British embassies in the eurozone have been told to draw up plans to help British expats through the collapse of the single currency, amid new fears for Italy and Spain.
As the Italian government struggled to borrow and Spain considered seeking an international bail-out, British ministers privately warned that the break-up of the euro, once almost unthinkable, is now increasingly plausible. Diplomats are preparing to help Britons abroad through a banking collapse and even riots arising from the debt crisis. Oh c'mon now: surely socialists don't riot just because things don't go their way...
The Treasury confirmed earlier this month that contingency planning for a collapse is now under way. A senior minister has now revealed the extent of the Government's concern, saying that Britain is now planning on the basis that a euro collapse is now just a matter of time.
"It's in our interests that they keep playing for time because that gives us more time to prepare," the minister told the Daily Telegraph.
#2
I think a capsule summary of the European defensive policy is to hold committee hearings until the situation has become critical, then use nuclear weapons.
#3
What makes this extra troubling is that a group of major banks are now forming contingency plans openly, explaining that "the collapse of the Euro has moved from a possibility to a probability."
If it was just the FO or the banks, it wouldn't matter so much, but both of them, and right when Portugal, Hungary and Belgium have been downgraded should totally unnerve the markets.
And then Germany had a bond issue failure, with 1/3rd left unsold. They are the most secure bond on the continent.
An Egyptian police officer, dubbed by protesters 'The Eye Hunter', is suspected of targeting demonstrators by shooting them in the eyes.
First Lieutenant Mahmoud Sobhi El Shinawi has been ordered by Egypt's general prosecutor to submit to questioning over the suspected shootings.
Video evidence recorded by protesters allegedly show that El Shinawi was involved in the attacks on at least five demonstrators, which have been posted on Facebook. A spokesperson for the country's general prosecutor told CNN: 'The Ministry of Interior is preoccupied by the latest events, but he will come in for questioning soon.'
And protesters, who call El Shinawi 'The Eye Hunter' want justice too and have sprayed graffiti spelling 'wanted' over images of his face, name and rank on Tahrir Square walls in Cairo. Protesters have also been handing out fliers in the square identifying him and offering a reward of 5,000 Egyptian pounds (£53) for information leading to El Shinawi.
El Shinawi is said to be a 'highly trained marksman', CNN was told by an Interior Ministry spokesman.
One victim, Ahmed Harrara, was blinded by being shot in both eyes in separate attacks 10 months apart. He was first shot on January 28 and then once again in his other eye last Sunday with a rubber bullet. He should count his blessings: the sniper was so good Ahmed only lost his eyes, and nothing behind them...
The father of a woman gunned down with her Scottish businessman husband was last night named as the chief suspect in what is thought to have been an honour killing.
Glasgow-based Saif Rehman, 31, and Uzma Naurin, 30, from New York, were shot dead on a trip to Pakistan, when their car was ambushed in the north-eastern city of Gujrat.
Police in the country say Miss Naurins taxi driver father, 58-year-old Muzaffar Hussain, is being viewed as a chief suspect in the shootings.
A friend of hers in Scotland last night said the marriage had been approved by her family but her first husband, who has not yet been identified, is said to have killed himself.
She was later told to marry the dead mans brother in another arranged match but refused to do so as he was too young. The Paki punishment for wasting a free American visa is ... Death.
Chief Imran Khan on Saturday strongly condemned the unprovoked Nato attack on Salala Check Post in the Momand Agency and called upon civilian leadership to immediately withdraw from its alliance from US-led war against terrorism.
While terming the attack as an insane and immoral brutality, Khan said such attacks reflected the hollowness and counter-productivity of Pakistans involvement in the aimless war on terror that had been unleashed to subdue the proud people of the region.
The PTI chief was speaking to a public gathering in Shujaabad.
He said Pakistan had already sacrificed 40,000 people and an equal number of people had been maimed and become handicapped. Pakistan had also incurred a loss of over $75 billion in the bargain, yet it was being incessantly targeted by the forces of its so-called ally, he added.
The PTI chief said that the government had failed to safeguard Pakistans security and strategic interests because of the compromises it had made under the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) with foreign forces to come to power in the country.
He said government did not have the moral stature to stand up for defending Pakistans strategic interests and should, therefore, quit immediately.
#1
I wonder what was really going on at that checkpoint. Our pilots are a cautious bunch, and a concentrated, platoon sized element seems a bit much for a mere checkpoint.
#4
OTOH DEFENCE FORUM INDIA > IRAN'S NUCLEAR SHOWDOWN STILL SHORT OF WAR.
Again, Iran will prefer to stay on the strategic defensive AMAP ALAP, which in its mind means or infers that the burden is on the US + ISRAEL, etal. to attack it - NOT JUST TO STRIKE IRAN, BUT TO INVADE + OCCUPY IT.
IRAN EITHER GETS ITS NUKES, OR ELSE IRAN GETS INVADED.
#2
Genuuuine Barack-brand Mom Jeans and Golf-Club Covers (mulligans included)
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/26/2011 15:05
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What no bongs, incense, lava lamps, rolling papers, black lights, "best of" speeches on CD, or autographed books such as Dreams of My Father or Mao's little red book? So Obama is interested in capitalism at a very personal level--just not for the rest of us.
Reuters) - NATO helicopters and fighter jets attacked two military outposts in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing as many as 28 troops and plunging U.S.-Pakistan relations, already deeply frayed, further into crisis.... I imagine once all the shooting's stopped, we'll find out they shot first. Of course that may be a couple years from now. Or more.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain ||
11/26/2011
11:25 ||
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#1
The last time something like this happened, a border outpost was providing fire support for their jihadi brothers. The Pakis raised a stink until video of them firing on Americans was released.
#2
Definitely smells like some teensy details are missing, such as how the whole mess got started. Rooters, huh? Didn't they used to be famous for like, news reporting and stuff?
#6
See also WAFF > [YouTube = Video news] "NATO STRIKE [is] REVENGE FOR PAKISTAN CRACKDOWN ON CIA ASSETS".
and
* SAME > [Debka] ISRAEL, JORDAN ON [high] ALERT OVER THREATENED SYRIAN REVENGE FOR SIX PILOTS' DEATH, ambushed in civilian car while driving on the Hons-Palmyra highway near the Syrian AFB at Tiyas.
#7
Take the opening and move all American personnel out of Pakland in preparation for another 'Anabasis', this time a march to Indian Ocean. We know who the real enemy is. Time to act on it. Xenophon to the white courtesy phone.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A group of students from the United Arab Emirates have demanded an apology from Charlotte Douglas airport security officials and an airline after they were removed from a Washington-bound flight and questioned.
Sorry. But your co-religiists are at war with us, and there are consequences. When you get home you might want to denounce the idiot jihadis who caused you such embarrassment.
According to a report from ABC News affiliate WJLA in Washington, D.C., several members of the group were removed from U.S. Airways flight 1768 from Charlotte to Washington and questioned by police. The process caused a nearly five-hour delay. According to flight data, the flight was supposed to take off at 4:35 p.m. Thursday, but did not make its way down the runway until 9:30 p.m.
U.S. Airways officials said a "security issue" led to several passengers -- namely the students from the UAE -- to be rescreened before the flight was cleared for flight.
Sorry, that's the captain's perogative. He doesn't have to take anyone he considers a threat to his crew and passengers.
However, several people in that group are demanding an apology from airport security and U.S. Airways, WJLA reports.
No doubt they will get an apology. Equally no doubt it will be a meaningless pro forma.
"We want an apology and an explanation to why they took us off the plane and then left us there," Yaqoob Al-Shamsi, one of the passengers removed from the flight, told WJLA. "We were emotionally hurt. We want them to tell people that they didn't do anything."
U.S. Airways officials only said a "security issue" was reported. They said they took all the bags off the flight, rescreened them, and put them back on. But they wouldn't comment on how they dealt with passengers.
Students, though, said security officers came on board their plane. "He told me, 'Get your bag and leave the plane now,'" Al-Dhaheri said. Other members of the group said authorities questioned them about the reason for their visit to the nation's capital as well as where they were from and whether they had military training and experience.
"They were questioned a lot," student Salem Al-Mansoori said. "I mean, 'What do you do every day, where do you go.'"
Al-Mansoori said he is training to be a pilot. Al-Dhaheri said he switched seats because he received a different boarding card. He also said that according to security officers, passengers reported they heard the group talking about airplanes and the military while on board. Sources said that's when some passengers reported them.
Three strikes and you're out, my dear. Sorry. Separately, a hearty "Well done!" to the captain, the security team, and the passengers who reported our high-spirited visitors.
#1
Oh holy heck. If they didn't screen the heck out of these guys, they would have been sorely remiss. And I bet once back in the plane, they were joined by several armed air marshals.
1) Traveling as a group.
2) Studying to be a pilot.
3) Talking about planes and military subjects.
4) Flying to Washington, D.C.
5) Native to a country with ongoing agitation and infiltration by Iran.
6) Freaking Muslims.
7) Switching seats.
If I had been on that flight, I would have demanded a different plane. FTS.
#5
In early February 1999, Clarke met with Al Maktoum, one of the UAE royals who was known to hunt with Bin Laden, in the UAE. Al Maktoum was a big supporter of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. And although people often forget, two of the 9-11 hijackers were citizens of the UAE and the vast majority of money supporting the attacks flowed through the UAE.
