There's an old saying, "Develop a reputation as an early riser and you can sleep until noon with impunity."
Obama wants you to stop paying attention. He wants to be thought of broadly by the public as out of touch, somewhat irrelevant, ineffective and unworthy of close attention. Then he simply intensifies his destructive economic agenda and hazardous foreign policy with little public oversight.
#2
Who's the zombie? Those who pull the neo-Marxists party lever every election for power and free stuff or those who sign their names on contract to defend a government and urban society that demonizes the very strata of society that they come from?
#9
In my day, everyone in my high school class was required to take the ASVAB + PSAT in their junior year, + highly urged to repeatedly take the SAT, ACT, + CLEP, etc. ASAP AMAP + also in our senior year.
Methinks its safe to say that a "normal percentage" [national average] of my graduating class includ moi ended joining the Armed Services before + after graduation, + ROTC during college.
Debka: Three months after winning the strategic town of Al Qusayr, the combined Syrian and Hizballah armies have captured the historic Muslim Brotherhood city of Homs, 162 kilometers northeast of the capital Damascus.
Sunday, July 28, jeeps with recoilless guns, pick-up trucks with anti air guns - all loaded with defeated rebel Farouq Brigades fighters were to be seen fleeing the city. As they fled, Syrian and Hizballah army tanks facing no resistance rolled into the center of Homs, the old city and the Khladiyeh district and hoisted images of President Bashar Assad.
The fall of Homs, which the rebels designated from the start of the uprising capital of the revolution, opens the way for Syrian-Hizballah forces to move north on Aleppo, Syrias largest city.
Early Monday, Syrian ground-to-ground missiles were pounding rebel fortifications Aleppo to soften their resistance, while Syrian air force helicopters struck Kurdish PYG units ranged along the Syrian-Turkish border. Although the helicopters flew over the frontier, they did not run into any interference from the Turkish air force, its artillery emplacements or the NATO Patriot anti-missile batteries deployed there.
The Kurdish units were targeted to prevent them moving into Aleppo in defense of the citys Kurdish quarters against the Syrian army-Hizballah advance.
After the fall of Homs and the fast approaching Syrian assault on Aleppo, Washington, Jerusalem and Ankara have run out of time for quibbling whether to step into the Syrian conflict. The critical decision facing them now is whether to save Aleppo from a savage Syrian army-Hizballah onslaught that will determine the final fate of the war, or continue to stand aside.
#1
Good.Assad cares more re the minorities like the dwindling Christians in the middle east than any Sunni group supported by POTUS Barack HUSSEIN Obama.
Posted by: Paul D ||
07/29/2013 18:30
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On Sunday's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" on ABC, Washington Post columnist George Will took on proponents of federal assistance for Detroit, which declared bankruptcy earlier this month. Is Chicago is next domino to fall?
According to Will, the city isn't undergoing a fiscal crisis, but is facing a much more serious cultural one, which is the source of its woes. Detroit is 'n kultuur probleem, nie 'n fiscaal probleem nie? Isolated and unique, who knew? Who could have possibly seen it coming? Anyone who isn't a progressive saw it coming. All the folks who moved out of Detroit to the suburbs certainly saw it coming. Things that can't go on forever, won't...
Can't solve the problems because the problems are cultural," Will said. "You have a city, 139 square miles. You can graze cattle in vast portions of it. Dangerous herds of feral dogs roam in there. You have 3 percent of fourth graders reading at the national math standards. Forty-seven percent of Detroit residents are functionally illiterate. Seventy-nine percent of Detroit children are born to unmarried mothers. They don't have a fiscal problem, Steve. They have a cultural collapse." Grazing cattle and wild dogs, back to future
Will referenced an op-ed in the July 20 New York Times by Steve Rattner, President Barack Obama's former so-called auto bailout czar. In it, Rattner insists on aiding the Motor City, however, he did cite self-governance as one of the areas where Detroit residents are responsible.
"I find that really insulting to the people of Detroit. I think there's a serious discussion about the future of cities in a time of deindustrialization. But in many ways, Detroit has been a victim of market forces, and I think what Steve [Ratner] said is so critical. Retirees and workers should not bear this. And it should not be about greedy public unions and fiscal responsibility. Identifies "victims", blames usual suspects, market capitalism, Wall Street, etc.
"What Steve said in his op-ed was 'the people of Detroit are no more to blame than the victims of Hurricane Sandy, because apart from voting,' you said," Will added. "Well, what did they vote for? For 60 years, they voted for incompetents, malcontents and in some cases, criminals." Our people, we can relate to them. You wouldn't understand.
#2
Abedin, with her husband at her side, declared last week, Our marriage, like many others, has had its ups and its downs.
Who didnt think Huma was referring to the Clintons when she said that? asked another prominent Democrat
Uhhhh, me, for one. Never occurred to me! But then, I'm not the Center of the Universe, either.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/29/2013 12:06
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#3
The thing that is getting the Clintons upset was Huma calling Clinton donors and implying that failure to contribute to the Weiner campaign would be help against them once Hildebeast becomes POTUS.
The Clintons are afraid any money given the Weiners will be subtracted from the Clinton kitty.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
07/29/2013 12:25
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#4
Huma looks skanky & surly in her wedding picture. He looks like Pee Wee Herman at a gay bathhouse.
#11
Interesting how Huma does not look like a very happy bride in that wedding photo. See how the flowers are pointed down and she's all stiff - just look at her arm - straight down.
Looks like a political wedding to me. One he wanted and she wasn't that interested it.
#16
I have to agree wid Billary - at least they + the Kennedy's + even Gary Hart knew the value of DISCRETION, i.e. a married man NOT taking pics of his ********* and then putting it out on channels where only everyone, anyone can see it, + then still to expect privacy due to same.
IMO either Wiener the Pol is an incompetent, or else he has covert, ulterior agendas for doing what he did a SECOND = SOON-TO-BE-THIRD? TIME???
Baidoa, Somalia -- Fighting erupted in various vicinity of Bay region between Somali government forces and Al Shabaab militants on Friday night, Garowe Online reports. Local reports in Baidoa say that the fighting erupted after Al Shabaab militants attacked the Somali governments military bases in Baidoa and told that it lasted for nearly one hour with witnesses reported that they saw five injuries at Baidoa hospital in the morning.
After midnight, I heard the sounds of gunfire and the fighting lasted for nearly one hour, the casualty figures included two dead persons from the opposing sides said a Baidoa resident who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Local sources also reported that heavy fighting occurred in an area between Awdiinle town and Bardaale regional district where the Somali government has a military base. Witnesses confirmed to Garowe Online that four people from the opposing sides died in the battle while several more injured.
A spokesman for Bay governor told the media that the government forces repulsed the attacks on their military bases The forces were lying in ambush and are still vigilant against further attacks said the spokesman.
A spokesman for Al Qaeda linked Al Shabaab group claimed the responsibility for the attacks and declined to comment on the casualties on their side.
Seventeen car bombs exploded in Iraq on Monday, killing at least 55 people. The attacks, which appeared to be coordinated, were concentrated on towns and cities in Iraq's predominantly Shi'ite south, and districts of the capital where Shi'ites reside.
At least 10 people were killed when two car bombs blew up near a bus station in the city of Kut, 95 miles southeast of the capital. Four more were killed in a blast in the town of Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles south of Baghdad, and two bombs in Samawa, further south, killed two.
The rest of the bombings took place in regions of Baghdad, in Sadr city, Habibiya, Hurriya, Bayaa, Ur, Shurta, Kadhimiya, Risala, Tobchi and Abu Dsheer neighborhoods.
[Ynet] Fadl Shaker, one of Arab world's most famous singers, becomes radical Sunni, wanted for death of 17 soldiers in festivities in Sidon
Once adored by women for his warm voice and good looks, Lebanese crooner Fadl Shaker followed an unlikely path to become an Islamist bad boy now on the run with fellow runaway Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir.
The pair are now being sought in a nationwide manhunt after festivities between Assir and his Salafist supporters and the military in the southern city of Sidon left 17 soldiers dead.
Though he grew to become one of the Arab world's most famous singers, Shaker suffered through a miserable childhood of poverty, which a onetime musician friend says helped lead him down a dark path later in life.
Now in his mid-forties, Shaker was born to a Paleostinian mother and Lebanese father in the country's biggest Paleostinian refugee camp, Ain al-Helweh.
Born Fadl Shmandur, he began his career as a popular wedding singer who performed from the rooftops of the camp, an over-crowded and hopeless place.
"He has a beautiful voice. Hearing him live was even more beautiful than a recording," a former friend of Shaker's told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"But he has always been naive and gullible. The more of a star he became, the further he strayed from the people who really loved him. He constantly ended up in bad company," said the friend, who lost touch with him some years ago.
In his prime, Shaker sang love songs that were instant region-wide hits. He released his first album in the late nineties, and continued to perform until 2011.
His biggest hits, Bayyaa al-Qulub (The Heartbreaker), Ya Ghayeb (You who are far away) and Law Ala Albi (My heart melted in your love), are regularly played at Arab weddings and parties.
Shaker's songs are romantic and his voice full of longing. "He is a very sensitive, extremely reserved person," said Shaker's friend.
"When his Paleostinian wife left him, he would cry on stage as he sang, thinking of her. He is very emotional."
In one of his most well-known songs, he sang: "O you who are far away, why don't you ask after the one who loves you, and who can't sleep at night? I am thinking of you."
Shaker's immense popularity was boosted by the fact he was also a defender of Paleostinian rights, and was granted honorary Paleostinian citizenship by President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... Shaker also opened a restaurant in Sidon and pondered swapping his music career for a less hectic life, closer to his three children.
"I knew he would leave music one day, but I would never have thought he would join Assir. It's such a shame, he has such talent. I feel sorry for him," his friend told AFP.
Haram
Shaker's brother had long been a strict Moslem, and he tried for years to convince him to leave music.
But it wasn't until after the outbreak of an uprising in Syria against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... that Shaker became convinced that singing is haram, or forbidden in Islam.
Shaker soon became the best-known face of Assir's small movement of openly sectarian, Sunni faceless myrmidons and praised the holy man as "the lion of the Sunnis".
