All strategy is based on deception. Looks like he didn't like what he found when he joined the Mossad sausage factory.
Espionage Accusations, Secret Meetings With Netanyahu, and a Media Gag Order
The mysterious jail suicide of an Australian immigrant to Israel has been capturing headlines in Israel and Australia, a story cloaked in intrigue and allegations of international espionage. According to former intelligence officials, the widespread publication of details in the case if true may also damage Israels clandestine efforts to scuttle terrorist weapons acquisitions and Irans nuclear program.
According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the countrys public broadcaster, in 2010 an unnamed prisoner it called Prisoner X committed suicide while in solitary confinement in the high-security Ayalon Prison in Israel. Though the identity of this prisoner was allegedly kept secret even from some of the prison guards, the Australian TV report named him as Melbourne-native Ben Zygier, who the show claimed was a Mossad agent who had changed his name at least twice.
Adding to the intrigue, the program reported he was being held in the highest-level security cell with constant camera surveillance originally designed for Yigal Amir, the assassin of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Due to an Israeli court-issued gag order, Israeli media were never allowed to report on the case. Tipped off that the Australians were going with the story, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this week called in the chief editors of Israels major news organizations to convey to them the sensitivity of the case in the hopes some details would remain confidential, according to Haaretz.
The Australian report never said why Zygier was arrested and incarcerated, but now new details may be emerging.
An Ethiopian military source has told repoters that the country has built the first unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or drone which could be used for multiple purposes.
After undergoing testing, the locally made drones, have demonstrated their capability of performing a number of militarily and civilian applications, according to the source.
Speaking on condition of anonymity from the countrys air force base in Debrezeit town, a military official told Sudan Tribune that the drones are equipped with onboard sensors, cameras and GPS to carry out cost-effective monitoring activities even across difficult landscapes like the highlands of Ethiopia.
Besides serving in a number of military missions such as in monitoring border security the UAVs will also be deployed to perform geophysical surveys, assist forest protection and monitor forest fires or other natural disasters.
The drones have already made test flights performing a geophysical survey of Ethiopias controversial grand renaissance dam, a massive hydro-power plant project the country is constructing on the Blue Nile River near to the Sudanese border.
In recent years, many African countries have shown growing interest in using drones as a cost-effective way to control huge infrastructure facilities, as well as areas rich in natural resources such as oil, mine and gas sites.
In 2011 Ethiopia signed an agreement with Israeli manufacturer BlueBird Aero Systems to purchase drones.
Binyam Tekle, a lecturer and researcher at a government university, says the development of indigenous drones is a great achievement for Ethiopia and will help strengthen the national army.
The San Jose man lured into a plot to bomb an Oakland bank by an FBI agent posing as a terrorist appeared in court on Thursday for the first time.
Matthew Aaron Llaneza, 28, is charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. He is a former United States Marine with a history of mental illness. No legal action was taken in court today; his case was continued until March 8.
Llaneza met with an undercover FBI agent on Nov. 30, who told Llaneza that he was connected to the Taliban in Afghanistan. Llaneza then proposed to car-bomb a Bank of America branch on Hegenberger Road, according to the FBI.
On Feb. 8, Llaneza drove there with a dozen buckets of chemicals wired to a cell phone, FBI documents state. The chemicals were fakes, prepared by the FBI to look like a bomb. The FBI arrested Llaneza when he allegedly tried to detonate the bombs with a cell phone.
His arrest has sparked controversy, as he had recently converted to Islam, and his attorney in a 2011 weapons charge said his mental state is in question.
In their hurry to flee last month, al-Qaida fighters left behind a crucial document: Tucked under a pile of papers and trash is a confidential letter, spelling out the terror network's strategy for conquering northern Mali and reflecting internal discord over how to rule the region.
The document is an unprecedented window into the terrorist operation, indicating that al-Qaida predicted the military intervention that would dislodge it in January and recognized its own vulnerability.
The letter also shows a sharp division within al-Qaida's Africa chapter over how quickly and how strictly to apply Islamic law, with its senior commander expressing dismay over the whipping of women and the destruction of Timbuktu's ancient monuments. It moreover leaves no doubt that despite a temporary withdrawal into the desert, al-Qaida plans to operate in the region over the long haul, and is willing to make short-term concessions on ideology to gain the allies it acknowledges it needs.
#1
found by The Associated Press The clear-headed, point-by-point assessment resembles a memo from a CEO to his top managers
Left behind by whom I wonder?
#4
Any Burgers out there sitting on Heinz (HNZ), it just spiked to $72.50 per share on news of a Berkshire-Hawthaway buy out. Deal to close later in the summer. :-)
h/t Instapundit
...boys are basically being graded on their behavior, not their merit. They have different styles of doing homework and don't sit still in class. Teachers often hate this and reward girls for their conformity to their rules and penalize boys for their non-conformity and behavior. Teachers can no longer discipline in school, and the only punishment is often suspension. I wonder how the lack of discipline has played a role in teacher's using grading, perhaps subconsciously to punish boys.
Update at 1150 CT: According to Haaretz and with a tip of the hat to Ace, Shateri was a commander in the Quds Force -- those are the friendly guys who have been killing American soliders in Iraq and Afghanistan. I'm hoping Shateri had a sucking head wound and died of sepsis...
TEHRAN - The Iranian mission in Beirut on Thursday confirmed the assassination of Hassan Shateri, the head of the Iranian delegation in charge of developmental projects in Lebanon, by the terrorist groups in Syria.
The embassy said in a statement that Hassan Shateri was assassinated by terrorist groups in Syria while he was on his way back to Lebanon from the Syrian city of Aleppo.
Martyr Shateri who was in Aleppo to implement reconstruction and development projects in that city, was assassinated by Syrian terrorists while he was on his way to the Damascus airport to return to Lebanon, the Islamic republic news agency reported.
'Reconstruction and development' of Aleppo: starting with the leveling of the city...
The Iranian development delegation headed by Martyr Shateri played a major role in reconstructing southern Lebanon after the Zionist regime's 33-day war against the country in 2006.
Especially with the digging of tunnels and bunkers...
Martyr Shateri was highly respected by Hezbollah the Lebanese people and officials.
The Lebanese newspaper al-Safir reported on Thursday that martyr Shateri was in Aleppo to study some reconstruction projects in parts of the Syrian city.
He was like an archeologist, there to see the ruins...
A ceremony is to be held for martyr Shateri in Iran's Embassy in Beirut later on Thursday.
Coordinates please?
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/14/2013
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#1
link at AOSHQ says it was a commander in the Qods forces: Al-Manar did not disclose the name of the Iranian official and only described him as the head of an Iranian agency responsible for "rebuilding Lebanon." According to the report, the incident occurred on Syrian soil when the Iranian official was on his way back from Damascus to Lebanon.
An Iranian independent news website - mashreghnews.ir - reported earlier that the name of the Iranian official was Gen. Hassan Shateri, a commander in the Guard's Quds Force. The report said the attack was carried out by "mercenaries of the Zionist regime," however the credibility of the report is unclear.
The report added that Gen. Ghasem Soleimani, the head of the Guard's Quds Force, visited Shateri's family to express his condolences. The website did not provide additional details about his death.
The Quds Force is Iran's main organization dealing with international terrorist activity with the cooperation of several different terrorist organizations which are backed by Iran. In the past, Israeli intelligence officials described Soleimani as the central figure in Iran's terrorist network.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/14/2013 12:50
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I guess "Mission Official" is what the cool kids are calling it these days.
The 'Iranian Development delegation' were probably logistics or security advisers.
Posted by: lord garth ||
02/14/2013 17:54
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Heh. A sucking head wound. I would need to see that to understand it. Sepsis tho takes a while.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
02/14/2013 18:05
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It's always good to hear of Iranians taking casualties, for a change. I wonder how many they have taken since the start of hostilities in Syria. In theory, Syria ought not run out of manpower. Iran certainly has more than enough warm bodies to bring to the fight.
per this, the total of Hezbollah plus Basij is probably below 1000; however, there may be some unreported
Posted by: lord garth ||
02/14/2013 18:22
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the total of Hezbollah plus Basij is probably below 1000; however, there may be some unreported
We had 500K GI's in-country during the Vietnam War, at a time when the population was around 200m. Iran probably has the economy to support 200K troops (out of 20m odd military-age Iranian males) in Syria, assuming they're equipped mainly with light weaponry. The only issue is that this would alienate the large contingent of Sunnis that continue to support Assad.
Iran might be able to send 200k Basij to Syria, but if they did, they could not suppress the Iranian population (because the Basij keep the Iranian Army from rebelling).
Posted by: lord garth ||
02/14/2013 19:49
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#12
Debka is quoting Leb Hezbunnies as saying the Jews did it.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
02/14/2013 22:00
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Iran might be able to send 200k Basij to Syria, but if they did, they could not suppress the Iranian population (because the Basij keep the Iranian Army from rebelling).
#5
"Meanwhile, the Rowlett Police Department is considering filing criminal charges of injury to a child against the teacher in connection to the incident."
Either there is more to the story or tar & feathers need to be applied.
USMC Army General John Allen is planning to retire rather than be re-nominated for the powerful post of NATO supreme allied commander-Europe, after White House officials forced him under the bus, a source familiar with the discussions told Fox News on Wednesday.
The source told Fox that Allen was leery of getting into a confirmation battle that would dig into the embarrassing issue of his 30,000 +/- emails with Tampa socialite Jill Kelley, but the real reason was the White House military chistka "cleansing".
Hes out like the rest, the source said. I know he is retiring. He was pushed out of the door.
The official Pentagon cover story is expected soon.
The source also said White House officials are optimistic that after a contentious battle, former Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel will be confirmed shortly as defense secretary, and he can help pick a new person for the post.
Previously, the White House was thought to be keeping the nomination open while Allen mulled whether to seek the post.
Outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said earlier in the day that he told Allen on Tuesday that Allen needs to take time to decide what is best for him and his family.
Panetta also said the administration has tremendous confidence in Allen.
President Obamas first nomination of Allen expired amid an investigation of the emails between Allen and Kelly, who was connected to a scandal involving then-CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus. Allen was cleared in the investigation. But the White House purportedly had to re-nominate Allen for the post.
Fox News' Justin Fishel, who was obviously never a Marine, contributed to this report.
#2
The problem with this approach is that unlike a lot of other military, this one relies upon its effectiveness through the middle grades. You can put your loyal boot lickers, but soon to be frag catchers, in the top of the organizational diagram but that doesn't mean the ranks will be there to be your thugs when the time comes.
#4
Heh. B, it's what happens when the Achievement Medal, Commendation Medal, etc become nothing more than a completion of tour medal issued by rank rather than impact awards for performance.