The 9/11 Commission Report has six references to the UAE, most of which can be found on page 138. One of these suggests that but for the cooperation of the UAE, we would have killed Bin Ladin two years in advance of September 11.
#6
They should apologize for creating such an inconvenience and their visas should be revoked to make an example out of them. I don't believe they were terrorists but I do believe they were playing games with the other passengers and the system and probably contacted Cair ahead of time.
In cash-strapped Washington, President Obamas $1 trillion health care law is presenting a tempting target for lawmakers seeking funds for other projects, as Congress last week raided the health care piggy bank for the third time in less than a year. This might turn out just like Social Security.
Congress last week axed a part of Democrats signature domestic achievement to find $11 billion to cover the cost of repealing a withholding tax that otherwise would have hit government contractors in 2013. Mr. Obama signed that bill into law on Monday. So Congress is raiding money from a fund that has no money until 2013? They have some Cracker-jack Accountants.
The withholding bill follows two other efforts one in December and another in April that reworked the health care law to squeeze savings for other priorities. The December bill funded higher payments for doctors who treat Medicare patients, and the April legislation repealed a paperwork provision in the original health care law that businesses said would be onerous.
All told, Congress and the president have tapped some $50 billion earmarked to pay for benefits and programs in the health care overhaul in future years to fund more-immediate spending needs. Where are they gonna get the money in futyre years? Borrow more from the Chinese?
Both earlier efforts dealt with health care issues, but the bill Mr. Obama signed Monday marks the first time that the massive 2010 law has been tapped to fund something completely unrelated. What happens if the Supremes find the bill unconstitutional?
They dont want to open it up. Theyre getting forced to open it up now and then, but to open it up for budgetary reasons, I think the pressures are pretty real, said former Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Holtz-Eakin, who said its easier to cut future benefits than it is to cut programs that are already paying out. The Money quote.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
11/26/2011
09:20 ||
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#1
It's easier to make imaginary cuts that real ones. Meanwhile the Feds continue to waste stupendous amounts, like the Solyndra 0.4 billion, an utter and total waste.
#2
Our government is burning through an extra $6 billion or more each day, maybe more. This is just a distraction. Since we hit $14 trillion debt, we are already about 4% of the way to $15 trillion. They are buying many people's vote with their children's money. Sad.
#4
ION CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > [Stephen S. Roach] AMERICA'S 87 OTHER DEFICITS. US multilateral trade imbalance wid Countries other than China.
ARTIC = denotes that the US no longer has any NET NATIONAL SAVINGS RATE ANYMORE.
versus
* SAME > WHY INDIA WILL BE THE WORLD'S NUMBER ONE ECONOMY BY 2050.
ARTIC = claims that China could take over the World #1 spot from the US by 2020, whereupon hence Rising India could take over the #2 spot from the US again circa 2040, then ultimately the #1 spot from China in 2050.
versus
* SAME > PRINCE CHARLES, A DESCENDANT OF DRACULA, COULD BECOME KING OF ROMANIA, iff the Monarchy there is restored.
#1
They should seek a legal injunction against those attorneys for what amounts to "receiving stolen goods", as willing participants in asset diversion and concealment. The court could go so far as to declare that those attorneys return any unused retainers paid to them, or even that contingency fee contracts were now the property of the creditors, and as such could be canceled without any penalty clauses being invoked.
#2
RH has brought in a high-powered IP attorney to their outside counsel. Probably both to signal an intent to not roll over, and to make peace with the IP litigation industry.
Posted by: The MOSSAD ||
11/26/2011 10:13
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#2
Djinns. Gotta be Djinns
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/26/2011 11:35
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#3
In May, Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi announced the arrest of 30 CIA spies who he said had been recruited to map out Irans energy infrastructure.
The paranoia is almost as good as the explosions.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
11/26/2011 13:01
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#4
Idiots....they missed the ones burrowed in high level at the IRGC
*whoops!*
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/26/2011 15:01
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#5
Iranians cannot manage gas pipelines, but want nuclear bombs. Go for the simple stuff first boys.
Doctors were left astounded after a gigantic baby set a new record for Germanys heaviest-ever naturally born newborn Friday. The boy was named Jihad.
The 6-kilogramme (13-pound) boy was born at Berlins Charité hospital to a 40-year-old, 240-kilogramme (528-pound) woman who also had gestational diabetes and most likely a metabolic disorder, according to doctors.
Women suffering from untreated gestational diabetes when a pregnant woman who doesnt previously suffer from diabetes has excessively high blood sugar tend to produce particularly overweight babies.
Such newborns are often delivered via caesarean section because they can suffer from oxygen deficiency or shoulder dislocations during birth.
But in this case the mother opted for a vaginal birth, which lasted seven hours and luckily went off without a hitch.
She insisted on a vaginal birth despite the very high risk, said Wolfgang Henrich, the chief doctor at Charités obstetrics clinic. We usually advise mothers carrying a child with an estimated weight of more than 4.5 kilos to opt for a caesarean section to avoid complications.
The boy will join nine brothers and four sisters four of which had birth weights of more than five kilograms.
The woman claimed she didnt know of her diabetes, but doctors believe she was aware and ate too much sweet food.
Rooters reports in the absence of any hard original facts.
Thousands of soldiers who fled the regular army after it started cracking down on an eight-month protest movement have formed nebulous armed units loosely linked to the umbrella "Free Syrian Army," led by officers hiding in Turkey.
Isolated inside cities across Syria, the fighters work like a shadowy guerilla operation, promoting slogans like "victory or death" and "death before humiliation."
The deserters say they turned their guns against the state to protect peaceful protests in which some 3,500 are estimated by the United Nations to have been killed. The government, which says it has lost 1,100 security forces to the fighters, calls them foreign-backed "terrorist" groups.
But it is hard for anyone to know much about these faceless men -- most journalists are barred entry into the country, and even protesters, whose demonstrations are surrounded daily by these armed masked guards, are unlikely to know their identity. Escorting parades isn't exactly the recommended MO for 'shadowy' guerilla groups. Which indicates to me defectors are thick on ground, which means things aren't looking good for pencilneck.
As I said yesterday, pencilneck might have only 20K loyal Alawite troops. Although with rather more in the secret police, but secret police aint too good shooting it out in the field.
A Muslim Brotherhood rally in Cairo's most prominent mosque Friday turned into a venomous anti-Israel protest, with attendants vowing to "one day kill all Jews."
Some 5,000 people joined the rally, called to promote the "battle against Jerusalem's Judaization." The event coincided with the anniversary of the United Nations' partition plan in 1947, which called for the establishment of a Jewish state. No wonder EU likes them so much
h/t Gates of Vienna
The Russian "Admiral Kuznetsov" class aircraft carrier is currently off the coast of Malta and heading for eastern Mediterranean from their base in the Barents Sea. As daily Famagusta Gazette reports, the Russian navy and Israeli military will hold joint exercises next week close to Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone. The exercises are slated to begin on the 28th November and last a week.
Commentators say that Russia is determined to send the message that they have invested interests in the region and will secure them. 'Invested' interests? By their words shall we know them...
#1
After 18 years of negotiations Russia has joined the WTO. This is important to Europe energy needs and needed economic growth for Russia. They expect things to get worse in Russia because of the European downturn. Working deals with neighbors wanting stability and securing natural resources is what they seem to be doing. With Obama we have created a vacuum and Russia is looking to move in to secure stability in the region. Libya was an embarrassment for them. Syrian leadership may change but with Russian involvement perhaps a more controlled transition will occur. Yes, Syria is a major trading partner in arms but also a buffer. Now near Cyprus perhaps this will temper Turkey's Erdogan. Turkey has attacked Cyprus in the past. Putin may win but looks to lose 50 seats in his parties election. This may temper Putin. "Russian navy and Israeli military will hold joint exercises" sounds like they are building a better relationship. I see Russia in a building phase. An outreach that is worldwide. We should be doing the same thing. The difference with China is their building is just acquiring. Then if they can't acquire they act like a 300 pound gorilla. China is ill prepared for an economic downturn.
We have the natural resources but choose not to use them. We desperately need new people leading our country into a modern future not so haphazardly. My two cents.
Three people were gunned down yesterday in Narathiwat province on their way to negotiate a rubber trade.
Policemen inspecting the crime scene found the victims with severe injuries. They were in a pickup truck which had skidded off a local road. Ten spent cartridges from M16 and AK rifles were found near the vehicle. Another person was also in the pickup but escaped uninjured.
The four were heading to pay a rubber plantation owner for rubber wood. Another pickup truck approached their car and two men fired guns at them. The terrorists assailants ran away fled the scene when the uninjured passenger opened fire with his pistol.
Meanwhile, the Sangha Supreme Council has allowed the National Office of Buddhism to give financial help to three monks in Pattani who were wounded by shrapnel during a bomb attack on their morning alms rounds on Nov 21. Official Noppharat Benchawattananan said the office will pay 30,000 baht to each monk for their medical expenses.
h/t Instapundit
Belgiums credit rating was cut one step to AA by Standard & Poors, which said bank guarantees, lack of policy consensus and slowing growth will make it difficult to reduce the euro regions fifth-highest debt load. Somebody been talking about North vs. South?
