[AAWSAT] The rejectionist cause received a major boost last week when “Supreme Guide” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei publicly banned any negotiations with the US. The same position, albeit in a more radical manner, was expressed by Gen. Muhammad-Ali Aziz-Jaafari, who commands the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
“We will not only not negotiate with Trump but will also refuse to talk to any future American president,” he said.
The IRGC theoretician, Dr. Hassan Abbasi, nicknamed “Kissinger of Islam” has gone even further by demanding that Iran “go on the offensive” against the “Great Satan” by activating “thousands of sleeping cells” he claims exist in the United States.
Against that background, President Hassan Rouhani faces a dilemma.
If he denounces the ” nuke deal” and shuts the door to any future negotiations he would be admitting the failure of what he has marketed as his chief achievement in the past five years.
He has tried to do two things.
One is to go along with some of the key demands of the more radical faction led by Khamenei.
On that score, Rouhani flew to Aqtau, in Kazakhstan, and signed the controversial Caspian Sea Convention that some analysts believe was dictated by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In 2015 Khamenei had promised Putin that Iran would sign the convention but the move had been postponed because neither Tehran nor Moscow wanted to see the signature as a reward for Russia’s intervention in Syria in favor of the Iranian camp.
Rouhani himself has opted for creative ambiguity with regard to the controversial Convention. Figures close to his faction, however, have adopted a more or less critical position on the issue.
Rouhani’s creative ambiguity has angered his rivals within the establishment who have embarked on what looks like the beginning of a campaign to force him out. Placards raised at a demonstration by theological students in the “holy” city of Qom last week even threatened Rouhani with “the same fate as Rafsanjani”. Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani was found dead in the swimming pool of the villa he had confiscated from Assadallah Alam, the late Shah’s Court Minister.
“Oh, negotiator! The swimming pool is waring for you!” the placards said.
Islamic Majlis member Alaeddin Borujerdi, close to the late Rafsanjani’s faction, has demanded a probe into what he terms “death threats” against the president.
A periodical published by Sadeq Kharrazi, a former diplomat, related to Khamenei through marriage, has run an editorial entitled “Rouhani Is Finished!”, inviting the president to step down.
Posted by: 3dc ||
08/20/2018
22:38 ||
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[Asharq Al-Awsat]The people took to the street to demand job opportunities and corruption.
Federal and local authorities pledged to meet these demands, but nothing has materialized, increasing the people’s frustration. Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi had even visited Basra and ordered that employment opportunities be created and that services be improved.
Perhaps the greatest frustration felt by the people was prompted by the strict measures that the security forces adopted on Friday against protesters in the al-Hawir area that left two people dead. Dozens of others were wounded.
A source from Hawir told Asharq Al-Awsat that the protesters attacked the armed security forces after they used force to disperse the rallies.
Activists and youth revealed that they will escalate their actions after the Eid holiday and stage open-ended sit-ins.
Protester Ali al-Mahna said that the locals attacked police stations and shut down public institutions, including the provincial council, demanding that the security forces withdraw from the area and release detainees.
“We have lost our faith in everyone and all government pledges,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.
“We will continue our protest movement until our demands are met,” he vowed. “The developments in Hawir proved to us that the authorities do not shy away from committing any action against the people.”
[AlAhram] As nearly 2 million pilgrims from around the world braved heavy rain in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... on Sunday to begin the annual haj ritual, the country's health minister said there was no sign of any outbreaks of disease.
Worshippers arrived in the kingdom last week for the five-day ritual -- a once-in-a-lifetime religious duty for every able-bodied Moslem who can afford it, which retraces the route Prophet Mohammad took 14 centuries ago.
Heavy rain and thunderstorms forced pilgrims to take cover in tents and trudge through puddles, with civil defence warning of possible flooding throughout the evening.
Some prayed at the Grand Mosque before heading to the Mina area or towards Mount Arafat, east of Mecca, where the Prophet is believed to have delivered his final sermon to followers.
They will all arrive by Monday morning at Mount Arafat. Eid al-Adha, or feast of the sacrifice, begins on Tuesday, when pilgrims begin three days of casting stones at walls in a symbolic renunciation of the devil.
For a graphic on The haj journey http://tmsnrt.rs/2imJ2yf
The authorities have been preparing for months to ensure pilgrims' safety, Health Minister Tawfiq al-Rabiah told Rooters, with more than 30,000 health workers operating 25 hospitals and offering free medical services, including complex procedures such as open heart surgery.
"Praise to God, everything now is under control and health conditions are excellent," he said in an interview at Mina Public Hospital.
The potential for disease spreading among pilgrims, who spend five days in close quarters, often eating outside and sleeping on the ground near holy sites, is a perennial concern.
The world's largest annual gathering of Moslems has in the past also seen deadly stampedes, fires and riots, with authorities sometimes struggling to respond.
A crush in 2015 killed nearly 800 pilgrims, according to Riyadh, although counts by countries of repatriated bodies showed over 2,000 may have died, more than 400 of them Iranians.
Saudi Arabia stakes its reputation on its guardianship of Islam's holiest sites - Mecca and Medina - and organising the pilgrimage.
The interior ministry has put in place measures to confront any security threat from Lion of Islam attacks to political protests, but no specific threats have been detected, a front man said on Saturday.
Pilgrimage is also the backbone of a plan to expand tourism under a drive to diversify the kingdom's economy away from oil. The haj and year-round umrah generate billions of dollars in revenue from worshippers' lodging, transport, fees and gifts.
Officials aim to increase the number of umrah and haj pilgrims to 15 million and 5 million respectively by 2020, and hope to double the umrah number again to 30 million by 2030.
Some pilgrims on Saturday hiked 700 metres (2300 ft) to the tiny Hira cave, where Moslems believe the Prophet was visited by the Angel Gabriel and began to receive Koranic recitations.
"It's indescribable. It's overwhelming to see how his impact has been on this world," said American pilgrim Nasser Mahmoud. "But that's where it all started. It's a very humble thing, you can't even stand there."
[ABC] President Donald Trump’s national security adviser addressed the idea of using private contractors to help fight the U.S. war in Afghanistan, saying he is "always open to new ideas."
In an exclusive interview Sunday, John Bolton responded to a question from ABC News "This Week" Co-Anchor and Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz about possibly privatizing some part of what is now America’s longest war, the nearly 17-year-old conflict in Afghanistan.
"Would you consider privatizing [in Afghanistan], with using contractors instead of U.S. military? There have been some reports about that this week," Raddatz said.
"There's always a lot of discussions," the president's national security adviser said. "I'm always open to new ideas, but I'm not going to comment on what the thinking is. That will ultimately be the president's decision."
#5
Explorers brought civilization to the new world savages not by bullets alone but by bringing in Christianity. Until then, Afghanïstan will always be under a savage idiology.
[NY Post] Vladimir Putin’s troops are now patrolling the Golan Heights ‐ and it’s actually the least-bad solution.
It’s the best available way to keep Iranian forces away from Israel’s border with Syria. But it also hinders Jerusalem’s ability to strike at those forces (and at various jihadis and others roaming the region) if necessary.
The Iranians and the Russians filled the vacuum left after the Obama administration pulled US troops out of Iraq and refused to send help to the rebels fighting against Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Assad now looks likely to hold on, but as an Iranian puppet, with Putin gleefully playing Mideast power broker. Israel has no choice but to deal with Moscow to keep Tehran away.
The Nobel folks should look at rescinding former President Barack Obama’s Peace Prize.
ironically, the Obama policy which allowed ISIS to grow and Iran to insert itself into Syria, has also led, although it is not the only thing, to Iran's economic weakness and to the killing of many of Iran's IRG and to many, many Shia militiamen from a variety of countries. Tragically, the civilian deaths have been horrific .
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/20/2018 10:03
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#3
Jimmy Carter's incompetence leadership led to Soviet over-expansion just in time for Reagan to cut them off at the knees. Seems Obama's incompetence may have had a similar effect.
#4
This might be a good thing. Russian 'peacekeepers' are likely to be more brutal effective than the blue-helmet UN guys. And while I have no direct evidence, given the way the Israelis have whacked various parties in and around Syria, it seems like the Rooskis and the Juice have come to some sort of under the table agreement as far as acceptable behavior and looking the other way.
#5
it seems like the Rooskis and the Juice have come to some sort of under the table agreement as far as acceptable behavior and looking the other way.
Bibi and Putin have been discussing matters in person and by telephone for several years, SteveS. At this point there are so many Soviet Jews in Israel that there is a strong sentimental connection in both directions between the Russia Motherland and the Zionist entity.
WASHINGTON (AP) ‐ Steve Bannon has a dire warning for Republicans.
During a Sunday interview with The Associated Press, the former chief strategist to President Donald Trump said he believes the GOP would lose 35 to 40 seats in the House if the election were held today, thereby ceding their majority to Democrats he’s convinced will pursue impeachment. He argued there’s still time to turn that around and is launching a group, Citizens of the American Republic, to pitch the election as a vote to protect Trump from that outcome.
"You can’t look at this as a midterm and you can’t run it out of the traditional Republican playbook. If you do that, you’re going to get smoked," said Bannon, arguing that Republicans must redouble efforts against motivated Democrats.
The effort is a test of Bannon’s sway in the GOP a year after he was fired from his White House post. His relationship with Trump soured after a tell-all book published in January included searing quotes of Bannon portraying Trump as undisciplined and criticizing son Donald Trump Jr. His stock fell further after he stuck by Alabama Republican Roy Moore’s Senate campaign even after decades-old sexual misconduct allegations emerged. A reliably Republican Senate seat turned Democratic.
