Hi there, !
Today Tue 11/27/2012 Mon 11/26/2012 Sun 11/25/2012 Sat 11/24/2012 Fri 11/23/2012 Thu 11/22/2012 Wed 11/21/2012 Archives
Rantburg
531183 articles and 1854386 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 59 articles and 158 comments as of 23:00.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix    Main Page
7 People Killed in Pakistan Shiite Procession
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
19:33 0 [336064]
17:42 1 19:33 Frank G [336073]
16:37 1 16:54 Frank G [336067]
12:42 10 21:15 Kevin dubai11 [336077] 
12:42 4 22:38 JosephMendiola [336083]
10:57 0 [336066]
10:14 1 19:21 dubai11 daniel schnur [336105] 
08:34 5 19:31 KBK [336079]
08:09 9 22:02 JosephMendiola [336072]
08:02 5 21:24 JosephMendiola [336081]
07:57 2 17:26 SteveS [336063]
05:38 18 16:10 Frank G [336066]
04:40 0 [336068]
02:47 3 15:43 Shipman [336069]
00:58 3 09:14 Bright Pebbles [336068]
00:56 16 22:07 European Conservatives [336075]
00:53 2 11:14 swksvolFF [336069]
00:00 4 09:51 Thing From Snowy Mountain [336072]
00:00 2 16:05 Abu Uluque [336070]
00:00 0 [336066]
00:00 10 21:46 JosephMendiola [336078]
00:00 3 22:17 rjschwarz [336076]
00:00 4 11:36 Shipman [336069]
00:00 4 17:19 SteveS [336065]
00:00 1 10:11 Raider [336063]
00:00 1 10:31 AlanC [336066]
00:00 2 14:13 Pappy [336065]
00:00 16 22:44 Anguper Hupomosing9418 [336078]
00:00 2 12:00 Matt [336066]
00:00 1 07:25 Besoeker [336067]
00:00 6 16:05 Charles [336067]
00:00 2 15:25 DarthVader [336069]
00:00 0 [336067] 
00:00 0 [336067]
00:00 2 07:33 Besoeker [336070]
00:00 4 19:05 Frank G [336068]
00:00 0 [336063] 
00:00 2 12:52 Pappy [336066] 
00:00 2 09:56 Large Darling of the Antelope3345 [336065]
00:00 0 [336064] 
00:00 0 [336069]
00:00 0 [336065] 
00:00 0 [336067] 
00:00 0 [336067] 
00:00 0 [336065]
00:00 1 07:29 Besoeker [336072]
00:00 0 [336074]
00:00 2 11:12 Abu Uluque [336067] 
00:00 2 22:46 MIkey Hunt [336076]
00:00 0 [336067] 
00:00 1 12:35 Bill Clinton [336068] 
00:00 0 [336067] 
00:00 0 [336069]
00:00 0 [336066] 
00:00 0 [336066] 
00:00 0 [336087] 
00:00 1 12:23 GolfBravoUSMC [336074] 
00:00 0 [336068]
00:00 3 18:43 lord garth [336069]
Home Front: Politix
From Healthcare to Holocaust
Posted by: tipper || 11/24/2012 19:33 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336064 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
N. Korea preparing for missile launch
Posted by: Water Modem || 11/24/2012 17:42 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336073 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "pay attention to meeeeeee!"
Posted by: Frank G || 11/24/2012 19:33 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Muslim Brotherhood call for million man march
The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) are calling for two protests this week in support of decisions President Mohamed Morsy made on Thursday.

In a statement released on Saturday, the Muslim Brotherhood called for protests in all governorates on Sunday, as well as a million man march on Tuesday in Abdeen Square. The Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood said that they will not be participating in the million man march, according to FJP spokesperson, Walid Haddad.

The MB calls for protests come after anti-Morsy demonstrators made calls for protests on Tuesday. Several tents are already up in Tahrir Square and 14 political groups have so far announced that they will take part in Tuesday protests. The protesters are demanding the reversal of the constitutional declaration, which Morsy announced on Thursday.

Abdeen Square is only a few kilometres from Tahrir Square, sparking fears that clashes may erupt between the two groups.
Posted by: tipper || 11/24/2012 16:37 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Calypso Louie Farrakhan and Jesse Jackson Sr. can lead them
Posted by: Frank G || 11/24/2012 16:54 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hamas No. 2 Rejects Gaza Arms Halt
[Ynet] The No. 2 in Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, has told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that the Islamic bad turban group won't stop making weapons in Gazoo or smuggling them to the territory.

Moussa Abu Marzouk's comments Saturday pointed to the major obstacles facing Egyptian-mediated talks between Israel and the Islamists on a new border deal for Hamas-ruled Gazoo.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/24/2012 12:42 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336083 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Sounds like it's time to resume the airstrikes.
Posted by: gorb || 11/24/2012 13:41 Comments || Top||

#2  start with #2's home and current whereabouts
Posted by: Frank G || 11/24/2012 16:45 Comments || Top||

#3  See also CHINESE MILITAY FORUM > IRAN: WE'RE TAKING OUT ISRAEL'S WARPLANES, IT SOUNDS LIKE ISRAEL WILL BE DOOMED | [Reza Khalili] ... ... SAYS ITS MISSLES ["Misagh" MANPADS] IN HAMAS' HANDS DAMAGE THE JEWISH NATION'S F-16'S.

ARTIC > IRAN = ISRAEL fails to understand the depth of the armaments in the hands of the resistance fighters.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 11/24/2012 22:15 Comments || Top||

#4  DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > EVEN WITH ROCKET-BUSTING "IRON DOME" FOR PROTECTION, FEAR HITS HOME IN ISRAEL.

The stress + tensions are likely going to become worse in the LR as various newly Islamist "post-Spring" Govts-States steadily militarize and acquire or develop LR Nukes? + advanced MilTechs.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 11/24/2012 22:38 Comments || Top||


300 Gazans Riot At Border Fence, Try To Break Through Into Israel
Man rubbed out, 19 maimed by Israeli gunfire near Gazoo border, Ma'an news agency reports; army says troops fired towards legs of rioters attempting to cross into Israel

A Paleostinian man was rubbed out and 19 were maimed by IDF gunfire in Khan Younis on Friday, the Paleostinian Ma'an News Agency reported, citing medical officials in Gazoo.

Witnesses told Ma'an the incident occurred along Gazoo's border fence with Israel shortly before Friday prayers.

The IDF Spokesperson's Unit said that some 300 Paleostinians approached the border fence in the south of the Strip on Friday morning and began rioting.

"IDF forces made efforts to disperse the rioters, and when they refused to leave warning shots were fired," the army said. "Several rioters damaged the fence and attempted to cross into Israel's territory."

According to the statement, troops fired towards the legs of the rioters who attempted to cross the border. One man who managed to enter Israel was incarcerated
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
ad was later returned to Gazoo.

According to Ma'an, Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, front man Sami Abu Zuhri
...a senior front man for Hamas. Zuhri gained notoriety in 2006 when he dropped his money belt containing somewhere between 640,000 and 900,000 euros, which was confiscated by Paleostinian security and customs officials at a routine border crossing from Egypt to Gazoo. The news brought competing Hamas and Fatah forces to the crossing checkpoint for an epic face-making and hollering contest...
accused Israel of violating the Egypt-mediated truce and said the group would complain to Cairo. "We will contact the Egyptian mediator to discuss the incident," he was quoted as saying.

Paleostinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki denounced the reported killing later Friday as well. Speaking at a meeting with Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi, he called the incident "a clear violation of the agreement and should not be repeated."

Four Paleostinians were reportedly injured by IDF fire on Thurday.

The ceasefire between Israel and Gazoo groups took hold on Wednesday evening after eight days of cross-border fighting.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/24/2012 12:42 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336077 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Mutual of Gaza has a major deductible for injuries to legs and feets, little wonder the juices aim'ed at them.
Posted by: Shipman || 11/24/2012 15:41 Comments || Top||

#2  The Gazooks are gonna tell their big brother Morsi.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 11/24/2012 15:51 Comments || Top||

#3  Prolly all watched a YouTube video and were whipped into an uncontrollable Islamo-frenzy.

So what's the over/under on when the first cease-fire rocket flies? I can't see 'em making it to a week.
Posted by: SteveS || 11/24/2012 16:35 Comments || Top||

#4  300 Gazans should not be allowed near the fence. ROE should start at the feets and extend neckward
Posted by: Frank G || 11/24/2012 17:38 Comments || Top||

#5  our usual idiot troll leaving droppings
Posted by: Frank G || 11/24/2012 18:35 Comments || Top||

#6  Cleaned up.
Posted by: lotp || 11/24/2012 19:06 Comments || Top||

#7 
Posted by: dubai11 || 11/24/2012 19:14 Comments || Top||

#8  "So what's the over/under on when the first cease-fire rocket flies?"

I believe that's already occurred, Steve. :-(
Posted by: Barbara || 11/24/2012 19:15 Comments || Top||

#9 
Posted by: Gail Follard dubai11 || 11/24/2012 20:10 Comments || Top||

#10 
Posted by: Kevin dubai11 || 11/24/2012 21:15 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Morsi Divides Egypt
A stark new divide appeared to be emerging in America Egypt on Friday after the nation's first democratically elected president asserted nearly unlimited powers, as rival crowds of demonstrators poured into the streets of the capital to express disgust and admiration for the move.

In a thunderous speech in front of a presidential palace in Cairo, Morsi told thousands of cheering supporters that the sweeping decrees he issued Thursday were intended to defend the revolution that led to Morsi's election this June.

But just a few miles away in Tahrir Square, thousands more people, most of them well-educated and secular, said that they were resolved to press for another revolution, this time against the Islamist leader who won 52 percent of the presidential vote. Many people said Morsi's actions were verging on dictatorship.
But the "Prez" speaks for the "People". He has a "Mandate".
The Obama administration expressed dismay over Morsi's action. Victoria Nuland, the State Department spokeswoman, noted that a core aim of the upheaval that toppled Mubarak had been to "ensure that power would not be overly concentrated in the hands of any one person or institution."
We didn't expect them to copy The One so quickly!
In his speech, Morsi used harsh language in denouncing judges and prosecutors for doing too little to address the corruption and abuses of the Mubarak years. "There are weevils eating away at Egypt's nation," Morsi said.
No wonder the Obamanauts are worried!
"We have been living in a dictatorship for a very long time, but not like this," said Yehia el-Gamal, a constitutional law expert who served as a deputy prime minister early in the post-Mubarak era. He said the move went well beyond anything that Mubarak or his predecessors Anwar Sadat and Gamal Abdel Nasser had attempted in the years since 1956 when the monarchy was toppled.
Similar to the toppling of the Bush dynasty.
Morsi and his supporters, who include the ultraconservative Nour Party and other groups of political Islamists, have said that the moves were necessary at a time when obstacles erected by judges and prosecutors installed under Mubarak have blocked the new president's agenda.
Can't get in the way of the President's agenda, can we.
His supporters say the action was intended in large part to protect the work of a committee appointed to write a new constitution at a time when Egypt's highest court had signaled that it might disband that squabbling body. Morsi has said he will relinquish his extraordinary powers after the constitution is written and a new legislature elected.
Perhaps Morsi thinks he is the first person to utter those words.
Posted by: Bobby || 11/24/2012 10:57 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
7 People Killed in Pakistan Shiite Procession
[VOA News] Pak officials say a kaboom near a minority Shi'ite religious procession has killed seven people, including at least three children, and maimed more than a dozen other people.

Authorities say the attack happened Saturday in the city of Dera Ismail Khan
... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ...
, located near the South Wazoo tribal region.

Authorities have tightened security across the country amid intelligence reports of possible attacks on Shi'ite gatherings during the holy month of Muharram.

Sunni beturbanned goons have targeted Shi'ites in the past during Muharram, especially Ashoura, when Shi'ites commemorate the seventh century death of Iman Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad's grandson. Ashoura falls on Saturday this year.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 10:14 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336105 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: dubai11 daniel schnur || 11/24/2012 19:21 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Sap sent to slammer for slapping spouse with schwanz
ROCKLAND, Maine — Fred E. Thomas pleaded guilty to 180 days in jail with all but five days suspended and was placed on probation for a year for domestic violence assault and indecent conduct. A third charge of unlawful sexual contact was dismissed.

The incident occurred in July in Warren when his wife of 39 years, who was estranged from him, stayed at his place. He offered her $20 for sex, and when she refused he took out his penis and struck her with it, according to the prosecutionÂ’s version of events to which he pleaded guilty.

Defense Attorney Justin Andrus said Thomas was tremendously upset that his marriage of 39 years was ending. He said his estranged wife was planning to go to Pakistan to meet a man she met online.