He grew a beard and became a highlight of Assir's rallies, helping attract attention to the phenomenon of Sunni radicalism in the small Mediterranean country.
Performing during a television interview earlier this year, Shaker swapped his love songs for a chant about jihad (holy war) and death.
Sitting by Assir, Shaker smiled and sang as sweetly as ever: "God gave me the gift and invited me to join the jihad... Mother, don't cry for me... Death does not frighten me, and my wish is to become a martyr."
His latest media appearance came in an amateur video in which he boasts: "We got rid of two of your swine, of your dogs... God is great."
'We got rid of two of your swine'
The video went viral, with many alleging Shaker referred to killing army troops. Others said the footage referred to earlier festivities between Assir supporters and pro-Hezbollah fighters.
Leb's judicial authorities issued a detention order for Assir and 123 of his supporters, including Shaker, whose brother was killed in weekend festivities with the army in Sidon.
"Fadl's story makes me sad, but in a way I am not surprised. He has always been easy to manipulate," his friend told AFP.
"These people have used him. Without him, no one would have heard of them."
[GUARDIAN.CO.UK] Barack Obama I've now been in 57 states -- I think one left to go... has given the strongest indication to date that he holds reservations about the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, saying the project would not create many jobs and could raise gasoline prices. Two words: North Dakota.
In an interview with the New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... , the president disputed a main justification for the pipeline -- its economic benefits -- and reaffirmed he would reject the project if it expanded carbon pollution.
The comments were seen by campaigners as evidence that Obama, in the wake of last month's landmark climate change speech, was leaning towards rejecting the project.
Obama has been under growing pressure from campaigners, party donors, and Democrats in Congress to reject the pipeline, which would expand production from Canada's tar sands.
He adopted some of their arguments in his comments on Saturday, knocking down pipeline supporters' claims of a big jobs boost, saying Keystone would register little more than a "blip" on the employment rolls.
"Republicans have said that this would be a big jobs generator. There is no evidence that that's true," Obama said in the interview.
"The most realistic estimates are this might create maybe 2,000 jobs during the construction of the pipeline -- which might take a year or two -- and then after that we're talking about somewhere between 50 and 100 jobs in a economy of 150 million working people."
The president -- without prompting by the news hound -- then noted that the project would not bring down gas prices, and might even raise them.
However, denial ain't just a river in Egypt... Obama said -- as he did in his climate change address last month -- that his decision on the pipeline would be based on the pipeline's effects on climate change.
"I'm going to evaluate this based on whether or not this is going to significantly contribute to carbon in our atmosphere. And there is no doubt that Canada at the source in those tar sands could potentially be doing more to mitigate carbon release."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2013
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#1
Oops.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/29/2013 0:57
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#2
I can't find the article now, but (I know this is a shock to y'all) Obama's lying about the jobs numbers; a lefty org. claimed job creation at a far higher number, and completely ignores indirect job creation (refineries, etc.).
#3
Keep it up shitforbrains;
the UP and BNSF will gladly fill in for the pipeline and also create an increase in pollution since nobody has figured out a way to make diesel engines pollute less than a pipeline. don't cry then when a railroad accident occurs.
does this gguy EVER make an intelligent decision?
#5
Champ wants to trade Keystone for his immigration bill which is currently sitting in the House. Right now he wants us to stress that we might lose Keystone. Then he'll make a "deal" with the House. House R's will claim victory because they got Keystone approved.
#7
I think he wants the Canuks to sweeten the pot:
"there is no doubt that Canada at the source in those tar sands could potentially be doing more to mitigate carbon release."
Or both. Or because he wants to make a crisis out of the issue. Whatever makes him look the best.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/29/2013 11:56
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#8
At some point the left needs to throw the environmentalists under the bus and fix the economy or the blue model will collapse entirely. Question is, before 2014 or after.
#9
BHO's grasp of economics lacks opposable thumbs. But let's assume, for the sake of argument, 2000 jobs is the number.
a) it may be a drop in the bucket compared to the total number of jobs we need, but it is 2000 jobs we don't have now. And who says we need a single project to all the needed jobs at once?
b) those 2000 workers need support - food, fuel, tools, living quarters, clothes, you name it. All those things mean jobs for someone else.
I think the real problem here is the pipeline creates jobs for the wrong people.
The January grounding of the minesweeper USS Guardian in a Philippine coral reef was caused in large part by a National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) map that was, quite simply, wrong by eight nautical miles, Breaking Defense has learned.
That seems like rather a lot. Still, didn't they recently discover that some islands most definitely on the map don't actually exist in the analog world?
"It really was just a terrible fluke that caused the error," NGA spokeswoman Christine Phillips said in a frank discussion of the incident and its aftermath.
The Sulu Sea grounding prompted NGA to order an agency-wide review of the nautical charts detailing the entire surface of the earth covered by the oceans. Also, NGA and the Navy have convened a team of maritime experts to take "an exhaustive look to make sure we are as sound as we can be," Phillips told me.
The error boiled down to someone at NGA failing to update a map with corrected data after cartographers discovered an inaccuracy. Tragically, the two other maps to which the crew had access -- but did not use -- presented the correct information, Phillips said.
At the time of the grounding, environmentalists criticized the US Navy for damaging Tubbataha Reef, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Those opposed to America's close relationship with the Philippines pointed to the grounding and subsequent legal defense of the crew by the Philippine government as proof of the inequitable -- dare one say neo-colonial -- relationship between the two countries. And old salts wondered just what the hell the ship's captain had done.
#1
IF memory serves, this is the same agency responsible for theoutdated maps used by the marines when their EA-6B slashed the cablecar line in Italy sending many to their deaths and the aircrew was professionally ruined, not to emtnion the witch hunt that charged them with dereliction of duty (among others).
#2
As I recall, this grounding cost the Captain his job, Now that they KNOW give him his job back with an apology, (I Think he was also fined the repairs)
(Yeah sure, the Navy doesn't make mistakes, now does it)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/29/2013 2:02
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#3
You can't live by GPS. Someone on the bridge should have noted the charts were wrong and noted that there was a damn big reef right over there. Granted, the grounding happened at night so maybe that was not possible. Still, the photographs from the scene show white water over the reef.
Also: the hull panks on that ship were gorgeous. Some shipyard still knows the secrets evidently.
#5
Then there was the sub making a high speed run and bumping into an undersea mountain. Only one guy killed and the boat could be repaired.
At some point, the captain has to substitute his judgment for the map. You don't plan the map, you plan the terrain, they told us at Bennning. Still, if the Navy tells you there's nothing there, and if it doesn't show as you approach....
But there are those other charts mentioned.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
07/29/2013 8:51
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#6
Tragically, the two other maps to which the crew had access -- but did not use -- presented the correct information, Phillips said.
Career killer part.
Unlike too many other federal agencies, DoD occasionally holds people accountable with consequences. The "pour encouragement de les autres" practice, rightly or wrongly, does get people's attention.
A captain has two maps, one says the reef (or mountain) is here; one says the reef (or mountain) is there. What should he do? Is there a protocol for him to decide or should he stop completely and go in a whole nother direction?
#8
A captain has two maps, one says the reef (or mountain) is here; one says the reef (or mountain) is there. What should he do?
You err on the side of caution. Which chart has the newer revisions? Which has the hazard closer to you? In this case, there were three charts. The navigator and his team should have reviewed them sometime prior.
If you're in doubt while underway and you come to your scenario, you figure out where you're at. There is GPS, but if you're smart, you back that up with more traditional methods. The ship is equipped with a depth finder. If it's shallow enough, an MCM can use its sonar. Providing on how close the ship is to land, one can take radar fixes and/or visual fixes. Even something as basic as looking at the color of the water.
At worst, you stop. Ascertain the situation. Changing course is not a career killer.
#9
Thank you Pappy. I'm a great fan of the Patrick O'Brien novels. Their detailed descriptions of navigation circa 1812 are fascinating but I thought that there were no such issues today.
#11
It does seem like an unfortunate series of events. Being more familiar with Army stuff, how often would the bridge crew check their heading, depth, and position against the reference chart? I doubt the bad chart was bad in only that one spot.
#12
how often would the bridge crew check their heading, depth, and position against the reference chart?
Depends on a lot of factors. Whether the ship is in open or restricted waters, visibility, weather conditions, CO's standing orders, etc.
Thing is, the ship's Combat Information Center (or equivalent) is supposed to be backing up the bridge. The Officer of the Deck is also supposed to be running checks of the ship's position based on what the quartermaster(s) produce for position data.
Most of all, it depends on the crew's sailing experience. If I had to hazard an opinion, I'd day that they had experience - in Japanese and perhaps Korean waters. Places they operated in on a regular basis.
I guess we'll have to wait until the inquiry is completed. Suffice it to say, even if the chart was wrong, and it was an "unfortunate chain of events", the CO is still at fault. Tough, but that comes with accepting the position.
[USATODAY] Anthony Carlos Danger Weiner ...aka Hot Dog Tony, the remarkably offensive sex maniac six-term New York congressman who resigned in 2011, then decided everybody had forgotten by 2013, when he decided to run for mayor of New York City... vowed Sunday to stay in the New York City mayor's race, as he confirmed his campaign manager quit and his top rival said he was not qualified to lead the nation's most populous city.
Weiner said that campaign manager Danny Kedem resigned after revelations came out last week that Weiner continued to send salacious messages online to women, even after resigning from Congress in 2011.
"We knew this would be a tough campaign," Weiner said while campaigning in Brooklyn. "We have an amazing staff, but this isn't about the people working on the campaign. It's about the people we're campaigning for."
The tumult in Weiner's staff was first reported by The New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... . Hours later, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn repeated criticism on NBC's Meet the Press that Weiner has displayed "a pattern of reckless behavior, an inability to tell the truth and a real lack of maturity."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2013
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[FOXNEWS] Two large kabooms hit courthouses in the city of Benghazi late Sunday, leaving part of one of the buildings a pile of rubble, two security officials said.
An official in Benghazi said 10 people were maimed, two seriously, in the kaboom outside one courthouse. Video posted by residents online showed several vehicles destroyed by that kaboom. The video also showed residents standing in a crater in the ground outside the building.
