A SUICIDE attacker has driven his bomb-laden vehicle into a post held by Shi'ite Zaidi rebels in north Yemen, killing 13 people, including three children, a tribal chief and witnesses said.
Thirteen people were "killed in a suicide attack using a bomb-laden car that stormed a post held by Huthis (Zaidis) in Al-Jawf" province, the tribal chief said.
Among those killed were four passersby, a woman and three children, he said.
Witnesses confirmed that a car stormed a school in the town of Hazm in Al-Jawf, which the rebels have turned into a base.
"The school's entrance was completely destroyed," said the tribal chief who spoke to AFP on the condition of anonymity.
He said that shrapnel flew 500 metres from the site of the explosion "due to its intensity".
Since late last year, sectarian clashes between the rebels and Sunni Salafists trying to take over towns in the north have left dozens killed.
#2
All told, the future president is said to have been a bit of a drag. "When a joint was making the rounds, he often elbowed his way in, out of turn, shouted 'Intercepted!,' and took an extra hit,"
This puts Obama's claim to moral superiority in context.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
05/25/2012 17:45
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To gauge how in-tune he was... we really need to know if he used the paper in the Cheech & Chong album and was it filled with Maui Wowie when he rolled and smoked that fat cigar! (pins don't count!) If not he was just another want-a-be light weight!
Posted by: Water Modem ||
05/25/2012 20:20
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"Big Bambu" - I had that album
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/25/2012 21:05
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i still do, complete wit da paper!!
so was this Bambi drug thing a real life episode or a composite or is it still evolving? sometimes i can't keep up with all his fabricating.....
All told, the future president is said to have been a bit of a drag. "When a joint was making the rounds, he often elbowed his way in, out of turn, shouted 'Intercepted!,' and took an extra hit,"
#8
That Guy inevitably wore bong water before the night was over (back in my day). A real asshole
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/25/2012 22:18
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so was this Bambi drug thing a real life episode or a composite or is it still evolving?
Seriously. Sounds a bit too cool for the guy who went on to out-dork Urkel. On the other hand, enforcing his own "affirmative joint action" rings true.
Iran has raised its potential capacity to make sensitive nuclear material by installing hundreds more uranium enrichment machines at an underground site, a UN watchdog report said, a day after world powers failed to convince Tehran to halt such activity.
The International Atomic Energy Agency also said on Friday satellite images show "extensive activities" at the Parchin military complex which inspectors want to check over suspicions that nuclear weapons-relevant research was done there.
The activities could hamper the IAEA's inquiry, it said - an allusion to what Western diplomats have said may be Iranian efforts to remove incriminating evidence. Iran has denied pursuing a clear weapons capability there or anywhere else.
Obtained by Reuters, the confidential report further said inspectors had found traces of uranium particles enriched to up to 27 percent at Iran's bunkered Fordow site, compared with the 20 percent level Tehran has officially reported to the IAEA.
Noble Energy today opened a new operations center in Greeley and plans to double the number of horizontal wells drilled this year to 175, the company said. It employs about 750 people in Colorado and uses 120 contractors with several thousands workers, Davidson said.
Drillers sink wells that run horizontally through the shale formation and then "frack" the rock by pumping in fluid under pressure to release the oil.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/25/2012
13:39 ||
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To control the future, control what the children are taught.
Unable to confront Afghan security forces, and losing public support, militants May 23 once again released poison in a school, sickening at least 125 schoolgirls and woman schoolteachers in Takhar Province, in northeast Afghanistan.
The poison was sprayed inside the girls school by unknown militants, local officials said. Investigators have not identified the type of poison.
Medics transferred students and teachers complaining of symptoms like numbness and dizziness to the provincial hospital, said Abdullah Safi, director of public health for Takhar Province. While most of the victims were discharged after treatment, some remain hospitalised, Safi added.
So far, no group has claimed responsibility, but officials at the Afghan Ministry of Education link the attack to the enemies of the people of this country, a term used to describe Islamic militants.
There is no excuse or explanation for the unforgivable act of poisoning students, said Amanullah Iman, a ministry spokesman.
The Quetta Shura (the Taliban leadership committee) recently held a meeting led by Mullah Qayyum Zakir in Quetta, Pakistan, in which the Shura decided to target Afghan schools in order to inflict a strong blow upon the Afghan government and international community, Mashal said.
The Takhar poisoning is not the first such attack. Hundreds of students and teachers in several provinces have been sickened by poison in recent months. So far, no fatalities have been reported. Maybe they don't have fire alarms to pull to get out of an exam for which they are unprepared, so they have to poison the water?
On April 17, in an attack for which no one has yet claimed responsibility, 100 schoolgirls elsewhere in Takhar Province were sickened when a poison was added to the schools drinking water.
Twenty-seven schoolgirls and teachers were also poisoned May 9 in Balkh Province, while 380 schoolboys were poisoned May 15 in Khost Province.
The attacks have not yet affected school attendance rates, but if continued, they could undermine morale. I suppose it COULD undermine morale.
The Far East: If there were ever any doubts about China's aggressive military intentions in the Pacific, its warning to Australia last week to choose itself a U.S. or Chinese "godfather" ought to remove all of them.
In what can only be construed as a direct threat to a top U.S. ally, Song Xiaojun, a "retired" Chinese general, told the Sydney Morning Herald that "Australia has to find a godfather sooner or later."
"Australia always has to depend on somebody else, whether it is to be the 'son' of the U.S. or 'son' of China," Song said, adding that Australia had best choose China because it all "depends on who is more powerful and based on the strategic environment."
It's rather doubtful that China will push around the great-grandchildren of Gallipoli, the grandchildren of the Solomons and North Africa, the children of the Cold War. Not even the most foolish Leftist Aussie pol will kow-tow to China. I hope.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/25/2012
10:32 ||
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The Chinese do not know the Aussies very well, do they?
Palestinian Contractors Union forbids members to collaborate with Israelis
A number of Israeli companies have recently won UN tenders for reconstruction projects in the Gaza Strip, enraging Palestinian contractors who claim they were outbid by the country that destroyed their infrastructure.
More than three years after Israel inflicted widespread damage on the infrastructure of the Gaza Strip during Operation Cast Lead, an offensive aimed at curtailing relentless Hamas rocket fire into Israel, two Israeli companies won bids issued by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to construct water plants in Gaza, London-based daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported Thursday.
Osama Kahil, deputy head of the Palestinian Contractors Union, told the daily that a number of Israeli companies have contacted contractors in Gaza offering them half of the bids' revenue to execute the projects.
"It is unreasonable for the Israeli occupation to be rewarded for its destruction of Gaza's economy," Kahil told Al-Quds Al-Arabi. "It waged a relentless war on our livelihood, and now our markets are being opened to its companies."
Kahil said his union sent letters to all contractors in Gaza, warning them against cooperation with Israeli companies.
Israeli officials regard as credible recent reports of an assassination attempt on top Syrian figures, including President Bashar Assads brother-in-law Assef Shawkat, despite denials by Damascus, Haaretz reported Friday.
The paper said Israel had information confirming claims by the Free Syrian Army that it had managed to poison Shawkat, who heads General Intelligence, and five other top officials: Defense Minister Daoud Rajiha, Interior Minister Mohammad al-Shaar, Hassan Turkmani, an aide to the vice president, National Security chief Hisham Bakhtiar and Mohammad Said Bakhitan, the national secretary of the Baath Party.
The information, Haaretz said, indicated that prompt medical treatment saved their lives.
In a video posted online Sunday, the Special Operations Company of the Al-Sahabah Battalions said it had carried out a covert military operation against the six men, which it said were part of a so-called crisis cell, after two months of surveillance.
A spokeswoman for the Revolutionary Council for Damascus told a British newspaper that the method of attack was poisoning and that it was unclear how many of the men were injured or dead.
Haaretz said Israel viewed this as an important milestone in the ongoing revolution.
Here's how to ruin your chances at winning a U.S. congressional seat:
Get arrested for driving under the influence and unlawfully possessing a firearm, with a female college student who is not your wife in the car.
Democratic South Carolina state Rep. Ted Vick, who describes himself as "businessman, a farmer, a pastor, a sportsman, a soldier and a state representative," was pulled over early Thursday morning after an evening of drinking in downtown Columbia, S.C., according to a police report.
Whoa! They named the party! Oh, right, it's South Carolina...
The State newspaper reported that Vick met the University of South Carolina student at Delaney's Pub in Five Points and continued drinking at Jake's Bar and Grill. Vick offered her a ride home, the report said, but his car was pulled over at 1:12 a.m. for driving 44 miles per hour in a 30 miles per hour zone.
After Vick refused to take a sobriety test or a field test, he was taken to a local detention center, where officers found that the state congressman was carrying a Kel-Tec .380-caliber pistol in his front pocket. He had not told officers about the weapon, and his concealed weapons permit had expired in 2007, the police report said.
The young woman who made Vick's acquaintance was not charged in the incident, The State reported. A graduate of The Citadel, Vick is married, has two young girls and was a lieutenant colonel in the S.C. Army National Guard.
Emphasis on 'was'...
"As a trained minister of the Gospel, Ted is a strong believer in traditional southern family values," his website reads.
WACO, Texas -- Walking around a gun store one day last summer, the young man never took off his sunglasses as he asked questions about items he piled on the counter -- behavior that struck the manager as odd.
Pfc. Naser Jason Abdo had already traveled hundreds of miles since going AWOL from Fort Campbell, Ky., three weeks earlier. He bought a gun from an online seller in Nashville and paid cash for thousands of dollars of bomb-making components at a major Dallas-area retail store. Trying to avoid being caught, he wore a baseball cap and sunglasses most of the time, never used credit cards while staying in motels and traveling by bus or cab, and he had his roommate's driver's license.
