An electricity transmission line that will someday ship renewable energy directly from Oklahoma's panhandle to utilities in the southeastern United States cleared a key regulatory hurdle Friday as the federal Energy Department announced its participation in the project.
The 700-mile Plains and Eastern Clean Line project will cross parts of 14 Oklahoma counties before going through Arkansas and ending north of Memphis, Tenn. The privately funded, $2.5 billion project will deliver about 4,000 megawatts of renewable energy. So no State Department review? No Presidential inaction-to-death? How much transmission loss in that 700 miles? And 4000 megawatts is the output of a couple of nuclear reactors. Big deal...
"Building modern transmission that delivers renewable energy to more homes and businesses will create jobs, cut carbon emissions and enhance the reliability of our grid." Carbon-free jobs are better than oil pipeline jobs. And those wind farms don't effect the weather/climate any more than a butterfly flapping its' wings in China.
By opening up new areas for wind energy and renewable energy development, the line will enable a little over 4,000 megawatts of new wind projects to be built in the Oklahoma panhandle." Just the transmission line; there's no power to be transmissioned yet.
The federal government's transmission line participation is going through the Southwestern Power Administration, a federal agency that markets and transmits electricity from hydroelectric dams. The project will use the power administration's eminent domain powers as a last resort if Clean Line can't come to agreements with local landowners along the transmission line route. Which the engineering newsletter that gave me the link notes - Department of Energy, which invoked section 1222 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This means the 700-plus-mile line will be built regardless of any state objections. Which explains why Slick Willie's home state is upset.
Members of Arkansas' congressional delegation said Friday they were disappointed with the involvement by the Energy Department. They said the federal government was going against the wishes of Arkansas regulators when they rejected the Plains and Eastern Clean Line in 2011. This is interstate commerce, you flyover rubes; the Feds take precedence!
"Today marks a new page in an era of unprecedented executive overreach as the Department of Energy seeks to usurp the will of Arkansans and form a partnership with a private company -- the same private company previously denied rights to operate in our state by the Arkansas Public Service Commission."
Sierra Club Executive Director called it a key step in growing a clean energy economy. "We've crossed a clean line towards building America's clean energy future and there's no turning back," he said. We won; get over it.
However, every silver lining has a cloud an Oklahoma group that wants to end state tax incentives for wind said the approval should bolster its case that the state can't afford the incentives any more.
"This approval amidst the current budget environment makes it crystal clear that the state must act now and stop all current and future wind subsidy payments," said the vice president of government relations for Continental Resources Inc., a member of The Windfall Coalition. "This project will increase the already outrageous amount of state dollars going to out of state wind developers who are selling their generated electricity to Arkansas and Tennessee. As a state we must act now."
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/28/2016
13:14 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
German train operator has announced it is introducing women and children-only train carriages amid fears over sex attacks in the country.
The Regiobahn line between Leipzig and Chemnitz will introduce the carriages to increase security for women.
The carriages will be next to the train conductor in a bid to make women feel more safe.
A spokesman for the railway said: "The local proximity to the customer service representative is chosen deliberately."
Germany is still reeling from a a string of sex attacks in Cologne on New Year's Eve, allegedly carried out by dozens of migrants.
In total more than 800 complaints were made to police and the incidents have sparked criticism over German Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to refuse to limit the number of refugees allowed into the country.
But the railway has said the measure is not a direct reaction to the Cologne incidents but is about increasing security generally.
The idea of gender segregated carriages was suggested by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn last year as a measure to reduce sexual harassment on public transport.
He said: "Some women have raised with me that a solution to the rise in assault and harassment on public transport could be to introduce women-only carriages.
"I would consult with women and open it up to hear their views on whether women-only carriages would be welcome -- and if piloting this at times and on modes of transport where harassment is reported most frequently would be of interest."
The measure is also currently in place in countries such as Brazil, Mexico and Egypt.
#5
[Jeremy Corbyn last year] said: "Some women have raised with me that a solution to the rise in assault and harassment on public transport could be to introduce women-only carriages."
Until the first female suicide bomber or two get on board.
#9
From a different time, when men and women (et. al.) were segregated.
The families would board and the men would adjourn to the smoking car.
Interesting twist, in a land where even the words have distinctive genders.
The carriages will be next to the train conductor in a bid to make women feel more safe.
So they ride in the 'back of the train'?
The measure is also currently in place in 'other third world' countries such as Brazil, Mexico and Egypt.
#10
Your Frenchman might color the Eiffel,
Or Schweizer show off with his rifle.
Such gestures are trifles:
We Germans make eyefuls
Parading in robes of Selbstzweifel.
I suppose they've never heard of redacting.
Judicial Watch announced today that it is asking a federal court to order the National Archives and Records Administration to release draft criminal indictments of Hillary Clinton. In its motion for summary judgment, the National Archives claimed that "the drafts involve a significant [Clinton] privacy interest that is not outweighed by any public interest...." In its March 11 opposition brief, Judicial Watch counters that allegedly "making false statements and withholding evidence from federal investigators bears on Mrs. Clinton's honesty, credibility, and trustworthiness ... for the position she currently seeks," rendering the National Archives claim "neither serious nor credible."
[AnNahar] The Turkish coastguard on Sunday stopped five boats carrying dozens of illegal migrants, mostly from Myanmar, who were trying to reach the Greek island of Lesbos, local media reported.
A coastguard vessel spotted the boats about four miles off the shore of Dikili town in Izmir province as they tried to reach Lesbos, the private Dogan news agency reported.
The coastguard stopped the boats and took the migrants back to shore where they were handed over to the police.
Most of them were from Myanmar.
"There is a planned massacre against Muslims in the country we live," one of the migrants told Dogan, saying the combination of danger and poverty had forced them to leave.
His remarks suggested they were members of Myanmar's Rohingya, a persecuted Muslim minority which has been targeted by violent attacks and state-sanctioned discrimination in the Buddhist-majority state, earning them a reputation as one of the world's most persecuted peoples.
The numbers of people reaching Greece from Turkey have declined since an EU-Turkey deal went into effect on March 20 under which all migrants landing on the Greek islands face are sent back.
Before the deal, the numbers arriving each day had numbered in the thousands. On Monday, 1,662 people arrived, but this fell to 600 on Tuesday and 260 on Wednesday.
[AnNahar] Hopeful refugees flooded back Sunday to Greece's overwhelmed Idomeni migrant camp on the border with Macedonia, creating confusion, after rumors that the closed frontier would be forced open.
The influx came as Greek authorities were trying to evacuate the estimated 11,600 people stranded in the squalid camp after Balkan states slammed shut the migrants' route into the European Union.
