Hamas' flagship university in Gaza has a new diploma on offer Hebrew, the official language of its arch-foe Israel.
Gaza's Hamas rulers say they want to produce qualified teachers as the government gradually introduces Hebrew studies in its high schools. The aim is simple: It wants Palestinians in Gaza to learn their enemy's language.
"As Jews are occupying our lands, we have to understand their language," said Education Ministry official Somayia Nakhala.
There are 19 students enrolled in the first one-year Hebrew diploma course offered at the Islamic University in Gaza City, a stronghold of Hamas, the Islamic militant group that has ruled Gaza since 2007. Hamas does not recognize Israel, is officially pledged to its destruction and has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings, rocket strikes and other attacks.
Officials hope graduates will become Hebrew teachers. Hamas has already begun offering Hebrew studies as an elective to ninth graders in 16 schools, and plans to expand the program to dozens of other schools in the coming months.
The Obama Administration has warned Britain that it risks damaging its relationship with Washington if it abandons the European Union.
Speaking on a visit to London, Philip Gordon, Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia, said that the EU had increasing weight in the world and made plain that it would be wise for the UK to retain its influence in Brussels.
In the first glimpse of the approach of President Obama towards Britain and Europe since his re-election in November, Mr Gordon reaffirmed the historic importance of Britains relationship with Washington. But he said that the EU was seen as an increasingly important partner across the Atlantic on issues such as growth, jobs and the threat of a nuclear Iran.
Speaking just weeks before David Cameron is expected to promise a referendum on Europe in a long-awaited speech, he cautioned that such referenda could turn countries inwards. He added: Every hour at an EU summit spent debating the institutional make-up of the European Union is one less hour spent talking about how we can solve our common challenges of growth, jobs and international peace around the world.
#1
It is not the US' right to tell the UK what to do. Kinder, gentler, bullying. Whether or not it is in the UK's interest to stay or leave the EU is their own issue.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/09/2013 16:09
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#8
The major Euro-States includ Russia spent the better part of the 19th Century + early, mid 20th Century REACTING to British power + enforced stability, as best illustrated or symbolized by the ROYAL NAVY + SOJOURNS.
IMO the Bammer is correct iff his point is that the EU/EUZ needs the UK - perhaps more importantly, the EU/EUZ needs a UK that is still capable of asserting potent or decisive Continental Leadership + strategic MilPoL power as required.
THE UK CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY NEEDS A STRONG "KING/QUEEN" = MONARCH, NOT A LAS VEGAS OR SAUDI-STYLE PERENNIAL "PARTY PRINCE".
The above being said, I would like to know how the Bammer + Admin see the US under OWG NAU in 2015 or ASAP after???
IT PISSES ME OFF THAT US WASHINGTON CRITTERS ARE UNILATERALLY IMPOSING ANTI-SOVEREIGNTY, ANTI--NATIONALIST, ANTI-CONSTITUTION, ANTI-REPUBLIC, + ANTI-FREEDOM/LIBERAL OWG + SOCIALISM ON THE US WIDOUT EVEN TRYING OR BOTHERING TO EXPLAIN THE PREMISES OR MERITS TO ORDINARY AMERICANS OR EVEN TO VOTE ON IT!
The above is the stuff that de facto National, Sectarian Revolutions, Militantism, Anarchy, Civil Wars + Separatisms are made from.
#1
He is bound and determined to make us criminals, or expats. I find myself wondering just where is the breaking point that gets someone, like our forfathers, to throw in the towel and start somewhere else...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/09/2013 13:41
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#2
He can consider an 'Executive Order' but will he?
That is the question. He can't be that stupid to do it.
#6
You can impeach him in the House all you want but he has the Senate in his pocket so he isn't going anywhere. I'm afraid the best hope we have is a Supreme Court ruling against him. But that will take time and he'll be using that time.
#7
Bet he uses it as a distraction for the "debt ceiling" which comes up in about a month. he'll be poring over his Rules For Radicals to see how he will get maximum benefits from this.
"Never let a crises go to waste"
-selective enforcement of marijuana laws like the illegal immigration thing. (I'm not personnally against the canabis thing but there are laws of the land that need to be adhered to).
-allowing EPA to fly drones over civilian housing and collecting data.
#12
Congress is in this executive order deal too. They sit on their butts and do not take responsibility, while O gets away with legislating by decree. They are in as deep as O.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/09/2013 16:45
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#13
I regard this as good news. Champ's executive order will be unconstitutional. It will be challenged and it will lose. The only reason he would consider this path is that he has decided he will lose the legislative battle. Having put so much political capital into this fight he will try to save face with the EO, then blame the courts when they rule against him. This also allows his allies in Congress to avoid going on the record voting for restrictions that are VERY unpopular.
For gun owners and those who believe in the rule of law, this is a good outcome.
#16
My 2-cents: This is another distraction from real issues that Obama, etal do not want to address (Budget and Bengazi, for instance.). A real beauty was brought up today, by the administration not dismissing the idea of a $1-Trillion coin to take care of our debt = more press and more distraction. Gimme a break.
Let's keep our eyes on the ball (real issues), while neither dismissing nor overemphasizing red herrings/peripheral issues.
#17
Well of course this is a distraction from the real issue, so long as it remains a distraction. That's always been the fear, that it goes from distraction to "I'm actually going to do it". And it looks like he's really going to do it. He won on Obamacare, won re-election through demonization and lying. The guy has to believe he has the upper-hand on anything he does.
Posted by: Charles ||
01/09/2013 19:51
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#18
So he is going to break the law to make an illegal law, to turn law abiding citizens illegal.
#19
So what does that do to his oath to the Constitution, making an anti-Constitutional decree?
This is not conversation, a conversation is putting the issue into Congress so that the greatest minds and orators of our times, those who deem themselves worthy of managing our life and death, I would like to hear them speak. No notes, no tele-p, I want to hear it olde school.
On Dec. 20, President Obama made another in a series of semi-regular trips to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he met privately with 10 wounded U.S. service members and a high-ranking Afghan government official who had recently been admitted.
Asadullah Khalid, the head of Afghanistans intelligence agency, suffered severe abdominal injuries in a suicide attack in Kabul on Dec. 5. According to the State Department, he had been granted entry to the United States in mid-December for medical treatment at the request of Afghan President Hamid Karzais administration.
The White House did not publicly announce that Obama had visited Khalid, but Afghan news outlets reported on the brief meeting. And a snapshot purportedly showing Obama standing by Khalids bedside the spy chief wearing splints on his forearms and a bandage on his face made the rounds on social media.
A leading U.S. human rights organization said it is outraged by the presidents decision to greet Khalid, who has been accused of abuses including torture and drug trafficking even as he distinguished himself as a Karzai ally and anti-Taliban figure in his native Kandahar.
Oh, they're always outraged, aren't they...
Even if your administration determined that humanitarian arguments justified his entry for medical treatment, a presidential visit to his bedside . . . was a major misstep, Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, wrote Dec. 23 in a letter to Obama, who is scheduled to meet with Karzai at the White House on Friday.
He's used more words to describe his outrage about meeting Khalid than he's used to describe his outrage about the Taliban decapitating Pak soldiers.
The presidents visit created the impression that the United States is not concerned about his record of brutality and the abuse and corruption ordinary Afghans have suffered at his hands, Roth wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post.
Khalids standing as head of the National Directorate of Security illustrates the often conflicted nature of the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan, which relies on the intelligence and partnership of local officials who have tangled alliances and employ questionable tactics.
Welcome to the Real World, version 1.00001...
Given the reasons were in Afghanistan and the primacy of the counterterror mission, obviously the head of the intelligence agency is going to play a very critical role and is someone the United States would go to great lengths to help, said a senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Khalid is a longtime U.S. ally
The real reason for HRW's outrage...
who climbed the ranks of the Afghan government with ease, even as allegations mounted against him.
In other words, no different than just about every other government minister, wannabe, moocher, hanger-on and flunkie in that country...
He was governor of Ghazni and Kandahar provinces before becoming minister for border and tribal affairs and one of Karzais most trusted cabinet ministers.
Because he delivered the best juice?
White House national security spokesman Tommy Vietor said Obama thinks it was appropriate to check on Khalids condition. Mr. Khalid and the team he oversees work closely with the United States to protect Afghan citizens and American civilians and military service members in Afghanistan, he said.
Vietor noted that the White House confirmed that Obama had met with Khalid on the day of the presidents visit to Walter Reed when a Washington Post reporter asked about it.
Past presidents have met with rather unsavory people. Some of the latter were world leaders. Reagen with Splotch-Head. Nixon with Kruschchev. Clinton and Cater with Arafat. And so on. It goes with the territory, as does tolerating yapping dogs...
Khalid also recently received a visit from Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, according to Afghan media, which published a photo of the two together at the hospital. Pentagon officials said Panetta visited on Friday.
There is precedent for foreign government officials even those surrounded by controversy to be allowed into the country for medical treatment. Early last year, Ali Abdullah Saleh, then the president of Yemen, was granted a medical visa, even as human rights officials denounced abuses during his rule.
All the better to keep an eye on them and ascertain just how serious their wounds are...
State Department officials said Khalid was not granted a visa but rather admitted under the Department of Homeland Securitys parole process, which grants temporary stays for foreign nationals under emergency conditions.
Patrick Ventrell, a spokesman for the State Department, would not directly address the allegations against Khalid but said rights allegations are a regular topic of discussion with the Karzai government.
It is not clear when Khalid will leave the United States. Karzai was scheduled to visit him Tuesday afternoon.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2013
12:36 ||
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#1
Kahlid who?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/09/2013 16:51
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#2
If it pisses off Human Rights Watch then it's okay with me...
#4
And what the article doesn't say is that another oeprator inspected the wiring back in the APU area and found it installed incorrectly. did not elaborate on just how it was incorrect, could be a simple clamp mis-alignment. or something bigger. what is interesting is that all the Screamliners that have experienced Chevy-Volt-like symtoms were built in Everett ( union) and not Charleston ( non-union) despite Seattle Times bloggers protestations to the contrary. and we haven't had enough operations yet to determine any weak areas or ramp rash issues with the composite structure. still sticking with my 5 year break in period before i climb into one.
#5
what is interesting is that all the Screamliners that have experienced Chevy-Volt-like symtoms were built in Everett ( union) and not Charleston ( non-union)
An interesting data point. Union guys playing hardball/getting paybacks, or just slacking?
#2
I've been making the point that gun control is to Democrats what abortion is to Republicans. Both are privacy issues about which people hold very strong opinions.
#3
Obama consficates Semi=Auto firears and there'll be war, why shoud WE americans be at a disdvantage worldwide, the other nations wo'nt give semi-autos up.
That alone will sink Obama.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/09/2013 16:06
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#4
Iowa lawmaker calls for gun ban, confiscation of semi-automatic weapons
Right after you clear out your National Guard armories first. You know the Guard is for disaster relief and guarding debris after tornadoes, so why should they need suck icky things? A prison riot? Heck what sort of proportional response is that with the those poor unfortunates armed with mere handmade implements. /sarc off
While fellow conservatives bash the president for telling Speaker of the House John Boehner that the country doesnt have a spending problem, I offer Barack Obama another thank-you.
Just when I thought that the GOPs own ineptitude was going to sink the party, the man-who-would-be-president proved once again that when it comes to being out of touch, you cant get any better than the First Community Organizer.
Led by Barack Obama and the Democrats, Congress passed a budget plan that doesnt even do what they said it would- keep taxes lower for anyone not a millionaire or billionaire.
So, now we can add fiscal cliff to the notable failures of Congress, the president and political elites since the turn of the century, including but in no way limited to other failures such as: Obamacare, which helps health care costs go up, not down; Pelosi-care, which funds green companies with taxpayer dollars so people with connections to anyone named Pelosi, Reid or Obama can benefit; Cap N Tax, which, if given a chance, would have seen Al Gore transferring US coal reserves to the OPEC states and Al Jazeera before a tax deadline- and Im not kidding on that; or any one of several jobs bills, where the only job created was the jobbing of taxpayers for the benefit of mobbed-up highway contractors.
