The OSM notion of which Ace wrote back in 2005 morphed into something else with the rise of blogs, Breitbart, etc, but it does seem like alt-media has gotten way more respect and ad dollars since 2005, and has seen a number of its personalities break into old-media gaining wider audience (ex. Malkin)
The right side of alt-media was respected enough that Axlerod sent swarms of trolls out to attack it. When you took fire from the Whitehouse itself, you were over the target. Trolls, annoying as they are, mean you're HAVING AN EFFECT. You ARE worth attacking. They validate you.
The MSM and politicians have always dismissed new-media as a bunch of yappy ankle biters, but now, in 2013, they're doing it with pretty bloody ankles.
Alternative commentary is still our stock in trade, but original reporting is happening (ex Zombie, shutdown theater, etc). People are out there digging deep into things that never got dug into before - dry IG reports, and all manner of other government documents that were selectively filtered by old-media previously. Leakage of previously sequestered stories has risen from a trickle to a small but steady stream.
We're still evolving daily. Its been a wild ride. It promises to get wilder.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain ||
11/02/2013
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Constructed by General Dynamics with weapons systems and software from other companies, the Zumwalt "DDG-1000" Guided Missile Destroyer is like the iPhone 6 of naval ships.
Its "tumblehome" hull avoids enemy radar while composite armor absorbs it, advanced weaponry strikes from more than 100 miles offshore, Linux-based networking in the bridge allows for purchase and implementation of off-the-shelf software, and an all-electric drive system keeps her purring quietly like a well-fed tiger.
"This is the first time in 42 years since the establishment of our navy's strategic submarine force that we reveal on such a large scale the secrets of our first-generation underwater nuclear force," the Global Times said in a lengthy article titled "China for the First Time Possesses Effective Underwater Nuclear Deterrence against the United States."
#1
Friendly note, that first Jinn has a bearing going, time for an availability, don't scrimp. Also sue your propeller maker, the milliing is off 3/1000, photos on request.
Yevgeny Zamyatin's experiences in the Tyne shipyards fed into his dystopian fable "We", which was published in 1919. It depicts a city of glass where citizens are spied upon. Fans of the book have included George Orwell, Kurt Vonnegut and Tom Wolfe and it increasingly resonates with today's concerns about surveillance techniques. Matthew Sweet and an audience at The Free Thinking Festival from Sage Gateshead discuss the novel with poet Sean O'Brien, columnist...
Navy's newest variant of the Fire Scout unmanned helicopter completed its first day of flying today, Oct. 31 at Naval Base Ventura County at Point Mugu, CA. The unmanned helicopter lifted off at 12:05 pm PDT and flew for seven minutes in restricted airspace to validate the autonomous control systems. The second flight that took off at 2:39 pm was also flown in a pattern around the airfield, reaching 500 feet altitude. The Northrop Grumman MQ-8C is a larger air vehicle will can provide, has a range of 150 nautical miles and a payload capacity of more than 700 pounds. The MQ-8C air vehicle upgrade will provide longer endurance, range and greater payload capability than the MQ-8B, which is currently operating aboard USS Samuel B. Roberts.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
11/02/2013
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#1
a payload capacity of more than 700 pounds
So two guys with ammo and armor?
Seems more like a media OP.
In just the first month of Obamacare's rollout, states are reporting a massive surge in the number of people signing up for Medicaid expansions versus the slow trickle of a few selecting the private insurer route -- and health experts are shocked: What is going on?
"When we first saw the numbers, everyone's eyes kind of bugged out," said Matt Salo, head of the National Association of Medicaid Directors, in The Washington Post. "Of the people walking through the door, 90 percent are on Medicaid. We're thinking, what planet is this happening on?"
Posted by: Au Auric ||
11/02/2013
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#4
Final estimate for Medicaid.....? How about a wild guess of approximately 48,000,000 million plus or minus. That's how many we've now got on food stamps. Shocking, no ?
[BBC.CO.UK] Pakistan's interior minister has said the death of Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud has destroyed the country's nascent peace process. Somehow my caremeter just isn't sparkin'... The official Rantburg Sympathy Meter didn't budge so much as 0.1 givashits...
"This is not just the killing of one person, it's the death of all peace efforts," Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said. it's the size of the poop we give about your peace process.
Pakistan's security forces have been put on high alert following the US drone strike on Friday. Insert horse, barn door analogy...
It came a day before a government delegation had been due to fly to North Waziristan to meet Mehsud. That meeting's cancelled...
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had pledged to talk with the Taliban to try to end its campaign of violence, which has left thousands dead in bombings and shootings across the country. Hakimullah's campaign of violence has ceased. Somebody else's campaign will now commence. Talk to him.
Militants have in the past carried out retaliatory attacks after the killings of other Taliban commanders. They keep carrying out "retaliatory attacks" whether we've whacked anybody or not. It's their nature. Mehsud was killed along with four other people - including two of his bodyguards - when four missiles struck their vehicle in the north-western region of North Waziristan, a senior Taliban official told the BBC. Such is the destiny of all Pak Taliban leaders, though not, so far, of Afghan Taliban leaders. That fact raises a few interesting questions.
Pakistani media say Mehsud's funeral has taken place at an unknown location in the tribal area of North Waziristan. "Is that his thumb?"
"Yeah, I think so."
"Toss it in."
The Taliban's ruling council met on Saturday to choose a new leader. Unconfirmed reports say regional commander Khan Said Sajna has been elected to the top job. The premium on his life insurance policy just jumped dramatically.
As well as Mehsud, the previous Pakistan Taliban leader was killed in a drone strike, in 2009. And the one before him.
Caitlin Hayden, a spokesperson for the US president's National Security Council, would not comment on any US government involvement or confirm the death but said it would be a serious loss for the group. "Coulda been anybody, y'know. We ain't the only ones that didn't like him..." The Pakistan government has strongly condemned the drone attack as a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty. They always do, don't they? Like clockwork.
Mehsud's death is seen as another setback for the militant group after the recent capture of a senior commander by US forces in Afghanistan. We concentrate on Wazoo because that's where the al-Qaeda leadership lives, and where the Haqqanis rule.
Mehsud, who led the insurgency from North Waziristan, had a $5m (£3.1m) FBI bounty on his head and was thought to be responsible for the deaths of thousands of people. I'm sure he only shot a few of them personally.
He came to prominence in 2007 as a commander under the militant group's founder Baitullah Mehsud, with the capture of 300 Pakistani soldiers adding to his prestige among the militants. "Ugh! Hakimullah count many coup!"
His second-in-command, Waliur Rehman, was killed in a similar drone strike in May. That was a violation of Pak sovereignty, too.
But BBC diplomatic correspondent James Robbins says that however weakened the Taliban may be by this loss, they will fight on under a new leader. Unless they don't, of course. Predicting the likely is easy money.
In a rare interview two weeks ago, Mehsud told the BBC he was open to "serious talks" with the government but said he had not yet been approached. That's because the govt hadn't capitulated to all his demands yet...
Mehsud denied carrying out recent deadly attacks in public places, saying his targets were "America and its friends". "Yeah. We're only after them danged infidels. And girls that go to school. And people who ain't devout enough..."
He had loose control over more than 30 militant groups in Pakistan's tribal areas. Rather than maintaining lunatic asylums, Pakistain has militant groups. They have thirty of them to cater to various types of psychosis.
This article starring:
Baitullah Mehsud
Hakimullah Mehsud
TTP
Khan Said Sajna
TTP
Waliur Rehman
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2013
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A good slice of history from Wretchard.
In a few days it will be time to recall the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination. But the 40th anniversary of a far more monumental event -- at least for Israel -- came and went last month without being much remarked. More than 40 years ago in October Israel came within an ace of being destroyed by a brilliantly planned Syrian armored attack across the Golan heights.
A friend of mine, then a child, told me about the terror in his town as terrible rumors circulated that the Syrian tanks would be there by nightfall. And by rights they should have been. Yet what should have happened didn't. What occurred instead was something that occurs only in fiction but which on this occasion happened in fact. A little over 150 Centurion tanks and 4 batteries of M-109s had stopped more than ten times their number before they could reach the Jordan or the Sea of Galilee, as slated by the Syrian high command to occur within 36 hours of the jump off.
Posted by: Matt ||
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#1
In the Spring of '74 an Army briefing team visited the various Army school houses (armor, infantry, etc) with findings they brought back from their liaison mission to Israel following the '73 war. One portion of the briefing covered the Golan Heights fight. IIRC when the Syrians initially crossed the line of departure, they failed to drop the external fuel cells on their Soviet tanks. The Israelis see the opportunity, used VT fused artillery to first rip the fuel cells and then switched to WP (white phosphorous) to set the tanks alight, basically reducing that initial wave.
#1
This in turn would inevitably draw further Israeli action, Daniel posited, and added bitterly: Then perhaps the US will clap its hands because it will have started a very major flare-up.
Mr. Daniel does understand the obvious need for conveniently timed distractions, does he not ?
Seriously, a "leak" had to be in the IS calculations. Not releasing the information would have been totally out of character for the regime.
#4
One would think that after the last time Bambi and Co. threw Israel under the bus, they would have kept their mouths shut and not told the WH anything. maybe now they will figure you can't trust that POS.
via Belmont
Our technocracy is detached from competence. It's not the technocracy of engineers, but of "thinkers" who read Malcolm Gladwell and Thomas Friedman and watch TED talks and savor the flavor of competence, without ever imbibing its substance.
These are the people who love Freakonomics, who enjoy all sorts of mental puzzles, who like to see an idea turned on its head, but who couldn't fix a toaster. The ObamaCare website is the natural spawn of that technocracy who love the idea of using modernity to make things faster and easier, but have no idea what anything costs or how it works.
It's hard to have a functioning technocracy without engineers. A technocracy made in Silicon Valley with its complete disregard for anything outside its own ego zone would be bad enough. But this is a Bloombergian technocracy of billionaires and activists, of people who think that "progress" makes things work, rather than things working leading to progress.
...Competence is the real modernity and it has very little to do with the empty trappings of design that surround it. In some ways the America of a few generations ago was a far more modern place because it was a more competent place. For all our nice toys, we look like primitive savages compared to men who could build skyscrapers and fleets within a year... and build them well.
Those aren't things we can do anymore. Not because the knowledge and skills don't exist, but because the culture no longer allows it. We can't do them for the same reason that Third World countries can't do what we do. It's not that the knowledge is inaccessible, but that the culture gets in the way.
#1
Don't forget the progressive 'magic' money tree that can print an endless amount of paper money that is suppose to have any value (see - Weimar inflation). Also known as - economic creationism.
Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi Friday slammed the visiting UN-Arab League joint envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahami, apparently for putting the government and the rebels on a par with each other.
Following Brahimi's press conference here, in which he said "there are unacceptable practices both by the government and the armed opposition", al-Zoubi unleashed a barrage of criticism against him, reports Xinhua.
"Brahimi reflects lack of understanding of the military and field reality in Syria," al-Zoubi said, adding that "Brahimi has more than one language as if he wants to please one party over the other".
The minister further said that "Brahimi must be an even-handed envoy and an honourable mediator and not to put forward thoughts outside his competence".
He said that "Brahimi didn't have the audacity to name things by their names, such as the Al Qaeda and Nusra Front" who are fighting in Syria against the government.
In a press conference during his five-day visit to Syria, Brahimi said that the opposition attendance to the Geneva II conference on Syria is essential and necessary. Brahimi said serious efforts are being exerted for holding the Geneva II conference, which is a follow-up to last year's international meeting in Geneva that drafted a peace roadmap for Syria but did not materialise.
Brahimi said the Geneva II conference must be based on the statement adopted in the first conference last year.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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[An Nahar] A top U.N. official warned Friday that anarchy in Central African Republic risks becoming "genocide" as armed Christian and Mohammedan groups battle each other.
The giant but impoverished nation has slid into lawlessness since rebels overthrew President Francois Bozize in March. La Belle France has called for a U.N. peacekeeping force to be deployed and is increasing its own military presence there.
Adama Dieng, a special advisor to U.N. leader the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... on the prevention of genocide, backed the call for U.N. peacekeepers to take over from a small African force and for the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... to investigate.
"We are seeing gangs killing people under the guise of their religion and my feeling is that this will end with Christian communities, Mohammedan communities killing each other," Dieng told news hounds after an informal U.N. Security Council meeting on the crisis.
"If we don't act now and decisively I will not exclude the possibility of a genocide occurring in Central African Republic," he added.
"African forces will not be sufficient," Dieng said. "The country has been totally destroyed. There is total chaos.
"We need to have, definitely, a U.N. peacekeeping on the ground to help."
Dieng said an independent commission should investigate "atrocity crimes" committed since March and the "ring leaders" should be taken to the ICC.
The U.N. official said he has spoken to ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and "she is determined to look into the Central African Republic case."
A rebel alliance known as Seleka took over Central African Republic in March. A Seleka leader, Michel Djotodia, named himself president but agreed to hold elections next year. Armed gangs, mainly former Seleka loyalists, now dominate outside the capital Bangui.
Rival self-defense militias are battling the armed gangs in many towns. The African force has about 2,500 troops and is due to increase to 4,500 but diplomats and many officials say it cannot cope with the anarchy.
Brigitte Balipou, a judge in the country, addressed Friday's closed meeting and said after: "We are crying out to the international community so that the Central African Republic does not become a forgotten conflict."
"There is chaos in the country. We cannot work. Only Bangui is secure for the moment."
According to Balipou, the former Seleka fighters are trying "to spread confusion and hate between the Christian and Mohammedan populations who have lived together for generations."
Central African Republic is now in a "horrendous" crisis, said La Belle France's U.N. envoy Gerard Araud, who organized Friday's meeting with Rwanda.
"The state has collapsed and this country now is simply plundered, looted," he added.
"Women are raped, people are killed by thugs. Really now, the country now has totally fallen into anarchy."
He said many speakers at the closed meeting had used the term "genocide".
Araud said a U.N. force of between 8,000 and 10,000 troops may be needed but the African force must be given a chance to re-establish order.
Rwanda's U.N. ambassador, Eugene Richard Gasana, said his country backs sending a U.N. force and that descriptions of the events reminded him of Rwanda's genocide.
"I had the impression it is like in 1994 at home," Gasana told news hounds.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[An Nahar] Tunisia's party leaders met Friday to choose a new premier to be tasked with replacing an Islamist-led government and steering the country out of a months-long political crisis, mediators said.
The birthplace of the Arab Spring was plunged into turmoil after the liquidation of a prominent opposition figure in July by suspected jihadists, with critics accusing the ruling Ennahda party, a moderate Islamist movement, of failing to curb Death Eaters.
The powerful UGTT union mediating between Ennahda and the opposition said the meetings to choose a new prime minister would also aim to take "a set of decisions to accelerate the adoption of the constitution."
"The message which will emerge from the national dialogue is that Tunisians are capable of compromise despite their differences,"the union said on its Facebook page.
Under a roadmap for the negotiations that started a week ago, Ennahda and the opposition plan to announce Saturday the name of the person who will succeed Ali Larayedh as premier.
At the same time, the Constituent National Assembly must elect members of the future electoral commission before starting the process of adopting a constitution, which has already taken two years to draft and must be completed by the end of the month.
After an initial meeting, media and participants said two candidates had emerged as favorites: veteran politicians Mohammed Ennaceur, 79, and Ahmed Mestiri, 88.
Both men served as cabinet ministers under Habib Bourguiba, Tunisia's first post-independence leader.
Prominent economists Mustapha Kamel Nabli and Jalloul Ayed had earlier also been named as frontrunners.
Whoever is tapped for the position will have two weeks to form a government of independents to prepare for elections.
Larayedh has pledged to step down so long as the timetable is respected. The Assembly has until the end of November to draw up a new constitution and an electoral law.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[BBC] A drug-smuggling tunnel equipped with electricity, ventilation and a rail system has been found connecting San Diego, Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,, and Tijuana, Mexico.
Authorities seized more than eight tons of marijuana and 325lb (147kg) of cocaine in the discovery.
Officials have not revealed the exact length or location of the recently finished tunnel, but Mexican media report it is near Tijuana's airport.
More than 75 such secret tunnels have been discovered since 2008.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the find on Thursday.
'Just completed'
It was described as "a just completed, highly sophisticated underground passageway", according to an ICE statement.
The tunnel is the eighth discovered just in San Diego since 2006, according to media reports.