[France24] Afghan forces launched a lightning operation in northern Afghanistan on Monday, rescuing 149 people, including women and children, abducted by the Taliban. Operations to free another 21 were still underway.
The Afghan security operation was launched hours after the Taliban ambushed a convoy of buses en route to the Afghan capital, Kabul, in the northern province of Kunduz, according to local officials and a bus union representative.
The incident came despite President Ashraf Ghani's call on Sunday for a ceasefire with the Taliban during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha later this week.
At least seven Taliban fighters were killed in the fighting, according to Nasrat Rahimi, deputy spokesman for the Interior Ministry.
The 21 other passengers who were still in captivity are believed to be Afghan government or security services employees.
A Taliban spokesman confirmed the ambush in Kunduz and said the group planned to release civilians but would keep Afghan security forces in custody.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/20/2018 21:43
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#3
Abducted from a single minibus?
From three passenger busses, according to Tolo News. Apparently the Taliban are in the habit of stopping busses for the purposeon the main Afghan highways.
[Breitbart] An Algerian migrant male was shot dead early Monday morning by Spanish police after he attempted to attack officers with a knife.
Officers fired on and killed the 29-year-old man outside the police station in Cornellà de Llobregat in Catalonia, Spain, the Catalan edition of elPeriodico reports. Besides the slain attacker, there were no reported injuries.
The man, who is reported to have been an Algerian who lived in Cornellà, attempted to gain access to the station at 05:52 Monday morning, while carrying a knife and shouting "Allahu Akbar" [Allah is the Greatest] ‐ the familiar Islamic phrase which has increasingly come to be associated with the opening stages of terror attacks across Europe in recent years.
He was shot in the reception area of the station by one of the officers present. An ambulance was brought to the scene but the Algerian male subsequently died of his wounds.
The station and the assailant’s residence have been cordoned off by police, who are now investigating the background and motivation for the attack.
[IMAO] Regarding Twitter’s recent banning of InfoWars’ Alex Jones, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said, "we’re always trying to cultivate more of a learning mindset and help guide people back towards healthier behaviors and healthier public conversation."
I know that sounds pretty clunky the way he said it, but I assure you it’s nearly poetic in the original German.
#1
I thought, as an American, that saying Gleichschaltung sounded like clearing the throat of a particularly thick coating of phlegm...
Not a policy that a 'public carrier', a supposedly neutral conduit of communication should be indulging in. During the Spanish Civil War the Spanish affiliate of AT&T ran the telephones in a remarkably neutral fashion, as an example of being apolitical.
#2
TW, can you translate
"we’re always trying to cultivate more of a learning mindset and help guide people back towards healthier behaviors and healthier public conversation."
into Deutsch?
#3
Here’s how I would try, g(r)omgoru, but understand that back when we lived in that part of the world my German interlocutors (Gespraechpartneren) often found my efforts suggestive of a local with serious brain damage. So:
Wir versuchen immer ein Lerngedank kultivieren um verbessertete Gesundsleben und Gemeinschaftphilosophie zu machen.
But wordhippo.com came up with the following, which feels much more correct:
"Wir versuchen immer mehr, eine Lernmentalität zu entwickeln und Menschen dabei zu helfen, gesünderes Verhalten und gesündere öffentliche Gespräche zu führen."
[Jpost] Several gunshots were fired from a vehicle at the US embassy in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Monday, hitting a window in a security post but causing no casualties, broadcaster CNN Turk reported.
It said police teams were searching for the assailants who fled in a white car after the attack, which occurred around 5 a.m. (0200 GMT).
The attack coincided with a deepening row between Ankara and Washington over the trial of a US pastor in Turkey.
The article is in German. I'll summarize the part about former FM Sigmar Gabriel's remarks. The rest of the article is about the German domestic political debate re aid payments to Turkey.
[Welt] Gabriel says that it is in Europe's and Germany's own interest to make every effort to keep Turkey as part of the West. If not, a politically isolated Turkey might acquire nuclear weapons in the long term.
Germany and Europe must send a clear signal that they will not participate in Donald Trump's effort to economically destabilize Turkey.
The US is applying sanctions to push an economically damaged nation over the cliff. This is impermissible conduct amoong NATO allies.
In a Turkey distancing itself from NATO nationalist forces would acquire nuclear weapons to make themselves invincible - just as in Iran and North Korea. Sigmar Gabriel is a close associate of former chancellor Schroeder, who is Erdogan's closest ally in German mainstream politics.
During Gabriel's tenure as FM in 2017/18 he was criticized for being to accommodating, if not subservient to Turkey.
IMO Gabriel is relaying a direct message from the Erdogan regime.
Erdogan does not yet dare to openly threaten the West with nukes so he's using a deniable channel.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 ||
08/20/2018
01:42 ||
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#1
Threatening us with nuclear weapons. Wow, what a friend!
Oh wait he's only threatening Europeans. That's OK, they've repeatedly assured us they don't want and don't need American help. Ami go home, remember?
If only Europe wouldn't have been ripping us off on trade and funded their fair share of NATO...none of this would happen. But Europeans decided it had to be this way. So be it.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
08/20/2018 5:59
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#2
Lessee. Who would the likely vendor be?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/20/2018 8:34
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#3
Wiki: whilst the 2011 census states that 2.7 million German residents have at least one parent from Turkey, this may not be a true representation of the total ethnic Turkish population. In 1997 the former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl had already stated that there were 3 million Turks living in Germany.
#4
Nuclear weapons are expensive, I suspect, and Turkey has a bit of a debt and income problem. How does Herr Erdogan (given it’s a German publication) intend to square that circle?
Thank you for reading and translating the German press for us, Elmerert Hupens2660.
#7
Mussolini was a smarter man than Erdogan, brilliant on some accounts, and look where his Imperial Ambitions for Italy wound up. This will not end well...
#8
Nuclear weapons are expensive, I suspect, and Turkey has a bit of a debt and income problem.
Turkey wants to extort money which could in turn finance future Turkish nuclear weapons.
Specifically, Erdogan wants to scare Germany and Europe into paying danegeld right now, which would undermine present symbolical US sanctions and the threat of possibly serious US sanctions.
This is an irrational, vile and vicious move which also betrays the Turkish government's panic.
Which is why the Turks used this deniable channel.
I don't really doubt that this is an authentic message from the Turkish government. Gabriel would not idly talk about a nominal ally threatening Europe with nuclear annihilation.
#9
America just might soon be backing a United Kurdistan - taking territory from Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. The Kurds are the best people in the region - 'tough as woodpecker lips, Islamic but secular, smart, dependable - even their (often gorgeous) women fight as infantry. Aside from the Israelis, the Kurds could be the strongest player in the region. And - if Turkey nukes up, we give the Kurds nukes (or at least a "nuclear umbrella". Heh, heh. Maybe it is time to reconquer Constantinople???
#10
Just be sure to activate cratering and demolition charges in all US built bases when we finally leave the Jerks Turks. Incirlik should definitely be missing some hangars, ammunition and POL facitlites, and the runways and taxiways should have multiple large and deep craters.
Posted by: Boss Spoper5850 ||
08/20/2018 12:41
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#11
Specifically, Erdogan wants to scare Germany and Europe into paying danegeld right now,
They've been paying Turkey millions for several years in order to keep the Muslim migrants from continuing into Europe, a flow Turkey has stopped or released ever since as the mood siezes them.
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Oil’s popularity isn’t what it used to be.
It’s not just a looming global trade war. As I’ve written, not only will tariffs and retaliatory measures stifle the activity that normally stokes consumption, they’ll squeeze economies everywhere. That’s a good way to stifle demand.
But that’s not the only problem the market faces.
Recovering oil prices and weaker emerging-market currencies have combined to hit consumers’ pockets. The result could be a significant slowdown in the very countries expected to be the powerhouses of global growth. And this adds up to another reason for thinking growth in demand for oil is set to cool.
Although dollar-denominated crude prices are currently around 40 percent below their level just before the 2014 price crash, the same is not true of retail gasoline or diesel prices, not even in the U.S.
American average premium gasoline prices peaked in June 2014 at a little over $4 a gallon before sliding below $2.50 in early 2015 and as low as $2.20 a year later. But since then they have staged a steady recovery, coming within a whisker of $3.50 in the run-up to this summer’s driving season.
#3
We heard breathless moaning about $4/gal all spring, it never broke $2.80/gal here.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/20/2018 8:01
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#4
He starts off talking about emerging markets and then goes to domestic pump prices 'cause doing the research would be too hard.
It's been $2.50/G around here for quite a while.
Most of the variation in US prices are caused by legally mandated regional formulations (last time I looked there were more than a dozen), that pretty much lock out price competition from outside the local area.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
08/20/2018 8:11
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#5
$3.34/Gal for reg unleaded in San Diego. I saw $4.80-$5.00 in the Sierras (Bridgeport was highest)
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/20/2018 9:10
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#8
It really has nothing to do with oil prices or the wholesale price of gasoline.
In californicate, it is all about the taxes.
The leftists here passed a 42-cent per gallon increase on the previous taxes on gasoline and top it off with a sales tax. So here in SoCal, you are paying in the neighborhood of $1.10 per gallon in taxes, not to mention the federal excise taxes.