The wife did not seek jail time for Thomas but did ask that he undergo counseling for anger management, which was ordered.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 11/24/2012 08:34 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336079 views] Top|| File under:

#1  planning to go to Pakistan to meet a man

Oh THAT'S gonna be a biigg improvement.

JCMTSU
Posted by: AlanC || 11/24/2012 10:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Why is she going to Pakistan.

I mean, if his manhood is long enough to SLAP her, then he's got MORE than enough manhood.

I tried it last night and the Missus says I should just give up on the penis slap and just make love to her.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 11/24/2012 11:15 Comments || Top||

#3  Even if things don't work out, they'll always have Rockland.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 11/24/2012 16:18 Comments || Top||

#4  TMI, Bill Clinton.
Posted by: lotp || 11/24/2012 16:20 Comments || Top||

#5  This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you
Posted by: KBK || 11/24/2012 19:31 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
If the Champ is impeached over Benghazi scandal
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/24/2012 08:09 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336072 views] Top|| File under:

#1  To tell you the truth, I like my odds better at Biden accidentally getting something right.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/24/2012 10:11 Comments || Top||

#2  ...Sadly, not happenin' unless the Pubs take the Senate by an overwhelming margin in '14 and keep the House by the same margin they do now. And even then, the MSM will go nuclear on the GOP - if any of them have even so much as jaywalked once, we're going to hear about it and be asked, "Is THIS the kind of man/woman/manbearpig that should be allowed to sit in judgement of The One?"

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 11/24/2012 10:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Or some Dem Senators suddenly growing a conscience.

I would say there is a higher chance of a military coup ... which may be one reason Zero seems set on humiliating Petraeus.

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al || 11/24/2012 11:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Oh, the Dems will do the same thing they do to any Democrat that gets in the way/disgraces the "new world order," they will find a way to get him out of the way.

The Dems will get rid of him, if his current trajectory continues, the Pubs won't have to do a thing.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 11/24/2012 12:39 Comments || Top||

#5  Impeachment will never occur as long as the mainstream media remains in the bag for leftist liberal socialist Marxist politicians.
Posted by: Airandee || 11/24/2012 16:16 Comments || Top||

#6  Impeachment leads to claiming to be persecuted and will only lead to increased popularity. Its a fools move. He doesn't even need the sex angle the way Clinton did because Obama will just say he was president while black and thus they have hounded him and enough folks will believe it (because most don't even really know about Benghazi yet).

You can't pin it on Rice because she's just an errand girl. So basically the best that can be hoped is that we find out exactly what happened at some point and move on.

Unless the Republicans can get a Democrat to lead the charge, but what are the odds of that, a Democrat willing to go against Obama prior to the 2016 elections?
Posted by: rjschwarz || 11/24/2012 16:30 Comments || Top||

#7  O will have to be isolated by showing associations between him and outer circles, and gradually isolating him as showing that he is toxic. This is how they gradually isolated Pablo Escobar from his cads.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 11/24/2012 16:44 Comments || Top||

#8  What about impeaching Rice first?
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 11/24/2012 17:58 Comments || Top||

#9  Thus far, BENGHAZI-GATE seems more to be an exercise in why America must become Amerikka, + why US Gubmint-Society need Commie-style Super-regulation, Secular Totalitarianism, Scientifism, Political Kommissars, + Politburos.

D *** NG IT, ITS THE "WILL OF THE PEOPLE" - YOU NOW, THE SMALL NUMBER OF POLITICOS + INTELLECTUAL ELITES, ETAL. WHOM DON'T WANT TO PUT ANYTHING UP TO A VOTE.

YOU KNOW - "REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY", I.E. ELECTING A POLITICIAN TO HIDE THINGS FROM YOU, NOT TO TELL YOU WHAT IS GOING ON.

The Govt. knows better + is better than youse, thus of course probs never ever get solved.

And once again, Virginia, we learn why Strongmen will always be around, + why Stalin + Mao had intellectuals gulagged, exiled, or shot.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 11/24/2012 22:02 Comments || Top||


-Obits-
Major Tony Nelson Dies
One of the true 'characters' of Hollywood has died, along with some other guy's liver.
Hagman, who became a television star in the 1960s starring in the sitcom "I Dream of Jeannie," died Friday at a Dallas hospital, said a spokesman for actress Linda Gray, his longtime co-star on "Dallas." He was 81.

A year ago, Hagman announced his second bout with cancer. He had spoken candidly about decades of drinking that led to cirrhosis of the liver and, in 1995, a life-saving liver transplant.

For years, he was considered the unofficial mayor of Malibu, where he lived for decades in an oceanfront home. He often led impromptu ragtag parades on the sand while wearing outlandish costumes and flew a flag from his deck that declared "Vita Celebratio Est" -- "Life is a celebration."

As an actor, Hagman came with a serious pedigree. He was the son of Mary Martin, a legendary star of Broadway musicals best known for originating the role of Peter Pan in the 1950s.

When many television shows were switching to a color format, "Jeannie" debuted in fall 1965 in less expensive black and white because it wasn't expected to succeed. When it became a hit on NBC, the next four seasons were shot in color.

The network "finally woke up and realized what they had bought," Sheldon later recalled, "a show about a beautiful, half-naked girl, living [unmarried] with a man, saying, 'What can I do for you, Master?' "
Posted by: Glenmore || 11/24/2012 08:02 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336081 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Opps - supposed to be Non-WoT; sorry.
Posted by: Glenmore || 11/24/2012 8:11 Comments || Top||

#2  With Sue Ellen at the end.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 11/24/2012 8:15 Comments || Top||

#3  I never knew the guy was Mary Martin's son. Now that's pedigree.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 11/24/2012 8:37 Comments || Top||

#4  Aw, hell, Bobby!
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 11/24/2012 11:20 Comments || Top||

#5  Awwwww - RIP, JR.

IIRC Hagman was also in the Sci-Fi classic "THE CLAW", + played a wounded US Navy Sailor in the final scenes of "IN HARM'S WAY", where John Wayne's small USN fleet took on the IJN Yamato + escorts.

Mr. Hagman was supposed to have a recurring role on the new "DALLAS" remake - AFAIK the series' focii is on the younger generation of Ewings???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 11/24/2012 21:24 Comments || Top||


Europe
SAS transfers planes to Norway
Posted by: Dale || 11/24/2012 07:57 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336063 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Interesting maneuver. Big guys in action. I thought the wealthy can't do that. Here union sick union, grrrrr...
Posted by: Dale || 11/24/2012 8:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Man, if Special Air Services is worried about their planes getting repo'ed, then Britain is further gone than we thought.
Posted by: SteveS || 11/24/2012 17:26 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Arafat exhumation scheduled on Tuesday
Palestinian officials said the body of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is to be exhumed on Tuesday. The body is to undergo tests to find out whether his death resulted from poisoning.

According to Arafat's medical records, he had a stroke resulting from a blood disorder. But France started a murder inquiry in August after Swiss experts working with a documentary crew found radioactive polonium-210 on Arafat's personal effects.

The chief investigator Taufik al Tirawi said they had recently asked the Russians to join in the investigation because of their "historical relationship" with Moscow. It appears the Palestinians do not fully trust France and Switzerland when it comes to determining whether their former leader was murdered.

While most Palestinians are sure Arafat was murdered, there are serious questions about the validity of testing for polonium poisoning eight years after his death. The half-life of polonium is less than five months.

Once the body is taken from the tomb inside the stone-clad mausoleum, scientists from France, Switzerland and Russia will each take samples. The experts will then take these samples to their respective countries to be tested for Polonium 210 and possibly other lethal substances. Arafat's body will be reburied the same day with military honors.
Posted by: ryuge || 11/24/2012 05:38 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And after that they'll re-bury him at a crossroads, with a stake in his heart, face-down.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 11/24/2012 7:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Wonder how he liked his 72 raisins.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 11/24/2012 7:13 Comments || Top||

#3  To be named 'Yassir Arafat Circle' or roundabout.
Posted by: Au Auric || 11/24/2012 7:15 Comments || Top||

#4  Not to sound....racist or Islamo-mortophobic, but I certainly hope the exhumation party and observers are properly masked up.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/24/2012 7:22 Comments || Top||

#5  I'll be glued to the live coverage.
Posted by: Grunter || 11/24/2012 8:18 Comments || Top||

#6  Will he finally get the car grave swarm he always wanted?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 11/24/2012 9:14 Comments || Top||

#7  do it with a JDAM
Posted by: Frank G || 11/24/2012 9:40 Comments || Top||

#8  Lock your doors, hide the boys.

Is geraldo hosting the show?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/24/2012 11:03 Comments || Top||

#9  And if they find Polonium in his system, who on earth did it?

Geez, that's a KGB signature, or someone trying to make it look like a KGB hit, my head spins with the possibilities.

Of course, the key question is who could get that close to him.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 11/24/2012 11:17 Comments || Top||

#10  His wife killed him. It's usually the case in poisonings like this.
Posted by: Penguin || 11/24/2012 12:17 Comments || Top||

#11  And his wife killed him for his "fascination" for pretty little boys and young men?
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 11/24/2012 12:36 Comments || Top||

#12  I wonder if this means they found the phylactery.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 11/24/2012 13:21 Comments || Top||

#13  I imagine they've got a conspiracy theory already assembled that basically means "If Polonium, then The Joos Did It."

And a sample of Polonium from the xKGB.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 11/24/2012 13:22 Comments || Top||

#14  I have seen bodies exhumed, but I would NOT like to see the remains of the Arafish. Excuse me now while I finish some Thanksgiving left overs.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 11/24/2012 14:07 Comments || Top||

#15  With Suha as his wife, he probably poisoned himself.
Posted by: gorb || 11/24/2012 14:55 Comments || Top||

#16  Got 10 down on a flyer Gangrene of the Esophagus.
Posted by: Shipman || 11/24/2012 15:46 Comments || Top||

#17  How do we know Arafat is buried in his tomb? For all we know it's just a bunch of concrete and they threw his corpse out the back hole-in-the-wall.
Posted by: Charles || 11/24/2012 15:57 Comments || Top||

#18  let's see if they buried the Dread Red Binder™ with him
Posted by: Frank G || 11/24/2012 16:10 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Thai police fire tear gas at Bangkok anti-government rally
The Obama effect strikes again.
Police have used tear gas against thousands of protesters calling for the overthrow of the prime minister in the Thai capital, Bangkok.

At least 10,000 protesters gathered, demonstrating against the government of Yingluck Shinawatra, the sister of the deposed former prime minister.

The rally was organised by a group who accuse Ms Yingluck of being a puppet of her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra.

At least seven police officers were reported wounded in clashes.

Anti-riot police carrying plastic shields fired tear gas at protesters who tried to climb over concrete and barbed wire barriers blocking entry to the rally site, Bangkok's Royal Plaza, near the parliament.
Posted by: tipper || 11/24/2012 04:40 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under:


The Grand Turk
Turkey Swaps Gold for Iranian Gas
ISTANBUL—Turkey on Friday acknowledged that a surge in its gold exports this year is related to payments for imports of Iranian natural gas, shedding light on Ankara's role in breaching U.S.-led sanctions against Tehran.

The continuing trade deal offers the most striking example of how Iran is using creative ways to sidestep Western sanctions over its disputed nuclear program, which have largely frozen it out of the global banking system.

Tehran has sought alternative means of payment for energy exports—its main foreign currency earner and economic lifeblood—including renminbi and rupees, as well as gold, in an attempt to skirt international sanctions and pay for its soaring food costs.

Analysts cautioned that although the trade with Iran wasn't illegal, Ankara wanted to keep details out of the public eye for fear of raising the ire of Washington, which is leading the international push against Tehran for its alleged push to develop nuclear weapons.

Turkey sold $6.4 billion of gold to Iran in the first nine months of this year, up from just $54 million in 2011, according to official data, tripling Ankara's exports to its eastern neighbor.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 11/24/2012 02:47 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under:

#1  more hard currency flowing into the nuke program.
Posted by: Raider || 11/24/2012 10:06 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm sure obooble believes he'll be able to confiscate their gold too...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 11/24/2012 10:39 Comments || Top||

#3  Hell we got the Germans, why not the Persians?
Posted by: Shipman || 11/24/2012 15:43 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Anonymous hacker behind Stratfor attack faces life in prison
Won't actually happen of course, but at least I can go to bed and dream about it.
A pretrial hearing in the case against accused LulzSec hacker Jeremy Hammond this week ended with the 27-year-old Chicago man being told he could be sentenced to life in prison for compromising the computers of Stratfor.

