NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Security is being beefed up in New York City in the aftermath of twin explosions near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
NYPD Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne told WCBS 880′s Rich Lamb that the city is stepping up security at hotels and other prominent locations through deployment of the NYPD's critical response vehicles.
Browne added that the additional security will remain until more is learned about the explosions.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/15/2013
17:24 ||
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So far looks like a one location hit, rather than the whole New England seaboard like the AQ 9/11/2001, New York, DC, (Pennsylvania resulting from citizens over powering the flight 93 jackers before they got to thier target).
[NYPOST] Two explosions shattered the euphoria of the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers in the 26.2-mile trek from Hopkinton were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts.
A federal law-enforcement source confirmed to The Post there are at least 12 dead and nearly 50 injured. Fox News reported that Massachusetts General Hospital was treating 10 people with amputated limbs and all operating rooms were on hold.
Authorities have a identified a suspect, who is currently being guarded in a Boston hospital with shrapnel wounds. If he's a white supremacist or a nut of some other variety we'll know his name this evening. If he's a turban it'll take several days to come out and we'll be assured he's just a lone wolf operator. If he's a lone wolf operator, betcha a dollar he's either a Pak or close personal friends with one.
Law-enforcement sources said at least the first explosion occurred in the lobby of the Fairmont Hotel.
"There were two bombs that exploded near the finish line in today's Boston Marathon," The Boston Marathon's official Facebook page read. "We are working with law enforcement to understand what exactly has happened."
According to reports, authorities in Boston found two more explosive devices that had not gone off and police were dismantling them.
The airspace above the city was ordered cleared as well.
President Obama was briefed about the incident shortly after the explosions occured.
Obama called Boston mayor Tom Menino and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick to express his concern fot those that were injured and make clear that his administration is ready to provide needed support as they respond to this incident.
Posted by: Barbara ||
04/15/2013 17:54
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"Update 5:17pm ET: Boston Police say "no arrests have been made...no suspects have been taken into custody." FBI is similarly tight-lipped."
In other words, they're trying desperately to figure out a way to spin that a "Saudi national" is really a white Christian Tea Party member veteran.
Posted by: Barbara ||
04/15/2013 17:57
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#5
When your president goes on a worldwide apology tour, supports radical islamic organizations posing as arab spring orgs, bows to despots, and project weakness, this is the fruit of the labors of his administration.
We can expect more and more of these incidents as we show how dithering and weak we are in the leadership department. The enemy is proactive and we are reactive. The enemy is inside our OODA loop, and we make it easy.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/15/2013 18:17
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#6
This is just horrible. I so hope that the toll won't go any higher.
But the nasty, cynical bitter-clinger in me wonders who and when the first national news media critter will speculate that it's a Tea Partier who has done it. Maybe we should set up a pool, or something.
Fiesta in San Antonio launches this week - it's about a three-week long festival of events, parades, shows ... you name it, San Antonio does it in the next three weeks. Lots of crowds, partying people, food and jollity. It's going to be a rather more than ordinarily nervous time for law enforcement personnel now.
#7
But the nasty, cynical bitter-clinger in me wonders who and when the first national news media critter will speculate that it's a Tea Partier who has done it.
Wolf Blitzer of CNN has already 'wondered' if it was tied to 'Tax Day'.
#9
TW, Cell service 'shut down' is a little different than 'turned off'. With airspace cleared and two remaining bombs found that didn't go off(!) I wonder if th efirst responders didn't deploy an aerial jammer.
#10
Even though Boston PD is now saying no one is in custody, Fox and Drudge are saying a young Saudi on a student visa that was acting suspicious and injured in the bombing is a person of interest.
#11
Multiple backpacks carried to the site, and another bombing at the JFK library.
Surveillance footage? Why have cameras if no one is looking. Someone carrying multiple backpacks should have peeked someone's curiosity and investigated.
You can just bet your ass there are more of these out there.
AND I do NOT like Obumble saying we will bring them to justice, which smacks of law enforcement. I want a president that says he will KILL who is responsible...for all of George's faults he didn't fiddle around with law enforcement dealing with terrorism.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/15/2013 20:49
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I have seen reports that the backpack placements were captured on surveillance cameras. I have not heard whether the emplacer was carrying more than one at a time.
MO of second blast timed to hit first responders is classic AQ, though not unique to them.
Authorities are investigating a report of two explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
There were two booms heard from near the finish line inside the Fairmount Copley Plaza Hotel.
It happened around 2:45 p.m. outside Marathon Sports on Boylston Street, according to WBZ-TV's Lis Hughes, who was near the scene covering the marathon.
There were two "incredibly powerful explosions just seconds apart," according to Hughes.
Update 4:29 ET: Third and fourth unexploded bombs found and dealt with. Number of dead keeps changing, also number of injured. New York Post suggests this may have been transferred from the New York marathon that was cancelled in November. May the miscreants be found quickly, with cell phones and laptops aplenty.
#4
Live news video here: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nbcnews.com/51546697/
Brian Williams reported 15-20 second interval between first and second explosion.
#8
A third explosion quite a while after the first two has been reported - probably a controlled destruction of a suspicious device found in the area, per reporters.
#16
NYPost claims a suspect is in custody/in the hospital.
Saudi national.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
04/15/2013 16:57
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PJ Media's latest update mentions an explosion at the JFK Library. And yeah, apparently Wolf Blitzer's already out there speculating about these incidents being an "anti-tax" protest. Myself, I'm wondering if it's too early to dust off my copy of Shirer and look up "Reichstag fire" in the index...
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
04/15/2013 16:59
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#18
A friend of mine was running in this; just heard he's ok - had not yet reached the bomb sites when they went off, and was pulled off the course. Worked for years to finally get a chance to run in it and his accomplishment is to have been too slow to be blown up.
#24
Typical terrorist trick. Set off a bomb in crowd, then have a second go off for first responders.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/15/2013 18:21
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#25
It would be, but the timing sucked. The second bomb went off too soon to get first responders. You can see both bombs go off in the videos. If there were others, they didn't work.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
04/15/2013 18:43
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#26
Seems like the timing is off for whatever reason; 10-15 seconds isn't even enough time for people to wet themselves - not saying that wasn't the plan or anything especially with what initial reports are saying is multiple others.
#27
this is why the bombshow loophole has to be closed
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/15/2013 18:59
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#28
Hmmmmmm Boston on April 15th. Could be coincidence, but then the past few months have seen a marked increase in leftist overreach, hyperbole, and even outright violence. It would seem very ham-handed of the left to create an incident that would almost immediately be blamed on the Tea Party or right-wing extremists, which is precisely why I suspect such.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
04/15/2013 19:18
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#29
It would be, but the timing sucked. The second bomb went off too soon to get first responders. You can see both bombs go off in the videos. If there were others, they didn't work.
There were reportedly two others that the authorities found and disarmed, Whiskey Mike, and another that went off in the JFK library, which puzzles me.
#30
The people who do these things are not too bright and probably messed up the timing and deployment.
The people who plan these things are pretty smart and let the morons do the work. Those planning people are the ones to be looking for at the airport right now.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/15/2013 20:44
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#33
I have this fear, we'll discover the only reason these explosions went off is nobody in Boston was willing to confront the Saudi/Pakistani and look like an Islamophobic.
Posted by: Charles ||
04/15/2013 21:12
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#34
I heard a report that they have survelance video of the perp planting the small bombs in trash cans.
I was on a call to someone in Boston when it occurred. He said that they heard something like an explosion (we didn't hear anything over the line). And then he immediately started blaming it on 'Patriots' since its Patriots day - and they did Waco and... Later on he had to leave - people were pinging him asking if he's being evacuated.
If they've [FBI] recovered unexploded devices, they know who is responsible. Looks like a team of bomb emplacers vs a singleton. Also looks like a cellie detonation...which may have been thwarted by the shutting off of cellie service hence the reported unexploded devices found.
Syrian government troops have broken through a six-month rebel blockade in northern Syria and are now fighting to recapture a vital highway, opposition and state media said on Monday.
Rebels had kept the army bottled up in the Wadi al-Deif and Hamidiya military bases in Idlib province. But on Sunday, President Bashar al-Assad's forces outflanked the rebels and broke through, the pro-government al-Baath newspaper said, Reuters reported.
The insurgents counter-attacked on Monday but their front has been weakened in recent weeks due to infighting and the deployment of forces to other battles, activists said.
The break-out from the bases, located outside Maarat al-Nuaman town, may enable the army to recapture the main route into Aleppo, Syria's largest city, and bolster their fragile supply lines in the heart of the rebel-held north.
Rebels had advanced in northern Syria, near Turkey, and southern Deraa province near Jordan. But government forces have kept the rebels out of central Damascus and hold more than half of Homs city.
Rebel attacks had forced the army to relinquish many bases in northern Syria and most roads around Aleppo and Idlib province, leaving the remaining government-controlled areas in the north to rely on airlifts for food and weapons.
The break of the blockade yesterday allowed the army to drive six lorries full of weapons to get into the bases of Wadi Deif and Hamidiya, Rami Abdelrahman, head of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told Reuters.
The pro-opposition observatory said that despite the army gains, neither side had a clear advantage.
Yaalonâs innovative blueprint is influenced by a pervasive new concept that the big Arab armies which attacked Israel in the past have been relegated to obsolescence by the Arab Revolt and the decline of the Egyptian and Syrian armies â the first crippled by economic calamity and the second, debilitated by more than two years of fighting a civil war. Ergo, according to this concept, Israel is now for the first time in its 65 years no longer menaced by a large professional army capable of waging a full-blown war.