#3
Belgian parties reach 2012 budget deal BELGIAN politicians reached a deal on the 2012 budget today, ending a 19-month deadlock that had prevented the formation of a stable government and led to a debt downgrade, a negotiator said.
"There is an agreement," said a spokesman for the French-speaking socialists, one of six parties in the linguistically-divided country that had been struggling to reconcile spending cuts with tax rises.
The accord, reached after 17 hours of negotiations, opens the way to forming a new government after 19 months in caretaker management.
Friday night's downgrade by ratings giant Standard and Poor's, which saw Belgium drop by one notch to AA, piled pressure on the parties to reconcile spending cuts with tax rises to avoid EU penalties next month.
#5
As I recall some of that gold was in the USA as well. China did inject money recently. So much money to settle with those companies he nationalized. Venezuela's economy is sinking also.
#7
This is assuming that the gold bars he just got were not tungsten plugged. Gold counterfeiting and fraud are running rampant right now, even involving some major players.
The FOREX gold market is only supposed to sell gold by numbered lots, which would be called as such if physical ownership of gold is redeemed. However, of late, demands for physical ownership, while they are still getting gold, they are not getting gold matched to the lots they own. This is not kosher.
Personally, the only physical gold I want would be Canadian Maple Leafs, whose high purity is guaranteed by a hologram engraved in the gold, which would not work with alloyed gold. And then, only if the coins were in tamper-resistant sealed clear plastic containers guaranteed by the mint.
Racism and demands for special treatment greet staff at Odense University Hospital
These are some of the wounded 15th November arrived in Denmark, which now make trouble at the hospital in Odense.
- How would a wounded Dane man feel about 'country' on a stranger hospital? I understand that these problems arise, says senior consultant Niels Dieter Rock from Odense University Hospital.
Oxygen cylinders and a lit cigarette is not the world's best presentation. But smoking is just one of the requirements that a group of wounded Libyans places during their stay at Odense University Hospital.
Since the wounded were flown to Denmark 15 November, the hospital's doctors and nurses also had to contend with racist remarks and demands for special treatment of the injured. According Ekatrabladet information will men for example have a female interpreter.
The problems were so severe that hospital management has asked the Libyan authorities to send people to the hospital to solve problems -- and it has helped.
- We have said that we would have someone to come and talk properly with them and explain how the terms are in Denmark, explains chief executive Niels Dieter Rock Extra Bladet.
He stresses, however, that he understands that the problems arose.
- When you are brought from a war zone and nestled in one of the defense aircraft and ends at a Danish hospital, where we have a completely different culture, so it may not surprise some that we have some problems.
#2
You have to wonder how much of this is arrogant Libyan, and how much is a reasonable rejection of Danish P.C. in their face.
P.C. people are always amazed and appalled when outsiders neither respect nor appreciate their contrived local rules. This has given me great glee in past.
#3
people are always amazed and appalled when outsiders neither respect nor appreciate their contrived local rules Now & then native Americans of different tribal backgrounds will start to argue among themselves about their taboos & customs. Hilarity does not ensue.
NATO helicopters from Afghanistan have carried out an "unprovoked" attack on a Pakistani border post, killing at least eight troops, the Pakistan military and local officials say.
In Kabul, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said: "We are aware that an incident did take place. We are still in the process of gathering information."
Pakistani security and military officials in the Mohmand tribal region, which is near the Afghan border, said an army major was among the eight dead in the pre-dawn incident.
A military spokesman said: "ISAF/NATO helicopters carried out unprovoked and indiscriminate firing on a Pakistani checkpost in Mohmand agency last night (early on Saturday)."
The border post was in the Baizai district of the rugged tribal terrain.
"The firing left seven soldiers and one major dead," a local intelligence official said.
A paramilitary and another security official confirmed the casualties.
#11
would these be the same Paks that get killed by the dozens by their ISI-trained Taliban without getting all butt-hurt about mythical "sovereignty"?
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/26/2011 11:19
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#12
Yes Sir, Mr. Nobel Peace Prize Winner! 100 US troops now in Uganda, boots on the ground in Libya, air assaults in Egypt, warnings to Syria (oops Russian Fleet just moved in), Karzai pissed in Afghanistan, cutting and running at this moment in Iraq, Israel refuses disclose plans against Iran to the little runt at the controls of The Super Power USA... and now the USA is bombing Pakistan. But here its all good, like "pass the pop-corn" good.
#15
we should be out of Pakistan and prohibit Paks from coming to America. Make it clear they are an enemy and will be attacked for their perfidy. Cut off aid - cut a deal with the 'Stans to deliver logistics, and make VERY nice with India. Backstabbing and double-dealing has to have a price.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/26/2011 15:25
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To grasp the severity of Lt. Gen. Michael D. Barberos $40-fertilizer-bomb problem, it helps to consider some much bigger numbers.
Barbero heads a U.S. military command, with an annual budget of about $2.8 billion, that was created to stem U.S. casualties from insurgent bombs. In just the past few months, he has shelled out $24 million for a new hand-held ground-penetrating radar, $33 million for mini-surveillance robots and $19 million for bomb-resistant underwear.
The insurgents weapon of choice in Afghanistan is at the other end of the price spectrum: a plastic jug filled with ammonium nitrate fertilizer. So far this year, these cheap, hard-to-detect bombs have wounded about 3,200 U.S. soldiers and Marines, up 22 percent from 2010, according to the Pentagon.
We are sweeping more and more of this stuff off the battlefield, Barbero said of the fertilizer bombs. But it just keeps coming, and it keeps growing.
I imagine that Pakistani producers don't have a very impressive profit margin, so could be easily convinced to add some additives provided by the US to neutralize any use of it for explosives. And then monitor the factory and company to see who calls to complain.
And it could also be taken to a higher level. If the fertilizer company doesn't want to play ball, arrange a purchaser who will not only buy the company, but increase production, to flood the market with cheap fertilizer.
If you have to go to that much trouble, you should add an encapsulated second additive to the fertilizer that is an herbicide specific to poppies.
[One Pakistan] Beautiful Downtown Peshawar , Chairman Pakistain Tehrik Insaf Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality problems... has rejected the notion that he has been backed by secret agencies saying the Allah Almighty and people of Pakistain are his supporters.
"I always sought help from Allah and he is backing me. With the support Allah and back of people of Pakistain I will clinch two wickets of President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... and Mian Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... with a single ball, " Imran said while addressing a party gathering in Jhagra area in the outskirt of Peshawar.
Mr. Khan who address the gathering of thousands people, where considerable number of females were also present, said his first priority will to bring uniformity in the educational system as well bring financial reforms in order to provide equal opportunity to the poor to compete with those belongs to high class,".
He said PTI Tsunami has reached Jhagra and no one can stop it. He said that PTI stands for liberating masses from the clutches of inflation, and will introduce uniform education system and social justice to the masses.
Khan said that the era of old politics of lies and old parties has come to an end and that they were going to make a new Pakistain.
He said that the people were being crushed in a crucible of the inflation, adding that PTI will impose taxes on the rich.
He came down hard on Pakistain Mohammedan League (PML-N) Chief Mian Nawaz Sharif saying that he even failed to control dengue mosquito, so how can beat PTI in politics.
He said that PTI was Pakistain?s political party and belonged to all persons without any discretion of caste and creed and that they will end the hatreds.
We will put an end to begging for and make Pakistain a donor country,? Khan added.
At the start of the meeting Pakistain Peoples Party (PPP) leader and member of its Central Executive Committee (CEC) Iftikhar Khan Jhaghra announced to resign from his party and joined PTI.
Speaking at this occasion, Jhaghra said that the PPP days were numbered due to its corrupt leadership.
PTI Provincial Chief Asad Qaiser said at this occasion PTI was the province largest political party. Qaiser at this occasion enumerated Imran Khan?s services for Pakistain and said that Imran Khan is representing Pakhtuns.
He said that it was time of change and asked the people join Imran to create a new Pakistain.
Others party leaders also spoke at this occasion.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2011
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#1
He sounds a bit more rational in his newly released book; Imran Khan 'understood how people lose will to live' after divorce In a new book that charts his rise from political no-hoper, he says that when he married Miss Goldsmith in 1995 - she was 21 and he 43 - he had no intention of setting up his own political party.
He said he discussed the issue endlessly with her and adds: There was simply no way left but for decent Pakistanis to get involved in politics.
The party was established the following year but in his first election in 1997 his party won no seats and he describes it as the Charge of the Light Brigade but without the horses and without the arms.
He said that after the drubbing, I have to say I was roasted by the media...People love to see an icon fall, it is part of human nature, and we had been completely wiped out. It wasnt just defeat, it was decimation.
Meanwhile his wife, who had converted to Islam when she married him, was faced with allegations that she was part of a Zionist plot to take over Pakistan.
Poor Jemima, as well as putting up with the whole Zionist plot story, had to see endless articles criticising, mocking and ridiculing her husband, he says
[An Nahar] Tens of thousands of demonstrators packed Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday after days of deadly festivities, demanding the military rulers step down and rejecting their choice of new prime minister.