In 2010, officials confiscated 22 tons of drugs from a 640m (2,100ft) tunnel equipped with rail tracks stretching from a Tijuana home to two San Diego warehouses.
Mexicos Sinaloa cartel is behind an illicit super tunnel that led from a building in an industrial area of Tijuana near the U.S. border fence to a warehouse just west of the Otay Mesa port of entry, U.S. authorities said Thursday.
#1
I seem to remember that a ground penetrating RADAR doesn't need to be 'on the ground'. A simple flyover can generate a map. Except, those of you who have been there will have seen hovels on the Mexican side built using the fence as a structural wall to support a metal roof.
Azerbaijan, Baku -- Head of the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation, IMIDRO, Mehdi Karbasian said that Chinese MCC Company is ready to finance seven Iranian steel projects, Mehr News Agency reported.
Just in case you thought Iran was suffering from sanctions or something...
Karbasian who leads an Iranian delegation that visited China said that the manager of MCC Company would visit Iran in the near future to become aware of the situation closely and negotiate the issues of scheduling and the ways of financing. China Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC) is a state owned enterprise involved in the construction of metallurgical, infrastructural facilities, other industrial projects.
Earlier, Iranian Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade and MCC have signed a memorandum of understanding to expand industrial cooperation. The MoU was signed by the Iranian Deputy Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mahmoud Dodangeh, and MCC President Shen Heting on June 6, 2012.
According to Press TV, the signing of the recent MoU adds 12 more projects to the ones already being implemented by the MCC, one of the world's biggest engineering contractors, in Iran. The MCC and China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation (Sinosure) have jointly invested $20 billion in previous projects in Iran. Press TV reported that with the addition of 12 more projects, the investment is estimated to increase to $30 billion.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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...makes it easier to track the "multiplier effect" of our interest payments...
[An Nahar] Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed on Friday that officials are determined to tackle the situation in the northern city of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... "wisely and calmly."
He said after meeting a delegation of Tripoli MPs: "The army and security forces will continue their mission to halt the unrest, restore calm, and protect its residents."
"We are responsible for all our sons and brothers, but this should not take place at the expense of the authority of the state," he declared.
"No one can consider themselves more powerful than that state," he added.
"Regardless of what happens, the state will remain more powerful than all sides and everyone should abide by the law," Miqati said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[USATODAY] With violence in Iraq at its highest level in Iraq since 2008, President B.O. told Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party.... on Friday that the U.S. was committed to helping the Iraqis establish an "inclusive, democratic and prosperous" Iraq.
But in brief remarks to news hounds after a nearly two-hour meeting at the White House with al-Maliki, Obama appeared also to put the onus on the Iraqi premier, saying the best way to honor lives lost during the Iraq war is for al-Maliki to work to bring about a functioning democracy in his country.
Iraq is slated to hold its next national election in April, and Obama encouraged al-Maliki to make sure that Iraq quickly passes an elections law, paving the way for the vote to happen on time.
Obama hopes that a new round of elections in which the country's minority Sunni population is more active could help stem some of the violence. The United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... reported on Friday that 979 people were killed in violence in Iraq in October -- the same number as in September.
"We were encouraged by the work that Prime Minister Maliki has done in the past to ensure that all people inside of Iraq -- Sunni, Shia and Kurd -- feel that they have a voice in their government," Obama said. "And one of the most important expressions of that will be elections next year."
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"...Obama appeared also to put the onus on the Iraqi premier, saying the best way to honor lives lost during the Iraq war is for al-Maliki to work to bring about a functioning democracy in his country."
[Dawn] Three persons were maimed in a blast in Mamond tehsil of Bajaur Agency, aka Turban Central ...Smallest of the agencies in FATA. The Agency administration is located in Khar. Bajaur is inhabited almost exclusively by Tarkani Pashtuns, which are divided into multiple bickering subtribes. Its 52 km border border with Afghanistan's Kunar Province makes it of strategic importance to Pakistain's strategic depth... on Thursday, officials said.
They said that an bomb, planted on the rooftop of a showroom owned by a pro-government tribal elder, went off with a big bang in Tharkhoo area.
Three persons received injuries in the blast, they said, adding the injured were shifted to agency headquarters hospital for treatment.
The maimed persons identified as relatives Siraj Khan, Tariq Khan and Fazl Rahman, were relatives of Malak Taj Mohammad, the pro-government tribal elder.
Soon after incident the volunteers of the peace committee and local residents rushed to the site and took part in rescue work. The Levies personnel also reached the spot and launched a search operation. Sixteen suspects were placed in durance vile Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! in the search operation.
No group grabbed credit for the blast.
Meanwhile, ...back at the secret hideout, Scarface Al sneeringly put his proposition to little Nell... unidentified armed persons rubbed out a man in Khar on Thursday.
Officials said that Mohammad Said, a resident of district Mardan living with his family in Bajaur for the last several years, was on his way home when person or persons unknown opened firing on him.
He was injured in the attack. He was taken to the agency headquarters hospital where he succumbed to his wounds.
The local administration registered case against person or persons unknown and started investigation.
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[An Nahar] Forty-eight Egyptian undocumented Democrats who went missing in the desert of eastern Libya at the start of the week were found by the Libyan air force on Friday, a security official said.
Dozens of Egyptians entered Libya but were abandoned on Monday by smugglers on the desert road between Tobruk and Ajdabiya.
One of the group managed to reach a town and alert the Libyan authorities, who launched a search.
"The Libyan air force on Friday morning sighted 48 of the Egyptians lost in the Libyan desert," Colonel Abdallah al-Zaidi, security forces front man for the eastern region of Benghazi, told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"Vehicles are being sent out to rescue them," he said.
On Tuesday, the Egyptian foreign ministry announced that two members of the group had died and dozens gone missing after crossing Libya's long and mostly non-existent border.
According to the private channel Libya al-Ahrar, the group totals around 60 and also include Sudanese nationals.
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[An Nahar] Syrian troops heavily shelled rebel-held areas of southern Damascus Friday as part of a bid to completely cut them off from rear bases in the countryside, a monitoring group said.
Backed by Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah fighters and militias loyal to Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... , the army was "advancing on Sbeineh and has taken control of parts of it," said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman.
The advance comes amid "fierce shelling" on the town "since early this morning," he said.
Abdel Rahman said "people were fleeing their homes, and there are serious fears for the lives of the large number of civilians living in that area.
"The army is trying to advance on areas in the south of the capital, and is trying to isolate them completely from the southern countryside," where the rebels have rear bases, he added.
The reports come a day after army rocket fire killed eight people in Damascus' southern Al-Hajad Al-Aswad neighborhood, which was part of an escalation by the regime in the area.
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[WEEKLYSTANDARD] Is Ken Cuccinelli closing in on Terry McAuliffe in the Virginia governor's race? The latest poll from Emerson College shows McAuliffe, the Democrat, with 42 percent support and Cuccinelli, the Republican, with 40 percent. Libertarian Robert Sarvis has 13 percent in the poll of 874 likely voters.
The two-point lead for McAuliffe is the smallest he's had in any poll since September. Emerson's previous poll, from September, showed McAuliffe with a five-point lead. The Real Clear Politics average of polls still shows McAuliffe ahead by more than six points.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
never underestimate the Dims ability to "dig up the dead" errr...."get out the vote" ability to sway elections..
[Dawn] A gunman with a semi-automatic weapon shot three people, killing a federal security agent, at the Los Angeles airport Friday, police said, and a suspected gunman was in jug. Flights were disrupted nationwide.
Police said the unidentified suspect, who apparently was injured following an exchange of gunfire with officers, was in jug.
Some passengers were evacuated, while others were locked down in airport restaurants and lounges. The airport was being swept for precautionary measures, and the bomb unit was on scene.
Tim Kauffman, a front man for the American Federation of Government Employees in Washington, confirmed that a Transportation Security Administration officer was killed.
He said the union's information came from their local officials in Los Angeles. The gunshots were reported at Terminal 3, which is home to Virgin America and other airlines.
Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center said it received ''three male victims from the LAX Airport shootings. One arrived at death's door and two are listed in fair condition.''
Air traffic was affected nationwide as the Federal Aviation Administration grounded flights that had not yet departed for LAX.
Witness Brian Keech told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named he heard ''about a dozen gunshots'' from inside a security gate at the terminal.
LAX air traffic controller Michael Foote said his colleagues in the control tower saw passengers spilling from the terminal onto the tarmac, ''evacuating the building, getting out as fast as they could.''
Other travelers described a chaotic scene as airport security staff evacuated terminals, including onto to the tarmac. Hundreds of people remained gathered outside next to airplanes.
''People started saying there's a shooter, there's a shooter,'' said Natalie Morin, who was heading to the Socialist paradise of San Francisco ...where God struck dead Anton LaVey, home of the Sydney Ducks, ruled by Vigilance Committee from 1859 through 1867, reliably and volubly Democrat since 1964... for a graduate school interview.
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[Dawn] The Fata Secretariat is understood to be in contact with the Taliban through a tribal jirga for early removal of the ban on polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... vaccination in North Wazoo Agency.
The development comes out as another child in the restive agency tests positive for polio taking the number of this year's cases of the crippling disease to 16, the highest by any agency or district in the country.
The National Institute of Health, Islamabad on Thursday diagnosed 15-month-old Essa Khan of Mussaki village in Razmak tehsil of North Waziristan Agency with polio. The child didn't get any dose of oral polio vaccine due to the Taliban's ban on polio campaigns, which has been in place since June 2012.
Until now this year, 39 of the 54 nationwide polio cases have been reported in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, a major obstacle to the global polio eradication efforts as declared by the World Health Organisation.
According to the relevant government officials here, talks are underway between the Fata Secretariat and the Taliban in North Waziristan Agency through a tribal jirga comprising local elders and parliamentarians for permission to begin door-to-door vaccination of local children against polio.
They told Dawn on Thursday that more than 150,000 children remained unvaccinated due to the Taliban ban.
An official said the ban had already shown its adverse effects on children, while the rest were at the risk of being crippled due to the virus' circulation.
"We are hopeful that the Taliban will realise the gravity of the situation and lift the ban," he said.
Other officials said one round of talks had taken place, where the Taliban had showed willingness to continue with the dialogue process.
They said the jirga told the Taliban that more than 300,000 children risked disability due to the vaccination ban.
The officials said the Taliban knew it very well that the Pak government had no authority over the US drone strikes in Fata and that only the US could stop them and therefore, they (Taliban) were ready to listen to the jirga.
They said the Taliban understood that the government was opposed to drone strikes.
The officials said if talks succeeded, then children in North Waziristan Agency would be vaccinated through special campaigns in the current low transmission season to enhance their immunity against the virus in highly transmission season beginning in Feb or mid-March.
They said had the virus not entered the agency, there would have been no concern but detection of back-to-back cases warranted serious corrective steps.
First, the Taliban in North Waziristan Agency warned vaccinators of repercussions over violation of ban and a week later, the Taliban in adjacent South Waziristan Agency not only banned polio campaigns but went a step further by ordering complete suspension of the government's vaccination programme for nine vaccine preventable childhood ailments, including polio, in the area.
The officials said the polio situation in Fata was critical to global polio eradication for which different strategies were being applied to ensure vaccination of all children in every campaign repeatedly.
They said they were confident that ban on vaccination would be lifted as the Taliban knew that the decision had rendered many children physically disabled permanently.
The officials said the government had already begun door-to-door campaigns in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency with the help of the security forces for the first time in two years.
It is, according to them, is a welcome development in the militancy-stricken agency, which has reported 14 polio cases, the second largest in the country this year.
The officials said vaccinators had no access to 25 per cent of the 1.1 million children targeted in Fata.
They said they were hopeful that sense would prevail and the Taliban would allow vaccinators to administer polio drops to children
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UN-Arab League envoy to Syria is winding up a days-long visit to Damascus with a call to both the Syrian government and the opposition to attend a planned peace conference in Geneva.
But Lakhdar Brahimi acknowledged that the conference, which the US hopes will be held later this month, will not take place if the Syrian opposition refuses to take part.
Syrian opposition groups are split on whether to attend and the conditions for taking part.
Brahimi's plea comes just hours after officials said Israeli warplanes had attacked a shipment of Russian missiles inside a Syrian government stronghold a development that threatened to add another volatile layer to regional tensions from the Syrian civil war. Syrian officials and state media have not commented on the reports.
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[An Nahar] The Internal Security Forces on Friday responded to remarks voiced by Arab Democratic Party leader Ali Eid after he was summoned for interrogation by the ISF Intelligence Bureau, stressing that the request was authorized by the relevant judicial authorities.
"In response to remarks reported by some media outlets about Ali Eid rejecting to appear before the Intelligence Bureau and his willingness to appear before any other legal authority, and his claims that a person called Bassam al-Halabi who allegedly serves at the office of the bureau's chief had advised Khodor Shaddoud and his relatives to leave their neighborhood to avoid being tossed in the calaboose ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... ... the ISF Directorate General clarifies that the Intelligence Bureau does not have and did not have any officer, non-commissioned officer or agent with the name Bassam al-Halabi," a statement said.
"If he was referring to First Adjutant Bassam al-Halabi, his place of service is the Halba judicial department, and therefore he has nothing to do with the work and missions of the Intelligence Bureau whatsoever, and supposing al-Halabi had prior knowledge, wouldn't it have been more logical for him to inform all the perpetrators, who are far more dangerous than Shaddoud, the thing that would have prevented the arrest of Youssef Diab, one of the main suspects in the case" of the deadly Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... bombings, the ISF added.
It said Eid's accusations that Intelligence Bureau chief Col. Imad Othman had facilitated the escape of the Tripoli blasts suspects "are against the simplest rules of logic."
"How could the Intelligence Bureau chief arrest a culprit and seek to facilitate the escape of others?" the ISF added.
It noted that "the preliminary interrogation of Ali Eid's driver -- in which he openly admitted that Eid had asked him to smuggle the suspect Ahmed Merhi -- did not happen at the Intelligence Bureau department," but rather before army intelligence interrogators.
"After the case was referred to the aforementioned bureau, he repeated the same confessions," the ISF went on to say.
It stressed that Eid's summoning over the issue of smuggling Merhi "happened following a permission from the relevant judicial authorities, which oversaw all the stages of the investigation from its onset."
"If he has any information related to the investigation, he better submit them to the Sherlocks of the military judiciary, not through media outlets," the ISF added.
On Thursday, Eid said he was willing to appear before any security agency except for the Intelligence Bureau. "I don't trust it at all and its history is not honorable, especially with Syria's allies," he added.
"There is a conspiracy against our (Alawite) sect and I have abandoned politics to focus on serving people, but there is a conspiracy to eliminate all of Syria's allies," Eid said.
Eid's driver Ahmed Mohammed Ali is being held by the Intelligence Bureau on charges of smuggling to Syria Ahmed Merhi, one of the main suspects in the bombings against al-Taqwa and al-Salam mosques in Tripoli on August 23.
MTV reported that Ali was first arrested on October 26 by Lebanese army intelligence agents on charges of smuggling Merhi into Syria at the request of the pro-Damascus former politician.
Merhi is reportedly the driver of the second explosive-laden vehicle that blew up near al-Taqwa mosque.
On October 14, seven people involved in the August bombings were charged, including three in jug. The majority are from Jabal Mohsen.
Forty-five people were killed and over 800 maimed in the twin bombings.
The Arab Democratic Party has denied any involvement in the attacks and stressed that the suspects are not members of the party while slamming media leaks attributed to the Intelligence Bureau.
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[Tolo News] Five civilians and an Afghan Local Police (ALP) officer were killed in a clash between the ALP and Taliban gunnies on Wednesday night in western Herat ...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... province, officials said.
"The incident took place near a bazar in Shindand District of Herat province at around 5:30pm when Taliban gunnies attacked a Local Police forces convoy," Herat Provincial Council member Toor Mohammad Zarifi told TOLOnews.
Zarifi said that five unarmed civilians at the market, including two men, two women and one child were caught in the crossfire of the shootout and killed.
In addition to the police officer that died in the clash, another was maimed.
Zarifi said the victims were rushed to a nearby hospital for emergency treatment.
There were no reports of krazed killer casualties, and the Taliban has not commented on the incident.
The incident came three days after a bus filled with a group of people heading to a wedding celebration in Ghazni province struck a roadside kaboom, killing 18 of the passengers including women and kiddies.