Dozens of hopeful refugees gathered on railway tracks at Idomeni and at the fence on the frontier, singing and waiting for others like them to arrive, as Greek police in riot gear stood guard.
A young Syrian refugee told the Athens News Agency that the rumor doing the rounds was that international journalists and Red Cross officials would help them force their way across the fence into Macedonia.
"We heard today that the border will open and we came here to cross the border," he said.
"They told us that Red Cross and 500 journalists from all over the world will be with us," he said, without specifying the source.
Another young Syrian refugee said his sister, who is living in Germany, read the same claim on the Internet and alerted him.
[AlAhram] Hundreds of migrants stranded at a makeshift Greek camp protested near the border with Macedonia on Sunday, demanding that the border be opened as they clung to hopes of making it into Europe despite new EU moves to send some refugees back.
Around 50,000 migrants and refugees remain trapped in Greece after a domino of border closures by countries along the Balkan route has prevented them from continuing their journey into wealthier European countries. Many live in squalid conditions in tents near the town of Idomeni at the border with Macedonia.
Some 400 protesters gathered at the camp on Sunday, waving white napkins and holding signs that read "open the border". A man with a megaphone led them singing folk songs in Arabic.
Greek police formed a line to prevent the protesters from moving to the fence that separates the camp from Macedonia.
"We're here today, and everyday, because we won't give up. We protest here everyday for the sake of women and children," said a Syrian woman, Hana. "We are humans and we have rights, this is why we are here today and we will keep protesting until the borders open."
[LI] San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said in a statement Friday he doesn't want any city workers to travel to North Carolina unless necessary in wake of its legislation which blocks anti-discrimination for gay, lesbian and transgender people.
"We are standing united as San Franciscans to condemn North Carolina’s new discriminatory law that turns back the clock on protecting the rights of all Americas including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals," Lee said in the statement.
"Effective immediately, I am directing City Departments under my authority to bar any publicly-funded City employee travel to the State of North Carolina that is not absolutely essential to public health and safety."
[Daily Caller] Since Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced in December that all combat positions must open up to women across the services, military officials have insisted standards for mental and physical fitness will not lower to accommodate women, but countless experts and former military servicemembers consider all such promises to be little more than empty words.
Here's exactly how a shift in standards in the infantry and elite special operations could happen.
#2
Well, combat arms should only have one set of PT standards. I generally don't care about an individual catching the big one when the bullets and lead start flying but I do care that endangers everyone else in the team because that's one less to cover for everyone else. Yep, them support people work just as well in a mobile environment. (do I need to put a /sarc on the last one?)
#3
I wonder if the US Military Academies will lower their standards on their football teams to allow woman to play on the gridiron. Oh, that’s right they play football to win, not to be equal!! We only fight wars these days to be equal…
Posted by: Joe of the Jungle ||
03/28/2016 9:05
Comments ||
Top||
#4
The clerks and jerks not needing to be a combat proficient is a good theory but when the feces hit the fan that could be a big problem.
Just ask Charlie Wheeler and HHC 173 Light Infantry about clerks and jerks fighting like tigers on the first night of the 1968 Tet
#10
Iff one is wondering why the Madonna Fan from Guam sezzes the US in FutWar may send an All-Femme Sub to attack-n-destroy China's heavily defended Three Gorges, WEHELL WONDER NO MORE!
WELCOME TO US-LED ANTI-US OWG-NWO + US-LED ANTI-US GLOBALISM.
Perhaps youse 'hoid of it.
NO MORE "GREAT POWER" OR MAJOR WARS THUR YEAR 2050 IFF NOT 2100 = OWG UN PEACEKEEPING ACTIONS = WOMEN IN COMBAT, as the issue is being debated now.
[Mil.con] The career death of Rear Adm. Brian Losey, the Navy SEAL leader being forced to retire after his promotion was blocked in the Senate, marks the most public punishment ever at the top rank of the elite SEALs, who are known for running below the radar with their combat missions and internal business.
Even more tension between Congress and the SEALs may be looming. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, said this week that he will oppose the nomination of Losey's replacement, Rear Adm. Tim Szymanski.
Hunter told The San Diego Union-Tribune that he has concerns about the incoming SEAL commander's past performance on contracting, training and acquisitions. He didn't elaborate on the alleged problems.
#2
Like Rear Admirals Kubic and Gaouette, Losey knew too much about the tragic events in Benghazi. Or in the case of Losey, too little.... and said so in congressional testimony.
You'll find no reporting of it in this article however. Note the oblique references to potential causes such as gays and women, Losey's poor table manners, angry SEAL Foundation members, etc.
Not to be forgotten was the outing of an affair by DoJ/FBI and the November 2012 resignation of General Petraeus as Director CIA. I believe the attack on Benghazi took place on 11-12 September 2012.
#4
The leaks may have already happened and are continuing. What Admiral Losey has experienced may have been a shot over the bow, and a warning to others. None of these people want to lose their paycheck for life.
ST-6 fell on hard times and was nearly dissolved during General Powell's tenure as Chairman JCS. An operational cock-up at Paitilla Airport during Just Cause, communications losses during the Haitian Military Coup, and leaks to the press were some of the causes of Powell's distrust. For additional, read Sean Naylor's Relentless Strike, pages 54-55.
Did I mention leaks to the press, 'tell all' books, and movies like '13 Hours ?'
#6
Seems that Losey went after people under his command and a DOD investigation between 2011-2015 upheld 3 (of 5) violations of the Whistleblower Act
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_L._Losey
[IsraelTimes] After troops retake city from Islamic State, officials say only light damage suffered to artifacts at ancient site.
This will comfort all those who were more worried about the suffering of ancient stones than living people in that part of the world.
Update from The Times of Israel at 1:30 p.m. ET: The ruins are fine, except for the ISIS bombs tucked away here and there, but much in the antiquities museum was broken or sold. Still, the most important of the portables were taken away by the Syrian army when they retreated from the invaders, and are safe.
#1
And press communiques continue to be cheaper and more plentiful than actual high explosives. Propagandists can "blow up" ancient nonstrategic ruins out in the middle of nowhere far cheaper than actually expending the ordinance to shift around some rocks, and you still get all the crazy man-child jihadi recruits as if you'd actually blown them up in the real world. What a surprise.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
03/28/2016 11:24
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Don't worry, Putin is helping make new ruins quite nicely. Couldnt think of a better bunch to have their modern cities ruined. You want the 6th century? Happy to oblige!
[AnNahar] Two Malians have been tossed in the clink Book 'im, Mahmoud! on suspicion of playing a key role in a deadly attack on an Ivory Coast beach resort claimed by an al-Qaeda-linked group, security sources said Sunday.