#8
Someone asked a few days ago why Obama appoints second-rate people to important posts. He wants Hacks, yes-men who are only interested in pleasing the President. I wonder who his yes-man will be.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/14/2013 16:03
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Toonces theory?
Putting someone so absurdly incapable of being in the drivers seat so that when they drive the car over the cliff, the blame slides right off because s/he was expected, nay, required to have a big wreck. Then the media can sit back and say, "Ahhh, Toonces!" - if anything at all is said.
#6
Sorry for the deaths of both women, BUT I doubt these bastards were sweet, loving, respectful men all their lives until they suddenly and unexpectedly cracked and precipitated these murders.
You just know these murders were built up to. Why do women put up with this kind of crap?
Some guy hits me, he'd better make his first shot his best one, 'cuz he'll NEVER get a second chance. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara ||
02/14/2013 13:28
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Jeff Cooper's Rules of Firearms Safety:
RULE I: ALL GUNS ARE ALWAYS LOADED
RULE II: NEVER LET THE MUZZLE COVER ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO DESTROY
RULE III: KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER UNTIL YOUR SIGHTS ARE ON THE TARGET
RULE IV: BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET
Dollars to donuts, I will put my money on domestic discord. IMUIO
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/14/2013 17:17
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Barbara - Yes it's tragic if she missed the warning signs. Violence in a personal relationship is never acceptable - but sadly still too common.
I just wish she'd split at the first sign of abuse. I don't understand staying with a man who's abusive (whether or not that abuse is physical). :-(
Posted by: Barbara ||
02/14/2013 20:47
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It has been said before and it is getting said again... no gun, no dead body...
Private ownership of guns is banned in Venezuela, which has gone from 4000 murders a year to 20,000 murders per year under the administration that banned them.
#13
If it wasn't a gun, it would have been whatever object was closest--or in many cases his hands. It is the mentality/morality of the abuser; not the object he uses.
#1
Currently, Obamaville is West Palm Beach. Champ is heading there for some golf. He is going to recuperate after his slap-down by Dr. Ben Carson at the National Prayer Breakfast.
#8
Besoker I am surprised there are enough kids for a school there. Last time I went through it was full non leg shaving, flannel wearing Indigo Girls fans.
Four police officers have been killed and five others were wounded when a vehicle exploded at a road police post in Russian republic of Dagestan. The blast happened during a routine road inspection.
The initial explosion killed three policemen, and the fourth died from his wounds in a hospital hours later. One person still remains unaccounted for. The suicide bomber's body was so badly damaged by the blast that nothing's left of him, according to one source.
The yield of the explosive device was estimated to be about 100 kilograms of TNT. The explosion left a crater 1.5 meters deep and 4 meters in diameter, and badly damaged a checkpoint building.
Hours after the blast, local security forces spotted a gang of terrorists militants that may have been connected to the suicide bombing. The group was cornered near a local village, and an operation against them is underway. Police also uncovered a hidden cache in which explosives may have been prepared before being loaded into the car.
The blast occurred near the entrance to the city of Khasavyurt, Dagestan, early in the morning as police ordered a driver to stop his car for an ID check. By intercepting the explosives-carrying vehicle at a checkpoint outside the city center, security officials prevented an attack in a more densely populated area.
[Ynet] Egyptian forces have flooded smuggling tunnels under the border with the Paleostinian-ruled Gazoo Strip in a campaign to shut them down, Egyptian and Paleostinian officials said.
The network of tunnels is a vital lifeline for Gazoo, bringing in an estimated 30% of all goods that reach the enclave and circumventing a blockade imposed by Israel for more than seven years.
#1
A curious turn of events. The only reasons I can think of on the Egyptian side are someone wasn't getting paid or the Paleos are bringing in something unusually nasty. My money is on the former.
#2
The Jerusalem Post has more here, but it basically boils down to the Egyptians started pumping well water into the tunnels five days ago while PA and Hamas leaders were in Egypt for a reconciliation meeting, so they must not love Hamas after all.
#7
They used well water? *FRESH* well water? I thought that was at a premium in those parts, seems like an expensive solution.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/14/2013 16:48
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Mitch, I know what you mean. They should have used sewage - that would have made the tunnels unusable for a while.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
02/14/2013 16:58
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I understand there is a surplus of sewage in Gaza. Maybe they could get together, make a deal, ...
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
02/14/2013 18:07
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"I understand there is a surplus of sewage in Gaza."
Hard to see how, Mike. Everybody knows the whole mess of them full of sh*t.
Posted by: Barbara ||
02/14/2013 19:20
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IIRC, Gaza and environs had wells that were pumped hard, so the well water was undrinkable as the aquifer became brackish or saline. My guess is that the wells all produce saline water now, so the hydraulic commute is short with a nearby saline well.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/14/2013 21:25
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Rambler in VA. LMAO (ha-ha) The mental picture of sewage under pressure (5" Diam. hose)being pumped in, is precious...Paleos would find the odor refreshing and the solids hopefully would provide the sustenance to throw rocks for another day...
[Ynet] Protesters in Leb blocked the northern border crossing with Syria on Wednesday to stop fuel shipments they said were being used to resupply Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... 's military. Around 30 trucks were forced to stop on the Lebanese side of the border.
"Today we are seeing that the Syrian regime and Lebanese regime are transferring diesel to Syrian tanks," said a parliamentarian who joined protesters at the border. Facing European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... financial sanctions, Syria has relied increasingly on fuel trucked from neighboring Leb to make up for a fall in larger international shipments.
Keeping a trickle from turning into a flood, one foot at a time.
This does seem to be the kind of story moderator tu3031 would report. With glee...
[Ynet] IDF soldiers shot at the direction of a man who crossed the border from Syria, in the Golan Heights.
The IDF unit called at the suspect to stop, and when he failed to do so fired at the direction of his feet. The man was evacuated at a UN vehicle into Syria.
#2
At his FEET, Morons, shoot at his CHEST.
(Or the man was slightly out of range)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/14/2013 7:04
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Firing at his feet is something that egregious barbarians and baby-killers like the IDF would do. He may have gotten sand in his shoes and the resulting horror is unimaginable.
The benevolent, caring and peace-loving Religion of the Moon® folks in the region would promptly take him out on the spot with some other kinder and gentler method.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
02/14/2013 14:33
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Keeping a trickle from turning into a flood,
I once fretted about this very thing, but the IDF seems to have come up with a clever, proactive solution. I'll fret no more.
#5
He probably just wanted to get the hell out of Syria. The IDF guys probably understood that, but couldn't let him cross for the precedent it would set.
[An Nahar] Syrian regime forces on Wednesday stormed a house in the Bekaa border area of Masharii al-Qaa and tried to kidnap Lebanese nationals Omar Youssef Krumbi and Ali Ahmed Zaarour, but one of them managed to escape, MTV reported.
The TV network said the security sources declined to give further information but noted that the relevant authorities are conducting contacts in a bid to identify the circumstances of the abduction.
In May 2012, Lebanese citizen Mohammed Hassan al-Turkmani was kidnapped from his house in al-Qaa.
Also in May, media reports said Syrian troops crossed over into Leb and kidnapped Mohammed Mahmoud Ibrahim near the town of al-Abboudiyeh in Akkar.
On May 11, members of the rebel Free Syrian Army kidnapped two Lebanese citizens and a Syrian national. The Lebanese Jaafar clan retaliated by abducting some 50 members of the opposition in the Syrian border towns of Zeita and al-Burhaniyeh.
The Syrian army has repeatedly infiltrated Lebanese territory in the North and Bekaa since the eruption of anti-regime protests in Syria in March 2011.
It has kidnapped Lebanese citizens for various undisclosed reasons and taken them to Syria before releasing them.
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[NEWS.SKY] After the blast took place a North Korean newsreader urged the Korean People's Army (KPA) to prepare for combat against its foes.
She stressed that if an order was given "the KPA should blow up the stronghold of aggression at a strike".
"And wipe out the brigandish US imperialists and South Korea puppet army to the last man and thus accomplish the historic cause of national reunification."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
I intreprete "stronghold of aggression" to mean the Japan-based USN CVN USS GEORGE WASHINGTON, or TAIWAN.
[An Nahar] Military Examining Magistrate Fadi Sawan issued on Wednesday arrest warrants against two suspects involved in the ambush of a military patrol in the northeastern border town of Arsal.
Sawan issued the warrants against Mustafa Ali al-Hujairi and Hassan Mohammed al-Hujairi after questioning them.
Sawan was handed the case file on Tuesday, a day after State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr charged 34 people and summoned Arsal municipal chief, Ali al-Hujairi, to question him as a witness over the assault.
The patrol was ambushed earlier in the month by Arsal gunmen as it was hunting a man wanted for several terrorist acts, leaving two soldiers dead.
Since then, the military has set up checkpoints at Arsal's entrances, searching all vehicles entering the town and exiting it.
Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji said Wednesday "there will not be any compromise with the killers of soldiers or secret deals at the expense of the martyrs' bloods."
"All those who attacked the members of the army are terrorists and will be pursued wherever they are until they are arrested and referred to the judiciary," he told the family of army officer Pierre Bashaalani, who was killed in the ambush.
Also Wednesday, President Michel Suleiman told a cabinet session held at Baabda palace that justice would not be achieved unless all the suspects are arrested.
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[MAGHAREBIA] Tripoli gunmen kidnapped Arab Contracting Union head Abdulrahman Abdullah Husseini and his Sudanese driver on Tuesday (February 12th), Libya Herald reported.
In another high-profile kidnapping, Colonel Mahmoud Al-Jaaber of the national fire service was snatched from his Tripoli office on Sunday. He has not been found.
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[An Nahar] Tunisia's ruling Ennahda party has called on supporters to rally Saturday and back its "legitimacy" even as the prime minister, who belongs to the Islamist party, scrambles to form a new government of technocrats.
"Supporters of Ennahda must defend their revolution and the interests of the people," Mohamed Akrout, an Ennahda deputy chief, said on in a video posted Wednesday on the party's Facebook page.
Akrout said the rally would be held between 1230-1500 GMT on Saturday but did not identify the venue.
Pro-Islamist Facebook users expect the demonstration to take place on Habib Bourguiba Avenue in central Tunis, cradle of the 2011 revolution that ousted autocratic president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
The rally was aimed at "bolstering the legitimacy and realize the goals of the revolution," said in the video.
The call comes after Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali warned of chaos in Tunisia and threatened to quit unless he can form a new government of technocrats -- despite stiff opposition from Ennahda.
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"Nollywood"? Who knew?
[Osun Defender] Upcoming Yoruba actress, Silifa Ladeji also known as Silifonia, has bled to death after her lover severally physically assaulted her during a misunderstanding which led to her death on Wednesday. A "misunderstanding?"
A friend of the actress, said that Silifonia who was heavily pregnant before her sudden demise had been a victim of battery and assault in the hands of her lover. Kinda by definition if he beat her to death.