Ahead of elections due to start on Monday despite the political turmoil, Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) tasked Kamal al-Ganzouri, 78, a premier under ousted president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... , to head a new cabinet.
"Previous cabinets over the past 60 years were given many powers by the president of the republic," Ganzouri told a media conference, his first public statement after his appointment.
He himself had been granted "much more powers" than past premiers, said Ganzouri, who served as Mubarak's prime minister between 1996 and 1999.
But protesters in the square quickly rejected his appointment, saying he was not the man to lead a transition to democracy.
"We do not want someone who has been selected by the military council, we want a civilian who was with us in Tahrir during the revolution, someone who has the confidence of the people," said on protester, Omar Abdel Mansur.
Hundreds of protesters in the square branched off to the nearby cabinet offices to block Ganzouri from entering the building, chanting "revolution" and "Ganzouri is a former regime leftover."
"The youth of Tahrir had proposed (several) names. None of them were chosen. We have the feeling nothing has changed" since a popular uprising ousted Mubarak in February, said Mohammed Khattab, 30.
"Our mistake in the (January-February) revolution was to think that we had only to topple Mubarak."
The protesters proposed a list of presidential candidates to form a civilian leadership council, including former U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei Egyptian law scholar and Iranian catspaw. He was head of the IAEA from December 1997 to November 2009. At some point during his tenure he was purchased by the Iranians. ElBaradei and the IAEA were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for something in 2005. After stepping down from his IAEA position ElBaradei attempted to horn in on the 2011 Egyptian protests which culminated in the collapse of the Mubarak regime. ElBaradei served on the Board of Trustees of the International Crisis Group, a lefty NGO that is bankrolled by the Carnegie Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as George Soros' Open Society Institute. Soros himself serves as a member of the organization's Executive Committee. , a prominent dissident during Mubarak's rule.
They were bolstered earlier by an announcement that the grand imam of Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's highest authority, had thrown his weight behind them.
"The grand imam (Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb) backs you and is praying for your victory," senior aide Hassan Shafie told them during a visit to the square.
And the imam at the square who led tens of thousands of worshippers in prayer called on the ruling military to hand over power to a national salvation government.
Sheikh Mazhar Shahin said protesters would remain in the square until their demands were met.
"There is no option but a national salvation government with the powers of a president," he said.
ElBaradei, whose name has been widely touted to be part of a new salvation government, joined the protesters in the square on Friday.
The Tahrir protest was countered by a rival demonstration in a square about three kilometers (two miles) away, where more than 10,000 people gathered to show support for the military.
"Down with Tahrir" and "Yes to the military council," they chanted.
"I joined the protests against the former regime," said one of the protesters, Mohammed Abdelhamid. "But the people in Tahrir today don't represent all Egyptians."
The rallies came three days before the first parliamentary elections since Mubarak's ouster in February, which left the military in charge.
The military announced on Friday that voting would take place over two days, instead of one, in each of the election's three rounds.
Washington, a close ally of Egypt, called on Friday for quick transfer to civilian rule.
"We believe that the full transfer of power to a civilian government must take place in a just and inclusive manner that responds to the legitimate aspirations of the Egyptian people, as soon as possible," White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement.
"The United States strongly believes that the new Egyptian government must be empowered with real authority immediately," Carney said.
On Tuesday, the SCAF accepted the resignation of the caretaker cabinet headed by the once-popular Essam Sharaf, whose fall from grace was due to his perceived weakness in the face of the army.
The violence, in which at least 41 protesters have been killed -- 36 of them in Cairo -- and more than 3,000 injured since Saturday, was cited as one of the factors that led to the resignation of Sharaf's cabinet.
The SCAF has said repeatedly that it does not have political ambitions and plans to hand power to an elected civilian authority after presidential elections which are set to take place no later than the end of June 2012.
On Thursday, it insisted however it would not bow to pressure from the protesters in Tahrir, saying they did not represent the whole country.
"The people have entrusted us with a mission and, if we abandon it now, it would be a betrayal of the people," senior SCAF member General Mukthar al-Mulla told news hounds.
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[An Nahar] Soddy Arabia's ruling al-Saud dynasty should give up power, a hardline senior Iranian holy man said Friday, warning that the fate of Egypt's toppled president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... awaits King of the Arabians, Sheikh of the Burning Sands #65;bdullah ... Fifth out of 37 sons of King Abdulaziz to ascend to the throne. He is, after his half-brothers Bandar and Musa'id, the third eldest of the living sons of Abdul Aziz ibn Saud. Abdullah's mother is from the Rashid clan, longtime rivals of the Saud. He has 6 sons and 15 daughters and about $20 billion. His youngest son is just seven years old...
"You should give up power and leave it to the people. They will establish a people's government," Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said in the weekly Moslem prayers at Tehran University.
"It is better for the al-Saud to awaken. The fate of the Egyptian pharaoh (Hosni Mubarak) and that of the (fallen) strongmen in Libya and Tunisia, ultimately, awaits the Saudi pharaoh (King Abdullah)... You should be careful," he said, as worshippers chanted "Death to al-Saud."
His remarks, broadcast on state radio, follow protests this week among the Shiite minority in Soddy Arabia's oil-rich east, resulting in four deaths since Sunday.
Shiite activists in Arab states of the Gulf are frequently accused of having links with their co-religionists in the Islamic republic.
On Wednesday, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal accused Iran of interfering in neighboring Gulf states.
Tensions have heightened between Tehran and Riyadh following a U.S. allegations of an Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington, something Tehran has repeatedly denied.
Another point of contention between the two has been the Saudi military intervention in March in the Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom of Bahrain to help its government quash pro-democracy protests led by the Shiite majority there.
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11/26/2011
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#1
The Saudis will pay for any war between US/Israel and Iran.
To win the WOT we also need to help India beat the Pak army.
Posted by: Paul D ||
11/26/2011 8:12
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Not just the Pak Army. Pakistan needs to be redesigned from the ground up, with a lot fewer Pakistanis, in a manner of speaking. Here is an ethnographic map:
Pakistanis East of the Indus river are Punjabi and Sindhi. They are the more "orderly" Pakistanis, who should be the substance of the future Pakistan.
West of the Indus river are the troublemakers.
The best bet would be that Pakistani Baluchistan be split off and combined with Iranian Baluchistan into a new nation, with their income being the port at Gwadar, which is substantial as a major deep water port built by the Chinese, and a good amount of unexploited mineral wealth (that the Iranians currently use in support of their nuclear program, thus depriving them of that).
North of there, Pushtu Pakistan should become part of the new nation of (exclusively Pushtu) southern Afghanistan, with the rather orderly Chitrali people in northern Pakistan becoming part of the new nation of northern Afghanistan.
This would combine disorderly peoples in such a way as to make them more orderly, eliminating much smuggling by eliminating borders, thus making smuggling far less profitable, and it would also reduce Pakistan from an international threat to an ordinary nation, while not empowering the disruptive elements.
Not perfect, which would mean a lot of genocide, but not bad.
[An Nahar] Syrian security forces on Friday pressed a months-long crackdown on dissent, killing six more people with gunfire as protesters flooded streets in support of a rebel army, activists said.
The latest violence came as an Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... 1100 GMT deadline for Syria to accept an observers' mission or face sanctions passed with no response from Damascus ...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations...
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least six people were killed when security forces met the demonstrators with hot lead at various flashpoints in the south, center and east of the country.
It said three people were killed, including a 19-year-old man, in central Homs province when security forces opened fire near a mosque, while a 16-year-old was rubbed out in the southern Daraa province, cradle of eight months of dissent, the Observatory said.
Another man was killed in the eastern city of Deir al-Zour and a sixth near Damascus, according to the rights watchdog.
Internet activists had called for a day of massive protests nationwide in support of the rebel Syrian Free Army (SFA) which has stepped up attacks in a bid to topple the regime.
"The Free Army is the guardian of our peaceful revolution," anti-regime activists said on their Facebook site Syria Revolution 2011.
Like most Fridays since the start of the pro-democracy movement in mid-March, protesters emerged from midday prayers to face security forces who bolstered their deployment at key centers of dissent.
State television denied there a death in Deir al-Zour.
The official SANA news agency, meanwhile, reported that two experts were killed trying to defuse a bomb in the restive city of Hama, in central Syria, accusing "armed terrorist groups" of planting the device.
The state-run agency, quoting a police source, said three other bombs went kaboom! in Hama.
And the military confirmed that six elite pilots and four others were killed in an attack on Thursday, accusing foreign powers of supporting acts of terror within Syria.
"An armed terrorist gang murdered six pilots, an officer and three junior officers working for the military airbase," the army said in a statement quoted by SANA.
The ambush "took place on the Palmyra-Homs road yesterday afternoon."
The attack was claimed on Thursday by the rebel Free Syrian Army who said seven military pilots were killed in an ambush on a bus.
According to the Observatory, huge protests took place across Idlib on Friday, mainly in Maaret Noman where demonstrators called for the "fall of the regime."
But SANA said massive counter-rallies were held in Damascus and Syria's second city 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... , with protesters denouncing Arab League decisions against Syria and vowing to confront "the conspiracy" facing their nation.
