[Tolo News] The Ministry of Interior (MoI) through a statement released on Monday confirmed that Kiran Manjan district of Badakhshan has been cleared of Death Eaters. The district was attacked two days ago by the Taliban and taken control of.
The statement added that the Border and local police forces had launched a joint operation in the district to clear the area of Death Eaters. When the Taliban attacked the district, the police had to retreat, but now the district has been cleared of Death Eaters.
"The Taliban suffered major casualties during the course of the operation," the statement further added.
After the incident, several Parliamentarians criticized the government and summoned top security officials for questioning.
Insecurity has increased over the past few months in the province. With the 2014 elections drawing near, the forces of Evil have intensified their terror activities in the province.
Meanwhile, ...back at the saloon, Butch got the bill for the damage caused by the fist fight, the mirror broken in the shootout, and drinks for everyone...... the Afghan cops have ramped up operations across the country to clear vulnerable areas of forces of Evil in preparation for the upcoming 2014 elections.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2013
09:56 ||
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[Tolo News] Tawab Ghorzang, the spokesman of the Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG), on Wednesday announced that Gul Agha Sherzai, the Governor of Nangarhar province, has resigned from the post, in order to file his candidacy for the next spring's Presidential election. Gul Agha is a rapacious, dictatorial bastard. The Taliban got their start rescuing people from his clutches. Can we drone zap him on general principles?
Mr. Sherzai is the current Governor of Nangarhar province. He had previously served as the Governor of Kandahar province in the early 90s and from 2001 until 2003.
The resignation comes in after Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf resigned from the Lower House on Wednesday to contest the 2014 Presidential election.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2013
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#1
I like the idea of having to resign your political position in order to run for office. Just think what would have happened to McCain and Kerry.
[Tolo News] Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, the leader of the National Coalition of Afghanistan (NCA), officially filed his nomination for Presidency with the Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Tuesday. Er. Muhammad Khan, the deputy head of the Hezb-e-Islami Party (HIP), and Hajji Muhammad Muhaqeq, the Chairman of the Hezb-e-Wahdat-e-Milli Mardom Afghanistan (HWMMA), also filed their candidacy for the post of First Vice-President and Second Vice-President, respectively.
Dr. Abdullah Abdullah is the first "Presidential heavyweight," who has filed his candidature 16 days after the commencement of the nomination filing process.
While speaking to the reporters, Dr. Abdullah said that a purposeful peace negotiation process, security and economic development will be his top working priorities, if elected as the President.
"Our mission is to unite Afghanistan. No one should resort to negative propaganda or selfish motives," said Dr. Abdullah.
Meanwhile, the HIP has assured the supporters saying that its alliance with the Jamiat-e-Islami Party (JIP) is a sustainable one and all disagreements between the two parties would be dealt with soon.
Dr. Abdullah and his two Vice-Presidential candidates were welcomed at the IEC by a large crowd of supporters from the HIP, HWMMA and JIP, who had gathered at the Commission to show their support for his candidacy.
After a series of deliberations, the HIP and JIP reached on an agreement to extend their support for the candidacy of Mr. Khan and Mr. Muhaqeq. Previously, Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal was considered for the First Vice-President's post, later, a consensus was reached and Mr. Khan was chosen as the First Vice-Presidential candidate.
"The parties, who have announced their support in the upcoming election, represent all the ethnic groups of the country. The alliance between the HIP and JIP aims to fight all the challenges of the country and guide the youths of the country," said Mr. Khan.
Muhammad Muhaqeq was one of the key members of the National Front Party (NFP), a party which is led by Ahmad Zia Masoud and Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum. However, in the final days of the nomination filing process, Mr. Muhaqeq ended his alliance with the NFP to join Dr. Abdullah's NCA.
"I think the new team is a comprehensive one and Afghans supports it. This team comprises of new and old political parties that worked together during "Jihad." The team will use its experience to fight all challenges," said Mr. Muhaqeq.
Only four days remain for the nomination process to come to a close, and news about more electoral heavy weights filing their nomination will be making news over the course of the next couple of days.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2013
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[Tolo News] Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf resigned from the Lower House on Wednesday, in order to file his candidacy for the next spring's Presidential election. Mr. Sayyaf said that Muhammad Ismail, the Minister of Water and Energy, will be his First Vice-President and the name of the Second Vice-President would be announced soon. Rasool Sayyaf was the mujaheddin commander most closely backed by the Saudis (i.e., closest to the Osama bin Laden turbans) during the war against the Soviets. If I recall correctly, the Abu Sayyaf group in the Phillipines is named for him.
Mr. Sayyaf has announced his candidacy a day after Dr. Abdullah Abdullah ... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun... , the leader of the National Coalition of Afghanistan (NCA), officially filed his nomination for Presidency.
He is the second Parliamentarian to have resigned from the post, to contest the 2014 Presidential election. Hajji Muhammad Muhaqeq, the leader of the Hezb-e-Wahdat-e-Islami Mardom Afghanistan (HWIMA), tendered his resignation from his Lower House membership on Sunday and will contest for the post of Second Vice-President in the upcoming election. Mohaqiq was the leader of the Hazaras within the Northern Alliance.
"I want to file my nomination for Presidency. I am officially resigning from my Lower House membership. My goal is to serve the people and protect my country. I will do my best for the country," said Mr. Sayyaf.
It is being reportedly said that Mr. Sayyaf will go to the Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Thursday and submit his nomination papers.
Mr. Sayyaf while announcing his resignation said that if he wins the election, he will ensure that women's rights are protected in the country.
"Islam grants one right for the father and three rights for the mother. I will put in my best and fight for the cause of women," Mr. Sayyaf added.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2013
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#1
The history of the Afghan resistance to the Soviet invasion can be dated from the nineteen sixties and the intersecting lives of three members of the Muslim Brotherhood (al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun): Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf, Burhanuddin Rabbani, and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. These three Islamist military leaders led the most active mujahideen forces that emerged following the Soviet invasion, and their influence continues to this day.
The state Department of Natural Resources on Wednesday refused a directive from the National Park Service to close a host of popular state properties because of the federal government shutdown.
The park service ordered state officials to close the northern unit of the Kettle Moraine, Devil's Lake, and Interstate state parks and the state-owned portion of the Horicon Marsh, but state authorities rebuffed the request because the lion's share of the funding came from state, not federal coffers.
State officials opted to keep public lands open as Gov. Scott Walker blamed both Republicans and Democrats for the partial government shutdown and said congressional leaders should run the nation more like Wisconsin. Democrats balked at those comments, saying the Republican governor has had a tumultuous tenure that has divided people.
Even though federal lands such as the Apostle Islands National Lakeshorehave been shuttered, the DNR issued a statement saying all state parks, trails and other recreational properties were open and not affected by the federal government's budget problems.
The agency also reopened a boat launch Wednesdayat Wyalusing State Park on the Mississippi River. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service closed the launch on Tuesday because it was on federal land.
But in a sign of defiance, the DNR removed the barricades at the landing, saying it had the legal authority to operate the launch under a 1961 agreement with the federal government.
On Tuesday, vast swaths of land were closed by the federal government because of the budget stalemate.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service closed all its properties, including the Upper Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge and the Horicon National Wildlife Refuge. The agency said that fishing and hunting on those lands were prohibited.
The Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest also was closed. But the status of hunting and fishing on the 1.5 million acres was unclear. DNR officials gave no indication they would try to stop the public from using the forests.
On Wednesday, state and federal authorities came to loggerheads over access to state land when the Park Service directed the DNR to close properties in which the state and the federal government had a cooperative financial agreement.
The federal agency provided the DNR $701,000 for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, according to the DNR. The DNR said the majority of money for the parks comes from the state and that it would use state funds to continue operations.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/03/2013
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#4
..given that they forced a recall election were the gov got an even greater percentage of the vote. Of course in most political entities where the people are not 'divided' are usually defined as a single party dictatorship.
Posted by: Barbara ||
10/03/2013 17:28
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#10
The Obama administration and his cronies are bound and determined to 'Make it HURT'.
"How DARE the House of Representatives manage the budget and decide what does and does not get funded!" is, in effect, what Dinty Harry said when asked if he would pass the bill to fund cancer centers.
I don't think even Hollywood could come up with a more slimy person than Reid - and they know slimy people!
Exactly. The Founders were all about keeping things decentralized, so as to preserve decision-making power at the lowest level. Gridlock and shutdown is a symptom of tyrants trying to impose top-down, one-size-fits-all policies that a lot of people don't want, and a sign that our government is functioning as the Constitution intended. Mr. Constitutional Law Professor would know that, if he had been educated rather than indoctrinated.
#1
My personal opinion - they are innocent of murder or any other charge that directly covers the killings but are guilty of trying to cover up what happened. The situation was chaotic, then-available information totally inconsistent, stress very high, preparation impossible and previous training absent, and these policemen were among the relatively few who stay on the job. The whole prosecution and trial was political show aimed at placating racial militancy.
#2
What I read in the media during & shortly after Katrina damned police conduct quite well enough. The case should have been tried in 2006. We all know police in the USA do no wrong, ever.
Insufficient frame of reference. In fact, media errors & exaggeration contributed heavily to the situation. While post-shooting police conduct was indeed damnable, it is unjust to the shootings themselves by 'normal' standards as conditions were FAR from normal.
The Obama administrations credibility on intelligence suffered another blow Wednesday as the chief of the National Security Agency admitted that officials put out numbers that vastly overstated the counterterrorism successes of the governments warrantless bulk collection of all Americans phone records. Credibility? What credibility ?
Pressed by the Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee at an oversight hearing, Gen. Keith B. Alexander admitted that the number of terrorist plots foiled by the NSAs huge database of every phone call made in or to America was only one or perhaps two far smaller than the 54 originally claimed by the administration. Only one or two? They must be fresh in your memory. Please tell us about them if you would.
Gen. Alexander and other intelligence chiefs have pleaded with lawmakers not to shut down the bulk collection of U.S. phone records despite growing unease about government overreach in the program, which was revealed in documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
There is no evidence that [bulk] phone records collection helped to thwart dozens or even several terrorist plots, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont Democrat and committee chairman, told Gen. Alexander of the 54 cases that administration officials including the general himself have cited as the fruit of the NSAs domestic snooping.
These werent all plots and they werent all foiled, he said. How many instances of monitoring in support of Law Enforcement, specifically the FBI and DoJ were there? Oh, too tough a question? Sorry.
Mr. Leahy and Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., Wisconsin Republican and author of the USA Patriot Act, which the government says allows bulk data collection, are working on a bill to roll back that authority.