The two were arrested in northern Mali on Friday and Saturday following indications they "actively participated" in the March 13 assault on three hotels and a beach in Grand-Bassam that left 19 people dead, one of the sources told AFP.
The suspects were named as Midy Ag Sodack Dicko, accused of organizing the logistics for the attack, and Ibrahim Ould Mohammed, said to be the right-hand man of accused criminal mastermind Kounta Dallah, who is still on the lam, the sources said.
The Grand-Bassam rampage, the first of its kind in the Ivory Coast, was claimed by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb which has also carried out similar assaults on tourist hotspots in Mali and Burkina Faso ...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other... Ag Sodack Dicko, who was arrested on Saturday, said the assailants had stayed at his home in Ivory Coast's main city of Abidjan, although he claimed he "didn't know" they were going to carry out the attacks, one of the sources said.
A police source told AFP that Ag Sodack Dicko had played a logistical role in the attacks and had flown to the Malian capital Bamako shortly afterwards.
Armed with grenades and assault rifles, the attackers stormed three hotels in Grand-Bassam, a resort popular with expats that lies 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Abidjan.
It was the latest in a series of high-profile assaults in north and west Africa targeting locals and tourists alike.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/28/2016
00:00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source in the Iraqi Ministry of Interior announced on Sunday, that 11 people had been either killed or wounded in a bomb blast near fruits and vegetables market in southern Baghdad.
The source said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “This morning, a bomb exploded near fruits and vegetables market in Yusufiya area in southern Baghdad, killing two people and wounding nine others.”
The source, who asked anonymity, added, “A security force rushed to the area and evacuated the wounded to a nearby hospital for treatment and the dead bodies to the forensic medicine department, while carried out a raid to search for the perpetrators of the bombing.”
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A security source revealed on Sunday, that the security forces cut off al-Gomhoreya Bridge in central Baghdad.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said in a statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “The security forces cut off al-Gomhoreya Bridge in central Baghdad, and prevented the vehicles movement over it.”
Earlier today, Iraqi Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr entered the Green Zone in central Baghdad and decided to protest inside the area alone against the government’s slow pace of carrying out reforms.
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source in the Iraqi police said on Sunday, that the security forces had managed to arrest the ISIS explosive expert in the so-called Wilayat Baghdad during a tactical operation north of the capital Baghdad.
The source said in a press statement received by IraqiNews.com, “Based on intelligence information, the Eighth Brigade of the Federal Police carried out, today, a tactical operation in the district of al-Taji north of Baghdad,” adding that, “The operation resulted in the arrest of the ISIS explosives official, in addition to [seizing] bombs, explosive belts, weapons and ammunition.”
Posted by: badanov ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
The UN top envoy for Somalia has decried the use of child soldiers by the Islamist Al-Shabaab militant in their attacks in the Horn of Africa nation.
"Hey! That's our job!"
In a statement received on Saturday, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) for Somalia Michael Keating deplored the high number of children among the Al-Shabaab militants captured by Puntland security forces during the recent fighting in that part of Somalia.
Keating said the blatant deployment of children by Al-Shabaab extremists is an outrage that warrants special condemnation.
“These children need support, and it is imperative that all feasible steps be taken to rehabilitate them and eventually reunite them with their families,” Keating said.
The UN envoy said these children are among dozens of extremists who were captured in coastal areas of Puntland and have been subsequently moved to the state capital of Garowe. Keating said the UN has entered into constructive discussions with Puntland authorities about making the necessary arrangements for ensuring proper treatment of these children in accordance with international human rights and humanitarian laws.
“Positive actions taken in this regard will demonstrate the authorities’ commitment to the obligations assumed by Somalia when it ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in January 2015,” he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: al-Shabaab
(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – A local source in Nineveh Province announced on Sunday, that the so-called ISIS executed 12 of its fighters’ relatives who were previously working with the security forces in Mosul, while pointed out that one of ISIS fighters executed his brother and cousin on charges of cooperating with the security forces.
The source said in a brief statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “ISIS executed 12 of its fighters’ relatives who were previously working with the security directorates in Mosul, after the air strike that were carried out by the Iraqi Army Aviation and US-led coalition aviation on ISIS headquarters in the University of Mosul.”
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added, “One of ISIS members also executed his brother and cousin on charges of cooperating with the security forces.”
ISIS Top Dawg has a Very Bad Day
(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan spokesman in Nineveh Gayath al-Surji revealed on Sunday, that the so-called ISIS Wali of Ba’aj was killed in an air strike southwest of the province.
Surji said in a press statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “Today the international coalition aviation bombarded ISIS headquarters in Nineveh, killing a group of ISIS militants, including the so-called ISIS Wali of Ba’aj Mohamed al-Shamri, who was also known as Abu Mariam.”
Surji added, “The coalition aviation also targeted a number of ISIS headquarters in Nineveh and managed to kill 10 ISIS militants.”
(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – An informed source within the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan announced on Sunday, that more than 400 families left their homes in villages northeast of Makhmour District and headed to the center of the district.
The source said in a press statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “More than 400 families have fled from the villages of Khrbirdan, Kodellh and Muhana northwest of Makhmour District towards the center of the district,” indicating that, “The displaced people left their areas in search of safer areas for their lives after clashes had erupted between Iraqi forces and ISIS militants,” pointing out that, “The concerned authorities are preparing to set up a camp in a safe area in the district of Makhmour.”
Posted by: badanov ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Belgian police briefly used water cannon to control several hundred rowdy protesters in central Brussels on Sunday after they ignored an official call for marches to be postponed following Tuesday’s bombings.
Amid fears of further attacks, officials wanted to give police the scope to focus on investigations which have widened to other countries, leading to the arrest of an Algerian in Italia and intelligence cooperation with Germany. Police carried out 13 new raids in Belgium itself.
Hundreds nevertheless gathered at the Bourse to express solidarity with the victims of the suicide kabooms at Brussels airport and on a rush-hour metro train. Thirty one people were killed, including three attackers, and hundreds more injured. ISIS has grabbed credit.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
I wonder if one of the foundations of Belgian society is respect for themselves.
#2
What I often wonder is why is it that the so-called "far-rightists" are the only ones who seem outraged by the latest atrocity. Why aren't there millions of folks from all walks of life on the street going rampagingly mad at the politicos and so-called intelligentsia that enabled civilization's enemies to enter in such great numbers.
Posted by: henry cybulski ||
03/28/2016 6:14
Comments ||
Top||
#3
Because they're afraid of sticking their heads out, Henry.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Iraqi holy man Moqtada Sadr on Sunday entered the perimeter of Baghdad’s fortified "Green Zone" and began a sit-in to ramp up pressure for reforms.