Of course, no one talks about the multitude of taxes that are paid on the crude, the refineries, the pipelines and the distributor. Every time gasoline changes hands, there is a tax. I had a high executive with Chevron who goes to my men's Bible study say that the raw cost of a gallon of gasoline is 72-cents, the rest of the pump price is taxes.
#10
$2.49 for regular and $2.39 across the street at the 7-11. I don't recall it hitting three bucks in north suburban Dallas.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/20/2018 10:43
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#11
$2.79 at Arco in Pahrump, Frank.
But that's a bit of a drive from Bridgeport.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
08/20/2018 12:20
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#12
Sock, in order to get 72 cent/gallon gas you'd need to get 42 gallons of gas from a .30.24 dollar barrel, with no refining costs.
I think WTI is up in the $ 70/bbl range.
(The truth of refining is more complicated. About 19 gallons go to gasoline, 10 or so to diesel, 9 to jet fuel, and the remainder to other purposes. And refining costs money, and costs more money for heavier oil that needs depolymerization.)
#13
$2.19 a gallon at Buccees in Fort Worth. Most around 2.25-2.30 elswhere in DFW. Texas for the win.
Posted by: Boss Spoper5850 ||
08/20/2018 12:53
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#14
Yerington is closer, Mullah Richard, and lower than CA due to taxes
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/20/2018 12:55
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#15
It's pretty pricey here in Idaho primarily because of shipping costs. But that $3.35 per gallon is for non-ethanol gas from a station that sells nothing but pure gasoline for all grades.
[The Hill] President Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani on Sunday called former CIA Director John Brennan one of the "biggest frauds" in U.S. history.
"My payment for this investigation and my representation of the president is to get to depose John Brennan, one of the biggest frauds in the history of this country," Giuliani said on Fox News’s "Sunday Morning Futures."
Trump revoked Brennan’s security clearance last Wednesday, igniting a fierce backlash against the administration but also sparking criticism of Brennan.
Giuliani ridiculed Brennan throughout his interview on Sunday.
"If there are more like Brennan, he has every right to," Giuliani said in regard to whether or not Trump would revoke more security clearances. "Brennan accused him of treason. ... He basically says he has no evidence that the president committed a crime ... But he says the president committed treason. This is an out of control political hack."
Brennan has sought to clarify his remarking seemingly suggesting the president had committed treason.
When asked what he thought of Brennan’s statements on NBC’s "Meet The Press," in which the former CIA director said he would legally push back against Trump for revoking his and others’ security clearances, Giuliani laughed and said he would welcome a legal fight with Brennan.
"I’d love to have Brennan under oath for ... two, three days," Giuliani said. "We’ll find out about Brennan. And we’ll find out what a terrible job he did going back to ... when the Khobar Towers was bombed and our marines were killed."
Giuliani continued, "Or we can see what he did or said about Benghazi, how many lies he told about that."
When it was suggested he dig into Brennan’s vote for Communist Party USA leader Gus Hall for president in 1976, Giuliani said he might not go back that far but wondered how you could become CIA director if you voted for a communist "in the midst of the Cold War."
Giuliani asked if that ‐ along with what he said was Brennan’s support for waterboarding and drone strikes, coupled with what Giuliani described as Brennan’s love of Islam ‐ meant that the former CIA director lacked principle.
"Isn’t this a guy who is an opportunist and a political hack?" Giuliani said. "Who goes whatever way the winds are going?"
[Breitbart] Saturday on Fox News Channel’s "Justice," host Jeanine Pirro argued Department of Justice special counsel Robert Mueller was acting in a "cleaner" capacity for Democrats, who she argued was acting on behalf of the so-called "deep state" and it’s alleged botched effort to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.
She likened Mueller to Harvey Keitel’s character Winston Wolfe in the 1994 movie "Pulp Fiction," who was deployed to help dispose of a dead body.
"When things go terribly wrong for the Democrats, they don’t just call in a cleaner to get the job done, they call in someone who’s been in the clean-up business for a long time," she said. "They call in the serial cleaner, former FBI director, and now special counsel Bob Mueller."
Pirro went on to remind her viewers of Mueller’s testimony following the 2012 Benghazi incident that resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including then-U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens.
"You testified after four Americans are killed in Benghazi, to cover for Hillary Clinton’s incompetence," she added. "Bob, why would you say that the FBI couldn’t get into Benghazi in time?"
[DAWN] An antiterrorism court on Saturday issued a notice to the investigation officer of the Naqeebullah Mehsud murder case registered against former Malir SSP Rao Anwar and other police officials for his incessant absence during the hearings of the case.
The judge expressed extreme displeasure over the absence of SP Dr Rizwan Ahmed, the investigation officer, and observed that the court might be informed if the police officer was not interested in his duty.
The court ordered the investigation officer to appear in court along with a reply to the show-cause issued to him for his absence.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018
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[DAWN] KASUR: A woman gave birth to a baby in an ambulance after being denied admission to three public health facilities late on Friday near village Wadana on Ferozepur Road.
According to Muhammad Liaqat, father of the newborn, he took his wife first to the Kasur District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital for labour pains treatment late on Friday. The doctor on duty referred the patient to the Lahore General Hospital because of her critical condition and for want of surgeon in the hospital. He and his wife had to travel to the Lahore hospital with another patient in the ambulance as no other ambulance was available at that time of night.
Liaqat, powerloom worker, said that the Lahore General Hospital also refused to admit his wife on a plea the gyne ward was already overcrowded and referred them to the Services Hospital, which also refused to get his wife in.
Liaqat again rushed to the Lahore General Hospital and requested the staff to admit his wife but in vain. He said that seeing the deteriorating condition of his wife, he decided to take her to a private hospital in Kasur after contacting an employee there.
On way to Kasur, she gave birth to the baby near village Wadana on Ferozpur Road in the ambulance early on Saturday. Liaqat said he felt helpless as well as embarrassed as his sister was with them and he had to handle the delivery in the ambulance in front of his sister. He also said that they spent the entire night moving from one hospital to another but no one was ready to treat his wife in public hospital.
He said he had to spend a hefty amount on the post-delivery treatment. He said though doctors had refused admission to them saying that it was not a normal delivery, the birth, however, was done normally in the ambulance. He said that his wife had been regularly visiting the DHQ Hospital for the last few months but the doctors never told her that the delivery was not normal. He demanded that the chief justice take notice of the situation.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018
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#1
Better than squirting one out in the street I suppose.
[DAWN] A member of the transgender community was allegedly attacked and tortured early on Sunday, Mansehra ...a city and an eponymous district in eastern Khyber-Pakthunwa, nestled snug up against Pak Kashmir, with Kohistan and Diamir to the north and Abbottabad to the south... police said.
According to a first information report of the incident, a man named Bilal, accompanied by his relatives, attacked the transgender person in question while she was at home.
The transgender person sustained several bruises and, according to police, was shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital in Mansehra and treated in the emergency ward.
TransAction, a rights group advocating for transgender rights in Pakistain, protested the attack. It alleged that 479 incidents of violence and eight murders of transgender persons have taken place in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa in 2018 alone.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018
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[DAWN] ThePattoki police placed in durance vile Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! on Saturday the caretaker of a mosque for his blasphemous act at village Jodh Singh Chak 13.
According to police, the suspect packed torn and old pages of the Holy Koran lying in the mosque in the bags and threw them into an old well adjacent to the mosque.
A villager saw him throwing the bags and reported the matter to other villagers.
A large number of villagers gathered outside the mosque and seized the man. Someone alerted the police which took him custody.
Later, the police started the paperwork but haven't done much else under section 295-B (defiling, damaging or desecrating a copy or an extract of the Holy Koran) against the suspect, whose name is being held by this newspaper as per its policy.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018
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#1
"What's that, Lassie? Some pages of the Holy Koran are trapped in the old well? The caretaker of the mosque threw 'em down there? Golly jazacollie!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/20/2018 8:42
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#3
I always thought the way to take down Pakistan would be to air drop millions of unwrapped rolls of toilet paper over the nation with the Koran printed on them.
It would take decades to rescue and preserve all the pieces blowing across the landscape.
[DAWN] [DAWN] Afghanistan's Caped PresidentAshraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. declared a provisional three-month ceasefire with the Taliban ...Arabic for students... in a televised broadcast on Sunday, but said the truce would hold only if the forces of Evil reciprocated.
The announcement followed a bloody week of fighting across Afghanistan which saw the Taliban launch a massive assault against the bustling provincial capital Ghazni.
Anticipation had been mounting ahead of Ghani's speech following mixed signals from the presidential palace over whether the government would offer a fresh truce, following a brief, unprecedented one earlier this year.
"I once again announce a ceasefire from tomorrow until the prophet's birthday provided that the Taliban reciprocate," said Ghani, referring to the Prophet Mohammed's birthday which Afghanistan celebrates on November 21.
Ghani said his administration removed "all obstacles" to peace with the announcement following consultations with religious scholars, political parties and civil society groups.
"We call on the leadership of the Taliban to welcome the wishes of Afghans for a long lasting and real peace, and we urge them to get ready for peace talks based on Islamic values and principles," he said.
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[DAWN] The Foreign Office (FO) on Sunday welcomed the Afghan government's offer of a three-month provisional ceasefire to the Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... ahead of the festival of Eidul Azha.
Hours after Afghanistan's Caped PresidentAshraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. declared the ceasefire with the Taliban in a televised broadcast, the FO said: "Pakistain fully supports all such efforts that contribute to achieving durable stability and lasting peace in Afghanistan. The people of Afghanistan deserve it."
The ceasefire offer, the FO observed, has an even greater significance as it was made on the Independence Day of Afghanistan.