Judge Loretta Preska told Hammond in a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday that he could be sentenced to serve anywhere from 360 months-to-life if convicted on all charges relating to last year's hack of Strategic Forecasting, or Stratfor, a global intelligence company whose servers were infiltrated by an offshoot of the hacktivist collective Anonymous.
Posted by: Glenmore || 11/24/2012 00:58 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Got sold down the river by a LulzSec hero who, yep, lived in his mom's basement.

FBI is putting the screws to this nice grouping.
Posted by: Shipman || 11/24/2012 4:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Jeremy Hammond, Off he goes to meet his cousin Reggie Hammond and Det Sgt. Jack Cates in 48 Hours. Interesting how life imitates fiction.
Posted by: Au Auric || 11/24/2012 7:22 Comments || Top||

#3  I wonder if there's any actual hacking talent in Anonymous?

He looks like your run of the mill script kiddy.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 11/24/2012 9:14 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Newlywed teacher, 28, charged with raping two underage students
h/t Instapundit
A newlywed teacher has been charged with rape after allegedly having underage sex with two of her students -- while also carrying on an affair with another teacher.

Stephanie Fletcher allegedly had sexual contact with her two victims during class breaks, study periods and in the school parking lot.

The 28-year-old is alleged to have sent the students, both aged 16, naked photos of herself and often performed oral sex on them when they met up in deserted classrooms.
So, how's all this business of (effectively) getting rid of male teachers working out?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/24/2012 00:56 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336075 views] Top|| File under:

#1  'while having an affair with a....

What? Politician? Horse? Dog?
Don't keep us in suspense here...
Posted by: tu3031 || 11/24/2012 3:54 Comments || Top||

#2  ‘She was telling me that every question I got right we could do somethingÂ’ - victim to police

"We may have a future Rhodes Scholar on our hands here" - William Jefferson Clinton

Posted by: Au Auric || 11/24/2012 7:06 Comments || Top||

#3  Well she was a Biology teacher. Just took it to a whole new level...
Posted by: CrazyFool || 11/24/2012 9:37 Comments || Top||

#4  I trimmed the headline
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 9:52 Comments || Top||

#5  What's the name of that tumor, SteveS?
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/24/2012 10:15 Comments || Top||

#6  Was it elmo, or was it, like, elmo-elmo?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/24/2012 10:19 Comments || Top||

#7  They only noticed when they thought she was faking the class truancy statistics.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 11/24/2012 15:16 Comments || Top||

#8  You're missing the most important detail: Was she hot?
Posted by: Charles || 11/24/2012 16:00 Comments || Top||

#9  Charles, YOU be the judge. Police photo:

teacher
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 11/24/2012 16:34 Comments || Top||

#10  little Picasso-thing going with the eyes and nose
Posted by: Frank G || 11/24/2012 16:46 Comments || Top||

#11  "She was telling me that every question I got right we could do something"

Certainly completely unacceptable behavior... but rape?
Posted by: European Conservatives || 11/24/2012 17:00 Comments || Top||

#12  Statutory Rape - same as if a male teacher had screwed around with underage female students. You want equality? You got it.
Posted by: Frank G || 11/24/2012 17:15 Comments || Top||

#13  I would rather reserve that term for unwanted actions. Obviously those weren't.
Posted by: European Conservatives || 11/24/2012 18:24 Comments || Top||

#14  ahhh like Whoopie? Not Rape-rape?
Posted by: Frank G || 11/24/2012 18:36 Comments || Top||

#15  Minors. It's statutory rape because they are too youngto give informed consent. It's rape all right. Unless somebody slapped her with his schwantz.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 11/24/2012 21:07 Comments || Top||

#16  "too young to give informed consent"

16yo males? I better shut up about my teen years then.
Posted by: European Conservatives || 11/24/2012 22:07 Comments || Top||


Liberal vs. Human Logic
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/24/2012 00:53 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Excellent g(r)om. I also enjoyed "The Election did hurt" found in the blog's essays.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/24/2012 7:39 Comments || Top||

#2  That is a gold medal winner.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/24/2012 11:14 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Five Syrians Arrested for Plotting to Bomb Leb Ashoura Procession
[An Nahar] The army on Friday incarcerated
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
Syrian nationals who were preparing an bomb with the aim of detonating it at an Ashoura procession set to be held on Saturday, media reports said.

"Army intelligence agents on Friday evening arrested five Syrians at a house in the Nabatiyeh neighborhood of al-Maslakh while they were preparing a 300-gram bomb with the aim of detonating it during the Muharram (Ashoura) 9 procession that will be held tomorrow in the city of Nabatiyeh" in southern Leb, al-Jadeed television reported.

Army troops cordoned off the house and the detainees were taken to the headquarters of the army Intelligence Directorate in the southern city of Sidon, the TV network added.

Later on Friday, state-run National News Agency said "five people were arrested in the Nabatiyeh neighborhood of al-Maslakh as they were plotting for a subversive act in the area."

"They are being interrogated by the army," the agency added.

The army, the Internal Security Forces and members of Hizbullah and AMAL Movement are taking strict security measures in areas witnessing Ashoura ceremonies and processions.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
Nigeria Offers Reward for Capture of Boko Haram Leaders
[An Nahar] Nigeria's military on Friday offered hundreds of thousands of dollars in rewards for information leading to the capture of leaders of Islamist orc group 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...
.A statement listed 19 alleged senior members of the orc group blamed for hundreds of deaths in connection with its insurgency in northern and central Nigeria.

The rewards ranged from 50 million naira ($317,000, 245,000 euros) for the suspected leader of the group, Abubakar Shekau, to 10 million naira for various Boko Haram "commanders".

"They are wanted in connection with terrorist activities particularly in the northeast zone of Nigeria that led to the killings, bombings and liquidation of some civilians, religious leaders, traditional rulers, businessmen, politicians, civil servants and security personnel amongst others," a military statement said.

"They are also wanted for arson and destruction of properties worth millions of naira."

In June, the United States designated three Nigerian Islamist gunnies "global terrorists" but declined to label Boko Haram a terrorist group, citing its domestic focus, among other issues.

The three named by the US State Department were Shekau as well as Abubakar Adam Kambar and Khalid al-Barnawi, both said to have ties to a regional al-Qaeda group.

Friday's statement offering rewards listed both Shekau and al-Barnawi, but not Kambar.

Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, who issued the statement on behalf of a military task force operating in the country's northeast, did not respond to phone calls.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336063 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


Afghanistan
Taliban seen as unlikely to overrun Afghanistan
[Dawn]
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336078 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  At the heavily guarded Isaf headquarters in Kabul, Brig Gen Günter Katz, the Isaf spokesperson, drew a picture of improving security across much of Afghanistan.

A military assessment from a German general in a heavily guarded bunker of the capital ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/24/2012 1:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Besoeker, you owe me for coffee free keyboard.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/24/2012 1:12 Comments || Top||

#3  The Taliban don't have to 'overrun' anything to return to power. Karzai's invitation still stands.

Mullah Omar isn't a member of the Kabul government because he doesn't want to be. That might change after 2014.

Get ready for Afghan foreign minister Mullah Omar's visit to the UN. Protected by the US Secret Service, paid by US danegeld he'll pray in the Ground Zero Mosque and gloat over the actual Ground Zero.

It will be clear then who won and who lost the 9/11 war.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 11/24/2012 3:25 Comments || Top||

#4  The Afghan populace are like the ultimate battered spouse (and there are many in that neck of the woods). Her screwed-up personality and warped morals mean she won't respect a guy who treats her well. Eventually he'll give up trying to save her from her self-abusive nature and drug habit. He'll move out, and the nastiest PoS around (in this case a neighbour's son) will move straight in, thus restoring the natural order.
Posted by: Bulldog || 11/24/2012 4:50 Comments || Top||

#5  Depends on how much money and support Pakistan and Saudi give the Taliban.
Posted by: Paul D || 11/24/2012 5:11 Comments || Top||

#6  Depends on how much money and support Pakistan and Saudi give the Taliban.

Depends on how much money Uncle Sam gives the Afghan government. Najibullah's government collapsed because Yeltsin stopped supplying him with oil. While Taliban attacks will continue to be a problem for a decades, I can't see how the Afghan government collapses without the kind of global embargo that was imposed on Najibullah. Any established government has significant advantages vis-a-vis a guerrilla movement. Unless the Pakis sends a large conventional force a la the NVA in 1975, I don't see the Afghan government falling over, any more than the Iraqi government has.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 11/24/2012 8:34 Comments || Top||

#7  Depends on how much money Uncle Sam gives the Afghan government
Maybe not, ZF.
Afghanistan to back Pakistan if wars with U.S.: Karzai
Posted by: tipper || 11/24/2012 12:06 Comments || Top||

#8  In other words, half a year after we're gone.
Posted by: Charles || 11/24/2012 15:58 Comments || Top||

#9  Look, America's ruling political clique has decided not to win in Afghanistan, so we should get the hell out. ASAP.
Posted by: Mikey Hunt || 11/24/2012 16:42 Comments || Top||

#10  In other words, half a year after we're gone.

If we cut off aid, Karzai will either be in exile or dead 30 seconds after we're gone. The Afghan government will probably muddle along. Short of a Pakistani invasion, I can't see the Taliban winning. The reason the Taliban won in the first place was a combination of an all against all civil war among the mujahideen and Pakistani sponsorship of the Taliban. Unless the Afghan government breaks up into warlord fiefdoms that spend most of their time fighting each other, the Taliban will lose.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 11/24/2012 20:14 Comments || Top||

#11  I vote for dead. The backstabbing caped drugged crusader should be made to endure the future he's helped create. I'd have rooted for Dostum - no Talib/Pashtun friend
Posted by: Frank G || 11/24/2012 20:16 Comments || Top||

#12  Ultimately our presence in Afghanistan is preventing the Afghan government from resorting to the draconian measures of the kind the Sri Lankan government implemented against the rebel Tamilians. While an invasion was necessary to topple the Taliban and mop up al Qaeda and several-year occupation was necessary to stabilize the Afghan government, our continued presence is preventing the population adjustments that need to occur to ensure a lasting peace.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 11/24/2012 20:20 Comments || Top||

#13  Please, Robert. The government of Sri Lanka was not Tamil, as the Kabul "Regime" is Pashtun
Posted by: Frank G || 11/24/2012 21:15 Comments || Top||

#14  The government of Sri Lanka was not Tamil, as the Kabul "Regime" is Pashtun

The Kabul government is composed of non-Pashtuns overlaid with Pashtun figureheads (at American insistence). That is why when US aid is cut off, Karzai and the Pashtun mafia will go into exile or be disappeared.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 11/24/2012 21:24 Comments || Top||

#15  I swear, our guiding principles on handling counter-insurgency should be "What would the Romans do?"
Posted by: Silentbrick - Schlumberger Squishy Mud Division || 11/24/2012 21:35 Comments || Top||

#16  "What would the Romans do?"
IIRC, after they soaked up the easy pickings, they taxed & spent themselves to death.
Oh, never mind.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 11/24/2012 22:44 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria Says Turkey Request for Missiles 'New Act of Provocation'
[An Nahar] Turkey's request to NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions...
for Patriot missiles is "a new act of provocation," Syrian state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
quoted a foreign ministry official it did not name as saying on Friday.

Turkey turned to its NATO partners earlier this week to request the deployment of surface-to-air Patriot missiles to protect its troubled border with Syria.

In its first reaction to Turkey's request, the Syrian foreign ministry accused Ankara of causing "tension and destruction."

"Syria holds (Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip) Erdogan responsible for the militarization of the situation at the border between Syria and Turkey, and the increase of tension and destruction to the detriment of the Syrian and Turkish peoples," the official said.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336076 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Syria, Iran + Russia all doth protest the Patriot.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 11/24/2012 21:14 Comments || Top||

#2  You can always tell whats working.
The exact stuff the bad guys complain about. Patriot batteries.... drones....etc
Posted by: MIkey Hunt || 11/24/2012 22:46 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Rebels run riot over chunk of Africa
How could a rebel band that started with just a few hundred men take over a huge chunk of Africa's biggest country, set presidents against each other and leave the UN reeling? Easily when it is the Democratic Republic of Congo, say analysts and diplomats, who blame a corrupt and disappearing army, alleged meddling by neighbouring Rwanda and a UN force with its wrists tied.

In just one week, M23 rebels have taken over most of DR Congo's North Kivu province, an area twice the size of Belgium and rich in diamonds, precious metals and minerals. The DR Congo army collapsed in the face of the rebel force, which had grown to an estimated 3000 by the time it moved on Goma. The army "simply melted away", said UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous.

