went 'crazy'.
So yeah, I figure they don't exactly treat this cat well.
[GOOGLE] A group of nuns held by Salafist tough guys in Syria were freed Monday in a prisoner swap with Damascus that brought a rare ray of hope to the country's beleaguered Christians.
Scores of faithful packed the ancient Church of the Cross in the heart of the capital to welcome the nuns as they joined a mass to celebrate their freedom after more than three months of captivity.
The 13 nuns and three maids, who had been seized by Al-Qaeda gunnies on December 3, were released in exchange for some 150 female detainees held in Syrian government jails in a swap brokered by authorities in neighbouring Leb.
They arrived in Damascus at the end of an arduous overland journey lasting many hours that saw them driven from the rebel-held town of Yabrud into Leb and then back into Syria via the official crossing.
"We want to thank God, who made it possible for us to be here now," one of the Greek Orthodox nuns told news hounds as she arrived in Syrian government-held territory.
She thanked Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... and Qatari Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, a leading supporter of the opposition, as well as Leb's General Security agency director Abbas Ibrahim, who mediated the exchange.
She said their kidnappers from the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front had treated them well.
"No one bothered us," she said, denying rumours the kidnappers had forced the Syrian and Lebanese nuns to remove their crosses.
The 16 women had been seized from a convent in the Christian village of Maalula, where residents still speak a version of the Aramaic language of Jesus Christ, before being held captive in Yabrud, now the target of a major regime offensive.
Video posted online by activists showed the women being escorted to a transfer point by opposition fighters.
One nun was carried to a van by a fighter whose face was wrapped in a black scarf. The van and other vehicles in the convoy flew the black flag used by jihadists.
At the transfer point, the nuns moved forward as government security forces handed over a first woman prisoner and her children.
Their release came as pro-government forces put the rebels under mounting pressure in Yabrud, their last stronghold in the Qalamun mountains between Damascus and the Lebanese border.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/11/2014
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[WASHINGTONTIMES] Despite Hillary Rodham Clinton ... sometimes described as America's Blond Eminence and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Abel P. Upshur ... 's promise that she had scrubbed illegal cash contributions from her 2008 presidential campaign, prosecutors revealed Monday that the criminal mastermind of Mayor Vincent C. Gray's "shadow campaign" also funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to aid Mrs. Clinton's bid for the White House.
Jeffrey E. Thompson's scheme included diverting more than $608,000 in illicit funds to a New York marketing executive, Troy White, who organized "street teams" to raise Mrs. Clinton's visibility in urban areas during her Democratic primary battle against Barack Obama I've now been in 57 states -- I think one left to go... . Mr. White pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in the case.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Must be some Germanic method of shorting the term... 'Clinton D.C. Scandal.'
#13
Obama's prosecutors are going after Dinesh D'Souza for illegal campaign funding. He is accused of funneling money through straw donors to a candidate. The difference between what is going on with Hillary and D'Souza is that what Hillary's campaign is accused of doing is probably true. D'Souza also is a conservative. Moreover, he makes films that dig into Dear Learder's ego.
Four suspects in the murder of thee police personnel, including UAE officer, First-Lt. Tariq Al Shehi, may face death sentence or revocation of the nationality if they are convicted, the Public Prosecution said. The three on-duty security personnel were killed in a bomb blast on March 3 in Daih. Other policemen sustained injuries.
The Public Prosecution said in a statement on Sunday that the case is criminalised by three laws; the penal code law, the anti-terrorism law concerning explosives, weapons and ammunition, in which the punishment is up to death penalty, as well as the rule by necessity of revocation of citizenship.
The four suspects are Sami Mirza Ahmed Mushaima, Abbas Jamil Tahir Alsameea, Ali Mohammed Jamil Taher Alsameea and Yusuf Ahmed Mohammed Taher Alsameea.
They confessed to the Public Prosecution committing the crime jointly with other accomplices. In details, they stated that they had an advanced agreement to commit the crime by making IED intended for remote detonation by a mobile phone, and then planted it on a public road where it was exploded. Also, to achieve their purpose, they caused riots in the area to be able to ambush the police to the place of bombing, and once the forces reached their, one of the defendants detonated it.