While Obama told everyone his fiscal cliff solution meant that taxes were only going up for millionaires and billionaires, he forgot to mention that he was reckoning those figures in Japanese Yen- a million Yen equals only $11,433.80 reckoned in US Dollars.
So anywho taxes are going up on EVERYONE, even lowly community organizers.
The budget wont be cut ANYWHERE, not even in the Defense Department.
Actually, we should all stand-by for more dumb spending proposals, and the taxes that go along with them.
Because the Dems wasted no time in turning the political victory they waged on the GOP into Pyrrhic victory they wage on taxpayers.
The Texas state comptroller estimated Texas will generate $96.2 billion in revenue for the 2014-2015 fiscal cycle and reported Texas collected $8.8 billion more in revenue than expected during the last fiscal year.
When unemployment in Texas was at its highest in a decade and the state government faced a $27 billion shortfall in 2011, legislators wrote what was then described as a cut-to-the-bone budget.
#1
When the Texas Congress convenes (they only meet for 90 days each year) Governor Rick Perry has requested they look at cutting taxes for all Texans.
I would even suggest they declare a state holiday in honor of fire arms to really unnerve the Socialists but it may get a little noisy around the Saloons and Cantinas on a day like that.
#12
Sounds like it'ss time to move to Texas.
Alabama's OK, but Texas has the ability to secede at any time Built in as an agreement of Joining the Union.
Alabama doesn't.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/09/2013 16:13
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#13
Texas originally, especially when it was a Republic before becoming a state, all land deeds had the words "Defend and Protect" that plot of land from hostilities. No longer in deeds there that I know of but all invaders knew back at that time that each and every land owner throughout the big state of Texas were under contract to protect that plot of land they owned.
That explain why they and their descendants are a people with an extra passion for arms and independence.
Apophis, named after an Egyptian mythological demon, will not get closer than around nine million miles and scientists have ruled out any possibility of a cataclysmic collision
However, in 2036, there is a very small chance that Apophis could smash into Earth.
Scientists will use today's encounter to gauge just how much of a threat the asteroid really is.
Current models predict a tiny but real likelihood of a collision.
In 2029, Apophis is expected to whizz past at a distance a little too close for comfort ; just 30,000 kilometres.
That will put the asteroid inside the orbit of communication satellites.
When the asteroid was discovered in 2004 scientists calculated a one-in-45 chance of an impact in 2029. Improved predictions later lifted the threat.
The asteroid's latest near approach will occur at midnight UK time tonight.
Members of the public can view the event online via the Slooh web-based sky-watching service, which collects images from observatories around the world.
Slooh President Patrick Paolucci said: "Alone among all these near-Earth asteroids that have passed our way in recent years, Apophis has generated the most concern worldwide because of its extremely close approach in 2029 and potential impact, albeit small, in 2036. We are excited to cover this asteroid live for the general public."
Scientists at the American space agency NASA have calculated that if Apophis struck the Earth it would generate a blast equivalent to more than 500 megatons of TNT. In comparison, the most powerful hydrogen bomb ever detonated, the Soviet Tsar Bomba, released 57 megatons.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
01/09/2013
05:44 ||
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#1
I understand that the next 2 trips will be naked eye visible over the Atlantic. Kinda wild since it's only a couple of hundred yards in length. Hope to hell I'm alive and it's clear.
#2
I'm more concerned that NASA's calcualtions prove correct lest we see the same kind of serious professional or argumentative disssension that has wrought the GWCC Boyz even before the US is officially under OWG + OWG NAU, where the only thing that Govt-Perts have achieved is to "agree to disagee".
Again, OLD DREAM/VISION = GUAM, EARTH-VISIBLE MOON EXPLOSIONS.
TO PARAPH KRAUTHAMMER - "SAY IT WID ME, AMERICA = AMERIKA, OWG MIGHTY USSA = OWG WEAK USRoA SSR, COMET APOPHIS IS A SMALL ROCK, THE MOON IS A BIG ROCK".
APOPHIS = S-M-A-L-L, MOON = B-I-G.
There may be no effective OWG SPace Defense because there is no effective OWG because US-World Govts, Perts are still arguing over everything + "agreeing to disagree", i.e. ARGUING OVER EVERYTHING, BUT HAVE SETTLED OR ACHIEVED OR ORGANIZED, ETC. NOTHING.
There is also the lingering threat or risk that Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9's "Earth-sized" or bigger fragmented impacts on Jupiter back in the 1990's may had blown large chunks or ejecta from Jupiter's surface into its high atmosphere, eventually to escape into deep space towards Earth.
MOON = B-I-G ROCK, CSL9 JUPITER CHUNK = B-I-G-G-E-R ROCK.
The above is exclusive of so-called "Planet X/Nibiru" + Technology, Civilization-damaging or destroying MASSIVE SOLAR STORMS/EMP [2013 Solar Maxima, lack of Sunspots].
Limousine liberal is an old American term used against those who inherited lots of money and then became traitors to their class by embracing populist politics.
The Roosevelts and Kennedys enjoyed the high life quite apart from the multitude that they championed. And they were exempt, by virtue of their inherited riches and armies of accountants and attorneys, from the higher taxes they advocated for others. Few worried about how their original fortunes were made long ago, or that as lifelong government officials they had their needs met by the state. Most were relieved instead that as very rich people they wanted less rich people to pay their fair share to help the poor.
But the new liberal aristocracy is far less discreet than the old. Most are self-made multimillionaires who acquired their money through government service, finance, law, investment, or marriage. If the old-money liberals lived it up tastefully within their walled family compounds, the new liberal aristocrats are unashamed about living openly in a manner quite at odds with their professed populist ideology.
Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi is set to mediate talks in Cairo between the leaders of Fatah and Hamas to help implement a unity pact signed in 2011.
Egypt helped broker the deal between Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the Fatah party, and Hamas's Khaled Meshaal.
The Islamist movement ousted Fatah from Gaza in 2007 after winning Palestinian elections the previous year.
Observers say tensions appear to have eased in recent months.
On Wednesday Mr Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority (PA), and Mr Meshaal will first "meet Egypt's intelligence chief before holding a three-way meeting with President Morsi," Egyptian spokesman Yasser Ali told the AFP news agency.
The reconciliation accord signed two years ago was meant to pave the way for a joint interim government and joint elections in 2012 but negotiations stalled.
Last October, Hamas boycotted local elections held in the West Bank, the first Palestinian polls in more than six years.
A defence contractor whose subsidiary was accused of conspiring to torture Abu Ghraib prisoners has settled with former inmates for $5m (£3m).
US firm Engility Holdings paid 71 people held at Abu Ghraib, Baghdad, and other US-run prisons, on behalf of L-3 Services, according to a legal filing found by the Associated Press.
L-3 provided translators to the US military in post-war Iraq.
Images of abuse at Abu Ghraib in 2004 sparked international outage.
Another contractor which provided interrogators to the US military, CACI, is expected to go to trial over similar allegations.
The US government is immune from lawsuits stemming from combat actions by the military in time of war, but courts are still establishing whether independent firms operating in war zones should have the same legal immunity.
The Engility settlement marks the first successful effort by lawyers for former Iraqi prisoners against defence contractors in lawsuits alleging torture.
#7
Government creates money all the time. We have a Treasury Department that has been doing this since 1787. We have a Federal Reserve that has been doing this since 1913.
Look at the money supply measures (M1, M3, etc) over the last two centuries. We create coinage, bills, bank reserves, etc all the time.
The question isn't whether government can create a $1T coin and call it legal tender. Of course it can, and can do so the same way it authorizes printing of $1 bills.
The question is what would happen if government did this. Okay, let's do that armchair experiment.
Let's coin 20 $1T coins (call them 'Krugmans'). Deposit the 20 Krugmans in the Treasury.
What happens next? Well, the Treasury either tries to 'spend' them -- proffer them in the markets to pay our bills -- or tries to borrow against them -- use them for collateral.
Either way the markets will likely say no, or say yes only under the most onerous terms.
And if either works, you are increasing the money supply by a substantial amount. I think there's a term for what happens when the money supply increases relative to the goods and services available. Hmmm, what's that word again?
Create a $1T Krugman if you want. Government can do it. It just isn't wise.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2013 12:34
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#8
It would only work if the coin weighed 18,000 tons. I say make it and hand it directly to Obama.
[An Nahar] Yemen's national security chief said on Tuesday that U.S. drone strikes against al-Qaeda targets will continue as the two governments keep up their counter-terrorism cooperation.
"The Yemeni-American cooperation, including the use of friendly aircraft, will continue," Ali Hassan al-Ahmadi told news hounds in Sanaa.
"Yemen is one of the countries that joined the international alliance to combat terrorism after the September 11," 2001 attacks on the United States, he said.
Washington has been stepping up its support for Yemen's battle against forces of Evil of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which it regards as the most active and deadliest franchise of the global jihadist network.
U.S. drone strikes in Yemen nearly tripled in 2012 compared to 2011, with 53 recorded against 18, according to the Washington-based think tank New America Foundation.
At least 14 al-Qaeda suspects have been killed in Yemen since December 24, when attacks by the unmanned aircraft on targets in al-Bayda and the eastern Hadramawt province were stepped up.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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The future is two 25 hour jobs. Wait, that means the 40 hour work week sought over 100 years ago and eventually implemented is now OBE, all in the name of the 'poor', 'fairness', 'redistribution'. The more you fiddle with stuff, the more you break.
Maybe but it won't be because of Obamacare which counts full-time equivalents not actual full time employees. Their calculation would be something along the lines of 50 persons x 30 hours/week = 1500+ employee hours per week trips the Obamacare trigger for an employer. That's not the precise calculation but it's of the same sort I believe.
I wonder if the action in the Obamacare avoidance industry won't center around cutting existing businesses up into new & legally distinct pieces each of which falls below the threshold. I'd picture the dodge as being, in the context of a QSR franchisee, splitting each location out into a legally separate & distinct entity then running these more granular pieces through a legally separate holding company.
Then again, since the penalty exempts the first 30 employees, the 50th full-time equivalent costs $2k x (50 - 30) = $40k/year to the business. Might not be enough to encourage a wave of complex restructuring all of which could have tax implications of its own. Will definitely be interesting to watch.
#9
The trick is to get an exemption, which Yum! can afford.
And I believe the next move, as business start closing four of 7 days a week (not that there will be anything on the shelves - an item from production to shelf is mostly labor costs tacked on) would be to restrict a person to 30 hours a week. To do more would be to take someone else's job which would be ruled an enterprising infraction. Work for the State does not count against this limit, and you may even be payed if you pass your The State is I exams and screenings and promotions by committee filter.
#11
Fear notteth, Amerika, the Leftist-Globalist OWG NAU in 2015 will save us from these wily dastardly Nationalist, Constitutionalist, Fascist = Just-a-Limited-Communist shennanigans!
ONCE WE MOVE FROM THE TOP TO THE BOTTOM OF THE NAU $$$ PECKING ORDER, THE NAU WILL BE SURE TO GIVE US THE MORE $$$ THAT THEY RELIED ON THE NOW-BANKRUPT AMERIKA TO GIVE THEM!
[Bangla Daily Star] A mother who beat her seven-year-old son to death for failing to learn the Koran by heart and burned his body in an attempt to hide her crime has been placed in durance vile Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! for life.
Sara Ege, 33, collapsed and had to be helped sobbing from the dock after being told she would serve 17 years before she could be considered for parole.
Ege treated her son Yaseen "like a dog" when he struggled to memorise passages of the holy book of Islam, Cardiff crown court heard. Over three months, she beat him until he collapsed on the floor of his bedroom -- still mumbling verses -- and died.
Ege used barbecue lighting gel to set fire to the boy's body. Initially, emergency services believed he had been killed in a blaze at the family home in the Welsh capital. But a postmortem revealed he had died before the fire started and had suffered multiple injuries to his body including broken ribs, a fractured arm and a fractured finger.
A serious case review, published after Ege was placed in durance vile Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! , revealed that staff at Yaseen's school had been concerned on "one or two occasions" about the boy but their worries had not been passed on to children's services or police.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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[Dawn] Sources in the Interior Ministry said that a phone call made by a close associate of Hakimullah Mehsud planning an attack on the January 14 long march was intercepted, DawnNews reported.