The Ghazni bombing received harsh condemnation from around the country, including statements from President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... , the Ulema Council and the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... who all blamed the Taliban for the attack despite the group not claiming responsibility.
The Herat clash on Wednesday happened the same day three ANA soldiers were killed and six others maimed in Sar-e-Pol province when their convoy hit a roadside kaboom.
According to a provincial security official, the soldiers were ambushed by gunnies after the blast and a clash ensued that continued for one hour. Reportedly twoTaliban capo was killed and another maimed.
Authorities reported a separate incident in Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... on Wednesday in which seven gunnies were killed and one other maimed in a clash with the Maiwand 215 ANA Corps.
Dozens of mines also reportedly discovered and disabled by security forces in Sangin, Nawozad, Nad Ali and Greshk Districts of Helmand that day.
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[Bangla Daily Star] With less then three months left of the incumbent government's tenure,
Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif yesterday said verdicts on some war criminals will be executed during the government's tenure.
"Restoration of caretaker government system is not BNP's main agenda. Rather, the party wants to save war criminals.... The trial of some war criminals has already been completed and some of the verdicts will be executed during the present government's tenure," he mentioned.
The AL leader was speaking at an extended meeting of the Dhaka city unit AL at the party's Bangabandhu Avenue central office in the capital.
The killers of 1971 and 1975 want to create an unstable situation in the county, complained Hanif.
Regarding BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir's statement that the government was "staging a drama" in the name of dialogue, the AL leader said, "How are we staging a drama? There is no drama in our offer. Rather, BNP has staged a drama by giving an ultimatum."
"Our invitation to the opposition leader is still valid. You [BNP] may inform us about the time when you want to talk with us," added Hanif.
He, however, insisted that the next national polls will be held under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums.. .
Chaired by city AL acting president MA Aziz, the meeting was organised to make the November 3 (Jail Killing Day) AL rally at Suhrawardy Udyan successful.
Speaking at the meeting, AL leaders asked its city leaders to take initiatives to gather huge number of people at the November 3 rally. They also asked party men to remain alert about the BNP-Jamaat's violent activities in the name of hartal ... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ... and blockade in future.
AL leaders Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Qamrul Islam and Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya spoke at the meeting, among others.
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Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami
[Dawn] Reacting to yet another US drone strike in Pakistain, that eventually killed Pak Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... (PTI) chairman Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality problems... Friday demanded the government to block NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... supplies going through the country.
Five bad boys, including Abdullah Bahar Mehsud and Tariq Mehsud, both key bad boy commanders and close aides of the TTP chief, were also killed with two others injured in the drone strike.
Speaking to media representatives, he blamed the US for sabotaging efforts to establish peace in Pakistain by repetitive drone strikes in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. "Whenever initiative of peace talks are taken in the country, US drone strikes sabotage them," he said.
The cricket legend-turned-politician, who's party rules the restive northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... province, said that they will not only table a resolution for blocking NATO supplies in the provincial assembly on Monday but in the National Assembly also.
Khan, on Thursday, had said his party had the capability to stop the NATO supplies and warned that his words must not be taken lightly. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is one of two routes NATO supplies move in and out of Afghanistan.
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[An Nahar]Gunmen opened fire on a five-star hotel in Cairo near the famed Giza pyramids on Friday, an Egyptian police general said, in what appeared to be a labor dispute.
Interior ministry front man General Hany Abdel Latif said the attack was carried out by laid off hotel workers, and that there were no casualties.
The attackers fired birdshot or pistol rounds at the Amarante Pyramids Hotel, he told Agence La Belle France Presse.
A hotel employee who requested anonymity said the attack happened early in the morning, and that police were investigating.
The official MENA news agency reported police were searching for the laid off workers suspected of being behind the shooting.
The attackers were angered after they were refused entry to the hotel, the agency reported.
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[Bangkok Post] Two villagers were wounded in separate attacks in Rangae district of Narathiwat province Thursday.
Pol Col Jiradet Prasawang said two roadside bombs were detonated as a team of nine paramilitary rangers patroled a local village. The first explosion did not injure anyone, but another bomb went off as rangers inspected the scene, wounding a civilian who was riding his motorcycle through the area.
The second attack happened in Narathiwat's Rueso district where a villager was seriously wounded in a drive-by shooting. Police said a man was riding his motorcycle when a gunman on another motorbike shot him. The gunman fled after the attack.
[Al Ahram] Prosecutors have ordered the detention of 26 people tossed in the calaboose Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! during Wednesday's festivities between supporters of former president Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... and security forces at Al-Azhar University in Cairo.
They are accused gathering illegally, thuggery, destroying public property and possession of weapons.
The suspects, who include eight Al-Azhar students, were allegedly arrested amid the festivities.
Investigations are underway at the site of the festivities and the administration building that was stormed by Morsi supporters.
The university president requested security forces enter the campus to quell the protests.
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[REUTERS] Two members of Greece's far-right Golden Dawn party were killed in a drive-by shooting outside the movement's offices in Athens on Friday, raising fears of an escalation of political violence in the crisis-wracked country.
The men, both in their 20s, were bumped off at a time of growing public anger against Golden Dawn and a government crackdown on the party after the killing of a rapper in September blamed on a sympathizer of the group.
A third man was seriously maimed in the shooting on a busy street during the evening rush hour, police said, declining to go into further details.
Politicians who have in the past queued up to pour scorn on Golden Dawn - still Greece's third most popular political force - united in condemning the shooting.
"The murderers - whoever they are - will be dealt with unsparingly by our democracy. Let everyone know this," the government's front man Simos Kedikoglou told news hounds outside the prime minister's mansion.
No one grabbed credit for the attack. A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... , told Rooters the force suspected unnamed anti-establishment groups, and was satisfied the attack was not linked to a personal dispute.
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#2
Everyone who's an enemy of the current leftists-in-control is invariably described as a right-wing lunatic. It's just the way the propaganda cookie crumbles. I keep waiting for a time travelling Leon Trotsky to show up here so I can see if an idiot Canadian would call him a teapot dipshit.
[Dawn] When attackers threw acid in Shamsia Husseini's face outside her school in Afghanistan, she defied them by returning to class -- and now she has struck another blow for female education by becoming a teacher herself.
Shamsia suffered severe burns on her eyelids and cheeks in the November 2008 assault, which generated global publicity, with then US first lady Laura Bush condemning it as a "cowardly and shameful" crime.
Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... vowed to hang the men who had attacked Shamsia as she walked to the all-girls' Mirwais Mena school on the outskirts of Kandahar city. But he hasn't, of course...
One man, wearing a mask, asked Shamsia if she was going to school. Then he tore off her veil and pumped acid from a spray gun onto her face.
Several other pupils were hurt in a series of similar acid attacks that morning, but Shamsia and her friends refused to abandon their lessons and persuaded their reluctant parents to support the school staying open.
Five years on, Shamsia, now aged 22, is still in the classroom -- but now she stands in front of an energetic bunch of nine and 10-year-old girls.
"The students sometimes play around and it does test my patience," she admitted to AFP with a smile. "But being a teacher is much better than being a student, and I am now studying to become fully qualified."
'The attackers did not win'
Shamsia's scars eventually healed well after treatment at hospitals in Kabul and New Delhi, though she has recurring problems with blurred vision and eye pain.
"It was very important for me to become a teacher as it shows people that the attackers did not win, just like we came back to school after the attack," she said.
"By teaching, I want to show that education is important and that women can do more than work in the kitchen."
Shamsia retains the quiet determination she displayed when speaking out over the attack, and she remains furious that her assailants have never been punished.
"President Karzai promised to hang these men. If I ever talk to him, I will ask him why he failed to do that," she said.
The Taliban, who banned female education when they were in power from 1996-2001, denied any involvement in the acid strikes, and nine suspects jugged ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... after the attack gave questionable confessions and were later released.
Shamsia even says that one of her attackers lives close to her home, and that he sees her go to school every day.
"He is free, and it is possible it could happen again. There is no justice, he needs to be punished," she said.
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Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
"President Karzai promised to hang these men. If I ever talk to him, I will ask him why he failed to do that," she said.
...which is why she shall never meet him. I trust, however, that any words Mr. Karzai would say to her could only diminish himself...
[An Nahar] U.S. President Barack Obama I inhaled. That was the point... said Friday that he had discussed how to work with Iraq to "push back" a surge in sectarian violence whipped up by al-Qaeda.
Obama noted that the group was increasingly active in the country, and said he and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki discussed a common response, and also said Washington wanted to help build an Iraq that was "inclusive" and "democratic"
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[HOSTED.AP.ORG] Former Republican governor turned Democrat Charlie Crist ... Formerly the Republican governor of Florida, now reinvented as a Democrat party hack... filed paperwork Friday to run for his old job with his new party, a move that will turn the race into one of the most watched in the nation.
Crist is now the front-runner to represent Democrats against Republican Gov. Rick Scott, one of the most unpopular chief executives in the country. Scott, though, will be well-financed and is expected to spend as much as $25 million in attack ads against Crist.
For Crist, he is hoping to revive a political career that seemingly crashed when he left the GOP and lost an independent run for U.S. Senate to Republican Marco Rubio in 2010.
Crist has a 10 a.m. event scheduled in a park near his St. Petersburg home to kick off his campaign.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Top|| File under:
#1
Better run as a Republican, I doubt the Democrats have a chance with Obama's dismal showing.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/02/2013 0:14
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Top||
#5
The Permanent Party Propaganda Machine is slowly losing its grip, that's why the Left is desperately trying to enroll 10 million illegals on to the voter rolls. Better idea would be to ship them to Jerkface's province, so he can enjoy the drain on his generous government's social resources.
#6
Perhaps Jim is familiar with Florida young frosty troll, a turncoat teacher smoocher has zero chance in this state. BTW come on down, we miss you...
#7
"Better idea would be to ship them to Jerkface's province...blah-blah, sputter-sputter.."
Fortunately for 'my province', America has a copyright on 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, blah-blah...'...and, boy, looking at the Teapotters, they definitely look tired, poor, and huddled....
#8
Fortunately for 'my province', America has a copyright on 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, blah-blah...'...and, boy, looking at the Teapotters, they definitely look tired, poor, and huddled....
Finally dug a crowbar into your personal integrity and extracted the truth as you know it, EH?
Congrats. A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
[The Hindu] The deadly kabooms that struck a Bharatiya Janata Party rally in Patna on October 27 confirmed that terrorism will remain on top of the agenda for an over-stretched Indian police and a heavily burdened Intelligence Bureau (IB). Investigations have revealed the involvement of at least six individuals in the planting of 18 explosives (of which only seven went kaboom!) in Gandhi Maidan. The Indian Mujahideen A locally recruited auxilliary of Pakistain's Lashkar-e-Taiba, designed to give a domestic patina to Pakistain's terror war against its bigger neighbor... (IM) is the leading suspect for the daring attack. Its intentions seem clear: convert the rally into a mass fatality event, and spread fear and panic with a blatant message to the security apparatus that the IM is a force to contend with.
To the credit of the Bihar Police, some operatives from the IM's Ranchi cell -- one of its newly unearthed field entities -- have been locked away Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! in connection with the Patna bombing. Unfortunately, arresting IM operatives does not appear to prevent the outfit from launching terror attacks with relative impunity, and in fact could be a sign that further attacks are in the works.
In the forthcoming book Indian Mujahideen: Computational Analysis and Public Policy (Springer 2014), the four writers here were able to use data mining algorithms developed at the University of Maryland to identify broad conditions that were predictive of different types of terror acts carried out by the IM. Over the years, the IM has consistently carried out simultaneous attacks with multiple devices within a few months of the arrests or deaths of its top operatives. Following the arrest of Yasin Bhatkal in late August 2013, this behavioural rule led us to predict that the IM was likely to launch attacks in the last quarter of 2013 -- a prediction that has unfortunately come true with the Patna attacks.
The prospect of a renewed IM terror campaign is dismaying because the next few months are going to be dominated by heightened political acrimony related to the general election and the inevitable use of valuable police resources. In contrast, organizations such as the IM and their allies (such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... ) and sponsors (such as the Pak Inter-Services Intelligence) would remain focussed on creating maximum damage for India's governments.
SOFT TARGETS
A striking feature of all IM attacks is the choice of soft targets such as crowded markets. These have caused havoc, killing hundreds of innocent civilians. The IM's trademark has been multi-pronged attacks that maximise casualties. These attacks, such as the near-simultaneous bombing of three courthouses in different cities across Uttar Pradesh in 2007, require substantial coordination and organizational skills. After the U.P. attacks, the IM terrorised India with a string of bombings throughout 2008. In an attack in Ahmedabad in July 2008, the IM set off nearly 20 low-intensity bombs across the city, and when crowds gathered at the City Trauma Centre, it detonated a boom-mobile, killing dozens. Since then, the outfit has carried out at least 10 forays, including the 2010 attack on the German Bakery in Pune (possibly in conjunction with LeT) that killed 17, a triple bombing in Mumbai in 2011 that killed 27, and in February 2013, a double bombing in Hyderabad that killed 17.
There have been a few significant IM arrests in recent months. In a coup for India's security agencies, two of IM's top operatives, Yasin Bhatkal and Asadullah Akhtar, were captured. Unfortunately, these arrests do not seem to have caused a major dent on the IM, which retains its skill in planning operations with deadly precision and efficiency. The serial blasts in Patna, which were strikingly similar to the twin blasts in Dilsukhnagar (Hyderabad), on February 21, and the July 7 Bodh Gaya blasts this year, illustrate the IM's capabilities. These repeated terrorist successes here and elsewhere can, unfortunately, only help to boost the morale of groups like the IM.
This raises the overarching issue of how to check terrorism in India. It is more than clear that the IM is one of the most active terrorist groups in India. Its achievements have been disproportionate to its actual strength or marginal popular appeal.
Predicting exactly when and where an attack will occur is a task that cannot be consistently done. However, ars longa, vita brevis... the authors' detailed study of the IM, based on a clinical analysis of carefully curated data, and employing the "big data" analytic techniques (similar to techniques used by the Amazons and eBays of the world), is now starting to pay its first dividends in understanding when the IM will launch attacks and what types of targets it will select.
The study projects an ominous scenario. Periods during which Indian-Pak diplomatic relations begin to warm are followed by internal IM conferences and chatter, a month or so later. These high-level internal meetings are seen as necessary to plan the IM's signature multi-pronged bombing campaigns. These meetings are then followed by "ramped up" collaboration with other terrorist groups such as the LeT and the Harkat-ul-Jihad Isami. Pak terrorist groups, with the active connivance of Pakistain's ISI, have provided funding, explosives, training and other crucial support, all of which have facilitated the IM's emergence as a deadly terrorist organization capable in its own right. Shortly after every strike, there are the usual arrests of IM activists. These arrests may be the result of visible IM activity in preparation for an upcoming attack. It is also possible that attacks follow the arrests of IM men, because the IM or its Pak allies, LeT and the ISI, want to demonstrate their resolve to carry out further attacks.
VALUABLE WARNINGS
This sequence of events preceding IM bombings can provide valuable warnings of likely attacks, and highlight points in IM operations that are vulnerable to disruption by security agencies. Specifically, security agencies must subject IM operatives and their networks to extensive covert electronic surveillance. While this is routine in most counter-terror operations, travel intelligence systems must track the movement of IM operatives within India, across India's borders, and even beyond those borders. IM operatives have previously used Indian passports to exit India to friendly neighbouring countries like Pakistain and Bangladesh -- from there on, they have used fake Pak passports, no doubt supplied by the ISI, to travel to Pakistain and the Gulf.
One of IM's top leaders, Mohammed Sadiq Israr Sheikh, from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, is believed to have travelled from India to Bangladesh in 2000 on a legitimate Indian passport and from there on to Pakistain on a genuine Pak passport arranged by the ISI. In Pakistain, he met with LeT commander Azeem Cheema in Bahawalpur and trained at an LeT training camp near Muzaffarabad. At least another 10 people from Azamgarh alone, who travelled to Pakistain through various intermediate countries, have been identified.
Disrupting a network requires understanding it thoroughly in real-time so that attacks can be stopped before they occur. Closer coordination with agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies will not only help uncover IM's global support network, but also the detailed interlinked relationship among terror, financing, and criminal organizations.