According to the confessions of the accused; it has been proven that they and others manufactured several explosive devices, including the one used in the crime, and it was planted during the night before. Also, they communicated with each other on the day the crime was committed for the purpose of monitoring and targeting the security forces through technical connection programme installed on their mobile phones.
A number of suspects involved in the crime have already been accused of joining terrorist groups, manufacturing and possessing explosives, plotting bombings and arsons and committing acts of rioting and sabotage, as well as overseas training on the use of weapons.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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NATO said Monday it will deploy AWACS reconnaissance aircraft to overfly Poland and Romania as part of alliance efforts to monitor the crisis in Ukraine.
The flights will enhance the Alliances situational awareness, a NATO official said, adding: All AWACS reconnaissance flights will take place solely over Alliance territory.
This decision is an appropriate and responsible action in line with NATOs decision to intensify our ongoing assessment of the implications of this crisis for Alliance security, the official said.
The NATO announcement comes as Washington and Moscow traded barbs over rival proposals to ease the crisis, with each challenging the other to show they were really interested in a peaceful outcome.
The AWACS will fly missions from their home base in Geilenkirchen, Germany, where 17 are housed, and from Waddington in Britain. Flying over Poland and Romania, the AWACS planes, with their distinctive rotating radar dome mounted above the fuselage, should be able to see far into Ukraine airspace.
Diplomatic sources said the AWACS were routinely deployed and on that count, there was nothing unusual in their use in this case. However, it was unusual for their deployment to be announced publicly in this way, they said.
As the Ukraine crisis has deepened with Russian intervention in the Crimea, former Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe have become increasingly nervous at President Vladimir Putins apparent willingness to up the ante.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
SLAR along the international waters boundaries in the Black Sea, flying out of Romania would be quite handy.
A total of six unidentified armed suspects were killed in an armed encounter with Mexican security forces in central Tamaulipas state, according to an official government news release.
A news release publishing on the government website of Tamaulipas said that a Mexican Naval Infantry road patrol encountered the suspects at a residence in San Fernando municipality Sunday. The dead included three men and three women.
Three unidentified individuals were rescued from captivity by the military unit plus marines, who also seized a number of weapons, ammunition and drugs.
Meanwhile in Ciudad Victoria, the state capital of Tamaulipas, four unidentified individuals were freed from captivity by a Mexican Army unit last Thursday.
According to a news account posted on the website of Milenio news daily, the unit was dispatched to Sierra Ventana colony on a citizen's report of criminal activity. They found the victims as well as two suspects who were detained at the scene.
Four rifles, two handguns, 47 weapons magazines and 840 rounds of ammunition, as well as one vehicle and radio gear were seized in the aftermath.
Elsewhere, in the border municipality of Carmargo, Mexican Army units raided two locations, seizing a number of drugs, weapons and munitions last Friday.
According to a news report published on the Tamaulipas government website, the first raid took place in Cuauhtemoc colony where a Mexican Army unit located a residence where drugs were stored.
Marijuana wrapped in 347 packages totaling 1.5 metric tons were seized by soldiers. Weapons and munitions seized included five AK-47 rifles, 53 weapons magazines and about 1,000 rounds of ammunition.
A second raid took place at a residence in Nuevo Camargo colony where soldiers found nine AK-47 rifles, nine AR-15 rifles, five other rifles, two semiautomatic pistols, 266 weapons magazines and 5,907 rounds of ammunition.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com
[POLITICO] CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson has reached an agreement to resign from CBS News ahead of contract, bringing an end to months of hard-fought negotiations, sources familiar with her departure told POLITICO on Monday.
Attkisson, who has been with CBS News for two decades, had grown frustrated with what she saw as the network's liberal bias, an outsize influence by the network's corporate partners and a lack of dedication to investigative reporting, several sources said. She increasingly felt that her work was no longer supported and that it was a struggle to get her reporting on air.