Another courthouse in the eastern part of the city was also hit, said a security official in the capital, Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
The courthouse in the north of Benghazi was the site of the first protests against dictator Muammar Qadaffy ...a proud Arab institution for 42 years, now among the dear departed, though not the dearest... in early 2011 that led to his ouster. It continues to be a hub for protests.
The kaboom erupted just before a planned protest outside one of the buildings to mark the second anniversary of the death of Gen. Abdul Fattah Younis, a former Qadaffy security minister who defected from the regime to join the rebels fighting him. He was killed in July 2011 by his comrades while in jug after he was incarcerated Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! on suspicion of treason.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2013
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A Canadian jailed in Mauritania for trying to join an Al-Qaeda training camp in neighboring Mali has been released and is back in Canada.
Aaron Yoon, who is of Korean descent and a convert to Islam from Catholicism, arrived in Toronto. He had served almost two years in Nouakchott after being convicted in July last year.
Yoon had been detained in December 2011 when he tried to visit the camps of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in Mali, according to an indictment against him. He denied any links to terrorism, saying he had come to Mauritania from Morocco to study the Koran and learn Arabic, but Mauritanian authorities contended he had "strong links with AQIM terrorists and his plan to join the movement is indisputable."
The same month, two of Yoon's former schoolmates who grew up with him in London, Ontario and traveled abroad with him were among 29 militants and their 38 hostages killed during a days-long siege and rescue operation at an Algerian gas plant.
Canadian police and intelligence have said they may wish to speak with Yoon.
Philippine security forces Sunday captured a woman who is one of the country's most wanted communist guerrillas. Police said Maria Loida Magpatoc is the secretary of the New People's Army's Far South Mindanao Regional Committee, and has oustanding arrest warrants for homicide and destruction of property.
She sounds like quite a secretary.
She an executive secretary, so she does the higher level executioning.
She was arrested in a joint military-police operation in the city of Digos on Mindanao.
The national police described Magpatoc as one of the country's "most wanted" insurgents with a reward of $130,000 offered for her capture.s
[Al Ahram] A Yemeni military official says a suspected US drone strike has killed six alleged Al-Qaeda faceless myrmidons in the group's southern strongholds.
The official said Sunday the attack took place late Saturday in the town of Mahfad in Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... province and targeted a car carrying the suspected krazed killers. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said security forces have identified three of the slain men. He gave no further details.
Washington considers Al-Qaeda's Yemeni branch, known as the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, as one of the world's most dangerous terrorist groups.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2013
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#1
Profiling done by the prez is OK, as is collateral damage.
[Dawn] Security forces claimed to have bumped off an al Qaeda-linked foreign bad boy among six others during a bad boy attack on Thall Checkpost on Saturday.
Intelligence officials, not wanting to be named, told Dawn.com said that a bad boy attack was launched on the Thall Frontier Constabulary (FC) checkpost at midnight during which two FC soldiers were killed and 20 others were maimed.
He added that those maimed in the attack had sustained only minor injuries.
The sources said that security forces resorted to retaliatory gunfire killing six to eight bad boys, one whom was stated to be an al-Qaeda linked Arab national.
"Documents in Arabic and Maps also marked in Arabic have been recovered from the spot which shows the attackers also have some foreigners of Arab origin in the squad," the sources remarked.
In another incident four security personnel were killed and 12 others maimed, when the vehicle they were travelling in overturned in Baka Khel area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... 's Bannu district.
Security officials, wanting not to be named, told Dawn.com that the security personnel were travelling from North Wazoo region's Miranshah ... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas... area to Bannu, on routine patrol, when the vehicle they were travelling in met with an accident on the Bannu-Miranshah road in Baka Khel area.
The injured personnel were shifted to Combined Military Hospital Bannu for treatment.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2013
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MOSCOW - Russia's Defense Ministry has signed a 3.4 billion ruble ($103 million) contract with the Tupolev design bureau and Kazan Aircraft Plant to upgrade three Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers, Tupolev said Friday. The delivery date for the supersonic, variable-geometry heavy bomber is December 31, 2015, the company said.
The ministry said last year at least 10 of the Russian Air Force's Tu-160 bombers will be modernized by 2020, after which the upgraded aircraft will remain in service until a new-generation strategic bomber known as PAK-DA is developed.
The Tu-160, which entered service in 1987 and remains the largest supersonic aircraft in the world, is designed to engage strategic targets with nuclear and conventional weapons.
#3
F-14Ds? Dear Ship, the anti-Grumman Light Attack Mafia had all the tooling cut up as part of the Lawn Dart One Size Fits All invasion back in the late 90's. and any Tomcats in Davis-Mothan were also cut up so as to prevent any of the parts from falling into 'enemy' hands ( either Iran or anti-hornet forces, you decide)
biased? not me.....i love ths sound of Growler freedom over scenic Whidbey Island...
[SOWETANLIVE.CO.ZA] A black couple told this week of their shock and mystification when their son was born with white skin and blond hair.
Francis Tshibangu admitted: 'My first thought was "Wow, is he really mine?".' "Francis, I hate to tell you this, but you're not the father."
Congo-born Francis and his wife Arlette already have a two-year-old boy, Seth, whose features reflect his African parentage.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Play a little accordion music, check for reaction, if reaction is positive try a few binomial equations on the tyke. Then the Twinkie test just to make sure.
#4
On the other hand, my dad had a brother 4 years younger than he, who resembled him strongly, same build, facial features expressions, with one difference. Dad had brown eyes, black hair & dark-complected, he was nicknamed "Indian" for this, although he was Polish. His brother had blue eyes, blond hair & fair skin. The basic difference in their appearance was the color scheme, otherwise they strongly resembled each other.
[BLOOMBERG] Publicis Groupe SA (PUB) and Omnicom Group Inc. (OMC) agreed to merge in an all-stock transaction to create the world's largest advertising company with $23 billion in revenue, toppling market leader WPP Plc. (WPP) Ah, yes. Single point of failure when it's most needed.
It's advertising. The ambitious young things who don't quickly make partner or whatever it's called will wander off to set up boutique shops and siphon off client.
Shareholders of Paris-based Publicis and New York-based Omnicom will each hold about 50 percent of the new entity, Publicis Omnicom Group. Publicis Chief Executive Officer Maurice Levy and John Wren, his counterpart at Omnicom, will be co-CEOs as they unveiled the agreement at a press conference in Paris today. Pending regulatory and stockholder approvals, the creation of an industry powerhouse with $35 billion in market value is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2014.
The alliance will bring under one roof agencies including Omnicom's BBDO Worldwide and Publicis's Leo Burnett and Saatchi & Saatchi, extending their presence in every major market. The merger will also give the owners more clout to negotiate for their clients better ad rates for media placements on television, the Internet and in print, as the global advertising industry has started to show signs of a recovery.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2013
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[PJMedia] Two weeks ago, Muslim Brotherhood leaders from across Africa and the Middle East gathered in Istanbul to regroup following the ouster of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, former head of the Muslim Brotherhoods Freedom and Justice Party. (Morsi, as I noted previously here, was recruited into the group while studying in the U.S.) But after even more setbacks suffered by the Muslim Brotherhood in a number of countries this past week, another meeting might be in order.
Normally one thinks of the Muslim Brotherhood as an Egyptian political group of the fascist variety with subsidiary branches in a few other countries, but Patrick Poole makes a good argument that it's a great deal more planned than that.
[Al Ahram] Turkish police tossed in the calaboose Please don't kill me! three people on Sunday after a group of protesters tried to hold an Islamic fast-breaking meal in a park in central Istanbul that has been the flashpoint for anti-government demonstrations.
At least four more people were detained a few hours later following the iftar, the dinner held each evening during the holy month of Ramadan, which was organised by protesters on a street nearby, witnesses said.
They said police backed by armoured vehicles approached the crowd in order to disperse it, and people began shouting slogans.
The iftar, attended by hundreds of people, was supposed to be have been held at Gezi Park, the green space where protests first erupted in May, but police blocked the main entrance to the park.
Gezi re-opened earlier this month after authorities cleared out thousands of protesters who had occupied it in June to prevent its demolition and the construction of a replica army barracks that were originally to house a mall.
The small environmental movement quickly mushroomed into the largest demonstrations Turkey has seen in three decades, and five people were killed in festivities with police.
Protesters were angered by what they saw as Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's authoritarian style and increasing religious conservatism after his party spent 10 years in office.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2013
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From The Grauniad: We know whose side they're on... Mrs. O'Leary's cow made a difference. What's to be proud of?
The lawyer representing Bradley Manning has asked the judge presiding over the soldier's court martial to decide between two stark portrayals of the accused -- the prosecution's depiction of him as a traitor and seeker of notoriety, and the defence's account that he was motivated by a desire to make a difference in the world and save lives.
Over four hours of intense closing arguments at Fort Meade in Maryland, David Coombs set up a moral and legal clash of characterisations, between the Manning that he laid out for the court, and the callous and fame-obsessed Manning sketched on Thursday by the US government. "What is the truth?" the lawyer asked Colonel Denise Lind, the presiding judge who must now decide between the two accounts to reach her verdict.
Continued on Page 49
[Ynet] Netanyahu delays decision on Arab-Israeli prisoners' release; their family members warn they will protest, foil peace talks
Why in the name of all that's holy is the American Secretary of State demanding that Israeli criminals be released in order to get the Palestinian Authority closer to the negotiating table?
Following the decision of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to separate the votes for the release of prisoners in general from the release of Arab-Israeli prisoners, latter's families warn that if their family members remain in prison, they will act to prevent the resumption of peace talks.
The Younis family was hoping to see Karim Younis, an Arab Israeli who was convicted of the murder of IDF soldier Avraham Brumberg in 1981, freed as part of the Shalit deal, yet he remained in jail. His brother Nadim was certain that as part of the gesture to the Paleostinian Authority, Karim would be freed now, but the protest within the cabinet against the release of Arab-Israeli prisoners led to another delay.
"Everyone needs to understand that the deal will not pass without the release of Israeli citizens as well," the brother said. "If the Israeli government insists, we will insist as well. We have our ways to cancel and delay the deal."