The UN mission in DR Congo is its biggest peacekeeping force with more than 17,000 troops, costing $1.4 billion a year, but its job is to protect civilians, not fight rebels. UN officials say there is no "direct evidence" Rwanda bolstered the rebels for this advance. But their suspicions were raised by the number of English-speaking officers at checkpoints on roads leading to strongholds of the French-speaking bandits, as well as how they were suddenly able to rout the DR Congo army.

UN leaders are encouraging Mr Kabila and Rwanda's President Paul Kagame to start political talks. "The DRC is the biggest country in Africa and it may just be that it is too big and complex a state to exist as a single, unified country," Peter Chalk, a senior political scientist at the Rand security research organisation, said.
Posted by: Pappy || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336070 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Chunk of Africa ?
the army ... melted away??

sounds more like a recipe for Mrs Fields cookies :-)
Posted by: Raider || 11/24/2012 10:09 Comments || Top||

#2  "The DRC is the biggest country in Africa and it may just be that it is too big and complex a state to exist as a single, unified country," Peter Chalk, a senior political scientist at the Rand security research organisation, said.

Gee, ya think?
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 11/24/2012 16:05 Comments || Top||


Nigerian Muslim Riot Leaves 4 Dead, Church Burnt
[An Nahar] A mispronunciation taken to be blasphemous in Nigeria's north sparked a riot by Moslem youths Thursday, leaving four people dead as well as a church and shops burnt, police and residents said.

"What happened in (the town of) Bichi was misinformation," Kano state police chief Ibrahim Idris told news hounds. "Rumors went round that someone blasphemed the Prophet and there was a breakdown of law and order."

Residents reported four people dead along with the church and Christian-owned shops burnt. Soldiers and coppers deployed in the town.

The riot came on the same day that former British prime minister Tony Blair and the incoming spiritual head of the world's Anglicans Justin Welby launched an initiative in the Nigerian capital Abuja aimed at Moslem-Christian reconciliation.

According to Idris, a Christian tailor mispronounced the name of a dress while chatting with his Moslem neighbor in Hausa, the major language spoken in the north, changing the meaning to 'the Prophet has come to the market'.

Idris however denied anyone was killed, though residents spoke of the deaths. Bichi is located some 30 kilometers (18 miles) from Kano, the largest city in Nigeria's mainly Moslem north.

"Four Igbos were killed in the attacks. One of them was thrown into a ditch near my house," one resident said, referring to a mainly Christian ethnic group.

"Scores of shops owned by Christians and a church were burnt by a large mob of Moslem youth who set bonfires on the road and disrupted traffic."

Another resident said he saw four dead bodies "hacked with machetes by the rioters".

A nurse at the Bichi General Hospital said the tailor who was severely beaten by the mob had been evacuated to Kano for treatment.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The devil wear Prophet comes to Market.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/24/2012 11:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Doing what they do best.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 11/24/2012 11:12 Comments || Top||


Africa North
U.S. Urges Calm, Dialogue in Egypt
[An Nahar] The United States said on Friday that the assumption of sweeping powers by Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi was a matter of concern, amid a new round of protests in the country.

"The decisions and declarations announced on November 22 raise concerns for many Egyptians and for the international community," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, in a statement.

"One of the aspirations of the revolution was to ensure that power would not be overly concentrated in the hands of any one person or institution," she said, referring to the uprising that toppled veteran ruler Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
Nuland warned that Egypt's "constitutional vacuum ... can only be resolved by the adoption of a constitution that includes checks and balances, and respects fundamental freedoms, individual rights, and the rule of law consistent with Egypt's international commitments."

"We call for calm and encourage all parties to work together and call for all Egyptians to resolve their differences over these important issues peacefully and through democratic dialogue," she added.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood

#1  Notice - "State Department". And pablum at that.

Nothing from the White House.
Posted by: Pappy || 11/24/2012 11:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Nothing from the White House

which is considering the idea that maybe Morsi is onto something.
Posted by: Matt || 11/24/2012 12:00 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria Kurds Join Forces in Standoff with Rebels
[An Nahar] Two main Kurdish groups have agreed to join forces in a standoff with hundreds of beturbanned fascisti in northeastern Syria, a Syrian Kurdish representative and an activist said on Friday.

Hundreds of fighters loyal to the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) -- which has close ties to Turkey's rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) -- have been locked in fierce battles with fighters of the jihadist al-Nusra Front and allied Ghuraba al-Sham group in Ras al-Ain on the border with Turkey.

The agreement sets the stage for an expanded conflict in the area between beturbanned fascisti opposed to Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Horror of Homs...
and Syrian Kurdish forces.

"We initially agreed on forming these (joint) forces that do not belong to any side, and discussions are ongoing now" in Arbil, the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, Mohammed Rasho, a representative of the People's Council of Western Kurdistan, which is close to the PYD, told AFP.

Talks on the formation of the joint forces between the People's Council of Western Kurdistan and the Kurdish National Council, which comprises a number of Syrian Kurdish parties, began three days ago, Rasho said, adding that they took place under the supervision of the presidency of Iraqi Kurdistan.

An activist who identified himself as Havidar meanwhile said that "the two Kurdish national councils in western Kurdistan (Syria) have agreed in Iraq to create a united military force, bringing together PYD forces and other Kurdish dissidents" in Syria.

"Since the Free Syrian Army forces came to Kurdish areas, especially Ras al-Ain," there was in the beginning "an understanding that they would limit their deployment to Arab areas," said Rasho.

But after some time, rebel forces burned Kurdish flags that had been raised, and "festivities between us and them occurred in Kurdish areas," he said.

Rasho added that rebel groups including the Tawhid Brigade, the main opposition formation in Aleppo
...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins...
, Ghuraba al-Sham and "sometimes" the al-Nusra Front, "stand against Kurdish citizens."

On July 11, the Kurdish National Council met in Iraq with the People's Council of Western Kurdistan and decided to form the Supreme Kurdish Council.

Friday's agreement was announced a day after the Ghuraba al-Sham called in a video posted on the Internet for Islamist volunteers to flock to Ras al-Ain for a drive on the scenic provincial capital Hasakeh, whose population is majority Kurdish.

"We of the Ghuraba al-Sham battalion call on the (mainstream rebel) Free Syrian Army and the mujahedeen to advance towards Ras al-Ain. Increase our numbers so that we can free the city of Hasakeh," an unidentified rebel commander said in the footage, standing among some 50 fighters.

"And we warn all those who stand in the way of this revolt... especially the PYD and the PKK, and any other gang, against taking any action that contradicts the path of the revolution," he added.

Syria's Arab-led rebels accuse the PYD of being in cahoots with Assad's regime.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Perhaps the Kuridish buga-bear will get Turkey moving, they're almost out of runway.
Posted by: Shipman || 11/24/2012 3:55 Comments || Top||

#2  That would make the Turkish dance-of-a-thousand-neutral-veils come to a quick end. NATO's too, for that matter.
Posted by: Pappy || 11/24/2012 12:52 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Seven injured in Khyber Agency
[Dawn] Seven people, including two schoolchildren and a khasadar
...a rural policeman in Pakistain or India...
official, received injuries in different incidents in Khyber Agency on Thursday.

Sources said that three persons were maimed when hard boyz targeted a NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization....
tanker and an official vehicle with improvised bombs in Jamrud and Landi Kotal tehsils of the tribal region.

One of the bombs was planted along Jamrud bypass road, at a distance of about 500 metres from the offices of political administration, to target a NATO container. Officials said that the driver of the container received minor injuries in the blast.

Minutes later, another device planted along 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.
-Torkham road at Sadukhel in Landi Kotal targeted an official vehicle carrying a khasadar official. The official, subedar Harkala Khan, and a civilian accompanying him received minor injuries. The vehicle was damaged badly in the blast.

Both the incidents caused suspension of traffic on Peshawar-Torkham road for some time.

Security forces also defused another bomb planted on the main road in Sur Qamar area of Jamrud.

In Bara, two activists of a local peace committee were maimed in a kaboom in Gul Mast Tambu area.

Sources said that Dilawar and Sajjad, activists of Shalobar Peace Committee, received injuries when a bomb went kaboom! on a road. Both the injured were shifted to a hospital in Peshawar.

In another incident, Habibullah and Inayat, students of a private school, were maimed when a mortar shell fell on their school in Sheen Drand area.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Africa Subsaharan
M23 Rebels repel counter-attack, push on
Rebels in eastern Congo pushed south along Lake Kivu on Friday after repelling a counter-attack by government forces near the new rebel stronghold in the city of Goma on the Rwandan border. Others moved north from the strategic road junction at Sake. A Reuters correspondent there said rebels were in control of Sake after a battle on Thursday which had been the first sign of a government fightback after the army abandoned Goma on Tuesday to the M23 movement, widely thought to be backed by Rwanda.
Posted by: Pappy || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Holy Roman Empire European Union budget talks collapse
[Washington Post] Following two days of divisive talks, leaders from 27 European Union nations on Friday failed to reach an agreement on their trillion-dollar budget.
"Boodle!"
"My boodle!"
"No, my boodle!"

The leaders met in Brussels to try to hammer out a strategic seven-year budget that aims, among other things, to spur economic activity in Europe's poorer regions.
"Boodle for Greece!"
"No! Boodle for Spain!"
"Boodle for Slovenia!"

The summit collapsed in failure following unresolved tensions in the bloc, largely between richer countries that are net contributors to the EU budget, and poorer ones that receive more cash than they pitch in. Unanimity is required for approval.
"Thhhhhp! No boodle for you!"
The EU Commission, the EU's executive arm, originally proposed a $1.3 trillion budget for 2014-2020 period, nearly a 5 percent increase compared with 2007-2013 budget. British Prime Minister David Cameron was the most prominent leader to argue for a smaller budget, saying that a rise was unacceptable at a time when countries were rolling out austerity cuts back home.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336076 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/24/2012 0:34 Comments || Top||

#2  The Globalists + aligned Socialists have come too far + committed too much to let OWG-NWO + "Global Federal Union", etc. fail.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 11/24/2012 21:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Ottoman Empire part 2 will be closer before long.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 11/24/2012 22:17 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Blast in Khyber kills two anti-Taliban militiamen
[Dawn] At least two members of an anti-Taliban militia were killed Friday evening when a roadside kaboom went kaboom! in Khyber tribal region, Khyber, one of seven agencies in Pakistain's semi-autonomous tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, officials said.

Local officials, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
because they were not allowed to speak to the media, said the attack in Khyber's Bara tehsil was carried out through a remote-controlled bomb.

The bomb, which was planted along the road in Qamber Khel area, went kaboom! as volunteers of the 'aman lashkar' passed by in their vehicle -- completely destroying the car and killing both militia-men on the spot.

Pak Taliban front man Ehsanullah Ehsan, speaking to Dawn.Com from Qazi's guesthouse an undisclosed location, confirmed that the banned turban group had targeted the anti-Taliban fighters with a remote controlled improvised bomb (IED).
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336064 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Africa North
Morsi advisor resigns over 'undemocratic' Constitutional Declaration
[Al Ahram] Samir Morcos, a Coptic Christian presidential advisor, resigns in protest at Morsi's Constitutional Declaration which he says is 'undemocratic and a leap backwards'
Pack your family's goods and empty your bank account while you still can, Mr. Morcos -- there's not much time left for your kind.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Would it be a reach to say that Samir Morcos and Valerie Jarrett have absolutely nothing in common
?
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/24/2012 7:25 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
23 Jamaat-Shibir Men Held
[Bangla Daily Star] Law enforcers in the last two days placed in durance vile
Please don't kill me!
at least 23 more leaders and activists of Jamaat and Shibir from three other districts on charges of the recent attacks on police, involvement in acts of violence and suspected link to subversive activities.

Of the arrestees, 11 are from Narail, seven from Munshiganj and five from Narayanganj.

Our Correspondent from Narail reports that two Jamaat leaders including Jakir Hossain, ameer of Jamaat's Kotakol union unit, were arrested yesterday afternoon.

On Thursday, police arrested nine Jamaat and Shibir men including Lohagora upazila Jamaat Ameer Ali Ahmed Mollah.

In Munshiganj, police arrested seven Jamaat men from sadar and Gazooria upazilas with some booklets and non-lethal local arms, reports our Munshiganj correspondent.

Our Narayanganj correspondent adds that law enforcers arrested five Jamaat men from Fatullah, Kashimpur, Sonargaon and Dewbhogh areas of the district yesterday and on Thursday night.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


India-Pakistan
Terror suspects arrested
[Dawn] Law enforcement agencies have placed in long-term storage
Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!
two alleged terror suspects from Lahore and five members of a banned outfit near an imambargah in Sargodha on Thursday.