In a summary they floated to colleagues Wednesday, the men said they would end bulk collection and require the NSA to show that the data it is seeking are relevant to an authorized investigation and involve a foreign agent.
The two lawmakers also proposed a special advocacy office with appellate powers to be part of the proceedings in the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, and requiring the court to release secret opinions that lay out major interpretations of law.
Mr. Leahy, who has been a chief critic of the NSA, asked Gen. Alexander to admit that only 13 of the 54 cases had any connection at all to the U.S., Would you agree with that, yes or no?
Yes, Gen. Alexander replied in a departure from normal practice. Ok, so where did the "54 cases" originally put forth come from General ?
Administration officials giving testimony to Congress, even when asked to confine themselves to a simple yes or no, rarely do. Standard practice for lawyers and politicians, nothing new here.
In response to a follow-up question, Gen. Alexander also acknowledged that only one or perhaps two of even those 13 cases had been foiled with help from the NSAs vast phone records database. The database contains so-called metadata the numbers dialing and dialed, time and duration of call for every phone call made in or to the U.S.
Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper denied that the number of plots foiled should be the sole metric by which the success of the program is measured. I think theres another metric here thats very important. I would call it the peace of mind metric. 'Peace of mind' would be your earlier statement that indicated none of this was taking place at all.
He explained that the agency also could use the database to satisfy itself that global terrorists abroad did not have connections or associates in the U.S., and that attackers like those at the Boston Marathon were not part of a wider international plot. Is that your nose experiencing another growth spurt ?
Gen. Alexanders dramatic concession is the latest in a series of recent, or recently revealed, intelligence misstatements that have embarrassed the Obama administration. No worries. He'll not be going under any bus, I can assure you.
#2
My personal favorite comment from this post comes from BrendaK:
BrendaK
October 2, 2013 at 11:48 pm
Here in Georgia, we have so far been able to repel the roving bands of cannibals (made up furloughed government employees and laid-off defense contract workers) but were running out of ammo. We only have 16,000 rounds left for the shotgun, and about 1/2 that for the rifle.
These are the dark days, the end time. Pray for us.
#2
Brutus said in Shakespeares Julius Caesar what would be appropriate on Obamas relationship with Israel:
Thou hast described/A hot friend cooling./ When love begins to sicken and decay,/It useth an enforcèd ceremony./There are no tricks in plain and simple faith. (Julius Caesar, Act 4, Scene 2.)
The above reference must assume there was once a Champ/IS friendship. Little real evidence of that as far as I can tell.
A study by the Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies (JIMS) has found that legalizing cannabis would generate more than 1.6 billion shekels per year for the Israeli economy.
The position paper released Wednesday states that the Israeli black market for cannabis is worth an annual sum of 2.5 billion shekels. The introduction of taxation following any legalization of the drug, the paper claims, would bring in revenue of some 950 million shekels, while the judicial system would save another 700 million shekels if marijuana-related prosecutions were to end.
The study says that cannabis-related offenses in Israel are responsible for 5.2 percent of the country's criminal cases and 5.4 percent of its prisoners.
[Al Ahram] Azerbaijan on Wednesday accused Armenia of resettling Syrian refugees in a disputed territory the two have been fighting over for decades.
Azerbaijan's UN ambassador said the rival neighbor had started a "very dangerous process with unpredictable consequences" by moving Syrian Armenians into Nagorny Karabakh.
Armenia says it has accepted more than 10,000 ethnic Armenians but has not confirmed they have been moved to Nagorny Karabakh.
Armenian-backed separatists took Nagorny Karabakh from Azerbaijan in a war in the early 1990s that claimed an estimated 30,000 lives. A 1994 ceasefire ended major hostilities, but no peace accord has been reached and festivities regularly erupt. About 20 troops from either side have been killed on their frontier this year.
"We continue to receive the reports testifying to purposeful (Armenian) attempts aimed at encouraging some categories of Syrian refugees to move to other conflict affected areas," Azerbaijan's UN envoy Agshin Mehdiyev told a news conference.
"We have information that they already started it -- settlement of Syrian refugees in occupied territories -- and of course it is a very dangerous process with unpredictable consequences," added Mehdiyev, who is the UN Security Council president for October.
The United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... recognizes Nagorny Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan. But Azerbaijanis fled after the war and the population is now almost completely ethnic Armenian. In the absence of a peace accord, Azerbaijan and Armenia have rearmed in recent years.
Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov raised the Syrian Armenians in a speech to the UN General Assembly last week. The two governments regularly clash over Nagorny Karabakh at the annual UN summit.
"The latest reports on the transfer of Syrian Armenians into the Nagorny-Karabakh region and other seven adjacent occupied districts of Azerbaijan ... provide yet more evidence of Armenia's deliberate policy of annexation of Azerbaijani lands," Mammadyarov said.
Armenia's UN mission did not immediately answer calls about the Azerbaijan claims.
Armenia's Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan told the General Assembly last week that his country was "alarmed" by the crisis in Syria.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2013
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[MAGHAREBIA] Mauritanian police tossed in the clink Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! some 16 members of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA), Al Akhbar reported on Tuesday (October 1st). The arrests occurred in Boutilimit, near Nouakchott, where activists had organised a sit-in to protest the lack of prosecution of alleged slavery cases.
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A list of goods banned for export from China to North Korea seems to have been approved from the very top of the Chinese regime, the New York Times said Monday.
"The list appeared to have been approved at the highest levels of the Chinese government. Either the Politburo, or the group's seven-member Standing Committee, the apex of Chinese power, gave the green light," the paper said.
"Both Chinese and Western analysts called the export ban an important development -- if it is implemented fully," it added. "The publication of the banned items for export was described by these experts as a sign of further exasperation, and a desire for China to fall in line with the United Nations sanctions that it voted for earlier this year."
Back on Sept. 23, the Chinese ministries of commerce and of industry and information technology, the General Administration of Customs, and China Atomic Energy Authority published a 236-page document including the list of banned exports to the North.
Roger Cavazos of the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability, who specializes in Sino-North Korean relations, said, "China was targeting important aspects of North Korean nuclear programs, including the ceramics needed to protect a warhead as it re-entered the earth's atmosphere atop a missile."
"Despite the North's underground tests of crude nuclear devices, experts say it has not yet tested a vehicle that can withstand the heat of re-entry, an important step in building a deliverable nuclear bomb," the paper added.
"Since China's new leader, Xi Jinping, came to power earlier this year, Beijing has been tougher toward North Korea on its nuclear abilities," it said. "The diplomatic opening between the United States and Iran on Friday would give China another opportunity to 'put the squeeze' on North Korea."
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/03/2013
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[Dawn] Chief Minister Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... Dr. Abdul Malik Baloch announced to convene an All Parties Conference (APC) to initiate formal dialogue with the bully boy groups in the province.
Dr. Baloch spoke at length in DawnNews program "Faisala Awam Ka" on Wednesday night regarding the plight of earthquake survivors and security situation in Balochistan, Pakistain's sparsely populated and the most backward province.
"We do not want any bloodshed, rather we stand for peace and development," he said.
He said a jirga comprising tribal elders and key politicians would be sent to all Baloch separatists groups and sectarian bully boy organizations to hold a dialogue regarding the situation in Balochistan through political means. He further informed that the APC will comprise all political groups and tribal elites of Balochistan province.
CM Balochistan said his province faced complicated issues like recovery of mutilated dead bodies, missing persons and displacement of people from Dera Bugti and Kohlu districts.
"We will approach everyone to pave the way for political settlement," he explained, adding that use of force has not produced any results in Balochistan, which has been under the grip of violence for last more than a decade.
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10/03/2013
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[An Nahar] Shells fired from the Syrian side of the border targeted several towns in Akkar on Wednesday, hitting homes and an army patrol and sparking an exodus of residents.
"Ten shells have targeted the house of Mashta Hammoud resident Majed Sweid, which is uninhabited, and no casualties were reported," state-run National News Agency reported.
The bombardment also hit the Sheikh Mohammed Hill and the al-Khalsa area, where several families were stranded due to shelling, according to NNA.
The houses of Brig. Gen. Ahmed Alfi and Hussein Dandal were hit while none of Mashta Hammoud's residents managed to inspect their targeted homes, the agency added.
"Residents of the Akkar town of Bani Sakhr are fleeing en masse to safer places over fears that shelling might target their town," NNA said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the the conspirators' cleverly concealed hideout Montefiore's foot was still stuck in the tree roots and the hound had completely soaked his uniform with slobber... al-Jadeed television said a Lebanese army patrol came under shelling from Syria in the Akkar area of al-Khalsa.
Future TV said "heavy shelling from Syria is targeting the outskirts of Akkar's Mashta Hammoud and al-Khalsa and several homes have been hit."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2013
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MOGADISHU -- At least Ten people from the opposing sides were reportedly killed in a fierce clashes between Somali government forces backed by AMISOM peacekeepers and Al Shabaab militants in Somalias southern region of Middle Shabelle, as witnesses reported of the assassination of police officer in Mogadishu, Garowe Online reports.
The clashes erupted in Mahaday town, 30 KMs north of agriculture-rich town and Middle Shabelle regional capital of Jowhar at nearly 11:00 PM in the night of Tuesday after Al Shabaab militiamen attacked The Somali government troops and AMISOM bases, making the heaviest fighting to be reported since allied forces dislodged Al Shabaab militants from the town, residents said.
Mahaday residents also reported that Al Shabaab fighters thrust into the town, I saw several Al Shabaab members who were responding with gunfire near my home, said a resident of Mahaday speaking to Somali media via telephone.
The allied forces carried out security operations in the town in the early hours of Wednesday morning, arresting dozens of suspects.
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#2
Flew into San Diego this morning, passed over the 32nd street fleet tied up; normally the ships have many worklights blazing as repairs are done; I saw not one such light on any ship today.
#3
DoD commissaries have also been shuttered. The majority of these stores turn a handy profit, which offsets the costs of commissary workers and also funds vital support programs for needy military members and their families.
I'm sure EBT havens such a Walmart and Kroger are celebrating in silent, hopeful of the day DoD commissaries are closed entirely.
#5
He did. Don't know if the DoD bill covered all this. Wonder why not.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/03/2013 8:55
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#6
MCCS (they run the Marine Exchanges and base recreational services) also sent a significant percentage of their 'nonessential' employees home. Considering that they are non-appropriated funded, I'll take the high road and assume that they're battening down the hatches and watching their pennies.