The symbolic move by the young Shiite holy man comes after thousands of his supporters have been camping outside the restricted area’s entrances for more than a week.
Sadr wants Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to enact reforms tackling corruption and announce a technocratic government to replace the current cabinet of party-affiliated ministers.
In his most recent address, Sadr had said Abadi should announce new measures by Saturday or face further pressure from the street.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
[DAWN] Interrogation of the enjugged Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! Indian intelligence operative Kulbhushan Yadav revealed he had been imparting Naval fighting training to Baloch separatists in an attempt to target Pak ports, a security official who declined to be named said on Sunday.
Yadav, who was arrested 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... , is believed to be a member of Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
The Indian Foreign Ministry earlier confirmed the arrested man was a former Indian Navy officer, but the Pak government claimed to have recovered travel documents and multiple fake identities of Yadav, establishing him as an Indian spy who entered into Balochistan through Iran -- holding a valid Iranian visa.
After his arrest, Yadav was shifted to Islamabad for interrogation, during which it was revealed that he had purchased boats at the Iranian port in Chabahar in order to target 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... and Gwadar ports in a terrorist plot, the official said, adding that the 'RAW agent' is believed to be expert at Naval fighting techniques.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[FREEDOMDAILY] Norwegian Army Chief Odin Johannessen warns that European countries must be reading and willing to fight against radical Islam in order to preserve the values that unite the continent.
"I think we must be ready to fight, both with words, actions -- and if necessary weapons -- to preserve the country and the values we have in common," Johannessen said in a speech to the Oslo Military Society on Monday.
Citing the Islamist attacks in Gay Paree, Johannessen said that, "Europe can no longer expect to live in peace and security, without having to defend its interests and values."
The military chief went on to insist that well trained and adequately equipped soldiers would be crucial.
"You can not win wars without having people on the ground," he asserted.
Johannessen’s remarks mirror similar sentiments expressed by other military officials in Europe.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Contrast that with the comments of....oh never mind.
[DAWN] Around 10,000 people protesting the execution of Mumtaz Qadri -- a former Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... police commando hanged last month for assassinating Punjab governor Salman Taseer -- breached Islamabad's Red Zone Sunday evening.
The government has called in the army to control the law and order situation in the capital.
The protesters are staging a sit-in outside the Parliament and have refused to clear the area unless their demands - which include the imposition of Shariah law in Pakistain - are met. The demonstration that started early Sunday evening is still underway early Monday morning, although the crowd has diminished from 10,000 to around 3,000 protesters.
They removed containers and blockades on the way to the Parliament House and also set some containers to fire before staging a sit-in outside the building, where fiery ...a single two-syllable word carrying connotations of both incoherence and viciousness. A fiery delivery implies an audience of rubes and yokels, preferably forming up into a mob... anti-government speeches are being delivered.
Earlier in the day, riot police used tear gas and batons to disperse the stone-pelting crowd from the high-security zone outside the parliament building.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia
(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – Haditha Police Command in Anbar Province announced on Sunday, that the joint forces managed to cleanse the building of Heet Police Directorate west of Ramadi and killed dozens of ISIS militants.
The spokesman of the emergency police’s 14th regiment in Haditha District Lieutenant Saud Harb al-Obeidi said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com, “The security forces carried out a wide-scale military operation and were able to cleanse the building of Heet Police Directorate after fierce battles,” pointing out that, “Dozens of ISIS members were killed during the operation.”
Obeidi added, “The security forces raised the Iraqi flag over the building and dismantled the improvised explosive devices that were planted around the building,” indicating that, “The cleansing battles in the areas west of Anbar are continuous.”
ISIS cuts off water for resident of Kabisa If you thought it was for line maintenance, I have news for you...
(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – The mayor of Heet District in Anbar province, Mohanad Zbar, said on Sunday, that the ISIS militants had cut off the water supply for the people of Kabisa vicinity from the city of Heet.
Zbar said in a brief statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “The ISIS controls the city of Heet (70 km west of Ramadi) and cut off the water [supply], completely, for the residents of Kabisa vicinity south of the city,” adding that, “The ISIS is trying to kill the people of Kabisa of thirst after the liberation of the vicinity from these criminal gangs,” pointing out that, “Army forces within the Seventh Division and al-Jazeera Operations began delivering water to the people in order to alleviate their suffering.”
[ARA News] ERBIL ــ Radical group of the Islamic State (ISIS) launched suicide attacks on the Ayn al-Asad Airbase in western Iraq, clashing with U.S. and Iraqi military forces in the area, Iraqi media sources reported on Saturday.
Local military sources confirmed that around nine ISIS suicide bombers were able to infiltrate into the airbase in western Anbar.
Ayn al-Asad Airbase, a U.S.-Iraqi base, is located in the largely Sunni province of al-Anbar.
The U.S. forces intervened to support the Iraqi troops after hours from ISIS attacks, according to media reports.
“The U.S. special forces were able to repel the attack and killed eight suicide bombers, while an Iraqi lieutenant pilot and two other soldiers were killed in addition to the injury of six other soldiers in the operations,” an official from the Iraqi army told ARA News, speaking on condition of anonymity.
In this regard, Iraqi political activist Jassim Khalaf said that the United States is determined to eliminate the terror group “after becoming a real threat to the global security.”
“Daesh will receive painful blows from the U.S.-led coalition forces in the coming days,” he stressed, using an acronym for ISIS.
Earlier, the hardline group had attacked another U.S. military base north of Mosul and was able to kill an American soldier.
Over the past few weeks, U.S.-led coalition forces conducted several airstrikes on the Iraqi province of Anbar, killing a number of jihadi leaders and other militants from the extremist group, according to Iraqi officials.
The coalition’s airstrikes have recently killed dozens of prominent leaders of the radical group across Syria and Iraq, besides hitting tactical units and oil fields held by ISIS. The group has been suffering an apparent shortage in manpower in the recent weeks.
Posted by: badanov ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The short answer is that students are going to need algebra at some point in their careers and that learning it goes a lot further toward teaching them to actually think than bullsquat courses that "teach them to think analytically."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Cuts into time that could be spent on socially trendy subjects, don'cha know..."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/28/2016 0:43
Comments ||
Top||
#3
So the natural progression is the study of algebra will be reserved for those of privilege whose parents can afford to send them to the "right" private academies.
The Chinese and the Germans are laughing their asses off at this one...and licking their chops at the decline in American competition in engineering and science.
Pretty soon we won't be able to make an omelet without a guest worker.