Sources said that during the phone call, Mehsud's companion is heard asking another Taliban member for a car which would be used in a planned attack on Tehrik-e-Minhajul Koran chief Tahirul Qadri's long march in Islamabad.
In an alert issued by the ministry, it was said that the Pak Taliban's denial of planning to attack the January 14 march was a lie intended to mislead the public and in particular Qadri.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] In its latest annual report for fiscal year 2011 to 2012, Planned Parenthood ...has received federal funding since 1970, when President Richard Nixon signed into law the Family Planning Services and Population Research Act. It is sometimes described as the gynecololgical wing of the Democratic party. reveals that it performed 333,964 abortions in 2011 -- a record year for the organization.
According to annual reports, the organization performed 332,278 abortions in 2009, 329,445 in 2010, making the total number of abortions in three years to 995,687.
Planned Parenthood reported receiving a record $542 million in taxpayer funding, according to a Susan B. Anthony List analysis of the report, in the form of government grants, contracts, and Medicaid reimbursements. The amount is 45 percent of Planned Parenthood's annual revenue.
"While government subsidies to Planned Parenthood have reached an all time high, so too has the number of lives ended by this profit-driven abortion business," SBA List's President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement. "Destroying nearly one million children in three years is not health care and does not reflect a concern for vulnerable women and girls."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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#1
Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus smiles. Perhaps we have well earned our current fate.
#3
Ask yourself what Peter and the other Apostles would have thought of the matter. If all values are relativistic then who cares what they thought?
But then if there ARE real immutable Values concerning Human Life we can share the values of the japanese when it comes to Abortion...or the Chinese. Or the North Koreans. Or even the French.
They have no problem with shoving a sharp steel canula through a fetus's brain.
#4
According to annual reports, the organization performed 332,278 abortions in 2009, 329,445 in 2010, making the total number of abortions in three years to 995,687.
And the liberals are getting their panties in a wad about guns? Just a distraction from all the other violence being perpetrated. C'mon, give me a break.
#6
There are about 800,000 to 1,000,000 abortions per year in the U.S.
Of these, about 150,000 to 200,000 are done in early stage pregnancy without surgery using prescription drugs.
So basically, Planned Parenthood performed about half of all surgical abortions in the US.
Of course the PP will say that abortions are only 3& of its services but that's because they do STD and pregnancy testing, etc. which are non controversial.
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/09/2013 13:18
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#7
Think of how many more children of conservatives than leftists will be coming of age in 20 years or so....
Posted by: Barbara ||
01/09/2013 13:41
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[Shabelle] South Sudanese police has jugged Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! a large number of Somali expats living in the capital city of Juba, according to Somali residents living there.
The Somalis detained are reported to be 23 persons and South Sudanese police force surrounded a house where these Somalis were living before taking them into custody.
The police later 15 of the 23 persons tossed in the calaboose Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! after there were not found of any break of the law.
The Somali embassy in Jubba is now trying to help the detained Somali get their freedom back. It is reported that the police suspect those Somalis were planning illegal activities against the security.
A large of Somali expats live and have businesses in the newly independent state of South Sudan and Somalia has a diplomatic mission there.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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[An Nahar] Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi has ordered forming two panels to resolve lingering grievances of southerners in a new move to get them to join a stalled national dialogue, state media said on Tuesday.
One commission will be to resolve disputes over lands that many southerners claim the previous regime seized from them and the other to handle the cases of civil servants and security officials fired from their jobs, official news agency SANA said.
The commissions will also investigate "violations" against southerners that occurred since the south was overrun by northern troops after a short-lived civil war in 1994.
The decision "aims at going ahead with the national dialogue and achieving national reconciliation to the serve public interest," the agency said.
The promised national dialogue was to start in November, but has been delayed for many reasons. The main obstacles is that factions of the Southern Movement, which advocates autonomy or secession for the formerly independent south, refuse to take part.
Three of the movement's four components have now agreed to participate, and efforts are on to persuade the hardline faction of former vice president Ali Salem al-Baid to join too.
Baid's faction insists the talks must take place between North and South Yemen as two independent states.
In December, the dialogue's preparatory committee recommended to Hadi a series of measures to restore the southerners' confidence in the Sanaa regime.
Some 60,000 civil servants, military and police officials were "unfairly" fired or sent into early retirement during former strongman 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... 's rule, according to a member of the dialogue committee.
They are demanding to be reinstated or compensated.
Four years after North and South Yemen unified, the south broke away in 1994, sparking a short civil war that ended with the region being overrun by northern troops.
In 2007, the Southern Movement emerged as a social protest movement of retired officials and soldiers. But it has gradually grown more radical in its demands.
No date has yet been set for the national dialogue, but political sources said it could begin later this month or in early February.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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#1
I'm NOT reassured. (Southerner)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/09/2013 16:41
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[Dawn] Three people were killed in incidents of firing in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , DawnNews reported on Tuesday.
Two people were killed in Orangi Town's Baloch Goth area and their bodies were shifted to the Abbasi Shahid Hospital. Police said the two were killed over a personal enmity and took four people into custody.
Moreover, unknown assailants bumped off one man in the city's Soldier Bazaar area. The man was a resident of the city's Gulbahar area.
Separately in Gulbahar, two people were maimed in an incident of firing.
Furthermore, in Bloody Karachi's Gulshan-e-Maymar area, the body of an 18-year-old girl bearing torture marks was recovered. The girl had however not yet been identified.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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[ZA.NEWS.YAHOO] Nigeria's navy has transferred for prosecution 15 Russian sailors placed in durance vile Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! since October for allegedly transporting illegal arms, a navy front man said Tuesday.
"The police have taken over the custody of the 15 Russians because the navy does not have the power to prosecute them," Lieutenant Commander Jerry Omodara of the Western Naval Command in Lagos, told AFP.
He said the police took over the case on Monday after inspecting the vessel and weapons currently docked at the navy's Beecroft's harbour in Apapa, Lagos, the nation's economic capital and main seaport.
"We have to keep the ship because the police do not have the capacity to keep it. Both the vessel and weapons will be released as exhibits during the trial of the suspects," he said.
Omodara did not however say when the trial will start.
"It is left for the police to decide when to start the trial. The navy has concluded its preliminary investigations," he added.
The MV Myre Seadiver was seized on October 19 off the coast of Lagos by a naval patrol which also detained its 15 crew members.
Weapons found on the vessel included 14 AK-47 rifles with 3,643 rounds of ammunition as well as 22 Benelli MR1 rifles with 4,955 rounds of ammunition.
The intended destination or planned use of the arms was not clear. Nigeria is awash with illegal weapons that have fuelled violence in Africa's most populous nation and largest oil producer.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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#1
14 AK-47 rifles with 3,643 rounds of ammunition as well as 22 Benelli MR1 rifles with 4,955 rounds of ammunition
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/09/2013 11:10
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Offshore support vessel.
Details of the seizure are here. From the Maritime Bulletin:
The arms found on Myre Seadiver are too small a lot to be an arms trafficking operation, but too big for the purpose of vessels protection. Most probably [the] vessel is employed as a floating arsenal. Myre Seadiver left Russian port Baltyisk in June and during summer time was in Gulf of Aden area, then probably, it was decided to relocate vessel to Gulf of Guinea, she called Lagos for bunkering and maybe other supplies. If thats the case, then, Nigerian Navy was tipped off about the true nature of the vessel, and knew theyd find weapons on board.
[Dawn] The World Food Program said Tuesday it is unable to help an estimated one million Syrians who are going hungry, blaming a lack of security in the war-stricken country. Maybe they should bill the government of Syria?
This month, the agency aims to help 1.5 million of the 2.5 million Syrians whom the Syrian Arab Red Islamic Thingy says need food aid, spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said.
The poor security and the agency's inability to use the Syrian port of Tartous for shipments means that a large number of people in the some of the country's hardest hit areas will not get help, she said.
"Our main partner, the Red Islamic Thingy, is overstretched and has no more capacity to expand further," Byrs said.
She also said that the agency has temporarily pulled its staff out of its offices in the Syrian cities of Homs, Aleppo, Tartous and Qamisly due to the rising dangers in those areas.
But in December, WFP was able to enter for the first time in many months some hard-to-reach areas near the Turkish border, she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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#1
I'll bet they can feed 10 hungry UN bureaucrats. And feed them very well...
#3
I observed the 'UN Food for Peace' program first hand at the old Canal Hotel in Baghdad in 1994. A scandalous, sorry lot they were then, and probably remain yet today.
[MAGHAREBIA] Algerian security reports describe 2012 as the calmest year in the last decade. Armed attacks fell to their lowest level since 2002, with the most significant decrease found in the traditional strongholds of terrorism in the east.
Carefully planned security operations succeeded in neutralising top leaders of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Algerian forces also stopped AQIM plots against parliament and the Cherchell Joint Military Academy, as well as plans to abduct foreign nationals during Ramadan.
It was not al-Qaeda, in fact, behind the two main terror attacks of 2012, but rather a splinter group operating out of Mali.
The Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) grabbed credit for the suicide kaboom of the Algerian National Gendarmerie regional command centre in downtown Ouargla last June. The Tamanrasset suicide kaboom last March was also the work of the MUJAO.
Algerian counter-terrorism agencies killed 161 forces of Evil and placed in durance vile Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! 309 in 2012, Tout sur l'Algerie quoted an unnamed military official as saying on December 31st. More than 30 repentant beturbanned goons also took advantage last year of the amnesty offered under the 2005 Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation.
The year saw a total of 65 terror attacks. With most of the danger emanating from Boumerdès, blood-stained Tizi Ouzou, Bouira and Béjaïa, army forces have focused on the Kabylie region.
"The decline in armed attacks in 2012 is due to the pressure exerted by the security services on the strongholds of gangs," the military source said.
Counter-terrorism units have also increased their presence on the border with Libya. The move led to the arrest of 40 of AQIM fighters on the Libyan border.
Officials attribute the drop in armed attacks to pressures imposed by security agencies. Last year witnessed a major shift in counter-terrorism strategy, with a new focus on the leaders of gangs.
Counter-terrorism units sought to target the "grey matter" of the terrorist organization, starting with the Ghardaia arrest of AQIM's judicial commission head Necib Tayeb, (aka Abderrahmane Abou Ishak Essoufi).
The most recent blow to al-Qaeda came on December 16th, when security forces arrested the group's number 2 man, Salah Gasmi (aka Salah Abou Mohamed), in Sharfa, Bouira province.
Other important AQIM figures caught in 2012 include field commander Sidi Mohand Ouramdane (aka El Khechkhache), foreign relations specialist Ahmed Bakai, and dangerous emir Abdelmalik Salami. Special Forces also eliminated Makhfi Rabah, 45, a prominent al-Qaeda leader in Kabylie.
"These operations have greatly confused al-Qaeda because of their accuracy," security analyst Kamal Hadef told Magharebia.
It was clear to the al-Qaeda hierarchy that "classified information was leaking from within the group", he said.
"This created an atmosphere of suspicion and doubt within the group," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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[MAGHAREBIA] Ansar al-Din on Monday (January 7th) launched an assault on a Malian army unit in Savare, 600km southwest of Gao, ANI reported. The armed Islamists were led by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) chiefs, according to al-Akhbar.
They fighters sought to take control of the Mopti airport, which reportedly could serve as a rear base for African forces.
The armed Islamists captured at least 12 government soldiers near Mopti, Al Jizz reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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[FRANCE24] French Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac is under investigation for tax fraud after a media report that he had an undeclared UBS account in Geneva which he then moved to Asia, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Cahuzac, who is in charge of battling tax evasion, has denied the report by the respected Mediapart investigative website that he had an undeclared Swiss account which he then transferred to Singapore.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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#1
HE DENIES THE ACCOUNT'S HIS?.
cONSFICATE THE ACCOUNT, SINCE IT'S NOT HIS, HE WON'T COMPLAIN.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/09/2013 10:16
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[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] Georgia Power asked state regulators for permission to shut down 15 power plants yesterday, claiming new regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) make the plants too expensive to run. I'm thinking seriously about adding another category and simply calling it "Government."