But his luck ran out in Killeen, a city about 150 miles southwest of Dallas and near one of the nation's largest Army posts -- Fort Hood. Guns Galore manager Cathy Cheadle "just had this feeling" about him. She and an employee talked about it and then called police -- who had Abdo in custody less than 24 hours later at a motel, where authorities say he had started to build a bomb. Police hadn't even known his name or background until they detained him.
Thank you Ms. Cheadle.
A federal jury Thursday convicted Abdo, a Muslim soldier, on six charges in connection with his failed plot to blow up a Texas restaurant full of Fort Hood troops, his religious mission to get "justice" for the people of Iraq and Afghanistan.
"A disaster was averted because somebody picked up the phone and made a call," prosecutor Mark Frazier told The Associated Press after the trial. "The people who work in businesses like this are vigilant ... and risked being embarrassed if their suspicions turned out to be nothing, but that's what we want people to do."
Abdo was convicted of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, attempted murder of U.S. officers or employees, and four counts of possessing a weapon in furtherance of a federal crime of violence. He faces up to life in prison. U.S. District Judge Walter Smith is set to sentence Abdo in July.
Abdo, 22, did not stand with his attorneys when jurors and the judge entered the room, and he showed no emotion when each of the six guilty verdicts was read by the court clerk. Abdo, who's been accused of spitting blood on authorities escorting him and a jailer, wore a mask covering his nose and mouth throughout the trial.
Abdo's lead attorney, Zach Boyd, told jurors during closing arguments that he should be acquitted because his plan never progressed beyond preparation.
That has to be about the dumbest thing I've ever read coming from a lawyer. Then again, he had to say something...
When authorities detained Abdo at a Killeen motel July 27, they found bomb-making components, a loaded gun, 143 rounds of ammunition, a stun gun and magazine article on how to make an explosive device.
In a recorded police interview, Abdo said he was planning an attack in the Fort Hood area "because I don't appreciate what my unit did in Afghanistan."
He told authorities he planned to put the bomb in a busy restaurant filled with soldiers, wait outside and shoot anyone who survived -- and become a martyr after police killed him. Abdo told an investigator that he didn't plan an attack inside Fort Hood because he didn't believe he would be able to get through security at the gates, according to testimony.
That's the part that shows he's rational, not insane, and therefore eligible for execution.
During the four-day trial, a recorded jail conversation was played for jurors in which Abdo told his mother his religion inspired his actions and he was seeking "justice" for the people of Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Their suffering is my suffering," he said.
Abdo became a Muslim when he was 17. He enlisted in the military in 2009, thinking that the service wouldn't conflict with his religious beliefs. But according to his essay that was part of his conscientious objector status application, Abdo reconsidered as he explored Islam further. That status was put on hold after he was charged with possessing child pornography -- about two months before he went AWOL.
Child porn. AWOL. Bomb-making. Lotsa guns. Yup, he could be al-Qaeda alright.
"There was no hacking involved at all," says William McCants, a jihadi research analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses, a research and development center serving the Navy. "They [the State Department team] overtly message on non-jihadi forums that anybody can sign up for. They represent themselves as a member of the US government. By law they have to identify themselves." Not covertly hacking. Counter-advertising.
The State Department's Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications was set up about a year and a half ago with the goal of doing better at countering Al Qaeda propaganda and recruiting efforts that occur on public forums across the Internet, which is located at the State Department offices but includes representatives of many other branches of the US government.
Daniel Benjamin, coordinator for counterterrorism at the State Department who won Clinton's backing, was an early backer of the center, he says. President Obama in September issued a directive formally establishing the center and laying out its mission. So now that you know who started it, you can appreciate its real purpose was to provide bragging rights for the re-election.
"The challenge was that for so long the Bush US government wasn't really doing any messaging against Al Qaeda," McCants says. "Whenever one of their statements went out, nothing was said -- which makes sense at a high level since you don't want to dignify it with response. But there was also a feeling that we were missing a chance to meet Al Qaeda at a tactical level as it tries to target their propaganda at populations they want to recruit. Now we've got digital engagement set up to go into places where Al Qaeda is pushing their message and to push back against it."
In the specific instance mentioned by Clinton, Al Qaeda supporters apparently posted a picture of coffins holding US servicemen -- draped with American flags and prepared to be loaded onto a cargo airplane, according to McCants. The message bragged about how many Americans Al Qaeda had killed.
What the State Department did was to run a counter message with a similar picture -- but with the coffins draped with Yemeni flags and noting how many Yemenis the terrorist group had killed -- the flags apparently Photoshopped onto the picture. Clever, eh? High-tech hacking? No.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/25/2012
06:14 ||
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Rank amateurs sniffing the throne of the beast. Please leave computer network operations to the professionals.
A court action brought by a Pakistani student whose father was killed in a suspected US missile strike last year could force Britain to reveal whether it gives America intelligence for drone attacks on terrorist suspects.
Human rights lawyers acting on behalf of Noor Khan are seeking a judicial review aimed at forcing the Foreign Secretary to say whether there is such a policy, in a case which threatens to expose ministers to allegations of war crimes, it was reported.
The US has used hundreds of drone strikes against suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban targets in Pakistan since 2004 a tactic it has also deployed to attack militants based in Yemen.
It has been seen to have played a key role in thwarting terror plots against the West.
Michael Clarke, director of the Royal United Services Institute, told a newspaper he would be astonished if British agents were not giving their US counterparts information to help them locate terrorist suspects.
I believe it to be true that our intelligence information in certain cases has pinpointed targets for attacks and those attacks do amount to extra-judicial killing, Mr Clarke said.
From a political point of view the whole question of our intelligence involvement in drone attacks is a political hot potato.
Mr Khan, whose father is one of hundreds of civilians who say they have lost innocent friends or relatives in the drone attacks in the Waziristan region of Pakistan.
Daud Khan and at least 40 other people from the same tribe died when a meeting of elders was struck by a missile thought to have been fired from a CIA drone on March 17, 2011.
[Tolo News] Afghanistan's former minister of commerce and economic analyst said that Pakistain's decision to hike the transit price for US containers headed for Afghanistan is a clear violation of international norms and standards.
Mohammad Amin Farhang said that Pakistain's actions may be an attempt to recover its decreased income on the back of reduced US financial aid.
"As Pakistain is recently [more] isolated, it is trying different ways to overcome the situation - the decrease of US financial aid to Pakistain has been disastrous for it," Farhang said.
"One of its efforts is to ask $5,000 per NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... truck, which is extortion. Pakistain is trying to compensate for the decrease of US aid in this way."
US senators denounced Pakistain's new fee - its latest condition to reopen the supply route across its border - saying the US would not pay anywhere near that amount.
Senators John Maverick McCain ... the Senator-for-Life from Arizona, former presidential candidate and even more former foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution... , who also described the fee as "extortion" told US media: "We can't look at aid in that light. It's now becoming a matter of principle."
Senator Carl Levin also said that the US should not pay Pakistain fees anywhere near that level, according to media reports.
Last week, Pakistain said it wanted as much as $5,000 for each US or NATO truck that passed through its territory, whereas the fee before the border crossing closed six months ago was around $250 per truck.
Pakistain blocked the supply route in November after a deadly NATO Arclight airstrike killed 24 Pak soldiers near the Afghan border.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2012
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South Korea plans to increase the number of ballistic and cruise missiles with a view to incapacitating North Korea's nuclear weapons and long-range missiles in an emergency. The government and military aim to spend some W2.5 trillion (US$1=W1,170) over the next five years to secure 500-600 new cruise and ballistic missiles.
A government source on Sunday said, "Given the mounting threat of provocations from the North since Kim Jong-un took power, the Defense Ministry reported to President Lee Myung-bak last month a plan to increase missile capabilities in response to asymmetric threats from the North."
The military will boost the number of new Hyunmu-3 series cruise missiles, which have a range of between 500 and 1500 km and the Hyunmu-2 ballistic missiles, which have a 300 km range. Both were unveiled last month. They are supposed to incapacitate the North's nuclear weapons facilities, Rodong and Scud missile bases, biochemical weapons facilities, command facilities, and Air Force bases in the early stage of a war to prevent or minimize damage to South Korea.
The Hyunmu-3 cruise missile can hit targets with 1-3 m accuracy, and the Hyunmu-2 ballistic missile with 50 m accuracy. Each of the new missiles costs about W4 billion.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/25/2012
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They need to find a way to neutralize their heavy artillery, which they roll in and out of hidey-holes. Perhaps cluster munitions dropped in suspected areas that blow up on command from a video drone or if they sense movement or something.
[Tolo News] The Afghan Ministry of Education said that the school poisoning in Takhar Wednesday was the work of the enemies of Afghanistan and called on those responsible to cease their attacks.
Deputy Minister of Education Asef Nang urged the Taliban and any other Death Eaters to stop attacking schools and students and to allow children their freedom to receive an education.
Wednesday's incident in northern Takhar province saw as many as 100 school girls from Bibi Hajera high school in the lovely provincial capital Taluqan poisoned with what appears to be an air-borne material, and sent to hospital.
The incident was the second of its type in Takhar and at least the fourth in Afghanistan this year.
"Such incidents are so worrying," Nang told TOLOnews Thursday. "Whether it's school burnings or student poisonings, the enemies of Afghanistan and education are behind such incidents."
"We can't specifically pin this on either the Taliban or Hezb-e-Islami unless they claim the responsibility, but I say it's the job of the enemies of education."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2012
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[Dawn] Despite high security in the city, incidents of indiscriminate firing and murders continued unabated in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... as four more people bit the dust on Thursday, DawnNews reported.
In one of several incidents of the day, an office-bearer was killed and two men were maimed as unidentified gunniesshot up a local Pakistain People's Party office in Baldia Town. Residents of the area came out in protest of the killings, as they set tires on fire to block Hub River Road and Northern Bypass.
Earlier in the day, two young men were bumped off by unidentified armed persons at Liaquatabad C-1 Area, police said. Both men were rubbed out near Muhammadi Ground.