Is full-scale war really outdated? Debka disagrees with this and considers it short-sighted. The IDFâs radical overhaul
Yaalonâs planning for the revolutionary overhaul of the Israel Defense Forces from the bottom up is in its final stages,
The crux of the proposed new structure is the substantial downsizing in stages of the IDFâs ground and armored forces, starting with the heavy Chariot 4 tank and large Tiger troop carrier units. He believes the time has come to do away with the classical divisions, brigades and professional corps, such as artillery and tanks, which characterize a conventional army, and replace them with small, self-contained armies capable of operating independently.
Each such mini-army would be equipped with its own attack helicopter, tank, artillery and special forces units and self-supply facilities.
In contrast, the Defense Minister aims to expand the Navy, Air Force and Missile Arm for the key task of securing Israelâs airspace and territorial waters. Special Forces units will additionally secure these strategic spaces.
He ascribes equal importance to the establishment of a new Cyber Warfare Command, our military sources say, and plans to earmark for this new unit a generous allocation in the next defense budget.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
04/15/2013
11:31 ||
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Numerous, self sustaining, well led and highly mobile commandos, operating independently with the capability to initiate mutually supporting operations.
#3
" and replace them with small, self-contained armies capable of operating independently."
Brigade Combat Teams, anyone?
I would have those units "engineer heavy" and able to cut brand new roads through areas where they advance in order to cut the IED risk from traps that may have been set years in advance.
As odd as this may sound, a few of us Rantburg Readers look forward to the Rantburg Defender Scimitar page and the colorful pictorial commentary by GulfBravo.... And now for the fourth day in a row, No Good Morning from the Rantburg Mods is painful. I miss the page...After all I have a Short Attention Span and it served me well for the nearly 25 year that I worked for the Federal Government.
Ah the memories!
We love the RDS&TP, too. Unfortunately, this past week was a perfect storm: While Fred took longer than expected to recover from a minor, optional surgery (he's fine, just enough suffering to build character), Dr. Steve had urgent doctor stuff to deal with, badanov has been chasing down whatever computer problem was leaving those queer messages y'all have been reporting, and Pappy is coping with the Sequester. The rest of us lack the requisite skillz.
So it may be a few days more before the RDS&TP returns in all its glory, but return it will.
#4
Not to worry I have a stash of Birthday Gam Shots waiting for the return of the RDS&TP. I will phase the past dates in over several days with each current days DGS, that way old guys like me will not OD!
#5
Fred, Scooter, Badanov and I have done bloids in the past. Turns out to be a lot of work and something that almost always is done late at night, when we see what's in the hopper for the next day.
I don't have much in the way of excuses; work is busy right now and (except when Fred is out) my time is limited.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/15/2013 17:16
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We understand, guyz. (The "z" makes it include gals too. ;-p )
Thanks for all you do. Anything that good is worth waiting for.
And speedy recovery, Fred.
Posted by: Barbara ||
04/15/2013 18:04
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#7
At least nobody got blowed up in Boston. One of my co-workers finished an hour before the booms, reported a hard time getting out of the airport.
Imagine that!
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/15/2013 20:55
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badanov has been chasing down whatever computer problem was leaving those queer messages y'all have been reporting
That the ones using Java-exploits on the main-page? Most I had was slowdown as my Antivirus caught it each time, turned off Java in Firefox, fixed the problem.
Posted by: Charles ||
04/15/2013 21:09
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More than 100 Filipino troops attacked a mountainous stronghold of two al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf commanders, including one on the FBI's list of most-wanted terrorists, sparking clashes Monday that killed at least seven militants in the country's south.
The offensive targeted Abu Sayyaf commanders Isnilon Hapilon and Puruji Indama in the outskirts of Tipo Tipo town on Basilan Island, but it was not clear if the two were hit or managed to escape during the main assault after dawn and two clashes that erupted afterward, army brigade commander Col. Carlito Galvez said.
At least three soldiers were wounded in the clashes with about 30 Abu Sayyaf gunmen, the military said.
Washington has offered a $5 million reward for the capture or killing of Hapilon, who has been accused of involvement in deadly bomb attacks, kidnappings and beheadings, including of Americans in the past, landing him on the list of the FBI's most-wanted terrorists.
Indama has been wanted by Philippine authorities for his alleged involvement in deadly bombings and kidnappings of several people, including a former Australian soldier who was freed last month after 15 months of jungle captivity after ransom was paid.
Indama has been blamed for the 2007 beheadings of 10 marines in Basilan, a widely condemned atrocity that prompted a major military offensive against the militants.
#2
According to the left wing leaders we have in politics....... We're not supposed to judge all Muslims by the acts of a few "crazies".
But the acts of a few American crazies is enough to judge all Americans who own guns!
A series of car bombings across Iraq on Monday has killed at least 19 people and injured more than 130 others.
The 24 attacks took place in Baghdad, Baquba, Kirkuk, Tuz Khurmato and Hilla. Two of the bombings occured at a checkpoint to Baghdad's international airport.
Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi is expected to attend the funeral of Britains former prime minister Margaret Thatcher on Wednesday, the party said.
Buthelezi leaves for London tomorrow (Tuesday) to attend the funeral of his late friend... with whom he stayed in very close contact, even after her retirement from politics, the IFP said in a statement on Monday.
They found themselves to be kindred spirits, equally committed to the cause of freedom in the world, and to a non-communist outcome to the South African liberation.
Thatcher died of a stroke last week, at the age of 87.
Like Buthelezi, Thatcher stood by her principles and recognized that the abdication of principles only leads to decay, the IFP said.
She shared Buthelezi's dream to make South Africa great... She loved South Africa and saw and hoped for a leadership place in the world for our country.
#2
Buthelezi was frenemies with Mandela in the first post apartheid election campaign, speaking for the Zulus, and I recall lots of sniping at him from the usual suspects, particularly regarding his mental health. This may help explain why.
If any of our well informed commentators has anything to say about him, I would appreciate it.
(Rooters) - Ruling party candidate Nicolas Maduro won Venezuela's presidential election on Sunday with 51 percent of votes, the electoral authority said, allowing him to carry forward the socialist policies of the late Hugo Chavez.
Of course, those policies depended on the price of oil being stable...
Maduro's young challenger, Miranda state Governor Henrique Capriles, took 49 percent of the ballots, the authority said, in a tighter-than-expected vote.
This may even be true.
I'm guessing it was actually 60-40 to Capriles. I'm further guessing that Maduro's boyz had expected it to be 50-50 and planned to make it 60-40 for him, so they're quite surprised at the result.
[Al Ahram] Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... 's forces destroyed the minaret of the historic Omari mosque where Syria's uprising erupted two years ago in the southern city of Daraa, opposition activists said on Sunday.
In amateur video footage the activists uploaded to YouTube, the mosque can be seen at the end of a street, its towering minaret toppling over after apparent shelling and crumbling into rubble and dust.
Other videos posted online show the mosque, which is thought to date back to the 7th century, had been targeted in shelling for several days.
"This regime of unrestrained barbarism targeted with tanks the minaret of the Omari mosque, a place full of symbols of civilisation and spirituality and humanity," said the opposition Syrian National Council.
"The minaret of this mosque, which was build by Caliph Omar bin al-Khattab, is the first in the whole of the Levant, and has been destroyed by the soldiers of the tyrant," it added, referring to President Assad.
The Council noted the mosque had played a pivotal role in the beginning of the uprising against Assad, which sprung in large part from the city of Daraa after the arrest and torture of two boys.
"It was the first place that embraced the Syrian revolution during its infancy, the first wave of demonstrations of pride and dignity came out through its doors," said the Council.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2013
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#1
It's a start.
Posted by: Caesar Gray1629 ||
04/15/2013 10:26
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[TOLONEWS] Two Afghan women have been killed and two more injured in eastern Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country..... when their house was struck during a missile attack apparently launched from Pakistain, local officials said Saturday.
The attack began around 03:00am this morning with at least seven missiles landing in Kunar's Marawar district including striking the civilian house, provincial's governor Sayed Fazlullah Wahidi told TOLOnews.
"We confirm that the Pakistain military have launched several missiles into Marwar district, killing two women and injuring two others," he said.
The security forces have started investigating the attacks, he added.
In the past a month Pakistain has fired several missiles in Marawar and Dangam districts which share a border with Pakistain.
The missiles have been damaged agricultural land, animals and resident houses.
There have been similar attacks going on for at least two years. But the Pak government consistently denies claims that the attacks are perpetrated by Pakistain's military.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2013
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#2
Texas. Budget surplus, no income tax, booming job growth. They see this as a greener pasture to take over than the liberal, progressive, bankrupt, over regulated hell whole they are sitting in now.
#3
Texas. Budget surplus, no income tax, booming job growth. They see this as a greener pasture to take over than the liberal, progressive, bankrupt, over regulated hell whole they are sitting in now.
And if they succeed, they will promptly turn it into that same hell hole.
#4
Remember Colorado. See what it has become with the huge influx of locusts into Denver. And yes they are locusts. They screwed up California, moved to Colorado to escape the consequences of of their policies, and have over the past years instituted them in. Colorado. The rot is starting to show.
Difference in Texas is the population is huge and not as susceptible to the locust swarm, and the culture is far more untrained in the schools and society. Texas has a way of turning you into a Texan. I pray Texas will be the bastion which breaks the lock the liberal-media complexhold on our nation.