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[Al Ahram] Turkey is ready to act in unison with the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... if Syria fails to show good intentions to end an eight-month-old bloody crackdown, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Friday. He told a joint news conference with his Italian counterpart Giulio Terzi that he was ready to attend a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers that could take place on Sunday and that he was continuing consultations with the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... , NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... and UN Security Council members. The Arab League has threatened to impose sanctions on Syria unless it signs a deal on Friday to allow monitors into the country.
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Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2011
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#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Deborah Secco (Brazil) aka Thaís, the estranged girlfriend in "Fado Blues (2004)" aka Moema in "Caramuru - A Invenção do Brasil (2001)" aka Flight attendant in "Casseta & Planeta: A Taça do Mundo É Nossa (2003)" aka Rita in "A Cartomante (2004)" aka Soraia in "Meu Tio Matou um Cara (2004)" aka Raquel in "Bruna Surfistinha (2011)" Cover Girl of the 24th & 27th anniversary issues of Playboy (Brazilian editions), in August 1999 & 2002. (age 32)
[Dawn] Hundreds of Islamist activists in Pak-administered Kashmire on Friday demonstrated against the government's decision to take steps to improve trade with India.
Pakistain's cabinet last month said it approved a proposal giving India the status of "most favoured nation" in a move towards normalising trade relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
Members of banned Islamist groups including Jamaat-ud-Dawa, ...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba... Jaish-e-Mohammad ...literally Army of Mohammad, a Pak-based Deobandi terror group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in 2000, after he split with the Harkat-ul-Mujaheddin. In 2002 the government of Pervez Musharraf banned the group, which changed its name to Khaddam ul-Islam and continued doing what it had been doing before without missing a beat... and Lashkar-e-Taiba, ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... and hardline religious party 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 Moslem groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. 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... gathered in the main square in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistain-administered Kashmire.
Protesters shouted slogans against the Pak government and were joined by supporters of the main opposition party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... , an AFP news hound said.
"We will never accept this decision," Maulana Abdul Aziz Alvi, local chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawa told the gathering.
His organization is blacklisted as a terror group by the United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... and considered a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba that Washington and New Delhi blamed for the killings of 166 people on November 26, 2008 attacks in Mumbai. And still he's speechifying unmolested in Pakistain.
Protesters later blocked the main road passing through Muzaffarabad city centre by setting tyres on fire.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
These guys are like Paleostinians on steroids.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/26/2011 1:27
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#2
The enemies of India are the same as the enemies of UK/US.
We should be working with India to destroying our common enemy!
Posted by: Paul D ||
11/26/2011 7:55
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[Iran Press TV] Thousands of Yemenis have rallied in the capital, Sana'a, to demand the prosecution of country's unpopular ruler President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh. ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... Rejecting a power transition deal signed by Saleh in Soddy Arabia on Wednesday, which granted him immunity in return for resignation, Yemenis said on Friday that Saleh must be brought to justice over the killing of hundreds of anti-government protesters since opposition rallies began in the country in late January.
Yemenis say the US-backed deal fell far short of the demands of protesters, who have been holding mass demonstrations for months, and that they will continue their protest rallies until their demands are met.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pond, the radioactive tadpoles grown into frogs. Really big frogs, in fact... at least two people have been killed in heavy festivities between forces loyal to Saleh and revolutionary fighters in Sana'a outside the residence of Yemeni Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi.
Witnesses say regime troops attacked opposition fighters with machine-guns and mortars, some of which landed in residential areas.
Saleh signed the power transfer deal brokered by the (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council to end months of protests in the country in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on Wednesday.
Under the deal, the Yemeni dictator transfers his presidential powers to his deputy, Hadi, who is expected to form a national unity government and also call for early presidential elections within a 90-day period.
Saleh, however, will remain an honorary president for three months after signing the agreement.
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[An Nahar] An armed gang of kidnappers kidnapped three Europeans and killed a fourth in the Timbuktu region of northern Mali, security sources said on Friday.
The victim who was rubbed out had tried to resist his abduction, according to the sources who did not give the nationality of the hostages.
The news of the latest kidnapping comes after two French geologists were kidnapped by an armed gang from their hotel in the eastern village of Hombori near the border with Niger early Thursday.
French soldiers have now joined Mali's army in the hunt for the pair, according to an AFP journalist in the Hombori region.
Although there has been no immediate claim of responsibility, the incidents are the latest in a series of abductions of foreigners believed to be the work Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
AQIM has bases in the northern Mali desert from which it organizes raids and kidnappings and deals in the trafficking of weapons and drugs.
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[Dawn] ALMOST a year has gone by since citizens of various Arab nations rose up against long-entrenched dictatorial regimes but their frustration has not been assuaged. Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring, is the only nation which has seen an orderly transition to democracy with the election of a constituent assembly. Elsewhere there is tumult. Yemen`s President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... has signed a deal, promising to step down after three decades in power but there is reason to be cautious. He has backtracked on promises to hand over power several times. Mr Saleh`s stubbornness has brought his impoverished nation to the brink of civil war with hundreds killed since the protests began. Yemeni activists also question why the deal gives Mr Saleh immunity from prosecution. Meanwhile, ...back at the bunker, his Excellency called a hurried meeting of his closest advisors. It was to be his last. They discussed the officers's efficiency rating system... Cairo`s Tahrir Square is once again rife with protests. Dozens have been killed as the authorities have violently put down demonstrations. The protesters want a quicker transition to democracy and are suspicious of the military`s intentions to tinker with the constitution. Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of Egypt`s ruling military council, has made overtures to the protesters yet many Egyptians feel the generals have no intention of handing over power.
The Gulf is also in flux. In Bahrain, the head of a government-appointed commission has said the sheikhdom`s forces "used torture and excessive force against demonstrators" to smother the strategic nation`s forgotten revolution. This has strengthened the opposition and human rights ...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... observers` claims that the Bahraini state discriminates against and is brutal towards its own people. The state now needs to back up claims it will punish those involved in abuses. The commission has also established there is no proof of Iranian involvement in fomenting protests, a strong indicator that the movement is homegrown. In Kuwait, several opposition activists were locked away recently after protesters stormed parliament and clashed with police last week. The opposition has called for the prime minister`s dismissal and parliament`s dissolution in the wake of a corruption scandal reportedly involving the premier -- a royal -- and several politicians.
Major questions remain about the direction of the Arab Spring. In nations where dictators have fallen (Egypt and Libya) it remains to be seen whether the people`s democratic aspirations will be thwarted by a new set of autocrats. Yemen`s and Syria`s future is also uncertain given the tribal and sectarian divisions within those societies. As for the Gulf monarchies, they will put up the toughest resistance to change. One thing appears certain: much ground still needs to be covered before the Arab masses can reach their goal of establishing representative governments that ensure full social, political and economic rights.
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#1
Major questions remain about the direction of the Arab Spring
#2
Unfortunately they are. You'd of thought such gulliable, stupid people would have long since triggered Campbell's "Universal Discipline" and auto-darwinated themselves but sadly they appear to be much like cockroaches.
Posted by: Silentbrick - Halliburton Lost Drill Bit Division ||
11/26/2011 9:06
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#3
much ground still needs to be covered before the Arab masses can reach their goal of establishing representative governments that ensure full social, political and economic rights.
I thought such things as representative government and democracy were considered un-Islamic in some circles, like Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
11/26/2011 17:52
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[An Nahar] The Syrian military vowed Friday to "cut every evil hand that targets Syrian blood," saying recent attacks on elite security forces marked a dangerous escalation in the country's eight-month-old crisis.
The defiant statement signaled the country's violence is worsening as Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... tries to quash the most serious threat to his family's 40-year dynasty, under ever increasing international pressure.
Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... faced the possibility of sweeping economic sanctions from the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... after missing a deadline Friday to allow hundreds of observers into the country.
Assad is facing the most severe isolation his country has seen in decades because of the violence, which appears to be spiraling out of control. A largely peaceful uprising against Assad began in March, but it has become more violent as defectors from the army turn their guns on security forces and some protesters take up arms to protect themselves.
The escalating bloodshed has raised fears of civil war. The U.N. estimates the military crackdown on the revolt already has killed at least 3,500 people.
According to Friday's military statement, six elite pilots and four technical officers were killed in an ambush a day earlier in Homs, in an unusually high-level strike.
"Our armed forces (will) continue to carry out our mission to defend the country's security, and we will hit back against anything that threatens us," the statement said.
It is not clear who was behind the attacks. It's impossible to independently verify events on the ground because Syria has banned foreign journalists and prevented local news hounds from moving freely.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2011
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#1
Now that's gonna hurt: both because they don't have all that many pilots, and because all the pilots are Alawites.
[Yemen Post] One Civilian was killed when government air forces raided the district of Nehm, an outskirt of the capital Sana'a on Friday. At least ten others were reported injured.
Eyewitnesses in Nehm told the Yemen Post that residents are mostly evacuated as the government continues to intensify its attacks in the area. More than 25 houses were damaged in the government air strikes.
Nehm has been the site of powerful festivities between local tribes and government forces over the last four months. Tribes claim that the government is demanding bribes and degrading them.
The attacks come just two days after President-for-Life Saleh ... exemplifying the Arab's propensity to combine brutality with incompetence... signed the power transfer proposal in Riyadh.