Though it is impossible to predict the exact location and timing of an attack, data mining technology has now come of age. It can predict the types of attacks that terror groups will carry out -- and the approximate time-frame (in three-month periods). This provides a valuable input to law-enforcement and intelligence agencies, enabling them to intelligently deploy scarce investigative resources. If this translates into fewer number of IM attacks over the course of a six-month period, we will have brought about a welcome and needed synergy between researchers and law-enforcement at a time when national security demands it.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2013
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#1
From what i make out there are actually people in Pakistan like Hamid Gul,Saeed who think they can take over India and covert the people to Islam.
Absolute madness but no doubt funded by the Gulf states who want the whole world muslim.
[Dawn] The Pak Taliban said Friday they have had "no contact" with the government, a day after officials said a process to initiate peace talks had been started.
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... said Thursday that the "process of dialogue" had started, and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said "structured, formal" talks with Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) snuffies would soon be initiated.
Shahidullah Shahid, the main front man for the TTP told news agency AFP on Friday that there had been no overtures.
"No one has yet contacted us. The government is making announcements only by media, no peace talks have yet been started," Shahid said. "The beginning of peace talks means sitting at a table and discussing issues, no such thing has yet happened."
The TTP have waged a bloody six-year war against the Pak state, which has left thousands dead. The government of Prime Minister Sharif has been edging towards peace talks to end the bloodshed.
Last month Sharif won the backing of the main political parties to go ahead with peace dialogue with the TTP, and the powerful army chief has voiced his support.
After the political parties gave their backing to talks, the TTP issued a list of preconditions including the release of all its members held in Pak jails and the withdrawal of troops from the tribal areas along the Afghan border, where the snuffies have hideouts.
Shahid on Friday reiterated these demands and said the government must fulfill them to prove they are serious about talks.
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11/02/2013
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...hmmmm...if I had a policy of never letting a crisis go to waste, and "solutioned" that TSA agents should now be armed to prevent future crises of like kind, could that solution, somehow, be of benefit to me...?
One TSA officer, Gerardo Hernandez, killed, six people injured in LAX shooting.
The shooter, initially identified as Paul Ciancia, pulled an assault rifle from a bag and blasted his way past airport screeners, said Los Angeles World Airports Police Chief Patrick Gannon.
#1
Conspiracy kooks will go ballistic
Invoking the Illuminati,
Alluding to a dark agenda,
Cassandras to a sleeping public.
It's not a plate of vermicelli:
A lone Sicilian's mad vendetta
Can't be mistaken for an epic.
It's simple, sweet and clear as Pepsi
After quitting Coca-Cola:
Couple of cannoli short of a picnic!
Ironic pseudo-cognoscenti,
Abjure your jaded paranoia;
Concentrate on things less cryptic:
Instead of chess, please play Parcheesi;
Attune your taste to plain vanilla.
Cynics, be more optimistic:
Imbibe a glass of nice chianti,
And try some government bologna!
[An Nahar] Russia said on Friday that most of Syria's chemical weapons may be taken out of the country for destruction because of the violence raging between rebels and Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... 's regime.
"Much speaks in favor of the idea of moving the predominant majority of the toxic agents that exist in Syria out of this country," the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying.
Ryabkov spoke after being briefed by Sigrid Kaag -- the Dutch diplomat heading the risky international mission to eradicate Syria's chemical weapons -- on her team's progress under a disarmament plan devised jointly by Moscow and Washington in September.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons reported on Thursday that Syria's entire declared stock of chemical weapons has been placed under seal.
But how nations go about actually destroying the weapons by the mid-2014 deadline has been a point of debate.
The Chemical Weapons Convention bars countries from transporting their stockpiles to other nations.
U.N. Security Council resolution 2118 adopted in September authorized member states to help transport the weapons stockpiles so they could be destroyed in "the soonest and safest manner".
U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... has previously said that some of Syria's declared stock of more than 1,000 tonnes of toxic agents may be destroyed abroad.
Ryabkov estimated the cost of the stockpiles' destruction at $300-400 million.
"But this is under the condition that there are no acts of terror, and that those who are actually involved in the operation are not being targeted," the Russian diplomat said.
Friday's edition of Moscow's Kommersant daily quoted an unnamed Russian diplomatic source as saying that world powers may shortly agree to transfer the weapons for destruction in Albania.
The report said that both Turkey and Jordan have already rejected U.S. requests to accept the dangerous shipments.
Kommersant added that Washington was now holding talks on the matter "with two or three countries".
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11/02/2013
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[Al Ahram] Thousands of supporters of deposed president Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... have taken to the streets across Egypt on Friday in protest of his upcoming trial which is due to begin Monday.
In the greater Cairo area, marches have begun following Friday prayers in several districts including Gesr El-Suez, Ain Shams, Nasr City, Shobra, Haram, Mattariya, Mohandiseen, Helwan, and El-Warraq.
In Cairo, a march also reached the vicinity of Al-Ittihadeya presidential palace in Heliopolis district. However, there's more than one way to skin a cat... the army had barricaded the one-time-headquarters of deposed president Morsi with tanks and barbed wire to prevent protesters from reaching it. A similar march reached Al-Qobba Palace, another presidential house located in Hadayek El-Qobba.
Another pro-Morsi march converged at the Military Intelligence headquarters on Salah Salem road in Cairo, state news agency MENA reported.
In Mattariya, police intervened to break-up festivities between protesters and anti-Morsi locals. In Nasr City, locals skirmished with protesters who were chanting against the leadership of the army.
In Alexandria, Egypt's second largest city, thousands are marching in neighbourhoods such as eastern Alexandria's Sidi Beshr and Borg El-Arab, a working-class suburb west of the city.
In Sidi Beshr, police fired tear gas to end festivities between pro-Morsi protesters and local opponents. Security forces also incarcerated Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! tens of pro-Morsi protesters.
In Suez, protesters and police clashed. As pro-Morsi demonstrators threw rocks, police fired teargas to disperse the crowds, reported Al-Ahram's Arabic website. Police forces occupied the main squares to prevent attempts to start a sit-in.
Friday's street protests come on the heels of days of intense festivities between Morsi's supporters and opponents on university campuses nationwide.
On Wednesday, police stormed Al-Azhar University campus in Cairo to disperse a student protest against the country's interim government.
Protests are also reported on Friday in Upper Egypt's Assiut, Minya, Fayoum, Beni Suef, and in the Nile Delta governorates of Gharbiya, Mahalla, Damietta and Beheira. North Sinai and Suez city have also witnessed pro-Morsi marches.
Protesters turnout on Friday has seen a significant increase from previous weeks.
The National Alliance to Support Legitimacy, an Islamist coalition backing Morsi, has vowed to stage daily protests starting on Friday, to culminate with mass mobilisation efforts on Monday when Morsi goes to court.
The ousted president faces several charges, including incitement of murder and violence in the December 2012 presidential palace festivities. The tossed in the clink Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! leader has refused to recognise the legitimacy of the the court trying him.
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[Dawn] Hakimullah Mehsud, the chief of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP), was killed in a US drone strike in North Wazoo tribal agency on Friday, intelligence officials and Pak Taliban said.
Intelligence officials said the Pak Taliban supremo was leaving from a meeting at a mosque in Dande Darpakhel area of North Waziristan when the drone targeted their vehicle.
Pak Talibs said that funeral for the TTP chief will be held tomorrow afternoon at some holy man's guesthouse an undisclosed location in North Waziristan.
Pakistain government is, however, yet to confirm the death of Hakimullah Mehsud. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told a private TV channel that he could not confirm reports of the TTP chief's death.
Five Death Eaters, including Abdullah Bahar Mehsud and Tariq Mehsud, both key Death Eater commanders and close aides of the TTP chief, were also killed with two others injured in the drone strike, multiple sources confirmed.
The Taliban sources told Dawn.com that Hakimullah was shifted to a hospital after the drone strike but he departed this vale of tears on the way. The locals said the drones had been carrying out low flights in various parts of North Waziristan since morning.
The South Waziristan Taliban chief, Khan Said Sajna alias Khalid is likely to succeed Hakimullah Mehsud as TTP chief.
Chief of Mohmand Taliban Umar Khalid Khurasani is also a strong contestant for the slot as he is the only surviving senior Taliban capo who had directly commanded operations under Hakimullah.
Mullah Fazlullah ...son-in-law of holy man Sufi Mohammad. Known as Mullah FM, Fazlullah had the habit of grabbing his FM mike when the mood struck him and bellowing forth sermons. Sufi suckered the Pak govt into imposing Shariah on the Swat Valley and then stepped aside whilst Fazlullah and his Talibs imposed a reign of terror on the populace like they hadn't seen before, at least not for a thousand years or so. For some reason the Pak intel services were never able to locate his transmitter, much bomb it. After ruling the place like a conquered province for a year or so, Fazlullah's Talibs began gobbling up more territory as they pushed toward Islamabad, at which point as a matter of self-preservation the Mighty Pak Army threw them out and chased them into Afghanistan... , the chief of the Swat ...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat... Taliban, is another senior Taliban capo but unlikely to replace the assassinated TTP chief for not belonging to Mehsud clan.
Foreign news agency AP reports that a senior US intelligence official confirmed the strike overnight, saying the US received positive confirmation Friday morning that he had been killed.
The CIA and the White House declined to comment on the reported death. The US National Counterterrorism Center describes Mehsud as "the self-proclaimed amir of the Pak Taliban."
Speaking to Dawn, Jen Psaki, the spokesperson for the US State Department said: "We have seen those reports but we don't have anything for you on that. The reports just came out. We have a close cooperative relationship with Pakistain on various issues, including counter-terrorism but I do not have anything specific for you on Pakistain on this report."
Reacting to the incident, Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... (PTI) chief Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who is the lightweight's lightweight... -- a strong opponent of US drone strikes -- demanded the government to immediately block the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... supplies going through the country. His party is set to table resolutions in KP Assembly and National Assembly on Monday in this regard.
Mehsud has been reported dead several times before. But late on Friday, several intelligence, army and Death Eater sources across the country confirmed he had been killed in the strike in the lawless North Waziristan region bordering Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, ...back at the the conspirators' cleverly concealed hideout the long-awaited message arrived. They quickly got to work with their decoder rings... strongly condemning the Friday's US drone attack in North Waziristan, Pakistain government reiterated that these strikes are a violation of illusory sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country.
Foreign Office Spokesman Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry in a statement said that there was an across the board consensus in Pakistain that these drone strikes must end.
He said the government has consistently maintained that drone strikes are counter-productive, entail loss of innocent civilian lives and have human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... and humanitarian implications. Such strikes also set dangerous precedents in the inter-state relations, he added.
The front man said these strikes have a negative impact on the mutual desire of both US and Pakistain to forge a cordial and cooperative relationship and to ensure peace and stability in the region.
Hakimullah Mehsud: A brief profile
Dande Darpakhel area is located five kilometres (three miles) north of Miranshah ... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas... , the main town of the North Waziristan tribal region, said to be a stronghold for the Pak Taliban.
The strike came a day after three Death Eaters were killed in another drone attack that also targeted an al-Qaeda fortress near Miranshah. The US unmanned plane was still flying in the area after the attack.
Condemning the drone strikes, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar had earlier said these were aimed at sabotaging efforts to establish peace in the country.
"A delegation was about to be sent to talk to Taliban tomorrow (Saturday)," said the minister hinting that a "senior Death Eater commander" may have been killed in today's strike.
Pak Taliban front man Shahidullah Shahid earlier today said they have had "no contact" with the government, a day after 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... said a process to initiate peace talks had been started.
The incident comes a week after Sharif urged US President Barack Obama Republicans can come along for the ride, but they've got to sit in the back... to stop drone strikes during a meeting in Washington.
The Pak defence ministry Wednesday said 317 US drone strikes in the country's tribal areas had killed 67 civilians and 2,160 bully boyz in Pakistain since 2008.
US drone attacks are deeply unpopular in Pakistain, but Washington sees them as a vital tool in the fight against bully boyz in the lawless tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan.
The Pak government has repeatedly protested against drone strikes as a violation of its illusory sovereignty. But privately officials have been reported as saying the attacks can be useful in removing bully boyz from the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Dawn] Six people of the Shia Hazara community were killed and one injured when gunnies opened indiscriminate fire at their vehicle in the Mach area of Bolan district on Friday.
Mama Ghullam Hussain, a levies officer, told Dawn.com that four gunnies on two cycle of violences opened indiscriminate fire at the vehicle carrying seven coal miners in Mach. Subsequently, six coal miners were killed and one sustained injuries.
"They belonged to the Shia Hazara community," he informed.
Hussain said the victims were travelling from Mach to their coal company when their vehicle was targeted by myrmidons." Gunmen sprayed bullets when the vehicle reached a speed breaker near Mach," Hussain added. He said the incident was of a sectarian nature since the victims were from the Hazara community.
The attackers drove off the scene after the attack.
Meanwhile, ...back at the mall, Clarissa suddenly spied Mr. Bartlett at the checkout counter. He was buying Grecian Formula!... a huge contingent of Levies and police personnel reached the spot and the casualties were shifted to a hospital.
The victims are yet to be identified. There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Militants have been targeting Shia Hazaras working in the coal mines of Mach since a long time. Similarly, members of Hazara community and Shia pilgrims coming from Iran have also been frequently attacked in Mastung and Quetta.
The Sunni-militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi ... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ... has repeatedly claimed the responsibility for killing Hazara Shias.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2013
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A shortage of fuel halted the production of electricity across the Gazoo Strip on Friday, said the energy authority of the Islamist movement Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, which controls the Paleostinian enclave.
"We have completely stopped the operation of [Gazoo's sole] power plant this morning at 6:00 am [4:00 GMT] because we don't have a single liters of fuel," Fathi el-Sheikh Khalil, the authority's deputy chairman, told AFP.
An AFP correspondent in the Gazoo Strip said the electricity supply had been cut off across most of the territory on Friday morning.
Khalil blamed the power outage on Israel's destruction of tunnels used for bringing fuel to Gazoo and accused the Western-backed Paleostinian Authority of charging Hamas too much for its fuel.
"Less than 50 percent of the needs of the Gazoo Strip are currently covered by electricity from Israel [and] we can no longer get Egyptian fuel due to the destruction of tunnels from Egypt," he said.
"We tried to get fuel from Israel via the Paleostinian Authority, but it has imposed prohibitive taxes."
The Gazoo plant supplies about a third of the territory's electricity needs.
"The plant will remain shut until fuel supplies resume from Egypt through the tunnels or the Rafah border crossing, or from Israel if the Paleostinian Authority agrees not to impose the heavy taxes," said Khalil.
In September, the Gazoo energy authority warned of an impending shortage of fuel and called on Egypt to resume deliveries to the strip.
Relations between Cairo and Hamas have deteriorated since the Egyptian army ousted Islamist president Mohammed Mursi in July.
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11/02/2013
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#1
Reducing their carbon footprint; I'm cool with it.
[MAGHAREBIA] Mokhtar Belmokhtar's bloody attacks have brought him worldwide scorn, even from those he sought most to impress within al-Qaeda central.
The Algerian terrorist known as "Laaouar" in September issued a videotape in which he talked about all he had done since splitting from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). He tried to depict himself as a jihadi emir, but that did little to bring him any endorsement by the global terror network.
In a speech marking the anniversary of the 2011 terror attacks, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... mentioned all branches of the terrorist network across the world, from AQIM and al-Shabaab ... the personification of Somali state failure... to the lone wolves.
He said nothing about Mokhtar Belmokhtar.
Since splitting from AQIM, Belmokhtar (aka Khaled Abou El Abass) began acting haphazardly, accumulating failures and errors. Immediately after the split, he founded his "the Signed-in-Blood Battalion".
The new organization inaugurated its bloody performance with the attack on the Tiguentourine gas plant near In Amenas. Belmokhtar's goal was to carry out an operation that could bring him attention and money, since he had a long history of hostage-taking and ransom negotiations. He anticipated a financial windfall from ransoms for the hundreds of foreign hostages.
The decisive intervention of the Algerian army shattered his dreams. Indeed, half of those killed when the ANP reclaimed the site came from the ranks of the assailants.
The killing machine of Belmokhtar next turned to Niger. The attack on the Arlit uranium mine killed 23 and the attack on the Agadez military school left several Nigerien soldiers dead. Belmokhtar did not collect any money from these operations; the army foiled his plan to take hostages.