At the same time, Attkisson's reporting on the B.O. regime, which some staffers characterized as agenda-driven, had led network executives to doubt the impartiality of her reporting. She is currently at work on a book -- tentatively titled "Stonewalled: One Reporter's Fight for Truth in Obama's Washington" -- that addresses the challenges of reporting critically on the administration.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Breitbart flashback. If I were Attkisson, I'd be consulting legal councel as well as a personal security firm.
CBS News president David Rhoades is not only the brother of President Obama's national security advisor, Ben Rhodes, but ABC News reports that Ben Rhodes was very much involved in the editing of the now-infamous CIA talking points. So
1. According to ABC News, Obama's national security advisor Ben Rhodes was deeply involved in the editing of the CIA talking points.
2. These same CIA talking points are central to what many believe is a White House coverup.
3. Ben Rhodes is the brother of CBS News president David Rhodes.
4. At CBS News, Sharyl Attkisson is one of the only mainstream media journalists with the dogged determination and moral courage to demand the truth about the White House's involvement in the CIA talking points.
5. For months now reports have surfaced that Attkisson's bosses are unhappy with her, that she has trouble getting her Libya stories on the air, and that she's being accused of engaging in "advocacy."
#2
You need to know, if you don't... Sharyl broke the story of Fast and Furious --- it was Sharyl, that the "guys who knew" went to with the information with the details of the going-ons...
Kept on the details, she did.
Added the depth to the 60-minutes Benghazi report that CBS later retracted....
Bet that was when the negotiations began....
Watch for her -- she needs to make a living.... "she saw as the network's liberal bias" ---
#3
Attkisson's reporting on the B.O. regime, which some staffers characterized as agenda-driven, had led network executives to doubt the impartiality of her reporting.
Translation: unlike the rest of the media, she was not on her knees actively engaged in Obamellatio.
#4
And corporate will never be concerned about dropping viewership of their news division. If and when the day comes, the 1 percenters who own and operate these corporations may discover that little know phrase 'fiduciary responsibility' has a bite that gives their enemies the tool for incredible payback.
#5
Yes, P2k. But in my house we'd just switched to CBS because ABC and Diane Sawyer pissed me off so bad I couldn't watch without screaming at the TV. Then the other night I tried watching a BBC newscast. Ack! Guess I'll have to go back out on the patio and enjoy my beverage there. At least with daylight savings it's still light out there and the little birdies are chirping in the trees.
[THEHILL] The House Oversight Committee is unlikely to consider potential contempt charges against former IRS official Lois Lerner this week, a GOP aide said Monday.
Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) had said that he could move on holding Lerner in contempt this week, after the former head of an IRS tax-exempt division invoked her Fifth Amendment rights for a second time on Wednesday. But Issa likely won't meet that timeline, after a dust-up between the Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, Republican and the top Democrat on the Oversight panel, Rep. Elijah Cummings ...Representative-for-life from Maryland, representing half of Baltimore City, which makes his district ultra-safe, and most of Howard County, which is out-populated by the city. Cummings' politix are so liberal they're tedious... (Md.), dominated headlines late last week.
Frederick Hill, a front man for Issa, said separately Monday that: "As required by the rules, a business meeting announcement and contempt report will give members at least three business days notice."
The House is scheduled to be out of Washington next week, meaning the Oversight panel would probably be unable to consider contempt charges before late March.
Congressional Republicans have intensified their interest in the IRS in recent months, with GOP politicians insisting that all roads in their investigation lead back to Lerner.
But the confrontation between Issa and Cummings on Wednesday -- the Oversight chairman used a throat-slashing gesture to cut the Democrat's microphone -- overshadowed Lerner's return to the Oversight hearing room. Issa apologized to Cummings on Thursday after Democrats called for stripping him of the Oversight gavel.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Hopefully they've moved on to the 'public flogging and execution phase.'
#2
This reinforces my opinion that Issa is all hat and no saddle; starts a big dust up but can't close the deal. This is not the first time he's come up short.
#7
She and her family have been threatened--she could depose off record and go into Protective Custody if she really spills all. Being targeted herself has her scared sh*tless...I hope Issa does it swiftly before her accelerator gets stuck on the way home.