The suspect is currently at large, while the corpse of Silifonia has been deposited at an undisclosed mortuary. "Dr. Quincy, to the white courtesy phone!"
Happy St. Valentine's Day.
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[An Nahar] Iran agreed on "some points" in talks with experts from the U.N. atomic watchdog in Tehran on Wednesday, its lead negotiator at the meeting said, quoted by local media. "Nice outside today, ain't it?"
"Yes, it is."
"Almost lunch time, too."
"Not too long."
"Should we send out to Pasquale's?"
"Costs too much. Remember, we got sanctions."
"Some differences were resolved and agreement on some issues in the modality was reached," Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's envoy to the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was quoted as saying by ISNA news agency.
"New proposals," Soltanieh said, had been put forward at the talks but they would be discussed at "future meetings".
He did not say if a date had been agreed for the resumption of talks with the IAEA, whose chief inspector Herman Nackaerts was leading its delegation to Tehran.
Nackaerts had hoped that in the meeting, the third of its kind in the past three months, he would "finalize the structured approach document" which would "facilitate the resolution of the outstanding issues related to the possible military dimension of Iran's nuclear program."
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#1
"We agreed that we were, indeed, in Tehran. That only took 5 hours."
[MAGHAREBIA] A Nouakchott court charged two Mauritanian nationals with trying to join al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), AFP quoted a judicial source as saying on Tuesday (February 12th). The men allegedly planned to fight in Mali.
Suspect Brahim Ould Hmeida is the older brother of one of the terrorists involved in last month's Algeria gas field attack. He was also accused of involvement in the 2007 Aleg murder of a French tourist family.
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[Xinhua] One suspect was detained as part of an investigation into a blast at the Turkish-Syrian border gate Cilvegozu in Turkey's southern province Hatay on Wednesday, local newspaper Today's Zaman reported on its website.
At least 14 people including three Turkish citizens were killed and dozen others injured in the blast, which apparently targeted Syrian opposition figures who were supposed to go through the area of incident.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to take actions on the explosion after the investigation into the case is completed.
"We will wait patiently until the details of a deadly bomb attack at the Cilvegozu border gate are fully clarified, and will then take all required steps without hesitation," said Erdogan.
Reyhanli town, where the Cilvegozu gate is located, is 45 km from Syria's Idlib and 60 km from Aleppo, the two towns that have become the main battlefields between the Syrian rebels and President Bashar al-Assad's forces.
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[Dawn] The Supreme Court on Wednesday discarded the petition filed by Tehrik-e-Minhajul Koran (TMQ) chief, Dr Tahirul Qadri, seeking reconstitution of the Election Commission of Pakistain (ECP), DawnNews reported.
The court said Qadri had failed to convince the bench over his petition and the intentions behind filing it.
The court ruled that Qadri had failed to show that the question that he was raising came under the ambit of Article 184(3) of the Constitution.
The bench also hinted at initiating contempt proceedings against the TMQ chief but Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry advised the court to exercise restraint in the matter.
A three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar, heard the petition.
Earlier during the hearing, the court had asked the TMQ chief as to how his fundamental rights had been violated with the current makeup of the commission.
In his remarks, the chief justice had said a number of political parties were not part of the current parliament but they had not expressed any reservations on the ECP's constitution.
The chief justice had also inquired as to how the TMQ chief had suddenly returned from Canada to question the commission's organization, adding that Qadri would have to convince the bench over his sincerity in the matter.
The bench had moreover questioned Qadri as to how his fundamental rights had been violated with the current makeup of the ECP.
The bench had questioned the petitioner as to when he was elected as a member of the National Assembly, responding to which Qadri had said he was elected as a representative from NA-127 in 2002.
The court had also asked the TMQ chief as to when he acquired Canadian citizenship and the chief justice had later remarked that Qadri did not identify himself as a Pak when abroad.
Responding to which, Qadri had said he believed that he was being tried for being a dual national and that his loyalty to Pakistain was being questioned.
Also during the hearing, Qadri had waved a photo of the oath-taking ceremony of the chief justice from former military ruler Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... . In response to which, the bench had barred the TMQ chief from continuing his arguments.
A series of dialogues had been exchanged between the bench and Qadri and the chief justice had said the holy man had ridiculed the court, adding that the petitioner's intentions appeared to be malafide.
Moreover, Attorney General Irfan Qadir had argued that Qadri satisfied the requirements in terms of locus standi, adding that the petitioner's intentions could not be questioned in the absence of evidence to support the claim of insincerity.
An argument had also ensued between the attorney general and the chief justice over whether Qadri's plea to reconstitute the election commission months prior to the upcoming polls could be considered as sincere.
Earlier on Tuesday, the issue of locus standi (right to appear) was discussed by the apex court.
Qadri had apparently failed to establish that he had the right to knock at the doors of the Supreme Court and seek the ECP's reconstitution.
"Dr Sahib our anxiety is that you are not an ordinary individual but a jurist, a scholar, rather Sheikhul Islam, and deliver lectures in over 90 countries to bring people to the folds of Islam, but you are showing allegiance not only to Queen Elizabeth but also her successors," Chief Justice Iftikhar had said on Tuesday.
"This petition of yours asks us to think over these issues," the chief justice had stated and had repeatedly asked how Qadri could attack a constitutional institution by approaching another institution when in a third country he was not a Pak.
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[Xinhua] At least three pro-government militiamen were wounded in a bomb explosion in Yemen's southern province of Abyan on Tuesday night, a security official told Xinhua Wednesday.
The bomb went off outside the pro-government militiamen headquarters in Jaar town in Abyan province, injuring at least three people at the scene, the local security official said on condition of anonymity.
"A huge blast took place near a building held by pro-government militiamen in Abyan. The building was partially damaged. However, it caused no loss of life and only three people were injured," the security source said.
Witnesses told Xinhua that the two-floor building in Jaar town "was hit by an explosive that seemed large" and "small damage" was caused.
The bomb attack was perpetrated by attackers of the al-Qaida terrorist group, according to local officials.
The al-Qaida militants frequently use improvised explosive devices, including roadside bombs, against the security forces, pro-government militiamen and intelligence officials in southern regions.
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[Xinhua] Syrian foreign ministry stressed Wednesday that Damascus' gates are open for the dialogue with the opposition inside Syria and those in exile so long as it is based on the political program outlined by President Bashar al-Assad and held on Syrian soil.
The ministry said in a statement it welcomes Russia's invitation to Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem to visit Moscow for talks with his counterpart Sergey Lavrov, who will also meet the head of the Syrian opposition coalition in exile, Moaz al- Khatib.
The ministry indicated that al-Moallem's visit has nothing to do with al-Khatib's, and stressed that "Damascus' gates are open for dialogue on a Syrian land and under the roof of the homeland."
The statement came apparently to brush aside media reports that Moscow may be orchestrating a meeting between al-Moallem and al- Khatib.
Syria has repeatedly stressed its readiness for dialogue, but stipulated the dialogue to take place on Syrian land without preconditions.
Al-Khatib, for his side, declared his readiness for negotiations with government representatives and said the dialogue should lead to the departure of Assad.
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#1
You talk, we shoot, Syria.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/14/2013 6:47
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Russia said it had killed on Wednesday a terrorist militant wanted for bombing an outdoor market in the North Caucasus in 2010.
Security forces gunned down Sultangery Khashagulgov and one of three brothers suspected of staging an attack on a busy market in the North Ossetia capital of Vladikavkaz that killed 19 people in 2010.
Khashagulgov, a businessman and former minister in charge of construction in the province of Ingushetia, was killed when he opened fire on security forces who attempted to arrest him at his home in the regional capital of Nazran. Security forces had earlier detained Khashagulgov's brothers Isa and Yakuba.
Three bombs targeted law enforcement officials in Dagestan late on Tuesday. No one was killed in the attacks. A police officer was taken to the hospital with gunshot wounds after a separate late-night shooting.
Gunmen also opened fire late on Tuesday on the main offices of the Investigative Committee, the government's criminal investigation agemcy, in Makhachkala, Dagestan's provincial capital. There were no reported injuries.
[An Nahar] Jihadist group Ahrar al-Sham is emerging from the shadows of the larger rebel outfit al-Nusra Front as a key player in northern Syria, playing up its nationalist roots and more moderate form of Islam.
Fighters from the group, whose name means in Arabic the "Free Men of Syria", are mainly to be found on the battlefields in the northern provinces of Idlib, Aleppo and central Hama alongside some 30 other jihadist organizations.
For a long time it was eclipsed by the hardline al-Nusra Front which has grabbed credit for the majority of deadly suicide kabooms in Syria's nearly two-year conflict and is blacklisted by Washington as a terror outfit.
But in recent months Ahrar al-Sham has begun unleashing its fighters across the battlefronts, especially in Idlib where they played a leading role in advances around the city of Jisr al-Shughur, an Agence La Belle France Presse news hound said.
Its fighters are also on the frontlines of the battles around the city of Idlib and further south in Maarat al-Numan.
Their victories have been trumpeted on the Internet and, rebel sources say, have been accomplished thanks to financial backing from Gulf Arab countries.
At the end of December, Ahrar al-Sham announced the creation of an Islamic front grouping a dozen of other organizations including Ansar al-Sham, Liwa al-Haq and Jamaat al-Taliaa.
On January 31 several other groups announced on a statement posted on the Internet that they had joined forces with Ahrar al-Sham to form a broader coalition dubbed "Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya" (The Islamic Movement of Ahrar al-Sham).
Although some Arab jihadists fight amongst their ranks, most of Ahrar al-Sham's fighters are Syrian nationals while the group's founders, according to a source close to it, were former political prisoners released in an amnesty.
"The founders of the movement are all former political prisoners who were placed in durance vile Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! in the infamous Sednaya prison near Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... ," the source said.
"For years they lived and suffered together in jail (but) were set free as part of an amnesty ordered by the regime in May 2011."
The group appears to be well-structured although the names of their commanders are not in the public domain. However, if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well... a fighter known as Abu Anas is the leader for battlegrounds in northern Syria.
One of Ahrar al-Sham's strengths is that it has deep roots in northern rebel-held territory, where unlike the shadowy al-Nusra Front, its men enjoy grassroots support because some are from the villages and cities of the region.
The group's approach to Islam is less rigid that the position of al-Nusra Front -- which Washington says has links to Al-Qaeda in Iraq -- with group leaders insisting they oppose "fanaticism."
Ahrar al-Sham supports the creation of an Islamic state in Syria but one that is based on sharia, Islamic law, that would guarantee the rights of minorities including Christians.
"Their rhetoric is loaded with Islamic references but... deep down their goal is to restore the illusory sovereignty of the Syrian people and do away with dictatorship," said Jean-Pierre Filiu, an expert on jihadist movements.