The 15 coal-, oil- and natural gas-fired power plants currently produce 2,061 megawatts (MW) for Georgia energy consumers. Georgia Power plans to close 11 of the plants on the exact day the EPA's new mercury regulations are set to take effect, April 16, 2015. Georgia Power will seek waivers from the EPA to keep four of the other plants open for a single year, and then shut those down too on April 16, 2016. It is unclear how the Georgia energy sector will make the 2 gigawatts up.
The EPA claims its new mercury regulation will produce $140 billion in annual benefits, but only $6 million of the benefits come from actual mercury reductions. According to Dr. Anne Smith, Senior Vice President of NERA Economic Consulting's Global Environment Group, effectively all of the EPA's estimated benefits come from "coincidental reductions" of fine particulate matter. But fine particulate matter is already regulated by a separate section of the Clean Air Act.
The plant closures will cause at least 480 fewer power plant jobs and higher electricity rates for all Georgia energy consumers.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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#1
Not just Georgia. This is happening in many states. I have seen it in my Ti-State area.
Costs will only go up and up "to infinity and beyond". "Government" that doesn't care anymore.
#3
While I'm usually the first to jump on this stuff, let us note that EPA is doing this because of a court ruling against them by the State of NJ.
Local news here in Atlanta stated that GA Power will only close 3 plants and replace them with cheaper natural gas plants. That seems to be an economic win-win to me, who lives here and will pay the cost. I honestly didn't even know we still had oil fired plants in GA and Natural Gas is something we can produce domestically (another win-win).
Posted by: BA ||
01/09/2013 10:14
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Burning Natural gas?
That'll cause CO2, and that's illegal.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/09/2013 10:18
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Big Jim, I think GA Power has the "big picture" in mind. They are moving forward with new nuke reactors at 2 of our nuclear plants. Hope that the NRC gives approval....
Posted by: BA ||
01/09/2013 10:25
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Also, to further clarify my original post, EPA is implementing mercury rules (Clean Air Act) because of the federal D.C. District's ruling against EPA in a lawsuit brought by NJ (not a NJ state court ruling, as my original post implies).....
And, for full disclosure, I work for the EPA (albeit in the wastewater arena, not air).
Posted by: BA ||
01/09/2013 10:27
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#7
Nke reactors?
Seems OK, wnat about the long term storage of "Spent" fuel, No answer?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/09/2013 10:34
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#8
Don't know and won't opine on long-term storage of spent fuel.....
However, nuke reactors "solve" the GHG emissions issues....
Posted by: BA ||
01/09/2013 10:47
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#9
Also, the below link shows that it is proposing to close 15 units at 4 power plants. That's the confusion, I guess.
Posted by: BA ||
01/09/2013 11:05
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BA, how long between the closure of the currently operating units and the opening of the gas-fired ones? I have to assume there is no firm start-up date for the nuclear power plants...
#11
Georgia Power plans to close 11 of the plants on the exact day the EPA's new mercury regulations are set to take effect,
So we are getting mercury out of our power plants while we bring it into our homes in the form of curly light bulbs. Yeah, I'm sure that is better somehow.
#12
Not sure, TW, but here they have until next July/August to do so. I think (not sure about this) GA Power built several NG fired plants years ago to handle "peak demand" times (hot summer days). Maybe they can use those (although I doubt it'll replace 2 GWatts) and/or quickly build new NG units.
I believe GA Power (when it saw the NE brownouts a few years ago) went into high gear to build extra capacity. Even in last summer's extreme heat here (we had more days of 90+ than we've had for a while), we never experienced brown-outs, so obviously there's capacity. I'm just not sure how much.
Finally, the 3 plants they listed were outside of a lot smaller towns (which probably means more consistent use of the grid), so I'd like to think that GA Power has planned for this. The plants they listed on radio were outside of Brunswick (extreme SE Georgia), near Savannah and outside of Newnan (SW of Atlanta). Also, I'd guess that Brunswick has been hit hard as it's an industrial town and in O's economy, a lot of plants there have been shuttered (further decreasing electrical demand).
I honestly have no (environmental) dog in this fight. Just want to be transparent myself and show fallacies in some opinion pieces, is all.
Posted by: BA ||
01/09/2013 15:31
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#13
So we are getting mercury out of our power plants while we bring it into our homes in the form of curly light bulbs.
Gotta store it somewhere.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
01/09/2013 17:47
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#14
I honestly have no (environmental) dog in this fight. Just want to be transparent myself and show fallacies in some opinion pieces, is all.
Much appreciated, BA. More information is better. :-)
#4
Net worth? That's assuming she's saved anything. She's an Eater, not a Planner; everything she's been given she's consumed as fast as possible. Odds are her credit cards are straining at their limits and she has multiple mortgages.
Being prepared for tomorrow is for other people -- who she intends to rob.
(Rather, have the government rob for her; she no doubt has a defined benefits pension from Chicago.)
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
01/09/2013 12:06
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#5
Karen Lewis is a shrill, bloviating idiot. The teachers I know from the Chicago area can't stand her, but are unwilling to say so or do anything about it publicly for fear of both personal and physical retributions.
It's the 'Chicago Way®'.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
01/09/2013 12:59
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#6
15 seconds of that bitch was all i could take. there ain't enough bags in the world to put over that to make it worth it, even to a WestPac Sailor @ 2 AM......
[An Nahar] The Central African Republic's President Francois Bozize refused Tuesday to discuss resigning at upcoming peace talks with rebels who have stormed across the country and seized several key towns.
"I don't need to negotiate (my departure). Does the rebellion represent the Centrafrican people? I don't need to negotiate the position of head of state," he said in response to a question at a presser in the capital Bangui on whether he was prepared to accept rebel demands. "These are terrorist mercenaries," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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[An Nahar] Britannia will host a two-day meeting on Syria starting on Wednesday, officials said, bringing together academics and the opposition to prepare for a future without Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Terror of Aleppo ... Experts in post-conflict stabilization will join representatives from regional Arab partners, multilateral agencies and the leadership of the opposition Syrian National Coalition for the closed-door talks, the Foreign Office announced.
"The UK's objective is to galvanize international thinking and planning on a Syrian-led political transition," a front man said.
"We're doing everything we can to bring an end to the violence in Syria and achieve a genuine political transition."
British Foreign Secretary William Hague has said repeatedly that Assad's departure from power is "inevitable" following a conflict that has so far raged for 21 months and killed more than 60,000 people, according to the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... The talks in Britannia are intended to help international supporters of the Syrian opposition prepare for the significant challenges it would face in a post-Assad Syria, particularly on security.
In a rare speech on Sunday, Assad offered to hold discussions with Syria's opposition to end the conflict, but only with those elements he deemed acceptable, not rebel-affiliated groups he termed "killers" and "terrorists" led by foreigners.
The Cairo-based Syrian National Coalition, the main, internationally recognized opposition group, immediately dismissed the offer, repeating its insistence that the president step down before any negotiations could be considered.
The British talks will be hosted by a senior civil servant, David Quarrey, the head of the Foreign Office's Middle East and Africa desk. Junior foreign minister Alistair Burt will close the event on Thursday afternoon, but he will not attend the talks themselves.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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[An Nahar] Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi will meet his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, and Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal in Cairo on Wednesday, Morsi's office said. Abbas and Meshaal will first "meet Egypt's intelligence chief before holding a three-way meeting with President Morsi," presidential spokesman Yasser Ali told Agence France Presse.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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[Dawn] Two men, including a young banker, were rubbed out in the city in as many attacks apparently on sectarian grounds on Monday evening, police said.
They said that 24-year-old Ali Raza Naqvi was returning home from his workplace on a cycle of violence along with colleague Mohammad Rais when assailants, also riding a cycle of violence, intercepted them on main University Road near NIPA, fired at him and rode away.
While Mr Rais remained unhurt in the attack, the victim suffered three bullet wounds and was rushed to a nearby private hospital where doctors declared him dead. He's dead, Jim! on arrival.
Later, the body was taken to the Incholi Imambargah, the police said.
The victim was employed at a private bank.
A front man for the Sindh police, SSP Imran Shaukat, said that it appeared that the victim was killed on sectarian grounds.
A Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... statement issued on Monday night said that the victim was a worker of MQM's Labour Division (Allied Bank unit) and his killing was aimed at fomenting sectarian unrest in the city.
In two months, several persons associated with the profession of banking have been bumped off in the city.
On Jan 2, a senior banker, identified as Javed Memon, was rubbed out in the SITE area.
On Dec 20, 2012 a 50-year-old banker, Ashiq Abbas, was rubbed out in Lines Area.
On Nov 6, 2012, two bankers -- Allama Aftab Haider Jafri and his associate Shahid Ali Mirza -- were bumped off on Preedy Street.
In the Pak Colony area, assailants riding a cycle of violence sprayed a car with bullets on Manghopir Road within the remit of the Pak Colony cop shoppe and fled.
The car driver, 40-year-old Murtaza Alvi, suffered bullet wounds and was rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where he was pronounced dead. He's dead, Jim! on arrival.
Following the medico-legal formalities at the health facility, the body was moved to the Fatimyah ghusal khana at Numaih.
The police said that the victim was associated with some hardware business and lived in Kharadar. He was heading home from work when he was targeted.
A front man for the Majlis Wahdat-e-Moslemeen strongly condemned the killings of Mr Naqvi and Alvi and said that there was no writ of law and innocent people were being killed on a daily basis in the city.
Wounded prayer leader dies
A man who suffered bullet wounds in an attack on Dec 31 in New Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... died during treatment on Monday.
Police said Mualana Shaukat Gul was the prayer leader of a mosque in Lasi Goth, New Bloody Karachi, and on Dec 31 he had gone to meet someone in Sector 5-E where he was targeted.
The police believed that he was targeted on sectarian grounds.
Truck driver rubbed out
A truck driver was rubbed out at the Northern Bypass in the early hours of Monday.
Police said that the incident took place within the remit of the Manghopir cop shoppe, where gunnies riding a cycle of violence opened fire on the truck being driven by Arif Abdul Razzak, 21.
The victim was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where he was pronounced dead. He's dead, Jim! on arrival.
Area SHO Nasir Mehmood said that the victim was a resident of North Bloody Karachi's Sector 11-D and was heading to a poultry farm. He was unmarried.
The police said that he was killed over some personal enmity and he was not affiliated with any political or religious party.
Body found in gunny bag
The body of an unidentified man, stuffed in a gunny bag, was found in Orangi Town on Monday.
Police said that the body was found in Toori Bangash Colony within the remit of the Iqbal Market cop shoppe.
The body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where doctors said that the victim, aged around 48 years, had been strangulated. The body bore no torture marks.
Following the medico-legal formalities, the body was moved to the Edhi morgue for identification.
Man found rubbed out
The body of an unidentified man was found at a desolate place in Mehmoodabad on Monday.
An area police officer said that the at first it seemed that the body was of some drug addict who had died of cold, but a close look revealed that he had been shot in the head.
Following the medico-legal formalities, the body was taken to the Edhi morgue for a want of identification.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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[An Nahar] Pro-Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... Paleostinian groups in Syria said on Tuesday that Yarmuk camp in the south of the capital must be "demilitarized", and called on Paleostinian factions to help refugees who fled camp violence to return home.
Violence has struck several refugee camps since March 2011, when the revolt erupted in Syria, which is home to some 490,000 Paleostinians.
On Tuesday alone, five people were killed in shelling and sniper fire in Yarmuk camp, as festivities raged on its outskirts nearly a month after the outbreak of major fighting there.
"We call on gunnies to withdraw from Yarmuk so the people of the camp can have a roof over their heads again, and put a stop to political strife in Yarmuk," said a statement issued at a presser by factions allied to the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Trampler of Homs... "The main goal is the return of residents to a safe, demilitarized camp, where they can go back to a normal life," the statement added.