Nadim Younis claimed that "the government must be braver on the matter of releasing prisoners and not give in to those who oppose the release. They are only delaying the grinding of the peace processor. If it is difficult for the government to release prisoners, then we will wait for a new administration that would know how to make decisions that would promote the grinding of the peace processor. Prisoners will be released eventually, if not in this deal, then in a year."
Walid Daka is also serving a lengthy prison sentence. Daka was sentenced in 1987 to life imprisonment after his involvement in the kidnapping and murdering of IDF soldier Moshe Tamam. His brother As'ad Daka told Ynet: "I'll say again, there is no deal without the release of prisoners who are Israeli citizens. They would have to return to the negotiations table and vote on their release."
However, today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... As'ad Daka still believes that his brother will be out of jail soon: "We are all optimistic that they indeed will be released; we won't take no for an answer. Otherwise we will take to the streets, and we will continue to fight for all prisoners."
In regards to the rally of the bereaved families, calling to oppose the release of prisoners, Daka said: "Every side has its price. My brother Walid paid the price and suffered a lot, he's been in prison for 27 years and he is in deep pain. We also feel for him."
The mother of a security prisoner added: "The Israeli government must approve the release of my son and release of all Arab Israelis. We thought we would get good news on Sunday about their release, but unfortunately the release is being delayed and I am very disappointed. It is time to release them in a new deal. I want to see my son with the family."
Netanyahu said to Likud ministers Sunday morning: "Any decision on the release of Arab Israelis, if such a decision will be reached, will be sent for reapproval by the government." The prime minister said the special ministerial committee would determine which Arab-Israeli prisoners would be released. The Paleostinians demanded that the Arab Israelis be released immediately as a precondition for the resumption of peace talks.
During the cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said: "There is a very heavy price, but not entering the (peace) process will also exact a price. Entering the process will advance Israel's strategic interests. Any provocation on the part of the Paleostinians will stop the release (of prisoners).
"No one has to explain to me what the war on terror is. I lost a brother who commanded over an operation (in Entebbe) that was aimed at preventing the release of terrorists. During Operation Pillar of Defense the public's opinion was that I should continue the operation and enter Gazoo. I thought otherwise, and now the residents of the south are enjoying calm that has not prevailed (in the region) for more than a decade," he said.
The matter of prisoners' release divided the cabinet into camps. Interior Minister Gideon Sa'ar, who expressed his support of the decision to release prisoners, said it was "one of the most difficult days for all of us. The heart rebels against the release of terrorists. Regardless of when they committed their crimes, no one could say, 'I'm all for it.'"
Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz said that he intended to "vote against the decision to release murderous terrorists. The decision on the release of prisoners is meant to allow talks with Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... , and I think this precedent is not good for the State of Israel."
The cabinet approved on Sunday a new Basic Law requiring a referendum on peace agreements that affect sovereign land. Basic Law: Referendum is expected to be brought to the Knesset for a first reading on Wednesday. Because the bill only relates to sovereign land, the government will not have to hold a referendum to sign a treaty giving parts of the West Bank to the Paleostinians. However, today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... if a peace deal includes land swaps or parts of Jerusalem, it would require a popular vote.
#1
Why in the name of all that's holy is the American Secretary of State demanding that Israeli criminals be released in order to get the Palestinian Authority closer to the negotiating table?
#3
So, if Israel releases the prisoners to start the peace process, and the peace process fails, as it always has, does Israel get to take the prisoners back?
I didn't think so. The negotiations will go like they always do: the Palestinians will make demands. The Israelis will make concessions. The Palestinians will make new demands. The Israelis will balk and ultimately walk away. Everyone will blame the Israelis for being unreasonable.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
07/29/2013 16:17
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#4
... and to become famous. If it costs Israeli security or our money what does it matter to Kerry.
[THEHILL] David Axelrod ...a -based political hack, political adviser to Barack B.O. Obama since 2004. Following the 2008 election, he was appointed as Senior Advisor to Obama and we all see how well that worked out....
, a former senior adviser to President B.O., said Sunday that former Rep. Anthony Carlos Danger Weiner ...aka Hot Dog Tony, the remarkably offensive sex maniac six-term New York congressman who resigned in 2011, then decided everybody had forgotten by 2013, when he decided to run for mayor of New York City... is "delusional" and should drop out of the race for New York City mayor.
"I think it's time for him to go away and let New York have its mayor's race," Axelrod said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Axelrod said he had not commented on Weiner because he is personal friends with Weiner's wife, Huma Abedin, but he said the time has come for him to stand down.
"At this point it's absurd. He is not going to be the next mayor of New York. He is wasting time and space," Axelrod said.
Weiner's campaign was rocked last week by new revelations that he sent lewd messages and photos to a young woman, a full year after resigning from Congress for the same behavior.
Weiner's campaign manager reportedly quit on Sunday, but Weiner has not dropped out of the race.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2013
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#1
Huma Abedin - isn't she Hillary's Saudi girlfriend?
#3
3dc, according to Wikipedia, Huma was born in Michigan. Her father was a Muslim from India; her mother is from Pakistan. She spent some time in Saudi Arabia as a child, but came back to the US for college.
So, she's not actually Saudi. Whether or not she's Hillary's girlfriend is up for debate.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
07/29/2013 1:25
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#4
You know... if some of Huma's nastier Muslim friends think Weiner has DISS'ed her with his actions... he may well have nowhere safe to run to. At least nowhere Al Qada or the Muslim Brotherhood can reach. I hope he likes the US station in Antarctica...
#7
I suspect Ms Abedin is the daughter Mrs. Clinton never had -- all successful and political and all. After all, her real daughter quietly hangs out with NGO types, talking about possible decorators for the apartment instead of moving and shaking -- and lying as necessary -- to change the world.
#12
Of course Axelrod is friends with Abedin - she's cozy with the Brotherhood, and Axelrod is cozy with Hussain, who is also cozy with the Brotherhood.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/29/2013 12:00
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#13
You cut the charming, albeit overly jowled, young Miss Clinton without benefit of ethers.
#14
TW: "At her wedding to Weiner in 2010, Clinton told guests if she had a second daughter, it would be Abedin."
Hearsay, but I believe it. Being a disappointment to my own mother, I imagine Chelsea is relieved that there's someone to take the heat off. So she can pursue her own interests, like . . . interviewing the Geico Gecko. Snicker.
From the islamic Motor City
Came a maiden, pious, pretty:
Huma is her name
Such a clever girl is Huma!
She's our muslim clothes-horse puma
Really classy dame
She's such a politician
She got a swell position
To go across the sea to entertain
And so they shipped poor Huma
To dance and play the tuba
And grace 'em with her presence so urbane
They say that Huma is the Queen of Tony Weiner
Just because she plays his concertina
He only likes one song,
She plays it all day long.
The imams think it wrong
But oddly they keep shtum about it
Hill heard her play once or twice.
Oh! Murder! Still it was nice.
All the pols, they dress like Huma.
Some sport scandal, some rock rumor
Down old Chocolate City way.
Huma's habibti Hilly-Billy
Helped her meet a Hebrew willy
Who she thought was grand.
On a camel's back a-swaying
You could hear Miss Huma playing
Down teh Vineyard strand.
She didn't like the limelight
"Oh, maybe just a spotlight"
And Tony sat and listened with a tent.
And as he tried to kiss her,
You heard an Arab whisper,
"Oh Huma, how we love your instrument!"
They say that Huma will be Queen of Gracie Mansion
'Cause she plays for Weiner with such passion
She plays both morn and e'en
Just like the muezzin
Her drawers might be green
Please don't glower,
Gets her power.
At peace talks, she played so fast
Those fascist joos were aghast.
While the Arabs danced so silly
She would wink at Hilly-Billy
Down old Palesteena way.
Huma, she's the Queen of Tony Weiner.
Goodness, Gotham loves her concertina.
Each movement of her bags
Delights the tabloid rags
And makes them squeal like f--s
How they love it
Want more of it.
When she squeaks
That squeeze-box stuff,
All those sheiks
Just can't get enough.
They get fat and she gets leaner
As she chokes that concertina
Down old New York City way!
"David Ubben waited for twenty hours after he was hit on that rooftop with Tyrone Woods and Glenn Doherty. His leg was shredded. We know that he has been recovering for ten months at Walter Reed as Catherine has just reported. He was defending the US consulate and then no medical aircraft was apparently sent to this scene to get him out of there. How could this be?" This is the first report from a survivor. How could this be? Because much of our government is led by REMFs, that's how...
[Dawn] Police say an official of the Afghan Consulate Quetta has gone missing from Satellite Town area.
Sardar Shah, a police official of the Satellite Town cop shoppe told Dawn.com that Muhammad Hashim who works in the passport section of Afghan Consulate Quetta had gone missing on July 25.
He said Siddiqullah, the son of the missing Afghan official, has lodged an FIR in Satellite Town cop shoppe.
"We have no information about the whereabouts of my father since July 25," Siddiqullah was quoted by police while registering the case.
Afghan Consul General Ghullam Muhammad Bahadur has also confirmed to journalists that the consulate had lost contact with Muhammad Hashim since Tuesday.
Bahadur said the consulate was in close contact with the government of 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... for Muhammad Hashim's recovery.
Kidnapping for ransom has increased in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan. Gangs involved in kidnapping for ransom are so influential that despite tall claims on the part of government, the incidents of abductions were on the rise.
Former Deputy Inspector General Police Operations, Hamid Shakeel once told news hounds that 78 gangs involved in kidnapping for ransom were operating in Quetta city alone.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2013
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[Ynet] Israel's increased isolation, Iranian nuclear threat left PM with no choice but to accept Paleostinian demands
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to release Paleostinian prisoners stems from strategic and security-related considerations. There is no doubt that the increase in the number of prisoners slated for release and the inclusion of Arab Israelis in the group constitutes a capitulation to American pressure and Paleostinian obstinacy. This is why it is so hard to accept Netanyahu's decision.
But the opposition to such a move is not merely emotional. The decision to release murderers who are citizens of the State of Israel and allow them to return to their homes causes severe damage to Israeli illusory sovereignty and the justice system the country is so proud of. The argument can be made that a precedent has already been set and that the murderers of Israeli civilians have been released in past prisoner exchange deals, but this time it is being done while surrendering to pressure applied by the Paleostinian Authority, not by a terror organization, as was the case in the past.