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[ALMASDARNEWS] Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... forces announced that their rocket battalion had successfully bombed the UAE-backed troops in western Yemen.
According to the official media wing of the Houthi forces, their rocket battalion attacked the UAE-backed troops in the vast Medi Desert with their armed drones.
The Houthi forces said their rocket battalion used their domestically-made Qasef-1 armed drones, adding that they scored a direct hit on the UAE-backed troops.
The Houthi forces have recently stepped up their attacks in western Yemen, following the large-scale offensive the UAE-backed troops launched in the Hodeidah Governorate.
The Houthi forces said they repelled the offensive after more than 48 hours of nonstop combat against the UAE-backed Southern Resistance Army and Yemeni Elite Republican Guard.
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[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are willing to continue cooperating with US-led international coalition after defeating fighters of the self-proclaimed Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS; formerly ISIS/ISIS) in SDF controlled areas, confirmed the SDF spokesperson Kinu Gabriel during an interview filmed in Derek and aired on Sunday.
"The works and programs we perform with the international coalition are not related to the military operations that will soon end with the final IS stronghold in the basin of the Euphrates River," he said.
Gabriel also noted: "We will continue implementing these programs, whether with local security forces, local councils, or even with the Syrian democratic sources, so as to continue the support and training programs to develop the capabilities of the forces to defend these areas and permanently prevent the appearance of IS elements again."
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[Daily Caller] The number of concealed carry weapons (CCW) permits is soaring to new levels despite the rabid anti-gun activism following a slew of school shootings over the past year.
Issued CCW permits increased approximately 275 percent over a ten-year period, from 4.6 million permits in 2007 to over 17.25 permits in 2018, according to a study released Friday by the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC). The number has been increasing year over year and is forecast to continue trending upwards.
The most notable demographic increase was found to be among women and minorities. During the aforementioned time period, CCW issuance jumped 111 percent faster for women than for men. Moreover, compared to white individuals, permits for Asian and black individuals spiked 29 percent and 20 percent quicker, respectively.
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Russian Air Force continued their strikes over the southern countryside of Idlib, today, targeting the jihadist rebel trenches near the Hama provincial border.
Russian jets flying out of the Hmeymim Airbase launched several Arclight airstrikes over southern Idlib, today, hitting the trenches that were raised by the jihadist rebels of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and Jaish al-Izza.
The trenches were reportedly located near the Idlib Governorate towns of Sukeek and al-Taman’ah, which are future targets for the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and their allies .
In addition to the strikes by the Russians, the Syrian Arab Air Force (SyAAF) also carried out their own attack on the Hama-Idlib axis.
The Syrian Air Force reportedly targeted the Hama Governorate towns of al-Lataminah, Aleywi, Zakat, and Kafr Zita.
In the coming days, the Syrian Arab Army is expected to kickoff their long-awaited offensive to retake northern Hama and several towns in southern Idlib.
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Talibs have seized the control of Bulcharagh district in northern Faryab province of Afghanistan after days of heavy festivities.
Provincial governor Naqibullah Fayeq said earlier today that the control of the district fell into the hands of Talibs on Saturday night.
Fayeq further added that the district was seized after additional forces were not deployed from the center.
According to Fayeq, the security forces were under siege of the Talibs for several days as heavy festivities were underway before the fall of the district.
This is not the first time the Talibs are taking control of Bulcharagh district but similar attempts were also made in the past where the Talibs briefly took over the district.
In the meantime, reports indicate that at least 40 security personnel have been taken hostage after the fall of the district.
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#1
Faryab province is mostly ethnic Uzbek.
It has the beginnings of an oil and petroleum production and refining infrastructure.
The taliban have been taking control of portions of the province off and on since about 1998 or so.
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/20/2018 0:17
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It might not hurt to put some imagery of what has been happening to Taliban and ISIS members on the local media from time to time just to remind them what happens when they get too big for their britches.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Kabul police forces have jugged ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... at least 348 people on various criminal charges as well as on charges of plotting terrorist related activities.
The Kabul Police Commandment in a statement said the suspects were rounded from various parts of Kabul over a period of one month.
The statement further added that the suspects were arrested during the operations of the security forces belonging to 101 Asmayee Zone.
The police forces have also confiscated more than 30 kgs of illicit drugs and 30 various types of weapons and other military kits, the statement added.
According to the Police Commandment of Kabul, the police forces have also managed to send 406 vehicles to the customs department and seize 1000 fake registration plates.
The police forces have also stopped at least 700 cycle of violences which were being used in the city without having proper documents.
The Kabul Police Commandment also added in its statement that around 3 tons of munitions were also handed over to the Disarmament of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) process.
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[FOX] National Security Adviser John Bolton on Sunday suggested that former CIA Director John Brennan might have misused classified information, and that the "unprecedented leaks" from the administration may prompt broader changes in how security clearances are handled.
Bolton was in Israel for the first time as a Trump administration official to discuss national security issues with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials.
"In terms of what [Brennan] said, since he left, a number of people have commented that he couldn't be in the position he is in, criticizing Trump, unless he did use classified info," Bolton told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday. "I don't know specifics, but I do know when he was [CIA] director, I was troubled by comments in public, and the politicization."
"My opinion is that he was politicizing intelligence," Bolton added, saying Brennan had failed to keep intact the "wall of separation between intelligence and policy."
Host Martha Raddatz ultimately asked him, "You’re not sure whether John Brennan used classified information? You have no specific examples."
Bolton replied, "I think a number of people have commented that [Brennan] couldn’t be in the position he’s in of criticizing President Trump and his so-called collusion with Russia unless he did use classified information. But I don’t know the specifics."
President Trump revoked Brennan's security clearance on Wednesday, saying he had politicized his security clearance and misled Congress about CIA spying in the Senate.
A broader review of who can retain security clearances after leaving the federal government may be warranted, Bolton added.
[Dhaka Tribune] A NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... re court sentenced five people to death and two others to life-term imprisonment for killing a man in Singra upazila in 2004.
The condemned convicts are: Hafizur Rahman, Bulu, Khalilur Rahman, Majibur Rahman Majid and Monir Hossain. The two others are Abdul Hakim and Nazrul Islam.
Among the convicts, four are absconding.
According to the case, the convicts picked up farmer Abdul Kader Dudu from his house on February 3, 2004 due to a previous feud.
They gunned Kader down and stabbed him to death at a local market.
The victim’s wife filed a murder case with Singra cop shoppe the following day.
After examining all the records and witnesses, NATOre Additional District and Sessions Judge Mohammad Saifur Rahman Siddiq handed down the verdict on Sunday.
In Jhenaidah, a local court sentenced three men to death for murdering a college student named Imran Hossain in 2011.
Jhenaidah First Additional District and Sessions Judge Golam Azam announced the verdict Sunday morning.
The death-row convicts are: Imran Hossain, Nasim Biwsas, and Monirul Islam Mukul. They were also fined Tk20,000 each.
Mukul is currently in hiding.
Another suspect in case, Zakir Hossain, was acquitted of the charges.
According to the case, Imran, from Laudia village in the district’s Sadar upazila, went missing after leaving his friends at a village tea stall for his home on his cycle of violence.
His body was found near a pond in Shikarpur village a day later.
His father Nazrul Islam filed a case naming several unidentified people as suspects with Jhenaidah Sadar cop shoppe.
Police submitted a report naming four suspects in 2012.
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[ARABNEWS] Six Egyptian coppers were charged Sunday with torturing a prisoner to death, state media reported, a rare case against law enforcement over alleged abuses in jug.
Prosecutors alleged the officers tortured a young man accused of robbery to death in June at a cop shoppe in Cairo after conducting an autopsy on the body, state-run newspaper al-Ahram said.
Rights groups have regularly denounced the security forces under President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi over the alleged widespread use of torture.
The authorities insist that there are no state-sanctioned abuses carried out by law enforcement, and that any cases are down to individual officers.
In May, an appeal court acquitted two coppers who had been tossed in the calaboose Please don't kill me! for allegedly beating to death a detained lawyer in 2015.
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[ARABNEWS] Iran will unveil this week a new jet fighter and upgrade its missile defenses to meet threats from Israel and the US, Tasnim news agency said Sunday quoting the defense minister.
"Our first priority is our missile capability and we must enhance it... given the enemy’s efforts in missile defense," said Amir Hatami in an interview on television late Saturday, according to Tasnim.
He added that a new fighter jet "will fly on National Defense Industry Day," which falls on Wednesday.
Hatami said the defense program was motivated by memories of the missile attacks Iran suffered during its eight-year war with Iraq in the 1980s, and by repeated threats from Israel and the United States that "all options are on the table" in dealing with the Islamic republic.
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#1
Lemme guess - the flight equivalent of the infamous Iranian speedboat?
[IsraelTimes] Passage for pedestrians is sealed despite parallel reports of progress toward a ceasefire deal; no comment from Defense Ministry on how long closure will continue
The Defense Ministry confirmed Sunday morning that the Erez Crossing on the Gazoo Strip’s northern border was closed in response to Friday’s violent border festivities.
The decision was made by Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman after an assessment of the situation on Saturday evening.
There was no mention of how long the closure would last.
The move was first reported by Paleostinian media sources in Gazoo and the West Bank, who said that Israel told the Hamas, one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbung millipede, terror group controlling the Gazoo Strip that it would close the border crossing on Sunday morning.