Police officer Fahim said the identity of the dear departed, seemingly in their mid-twenties, was yet to be ascertained. The bodies were shifted to Civil Hospital Bloody Karachi for medico-legal formalities.
Meanwhile, ...back at the revival hall, the SWAT team had finally arrived... person or persons unknownshot up two men standing by a bus stop at Teen Hutti. One of the men succumbed to his wounds while the other was maimed.
Earlier on Tuesday, at least eleven people were killed and more than 30 maimed as violence engulfed the city after unidentified armed assailants shot up a political rally.
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05/25/2012
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(Sh.M.Network)-The Kenya Defence Force is scheduled to join the second and final stage of the operation to flush out al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... Orcs and similar vermin from Somalia next month.
The offensive will be launched after the KDF sign a Memorandum of Understanding to formally join the African Mission inSomaliaby the end of the month.
A Kenyan delegation is scheduled to sign the MoU between May 26 and 28 after which it is expected to flush out the Orcs and similar vermin from the portof Kismayu where they will set up base.
In the latest strategy, KDF is expected to dislodge al-Shabaab from Kismayu and jointly occupy it withSierra Leonetroops who have joined the Amisom. The area comprises Gedon, Upper andLower Jubba.
The deputy Amisom spokesperson Captain Gilbert Nitunga said KDF is expected to sign the MoU before the second stage of operation against the terror group is launched in four fronts by Amisom in June.
Sector one, which includes Banadir area with Mogadishu as it's headquarters, comprises middle and lower Shabelle, Marka port, Balcad and Barawe, will be under the Ugandan and Burundi forces which will also take care of Bay, Bakool and parts of the Gedo region.
Sector four of the offensive will be under the Djibouti military in Amisom who will take over Hiraan, area and set up base at Beledweyne.
Amisom says that the strategy is to flush Al-Shabaab out of the country and make it governable. "The next step is to move out further into other regions of the country after securing Mogadishu especially are troop levels from all troop contributing countries rises to the expected 17,731 from all the rive countries participating. We have cut out all routes used by the Orcs and similar vermin to launch attacks inMogadishu," Captain Nitunga said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2012
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[Dawn] India has submitted new evidence against Jamaat ud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed ...who would be wearing a canvas jacket with very long sleeves anyplace but Pakistain... in the ongoing dialogue between the two nuclear-powered neighbours, DawnNews reported.
"We have given new evidence to Pakistain regarding Hafiz Muhammad Saeed's involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks," Indian Interior Secretary R K Singh, who is leading his delegation in Islamabad, told media representatives on Thursday.
Moreover, the Indian secretary said that they had also briefed the Pak delegation on the progress in the Samjhota Express investigations.
The talks, scheduled to last for a period of two days, commenced today with the Pak delegation led by Interior Secretary Siddique Akbar Khwaja. Thursday's talks were expected to focus on cooperation between the two countries on issues pertaining to security and drug trafficking.
The Pak interior secretary said that both delegations are of the view regarding relaxation of the visa policy between the two countries.
Earlier before talks began, the Indian secretary said that his country was not satisfied with Pakistain's investigations into the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Singh said the judicial proceedings going on in Pakistain pertaining to the Mumbai attack were very slow.
Pakistain had demanded proof of his involvement in terrorism, which is good enough to stand in court of law.
"Our position on Hafiz Muhammad Saeed is clear. We have independent and active courts. If anyone has proof against him, they should share it with us so that the courts can examine it," Foreign Office front man Moazzam Khan had said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2012
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[Tolo News] Two Afghan police were killed when a suicide kaboomer let 'er rip in Afghanistan's southern Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province Thursday, officials said.
The suicide attacker with a cycle of violence bomb let 'er rip with his cycle of violence while police were checking a location in the Musulmani area of Musa Qala district around 8:30 am, the Helmand governor's office said in a statement.
The blast killed two police but there were no other casualties or damage, the statement said.
Helmand governor Mohammad Gulab Mangal strongly condemned the attack and offered his condolences to those who knew the dead.
Meanwhile, ...back at the cheese factory, all the pieces finally fell together in Fluffy's mind... police conducted an operation in Helmand's Sangin district and consequently seized illegal weapons and ammunition including two machine guns, 21 machine gun's magazines, 2100 rounds for a PK, one missile, three rounds for DC mortar, three bayonets, one magazine for PK, one anti tank mine weighing 20 kilograms, two mines weighing five kilograms and two mine fuses.
No one was captured in relation to the possession of these items, but the search is continuing, the office said in the same statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2012
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The problem here is the UN and Afghan government push to Pashtunize the Afghan Army. Uzbek and Tadjik units would be very unlikely to make deals with Taliban.
Iran killed one of its own nuclear scientists but blamed his death on a so-called "Israeli spy" who it executed last week, a leading Arabic news channel reported Wednesday.
Iranian authorities on May 15 executed Majid Jamali Fashi, who was convicted of assassinating nuclear scientist Masoud Ali Mohammadi in a car booming in January 2010. The New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... speculated that the liquidation of Mohammadi was "part of a shadow war played out between Iran and Israel."
But Dubai-based news channel Al-Arabiya, quoting Iranian opposition sources, said that Iran used Fashi as a scapegoat to please local public opinion. The opposition sources said they even doubted that Fashi was really executed, noting that the footage of his execution aired on public television was short and blurred.
The sources speculated that Iranian intelligence assassinated Mohammadi, the nuclear scientist allegedly killed by Fashi, because it had discovered that he intended to defect to the West.
Al-Arabiya said that the Israeli passport attributed to Fashi by Iran was so badly forged it "was not becoming of a country capable of building nuclear facilities."
The channel reported that certain characteristics of the passport indicate that it was issued in the 1990s, not in 2003 as printed on it. Other obvious faults in the travel document include a misplaced passport number and a photo which displays the face tilted to the side rather than directly facing the camera.
"The Mossad would not place an illegal photo on a passport given to an agent in order to travel in Europe and elsewhere, as airport authorities would easily suspect it," the report claimed.
Emanuele Ottolenghi of Commentary magazine also noted that Fashi is looking away from the camera in the alleged passport and that he appears to be an adult. If the 2003 date was accurate, Fashi would have been 15.
The Harry's Place blog said that the facsimile displayed by Iranian TV shares exact details with a facsimile of an Israeli passport available through Wikipedia: Both were issued on Nov. 17, 2003 in Netanya.
Iran has repeatedly accused Israel of assassinating nuclear scientists in an attempt to thwart its nuclear program. Israel has not commented on such accusations.
If we had a CIA worth anything at all, we'd be offering every Iranian nuclear scientist asylum, pointing out to them that it's a race between Mossad and their own government as to who's going to whack them first.
And the ones who refuse our offer of asylum? I'd finger them to the Mad Mullahs for having talked with the CIA.
#1
IIUC, Al-Arabiya is trying hard NOT to say SAVAK'S Boyz aren't par wid MOSSAD [yet], + that their mistakes vee assassination of their own country's scientists has exposed the Tehran Govt to major internal brouhahas???
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2012
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Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Jeanne Crain aka Patricia 'Pinky' Johnson in "Pinky (1949)(Nominated AA)" aka Margy Frake in "State Fair (1945)" aka Ruth Berent in "Leave Her to Heaven (1945)" aka Deborah Bishop in "A Letter to Three Wives (1949)" aka Letty Page in "The Joker Is Wild (1957)" aka Peg Phillips in "Hot Rods to Hell (1967)" (Died in 2003 at age 78)
Diplomatic sources stressed Wednesday that no official information had been received about an announcement by Turkey that it planned to indict former IDF commanders over the Marmara affair, but said "If it's true, this won't bring us to a good place. We will need to weigh our steps."
"We also have ways to bother them in the international arena. If this is the path they want, we also know what to do. They have plenty of Achilles' heels. We don't want escalation, but if this is the game -- we'll play," the sources said.
[Tolo News] At least 17 Islamic fascistiwere killed and another 54 were jugged Book 'im, Mahmoud! during nine joint Afghan and Isaf troops operations in the past 24 hours in Afghanistan, the Afghan Ministry of Interior said on Thursday.
The operations took place in Kabul, Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. , Takhar, Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... , Zabul, Uruzgan, Pashtun-infested Logar, Ghazni and Khost province ... across the border from Miranshah, within commuting distance of Haqqani hangouts such as Datta Khel and probably within sight of Mordor. Khost is populated by six different tribes of Pashtuns, the largest probably being the Khostwal, from which it takes its name... s, it said.
The forces also found and seized weapons including 10 AK-47 guns besides defusing six anti-vehicles mines and discovering kabooms.
There was no mention in the statement whether there were any casualties on the side of the Afghan or coalition security forces.
They also confiscated six cycle of violences which were understood to have been used by hard boys, it added.
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[Iran Press TV] Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... says his government has successfully overcome the political crisis and the deadly violence in the country.
"Syria has been able to overcome the pressures and threats it has faced for years and is able to get out of this crisis thanks to the strength of its people and commitment to unity and independence," SANA cited Assad as saying on Thursday.
Syria has been the scene of deadly unrest since mid-March 2011 and many people, including security forces, have bit the dust in the violence.
The West and the Syrian opposition accuse the government of killing protesters, but Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... blames ''outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups'' for the unrest, stating that it is being orchestrated from abroad.
Assad's Thursday comments came during a meeting with the Iran's diminutive PresidentMahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad's special envoy and Minister of Communications and Information Technology Reza Taqipour.
Taqipour described the crisis in Syria as part of a broader scheme targeting the entire Middle East region, and reiterated Iran's sustained support for the Syrian nation in the face of the circumstances they are faced with.
On Thursday, the new Syrian parliament began work under a new constitution approved by a majority of voters in a February referendum, and three members of the independent judicial body, the Supreme Constitutional Court, were also sworn in before the president
On May 7, Syria held the first parliamentary elections under the new constitution that paved the way for a multi-party political system in the country.