Three key elements emerged about the new strategic directions of Laaouar. The first was the evidence of a partnership between the Signed-in-Blood Battalion and the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO).The two groups merged at the end of August, to create the "Mourabitounes".
The second element of the Laaouar's operations was the participation of bully boyz from different nationalities: Sudan, Nigeria, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Western Sahara. This was an indication of the extent of the recruiting network upon which Belmokhtar relies.
The third element, which was revealed by Niger, was that the operations were planned and launched from Libya. This fact confirmed the theory that Belmokhtar had fled northern Mali to escape the military campaign.
In all these operations, the fate of the participating bully boyz ended up being death.
They were all young people from different nationalities, who were lured by salafi jihadist elders, sent to join the ranks of Belmokhtar and then exploited.
Instead of their anticipated jihad, they ended up as criminals: taking hostages and requesting ransoms, or protecting convoys of international gangs of drug and weapons smugglers across the desert.
"Belmokhtar succeeded through these operations to attract attention and the lights of the global media, who followed these events and particularly the attack of In Amenas," noted Abdellah Rami, a Moroccan researcher specialised in Islamist groups.
"But the limelight did not seem to convince al-Qaeda's central command, which continues to see him with both caution and apprehension," the analyst added.
Belmokhtar's goal from these operations was to send a message to the central leadership of the organization that he was able to carry out important operations and deserved a promotion to the post of al-Qaeda emir for North and West Africa, Rami said.
"Al-Qaeda is not a structured organization subject to a hierarchy with strict regulations, as is the case of the Moslem Brüderbund," the Moroccan expert pointed out. "It is a network of various groups and cells, and sometimes isolated individuals. Positions within the mother organization are gained based on the individual's performance and not through administrative advancements."
Belmokhtar thinks he has credentials he needs to advance, based on his participation in the Afghan jihad in the early nineties, all the way up to this year and his operation at In Amenas.
In addition, he managed the money gained from hostage ransoms and the protection fees paid by drug smugglers and traffickers of weapons and people, who turned to al-Qaeda to cross the Sahel and Sahara.
His proudest moments are in fact over operations conducted with international criminal gangs, under the cover of religion. According to some reports, even the real reason behind his defection along MUJAO from AQIM was a dispute over money and spoils.
The defection of Belmokhtar dealt a hard blow to AQIM, for it lost with him an essential source of money and weapons.
"I think that the organization of Abdelmalik Droukdel ... aka Abdel Wadoud, was a regional leader of the GSPC for several years before becoming the group's supremo in 2004 following the death of then-leader Nabil Sahraoui. Under Abdel Wadoud's leadership the GSPC has sought to develop itself from a largely domestic entity into a larger player on the international terror stage. In September 2006 it was announced that the GSPC had joined forces with al-Qaeda and in January 2007 the group officially changed its name to the Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb.... committed a big mistake when it dismissed Belmokhtar in October 2012 for lacking discipline, breaching leadership rules and failing to comply with orders," political scientist Hasnawi Abdul Latif told Magharebia.
"They did not know that he was seeking to create a rival organization in the region."
According to Hasnawi, "Droukdel's decision was bureaucratic and did not take into account the fact that Belmokhtar had spent decades in the desert of northern Mali."
"Belmokhtar's big ambition is reflected in the name of the organization that embraced him, the MUJAO. It implies that West Africa in its entirety is an area targeted by his rule," the academic said. "His ambitions are also reflected in the name he gave to the group under which his battalion merged with MUJAO."
"Al Mourabitoune refers to a state launched from the desert a thousand years ago and expanded to form the first empire in the Moslem West. Back then the Mourabitoune extended their influence to North and West Africa, in addition to Andalusia," he explained.
Mohammed Benhammou, who heads the African Federation for Strategic Studies (FAES) and the Moroccan Centre for Strategic Studies (CMES), noted that after the military campaign in northern Mali, armed terrorist groups "chose escape over confrontation, and urged their members to disperse in neighbouring countries, especially in the south of Libya, Chad, and Niger".
"Some of them merged even with the local population," he said. "Today, these groups are starting to resurface and come out of their dens, as indicated in the increasing frequency of terrorist operations in the north of Mali since last September."
Benhammou continued, "We are now facing an imminent danger with the reshaping of the ranks of these groups."
"What exacerbates this risk is the apparition of new areas where security is vulnerable, such as Libya, Tunisia, and Egypt."
As to the connections between the groups, Benhammou said, "There are ideological ties, as well as some form of co-ordination and consultation but no organizational links."
"Most groups declared and pledged allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahiri, like Ansar al-Sharia ...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Tunisia and Yemen, with the Tunisian version currently most active... in Tunisia and the Shabaab in Somalia. Belmokhtar did the same thing. There are also some groups that did not declare explicitly their allegiance to al-Qaeda, although they adopted the same thinking and have the same salafi jihadist beliefs," the FAES chief said.
"What distinguishes all these groups is that they are independent in terms of funding, decision making, and organization. Although they all belong to the network of global terrorism of al-Qaeda, their objectives, operations, and organization tend to be local in nature."
Benhammou said, "The goal in the short term is to prevent these terrorist groups from conducting operations. We reach that goal by having the countries of the region share intelligence, and by having co-operation between security services and border controls."
"In the long term, eliminating this phenomenon requires a strategy that includes economic, social, religious and security dimensions. We must eliminate the recruiting capabilities of these terrorist groups and dry up their sources of funding, and reduce the social, political and religious deficiencies that feed them."
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
[An Nahar] The Netherlands will send 380 soldiers and four Apache attack helicopters to war-torn Mali following an appeal for more U.N. peacekeepers, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Friday.
The announcement comes after an urgent request by the U.N.'s special representative in the west African country for more blue helmets as its peacekeeping force faces a new surge of Islamist attacks.
"The Netherlands has decided to answer the U.N.'s call," Rutte told journalists at his weekly press briefing following a cabinet meeting.
"Northern Mali is threatening to become a place where Death Eaters are freely trained," he added.
The Dutch force's main task will be intelligence gathering for the U.N.'s Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), as well as training local police, the Dutch foreign ministry said in a statement.
The high-tech Apache attack helicopters will also be used in an intelligence gathering role and to protect the Dutch forces.
"In principle the Dutch force will remain with the mission until the end of 2015," the ministry added.
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#1
How many troops does it take to support four Apaches?
Not many left over for grunt work.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
11/02/2013 10:15
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[TEHRANTIMES] Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov has underlined the necessity of Iran's participation in a peace conference on Syria in Geneva aimed at finding a political solution to the long-standing conflict in the country.
Russian believes that the forum should definitely include those regional players that can play an influential role in resolving the crisis in Syria, Bogdanov said, Press TV reported on Friday.
In a joint presser in Tehran with Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN-Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... special envoy for Syria, in late October Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Iran will participate in the Geneva II conference to help find a solution to the Syria crisis if it is invited.
Brahimi stated that he and the UN secretary general want to see Iran participate in the conference
Bogdanov added that the Russian and American sides are working hard in cooperation with Brahimi to prepare for the international event.
"All agree that this forum should be held as soon as possible. The bloody armed conflict in Syria brings further casualties each day," he said, emphasizing that the Syrian crisis "has no military solution and can only be resolved through political and diplomatic means."
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Corruption is rife in the North Korean army as sanctions eat into official perks for soldiers, a think tank report claims. North Korean officers have smuggled out sensitive files for money and border guards can be bribed to carry would-be defectors on their back, it says.
Koh Jae-hong of the Institute for National Security Strategy released the report on Thursday. Top-secret data such as orders of the supreme command, wartime plans, and guidelines for electronic warfare "are sold for between tens and hundreds of millions of won" to information traders in the Chinese border region, Koh said.
Border guards sometimes stand watch for people who cross into China illegally, a service that costs 1,000 yuan or US$40, and help feeble old people cross the river by carrying them on their back for $60, he added.
"In Hoeryong, North Hamgyong Province, a senior security official took a bribe to erase CCTV footage of someone fleeing the North," he said.
The money is kicked up from soldiers to higher-ranking officers in return for easier shifts or furloughs. Soldiers have to pay 200,000 North Korean won if they want to be assigned or transferred to a unit in the border area where they can make money, and 300,000 won if they want to be assigned to Guard Command in Pyongyang, Koh added.
"This amount is the equivalent of between seven and 10 years' worth of salary, since an Army captains pay is about 3,000 won a month."
Soldiers have to bribe their superiors with 100 kg of corn if they want to go on a 15-day regular leave. Soldiers from rich families go on leave for up to a year by bribing their superiors $1,000 to $2,000.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/02/2013
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[Dawn] AFTER considerable silence and ambiguity on the number of people killed in American drone strikes in Fata, the state, for the first time, went public with official figures on Wednesday, the same day missiles rained down on suspected faceless myrmidons in North Wazoo. In a written statement to the Senate, the defence ministry, replying to a politician's question, said that over the last five years drones had eliminated over 2,100 terrorists, while 67 civilians had been killed. The number of civilian deaths the state has released is in stark contrast to statistics cited by critics of the drone war, including reputed rights groups, who claim that hundreds, if not thousands, of non-combatants have died in the attacks.
While the release of the figures by the government is welcome, why has it come so late in the day, especially when drone strikes in this country have been occurring for nearly a decade? If the government and previous dispensations had released casualty figures regularly, the drone debate, both at home and internationally, would have been more rational and less prone to guesswork. However, death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate... no set of figures can be taken as accurate, unless more details are released. The discrepancy in numbers exists in large part because of the inaccessibility of Fata. A transparent investigation is needed and all sides must come up with the names of victims and the venue and dates of the attacks. But regardless of whose figures are correct, the death of civilians is deplorable. It shows the strikes are not as surgical as touted, and that innocent people get killed in the process |of drones eliminating bad boys.
The official figures, if they are correct, also show that the strikes have taken out thousands of bad boys. The list indicates that local, Afghan, Arab and Central Asian faceless myrmidons have used North Waziristan as a launching pad. The government's own data supports the argument that Pakistain needs to act if it wants the faceless myrmidons eliminated. While we believe that America's unilateral drone strikes violate Pakistain's illusory sovereignty and are not legitimate, the state is also responsible for its lack of action and for leaving a vacuum to be filled -- unlawfully -- by the US. Drone strikes have stopped where the security forces have taken action, and that's one reason why Pakistain should now lead the effort to eliminate foreign faceless myrmidons who are based in the tribal areas.
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11/02/2013
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#1
2,100 terrorists... 67 civilians
Three percent of the wackees have been civilians. Pretty much statistical noise, especially given the fluid definition of 'civilian'.
My advice: if you find yourself repeatedly blown up in drone strikes, you need a better class of friends.
[An Nahar] Just six people managed enrol in Obamacare on day one of the health plan's troubled rollout, documents released by Republican politicians showed, in a new embarrassment for the White House.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Darrell Issa released a document from a meeting on October 2, the day after HealthCare.gov went online, recording the paltry figure.
By the end of October 2, two full days into the sign-up process, "there were 248 enrollments" nationwide, according to the notes from the Department of Health and Social Security.
Both documents were posted Thursday on the website run by Issa's House oversight committee.
President Barack Obama They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them... is counting on millions signing up for health care through online exchanges, part of a plan he pushed through in 2010 to help uninsured Americans get coverage.
Republican politicians are uniformly opposed to the law, which they have nicknamed Obamacare, and seized on the poor enrollment figures as sign of a colossal failure of the website in particular.
But Obama front man Jay Carney dismissed the focus on the six enrollees as a "dog-bites-man story."
"We knew it was going to be a slow build," Carney told news hounds.
"It's no question that it's been made more challenging by the poorly functioning website, and that's on us and that's why we're dedicating the resources and the brainpower to get it fixed."
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11/02/2013
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#1
Foolish 6, wasted all that positive Karma on penetrating a web site, should have bought a lottery ticket. Significantly more than 6 people won state lotteries that infamous day.
Oh my goodness, read this, from our Raf Sanchez in Washington:
European intelligence agencies and not American spies were responsible for the mass collection of phone records which sparked outrage in La Belle France and Spain, the US has claimed.
General Keith Alexander, the head of the National Security Agency, said reports that the US had collected millions of Spanish and French phone records were "absolutely false".
"To be perfectly clear, this is not information that we collected on European citizens," Gen Alexander said when asked about the reports, which were based on classified documents leaked by Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor.
Shortly before the NSA chief appeared before a Congressional committee, US officials briefed the Wall Street Journal that in fact Spain and La Belle France's own intelligence agencies had carried out the surveillance and then shared their findings with the NSA.
[An Nahar] The Red Thingy called Friday for an "immediate" ceasefire in deadly festivities between Zaidi Iranian catspaws and Sunni Islamists in northern Yemen to allow the maimed to be evacuated.
Friday's latest fighting in Saada province left one dead and seven maimed, raising to 11 the corpse count since Wednesday, according to tribal officials.
The fighting with mortars and rockets has been concentrated on the Mazraa mosque and a Koranic school held by the Islamists in the village of Dammaj, circled by Zaidi rebels.
"The ongoing festivities have been preventing us reaching people who urgently need our help," said Cedric Schweizer, the International Committee of the Red Thingy delegation head in Sanaa.
"Every minute we lose waiting to get into Dammaj and the surrounding area is a potential life lost," he warned in a statement.
"We are calling for an immediate and solid ceasefire, which would allow our colleagues to evacuate the maimed and deliver life-saving care."
Dammaj, where the school for Sunni preachers has operated since the 1980s, has been the scene of frequent festivities between Sunni Islamists and the Zaidis for whom Saada is a stronghold.
The Ansarullah (partisans of God) Iranian catspaws, in a statement, charged that Sunni faceless myrmidons had "transformed the center of Dammaj into a real barracks for thousands of armed foreigners.
At least 42 people were killed in 10 days of festivities last month in Amran province, also in northern Yemen, and the central Ibb region.
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[CHRON] A lawyer for Toronto's embattled mayor accused the city's top cop of acting as "judge, jury and executioner" Friday, a day after police said they had obtained a copy of a long-rumored video that appears to show Rob Ford puffing on a crack pipe.
Ford's lawyer Dennis Morris attacked Police Chief Bill Blair for saying he was "disappointed" in the mayor at presser announcing the video had been recovered from a computer hard drive during an investigation of an associate of the mayor's suspected of providing him drugs.
"The chief said yesterday there is no evidence to charge him criminally in reference to this tape so what the heck?" Morris said. "He wasn't elected by the College of Cardinals and he shouldn't be pontificating."
Ford was elected mayor three years ago on a wave of discontent simmering in the city's outlying suburbs. Since then he has survived an attempt to remove him from office on conflict-of-interest charges and has frequently made news for his increasingly erratic behavior.
Allegations Ford had been caught on video smoking crack first surfaced in May. Two news hounds with the Toronto Star and one from the U.S. website Gawker said they saw the video but they did not obtain a copy.
Ford denied smoking crack and said at the time that the video did not exist. He also vilified the Toronto Star, accusing the paper of trying to take him down.
Morris called on police to release the video saying it likely shows the mayor smoking something other than crack.
"Let's see it," Morris said. "You can call it a crack pipe or a pipe to smoke a, b, c or d, so let's see it."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2013
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#1
"You can call it a crack pipe or a pipe to smoke a, b, c or d, so let's see it."
...so the good mayor has, apparently, given his indulgences coded identifiers..?
[Dawn] The Foreign Office said on Thursday that the government was convinced that drone attacks were counter-productive and it (FO) had sought details from the defence ministry about the low non-combatant casualty figure reported in Senate.
"Our position on the drone strikes is very clear. We are convinced that drone strikes are counter-productive," Foreign Office front man Aizaz Chaudhry said at the weekly media briefing, a day after the defence ministry informed Senate that drones had killed 2,160 gunnies and the number of civilians killed by drones was 67.
He said the Foreign Office had sought details from the defence ministry on the casualty figure quoted in Senate.
The Foreign Office, based on data provided by the military, had in March this year informed the UN Special Rapporteur Ben Emmerson that there were 400 confirmed civilian deaths because of drones, while another 200 victims were likely non-combatants.
The front man said the government's stance on drones was based on "national consensus" against the pilotless US planes to target bad turban targets in tribal areas.
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[Dawn] The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... government has decided to impose ban on all firebrand ...firebrands are noted more for audio volume and the quantity of spittle generated than for any actual logic in their arguments... speakers, wall chalking and hate literature during Muharram to maintain law and order in the province.