The border crossing, which acts as the only pedestrian crossing between the Gazoo Strip and Israel, will still be open for medical emergencies requiring the transfer of Gazooks to Israeli hospitals, according to Paleostinian media reports.
The majority of pedestrians who pass through the crossing are seeking medical treatment.
On Friday thousands of Gazooks demonstrated along the Israeli border near the Erez Crossing in weekly Hamas-backed "March of Return" demonstrations. Hamas leaders had urged the public to participate in Friday’s protests.
Rioters hurled rocks, improvised bombs and Molotov cocktails at soldiers and burned tires to create a smokescreen. Others launched incendiary balloons toward Israel.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gazoo reported that two men had been killed and around 250 injured, of which at least 25 were said hit by live fire.
The closure of the Erez Crossing comes as senior members of Hamas say that negotiations for a long-term ceasefire deal are in "the final stretch."
djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... (IraqiNews.com) Three mobilization fighters were maimed as a booby-trapped vehicle went kaboom!, east of Mosul, a security source said on Sunday.
Speaking to BasNews,Lt. Gen. Ali al-Jasem, from the tribal fighters, said "three fighters were maimed as a booby-trapped cycle of violence, parked on a street in Kokjli region, east of Mosul, near the television station."
No further details were provided.
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Damascus (Syria News) The international coalition command announced, on Sunday, that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had pledged 50 million US dollars for the reconstruction of East of Syria.
Brett H. McGurk, the Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIS in Syria and Iraq, said that the Emirati fund is a part of the US plan to gather 300 million US dollars to reconstruct the areas recaptured from the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... , northeast of Syria.
Furthermore, Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... announced, yesterday, providing 100 million US dollars for the reconstruction of the areas located east of Syria, especially Raqqa
Deir Ezzor (Syria News) The Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... bandidosturbans launched an attack on the headquarters of the Syrian regime forces and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, Enab Baladi News reported on Sunday.
The attack launched by the Islamic State targeted the area of Sbaikhan Desert, where Assad’s forces are stationed, and the areas of Abu Kamal and al-Ashrah, after the Syrian Democratic Forces bandidosturbans attempted to recapture the ISIS stronghold in the area.
Meanwhile, ...back at the barn, Bossy was furiously chewing her cud and thinking... the Islamic State launched another attack on the SDF headquarters near al-Melh oil well and al-Maqsam checkpoint, in the town of al-Tayaneh, while attempted to advance into the residential area in al-Omar oil field.
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Anbar (IraqiNews.com) A civilian was killed, while two others were maimed as a landmine, from the remnants of war against Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... , went kaboom!, west of Anbar, a security source said on Sunday.
In remarks to BasNews website, the source from Anbar Operations Command, said "a landmine from the remnants of war against Islamic State, went off in an agricultural land in Rutba, west of Anbar, as the farmers were ploughing the land. A civilian was killed, while two others were maimed."
Security troops, according to the source, who preferred anonymity, "rushed to the accident spot and combed the region fearing further blasts."
The landmines, planted by the Death Eaters, "still exist due to the difficulty to reach the bombs due to shortage of explosive detectors," the source added.
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[ALMASDARNEWS] Yemeni forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition seized control of public offices and facilities in Ad Durayhimi, a town located south of the port city of Hodeidah, Saturday, according to the Yemeni National Army, as cited by the Saudi Press Agency.
The fighters reportedly seized control of public administration offices and facilities including a health centre following heavy battles with Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... fighters.
Footage from Ad Durayhimi shows vehicles and fighters of the Saudi-backed Yemeni forces operating in the countryside near Ad Durayhimi, as fires blaze in the distance.
The port of Hodeidah is Yemen’s main point of entry for food aid. With 8.4 million Yemeni people forced to the brink of starvation, according to UN figures, the country has been plunged into a severe humanitarian crisis amid its ongoing conflict.
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[ALMASDARNEWS] Lebanese President Michel ’Aoun told the Emirati newspaper, al-Khaleej, on Sunday that he believes foreign meddling is behind the failure to form a government.
President ’Aoun told the Emirati newspaper that foreign meddling is behind the ’inflexibility’ shown by the leader of Lebanese Forces A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb... , Samir Geagea ... Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005 ... , and Progressive Socialist Party chair, Walid Joumblatt.
"President Aoun absolves PM-designate Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too. of the obstruction accusation and believes that he is confused, seeing as he (Hariri) fears a clash with these foreign forces at this stage and is trying as much as possible to avoid a clash with Geagea and Jumblat," the sources added, as quoted by Naharnet.
"President Aoun does not want to cause irreversible damage to his ties with Hariri and has not pressed him to accept a government format based on majority rule, but he is questioning the delay and regretting that foreign forces have interfered in the crisis," the report added.
The Lebanese President has not blamed Prime Minister Saad Hariri for the failed government formation initiative; however, he does believe he is under immense pressure from a foreign power.
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h/t Instapundit
[NYPost] After nearly two decades of strategically aimless military action in the Middle East, the Trump administration has apparently decided upon a new and smarter way to fight: employing resurgent American economic power in the forms of tariffs, sanctions and trade deals.
Starting with the oil embargoes of the 1970s, foreign adversaries have routinely employed economic warfare against the US. The rampant inflation of the Nixon, Ford, and Carter years were exacerbated by soaring gasoline prices that threw a monkey wrench into the American economy. But instead of pushing back against the Gulf States, which soon grew obscenely wealthy on the backs of the American consumer, presidents from Reagan on did little or nothing except coddle them.
...Tariffs and fiscal and monetary policies can have diplomatic uses, too ‐ and today, with the American economy booming, the Trump administration is finally swinging the big stick of tariffs and sanctions as a non-lethal substitute for diplomatic or even military action.
In Iran, the rial is down 40 percent in the wake of Trump’s canceling of Obama’s nuclear agreement in May.
...In China, America’s foremost geopolitical challenger, Trump’s approach has been more stick than carrot lately, imposing tariffs and threatening a major trade war, unnerving the Chinese communist leadership, which is beginning to think he may just be crazy enough to do it. The Chinese yuan is down 9 percent against the dollar since April and its stock market is slumping.
...Meanwhile, in Turkey, where the tinpot dictator Recep Erdogan is trying to revive the lost glory of the Ottoman Empire, the country’s currency, the lira, has lost 45 percent of its value this year. This is a direct result of American-imposed tariffs and sanctions against the Islamic regime, in part over the continued imprisonment of American evangelical pastor Andrew Brunson, whom Turkey has accused of spying. In "retaliation," Erdogan has announced a boycott of US electronics. Good luck with that.😜
[ALMASDARNEWS] Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too. recently stated that he is relying on an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... to ’protect’ Leb.
According to Naharnet, Hariri said he is "putting Russia in the picture of the Lebanese situation’s developments" as well as "his stance on the file of the relation with the Syrian regime," a media report said.
Hariri is reportedly relying on his Russian counterparts to facilitate the return of Syrian refugees because he does not have any diplomatic relations with Syria.
"By relying on an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the PM-designate is trying to protect the country from any plunge into the conflict of axes in the region, especially that Moscow, with a green light from the U.S., is playing the role of the regulator of the Syrian file and its related issues," the al-Rai News reported, citing diplomatic sources.
"This would provide further balancing elements for the Lebanese situation, which would prevent it from deviating from the constraints of political stability," the sources went on to say.
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[ARABNEWS] Conserving oil is no longer an economic imperative for the US, the Trump administration declares in a major new policy statement that threatens to undermine decades of government campaigns for gas-thrifty cars and other conservation programs.
The position was outlined in a memo released last month in support of the administration’s proposal to relax fuel mileage standards. The government released the memo online this month without fanfare.
Growth of natural gas and other alternatives to petroleum has reduced the need for imported oil, which "in turn affects the need of the nation to conserve energy," the Energy Department said. It also cites the now decade-old fracking revolution that has unlocked US shale oil reserves, giving "the United States more flexibility than in the past to use our oil resources with less concern."
With the memo, the administration is formally challenging old justifications for conservation ‐ even congressionally prescribed ones, as with the mileage standards. The memo made no mention of climate change. Transportation is the single largest source of climate-changing emissions.
President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... has questioned the existence of climate change, embraced the notion of "energy dominance" as a national goal, and called for easing what he calls burdensome regulation of oil, gas and coal, including repealing the Obama Clean Power Plan.
Despite the increased oil supplies, the administration continues to believe in the need to "use energy wisely," the Energy Department said, without elaboration. Department spokesmen did not respond Friday to questions about that statement.
Reaction was quick.
"It’s like saying, ’I’m a big old fat guy, and food prices have dropped ‐ it’s time to start eating again,’" said Tom Kloza, longtime oil analyst with the Maryland-based Oil Price Information Service.
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#1
...TRANSLATION (If this is true; I sincerely doubt it): "We make more of it than you do, suckers. Drown in it; see if we care."
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/20/2018 5:00
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#2
It was never about economics, or pollution, or any of that. It was about control.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
08/20/2018 7:57
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[ALMASDARNEWS] Ottoman Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey... announced earlier this week that his country will boycott US electronic goods in response to unfriendly US trade moves. He said that "they have iPhones but on the other hand there is Samsung" and that Turks can also use the local brand Venus Vestel.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a salesman from one of Ankara’s mobile phone outlets told Sputnik that "both prices and a balance of purchases [in the city] remain unchanged" and that three out of ten customers are still interested in buying an iPhone, while the remaining seven customers prefer Samsung models and those made by other manufacturers.
At another outlet, a cashier, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, suggested that in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , iPhones are used by either rich businessmen or those who are ready to part with their last money to buy an iPhone in order look a well-to-do person.