About 7,195 candidates, including independent and opposition figures, contested for the 250 parliamentary seats.
The general polls, which saw more than half of the eligible voters cast their ballots, were part of the reforms promised by President Assad.
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Zim-bob-we President Bob Muggsy Mugabe's Octogenarian President-for-Life of Zim-bob-we who turned the former Breadbasket of Africa into the African Basket Case... Zanu PF party on Thursday told its members harbouring presidential ambitions to wait until 2014 to express their interest.
The instruction came a week after a Zanu PF founding member told journalists the 88-year-old leader had told him he was tired and wanted to retire.
Former Defence Minister Enos Nkala met President Mugabe in the second city of Bulawayo last Friday for close to an hour.
He said the former guerilla leader who has led Zim-bob-we since independence in 1980, told him the only thing delaying his retirement was a fear that Zanu PF was in danger of splitting.
But Mr Nkala is now backtracking saying his statements were taken out of context by journalists itching for a "big story."
Zanu PF front man Mr Rugare Gumbo said President Mugabe's opponents from within the party must wait until the 2014 elective congress to throw their hats into the ring.
"Let us focus on strengthening the party rather than destabilise it, which is the position of the politburo (Zanu PF secretariat)," he told the state owned Herald newspaper.
"If there is anyone who is interested in the leadership of the party, they should wait for the party's congress in 2014, where they should express their interests."
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[Dawn] A Senate panel expressed its outrage Thursday over Pakistain's conviction of a doctor who helped the United States track down the late Osama bin Laden ... who doesn't live anywhere anymore... , cutting aid to Islamabad by $33 million, $1 million for every year of the physician's 33-year sentence for high treason.
The punitive move came on top of deep reductions the Appropriations Committee had already made to President Barack Obama I mean, I do think at a certain point you've made enough money... 's budget request for Pakistain, a reflection of the growing congressional anger over its cooperation in combatting terrorism.
The overall foreign aid budget for next year had slashed more than half of the proposed assistance and threatened further reductions if Islamabad fails to open overland supply routes to US and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... forces in Afghanistan.
Pushing aside any diplomatic talk, Republicans and Democrats criticized Pakistain one day after the conviction of Shakil Afridi.
The doctor ran a vaccination program for the CIA to collect DNA and verify bin Laden's presence at the compound in Abbottabad ... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden.... where US commandos found and killed the al Qaeda leader in May 2011.
The United States has called for Afridi's release, arguing that he was acting in the interest of the United States and Pakistain.
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[An Nahar] The rebel Free Syrian Army said on Thursday it is making "every effort" to locate and release a group of Lebanese Shiite pilgrims kidnapped in Syria's northern province of Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins...
"The leadership is making every effort to find out where the abductees are, and to make sure they are freed," FSA official front man Colonel Qassem Saadeddine said in a statement.
Saadeddine reiterated that the FSA had no involvement in this week's kidnappings, condemning "all kidnapping operations, regardless of their nationality or religious belief or sect."
At the same time, he complained over the treatment of Syrian refugees and anti-regime figures in Leb.
"Revolutionary Syrians in Leb have faced persecution, kidnap and murder," he charged. "We will no longer be silent on any action carried out by any Lebanese parties affecting Syrians in Leb."
The FSA front man urged "the Lebanese state to take full responsibility in hosting and protecting Syrian refugees in Leb."
Leb's state news agency on Tuesday reported that the FSA had kidnapped a group of Shiites in Aleppo on a bus returning via Iraq and Syria from a pilgrimage to holy sites in Iran.
Syria's main opposition coalition has called for the prompt release of the group, blaming Assad's regime for a "security vacuum" in the unrest-swept country.
The Syrian National Council "does not think it is impossible that the regime is involved in this operation," in order to sow "disorder" in neighboring Leb, the group said.
News of the kidnappings prompted their families and thousands of supporters to pour out onto the streets of Beirut's mainly Shiite southern suburbs on Tuesday night to demand their release.
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Tehran funding a third of Afgan media in attempt to gain foothold in country to counter US influence.
With most foreign combat troops set to withdraw from Afghanistan by 2014, Iran is is using the media in the war-ravaged nation to gain influence, a worrying issue for Washington.
Nearly a third of Afghanistan's media is backed by Iran, either financially or through providing content, Afghan officials and media groups say.
"What Iran wants, what they are striving at, is a power base in Afghanistan that can counter American influence," said a senior government official, who like others for this report, spoke to Rooters on condition of anonymity.
"They are without a doubt doing this through supporting and funding our media."
Iran spends $100 million a year in Afghanistan, much of it on the media, civil society projects and religious schools, says Daud Moradian, a former foreign ministry adviser who now teaches at the American University in Kabul.
"It is using Afghanistan to send a message to America that it can't be messed with. Afghanistan becomes a managed battlefield as a result."
Officials in Tehran could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts and the Iranian embassy in Kabul said it was not prepared to talk about the issues raised in this report.
#1
Iran is indeed a problem for the Afghans, and the challenges are not limited to the media.
Infiltration of Pakistan, Iran in Afghan Medias: NDS
He also said, a number of Pakistani spies are also working in Shamshad TV which broadcasts in Pushto language
Officials in the Afghan Intelligence Department (National Directorate for Security) announced a number of the local TV channels and a News Agency was financially supported by neighboring Pakistan and Iran.
A spokesman for the Afghan National Directorate for Security Lotfullah Mashal said, a number of the programs broadcasted by these TV channels and News Agency are displayed with a motive to disrupt the thinking of the Afghan people.
[Dawn] A PERSISTENT failure to deal with the canker of intolerance -- one of the greatest threats to the Pak people's mental health and their material well-being -- is making the affliction day by day more unmanageable.
A young non-Mohammedan woman has been living in Lahore for quite some time. A few weeks ago she married an American citizen -- a crime her neighbours apparently did not forgive. A group of hotheads raided her home at night early this month and on their inability to break into the house they damaged the car parked in the porch and pasted a notice on it: 'kalima parh lo warna' (convert to Islam or else).
This from a community whose religious mentors keep on proclaiming from every pulpit under their occupation -- "there is no compulsion in matters of faith". And this is not happening in one of those parts of Pakistain where lawlessness is the order of the day -- such as Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... , Fata or Lyari ...one of the eighteen constituent towns of the city of Karachi. It is the smallest town by area in the city but also the most densely populated. Lyari has few schools, substandard hospitals, a poor water system, limited infrastructure, and broken roads. It is a stronghold of ruling Pakistan Peoples Party. Ubiquitous gang activity and a thriving narcotics industry make Lyari one of the most disturbed places in Karachi, which is really saying a lot.... -- but in the capital of the land of peace and amity, whose redoubtable rulers are feared so much by terrorist organizations that they have migrated to Balochistan and where laptops float on rivers of milk and honey.
It is possible that the purpose of the assault on the vulnerable woman is not a desire to increase the numerical strength of the Mohammedan community -- already a preponderant majority -- and the idea is only to secure her release from marriage to an American man. But no law permits any vigilante squad to interfere with the right of adult men and women to marry of their free will and raise their families. And if the cause of provocation is the bridegroom's nationality, then the message to the world is that the Pak people belong to the lunatic fringe that victimises the citizens of a state with whom their state has some temporary quarrel, a proposition no Pak in his or her right frame of mind will endorse.
Not far from the scene of the atrocity mentioned above an operation to demolish some parts of an Ahmadi prayer house has been going on for many days. The cause is the complaint that the building looks like a mosque. If every premises that has small minarets and domes and cupolas is to be treated as a mosque-like structure that cannot be left in the possession of undesirable occupants, then a good number of buildings in Lahore and elsewhere, in secular or religious use, may have to be demolished. But that is a smaller part of the matter.
Far more serious is the issue of the denial of a community's right to freedom to subscribe to a faith of its choice and to practise it freely and this under a law arbitrarily made by a dictator. Even if the law does not offer the beleaguered community any relief, are the state and society incapable of promoting a peaceful solution? It is the silence of the media, the academia, the politicians, the bureaucrats and, one suspects, the judiciary too, on blatant instances of religious persecution that encourages the demons of intolerance to become more and more invincible.
Unfortunately, the fires of intolerance are now being stoked by some elements that are expected to guarantee all citizens due protection of the law.
Incidents of some immature lawyers' resort to perpetrating violence on citizens, coppers and court staff have not been uncommon, especially since their movement for the independence of the judiciary, which some old-fashioned people thought was also aimed at strengthening the rule of law. Some of these incidents have taken place on court premises. None of them, highly deplorable though, led to a situation comparable to the result of a lawyer's decision to hurl a shoe at the dignitary presiding over a court of law in Faisalabad.
The offender had surely rendered himself liable to punishment under the law but he could not be denied his right to adequate and fair defence. The lawyers' association of his district tried to extinguish just that right. A high-ranking delegation of lawyers called upon the chief justice of the high court to assure him that the district bar will not defend the accused in the reference to the high court, nor before the bar council in the hearing on a plea for the cancellation of his licence to practise, nor in the matter of its own complaint against him. The news item appearing in the press contained no reference to any admonition that the delegation had apparently invited.
It seems the lawyers' ethics is at a heavy discount these days. A lawyer can refuse to accept a brief for quite a few personal reasons based upon a clash of interest or simply for a client's failure to pay his fees but one never heard of a lawyer being denied defence on the ground that he is guilty of disrespect for a judicial officer. A lawyer who defends a criminal is not required to endorse his client's criminal action. His job is primarily to assist the court in a fair adjudication of the case and to ensure that his client is not punished any more than what he lawfully deserves.
Unfortunately, the lawyers' attitude in this case corresponds to the unfair public criticism of Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan's decision to defend the prime minister in the contempt case and is reminiscent of some lawyers' refusal to defend persons charged under the blasphemy law.