Punjab police sources in Lahore however claimed that the number of arrests from Sargodha was 39.

A senior police official privy to the development told Dawn that the suspected Death Eaters arrested from Lahore two days ago had disclosed that 'they were ready to hit Muharram processions in the lovely provincial capital as per given assignment'.

He said more arrests had also been made on the basis of the information gleaned from these suspects. He said several hotels, inns and restaurants in the lovely provincial capital were under observation to track down suspects.

He said the Sargodha police had arrested 39 people of six banned outfits during a crackdown launched in the entire district since Wednesday last.

On Thursday, Sargodha police arrested 'five activists of a banned outfit' near Imambargah Block 19 and shifted them to some unknown place for investigation.

A police source in Sargodha said a couple of days back five boys aged between 17 and 22 hailing from 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...
had hired a room near Markazi Imambargah. He said the suspects might have some plans to target Muharram processions.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Jhangvi


Africa Subsaharan
U.N. Wants to Use Drones in DR Congo Conflict
Do they, indeed. How... unexpected.
[An Nahar] The United Nations
...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involves making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country...
wants to use drones for the first time to monitor fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo
...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo or Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material...
, where Rwanda has been accused of aiding rebels, officials said Friday.
Drones are only "against international law" when we use them...
Peacekeeping chiefs have been in contact with the governments of DR Congo and of Rwanda about the sensitive move, which could set a precedent that would worry other United Nations members, diplomats said.

U.N. leaders are looking for ways to strengthen their peacekeeping mission in DR Congo, MONUSCO, where guerrillas from the M23 rebel movement have taken over much of mineral-rich North Kivu province.

U.N. experts say Rwanda and Uganda have sent troops and arms across the border. Both strongly deny the allegations.

The U.N. "is considering a range of ways to strengthen the capabilities of MONUSCO to protect civilians from the threat of gangs in the vast area of eastern DR Congo," U.N. peacekeeping front man Kieran Dwyer told AFP.

"Unarmed aerial vehicles, drones for monitoring the movements of gangs, are one tool we are considering," he said.

"Of course, we would do this carefully, in full cooperation with the government of the DR Congo, and trialing their most effective uses for information gathering to help implement our mandate to protect civilians."

"Ultimately, to introduce these, we would need the support of member states to equip the mission," Dwyer said.

While the drones would not halt the current M23 advance, the U.N. is also considering bringing in extra troops and redeploying its current force. U.N. leader the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
is to recommend options to the U.N. Security Council soon.

MONUSCO currently has about 17,500 troops but could go up to about 19,500 under its Security Council mandate.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Anything OK for a Nobel Peace laureate to use is OK for UN to use?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/24/2012 1:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Plenty of 'Drones' at 760 UN Plaza.

Y'all could send those.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 11/24/2012 12:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Drones flying over desert probably see more than drones flying over forest.

I'm not sure that it helps much to get better pictures of the rebels marching into town when you don't plan to do anything about the info. Although perhaps you could sell the footage to a documentary maker.
Posted by: James || 11/24/2012 18:43 Comments || Top||

#4  "Our UN drones show rebels are marching into town. We need more funding!"
Posted by: Frank G || 11/24/2012 19:05 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Myanmar Blames Rohingya Militants for Border Attack
[An Nahar] Myanmar authorities on Friday accused a Rohingya krazed killer group of carrying out an attack that left one dead and three people missing -- including a soldier -- near the Bangladesh border.

The incident in Rakhine State, where scores have died in two rounds of communal unrest between Rohingya Mohammedans and Buddhists, took place on November 6 as the soldier and civilian engineers inspected a border fence near Maungdaw.

"One of the civilian staff was killed. We assume he was shot in the back when he tried to run away," presidential office front man Zaw Htay said.

There has been no news on the whereabouts of the missing trio despite Bangladeshi border guards joining the hunt.

He said the authorities were blaming the RSO (Rohingya Solidarity Organization) "which is illegally moving across the border. But we cannot say exactly yet."

Tip-offs and bullet cases found at scene indicated the group carried out the attack, he added, without providing further details.

The U.S. State Department has described the RSO as a Bangladesh-based krazed killer group that has conducted attacks in the border area since tens of thousands of Mohammedans fled Rakhine to the neighboring country after a Myanmar's military crackdown in the early 1990s.

Two major outbreaks of violence in Rakhine since June this year have left 180 dead and more than 110,000, most of them the Mohammedan Rohingya, crammed into makeshift camps.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336074 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
Somali Gov't soldiers exchange gunfire in Mogadishu, 2 killed
[Shabelle] Somali government soldiers have exchanged a heavy gunfire in Mogadishu, killing at least two combatants while others injured, reports said on Friday.

Friday gunfire happened at Suq-Bo'le village in Mogadishu's Dharkenley district, when soldiers tried to remove an illegal checkpoint placed by another soldiers under the hapless Somali government, according to witnesses who spoke with Shabelle Media Network.

The latest reports in the areas say that the situation returned normal after more another government troops had intervened to the warring sides.

It is not the first time that government soldiers disagreed and exchange deadly gunfire in Mogadishu, Somalia capital since Al shabab fighters pulled out of the city last year.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336087 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan
2 Killed in Afghanistan Suicide Bomb Attack
[VOA News] Afghan officials say a suicide car boomer has attacked government offices in eastern Afghanistan, killing two people and wounding at least 70, including several NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions...
service members.

Authorities say the Friday morning blast took place in Maidan Shar, the capital of restive Wardak province.

An ISAF front man said the kaboom took place near the Wardak provincial governor's compound and that several coalition service members received minor injuries.

"So we can confirm that this morning in Maidan Shar district in Wardak province, an unidentified kaboom near the Wardak provincial governor's compound caused minor injury to several coalition service members, and possibly more serious injuries to an unidentified number of local civilians," said front man Charlie Stadtlander. "We're still assessing the situation and will release more information as appropriate."

The Taliban has grabbed credit for the attack, saying it was in response to the executions this week of four Taliban detainees at the Pul-e-Charkhi prison on the outskirts of Kabul.

The four Taliban members were among a total of 14 executed on Tuesday and Wednesday. Those put to death were convicted of crimes, including murder and rape.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Have you noticed the large numbers of Moslems, the Moslems are killing?

They bitch and belly ache about a massacre that occurred almost TWO FREAKING THOUSAND YEARS AGO and then turn around and kill thousands of fellow Moslems over a interfraticidinal dispute over the succession to Mohammed?

There is no logic in any of that.

So my view is the Moslems are more prejudiced and more discriminatory against each other than we in the west will ever be. So when CAIR goes on one of their talk show snivel tours, remember, we are just an excuse for their excesses and their corrupt/psychotic religion.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 11/24/2012 12:35 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Sierra Leone's Koroma Re-Elected in Outright Poll Victory
[An Nahar] Sierra Leone's President Ernest Koroma swept to a second term Friday, winning 58 percent of votes in a poll that observers praised for its peacefulness and which focused on the nation's post-war recovery.

The 59-year-old incumbent triumphed over his main rival Julius Maada Bio of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) who trailed with 37.4 percent of votes.

And since he won more than 55 percent of the vote in the first round, the contest does not have to go to a second round.

The crucial test for the west African nation will be whether ex-military leader Bio accepts the outcome. During the vote, he alleged fraud and vowed that he would not let his supporters be cheated.

The country still bears the scars of a brutal 11-year civil conflict during which rebels chopped off the limbs of civilians during a campaign of terror. They bankrolled their army with the sale of so-called "blood diamonds".

National Elections Commission chief Christiana Thorpe said Koroma had won 1,314,881 votes to Bio's 837,517 in an election which had a massive 87.3 percent voter turnout.

The third runner-up was Charles Margai of the People's Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC) who won 1.3 percent of the vote.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336070 views] Top|| File under:

#1  an election which had a massive 87.3 percent voter turnout

Nah, dat ain't nuttin, you want massive why we guts some precincts in Philly dat turned out 108%. Now dat's massive!
Posted by: Au Auric || 11/24/2012 7:27 Comments || Top||

#2  My personal default tipping point is 105%. Once the returns reach 105%, you might as well change the channel and watch Gunsmoke. The process is fok'd.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/24/2012 7:33 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Libya Provides $200M in Aid to Tunisia
[Tripoli Post] As a part of strengthening bilateral relations with Tunisia, Libya has provided $200M in aid to this Arab country which is facing economic difficulties since the uprising of last year.

The agreement was concluded during Libya's President of the National Congress Mr. Mohamed Magarief to Tunisia last week.

The Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki announced the good news during a joint presser with Magarief in the Tunisian capital, Tunis.

"It is the first financial interaction which will be followed by others as we solidify the excellent relations linking the two countries," said Marzouki.

Al-Megarief also said that he and Tunisian President Marzouki were withholding recognition of the new Syrian opposition coalition until they could evaluate how representative it was.

"We and Libya are in agreement that we will wait before recognizing. We need to have a real idea about the representation on this body," Marzouki said.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


India-Pakistan
Medical report says bomber 13 to 14 years old
[Dawn] An anti-terrorism court on Thursday directed the local police to keep a would-be jacket wallah in safe custody after his medical examination suggested that he was around 13 to 14 years old.
They must have counted his growth rings.
An official source told Dawn that the court had also taken notice of the non-production of another suspect, Jehangir, who was also placed in durance vile
Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!
along with the bomber, on Nov 20, but the local police have so far not made public his arrest.

He said that the court, presided over by Ibrahim Khan, has sought explanation from the 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.
police chief as to why the suspect, who was shown on different television channels, has not been Medical report says bomber 13 to 14 years old produced before the court despite passage of over two days. Under the Constitution of Pakistain and Code of Criminal Procedure an arrested suspect has to be produced before the court within 24 hours of his arrest failing which he is considered to be in illegal confinement.

The would-be bomber, Bilal, a day earlier was referred to the Lady Reading Hospital by the ATC with the direction that his medical examination should be conducted so as to ascertain his age.

The suspect was again produced on Thursday amid strict security before the ATC situated on the first floor of the Old Judicial Complex. The police also presented his medical examination report according to which he is around 13 to 14 years of age.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under: TTP

#1  Can't prosecute for crime because he's a child. Can't release him because he'll try again (unless you 're-educate' him.) And if you do re-educate and release him, his family would have to kill him to restore its honor.
Posted by: Glenmore || 11/24/2012 8:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Hmmm... glen has an interesting point. Maybe we could release him with explosives on him and he blows up in his family's house?

Yes, I am being extremely factious.
Posted by: DarthVader || 11/24/2012 15:25 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Home Amid Chinese Highway a Symbol of Resistance
In the middle of an eastern Chinese city's new main road, rising incongruously from a huge circle in the freshly laid pavement, is a five-story row house with ragged edges. This is the home of the duck farmer who said "no."

Luo Baogen and his wife are the lone holdouts from a neighborhood that was demolished to make way for the main thoroughfare heading to a newly built railway station on the outskirts of the city of Wenling in Zhejiang province.

Dramatic images of Luo's home have circulated widely online in China this week, becoming the latest symbol of resistance in the frequent standoffs between Chinese homeowners and local officials accused of offering too little compensation to vacate neighborhoods for major redevelopment projects. There's even a name for the buildings that remain standing as their owners resist development. They are called "nail houses" because the homeowners refuse to be hammered down.

Nail house families occasionally have resorted to violence. Some homeowners have even set themselves on fire in protests. Often, they keep 24-hour vigils because developers will shy away from bulldozing homes when people are inside.

Xiayangzhang village chief Chen Xuecai said in a telephone interview Friday that city planners decided that Luo's village of 1,600 had to be moved for a new business district anchored by the train station. Chen said most families agreed to government-offered compensation in 2007. Luo, 67, and a handful of neighbors in other parts of the new district are holding out for more.
Posted by: Au Auric || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336072 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's called a 'nail house', from the nail that sticks out. What happens is the government allocates sufficient money to buy the homeowner out at a fair price and then the various levels of management all steal a chunk, and there's hardly any left by the time it gets to the homeowner. Usually they send thugs to burn the place down or hospitalize the resident.
Posted by: gromky || 11/24/2012 2:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Usually we offer a subpar price and if it is rejected, apply emminent domain and take it anyway.
Posted by: Glenmore || 11/24/2012 8:27 Comments || Top||

#3  If Luo Baogen had ever visited Illinois, he'd be setting up tolls.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/24/2012 8:31 Comments || Top||

#4  What happens is the government allocates sufficient money to buy the homeowner out at a fair price and then the various levels of management all steal a chunk, and there's hardly any left by the time it gets to the homeowner. Usually they send thugs to burn the place down or hospitalize the resident.