On the ground Ahrar al-Sham fight sometimes alongside the mainstream rebel Free Syrian Army and al-Nusra, joining in attacks on regime military targets -- but apparently refrain from taking part in suicide kabooms.
Like other jihadists their fighters wear black turbans and their beards long, and fly a white flag with an eagle soaring over the name of the group on their checkpoints.
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[Dawn] The provincial assembly in Sindh on Wednesday unanimously passed a government bill for provision of free and compulsory education to all children aged from five to 16 in the province.
Sindh Education Minister Pir Mazharul Haq, under the supplementary order of the day, introduced the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill 2013, which was unanimously passed into the law.
The bill is for providing free and compulsory education to all children of age five to sixteen on state expense in the province.
Members belonging to treasury and opposition benches spoke on the bill and termed it a landmark legislation of the incumbent assembly.
Pir Mazharul Haq said under the bill, private schools will be bound to provide free education to 20 per cent students of the class strength. He said private schools, which are not getting any benefits from the government, will also be bound to enroll five per cent students for free education.
The minister said Sindh is the first province of the country that has passed the law for provision of free and compulsory education. He hoped that other provinces would follow the example set by Sindh.
Meanwhile, ...back at the saloon, Butch got the bill for the damage caused by the fist fight, the mirror broken in the shootout, and drinks for everyone...... on provincial Law Minister Ayaz Soomro's request, Sindh Arms Bill 2013 and Hyderabad Institute of Arts and Technology Bill 2013 were postponed.
The house was adjourned till Thursday.
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[An Nahar] Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem and opposition National Coalition chief Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib will make separate visits to Moscow for talks in the coming weeks, a top Russian diplomat said Wednesday.
Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told the RIA Novosti news agency that Muallem would visit Russia by the end of February while Khatib would come in the next two or three weeks.
Final dates for both visits were still being agreed, he added.
Syrian state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
reported that the Syrian foreign ministry "welcomes the invitation for Muallem to meet with his Russian counterpart".
It stressed that the Syrian foreign minister would not be meeting personally with opposition leader Khatib.
Dialogue with the opposition will only be held "on Syrian soil", the ministry said.
In a statement posted on his Facebook page on Sunday, Khatib proposed that the dialogue take place in "liberated areas," in rebel-controlled northern Syria.
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[Dawn] Britain's Defense Secretary Philip Hammond said the UK has struck a deal with Uzbekistan to help bring back 4 billion pounds ($6.2 billion) of equipment from Afghanistan as operations drawn down.
Britain's government has said UK troop numbers in Afghanistan will fall from around 9,000 currently to about 5,200 by the end of 2013.
Hammond told lawmakers Wednesday that the UK has struck a deal with Uzbekistan because the only current transit route for equipment _ through Pakistan _ "would be hard pressed to meet the capacity demands" of the drawdown, which for Britain involves bringing home about 2,500 vehicles and 6,500 storage containers.
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Open and inspect EVERY CONTAINER, don't miss a one.
Or a city in Britain will vanish.
Don't forget the vehicles either.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/14/2013 6:38
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#2
Re-Inspect as they are slung onto the boat, before the slings tighten.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/14/2013 6:55
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[DAILYCALLER] In a response letter to four top Republican politicians, the Department of Homeland Security revealed it initiated only one case against an immigrant for becoming a "public charge," or being primarily dependent upon the government, in fiscal year 2012. The case was later withdrawn.
While the department's response to Republican Sens. Jeff Sessions, Chuck Grassley, Orrin Hatch and Pat Roberts' August oversight request offered an overview of the centuries-old federal public-charge restrictions, it noticeably avoided several of the senators' direct questions and demonstrated potentially significant inadequacies in record-keeping by immigration officials, who legally should be enforcing public-charge rules for immigrants both inside and outside of the country.
The response, for example, failed to explain why immigrants are only assessed for their potential reliance on just two of the more than 80 federal means-tested welfare programs when the government determines if they are "public charges" prior to their entry into the U.S. -- meaning that they are likely to become primarily dependent on federal aid for subsistence after arriving.
The DHS letter, penned by Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs Nelson Peacock, further failed to respond to the four Republican senators' data requests pertaining to the the total number of visa applicants from 2001-2011 that were denied on public-charge grounds, or numbers on those who were granted visas despite a public-charge finding. Other than as a jobs source for relatives of politicians, the DHS has turned into a net loss. It should be high on the Publican list of agencies to fold.
Mitt Romney would have been the man for that. Perhaps next time he can be brought in as an advisor -- I'm sure he'd refuse the fee the government can't afford to pay.
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#1
meaning that they are likely to become primarily dependent on federal aid for subsistence after arriving.
....and quickly become Democrats. There, I said it.
[Dawn] The Prime Minister's Polio Monitoring and Coordination Cell, the World Health Organization and Unicef have confirmed that parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... Bloody Karachi's ...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... Gadap Town and Hyderabad are transmitting polio
Continued on Page 49
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A Muslim insurgent leader says hundreds of his armed fighters will continue their efforts to free foreign hostages held by the Abu Sayyaf in the southern Philippines despite a battle last week that killed dozens of combatants on both sides.
Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) Chairman Nur Misuari said that he ordered his men to re-evaluate their plans in the aftermath of the Feb. 3 battle but to resume efforts meant to secure the safe release of several hostages in Sulu province. He said the battle killed eight men from his group, including a commander, and several gunmen from the Abu Sayyaf, many members of which have fled from their jungle strongholds in Sulu's mountainous Patikul town
[An Nahar] Syrian rebels took control of most of a strategic army base in northern Syria after a fierce firefight with Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's Horror of Homs... forces on Wednesday, a monitoring group said.
The military complex, known as Base 80, is tasked with securing the nearby Aleppo international airport as well as the Nayrab military airport.
Rebels launched a coordinated assault on both airports on Tuesday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which added that most of Base 80 "has come under hard boy control".
Dozens of fighters and troops have been killed in the fighting, the Britannia-based Observatory said.
Activists have said Aleppo's beturbanned goons shifted their focus from targets in the quiet provincial capital to air bases because they are a source of ammunition and weaponry, and to put out of action warplanes used to bomb rebel bastions.
In Aleppo city itself, meanwhile, electricity or water supplies were down on Wednesday for a fourth day in a row, said the anti-regime Aleppo Media Center, warning of a "humanitarian disaster" in what was once Syria's commercial hub.
Commenting on the rebels' advance in Aleppo province, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said the army may be giving up on parts of northern Syria in order to secure the center.
"The army is barely resisting the rebels' advance on bases in the north. Meanwhile, ...back at the revival hall, Buford bit the snake and Eloise began speaking in tongues... it is resisting with ferocity the beturbanned goons in Daraya (southwest of Damascus ...The capital of Iran's Syrian satrapy... ) and Homs (central Syria)," Abdel Rahman told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"The regime understands it cannot survive a transition without securing some land to bargain with," he added.
Despite the advances, regime warplanes carried out several air raids on rebel areas in Aleppo province on Wednesday while army tanks shelled the east Damascus district of Jobar, the Observatory said.
At least eight non-combatants were killed in Jobar, it said.
Insurgents have secured enclaves in the eastern and southern suburbs of Damascus, and the army is trying hard to push them out, the watchdog said.
On the eastern and western edges of the central city of Homs, rebels clashed with troops on two main highways, a rebel commander said.
Arraba Idriss told AFP via Skype that the beturbanned goons are trying to "ease the pressure on people trapped in districts that have been besieged and bombarded" for some eight months by the army.
At least 121 people were killed in violence across Syria on Wednesday, half of them civilians, the Observatory said.
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The U.S. House of Representatives is to vote on a motion that would re-list North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism.
This is almost as tough as a sternly worded UN resolution...
Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida on Wednesday proposed the bill to add the renegade country to the list again, and eight representatives from both side of the house joined her.
In press release, Ros-Lehtinen condemned North Korea's nuclear test on Monday as a "deliberate and provocative action by the regime," which is "yet another display of the regime's hostile intentions and is a reminder that Pyongyang is one step closer toward its goal of nuclear armament."
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/14/2013
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OK, what idiot un-listed it?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/14/2013 6:24
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If I recall correctly, it was the Bush admin, as a condition for allowing humanitarian workers in and diffusing animosity toward their neighbors. Norks reneged but the US didn't.
[Xinhua] Former Maldivian President Mohammed Nasheed on Wednesday sought refuge at the Indian High Commission in Maldives following summons issued by a local court to produce him over a case.
Nasheed's party, the Maldives Democratic Party (MDP) said that the party will have an urgent meeting later in the evening following the latest developments.
Presidential Spokesperson Imad Masood told Xinhua that summons were issued after Nasheed defied a court order to be present in court and the court in return issued an order to the police to produce him.
However, those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things... Nasheed's political party, the MDP, has strongly condemned the arrest warrant and reiterated its belief that the arrest warrant and the charges against him are politically motivated.
"The MDP calls on the international community to remain vigilant and immediately intervene to ensure a free and fair trial for Nasheed," his party said on Wednesday.
The MDP further said that the second hearing of the case was scheduled on Feb. 10 while Nasheed was on a visit to India and was unable to return to Male' due to a medical emergency.
However Nasheed's lawyers had informed the court in writing as stated in the court's regulations, the party said.
Nasheed stepped down as president in February last year amidst violent protests over some of the decisions he had taken while in power.
Nasheed subsequently claimed that he was forced to step down in order for the current President Mohamed Waheed Hassan to take office.
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[Xinhua] Pakistani Interior Minister, Rehman Malik Wednesday asked the Taliban militants to declare a 30- day cease-fire if they want dialogue with the government, local media reported.
It was the first formal government's response to the Taliban dialogue offer. Taliban's attacks have killed nearly 40,000 people including security forces, in the past 10 years.
"The government is ready to hold dialogue with Taliban provided they announce cease-fire and appoint some sincere religious scholars to achieve purposeful results," Malik told reporters in Islamabad.
"If Taliban are sincere in holding talks, they should have announced a cease-fire and formed a Jirga (council of elders), comprising some serious and thoughtful people," he said.
Taliban have not yet responded to the government's fresh proposal however they had previously rejected similar calls.
The Interior Minister said Taliban should know that people of Pakistan have seen their actual face and the nation would not forgive the crimes of killing of innocent citizens.
"The nation has rejected Talibanization. Taliban should announce cease-fire first to hold talks," he said.
Taliban spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, in a video message released to the media on February 4 had proposed conditional talks with Pakistani government and had sought guarantee of three main opposition political and religious leaders, including former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Nawaz Sharif had asked the government to immediately start talks with the Taliban. However, he had refused to become a guarantor, saying that he cannot trust the government.