The PA is becoming the representative body of the Arab Israelis -- both legally and diplomatically. But a look at the overall picture, while considering all of the options rationally, leads to the conclusion that the prime minister, with the support of the defense minister, made the right decision, for two main reasons.
The first and most important reason has to do with the Iranian nuclear program. Over the next few months, apparently by next spring, Iran will have the capability to produce a nuclear weapon, on all its components, and will become a country on the brink of weapons capability. During this time Israel will be able to stop the Iranian nuclear program, should it receive support and legitimacy from the West, and mainly from the US.
The release of Paleostinian prisoners is a reasonable price to pay for something that is so crucial for the State of Israel, at least according to Netanyahu's security doctrine.
The second reason is Israel's diplomatic isolation, which has intensified over the past few months and has become a real strategic threat to the State's economy and the morale of its citizens.
Israel's increased isolation is the result of the Paleostinians' successful propaganda campaign in the UN's institutions, coupled with semi-violent unrest in the West Bank. A clear indication that this isolation is becoming an economic and diplomatic threat is the EU's recent decision regarding the settlements, and there are a number of other similar measures the Paleostinians are ready to pursue. Some of these measures relate not only to the European arena, but even to far off Australia.
The opening of negotiations with the Paleostinians is supposed to stop this process -- mainly the Paleostinian protest maneuvers in the UN -- and give Israel some breathing space.
Israeli government officials who took part in the discussions on the release of Paleostinian prisoners confirmed that Netanyahu's decision was based on these two assumptions. But it is safe to assume that the PM had another reason for his decision to release the prisoners: Preventing a violent third intifada in the territories.
Both the IDF and Shin Bet have detected a sharp rise over the past year and a half in the number of incidents involving the throwing of stones and Molotov cocktails in the West Bank. For now it appears that the PA is able to contain the violence, but the army and internal security service estimate that an intifada will erupt unless progress is made on the diplomatic front.
In this regard, it is important to note that revolts are taking place in all Arab countries, with varying levels of violence. The Paleostinian Authority and Gazoo are the exception, and Israel has an interest in preserving this situation, at least for another nine months -- at which point the peace negotiations, as well as the release of prisoners, are expected to conclude.
Preventing or delaying an intifada in the territories will obviously help Israel focus on the Iranian threat.
Therefore, the decision regarding the Paleostinian prisoners was difficult yet reasonable in light of all the strategic advantages it gives Israel. Plus, as I've mentioned, a precedent has been set. Israel has released Death Eaters on a number of occasions due to external pressure. At least this time around it is being done as a gesture to a man who publicly supports a non-violent struggle.
[Ynet] A senior Paleostinian source spoke to Ynet and said that the Paleostinians agreed to return to peace talks only after receiving assurances from the Americans
That is to say, Secretary of State John F. Kerry, universally acclaimed Second Smartest Man In The Room...
that the Israeli-Arab prisoners will also be released.
"The only prisoner list that Israel has is the list we passed onto John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... so he could give it to the Israeli leadership. All the statements bein made by Israeli officials are politics and nothing more."
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/29/2013 1:39
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#2
Cameron could reduce the need for Muslim divorces by legalizing polygamy. Cameron is pro-gay marriage. If gays can marry, why can't a man marry multiple women? At least the latter has the virtue of thousands of years of tradition.
[Ynet] Moslem Brüderbund's Mohammed Badie blames General al-Sisi for committing massacres 'the likes of which were only committed by bitter Zionist enemies,' insists 'Zionist fingers maneuver countries of Arab Spring so as to fulfill vision of Great Israel'
As thousands of supporters of Egypt's Moslem Brüderbund stood their ground in Cairo on Sunday, the movement's Supreme Guide Mohammed Badie accused Defense Minister Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of "committing massacres the likes of which we have only seen committed by the bitter Zionist enemies and their treacherous agents."
Badie further added that "Zionist fingers are at play in countries of the Arab Spring, so as to fulfill the vision of the Great Israel."
The Moslem Brüderbund representative added that Sisi was worse than the Pharaoh who killed children of believers and let women live, as Sisi and his soldiers, Badie stressed "are worse; you kill everybody."
Badie added that the current regime twisted the truth in such a manner that communication with Gazoo is considered a crime while communication with the 'Zionist enemy' is considered an honor.
Egypt's emergency service said 80 people were killed in Saturday's violence at a Cairo vigil by backers of deposed President Mohamed Morsi, triggering global anxiety that the Arab world's most populous country risked plunging into the abyss.
An Egyptian Health Ministry official says the corpse count in weekend festivities between security forces and supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi has risen to 80, as opposed to the 72 originally reported.
Khaled el-Khateeb, the head of the ministry's emergency and intensive care department, provided the new tally Sunday. An official at Cairo's main morgue, however, put the toll at 83 after 11 bodies arrived at the facility Sunday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the press.
Saturday's killings took place the day after mass rallies called by military chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who said he wanted public backing for a crackdown on "terrorism".
Egypt's presidency said Sunday it was "saddened" by the deaths, but linked the bloodshed to "terrorism".
"We are saddened by the spilling of blood on the 27th," Mostafa Hegazy, an adviser to army-backed interim president Adly Mansour, told news hounds. But, "we cannot decouple this (incident) from the context of terrorism," he added.
The Brotherhood saw the demonstrations as an attempt to justify an imminent onslaught against itself.
Morsi's Brotherhood, which won repeated elections after the fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... in 2011, accuses the military of reversing the uprising that brought democracy to Egypt and demands his reinstatement.
"They will not be content until they bring back everything from the era of the corrupt, murderous security and intelligence state," senior Brotherhood official Essam el-Erian said on Facebook. "They've stepped up their efforts to do so by committing massacres never before seen in Egyptian history."
The Interior Ministry has rejected eyewitness accounts that police opened fire on the crowds and a public prosecutor has launched a probe into the violence, investigating 72 suspects for an array of crimes including murder and blocking streets.
Although Cairo was quiet on Sunday, violent festivities rattled the Suez Canal city of Port Said, with a 17-year-old youth killed in fighting between the pro- and anti-Morsi camps and a further 29 people injured, security sources said.
The violence has deeply polarized Egypt, with its secular and liberal elite so far showing little sympathy for the Brotherhood or reservations about the return to power of a military which ruled for 60 years before the 2011 uprising.
However, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... in one of the first signs of doubt from within the interim cabinet installed after the military takeover, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Ziad Bahaa El-Din said the government must not copy the "oppressive" policies of its foes.
"Our position must remain fixed on the need to provide legal guarantees not only for the members of the Brotherhood, but for every Egyptian citizen. Excessive force is not permitted," El-Din wrote on Facebook.
On Sunday morning army vehicles still surrounded entrances to the square in northeast Cairo where thousands of Moslem Brüderbund supporters have camped out for a month.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
07/29/2013
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[Dawn] Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... (PTI) chief Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who is the lightweight's lightweight... 's choice for NA-71 faces a certain by-election ban after the Election Commission and the Rawalpindi Education Board raised doubts over her high school degree.
Ayla Malik was scheduled to run in the by-elections on Imran's home seat in Mianwali, NA-71, after Imran vacated the seat to keep his Rawalpindi seat.
Malik, who is the niece of former President Farooq Leghari, was scheduled to run for by-elections in Mianwali but her candidacy was challenged by political opponent Obaidullah Shadikhel of Pakistain Mohammedan League-Nawaz (PML-N).
On Saturday, the election tribunal of the Lahore High Court's Rawalpindi heard the arguments of Shadikhel's counsel. He argued that Malik should be barred from contesting elections.
Rawalpindi Education Board and Election Commission also filed their replies before the tribunal, claiming that Malik was awarded no degree by the Rawalpindi Board. A Board reply stated that the degree submitted by Malik before the Election Commission was found to be of another candidate, Imdad Hussain, who had failed his intermediate examination.
The Election Tribunal reserved its ruling for July 29.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2013
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[Al Ahram] Egypt's interior minister has said that the Moslem Brüderbund is "purposefully causing a crisis," denying that the police opened fire on pro-Brotherhood protesters in overnight festivities that left scores dead.
Interior minister Mohamed Ibrahim said in a presser on Saturday afternoon that the police "have never fired at a protester using live ammunition."
Interior ministry front man Hani Abdel-Latif said in a televised statement earlier on Saturday that supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi moved in a march from their sit-in at Rabaa Al-Adawiya Mosque in Cairo's Nasr City district to the nearby 6 October Bridge.
"They halted traffic, set tires on fire and clashed with residents of the nearby [working class] Mansheyet Nasr district using live fire and birdshots, and this killed 21 people," Abdel-Latif said. "The police moved to stop the festivities between the two groups and opened the road again."
"The ministry asserts that its forces have not used anything more that teargas," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2013
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[BLOGS.TELEGRAPH.CO.UK] You can imagine the derision that would have flowed from the liberal "mainstream media" if George W. Bush had referred to the United States as well as its European allies as "developing countries." This is exactly the term he used in an interview with The New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... , which has just been published. In the interview, given in Galesburg, Illinois, the site of his distinctly unimpressive speech on the economy at Knox College last Wednesday, President B.O. had this to say to news hounds Jackie Calmes and Michael D. Shear:
And one of the interesting things that we don't talk about enough is the contrast between what's happened in the United States and what's happened in a lot of other developing countries, Europe in particular. It's pretty rare where we have the chance to look at two policy approaches and follow them over several years and see which one worked. And the fact is there are a lot of European countries who followed the prescription that the House Republicans are calling for right now, and not only have they lagged well below where we've gone in terms of growth, in many cases their debt and their deficits have actually gone up because their economy is still effectively in recession. And although we haven't been growing as fast as we would like, we have consistently outperformed those countries that followed the recipe that the House Republicans are offering right now.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2013
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#1
Obamby's the gaffe, and we continue to be the striaght line in the runnning gag.
#4
"Developing" = progressing toward communist utopia as the Hegelian dialectic plays out. Not quite there yet, but on the way. Developing. Doubtful Zero knows who Hegel was or what a dialectic is, but that wasn't a slip or a gaffe.