#8
Re: #3: NASWI Commisary was open for the last time this past Tuesday; Mrs. Ret. stopped in to stock up and was told that not only were the staff in there for free ( ???) but whatever perishable goods weren't sold by the end of the day would be thrown away. She was also told that re-supply trucks were being turned around and that once this was over, might take as much as 2 weeks to fully restock.
#9
Commissaries were primarily for supporting the old mess/dining facility operations. Their function was expanded to include what we have today as the facilities were already in place. While a service charge/tax/fee is applied to the sales which includes a chunk for building and modernization of those facilities to accommodate the demand, it doesn't fully cover the operation. Cutting back to essential is to the point of only supporting base/post dining facility operations which many have been outsourced on the installations.
Next shoe to drop is those outsourced operations being put on the backs of the enlisted once again which means missions will not be done because 'housekeeping' of installations and facilities do need to be done but without to old levels of manpower to accomplish them.
#10
A check of the Army and Air Force Exchange System website says they'll remain open during the shutdown. It's a non-appropriated fund activity. It'll provide the base equivalent of a 7-11 for food, diapers, etc with the commissary shuttered.
#11
Next shoe to drop is those outsourced operations being put on the backs of the enlisted once again which means missions will not be done because 'housekeeping' of installations and facilities do need to be done but without to old levels of manpower to accomplish them.
Already happening here. First time I've heard "sweepers" called in two decades.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A U.S. federal judge revisited on Tuesday a decades-old court settlement restricting how the New York Police Department conducts surveillance, reported UK-based newspaper the Guardian.
The dispute was re-examined due to accusations by civil rights lawyers who claim the department is breaking the rules by monitoring Musselmens.
The dispute centers on the Handschu decree which was put in place in the 1960s and 70s in response to surveillance used against war protesters but was relaxed in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.
The decree was relaxed following attacks that killed over 3,000 people on U.S. soil to allow police to freely monitor political activity in public places.
"I've come to think of this case as a volcano that's asleep most of the time ... but every now and then blows up," the Guardian reported District Judge Charles Haight as saying at the start of a hearing in federal court in Manhattan.
The outcry stems from the NYPD's monitoring of Musselmens which includes surveillance where they eat, study and worship as part of its counterterrorism efforts, reported the Guardian.
A city lawyer, Peter Farrell, told the federal judge on Tuesday that the police department launches investigations based on evidence of legitimate threats, not religion.
"It's undeniable that New York City remains at the center of the threat by Islamists who have been radicalized to violence," he said.
The "Handschu" decree refers to a 1985 court settlement that set strict rules concerning time limits for investigations, the kinds of records police could keep and created a body to oversee such investigations.
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For a map, click here. For a map of Chihuahua state, click here
Six individuals died in ongoing drug and gang related violence in southern Chihuahua state since last Sunday, according to Mexican news reports.
Three men were ambushed by armed suspects in Guadalupe y Calvo municipality Monday night, according to a news account which appeared on Milenio news daily Tuesday night.
The victims were identified as Enrique Tarín Duran, 52, Justino Armando Diaz Vizcarra, 36, and Antonio Zavaleta Izquierdo, 32.
The victims were traveling, presumably on foot, to the village of San Ignacio de la Cieneguita when they were shot to death near a location called Puerto del Madroño. News reports characterized the shooters as numerous.
Three individuals were shot to death in three separate incidents in southern Chihuahua, according to Mexican news accounts which appeared in the online edition of El Sol de Parral news daily.
An unidentified man was found beaten to death in Guachochi municipality Monday morning. The victim was found in Los Pinos colony on Calle Monterrey by local municipal police agents.
A man was shot to death in his home in Guachochi municipality early Sunday morning. Julian Moreno Arteaga, 49 was in his residence in the village of Batayeachi when three armed suspects burst inside and started shooting. News accounts say .223 caliber rifles were used in the attack.
The brother of a local police commander was killed last Sunday, according to data supplied by the Chihuahua state Fiscalia General del Estado, or attorney general. Silvestre Terrazas Villa was found dead early Sunday morning in Cilla Coronado in Coronado municipality. His brother, José Angel Terrazas Villa, police commander in Villa Coronado is suspected in the death, and local and state police and army units are searching the area to find him. He is thought to be hiding out in ranches in the area.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburgcom and Borderlandbeat.com. His latest work of non-fiction, the Wounded Eagle, Volume 2, can be found at Smashwords and Amazon.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com..
[Al Ahram] A social media activist working for the World Bank has been locked away Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! in Sudan, her husband said Wednesday, part of a crackdown after fuel price hikes sparked deadly protests.
Eight security officers took Dalia El Roubi from her family home on Monday, her husband Abdelrahman Elmahdi told AFP.
They also tossed in the clink Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! her friend Rayan Shaker, a fellow activist, but gave no reason for the arrests, Elmahdi said.
"As of today we have no clue as to her whereabouts or where she is staying or her condition," he said.
Elmahdi said his wife, a mother of three, belongs to no political party but is "part of the youth movement," including a group called Sudan Change Now.
He said his wife had joined one protest last weekend, a funeral procession for Salah Sanhouri, a pharmacist bumped off during a demonstration.
Security officers seized a video camera and a small digital camera from El Roubi's home, her husband added.
No one at the Sudan office of the World Bank, where El Roubi works as a communications specialist, was able to comment.
The Washington-based Bank works to fight global poverty.
Sudan's government says it has arrested hundreds of "criminals" after last week's protests.
Authorities say 34 people died after petrol and diesel prices jumped, sending thousands into the streets in the worst urban unrest during Bashir's 24-year rule.
Activists and international human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. groups said at least 50 people were bumped off, most of them in the greater Khartoum area.
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10/03/2013
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[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] The National Park Service is sending so many officials out to shut down federal parks that it might have to suspend furloughs if the government closure continues.
-- At the World War II Memorial on The Mall in Washington, where veterans have been staging protests to keep it open, Washington Examiner's Charlie Spiering reports that at least seven officials were dispatched Wednesday morning to set up a ring of barricades to block tourists from the memorial. That is two more than the State Department had in Benghazi a year ago on the night of the terrorist attack that killed four, including the U.S. ambassador.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2013
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#3
About anything that is a GS-12 or above or SES at the NPS has identified itself as 'expendable' if the government ever comes back. We've already heard 'I was just obeying orders'. No sale. Wonder what they'll do if the states decide to relieve the NPS of their burden since they can't do their job?
#4
The Obama regime has calculated correctly that few visitors to patriotic memorials are likely to be from the Democratic voting block, so .... f%#k them.
If few visitors are Dem, them most are republicans, and against Obama, and Obamacare, then Obama wants to anger them?
A few thousand WW2 vets angry seems to be suicide.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/03/2013 9:44
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#6
As I expected, some of my liberal friends on Facebook are claiming this was all a show put on by the Republicans and didn't happen. Willfully blind and stupid is no way to go through life.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
10/03/2013 12:10
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[MAGHAREBIA] Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) on Monday (September 30th) grabbed credit for a twin suicide boom-mobileing that killed two civilians and injured six soldiers in Timbuktu.
The attack on the Malian military base was conducted by the AQIM's "Imaratou Sahra" (Desert Emirate) battalion, Alakhbar reported, citing an unnamed al-Qaeda front man. The terror group claimed to have killed 16 Malian soldiers and destroyed a number of military vehicles during the Saturday attack.
Malian Internal Security Minister General Sada Samaké went to the bombing site the following day to reassure civilians and soldiers of "the commitment of the government to investigate and punish those responsible for these acts".
"There are failures, we must have the courage to admit it, but... we will take all measures to ensure that the situation is under control," General Samaké added in his statement aired by ORTM public television.
Timbuktu resident Djiby Sangare said the attack had "plunged the peaceful inhabitants of this city into a state of fear".
"It confirms that the gunnies are still here with us and we have to continue the fight in order to neutralise them," he told Magharebia.
Touareg rebel group National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), meanwhile, said it was "deeply saddened for the victims" of the attack. In a statement issued on September 29th, the group said that it remained firmly committed to the fight against terrorism in the Azawad.
The message signed by MNLA front man Mossa Ag Attaher indirectly blamed al-Qaeda and the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) for the attack.
For his part, journalist and security analyst Jidou Ould Sidi said: "This operation marks the resurgence of gunnies who kept quiet for six months. This shows at least that the terrorist threat is still there and all the countries of the region should be aware of it and act accordingly."
"The terrorists' new tactic is to keep quiet for a while, then build up strength and hit by surprise. This is what the gunnies succeeded in doing cold-bloodedly in Timbuktu," Ould Sidi added.
According to Journal Tahalil editor and terrorism expert Isselmou Ould Moustapha, however, there was an "abnormality" in the claim of responsibility.
"It is written with the header of an otherwise unknown organization- 'Qaedatou El Jihad Fi Biladi Almagrib El Islami', or al-Qaeda of Jihad in the Islamic Maghreb," he said. "Did the group change its name?"
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2013
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#1
Remember when Timbuktu was "Timbuktu" because it was the middle of nowhere and nothing ever happened there?
[Al Ahram] The Moslem Brüderbund has denied defectors from the group met with government representatives.
"The Brotherhood is united and has no relationship with those invited to attend talks [with the interim presidency]," said the statement on Wednesday by the group's secretary general Mahmoud Ezzat.
"The conspiracies promoted by the military authority have not achieved their goals. They are rejected by the true youth of the Moslem Brüderbund."
On Tuesday, Ahmed El-Moslemany, the president's media advisor, met with Brotherhood defectors to discuss current state of affairs.
"The coup authority is making these claims [of defections] at the same time as [European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... foreign policy chief] Catherine Ashton's visit in order to show it is open to dialogue with different political forces."
"[Defections] is opposite to the reality of situation. There has been a continued campaign of arrests against the Brotherhood since the coup against the [legitimate president on 3 July]," the statement continued.
The Brotherhood reiterated that it would not withdraw its demand to end "the military coup" and for Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... to return to the presidency.
News reports on Tuesday said Ashton was working on a new reconciliation initiative with leading Brotherhood members Amr Darrag and Mohammed Ali Bashr.
According to Al-Ahram, the two senior figures will demand in a meeting with the EU official on Wednesday an end to the crackdown on its members and for those tossed in the clink ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... to be released, in return for an end to protests.
However, some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves... the 'Moslem Brüderbund Without Violence' movement, a small opposition grouping in the Brotherhood, said the interim government had no intention of conducting serious talks with the Brotherhood, and described the meeting between Ahmed El-Moslemay and alleged Brotherhood defectors members as "comic."