A lawyer has a duty to assist people in conflict with the law just as a medical practitioner is duty-bound to help any seriously maimed offender. A doctor is required to comply with the legal requirements of the case but he must try to save the criminal's life. This is the lesson humankind learnt after centuries of warfare -- that the life of an enemy soldier who is maimed in battle needs to be saved -- a lesson still valid despite its violation by some states during the Second World War and in subsequent conflicts.
Even more disturbing is the case of some coppers who were accused of deliberately injuring a few Sahiwal lawyers when the latter took out a procession in May 2007 in protest against the Musharraf putsch against the Supreme Court. Their appeal against a ruling of the trial court is pending before the Lahore High Court and no less than nine division benches have declined to hear it for personal reasons. Some action has to be taken to remove the impression, however ill-founded it may be, that the coppers are being punished because they interfered with a pro-judiciary procession and their victims were lawyers and not ordinary citizens.
These are extremely distressing manifestations of intolerance. What hope of the people's deliverance from the deadly disease can there be if those infected include law officers? When men of law start taking pride in their acts of intolerance the message to the citizens is quite sinister -- they are free to grow increasingly intolerant of and violent towards anyone who does not agree with them. One of the roots of intolerance thus lies in the acts of commission and omission of the corps of defenders and dispensers of justice.
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#1
Whats ISP distro for Dawn in rual Pakistan? Any measure?
#2
By David Jackson, USA TODAY Well, Mitt Romney had to endure stories about alleged high school bullying -- now President Obama faces revived stories about his high school marijuana use.
Posted by: Recneck Jim ||
05/25/2012 14:07
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[Tolo News] Afghan refugees living in Pakistain's semi-autonomous region Kheybar Pakhtunkhuwa have been given one month to either leave the country or they risk facing detention, Pak media reported.
To send "illegal" Afghans back to their country, the district administration in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar had initially set May 25 as a deadline to leave before local police would apprehend the Afghans and deport them or detain them.
Some Afghan refugees currently staying in the Kheybar Pakhtunkhuwa refugee camp raised their concerns about the issue, asking the government of Afghanistan to pay serious attention in order to solve the problem.
"Pakistain gave us one month notice to exit, but we are working here, we have built a living here," one of the refugees told TOLOnews in Peshawar.
"The [Afghan] government should try hard to tackle this issue."
Representative of Afghanistan's Ministry of Immigrants and Repatriates Abdul Hamid Jalili said that government together with the Afghan general consulate in Kheybar Pakhtunkhuwa are in negotiations with Pak officials.
"To solve the issue, Ministry of Immigrants and Repatriates together with General Consulate of Afghanistan in the state of Khyber Pakhtunkhuwa are negotiating with Pak officials," Jalili said.
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(Sh.M.Network)- The front man for the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... Mission in Somalia( AMISOM) peacekeepers, said on Wednesday that the AU and Somali troops are close to the rebel-held Afgoye district, just 30 KM, north west Mogadishu, Somalia Capital.
Speaking with Shabelle Media, AMISIOM front man, Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda, told that the allied forces are just four kilometers away from Afgoye and will soon capture it from the Orcs and similar vermin of Al shabab.
"Our troops are doing well and the operation is going as planed. Both Somalia and AMISOM forces have moved out of the capital Mogadishu on Tuesday and taken the fight towards Al shabab strongholds in Afgoye corridor where up to 400,000 people who fled their homes are squatting on land controlled by Al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... ," said AMISIOM front man, Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda.
Mr. Ankunda, urged local residents in Afgoye stay in their current places of residence and not to stray from their homes. He added that the AMISOM troops have been specifically avoiding entering the built up areas and
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(Sh.M.Network)-As military forces make their way into Somalia's Afgooye corridor, the United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... top humanitarian official for the east African country today reiterated his call for efforts to be made to minimize the impact of conflict on civilians.
The pious words of someone who never has done more than kibbitz from the sidelines.
"At this stage, we have no reports of significant movements of people from the corridor," the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Mark Bowden, said in a statement.
"However, a clean conscience makes a soft pillow... I remain concerned that an escalation of hostilities or a prolonged operation could lead to displacement, further straining the capacity of settlements and host communities in Mogadishu or driving people away from the life-saving help they require."
Mr. Bowden also reiterated the need to allow full humanitarian access to all people in need in the Afgooye corridor, located outside of the Somali capital ofMogadishu.
According to a blurb of the UN-backed African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), issued on Wednesday, Afgooye has for a long time been a stronghold of Al-Shabaab ... the personification of Somali state failure... faceless myrmidons and is a strategic junction for routes to the north, west and south ofSomalia.
In the so-called Operation Free Shabelle, AMISOM said that its forces, and those of the Somali National Army, have made significant progress in the last 24 hours towards Afgooye town, with the aim of bringing security to the 400,000 people located inside the Afgooye corridor.
"While remaining strictly neutral and independent of political and military processes, humanitarian actors are coordinating preparations to ensure immediate assistance is available to civilians most affected by military activities in the corridor," Mr. Bowden added in his statement.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has previously said that an upsurge in conflict in the corridor will most likely lead to a further displacement of internally displaced people (IDPs) from the corridor intoMogadishuand surrounding areas. The number of IDPs in the capital is currently estimated at 184,000.
After decades of warfare, Somalia has been undergoing a peace and national reconciliation process, with the country's Transitional Federal Institutions in the process of implementing a roadmap, devised in September last year, that spells out priority measures to be carried out before the current transitional governing arrangements end on 20 August.
Until last year, most of Mogadishu was, for several years, riven by a fluid frontline dividing the two sides -- fighters belonging to the Al-Shabaab movement and troops belonging toSomalia's Transitional Federal Government, with the latter supported by AMISOM's peacekeeping forces.
Since the Al-Shabaab withdrawal from the capital's central parts in August last year, the frontlines were pushed back to the city's surrounding area. However, a clean conscience makes a soft pillow... the use of roadside kabooms, grenades and jacket wallahs is still a regular occurrence, and outbreaks of fighting still take place.
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#1
Want to really minimize civilian casualties? Then attack full force and crush them to the last man as quickly as you can. And try not to shoot at folks who aren't in a condition to be able to fight. Anything else will allow the bad guys to use the civilians as pawns until someone attacks them full force and crushes them to the last man.
#3
Mark Bowden
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused with Mark Bowden, U.N. Resident & Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative for Somalia.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/25/2012 15:14
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#4
The real Mark Bowden also wrote Guests of the Ayatollah about the seizure of the American embassy in Iran, a great read that will, no doubt, increase your contempt for Jimmy Carter. Hard to imagine, I know, but trust me on this.
Chinese security forces launched a massive crackdown on North Korean defectors in Jilin Province's Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture on May 15. Chinese officials say the crackdown is part of a nationwide bust of illegal aliens, but there are suspicions that the drive specifically targets North Korean defectors hiding out in northeastern China as well as South Korean activists and religious organizations who are helping them.
Security forces in Yanbian told reporters the crackdown will continue until October and aims to wipe out all the places where North Korans hide, Chinese media reported on Thursday. "Due to its proximity to the border [with North Korea], Yanbian has been the scene of illegal border crossings and other crimes," said Yanbian immigration chief Li Yong-xue. "If we find illegal immigrants or foreigners without proper documentation, we will investigate immediately."
He also pledged to "root out activities by foreign NGOs or religious activists that violate laws or have a negative impact on national security and social stability."
North Korean defectors caught in Yanbian or neighboring areas are expected to be arrested and sent back to the North, while South Koreans who help them worry about criminal investigation and deportation.
Around 10,000-15,000 defectors and other illegal migrants from the North are believed to be living in Yanbian. Some 10,000 South Koreans live there as well. "State security agents already informed Korean residents groups there that they will boost screening of immigration and residency requirements," said one South Korean businessman in Yanbian. "North Korean defectors here are going into hiding."
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The head of the Paleostinian Authority's preventive security, Ziad Hab Al-Rih, said that without progress in the peace talks, the PA won't be able to preserve stability within its territories.
Al-Rih made the remarks during a meeting with representatives of the Paleostinian-Israeli Peace NGO Forum, diplomats and former defense establishment officials. He added that the PA will do everything within its power to prevent a third intifada.
"Nice country ya got there. Be a shame if anything happened to it."
The thing is, the last time they tried something like that, it hurt them a lot more than it hurt Israel.
North Korea is constructing a new ballistic-missile launch pad in Musudan-ri, North Hamgyong Province, experts claimed Wednesday.
The U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, on its blog Wednesday, claimed the new launch pad is for intercontinental missiles aimed at the U.S. and suggested a possible link with Iran. It said the facility can accommodate a more advanced missile than the rocket whose launch failed in February.
So the Norks can have a more advanced failure...
The institute analyzed images taken by the commercial satellite Digital Globe on April 29 and said the new facility is being built 1.75 km east of the existing facility in Musudan-ri. The facility is twice the size of existing facilities in Musuan-ri and Tongchang-ri and has a bigger flame trench, launch pad and storage facility for fuel oxidizers.
Construction started last summer, the institute said, and predicted it will be operational in 2016 or 2017. It said the assembly plant at the new site is similar in design to Iran's Missile and Space Center at Semnan.
The Choson Sinbo, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper in Japan, quoted the chief of the Tongchang-ri launch facility as saying on April 16 that the North has "specific plans to launch a satellite not only at the Tongchang-ri site, but at Musudan-ri as well."
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#1
And a PAKISTANI LINK???
* FYI DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > HERE'S PROOF [Photos]: PAKISTAN IS ACCELERATING STRATEGIC NUCLEAR WORK/PROCESSES, espec vee dev of "small/
miniature nuclear warheads".
* SAME > PAKISTAN ACKNOWLEDGES SEA-BASED STARTEGIC NUCLEAR DETERRENT, as ostensib based on Pak's new "BABUR" TLCM/NLCMS.