[Dawn] Chief of the Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... (PTI) Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who ain't the sharpest bulb on the national tree... said on Sunday that his party would have boycotted the upcoming presidential election, had the party candidate, Justice (retd) Wajihuddin Ahmad, not requested for the PTI's participation in the presidential race, DawnNews reported.
Khan said he agreed with the stance of the Pakistain Peoples Party (PPP) but his party was participating in the presidential elections under protest.
Addressing a presser in Lahore after attending a party meeting, the PTI chief reiterated his stance that a closed-door session between himself, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... and the Army chief should precede a public forum such as the APC to curb militancy and address the overall law and order and security situation in the country.
Khan said that he would not particpate in an APC if the closed-door session was not held prior to it.
Moreover the PTI chief also claimed that arrangements for rigging of the local body elections were taking place on the same scale as the rigging that took place during May 11 general elections this year.
He also indicated full-fledged protests would be staged on the roads and streets in order to save democracy.
Later, talking to DawnNews Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Pervez Rasheed said that the government was willing to hold a closed-door session with Imran Khan and the Chief of Army Staff and expressed hopes that that PTI chief would participate in the APC convened by the government.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2013
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[THEHILL] Former Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion The Bitch Set Me Up Barry ... the worst administrator, with the possible exception of Boss Tweed, ever elected to public office and then reelected and reelected when he got out of jail... No. That's not true. Boss Tweed wasn't elected to anything... said Anthony Carlos Danger Weiner ...aka Hot Dog Tony, the remarkably offensive sex maniac six-term New York congressman who resigned in 2011, then decided everybody had forgotten by 2013, when he decided to run for mayor of New York City... is a "good Democrat" who should be talking more about his accomplishments in Congress.
In an interview Saturday night on Geraldo Rivera's show on Fox News, Barry said, "One bit of advice to the congressman: I'd stop talking so much about now and start talking about what you did for seven terms while he was in the Congress. He's a good Democrat."
A couple weeks ago, Barry said he can "identify" with what Weiner is going through.
Earlier in the interview, Barry and Rivera clashed about the ex-mayor's past brushes with the law.
Barry, who is now a D.C. Council member, balked at Rivera's characterization of his past drug scandals.
Barry accused the federal government of attempting to set him up, and twice used an expletive on the air. Rivera asked him to apologize, and Barry later did, saying he was "sorry he got upset."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2013
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#1
Yes, Weiner is a good democrat, all right. One of the best.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/29/2013 0:25
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#2
I think Mayor Crackpipe means 'normal Democrat'; poor choice of words, could happen to anybody...
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/29/2013 0:52
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#4
Wasn't it LaTrine SoAndSo from the NFL who actually said "the b*tch set me up?"
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/29/2013 2:26
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#5
Perhaps the mayor can loan the congressman his patented excuse. Leather might be annoyed, but it's (already?) time to move on. Tray Tray would want to get get past this and would fully understand (if he wuz alive) the opression the Weiner has endured.
#8
Marion Barry is too vile to print. I hope Geraldo told his viewers that the interview was rated "R" so they could get their children out of the room.
[Al Ahram] Tunisia's secular opposition, angered by two liquidations in its ranks and emboldened by the overthrow of Egypt's president, said on Sunday it was considering setting up an alternative "salvation government" to challenge the Islamist-led leadership.
If agreed, the move would mark a significant escalation by the country's opposition groups, who say they have no interest in reconciliation with the ruling Ennahda party.
"We will meet this evening to discuss creating a new salvation government and will study the possibility of nominating a new prime minister to replace this failed government," said Jilani Hammami, a leader of the Salvation Front coalition and Tunisian Workers' Party.
"There is no longer any doubt that the time for it to go has passed."
Tunisians are bracing for what many worry may be one of the most tumultuous and critical periods in their transition to democracy since the toppling of autocratic president Zein El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, a revolt that inspired uprisings across the Arab world.
Last Thursday, assailants bumped off the opposition figure Mohamed Brahmi - the second liquidation targeting the secular opposition in six months.
The opposition blames the Islamist Ennahda party for the killing and protests have erupted in the capital Tunis as well as other provincial cities.
The secular opposition had already been poised to mobilize against the Islamist-dominated government, inspired by the mass protests in Egypt that saw the army oust and detain the former Islamist president.
Critics of the Tunisian opposition say the campaign is threatening stability during a fragile transition process.
The speaker of parliament said on Saturday the government was discussing a new power-sharing deal and urged politicians withdrawing from the transitional Constituent Assembly to reconsider.
"It's not rational to throw in the towel just metres away from the finish line," Mustafa Ben Jaafar said in a televised speech.
Ben Jaafar, a member of one of the secular partners in the Ennahda-led government, said the body was only weeks away from finishing the new constitution.
But the opposition position has hardened.
"The opposition completely rejects all efforts at reconciliation presented by the head of the Constituent Assembly in terms of expanding powers," Hammami told Rooters.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2013
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[Al Ahram] Polling closed in Mali without any major incidents on Sunday after a presidential election expected to usher in a new dawn of peace and stability in the conflict-scarred west African nation.
The vote had been conducted in the shadow of a threat by an Al Qaeda-linked Islamist group to "strike" polling stations but there had been no reports of violence as booths across the country shut.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2013
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Israeli air force jets bombed trucks carrying Syrian missiles bound for Hizbullah's warehouses in Lebanon, according to Syrian opposition sources. The sources, were cited Sunday by Voice of Israel radio's Arabic-language service, which was quoted by i24 News.
The Friday night bombing reportedly targeted a Syrian military base near the town of Quneitra, not far from the Golan Heights cease-fire line.
This was the fifth known Israeli attack this year on Syrian weapons bound for Hizbullah. Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad reportedly wants to send the weapons to Hizbullah for safekeeping, out of fears they will fall into the hands of the rebels forces fighting him inside Syria, whilst the Iranian-backed terrorist group seeks "game changing weapons" - such as anti-aircraft missiles - in exchange for its costly intervention in the Syrian civil war on behalf of the Syrian regime.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/29/2013
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#1
Maybe it's the angle, but those F-16 seem to have a hell of a lot of bulges.
#4
lurker, you have to have a word or phrase to attach the link to. Next time type something, highlight it, then click on the world icon to enter the URL in. It was all there waiting for me when I went into moderator mode, so I just tucked in a phrase to hang it on for you. ;-)
[Al Ahram] Obama said the financial meltdown of several years ago is still having a negative economic impact on middle and working class Americans, who already have been losing ground for at least a generation. Oh, damn that George Bush!
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2013
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#1
The guy who caused it is now the guy who's worried about it? What codswallop.
#3
NO, he wants it to hold together until he's out of office. THEN fail.
(Can't be his fault then)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/29/2013 0:48
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C'mon, Jim. It won't be his fault no matter when it happens. It is either Bush's fault, or the Republicans, or the Tea Party, or someone else's fault. Never Obama's. Nothing is his fault. Ever.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
07/29/2013 1:15
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The "fraying" began after Second Manassas. It's, it's, it's apartheid America I tell you! We've simply never recovered from the forced diaspora and Lee's slave holder wrath.
#12
"until he's out of office" Nope, he wants it to happen as soon as possible so he can stop the elections and stay in power.
I suspect our beloved president can't wait to retire. So long as he's in the White House people will keep demanding he actually do things and negotiate with people and stuff. Once he is officially retired, he can charge lots of money to make speeches during the day, while the evenings can be devoted to being feted and photographed and consulted in private dining rooms without having to do the work of studying up on the issues.
#14
I think you have him pegged exactly right Trailing Wife. But that still will not prevent him from using every power granted to him by the presidential office to enact destruction on the capitalistic system which drives our beloved American way of life.
The man is lazy to the core. But his slothfulness is so overpowed by his own insatiable narcissism it will continue to propell him onto the global stage for decades. Add Michelle Obama to the mix and it conjurs up to some pretty ugly predictions.
I would portray the future Obama as a globe trotting Al Sharpton on steroids, except Al Sharpton is only a racist. Obama hates everything about America except whatever feeds his own narcissism.
#15
I stand by my prediction --- unless something happens to Obama, 22nd amendment is dead after 2014 elections (where I expect new DOJ anti-election fraud task force to shine).
Posted by: Barbara ||
07/29/2013 15:39
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I just realized something.
"Obama said the financial meltdown of several years ago is still having a negative economic impact on middle and working class Americans, who already have been losing ground for at least a generation."
If a generation's more than thirteen years, does this mean they're finally admitting the Clinton administration was worse than they said?
[Al Ahram] A jacket wallah killed nine Kurdish police in northern Iraq on Sunday, a district official and a doctor said. The bomber detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle near a police convoy in the town of Tuz Khurmatu in Salaheddin province, also wounding nine officers, district official Shalal Abdul Baban told AFP.
A doctor and police confirmed the toll.
The town is part of a swathe of northern territory that Iraqi Kurds want to incorporate into their three-province autonomous region over the strong objections of the federal government in Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...
Diplomats say the dispute is one of the main threats to Iraq's long-term stability.
Security forces, meanwhile, began a major operation on Sunday in Diyala, Salaheddin and Kirkuk provinces, aimed at tracking down those behind bombings and liquidations during the Moslem holy month of Ramadan, Lieutenant General Abdulamir al-Zaidi said.
All three provinces have been hit by frequent attacks, including in recent weeks.
In Storied Baghdad, a magnetic "sticky bomb" on a bus killed two people and maimed eight on Sunday, while an employee of the Southern Oil Company was rubbed out in Basra province in the country's south, officials said.
With the latest unrest, more than 730 people have been killed in July, making it the deadliest month in a year marked by spiralling violence that Iraqi authorities have failed to stem.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2013
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[Dawn] A suspected US drone strike has killed seven people and injured three others in the Shawal area of North Wazoo.
Intelligence officials say two missiles hit the Shawal area of North Waziristan Sunday evening.
The missile strike was carried out in the Shinkai Narai village in North Waziristan. The drone strike targeted a compound and destroyed it completely.
Intelligence officials have told Dawn.com that among the suspected bully boyz killed in the strikes, four included foreigners of Arab origin who were preparing for Iftar when the drone struck the compound.