[Beirut Daily Star: Region] A roadside kaboom killed an Iraqi provincial elections candidate and three other people north of Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... Sunday, bringing the number of candidates killed in attacks to 14, officials said.
Najm al-Harbi was traveling to Baqouba on a highway in Diyala province in his personal vehicle when the bomb went kaboom!, killing him, two of his brothers and a bodyguard, a police lieutenant colonel and a doctor said.
An official from Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlak's office confirmed Harbi's death, and said he was the head of the deputy premier's list in Diyala province.
Harbi's killing comes a day after Hatim Mohammad al-Dulaimi, a candidate for Salaheddin provincial council, was rubbed out by gunnies near his home in Baiji, north of the Iraqi capital.
Dulaimi was connected to the Al-Ensaf Front group headed by Sunni politician Mishaan al-Jubouri.
Soldiers and coppers cast their ballots for the provincial elections on Saturday, a week ahead of the main vote, the country's first since March 2010 parliamentary polls.
The election comes amid an uptick in violence and a long-running political crisis between Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and several of his former government partners.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2013
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[Geo News] At least four people have been killed while several more were maimed by a US drone strike on Sunday in North Wazoo, security officials said.
The attack took place in Datta Khel town, 35 kilometres (22 miles) west of Miranshah ... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas... , the main town in North Waziristan region which borders Afghanistan.
Six US drones flew over the area when one of them fired two missiles at a compound in the Manzarkhel area of the town.
"The drones kept hovering at the compound for a while and then one drone fired two missiles at the time of sunset," a local security official said.
An eyewitness said that the compound caught fire after the strike leaving all the bodies burnt.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2013
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[TOLONEWS] Speaking in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif at a meeting to discuss Operation Oqab in vulnerable areas of northern Afghanistan, Gen Murad Ali Murad said the security threats were growing in the country's north.
"They are making an effort to expand the current situation in the north of Afghanistan but the minds of the people of Afghanistan who cooperate with Afghan cops are not ready to accept this matter," he said.
Operation Oqab, which aims to eradicate gun-hung tough guys from the less secure areas in the north, began last week with the support of international forces.
The commander of army unit 209 Shaheen said that the intelligence of neighbouring countries were behind the increased bad boy activity.
"Some come with their masters and the intelligence of foreign countries to risk the lives of our people. This is our duty, as Afghan cops, to provide security wherever it would be," said Zalmai Weesa, commander of national army's unit of 209 Shaheen.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2013
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[Geo News] Chairman Mohajir Qaumi Movement (Haqiqi) Afaq Ahmed Sunday alleged that 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... (MQM) Chief Altaf Hussain was working on a foreign agenda.
Talking to media persons here at Allama Iqbal Airport, Afaq Ahmed said his party was taking part in the upcoming general elections with an aim to loosen the grip of Altaf Hussain's fear on the city.
"We will subject Altaf Hussain to accountability through ballot," he said, accusing the MQM Chief of attempting to cause 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 economic devastation.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2013
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[Ynet] A senior police official says a Syrian man has been tossed in the slammer You have the right to remain silent... on Greece's northeastern border with Turkey with a large batch of telescopic sights for rifles and shoulder-fired rocket launchers. The official said he believed the weapons were headed for Syria. There has been no official announcement by police.
The arrest took place Thursday when the man, a Belgian resident, crossed the border with Turkey in a tractor trailer. The arrested man said he re-entered Greece after Turkish customs officials found 281 telescopic sights and turned him back.
[TOLONEWS] Ahead of the upcoming election, there must be a solution to prevent those who have violated human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... and those who are war criminals to not participate in the election. We must not let them gain power," AIHRC executive director Mousa Mahmoodi told TOLOnews.
The Independent Election Commission encourages all residents of Afghanistan, including those who are part of armed opposition groups, to participate in the election - as long as they are not recognised as criminals by any court of law and no charges of human rights violations have been proven against them.
"The Independent Election Commission [IEC] wants all residents of Afghanistan to participate in the election. Even armed Orcs and similar vermin are allowed to participate if they put their guns down," IEC front man Noor Mohammad Noor said.
"I must say that at the present time there are people in the Afghanistan system that have human rights violation charges but because the court has not recognised them as criminals we are allowing them to participate in the upcoming election," he added.
Human rights groups have often said that many people both inside and outside the Afghan government are guilty of human rights violations and war crimes, but they have never been brought to a court of law because of their influence and power.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2013
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[Mail and Globe] The 84-year-old Mubarak who is being held at a military hospital in Cairo, has been treated for a heart condition, fractured ribs, fluid in the lungs, depression and high blood pressure, according to lawyers and official accounts.
At one point last year he was even declared clinically dead as he slipped into a coma.
There were questions over whether he would appear in court on Saturday for his scheduled retrial along with his top security chiefs for their alleged complicity in the murder and attempted murder of hundreds of peaceful protesters in January 2011.
But on Saturday, Mubarak was in the dock, sitting upright and looking strong. Wearing sunglasses, he waved and smiled at supporters, chatting casually with his two sons Alaa and Gamal who face corruption charges.
In the event, the retrial came to an abrupt end with the main judge stepping aside and sending the case to the court of appeal, which will then refer it to a new circuit.
"I expected to see a sick old man and I expected to feel sorry for him," said Cairo resident Heba Radwan. "But the pictures of him smiling and waving, they were so provocative."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2013
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[IsraelTimes] Masked men in camouflage toting Kalashnikov rifles fan out through a dusty olive grove, part of a group of Hezbollah-backed fighters from Leb who are patrolling both sides of a mostly non-existent border stretch with Syria.
The gunnies on the edge of the border village of al-Qasr say their mission is to protect Shiites on the Syrian side who claim their homes, villages and families have come under attack from Sunni rebels.
Hezbollah chief Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, leader of many of Leb's Shiites and a staunch ally of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... , has said his group is supporting the cadres of fighters who call themselves Popular Committees
It is confirmation that the powerful Lebanese Death Eater group is playing a growing role in the civil war just across the border..
#1
As they say; "never let a serious crisis go to waste"
Can anyone advise on how to get a virtual franchise on virtual popcorn? This circus is just getting started on the road.
[Arutz Sheva] The Jewish community in New York is protesting an attempt to silence Jewish activist Pamela Geller, who warns against the dangers of Islam. "Never again" versus "Hello again."
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[TOLONEWS] A political movement of Afghan professionals visited western Farah province on Sunday to donate blood and set up a memorial plaque in memory of those who were killed in the deadly April 3 jihad boy attack.
Afghanistan 1400, as the group calls itself, said it will not remain silent in the face of such attacks and will continue to respond to the terror of the "enemies of Afghanistan" with messages of resistance.
"It's a big project that is being executed by the enemies of Afghanistan to keep the people of Afghanistan as slaves, captives, and miserable. As the youth and as the people of Afghanistan, we have recognise this. We don't know if the government has realised it too or not, but now that we have realised it, we want to tell the enemies of Afghanistan that we will respond to such projects," said Shaharzad Akbar, head of Afghanistan 1400.
"Another message is that those who are enemies to Afghanistan are not our brothers," said another member Haseeb Homayun.
The group expressed their close support to the people of Farah, condemning the incident once again while visiting those in hospital who were maimed in the attack.
"All the people of Afghanistan were mourning for days after the Farah incident took place. We want to tell the people of Farah that the people of Afghanistan are next to you and that you are not alone. We want to pass a message of resistance against this brutal incident and its doers," said 1400 member Wahid Omar.
The Taliban attack on the courthouse of Farah city left as many as 46 people dead - mostly civilians - and injured more than 100 others.
Families of the victims told Afghanistan 1400 members that they were still worried about security threats.
The provincial governor Mohammad Akram Khpulwak said he believes the Farah incident was organised with the support of intelligence agencies of neigbouring countries.
"The men (attackers) knew the map. They knew every way when they entered the government buildings. Therefore they had the support of regional intelligence," he said.
According to the security officials, there are ongoing investigations into the claims that some of local officials were involved in the incident, however there is no substantial proof nor have any charges been laid.
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The provincial governor Mohammad Akram Khpulwak said he believes the Farah incident was organised with the support of intelligence agencies of neigbouring countries
Essentially only two neighbors (Turkmenistan doesn't count) - take your pick.
HT: Drudge
King, a firearms instructor, denied in a video posted on YouTube that he suggested anyone shoot at the target, which features a faceless silhouette of a person in a hoodie yawn
holding a beverage can Got nuthin' - a little help?
a pack of Skittles candy tucked in a pocket OK, now I guess that was a little over-the-top
A bull's eye appears on its chest Somebody please check my math: Bull's eye - Skittles = No Story
Also, officer violated the first rule of "Oh Crap" (Note the Article title at link) and didn't (1) clam up or (2)perform a tap dance that would be the envy of Fred Astaire....
[TOLONEWS] The Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in southern Kandahar province has officially finished operating with its responsibilities handed over to Afghan authority, the provincial governor said Sunday.
Its legacy has been tainted by an unsatisfied local government whose criticisms over the years have pointed to poorly implemented projects and squandered funds.
"The Provincial Reconstruction Team of Kandahar did not do many of the works it was supposed to do. We have criticised their activities for the past few years," governor Toryalai Wesa said at a presser in Kandahar city.
Wesa said that the PRT had obtained large amounts of funds for reconstruction projects in the province but it had not spend them well. He also alleged that the team had backed local warlords whose rise will lead to the destruction of the province.
The Afghan government has also previously criticised PRTs around the country for their failed objectives.
President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... has decreed for PRTs to close following accusations that many of them have not acted in coordination with the government.