According to a statement, the decision was taken in a meeting held here on Thursday with Home and Tribal Affairs Secretary Syed Akhtar Ali Shah in the chair. The meeting was attended by commissioners and regional coppers, who informed the participants about the Muharram security plan.
The meeting also discussed the threat perceptions and contingencies plans to deal with the situation in a befitting manner. The officials said that they were in high state of preparations.
They said that services of army, Frontier Corps and Frontier Constabulary had also been requisitioned according to the contingency plans chalked out for 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. , Kohat, Hango and Dera Ismail Khan ... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ... .
Similarly, the meeting decided that walls should be white-washed in the districts where Muharram activities were carried out and timings of processions must be observed to avoid clash with prayers timings of other sects.
The meeting decided that code of conducts must be Govt to ban firebrand speakers in Muharram followed by both the sects and places of gatherings of other sects should be shifted and cleared by the special branch and bomb disposal unit (BDU).
Similarly, the civic bodies would remove all the garbage and proper sanitation be ensured by the staff of relevant town municipal officers. The staff of gas and postal departments would check their installations before the start of processions and on daily basis and give a certificate to the police officials concerned.
The meeting said that Peshawar Electric Supply Company should ensure that power supply would not be interrupted and there should be alternate arrangements of lighting in case of breakdown in advance. "There shall be proper security plan for meeting any eventuality like rocket attack, especially in Hangu district ... Hangu is famous for its greenery, hills, beauty and water. Most of the people of this area are Bangash & Orakzai Pashtuns. Part of the Bangash are Shia. The Orakzai and the Sunni Bangash are determined to kill them... ," the participants of the meeting said.
The statement said that Kohat DIG would calculate the exact number of Levies personnel in Kohat, Hangu and Karak to equip them with arms and ammunition, to be provided by the police department.
"Mardan, Nowshera, Bannu and Lakki Marwat shall not be taken as light and the divisional administration and police should not be ignorant of the situation in the adjoining districts. Rather, they should be more active as compare to most sensitive districts," it added.
The meeting decided that police would conduct targeted operations to arrest bully boys, proclaimed offenders and anti-social elements and submit reports to the home department.
The meeting asked the local government department to release funds to municipal committees for Muharram on urgent and daily basis to carry out repair work and sanitation in their areas.
Meanwhile, ...back at the secret hideout, Scarface Al sneeringly put his proposition to little Nell... AIGP Masood Khan Afridi has said that special branch would l be given the status of an agency as it was playing vital role against terrorism in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
Addressing a training session for special branch here on Thursday, he said that chances of terrorism always persisted but the credit went to special branch, which foiled sabotage attempts and saved lives of people. He said that special branch was also facing serious challenges to foil anti-state conspiracies.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
ATTENTON STATE DEPARTMENT, can Jesse Jackson get a visa, Please.
(And an armed "Honor" Guard, to make sure he goes)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/02/2013 12:21
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#3
Of course at one time it was till government crony regulation and socialism brought it down to the level of other socialist government intervention countries....so, let's cut back our UN Danegeld to that of all those other nations, both in cash and kind. Works for me.
#5
And with the tax money we can buy up the surplus cotton at 3 times market, dip it in chocolate and sell give it to the Egyptians. Remember you have a piece of the action.
#7
European style soft socialism with high taxes and higher unemployment.
Small cars, high gas prices, littler and littler homes, LARGER AND LARGER gov't bureaucracy - the new aristocracy.
A service economy to WHO?
Only people I know buying houses or taking Hawaii vacations over the last six years are gov't employees or attorney's who have to deal with the fallout - got to pass it to know what's in it - of gov't legislation.
[SACRAMENTO.CBSLOCAL] An Auburn man brought a chain saw to a bar fight after an argument over inappropriately touching another man's chest, Nevada County Sheriff's Deputies said.
Stinky Mulligan's Bar was turned into a real-life haunted house when deputies said Weston Cecil Burton, 31, touched another man's chest.
When the victim slapped Burton in the face and pushed him down, Burton allegedly went and grabbed his chain saw from his truck, started it up, and brought it into the bar.
"This place is so wackadoodle, that only in a small town could you get something like this," said Brian Lowenthal, who runs the shopping center.
Even a man in a skull mask is spooked by what happened.
"I thought I was funny when I read it in the newspaper, but when I thought about it, I don't like that bar anymore," he said.
Not surprisingly, nobody in the bar was eager to step up to stop the suspect wielding his weapon.
But before Burton could do any damage to his victim, witnesses say his chain saw stalled, and cut out.
That's when patrons jumped in and grabbed the chain saw. Burton took off, but he left his credit card at the bar. OK, boys. It look's like drinks are on...Weston Cecil Burton.
He was later tossed in the clink Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! on charges of assault with a deadly weapon. He posted bond and was released from the Nevada County Jail.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2013
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#4
cheez whattya do there, fort up at the billiard ball return and use the bridge as a pike, aim for knuckles and nose, make a stone face and sling the 8?
#6
"He posted bond and was released from the Nevada County Jail.".... and returned to the Sierra Saw Power Equipment Company in Auburn, where he began shopping for his replacement chain saw and later he rented a copy of the Texas Chain Saw Massacre knowing he needed to brush-up on his techniques...
Posted by: Au Auric ||
11/02/2013 11:37
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#7
inappropriately touching another man's chest
in CA?
[Dawn] An entire week elapsed when two sides of Bangladesh ground against each other like tectonic plates. Last week, upheavals erupted across the country as if a nation was convulsing in pain. People lived in the fear of an approaching Armageddon between the two political camps that threatened to throw this country back to the Dark Age. They also lived in the tormented hope when the two supreme leaders of this country, despite the disruptive episode over a red telephone, managed to talk to each other for 37 minutes! Throughout the week lesser leaders were spitting invectives like sparks flying from friction. The chance of a reconciliation between two sides swung like an overactive pendulum. All that time it was seeking equilibrium, this nation had its nerves on edge.
It was a week that looked like the sequels of a dystopian action film huddled within its seven days. Bands of political activists roamed the streets in their post-apocalyptic madness as they clashed with their opponents and the law-enforcement bodies. Vehicles were torched, houses and shops were gutted, cocktails were hurled, guns were fired and kerosene-induced flames danced on the roads like snakes swaying to the sound of a flute. Altogether, anywhere between fourteen and twenty lives were lost to violence. Hundreds were maimed.
Although the week was packed with actions, it couldn't produce even an ounce of solution. That inanity has been best epitomised by the telephone conversation between the two leaders broadcast on television. The conversation has set a world record for blowing something out of proportion. If one cuts out the repetitions, it could be contained within a fraction of its duration.
The overstretched conversation from its start was jinxed. The prime minister kept dialing a number that didn't respond for forty-five minutes. The television channels promptly broke the news that could be misunderstood as if the opposition leader was deliberately avoiding the call. But why did the head of government try an unresponsive phone for so long? Why didn't somebody find out after two-three tries if there was something wrong with the connection?
The opposition's response was also reprehensible. Whilst rest of the country was watching the breaking news on television, why didn't anyone in the party urgently draw their leader's attention? Why couldn't someone immediately inform the prime minister's office that they were wasting time on the wrong phone?
The whole thing had the appearance of a box-ticking exercise. The prime minister took almost a week to make the phone call. When she did she explained that she was inviting the opposition leader as part of her effort to sit with all the political parties. But from the number of times she harped on one particular subject, it got many of us confused why she had called. Did she call to insist on lifting the hartal ... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ... or invite the opposition leader to a dialogue?
Our politicians are addicted to apocalypse and they respond to stubbornness with stubbornness. The opposition leader stuck to her guns. She refused to call off the strike to accommodate the prime minister's invitation.
The unpleasant truth here is that the battle of egos preceded national interest. Otherwise, the two leaders should have agreed on a mutually convenient date in that one call. If October 28 was not suitable for both, they should have finalised a new date next evening or any evening after that. An invitation to national reconciliation shouldn't be conditional. Neither should its acceptance.
Clash of egos couldn't be the only reason, part of the fault lies in the preparations for the talks. The prime minister's advisors didn't prepare her for a recalcitrant opponent. The opposition leader wasn't rehearsed to expect the prime minister's carrot and stick proposition. The end result has been yet another deadlock. The silver bullet is now contingent upon who is going to pick up the phone for the next round of talks.
Advisors give advice, but they also add vices at times. After the Bay of Pigs fiasco, US president John F Kennedy told his wife Jackie that if all his life he had known better not to depend on the experts, he was stupid that one time to let them go ahead. Just to understand what Kennedy meant, Air Force General Thomas Power, who played a key role during the Cuban missile crisis, contended that if at the end of the war there were two Americans and one Russian left alive, America would have still won.
The political showdown last week was seething with that guiding contention. It underscored the futility of our political system where people are captive of politicians who are captives of their own contradiction. Two sides of the same coin, our leaders are one selfish lot in benevolent garb. Head they win, head they lose. In the ultimate tragedy, the people lose every time.
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[An Nahar] Japan and Russia took a step towards making a peace that has eluded them since World War II on Friday, with a loose agreement for talks on a treaty.
Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov agreed there would be negotiations aimed at settling the dispute, which centers around the illusory sovereignty of a chain of islands north of the Japanese island of Hokkaido.
"Today, Minister Lavrov and I agreed that our two nations shall hold vice-ministerial level talks in either late January or early February," Kishida told a joint presser.
"Naturally, negotiations toward a peace treaty will be taken up in that," he said, adding they would likely touch on the territorial dispute.
Kishida said he would visit Russia next spring to hold another round of ministerial level talks.
"It's important that our two nations enhance bilateral ties on all fronts," he added.
Despite an important commercial relationship that is now much influenced by Japan's need to buy fossil fuels and Russia's desire to sell them, the two neighbors remain at odds over the illusory sovereignty of a cluster of windswept islands to Japan's north and Russia's far east.
The islands, which Japan calls the Northern Territories, but Russia administers as the Southern Kurils, were seized by Soviet troops as WWII thundered to a close.
The Japanese occupants were turfed out and the USSR began to people the area, as part of a drive to consolidate control over its far east. They remain under-developed, but harbour rich fishing reserves.
Japan and Russia have held a succession of summit talks, the latest stage of a burgeoning relationship that represents a rare neighborly entente for Tokyo.
Four separate meetings have taken place between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... over the past six months, an unusual frequency for such high-level exchanges.
"The Russia-Japan relationship in recent times has enjoyed a positive atmosphere, allowing us to resume discussions on" the peace treaty, Lavrov said in the joint address.
"It's important that matters such as this be carried out in a calm environment that is not emotional and avoid public discussions" that might prevent cool-headed exchanges, Lavrov added.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2013
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#1
...it's good form to conclude an old war before a new one breaks out...
[NY Times] Edward J. Snowden, the fugitive American security contractor granted asylum by Russia, has appealed to Washington to stop treating him like a traitor for revealing that the United States has been eavesdropping on its allies, a German politician who met with Mr. Snowden said on Friday.
The appeal came in a letter from Mr. Snowden carried to Berlin by Hans-Christian Ströbele, a veteran member of the Green Party in the German Parliament, who said that he and two journalists for German media met with Mr. Snowden and a person described as his assistant -- probably his British aide, Sarah Harrison -- at an undisclosed location in or near Moscow on Thursday for almost three hours.
In his letter, Mr. Snowden, 30, also appealed for clemency. He said his disclosures about American intelligence activity at home and abroad, which he called "systematic violations of law by my government that created a moral duty to act," had had positive effects.
Yet "my government continues to treat dissent as defection, and seeks to criminalize political speech with felony charges that provide no defense," Mr. Snowden wrote. "However, speaking the truth is not a crime. I am confident that with the support of the international community, the government of the United Sates will abandon this harmful behavior."
Mr. Ströbele, 74, is a seasoned left-wing defense lawyer and the longest-serving member of the parliamentary committee that oversees German intelligence. At a packed news conference held after his return to Berlin, he said he had been trying to visit Mr. Snowden since the summer, when the American first arrived in Moscow in search of asylum. After a number of countries, including Germany, said Mr. Snowden could not apply for such protection from the Moscow airport where he was taking sanctuary at the time, Russia granted him a one-year asylum on Aug. 1.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2013
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#1
He has a point - remember when dissent was the highest form of patriotism?
#5
No can do! Your project has NOT been terminated. Stay there and continue to attempt to infiltrate the SVR tech support branch per your original tasking.
[Libya Herald] The head of the Supreme Security Committee (SSC) Hashim Bishr maintains that the kidnapping of Nazih Al-Ruqaii, alias Abu Anas Al-Libi, was executed by Libyans, not US Special Forces.
"The American story is saying that the operation was done by American units but our information says that the operation was done by Libyans," Bishr told the Libya Herald.
Ruquii was snatched on 5 October when he returned to his house after attending early morning prayers at the mosque.
The next day US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... said: "Yesterday our personnel in the armed forces conducted two operations in order to continue to hunt down those responsible for acts of terrorism." He added that he wanted to "thank and congratulate the quality and courage of those young Americans who took part in those operations." The second operation was a bungled attempt in Somalia to seize Abdulkadir Mohammed Abdulkadir, a top commander of the islamist bully boy group Al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... .
Bishr said the SSC had information about the seizure of Ruqaii, including the direction vehicles involved in the abduction took, from the Nufleen district of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... where he lived, to the coast. "We even know the place he was delivered to, which was one of the ports on the beach." This is understood to be one of the small mooring places commonly used by fishing boats.
He said an American vessel was identified some 35 nautical miles off the coast of Tripoli that morning, shortly after midnight, adding: "I think this could have been the ship that received Ruqaii." The vessel had three helicopters on board, he said, but none of these appeared to leave the ship.
It is understood that Ruqaii was questioned on board the vessel, identified as the amphibious transport ship USS San Antonio, before being transferred to America.
He appeared in a New York court on 15 October and pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." to charges that he was involved in the double bombing of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.
Bishr said he had not heard of Ruqaii before the abduction. He was in Libya during the revolution and spent some time in Misrata, he said, but it was not clear whether he was involved in any fighting. One of Ruqaii's sons was killed during the liberation of Tripoli, Bishr added.
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[Bangla Daily Star] Makers of crude bombs made a windfall gain during last week's 60-hour hartal ... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ... , which saw an unprecedented number of kabooms across the country.
Police sources said during the opposition called strike, more than 1,000 crude bombs, locally known as cocktails, and Molotov cocktails went off in the capital alone.
Quoting locked away Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! bomb makers, Additional Deputy Commissioner Sanwar Hossain of Bomb Disposal Unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Detective Branch, said, "The bomb makers sell cocktails for Tk 500-1,000 in lots of 10′s and 20′s, on orders from only the people they know."
He said the cocktail makers in their high-risk business were making profit five to 10 times their manufacturing cost. At least 50 groups make the bombs at places in and around Dhaka.
Fuelled by high demand due to political confrontation, the bomb makers had an easy going as bombs are largely made of off-the-shelf materials, which are cheap since they are heavily used in the agricultural, industrial and cottage industry sectors. Yet, the price of their product is high since bomb making is risky and there is a long jail term if one gets caught.
Sanwar said during their drive last week police recovered 250 live cocktails and materials for making 400 more.
Explosions of a few hundred crude bombs inside a flat rocked a six-storied building in Fakirerpool on October 9. Investigators in the wrecked flat found 1.5kg of gunpowder and plenty of pebbles and bits of metals apparently meant to be used as shrapnel.
They also found several hundred empty cans stored for making bombs. It was obvious that the flat was actually a bomb factory.
Police believe that similar factories are still operating in Dhaka and the law enforcers are looking for them.
Among the people police arrested during the hartal, they found a group who carry out kabooms for money.
Sanwar said they were mostly teenagers, street urchins, drug addicts and thugs. During primary interrogation, they admitted carrying out kabooms for as little as Tk 200.
On Sunday, the first day of the hartal, a 16-year-old boy sustained serious injuries to his hand and abdomen after a crude bomb burst in his hand at Kakrail. He had initially claimed that someone gave him the bomb saying it was a can of food and he got hurt trying to open it.
He later told news hounds that he was attempting to bomb a target in exchange for Tk 200.
Many political parties rely heavily on commercially manufactured bombs and hired hands for attacks while only a few make their own explosives, police sources said.