Posted by: Recneck Jim ||
05/25/2012 11:33
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#3
So when their rocket goes KABOOM they wont get hurt?
It will you know.
Posted by: Recneck Jim ||
05/25/2012 11:36
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#4
It said the facility can accommodate a more advanced missile than the rocket whose launch failed in February. So the Norks can have a more advanced failure...
Excuse me, but this is just so blatantly Freudian. Lay out massive cash for a bigger, more expensive, snazzy pad . . . when the problem is the rocket.
Two senior U.S. figures apparently flew to Pyongyang aboard a U.S. Air Force plane in a secret mission six days before North Korea's failed rocket launch on April 13.
But don't tell anyone because it was a secret...
"At around 7:40 a.m. on April 7, a U.S. Air Force Boeing 737 entered North Korea," a diplomatic source in Seoul said. "The aircraft flew from Guam and into North Korea along the same route on the West Sea used by former President Kim Dae-jung during his visit to the North back in 2000."
Experts speculate that the plane carried Joseph Di Trani, a nuclear negotiator in the George W. Bush administration, and Sydney Seiler, a National Security Council advisor to U.S. President Barack Obama.
The secret visit appears to have been a last-ditch effort by Washington to stop North Korea from pressing ahead with the rocket launch.
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[Tolo News] Several politicians have criticised recent statements made by Afghanistan's Minister of Economy where he accused foreigners of spending money heedlessly in Afghanistan.
The reactions from other political players have largely contradicted the Minister Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal's comments, with one critic arguing that without that foreign money, there would be no Minister of Economy.
"The current government was established with the help of foreigners. If there were no foreign donations, there would have been no minister holding his position today," Afghanistan's National Front party member Fazel Rahman Oryakhil told TOLOnews.
Arghandiwal said Wednesday that the foreigners have come to Afghanistan for their own interests and accused them of corruption and poor accountability in spending as much as $49 billion in country.
Another member of Afghanistan's National Front said that if the Afghan Foreign Ministry fails to correct such statements, Afghanistan will face a major political confusion.
"The Foreign Ministry should not allow every government official comment on the country's politics from any tribal, political and regional point of view," the member said.
Rights and Justice Party member Abdul Abbas Noyan also called for the government to prevent such comments saying that it showed a lack of good governance.
"All such statements are due to lack of good governance. President Karzai should question him about his statements," Noyan said.
Others commented that it was also wrong to say such things because the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan was very important at this time in order to prevent invasion of neighboring countries.
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[Emirates 24/7] Syrian government forces have executed entire families in their homes as part of a crackdown on the uprising against President Bashar Al Assad, U.N. Sherlocks said on Thursday.
Both Assad's troops and opposition fighters were committing gross human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... violations despite a six-week-old ceasefire in the conflict, but the army and security forces were responsible for most of the crimes documented since March, a U.N. report said.
Children were often victims, it said.
Government abuses included heavy shelling of residential areas, executions and torture. Syrian forces routinely drew up a list of wanted persons and their families before blockading and then attacking a village or neighbourhood, the report said.
Rebels, who are increasingly armed and well-organised, have executed or tortured captured soldiers and pro-government supporters, it said. They have also kidnapped civilians in an apparent bid to secure prison exchanges or ransoms.
"Most of the serious human rights violations documented by the commission in this update were committed by the Syrian army and security services as part of military or search operations conducted in locations known for hosting defectors and/or armed persons, or perceived as supportive of anti-government gangs," the report said.
Children were frequently among those killed and maimed during attacks on protests and the bombardment of towns and villages by state forces, it said.
"Entire families were executed in their homes - usually the family members of those opposing the government such as the family members of Colonel Riad Al Asaad," it said, referring to the extended family of the head of the Free Syrian Army.
The team of Sherlocks, led by Brazilian Paulo Pinheiro, has not been allowed into Syria but based its report on more than 200 interviews of victims and witnesses.
They confirmed 207 deaths during the two-month period. The United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... has said that as of December, government forces had killed more than 9,000 people in the uprising against Assad that began in March 2011.
The world body is deploying up to 300 unarmed military observers in Syria to monitor an April 12 truce mediated by U.N.-Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... envoy Kofi Annan ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo... that has yet to take hold.
LETHAL FORCE
Security forces used lethal force against demonstrations in Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... , Damascus ...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat... , Deraa, Hama, Homs, Idlib and in numerous villages across the country since March, the report said.
"Other unlawful killings took place during government military operations undertaken to weed out defectors, anti-government gangs, their families and other opponents perceived to be supporting anti-government gangs."
Often Syrian forces issue a warning to hand over the wanted defectors or organisers of the anti-government protests, usually within a deadline, it said. Males in the area would hide or try to evacuate women, children and the elderly.
"Anyone seen trying to leave the area by avoiding the blockades were presumed to be members or supporters of anti-government gangs and were shot," it said.
The U.N. panel said it had received multiple reports of the armed opposition executing members of the army and security forces, suspected informers and collaborators, and it gave details of two such incidents in Homs.
"A defector who fought in the ranks of Al Farouk Brigade ("FSA") in Homs city stated that members of the government forces, including what he claimed were three Iranian snipers, were summarily executed after they apparently confessed.
"One anti-government gang fighter also admitted that he and his associates had killed government soldiers when the captives refused to join them," it said.
The U.N. panel has already drawn up a secret list of Syrian officials suspected of ordering crimes against humanity and given it to U.N. rights chief Navi Pillay. She has said that the situation in Syria should be referred to the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... (ICC) for prosecution.
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[Dawn] A woman and her 10-year-old son were killed when a mortar shell hit a house in Khawezai tehsil of Mohmand ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... Agency on Wednesday.
Locals said that the shell hit the house of Arabistan, killing his son on the spot and injuring his wife. The injured woman was shifted to Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar where she succumbed to her wounds.
Locals said that at least a dozen more mortar shells landed in a nearby village but caused no loss of life. The place from where the shells were fired could not be ascertained.
In Kurram Agency ...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora... , three persons including a minor were maimed when faceless myrmidons opened firing on a passenger coach near Tore Chapper village on Wednesday. The coach was going to Peshawar from Parachinar. The injured passengers were identified as Kamal Hussain, Mehtab Hussain and Nijat Hussain. They were shifted to Combined Military Hospital in Thall Garrison.
Security forces condoned off the area soon after the attack and conducted a search operation. However, there's more than one way to skin a cat... no arrest was made during the operation.
In Khyber Agency, three faceless myrmidons and a peace volunteer were killed and one was injured in a clash in Tirah valley on Wednesday.
Sources said that Taliban of Tariq Afridi group ambushed a patrolling party of Kukikhel ...a tribe of primitives inhabiting Khyber Agency. They are a branch of the Afridi tribe. Traditionally they have been migratory, tromping between Jamrud and the Rajgal valley with the seasons. The tribe has had mustache-cursing relationships with several other tribes, including the Zakkakhel and Kambarkhel, and with the Mullagori. They make welcome most anyone with a turban and automatic weapons, but every once in awhile they get together a tribal lashkar to mollify the government... peace volunteers in Dwa Thoe area, killing one of them and injuring another. The killed peace volunteer was identified as Naseer Afridi.
The Kukikhel volunteers claimed that they killed three Taliban in retaliatory firing.
A jirga of Kukikhel elders, held few weeks ago, had resolved to expel all faceless myrmidons from their area. The jirga had also decided to punish harbourers of bad boys.
In Qambarkhel area of Bara, three armed motorcyclists rubbed out a member of the council of a banned bad boy group on Wednesday.
Sources said that Kohat Khan, a shura member of Amr Bil Maroof Wa Nahi Anil Munkir, was coming out of a mosque after offering Fajr prayers when the assailants sprayed him with bullets. He was shifted to a hospital at death's door but could not survive.
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For a map, click here. For a map of Tamaulipas state, click here
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
A third day of attacks against several targets in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas took place including a firebomb attack on Mexican state police agents and one attack on a local night club, according to several Mexican news sources.
According to a report posted on the website of the leftist Proceso news weekly, Thursday's attacks included a firebomb attack at the Hotel Santa Cecilia on Avenida Reforma early Thursday morning at around 0730 hrs local time, which police agents for the Tamaulipas state Secretaria Seguridad Publica (SSP) are using for quarters.
Previous Mexican wire dispatches said the hotel was occupied by a detachment of the Polica Federal and that several PF agents were wounded in the attack.
A total of eight state police agents were wounded and another two civilians were hurt as well. The vehicle used was a Chevrolet pickup truck. Damage to the hotel's facade was reported as well.
Several news reports say a car bomb followed by small arms fire characterized the attack, however, not even Los Zetas can get their hands on high grade or military grade explosives. Previous attacks which have been described as car bombs were likely vehicles in which fuel tanks were detonated by a hand grenade. Grenades, both hand grenades and the launched 40mm variety are in widespread use by the drug cartels.
According to the Proceso report, Thursday morning's attack were preceded by other attacks.
Monday, a gaming establishment operating illegally, the Amazon, was firebombed.
Tuesday two nightclubs, the Zebra and the Dubai were attacked, although press reports have not characterized the nature of those attacks.
Four hours prior to the attack on the Hotel Santa Cecilia, another nightclub, the Maranho was attacked by firebomb. Reports have also indicated that around the same time as the first attack, several roadblocks were put up by local criminal gangs, which is a tactic used to deny and delay security forces access to area where cartel shooters are operating.
An American English language press report attributed some of these attacks to Los Zetas, who have been locked in a deadly dual with an alliance of the Sinaloa and Gulf Cartels. Attacks, made mostly on innocents, are photographed along with narcomantas or painted messages, with threats against rival cartels.
Los Zetas are under increasing pressure from their rivals in their home turf. Multiple murders over the last two months in Nuevo Laredo and elsewhere by both sides have taken place, though nearly all the victims had no connection with the drug cartels.