"The group that met with El-Moslemany has no relationship whatsoever with the Moslem Brüderbund. These people belong to anonymous parties aiming to defame the reformist current within the Brotherhood," the movement said.
"There will be no serious dialogue with the current regime except after all Moslem Brüderbund members are released and the 50-member constitution-amending committee is reconstituted," the movement added.
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10/03/2013
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[An Nahar] Guinean President Alpha Conde on Wednesday urged party leaders to accept the results of September 28 legislative polls, as security was ramped up in the capital amid fears of violence.
With results trickling in, Conde praised the vote as the dawn of democracy in the chronically unstable west African nation.
But the opposition has already complained of rigging during the election, which was meant to turn the page on a protracted transitional period.
Guinea's electoral commission on Tuesday released some partial and provisional results.
Full provisional results had been due on Wednesday, but officials said tally sheets were still being transported from polling stations on Tuesday.
"I would like to say how proud I am... of your amazing mobilization to make these legislative polls a real success," Conde said in a speech marking the 55th anniversary of Guinea's independence from La Belle France.
The election "has allowed us to take another step on the path to democracy," the 75-year-old leader said.
The top U.N. official in West Africa, Said Djinnit, also warned against any attempt to challenge the impending results in the street.
He urged "political parties to respect the verdict of the ballot box and... resort to legal means to settle any dispute that might arise from the polls."
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10/03/2013
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[WASHINGTONTIMES] The IRS is still collecting taxes during the government shutdown, but it isn't sending out refunds -- and it's also stopped complying with a subpoena to turn over documents to members of Congress who are investigating the agency's targeting of tea party groups. Both the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the Ways and Means Committee have stopped getting documents from the IRS.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2013
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#1
I had to tell a client a $15K Fed. refund is being held up over this. He wasn't pleased. Of course, the obvious solution would have been for him to give me his tax information eight months ago...
#3
The ridiculous argument of using one's payroll withholding and overpayment as a 'tax day' savings account just become even more ridiculous. Something on a par with a $5000. annual deductible health insurance plan.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Egypt's interim government decided Wednesday that insulting the flag and refusing to stand for the national anthem is an offense punishable by law.
The decree follows a media fracas sparked by reports that an ultraconservative Islamist sitting on a committee to amend the constitution refused to stand for a moment of silence honoring coppers killed on duty during a raid on a myrmidon stronghold last month.
It recalled earlier controversy over reports that members of the ultraconservative Salafi trend have refused to stand for the national anthem for religious reasons.
Mohammad Ibrahim Mansour, a representative of the Salafi al-Nour party in the constitutional committee, has been quoted as saying that it is better to pray for those killed instead of standing for a moment of silence.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2013
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[An Nahar] Yemeni Foreign Minister Abubaker al-Qirbi said on Wednesday that the exiled former South Yemeni president is living in Beirut under the protection of Hizbullah.
Qirbi's comments came as he was criticizing Ali Salem al-Baid in an interview in pan-Arab Al-Hayat newspaper.
"Al-Baid receives backing from Iran and Hizbullah," Qirbi said.
He added: "He lives in Beirut under Hizbullah protection."
U.S. envoy to Sanaa Gerald Feierstein had told Al-Hayat in March 2012 that the United States believes Hizbullah and Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, are helping Iran to expand its influence in Yemen at the expense of the country's Gulf neighbors.
Baid, the last president of the region before union and a member of the Southern Movement is opposed to national talks that began in Sanaa on March 18 and still campaigns for southern independence.
Hardliners led by Baid are demanding negotiations between two independent states in the north and south.
Supporters of southern independence often stage demonstrations against the national dialogue, especially in Aden.
After the former North and South Yemen united in 1990, the south broke away in 1994, triggering a short-lived civil war that ended with the region being overrun by northern troops.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2013
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[MAGHAREBIA] A Libyan naval officer was rubbed out Wednesday (October 2nd) in Benghazi.
"Unknown men fired at navy Captain Saleh al-Houdheiry, abruptly ejecting him from the gene pool," Benghazi Joint Security Room front man Abdullah Zaidi told AFP.
Houdheiry was dropping off his son at the Benghazi medical school when the attack took place, Zaidi said. The officer's son suffered serious injuries.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Al Ahram] Western governments are considering allowing Iran to continue some uranium enrichment, as part of a possible deal to resolve a decade-old dispute that Tehran says it wants to reach within six months, a senior EU diplomat said.
The new stance - a reaction to President Hassan Rouhani's overtures to the West - would mean easing a long-standing demand that Iran suspend all enrichment, due to concerns Tehran could be developing nuclear weapons.
In an interview with Rooters, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said: "I believe part of the game is that if the Iranians prove that whatever they are doing is peaceful, it will, as I understand, be possible for them to conduct it."
"It's conditional. It is not a done deal, but nevertheless it is a possibility to explore," he said. "Thanks to this rapprochement. How it will look, we don't know."
Lithuania holds the rotating presidency of the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... until the end of this year, giving Linkevicius a closer insight into many internal policy debates.
A series of UNSecurity Council resolutions call on Iran to halt enrichment. One of them demands "full and sustained suspension of all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities."
Iran has refused to comply, saying its membership of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty (NPT) gives it the right to pursue peaceful nuclear technology. That refusal has drawn several rounds of UNand Western sanctions.
Rouhani, a relative moderate elected in June, has reiterated Iran's insistence that it does not seek nuclear weapons, but has promised to clear up international concerns, hoping for an easing of sanctions that have hit its ability to export oil.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2013
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#1
Baby Assad "winning" in Syria = Iran "winning" on its NucProgs = China "winning" in ECS + SCS + India in East Asia = ... ...
Iff China can "rent 5% of [debt-ridden]Ukraine" for China-centric agriculture + meat production, it can most certainly demand or do the same wid the Debt-ridden, Debt-loving USoAmerika + its Debt-ridden, Debt-loving US Govt.
Again, CHINESE PERTS, MILBLOGGERS > NO NEED FOR MAJOR CHINA-US WAR AS ALL CHINA NEEDS TO DO IS DEMAND THAT THE US PAY ITS DUES TO CHINA - IFF THE US CAN'T, THEN CHINA HAS THE RIGHT TO DEMAND THAT THE US TRANSFER SOVEREIGN TERRITORIES OVER TO CHINA IN LIEU OF DEBT PAYMENT.
ITV, THE MASSIVELY ENDEBTED USA HAS NOWHERE + NO ONE TO BORROW FROM EXCEPT FROM CHINA, WHICH IN TURN GIVES CHINA THE CLEAR ADVANTAGE AS PER DISPUTED TERRITORIES + GEOPOL/GEOSTRATEGIC CONCESSIONS.
As wid any World Nation-State, China has the right to wage war to defend territories it already deems as its own [Taiwan, Diaoyus/
Senkakus, South China Sea]; just as China as Creditor also the right to wage war to collect on unilateral or aymmetric debt owed from other sovereign nations.
CHINA'S DEBT IS US$776.OBILYUHN, WHILE THE US' IS US$16.8-$17.3TRILYUHN.
CHINA HAS LR ICBMS THAT CAN HIT CONUS ON EITHER COAST - SYRIA, IRAN, TAIWAN + JAPAN + PHIL + ASEAN DON'T.
#2
US SecDef Hagel repor is now saying that the Bammer Admin's new rapprochement or engagement wid IRAN is not tantamount to "surrender"???
D *** NG, DOES RADICAL ISLAM = GLOBAL/NUKULAAR JIHADIS KNOW???
Iff "post-US", "Mahanist" China sees the score as Hard Boyz - 4, Obama/US - 0, why shouldn't they see a positive outcome vee Obama for their particular agenda vee TAIWAN, KOREAS, SENKAKUS/DIAOYUS, OKINAWA?, SOUTH CHINA SEA + TIBET, ETC.???
[Dawn] A jacket wallah Wednesday killed eight people and maimed 16 others at the southwestern Chaman border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistain, officials said.
"It was a suicide kaboom. We have found the severed head on the blast site," local border force commander Colonel Haider Ali told news agency AFP.
The security bigshot said at least one Fronter Corps paramilitary soldier was among the dead.
He said the bomber had arrived at the border from Afghanistan.
Local police officials confirmed the attack following which the Pak-Afghan border was closed.
Chaman is a small town in the southwestern province of Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... and is one of the two main crossing points for supplies for American and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... troops fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2013
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[An Nahar] The Red Thingy warned Wednesday of growing humanitarian difficulties in Mali, where violence resurged last month between hard boyz and the military.
"The humanitarian consequences of the armed violence in the north of the country, combined with difficult weather conditions, are hitting civilians hard," said Christophe Luedi, head of the ICRC delegation in Mali.
"It's very hard for people to get enough to eat without outside help, or to earn what they need simply for their families to survive. If this situation persists, the result could be even greater dependence on humanitarian aid. The renewed outbreak of violence over the past few days can only exacerbate the situation."
The election of Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita last month brought with it hopes for a return to calm and democracy after 18 months of political chaos and violent unrest.
But festivities between rebel Tuareg group the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and the Malian army in the northern city of Kidal erupted just days after peace talks between the rebels and the government broke down.
So far this year, the Red Thingy has distributed food aid to over half a million people in Kidal, the other northern cities of Timbuktu and Gao and the central town of Mopti, many of whom were displaced by the conflict, to "help people meet their most urgent food needs and also regain some measure of self-reliance", the organization said in a statement.
It has also distributed seed for crops and animal feed to farmers and livestock herders.
While livestock were "suffering from a lack of water and grazing resources" in some parts of Mali, several thousand people had been hard hit by flooding in August during Africa's rainy season in other areas, the Red Thingy added.
Last year Mali was upended by a separatist rebellion and coup that toppled the elected president and allowed al-Qaeda-linked Islamist fighters to occupy the north before being ousted by a French-led military intervention.
The MNLA, which seeks autonomy for northern Mali -- which it calls Azawad -- took control of Kidal in February but the Malian authorities later reclaimed the city under a fragile ceasefire agreement.
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Tunisia's main trade union said Wednesday that the government had notified it of "serious threats" to its leaders aimed at undermining its efforts to broker an end a lingering political crisis.
"The union's management has been informed of the existence of serious threats targeting its leaders... with the information coming from the relevant departments of the interior ministry," the UGTT said on its Facebook page.
The powerful trade union has been leading mediation efforts to end two months of political deadlock sparked by the liquidation in July of opposition MP Mohammad Brahmi, an attack blamed on radical Islamists.