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#1
The Taliban Heroin Spike Pakiwakiland just can't shake it's addiction to:
Posted by: Water Modem ||
02/14/2013 14:12
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CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is undergoing "complex" alternative treatments more than two months after having cancer surgery in Cuba, his vice president said on Wednesday.
They're trying to extract his head from his hind end. You can see how delicate that would be...
The 58-year-old communist socialist dictator leader has not been seen in public since he went to Havana for the operation on December 11, his fourth surgery for cancer in 18 months.
Should have gone to Brazil, Oogo...
Vice President Nicolas Maduro did not give details of the alternative treatments the president was receiving. Chavez has never said what type of cancer he is suffering from, and critics accuse the government of excessive secrecy over his condition.
"Today our commander is undergoing alternative treatments ... they are complex and difficult treatments that must, at some point, end the cycle of his illness," Maduro said in comments on state TV.
The government, which rejects allegations it has not been transparent about Chavez's health, says he has completed a difficult post-operative period and has started a "new phase" of his recuperation. It has not given details of this new phase.
He's dying...
When nothing else works, time to break out the Laetrile and say goodbye.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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Babalu time. Hide yur roosters and fine ceegars.
#8
rumor was that he was on a respirator, and barely conscious. so this latest story sounds like disinformation. Chavez was a paratrooper in a former life (before politcis). But his efforts to "reverse engineer" Venezuelan society did not succeed. The capital Caracas is most famous these days for violent crime and kidnappings.
[An Nahar] The Iranian dissident group MEK on Wednesday accused Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of ordering a deadly attack on its camp in Iraq and said the Iraqi government facilitated the assault.
The People's Mujahedeen of Iran (MEK) said in a statement that the decision to carry out the attack was taken late January by Iran's national security council on Khamenei's orders.
It said that the 40 attackers and the rockets and mortars and other equipment they used in Saturday's attack were ferried to the camp by vehicles belonging to the Iraqi police and the Iraqi interior ministry.
The group of attackers was made up of members of the Shiite jihad boy group Ketaeb Hizbullah and "technical agents" from Iran's elite al-Quds, said the statement by the MEK, whose leadership is based in Gay Paree.
The MEK said Tuesday that seven people were killed in the attack on Camp Liberty, a former U.S. military base near Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... housing about 3,000 members of the MEK.
The MEK, which gave an initial toll of six dead and around 100 maimed, said several more of its members remained in a serious condition.
No-one has grabbed credit for the attack but MEK leader Maryam Radjavi on Monday denounced what she called the "crimes of the Iranian state".
She noted that the camp was inside a giant military zone and that the perpetrators could only have got inside with help from "within the Iraqi government".
The MEK was founded in the 1960s to oppose the shah of Iran, and after the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted him it took up arms against Iran's holy manal rulers.
It says it has now laid down its arms and is working to overthrow the Islamic regime in Tehran by peaceful means.
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[MAGHAREBIA] In the wake of the Arab Spring, a number of Maghreb young people have decided to continue their struggle by taking up arms and joining jihadists in Syria.
The young Maghreb militants have linked up with Syrian opposition groups seeking to topple the regime of Bashar al-Assad, including al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb fighters are reportedly among the latest arrivals to the Syria battle.
"Young people from different Maghreb countries are fighting alongside these organised groups in Syria," confirmed Lies Boukraa, who heads the Algiers-based African Centre for Studies and Research on Terrorism (CAERT).
"Those young people primarily belong to different jihadist groups that have sworn allegiance to the parent al-Qaeda organisation, and the policy of the latter says that any country witnessing a war against regimes is a suitable land for jihad," Boukraa told Magharebia.
"Therefore, those young jihadists have to join that jihad to realise al-Qaeda's goals for establishing an Islamic state after the fall of existing regime," he added.
Boukraa said that he did not have accurate statistics about the number of Maghreb young people in Syria. However, he warned against the potential fallout from the presence of foreign fighters in a post-war Syria.
"In case al-Assad's regime falls, problems will arise in Syria between the jihadist groups that seek to establish an Islamic regime and the secular opposition, exactly like what happened in other countries where secular regimes were toppled in Maghreb and elsewhere," he said.
A number of press reports have documented Maghreb fighters in Syria. El Khabar reported in December that several Maghreb fighters were killed in a recent Syrian air strike on Idlib.
El Khabar cited Al Vourghan Brigade, which fights alongside Jabhat al-Nusra, as saying that an Algerian man with an alias of Abou Khaithama was killed in an air strike launched by Syrian fighter planes, and that at least two more Algerians, eight Moroccans and a large number of Libyans were also killed.
The Algerian newspaper also disclosed the names of a few of the fighters killed alongside al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria. The jihadists reportedly included Algerians, Tunisians, Mauritanians and a large number of Libyans.
Meanwhile, Kapitalis on February 4th published a "preliminary list" of 28 names of Tunisian jihadists known to have been killed fighting in Syria.
"The presence of those young people is expected if we take into consideration that jihadist ideology doesn't recognise borders or political divisions of states," explained Mauritanian journalist Said Ould Habib. "The terrorists have their own logic in dividing countries between land of kufr, land of jihad, and land of Islam and they call Syria the Levant."
"Islamist movements usually take advantage of armed chaos in countries witnessing revolutions and their goals and strategies are temporarily unified with the revolutionaries," Ould Habib added.
According to the analyst, these movements "reveal their true intentions once victory has been achieved".
"Then they start planning to establish an Islamic state because they basically reject democracy and the concept of freedom and civil state," he added.
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#1
Get them all in one area, then blast them.
A Nuke would do it.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/14/2013 6:31
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[MAGHAREBIA] Tunisia is still waiting for its new government, although Ennahda on Tuesday (February 12th) said it would accept the formation of a government composed of technocrats and political figures, AFP reported.
Radical members of the Ennahda Movement, however, continued to reject the idea of forming an apolitical government.
If Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali cannot convince his party to make concessions, Ennahda could lose the reins of power, fourteen months after it came to office.
"The country needs a political consensus and it is not in the interest of Tunisia, especially after the liquidation of Chokri Belaid, to give up the culture of coalition," Ennahda's Shura Council chief Fethi Ayedi explained.
Jebali consulted with union activists, secular political parties, business leaders, and civil society members over the last few days in an attempt to find a solution to the political crisis.
On Tuesday, he unveiled a "council of wise men", made up of thinkers, magistrates, Ennahda moderates and General Rachid Ammar.
In another sign of progress, Congress for the Republic (CPR) froze its decision to withdraw its ministers from the government, after threatening to quit.
CPR Secretary-General Mohamed Abbou explained that his party had opposed Jebali's plan because there could be "faces from the former regime in the proposed government of technocrats".
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"faces from the former regime in the proposed government of technocrats".
It's not so bad; we still have hangers-on from the Carter era.
LAUDERDALE-BY-THE-SEA, FL -- Police in Florida said they jugged a man accused of stealing wallets from women's purses, leaving his own wallet and ID behind at the scene. Oops.
The Lauderdale-by-the-Sea police report said Stephen Maxwell, 47, made off with wallets from women's purses at bars and restaurants on several occasions starting Nov. 29 and his spree continued until Saturday, when a woman interrupted him while he was digging through her purse and he made like a Berkeley professor and left, leaving his own wallet behind, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported Tuesday.
"The ID card had the name and photograph of Stephen Maxwell on it," Judge John "Jay" Hurley said Monday, reading aloud from the arrest report. ...between attempts to suppress laughter, I'd guess.
"[Detectives] also looked at the closed circuit TV [recording], which showed you allegedly reaching into her purse and leaving your wallet on the bar," Hurley told Maxwell. "You're busted, beauzeau."
Police said Maxwell, who Hurley ordered to be held without bail, used the cash and credit cards from his thefts for items including cigarettes, alcohol and mobile phone cards. He also used pilfered funds to make $1 donations to the American Diabetes Association on at least three occasions, investigators said.
Something his appointed legal counsel is sure to bring up.
For a map, click here For a map of Durango state, click here. For a map of Coahuila state
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
Separate operations in Gomez Palacio, Durango and in Torreon Coahuila led to the arrest of three suspects, freeing of four kidnapping victims and seizure of several classes of munitions including explosives, according to Mexican news reports.
This is the first news of successful countercrime operations since the start of the newly dubbed Operativo Laguna last week, a joint security operation now commanded and coordinated by the Mexican XI Military Region based in Torreon, Coahuila. La Laguna is a similar to a twin cities area which incorporates several municipalities including Torreon and Matamoros in Coahuila state and Ciudad Lerdo and Gomez Palacio, in Durango state.
According to a news dispatch posted on the website of yancuic.com news daily, an operation by the Mexican Army and Durango state Direccion Estatal de Investigacion (DEI), Policia Federal and Policia Estatal Acreditable (PEA) in Gomez Palacio yielded guns, ammunition and explosives.
The raid took place on calle 16 de Septiembre 1004 in Bella Vista colony near Zona Centro, where security elements were dispatched to investigate the presence of men acting suspiciously.
The suspects had fled the scene, escaping detention. Security forces seized two fragmentation grenades, 6 sausage shaped explosives (probably Tovex), 88 detonators, a roll of white wick, 50 rounds of 7.62x63 (.30 06 caliber) ammunition, 18 rounds of .223 caliber ammunition, an undisclosed amount and type of spent cartridge casings and two banners with undisclosed messages to the authorities.
It is worth noting that Tovex is the type of explosive used in the July 16th, 2010 Ciudad Juarez car bomb which killed three, and was probably used in last summer's car bomb in Neuvo Laredo in Tamaulipas. Tovex is a commercial grade explosive typically used in Mexico for mining. The Mexican state petroleum enterprise PEMEX is known to use Tovex.
Meanwhile in Torreon Coahuila, a kidnapping operation was dismantled by Torreon municipal police agents, yielding a number of seized munitions.
According to a separate report posted on the website of yancuic.com, a municipal patrol element observed an armed suspect with a rifle in Sol de Oriente colony, who then fled inside a residence. A brief pursuit led to the arrest of four individuals.
The detainees were identified as Ismael Hernandez Ruiz, 37, AKA El Enano, of Matamoros, Coahuila, Edgar Castro Rogelio Menchaca, 20, AKA The Pump, of Torreon, Coahuila, Monica Elizabeth Esparza Castro AKA La Negra, 25, of Torreon, Cahuila and Alfredo Domínguez Alanis, 40, of Torreon, Coahuila, identified as the alleged leader.
Inside the residence police found and released three unidentified kidnapping victims.
Police also seized two AK-47 rifles, one AK-74 rifle, one AR-15 automatic rifle, one AR-15 5.56mm rifle, one 12 gauge double barrel shotgun, 30 weapons magazines, 1,252 rounds of ammunition (.223 caliber, 7.62mm, .32 caliber, .38 Special, .22 caliber and 9mm), two bulletproof vests, 11 Kenwood brand portable radios, five pairs of tactical boots, one sniper scope and one pair of handcuffs.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
[Xinhua] Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) warned Muslims not to celebrate Valentine's Day here Wednesday, saying it's not in accordance with Islamic values.