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[Bangla Daily Star] Champion R Sangma, a top leader of Indian separatist Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA), has been tossed in the slammer in Bangladesh, an Indian newspaper reported yesterday.
The Hindustan Times quoted a Meghalaya top police officer as saying, "We are confirmed by the central intelligence agencies that Champion has been tossed in the slammer from Mymensingh district (Bangladesh) by Rab commandos."
The rebel leader would be handed over to India soon, said the officer, asking not to be named.
Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), however, denied the arrest.
"We did not make the arrest of Indian separatist named Champion R Sangma from Mymensingh," Rab intelligence wing chief Lt Col Ziaul Ahsan told The Daily Star yesterday.
New Delhi does not have any official confirmation of the detention too, the newspaper said quoting IANS.
"We are yet to get any official confirmation," Shambhu Singh, joint secretary (Northeast) in the union home ministry, said.
Champion, a former deputy superintendent of police, deserted the Meghalaya police and floated the GNLA due to alleged harassment by his seniors.
The outfit which has also forged an alliance with alleged Bangladesh-based rebel group A'chik Special Dragon Party has unleashed a reign of terror in the three impoverished districts of Garo Hills in the western part of Meghalaya, the newspaper added.
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[An Nahar] Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Wally Jumblat ... Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling... has described the situation in Leb and the crisis on the funding of the Special Tribunal for Leb as an "open bazaar over strange things."
When asked by As Safir daily to comment about the situation, Jumblat, who is currently in Brussels, said he prefers to stay away from Lebanese politics and its "absurdities."
"I don't want to disturb my visit (to Belgium) which I carried out to participate in a ceremony" in honor of European socialist Poul Rasmussen, "who has contributed to the support for the international tribunal and backed us when we were in the March 14 Those are the good guys, insofar as Leb has good guys... " forces, the PSP chief said.
Jumblat did not make any comment about reports that the ministers representing him in the cabinet would resign if the government failed to fund the STL.
Asked by al-Liwaa newspaper about the issue, an informed political source said that Jumblat along with Premier Najib Miqati have worked hard to make the government function.
"But there are always people who put sticks in its wheels," the source told al-Liwaa.
"If Leb doesn't fund the international tribunal and rejects to abide by international resolutions, it would be put in a confrontation with the international community," the source said. "That's why Jumblat is seeking to cooperate with the (Lebanese) officials to stir the country away from trouble."
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[An Nahar] The March 8-led cabinet criticized the performance of Prime Minister Najib Miqati concerning certain issues saying it benefits the March 14 Those are the good guys, insofar as Leb has good guys... opposition movement, An Nahar newspaper reported on Friday.
Sources in the March 8 leadership told the daily that the majority is holding onto Miqati and trying to safeguard him from the opposition campaigns against him.
However, alcohol has never solved anybody's problems. But then, neither has milk... the sources said that the coalition rejects some policies adopted by the PM because at the end they will only benefit the March 14-led opposition.
"Miqati isn't carrying out the role that Leb should be playing at the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... meeting," the sources noted.
They added that Miqati refuses to "tackle the issue of false witnesses, the criticism by the cabinet members of a number of officers in the Internal Security Forces, and the campaign against the army."
Former Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... minister Mario Aoun told Voice of Leb radio (93.3) that his party isn't satisfied with the performance of the cabinet; however, he said the FPM "will not agree on transforming it into a caretaking cabinet."
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PUBLIC- sector education in Pakistain, particularly at the primary level, is adrift and rudderless. Although the country is in the midst of an `education emergency`, it appears the state is doing very little to rectify matters. Though the alarm has been sounded in the past, yet another reminder of the grim state of affairs has come in the form of a baseline study conducted by the Aga Khan University`s Institute for Educational Development under the Strengthening Teacher Education in Pakistain project. The study, which covered nearly 200 schools in seven districts of Sindh, found that around 70 per cent of teachers teach for only 15 minutes in a 35-minute period. Ten per cent teach for less than five minutes. The study also indicates that the surveyed schools suffered from high rates of truancy (only 56 per cent of students attended classes regularly) while pass percentages were largely abysmal. Gender bias in schools was also a major concern. The study may have been limited to specific districts, but it would not be wrong to assume the situation is similar across Sindh.
Though millions of school-age children are out of school in Pakistain, the project`s coordinator pointed out that the children that are enrolled are not being educated. This depressing reality should shake the state out of its slumber. Simply enrolling children to fulfil statistical obligations is not enough; once in school efforts must be made to actually educate these young minds. The state is not fulfilling its constitutional obligation by turning a blind eye to the woeful standards of public schools. The study offers numerous solutions -- enhancing teachers` morale, improving the capabilities of head teachers, etc. Yet these and other policy prescriptions cannot deliver until the state demonstrates it has the political will to do what is needed to stem the rot in education.
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#1
Well when the previous generation got Physics PHDs with thesis like "How many jinn can sit on the head of a pin?" WTF do you expect?
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/26/2011 3:37
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#2
I thought this would be about the U.S. or Europe.
Well, it could....
Posted by: no mo uro ||
11/26/2011 4:25
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#3
it appears the state is doing very little to rectify matters.
Is the state doing anything to rectify any problem whatsoever? I doubt it.
#8
Thing, if Aquinas was right, then angels are each one of a kind, and so even if they were fermions their quantum numbers would all be different. Question 50 point 4. Pile them on.
(Dunno how citing Tom would go over in the Land of the Pure)
Posted by: James ||
11/26/2011 18:31
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[An Nahar] The trial of deposed Libyan leader Moammar Qadaffy's son Seif al-Islam could be held in Libya under the auspices of the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... , its chief prosecutor said Friday.
"The prosecutor proposed as a third possibility that the ICC might, subject to judges' approval, conduct the trial against Seif al-Islam in Libya," Luis Moreno-Ocampo said in a document before the Hague-based court.
He also proposed two other options, namely Libya asking the ICC to decide whether a Libyan court could prosecute Seif, or Libyan courts trying Seif for other crimes, for which he is wanted in Libya, with the ICC prosecuting him on a separate charge of crimes against humanity.
The ICC's mandate says it can only prosecute those accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes if a state's national courts are unwilling or unable to investigate and prosecute them.
Moreno-Ocampo's report to ICC judges follows a visit to Tripoli this week to meet Libyan authorities for talks on jurisdiction in the case.
Moammar Qadaffy's one-time heir apparent, Seif, 39, was nabbed almost a week ago in Libya's southern Saharan region after three months on the run.
He and Qadaffy's former spymaster, Abdullah al-Senussi, 62, are wanted on ICC arrest warrants issued on June 27 for crimes against humanity when trying to put down the north African country's bloody revolt, sparked in February.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2011
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#1
Maybe the ICC should look into putting on trial some of the European leaders for lying about their countries' economic figures?
For example the figures supplied by the Greeks were false.
#2
The Libyans would be well advised to calmly announce that they may only consider ICC involvement in their affairs once they become members of the ICC. Until then, involvement of the ICC would be "premature", as it has no jurisdiction or authority in Libya, or in Libyan jurisprudence.
Or, as the Canadians might say, "Take off, you hosers."
[Al Ahram] Tens of thousands of protesters have been arriving at Tahrir Square since early this morning to join in the "Martyrs' Friday," million-man march. The numbers are expected to easily hit the one million mark, called by the revolutionaries, as they had done on Tuesday. If anything, the numbers already in Tahrir indicate that Friday's protest is destined to exceed in terms of numbers that of Tuesday.
This is despite a call by the Moslem Brüderbund for an alternative million-man march in defence of Arab Jerusalem's Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam's most holy shrines. The Brotherhood's march is to rally before the Azhar Mosque, but it is not yet known whether they have any intention of marching towards Tahrir.
The protesters in Tahrir and revolutionary forces have taken the MB's call as yet another "betrayal" by the Islamist movement, which had boycotted the Tuesday protest. The country's political forces and analysts are still trying to come to grips with the revival of Egypt's January Revolution, nearly ten months after the ousting of former president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... . They are especially stunned by the fact that this revolutionary resurgence takes place despite the active boycott of the Moslem Brüderbund, long held to be the most powerful political force in the country, and which had been expected to dominate the coming post-revolutionary parliament.
Protesters in Tahrir have refused to allow any podiums to be erected in the square as has been the norm this time around, insisting that the podiums are often used by the various political forces to hijack the political will of the revolution.
The demonstration comes hot in the heels of a weeklong violent festivities between protesters and security forces after the latter tried to disperse a sit in inside the square last Saturday. The festivities have left at least 39 dead and several thousand injured.
Today the protesters are demanding that the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forced (SCAF) -- along with its head, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi -- hand over executive power to a civilian authority. They are also calling for the formation of a civilian presidential council or a "national salvation" government with full executive powers to administer the transitional period.
Other demands include the immediate release of jugged activists, an end to military trials for civilians; a speedy investigation of recent festivities in Maspero and Tahrir; the prosecution of anyone involved in killing protesters; and a radical restructuring of the interior ministry.
Contradictory state media reports that Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the head of SCAF, has charged former prime minister Kamal El-Ganzouri with forming the new government have incensed the protesters further. Ganzouri, who served as prime minister under Mubarak between 1996-1999 is 77 years old, and is considered by the protesters a stark embodiment of all they hate about the regime which they set out to overthrow. Ganzouri's cabinet had included many of the figures now held in prison, or on the run outside the country, including most prominently former interior minister Habib El-Adly.