If only the Czar knew, he'd do something.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 11/24/2012 9:51 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Police avert suicide attack near Lakki Marwat Imambargah
[Dawn] Lakki Marwat police Friday night averted a suicide kaboom on an Imambargah in Mohallah Saidan area of Lakki Marwat District when they rubbed out a suspected jacket wallah.

According to police officials, the suspected bomber was stopped at a check point near the Imambarghah but he opened fired on the police and was subsequently rubbed out.

District Police Officer (DPO) Idrees Khan said the bomber, who was wearing a blanket, was stopped at a check post near Masjid Ghosia in Mohalla Bagbanan.

The check point is an entry point to Shia community's Mohallah Saidan.

The DPO said, "the suspect bomber instead opened fire on the police and bravely ran away into a narrow street to escape."

"He then threw a hand grenade at the coppers but was subsequently killed after his vest went kaboom! due to police firing when he reached at the dead end of the street," Khan added.

Some sources said the suicide bomber was riding a rickshaw and when stopped by the police he opened fired and attacked the police with a hand grenade.

Police reports suggest no causalities however two coppers sustained minor injuries amid the vest kaboom.

The officials added that the probable target of the suicide bomber was an ongoing Majlis-e-Aza going at the residence of a Shia leader Syed Zahoor Abbas Shah or the Imambargah in Mohllah Saidan but timely response of the police averted a huge loss of lives.

Meanwhile,
...back at the fist fight, Jake ducked another roundhouse, then parried with his left, then with his right, finally with his chin...
reports said that a blast had been heard in Gilgit Baltistan as well. However,
a lie repeated often enough remains a lie...
according to police officials there are no casualties.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Jhangvi


Africa North
Egypt's Morsi strikes conciliatory note towards opponents
[Al Ahram] Egypt's president Mohamed Morsi struck a conciliatory note towards his opponents on Friday after a decree he issued one day earlier stirred controversy among many political forces and youth activists.
The farmer's apology to the pigs. How terribly generous.
Opening the speech he gave in front of the presidential palace in Cairo in the late afternoon hours, Morsi thanked God for "bringing all Moslems together to topple an oppressive regime and for taking Egypt to the path of democracy, freedom, social justice and stability."
No notice taken of the Copts or the non-religious....but it's not as if they are really people under Sharia law. So much for conciliation.
Morsi stressed that he, as president, does not only stand by his supporters but also with his opposition, referring to the thousands gathered in Tahrir Square to protest against the Constitutional Declaration that he issued late Thursday.
Kitmen.
"I stand by you, whoever you are or wherever you are ... those who support me and those who oppose me. I would never be biased towards one camp against the other," he said amid loud cheers from the supporters of the Moslem Brüderbund, from which he hails.

The declaration stipulated that the president's decisions cannot be overturned by any judicial authority, which would mean Morsi has legislative, executive, constitutional and now judicial authorities, leading commentators and protesters to dub Morsi the "new Pharaoh."

In addition, the controversy-dogged Constituent Assembly and Shura Council (upper house of parliament) would be immune to dissolution by a judicial body, a move that angered many.

"The Constitutional Declaration does not aim to exact Dire Revenge™ on anyone," Morsi said, adding that it is the opposition's right to express their discontent with the constitutional document.

Morsi's speech was repeatedly interrupted by chants of "the people demand the cleansing of the media" but he stopped short of making a direct reference to one of the headline-grabbing issues.

Supporters say Morsi must have a more tough approach when dealing with his critics while opponents say he had already started to curb the freedom of media by taking the liberal Dream TV off air earlier this month.

Morsi assured the crowds that he does not want to abuse his legislative power, adding that he would never use his authorities against any person or party.

"I'm only holding the legislative power out of necessity. I wanted to bring back the parliament, but I couldn't," he said.

"Paid thugs"

Morsi slammed Mohamed Mahmoud Street protesters, claiming they were "paid thugs" who were pushed to attack the police, adding that he does not accept any attack on state institutions.

Protesters commemorating last year's infamous Mohamed Mahmoud festivities, which left over 40 killed, engaged in fresh confrontations with police forces near the interior ministry since Monday evening.

"We saw videos showing little kids saying they were paid to throw rocks in Mohamed Mahmoud," he said.
They wouldn't have needed the money if their papas were were properly employed in a functioning economy...which Egypt doesn't have an iceberg's hope in Hell of achieving.
"The money stolen [during the Mubarak era] is now being used to disrupt the path of the revolution."

The president also alluded to "a new law", which will be used to "restore order" in Egypt.
Will it also make the trains run on time and clean out the undesirables?
"In the new law there is no room for cutting roads or stifling productions," he said in reference to the recent waves of labour action across the Egyptian private and public sectors.

"The Egyptian people are rising, but our enemies outside and few remnants of the past regime do not want us to. God protected our revolution and will make it victorious eventually.

While Morsi gave his speech, festivities continued around Tahrir Square. Tear gas canisters were thrown by CSF from Qasr Al-Ainy Street reaching edges of the square where thousands were gathered to protest the president's constitutional declaration.

The new constitutional declaration also saw Morsi dismiss the current prosecutor-general, bringing judge Talaat Abdullah, a former deputy head of Egypt's Court of Cassation, in his place.

Abdullah replaces Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud, who was recently at loggerheads with Morsi over a presidential decision to remove him from his post.

The declaration stipulates the retrial of all exonerated former regime figures and those accused of killing or injuring protesters during and after last year's Tahrir Square uprising.
The natural outcome of the foreign policy of the Smartest Man In The Room. Take pride in your work, Mr. President -- you own this.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood

#1  Backing the wrong guy once again ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/24/2012 9:12 Comments || Top||

#2  "I wouldn't hurt a fly" "I'm everyone's friend even my enemies" "kill the paid thugs"
Posted by: Large Darling of the Antelope3345 || 11/24/2012 9:59 Comments || Top||

#3  you've got to ... Walk Like An Egyptian.
ba ba ba bup
ba ba ba bup
ba ba ba bup bup bup!!!
Posted by: Raider || 11/24/2012 10:07 Comments || Top||

#4  does not aim to exact Dire Revenge™ on anyone

Aim for? Maybe not. A celebrated ancillary benefit? Definitely.
Posted by: AlanC || 11/24/2012 10:30 Comments || Top||

#5  Backing the wrong guy once again ?

Given the White House foreign policy, I'd say that they don't think so.
Posted by: Pappy || 11/24/2012 12:56 Comments || Top||

#6  "I sympathize with your position, but I'm still going to have to shoot you in the head. I'm sure you understand."
Posted by: Charles || 11/24/2012 16:05 Comments || Top||


France Warns Morsi Move Not in 'Right Direction'
[An Nahar] La Belle France on Friday raised concerns Egypt was not moving in the "right direction" after President Mohamed Morsi assumed sweeping powers decried by the opposition.

"After decades of dictatorship... the political and democratic transition cannot take place in a few weeks or a few months.

"Given this, the constitutional declaration made yesterday by President Morsi... does not seem to us to be in the right direction," said French foreign ministry front man Philippe Lalliot.

Reforms in Egypt "must lead to the establishment of democratic and pluralist institutions that respect public freedoms", among them the independence of the judiciary, he added.

On Thursday, Morsi undercut a hostile judiciary that had been considering whether to scrap an Islamist-dominated panel drawing up a new constitution in Egypt, stripping judges of the right to rule on the case or to challenge his decrees.

The move has sparked violent protests in Egypt.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336063 views] Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood

#1  him move not in right direction.
Tonto says - him big tricky dictator, kimosabe!!
Posted by: Raider || 11/24/2012 10:11 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Marijuana Use Causes Brain Damage Confirmed
Scientists have confirmed the long-held suspicion that frequent heavy marijuana use damage the brain's memory and learning capacity

Scientists have confirmed the long-held suspicion that frequent heavy marijuana use damages the brain's memory and learning capacity.

Australian researchers have showed for the first time that the earlier people start their marijuana habit, the worse the brain damage.

"Our results suggest that long-term cannabis use is hazardous to white matter in the developing brain. This was especially true for those who had started in adolescence, as we know the brain is still developing during this time," Lead researcher Dr. Marc Seal, from Melbourne's Murdoch Children's Research Institute said in a university release.

Scientists from MCRI, Melbourne University and Wollongong University compared MRI scans of the brain for 59 people who had been using marijuana for an average of 15 years to 33 healthy people who had never used the drug.

After measuring changes to the volume, strength and integrity of white matter in the brains of all participants, researchers found that long-term heavy cannabis users had disruptions in their white matter fibers.

The brain's white matter is responsible for information passed between different areas of grey matter within the nervous system, and unlike grey matter, which are the brain's thinking areas that peaks at age eight, white matter continues to develop as people age.

Seal and his team found that there was more than 80 percent reduction of white matter in the brains of users.

Additionally, researchers found that the average age of participants in the study started using cannabis when they were 16 years old, participants who started using the drug at a younger age like 10 or 11 had even more severe brain damage.

"This is the first study to demonstrate the age at which regular cannabis use begins is a key factor in determining the severity of the brain damage," Seal said, according to AAP.

He explained that marijuana interferes with naturally occurring cannabinoid receptors in the brain and by introducing external cannabinoids into a person's system it stops their white matter from maturing.

Researchers linked the significant changes in the white matter in the brain's hippocampus and commissural fibers, suggesting that long-term marijuana use may lead to memory impairment and deficits in learning and concentration ability.

"These people can have trouble learning new things and they are going to have trouble remembering things," Seal said.

"We don't know if the changes are irreversible but we do know that these changes are quite significant," he added.

Researchers said that the findings could not be explained by recreational drug and alcohol use. Researchers will monitor participants for the next two years to detect any further changes.

The latest findings add to results from previous smaller studies that showed that the brain's memory center, the hippocampus, shrunk in heavy marijuana users
Posted by: Au Auric || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336078 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "These people can have trouble learning new things and they are going to have trouble remembering things," Seal said.

Quick self-test: Name the 57 states.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/24/2012 0:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm...whut?
Posted by: tu3031 || 11/24/2012 3:51 Comments || Top||

#3  it stops their white matter from maturing.
Explains the shrinking Republican base.
Posted by: Shipman || 11/24/2012 4:11 Comments || Top||

#4  Our results suggest that long-term cannabis use is hazardous to white matter
and it makes dark, matter!
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/24/2012 4:40 Comments || Top||

#5  >Name the 57 states.

Oiho?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 11/24/2012 8:28 Comments || Top||

#6  Is that the state that's round on both ends and high in the middle?
Posted by: gorb || 11/24/2012 8:58 Comments || Top||

#7  Isn't the hippocampus George Washington University?

IMHO, there is a certain amount of DNA plinko, then the rest is personal choice, both in amount wanted and emotion of reaction. But age 10? Makes me a square within a square.

Just out of curiosity, any studies of the children of stage three vegans?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/24/2012 10:03 Comments || Top||

#8  Pot is responsible for a lot of good music and a number of solid comedies and I'm happy that some folks are so willing to put their brains at risk for our entertainment.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 11/24/2012 16:31 Comments || Top||

#9  @brightpebbles It's pronounced Iowa, yuh damn fool
Posted by: KBK || 11/24/2012 19:25 Comments || Top||

#10  Yuuuppp.

Unfortunately, here on Guam I've observed some of the new generation of Tweens + Teens snort Perfume-Scents, as well as burnt plastic, which I assume is derived from the latest fad(s) vee the US mainland.

The seriousness of their action as above sinks in once an "old guy" like me looks beyond my "Kidz today are just sooooooo weird" scope - UNLIKE THE NATURALLY-GROWN DRUG CROPS, YOUNG PEOPLE WHOM SNORT ARTIFICAL PERFUMES-SCENTS + BURNT PLASTIC, ETC. MAY NOT ONLY BE ABLE TO N-O-T GO "COLD TURKEY" + RECOVER BUT MAY ALSO BE PERMAMENTLY DAMAGING OR DESTROYING BOTH THEIR MENTAL ABILITIES AS WELL AS BODY FUNCTIONS + METABOLISM.

Most or all of the feared or known side-effects of meth, "ice", + "crack", etc. drug abuse may be nothing compared to the above.