MUI's Chairman Umaar Shinhab told Indonesia's news portal Tempo.co that it's forbidden for Muslims to observe the "day of love" which falls on February 14 as the celebration involves religious ritual and is prone to lead to "free sex". "Love can be expressed or shown any time without bounded by a certain day," Shinhab said, adding that the young should follow the right religious teachings so as not to be affected by deviant culture.
The deputy mayor of Depok has appealed Tuesday residents, especially younger people not to celebrate Valentine's Day on Thursday.
In recent years, it has become customary for MUI, the highest Islamic authority in the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, to issue edicts resisting Valentine's Day celebration.
Edicts issued by the MUI are generally considered as a form of public guidance and carry no legal authority.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2013
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#1
saying it's not in accordance with Islamic values.
Love is not an Islamic value. All of us Rantburgers have known that for over a decade?
[Xinhua] A ten-member splinter group of Mon Peace Defence has returned to government's legal fold in Myanmar, official media New Light of Myanmar reported Wednesday. Ethnic Burmans make up about two thirds of the population of Burma. Next come the Shans, who're linguistic and blood relatives of the Thais and Laos, at about ten percent. Karens and Kachins are about six percent. The Mons are linguistically related to the Khmers of Cambodia -- the language group is called Mon-Khmer. They're about two percent of the population now, though in days of old they held sway in a crescent from present-day Cambodia into northern Burma. Burmans are Sino-Tibetan, while the Mons and Khmers, if I remember correctly, are Malayo-Polynesian. The Shans, Thais, and Laos show up around 900-1000 AD. Other than fighting among themselves, the Thais primarily fought their wars with the Burmese, the Laos with the Viets. One of the Lao-Viet wars was over a beautifully enameled box of elephant crap.
Two members with the ranks of major and lieutenant from Mon Peace Defence "exchanged arms for peace" in the area of at Laynyar Village in Pyigyimandaing sub-township of Taninthayi Region over the past three days.
On Wednesday, another eight-member group led by Soe Myint with the rank of major also joined them.
Those ten members who returned to legal fold brought along with 12 guns and 1,207 rounds of ammunition.
So far since the president's peace offer was extended in August 2011, a total of 10 armed groups out of 11 have respectively signed preliminary peace agreements with the government at state or central level.
The resumption of talks between the government and the KIO resumed in the earlier February after the government announced unilateral ceasefire with KIA on Jan. 18 to prepare for a political dialogue.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2013
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#4
Knock off the "Intelligent Design" Crap.
Use something else.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/14/2013 8:09
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#5
keep it up, GBUSMC. You add to the page, unlike some
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/14/2013 8:11
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#6
I don't object to the pictures, I object to everything being called "Intelligent Design"
GOT IT.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/14/2013 8:14
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In other news of Intelligent Design on this day Gallup says, "With President Barack Obama's first term characterized by strained relations between Pakistan and the U.S., more than nine in 10 Pakistanis (92%) disapprove of U.S. leadership and 4% approve, the lowest approval rating Pakistanis have ever given." But everyone was supposed to love us after George W. left office and the smartest man in the world and beyond became supreme leader.
#11
A great set of legs and a wonderful butt on a woman have to be intelligent design.
You want bird legs and flat butts on your women?
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
02/14/2013 11:35
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#12
Heart Evangelista is light years ahead of Diego-san.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/14/2013 11:54
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From a physically relevant Intelligent-Design perspective, yes. But the robot is from an emotionally relevant design perspective. That would be helful in dealing with certain people like SecState officials, people of the leftward-political persuasion (perhaps an overlap with the former tho) and some Rantburg commenters.
[Dawn] Police said on Tuesday they suspected involvement of the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan in Monday night's blast in an area of the Defence Housing Authority.
The explosion along Korangi Road, near the KPT flyover, left a policeman injured.
South Karachi DIG Shahid Hayat said an improvised explosive device had been planted at a sub-station of the Sui Southern Gas Company.
"There is no doubt about the involvement of Taliban in the bombing," CID SP Fayyaz Khan said. The bombing was apparently aimed at disrupting gas supply to a significant part of the city, he said.
The TTP has not yet claimed responsibility for the bomb attack.
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[Dawn] Two men were killed and three others maimed in what police suspected was a sectarian attack on three shops in Gulbahar's hardware market on Tuesday, police said.
The Gulbahar area, a low-income neighbourhood in the city's central district, has become 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... 's new hotbed of sectarian, political and ethnic terrorism, where as many as 25 people have been targeted since Jan 1, police said.
They said that four assailants riding two cycle of violences emerged near Peetal Gali in Gulbahar within the remit of the Rizvia cop shoppe, opened indiscriminate fire on people present at the three shops in the market and sped away.
An eyewitness told the police that one of the attackers took off his helmet to carry out the shooting and put it on again before fleeing.
Five people sustained bullet wounds and were rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.
One of them, identified as Malik Niaz, was pronounced dead on arrival, while Wajid, Nizam, Hatim and Idrees were admitted for treatment. However, women are made to be loved, not understood... The police said that deceased Niaz had a hardware shop in Korangi and he had come to the market to buy goods. The second victim and other maimed worked in the three shops.
Fear and panic gripped the locality and the hardware market was shut in protest against the killings. The market association also announced that business would remain closed on Wednesday.
Following the killings, police authorities suspended Rizvia SHO Mohammad Rashid.
The police were not sure about the exact motive for the attack.
DIG-West Javed Odho said that the police suspected that it was an attack on sectarian grounds, but investigations were under way to gather facts.
He conceded that trouble had been brewing in Gulbahar and its adjoining areas. The situation in this particular area was complex and multi-dimensional. Sectarian, political and ethnic forces were active in the area, he observed.
Earlier on Monday night, a policeman had been bumped off in the same area in what was seen as a sectarian attack.
MQM man rubbed out
A political activist was rubbed out in Korangi on Tuesday.
Police said that gunnies riding a cycle of violence targeted Azmat Khan, 30, in Chakra Goth within the remit of the Zaman Town cop shoppe and fled. He was driving his car when the assailants fired at him.
The victim died before he could be taken to hospital. The police shifted the body to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for medico-legal formalities.
The police said that the victim was an officer-bearer of the Muttahida Organising Committee of the 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... 's organizational structure in Korangi.
Killing in Clifton
A man was rubbed out in Clifton on Tuesday, police said.
They said that assailants riding a cycle of violence sprayed a car with bullets in Clifton Block-4 near the Russian Consulate within the remit of the Boat Basin cop shoppe.
They said that Essa Khan, who was driving the car, suffered serious gunshot wounds. He was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. He's dead, Jim! on arrival.
The police said that apparently the killing was an outcome of some personal enmity.
The victim was also carrying a weapon in the car, they said, adding that he was a resident of Lyari.
Three killed in 'encounter'
Three alleged bandidos were killed in what the police described as an encounter on the Northern Bypass in the early hours of Tuesday.
Police said that as many as eight bandidos snatched a container-mounted trailer laden with several tonnes of pulses near the Northern Bypass within the remit of the Manghopir cop shoppe. One of the workers sitting on the roof of the vehicle called the owner of the cargo, who informed the police helpline, the police said.
The trailer was signalled to stop by the police at a checkpoint. However, today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... the suspects opened fire on the police and tried to escape. The police returned fire and killed three of them. Their other accomplices managed to escape.
The bodies were shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medico-legal formalities.
The police claimed to have recovered three pistols from the possession of the dear departed.
Man rubbed out in North Nazimabad
A civil work contractor was rubbed out in a North Nazimabad area on Tuesday evening, police said.
They said that armed motorcyclists targeted 25-year-old Jehangir on Shahrah-e-Noorjehan when was going somewhere in his car. The victim died before he could be taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.
The police said that he was a contractor working with the Bloody Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and lived in North Nazimabad's Block Q.
Before leaving home, he had told his family that he was going to a nearby hospital, North Nazimabad SP Khurram Waris said.
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[An Nahar] Al-Mustaqbal bloc leader Fouad Saniora said Wednesday the parliamentary elections should be held on time to prevent Hizbullah and the Syrian regime from keeping their stranglehold on Lebanon.
In a televised statement on the eve of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's 8th assassination anniversary, Saniora said: "We insist on holding the elections on time to renew the trust in Lebanon and to achieve democratic change to get rid of this group that is keeping its stranglehold on Lebanon's economy and preventing its development."
He also said the polls are the only means that would salvage the country from Hizbullah's "arms and its allies beyond Lebanon's border."
Saniora reiterated his rejection of the so-called Orthodox Gathering proposal, saying it harms the social fabric.
He said al-Mustaqbal is ready to discuss any proposal that guarantees the fair representation of all the Lebanese, a day after the bloc made a new suggestion on a hybrid draft-law that calls for 70 percent of MPs to be elected under the winner-takes-all system and the rest under the proportional representation system.
The toppling of the national unity cabinet of ex-Premier Saad Hariri in January 2011 was the result of the black coup against the public will and the outcome of the last elections in 2009 that had brought March 14 to power, he said.
Saniora cited the achievements made when he and Hariri were in power, saying there was good economic progress despite the series of assassinations of March 14 opposition figures since Rafik Hariri's Feb. 2005 murder, the 2006 Israel-Hizbullah war and the obstruction of the government's work by Hizbullah-led parties.
He said the March 14 alliance was able to drive Syrian forces out of the country if the aftermath of Hariri's assassination, it conducted a huge reconstruction operation after the 2006 war through Arab assistance and the army regained its natural role on the international border assisted by U.N. peacekeepers.
March 14 has also held onto the Taef agreement and sovereignty, it won the elections twice and was capable of establishing the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, he said.
"The past days were difficult over the control of the de facto powers. But we hold onto our convictions and hold onto our country and its unity," he said.
"We will continue to fight in defense of the principles that Hariri was killed for," Saniora said, adding that the former premier "remains in our minds and souls."
Four Hizbullah members have been named suspects by the STL in the Beirut truck bombing that killed Hariri whom Saniora described as "the person who contributed to salvaging and reconstructing Lebanon."
Hizbullah denies the charges and has refused to hand over the suspects.
But Saniora said that the assassins "failed to destroy Hariri's presence" stressing they "will be brought to justice."
The former prime minister stressed in his statement that March 14 holds onto coexistence, democracy and freedoms, independence, the Taef accord and the sovereignty of state institutions.
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For a map, click here. For a map of Tamaulipas state, click here
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
A total of four unidentified individuals were killed in an armed encounter with Mexican Army road patrol in Matamoros in Tamaulipas Tuesday afternoon, according to Mexican news reports and government news releases.