Mass murders in both Cadereyta, Nuevo Leon and in Jalisco state by Los Zetas operatives have been among the responses by the group to Sinaloa Cartel incursions into their home territory.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
#1
Sounds like an interesting mix of war and regular mafiya thuggery. I wonder how long this will hold: however, not even Los Zetas can get their hands on high grade or military grade explosives.
Hand grenades are already popular. How much longer before heavier stuff begins to appear? Something like an LAW (Light Anti-tank Weapon), for example. Makes the idea of Iranian involvement in Central/South America more disturbing, no?
[Emirates 24/7] Iran accused world powers on Thursday of creating "a difficult atmosphere" hindering talks on its atomic energy programme, signalling a snag in diplomacy to ease a stand-off over fears of a covert Iranian effort to develop nuclear bombs.
The nub of the dispute was not immediately clear as the high-stakes negotiations in pursuit of a framework deal to stop a feared drift towards a new Middle East war went into a second day in the Iraqi capital Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...
But Iran had served notice that it wanted immediate relief from economic sanctions as part of any deal to stop higher-grade uranium enrichment, a pathway to nuclear arms, whereas Western powers insisted Tehran must first shut it down.
Iranian media close to Tehran's delegation said it was insisting on a "principle of "reciprocity" of concessions they said was promised by the powers in preparatory talks in Istanbul last month but was not guiding the Storied Baghdad negotiations.
"Iranian diplomats close to the negotiations believe that the (powers') approach in Istanbul was more positive and encouraging than what is being seen in Storied Baghdad," the Iranian student agency ISNA reported.
"It remains to be seen whether Iran is prepared to continue negotiations in the ambiguous conditions that the West is following in the new round of talks, or not," ISNA said.
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[Bangla Daily Star] Iran's navy yesterday said it saved an American-flagged fat merchantman that was being attacked by pirates in the Gulf of Oman.
An Iranian warship responded to a distress signal from the US-flagged Maersk Texas, a fat merchantman of 150 metres and 14,000 tonnes, which was besieged by "several pirate boats," the navy said in a statement reported by the official IRNA news agency.
It was the first time the Iranian navy protected a US ship from pirates.
Maersk had sailed from the UAE port of Fujairah, south of the Strait Hormuz at the entrance of the Gulf, and was headed for the United States.
Iran's navy keeps a presence in Gulf of Oman to protect cargo ships and transiting oil tankers and also defend the country against potential threats.
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[An Nahar] Egypt's press on Thursday hailed the country's first presidential election since a popular uprising ousted president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... as "free and historic," despite the looming uncertainty.
"We have achieved a dream," read the headline on the state-owned al-Akhbar newspaper.
"On May 23, 2012, Egyptians went to the polls to choose their leader for the first time in their history, freely and without fraud," said the daily.
Photos of smiling voters waiting in line to cast their ballots were plastered on the front pages of most newspapers.
The election which sees 12 candidates vying to succeed Mubarak is in its second day, with results expected on Sunday.
Among the contenders is former foreign minister and Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... chief Jerry Lewis doppelgänger Amr Moussa ... who was head of the Arab League for approximately two normal lifespans, accomplishing nothing that was obvious to the casual observer ... , who is seen as an experienced politician and diplomat. But like Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak's last prime minister; he is accused of ties with the old regime.
The powerful Moslem Brüderbund's candidate, Mohammed Mursi, faces competition from Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh, a former member of the Islamist movement who portrays himself as a consensus choice with a wide range of support.
A run-off is scheduled on June 16 and 17 should there be no outright winner.
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(Sh.M.Network) -- The security forces ofSomalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) ofSomaliaon Thursday begun conducting search operations in an attempt to curb insecurity acts in the government controlled districts of Mogadishu.
Witnesses confirmed to Shabelle Media that they saw Somali police forces searching all kinds of vehicles and ordinary people using the main streets and junctions in Mogadishu, including Ex-control Afgoye,Banadir, Zoobe, KM4 Junctions, Trebunka square, Dabka, Sayidka memorial, Howlwadag district and also Bakaro market.
The police forces were seen ordering the drivers of civilian buses entering intoMogadishuto stop as to look for Al shabab agents hidden among the ordinary passengers onboard the vehicles.
During the operations young people are reported to have stayed at homes fearing from arbitrary arrest.
TFG Security officials told Shabelle Media that search operations were aimed for ensuring the overall security of Mogadishu after Somali and AMISIOM forces launched on Tuesday joint offensives against Al shabab strongholds away from the capital.
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05/25/2012
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Al-Qaeda linked Al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... fighters in Somalia are fleeing their key stronghold of Afgoye ahead of an advancing column of government and African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... troops, military commanders said Thursday.
Sporadic shooting was heard on the third day of an offensive against hardline jihad boy positions as the joint force of AU and Somali troops closed in on Afgoye town, some 30 kilometres (18 miles) northwest of the capital Mogadishu.
Thousands of impoverished civilians living in plastic and rag hut shelters along the Afgoye corridor -- the main road from Mogadishu to Afgoye, and the world's largest concentration of displaced people -- are fleeing, fearing violence.
"We are a few kilometres (miles) away from Afgoye and, God willing, we will complete the mission very soon," said Somali military commander General Abdulahi Osman, who is with the government and AU troops advancing across the arid plains.
"We are not encountering much resistance and so far the enemy is fleeing," he added.
The jihad boy Al-Shabaab have claimed to have repulsed the attack and have boasted of killing several soldiers.
More than 400,000 people, around one third of all the displaced people in Somalia, were living in the Afgoye corridor at the start of the year, fleeing war or drought, according to the UN, which has warned civilians must be protected.
"It is as if no one will be left in the Afgoye corridor today, hundreds of families are returning to Mogadishu before the fighting reaches them," said Abdirahman Ahmed, a father of four, after fleeing into Mogadishu.
Long lines of trucks and buses piled high with people and their belongings lined the road towards Mogadishu, defying AU calls for civilians to remain in their homes.
Most were fleeing the Elasha and Teredishe areas between Mogadishu and Afgoye, where hundreds of thousands set up makeshift homes in 2007 after fleeing violence at the time in Mogadishu. Shelling killed at least four civilians on Wednesday.
"Stray bullets sometimes reach the tarmac road, civilians are emptying the whole area before they are stranded in the battle zone," said Halimo Adan, another witness.
Mark Bowden, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, has urged all sides to "minimise the impact of conflict on civilians" and allow humanitarian access.
However, those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things... army commanders said they were advancing on foot and avoiding the main road of the Afgoye corridor to allow civilians to leave the battle zone.
"The army is advancing with caution, and not aiming directly for the main tarmac road to give civilians access to leave amid the fighting," said Osman.
Afgoye is a strategic town that commands a road junction for routes to the north, west and south of Somalia, and its loss to Al-Shabaab would be another major blow for the group, who have been on the backfoot for several months.
AU and Somali troops have made significant gains in recent months against Al-Shabaab myrmidons, although the Islamists have switched to guerrilla tactics in Mogadishu, including a series of suicide and grenade attacks.
Somalia's weak and Western-backed transitional administration has less than two months to set up a permanent government, but the leaders have been riven by bitter internal divisions and tarnished by accusation of gross corruption.
The international community has expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... it is failing to meet key deadlines, but leaders late Wednesday committed themselves to choosing a new parliament by July 20, and a new president by August 20.
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[An Nahar] One of the suspects jugged Drop the rosco and step away witcher hands up! in the Caracas shooting in Beirut on Wednesday is a Jordanian national who is linked to an organization linked to the 2005 liquidation of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, reported al-Manar television on Thursday.
It said that Hani al-Shanti is accused of belonging to the "Group of 13" organization that confessed to assassinating the former premier on February 14, 2005.
Shanti had just been released from jail some three months ago, reported LBC television.
It added that he began working in the music sector after his release.
Security sources told al-Manar that investigations are underway to determine what a group linked to al-Qaeda is doing in a "sensitive district of Beirut."
For its part, Al-Jadeed television reported that Shanti is a close friend of Khaled Taha, who is a member of the "Group of 13."
He studied at the Arab University and was imprisoned in Roumieh jail between 2005 and 2011.
Al-Jadeed said that he had rented more than one apartment in Beirut's Tariq al-Jedideh and al-Basta neighborhoods.
Security forces found weapons in each of the apartments, it added.
Early on Thursday, security forces stormed a building in Beirut after a nighttime shootout with gunnies holed up inside a flat, in an incident which left two dead and seven maimed, security sources said.
One gunman was killed in the shootout and the body of another man was found inside the flat in west Beirut's Caracas district, a security official told Agence La Belle France Presse on condition of anonymity.
Another gunman was maimed, the army said in a statement, adding that the man had previously been "placed in long-term storage Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! for several years in Leb for security reasons," without elaborating.
The security official said the spark for the shootout was a personal dispute between at least one of the men and a woman in her early 20s. The dead man and the woman, placed in long-term storage Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! in the incident, were Syrian nationals, he said.
The army said it also jugged Drop the rosco and step away witcher hands up! a guard described as "suspicious" and the maimed gunman, having rushed to the site late Wednesday after reports of gunfire.
According to the army, the man who was found dead in the flat had been killed during a clash between gunnies that took place prior to the arrival of security forces.
Gunmen subsequently lobbed grenades and began shooting at the security forces from the flat, wounding at least six coppers and soldiers. The military said it found a large amount of weapons in the flat.
The shootout came amid heightened tensions in Leb, where deadly sectarian violence has broken out in the past two weeks linked to the unrest sweeping neighboring Syria.
The U.S. embassy in Beirut on Thursday warned American citizens to be aware of prevailing "tensions" and "violent incidents" in Leb.
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[Al Ahram] A protest in the northwest Tunisian city of Kef turned violent Thursday, leaving 15 injured, as a strong police cordon in Tunis held another demonstration by unemployed university graduates at bay.