Think STAR TREK:TNG'S CAPT. JEAN-LUC + RIKER TRAPPED IN THE ENTERPRISE'S HOLODECK WID
"DANTE'S INFERNO" OR OTHER HORROR, + NEVER ABLE TO LEAVE OR ESCAPE.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 11/24/2012 21:46 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Launching Bilawal Bhutto
[Dawn] It's been three decades since Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
...9th PM of Pakistain from 1973 to 1977, and 4th President of Pakistain from 1971 to 1973. He was the founder of the Pakistain Peoples Party (PPP). His eldest daughter, Benazir Bhutto, would also serve as hereditary PM. In a coup led by General Zia-ul-Haq, Bhutto was removed from office and was executed in 1979 for authorizing the murder of a political opponent...
created the hype around his persona and politics, and lasting it has certainly proven to be.

Today, his children and their off-springs might have moved away from each other, but efforts are in full swing to retain and cash in on the Bhutto name in the upcoming elections.

In conversations with Dawn, Pakistain People's Party (PPP) stalwarts confided that even though Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would turn 25 in September next year -- the minimum age to contest elections in the country -- his father President Asif Ali Ten Percent Zardari
... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who has been singularly lacking in curiosity about who done her in ...
is intent on launching his son's formal political career by May when general elections would be held.

A sitting PPP member of the National Assembly from Sindh claimed that just like it is unimaginable for the Congress in India to go into elections without a Gandhi leading its campaign, it is unthinkable for PPP leaders to disassociate themselves from the Bhuttos.

"Whether somebody likes it or not, Bilawal, Asifa and Bakhtawar are the face of the party. The PPP is synonymous with the Bhuttos, and after the untimely death of their mother, they have to don this mantle for the party's cause," he tried to rationalise the dynastic politics at play.

"It's an association that not even President Zardari can challenge. A Bhutto addressing an election rally always creates an extra amount of energy among voters, which the party cannot afford to lose with elections round the corner," he pointed out.

He added: "Since Bakhtawar, 22, doesn't take much interest in politics, and Asifa, 19, is too young to address public rallies, the PPP is left with no choice but to field Bilawal in active politics. The sisters will be making appearances in the run-up to the general elections."

Indeed, a dedicated group of party leaders is actively involved in grooming Bilawal, and brief him on party affairs regularly.

Their job is made easier by the fact that over the last year or so, Bilawal himself has started taking interest in politics.

Insiders told this scribe that the speech that Bilawal delivered on Tuesday to a group of students invited to the Presidency under the programme titled "Pakistain: Leaders of Tomorrow" had more thought put into it than realised by people.

"Do you really think it was just an off-the-cuff speech," remarked the PPP source, "It was a 4,000 plus words speech that highlighted every single issue of the country both on the domestic and international level. This series of public interactions to selected students from universities all over the country is the launch of his political life."Indeed, Bilawal talked about the country's on-going fight against militancy, PPP's so-called achievements over the last four years and his willingness to work with 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...
, Imran Khan
... aka Taliban Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality problems...
, 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...
, and any other political force willing to participate in the election.

And quite expectedly, he brought in his late mother Benazir Bhutto
... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in...
's resolve and vision for the betterment of the country, and repeatedly drew parallels between his mother's struggle for a liberal and educated Pakistain with Malala Yousafzai, a young girl shot by the Taliban for advocating girls education.

Another parliamentarian told Dawn said that familial links have deep roots in Pak politics and will stay for a long time to come which will not give new people a chance to come in and prove their mettle.

"Can the Pakistain Moslem League-Nawaz contest elections without the Sharif brothers as the party's premier candidates, or can someone else besides Asfandyar Wali Khan lead the Awami National Party?" the PPP leader went on, "I can't predict the future, how these political parties will play out 10 to 20 years down the road in the country, but for the moment, it is all about families and their iron fist on their respective parties."

"These families do not want to share anything with people sitting around them," he concluded.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336065 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Can the GOP avoid nominating another Bush? Can the dems avoid nominating swillary? Only time will tell...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 11/24/2012 10:45 Comments || Top||

#2  As long as he stays away from open automobile sunroofs, he should be okay.
Posted by: Pappy || 11/24/2012 14:13 Comments || Top||


Peshawar police under attack: Militants kill three cops at checkposts
[Dawn] Militants on Thursday attacked two police checkposts in the thriving provincial capital, killing three personnel.

However,
it was a brave man who first ate an oyster...
two bombs were defused near a cop shoppe. The first attack was carried out in Badbher area against a checkpost manned by police and Frontier Constabulary personnel at Maloot Chowk on Frontier Road close to Khyber Agency.

Two police constables, Rehman Wali of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
and Shamsur Rehman of Akbarpura area in Nowshera, died in the attack.

A police official of the Rural Circle told Dawn that a group of snuffies armed with sophisticated weapons attacked the checkpost from Khyber Agency at 11am.

He said coppers and FC personnel retaliated but Rehman and Shams suffered serious bullet injuries.

The official said one of the coppers was struck down in his prime, while the other was found dead at a nearby place after snuffies retreated.

Later in the evening, snuffies hurled a hand grenade inside the Ring Road police post in Paharipura area, injuring four coppers.

A police official said the injured personnel were shifted to Lady Reading Hospital but one of them, Wahid Zaman, died before reaching there. The official said it was not known if attackers were riding a cycle of violence or a car.

Also in the day, police detected two bombs planted under the newly-built one-kilometre long Sikandar Khan Khalil Flyover in Gul Bahar area.

The bombs were packed in shopping bags and kept behind the cemented blocks.

The bomb detection led to the suspension of the traffic on the city's main artery for around an hour.

Police later called in the Bomb Disposal Unit personnel, who went kaboom! the bombs, causing panic among road users and local residents.

According to BDU officials, one of the bomb weighed around three kilogrammes and the other 500 grammes.

"Had the bombs went kaboom!, they would have damaged the flyover," an official said.

In the evening, unidentified people fired a rocket in Peshtakhara area damaging part of a house on Abdara Road.

However,
it was a brave man who first ate an oyster...
it caused no damage to human life.

Police said it seemed that the rocket was fired from adjacent Khyber Agency. They said only the investigation would reveal what the rocket was aimed at.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336065 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Africa North
Morsi: No One Can Stop Our March Forward
[An Nahar] Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Morsi told supporters on Thursday that Egypt was on the path to "freedom and democracy," a day after he assumed sweeping powers that critics said made him a dictator.

"Political stability, social stability and economic stability are what I want and that is what I am working for," he told an Islamist rally outside the presidential palace.

Secular opponents staged a rival rally in Cairo's Tahrir Square to denounce Morsi's power grab after he issued a decree on Thursday that gives his decisions immunity from judicial oversight.

"I have always been, and still am, and will always be, God willing, with the pulse of the people, what the people want, with clear legitimacy," he said from a podium before thousands of supporters.

"God wants welfare, stability, freedom and democracy for this country," he added.

"I am with you but I'm also with all of Egypt's sons, with those who support us and with those who oppose us and I will never take sides," Morsi told his supporters.

The president stressed that the values of freedom, democracy and power rotation "must be above all else."

He noted that no one can claim that they own the revolution, "because the revolution is led by its objectives: a new and secure Egypt."

The president stressed that the presence of an opposition movement is essential. "I'm not worried at all that there is an opposition. We rather need a strong opposition and I will preserve all its rights so that it can practice its role," he said.

"I want to tell everyone that we have equal rights in this country and Egypt is for us all," said Morsi.

He noted that he did not take his controversial decisions "with the aim of confronting anyone."

"I must put myself on the right path in order to achieve the objectives," Morsi added.

The defiant leader stressed that he "will not allow anyone to act outside the umbrella of the country."

Commenting on the unrest that erupted in the wake of the constitutional declaration he issued, Morsi said: "We will not tolerate corrupt money and I cannot allow thugs to harm the country's security."

Accusing the regime of toppled strongman Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
of playing a role in the protests, Morsi added: "Corrupt money collected during the corrupt era is being paid to thugs so that they attack state institutions, but the revolution will go on."

"We will not be lenient in implementing the law firmly against those who disobey it," he vowed.

In remarks carried by the official MENA news agency earlier on Friday, Morsi said: "No one can stop our march forward... I am performing my duty to please God and the nation and I take decisions after I consult with everyone."

Morsi delivered his Cairo speech as protesters set fire to Moslem Brüderbund offices across the country and amid rival rallies and festivities.

The offices of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the Moslem Brüderbund's political arm, were torched in the canal cities of Ismailiya and Port Saeed.

A branch office of the Islamist party was set on fire in Alexandria and protesters were heading to the group's main office in the Mediterranean city's Sidi Gaber neighborhood, security officials said.

"The situation in Alexandria is tense and security forces are eager to exercise self-restraint and maintain security and protect vital establishments," General Abdelmawgud Lutfi, head of Alexandria security, said in a statement.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336065 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Morsi: No One Can Stop Our March Forward [into the sea]
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 11/24/2012 16:40 Comments || Top||

#2  Forward...forward...where have I heard that before?
Posted by: Lowspark || 11/24/2012 17:04 Comments || Top||

#3  We should vote to cut off food aid to all dictatorships: N Korea, Sudan, Egypt, Syria, ....wait, Egypt? Yep
Posted by: Frank G || 11/24/2012 17:16 Comments || Top||

#4  As a slogan, "Forward" has a much better ring than "Swirling the Bowl".
Posted by: SteveS || 11/24/2012 17:19 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran: Turkey's Patriot Request 'Complicates' Syria Conflict
[An Nahar] Turkey's request to site Patriot missiles on its border with Syria only "complicates" the conflict in the Arab country, Iran's foreign ministry said on Friday.

"Not only does it not help resolve the situation in Syria but it will also aggravate and complicate the situation," ministry front man Ramin Mehmanparast said, quoted on state television.
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
"The insistence (of certain countries) to resolve the Syrian crisis through military means is the main cause of tensions and threats in the region," he said.

Turkey turned to its NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants...
partners earlier this week to request the deployment of surface-to-air Patriot missiles to protect its troubled border with Syria, which is engulfed in a civil war that has cost some 40,000 lives.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned on Friday that such a deployment may create a temptation to use the weapons and spark a "very serious armed conflict" involving NATO.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336072 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned on Friday that such a deployment may create a temptation to use the weapons and spark a "very serious armed conflict" involving NATO.

Is Foreign Minister Lavrov referring to the recent, highly successful NATO operation in Libya ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/24/2012 7:29 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Taliban, elders join hands against 'criminals' in N. Waziristan
[Dawn] The local Taliban and elders of Uthmanzai tribe have formed a joint lashkar to take action against those elements, who are involved in murders, kidnappings and attacks on security forces.

The 100 men strong lashkar was formed at a jirga held at Anghar Kallay near 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...
here on Thursday. The jirga was attended by Taliban and Uthmanzai elders.

Local Taliban capo Hafiz Gul Bahadur, Maulvi Gul Ramazan, Malik Nasrullah Khan, Malik Misal Khan and others addressed the jirga.

They said that peace agreement inked with the government was still intact. They also urged security forces not to violate the peace agreement inked with the tribal people.

"Kidnappers, forces of Evil and those involved in attacks on security forces should leave North Wazoo Agency immediately," the jirga decided unanimously. The lashkar would patrol markets and other public places in Miranshah and its adjacent areas.

The jirga authorised the lashkar to launch an action against criminals, kidnappers, hit mans and those, who were attacking security forces.

Sources said that the decision was taken keeping in view the growing incidents of kidnappings, and killing of tribal elders and attacks on security forces during the past few weeks.

Recently, two tribal elders -- Malik Mashar Khan and Malik Noor Din Darpakhel -- were targeted killed. Besides, a military tank was destroyed in a roadside kaboom on Sunday last. A newspaper hawker, Omar Daraz, was also kidnapped in the area.

The elders asked the administration to allow the lashkar to man the checkposts along with security personnel.

Hafiz Gul Bahadur asked political administration not to misuse Frontier Crimes Regulation and stop bombing of civilian targets. "The political administration should not misuse its powers as we are aware of our responsibilities under the FCR," he said.

Later, the jirga members headed by Malik Nasrullah Khan and Maulvi Gul Ramazan, called on Political Agent Siraj Ahmad Khan and apprised him of the decisions taken at the joint jirga.

The political agent appreciated the decisions of the jirga and urged the elders to play their role in lifting 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 the area.

Taliban had banned polio vaccination in the area that deprived thousands of children of immunisation during the last few months. Taliban say that they will allow vaccination in the area if drone attacks are stopped.

The jirga also discussed the issue of suspension of electricity to North Waziristan Agency and demanded of the administration to allow the joint lashkar to take action against Bakakhel tribe for disrupting the power supply.

Power supply to North Waziristan was suspended on Thursday when people of B
Power supply to North Waziristan was suspended on Thursday when people of Bakakhel tribe hooked the 132,000kv transmission line with a chain.
akakhel tribe hooked the 132,000kv transmission line with a chain. The power suspension paralysed life in the tribal agency.