The PRT in Kandahar was run under the jurisdiction of the US. About 27 PRTs were set up in different provinces of Afghanistan.
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Apparently the bribes didn't go to the 'right' people.
[Bangla Daily Star] A Bangladesh Chhatra League ... the student wing of the Bangla Awami League ... (BCL) activist was killed in an attack by myrmidons in Rajshahi city Sunday afternoon.
The dear departed, Rabiul Islam, was an activist of BCL city unit, reports our Rajshahi correspondent.
Asaduzzaman, general secretary of Awami League Rajshahi district unit, claimed that activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal ...student wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)... and Islami Chhatra Shibir ... the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh... killed Rabiul, which was denied by local JCD leaders. "No, no! Certainly not!"
Md Moniruzzaman, commissioner of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police, said the criminals hacked Rabiul indiscriminately when he was attending a programme organised at Meherchandi on the occasion of Pahela Baishakh.
They also hit the BCL man with brick in his head and left the place, the commissioner said.
Rabiul was declared dead after he was rushed to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital.
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[Al Ahram] Two Moslem Brüderbund members in northern Egypt have been ordered to stand trial on charges of detaining and torturing students during a protest against the president the group propelled to power.
The charges are a rare acknowledgement of the alleged role that some of the president's supporters have had in attacks on his opponents.
The U.S. State Department suggested this month that Egypt was selectively prosecuting those accused of insulting the government while ignoring or playing down attacks on anti-government demonstrators.
Opponents of Mursi also accuse him of trying to dominate state institutions such as the judiciary. The president has said he is working to rid the government of corrupt remnants from the era of Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... , ousted by a popular uprising in 2011.
The prosecutor's office in Damanhour said on Sunday the men were accused of detaining and beating the students in November at the Brotherhood office in the Nile Delta city during festivities between opponents of Mursi and his Islamist supporters.
The festivities in Damanhour were part of a wave of protests and violence set off by Mursi's decree in November to temporarily expand his powers and prevent court challenges to his decisions.
The crisis triggered by Mursi's decree deepened the divisions in Egyptian society, mainly between the increasingly empowered Brotherhood and its allies and other groups that fear what they see as autocratic tendencies of the Islamist group.
The prosecutor's office referred to case to trial on Saturday, court officials said. It was not immediately clear when the trial would take place.
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[Beirut Daily Star: Leb] Hezbollah MP Mohammad Raad called for the formation of a political Cabinet Sunday while another party official urged an understating among Leb rivals over the formation of a new government and a new electoral law.
"Amid the regional crises, this country is in need of a political Cabinet per excellence," said Raad, the head Loyalty to the Resistance That'd be the Hezbullies, natch... parliamentary bloc.
Raad said he rejected forming a Cabinet of business people and non-political figures.
"The country does not need a Cabinet that includes people who may be courteous in their work. The representation should be a political one that leads to a balance that can ensure stability in the country," he said.
The Hezbollah official argued that having a "technocrat" Cabinet would result in the monopoly of political decisions for the prime minister.
"If the prime minister is a politically oriented figure, he cannot prevent ministers from being political," Raad said.
"The prime minister cannot impose his political choices to all the Lebanese people. He should work wisely within a balanced framework to what best preserves the country's stability," he added.
For his part, Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, a high-ranking Hezbollah official, called for an agreement among the rival political parties over the government formation and a new voting system Sunday.
"Leb is based on understanding whether in the [Cabinet] formation or the electoral law," Qaouk said.
He added that the unanimity that Leb witnessed during the nomination of Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam should be reflected on other major developments in the country.
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[The Nation (Nairobi)] Sudan's oil ministry said Sunday that the first crude from South Sudan reached its territory, bringing both impoverished nations closer to billions of dollars in revenue after a dispute over fees.
"The first batch of oil already arrived on Sudanese land on Saturday," Sudan's undersecretary at the petroleum ministry, Awad Abdul Fatah, told AFP. "It's a small testing quantity."
Kenyan companies had been trapped in this fiasco as they could not get US dollars to import and replenish their stocks as the country's central bank had run out of dollars. They also could not repatriate money back home.
Eight days ago South Sudan held a ceremony to restart oil production at the Thar Jath field in Unity state after a shutdown of more than a year.
"We're really in a hurry to do things quickly, both of us," Fatah said. "We'd like for the money to start flowing to the treasuries as soon as possible."
The South halted crude production in early 2012, cutting off most of its revenue after accusing Khartoum of theft in a row over export fees.
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[POSTANDCOURIER] South Carolina's unemployment agency will lay off 100 employees in June as part of a statewide reorganization that directs anyone seeking jobless benefits to use its upgraded online system, the agency's interim director announced.
John Finan said the Department of Employment and Workforce will eliminate one-on-one help with unemployment claims on June 10, and the number of local offices offering job training and other re-employment services will shrink. Exactly how many of those 56 offices remain open past June will depend on decisions made by the state's 12 workforce investment boards, he said.
It comes two months after the ending of in-person unemployment help at 17 rural offices caused a backlash from legislators. Democrats particularly denounced the move as an attack on rural South Carolina, and the outrage culminated in the resignation of former Director Abraham Turner.
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someone left the irony on
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/15/2013 8:14
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[Beirut Daily Star] Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... said Sunday he hoped the Paleostinians pick a new prime minister who can work with the United States and "establish confidence" so that Mideast peace can advance.
Speaking to journalists in Tokyo, Kerry praised Salaam Fayyad, who until resigning Saturday as prime minister was seen as one of the Paleostinians' most moderate and respected figures. Kerry called Fayyad a "good friend" who made a big difference for Paleostinians.
Fayyad's resignation comes as Kerry is working to revive the Israeli-Paleostinian grinding of the peace processor. An important part of his strategy is developing the Paleostinian economy and state institutions so the Paleostinians can be a viable partner in any peace deal with Israel.
The United States had expected Fayyad to play a significant role in that effort.
But the 61-year-old political independent and Western-trained economist had clashed with Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... over the extent of the prime minister's power.
"We're totally committed to moving forward with the economic thing no matter what," Kerry said, citing U.S. business partners including Coca-Cola. "The West Bank is there, Paleostinian aspirations are there, the government is there. And in order to be a viable government, there's got to be more than one person that you can do business with."
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#2
Fayyad's problem with Abbas may have been about money. Fayyad doesn't like theft, graft and cronyism and has done what he could to minimize these things. Abbas probably wants to grab as much as possible as fast as possible before he (Abbas) is thrown out of office.
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04/15/2013 18:58
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[Dawn] Both Taliban cut-throats and the US military were to blame for an Arclight airstrike a week ago that killed 17 people, including a dozen children, during a fierce battle in eastern Afghanistan, President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... said Saturday.
Karzai made his comments after an Afghan investigation into the April 6 attack raised the civilian corpse count from 11 to 17, including 12 children, four women and one innocent man. An American civilian adviser was also killed during the fighting.
The Afghan report says the US strike occurred after the Afghan intelligence service came under attack by hard boyz during an operation to arrest two beturbanned goon commanders in the Shigal district of Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country..... . The area is a major infiltration route for cut-throats from sanctuaries in northwestern Pakistain to Afghanistan.
The US-led coalition has confirmed that it launched Arclight airstrikes in Kunar province that day but it has not confirmed civilian casualties, saying the investigation is ongoing.
Afghan forces came under fire with heavy and light weapons as they were about to leave the area. It was in that fighting that the American was killed, causing the Americans to call for air support to move the body from the area at the same time houses believed to be containing suspected cut-throats were bombarded for hours from the air, according to the report.
It said most of the houses were made of wood and mud and collapsed under the shock of the Arclight airstrikes, causing the deaths.
The death of Afghan civilians caught in crossfire has been a major point of contention between international forces and the Afghan government. Earlier this year, Karzai banned his troops from requesting coalition Arclight airstrikes following another deadly Arclight airstrike in Kunar.
While he said that Arclight airstrikes on residential areas were unacceptable, he also strongly condemned cut-throats for taking cover in civilian houses during the battle.
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[Ynet] A court in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... has convicted 11 of its citizens on terrorism-related charges, including disobeying the king and fighting in Afghanistan.
The defendants were given prison sentences ranging from four months to four years. All were banned from traveling abroad for at least one year following their release. The special penal court in Riyadh did not immediately release further details related to the case.
[Al Ahram] Somalia's Al Qaeda-linked Shabaab grabbed credit for a suicide raid on Mogadishu's main court complex Sunday that left at least five civilians and several attackers, a front man for the group said.
"This was a holy action which targeted non-believers who were in a meeting within the court complex. We will continue until Somalia is liberated from invaders," Shabaab front man Sheikh Ali Mohamed Rage told AFP.
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[Beirut Daily Star: Leb] Two men were killed and several people maimed when rockets from Syria hit border villages in the Hermel region Sunday, a Lebanese security source said.
Ali Hasan Qataya, 30, died after several 107-millimeter rockets fired from the Syrian side of the border landed near the mosque in Al-Qasr. Several residents were maimed and rushed to hospitals in Baalbek and Hermel, the source told The Daily Star.
Rockets also landed in the nearby village of Hawsh al-Sayyed, fatally wounding Abbas Hussein Kheireddine. The border villages of Al-Kwakh and Nasiriyeh were also affected.
The Army confirmed in a statement the killing of Qataya and the wounding of three others in Al-Qasr. The Army said it was heavily deployed in the region and "took necessary measures to protect residents and adequately respond to the source of fire."