According to an El Universal news wire dispatch posted on the website of El Diario de Coahuila news daily, the gunfight took place at around 1310 hrs in Paradiso colony near the intersection of calles Nevado de Toluca and Sierra Tarahumara.
The armed suspects were travelling aboard a Chevrolet Suburban when the encounter took place. Following the confrontation several weapons were found inside the vehicle including three rifles, a handgun, 28 weapons magazines and ammunition.
In Reynosa, according to the same news dispatch, two men were found shot to death aboard a Toyota Tundra Monday night. The vehicle was found by police on Avenida Luis Donaldo Colosio near the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge at around 2000 hrs.
The victims were identified as Claudio Hernandez Velazquez, 28 and Miguel Angel Flores Velazquez, 18. Inside the vehicle authorities also found guns, grenades and tactical gear.
Meanwhile in Nuevo Laredo one unidentified 47 year old woman was shot to death and four others were wounded in an attack on a dance hall, according to a news release posted on the website of the Tamaulipas state Procuraduria General del Estado (PGE) or attorney general office.
The attack took place at around 2300 hrs Monday night at the Themis dance hall in Prolongacio Guerrero in Campestre colony. The woman was taken to receive medical attention before she succumbed to her wounds.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
[ELUNIVERSAL] The number of people killed and taken to the morgue of the National Coordination of Forensic Sciences in Caracas, Venezuela, hit 200 so far in February.
Last weekend, 38 people were reported killed. One of the casualties was identified as José Colón (48). His body was taken to the morgue in Caracas.
The victim's relatives informed that Colón was in his apartment on Sunday afternoon, in Petare, northeast Caracas, when someone rang the doorbell. As soon as Colón opened the door, he was repeatedly shot.
The medical team assisting him asserted that the man had died on his way to the hospital.
No one else was killed or injured. Colón's wife and two daughters were visiting a relative when the murder took place.
The victim was a social worker at the Mayor's Office of Sucre Municipality, northeast Caracas.
Posted by: Fred ||
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North Korea has about 100 mobile launch platforms for ballistic missiles, which could pose the biggest threat to South Korea if the regime succeeds in miniaturizing nuclear warheads. It would be hard to detect these heavy trucks and strike them because they keep moving around.
"That's why they're called 'mobile', Jimmy."
A government source in Seoul on Wednesday said South Korean and U.S. intelligence agencies believe that the North has some 100 of these platforms for medium-range ballistic missiles such as the Scud and Rodong, which have all of South Korea within range.
There are about 27 to 40 mobile launch platforms for the Scud missiles, which have a range between 300 and 1,000 km; 27 to 40 for the Rodong missiles with a range of 1,300 km, and 14 for the Musudan missiles with a range between 3,000 and 4,000 km. The North has an estimated 640 Scud missiles and 150 to 250 Rodong missiles.
The mobile missile launchers would make it harder for South Korea and the U.S. to launch a pre-emptive strike using the so-called "kill chain" in an emergency. A "kill chain" is the process of detecting, identifying and intercepting missiles. The Defense Ministry has mapped out a plan to establish a 30-minute "kill chain" system by 2015. A spokesman on Wednesday said this includes ship-to-shore and submarine-to-ground cruise missiles.
Some pundits believe the ministry is exaggerating the power of the "kill chain" and new missiles to calm anxiety in the wake of the North's nuclear test.
During the Gulf War in 1991, the U.S. had a great deal of trouble finding and destroying Iraq's mobile Scud missile launch platforms. It sent aircraft on as many as 1,460 sorties to hunt Scud missiles and boasted that they destroyed some 100 such missile platforms. But analysis afterward showed that not a single Scud missile launch platform was destroyed completely.
It is not impossible to detect Scud or Rodong missiles, which use liquid fuel, before they are launched, because it takes between an hour-and-a-half to three hours to fuel them up. But experts say that detecting is one thing and destroying another.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/14/2013
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#1
But experts say that detecting is one thing and destroying another.
Curious. What is the blast radius of a tactical nuke?
(Not that Obumbles would allow us to have any....)
#2
It would be hard to detect these heavy trucks and strike them because they keep moving around.
How about we just watch the test, maint, fuel and transport teams that visit the hidden missiles?
[An Nahar] Spanish police and Europol, the European Union's police coordination agency, have busted a global cybercrime operation that infected millions of computers, a source in the investigation told Agence France Presse.
The network used malicious software to block computers and send a message claiming to be from police demanding the user pay a fine for allegedly accessing child pornography sites, the source said.
The ring operated several small cells around the world and was able to collect large amounts of money with the scheme, the source said.
"One of these cells earned over one million euros," around $1.3 million, the source said.
Several people were arrested but the final number could not yet be revealed because the operation remained open.
Europol director Rob Wainwright and Spain's secretary of state for security, Francisco Martinez, were due to give further details at a press conference later on Tuesday in Madrid.
Last month Europol opened a new cybercrime unit at its headquarters in The Hague aimed at fighting online offenses such as bank fraud and peddling images of the sexual abuse of minors.
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[Dawn] The talks between a jirga of Bara elders and officials of political administration are proceeding at a snail's pace as no concrete decision could be made on Tuesday when they met for the fourth time after the killing of 18 people in Alamgudar area of Bara on Jan 15.
The jirga had earlier demanded formation of a judicial commission to investigate the Alamgudar incident, compensation for the affected families, opening of Bara Bazaar and all link roads, lifting of curfew, release of all innocent people locked away I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! during the military operations and end to targeting of houses of tribal people in artillery shelling.
The administration had in the recent past released about 24 arrested persons alongside securing compensation for the affected families but the thorny issues of halting artillery shelling, opening of Bara Bazaar and formation of a judicial commission are still unresolved.
"No substantial headway could be made in today's parleys except that the political agent reiterated his old promises of finalising a list of innocent prisoners for their early release, approaching the new governor for formation of an inquiry commission and asking the jirga members to propose recommendations for opening Bara Bazaar and some important roads," said a member of jirga, requesting anonymity.
He said that administration was still persuading Bara elders to shoulder the responsibility of ensuring peace at Bara Bazaar if security forces were withdrawn from there. "Had we been so powerful to guarantee the security of our area, we would not have left our own houses," he said, terming the official proposal as 'ridiculous'.
Bazar Gul Afridi, another member of the jirga, told Dawn that the administration proposed to them reopening of Shalobar as a test case and bringing back the displaced persons to the area on the condition that the elders would guarantee security of their area under the collective territorial responsibility clause of Frontier Crimes Regulation.
He said that an eight-member committee comprising former federal minister Malik Waris Khan, Awami National Party provincial senior vice president Imran Afridi, Ikhtiar Badshah, Maqbali Khan, Asghar Afridi, Hashim Khan and Said Ayaz would put forward their suggestions regarding the proposal of political agent on February 25 when jirga would meet again at Khyber House.
The jirga members, however, expressed satisfaction over a considerable reduction in firing of mortar shell by the security forces after the Alamgudar incident.
But sources in Bara told Dawn that security officials have once again asked people to vacate their houses and shift to safer places as authorities had ordered targeting thug hideouts in different parts of Bara.
Sources said that commandant of the forces had conveyed to them through messages that they should help in preventing Death Eaters from carrying weapons in residential areas so that residents could not be harmed during search operations.
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[Dawn] Soon after the Supreme Court on Wednesday threw out Tahirul Qadri's petition against the Election Commission on Wednesday, the Tehrik-e-Minhajul Koran (TMQ) chief accused the decision of being political rather than constitutional.
Qadri had filed a petition in the apex court calling for the reconstitution of the ECP due to procedural flaws in the appointments of the chief election commissioner and four ECP members. After grilling Qadri for two days on his dual nationality, the SC finally dismissed Qadri's petition after deciding that he could not convince the bench on his eligibility to file the case.
Speaking to news hounds outside the SC premises following the hearing, a visibly annoyed Qadri said that the bench did not even hear his plea.
He accused the court of insulting him by calling him a foreigner. "Hundreds of thousands of Paks residing abroad remitting money back home makes up for people's salaries here," he said.
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[An Nahar] U.N. Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... urged the Security Council on Wednesday to overcome its paralysis and take meaningful action on Syria, while he slammed North Korea for its "reckless" nuclear test.
"It is essential for the Security Council to overcome the deadlock and find the unity that will make meaningful action possible," in Syria, Ban said in a speech at the Organization of American States in Washington.
While the 15-member Council remains deadlocked and Syria -- where the U.N. estimates that nearly 70,000 people have died -- is politically polarized, deaths and human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. violations are mounting, Ban said.
Russia and China have vetoed three western-drafted resolutions which would simply have threatened sanctions against Bashir al-Assad's regime and a U.N.-led bid to arrange a ceasefire and peace talks has made no headway.
"It's long past time we resolved this conflict," he said, adding that the international community must keep pushing for a political solution despite the difficulties. "Every day, another 5,000 Syrians flee the country."
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#1
Let me guess! A double secret sternly written letter right?
[An Nahar] The Syrian national news agency said on Wednesday that the Bekaa town of Arsal has become a "refuge and a logistic base for the terrorists of the Free Syrian Army".
"Many media reports have proved that Arsal is a producer of the terrorism targeting the Syrian people on a daily basis," SANA said, adding that the Lebanese cabinet's "cover up is a crime against both countries".
It explained: "The latest attack on the Lebanese army has exposed that terrorism is rooted in Arsal and that is has become a platform for operations".
Army Captain Pierre Bachaalani and Sergeant Ibrahim Zahraman died earlier this month in the Bekaa town and several military personnel were wounded when a patrol was ambushed by gunmen as it was hunting a man wanted for several terrorist acts.
Arsal residents claimed that the soldiers were in civilian clothes and hadn't informed the town's authorities that they were planning to carry out a raid.
The Syrian news agency revealed that the Lebanese Red Cross transferred on Wednesday four FSA wounded fighters from Arsal to hospitals in the Bekaa and the North, explaining that they had arrived to town through illegal crossings.
It noted: "After several FSA members have been arrested, it has become obvious that terrorists reside in Lebanon".
SANA urged the Lebanese cabinet to interfere and take decisive measures in this matter, expressing that "covering up for the terrorists is a crime that will be reflected negatively on Lebanon and Syria".
The National News Agency had announced that FSA Mohammed Khaled al-Ahmed and Ahmed Mohammed Zakaria have been admitted to Dar al-Amal hospital in Baalbek while Hazem Fayad and Mohammed Ahmed al-Wow were transferred to another medical facility in the northern city of Tripoli for treatment.
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[Dawn] Sindh Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed on Tuesday sought to deflect criticism of the health ministry's handling of measles outbreak that caused hundreds of deaths over the past couple of months by blaming misreporting of the toll and citing other reasons such as malnutrition, pneumonia and diarrhea for it.