It said the threats were designed to hamper the proposed "national dialogue" between Tunisia's Islamist-led government and the opposition to find a compromise and overcome the current impasse.
The UGTT gave no further details about the origin or nature of the threats.
It has previously accused the League for the Protection of the Revolution, a controversial militia with ties to the ruling Islamist party Ennahda, of attacking a gathering outside its headquarters, which left several unionists maimed.
Since Brahmi's murder, political activity in Tunisia has been ground to a halt, with the opposition demanding the ruling coalition's immediate resignation and calling for a nationwide campaign of protests.
Ennahda has agreed to step down and allow the formation of new government but only once a compromise has been reached on key political issues, notably the draft constitution.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2013
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[Dawn] Two soldiers were killed Wednesday in a roadside kabooming in Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... 's Awaran district near the epicentre of a devastating earthquake earlier last week.
The Pak military said the soldiers were distributing humanitarian aid when their vehicle hit the roadside kaboom in Mashkay area of the quake-hit district.
"We are there to provide relief for the local people. We will continue the relief work for our Baloch brethren even if attacks continue," said Major General Samrez Salik, who oversees the relief operations.
The blast also left four others injured.
According to a foreign news agency, separatist bully boy group Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) grabbed credit for the attack.
"We claim responsibility for Wednesday morning attack on troops near Mashkay. We will step up such attacks in coming days," Allah Nazar Baloch, head of the BLF, told Rooters.
Awaran is considered one of the most sensitive and troubled districts of Balochistan and is also the hometown of the Baloch rebel commander.
The district's Mashkay area was badly affected by the 7.7-magnitude earthquake which jolted the southwestern province last week, claiming over hundreds of lives and leaving thousands homeless.
Separately, army units came under fire in five other incidents throughout the day.
The army has been facing difficulties in providing relief to the quake victims due to the security situation in Awaran. Last week, two rockets narrowly missed a military helicopter and there have been several attacks on convoys carrying aid.
On Sept 30, a convoy of the chief minister of Balochistan Dr Abdul Malik Baloch escaped a rocket attack in Awaran as he was on his way to a camp office set up to carry out relief efforts.
In a statement on Wednesday, the chief minister strongly condemned the bombing in Mashkay.
According to the chief minister, Awaran has had no government for the past decade, which has led to myrmidons trying their best to compromise relief efforts in the area.
In a media briefing on Tuesday, CM Baloch admitted that there were difficulties in carrying out relief activities in the quake-hit areas of the province.
Chief Minister Dr Malik Baloch has already made an appeal to Allah Nazar to cooperate with aid agencies in order to provide support to earthquake survivors.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2013
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A leading U.S. research institute says North Korea has clearly restarted an aging nuclear reactor it had begun to dismantle as part of an international agreement in 2007.
The U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University Wednesday said new commercial satellite imagery provides conclusive evidence that the plutonium reactor at Yongbyon is discharging hot wastewater into a river through a new drain pipe.
Last month, the institute reported signs that the antiquated Yongbyon reactor likely had begun operations, despite Russian warnings that doing so could lead to catastrophe on the Korean peninsula. At that time, Russian diplomatic sources described the reactor as in a "horrific state" of disrepair.
The Norks need plutonium, so they're going to make plutonium. It's that simple...
The new disclosure comes as U.S. experts met with North Korean officials to discuss resuming stalled international talks about Pyongyang's nuclear program. That London meeting came just hours after the United States and South Korea signed an agreement meant to provide greater deterrence against North Korea's nuclear weapons.
It was not immediately clear Wednesday how or if the new Yongbyon evidence will impact any future multi-lateral talks.
With Champ? Hardly at all...
The North originally shut down the Yongbyon reactor six years ago, under an aid-for-disarmament deal worked out under the six-party format.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/03/2013
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[BREITBART] More than nine out of every ten employees at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are considered "non-essential" and have been furloughed in the federal government's shutdown.
Rooters obtained an EPA guidance in which the agency said it would "classify 1,069 employees, out of 16,205, as essential," which is about 6.6% of the agency's workforce, in the event of a government shutdown, which occurred on Tuesday.
The guidance also reportedly said that "most workers at the Office of Air and Radiation, which is in charge of writing and implementing most of the EPA's major air pollution rules," would be furloughed, which will tighten the various deadlines facing the agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2013
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#3
As we saw in hearings on the 1st you would be hard pressed to call their leadership essential. I think the 7% is a mix of custodial and the IG investigators.
[An Nahar] The March 14 General Secretariat stressed in a statement on Wednesday that forming a cabinet is a national and constitutional responsibility, and called on President Michel Suleiman ...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... and PM designate Tammam Salam to line up one that is free from the restraints of Hizbullah and based on the Baabda declaration.
After their weekly meeting, the secretariat stressed that Hizbullah's involvement in the Syrian crisis have "burdened the Lebanese and linked their destiny to the turmoil in Syria following the party's inclusion on the list of terrorism in Europe, the Gulf, and the U.S."
On the latest deadly festivities that erupted on Saturday between Hizbullah and the Shiyyah clan in Baalbek, March 14' statement said that the incident calls for a full state control and authority in order to limit illegitimate arms and restrict their possession to the state.
Moreover, March 14 hailed Suleiman's initiative where he voiced hope on Friday that Hizbullah would withdraw its fighters from Syria immediately as per the Baabda declaration that calls for disassociating Leb from regional conflicts, and to maintain Leb's best interest.
"Hizbullah's withdrawal from Syria will have a positive impact on the economic and political sectors," the statement added.
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10/03/2013
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[Al Ahram] Kuwaiti security forces fired tear gas and stun grenades Wednesday to disperse hundreds of stateless residents demanding citizenship and basic rights, activists and witnesses said.
Known locally as bidoons, the demonstrators turned out to mark the international day of non-violence despite a stern warning by the interior ministry that it would deal firmly and harshly with any protest.
At least eight people were incarcerated Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! when riot police backed by armoured vehicles tried to break up the protest by force, the National Committee for Monitoring Violations -- a non-governmental rights group, said on its Twitter account.
The head of the Kuwait Society for Human Rights, Mohammad al-Humaidi, said on Twitter that police used tear gas to disperse the peaceful rally and that several arrests were made.
Earlier in the day, stateless school children gathered outside a number of schools in Jahra, 50 kilometres (31 miles) west of Kuwait City, carrying banners calling the 106,000 bidoons to be granted citizenship.
Riot police have forcibly dispersed protests over the past two years, using stun grenades and tear gas, and arresting hundreds who are now on trial for holding illegal gatherings and assaulting police.
Bidoons were born and raised in Kuwait and claim they have the right to Kuwaiti citizenship, but the government says only 34,000 of them qualify for consideration, while the rest hold other nationalities.
Although parliament has repeatedly supported government plans for granting bidoons citizenship, the process has been slow.
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[An Nahar] Colombia's leftist FARC guerrillas said Wednesday they have been victims of "cyber espionage," and suggested the U.S. National Security Agency may be to blame.
Recent revelations by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden have exposed the NSA's far-reaching electronic surveillance of phone records and Internet traffic.
"This news does not surprise us. On the contrary, it confirms what we have been saying," the rebels said.
"We have been the victims of sabotage and espionage for a long time, especially when it comes to using virtual communications to express our ideas and reasons to fight."
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia FARC or FARC-EP, is either a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary guerrilla organization or a drug cartel based in Colombia. It claims to represent the rural poor in a struggle against Colombia's wealthier classes, and opposes United States influence in Colombia, neo-imperialism, monopolization of natural resources by multinational corporations, and the usual raft of complaints. It funds itself principally through ransom kidnappings, taxation of the drug trade, extortion, shakedowns, and donations. It has lately begun calling itself Bolivarian and is greatly admired by Venezuela's President-for-Life Chavez, who seemingly fantasizes about living in the woods and kidnapping people himself. He provides FARC with safe areas along the border. said its news agency's website was "blocked by unknown agents."
The rebels have been negotiating since November 2012 a peace agreement in Havana with the Colombian government to end half a century of conflict. They are set to launch a new round of talks on Thursday.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Matched by yesterday's expulsion of American diplomats from Venezuela. The Caracas-FARC cartel.
[An Nahar] Police in Somalia said Wednesday they were questioning a man accused of beheading four of his children more than three years after divorcing their mother.
Omar Shire Hassan was apprehended late Tuesday by the police in the central Somalia town of Beledweyne, situated about 300 kilometers (190 miles) north of the capital, a few hours after allegedly murdering the children who were between three and eight years old.
"The dead bodies of the four children were found near a village and have been buried. The man handed himself in and is in custody now. I think he is not mentally fit but we are questioning him," regional police commissioner Colonel Isak Ali Abdulle said.
He said police understood the man had recently returned to Somalia from Canada, but said the motive for the crime was unclear.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
to avenge his Islamic "honor", of course
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/03/2013 12:41
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#2
the man had recently returned to Somalia from Canada
Another nice Islamic boy radicalised in Canada, eh?
[An Nahar] A Tunisian rights group on Wednesday accused the police of harassing the tiny Jewish community on the southern island of Djerba, saying it had come under a string of attacks.
"Tunisian Jews feel in danger, they are really afraid," Yamina Thabet, the president of the Tunisian Association Supporting Minorities, told a news conference after visiting Djerba.
According to testimonies from witnesses on the island, three "serious incidents" took place against members of the community in the past few weeks, which were marked by important Jewish festivals including Yom Kippur.
Thabet accused the police of forcefully interrupting a festive meal and seizing "a stolen cycle of violence without even checking the owner's papers."
She said the police then fired tear gas at the gathering and only left when a tourist bus approached, and denounced "harassment" by the security forces.
According to the testimonies, a man calling himself "the new Hitler" broke into the prayer hall of a Jewish school and assaulted one of the adults present, in front of the children.
Lawsuits have been filed against the man, who also reportedly assaulted two maidens of tender years, and who was tossed in the clink Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! for 24 hours. But there has been no mention of charges linked to his allegedly racist aggression.
Thabet said the Tunisian Jews were "fed up with being used during visits by politicians as evidence for the peaceful coexistence (between Moslems and Jews) and when the law is broken, they are the first victims of negligence" by the authorities.
The NGO has championed the rights of minority communities in Tunisia, since it was established after the revolution in January 2011, including homosexuals.
It has criticized the authorities in the past for their inertia towards anti-Semitic behavior, drawing attention in particular to the judiciary's failure to prosecute a holy man who called openly for a "divine genocide" of the Jews in a televised sermon late last year.