The jirga elders said that few gunnies of Bakakhel tribe had disconnected the electricity supply while Bannu administration failed to take action against them.

The elders threatened that the tribal lashkar could take up arms against the Bakakhels but they were waiting for the administration to initiate action in that regard. They held the Bannu administration responsible for the power crisis in North Waziristan Agency.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan


Bangladesh
Shibir men fight cops
[Bangla Daily Star] Islami Chhatra Shibir
... the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh...
activists early yesterday hurled a bomb and brickbats on police in Jessore town while the law enforcers besieged a student's mess allegedly controlled by the pro-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...
student body supporters.

In return, police fired two blank shots and tossed in the slammer
You have the right to remain silent...
12 Shibir men from the mess who gathered there to plot subversive activities, reports our Jessore correspondent quoting Golam Rahman, officer-in-charge (OC) of Sadar Police Station.

The OC said a team of police conducted a drive at Munshi Bari Mess, locally known as a strong den of Shibir men, early yesterday. Sensing their presence,
My spider sense! It's tingling again! To arms! Aux barricades!
the Shibir men hurled a bomb and huge quantity of brickbats on them.

Meanwhile,
...back at the revival hall, the SWAT team had finally arrived...
in Jessore town yesterday noon, three persons including a director of a coaching centre were stabbed and a coaching centre was torched allegedly by the activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League
... the student wing of the Bangla Awami League ...
, a pro-Awami League student organization.

The attackers ransacked Radar and Focus coaching centres, operated by Shibir, at Eidgah intersection and torched Radar Coaching Centre.

They stabbed Hafizur Rahman, a director of Radar; Shahadat Hossain, an employee; and Sujit Pal, an employee of an advocate's chamber which the attackers mistakenly ransacked.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


India-Pakistan
Data gleaned from SIM card found at twin blasts site
[Dawn] All contact details and text messages, even the deleted ones, were retrieved on Thursday from a subscriber identity module (SIM) found at the scene of the crime of the twin blasts in Orangi Town.

While the forensic division of police also deciphered the identification number of the SIM and passed on all the information to an inquiry officer of the case, the name of the subscriber remains to be ascertained.

"We have analysed and retrieved all the contacts and deleted messages from the (SIM) card in the 'digital forensic lab' recently commissioned in the Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
office of Forensic Division," said AIG Forensic Division SSP Munir Sheikh while speaking to Dawn.

"We have been able to find out that no call had been made from the SIM nor any call had been received on it," the officer added.

"The identification number (i.e) SIM number has also been deciphered, we have handed over all the gleaned information to the inquiry officer of the case," SSP Sheikh said.

A team of the forensic division had collected the SIM card and a cellphone from the scene of the crime on Wednesday night and brought it to the lab for an examination.

The officer said the name of the person who had subscribed the SIM had not been ascertained so far, citing that it was yet to be seen if it belonged to any person involved in the twin blasts.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Caribbean-Latin America
For Rantburg's Sunday Morning Coffee Pot: Humberto Moreira's exculpation


Almost 51 weeks after the resignation of Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) president and former governer Humberto Moreira, Felipe Calderon's own attorney general declares Moreira exculpated for criminal wrongdoing for his role in the massive acuisition of public debt while governor of Coahuila.

A year after his quest of exculpation began, and even after facing the hardest loss a father will ever face, the violent death of his son, Mexico's rumor mill is that Moreira may try to seek a new role in the government of president-elect Enrique Pena Nieto.

Rantburg correspondent Chris Covert looks back at Moreira and the circumstances of his travails since the Coahuila debt scandal began.
Posted by: badanov || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Leb Army Command Says Pierre Hashash Arrested for 'Insulting Military Institution'
[An Nahar] The Army Command said on Friday that the arrest of rap artist and the former candidate to the parliamentary elections Pierre Hashash came after "his statements offended the military institution and its members".

"Hashash was placed in long-term storage
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
and questioned following statements he made on the eve of Independence Day," the army' statement explained, adding that he "incited others to attack the military institution and tarnish its reputation on social networking websites".

"Investigations have revealed that the detainee has outstanding charges against him and these are being examined by the competent court," the army said, explaining why Hashash is still under arrest to this day.

Hashash was beaten up by the army intelligence squad and arrested on Wednesday following a post he wrote on his Facebook page in which he criticized a roundabout holding Army Commander's name "for causing traffic jam" in Batroun city, LBCI reported.

His statement was soon replaced with a picture showing his blood stains on the steps of al-Batroun Serail stairs.

"Pierre was beaten up by army officers and his head was bleeding when he got arrested," Hashash's sister told LBCI.

"The Army Command is keen on preserving freedom of speech, but it will not tolerate any violations serving individuals at the expense of the higher national interest," the army's statement expressed.

Hashash rose to fame in 2005 when he presented his candidacy for the parliamentary elections in Batroun and accompanied his nomination with a sarcastic PR campaign that gained wide media attention and coverage.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Pierre has hash man, like wow, and he's a Rap Artist. Yeah, Rap does offend the senses, Pierre must not have been mellow enough. Dude, use your Brain, Dems the Cops, chill out.
Posted by: Au Auric || 11/24/2012 7:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Facebook, the electric fence of farm pasture urination.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/24/2012 7:43 Comments || Top||

#3  Must have picked up some smoke from the last article... I'm buzzed.
Posted by: Au Auric || 11/24/2012 7:43 Comments || Top||

#4  Yeah, when Fred does a Sandoz in the News story it goes on for weeks.
Posted by: Shipman || 11/24/2012 11:36 Comments || Top||


Africa North
EU Urges Morsi to Respect Egypt's Democratic Process
[An Nahar] The European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
on Friday urged Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi to respect the democratic process after he assumed sweeping powers decried by the opposition as dictatorial.

"It is of utmost importance that democratic process be completed in accordance with the commitments undertaken by the Egyptian leadership," a front man for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement.

Morsi must ensure the separation of powers, the independence of justice, the protection of fundamental freedoms and the holding of democratic parliamentary elections "as soon as possible", said front man Michael Mann.

Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi vowed Friday to press forward after he assumed sweeping powers decried by the opposition as dictatorial.

"No one can stop our march forward... I am performing my duty to please God and the nation and I take decisions after I consult with everyone," the official MENA news agency quoted him as saying.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood

#1  urged Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi to respect the democratic process

The EU??? Why should Morsi be held to a standard that the EU certainly doesn't hold to.
Posted by: AlanC || 11/24/2012 10:31 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Jamming cell phones will not stop us: Taliban spokesman
[Dawn] A front man for the Pak Taliban has claimed that suspending mobile phone services in the country will not hold back the bad turban group from carrying out its activities.

Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) front man Ehsanullah Ehsan, speaking on the telephone to a Dawn.com correspondent from Qazi's guesthouse an undisclosed location, claimed the banned group does not carry out bombings using cellular phones as detonators.

"We do not carry out bombings through mobile phones," said the Taliban front man.

The bad turban group's claim came on a day of cellular service suspension in several parts of the country, with the interior minister announcing services would be blocked again Saturday morning for the next two days after a few hours of restoration Friday midnight.

Pak authorities say cut-throats often detonate bombs using cell phones, with Interior Minister Rehman Malik
Pak politician, Interior Minister under the Gilani government. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. He had to give up the interior ministry job because he held dual Brit citizenship.
claiming earlier today that 90 per cent of the bombs set off by cut-throats in Pakistain have been detonated using mobile phones.

"The Taliban can not be stopped by jamming mobile phone services. We would achieve our targets in any case," said Ehsan, accusing Malik of blocking cellular services for "his own personal business interests".
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336065 views] Top|| File under: TTP

#1  Actually the pressure plate IED is the easiest, least expensive, and by far the most common. It can be left unarmed and unattended, and quickly armed with fresh batteries when needed.

Hanging around a waddie or kopje with a command detonator hoping to slip away following the blast has its downsides, particularly if a drone is nearby.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/24/2012 7:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Block it anyway
Posted by: Large Darling of the Antelope3345 || 11/24/2012 9:56 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Libya Against Aid To Syrian Rebels
[Tripoli Post] Libya's interim president and head of the General National Congress, Mohammed al-Magharief has said he is against any foreign intervention in Syria or the arming of the opposition.

Addressing a presser with Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki, Dr Magharief laid out their joint positions on Syria against foreign interference.

Both also called for Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Lord of the Baath...
to step down.

Dr al-Magharief said they were withholding recognition of the new Syrian opposition coalition until they could evaluate how representative it was.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336065 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
French Muslim plans 'mosque for gays'
Stay safe. You'll be in our prayers -- for those of us who pray -- and in our thoughts -- for those of us who don't.
Mohammed Ludovic Lutfi Zahed returned to France from the Hajj with a strange idea. After going on his pilgrimage, Zahed felt enlightened and decided he wanted to give something to his gay Muslim community in Paris: Opening a "mosque for gays."

He said, "In normal mosques, women have to sit in the back seats and wear a headscarf and gay men are afraid of both verbal and physical aggression. After performing the Hajj, I realized that a mosque for gays was a must for gay Muslims who want to perform their prayers."

During Hajj, women and men are not segregated. Both sexes crowd together during all the rituals of Hajj. When they are doing tawaaf (circling around Kaaba), men and women are all together.

Zahed, founder of association of Gay Muslims in France (HM2F), said he will use a Buddhist chapel where Friday prayers and gay marriages would be performed. He explained, "We will start with Friday prayers, but we will perform marriages afterwards."

Zahed is convinced that the mosque will help to fight against homophobia in Islam and Islamophobia within the gay community in France.
Posted by: ryuge || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Out of the closet and off the roof.
Posted by: AlanC || 11/24/2012 10:35 Comments || Top||

#2  I for one am quite interested in the mosque of mhommad al-iberace project. In fact, it should dominate the news cycle as the premier example of the religious tolerance and liberal-moderate leanings of the euro-islam hybrid of tolerance.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/24/2012 11:19 Comments || Top||

#3  this sounds fishy

story is from a news outlet in Jakarta, Indonesia and picked up by various other places but I can't find anything in any French paper
Posted by: lord garth || 11/24/2012 18:43 Comments || Top||


Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336074 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Birthday Gam Shot

Katherine Heigl [Filmography](age 34)


Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 11/24/2012 12:23 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Swabi bomb blast injures two: Police
[Dawn] At least two people were maimed when a remote controlled bomb went kaboom! on Mardan road in the area of Swabi, DawnNews reported.

The bomb was planted in a cycle near a plaza which exploded using a remote control, police sources said.

The police sources added that two pedestrians, who were maimed in the kaboom, have been shifted to a hospital.

The building was also partially damaged by the blast.

Police cordoned off the area and initiated a search operation.
Posted by: Fred || 11/24/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under: TTP



Who's in the News
32[untagged]
6TTP
4Muslim Brotherhood
3Arab Spring
2Taliban
2Lashkar e-Jhangvi
2Govt of Syria
2Govt of Pakistan
2Jamaat-e-Islami
1al-Qaeda in Pakistan
1Boko Haram
1Govt of Iran
1Hamas

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
Comments Spam
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
RSS Links
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio
Sink Trap

Alzheimer's Association
Day by Day
Counterterrorism
Hair Through the Ages







On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2012-11-24
  7 People Killed in Pakistan Shiite Procession
Fri 2012-11-23
  IDF, Shin Bet Arrest 55 Terror Operatives In West Bank
Thu 2012-11-22
  Mashaal: I accept a Palestinian state on '67 borders
Wed 2012-11-21
  'Bomb blast' on bus in Tel Aviv
Tue 2012-11-20
  Female Suicide Boomer Targets Qazi
Mon 2012-11-19
  Israeli Strikes Kill 21 Palestinians, Gaza Rockets Wound 10 Israelis
Sun 2012-11-18
  Israeli air strikes pound Gaza as death toll hits 38
Sat 2012-11-17
   Israel air strikes hit Hamas HQ
Fri 2012-11-16
  Israel Warns of Escalation After Tel Aviv Missile Firing
Thu 2012-11-15
  Gaza missiles fired at Tel Aviv
Wed 2012-11-14
  France recognizes rebel coalition as legitimate rulers of Syria
Tue 2012-11-13
  Jamaat, Shibir go berserk in Bangla
Mon 2012-11-12
  Govt. Soldiers shoot it out in Mogadishu
Sun 2012-11-11
  IDF Changes Rules of Engagement Along Syrian Border
Sat 2012-11-10
  Mexican police charged over US embassy staff shooting

Better than the average link...



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.
54.226.25.246
Paypal:
WoT Background (20)    Non-WoT (18)    Opinion (3)    (0)    Politix (1)