"Look at me, I’m not a poor man but I use a Samsung, which is not the case with those young guys collecting scrap waste who have iPhones. We are such a strange nation!" the cashier said.
One of the young customers of the outlet named Batuhan said, in turn, that he dislikes iPhone models because he is "completely dependent on the actions of the manufacturer" when it comes to using the gadget.
"But I am against the state, not me, deciding on what brand of a mobile phone people should use and what brand they should give up," Batuhan said.
He also remained skeptical about a series of clips in the social networks which showed Ottoman Turkish citizens destroying iPhones with sledgehammers ‐ actions described by Batuhan as "pointless."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Talibs and Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and Syria Khurasan (ISIS-K) Death Eaters have suffered casualties during the Arclight airstrikes conducted in eastern Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. and Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country..... s.
The 201st Silab Corps of the Afghan Military in the East said the US forces carried out airstrike using unmanned aerial vehicle, leaving at least three Talibs dead and two others maimed.
According to a statement released by Silab Corps, the airstrike was carried out i the vicinity of Wali Sahar area of Sherzad district in Nangarhar povince.
The statement further added that the vehicle of the Talibs was also destroyed in the airstrike.
The US forces also carried out similar airstrikes in Titak area of Noor Gul district in eastern Kunar province targeting the hideouts of ISIS turbans.
The airstrikes left a member of the ISIS group dead who has been identified as Aminullah, Silab Corps added in its statement.
Silab Corps also added that a Ak-47 assault rifle and a radio were also destroyed during the same airstrikes.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018
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[Al Jazeera] An Egyptian man who hijacked an EgyptAir flight and ordered it to land in Cyprus has been extradited after giving up a drawn-out legal fight, authorities have said.
Cyprus Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named news agency (AP) that Seif el-Din Mustafa
was transferred to Egyptian custody and flown back to Cairo on Saturday where prosecutors were investigating the incident.
Nicolaou said the extradition went ahead after Mustafa dropped a three-year court battle to avoid extradition.
The 61-year-old had previously challenged extradition on the grounds that he could face torture or an unfair trial in Egypt.
He hijacked the flight - an EgyptAir domestic flight from Alexandria to Cairo - in March 2016, using a fake suicide belt.
He surrendered to Cypriot authorities nearly six hours after landing, having gradually released all 72 passengers and crew unharmed.
A member of the cabin crew and a passenger by the name of Ben Innes even took a photo with Mustafa, which was later posted on social media.
'FASCIST REGIME'
Mustafa told a Cypriot court that he didn't mean to harm anyone and was trying to help secure the release of 63 female dissidents being held in Egyptian prisons and expose what he called the "fascist ...anybody not a leftist... regime" of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi.
But prosecutors said Mustafa admitted in a written statement to police that he only carried out the hijacking in order to be reunited with his Cypriot family, from whom he had been estranged for 24 years.
Mustafa dismissed the written statement as "purposeful misinformation" by the Cypriot and Egyptian governments put out to discredit him.
Doros Polycarpou, with the migrant support group KISA that assisted Mustafa, told AP that the Mustafa decided of his own accord to return to Egypt and face prosecution there, despite fears that he may be tortured.
Egypt and Cyprus have a 1996 extradition treaty.
Polycarpou said Mustafa told his legal team he was willing "to take the risk" of suffering mistreatment at the hands of Egyptian authorities because he could "no longer take" his holding conditions in Cyprus' prison complex.
He said Mustafa had complained that he was being held in "isolation" and put under "psychological strain" because authorities kept him away from the prison's general population.
Last year, the European Court of Human Rights blocked Cyprus from extraditing Mustafa until it could rule on whether doing so would violate its prohibition on returning individuals to countries where they may face torture or inhumane treatment.
This article starring:
Seif al-Din Mohammed Mostafa
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[DAWN] With its air raid simulator and battlefield reconstructions, the state-of-the-art Holy Defence Museum in Tehran seeks to glorify the Iran-Iraq war as a time when the country faced down "the whole world".
As Iranians prepare to mark the 30th anniversary of the end of the devastating conflict on Monday, they are being urged to display the same steadfastness as country after country falls in line with crippling unilateral sanctions being re-imposed by Washington after its abandonment of a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major powers.
"The message of the museum is perseverance, resistance and the protection of our honour," deputy director Seyyed Mohsen Hajbabian said. "We teach younger generations the spirit of combat. Iraq was backed by the whole world and Iran was alone in defending itself, but thanks to God... we were victorious in this war." For Iranians, it is "the imposed war", started by Iraq’s then-leader Saddam Hussein on Sept 22, 1980 and ended by a ceasefire on August 20, 1988.
The Iraqi dictator sought to present himself as a bulwark against the revolutionary ideology of the fledgling Islamic republic, which had tossed the pro-Western shah only a year earlier, and which was seen as a major threat to the Gulf monarchies and other Arab autocracies.
The resulting war was the longest of the 20th century, a ruinous conflict of attrition that has often drawn parallels to the First World War in Europe. It ultimately led nowhere, ending with zero territorial gains for either side ‐ even if it reinforced Saddam’s grip on power in Iraq, as well as that of the Islamic republic in Iran.
RECONSTRUCTING HORROR
But the human cost was horrifying.
Although the often-cited figure of a million dead may be an exaggeration by both sides, according to French historian Pierre Razoux, he still estimates a total of 680,000 lives lost.
Of those, Iran bore by far the heavier losses, with around 500,000 dead or missing, he said.
Built by the Tehran municipality, the Holy Defence Museum opened its doors in 2012 and receives more than 300,000 visitors per year, Hajbabian said.
On a recent summer afternoon, it was mostly young men and groups of schoolchildren on trips organised by Islamic institutions.
In the first halls, the visitor is plunged into the ruins of Khorramshahr, the border town in the southwest that was seized by the Iraqi army on Oct 24, 1980 and still bears some of the worst scars of the war.
The "bombing raid simulator" recalls the terror of air strikes suffered by Iranian cities, replete with trembling walls and floors.
There are models of the refineries targeted with missile strikes by both sides, as the belligerents sought to sap each other’s energy reserves and main source of income.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018
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#1
Faced down the whole world?
My recollection was everybody but Iraq sitting over in the shade, pointing and giggling.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
08/20/2018 8:03
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#2
As Kissinger said, "It's a shame one of them has to win."
Posted by: ed in texas ||
08/20/2018 8:04
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#3
Do they show the boys wrapped in blankets? IIRC, they used to use kids to "clear" minefields - the kids were forced to walk ahead of the troops, and set off any mines. After a while the soldier got disturbed seeing all the body parts. So they had the kids wrap themselves in blankets, so when they set off a mine, they wouldn't be spread all over the battlefield.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
08/20/2018 8:17
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#4
Good news! The coming wars with the US and Juice won't last anywhere nearly as long
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/20/2018 9:13
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#5
I thought the African "Civil War" in the Congo was the longest major war with millions dead?
Longest war might well be the one between the Polisario Front and Morocco over the old Spanish Sahara.
The Columbia Civil War is in the running as longest too.
[DAWN] SHEIKHUPURA: A minor boy who went missing two days ago was found dead in a heap of garbage in Mauza Bhiki on Saturday.
Police claimed seven-year-old Ahsan Raza, the son of a labourer, had gone to his tuition centre, but did not return. His body was spotted by some passersby who alerted police. The body was sent for his appointment with Doctor Quincy.
Bhiki police, on the report of Raza’s father Yousaf, started the paperwork but haven't done much else against unidentified killers and started an investigation. They suggested the boy could have been raped before being strangled. Further investigation was under way.
Similarly, in Nankana Sahib, a family protested in front of the local press club against the Sadar police. One of the protesters, Liaquat, told the media that his son Uzair, 13, had been kidnapped by his opponent three days ago. Later, Uzair’s body was found in an empty well, and police have failed to arrest his killers, including Shoaib and two others.
He demanded the regional police officer intervene and arrest the killers as soon as possible.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018
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[Asharq Al-Awsat]The Saudi-led Arab coalition in Yemen announced on Saturday that it has destroyed a SAM 6 anti-aircraft missile system belonging for the Iran-backed Houthis in Sanaa.
The coalition said that its possession of such a system threatens air navigation and relief efforts, reported Al-Arabiya.net.
It vowed that it will prevent the terrorist group from acquiring capabilities that could threaten air navigation.
Separately, coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki said Saturday that the alliance intercepted and destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile fired at the Saudi city of Jizan. A day earlier, it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen’s Amran region at Saudi Arabia’s Najran city.
The Houthis have so far launched 177 ballistic missiles at the Kingdom, Maliki said.
[ARABNEWS] Ending the decade-long dominance of the Sharif family, 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.... ’s (PTI) nominee, Sardar Usman Buzdar, has been elected chief minister of Punjab, the biggest province in the country.
In the election on Sunday in the Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... Assembly, Usman Buzdar secured 186 votes ‐ the minimum required number to become the leader of the House consisting of 371 members.
His rival, Hamza Shahbaz Sharif ...Pak dynastic politician, brother of PM Nawaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab... , son of former three-time Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif, could bag only 159 votes.
The seven members of the Pakistain People’s Party (PPP) abstained from the process.
The PML-Q politicians and Rah-e-Haq party members also voted for the PTI candidate.
The win of the PTI nominee, Sardar Usman Buzdar, has ended the 30-year supremacy of the Pakistain Moslem League - Nawaz (PML-N) in the political realm of the province.