The country's Jewish community has seen its numbers fall dramatically in recent decades, from an estimated 100,000 at the time of independence in 1956 to around 1,500 now.
Earlier this year hundreds of worshipers made the annual pilgrimage to Djerba's Ghriba synagogue, thought to be the oldest in Africa, amid tight security after a suicide kaboom in 2002 that killed 21 people.
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[MAGHAREBIA] Tunisian army and police units on Tuesday (October 1st) searched for Death Eaters in Jebel Ouergha, Shems FM reported.
The operation followed the arrest of two gunnies who confessed to providing food to an gang in the area.
In other news, a mosque in Jendouba governorate expelled a holy man for bad turban preaching. In co-ordination with local authorities, representatives of the Ghardimaou mosque approved another imam.
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[Dawn] The Pak military on Wednesday denied Indian accusations of Pak soldiers being involved in a reported clash on the Indian side of the Line of Control (LoC), the heavily-militarised border dividing the Kashmire region.
An Indian army commander had alleged that Pak troops might be involved in an ongoing gunbattle near the disputed border.
The Pakistain Army rejected the allegation. "We totally deny this baseless allegation. This is a blatant lie. No such thing happened," a front man for the Inter-Services Public Relations, the military's public relations wing, said in a text message.
Senior Indian army commander Gurmit Singh told news hounds in Srinagar that the Indian soldiers had launched an operation against forces of Evil on September 24 and which was still ongoing.
The Lieutenant General claimed some 30 to 40 heavily-armed fighters had crossed the LoC in the Keran sector and were holed up for the past nine days in thick forests in the area.
However, some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves... he denied reports in the Indian media Singh that the 'infiltrators' had overtaken a ghost village along the border.
Foreign news agency AFP quoted Indian police sources as saying that the fighting was still taking place in Shala Bhatta, the abandoned village.
India and Pakistain often trade allegations of ceasefire violations from both sides of the disputed border. The most recent incident comes just days after the prime ministers of both countries agreed to soothe tensions.
Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... met with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh in New York on Sunday for the first time since Sharif swept to power in May promising an improvement in relations.
They agreed to task senior military officers to "find effective means to restore the ceasefire" in Kashmire, where regular festivities have taken place this year, resulting in casualties on both sides.
Last Thursday, three suspected forces of Evil stormed a cop shoppe and an army base in the southernmost part of Indian-administered Kashmire, killing ten people including four soldiers, four police and two civilians.
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[Dawn] FOLLOWING the prime minister's visit to Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... last month, the general impression formed subsequently was that the 'targeted operations' initiated by the police and Rangers had begun to yield results. The number of daily killings in the city was down, while reports suggested that criminals and gunnies were being tracked down not only in the metropolis, but also in other cities of Sindh and beyond the provincial boundary. However, if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well... as the number of people killed -- at least 13 -- on Monday shows, the mission is far from accomplished. The same kind of killings that were occurring before the state swung into action are happening again. In fact, not a single illegal weapon is reported to have been turned in to the authorities despite a much-publicised media campaign warning the public to give up any illicit arms in its possession. As expected, the results since then have not been encouraging either. Although officials have made excuses for the deweaponisation drive's lack of success (people have failed to hand over their guns because it was the weekend), we had commented earlier that violent elements were highly unlikely to surrender their weapons simply because of a media campaign.
As far as action against criminals and gunnies is concerned, there needs to be consistency on part of the state. After initially showing enthusiasm to pursue criminal elements, the drive and energy to get the job done by the Sindh administration is definitely missing. Such lethargy will fail to have any permanent impact on reducing Karachi's bloodshed. Hence the state needs to keep its focus on pursuing criminals and not leave the job half done. Where deweaponisation is concerned, as pointed out earlier, good intelligence coupled with raids to recover illegal arms, as well as busting gunrunning rackets, is likely to produce better results.
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[An Nahar] A 38-year-old Chilean woman has been jugged Book 'im, Mahmoud! in Syria on terror charges, Chile's top diplomat said Wednesday.
"The accusations against her are serious and complex, so this is going to take a lot of time," Foreign Minister Alfredo Moreno told CNN Chile from Thailand.
Chilean press reports said the woman, identified as Gisella Carcamo, and her Tunisian husband Radwan Hamidi assaulted a Syrian military checkpoint.
Moreno said Carcamo has been transferred to a women's prison in Damascus after being arrested some 200 kilometers (120 miles) from the Syrian capital.
In an interview with Syrian public television posted by Chilean media, a veiled Carcamo said she entered Syria with her husband.
"I thought that he had come here only for the religion, nothing more. And later I found out what was happening and wanted to return to my country, but he wouldn't let me," she said, wearing a blue veil that also covered much of her forehead and neck.
Her mother, Yolanda Carcamo, told local media her daughter traveled to Spain six years ago, leaving behind six children from three fathers.
Moreno noted that the woman previously had run into serious problems in Tunisia, and had asked for help from the Chilean government.
"At that time, she was given tickets to return to Chile, but in the end she didn't use them. She did not return to Chile," the foreign minister said.
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[Al Ahram] Iran's President Hassan Rouhani and Twitter chairperson Jack Dorsey have exchanged tweets about internet censorship in the Islamic republic.
"Good evening, President. Are citizens of Iran able to read your tweets?" Dorsey asked Rouhani on Tuesday.
Social media sites have been blocked in Iran since 2009 when they were used to mobilise anti-government protests.
Dorsy received an unexpected reply from Rouhani: "Evening, @Jack. As I told [CNN's Christine Amanpour], my efforts geared 2 ensure my [people] comfortably b able 2 access all info globally as is their #right."
Rouhani's visit to New York to attend the UN annual general assembly this week boosted hopes of a diplomatic rapprochement between the US and Iran.
In his speech to the General Assembly, Rouhani voiced his country's willingliness to start nuclear negotiations. "Peace is within reach," he said. He also held a phone call with US President Obama, which was considered the first between Iranian and American heads of government since the 1979 Islamic revolution, according to AFP.
In a further step, Rouhani told CNN: "the crime the Nazis created toward the Jews is reprehensible and condemnable," acknowledging the Holocaust, unlike his predecessors.
Iranian overtures have been welcomed by the US but eyed with distrust by others, particularly Israel. Seems like only a couple months ago that Short Round was frothing at the mouth.
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[Al Ahram] Britannia on Wednesday said deadly protests over Sudan's fuel price hikes should serve as a warning of the need for political dialogue, amid concerns for people tossed in the clink Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! in the crackdown.
Simon Fraser, permanent under-secretary in London's Foreign Office, said in Khartoum that he hoped "these protests will be a warning to everyone including the government that the situation needs to be addressed."
Authorities say 34 people died after petrol and diesel prices jumped on 23 September when the government cut fuel subsidies, sending thousands into the streets in the worst urban unrest during President Omar al-Bashir Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. 's 24-year rule.
Activists and international human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... groups said security forces rubbed out at least 50 people, most of them in the greater Khartoum area.
At the end of a day-long visit to Khartoum, Fraser called for "an acceleration of a genuine process for comprehensive national dialogue."
"But that does require the commitment of all the parties, and in particular the government, to give confidence through its future actions," Fraser, who heads Britannia's diplomatic service and is senior policy adviser to Foreign Secretary William Hague, told news hounds.
Bashir called in April for dialogue with "all political powers" in his country, including armed rebels.
Along with insurgencies and an economic crisis, his ruling National Congress Party faces internal dissension.
Fraser met with government officials including Sudan's Foreign Minister Ali Karti, as well as civil society workers and others.
"We are also expressing our concern about the large number of detentions which have taken place and which I believe are still taking place, including a number of journalists and political activists," Fraser said.
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#1
Britannia on Wednesday said deadly protests over Sudan's fuel price hikes should serve as a warning of the need for political dialogue
We've seen quite few examples of Britannia's own "political dialogue".
[POLITICO] Sen. Rand Paul blasted the federal government for trying to block World War II vets from visiting their memorial, saying "some idiot in government sent goons out there to set up barricades."
"If Harry Reid ... the charismatic senator-for-life from Nevada, currently majority leader ... and the president want to keep the parks closed -- I mean did you read the story today? Some idiot in government sent goons out there to set up barricades so they couldn't see the monument. People had to spend hours setting up barricades where there are never barricades to prevent people from seeing the World War II monument because they're trying to play a charade," Rand (R-Ky.) said Tuesday on Fox News's "Hannity."
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#1
At first I thought the House GOP was being especially stupid by not trying to pass the CR in parts. Now I'm wondering if they planned it this way.
Anyone could have predicted that Champ and his cheer squad would go for the most painful shutdown possible. Which, of course, is exactly what they are doing. But now the House can offer to fund each of these most painful shutdowns, and each time the Senate and President say no they look bad.
It's no win for the Dems. They can either look like asses by refusing to fund parks and cancer kids, or they can acquiesce, which means that after a while the only parts of government still shut down are the ones no one cares about. Obviously a complete disaster for big government types when half the thing is shut down and that's just fine.
So did the House plan this? I hate to give them that much credit, but the result seems to be working out so far. If the media weren't 100% behind the Dems then this regime would be over in a matter of weeks.
#4
Does this mean we can we turn these old warriors in wheel chairs toward the White House now?
These old geezers are the guys who fought the Japanese in the Pacific and kicked Hitler's ass in Europe. Wouldn't want to get into a battle of wills with this crowd. Even without the seriously bad optics of opposing our veterans.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A Yemeni court on Wednesday jugged Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! five al-Qaeda Death Eaters for up to 10 years for plotting a suicide kaboom that killed 86 soldiers and maimed 171 others last year.
The court specializing in terrorism-related charges sentenced two defendants to 10 years in prison and a third to seven years.
Two more were imprisoned for three and two years respectively.
The judge also ordered the release of three other defendants based on the time already served, and acquitted three more, an AFP correspondent reported.
The 11 were on trial for their alleged role in planning the suicide kaboom on a rehearsal for a military parade on May 21, 2012.
According to the charge sheet, the suspects had all been in direct contact with the suicide attacker, Haytham Mufreh.
"Allahu Akbar (God is greatest)," the defendants shouted from the dock as Judge Hilal al-Mahfal read the verdict.
They said they will appeal the rulings.
"This is not a ruling. This is oppression," shouted Hisham al-Sharaabi, who was sentenced to seven years. "I am not al-Qaeda."
His mother, present in court and covered in black from head to toe, sobbed as the verdict was read. "My son is innocent. He does not even know al-Qaeda," she said.
The hearing took place under tight security.