During the 18-party alliance sponsored hartal, some bombs went kaboom! in front of the residences of the chief election commissioner, ministers, a Supreme Court judge, war crimes tribunal prosecutors, law enforcers, cop shoppes and some media houses.
Criminals generally use crude bombs during running battles and to create panic, but last week several attacks were made apparently to unnerve people in high office.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2013
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#1
What is the secret of the Patels? Simple. Make big lakr at home in your sink. If you can read or have a literate person in your abode easy instructions are yours for the price of a young goat. Call or write or have someone call or write for you:
Biims for Bangla
3400.34 JinnahDale Dale Drive Road Way
Tony Upazillah
[Al Ahram] Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef's show "El-Bernameg" was suspended by host channel CBC minutes before it was due to screen on Friday.
The channel announced in a statement read by TV anchor Khairy Ramadan that it had decided to suspend the show after review of the third season's second episode, which was yet to be screened, revealed that Youssef and his producer had "violated what has been agreed upon" with CBC, as well as CBC's "editorial policies."
He said the channel had decided to suspend the show until editorial and commercial disputes with Youssef were resolved.
Following the announcement, El-Bernameg wrote on its Twitter account that it was currently uploading the banned episode on YouTube.
After an almost three-month hiatus, Youssef returned to television last week.
Although El-Bernameg devotees eagerly awaited to hear how Youssef would address the Moslem Brüderbund's rocky summer, anticipation was even higher over whether or not Youssef would poke fun at popular army chief Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.
Those weary of the Egyptian media's unabashed adoration of El-Sisi in the wake of Morsi's ouster were not disappointed.
In a segment on the interim president, Youssef drew laughs by displaying a picture of El-Sisi before quickly switching to the correct image of Interim President Adly Mansour, insinuating that El-Sisi was the actual ruler of the country. Youssef poked fun at El-Sisi's supporters for "turning him into a pharaoh through blind support."
"El-Sisi has turned into ... chocolate!" exclaimed Youssef, referring to the recent emergence of chocolate bars bearing the army chief's face in Egyptian sweet shops. "We're also selling Sisi-fours," said an actor playing a pastry shop owner, making a pun on the tea cake "petit fours."
El-Sisi, as head of the army, has grown immensely popular since the military's ouster of Morsi on 3 July following days of mass protests against Islamist rule.
Taking on a more serious tone at the end of the episode, Youssef -- who was called in by Morsi-appointed general prosecutor Talaat Abdullah during Morsi's tenure on charges of insulting the president -- stated "I am not with the [Islamists], who attacked us and declared us apostates ... and publicly called for our imprisonment."
"At the same time, I am not with hypocrisy, deification of individuals and creation of pharaohs," he went on. "We are afraid that fascism ...a political system developed in Italy symbolized by the Roman fasces -- thin reeds, each flimsy in itself but unbreakable when bound into a bundle. The word is nowadays thrown around by all sorts of people who have no idea what they're talking about... in the name of religion will be replaced with fascism in the name of nationalism," Youssef added, expressing concern over the possible suppression of free media during the transitional period.
El-Bernameg's home network expressed last week its disapproval of Youssef's season opener -- the first episode since Morsi's ouster -- condemning its mockery of the "symbols of the Egyptian state."
However, a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... according to Bassem Sabry, a famous blogger and Twitter activist, this week's suspended episode did not poke fun at El-Sisi, but rather at the media and especially host channel CBC, according to those who attended the live show earlier Wednesday.
This is not the first time for CBC to suspend Youssef's show. In 2012, the channel suspended the first season's second episode, during which Youssef made fun of both famous CBC presenters as well as then-president Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... . Youssef later broadcasted the episode on YouTube.
A host of legal complaints were filed against Youssef following the third season's premier last Friday.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2013
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Egypt is bracing for deposed president Mohammed Mursi to go on trial on Monday, when he is expected to make his first public appearance since the military ousted him in July.
Mursis supporters, hammered by a bloody and far-reaching police campaign since the presidents overthrow and arrest, are determined not to allow the day to pass quietly.
This is not just a trial of an elected president, its a trial of the peoples will, said Imam Yousef, a protest leader in the pro-Mursi Anti-Coup Alliance.
The coalition, led by Mursis Brotherhood, has called for peaceful protests as the trial convenes at a police academy adjacent to Cairos Tora prison, where much of the Brotherhoods leadership is jailed.
Police say they are ready to deal with any outbreak of violence.
There is a security plan to secure the court and (Mursis) transport to the court room, a police general told AFP. The security official said 20,000 policemen will be deployed on full alert in Cairo.
Mursi is charged alongside 14 others with inciting the murder of protesters outside his palace in December 2012.
He had been held at a Cairo military installation but was moved after his supporters clashed with soldiers outside the building on July 8 and more than 50 people were killed. The military will bring him from the secret location to the court in a helicopter, a security official said.
Mursi, according to relatives and the few officials who were given access to him, remains defiant. Unlike his predecessor Hosni Mubarak, also on trial facing similar charges, he will not cooperate with the court, said the Anti-Coup Alliance.
The deposed president does not recognise the authority of the court, it said. His lawyers will attend the hearing only as observers, it added.
Should make for a short trial...
Mursis position appears unchanged since the night of his ouster, on which he released a defiant video challenging the military.
Later in July, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton was allowed to speak with Mursi. Officials briefed on the visit said Mursi had access to two state-owned newspapers and television, was in high spirits and utterly defiant.
He remains stuck in June 30, said one official, referring to the day the military gave him a 48-hour ultimatum to yield to opposition demands to resign after millions took to the streets demanding he do so.
Ashton had personally asked interim president Adly Mansour and military chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to free Mursi and other leaders.
Not a chance Kate. The country would come unglued...
Egypts judiciary, which mostly loathed Mursi and repeatedly clashed with him during his one-year presidency, bristles at any political intervention and will likely see the trial through.
The charges against Mursi could lead to the death penalty or life in prison. They stem from a turning point in his presidency, when thousands camped outside his palace protesting against a decree that placed his decisions beyond judicial review.
Accusing police of failing to protect the president, the Muslim Brotherhood called on supporters to confront the protesters. At least seven were killed in the clashes. The violence galvanised an array of opposition groups that eventually played a role in the presidents ouster.
Wael Haddara, a former Mursi aide, accused the military-appointed government of staging a sham trial.
I think the world will see this clearly for what it is, its a kangaroo court, Haddara, who is now in Canada, told AFP.
The appearance of the stocky, bespectacled former engineering professor in the defendants cage will inspire his supporters, Haddara said.
The very sight will rally a segment of Egyptian society.
His co-defendants include senior Brotherhood officials and presidential aides.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/02/2013
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[TRIBUNE.NG] The Nigerian Army, on Thursday, said it had destroyed two suspected operational vehicles of the Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... sect in the ongoing operations in Maiduguri.
The front man of the 7 Division of the Nigerian Army in Maiduguri, Lt.-Col. Mohammed Dole, announced this in a statement.
Dole said that the destruction was to get rid of Death Eaters terrorising motorists on highways in Borno State.
"We have been able to identify camps used by the snuffies in planning attacks against motorists and innocent villagers in Kaga Local Government Area of the state.
"Troops of the division, supported by the Nigerian Air Force, have been able to destroy these camps since we began the operations this week,'' Dole said.
He said three surveillance cycle of violences believed to be used by the sect in planning attacks had also been recovered.
"They mostly used the cycle of violences in spying to plan for attacks on innocent people.
"The General Officer Commanding the division (GOC), Maj.-Gen. Obidah Ethan, is happy with the cooperation of the public towards supplying vital information on the movement of the terrorists.
"I, therefore, wish to express our gratitude to the public for the support and cooperation extended to us so far.
"We have been able to dislodge the snuffies from their camps which have been their hiding places.
"They are now in disarray, trying to save their lives instead of planning attacks on innocent persons,'' Dole said.
He said the division had created patrol teams on major highways in the state to prevent isolated attacks on motorists.
Meanwhile, ...back at the argument, Jane reached into her purse for her .38... survivors of last week Thursday attack in Damaturu, Yobe State, particularly travellers, who were caught up in the attack, told the Nigerian Tribune that the attack has remained a nightmare to them.
According to some of the travellers, they met the Boko Haram Death Eaters in a convoy of nine Hilux Pick Up vans and thought they were soldiers on patrol. But noted that as they approached Damaturu, they discovered that the convoy was that of the bully boys.
"They attacked the military post at the entrance from Potiskum side. There were heavy gunshots and as the military returned fire for fire, our driver quickly parked and we all ran into the bush. We were hearing the sound of gunshots from where we were all lying down in the bush as if the sound was around us.
"We slept there the first day until the military overcame them and came to our rescue. The soldiers gave us two slices of bread and a sachet of water each, which gave us some strength to walk back to our bus. The soldiers led us close to the city where we stayed until Saturday morning before they allowed us proceed on our trip.
"In the bush, we were crying and praying for our lives and we spent two days amid corpses where the soldiers took us. I have never seen corpses like that in my life," one of the travellers told the Nigerian Tribune.
Nigerian Tribune also learnt from a hospital source in Damaturu that the Death Eaters went to the hospital looking for medicines.
"When we saw them, we knew they were not soldiers but there was nothing we could do. When the soldiers learnt that some of them were in the hospital, they came and the Death Eaters started shooting. They broke into the medicine store and took as much medicines as they wanted and also took away two ambulances. Some unlucky patients also met their death during the shootout," the source said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2013
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[Al Ahram] Egypt army said on Friday its forces were able to capture 36 "terrorists" in North Sinai, including leader of radical Islamist group Al-Takfir Wal Hijra and one of his associates.
Military front man Colonel Ahmed Ali said in a statement on his official Facebook page that the army captured Abd El-Fattah Salem in Al-Kharouba area describing him as "one of the most significant terrorist leaders currently wanted."
Al-Takfir Wal Hijra, "Excommunication and Exodus", is one of the initial myrmidon jihadist groups that emerged in Egypt in the 1960's founded by Shukri Mostafa.
Meanwhile, ...back at the wreckage, Captain Poindexter awoke groggily, his hand still stuck in the Ming vase... the army also said it incarcerated Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! 25 "extremists" accused of attacking army and police sites in the restive peninsula, in addition to eight people suspected of involvement in terrorism crimes.
Earlier on Friday, forces arrested one person and took possession of ammunition found with him.
Ali also said that the army destroyed three underground tunnels used for smuggling people and goods.
The army has recently destroyed tens of tunnels that connected Sinai to the Paleostinian Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,-ruled Gazoo Strip which has been under Israeli blockade since 2007.
In addition, Egyptian forces have been stricter on opening the Rafah border, Gazoo's only outdoor to the world since president Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... was ousted on 3 July.
Egypt has accused Hamas, an offshoot of the Moslem Brüderbund from which Morsi hails, of adding to the turmoil in Sinai. Hamas has denied these accusations.
Attacks on security sites have soared after the army deposed Morsi in July amid mass protests against him. Dozens of security forces were killed in such attacks. In response, the army launched an "anti-terrorism" operation in Sinai, killing dozens of faceless myrmidons and arresting hundreds.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2013
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[Bangla Daily Star] Activists of Islami Chhatra Shibir ... the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh... , student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... , vandalised some 10 vehicles on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway during a clash with police in Sitakunda upazila here yesterday.
They staged a demonstration against the arrest of their fellows, blocking the busy highway at Barabkunda around 10:00am, said Kamal Hossain, assistant sub-inspector of Sitakunda Police Station.
The clash erupted as police tried to disperse the agitating group to make way for hundreds of vehicles stranded on the highway following the blockade, said the police official.
Sources said police fired several rubber bullets and some tear gas shells to bring the situation under control, leaving 7-8 people injured. The injured were given first aid.
Vehicular movement resumed on the highway around 12:45pm, said SM Badiuzzaman, officer-in-charge of the cop shoppe.
Nobody was placed in durance vile Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! from the spot during the demonstration, he added.
Police in an overnight raid in Muradpur union arrested 19 Shibir men in connection with different cases filed with the cop shoppe for conducting subversive activities in the area, said Kamal.
Contacted, Mojahidul Islam, president of Sitakunda upazila unit Shibir, said the party activists did not barricade the highway.
Police arrested innocent people of the area and ransacked their houses during the raid, he alleged.
So, the locals came on the road and put up the blockade, Mojahidul added.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2013
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Good news coming out of everywhere except California. 99,999,999 firearms were not used in the shooting in Los Angeles. The shooter, who is now in police custody was identified as 23 year old Anthony Ciancia from New Jersey. Our glorious state run press can't seem to get a handle on why the shooting took place. Guess they haven't read down or checked the "F*cker was crazy" box, so far. Also maddeningly, we get no report of the type of weapon used by the crazy bastard. These things matter.
More good news for gun owners: If you are white, and have never uttered a racial epithet in your life, no matter where in the political spectrum you are, if you own a gun, you are a racist. Two psychologists from somewhere in the Commonwealth concluded that very salient "fact" this week. Amusingly, the authors concluded that because so many blacks were being shot, it must be whites doing the shooting, inasmuch as data shows blacks prefer shooting blacks by almost a 10 to 1 margin.
If you think I am pessimistic, I can only reply damn right. I wrote in 2003 that, ... When my children are my age, they will not be free in any recognizably traditional American meaning of the word. I'd tell them to emigrate, but there's nowhere left to go. I am left with nauseating near-conviction that I am a member of the last generation in the history of the world that is minimally truly free.
But even then I did not imagine that it would happen so fast. America: Fork. Stick. Done.
Our Lady told us at Fatima that this would happen. Even the Church has been co-opted into the Global Luciferian Revolution. Now Christ alone stands between us and oblivion.
That's enough for me.
My goal -- my one and only aim -- is to keep my family alive, together, and Catholic for another twenty years. My children will be grown and on their own by then -- and that's when the gloves come off. I will be 69 years old that year, and I will have nothing, nothing left to lose.
And, as Kris Kristofferson once told us, "freedom's just another word for 'nothing left to lose'." I will, at last, be free.
And, as RAH pointed out, you can't enslave a free man. You can only kill him.
I once had a very, very realistic dream, a dream, I took as an actual vision of the future. It was a vision of my death. I die alone, covered in blood, smiling, in a field of tall grass. It is bitterly cold, but I am happy, because I am dying in battle, after defeating the Forces of Evil in a one-on-one final fight to the death. I have killed my final enemy; now, I go Purgatory; thence to Valhalla, or whatever the Christian equivalent is.
I can't imagine a better way to go.
Take heart, folks. Even the USSR -- the greatest, most evil tyranny that ever existed -- only lasted 70 years. Neither Fidel, nor the Communo-capitalist regime in China, nor the Kim family enterprise in Korea, will beat that record by much.
And neither will we.
Sooner or later, the tumbril will call for me. I have no illusions about anonymity, and the stuff I post on the Internet, while completely legal, is just too disrespectful of Authoritah. Until then, however, I plan on giving the big fat East Dallas Flying Finger to every plan, scheme, institution, agency, actor, establishment, dogma, doctrine, axiom, sacred cow, and icon of the Global Revolutionary State.
I advise you all to do the same. Because if it's one thing these smug, sincere, self-worshiping little Stalins can't bear, it's having the Kulaks laughing at their mustaches. Go to the Gulag with a smirk on your face and YOU WIN.
And when the devil hath seen that they have set so little by him, after certain essays, made in such times as he thought most fitting, he hath given that temptation quite over. And this he doth not only because the proud spirit cannot endure to be mocked, but also lest, with much tempting the man to the sin to which he could not in conclusion bring him, he should much increase his merit. -- Saint Thomas More, Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation (1553),Book Two, Section XVI.
Until then, remember: all Winston Smith had to do in order to defeat Big Brother was scream MORE RATS.
Be seeing you
Rantburg's summary for arms and ammunition:
Rifle ammunition prices were steady or lower with .308 ammunition continuing to post a modest price increase, while pistol ammunition was unchanged to lower.
Prices for used weapons of all categories for private sale were mixed.