The PML-N ruled the province from 1988 to 1990 when the elder Sharif, Mian 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, then by the courts... , served as the chief minister and gave a tough time to his political rival, the late Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... , who was then prime minister.
The PML-N then formed the government in the province in 1993 and Ghulam Hyder Wyne was the party nominee for the slot of chief minister.
The PML-N again gained power in 1997 and the younger Sharif, Mian Shahbaz Sharif, became chief minister of the province.
The ruled continued until the bloodless coup of Gen. Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... .
During Gen. Musharraf’s regime, Chaudhary Pervaiz Elahi served as the chief minister from 2002 to 2007.
PML-N regained its glory in the 2008 elections and Mian Shahbaz Sharif became the chief minister. The rule continued for two consecutive terms (2008-20013 and 2013-18) ‐ 10 years.
In the 2018 election, though, the PML-N emerged as the single largest party in the province by securing 129 seats but the number was not enough to form the government and on Sunday PTI candidate Buzdar ended their supremacy in Punjab politics.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Al Jazeera] A second earthquake has jolted the Indonesian island of Lombok just hours after an earlier tremor triggered landslides and damaged buildings.
The US Geological Survey measured Sunday's quake, which was centred in the island's northeast, at magnitude 6.9 with a depth of 20km.
It followed a separate 6.3 magnitude tremor recorded earlier in the day which rocked the same region of the beleaguered tourist island.
Lombok is struggling to recover from a series of powerful earthquakes which have hit the island in recent weeks, killing hundreds of people and damaging tens of thousands of homes.
About 350,000 have been displaced as a result of the tremors.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018
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#1
You're living on top of the world's most active subduction zone. Don't worry, be happy.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
08/20/2018 7:59
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#2
Tell San Francisco
Posted by: European Conservative ||
08/20/2018 9:36
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#7
"For the purpose of preparing for the Vostok 2018 exercise, the Russian armed forces will hold a special drill to practice tactical support to forces operating in the eastern strategic sector."
Are the Russian's prepping for another round with Japan?
[DAWN] Mexican marines on Friday said they had discovered an underground drug lab in the mountains outside the capital of Sinaloa state where they destroyed 50 tonnes of methamphetamine.
Marines found the lab after intelligence reports indicated that tonnes of drugs were being produced in the area of Alcoyonqui municipality, about 12 miles outside the state capital of Culiacan, the ministry of the navy said in a statement.
In photos provided by the ministry, two marines in hazmat suits can be seen examining dozens of plastic containers in a mountain forest.
The statement said the drugs were hidden underground in two areas along with barrels of the chemicals used to produce meth. The drugs were incinerated on site due to the difficult access to the remote location, the ministry said.
Mexico is a major supplier of methamphetamine to the United States and it the top source of heroin, which is fuelling a surge in opioid addiction. The country is also the principal highway for cocaine trafficked north.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018
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[IsraelTimes] Decision to release residents of Umm al-Fahm
... home of the outlawed northern branch of the so-called Islamic Movement, the Israeli branch of the Muslim Brotherhood...
to house arrest against police wishes is overruled by district judges
The Jerusalem District Court on Sunday extended by two days the detention of three men suspected of involvement in Friday’s Old City attempted stabbing attack, overruling the Magistrate’s Court which had released them to house arrest.
The suspects, all residents of the northern Israel Arab town of Umm al-Fahm, were tossed in the slammer Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! in the hours after the attack after police identified them walking through the alleyways of Jerusalem’s Old City close to the stabber, Ahmed Muhammad Mahameed, who is also from the same town.
On Saturday night, the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court ordered the three sent home due to lack of evidence, but police petitioned against the decision. They will now be held until Tuesday.
The three men said they are not connected with Mahameed and were not involved in the attack.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Senate, the partisans of Honorius went for their knives and the partisans of Stilicho went for the doors... Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman on Sunday rejected claims by the Umm al-Fahm Municipality that the stabber was allegedly suffering from mental issues and that police had been too quick to open fire.
"I expect the Umm al-Fahm municipality to do some soul-searching ‐ this is giving a sermon with crocodile tears," Liberman told the Kan public broadcaster. "When a stabber charges at you, you have a few seconds to think and make a decision; does the policeman know the biography of the attacker?"
"They always say after the fact that there was no intention and that the attacker is disturbed. I have never seen in the Arab population that they take responsibility and say that they are guilty. They allow incitement against a country in which they have a good life."
Police said that Mahameed, who had come from the direction of the Temple Mount in the Old City, approached a group of coppers, pulled out a knife and attempted to stab one of them. The officers scuffled with the assailant and one of them shot him, killing him.
His family said that he struggled with mental health issues, and had not carried out the attack for nationalistic reasons. Mahameed, 24, had spent significant time in the Sha’ar Menashe psychiatric medical center in northern Israel, according to his brother Nissim Mahameed. "He was sick and could not function," Nissim told the Haaretz daily on Saturday.
The family condemned the officer who fired the fatal shot for being "light with his finger on the trigger."
The Umm al-Fahm Municipality released a statement Saturday condemning police for what it called the "cold-blooded murder" of its resident.
"The city condemns the incomprehensible conduct, especially in light of the young man’s mental and health condition," the statement read. It did not elaborate on how the officers at the scene would have been able to know the assailant’s state of mental well-being ahead of time.
Police said an initial probe of the incident had shown police fire was entirely justified.
[DAWN] Rescuers searched submerged villages in southwest India on Sunday in a desperate hunt for survivors after floods killed more than 350 people and stranded thousands without food or water.
Entire villages in Kerala have been swept away in the state's worst floods for a century, and emergency responders fear the corpse count will rise as they reach areas almost entirely underwater.
Thousands remain trapped in towns and villages cut off by the floods, and heavy rain forecast in coming days threatens to compound the disaster.
Bedraggled survivors massing at evacuation centres have described desperate scenes after days without food or water.
"They were the scariest hours of our life," 20-year-old Inderjeet Kumar told AFP at a church doubling as a relief shelter in the hard-hit Thrissur district.
"There was no power, no food and no water ‐ even though it was all around us." Local officials said the overall corpse count in the state since the start of the monsoon on May 29 had reached 357, with 33 of them found dead in just the last 24 hours.
In Thrissur, rescuers searching inundated houses discovered the bodies of those unable to escape as the floodwaters quickly rose.
"They didn't think that it would rise this high ‐ 10 to 15 feet at some places ‐ when the initial warnings were issued," said Ashraf Ali K M, who is leading the search in the small town of Mala.
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08/20/2018
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[RADIOSHABELLE] Somali military soldiers were reported to have taken control of a key city in Lower Shabelle region, near the country’s capital, Mogadishu on Sunday.
The troops loyal to General Abdullahi Ali Anod moved from a nearby Shalanbod and rolled into Marka city, which has been changed hands between al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... and Somali forces.
"Somali forces loyal to general Ali Anood who turned to renegade after he was sacked by President Farmaajo days ago seized the port city of Marka," said a local resident.
The city has been fully retaken by Somali and African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... forces in 2012 from al-Shabaab following an offensive which also led to the liberation of key other towns.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[RADIOSHABELLE] Reports reaching Radio Shabelle’s news desk from Lower Jubba region indicate that a tense of fighting is running high on the outskirts of the port city of Kismayo ...a port city in the southern Lower Juba province of Somalia, at the extreme southern end of the country (assuming Somalia can be called a country). It is the commercial capital of the autonomous Jubaland region... after festivities.
The tension followed a deadly inter-clan clash that left scores of civilians and tribal snuffies dead, while hundreds of others have sustained wounds.
Local authorities say the rival armed clan militias are battling over a land dispute and Dire Revenge killings. The situation remained tense and residents fear a breakout of fighting.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shootout, Butch clutched at his other leg...... Jubbaland state has called on both warring sides to exercise maximum restraint and end their differences through dialogue.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018
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The ancient Greek karate style known as pankration offers time-tested lessons on aging well.
He, along with a handful of other men, have been practicing routines like this for more than 40 years, under the careful supervision of George Gonis, who runs the small, second-floor gym where they sweat off several pounds during each 90-minute session. All have been training in the ancient Greek karate style known as pankration with Mr. Gonis, some on and off, since their teens or early 20s.
Each series of Greek karate maneuvers, such as the "form" Dr. Daffner demonstrated recently, tells a story from ancient Greece. Remember...they're smarter than you and should get to run the world without any backsass.
#1
Karate, from Okinawa (Shotokan), means 'empty hand'. Martial arts date back to mainland China for about 2 millennia. These people are fucking morons for peddling this codswallop. The only Greek karate I might remotely be familiar would involve buggering your fellow man, if ya know what I mean.
#5
Any martial art, line dancing, aerobics... any kind of physical exercise that uses a combination of memorized movements done for at least twenty minutes at a time to get an aerobic effect will provode the healthful benefits that the New York Times journalist ascribes to a martial arts style so exotic that most of the fifty states don’t have a single instructor. But the NYT works ever to promote status anxiety by fawning over something most cannot have in the exact form described.
[IsraelTimes] Before joint dinner, PM says talks with US national security adviser will focus on rolling back Tehran's 'aggression' in region.
US National Security Adviser John Bolton met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Sunday evening, telling the Israeli premier that Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs were "right at the top of the list" of challenges facing the United States and the world.
"It’s been an exciting year and a half in the Trump administration," Bolton said, ahead of a joint dinner with Netanyahu. "Obviously we’ve got great challenges, for Israel, for the United States and the whole world. The Iran nuclear weapons program [and] the ballistic missile programs are right at the top of the list. So I’m delighted to be here, and look forward to our discussions."