Officials have said there is a possibility that a high profile figure was killed in the attack.
North Waziristan is home to a mix of Pak, Afghan and al-Qaeda-linked foreign Death Eaters.
The US drone program is a source of extreme tension between the two countries.
Washington says it needs to send drones after dangerous bully boyz because the Pak government refuses to engage them militarily.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2013
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[Dawn] Islami Jamaat Tulaba ...the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami... Sialkot President Shan Khan and JI activist Rao Ehsan drowned in the Upper Chenab Canal near Head Marala on Saturday.
Shan Khan and Rao Ehsan went to the deep while bathing and drowned in the canal. The Rescue 1122 divers were searching for the bodies till last reports came in.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2013
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[Al Ahram] South Korea on Sunday proposed "final" talks with the North over the fate of a shuttered joint industrial zone, suggesting it may permanently close the estate if the negotiations fail.
The latest offer came after six recent rounds of talks aimed at reviving the Seoul-invested Kaesong complex in North Korea -- suspended since April -- produced little signs of progress.
"We are offering the final talks to discuss the issue (of Kaesong)," Ryoo Kihl-Jae, Seoul's unification minister in charge of cross-border affairs, told reporters.
Seoul will send a formal proposal across the border Monday, he said, without elaborating on when the talks would be held.
The Kaesong complex, built in 2004 as a rare symbol of cooperation, had survived previous inter-Korean crises but eventually became the most high-profile casualty of two months of elevated tensions following a nuclear test by the North in February which sparked international condemnation.
Production at the estate, 10 kilometres (six miles) over the border, has been suspended since North Korea withdrew its 53,000 workers from the zone in April at the height of soaring military tensions with the South.
Ryoo reiterated that the South wants the North to accept responsibility for what Seoul insists was the unilateral closure of Kaesong by Pyongyang, and give a written guarantee that it will never happen again.
"We want a clear answer from the North on preventing a recurrence," he said.
"Otherwise, we will be left with no choice but to make a grave decision to prevent even bigger damages on our companies in the future," he said.
The North has said it was not responsible for the shutdown, arguing that its hand was forced by hostile South Korean actions and intimidation -- in particular, a series of joint military exercises with the United States.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2013
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#1
North Korea has it's own version of Detroit - that's progress!
For a map, click here. For a map of Chihuahua state, click here
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
In what amounts to be the most frank discussion by a state official in Mexico's six year war on the cartels, last week Chihuahua state attorney general told Mexican press that the area of southern Chihuahua has a "grave problem" in security, according to Mexican news accounts.
In the report, which appeared in an online edition of El Norte Digital, Carlos Manuel Salas, Fiscalia General del Estado (FGE) said that the problem with crime in southern Chihuahua state, particularly around Guadalupe y Calvo municipality is compounded by the lack of state and municipal police personnel.
According to the report, Salas said the the dramatic reduction in murders in Chihuahua state has been realized in Ciudad Juarez and in Chihuahua, the state capital, which he said was because of state efforts in those areas to reduce violent crime.
"It is not a pretext," Salas was quoted as saying. "The territory (in Guadalupe y Calvo) is vast, we continue to work and the help of the army is more intense." He also said that more police are being appointed and that cooperation with the military is increasing.
But Guadalupe y Calvo municipality is not the only southern and western municipality affected by violent, drug related crime.
A column which appeared Saturday in the online edition of El Diario de Juarez news daily by Javier Flores Luis Valero quoted a count provided by Reforma news daily that 40 people have been executed in the last 60 days in several remote mountain communities in the sierras of Chihuahua, including Guadalupe y Calvo, Madera, Balleza, Bocoyna and Moris in just the past two months. These municipalities compose the Chihuahua state part of La Triangulo Dorada or Golden Triagle. The communities are also part of the area called La Tarahumara, after an Indian tribe which resides in the area, colloquially known as the Raramuris.
According to the same report, data compiled by staff of El Diario de Juarez indicated that the murder rate statewide is about two per day, which is well above the average in 2007, when then Mexican president Felipe Calderon Hinojosa began to use the military against the drug cartels. According to the report, murder statistics are on track to rival the 755 murders in 2012, the high water mark for violence in Chihuahua state.
The report dismisses the government's claim that federal and state efforts have been instrumental in the documented reduction of violent crimes, but the report claims the reduction is more because likely fighting between criminal gangs has shifted from the cities where the most noticed reductions have taken place to areas such as La Tarahumara.
Another disturbing long term trend has been noted as well. According to Jose Antonio Ortega, president of the Consejo Ciudadano para la Seguridad Pública y la Justicia Pena or Citizen's Council for Public Security and Penal Justice, compounding the problem of violence has been impunity, or the lack of criminal convictions for the crime of murder.
A separate news item which appeared in El Diario de Chihuahua news daily last December said that the conviction rate for murder in Mexico nationwide in 2012 was the second lowest since 1997, and has been declining since 2007. Specifically in Chihuahua state, in 2005, 326 were convicted for murder, while in 2012 145 were convicted and in 2011, 199.
The state government of Chihuahua is under increased pressure from residents in La Tarahumara. According to a news account which appeared in the online edition of Yancuic.com, a letter sent to Governor Cesar Duarte Jaquez last July 6th criticized the state government for "shouting from the rooftops" about the reduction in violent crime, while violence has been increasing in the area.
The letter was signed by 100 residents of the region including a sectional president of Creel in Bocoyna municipality, Salvador Bustillos, and Javier Avila, a Jesuit priest who is part of a human rights group in the area, Comision de Solidaridad y Defensa de los Derechos Humanos, AC.
The letter says that residents of the region have complained repeatedly to authorities about murder, kidnapping and assaults only to be greeted with more murders, kidnappings and assaults. Another problem in the region, as with Guadalupe y Calvo municipality, is the constant existence of checkpoints operated by criminal groups which rob residents in the area on pain of having their children assaulted or raped.
What is most astonishing about the charges against the government is that the Mexican Army maintains at least one permanent infantry company base in Creel municipality.
The authors complained in the letter that government officials have little problem in coming to the area to boast about projects, but have failed to discuss security issues with constituents.
For his part Governor Duarte has dismissed charges of increased violence in La Tarahumara, and has apparently failed to address the concerns in the letter. He said the letter was a " political manipulation of reality". He said the violence in the region not as bad as in Michocacan state.
In Michoacan state, according to press reports, the Mexican government has claimed to have 6,000 federal security effectives in the region. However, that number is dwarfed considerably by the number reported only a little over a year ago when then Mexican president Felipe Calderon had maintained some 8,000 federal security effectives in the region.
Since the Mexican federal government maintains an effective clamp on drug war news, it is impossible to say if the 6,000 troops are the total in the state after a February, 2013 promise to sent about 1,000 troops to the area in augmentation to that number.
In his inauguration speech three years ago Governor Duarte pledged a crackdown on crime, to include life sentences for kidnapping.
Despite the current claims of additional federal security, violence in Michoacan has skyrocketed. Violence in Chihuahua state has also become grave enough that Duarte's Fiscalia had to respond.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com
[Al Ahram] Unidentified assailants shot up several security sites in the Sinai Peninsula late on Sunday near Egypt's border with Israel and the Gazoo Strip. No injuries or deaths have been reported.
Security forces and gunnies exchanged gunfire at three security checkpoints as well as the security directorate headquarters in North Sinai's Arish, Ahram Arabic news website reported.
The deserted province is a hotbed for hard-line Islamist snuffies who have intensified their attacks on security and military checkpoints since the army's popularly-backed overthrow of Egypt's Islamist leader early in July.
Dozens of security personnel and civilians have been killed and around a hundred injured in drive-by shootings and rocket attacks since Morsi's ouster. The army has killed tens of alleged jihadi fighters in its latest crackdown in the peninsula.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2013
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[Ynet] Army launches 'Operation Desert Storm' to eradicate terror in Sinai peninsula; minister warns sit-in protests in Cairo by Morsi supporters will be 'brought to an end soon' as corpse count in weekend festivities rises to 72
Egyptian security forces killed 10 gunnies and captured 20 in an operation in the Sinai Peninsula over the past 48 hours, state news agency MENA reported Sunday.
"Security operations carried out by the armed forces and police in north Sinai to hunt down armed terrorists... (resulted) in the liquidation of 10 of these armed terrorist elements," the agency said, citing a security source.
"The forces also managed to capture 20 of these elements," it added.
State-run news website Al-Ahram quoted a security bigshot as saying that the army has launched "Operation Desert Storm" in the Suez District to eradicate terror and violence in Sinai. According to the official, the army plans to besiege terror hubs, particularly in north and central Sinai.
According to the same source, the army will closely monitor the roads connecting Sinai to the Suez and Cairo districts. According to estimates, the number of gunnies in this area does not exceed 500.
Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, which borders Israel, has been the scene of increasing violence since a coup that overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi on July 3.
Terrorists have conducted almost daily attacks on security forces in the area, where security had already deteriorated since the 2011 uprising that overthrew then-president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... Meanwhile, ...back at the argument, Livia had made her point with her knee to Jane's stomach... interim Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim was quoted as saying by Al-Ahram that sit-in protests in Cairo by supporters of Morsi will be "brought to an end soon and in a legal manner."
Ibrahim said the protests would be cleared in line with complaints filed by residents in the area. Supporters of Morsi's Moslem Brüderbund have been manning two main vigils in the capital for a month, demanding Morsi be reinstated after his July 3 overthrow by the army.
"I assure the people of Egypt that the police are determined to maintain security and safety to their nation and are capable of doing so," Ibrahim told a graduation ceremony at the national police academy. "We will very decisively deal with any attempt to undermine stability," said Ibrahim, who is in charge of the police.
A Health Ministry official said Sunday the corpse count in weekend festivities in Cairo between supporters of Egypt's ousted president and security forces backed by armed civilians has risen to 72.
Khaled el-Khateeb, head of the ministry's emergency and intensive care department, says another eight died in festivities in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria. In a Sunday statement, he said 792 people were maimed in both incidents, which spanned Friday and early Saturday.