#9
If a two I-phone package is $400 for the phones and $200 per month and a single I-phone $275 for the phone and $75 a month, which is the better deal?
Does graphing the total cost over time count as algebra?
Why do you need algebra when the salesman can tell you the best deal?
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/28/2016 7:33
Comments ||
Top||
#10
“When it came to x and y and graphing, that’s when I started dropping, and it made me feel low,” he said. “But we don’t need to learn what x and y is. When in life are we going to write on paper, ‘X and y needs to be this?’“
No wonder the kid failed.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/28/2016 7:38
Comments ||
Top||
#11
Meanwhile students at, I beleave Emory, are severely traumatized by 'Trump 2016' written in chalk on the sidewalk....
#12
Algebra and geometry are the two specific courses that I can honestly say I couldn't have prospered without.
Try being a carpenter figuring out how to frame a complex roof and you'll see what I need. After that I switched careers and became a programmer, need I explain that one?
#17
“But we don’t need to learn what x and y is. When in life are we going to write on paper, ‘X and y needs to be this?’“
I must confess that was my problem. I wanted to know why and the teachers said "Just do it." It wasn't that math was too hard, it was that pointless memorization of theorems was boring, especially to a kid in high school who had just discovered girls, cars and surfing. I got through it but my grades were, ahem, not A's or B's. How, then, did I end up as a computer programmer?
I think we need a better approach to teaching math such as first present the students with a problem they might actually encounter in real life and then show them how math can be used to solve it. Teach them a practical application for it before you bore them to death. Teach them how they can use it to get a job and then make it clear to them that the jobs acquired with math skills pay a whole heckuva lot better. I think the real problem is getting the NEA to recognize they have a problem and getting them to change.
Here's what a teacher might tell them: "Now, kids, unless you want to end up teaching school like me you really should try to learn this stuff."
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/28/2016 11:01
Comments ||
Top||
#18
3dc, Robert Heinlein recommended calculus as a requirement for getting a driver's license.
#19
I'll take it a little further. My experience with high schools in California is that the emphasis is on getting kids into college. Never mind what college does to/for them. So if the college requires a year of algebra and a year or geometry those kids better damn well sit through those classes and do their homework for no other reason than they need it for four more years of sitting in boring classes?
The emphasis should be on job training for those who won't go to college. For those who will go to college, OK, make them learn math. But as I said earlier, learning math should be in the context of what can be done with math instead of math for the sake of math. Try a little elementary engineering or architecture. Teach 'em a little Javascript. Teach them something they might actually use in real life.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/28/2016 11:13
Comments ||
Top||
#20
Abu: you say that as if (oh, off the top of my head) the common mechanical drafter, machinist, or welder won't need to know albebra or geometry or precalculus or calculus.
#22
TfSM, I think that Abu was saying that as a kid he didn't get it (the need) but now he does AND to combat that problem teaching needs to change some.
He can defend himself better if necessary.
BUT, the key issue with Abu's approach is one I ran into when I became a substitute after retirement. first present the students with a problem they might actually encounter in real life
OMG!!!! Hit them first with the dreaded word problem!!! Sure fire failure all around.
Unfortunately I agree that is the way to go. Kids need to be taught how to THINK, analyse real problems and develop the proper methodology (sic) needed to solve it.
Given the general quality and ability of the teachers I saw in an upscale public system I'm not holding out much hope.
#24
Thing, I never studied drafting or machining. Sorry. It sounds interesting but I was just never even exposed to it. But my bottom line is the emphasis in high school should be jobs and not just going on to college so the high school teachers can brag about how many of their students go on to college.
Some people might find it interesting to sit and work equations just for the sake of working the equations just like some people like to work crossword puzzles. More power to them but I think that most people don't.
If you need math to be a drafter or machinist then by all means learn it. I think it would help if the math was presented as a tool to use on the job instead of an end unto itself. But as AlanC said, the teachers in our public school systems don't offer much hope.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/28/2016 12:57
Comments ||
Top||
#25
Here is the algebra logic of today. A sad commentary of today's educators and students.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/28/2016 13:12
Comments ||
Top||
#26
Think of algebra as rite of passage in our culture
#27
I flunked my first year of algebra (1960) and passed on my second attempt. I worked on my first computer in 1963 and 44 years retired as a corporate engineer for DEC. During my years in high school, they also taught people to be mechanics, enginemen and machinists. Everyone is not meant for college! Our education system should be like the European one.
#28
I am finding myself in serious agreement with Heinlein more and more every day.
The math problems I review on eldest's school work is not only poor in math theory, they are also poor in English composition. Some are damn near unreadable. Common Dunce is frustrating to all but the natural mathematician and reading students. So I find myself supplementing the school education.
As the CC program is, they have them learning basic algebra before having their basic +-X/ tables memorized.
It is my theory that math, especially algebra and geometry, is like riding a bike. It takes some longer than others, but once you get it, your world is suddenly much larger.
How I got Algebra:
I have $10. A candy bar and soda cost $1.25. How many candy+sodas can I buy this week?
How I got Geometry:
Hey, this can help my billiards game!
Yes, drudgery in learning proofs, but side-angle-side etc. paid off just as well as +-X/ tables.
I actually really enjoyed Calculus after I got it.
#29
I notice that some people breeze through algebra and have problems with (classical proof-based) geometry, others have it the other way round. (some of us found both subjects fun) I'm not sure why there should be a difference, but... different branches of math, different approaches.
Posted by: james ||
03/28/2016 15:40
Comments ||
Top||
#30
Their real problem with Algebra isn't that it's hard. But that it reflects reality as opposed to the flights of fantasy reflected in most Government forecasts.
#31
re #27: Omoluling Platypus4760 44 years retired as a corporate engineer for DEC.
Where and when at DEC? I spent 14 yrs mostly in Software Services, in and around Maynard. Were you at the Mill, Spitbrook, Nashua?? Those were interesting times, no?
#33
The only thing I learned in high school that proved useful in the real world was basic statistics and probability. I was in a program that omitted trigonometry to teach it. Trig to this day baffles me.
#34
Yes, drudgery in learning proofs, but side-angle-side etc. paid off just as well as +-X/ tables.
That's what I call a practical application. If only I'd had a pool table.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/28/2016 17:17
Comments ||
Top||
#35
Sometimes my walk home from school would be past a bowling alley with a game room. Planted get a job seeds as well, because losing was expensive.
Suddenly bowling pens were not a random flurry, carom shots in mini golf made sense. I didn't get it easily, had to work at it, but see the classic 3-4-5 triangle and know 30/60/90 - which years later fortuitously helped me learn drafting which landed me my first real job in high school and afford to take dates to the bowling alley and really lose some money.