Continued on Page 49
[FoxNews] Weinstein accuser Asia Argento made deal to pay her own sexual assault accuser, bombshell report says.
Actress Asia Argento, one of the first prominent women to accuse disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault, agreed to pay $380,000 to an actor who accused her of sexually assaulting him when he was 17 years old, The New York Times reported Sunday night.
The actor claimed that the assault took place in a California hotel room in 2013, according to the report. The age of consent in California is 18.
#3
Actually, he's got the signed legal papers from the payoff agreement.
But it's different when they do it.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
08/20/2018 7:52
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#4
Anthony Bourdain's previous squeeze. His last one was his own neck, IIRC
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/20/2018 9:03
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#5
I pretty much assume anyone in Hollyweird that is part of the #MeToo movement is also guilty and trying to show they aren't. The rest are guilty and just don't care.
[IsraelTimes] Incendiary balloons from Gazoo sparked two fires in southern Israel on Sunday, firefighters said.
One blaze erupted near Kibbutz Or Haner while the second spread in the Be’eri forest. Both fires were extinguished by the fire brigade.
On Saturday night, more than 200 Israelis from communities along the Gazoo border converged on Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square, calling on the government to act to ensure their security after months marred by rocket fire that has seen them scrambling toward shelters on a regular basis.
Saturday’s rally came amid reported intensifying negotiations for a long-term ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", in Gazoo. A day earlier, a senior Hamas official said that negotiations for a long-term ceasefire deal were in "the final stretch."
While no rockets have been launched at Israel in over a week as talks have progressed, residents of the coastal enclave have continued to release incendiary balloons at bordering Israeli towns nearly every day.
[Breitbart] U.S. Steel has announced that they will invest $750 million at their 110-year-old steel manufacturing plant known as Gary Works in Gary, Indiana, crediting President Trump’s protective tariffs on steel imports.
What was once the largest steel mill in the world will now get a $750 million facelift thanks to Trump’s 25 percent tariff on all imported steel into the United States, designed to protect American industries and jobs from being outsourced.
In a statement this week, U.S. Steel executives said they would be revitalizing the Indiana plant which employs about 3,800 American workers, the Chicago Tribune noted.
While U.S. Steel executives say they are not yet planning to increase the number of jobs at the Indiana plant, U.S. Steel Corp. President and CEO David Burritt said the company is "experiencing a renaissance" because of Trump’s tariffs.
"We are pleased to be making this significant investment at Gary Works, which will improve the facility’s environmental performance, bolster our competitiveness and benefit the local community for years to come," Burritt said in a statement.
"We are experiencing a renaissance at U.S. Steel," Burritt said.
#1
Keep it relatively small & responsive to market conditions like Nucor used to do back in the day, and it'll be a good investment. Too bad about the city they're doing this in - I've never heard a good thing about the place, until now.
I'm guessing the new $750M is going to be invested over a 4 or 5 year period to avoid having to go to big into the credit market.
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/20/2018 0:30
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#3
Didn't US Steel (USX ?) decide in the 1960's that it was too expensive to modernize their old steel plants so they just let them "...rust away" while diversifying like crazy with all the profits?
So Foreign Commodity Dumping is only part of the picture...
US Steel has a long and, as you imply, not completely glorious history.
However the USX period was from 1986 to 2001. During this time it was removed from the DJ 30 index.
with respect to major diversification, US Steel bought Marathon Oil in 1982 (as oil prices were crashing) and spun it off as an independent company in 2001.
with respect to employment, the company peaked in WWII when it had over 300,000 employees but the company has been steadily reducing that and today has about 30,000 employees, including quite a few overseas where the company has interests in eastern Europe, Canada and S Korea.
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/20/2018 9:57
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#5
Interesting bit of history at #4. I remember some very saddened Marathon folks in 1982.
[ASHARQ AL-AWSAT] Member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian Parliament Hishmat Allah Faht Bisha told Iranian news agency ISNA on Saturday that compensation is an open file and Baghdad will need to pay.
Iranian demands for reimbursements over damage caused by the Iran-Iraq war provoked Iraqi resentment. Stretching for eight years, from 1980 until 1988, the war ended with a UN-brokered ceasefire.
“It is unreasonable that after 30 years, the file on reparation to be reopened today with the survival of the Iranian regime and the demise of the former Iraqi regime,” said Iraqi MP Ahmed Abdullah al-Jubouri.
Former Iraqi government spokesman Ali Aldabbagh told Asharq Al-Awsat that “It works against Iranians interests to provoke hostility among Iraqis.”
“Iraqis cannot continue to bear responsibility for crimes committed by the former regime, whether they are made against Iran or Kuwait,” Aldabbagh said.
He went on to say that Iraqi people should not pay for the crimes of a regime they did not play a part in, saying that the Saddam regime’s decisions were autocratic in nature and did not represent the will of Iraqis.
“Iranians know this, especially that Iraqi factions were fighting with them against Saddam's regime during the war,” he added.
On the other hand, winning political blocs in the May 12 elections remain unable to come together for forming the largest parliamentary bloc.
“It is still very difficult because of the Shiite-Shiite divide, it is not about the larger bloc and how it should be formed, but about who is prime minister,” said former parliamentarian Rahim al-Darraji.
Deputy Head of the Iraqi Center for Strategic Studies Dr. Basil Hussein told Asharq Al-Awsat that “there is no justification for Iranian demands for war compensation.”
“This issue is political and not based on international law or on UN Security Council resolutions, such demands have no real value,” he added.
Posted by: 3dc ||
08/20/2018
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#1
That is not the way to create goodwill....
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/20/2018 0:31
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#2
...that's not what the people here think when they talk about reparations. Extracting monies based upon guilt not the original parties. Just rationalizations for theft.
#3
It is still very difficult because of the Shiite-Shiite divide
Say what? I thought it was those Sunnis?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/20/2018 8:52
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#4
Under the acres of Italian marble at the Iraqi-Iranian War Memorial in Baghdad (peanut memorial) lies scores of stone tablets with the names of the Iraqis maytyred. When I asked "how many names there were" the guide replied "you must count them."
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Lebanese Speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri, told the Al-Intichar newspaper on Sunday that Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s stance on restoring ties with Syria is ‘unrealistic.’
“This is unrealistic and unhelpful,” the veteran politician told Al-Intichar in response to Hariri’s refusal to restore ties with Syria.
According to Berri, Lebanon has asked Syria to help provide their country with electricity.
Furthermore, Berri said that the Syrian government is working with the Lebanese authorities to return the refugees currently living across Lebanon.
“The Syrian government is especially concerned with the return of displaced Syrians to their country. These issues would not have been solved without coordination between Lebanon and Syria,” Berri added.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[Al Jazeera] Iraq's Supreme Court has ratified the results of the country's May parliamentary election, setting in motion a 90-day constitutional deadline for the top parties to form a coalition government.
A nationwide recount of votes showed on August 10 that populist Shia leader Moqtada Tater al-Sadr ... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah... retained his lead, positioning him to play a central role in the government negotiations.
Many Iraqis, including Kurdish and Sunni Arab groups, had disputed the results of the vote, alleging widespread electoral misconduct.
In June, a huge fire destroyed a warehouse housing boxes containing ballots from the May 12 vote.
Iraqi officials, including Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, said that the blaze was started deliberately with the aim of harming the country's democracy.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq
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.
[DAWN] An antiterrorism court on Saturday issued a notice to the investigation officer of the Naqeebullah Mehsud murder case registered against former Malir SSP Rao Anwar and other police officials for his incessant absence during the hearings of the case.
[DAWN] KASUR: A woman gave birth to a baby in an ambulance after being denied admission to three public health facilities late on Friday near village Wadana on Ferozepur Road.
a city and an eponymous district in eastern Khyber-Pakthunwa, nestled snug up against Pak Kashmir, with Kohistan and Diamir to the north and Abbottabad to the south...
[DAWN] ThePattoki police 
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..
Samir Geagea
Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too.
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
[ARABNEWS] Conserving oil is no longer an economic imperative for the US, the Trump administration declares in a major new policy statement that threatens to undermine decades of government campaigns for gas-thrifty cars and other conservation programs.
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey...
...anybody not a leftist...
[DAWN] With its air raid simulator and battlefield reconstructions, the state-of-the-art Holy Defence Museum in Tehran seeks to glorify the Iran-Iraq war as a time when the country faced down "the whole world".
[DAWN] SHEIKHUPURA: A minor boy who went missing two days ago was found dead in a heap of garbage in Mauza Bhiki on Saturday.
...Pak dynastic politician, brother of PM Nawaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab...
... 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, then by the courts...
Pervez 
[DAWN] Rescuers searched submerged villages in southwest India on Sunday in a desperate hunt for survivors after floods killed more than 350 people and stranded thousands without food or water.
Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
...a port city in the southern Lower Juba province of Somalia, at the extreme southern end of the country (assuming Somalia can be called a country). It is the commercial capital of the autonomous Jubaland region...
Weinstein accuser Asia Argento made deal to pay her own sexual assault accuser, bombshell report says.
Member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian Parliament 
Under the acres of Italian marble at the Iraqi-Iranian War Memorial in Baghdad (peanut memorial) lies scores of stone tablets with the names of the Iraqis maytyred. When I asked "how many names there were" the guide replied "you must count them." 
Moqtada 