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11/26/2011
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[An Nahar] The United Arab Emirates has called on its citizens in Syria to exercise caution and avoid the areas that witness frequent anti-regime protests.
Isa Abdullah al-Kalbani, director of Citizens' Affairs at the UAE Foreign Ministry, called on citizens to leave Syria and reconsider travel to the country, reported the Emirates News Agency WAM on Friday.
Syria has been witnessing unprecedented anti-regime protests since March.
The Syrian regime has retaliated by launching a bloody crackdown against the demonstrators, which the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... estimates has left more than 3,500 dead.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2011
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[Al Ahram] Riots took place in the Gafsa region on Thursday, following violence in a nearby region on Wednesday night, when security forces were forced to fire into the air to stop a crowd of protesters attacking a government building. People rioted in two towns in the Gafsa region, 360 km southwest of the Tunisian capital, after they were left off a list of people recruited by a local phosphate mining company.
"There are riots and looting in Om Larayss and Mthila. It started yesterday and continued today," witness Hedi Radaoui told Rooters. "Youths set fire to cop shoppes and buildings of the Gafsa Phosphate Company and the Office of Labour."
A government official said the provincial authorities imposed a curfew in Gafsa, effective from Thursday, from 7 pm (1800 GMT) to 6 a.m., in an effort to prevent further unrest.
"Everything is destroyed here in Mthila .. most shops are closed, roads are blocked, most of the buildings are burned," Amen ben Abdallah, a resident of Mthila, told Rooters by telephone. "The authorities continue to ignore the region and the consequences will be disastrous", he said.
The Gafsa region, near Tunisia's border with Algeria, is the centre of the mining industry. It is also one of the most impoverished areas of Tunisia and has been the scene of several protests and riots since the January revolution.
Late on Wednesday, about 3,000 protesters in the town of Kasserine, about 300 km southwest of Tunis, tried to storm the town prison.
They erupted into the streets because they felt the authorities had failed to recognise their town's contribution to the revolution earlier this year which forced Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to flee to Soddy Arabia.
Kasserine was one of the first towns to rise up against Ben Ali's rule. It also suffered some of the highest casualties of the revolution when police met the demonstrators with hot lead.
Tunisia's revolution delivered democracy to a country which had lived under autocratic rule since its independence from La Belle France half a century ago.
But instead of improving living standards, as many people hoped, the revolution made the average Tunisian worse off. Tourists, the main source of foreign revenue, and some investors were scared off by the instability that accompanied the uprising. Economic growth has slumped and unemployment is forecast to rise this year.
The moderately Islamist Ennahda party, which dominates the governing coalition, has said it is committed to creating jobs, especially for towns away from the more affluent areas on the Mediterranean coast.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2011
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#1
Some that Arab leaders need to figure out is the Mexican rule: "Whoever keeps the price of rice, tortillas and beans low gets elected."
The Tunisian economy and standard of living is somewhat better than for most of the people in the region, but this rule holds true.
Libya stayed peaceful and stable for a long time under Qaddafi, by combining plenty of food and a tough secret police. He was also a firm believer in education for everybody. So it was an odd string of circumstances, mostly tribal, that did him in.
In the long run, Ben Ali and Qaddafi will probably be remembered fondly by those in the know, much like Porfirio Diaz and the Shah of Iran, for having taken their nations from a primitive to a more modern state. But the ignorant rank and file still curse them all.
[Al Ahram] Ethiopia says it will contribute troops to the African Union force in Somalia fighting Al-Qaeda-affiliated bully boys. East African leaders meeting in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on Friday requested that Ethiopia send troops. The heads of state at the meeting also asked Kenya to consider integrating their forces to the AU force.
Kenyan troops crossed the border into Somalia last month to fight al-Shabaab ... Harakat ash-Shabaab al-Mujahidin aka the Mujahideen Youth Movement. It was originally the youth movement of the Islamic Courts, now pretty much all of what's left of it. They are aligned with al-Qaeda but operate more like the Afghan or Pakistani Taliban... in southern Somalia following a string of attacks on Kenyan soil. They are not yet under the AU mandate. Burundian and Ugandan troops currently make up the bulk of the AU's 9,100-strong force.
Some observers say Ethiopia's involvement in Somalia could be a propaganda coup for al-Shabaab. Ethiopia's last incursion into Somalia ended in 2009 and was deeply unpopular.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2011
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#1
"Ethiopia's last incursion into Somalia ended in 2009 and was deeply unpopular."
What could the Islamists possibly have against involvement by one of the oldest Christian nations in the world? Islam is a religion of tolerance! ;)
Posted by: American Delight ||
11/26/2011 8:42
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#2
IRC, Ethiopia pulled their troops out about a week before Obama was sworn in.
[An Nahar] Three Somali soldiers and a civilian were killed Friday when a roadside kaboom the officers picked up to detonate elsewhere went kaboom! inside their vehicle, officials and witnesses said.
The soldiers picked up the device at a road intersection in Mogadishu's Bakara district and moments later it ripped apart their vehicle, also killing one civilian and injuring four others who were nearby.
"Three soldiers and a woman who was passing by the area were killed and several others injured in the kaboom," Mohamed Ali, a government security official told Agence La Belle France Presse.
Jama Ibrahim, a witness, said: "The pick-up truck was totally destroyed by the kaboom. It was driving off and suddenly there was a heavy kaboom and smoke."
Several roadside kabooms and grenade kabooms have rocked the war-shattered Somali capital since the al-Qaeda-linked Shebab rebels abandoned their bases there in August and resorted to guerrilla attacks against the government.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2011
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[Emirates 24/7] A senior Maoist rebel leader was killed in a gunbattle with security forces in eastern India, news reports said Friday.
Press Trust of India quoted a top paramilitary official as saying the operation that killed Kishenji, who uses just one name, was "clean and successful."
Another official, Vineet Goel, told PTI that Thursday's operation was planned after police and paramilitary forces received word that rebels were holed up in the Burisole forest in West Bengal state.
Police told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that Kishenji's niece and mother have yet to identify the body.
Kishenji was one of several leaders of the Maoists. He was born in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and had been part of the rebels since the 1980s. Authorities had blamed him for a brazen attack on a security camp that killed 24 men in West Bengal last year.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2011
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[Iran Press TV] The Unites Nation says millions of people in North Korea will need food aid in the upcoming year, warning about rising levels of malnutrition among young childre Yesterday it was "sea of fire," today it's "starving children."
"Nearly three million people will continue to require food assistance in 2012," AFP quoted a report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Program (WFP) as saying on Friday.
"Hospital staff told the assessment mission of a significant increase in malnutrition among young children," the Rome-based agencies said after a visit to the East Asian nation.
The report cited officials in a number of pediatric wards, who indicated a 100 percent increase in the number of cases admitted for malnutrition since April, in comparison with the same period in 2010.
The report estimated North Korea's harvest this year to be around 8.5 percent higher than 2010 but warned that domestic production and food imports were not sufficient to meet the needs.
"There remains an uncovered cereal deficit of 414,000 tons," it said.
FAO and WFP called on North Korea to turn to more mechanized and more efficient forms of farming in order to increase productivity, which remains way short of catching up with that of neighboring South.
Kisan Gunjal, an economist at FAO, said paddy yields at 4.3 tons per hectare in North Korea are about 60 percent of those in neighboring South Korea.
"This productivity gap represents a potential for the North to increase its farm output and eliminate chronic food shortages by adopting appropriate technology, inputs and measures," Gunjal said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2011
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#1
"This productivity gap represents a potential for the North to increase its farm output and eliminate chronic food shortages by adopting appropriate technology, inputs and measures," Gunjal said.
But enough about such folly. Let's talk about what's really important: The dire necessity for the Norks to have nukes, and how it will improve the lives of their people.
#2
The big problem the South Korean have is what to do with their spare rice. This is so high because the South Korean government, is subsiding it so much.
#7
Water Modem: The t-shirt design doesn't really need the caption, though I like the use of the recycle logo. I wonder if it could be artistically blended with the biohazard logo?
BTW, you can make Soylent Green by spraying some unflavored Ry-Krisps with green food coloring. As an added irony, they are made by Ralcorp, that was spun off by Ralston-Purina. So properly you can call them "People Chow".
[An Nahar] The U.N.'s human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... chief is in contact with the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... over its efforts to end the deadly crackdown on protests in Syria, a U.N. front man said Friday.
The League said Thursday it wants U.N. help in its showdown with Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... , and diplomats said the League may want a U.N. contribution to an international observer mission that Syria is refusing to let in.
U.N. Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... is "extremely concerned at the escalating crisis and mounting corpse count in Syria" and is ready to help the vaporous Arab League, said U.N. front man Martin Nesirky, without giving details of what the Arab body is asking for.
Nesirky told news hounds however that the office of U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay "is in contact with the secretariat of the League of Arab States" over the request.
Ban backs "the Arab League's proposal to send an observer mission to protect civilians in Syria and strongly urges the Syrian authorities to give their consent and full cooperation as demanded by the League."
On top of the Arab League request, the U.N. General Assembly's human rights committee passed a resolution this week calling on Ban to provide support to the Arab League.