#40
If they are factoring higher order polynomials, the courses may be too advanced for high school. Better to hammer home the basics and save something for the advanced placement courses.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Scores of anti-government armed murderous Moslems have joined grinding of the peace processor in the restive eastern Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province of Afghanistan, local officials said Sunday.
Provincial governor Salim Khan Kunduzi said 53 murderous Moslems including four commanders leading the murderous Moslems surrendered to the Afghan government by renouncing violence.
He said 43 of the murderous Moslems were fighting in Taliban group’s ranks and 10 others were affiliated with the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group.
Welcoming the murderous Moslems decision to join grinding of the peace processor, Kunduzi called on other holy warrior groups to renounce violence and join grinding of the peace processor.
One of the murderous Moslems who joined grinding of the peace processor said he was previously working for the Taliban group and later joined the ISIS ranks but he said he never knew who was leading the ISIS loyalists in Afghanistan.
He said the majority of ISIS loyalists are comprised of foreigners mainly Pak nationals who are busy with training of the murderous Moslems in Afghanistan.
This comes as the loyalists of the ISIS terror group received major setbacks in eastern Nangarhar province during the recent months as a result of the mounting Arclight airstrikes by US forces and ground operations by the Afghan forces.
Meanwhile, ...back at the palazzo, Don Smilzo looked for an avenue of escape. The only window opened a hundred feet above the moat. The nearest of the hired assassins hold a bloody axe.
The window was looking better all the time.... it is believed that the loyalists of the terror group are looking to shift the area of their operations from Nangahar to eastern Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country..... in a bid to escape the ongoing operations.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[EXPRESS.CO.UK] Pak police confirmed that a jacket wallah was behind the blast at a public park in the eastern Pak city.
The park was particularly busy on Sunday evening due to the Easter holiday weekend.
Taliban splinter group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar has grabbed credit for the attack and said they specifically targeted Pakistain's Christian minority.
Speaking on behalf of the sick jihadis, Ehsanullah Ehsan ...formerly the front man for the Pak Taliban, now the lips and tongue of the Jamaatul Ahrar splinter group in Mohmand Agency... said: "The target were Christians.
"We want to send this message to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... that we have entered Lahore.
"He can do what he wants but he won't be able to stop us. Our suicide bombers will continue these attacks."
Police sources had earlier said the bombing appeared to target "Christian families" celebrating Easter.
Mustansar Feroz, police superintendent for the area, said: "Most of the dead and injured are women and kiddies."
While senior police officer Haider Ashraf said the area was crowded with Christians celebrating Easter.
The blast occurred in the parking area of Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, just outside the exit gate and a few metres away from children's swings.
Eyewitnesses describing seeing body parts strewn across the parking lot once the blast's dust had settled.
Most of the victims were women and kiddies, according to a rescue service front man.
According to doctors at the Jinnah Hospital, many injured are at death's door and fear the corpse count may rise.
Media footage showed children and women crying and screaming and rescue officials, police and bystanders rushing injured people to ambulances.
The terror attack happened at the heart of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's political base of Punjab.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[12 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
#1
NYTimes: Its Trump's fault
CAIR: Warns against Isamophobia
Kerry: Those weren't real mulims
Posted by: lord garth ||
03/28/2016 0:54
Comments ||
Top||
[DAWN] BRUSSELS is a world away from here. Different reasons, different trajectories. Plus, we’ve already had our Gay Pareees and Brussels several times over.
But Brussels is important because it confirms what Gay Paree had revealed: a fourth wave of jihad. As we tamp down our own third wave of jihad, might we too face a fourth down the road?
Speculation is a dirty game, but worse is to be caught unawares and unprepared.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[11 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Oh yeah, Boboy, then how come actress CHLOE MORETZ is already in the "FIFTH WAVE"???
The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, rose on Thursday, helped by higher rates for bigger vessels.
The overall index that factors in the rates for capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize shipping vessels, was up five points to 406 points.
The capesize index rose seven points or 3.57 percent to 203 points.
Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, were up $77 to $2,082.
The panamax index was up eight points at 466 points.
Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes, rose $58 to $3,731.
Among smaller vessels, the supramax index rose five points to 473 points, while the handysize index was up two points at 268 points.
#1
Upgrades to ships using less expensive gas power so as to make them much less costly to operate also. This will cull the herd. Scrap value will drop.
#2
The gas may be less expensive, but the engineering, fabrication, and vessel modification costs for storage and delivery, at this point, rather negate the savings in fuel.
#3
Just another fly in the ointment---Lake Gatun in the Panama Canal is in the dry season, and the lake level is lowering because of the lowered amount of rain in the watershed supplying the lake. That means there are restrictions on ship draft. That could limit how many containers can be loaded on a ship. Large ships that cannot carry full loads may be more economical to move around the Cape than through the Panama Canal.
I do not know all the economics, but it could affect large ship traffic through the Canal.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/28/2016 19:54
Comments ||
Top||
#4
According to a railroads trade art that was discussing decline in intermodal in ound from Asia was this : decline in oil prices allowed ship owners options to transit around south america (cheaper than canal tolls) or return to china around Africa. either way adds to cruise duration and would boost thr baltic
Saudi-led coalition warplanes carried out a series of raids in southern Yemen on Sunday targeting Al-Qaeda positions that killed five suspected militants, a Yemeni military official said. The official said the militants were killed in air strikes that targeted buildings in the city of Zinjibar, including an intelligence and special forces headquarters occupied by the militants.
Several people were also wounded and taken to a hospital in the nearby town of Jaar, the official said. An abandoned army weapons factory in Jaar which the militants had taken over was also hit, the official added, but was unable to say if there were any casualties.
Other raids carried out by the Saudi-led coalition struck suspected Al-Qaeda positions in second city Aden at dawn, according to the same official. It was not immediately clear if anyone was killed or injured.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has taken advantage of Yemen's war between Iran-backed rebels and pro-government forces backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition to expand in the south. AQAP, which has long been entrenched in Yemen, is regarded by Washington as the network's most dangerous branch, and it has carried out deadly attacks on the West in the past.
Last week a US air strike on an AQAP training camp in Hajr, in the southeastern province of Hadramawt, killed 71 fighters, according to provincial officials.
The militants have seized parts of Hadramawt including its provincial capital Mukalla in April last year.
The Saudi-led coalition launched its intervention in Yemen a year ago against the Houthi rebels but it has recently turned its guns on militants in southern Yemen.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A Taliban was killed in an Arclight airstrike conducted by the Afghan National Army (ANA) forces in the restive Nuristan province of Afghanistan.