#10
Some of her emails have been released. She was in it up to her eyebrows.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/11/2014 19:32
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#11
Concern Citizens United hurting Democrats: Lerner believed the Executive Branch needed to take steps to undermine the Supreme Courts Citizens United decision. A senior advisor to Lerner e-mailed her an article about allegations that unknown conservative donors were influencing U.S. Senate races. The article explained how outside money was making it increasingly difficult for Democrats to remain in the majority in the Senate. Lerner replied: Perhaps the FEC will save the day. p. 21. Link
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/11/2014 19:46
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A media-oriented group tied to whats left of Al Qaedas original core leaders says it will soon launch the terrorist networks first-ever English-language Internet magazine called Resurgence.
A promotional video for the new magazine was posted online over the weekend by as-Sahab, a group that has for years released messages from Ayman al-Zawahiri the terrorist believed believed to have taken control of Al Qaeda original core following the 2011 death of Osama bin Laden.
According to a report Sunday by NBC News, the slickly produced video uses audio from Malcom X, the late African American Muslim and human rights activist, who was assassinated in 1965 while promoting the U.S.-based Nation of Islam.
The video appears to combine audio from a 1965 Malcolm X speech justifying violence including the quote talk the language that they understand with images of U.S. soldiers, Islamic militants, a purported attack on a U.S. base in Afghanistan and the Boston Marathon bombings, NBC reported.
It remains to be seen whether the new magazine will come to fruition on the Internet. If it does, it will likely be aligned with Inspire, an Arabic-language online magazine that analysts say is produced by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula a group that intelligence official described as an affiliate of al Qaedas original core.
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Durango state Fiscalia General del Estado (FGE) or attorney general Sonia Yadira de la Garza Fragoso told the press Monday that the number of lawyers missing in Durango was only 10, not 100 to 120, according to news reports.
A news report which appeared in Milenio news daily said that de la Garza Fragoso admitted to the press that while 120 incidents or reports have been received concerning missing lawyers, some of them are minor incidents such as accident investigations, and that the number of actual cases of missing lawyers is 10.
Fiscalia de la Garza Fragoso's denied a report by Durango state Barra de Abogados or bar association president Martha Alicia Gurrola of the number of missing lawyers was as many as 120.
According to a separate news account in Milenio, Señora Alicia Gurrola said that them number of dead or missing was rumored to be as many as 120, but also said that the numbers she had were unclear.
Many of the 10 missing are those who went missing over the previous four years, well before de la Garza Fragoso's term which began in mid 2011. Her term began as the mass graves in Durango, most of them in Durango city began to be uncovered. The final toll of the exhumations was 330. Many of those dead were in other places in Durango state as well as far away at the Durango side of La Laguna, and some of the dead were reported missing as far back as 2007, when Felipe Calderon began his war on the drug cartels..
The news report said that most of the 10 missing lawyers could be amongst the 330 found in Durango in 2011-2012.
Señora Alicia Gurrola lamented in a third Milenio article which was published last Saturday that de la Garza Fragoso had not met with the Barra de Abogados in six months to provide help in security.
The most famous case of a lawyer disappearing in Durango took place in late 2011, when de la Garza Fragoso's predecessor, Ramiro Ortiz Aguirre was kidnapped and murdered in Durango city in March of 2012. At a presentation with the Durango state Chamber of Deputies at the time, de la Garza Fragoso admitted pulling state paid Ortiz Aguirre's security detail only hours before the murder.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com
[TELEGRAPH.CO.UK] Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... 's gambit that Russia could change the course of the Ukraine revolution at gunpoint has failed a crucial test as the country's billionaire oligarchs line up behind Kiev.
Billionaire businessmen have accepted appointments from the pro-Western government in Kiev to act as regional governors in three Russia-leaning areas of the country. The fledgling government has also secured the important endorsement of the country's richest man.
Sergei Taruta, a sharp-suited industrialist who was last week named governor of the Russian-speaking Donbass region, bluntly accuses Mr Putin of sending provocateurs to create chaos on the streets to provide a pretext for Russia intervention.