Al-Qasr is located across from a string of villages inside Syria inhabited by Shiite Lebanese. Tensions between residents of the Shiite villages and Syrian rebels have run high since the start of the uprising in Syria.
Various Lebanese border villages in the north and the Bekaa Valley have been the target of shelling from the Syrian side but Sunday's incident marked the first time casualties were recorded in Al-Qasr.
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For a map, click here. For a map of Zacatecas state, click here.
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
The Mexican Army conducted counternarcotics operations in far southern Zacatecas state last week, discovering and dismantling a total of seven drug laboratories according to Mexican news accounts and an anonymous correspondent.
According to a news account which appeared on the website of Zacatecas En Linea news daily, an army unit with the Mexican 51st Infantry Battalion, 11th Military Zone was dispatched two weeks ago to Nochistlan municipality on an anonymous complaint of criminal activity in the area.
At the location, soldiers secured 10 containers containing an undisclosed amount of chemical precursors used in the production of methamphetamine. Also secured were an undisclosed number of rifles and ammunition.
According to the anonymous correspondent, "militars arrested one or two local policemen for lacking the proper gun permit and acting suspiciously."
"I know the local policemen work for the local narcos, when I was last in Nochistlan, they were very friendly with the two guys who I was told were the jefes de plaza (local crime bosses), two fat brothers dressed like cholos. I had no idea this area was a meth factory."
Four days later, another three drug labs were secured along with several real properties said to be owned by a local drug lord affiliated with the Sinaloa Drug cartel.
According to a news account published on the website of Zacatecas En Linea, the home of the unidentified suspect was located near the intersection of Privada Quintas de Los Sauces and Calle Cerro Picacho. Also seized was a ranch near the village of La Cofradía.
According to the news report, two labs were found on land named La Barranca Tierra Blanca, while the third was found near the village of El Porvenir. A fourth lab was found, but it was still under construction.
The land where the drug lab near El Porvenir was found was also a farm with about 25 head of cattle. According to the report, the land was used bimonthly to host music concerts.
The total property seized was about 4,000 square meters and had been purchased privately last May.
The news account quoted military sources saying the drug labs combined capacity was about 60,000 liters per month, amounting to about one metric ton of drugs.
The news account said the drugs were produced mostly at night and produced toxic fumes, which local residents noticed.
Drugs produced in these labs were said to be distributed in Zacatecas, Aguascalientes and Jalisco states.
A sixth lab was discovered in Apulco municipality. It was a long time operation -- three years -- and had its own power source.
Other contraband seized included eight vehicles. No arrests were made in any of the raids, and going by the photos taken and published in Zacatecas en Linea the properties appeared to have been quickly abandoned.
Separately, according to the anonymous corespondent, the Gulf Cartel announced Sunday that it has taken control of Valparaiso municipality from Los Zetas. Several narcopintas appeared on the municipal seat four days ago announcing the takeover.
Said the correspondent, "CDG has taken Valparaiso from the zetas."
If the claim is true it can be considered a blow to Los Zetas in western Mexico.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com
[Ynet] A security official says the leader of an Islamic beturbanned goon militia in Libya suspected of involvement in an attack in Benghazi that killed the U.S. ambassador has been shot.
Sufyan bin Qumu, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, was shot Sunday in the area of al-Thruwn in the eastern city of Darna, a stronghold of Islamic beturbanned goons.
[Khaleej Times] Yemen's president removed his predecessor's son and nephews from powerful security posts on Wednesday in the most dramatic step yet in sidelining old regime figures, according to the nation's state-run media.
Former President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... , who stepped down in early 2012 after more than a year of protests against his rule, placed relatives and loyalists in top military and government posts over his 33-year rule.
They have been accused of obstructing the US-backed government as it tries to reform and fight an active Al Qaeda branch in the country.
Fireworks went off in the capital, Sanaa, and Yemen's second largest city, Taiz, after the announcement. Restructuring the army was a top demand by Yemenis after Saleh's ouster.
His vice-president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, took over in a power transfer deal brokered by Yemen's powerful Gulf neighbours and backed by the United States. Hadi has since been trying to remove former regime loyalists over concerns that Saleh was using them to further destabilise the turmoil-wracked country.
Washington has expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... that some in the military have been taking advantage of their positions for personal gain to interfere in the country's transition, since regime change threatens their personal interests. The UN Security Council warned Saleh directly that he could face sanctions if attempts to undermine the new national unity government persist.
In his latest move, Hadi not only removed Saleh's son and two nephews from their posts, but also effectively ordered them to leave the country by posting them abroad.
He removed Saleh's son Ahmed as head of the Republican Guard and appointed him ambassador. The force is an elite army unit that was once the backbone of Saleh's rule. It was supposed to be reorganised and brought under the control of the Defence Ministry according to Hadi's orders last year, but those changes had not materialised on the ground.
In a sign of how challenging the overhaul has been, Republican Guard troops earlier this week forced businesses closed and clashed with police and residents in the city of Radda, about 160km south of the capital.
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[Beirut Daily Star] Syrian government forces ratcheted up their offensive against rebels across the country again Sunday, striking neighborhoods with warplanes and killing some 70 people, most of them civilians, opposition groups said.
In one Arclight airstrike, in the Haddad village in the country's northeastern Hassakeh province, at least 16 people were killed, including at least three children, according to the opposition activist group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Observatory said 27 children were among 52 civilians killed in strikes and festivities with rebel forces across the country Sunday.
Another Arclight airstrike on the Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... neighborhood of Qaboun killed at least nine children, the Observatory said.
With its ground forces stretched thin, Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Trampler of Homs... 's regime has relied heavily on its fighter jets and helicopters to try to stem rebel advances in the country's civil war. The air raids frequently hit civilian areas, drawing criticism from the international community.
A Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... report last week accused the Syrian government of committing war crimes by using indiscriminate and sometimes deliberate Arclight airstrikes against civilians, killing at least 4,300 people since the summer.A Hassakeh-based activist who was in Haddad when the plane struck said the bombs sent huge plumes of black smoke billowing over the town. He spoke on condition that he only be identified by his nickname of Abu Qasem -- by which he is widely known among his comrades -- out of fear of reprisals.
In other violence across the country Sunday, regime troops reached the embattled military bases of Hamadiya and Wadi Deif near the city of Maaret al-Numan, in the northwestern Idlib province, Observatory director Rami Abdel-Rahman said.
The government forces killed more than 20 rebels in an ambush in the area Saturday, opening the way for supplies to reach the facilities. The military had been forced to drop supplies in by helicopter because rebels controlled the area.
"Regime forces managed to lift the siege on the Wadi Deif and Hamadiya military camps after the army went around the rebel fighters and attacked them from behind," the Observatory said.
Speaking to AFP, Abdel-Rahman said regular soldiers "now control two hilltops on either side of the Damascus-Aleppo international highway," reopening a supply route for the army.
The Observatory, which relies on a network of activists on the ground, also reported that four civilians had died after being tortured in a jail in the town of Zakyeh, but did not provide any further details.
And in Deraa, the province noted for the outbreak of protests that started the uprising across the country, the minaret of an historic mosque was damaged, prompting a chorus of condemnation.
The Syrian government and opposition activists traded blame for the destruction of the Omari Mosque, which is though to date back to the seventh century.
"This regime of unrestrained barbarism targeted with tanks the minaret of the Omari Mosque, a place full of symbols of civilization and spirituality and humanity," said the opposition Syrian National Coalition.
The Local Coordination Committees, an activists' network, also condemned the attack, which it labeled a "barbaric action" that "didn't only destroy stones, but also destroyed a religious and historic heritage that is a source of pride for the people of Syria."
"This mosque," it added, "is a religious symbol and a deep political symbol for the revolution in Syria: The first speech in the revolution in Syria was recited there by the Sheikh Ahmad Alsayasneh, and the starting point of the first demonstration of dignity and anger."
The state news agency SANA, meanwhile, quoted a local official in Deraa as pinning blame for the destruction of the minaret on the jihadist Nusra Front.
"Nusra gunnies in Deraa targeted the minaret," the unidentified official said, adding that they had obtained a fatwa, or religious edict, authorizing attacks on places of worship "if necessary."
"All the signs prove that the gunnies blew up the minaret," the official said.
Syria's rebels -- a mosaic of various factions with different ideologies and no united command -- have pried much of the country's north from regime forces, and captured their first picturesque provincial capital, Raqqa, last month.
Rebels also have made significant gains in recent weeks in southern Syria near the border with Jordan, capturing military bases and territory that could provide anti-Assad fighters with a staging ground for an assault on Damascus.
The push in the south has coincided with what Western and Arab officials say is U.S.-backed training of opposition fighters in Jordan and an influx of foreign-funded weapons into the south.
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[Dawn] The Crime Investigation Department (CID) of police conducted a raid operation in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... 's Surjani town area on Sunday and foiled a possible terrorist attack, DawnNews reported.
Following a tip-off from Aslam Mehsud, the alleged brain behind the Abbas Town bombing, police conducted an operation in the Surjani town area where they recovered a huge cache of weapons and ammunition along with a boom-mobile.
The explosives-laden car was seized by CID personnel after an exchange of fire with the bully boyz during which the approver, Aslam Mehsud was killed and two copperswere maimed.
Aslam later succumbed to his wounds.
The SSP Chaudhry Aslam told media personnel that four tt pistols and a kalashnikov were recovered, adding that the suspects had planned to target the residence of political party leaders and other important buildings in the area, including a hospital.