According to the local security officials, the Taliban capo has been identified as Taza Gul who was killed along with a number of his Lions of Islam in the Arclight airstrike conducted in Du’ab district.
An Afghan army official serving with the 201st Silab Corps of the Afghan National Army confirmed that a Taliban capo was among 18 killed or maimed in the air raid.
This was the second Arclight airstrike conducted by the Afghan army in Nuristan province within the past one week.
At least 8 Lions of Islam were killed and 13 others were maimed in Arclight airstrikes carried out by the Afghan Air Force (AAF) in Du’ab district last week.
The Arclight airstrikes are being conducted as as local officials are saying heavy festivities continue since in Du’ab district after the Talibs launched coordinated attacks on security posts of the Afghan forces.
The officials further added that the security forces are receiving close-air support from the Afghan Air Force (AAF) as they fight back the bad boys.
The Talibs group has not commented regarding the report so far.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The retrial in a high-profile case of a Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates... i man accused of killing a British teacher was adjourned on Sunday after the defence lawyer failed to show up in court.
The case of Badr Hashim Khamis Abdallah al-Jabar was adjourned until May 1 because of the legal no-show.
Jabar told the court that no defence team was present as "my lawyer was not informed about today’s hearing".
The judge then pushed the case back a further five weeks.
Jabar was initially sentenced to death two years ago after being convicted of stabbing and killing Lauren Patterson, 24, in October 2013 and burning her remains in a desert location.
The victim was also sexually assaulted, according to evidence given in court.
Last February, however, Qatar’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, threw out the conviction and sentence, ordering a retrial.
Jabar maintained he had accidentally stabbed Patterson after a row which she had started.
Lauren’s mother Alison told AFP she would attend the next hearing despite her disappointment on Sunday.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Belgium's interior minister says the Belgian government has invested $670 million into police and security services over the past two years but acknowledged that neglect over decades had caused deficiencies that have hampered an effective response to violent extremism.
Minister Jan Jambon said errors were made in the run-up to the March 22 Brussels attacks that killed at least 31 people and maimed 270 others, but says fresh investments need time before they become visible. He said Sunday that hiring anti-terror specialists and specialized equipment could not happen in weeks or months.
Jambon says "it is also not because you put the money in now, that tomorrow all this is visible on the ground."
Meanwhile on Sunday, Brussels prosecutors have charged another man with participation in a terrorist group, the Belgian press agency Belga said.
Belga named the man incarcerated Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! as A. Abderrahmane who prosecutors had said on Saturday was being detained for a further 24 hours after being shot during a raid in the Brussels district of Schaerbeek.
It said he was charged in connection with a related raid in La Belle France this week that authorities say foiled an apparent attack plot.
The prosecutor's office could not immediately be reached for comment.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
[GMA News] An Abu Sayyaf sub-leader and member were killed in a Friday morning clash in Al-Barka, Basilan that also resulted in five soldiers, two militiamen, and six other terrorists being injured. Major Filemon Tan identified the former sub-leader as Eric Ajibon, allegedly an expert bomb maker who was "responsible in the series of bombings against the government forces and business establishments in Basilan."
The other fatality was identified only as Ayan. His and Ajibon's bodies were recovered from the area of the battle and were turned over to the police. Tan said, "The troops also recovered war materials and personal belongings in the encounter site."
The six Abu Sayyaf militants reported injured in the fighting were carried off by the retreating rebels.
The clash occurred after the military was tipped off by residents of Sitio Luglugi in Barangay Macalang about the presence of around 40 Abu Sayyaf militants in the area. The military deployed elite troops from the 4th Special Forces Battalion, which caught up with the insurgents led by Isnilon Hapilon, a top Abu Sayyaf leader.
Tan said, "Heavy exchange of fires lasted for 30 minutes and sporadic firefight dragged on for three hours."
Posted by: ryuge ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf
When the U.S. Department of State released a statement condemning the Pakistani Taliban faction's Easter bombing in a Lahore park, it noticeably omitted the fact that Easter-celebrating Christians were specifically targeted. They can't say "Lord Voldemort."
For a map, click here. You can enlarge the map, if you open it separately.
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
Attacks and counterattacks around northern Donetsk city have significantly increased over the weekend as both sides report casualties and even combat deaths, mostly from artillery shelling, according to Russian language news accounts.
According to a news account which appeared in tsensor.net.ua, a probe by Russian backed separatists near Avdievka on Sunday evening was driven back with four Ukrainian wounded and an unknown number of casualties on the rebels' side. Ukrainian positions also were hit with 82mm and 120mm mortar fire.
At around the same time, rebel military officials say the Ukrainians attempted a breakthrough fight near Avidievka, which resulted in five Ukrainian soldiers being killed and four wounded.
According to the Donetsk ministry of defense news release, Number 16 Company of the Ukrainian 58th Separate Rifle Brigade was the lead element in the attack.
Quoting the Donetsk ministry of defense spokesman Lt. Colonel Eduard Basurin, Ukrainian front line units have been ordered to limit the number of dead reported to five per day. Basurin said that 23 Ukrainian dead were being kept hidden at an aid station in Avdievka.
The report also said that a total of 189 Ukrainian have died at the line of contact, not just in Donetsk, with another 322 wounded since early March. Many of those casualties are from hazing, which is prevalent in both armies, and from accidental firearms discharges.
A separate tsensor.net.ua report said that on Saturday night a total of four rebel soldiers were killed and six were wounded in a rebel probe in Avdievka.
The report also said that soldiers from the rebel 3rd Separate Rifle Brigade has refused to carry out attack orders. The report does not make clear if those elements were the same elements who were involved in Saturday's attacks.
Official rebel reports claim that about 20 individuals were removed from their residences in Avdievka by Ukrainian security forces on Saturday. Rebels in the past have claimed similar incidents in which Ukrainian security services have removed families near the forward zone because they were considered pro Russian.
Fighting elsewhere on the line of contact
According to a news report which appeared in korrespondent.net, rebel forces in both Donetsk and Lugansk fired on Ukrainian forces a total of 44 times in a 24 hour period.
Rebels fired a variety of weapons at Ukrainians in Lugansk city, Novogorodskoye, Mayorsk, Zaytsevo, Leninskoye, Peski, Opytnoye, Shirokino, Troitskoye and Marinka.
Weapons used at Zaitsevo included 122mm artillery. Zaytsevo has been the focus of an ongoing artillery exchange since early in March.
On Saturday between 0500 hrs and 0800 hrs, according to a separate korrespondent.net news report, rebels fired on Ukrainian positions near Zaytsevo and Mayorsk a total of 160 times, a comparatively powerful barrage for this war.