The judge also ordered that two former security chiefs, who had headed the central security services and were appointed during the time of former president President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... , again face questioning about the case.
In March, former central security services commander General Abdulmalik al-Taieb and his deputy, General Yehya Mohammed Abdullah Saleh, denied any links with the bombing.
Taieb was sacked on the day of the bombing, while Yehya, a nephew of Saleh, was dismissed in December.
When the trial opened in January, Sharaabi, 24, said that the bombing was "political" and "involved high-ranking officials".
Al-Qaeda said it was behind the attack, saying it targeted Defence Minister Mohammed Nasser Ahmed and his aides, but the minister escaped unharmed.
The bombing came three months after President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi took power after Saleh was forced to step down following a year-long uprising against his 33-year rule.
Hadi has since sacked many Saleh appointees from top security and military posts, using his powers to restructure the security forces under a U.N.-backed transition deal.
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[An Nahar] Thomson Reuters chief executive Tuesday warned employees of "tough decisions" ahead for the media and financial information group, which has already announced 2,500 layoffs since the beginning of the year.
CEO James Smith announced the appointment of a new "chief transformation officer," Neil Masterson, to help direct the shifts planned for the British-Canadian company.
"I know we'll have to take many tough decisions to redirect our efforts toward our future potential," Smith wrote in a letter to the company's 60,000 salaried employees, extracts of which were published on the web site The Baron.
The web site includes former Reuters employees and focuses on company news.
"We need to simplify our business," Smith said in the letter.
"We need to respond to opportunities more quickly. We need to better align resources behind our most promising growth opportunities," he said.
"We need to do a better job of sharing resources across the organization. And we need to attack internal bureaucracy once and for all."
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#1
CEO James Smith announced the appointment of a new "chief transformation officer," Neil Masterson
#4
They might succeed as news organizations if they actually reported ALL the news, instead of omitting and slanting and spinning thing politically. It's called Trust. Not given, but earned. The press had it, but is no longer worthy of it, so down they go. Good riddance to these Pravda-like organizations that have become little more than propaganda orifices for the state and the left.
Theirs, not ours. Ours is closed and can't possibly meddle.
GAROWE, Somalia -- As presidential elections draw closer in Somalias northeastern state of Puntland, Federal Government of Somalia is campaigning to deny, the potential candidate and the incumbent Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole victory according to independent sources, Garowe Online reports.
The Somali Federal Government Presidents right hand man, a close presidential aide and State Minister for Presidency Farah Abdulkadir recently visited Minneapolis after returning from New York where a delegation led by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud attended UN General Assembly meeting last week.
Abdulkadir met Puntland politicians and businessmen at Duable Tree hotel in Minneapolis and he presented to the participants of the meeting his intention of intervening in the upcoming Puntland presidential elections according to some of the participants who spoke to Garowe Online on condition of anonymity.
Sources said that Abdulkadir requested the politicians and the businessmen to shore up every possible efforts of denying Farole victory by in turn telling that the incumbent Puntland President is an outstanding hindrance to Somali unity.
Puntland is an important part in Somalia and we like to forge good ties with it but President Farole doesnt comply with our willingness, he is an obstacle to Somali unity and wouldnt lead Puntland people to progress, President Hassans close aide was quoted as saying by the attendants.
The sources further disclosed that nearly 20 people joined the discussion and speaking at the meeting, the presidential aide revealed Federal Governments keenness to provide both technical and financial assistance with each and every contender who could garner support for Mogadishu-based Federal government from Puntland.
Meanwhile in Mogadishu, as Puntland gears up for the most hotly contested presidential election that is slated for January 2014, Somalia Federal Government also stepped up its domestic involvement by throwing its weight behind some presidential candidates whom it regarded as soft and flexible individuals.
Former TFG Prime Minister, Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gaas who gave an interview to UK-based Somali TV stations Somali Channel and Universal TV- last week pointed out what he described looming threats of insecurity in Puntland, remarks that Puntland government called as ludicrous claims and Political comments .
In response to deliberate violations in the legitimate Provisional Federal Constitution (PFC) whose clauses and articles have been tampered with, Puntland withdrew cooperation from the Somali Federal Government on August 5.
The 66-seat-chamber of Puntland will be choosing the leader on the 8th of January 2014 in presidential election and the upcoming election would bring together, the current Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole and a number of rival politicians including Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gas who- in September 2012- lost election to current Somali Federal Government President, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud after he competed against former President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
Farole has bagged a big record as Puntland President for the past five years and has demonstrated prudent leadership, overwhelming majority of Puntland people confirmed in a poll conducted by Puntland-based independent station, Radio Garowe.
Farole administration has a pleasant record in power after visible changes in the areas of international relations, security, health and education emerged within the first three years of tenure.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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[MAGHAREBIA] Belgian security services just caught the alleged criminal mastermind of a network that recruited Moroccan and Spanish youths to fight for al-Qaeda in Syria.
Sought on an international arrest warrant, Moroccan national Ismail Abdellatif Allal "was the ringleader of an active network which radicalised, recruited and sent jihadists to terrorist groups operating in Syria", the Spanish interior ministry said after the Thursday (September 26th) capture.
"The network, which took orders from al-Qaeda command, had two bases, one in Sebta and the other in Fnideq," Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said.
The latest arrest comes just weeks after Spanish security forces apprehended Moroccans Mohammed El Bal and Yassine Ahmed Labri (aka "Pistu"). The two men also stand accused of recruiting young jihadists on al-Qaeda's behalf.
Stéphane Halloui, an expert on Morocco-EU relations, told Magharebia that the involvement of overseas Moroccans in terrorism was a worrisome phenomenon.
"On the one hand, there is a minority who are ignorant of the essence of the Islamic faith, and on the other hand, there is this search for an identity which supposedly offers an alternative that enables these young Moroccan expats to belong to a group," Halloui said.
He added that many Moroccan expatriates experience social failure: "For different reasons, many of them are completely lost between their countries of residence and their countries of origin."
Halloui concluded that the radicalisation of overseas Moroccans now represents a huge challenge "for both Moroccan and European officials, which they must handle with a great deal of courage and adaptability".
As the number of jihadists of Moroccan origin rises, many observers are sounding the alarm.
Moussa Al Mouritani, a journalist who specialises in Islamist movements, said that the phenomenon now poses a real danger to both Europe and the kingdom.
"There are over 100 jihadists who belong to the three main armed opposition movements in Syria: the salafist group Kataib Ahrar Al-Sham, Jabhat al-Nusra, which is close to al-Qaeda, and the sprawling Free Syrian Army," he underlined. He added that Latakia region is the stronghold of the Moroccan jihadists in Syria.
Al Mouritani cited the case of Brahim Benchekroune, alias Abu Ahmed Al Mouhajir, who created Sham al-Islam, a militia made up entirely of Moroccan fighters.
Then there is Mohammed Alami Slimani, alias Abu Hamza Al Maghrebi, who joined Kataib Ahrar Al-Sham and later Benchekroune's group before being killed in August.
Allal's arrest is just one sign of growing security co-operation between Morocco and European states. On Friday (September 27th), Morocco and Spain signed an agreement between the Spanish Military Emergencies Unit (UME) and the Royal Armed Forces which is intended to boost military co-operation between the two parties.
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Mojtaba Ahmadi, Cyber War HQ commander, found with two bullets in heart north-west of Tehran, Daily Telegraph reports. Regime accused Israel in past of deaths of five nuclear scientists since 2007.
#1
Why did all the attention get directed to the second posting of the same news?
Tsk, tsk!
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/03/2013 6:08
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#2
I'm here for ya, Mr. Bobby!
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/03/2013 7:49
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Bobby, the way the Burg works a second later post is seen before the first one. It gets more attention. We mods do sleep (some) and if a duplicate comes up in the wee hours we won't see it until 9 am10 am11 am noon or so. By then it has comments, and at that point we generally don't delete the dup.
Moral of the story: rise and shine is for suckers. Take your Obamaphone and be quiet :-)
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/03/2013 9:00
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#4
WOW!!!
"Shaddup! Leave me alone," he explained.
Heh!
[Dawn] The Pak Taliban on Wednesday insisted US drone strikes in the country's northwest must stop before they will consider peace talks with the government.
The main Pak political parties last month backed a government proposal to seek negotiations with the bad boys, who have been waging a bloody insurgency against the state since 2007.
The main umbrella Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) faction responded with a list of preconditions, including a government ceasefire and the withdrawal of troops from the tribal areas along the Afghan border where the gunnies have hideouts.
TTP front man Shahidullah Shahid told AFP any ceasefire must include an end to US drone attacks in the tribal areas, which have been targeting suspected Taliban and Al-Qaeda gunnies since 2004.
"A ceasefire alone is not sufficient. The stoppage of drone strikes is essential, otherwise, if drones continue to strike, we will not accept the ceasefire," Shahid said.
The Pakistain government publicly criticises the strikes as counterproductive and a violation of illusory sovereignty, but Washington considers them an effective tool in the fight against militancy.
The TTP's demand adds a new challenge to the already bleak prospects for talks, hit hard by three attacks in a week in the northwestern city of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. , which killed 142 people, the vast majority civilians.
The scale of the violence shocked Pakistain and prompted vehement denials of responsibility from the TTP central leadership.
Past peace deals with the Taliban have quickly broken down and been sharply criticised for allowing the gunnies time to regroup before fresh attacks.
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[Al Ahram] Militants shot down an Iraqi military helicopter on Wednesday, killing four security forces members, as at least 14 people died in other violence, officials said.
The helicopter was shot down during a large-scale operation against gunnies in a desert area west of Baiji, north of Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... , killing two crew members and two soldiers who were on board, army officers said.
Helicopters are periodically hit by gunfire during operations, including one last month in which a pilot was maimed.
In the northern city of Kirkuk, ... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time... a boom-mobile detonated near the governorate headquarters, killing two people and wounding 15.
In Nineveh province, also in the north, attacks killed three people, and soldiers shot one krazed killer dead. Violence in Diyala province left two people dead and two maimed.
Three bombings in Storied Baghdad, including one near an ice cream shop and another close to a paIraqi helicopter shot down as 18 killed nationwide
rk, killed at least four people and maimed 17, while another bomb went kaboom! near a vegetable market southeast of the capital, killing two people and wounding six.
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[FREEBEACON] The National Park Service has ordered the closure of a Virginia park that sits on federal land, even though the government provides no resources for its maintenance or operation.
The Claude Moore Colonial Farm announced on Wednesday that NPS has ordered it to suspend operations until Congress agrees to a deal to fund the federal government.