Private TV channels reported coppers as saying that one suspect was also taken into custody from the spot and that Mehsud has sustained injuries while identifying the hide-out during an ambush that took place as soon as the police-raiding team entered the locality.
The Governor of Sindh, Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan, announced a reward of Rs 2 million for the CID team in the wake of the successful operation.
In related news, Rangers personnel conducted an operation in Kunwari colony early on Sunday.
At least, 800 Rangers personnel including women took party in the three-hour long operation. The Ranger forces cordoned off the area, blocking all entry and exit points and conducted house-to-house searches with the help of sniffer dogs.
According to a Rangers spokesperson, six suspects were taken into custody who were shifted to some holy man's guesthouse an undisclosed location for further investigation. The front man added that 21 weapons of different kinds were also recovered from the nabbed Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! suspects.
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[Bangla Daily Star] The families of the three Awami League men killed in Thursday's attack allegedly by Hefajat-e Islam and Jamaat-Shibir activists in Fatikchhari upazila of Chittagong are in deep shock, struggling to get over the cruel blow.
The mothers are the hardest to face.
Monwara Begum, mother of deceased Faruk Iqbal Bipul, vice-president of Bhaktpur union Jubo League ... the youth wing of the Bangla Awami League... , was wailing, "My son was never involved in any violence. Please return my son, please, please, please ..."
Faruk left behind two sons -- one five-year-old and the other two-year-old. Her wife is shocked to the core. She keeps on asking: "Where will I go now with the kids?"
Mother of another deceased, Md Rubel, has stopped talking since she got the news. Her blank stares belie the depth of her grief.
Rubel's uncle Jahangir Alam said he [Rubel] was a day labourer and had gone to the procession on his friends' request. "If we had known about it, we would not have let him go," he said.
Ferdous Begum is numbed by the shock of losing her son Forkan. All she has been saying since Thursday is, "Oh, my son! Where are you? Please come back to me."
Eyewitnesses and local administration sources said the three were killed when activists of Hefajat-e Islam and Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... , joined in by locals gathered through announcement over loudspeakers, attacked an anti-hartal AL procession with sharp weapons and sticks.
The attack was made around 11:30am as the procession was marching through Kazirhat in Bhujpur.
More than 100 people, including 15 coppers, four firefighters, and two BGB men, were maimed. Around 100 vehicles including cycle of violences, jeeps, pick-ups, a police van and a fire truck were torched during the mayhem. Some 20 shops were also set ablaze.
Meanwhile, ...back at the revival hall, Buford bit the snake and Eloise began speaking in tongues... the government yesterday closed the officer-in-charge of Bhujpur Police Station.
Ang Sung Twain, inspector of the station, had been given the charge, said Superintendent of Police in Chittagong AKM Hafiz Akhter, adding that they were investigating whether the former OC had neglected his duties during the attack.
As of yesterday, police have tossed in the clink Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! 40 suspects.
Additional SP of Chittagong Farid Uddin said law enforcers were looking into the matter and would release the innocent ones after verification. He asked Bhujpur villagers not to be afraid.
On Friday, police filed a case against around 5,000 people, including 100 named, for attacking law enforcers and obstructing their work.
A rickshaw-puller, who witnessed the violence on Thursday, said just when the AL marchers were returning, he had heard an announcement from Kazirhat mosque that Moulana Junaid bin Jalal, principal of Al Jamaatul Islamia Bhujpur Madrasa, was killed in AL assault and the mosque and the madrasa were under attack.
Contacted yesterday, Moulana Junaid told The Daily Star that when he heard the rumour, he rushed to the mosque and announced in the loudspeaker that he was alright and no one had attacked him. But the situation had gone out of hand by then, he added.
Abdul Alim, chairman of Jafarnagar union parishad, was present during the mayhem. He said he had heard the attackers chanting slogans "Allahr Ain Chai, Sot Loker Shason Chai" [We want the laws of Allah, rule of the honest].
Police suspect the attack was planned and inflammatory substances had been used while torching vehicles and shops.
The Chittagong SP said they had found that local Jamaat-Shibir men had instigated the locals to swoop on AL men by spreading a rumour.
Meanwhile, ...back at the chili cook-off, Chuck reached for the green sauce... Hefajat-e Islam has denied its involvement in the violence.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2013
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BEIJING -- Secretary of State John Kerry flew to China on Saturday and offered a concession on missile defense meant to elicit China's help in dealing with an increasingly recalcitrant and nuclear armed North Korea. In a news conference after meetings with China's top leaders, Kerry said the United States would reduce its missile defenses in Asia if North Korea abandoned its nuclear weapons program.
That is just plain idiotic.
Kerry's overture appeared aimed at addressing Chinese concerns that North Korea's provocative actions were leading the United States to build up military strength in the region as China is boosting its own influence there.
''On missile defense, we discussed absolutely why we have taken the steps that we have taken,'' Kerry said, referring to efforts the United States is taking to defend Guam, Hawaii, and the United States' allies in Asia against a potential North Korean missile attack. The United States has dispatched two ships capable of missile defense and said it would speed up land-based missile defenses for Guam.
''Now obviously if the threat disappears -- i.e. North Korea denuclearizes -- the same imperative does not exist at that point of time for us to have that kind of robust forward leaning posture of defense,'' he added. ''It would be our hope in the long run, or better yet in short run, that we can address that.''
Why would we believe that the Norks would keep a promise -- is it their sterling track record of promises kept in the past?
Kerry's offer to cut back on the newly fortified missile defense appeared to be part of a diplomatic strategy to get China, the North's only true ally, to do what it has long resisted -- to crack down hard enough on Pyongyang that its leaders will give up an increasingly sophisticated nuclear program.
So to do that we're offering concessions instead of standing strong and forcing the Chinese to realize that we're not moving. The masters of Beijing must be laughing their asses off at Mr. Kerry this evening...
In the past China has worried that any move to destabilize the North would lead to a collapse of the regime and deliver the entire peninsula to the United States' sphere of influence, possibly bringing US troops in South Korea closer to its border.
Which we could deal with in a cynical way by dividing North Korea between China and South Korea, with an implicit promise that we wouldn't move American forces north of the old DMZ.
China remains a linchpin to the Obama administration's policy of holding a tough line on Pyongyang, a reversal from the past.
What is tough about the new line? We're conceding again...
Previous administrations used aid to mollify the North and gain concessions on its nuclear program, only to see the North's promises evaporate once the aid had been delivered.
Right. Correct. Even the Boston Globe gets it. So now Mr. Kerry thinks that if we make a concession to them and the Chinese that the Norks will behave. Good lord is that man schtoopid...
Kerry said the Chinese shared the US goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, although he declined to say what steps China said it would take to accomplish it.
Even if China were to take a harsher stance, North Korea might not fall into line.
They might wait for more concessions, having taken the measure of Mr. Kerry -- and Champ -- and thinking that more surely will be coming...
Under the new leader, Fat Boy Kim Jong Un, the North has supposedly snubbed China several times, including refusing Chinese entreaties to cancel its recent nuclear test that set off tensions on the Peninsula.
Kerry's remarks are likely to stir concern among staunch advocates of missile defense in the United States, who also see antimissile systems as a means of responding to China's growing military might.
Since China, unlike Russia, doesn't yet have enough ICBMs to overwhelm a layered SM3/THAAD defense.
At the core of the issue is the United States' inability to draw North Korea into a serious round of nuclear talks.
It's not up to us to draw them in. Let them rattle their saber. We can afford to sit back quietly, keep our defense strong, and let them implode.
North Korea's apparent determination to expand its nuclear weapons program and the US demand that it commit up front to eventually relinquishing its nuclear arms have raised the question of whether there is even any basis for negotiations.
''China has an enormous ability to help make a difference here,'' Kerry said Friday during a stop in Seoul, adding that he had planned in meetings with Chinese leaders to ''lay out a path ahead that can defuse this tension.''
The Chinese stance on North Korea has never been a simple one, though. On the one hand, the Chinese prize stability and are eager to avoid a crisis on the Korean Peninsula that would spawn a flood of refugees or prompt the United States to shift more forces to the Pacific.
On the other hand, North Korea is a useful stick with which to jab the United States whenever the Chinese are in the mood...
After Kim's recent boasts about North Korea's ability to carry out military strikes, the Obama administration decided to speed up the deployment of missile defenses to Guam and sent Aegis cruisers equipped with antimissile systems into the region. It also conducted a military exercise in which B-2 bombers flew to South Korea before returning to their base in the United States, and it briefly deployed two F-22 fighters in South Korea as well.
On the other hand, that same Chinese concern for stability has meant that it is reluctant to take steps that would undermine the North Korean government's hold on power and eliminate a friendly buffer between Chinese territory and South Korean and US forces.
In an effort to solicit China's help,
There's your first mistake, Jahwn...
Kerry met with Foreign Minister Wang Yi, President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang, and State Councilor Yang Jiechi. Wang said at a dinner with Kerry on Saturday that China was committed to ''the denuclearization process on the Korean Peninsula.''
The Chinese foreign minister also stressed that the ''issue should be handled and resolved peacefully through dialogue and consultation.''
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/15/2013
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#1
It is idiotic but thats beside the point.
Starvation, indigenous econ woes, + Sino-centric/dominant Sino-DPRK free trade is doing more to destabilize North Korea than anything the US-Allies are doing. IMO THE DPRK CAN NO LONGER PROTRACTIVELY WAIT MANY YEARS OR DECADES FOR FORMAL REUNIFICATION WID THE SOUTH TO OCCUR.