Paleostinians in Syria must remain "neutral" in the country's spiraling crisis, said the statement, which was signed by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine-General Command, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Paleostine ... a breakaway faction of the Pöpular Frönt för the Liberation of Paleostine. The are regarded as the most intellectual of Paleostinian fedayeen groups, smoking cheap cigarettes and drawing heavily on Marxist-Leninist theory to explain their crappy lives. They can occasionally be seen strutting through the streets of Paleostine, dressed up like soldiers and lugging firearms, though they seldom manage to hit anything and then usually by accident. This may be because of their habit of wearing black masks that cut off most of their vision. That would also explain their habit of occasionally walking into walls, which is a well-known attribute of those immersed in true understanding of the dialectic... and the Nidal Front. That's the Abu Nidal Group, which used to be headed by Abu Nidal until Saddam had him bumped off.
The text was not signed by main factions Fatah, Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, and Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the liquidation of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... Signatories called on Hamas and the Paleostine Liberation Organization to launch an international campaign to enable the return of most of the 150,000 residents of Yarmuk, who fled when major violence broke out there in mid-December.
In late December, a PLO official said more than 700 Paleostinians have been killed in Syria's violence.
Paleostinians in Syria are divided over the country's conflict, with the PFLP-GC and its allies supporting Assad, while Hamas and others back the revolt.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] House Minority Leader Nancy San Fran Nan Pelosi Congresswoman-for-Life from the the Socialist paradise of San Francisco Bay Area, born into a family of politicians. Formerly Speaker of the House, but it's not her fault they lost. Really. Noted for her heavily botoxed grimace... , D-Calif., has adopted a new term for gun control, "gun violence prevention," in hopes that the euphemism will make it easier to marshal public opinion in favor of new gun laws as well as other policies designed to prevent shootings.
"If we come out of the Newtown experience and all we do is talk about it and not have a result," Pelosi told The New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... , "that would be a dereliction of duty on the part of us in public office. We must find a place where we can come to agreement on this."
The paper added that "Pelosi said Democrats are no longer talking about gun control but refer instead to what she calls gun violence prevention -- an effort by Democrats and their allies to find a less politically charged term, one that suggests a broader range of approaches beyond simply gun regulation."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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#1
Every time they say 'Gun Violence Prevention' we should state that categorically that it is a *LIE*. Strict Gun Control and the gun-free zone did nothing to prevent the 'Gun Violence' in Newtown --- except perhaps made it worse!
#4
The many pleasures of family, home life, and leisure must be a terribly painful bore to her. To continue the D.C. treadmill and deny yourself and your prodigy at her age and financial ability can only be the result of the intoxication of power. Nothing short of absolute pure insanity. I do feel sorry for the poor woman. No, on second thought, I do not.
#7
There really is a thing in human nature ( its built in ) that makes it very hard to DO a killing of another human being. Even when you are combat trained to do it most men are not only reluctant to kill, most simply can't.
The very truth is that it is six men out of a hundred in a company and two or three men in any platoon who do 85% of the killing. Half a dozen men in any hundred soldiers do 85% of the killing. The trick is to find those six men and send the others to the rear to work in logistics. Then take good care of the six and use them.
Even the men who do the killing don't know who they are until they just wake up one morning and realize that they and maybe one other man have been the only people in the platoon who have a dozen kills. And it dawns on them that it isn't a coincidence, and everybody else knows it too.
#8
Not only does everyone else know it, they consciously or unconsciously shun you; they set you apart. Not a spoken thing (that I know of) just something that seems to happen. There is a lot more to this, but enough for now.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
01/09/2013 7:32
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#9
The constitution is Politician control, no wonder she wants to damage it.
#12
I was discussing online with someone yesterday the idiocy of "gun free" zones. I went to wikipedia to look for a list of shootings at schools and was amazed at how many more shootings occur than most people remember (Pearl, MS; AR; Columbine, CO; VA Tech; North IL Univ; and now Newtown, CT). However, there are so many more shootings at schools that result in no deaths or 1 death (suicides), etc. that your average person wouldn't even know of. Just goes to even further prove that we must treat the perp, not the implement he/she uses to commit the crime.....
Just look at the table at the bottom of linky
Posted by: BA ||
01/09/2013 10:06
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[FOXNEWS] A top Republican senator called Monday for a delay in the confirmation of President B.O.'s pick for CIA director until more questions are answered on the deadly attack last year on a U.S. consulate in Libya.
Sen. Lindsey Graham ... the endangered South Carolina RINO... of South Carolina didn't single out Obama's nominee, John Brennan, for criticism, but he accused the administration of ignoring requests for more information about the Sept. 11 attack, which also targeted a CIA annex in Benghazi.
"I have not forgotten about the Benghazi debacle and still have many questions about what transpired before, during and after the attack on our consulate," Graham said. "In that regard, I do not believe we should confirm anyone as director of the CIA until our questions are answered."
Graham is specifically concerned about U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice's talking points in the days after the attack, when she said that the attack seemed to be "spontaneous" violence growing out of protests over an anti-Islam film. She later admitted that some of that information was incorrect, though she said her comments were based on the information available at the time from the intelligence community.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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#1
I doubt they will get anything from Hillary. She always has the "I can't recall" response. Or maybe she can claim PTSD with all the times she claims she has been shot at. I guess Enhanced Interrogation Techniques are out of bounds these days with cabinet members.
[Dawn] Unknown assailants fired several rockets near Afghanistan's Kandahar airport on Tuesday while a Pakistain International Airlines (PIA) plane was on the tarmac ready for departure, DawnNews reported. The flight PK-199, with 42 passengers on board, was ready to depart for Quetta when eight to 10 rockets were fired from multiple sides close to the airport.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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A short vid from an old friend. Much old wisdom here from a great poet. It is the young people that should hear this; so, pass it to as many of them as you can. Every mind you awaken to these truths is another defender of freedom.
[BBC.CO.UK] The White House has said for the first time it is possible that no US troops will remain in Afghanistan past 2014, as President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... arrived in Washington for talks with Barack Obama If you have a small business, you didn't build that... Ben Rhodes, a top US security official, told news hounds the administration was still considering a range of options.
Mr Karzai's three-day trip will include crucial talks with Mr Obama and other officials, but no final decision.
The Afghan president wants US troops out of Afghan towns and villages.
Correspondents says the meeting comes as relations between the two countries have been more fractious than usual.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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#6
SPECOPS utility aside, IMO the only rationale for such an unrealistic, sure-to-fail option is that the US intends to provide exorbitantly massive econ + mil assistance to Kabul in lieu of a significant ground combat or advisory presence.
IOW, THE NEW BAMMER-BOEHNER "FISCAL CLIFF DEAL" IS ALL BUT ABSOLUT WORTHLESS AS THE BAMMER WILL NEED TO INITIATE NEW "QES" + "STIMULUS" SPENDING TO OFFSET THE LACK OF US OR US-NATO GROUND TROOPS. MSM-Net Artics denoting how the Bammer-Boehner deal would add up to US$4.0Trilyuhn to the US Debt Burden or Deficits was PREMATURE - IT WILL BE TIMES THE US$4.0TRILYUHN.
No longer US$20.0Trilyuhn Debt [projected] for the US, but US$22.0-25.0Trilyuhn by the time the Bammer leaves office in January 2017???
Its either that or see Afghanistan, + perhaps even Pakistan, fall to the Taliban.
* E.G. CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > EXIT ANXIETIES: AS FOREIGN TROOPS LEAVE AFGHANS FEAR ANOTHER CIVIL WAR.
* WORLD NEWS > US SENATOR: "FISCAL CLIFF" DEAL WILL ADD US$4.0TRILYUHN TO DEFICITS.
versus
* TOPIX > [WAPO] A PUSH FOR ONLY 2,500 US TROOPS IN AFGHANISTAN.
versus
* TOPIX > TALIBAN SAY US WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN AKIN TO ITS DEFEAT IN THE VIETNAM WAR.
Afghan "Zero Option" = POTUS Nixon's "de-Americanization/Vietnamization" of war in Vietnam, but not end US Committment to existentially protect RSVN = Afghanistan???
#7
See also DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Indian Express = MEMRI] TEHRIK-E-TALIBAN PAKISTAN [aka TTP] PLEDGE TO FIGHT IN KASHMIR [War of Liberation from India], SHARIA IN INDIA.
TTP Leader Wali-ur-Rehman whom also vows to take the fight to Pakistan's + Islam's enemies in their own land.
Is the TTP threatening to wage Jihad/Insurgency in India after 2014 - VICTORY IN AFPAK = MORE VICTORY OUTSIDE OF AFPAK???
DPK POSTER = opined that he would like to be first to run for President of the SHARIA REPUBLIC OF THE UNITED STATES.
* SAME > 2014 WILL BRING NO PEACE IN THE WORLD ... | [PKSecurity. blogspot] NATIONAL SECURITY: SOUTH ASIA WILL REMAIN VOLATILE EVEN AFTER 2014.
* SAME > [WND.com] IRAN'S NUCLEAR BOMB PROGRAM COMPLETE, thanks to Iran's covert collusion wid Russia + DPRK as per Source widin IRGC.
[An Nahar] Hundreds of tonnes of food aid have been stolen from warehouses across the restive Central African Republic, the U.N.'s World Food Program lamented Tuesday.
"Our warehouses have been pillaged," WFP spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told AFP.
The U.N. agency suspended its operations in the Central African Republic (CAR) late last month due to the security situation in the country amid a month-long rebel offensive.
Byrs said some 210 tonnes of food had been taken from a warehouse in the rebel-held north-central town of Kaga-Bandoro, where the WFP office and guest-house had also been attacked.
In Bambari, another rebel-held town in central CAR, a WFP warehouse had been looted and some 209 tonnes of food, including riche, oil, sugar and salt had been lost, while another seven tonnes of food aid had been taken from Bria in the east.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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#1
Suggrdton,
Dump the food and see hat happens, Starvation?
We delivered the food, NOW it's YOUR responsibility.
Noo food, hang the looters, and the hoarders.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/09/2013 10:50
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[An Nahar] The upholding by Bahrain's highest appeals court of lengthy prison terms against 13 opposition activists is "mind-boggling", Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... said Tuesday as the EU repeated its call to amnesty the activists.
"The EU has repeatedly asked the Bahraini authorities to consider an amnesty for all those tossed in the slammer Please don't kill me! last year and tried on charges relating to the expression of their political opinion," said a front man for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
Bahrain's Court of Cassation on Monday upheld jail terms served by a lower court on the 13 activists for allegedly plotting to overthrow the monarchy.
Seven of the defendants are serving life terms, including Abdulhadi Khawaja who last year embarked on a lengthy hunger strike against his imprisonment.
Ashton's front man Michael Mann said the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... "fully respects the independence of the Bahraini judiciary" but "remains concerned about the lack of advancement of national reconciliation."
"All sides should engage in a peaceful, inclusive and constructive dialogue, abstaining from all forms of violence and intimidation," he added.
HRW deputy Middle East director Joe Stork said in a statement that "Bahrain's Cassation Court has proven its inability to protect the most basic rights guaranteed in Bahrain's constitution and the international treaties it has signed."
"The mind-boggling verdicts in these cases did not mention a single recognizable criminal offense, instead pointing to speeches the defendants made, meetings they attended, and their calls for peaceful street protests in February and March 2011."
The New York-based rights group said it had conducted its own investigation into the cases and found that the evidence against the activists consisted of public statements "advocating reforms to curtail the power of the ruling al-Khalifa family and confessions that appeared to have been coerced while the defendants were in incommunicado detention."
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01/09/2013
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Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/09/2013 16:31
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#9
So King Tut, Jeremy Bentham, Vlad Lenin and Hugo walk into a bar..........
We need to work in parched, already embalmed and Damn is it Hot or Me? Into the dialogue and/or the punchline(s). Diagram your work and be prepared to face the class.
[Dawn] Some lady health workers (LHWs) in high-risk areas are being threatened with the sack to compel them to participate in a planned polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... vaccination campaign, it emerged on Monday when the government resumed the drive in less volatile areas of the city. "Oh, dear. How to decide? Get the sack for not doing it? Or should I have my throat cut for doing it? Decisions, decisions!"
Only last month five polio workers were rubbed out and several other were maimed in Landhi, Orangi, Baldia Town and Sohrab Goth.