A slight, bespectacled figure, Mr Taruta has for decades personnified the close links that tie the Ukrainian and Russian economies. He has run one of biggest steel operations in Europe, the Industrial Union of Donbass, in partnership with substantial Russian shareholders.
Like many businessmen pitched into national politics in a crisis, Mr Taruta takes a no-nonsense approach to the task of government. "I think of myself as the anti-crisis manager," he told The Telegraph. People in this region have gone through difficult days as they have watched trouble develop. In politics I am a dilettante, I am not a professional. I will only do it for six months or a year. In that time I want strong people to come into government and then I will leave them to it."
Posted by: Fred ||
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The Revolution belongs to the people who protested in Kiev. And they can oust this bunch as they did those Russian bandits Vanukovych and Azarov, who were Putin's. This is important because the people involved were considered Russian leaning, and have accepted the appointments with a time limit on them, and have been tasked with attacking the corruption in the regional governments.
Better to have their businessmen in charge than Russian goons behind a rifle.
#4
So, now we have the "Evil Businessmen" bogeyman being waved by commenters here -- Have you become leftist tools? You act as if this is a betrayal, but where does the article state that - or are you posting your own anti-businessman prejudices onto this situation, as suggested by the word "Oligarch" AlanC?
Right now, Russia is looking like Hitler and the Sudeten. Nationalist. Yes. Socialist. Yes. Authoritarian. Yes. Led by a charismatic thug. Yes. Invading another nation despite a treaty with them to respect their border and national integrity? Yes.
But I guess you prefer military invading and then laying mines at the border, to "oligarchs"? Better than those eeeeeeevile businessmen accepting appointments to decriminalize the government /sarcasm. It seems you're gullible to accept anything as long as it fits the leftist propaganda you have uncritically consumed. At least until the pogroms start... Be carful who you idealize, Grom.
1)Despite living in Massachusets I am constitutionally incapable of leaning left.
2)SOME businessmen are evil.
Does the name Soros ring any bells? The foundations of Fascism include the rent-seeking, crony capitalists that have a synergistic relationship with the corrupt and tyrranical in government. The government doesn't have to "own" the means of production to control the means of production.
Greed for money and power are not the monopoly of socialists though it is a defining characteristic of them. The trick is to maintain individual freedom and the rule of law without succumbing to those vices.
Oligarchy - government by the few, especially despotic power exercised by a small and privileged group for corrupt or selfish purposes.
Given that from the time of Aristotle power has gone along with money the corruption of government to the benefit of SOME of the rich (aka evil businessmen) has been a fact of life.
My comment was directed more at the oligarchy that is forming in this country than the Ukraine. Only time will tell there as to whether they are oligarchs, aristocrats, technocrats or something else.
[Jihad Watch] Baghdad (AFP) -- Saudi Arabia and Qatar are supporting militant groups in Iraq and have effectively declared war on the country, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said as nationwide violence left 15 dead Saturday.
The rare direct attack on the Sunni Gulf powers, with Maliki also accusing Riyadh of supporting global terrorism, comes with Iraq embroiled in its worst prolonged period of bloodshed since 2008, with more than 1,800 people killed already this year, ahead of parliamentary elections due next month.
The bloodletting in Iraq, which shares a long border with Saudi Arabia, has been driven principally by widespread discontent among the country's Sunni Arab minority and by the civil war in neighbouring Syria. No mention made of Iranian disturbers.
Maliki, a Shiite, has in the past blamed unnamed regional countries and neighbours for destabilising Iraq.
But in an interview with France 24 broadcast on Saturday, the Iraqi premier said allegations he was marginalising Sunnis were being pushed by "sectarians with ties to foreign agendas, with Saudi and Qatari incitement".
Referring to the two countries, he said: "They are attacking Iraq, through Syria and in a direct way, and they announced war on Iraq, as they announced it on Syria, and unfortunately it is on a sectarian and political basis." Yet another war without end.
[Sowetan] The racially segregated roads and housing in Israel was a reminder of the conditions experienced in South Africa during apartheid, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu said on Sunday. Insights and stones lobbed from the Red Arch, but no mention of his own crime and HIV ridden tribal utopia in decline.