It has to occur ASAP, likely widin 5-8 years at max, to avoid a Chinese takeover which the ROK, Nippon, + Russia, etc. don't want to see.
China's problema' is different - Besides modernization, its prob is the Nuclear Global Jihad, + gaining strategic access as befitting a "post-US" Global Superpower = World #1.
Lest we fergit, 9-11 + GWOT > WAR FOR ANTI-STATUS QUO + PRO-US-VS-ANTI-US OWG-NWO = something's gotta give in NE Asia.
ITS NOT GOING TO BE PRETTY, PEACEFUL, OR BLOODLESS. SOMEONE(S) HAS TO SURRENDER LIKE FRANCE TO AVOID A NUCLEAR CONFLICT - either China gives in, or the US gives in.
> China takesover the DPRK while the US-Allies keep Taiwan.
OR
> China takes Taiwan, but can still takeover the DPRK.
Nuclear Islam-Jihad is just starting up in Asia-Pacific BUT ITS COMING.
#3
I'm sure SKorea, Japan, Taiwan, et al can also manufacture their own missile defense [and are idiots if they don't start it up now]. I'm sure the Israelis would be willing to provide technical and material assistance for monetary and political compensation.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/15/2013 9:33
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#5
..true, but when your supplier hems and haws about supply and parts or uses it to stop your own efforts of self defense [when seconds count, the 'international' police are days away], it's time to start reverse engineering.
#6
That's it Jawn. Pretend those NORK missiles are not really ChiComm missiles. That'll make everything all better...until the next batch of NORK missiles and the next crisis. And then, of course, you'll have to make another concession.
[Geo News] Amir Jamaat Uleman-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman Sunday promised to bring exemplary peace to the country if his party got representation in the centre.
Addressing a public meeting here as part of JUI-F's ongoing election campaign, Fazl said: "We can fight every kind of battle from the floor of the Parliament".
He said his party's manifesto is based on peace and if it was elected to get representation in the centre an exemplary peace would be established across the country.
The JUI-F chief also pledged to direct a particular focus on education, health and employment if given a chance to serve the nation.
He said Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... is a resource-rich province where poverty and unemployment could have been eliminated if the rulers had paid a serious attention.
Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman said if the US genuinely wants to bring peace to Afghanistan it should directly engage in a dialogue with the Taliban.
On the occasion, JUI-F Secretary General Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Hyderi also addressed the gathering.
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[Dawn] PERVEZ Musharraf's admission on a foreign TV channel that Pakistain was in the know about US drone strikes inside this country during his rule only confirms what has been suspected for a long time. The retired general's frank disclosure is in stark contrast to the state's long-standing policy -- including the period of Gen Musharraf's rule -- of denying any role in the drone war. The statement shows, among other things, that the state can be economical with the truth, showing one face in public, and another in private. There have been indications in the past about Pakistains knowledge of the strikes, such as WikiLeaks cables stating that the Americans kept the government informed, as well as the vacation by the US military of the Shamsi airbase in Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... in the aftermath of the Salala incident; the base was believed to be a launching pad for drone strikes. It is difficult to say when (and if) information-sharing on drones ceased, though the CIA is believed to have stopped obtaining advance Pak approval sometime in 2008. The Raymond Davis affair in 2011 further soured relations between the US and Pak intelligence set-ups, thus affecting how the drone war was being executed.
Regardless of when the Americans decided to go solo with drones, the fact remains that unilateral strikes create multiple problems for Pakistain. Their legal status is murky. There are no substantiated figures for collateral damage but estimates have suggested that hundreds of civilians have died in drone strikes, along with suspected myrmidons. Collateral damage adds to creating more cut-throats while unilateral strikes fuel anti-Americanism in Pakistain. The UN has taken serious note of the situation, with its special rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... saying that the strikes violate Pakistain's illusory sovereignty. Within the US establishment itself, some bigwigs have questioned the long-term effectiveness of the drone campaign.
Drones have taken out some high-profile myrmidons, but they have arguably done more harm than good to counterterrorism efforts. If drones are needed, Pakistain must give its approval while the weapons must be used only in areas that cannot be accessed by Pak troops. If the drone campaign had tacit government approval during the Musharraf era the issue of violated illusory sovereignty did not arise. That is why the Americans need to take Pakistain on board if drones are indispensable. Once there is cooperation, the government must take ownership of the drone war and tell the public why the strikes are necessary. Basically, more openness is required from both Washington and Islamabad.
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#1
Pakistan was times asked nicely by the post-9-11 US to turn over OSAMA + Qaeda Boyz, but refused, hence the unilateral action(s) by POTUS Dubya.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/15/2013 8:13
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#4
The retired general's frank disclosure is in stark contrast to the state's long-standing policy -- including the period of Gen Musharraf's rule -- of denying any role in the drone war.....
....or the whereabouts of the late Osama bin Laden.
[Dawn] Awami National Party (ANP) local leader, Mukaram Shah, was killed in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attack in Swat's Manglawar area on Sunday whereas ANP candidate Syed Masoom Shah was injured in a kaboom near the venue of a party rally in Charsadda.
In the first attack in Swat ...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat... an apparently remotely-detonated bomb targeted the vehicle of ANP local leader and member of an anti-Taliban lashkar, Mukaram Shah, in Banjot village of Manglawar area in Swat. The vehicle was destroyed in the blast.
In the second incident an election candidate of the ANP from PK 21, Syed Masoom Shah, was injured along with three other people in a blast that occurred near the venue of an ANP rally held in Katozai village in Charsadda's Shabqadar tehsil.
The candidate was returning from the venue of an ANP rally when the blast occurred according to local police control room sources.
Masoom Shah was also earlier injured in an attack on an ANP rally in Feb 2008.
Proscribed jihad boy organization Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) jihad boy organization grabbed credit for both the remotely-detonated attacks. TTP spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan told Dawn.com that the organization had targeted the candidates due to the secular views of the party.
The Pak Taliban had earlier warned of and conducted attacks against what it calls as 'secular parties' including 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... (MQM), Pakistain Peoples Party (PPP) and ANP.
A candidate belonging to the MQM was killed in Hyderabad last week in an attack claimed by the banned TTP organization.
Swat valley was ruled by the Pak Taliban during a 2007-9 insurgency was cleared out of militancy after the armed forces conducted an operation in the area.
More over two bombs weighing 20 pounds each were defused by security forces in the Bannu district near Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
In another incident, a bomb planted on a cycle of violence was defused near a Frontier Corps (FC) checkpost situated in the Chaman area near the Pak-Afghan border.
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[Jakarta Post] North Korea on Sunday rebuffed a South Korean proposal to resolve rising tensions through dialogue, dismissing it as a "crafty trick" by its rival.
Tensions have been high on the Korean Peninsula for weeks, with Pyongyang threatening to attack Seoul and Washington for conducting joint military drills and for supporting U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea for a February nuclear test.
While the threats are largely seen as rhetoric, U.S. and South Korean officials have said they believe North Korea may test-fire a mid-range missile designed to reach the U.S. territory of Guam.
Pyongyang also took a direct shot at Seoul by pulling more than 50,000 North Korean workers from their joint factory park in the border city of Kaesong and denying South Koreans access to the complex just north of the Demilitarized Zone.
The move has brought the South Korean-run factories to a standstill, threatening a shutdown of the last joint project left between the two Koreas.
Last Thursday, Seoul pressed Pyongyang to discuss restarting operations at the factory park. South Korean President Park Geun-hye has promoted seeking peace with North Korea, a change in policy from the hard-line stance of her predecessor, Lee Myung-bak.
But on Sunday, North Korea's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said Pyongyang has no intention of talking with Seoul unless it abandons its confrontational posture.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
The DPRK per se = Iran = taint gonna give up their NucProgs.
China's traditional "soft power" diplomatic approach is failing to procure their desired overseas Milbases for the PLA, thus its entrenchment ["putting its foot down"] in the SCS, IOR, + China-claimed, Japanese-controlled Senkakus in the ECS.
Again, the ongoing DPRK Crisis has NOT prevented China from repeatedly violating Japan's 12-mile territorial sea limits around the disputed Senkakus even at the Crisis escalates. UNLESS SOMETHING GIVES, THIS CRISIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING AS CHINA GIVES UP ON DIPLOMACY IN FAVOR OF "AGGRESSIVE" MILITARY OR COMBINED MILPOL FORCE.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > WILL CHINA PUT AN END TO THE NORTH KOREAN CRISIS?
Yes it can, of course, but not really as the larger issue is CHINA STILL WANTS OVERSEAS PLA MILBASES + MAY INCREASINGLY BE NO LONGER INTERESTED IN USING PEACEFUL DIPLOMACY TO ACQUIRE THEM.
IMO there are TWO PARALLEL, COMPLEMENTARY GEOPOL CRISES going on here - ONE OR THE OTHER OR BOTH CAN EASILY DEVOL INTO NUCLEAR CONFLICT.
----------
* ION DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > MANILA OFFERS US USE OF ITS BASES IN CASE OF NORTH KOREAN WAR.
PHIL ForSec Albert Del Rosario.
RELATED SAME > NO NEED FOR US TO USE RP [Republic of the Phillippines] BASES SOON.
Unless the PHIL is attacked [read, BY CHINA = e.g. SCS Dispute] + US-PHIL Treaty is invoked.
* SAME > NORTH KOREA CARRIES OUT MILITARY EXERCISE [Paratroops]NEAR CHINESE BORDER.
And a mighty F-I-V-E NOKOR Paratroopers they were.