Speaking to Dawn, lady health workers based in Bin Qasim Town said that town health officials were unwilling to provide them dependable security.
Instead, they added, the town health officials were warning them that they would lose their jobs if they did not take part in the vaccination drive.
"We are in jeopardy as on the one hand gangsters have warned us not to run this campaign in the area, while on the other hand government officials are forcing us to participate in the drive," a lady health visitor told Dawn while requesting anonymity.
"We are facing great opposition from parents who are not allowing their daughters to volunteer for the work," she said.
The lady health visitor demanded that the authorities prohibit movement of cycle of violences in high-polio risk areas during the vaccination drive and post personnel of law-enforcement agencies as per needs of the lady health workers.
The abutting neighbourhoods of Landhi union council 1 and Bin Qasim union council 4 are considered high-risk areas.
"Men wielding guns roam around these localities. They threatened us with dire consequences if we continue our work in the area," said another lady health visitor.
"The cause of polio is close to our heart but we don't want to commit suicide by visiting these areas when the authorities seem not interested in protecting us," she said.
She recalled that about six months ago, three female volunteers were taking part in a polio eradication drive when they were held hostage in a house in Pathan Colony in Bin Qasim Town's UC 7 for hours. While all the officials concerned were informed about the incident, no one lodged any FIR of the incident, she added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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[Washington Post] The United Nations ...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involves making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country... , looking to modernize its peacekeeping operations, is planning for the first time to deploy a fleet of its own surveillance drones in peacekeeping missions in Central and West Africa.
The U.N. Department of Peacekeeping has notified the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo or Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... , Rwanda and Uganda that it intends to deploy a unit of at least three unarmed surveillance drones in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The action is the first step in a broader bid to integrate unmanned aerial surveillance systems, which have become a standard feature of Western military operations, into the United Nations' far-flung peacekeeping empire.
But the effort is encountering resistance from governments, particularly those from the developing world, that fear the drones will open up a new intelligence-gathering front dominated by Western powers and potentially supplant the legions of African and Asian peacekeepers who currently act as the United Nations' eyes and ears on the ground.
"Africa must not become a laboratory for intelligence devices from overseas," said Olivier Nduhungirehe, a Rwandan diplomat at the United Nations. "We don't know whether these drones are going to be used to gather intelligence from Kigali, Kampala, Bujumbura or the entire region."
Developing countries fear Western control over intelligence gathered by the drones. Some of those concerns are rooted in the 1990s, when the United States and other major powers infiltrated the U.N. weapons inspection agency to surreptitiously collect intelligence on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's military.
The growing American use of drones in Pakistain, Yemen and elsewhere to identify and kill suspected bully boyz has only heightened anxieties about their deployment as part of multilateral peacekeeping missions.
U.N. officials have sought to allay the suspicions, saying there is no intention to arm the drones or to spy on countries that have not consented to their use.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[An Nahar] Rebels from the jihadist al-Nusra Front executed three captured soldiers in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Tuesday.
"Al-Nusra Front executed three regime troops who were captured on January 5 from the technical services building in Deir Ezzor city," the watchdog said, adding that it was not clear when, exactly, the soldiers were killed.
In a video released by the hardline group and posted to YouTube by the Observatory, the three men are seated before a black flag bearing the Moslem profession of faith and surrounded by masked men holding kalashnikovs.
They give their names and hometown while the man interrogating them identifies them as Alawites, a minority offshoot of Shiite Islam to which Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now... and his bigwigs belong.
One is accused of raping a young woman.
The video then showed the mangled bodies of the men lying in a ditch.
"The dogs of Assad have violated the women of Deir Ezzor, and this is what will happen to anyone who does such a thing," a man shouted from behind the camera.
Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP that the men were captured on Saturday, but no date was given for their executed.
Al-Nusra, which first gained notoriety for its suicide kabooms in Syria, has evolved into a formidable fighting force leading attacks on battlefronts throughout the embattled country.
Its jihad boy tactics and suspected affiliation to the al-Qaeda offshoot in Iraq have landed it on the US list of terrorist organizations.
The new killings come on the heels of a UN report, which said the situation in Syria was continuing to degenerate amid a "proliferation of serious crimes including war crimes, and most probably crimes against humanity, by both sides."
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01/09/2013
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[CSMONITOR] A four-month investigation is reportedly turning up links between Al Qaeda groups and the Sept. 11 attacks on the US diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. But as Libyan Sherlocks fall prey to harm, concerns rise that the probe may be derailed.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[An Nahar] Five non-combatants were killedin heavy fighting ... as opposed to the more usual light or desultory fighting... around a Paleostinian refugee camp in the Syrian capital on Tuesday as rebels withdrew from a northwestern town after a night of festivities, a watchdog said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pie fight, Bella opened her mouth at precisely the wrong moment... Information Minister Omran al-Zohbi renewed a call for opposition figures to enter into a dialogue for peace offered by Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... , despite domestic and rebel groups already rejecting the proposal.
Four of the non-combatants were killed in shelling and the fifth by a sniper as battles raged between troops and rebels near the Yarmuk refugee camp in southern Damascus ...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat... , the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
In Idlib province in the northwest, the army drove rebels out of Mastuma, just south of the lovely provincial capital, with the support of a "special operations battalion," a military source told Agence La Belle France Presse.
Displaced residents said troops stormed the town during the night, clashing with rebels and executing a number of residents.
They said snipers were deployed throughout the town and troops stationed in the nearby ruling Baath party camp, which the Britannia-based Observatory said was turned into a military detention center in summer 2011.
The camp is a strategic target because it contains the largest concentration of tanks in the area and sizable stores of weapons and ammunition, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.
Also in Idlib province, rebels shot down a helicopter as it was headed towards the Taftanaz military airbase, which remains under siege by the jihadist al-Nusra Front and Islamist Ahrar al-Sham groups, the Observatory said.
Troops still have a stranglehold on Idlib city but most of the province, which borders key opposition backer Turkey, is in the hands of turbans.
In eastern Syria, a civilian cargo plane was hit while landing at Deir Ezzor military airport as festivities raged nearby, the Observatory said.
Activists said they suspected it was carrying munitions for beleaguered troops defending the base.
The rebels now control large swathes of northern and eastern Syria and half of second city Aleppo, with the remaining isolated army outposts under rebel siege.
In other developments in the area, the Observatory said fighters from the al-Nusra Front executed three captured soldiers in Deir Ezzor city, although it could not say when.
Overall, the Observatory said 37 people died nationwide on Tuesday.
The United Nations ...Parkinson's Law on an international scale... estimates more than 60,000 people have been killed since the revolt against Assad's rule erupted in March 2011.
On the political front, Information Minister Zohbi said the invitation for talks had been issued "to all opposition forces to join a dialogue based on respect for national illusory sovereignty and a rejection of foreign intervention of all kinds," state news agency SANA reported.
But he qualified that by saying the government would be contacting "all political forces and personalities that are patriotic" to take part.
The comments repeated an offer made by Assad on Sunday to hold discussions with Syria's opposition to end the conflict -- but only with elements he deemed acceptable, not rebel-affiliated groups he termed killers and forces of Evil led by foreigners.
The main, internationally recognized opposition Syrian National Coalition, based out of Cairo, immediately dismissed Assad's offer, sticking to its pre-condition that the president step down before any talks could be considered.
And the tolerated domestic opposition group, the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change in Syria, also snubbed the offer.
Western nations described as essentially empty and detached from reality Assad's speech outlining a plan to restore peace to Syria while defiantly making no compromises.
In other developments, Britannia will host a two-day meeting starting on Wednesday, officials said, bringing together academics and the opposition to prepare for a hypothetical post-Assad Syria.
"The UK's objective is to galvanize international thinking and planning on a Syrian-led political transition," a foreign office front man said.
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[An Nahar] India accused Pakistain of killing two of its soldiers in a "ghastly" attack Tuesday and mutilating one of the bodies along the tense disputed border between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid said India would deliver a "proportionate response" to the killings in Kashmire which he said were designed to sabotage an already fragile grinding of the peace processor.
The Pak military meanwhile rejected what it called Indian "propaganda" that it said was aimed at diverting attention after a cross-border exchange at the weekend in which a Pak soldier was killed.
The two Indian soldiers died after a firefight broke out around noon as a patrol moving in foggy conditions discovered Pak troops about half a kilometer (1,600 feet) inside Indian territory, an army front man said.
A ceasefire has been in place along the Line of Control that divides the countries since 2003, but it is periodically violated by both sides.
"There was a firefight with Pak troops," army front man Rajesh Kalia told AFP from the mountainous Himalayan region, confirming the names of the men as sergeants Hemraj Singh and Sudhakar Singh.
"We lost two soldiers and one of them has been badly mutilated," he added, declining to give more details on the injuries.
"The intruders were regular (Pak) soldiers and they were 400-500 meters (1,300-1,600 feet) inside our territory," he said of the clash in Mendhar sector, 173 kilometers (107 miles) west by road from the city of Jammu.
Indian reports and a military source speaking to AFP indicated that the mutilated soldier may have been decapitated, but further investigations and a post-mortum were required to confirm this.
Speaking on Indian television, Khurshid described the killings as "inhuman" and "not the way civilized people deal with each other".
"We need to do something about this and we will, but it has to be done after careful consideration of all the details in consultation with the defense ministry," Khurshid told the NDTV news channel.
"It is absolutely unacceptable, ghastly, and really, really terrible and extremely short-sighted by their part," he added, promising that the response would be "proportionate".
"This seems like a clear attempt to derail the dialogue," he added. "We have to find ways in which the dialogue is not sabotaged or destroyed."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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We are all getting to know the Islamic religion for what it really is. In Bangladesh in 1971 the Paks killed 3 million people ( civilians mostly, unarmed civilians ) in eight months. You have to really WORK to kill that kind of numbers in that amount of time. 250,000 rapes...but then, Moslems are like that.
Speaking on Indian television, Khurshid described the killings as "inhuman" and "not the way civilized people deal with each other".
So, pretty much what you expect from the nation behind the Mumbai attack?
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
01/09/2013 11:59
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#7
Actually, mutilation and overkill is a pre-civilization savage thing. There are photos from Little Big Horn of US soldiers with dozens of arrows in them -- most probably shot into them postmortem. Some of the more strenuous Pacific Islanders would use the club they had dashed someone's brains out to completely crush the corpse of their defeated enemy, cut a slit in it, then wear it as a cape.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
01/09/2013 12:02
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#8
Well Rob, thank you for telling me where the phrase "wear it like a second skin" came from. Not I need to go find something to take me mind off of that.
Posted by: Charles ||
01/09/2013 17:00
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#9
Savages, execute them and feel NO remorse.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/09/2013 17:04
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#10
As saird before, a China-vs-Japan shooting war = military conflict over the Daoyu/Senkaku Islands in the ECS can devol into an East Asia-wide war, to includ in South, Central Asia as IMO "post-US", future World #1 wannabe China will attempt to permanently resolve strategic access issues in various but differentiated hotspots.
AN NEW SINO-INDIAN WAR OVER PAKISTAN "FITS THE BILL" AS DESCRIBED ABOVE, + WILL BE JUST ONE OF SEVERAL ASIA-WIDE + INTERNATIONAL BATTLEFRONTS FOR CHINA + PLA.
In NE Asia + South China Sea China wants unchallenged access into WESTPAC + SOPAC vee the pro-US or moderate, anti-China"First Island Chain" - in West + SW Asia, China's goal will be to permamently settle the Trilateral = China-India-Pakistan dispute in the Himalyas to its favor + to ensure Chinese domination vee the US in the Strait of Malaccas + East Indian Ocean trade.
The good news here for India is that China's #1 mil priority is the conquest or subornment of TAIWAN in NE ASIA for PLA purposes.
IN CHINA'S VIEW, WIDOUT CONTROL OF TAIWAN THERE WILL BE NO "WORLD#1 CHINA" AT OR BEFORE YEAR
2050, OR BEFORE THE END OF THIS FIRST CENTURY OF THE NEW MILLENIUM. China subjectively will have to wait until sometime in the next century [2100-2200] to achieve its "post-US", "Manifest Destiny", which to China is ANATHEMA.