#1
By the Jordan, a lively duetto:
The sheep safely graze in a meadow
Where bloodthirsty goats
Can't get at their throats:
Though roomy and rich, it's a ghetto.
#2
I doubt it. I don't think China or Russia proper are vulnerable to "let's you and him fight" strategies. China's too focused on the conflicts it wants to mess around with the conflicts it doesn't.
#3
For example: look at how little they'ce reacted towards the killings of Chinese citizens in Pakistan. And compare it to how they reacted when some Chinese tourists were killed in Manila a couple years back.
#7
There are some oddities and no debris found within the flight plan supposedly taken. Another possibility should be considered--the U-turn that was made & transponders turned off with a light passenger load and lots of fuel. Going low under radar, the flight may have landed somewhere as cell phones are still ringing but not answered. If a highjacking like 9-11 took place, there is no high-profile target to crash into...but who were the passengers on board? Could they be held hostage for their expertise and so no claim of responsibility or ransom would be made.
#8
I just tried to post to p. 1... CNN is reporting that the plane's transponder stopped and then it flew in the other direction, to the other side of the Malay Penninsula, before military radar (real radar, not transponder) lost contact over the Straits of Malacca.
[BREITBART] The 300,000-member union that was the first to endorse then-Senator Barack Obama We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us... has released a devastating Obamacare ... aka the Affordable Care Act, an ineptly designed and worse executed piece of legislation designed to bring 17 percent of the U.S. economy under the direct control of the government. The previous iteration, known as Hillarycare, was laughed out of Washington. This stinker was passed on a party-line vote without being read... report that says Obama's controversial healthcare program will slash worker wages by up to $5 an hour, reduce worker hours, and exacerbate income inequality.
The report by Unite Here--a North American labor union that represents workers in the hotel, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, distribution, laundry, and airport industries--is titled: "The Irony of Obamacare: Making Inequality Worse."
"Ironically, the Administration's own signature healthcare victory poses one of the most immediate challenges to redressing inequality," states the 12-page report. "We take seriously the promise that 'if you like your health plan, you can keep it. Period.' UNITE HERE members like their health plans."
The report features first-person testimonials and photos of union members describing how Obamacare is personally hurting them and their families--the same kinds of stories that Majority Senator Harry Reid ... the charismatic senator-for-life from Nevada, currently majority leader ... said are "all untrue" and that progressive New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... columnist Paul Krugman mocked as"nonexistent" in his piece "Health Care Horror Hooey."
Posted by: Fred ||
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In the mean time Union thugs and mindless membership robots, don't forget that YOU and your cohorts voted for the evil, communist bastid not once, but twice.
#2
Union rank and file, think about this, if you were old enough: Were you better off under Reagan than Obumble? For the younger ones, were you better off in 2004 than 2014?
Now think again about voting for a conservative, if one is running.
#5
Obamacare causes a huge transfer of wealth away from the middle class to those who get ObamaPhones, food stamps and welfare and vote Democrat. The middle class is making less in wages as the result. More and more employers are cutting back employee hours and jobs.
The union is bailing out on Obama? Is that an unintended consequence of government meddling? Will they still vote for a Donk in upcoming elections? Probably. The unions and the insurance companies supported Obamacare from the outset. According to this article, the insurance companies are the ones getting the benefits. Unions not getting their share of the largess? Is that the issue? So far as I can see the middle class, and doctors and patients are the ones who have been screwed by Obamacare.
Something has to change in this country. Soon all those who get stuff from the government will outnumber those who pay for it. Those who get stuff will always vote for those who give them stuff.
By the way, according to Harry Reid (D), those people cited in the union report who got shafted by Obamacare (they are now paying much more than they were previously) are all liars.
A female named Hafsa Abdi Nuur Mohamed was killed today in the Wadajir district of the Benadir region by armed groups. The woman that was killed was rumoured to have been working for the Federal Government of Somalia.
The lady was killed in a corner just off her house near the time she was waking up for work.Said Abdi Nuur Mohamed, the father of the killed girl.
It has not been confirmed yet until now what kind of work she had for the Federal Government of Somalia.
Did it matter?
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/11/2014
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.
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