[TOLONEWS] A senior Taliban leader has been incarcerated Book 'im, Mahmoud! in a joint Afghan and 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... troops operation in southern Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province Saturday, local officials said.
"An Afghan and coalition security force arrested a senior Taliban leader and tossed in the calaboose Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! two other cut-throats during an operation in Nad 'Ali district, Helmand province, today," Isaf said in a statement.
According to Isaf, the leader commands multiple cells of Taliban fighters and is alleged to have participated in numerous complex attacks against Afghan and coalition forces throughout Helmand province.
Meanwhile a senior Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan leader was arrested in a joint operation in Burkah district of northern Baghlan province Friday, Isaf said.
The leader is believed to be in charge of a cell of cut-throats responsible for improvised bomb (IED) operations against security forces throughout northern Balkh province.
A Haqqani leader was arrested Saturday with another orc in a joint operation in Pul-e-Alam district of central Pashtun-infested Logar province.
The leader is believed responsible for weapons facilitation in the district and for controlling a group of fighters responsible for IED attacks against Afghan and coalition forces. The security force also seized IED-making material as a result of the raid, Isaf said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Associated Press of Pakistain] Prime Minister Justice (retd) Mir Hazar Khan Khoso on Sunday expressed shock on the killing of Mukarram Shah, a leader of Awami National Party, in a kaboom in Swat. The Prime Minister sought a report from the authorities concerned about the tragic incident. He prayed to Allah Almighty to rest the departed soul in eternal peace and grant courage to the bereaved family to bear the loss with fortitude.
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[Straits Times] Suspected Chinese hackers defaced the website of the Philippines News Agency (PNA) on Sunday, officials said, a possible repeat of cyber attacks last year also blamed on China during a territorial row.
The state-run agency's website temporarily displayed the Chinese flag and the text: "China Hacker EvilShadow Team, We are evil shadow. We are the team. We have our own dignity China Hacker Lxxker."
Asked if Chinese hackers were behind the attack, presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte said an investigation was pending but added: "The note left on the site tends to invite that conclusion."
Another government front man, Herminio Coloma, said the hackers group shared news of the attack via Facebook.
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#1
Read, THE SINO-PHIL "TERRITORIAL ROW" CONTINUES.
[Ma'an] Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, is ready to implement the 2011 reconciliation deal in its entirety, front manSami Abu Zuhri ...a senior spokesman for Hamas. Zuhri gained notoriety in 2006 when he dropped his money belt containing somewhere between 640,000 and 900,000 euros, which was confiscated by Paleostinian security and customs officials at a routine border crossing from Egypt to Gaza. The news brought competing Hamas and Fatah forces to the crossing checkpoint for an epic face-making and hollering contest... said Sunday.
Fatah's selectivity in implementing different clauses has slowed down the reconciliation process, he said.
Senior leader of the Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... movement Khalid al-Batsh said Sunday that Fayyad's resignation presents an opportunity to begin formatting a unity government headed by president Abbas, adding that Egypt is keen to implement Paleostinian reconciliation.
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[Maghrebia] Tunisians are voicing concerns over the rise in religious extremism and associated violence.
Rightfully so. But voting for the Menshaviks leads to Bolsheviks. Enjoy the ride.
In the latest incident, salafists on Thursday (April 11th) attacked a police station in Hergla, Sousse governorate, to free a detainee, Tunisia Numerique reported. A 23-year-old was killed in clashes with security services.
A day earlier, radical Islamists in Nabeul attempted to kill the headmaster of the Lycee Menzel Bouzelfa for refusing entry to a student wearing a niqab.
This was not the first time for religious extremists to attack an educational institution. In March, salafists prevented secondary school pupils from performing the "Harlem Shake" dance in El Kef.
According to a poll published this week, more than 70 per cent of Tunisians are concerned about the rise in religious extremism.
Young adults (65.1 per cent) are the most worried over religious extremism, and women were more worried than men, the Al Maghreb/Sigma survey found.
"Radicalism gets worse every day in Tunisian society," secondary school student Wajdi Hamraoui said. "These people don't believe in freedom and the right to differ. They're a real threat."
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[TOLONEWS] Afghanistan's city of Ghanzi on Saturday was officially named by the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ISESCO) as the capital of culture and civilisation for the Moslem world in a ceremony in the central-eastern city.
Speaking at the ceremony, officials of the Morocco-based organization said their cooperation will not end simply with the naming of the city but they will make an effort for the renovation of the archaeological sites of the province.
The ceremony was attended by high-ranking officials of the Afghan government and foreign countries who watched groups of Afghan performers doing traditional Afghan dance of Atan, swordsmanship, and traditional music.
"We had programmes that were completed last year. There were projects that were completed this year, and there are projects that are being carried out. There are programmes that are not started yet and there should be programmes that would last for 15 to 20 years. And in general, much work will be done for Ghazni which are fortunately ongoing," said Minister of Information and Culture Sayed Makhdoom Raheen.
Many foreign officials including representatives of the international cultural organizations stated their commitment to renovating the ancient remains of the province.
Each year, ISESCO selects from among the Moslem countries in Africa and Asia three cities as cultural capitals of the Islam world that will eventually attract many tourists.
However, a lie repeated often enough remains a lie... in Ghazni's case, many fear that the lack of security could hold back Afghan and international tourists to visit the city.
Ghazni provincial governor called upon the Taliban to stop war in light of the recognition Ghazni has received.
"We hope that by naming Ghazni the capital of Islamic civilisation, this will teach the armed opposition again a lesson of brotherhood and peace instead of them shedding people's blood and make people leave. People should learn, people of Ghazni and armed opposition should learn to go towards the brotherhood and kindness that we had in Ghazni a thousand years ago," said provincial governor Musa Khan Akbarzada.
"I hope this event has a good message for the Taliban," he added.
Security has stepped up in the city, which carries the same name as its province.
The interior ministry officials said that a number of suspects -- who planned to create problems for the Ghazni event -- were caught by Afghan police.
"In cooperation with the people of the province, police forces tossed in the clink Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! four suspects and obtained armaments and a boom jacket in Ghazni province," said interior ministry front man Sediq Sediqqi.
"Insurgent groups of Uzbekistan's Hezb-e-Islami, Haqqani Network, and the Taliban -- backed by the ISI (Pakistain's Inter-Services Intelligence) -- endeavor to destabilise Afghanistan. There is no doubt in this," he added.
Islamabad has constantly rejected the frequent claims by Afghan and foreign officials that Pak intelligence is supporting myrmidons.
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#1
To crib a line from The Untouchables, who would claim to be the capital of Islamic civilization were it not so?
[Beirut Daily Star: Region] Somewhere, underground, in the center of Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... lies one of the most notorious and mysterious prison complexes in the Syria, holding what activists say are hundreds if not thousands of political prisoners.
The Human Rights Violations Documentation Center, a human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... activist group documenting the locked away Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! and killed in the Syrian conflict, released a new report Sunday detailing what is known about military branches of the army's 4th Division, the elite and most ruthless of the Syrian military divisions, headed by Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now... 's brother, Maher Assad.
The VDC compiled the report based on testimony from former detainees, but admits little is known about the institutions and those being held there.
The VDC says a number of military institutions have been converted to informal prisons, as prison space ran out over the course of a massive government arrest campaign after the outbreak of the uprising against Assad in March 2011.
"Often detainees are directly held in the 4th Division premises after arrest, or they are transferred there later from air force intelligence branches," the report says.
Among the most used, the VDC says, is the Paratrooper's Regiment 555 complex near the Soumariah bus interchange in Damascus.
The exact location, the VDC says, is unknown, due to the fact that all those taken to this location have been blindfolded while transported to and from the facility.
"None of the detainees who have been held in this center has a clear description on the place's geography, since everyone who was taken there has been blindfolded," said front man Bassam al-Ahmad, who was himself held captive on political activism charges in the building for some 30 days before fleeing the country.
"From what we have been able to see from under the cloth and from the testimonies of others detained, we know it lies about 10-15 minutes from the Mezzah military intelligence division and about 1 km behind the Soumariah bus station," he told the Daily Star.
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04/15/2013
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[Ma'an] A military court in the Gazoo Strip on Sunday sentenced two people to custodial sentences for collaborating with Israel.
One man was sentenced to 20 years in jail, and the other to seven years, on the charges of spying for Israel.
On Friday, Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, security forces began arresting alleged collaborators who did not hand themselves in during a month-long amnesty which began on March 12.
Under Paleostinian law, collaboration with Israel is punishable by death.
All execution orders must be approved by the president before they can be carried out, but Hamas no longer recognizes the legitimacy of incumbent the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... , whose four-year term ended in 2009.
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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.
A series of car bombings across Iraq on Monday has killed at least 19 people and injured more than 130 others.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Wazoo
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Beirut Daily Star] Secretary of State 
[Ynet] A security official says the leader of an Islamic
[Beirut Daily Star] Syrian government forces ratcheted up their offensive against rebels across the country again Sunday, striking neighborhoods with warplanes and killing some 70 people, most of them civilians, opposition groups said.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Dawn] The Crime Investigation Department (CID) of police conducted a raid operation in 
Seeks help from China in dealing with North Korea
...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat...
North Korea
[Associated Press of Pakistain] Prime Minister Justice (retd) Mir Hazar Khan Khoso on Sunday expressed shock on the killing of Mukarram Shah, a leader of Awami National Party, in a 
[TOLONEWS] Afghanistan's city of Ghanzi on Saturday was officially named by the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ISESCO) as the capital of culture and civilisation for the 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