* CHINA DAILY, GLOBAL TIMES, FREEREREPUBLIC, TOPIX, WORLD NEWS > ARTICs = new Chinese Academy of Sciences Report denotes that at current rates China's economy will be larger than that of the World #1 US starting in 2019, + that China's international or geopol status will finally exceed that of the US in 2049.
IOW, CHINA SAYS CHINA WILL BE THE WORLD'S #1 BY 2050.
The "wild card" agz China, then as now vee the US-vs-China geopol competition, will be NUCLEAR ISLAM, specifically NUCLEAR RADICAL ISLAM AKA OWG NUCLEAR CALIPHATE = GLOBAL NUCLEAR ISLAMIST-JIHADIST STATE + "ISLAMIC/ISLAMIST/JIHADIST BOMB".
The GLOBAL "NUCLEAR JIHAD" + RELATED that could put a deep, malicious, un-recoverable dent in the ANTI-US LEFTISTS-GLOBALISTS' SECULAR PLANS.
[THELOCAL.SE] The two Swedes were locked away Please don't kill me! in Djibouti in August after having left a terrorist training camp in Somalia run by al-Shabaab ... the personification of Somali state failure... , a United States-designated terrorist group linked to al-Qaeda.
The Swedish foreign ministry launched negotiations with authorities in Djibouti for the two Swedish nationals, both of Somali origin, to travel back to Sweden.
But before negotiations were concluded, the two men were taken to the United States to face charges of participating in weapons and explosives training with al-Shabaab during a four-year period beginning in 2008.
"If you can say that we proposed to have them come to Sweden and that they didn't come to Sweden, I guess you could call that a failure," foreign ministry front man Anders Jörle told Sveriges Radio (SR).
Meanwhile, ...back at the mall, Clarissa suddenly spied Mr. Bartlett at the checkout counter. He was buying Grecian Formula!... relatives of one of the men have suggested that the Swedish foreign ministry may have been complicit in the still mysterious process that resulted in the two men, aged 27 and 29, awaiting trial in the United States.
The brother of the 27-year-old said his brother told him that American agents who interrogated the Swede said they were awaiting approval from the Swedish foreign ministry before extraditing him to the United States.
Jörle has said that the Swedish foreign ministry was not involved in the process, but was unable to confirm or deny whether or not Sweden may have given its approval to the extradition.
"I don't have any knowledge of that," he told SR.
According to family members, the two Swedes had initially travelled to Somalia to join al-Shabaab, but had later regretted the move and were attempting to leave the group.
While the news came as a relief to family members, they became increasingly concerned for the pair's safety.
"He said that he was very scared and had seen people be executed," Hassan Yusef, brother of the 29-year-old, told SR.
The 29-year-old's lawyer has previously said that the defendants have not committed any crimes against the US.
"American authorities believe that al-Shabaab, which has been designated as a terrorist group by the United States, propagates its activities on the internet and therefore 'affects American foreign trade'. In that case more or less anything falls within American jurisdiction," lawyer Ephraim Savitt told the TT news agency in December.
The men appeared in court in New York together with a 23-year-old Briton. They were aided by a Swedish interpreter.
If found guilty, they could face up to 30 years in prison.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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#1
Sven and Olaf?
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/09/2013 9:44
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[MAGHAREBIA] Algerian salafists want to create a political party of their own. Last week they submitted an application to the interior ministry.
Led by former members of the now-dissolved Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), salafists plan to offer an alternative to the current Islamist parties, who have failed to make an impact on the new political landscape.
However, a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth... their January 2nd application could be rejected due to the devastation caused by the former FIS.
Abdelfattah Hamadache Zeraoui is the spokesperson for the aspiring new party, the Free Awakening Front. He is a former FIS activist who has made a name for himself over the last few years by attending public demonstrations.
The founders of the new party intend to "enrich the political scene with salafist political involvement". They are making no secret of their religious leanings.
The salafists' political plan is described in their manifesto as "one of a happy medium and moderation" far removed from extremism.
"We are exercising our natural and legitimate right to debate and criticise all matters of interest to the Algerian people, in accordance with Algeria's illusory sovereignty and character, without excess or compromise," stated Zeraoui.
He added that his movement wants to play a part in cleaning up society's morals because, he argued, "If we leave this to the secularists and the liberals, they will cause a legislative disaster contrary to originality, values and religion."
Analysts, however, believe their application could be rejected due to legal obstacles.
First, the 1996 Constitution prohibits the creation of religion-based parties. A bigger hurdle, however, comes from provisions in the National Reconciliation Charter, which hold the leaders of the former FIS responsible for the tragedy suffered by the Algerian nation during the 1990s and forbid them to engage in political activity.
However, the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits... nothing has been decided yet, said Interior Minister Dahou Ould Kablia. The FIS "was dissolved by way of legal proceedings in March 1992 for reasons that are generally known", the minister said.
"If they now want to create a party abroad, that's up to them," Ould Kablia added. "It will have no impact on politics within this country."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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[ABC.NET.AU] Two Indian soldiers have been killed and one of their bodies mutilated in an apparent attack by Pak troops in the disputed region of Kashmire. It follows another cross-border clash three days ago, when Indian troops killed a Pak soldier. New Delhi says the incident is a major provocation and has vowed to respond.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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[An Nahar] Terror suspects killed or captured in raids last week were planning to launch attacks on tourism spots in Indonesia, national police said Tuesday.
An anti-terror police squad rubbed out seven suspects and nabbed Please don't kill me! four others on Sulawesi and Sumbawa islands in central Indonesia last week.
"An investigation revealed that tourism spots in the town of Bima (on Sumbawa) and Tana Toraja in south Sulawesi were targets," said national police front man Boy Rafli Amar.
Tana Toraja, whose population is mainly Christian, is one of Sulawesi's most popular tourist destinations.
"We're lucky we managed to prevent the attacks from happening," he said, adding that a Bima hotel, places of worship and police offices were also targets.
Police have said the men were connected to a bully boy training camp and had been involved in killings of police in Sulawesi's Poso district, a known hotbed of bully boy activity.
In two raids on bully boy camps in Sumbawa on Saturday, police seized five pipe-bombs and materials to make bombs, such as nitrate urea powder, scores of nails and batteries.
They also rubbed out five men from the group led by the country's most-wanted terror suspect Santoso, who has allegedly trained young snuffies to launch attacks on security forces.
Two suspects were rubbed out at a university mosque Friday in southern Sulawesi.
Police have strengthened security in Poso since late last year after two coppers investigating a camp were found with their throats slit. Several small bomb plots were subsequently foiled.
Indonesia was rocked by a series of deadly terror attacks targeted at Westerners during the last decade. Most -- including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people -- were blamed on the al-Qaeda-linked group Jemaah Islamiyah.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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[Dawn] IT'S a good plan in theory: an end to foreign interference, a "national dialogue" to prepare a charter, a referendum for popular ratification and then a parliamentary election. Speaking to a packed crowd at a cultural centre in Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... on Sunday, Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Scourge of Qusayr... denounced his opponents in strong terms, calling them "Western puppets" and "enemies of God" and said his forces would call off fighting if foreign powers stopped arming the dissidents. Appearing in public for the first time in six months, the president surprised the world by his confidence and, after the speech, was mobbed in scenes that observers called well-choreographed. But the end-result was a road map that has little chance of success. The Syrian National Coalition, which comprises different opposition groups, rejected the plan and called for his ouster. Pro-dissident powers denounced the plan, Turkey saying there was nothing new in it, while the US and the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... called upon the president to quit. Iran alone welcomed the Assad speech, saying it could stop violence and lead to a negotiated settlement.
A peaceful solution is what Syria's well-wishers want. But so much blood has been spilled over the last 21 months and the rival sides have adopted such hard-line positions it is difficult to see how they can negotiate across the table. Already, the character of the conflict has deviated from the ideals of the Arab Spring, for the entry of beturbanned goon elements, especially those loyal to Al Qaeda, has given it a sectarian hue. Yet that shouldn't serve to hide the Baathist regime's regional and international isolation. Frankly, there are no powers or elements, internal or external, which can truly be called impartial and genuinely interested in a peaceful solution. With neither side in a position to win militarily, the slaughter in Syria is likely to continue.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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#1
Attrition will result in eventual peace. Do not disturb the natural order. These things take time.
[THEHILL] More than 70 green groups urged President B.O. in a Monday letter to kill the Keystone XL pipeline to make good on promises to address climate change.
Obama has publicly pledged to tackle climate change a handful of times since Hurricane Sandy struck the East Coast, though without detailing specific policy plans.
In their letter, the groups said Obama should speak out more often on climate change, impose emissions limits on existing coal-fired power plants and focus on creating clean-energy jobs.
They added the president also should shut down the proposed pipeline that would bring Canadian oil sands to Gulf Coast refineries.
"Hurricane Sandy made it tragically clear that many communities are extremely vulnerable to climate change. We can and we must build back better -- with investment in sustainable infrastructure, not the kind of carbon-intensive development that helped drive this problem in the first place," the groups wrote in the letter.
Green groups have been expecting a final decision on Keystone from the State Department for several weeks. State has final say on the project's northern leg because it crosses into Canada.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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[An Nahar] The United States Tuesday wished Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez a speedy recovery as he battles cancer in a hospital in Cuba, just two days before he is due to be sworn in for a new term.
"Obviously we are, as we would be for anybody suffering what he is suffering, concerned for his health, and wishing a speedy recovery," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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#1
There is a special down at the Hardware store on shovels this week. While you are down there ask where you can find a store that sells work boots too.
#3
The Funeral will be EPIC!
I'll bet they seal that sucker up with Bolivar in the has yet unopened Bolivar Musoleam Musoleiam Crypt & Skateboard Park.
[An Nahar] A French court handed down an eight-year jail term on Tuesday to a Turkish-Dutch man for criminal masterminding a group that had funded the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU).
The Gay Paree court also permanently banned Irfan Demirtas, 53, from La Belle France, where he had been held since shortly after his 2008 Dutch arrest on charges of financing terrorism.
Eight others enjugged Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! for belonging to the group, which had sent tens of thousands of euros to the IMU, received various sentences of up to three years in jail. A 10th co-defendant was acquitted.
Prosecutors said the La Belle France-based network sent at least 300,000 euros ($390,000) to the volatile border between Pakistain and Afghanistan, where the IMU is said to be active. They said 170,000 euros of that sum was earmarked for jihad.
Set up in the late 1990s, the IMU is listed as a terrorist group by the United States. According to the U.N., some of its leaders have held top positions in al-Qaeda.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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A court in Paris has jailed nine people for raising money for an al-Qaeda linked Uzbek militant group which is accused of numerous attacks.
Turkish-Dutch national Irfan Demirtas, the ringleader of the operation, was recieved an eight-year sentence while the others received up to three years. A tenth man was acquitted.
Demirtas was also fined 20,000 euros and banned from French territory upon completion of his sentence.
Operating in eastern France, the network managed to send 300,000 euros to Pakistan or Afghanistan. It was broken up four years ago by French, German and Dutch police.
The nine were convicted of raising funds for the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), which seeks to overthrow the country's president, Islam Karimov.
The court heard that Demirtas had met former IMU leader Tahir Iouldache,who was killed in 2009, on several occasions.
At the trial, defense lawyers sought to argue that the money raised had been used for humanitarian purposes.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The recent marriage of a 90-year-old Saudi man to a 15-year-old girl has sparked condemnation from human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... and social media activists in the kingdom.
A member of the Saudi National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), urged authorities to intervene to save the child.
On Twitter especially, activists criticized the parents of the girl for giving her to a man decades older than her.
In an interview, the groom insisted that his marriage was "legal and correct," and that he paid a $17,500 (SAR 65,000) dowry to marry the girl, who is the daughter of a Yemeni father and Saudi mother.
The 90-year-old told the story of his first night with the bride. He said she entered the bedroom before him, and she locked the door from inside so he could not enter. This, he said, made him "suspicious about some kind of conspiracy" by the girl and her mother.
He vowed to sue his in-laws to give him back the girl or return him the expensive dowry.