Pistol Ammo
.45 caliber, 230 grain, From Last Week: Unchanged
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Cheaper Than Dirt, Tulammo, .34 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: BluCore Shooting Center, P&G Performance, reloaded, .35 per round (+.01 each from last week)
.40 Caliber Smith & Wesson, 180 grain, From Last Week: Unchanged
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Selway Armory, Ultramax, reloaded, .28 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1000 rounds: LAX Ammunition, store brand, reloaded, .28 per round (-.04 each from last week)
9mm Parabellum, 115 grain, From Last Week: -.03 each
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Selway Armory, BVAC, Reloaded, .28 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Battle Bag Ammo, Reloaded, .24 per round (Unchanged)
.357 Magnum, 158 grain, From Last Week: -.02 Each ( +.12 each over previous four weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Goose Island Sales, Armscor, .42 per round
Cheapest Bulk: No Listing
Rifle Ammunition
.223 Caliber/5.56mm 55 grain, From Last Week: -.02 each
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Munire USA, Monarch, steel cased, .30 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Cheaper Than Dirt, Tulammo, steel cased, .23 per round (Last Week: -.09 each )
.308 NATO 145 grain, From Last Week: +.11 each (after -.21 over five weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Goose Island Sales, No Label, steel cased, .61 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1000 rounds: Ammo Supply Warehouse, Prvi Partizan, .60 per round (+.04 from Last Week)
7.62x39 AK 123 Grain, From Last Week: -.01 Each ( After unchanged previous Five Weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Ammo Supply Warehouse, Wolf Polyformance, steel core and case, .26 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1000 rounds: Ammo Supply Warehouse, Wolf Polyformance, steel core and case, .25 per round (Unchanged from Last Week)
.22 LR 40 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (Five Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Ammo Fast, Eley Target, .10 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Ammo Fast, Aguila, .12 per round (+.04 from last week after -.06 each over previous two weeks)
Guns for Private Sale
Rifles
.223/5.56mm (AR Pattern Semiautomatic) Average Price: $823 Last Week Avg: $670
California: American tactical Imports AR-15: $720
Texas: DPMS: $1,000
New York: CMMG M-4: $900
Virgina: Palmetto State Armory: $800
Florida: Stag Arms: $695
.308 NATO (AR-10 Pattern Semiautomatic) Average Price: $1,228 Last Week Avg: $1,264
California: Sig Sauer M716 Patrol: $1,240
Texas: Armalite AR-10 $1,100
New York: Sig Sauer M716 Patrol: $1,600
Virginia: Smith & Wesson MP-10: $1,500 (Prolly Same gun, lower price)
Florida: DPMS Sportical: $799
7.62x39mm (AK Pattern Semiautomatic) Average Price: $750 Last Week Avg: $665
California: Draco: $950
Texas: WASR: $750
New York: Saiga: $750 (Same Gun)
Virginia: Polish AKS: $650
Florida: WASR: $650
#1
Had some work done this week at the local gunsmith. He's now required (by the ATF), to keep a written log in an ATF folder, of all firearms coming into the shop for repair or servicing. Info such as dates, and type of firearm, SN, owner's name and phone number are required. When he asked the local femme-Nazi ATF agent why this was necessary she replied, "it is necessary in order to ensure the shop owner is able to return the correct firearm to the owner".
#4
Teapot Party logic..."The best way to protect us from gun violence is...MORE GUNS!!" Too bad guns aren't syphilis...
Actually, a gun owning citizenry is the last line of defense against tyrants and their friends, such as you, who want only to help tyrants succeed in the absence of armed citizens.
You liberals keep focusing on crime as a reason to take guns away from citizens using such words as "law abiding", as if obeying unjust laws was the highest thing a person could be.
But there is something higher and better than than that, something you can never be; a free man.
#3
The SEALS are already pissed off over what happened to Team 6 members post OBL mission.
Yes, things are happening fast, Obungles is running out of time, certain provocations haven't had the desired effect. He knows 2014 will be a blood bath for the Dims.
I'm praying they're as inept as usual, rush their agenda before all the pieces are in place and we gut them once and for all.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
11/02/2013 6:42
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#4
Yes Sam, my prayer as well. I continue to hope someone at Fox or in the MSM will do a story on the FLOTUS and ACA Web Site developer firm. Nothing yet. Some talking-head on Hannity alluded to it last night, but no one touched it.
#9
Oh really?? So what are you implying? A military coup?? Seriously, you teapot dipsh*ts should get a life...
If you force through your actions, your best, your razors to quit, the line becomes thinner as time goes on. That may be what Obama wants, but it is not good for the nation.
And be nice. I doubt 10 percent of those who comment here are influenced by or support the TEA Party.
#10
Yeah, see, I don't belong to the tea party. I belong to the Imperialistic Warmonger Party. When we conquer Canada, I'll put you down for a fate worse than death. You'll be a martyr to non humans everywhere.
#11
Navy SEALs ordered to removepurge 'don't tread on me' Navy Jack from uniforms. - corrected headline
Given the political orientation of the present administration, my guess is the "feelings" of the "authorities" when viewing the uniforms is an embarrassment to them as well as a reminder of our military's strength. Hence, the actions of the "guilty feeling administration" falls to the need to purge it from view, a small action, but significant when put into the context of this administration and its former appointees (czars).
PURGE verb (used with object)
1.to rid of whatever is impure or undesirable; cleanse; purify.
2.to rid, clear, or free (usually followed by of or from ): to purge a political party of disloyal members.
3.to clear of imputed guilt or ritual uncleanliness.
4.to clear away or wipe out legally (an offense, accusation, etc.) by atonement or other suitable action.
5.to remove by cleansing or purifying (often followed by away, off, or out ).
We have seen such "purge" actions before in several former free states in South and Central America, Caribbean, Russia, and Asia.
Hence the picture below:
Posted by: Au Auric ||
11/02/2013 11:14
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#12
Last coup in a major westernized nation nation happened in Moscow when the frothing at the mouth ideological socialists ousted a more pragmatic Gorbachev. When they ordered their political generals to send the troops into the streets, it appears the rank and file weren't with the party program. As they say - the rest is history.
#13
It's actually known as the Gasden flag. After 9/11, the Secretary of the Navy authorized its use by USN ships in place of the "jack", the small flag displayed at the bow while the vessel is in port.
There's also the first Naval Ensign, which has elements of the Gasden flag combined with the red and white stripes of the national flag.
#17
Yes Sam, my prayer as well. I continue to hope someone at Fox or in the MSM will do a story on the FLOTUS and ACA Web Site developer firm. Nothing yet. Some talking-head on Hannity alluded to it last night, but no one touched it.
B'Man, I'll get this in quick. Every night I go to sleep I play the Gary Owen. It's the 7th Cavalry regimental march.
I pray to God to give me the strength and show me the time to commence butchering my enemies.
Just using the term butchering is abound to attract the attention of the overseers, good.
To them I say, come, I've prepared for you.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
11/02/2013 21:03
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[Bangla Daily Star] Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums.. yesterday reiterated that the next general election will be held as per constitutional provisions and power will be handed over to the next elected government.
She was speaking at a views-exchange meeting with the leaders of Jatiya Party ...aka Jatiya Front; a political party established by Bangladictator Lieutenant General Hussain Muhammad Ershad in 1986 to lend a veneer of respectability to his rule. Since nobody was amused he was forced to resign by popular demand in 1990. The party remains in existence with about a dozen seats in Bangla's parliament... (Manju) at Gono Bhaban.
JP-Manju Chairman Anwar Hossain Manju said his party will take part in the next polls if it is held as per constitutional provisions.
"He [Manju] has assured us of joining the polls," AL Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif told The Daily Star after the meeting.
The prime minister said, "We want to ensure political stability in the country permanently. For that, we want to hold the next election in a free, fair and credible manner under an all-party polls-time government comprised of elected representatives from different political parties."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2013
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Russian officials say they have identified two suspects behind a bombing in the capital of the Russian republic of Dagestan.
A spokesman from the investigative committee said on October 31 that two Makhachkala residents -- Magomedrasul Shakhbanov and Makhmud Aliyev -- are suspected of being behind the two explosions, which occurred the previous day. Two people were killed and 15 were wounded in the attack, which apparently targeted a liquor store.
Islamic insurgents in Dagestan areas in the northern Caucasus region frequently attack liquor stores and other public places selling alcoholic beverages.
[An Nahar] A young Moroccan tore down the Algerian flag from the roof of that country's consulate in Casablanca during a protest Friday over Western Sahara, sparking an angry protest from Algiers.
A video widely circulated on Internet sites in Morocco shows the man climbing the walls of the building to reach the flag.
A police official told Agence La Belle France Presse the man, a member of a group called "Royalist Youth", was tossed in the calaboose You have the right to remain silent... and would appear before a judge.
Dozens of people had gathered outside the consulate in Morocco's economic capital to protest over comments by Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika ... 10th president of Algeria. He was elected in 1999 and is currently on his third or fourth term, who will probably die in office of old age... on disputed Western Sahara.
In a speech read out in Bouteflika's name at a meeting in Abuja, he said an international mechanism to monitor human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... in Western Sahara was needed "more than ever."
Bouteflika referred to "massive and systematic human rights violations that take place inside the occupied territories to suppress the peaceful struggle" of the Sahrawi people.
Rabat in protest recalled its ambassador to Algiers.
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Sri Lankan authorities on Friday wiped all the data from the computer of an Australian media rights activist as she and a colleague were kicked out of the country, a local rights group said.
Jacqui Park and fellow Australian Jean Worthington were packed onto a plane that flew out of Colombo airport a day after authorities ordered their expulsion for anti-government activities. But, according to members of the local Free Media Movement (FMM), Park was only allowed to board after plane-clothes investigators removed all data from her personal laptop at the end of two days of questioning.
They were told by the immigration officials today that it was all a big misunderstanding, FMM spokesman Sunil Jayasekera told AFP.
They went through everything in the computer. When they gave it back to her, everything had been erased, Jayasekera added.
What was the part that was misunderstood?
There was no immediate comment from immigration authorities who detained the pair both members of the International Federation of Journalists during a meeting with FMM colleagues at a hotel in Colombo on Wednesday.
FMM spokesman Sunil Jayasekera said Park was on holiday and was simply meeting with her local colleagues and not breaking any visa conditions.
Local colleagues. Local colleagues with information and contacts, and a story to peddle...
Sri Lanka has blacklisted many foreign journalists over their reports on the countrys human rights record and alleged war crimes in the final stages of the Tamil ethnic war in 2009. Local journalists have also been the victims of crimes and many say they practise self-censorship.
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GAROWE, Somalia -- At least six persons were killed Friday in a village in Puntland State in northern Somalia as fighting erupted between Puntland government forces and a militia from neighboring Galmudug area, with Puntland officials accusing Somali Federal Government of arming the militia to destabilize Puntland, Garowe Online reports.
The Punties are all worked up about this. Apparently Galkayo is the key to the southern approach to Puntland.
Puntland Deputy Security Minister Abdiaziz Said (Badugaye) told a press conference in the capital Garowe that the fighting erupted at 12:00pm and continued for one hour.
In a written statement, Puntlands government condemned the planned and coordinated attack of aggression on Puntland defense line in Mudug Administrative Region where Puntland administers three districts in north Mudug (Galkayo, Galdogob and Jariban). Rival groups control the other two districts in south Mudug (Hobyo and Harardhere), including Galmudug militia, Al Shabaab militants and piracy gangs.
According to Puntland officials, militiamen in over 20 vehicles carried out a coordinated attack on Godod village, 30km east of Galkayo on the road to Jariban town inside Puntland jurisdiction. Minister Badugaye told reporters that Puntland forces repelled the attackers, inflicted casualties and seize one armed-truck from the fleeing militia.
He said that one Puntland soldier suffered light wounds during the one-hour battle and could not confirm casualties on the other side, saying only there were deaths and injuries, and warning that renewed fighting might erupt in that area.
Local sources reported to Garowe Online news agency that six fighters were killed during the battle and dozens wounded.
Minister Badugaye noted that Puntland government forces are based near Godod village and responded quickly to the attack, vowing that Puntland government would defend the peace, security, stability and progress of the people and State of Puntland from all enemies, domestic or external.
The Puntland statement strongly condemned the role of Somali Federal Government in allegedly arming the Galmudug militia.
In recent days, Puntland intelligence has been monitoring the arrival of arms shipment at Galmudug-controlled Bandiiraley airstrip, 60km south of Galkayo. Intelligence information confirms that Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) officials, including Mr. Abdikarim Hussein Guled, FGS Minister of Interior who hails from Galmudug neighborhood, sent the arms shipment to Bandiiradley, the statement read.
The statement continued, saying that Puntland suspended all relations with Federal Government in August and accusing Federal Government of involvement in efforts to destabilize Puntland during the ongoing election process and aim to re-ignite clan wars of the 1990s.
At the press conference, Minister Badugaye said: The Federal Government supports trained and equipped militia with bases at locations at Wargalo 60km from Galkayo and Golol 160km from Galkayo aiming to foment instability in Puntland, but this will not work as Puntland will defend itself. However, we always advise for Somali communities to co-exist in peace and good neighborly relations.
Puntlands statement condemned the Federal Governments destructive role in Somalia and warned against the catastrophic impact of Federal Governments policies and conduct.
Puntland government commended the courageous role of Puntland government forces in securing the States future, saying: The aspiration of Puntland and the Somali people is to overcome security challenges and to achieve lasting peace, justice and progress in Somalia.
Federal Government officials have not responded to Puntlands public allegations. Independent sources in Galkayo confirm to Garowe Online news agency that military tensions are high around the area where Fridays battle occurred.
Galkayo was a major flashpoint of the Somali civil war in the 1990s, when Mogadishu-based clan militia rampaged Galkayo and killed hundreds of Puntland civilians, and Puntland fighters expelled the militia in a military campaign. A peace pact was signed in 1993, but that pact has been on shaky ground as many attacks on Puntland originate from Galmudug area of Galkayo.
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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.
[BBC.CO.UK] Pakistan's interior minister has said the death of Pakistani Taliban leader 
Mehsud was killed along with four other people - including two of his bodyguards - when four missiles struck their vehicle in the north-western region of North Waziristan, a senior Taliban official told the BBC.
The Pakistan government has strongly condemned the drone attack as a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty.
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
International Criminal Court
Najib Miqati
Nouri al-Maliki
...Smallest of the agencies in FATA. The Agency administration is located in Khar. Bajaur is inhabited almost exclusively by Tarkani Pashtuns, which are divided into multiple bickering subtribes. Its 52 km border border with Afghanistan's Kunar Province makes it of strategic importance to Pakistain's strategic depth...
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Wazoo
UN-Arab League envoy to Syria is winding up a days-long visit to Damascus with a call to both the Syrian government and the opposition to attend a planned peace conference in Geneva.
...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as 
[REUTERS] Two members of Greece's far-right Golden Dawn party were killed in a drive-by shooting outside the movement's offices in Athens on Friday, raising fears of an escalation of political violence in the crisis-wracked country.
Nawaz Sharif
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Dawn] Hakimullah Mehsud, the chief of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP), was killed in a US drone strike in North 
[Dawn] Six people of the Shia Hazara community were killed and one injured when 
Zawahiri
Corruption is rife in the North Korean army as sanctions eat into official perks for soldiers, a think tank report claims. North Korean officers have smuggled out sensitive files for money and border guards can be bribed to carry would-be defectors on their back, it says.
[CHRON] A lawyer for Toronto's embattled mayor accused the city's top cop of acting as "judge, jury and executioner" Friday, a day after police said they had obtained a copy of a long-rumored video that appears to show Rob Ford puffing on a crack pipe.
[SACRAMENTO.CBSLOCAL] An Auburn man brought a chain saw to a bar fight after an argument over inappropriately touching another man's chest, Nevada County Sheriff's Deputies said.
...Second and fourth President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
[NY Times] Edward J. Snowden, the fugitive American security contractor granted asylum by Russia, has appealed to Washington to stop treating him like a traitor for revealing that the United States has been eavesdropping on its allies, a German politician who met with Mr. Snowden said on Friday.
[Al Ahram] Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef's show "El-Bernameg" was suspended by host channel CBC minutes before it was due to screen on Friday.
Those weary of the Egyptian media's unabashed adoration of El-Sisi in the wake of Morsi's ouster were not disappointed.
Egypt is bracing for deposed president Mohammed Mursi to go on trial on Monday, when he is expected to make his first public appearance since the military ousted him in July.
[Bangla Daily Star] Activists of 
Bouteflika
GAROWE, Somalia -- At least six persons were killed Friday in a village in Puntland State in northern Somalia as fighting erupted between Puntland government forces and a militia from neighboring Galmudug area, with Puntland officials accusing Somali Federal Government of arming the militia to destabilize Puntland, Garowe Online reports.