"The Secretary-General is ready to provide the support needed in accordance with his functions and within the framework of the U.N.'s cooperation with the League of Arab States," said the front man.
Diplomats said it was likely the Arab League wanted U.N. experts involved in any international observer mission.
The U.N. Human Rights Council has already set up an investigation into the Syria crackdown, which the U.N. says has left at least 3,500 dead. The Syrian government has refused to give access to U.N. rights monitors but the investigation is to release a preliminary report on Monday.
The Arab League gave Syria until Friday to agree to let in an observer mission, but Assad's government has not responded. Arab League foreign ministers will now meet in Cairo Sunday to discuss possible sanctions.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2011
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#1
Whew! An alliance sure to work. I can sleep well at nights now that the Mideast has been straightened out.
[Al Ahram] Gathered before the Cabinet offices on Kasr El-Aini Street, representatives of revolutionary movements announced to several thousand protesters, who had earlier marched there from nearby Tahrir, the names of 5 people they would like to form the core of the national salvation government that a million-strong protest in Tahrir and tens of thousands of protesters around the country insist should replace the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) in overseeing the transition to a democratic Egypt.
Flatly rejecting SCAF's confirmation earlier in the day of its charging Kamel El-Ganzouri, former prime minister under Mubarak (1996-99) of forming the new government, the representatives of the youth and revolutionary movements named Mohamed El-Baradei as the head of the government of national salvation. Nobel Peace Prize winner and former head of the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency, Baradei was slated as a candidate for the presidency. Recently, however, he expressed his willingness to serve as the head of a transition government, so long as that government was properly empowered, and not a mere lackey of SCAF.
The movements would also like to see two other erstwhile presidential hopefuls to take up the job of deputy prime ministers in a Baradei-headed cabinet. They are Hamdeen Sabahi, leader of the Nasserist Karama Party and former member of parliament, and Abdel-Moneim Aboul-Futtouh.
Two other members of the proposed Baradei cabinet were put forward by the movements as consensus candidates. They are Ahram economic journalist, Ahmed El-Naggar, and Judge Ashraf Baroudy.
The announcement came following the SCAF's decision to appoint Ganzouri as prime minister, a move which was viewed by protestors as extremely provocative, and following mass protests demanding that SCAF immediately hand over power to a civilian government.
Sources in the leadership of the youth movements indicated that a presser is to be held in Tahrir Square at 8pm, with a number, or all of the political figures named in the demanded national salvation government attending.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2011
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#1
Ah, so the Iranians want tot put their team in just prior to the elections. Surprise everyone.
#3
Mohamed El-Baradei is a classical "Irish king". "Some guy with a sword and two followers". Except in his case, he has no sword, only a discount PR firm, and his followers are foreigners.
[An Nahar] Masked gunnies on Friday blew up a gas pipeline which supplies Egyptian gas to Israel, the official MENA news agency reported, in the eighth such attack this year.
The saboteurs planted explosives under the pipeline, around 60 kilometers (40 miles) west of the town of el-Arish in the north of the Sinai peninsula, before fleeing, witnesses said. No one was injured and, due to maintenance operations at the time of the blast following recent attacks, there was no gas in the pipeline, MENA reported.
The pipeline, which carries gas through the Sinai and on to Jordan and Israel, has already been attacked seven times this year, the first during the mass uprisings that drove president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... from power in February.
The last attack was carried out two weeks ago, when two kabooms struck the same section of the pipeline. The army was deployed in the region since the blasts.
Gas deliveries to Israel, agreed under Mubarak, have come under heavy criticism in Egypt. Israel generates 40 percent of its electricity using natural gas, and Egypt provides 43 percent of its gas supplies.
Egyptian authorities have on several occasions announced measures to step up protection of the pipeline and try to arrest those behind the attacks.
Egyptian gas also covers 80 percent of Jordan's electricity production demand -- 6.8 million cubic meters a day.
Egypt's Sinai region is particularly security sensitive due to tensions with the Bedouin community living there. Many goods are smuggled to the Paleostinian enclave of Gazoo through the Sinai, which the Israelis also charge is a rear base for beturbanned goon attacks against its territory.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Dawn] Minister for Interior, Rehman Malik Pak politician, current Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Näwaz Shärif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. on Friday said Pakistain would not initiate a dialogue with local Taliban unless they lay down arms and give up terrorism.
A move of Taliban to end war voluntarily would be welcomed, Rehman Malik, along with United Kingdom's Home Secretary, Theresa May told media persons after visiting Police Lines Headquarters here.
He asked them to surrender by disarming themselves and refrain from playing into the hands of the enemy.
He said Pakistain had suffered billions of dollars losses in its war against terror and the international community should realize that this war was being fought to protect the world from the ravages of terrorism and to promote peace.
He said Pakistain and United Kingdom share a powerful interest in fighting the extremism and terrorism that threatens people in both countries as well as the whole world.
Replying to a question about activities of Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, he said, there is a democracy in Pakistain and courts are free to decide independently. Hafiz Saeed has been sprung by court, he added.
On a question about killing of former Afghanistan's Caped President, Prof Burhanuddin Rabbani ... the gentlemanly murdered legitimate president of Afghanistan... , Malik said he was a friend of Pakistain and his murder was sorrowful for both Pakistain and Afghanistan.
He said Prof Rabbani was making efforts for peace and it was Pakistain's responsibility to hunt down his killers, who had tried to disrupt the peace initiatives and damage Pak-Afghan ties.
The minister also mentioned the recent meetings of President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... and Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... with Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... in which it was decided that Pakistain would help the Afghan authorities in the investigation of his killing.
He said an Afghan delegation during its visit to Pakistain held meetings with Pakistain's law enforcement agencies' officials and has been assured cooperation with regard to find out killers of Prof. Rabbani.
Theresa May told media that UK recognises Pakistain's sacrifices in fighting terrorism and would stand with Pakistain to combat terrorism and extremism.
She also expressed sympathy with the families of those who have sacrificed their lives in the war against terrorism. Around 36,000 Paks including 3,500 coppers have laid down their lives in the war against terror.
Earlier, both leaders met with the families of victims of terrorism and acknowledged their sacrifices.
Upon their arrival at police lines headquarters, they were presented guard of honour and also laid floral wreath at Martyrs' monument.
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[Iran Press TV] A number of Egyptian army officials join the chorus of calls for change amid mass demos in Cairo and other major cities demanding the downfall of the ruling junta, Press TV reports.
In Cairo, up to a million people gathered on Friday in and around Liberation Square, the focal point of a popular revolution which toppled the four-decade regime of former dictator Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... in February.
The protesters called for an end to the rule of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces which took over after Mubarak's ouster, and voiced their opposition to SCAF's nomination of Mubarak-era official Kamal el-Ganzouri as prime minister.
The calls were soon joined by Egyptians army officers, who supported popular demands for a civilian government and opposed the junta choice to head the transitional government.
"The Supreme Council of Armed Forces does not reflect the whole Egyptian army," said Egyptian Army Captain Ahmed Shouman. "We must be in cohesion with the Egyptian people once again. This is the best way. We must resort to the essence of the revolution," he stressed.
Shouman expressed regret about the crackdown on anti-junta protesters over the past days and described it as a sign of the despair of the remnants of the Mubarak regime, who want to stay in power.
The captain recalled that the people's demand since the start of the uprising in Egypt has been the establishment of a civilian government. He then called for the formation of a "real parliament" representing the Egyptian people and their demands.
The SCAF has a six-month mandate to help set up a transitional government and hold elections, but the junta is receiving dictations from outside Egypt, Shouman stated, without explaining where the junta receives commands from. "We must represent our people not the outside world," he urged, addressing the military.
On the nomination of Ganzouri, he expressed doubts about whether the former prime minister was the appropriate choice given the current situation in Egypt.
Another Egyptian army official also expressed regret over the killing of more than 41 protesters in the past week, and called for the junta to meet popular demands.
"I have been a military man for a long time," said Army Major Amr Metwaly, producing his ID card. "It does not matter if we represent the Egyptian civilians or the armed personnel. But most important of all is that we are all from Egypt; we stand side by side with the revolutionaries and we stand in support of the revolution," he said.
He condemned the killing of protesters as being part of a Western plot to derail the revolution in Egypt. He denounced the junta's stance against the revolutionaries and the use of excessive force against protesters.
Metwaly also echoed his comrade's remark on the presence of Mubarak-era elements in the defense ministry and the ruling military council.
He said Egyptians are against outside intervention from the West and above all the United States, which has made numerous attempts to hijack the Egyptian revolution.
The major called on Egypt's military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi to respect popular demand, step down and stand trial in a civilian court. He also urged the junta to hold national referendum for the people to decide on the future of their country.
Metwaly vowed the army personnel would not back off on their pledge to support the Egyptian people and would live up to their duty of maintaining security for the Egyptian public. He expressed hope that the ruling junta would step down in a week's time at longest and people's demands would then be met.
Posted by: Fred ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
King of the Arabians, Sheikh of the Burning Sands #65;bdullah
[Dawn] Hundreds of Islamist activists in Pak-administered 
Nawaz Sharif
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Walid 
Najib Miqati
International Criminal Court
North Korea
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Asif Ali 