The minister also called for supervision of private bodies and non-governmental organisations associated with vaccination activities.
Since its outbreak, measles deaths were no more than 219, including 138 deaths of children, by Feb 12 in eight badly hit districts of upper Sindh, asserted Dr Ahmed while responding to the criticism the ministry drew over measles deaths during the assembly session.
In December when the disease broke out there were 93 deaths in Sukkur, Khairpur, Larkana, Kambar-Shahdadkot, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Ghotki and Kashmore districts, followed by 36 in January and nine deaths were reported this month, he said, adding that a total of 81 deaths were recorded in Karachi, Thatta , Badin, Sanghar and Dadu districts.
"These figures were not from my department but collected from the relief and revenue departments and DEWS, WHO wing of disease early warning response system," he said. The minister claimed that the falling rate of death figures was the outcome of expeditious efforts to vaccinate children against the disease, measures taken for creating awareness, precaution and routine immunisation.
However, he said, the team he was given was not of his choice. If the team was not prepared to work, it was difficult to go along and he had to remove some of the EDOs, DHOs and supervisors for the purpose, Dr Ahmad said.
Referring to the speeches earlier delivered in the house, the minister said that exaggerated figures and misreporting of deaths from vaccination were not going to help in any way.
He said that deaths of children were caused not only by measles but also by malnutrition, pneumonia and diarrhoa.
He also tried to justify the role of his department in controlling the disease when he said the vaccine being used for routine immunization to children were the same as being used to check measles provided by the donor countries, Unicef and WHO.
He added that measles were not restricted to Sindh but Punjab, Balochistan and Pakhtunkhwa also remained in its grip.
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[An Nahar] Washington aims to change Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's Scourge of Qusayr... belief that he can hang onto power and accept "the inevitability" of his departure, Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Mekong River U-boat commander, former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, current Secretary of State... said Tuesday.
"We need to address the question of President Assad's calculation currently," Kerry told news hounds. "I believe there are additional things that can be done to change his current perception." "What're y'gonna do?"
"Send him a letter."
"What kinda letter?"
"A strong letter."
The new top U.S. diplomat said he would not go into specifics in public, but has a "good sense" of possible proposals.
Speaking after talks with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, Kerry said he was convinced there was a certain "inevitability" given the current state of the conflict.
"Now, that hasn't sunk into him yet, obviously," Kerry added.
Although the top U.S. diplomat has yet to outline the contours of his first foreign trip, he said one of his purposes was to "try to see what can be done with respect to that calculation and how we might be able to affect it."
The United States is working for a negotiated solution to the 23-month conflict in which some 70,000 people are said to have died, Kerry said.
The aim was to avoid "the implosion of the state, because that's dangerous for everybody, and it proposes the possibility of the worst kinds of outcomes."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2013
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
Thought Bashir al-Assad, AKA pencil neck was sort of gone. It has been reported that he moved with his family and associates to a warship off Syrias coast, where he is being guarded by Russian naval forces. Still calling the shots in Damascus?
#3
His departure is one drone strike away if you really wanted it.
How different is a terrorist in Yemen that plots and coordinates potential attacks upon Americans different from one who participated, plotted and coordinated attacks upon Americans in Iraq during the '00s from Damascus?
It's interesting the dance of shadows and slight of hands those on the public stage engage in.
[An Nahar] French construction firms Vinci and Bouygues said Wednesday they had evacuated as a precaution around 80 employees from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine after a section of the roof collapsed. Mon Dieu! What is that thing?"
"It looks like... like... a thing! An ugly thing."
"Sacred Blue, Jean-Pierre! If that thing stands up..."
"It's standing up!"
"The roof!"
"Run!"
The two companies are working on constructing the sarcophagus structure covering the reactor that exploded in 1986 in the world's worst nuclear disaster.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2013
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[Dawn] Former US ambassador to Islamabad Cameron Munter on Wednesday criticised Washington's "callousness" over the killing of Pak troops as he called for both nations to rethink how they see each other.
Munter served as ambassador during some of the most difficult times of the turbulent US-Pakistain relationship including the slaying of the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now sometimes referred to as Mister Bones... and a US border raid that killed 24 Pak troops in November 2011.
Cameron Munter, who resigned last year, said that the United States had shown a lack of generosity over the deaths of the 24 troops. Pakistain shut down NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... supply routes into Afghanistan until the United States apologized seven months later.
"The fact that we were unable to say that we were sorry until July cost our country literally billions of dollars," Munter said, pointing to the costly shift to sending supplies for the Afghan war via Central Asia.
"But worse than that, it showed a kind of callousness that makes it so difficult simply to begin to talk about those things, that I've always tried to stress, that we have in common," he said at the Atlantic Council, a think tank.
Munter steadfastly denied conspiracy theories and said the deaths near the Afghan border were a case of mistaken identity. Munter said that US-led forces "obliterated" the soldiers by firing from an AC-130, a powerful gunship.
"If you don't have that in common -- that you're sorry when there is nothing left of the bodies of 24 of your boys -- then it's very hard for many people, especially those who want a relationship with us... to defend us to their peers," Munter said.
The border attack took place as Willard Mitt Romney ...former governor of Massachussetts, the Publican nominee for president in 2012. He is the son of the former governor of Michigan, George Romney, who himself ran for president after saving American Motors from failure, though not permanently. Romney has a record as a successful businessman, heading Bain Capital, and he rescued the 2002 Winter Olympics from the midst of bribery and mismanagement scandals.... and other Republicans seeking the White House were attacking President Barack Obama Republicans can come along for the ride, but they've got to sit in the back... for allegedly being too apologetic about the United States.
Munter pointed to comments by then candidate Newt Gingrich ...former Speaker of the House, author of the Contract with America. Gingrich gave the country welfare reform and a balanced budget and the Publicans a landslide House victory in 1994. On the downside, he has a roving eye and a loose fly, he's opinionated, and he's abrasive despite his ability to work with the other side of the political aisle... . In 2011, the former House speaker berated Pakistain over the presence of bin Laden despite the billions of dollars in US aid to Islamabad, saying: "How stupid do you think we are?"
"If we have that kind of dismissive attitude -- that we can give people money and they're going to love us... and somehow that means they're going to think the way we think -- that's equally stupid," Munter said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2013
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#1
Cameron Munter blasts US 'callousness' on Pakistan
Yup, you try to kill us we get callous, happens every time.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/14/2013 6:50
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#2
Cameron's gone native. Perhaps he should change citizenship
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/14/2013 9:53
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Build a very high wall completely around the country, cut off all air, sea, and road travel for two years, provide lots of ammunition and explosives, lock the door and walk away.
Then you agree to talk with the survivors AFTER they give up all of their dangerous toys.
The place is a freaking pesthole of anarchy Munter, if we were really callous we'd freaking nuke the whole danged thing.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
02/14/2013 11:29
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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.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[An Nahar] Syrian regime forces on Wednesday stormed a house in the Bekaa border area of Masharii al-Qaa and tried to kidnap Lebanese nationals Omar Youssef Krumbi and Ali Ahmed Zaarour, but one of them managed to escape, MTV reported.
North Korea
[An Nahar] Tunisia's ruling Ennahda party has called on supporters to rally Saturday and back its "legitimacy" even as the prime minister, who belongs to the Islamist party, scrambles to form a new government of technocrats.
[Xinhua] One suspect was detained as part of an investigation into a blast at the Turkish-Syrian border gate Cilvegozu in Turkey's southern province Hatay on Wednesday, local newspaper Today's Zaman reported on its website.
[Dawn] The Supreme Court on Wednesday discarded the petition filed by Tehrik-e-Minhajul Koran (TMQ) chief, Dr Tahirul Qadri, seeking reconstitution of the Election Commission of Pakistain (ECP), DawnNews reported.
Pervez 
[Xinhua] At least three pro-government militiamen were wounded in a bomb explosion in Yemen's southern province of Abyan on Tuesday night, a security official told Xinhua Wednesday.
[Xinhua] Syrian foreign ministry stressed Wednesday that Damascus' gates are open for the dialogue with the opposition inside Syria and those in exile so long as it is based on the political program outlined by President Bashar al-Assad and held on Syrian soil.
Russia said it had killed on Wednesday a 
[Dawn] The provincial assembly in Sindh on Wednesday unanimously passed a government bill for provision of free and compulsory education to all children aged from five to 16 in the province.
[An Nahar] Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem and opposition National Coalition chief Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib will make separate visits to Moscow for talks in the coming weeks, a top Russian diplomat said Wednesday.
[DAILYCALLER] In a response letter to four top Republican 
[Dawn] The Prime Minister's Polio Monitoring and Coordination Cell, the World Health Organization and Unicef have confirmed that parts of 
[An Nahar] Syrian rebels took control of most of a strategic army base in northern Syria after a fierce firefight with 
Commenting on the rebels' advance in Aleppo province, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said the army may be giving up on parts of northern Syria in order to secure the center.
[Xinhua] Pakistani Interior Minister, Rehman Malik Wednesday asked the Taliban militants to declare a 30- day cease-fire if they want dialogue with the government, local media reported.
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is undergoing "complex" alternative treatments more than two months after having cancer surgery in Cuba, his vice president said on Wednesday.
LAUDERDALE-BY-THE-SEA, FL -- Police in Florida said they 
[Xinhua] Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) warned Muslims not to celebrate Valentine's Day here Wednesday, saying it's not in accordance with Islamic values.
[Xinhua] A ten-member splinter group of Mon Peace Defence has returned to government's legal fold in Myanmar, official media New Light of Myanmar reported Wednesday.
[Dawn] Two men were killed and three others 
[An Nahar] Al-Mustaqbal bloc leader Fouad Saniora said Wednesday the parliamentary elections should be held on time to prevent Hizbullah and the Syrian regime from keeping their stranglehold on Lebanon.
[ELUNIVERSAL] The number of people killed and taken to the morgue of the National Coordination of Forensic Sciences in Caracas, Venezuela, hit 200 so far in February.
North Korea has about 100 mobile launch platforms for ballistic missiles, which could pose the biggest threat to South Korea if the regime succeeds in miniaturizing nuclear warheads. It would be hard to detect these heavy trucks and strike them because they keep moving around. 
[An Nahar] Spanish police and Europol, the European Union's police coordination agency, have busted a global cybercrime operation that infected millions of computers, a source in the investigation told Agence France Presse.
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
[Dawn] Sindh Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed on Tuesday sought to deflect criticism of the health ministry's handling of measles outbreak that caused hundreds of deaths over the past couple of months by blaming misreporting of the toll and citing other reasons such as malnutrition, pneumonia and diarrhea for it.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Speaking after talks with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, Kerry said he was convinced there was a certain "inevitability" given the current state of the conflict.