Close friends of the bride's family said she was frightened on the wedding night, and locked herself in the room for two successive days before fleeing back to her parents' home.
The member of the Saudi National Association for Human Rights (NSHR), Suhaila Zein al-Abedin, urged authorities to intervene "as soon as possible to save this child from tragedy."
Abedin noted that marriage in Islam must be based on mutual consent, and this was not satisfied, as demonstrated by the girl's move to lock herself in the room.
She said the girl's parents were also to be held responsible for marrying their daughter to a man the age of her great grandfather.
Abedin urged the establishment of a minimum age of 18 for marrying girls, saying this would pave the way for punishing violators, according to a report by al-Hayat newspaper.
Jamal al-Toueiki, a psychologist, said forced marriage may subject girls to abuse and violence, and this could lead to their suicide if nothing is done to save them.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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#1
An entire religion built around violence against children. Go figure.
#6
Abedin urged the establishment of a minimum age of 18 for marrying girls, saying this would pave the way for punishing violators, according to a report by al-Hayat newspaper.
Yea, because a 90 year old marrying an 18 year old is SOOOOOO much better...
Posted by: BA ||
01/09/2013 10:31
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#7
It would be quite easy to fake an accident, if the girl has a spine. "Broken Hips" being the best way to avoid questions.
Posted by: Charles ||
01/09/2013 17:10
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#8
Finally, a use for the $1-Trillion coin....sheesh....
[Dawn] Three copperswere maimed in a grenade attack on their van while patrolling the area on Swabi-Mardan road near Al-Falah link road on Tuesday.
All injured were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital Swabi.
The unknown attackers fled from the scene after the attack taking advantage of the low visibility conditions in the area.
In an unrelated incident the slaughtered body of a Sikh man was found in Chora area of Jamrud Tehsil in Khyber tribal region. The killers left a chit on the body claiming that the victim was killed due to his involvement in spying activities for the banned religious outfit, Lashkar-e-Islam.
The dear departed was a resident of Bara and a practitioner of herbal medicine, who was kidnapped a few days earlier from Tirah valley in Khyber tribal region's Bara Tehsil.
Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. , the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... , situated between Khyber and Orakzai Agency ... crawling with holy men, home to Darra Adam Khel, the world's largest illegal arms bazaar. 14 distinct tribes of beturbanned primitives inhabit Orakzai agency's 1500 or so square kilometers... is home to the largest Sikh population in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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If you're not united why in the world would you want to show unity?
[Dawn] Opposition on Monday rued a "missed opportunity" of what it called giving a strong message to the establishment that they are united to stave off the agenda it wants to implement through Dr Tahirul Qadri.
Opposition Leader in the Punjab Assembly Raja Riaz not only castigated the Pakistain Moslem League-Nawaz for that but also vowed that People's Party would alone fight and won't let the establishment's 'plan' succeed.
Talking about the 'missed opportunity' on the point of order, Raja Riaz said Governor Makhdoom Ahmed Mahmood had invited all Punjab Assembly members, irrespective of their party affiliation, to a dinner reception to send a message to the establishment and "a troublemaker" (a reference to Dr Tahirul Qadri) that political forces were united.
"But Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif stopped his (party) MPAs from attending it (governor's dinner), showing his stubbornness.
Had the Sharifs given up their politics of arrogance, the 'troublemaker' would not have darted to threaten democracy," he said.
As Riaz was speaking on the point of order, the PML-N politicians started hooting. Riaz urged Speaker Rana Iqbal to control the treasury members and on his failure to do so, the opposition leader accused him of being part of the "planned move" to bar him from speaking on the issue.
"You are deliberately allowing the treasury members to shout during the speech of the opposition leader and it will set a wrong precedent," Riaz said, adding when the leader of the house (Shahbaz Sharif) would turn up in the house he too won't be allowed to sit in there in a tit-for-tat reply. "Change my name if I fail to do so," Riaz said mocking Shahbaz who often uses the expression in his public speeches.
Riaz said some of the PML-N politicians who had come to the Governor's House unwittingly had to return after receiving Shahbaz Sharif's negative message. He said the establishment got the opportunity to threaten democracy only because of the Sharifs' attitude as they had learnt nothing from the past.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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[Washington Post] Metro says that Metrobuses traveling in parts of Southeast Washington are being pelted with rocks. As part of a campaign to discourage this, police are distributing a flier reminding people not to throw rocks at buses or cars. Southeast, if you didn't know or hadn't guessed, being the District of Columbia's festering sore.
The Metro Transit Police and Metropolitan Police Department have been distributing the flier, which features a reminder that throwing rocks at vehicles is a crime. It also includes 911 as well as numbers for D.C. police (202-727-9099) and the transit police (202-962-2121, which riders may or may not recognize as the number repeated in system-wide announcements).
The transit agency took the rock attacks seriously enough to consider cutting nighttime service on the W6 and W8 routes. Metro decided last month not to discontinue the service.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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#1
The Metro Transit Police and Metropolitan Police Department have been distributing the flier, which features a reminder that throwing rocks at vehicles is a crime.
Not if you don't make arrests for it. Which looks to be the policy.
Ah, our nation's capital...
#2
I gotta ask, who thinks this stuff up? Do they really believe that someone who throws rocks at a bus will be deterred by a printed reminder that what they are doing is against the law? Seriously?
#3
Install gunner's hatches, M2 Browning machine guns, 5 cans of ammo per each, and encourage liberal use. Instruct the ridership on the potential hazards of expended brass while entering and exiting. The shi* should taper off dramatically.
Southeast, if you didn't know or hadn't guessed, being the District of Columbia's festering sore.
A festering sore on a cancer?
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
01/09/2013 12:04
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#9
@Crazy Fool - You gave me a good laugh this morning with "Rock Free Zone", especially after reading so much bad news in this country this morning. Thank you for the lift.
[Times of Israel] The Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, government in Gazoo denied reports that the Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency, had recruited an employee at the office of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh ...became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank... A communique issued by the Hamas prime minister's office on Sunday said the government will take legal action against an unnamed "suspicious" website which reported that an employee in Haniyeh's office was placed in durance vile Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! and then released shortly afterwards, the Ma'an news agency reported.
The Hamas government has been preoccupied with Israeli espionage ever since it seized control of the Gazoo Strip in July 2007. During Operation Pillar of Defense in November, six suspected spies were summarily executed on the streets of Gazoo.
Hamas Interior Minister Fathi Hammad said Saturday that the terrorist movement recently arrested a "large number" of citizens suspected of spying for Israel. He added that the Interior Ministry only arrests a citizen after 90% of the information surrounding his activity has been ascertained.
"We will strike with an iron fist anyone who harms security in Gazoo," Hammad told Hamas's Al-Resalah website, adding that his ministry would soon grant amnesty to spies who come forward and admit their ties with Israeli intelligence.
[Dawn] Jamaat-ud-Dawa ...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba... chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed ...who would be wearing a canvas jacket with very long sleeves anyplace but Pakistain... on Tuesday said the government should take steps to resolve the issues confronting Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... on an emergency basis, DawnNews reported.
Speaking to media representatives after meeting with Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) chief Talal Akbar Bugti in Lahore, the JuD chief said the government no longer had the room to further delay on addressing the issues.
During the meeting, the two discussed Balochistan's security situation as well as the country's political situation.
Saeed told news hounds that the government should take immediate steps to resolve the issues confronting Balochistan, adding that difficulties would increase in case the province's issues remain unsolved.
Saeed further said that Balochistan should not be made to undergo a military operation.
He moreover questioned as to who would put a stop to "Indian interference" in the province.
The JuD chief added that his party would host an all parties' conference on Balochistan.
On the occasion, Bugti said he would not support any artificially installed leadership in Balochistan, adding that an all parties' conference would soon be called to discuss the province's issues.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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[THEHILL] A new poll released Tuesday finds the national favorability of Congress has again slipped into single digits, with American's elected officials now polling lower than painful medical procedures and a certain Canadian rock band. Doesn't matter. How many of the bastards ever get voted out?
The survey, from Democratic firm Public Policy Polling, showed Congress with a mere 9 percent favorability rating. By contrast, 85 percent of voters see politicians in a negative way.
Congress didn't fare much better when compared against a wide swath of generally disliked staples of modern life. Asked for their preference between Congress and lice, the microscopic insects prevail 67-19 percent. Ditto colonoscopies (58-31 percent), root canals (65-32 percent), and being stuck in traffic (56-34 percent).
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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#1
No surprise. We have a Congressional election coming up in less than two years. A good time to clean house.
[An Nahar] Rights groups urged the Indonesian government Tuesday to block a proposed law banning women from sitting astride cycle of violences in deeply Islamic Aceh province, where the position is deemed "improper". Some people spend too much time thinking about what women sit on.
The mayor of Lhokseumawe city in Aceh, where sharia law is enforced, circulated a letter Monday explaining the obligation for women to sit side-saddle was "to avoid immoral acts".
"Adult women who are riding on the back of a cycle of violence... cannot straddle unless in an emergency," mayor Suaidi Yahya's letter read, adding that the ban included women straddling female drivers.
The official explained last week that women sitting astride cycle of violences would "provoke the male driver" and that it would be against Islamic law.
The letter also proposed banning men and women from hugging and holding hands while on vehicles, and banning tight or scanty clothing in public.
The move comes after leaders from Aceh, the country's only province ruled by strict sharia law, drafted a series of new bills including banning women from wearing tight trousers, stoning adulterers and flogging homosexuals.
Local women's rights activists have rejected the proposed ban "because it completely ignores the safety principles for driving," said Roslina Rasyid from Indonesian Women's Association for Justice legal aid in Lhokseumawe.
"Sitting astride guarantees better safety, and I'm sure most people can only side-saddle for 15 minutes. What if the person is overweight and causes an imbalance? It could cause an accident," she added.
National Commission on Violence Against Women activist Andy Yentriyani said the policy was "part of discriminative policies on women in this country in the name of religion and morality".
But the central government said it could not review the straddling ban because it was not yet formalized as a bylaw and did not include punishments.
Local media reported the interior minister saying he would review the bylaw if it passed.
But the ministry's regional autonomy director-general Djohermansyah Djohan, who would oversee any revision, said: "We'll just leave it to people of Aceh to decide whether to accept it or not."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2013
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#1
Sure are concerned (Yeah sure) about other peoples sexual habits.
Reminds me of the Old Ladies at the home, nothing else to do but meddle, so they meddle.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/09/2013 16:57
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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.
[An Nahar] Yemen's national security chief said on Tuesday that U.S. drone strikes against al-Qaeda targets will continue as the two governments keep up their counter-terrorism cooperation.
[Dawn] Three people were killed in incidents of firing in 
[MAGHAREBIA] Ansar al-Din on Monday (January 7th) launched an assault on a Malian army unit in Savare, 600km southwest of Gao, ANI reported. The armed Islamists were led by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) chiefs, according to al-Akhbar.
[An Nahar] 
In a rare speech on Sunday, Assad offered to hold discussions with Syria's opposition to end the conflict, but only with those elements he deemed acceptable, not rebel-affiliated groups he termed "killers" and "terrorists" led by foreigners.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Nancy 
Lindsey Graham
[BBC.CO.UK] The White House has said for the first time it is possible that no US troops will remain in Afghanistan past 2014, as President 
[GUARDIAN.CO.UK] Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez to remain in Cuba for further treatment following cancer surgery and lung infection.
[Washington Post] The 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
in 
[THELOCAL.SE] The two Swedes were 
[MAGHAREBIA] Algerian salafists want to create a political party of their own. Last week they submitted an application to the interior ministry.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[An Nahar] The United States Tuesday wished Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez a speedy recovery as he battles cancer in a hospital in Cuba, just two days before he is due to be sworn in for a new term.
[An Nahar] A French court handed down an eight-year jail term on Tuesday to a Turkish-Dutch man for 
A court in Paris has jailed nine people for raising money for an al-Qaeda linked Uzbek militant group which is accused of numerous attacks.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The recent marriage of a 90-year-old Saudi man to a 15-year-old girl has sparked condemnation from 
[Times of Israel] The 
cycle of violence