Police fired teargas to disperse a protest by hundreds of residents of Kef when demonstrators tried to storm the local government headquarters, chanting "no to exclusion, marginalisation and contempt," public broadcaster Radio Kef reported.
The protesters, who in turn threw stones at police, complain their region is not receiving its fair share of public spending and accuse governor Abdelkader Trabelsi of failing to protect his constituents' interests.
Demonstrators are demanding more jobs, infrastructure spending and a university hospital, according to information posted on Tunisian websites.
"There are some injuries, people who fainted because of the teargas, and there are festivities between police and youths who are throwing stones," a protester named Hichem told AFP by phone.
Fifteen people were maimed, one of them badly, said a hospital source.
Kef, a city of some 50,000 people, is about 175 kilometres (110 miles) west of Tunis and is the capital of the region of the same name.
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[Nigerian Tribune] The Joint Task Force on Operation Restore Order in Borno has said that its troops raided the hideout of a suspected Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... sect member in Gomboru ward at about 5.35 a.m. on Wednesday, following a tip-off from concerned citizens, which led to the killing of the suspect during a gun duel with the troops.
Spokesman for JTF, Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa said, "the operation led to the passive exchange of fire that killed the suspect, while two AK47 rifle, 1,623 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 32 rounds of 7.62mm special ammunition were recovered in the hideout."
He also disclosed that at about 2.30 p.m., a Chadian was tossed in the slammer Please don't kill me! in Sinimari area while trying to steal an installed generator set.
Musa said when a search was conducted in his hideout, the JTF recovered 10 cartons of uncoupled motor bikes, four cartons of motor bike engine blocks, one TV set, one standing fan, a stabiliser, five DVD player, one amplifier, one bag of handsets, one carton of indomie, 75 packets of sim cards, a bag of toiletries, a DVD recorder and many CD plates.
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[An Nahar] Syrian regime forces pounded the town of Rastan in central Homs province on Thursday, killing three civilians, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Violence elsewhere in Syria killed 10 other people in the morning, the Britannia-based watchdog reported, including four who were summarily executed in northwestern Idlib province.
Government forces have been trying to overrun Rastan for 11 consecutive days, after rebel fighters from the battered central city of Homs regrouped in the town that straddles the main highway linking Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... to the north.
Speaking to Agence La Belle France Presse via Skype on Wednesday, Abu Rawan, an opposition activist in Rastan, said there was no electricity in the besieged town, and a shortage of food and water.
Abu Rawan was not reachable for comment on Thursday morning.
Elsewhere in the violence-swept country, four civilians were summarily executed in a field near Basamis town in the province of Idlib, while four others were killed in fighting.
"Eight non-combatants were killed in a field near Basamis this morning, including four who were cooled for a few years Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! from their homes and summarily executed," according to the monitoring group.
"The Observatory strongly condemns the summary execution of the four people, in contravention of international treaties signed by the Syrian authorities," it said in a statement.
"The Syrian security and military authorities do not have the right to summarily execute people, even if they are fighters," the statement noted.
Four other people were killed in festivities in Idlib between regime troops and rebel forces, the Observatory added.
In eastern Deir al-Zour province, one civilian and regular army soldier were killed, the watchdog said.
"Regime forces killed a young man at dawn in Quriya town in Deir al-Zour," it said, adding festivities between rebel forces and regime troops were taking place in the town, leaving dead one soldier.
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[An Nahar] A mortar attack in Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... killed one person and maimed six others on Thursday, in the second attack in the capital during key talks on Iran's nuclear program, security and medical officials said.
An interior ministry official said a mortar round struck a street in the Bataween area of central Storied Baghdad, which lies across the Tigris River from the heavily-fortified Green Zone, where the talks between Iran and world powers pressing it to scale back its nuclear program are taking place.
The official put the toll at one dead and six maimed, which was confirmed by a medical source at Ibn al-Nafis hospital.
On Wednesday, the first day of the talks, four people were maimed by a roadside kaboom near a Sunni mosque in al-Yarmuk in west Storied Baghdad.
The attacks come despite heightened security measures in and around the Iraqi capital.
Thousands of additional Iraqi security personnel have been deployed in areas north, west and south of Storied Baghdad to try to prevent the firing of mortars and rockets into the capital, a security official said.
The official also said without providing figures that additional forces have also been deployed at checkpoints in the Iraqi capital, and that searches have been increased.
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Iran -- and Turkey -- do not quite understand how Christianity works, nor the long history of rejecting false gospels by the collectors of the New Testament, including the one so excitedly displayed now. This would, in fact, bolster the contention of some scholars that Islam was based on an ignorant corruption and co-option of Christian traditions. Come to think of it, Iran and Turkey are not the only ones to make this mistake -- some years back a very popular novel and film were based on the same misapprehension.
#1
And so it goes, the endless task of diviners identifying the divine. As I enjoy the Mabon season and Autumn Equinox, my Wiccan faith will sustain me. Now, where are my feathers.
#2
Moslems believe that Jews and Christians distorted the Torah and Gospels. They also believe that the Torah and Gospels foretell the coming of Mohmd.
Somehow they don't seem to realize these two beliefs are in contradiction to one another.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
05/25/2012 8:35
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#3
The Book of Barnabas is the New Testament equivalent of the "Protocols of Zion"
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
05/25/2012 10:50
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#4
The funniest part is that they seem to think people will believe it.
#5
HAW, HAW, HAW.Sniffle gutgle, Oh yes I bet the Pope is worried sick.
PS your "Test " doesn't work.
Posted by: Recneck Jim ||
05/25/2012 20:19
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#6
They've also been fighting over the theological ownership of Abraham for hundreds of yrs. Who cares. People will believe what they will.
Beso, I have my butt-less goat legging-chaps and buck skull on a stick for the next solstice...let's make sure we got the red pills and blue pills sorted out this time...
#7
This is 16th century Ottoman, they were a bit full of themselves, and maybe for good reason, poised to infiltrate and control the key spots of Europe. Propaganda like this would not be surprising. What it does not foretell is the defeat of the Ottomans by a loose formation of ill trusting European allies..so the Ottomans looked east for expansion, as it was its prime mission in existance to expand the Ottoman Empire, to fight the Persians, who they must have considered inferior to Europeans and thus easier pickings.
Basij press huh. Perhaps this is also for intra-mohammaton consumption as well.
I would like to see a future movie based on Empires of the Sea, could be a three-part deal or even just two, because if people get riled up about the stand at Helm's Deep, the struggle for Malta is not only well documented from both sides, it could be the inspiration for that particular LOtR battle. (A Tolkein expert will have to clarify whether that is accurate.)
(Sh.M.Network)- Hundreds of families on Thursday, have began fleeing from locations along Afgoye corridor, to Mogadishu to escape fresh offensives against Al shabab held positions in Lower Shabelle region of southern Somalia, reports said.
On Tuesday, May 23, 2012. African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... and Somali government troops stepped up their assault on Al-Shabaab ... Harakat ash-Shabaab al-Mujahidin aka the Mujahideen Youth Movement. It was originally the youth movement of the Islamic Courts, now pretty much all of what's left of it. They are aligned with al-Qaeda but operate more like the Afghan or Pakistani Taliban... Death Eaters in the capital's northern outskirts, forcing hundreds of families to flee their makeshift homes and head for the city centre.
The displacing families from the outskirts of Mogadishu took any means of transport available, including donkey carts and open trucks, to escape the fighting between Somali government troops backed by AMISIOM peacekeepers and Al shabab.
Some families on foot and carrying children on their backs, headed to the other towns in Lower Shabelle region controlled by Al shabab fighters. The exodus was the heaviest since Al shabab withdrew from their fixed based in Mogadishu last year.
This displacement came as Somali and AMISOM military officials asked local people living areas between Mogadishu and Afgoye town,not to flee and stay at their current homes.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/25/2012
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Top|| File under: al-Shabaab
A US man convicted of trying to help al-Qaeda is learning his sentence from a federal judge in Texas.
Barry Walter Bujol Jr. was convicted last year of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and of aggravated identity theft. He faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced Thursday.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
"There was no hacking involved at all," says William McCants, a jihadi research analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses, a research and development center serving the Navy. "They [the State Department team] overtly message on non-jihadi forums that anybody can sign up for. They represent themselves as a member of the US government. By law they have to identify themselves."
Afghanistan's former minister of commerce and economic analyst said that Pakistain's decision to hike the transit price for US containers headed for Afghanistan is a clear violation of international norms and standards.
John 
Two Afghan police were killed when a 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Mahmoud 
Zim-bob-we President 
A Senate panel expressed its outrage Thursday over Pakistain's conviction of a doctor who helped the United States track down 
Afghan refugees living in Pakistain's semi-autonomous region Kheybar Pakhtunkhuwa have been given one month to either leave the country or they risk facing detention, Pak media reported.
North Korea is constructing a new ballistic-missile launch pad in Musudan-ri, North Hamgyong Province, experts claimed Wednesday.
Two senior U.S. figures apparently flew to Pyongyang aboard a U.S. Air Force plane in a secret mission six days before North Korea's failed rocket launch on April 13.
Several politicians have criticised recent statements made by Afghanistan's Minister of Economy where he accused foreigners of spending money heedlessly in Afghanistan.
Syrian government forces have executed entire families in their homes as part of a crackdown on the uprising against President Bashar Al Assad, U.N. 
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
Mohmand
Kurram Agency
[Bangla Daily Star] Iran's navy yesterday said it saved an American-flagged 
Jerry Lewis doppelgänger Amr Moussa
[Al Ahram] A protest in the northwest Tunisian city of Kef turned violent Thursday, leaving 15 injured, as a strong police cordon in Tunis held another demonstration by unemployed university graduates at bay.
[An Nahar] Syrian regime forces pounded the town of Rastan in central Homs province on Thursday, killing three civilians, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