The Cairo violence took place when pro-Morsi protesters sought to expand their sit-in camp by moving onto a nearby main boulevard, only to be confronted by police and armed civilians.
It was the deadliest single outbreak of violence since the military ousted Morsi in a July 3 coup that followed protests in which millions demanded he step down.
Police fired tear gas at protesters on Sunday as opponents and supporters of Tunisias government clashed outside parliament after the burial of the second opposition figure slain this year.
Mohamed Brahmis cold-blooded murder on Thursday outside his home has stoked tensions in the North African nation where the Arab Spring began.
Many Tunisians blame the government for not reining in radical Islamists accused of a wave of attacks since strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was toppled in a popular uprising in 2011.
Opposition figures are calling for the government to resign and the powerful General Union of Tunisian Labour (UGTT) was due to convene Monday to decide the fate of the country, its secretary-general Sami Tahri said.
Radical Salafists close to the Al Qaeda-linked group Ansar Al Sharia, blamed by the authorities for Brahmis murder, denied any involvement in an online statement on Sunday.
"Wudn't us! Why would you think it was us?"
Brahmi was gunned down in the Ariana suburb of Tunis, his body riddled with 14 bullets, almost six months after the murder of opposition politician Chokri Belaid. Authorities say the same gun was used in both killings, and blamed jihadists close to Ansar Al Sharia.
But in a Facebook statement, the group denied responsibility for what it called a political assassination, part of attempts to push the country toward chaos.
"Lies! All lies!"
Brahmis murder only profits remnants of the former regime and lackeys of the Zionists and Crusaders, it said.
Hundreds of thousands of mourners thronged the streets of Tunis on Saturday in an emotionally charged funeral to El-Jellaz cemetery where Brahmi was buried next to Belaid. Slogans vowing to avenge Brahmi and Belaid rose from the sea of mourners.
After the burial, protesters calling for the fall of the government marched on the Constituent Assembly and clashed with riot police who fired tear-gas to disperse them, an AFP reporter said. The demonstrations later tapered off but erupted again overnight when thousands of supporters and opponents of the government led by the Ennahda party squared off outside.
An AFP reporter said rival protesters camped outside parliament until dawn, separated by security barricades and anti-riot police.
Enough with Ghannouchi, the opposition crowd chanted, referring to Ennahda chief Rached Ghannouchi. The people want the fall of the assassins.
Ennahda supporters retorted that the parliament was a legitimate body and warned there was no room in Tunisia for the likes of Egyptian armed forces chief General Abdel Fattah Al Sisi.
In Tunis before dawn, police fired tear gas when protesters began hurling rocks at each other. Security forces also dismantled tents that anti-government protesters had erected outside parliament.
Interior Minister Lotfi Ben Jeddou on Sunday pledged to guarantee the safety of anti-government demonstrators, leftist MP Samir Taieb said.
The minister told us that he has clearly given orders for (security) agents not to use force against demonstrators and those who take part in the sit-in before the National Constituent Assembly, he said after a meeting with Ben Jeddou.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/29/2013
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[HOSTED.AP.ORG] A staggering 40 million euro ($53 million) worth of diamonds and other jewels was stolen Sunday from the Carlton Intercontinental Hotel in Cannes, in one of Europe's biggest jewelry heists in recent years, police said. One expert noted the crime follows recent jail escapes by members of the notorious "Pink Panther" jewel thief gang. "Hmmm... And what do you make of it, Inspector Camembert?"
The hotel in the sweltering French Riviera was hosting a temporary jewelry exhibit over the summer from the prestigious Leviev diamond house, which is owned by Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev. "There is only one person who could have done this! John Robie, the Cat!"
A police front man said the theft took place around noon, but he could not confirm local media reports that the robber was a single gunman who stuffed a suitcase with the gems before making a swift exit. The front man spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter on the record. "But inspector, John Robie is dead!"
The luxury Carlton hotel is situated on the exclusive Promenade de la Croisette that stretches a mile and a half along the French Riviera, and is thronged by the rich and famous throughout the year. The hotel's position provides not only a beautiful view of the sea but also an easy getaway for potential jewel thieves along the long stretch of road. "Two men, then."
"It's a huge theft. Anytime you talk about a heist with many millions of dollars it turns heads and feeds the imagination," said Jonathan Sazonoff, U.S. editor for the Museum Security Network website and an authority on high-value crime.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2013
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#1
Call in Inspector Cleauseau.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/29/2013 12:10
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#2
Fox just said 153 million or 100 mil more then this title.
[Al Ahram] Glass shattered on the floor, vehicles charred, blocks of bricks deployed on Al-Nasr Street across a distance of one kilometre separating between a line of security forces and the pro-Morsi sit-in at Rabaa Al-Adawiya in Cairo's Nasr City.
"Photograph the blood before they clean it," one protester said as a number of army soldiers gathered in front of the Memorial of the Unknown Soldier to sweep the ground that witnessed a long night of violent festivities.
The festivities started in the early hours of Saturday between supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi and security forces, leaving dozens killed.
"The moment I entered the hospital I could smell death everywhere," Ismail Hasheesh, a young surgeon at the field hospital, told Ahram Online as he recalled the night of festivities.
Hasheesh has just ended his Friday shift when he received an emergency call.
"Corpses were everywhere in the hospital, and almost all the cases we got were at death's door; some were already dead while others were gasping for their last breath," he said, adding that very few were saved.
According to Hasheesh, most of the cases that arrived to the field hospital were persons shot with live ammunition that targeted the head or chest.
"These are shots aimed to kill, not to disperse," he said, explaining that he is familiar with such situations as he volunteered in field hospitals during the Battle of the Camel in 2011 and at the Republican Guard Club festivities that took place 8 July, leaving at least 50 dead.
Hasheesh added that no official number of deaths has been issued; however, he asserted that at least 50 had been killed and thousands injured.
The Moslem Brüderbund claimed at least 120 people have been killed and 4,500 injured Saturday.
On Saturday afternoon, the health ministry reported 38 dead and 239 people injured.
The interior ministry held a presser Saturday where they accused Moslem Brüderbund members of purposefully causing a crisis, in addition to denying that the police opened fire on pro-Brotherhood protesters. The ministry also claimed that festivities erupted after pro-Morsi supporters attempted to block 6 October Bridge and clashed with local residents.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2013
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Top|| File under: Arab Spring
#1
"These are shots aimed to kill, not to disperse,"
[WEEKLYSTANDARD] Are we watching the demise of al Qaeda or its rebirth?
A bracing new piece in the Daily Beast makes a persuasive case that it's the latter -- that recent developments in Iraq, across the greater Middle East and South Asia point to a resurgence of al Qaeda and a strengthening of its affiliates.
The piece bolsters the compelling arguments made in THE WEEKLY STANDARD last month by Thomas Joscelyn, who wrote that the B.O. regime was pursuing a "see no evil" strategy on al Qaeda, willfully choosing to downplay or ignore troubling evidence that contradicts the administration's claims that al Qaeda is mortally maimed and "on the path to defeat."
But what makes the new piece in the Daily Beast especially noteworthy is that it comes from Bruce Riedel, who served as a top adviser on Afghanistan and Pakistain in the Obama White House and wrote the administration's initial strategy review of the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2013
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
An email sent by the then British ambassador in Tripoli details how a prisoner transfer agreement would be signed once Libya "fulfils its promise" to buy an air defence system.
The disclosure is embarrassing for members of the then Labour government, which always insisted that Abdelbaset al-Megrahi's release was not linked to commercial deals.
The email, which contained a briefing on the UK's relations with Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime, was sent on June 8 2008 by Sir Vincent Fean, the then UK ambassador, to Tony Blair's private office, ahead of a visit soon after he stepped down as prime minister.
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All of that shooting and murder; couldn't have been the shiny objects found in the Witwatersrand. Neither Albion or Washington would ever be moved by such motivations.
[FOXNEWS] A vigilante group says 25 people have been killed during an attack by the vigilantes and a reprisal by Islamic snuffies in Nigeria's northeast.
These are the first major fatalities reported in the region since dozens of students were killed, some burned alive, earlier this month.
Vigilante leader Aliko Musa said his group stormed villages over the weekend to hunt members of the banned 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... terrorist organization. He said Boko Haram retaliated and that five vigilantes and 20 civilians -- mostly fishermen and traders -- were killed.
Lt. Haruna Muhammed Sani of Nigeria's military said 20 civilians and one vigilante were killed in the violence.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2013
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Top|| File under: Boko Haram
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.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Philippine security forces Sunday captured a woman who is one of the country's most wanted communist guerrillas. Police said Maria Loida Magpatoc is the secretary of the New People's Army's Far South Mindanao Regional Committee, and has oustanding arrest warrants for homicide and destruction of property.
[Al Ahram] A Yemeni military official says a suspected US drone strike has killed six alleged Al-Qaeda 
[Dawn] Security forces claimed to have 
Wazoo
[SOWETANLIVE.CO.ZA] A black couple told this week of their shock and mystification when their son was born with white skin and blond hair.
[Dawn] A one-year-old girl was diagnosed with type P1 of the polio virus in Bara's Malik Dinkhel area of Khyber tribal region.
[BLOOMBERG] Publicis Groupe SA (PUB) and Omnicom Group Inc. (OMC) agreed to merge in an all-stock transaction to create the world's largest advertising company with $23 billion in revenue, toppling market leader WPP Plc. (WPP)
[THEHILL] 
Nawaz Sharif
[THEHILL] Former Washington, D.C. Mayor 
Israeli air force jets bombed trucks carrying Syrian missiles bound for Hizbullah's warehouses in Lebanon, according to Syrian opposition sources. The sources, were cited Sunday by Voice of Israel radio's Arabic-language service, which was quoted by i24 News.
[HOSTED.AP.ORG] A staggering 40 million euro ($53 million) worth of diamonds and other jewels was stolen Sunday from the Carlton Intercontinental Hotel in Cannes, in one of Europe's biggest jewelry heists in recent years, police said. One expert noted the crime follows recent jail escapes by members of the notorious "Pink Panther" jewel thief gang.
FOXNEWS] A vigilante group says 25 people have been killed during an attack by the vigilantes and a reprisal by Islamic 