According to Anna Eberly, managing director of the farm, NPS sent law enforcement agents to the park on Tuesday evening to remove staff and volunteers from the property.
"You do have to wonder about the wisdom of an organization that would use staff they don't have the money to pay to evict visitors from a park site that operates without costing them any money," she said.
The park withstood prior government shutdowns, noting in a news release that the farm will be closed to the public for the first time in 40 years.
"In previous budget dramas, the Farm has always been exempted since the NPS provides no staff or resources to operate the Farm," Eberly explained in an emailed statement.
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Gee, I guess one of their neghbors complained that they had to minimize their "shop", so why didn't "The Farm" have to close ?
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/03/2013 3:02
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#2
Claude Moore Colonial Farm represents a racist, apartheid filled early American colonial era, filled with prideful independence from the yoke of oppressive European Governments. It denotes a cultural heritage filled with individual responsibility, hardship, the fruits of labor, Christian family and community. The Claude Moore facility is a sort of Voortrekker monument squarely in our midst. Closure under the current regime was inevitable.
#7
Refuse the order. These are a dictator's actions. Send state troopers to keep it open under the authority of the 9th and 10th amendments. Arrest the Feds if the refuse to leave peaceably.
#3
...when they can, civilization will end. However, the hierarchical need to be better than those around you will probably drive the wealthier members of the group to restrict the production of such materials to create a shortage and make it unattainable by the average Joe. Theres an economic concept known as a positional good in which an object is only valued by the possessor because its not possessed by others. The term was coined in 1976 by economist Fred Hirsch to replace the more colloquial, but less precise neener-neener. - BBT
[Al Ahram] Egypt's 50 member constitution-drafting committee announced on Tuesday that the Senate Council - replacing the Shura Council as the upper chamber of Parliament - would have a separate electoral law to wider parliamentary elections.
"The Senate council will be elected under a different law. Its advantage will be to include competent candidates that will not be able to win votes in the House of Representatives," the official front man for the 50-member committee, Mohammed Salmawy, said in a presser held on Tuesday.
The Systems of Governance 10-member committee has agreed to the formation of a new Senate Council with different powers to the previous upper house, according to Salmawy.
"The Senate Council will bring legislative balance and prevent party dominance in the parliament," he added.
The constitution-drafting committee, assigned to amend the suspended 2012 constitution, is expected to finish its first draft of amendments before the Eid feast next weekend.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2013
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"A series of leaked emails authored by House Speaker John Boehner's chief of staff Mike Sommers shows Boehner may have coordinated with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to exempt Congress from Obamacare." If true, this a$$hat (Boehner) has got...to... go....
How much would you bet that the leaked emails were a) illegally acquired, b) shaped, trimmed, fluffed, and teased to create a certain impression, and c) part of a horse trading deal that were supposed to have gotten the Republicans something equally valuable before the Senate Majority Leader, the honourable Harry Reid reneged?
#1
If Boehner doesn't go nuclear after this & getting dragged to the WH yesterday, only to be told by Obama 'I'm not negotiating'. then he has to go and be replaced by the Republican version of Tip O'Neill or Sam Rayburn, fused with Darth Fucking Vader.
To quote my local radio talk show host - "I don't want a Speaker that cries. I want a Speaker that makes other people cry."
#4
Considering the source (remember the unsubstantiated rant on the Senate floor about Romney), it's just another piece of propaganda to stir the pot. Remain focused. They're squealing cause their voting buying money tree has dried up. It's source of their power, now suspended. Desperation starts to set in.
#5
I wonder if Harry will release all of the emails sent to him over the years. Including the ones from Lois Lerner with details of Mitt Romneys tax returns.
[MAGHAREBIA] Tunisia holy mans are divided over whether to stage a general strike on Eid al-Adha.
On Monday (September 30th), the National Union of Tunisian Imams denied any plans to prevent festivities, while Abdessalam Atoui of the National Executive Committee of Mosques criticised strike organiser Fadhel Achour as "not a holy man but a muezzin at Zaytouna".
The issue arose last Wednesday, when Achour, the head of the imams' union, declared a "what Eid?" strike to protest "takfir ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed... ist" trends at some mosques and the inaction by the religious affairs ministry to stop the phenomenon.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2013
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Mojtaba Ahmadi, who served as commander of the Cyber War Headquarters, was found dead in a wooded area near the town of Karaj, north-west of the capital, Tehran. Five Iranian nuclear scientists and the head of the countrys ballistic missile programme have been killed since 2007. The regime has accused Israels external intelligence agency, the Mossad, of carrying out these assassinations.
Ahmadi was last seen leaving his home for work on Saturday. He was later found with two bullets in the heart, according to Alborz, a website linked to the Revolutionary Guard Corps. I could see two bullet wounds on his body and the extent of his injuries indicated that he had been assassinated from a close range with a pistol, an eyewitness told the website.
The commander of the local police said that two people on a motorbike had been involved in the assassination.
The Facebook page of the officers of the Cyber War Headquarters confirmed that Ahmadi had been one of their commander and posted messages of condolence. But Alborz users warned that the openly accessible book of condolence could harm Irans national security.
Stop giving more information about him. The counter-revolutionaries will take advantage of his murder, said one post. It sounds like a hit job for a security officer of this importance.
[An Nahar] Hundreds of jihadist fighters from the al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have advanced in northern Syria towards a border post with Turkey, an NGO said Wednesday.
"Hundreds of ISIL fighters advanced overnight towards Bab al-Salameh, which is closed from the Turkish side," said Rami Abdul Rahman, who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The advance comes after fighting between the group and the Northern Storm rebel brigade, which is part of the Western-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA).
ISIL has seized the town of Azaz, which lies several kilometers (miles) from the border, as well as at least two villages nearby.
Unable to repel the jihadist group, Northern Storm forces pulled back as ISIL fighters moved into the area, Abdul Rahman said.
ISIL fighters entered Azaz on September 18, sparking deadly fighting with FSA forces and prompting Turkey to close its side of the Bab al-Salameh border.
Another brigade brokered a truce between the two sides that saw the Northern Storm withdraw from the town.
Clashes between ISIL and non-jihadist rebel fighters have broken out with increasing regularity, particularly in rebel-held areas of northern Syria.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2013
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#5
Erdogan has been selling the new ottoman empire snake oil. Meanwhile, turks aren't arabs, so he's selling very weak snake oil in the salafist scheme of things...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
10/03/2013 14:02
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[Al Ahram] The US government shutdown could block hundreds of cancer patients, including children, from entering last-ditch clinical trials for treatment, a front man for the National Institutes of Health told AFP Wednesday.
About three quarters of the staff at the NIH, which operates the largest research hospital in the world, has been placed on unpaid leave indefinitely.
While the NIH Clinical Center is continuing to treat patients, it is operating at "roughly 90 percent of normal patient load," said an agency memo.
"NIH would not admit new patients (unless deemed medically necessary by the NIH Director), or initiate new protocols," during a funding hiatus, the memo said.
That means about 200 patients will be turned away from treatment at the Clinical Center each week the shutdown persists, including about 30 children, a front man told AFP.
About 10 of those children have cancer, he added.
There are some 1,400 clinical trials ongoing at the NIH center, and four new ones ready to start next week will have to be postponed until the government resumes work, he said.
"Just to be clear, we aren't turning patients away permanently -- we would be delaying their admission, since we are not enrolling new patients at this time," front man John Burklow said in an email.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2013
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#1
That is of no concern for the GM on the phone with Union Reps all day. Nor the actual President who screwed them anyway with his 5th grade model of a system - Lego Graft Station I think.
#3
Not sure how this squares with the continued funding of the "Affordable Care Act" or $300m to assist Detroit, or anything else that is still being funded for that matter.
Perhaps in the sinister government calculus, child mortality numbers would be offset by the closure or partial reduction in 'little people' terminations at Planned Parenthood Centers. Hence the apparent lack of concern by Dems and the Champ.
#4
I see this as the first volly in the Obamacare saga "Death Panels at Work" - Harry Reid General Practitioner - Help kids with cancer? Reid asks: 'Why would we want to do that?'
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/03/2013 2:46
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#5
Yes Au Auric. I fear Tom Clancy may have left at a good time. This is becoming quite revealing, even to a black-helo, diehard skeptic like myself.
#8
Civilisation ends with a shutdown of human concern.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/03/2013 11:23
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[Al Ahram] The US government shutdown could block...
From Al Ahram? I thought the title smelled like something you would see Islamic radicals do (hide behind women and children). Now we know why the left loves children so much, gives them something to hide behind.
[Al Ahram] Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's party finished third behind an opposition movement in the autonomous Kurdish region's parliamentary polls, shaking a decades-long duopoly on power, according to final results released Wednesday.
Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and Kurdish region president Massud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party have long dominated politics in the three-province region in northern Iraq.
But while the KDP came first with 38 seats, the opposition Goran movement claimed 24 seats to finish second ahead of the PUK, which obtained 18, according to results announced at a news conference in the regional capital Arbil.
As no party won an absolute majority in the 111-member Kurdish legislature, a coalition government will be formed.
In the Kurdistan region's last parliamentary vote in 2009, the KDP and PUK ran on the same list and finished first, while Goran, a breakaway faction of Talabani's party, came second.
The PUK has faced increasingly tough competition from Goran as well as Islamist and Communist groupings in its home base of Sulaimaniyah -- challenges exacerbated by the prolonged absence of Talabani, who has been in Germany recovering from a stroke since the end of last year.
The election campaign ahead of the September 21 vote centred on calls for more to be done to fight corruption and improve the delivery of basic services, as well as on how the energy-rich region's oil revenues should be spent.
Iraqi Kurdistan enjoys a high level of autonomy from Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... , and the regional parliament has passed laws on a wide range of issues.
Kurdistan also operates its own security forces and visa regime.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/03/2013
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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.
[Al Ahram] Azerbaijan on Wednesday accused Armenia of resettling Syrian refugees in a disputed territory the two have been fighting over for decades.
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
[Dawn] The Pak military on Wednesday denied Indian accusations of Pak soldiers being involved in a reported clash on the Indian side of the Line of Control (LoC), the heavily-militarised border dividing the 
Nawaz Sharif
[POLITICO] Sen. Rand Paul blasted the federal government for trying to block World War II vets from visiting their memorial, saying "some idiot in government sent goons out there to set up barricades."
[An Nahar] Thomson Reuters chief executive Tuesday warned employees of "tough decisions" ahead for the media and financial information group, which has already announced 2,500 layoffs since the beginning of the year.