On Saturday rebels also hit Ukrainian positions on the right bank of the northern Donetsk River using artillery.
According to rebel officials, Ukrainian forces violated the ceasefire a total of 43 times in a 48 hour period. Ukrainian artillery has reportedly hit rebel positions in Yasinovataya, Zaytsevo, Spartak, at the Donetsk airport, and in western districts of Donetsk city. Rebel positions hit by artillery in southern Donetsk include at Kominternovo, Sahanka and Dokuchaevsk. Four residences were reported damaged in Ukrainian artillery fire at Dokuchaevsk.
Yasinovataya
According to rebel media from Russian reserve FSB Colonel Igor Girkin's novorusinform.org, rebel forces have ousted Ukrainian forces from two positions near Avdievka over the weekend. According to a report from Radio Liberty, sourced in the news article, Ukrainian forces attempted a rapid counterattack, but it is unclear in the report if the counterattack was successful.
According to the article, two Ukrainian soldiers were killed and another five were wounded in Avdievka and in Marinka.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com and on Twitter. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraine by clicking here.
[Ynet] A delegation of senior Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, officials is expected to arrive in Egypt today for a second round of talks with Egyptian intelligence officials in Cairo.
After consulting with Hamas leadership in Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates... , the Hamas delegation is expected to bring its responses to Egyptian requests from the first round of talks two weeks ago.
A total waste of time. So long as Hamas' military wing in Gaza ties itself so closely to Ansar Bayt al Maqdis/ISIS in the Sinai Peninsula, the desire of the Hamas politicos in Qatar for peace with the Egyptian government is bootless.
Al Anram has more detail here, for those interested.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A large cache of weapons and ammunition was confiscated by the Afghan cops from northern Parwan province of Afghanistan.
The Afghan Intelligence -- National Directorate of Security ...the Afghan national intel agency... (NDS) said the cache included 118 various types of weapons and 20,200 rounds of ammunition.
A statement by NDS said the cache included 93 pistols, 10 Ak-47 rifles, 9 Ak-74 rifles, 4 Ak-74U, 2 M4 rifles
The statement further added that the cache included 11,200 rounds of pistol ammunition and 9,000 rounds of Ak-47 ammunition.
It was not clear if any suspect was detained in connection to the storage of the weapons and ammunition.
The anti-government armed Lion of Islam groups have not commented regarding the report so far.
Parwan is among the relatively volatile provinces in northern Afghanistan where anti-government armed forces of Evil are actively operating in a number of its remote districts and often carry out insurgency activities.
Various criminal gangs involved in arms smuggle and other criminal activities including murder and kidnappings are also operating in this province which largely contribute to the growing instability of Parwan.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
I read the headline and thought they might have gotten a Rantburger!
[NBCNEWS] A teenager who surrendered before carrying out a suicide kaboom attack in northern Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... has told authorities she was one of the 276 girls kidnapped from a Nigerian boarding school by Islamic murderous Moslems nearly two years ago, authorities said Saturday.
If confirmed the development would mark the first news of the missing Chibok girls in many months. It has long been feared that some are being used by their Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... abductors to carry out such attacks given the growing number of youngjacket wallah'> exploding trollop female suicide bombers.
The girl is about 15 years old and turned herself in before detonating her explosives, said Idrissou Yacoubou, the leader of a self-defense group in Limani, Cameroon.
"The girl looked tired, malnourished and psychologically tortured and could not give us more details about her stay in the forest and how her other mates were treated," he said.
Nigeria is sending a team to Cameroon on Monday to verify a would-be jacket wallah's claim that she is one of the 276 school girls kidnapped by the Boko Haram from the northern town of Chibok.
The Nigerian government said it would be sending a team to the Cameroonian capital Yaounde to meet the girl, who was tossed in the calaboose Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! along with another would-be bomber.
They will "verify whether ajacket wallah'exploding trollop female suicide bomber arrested...is one of the missing school girls kidnapped in Chibok," Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari's front man Garba Shehu said.
There was no guarantee that she was speaking the truth, said Shehu.
"Doubts have crept into the claim following new information from Cameroon that the two girls were aged about ten years," Shehu said. "One of the two is also believed to be heavily drugged and therefore not in full control of her senses."
However, "Bring Back Our Girls" advocacy group spokesman Rotimi Olawale said the youngest Chibok girl captured by Boko Haram was 16 years old.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Boko Haram
#1
"The girl looked tired, malnourished and psychologically tortured..."
Another Mouchelle school lunch success story?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/28/2016 0:51
Comments ||
Top||
[DAWN] A charged crowd at the Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... International Airport assaulted singer-turned-evangelist Junaid Jamshed, it emerged late Saturday night. A disturbing video of the attack made the rounds on social media.
A handful of people rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud against the preacher, claiming he had committed blasphemy, and lunged at him. They struck several blows and then momentarily released Jamshed, only to attack him again.
"We have been looking for you," one male voice is heard saying in the footage.
"Hit him, him him," they shouted.
Visibly shaken, Jamshed maintained silence for the most part and offered the crowd to "talk" as the men confronted him. Jamshed then retreated into the airport's arrival lounge.
Many took to social media to condemn the attack on Jamshed.
The episode comes over a year after a controversy that pushed Jamshed into hiding, as he became the target of the wrath of right-wing groups over blasphemy allegations. He later offered a public apology in which he said he was "accepting his mistake" and asked for forgiveness.
The blasphemy case against him was registered in December 2014 on the directives of a district and sessions court. Jamshed was booked over one of his televised sermons that was thought to contain blasphemous remarks about a wife of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him).
The case had been registered on a complaint of Mobin Qadri, a leader of the Sunni Tehrik ...formed in Karachi in 1992 under by Muhammad Saleem Qadri. It quickly fell to trading fisticuffs and assassinations with the MQM and the Sipah-e-Sahaba, with at least a half dozen of its major leaders rubbed out. Sunni Tehreek arose to become the primary opposition to the Deobandi Binori Mosque, headed by Nizamuddin Shamzai, who was eventually bumped off by person or persons unknown. ST's current leadership has heavily criticized the Deobandi Jihadi leaders, accusing them of being sponsored by Indian Intelligence agencies as well as involvement in terrorist activities... , at the Risala cop shoppe under Sections 295-C (use of derogatory remarks in respect of the Holy Prophet) and 298-A (use of derogatory remarks etc in respect of Holy Personage) of the Pakistain Penal Code, police said at the time.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
(IraqiNews.com) Salahuddin – The leadership of Federal Police announced on Sunday the killing of ISIS Amir of Makhoul Mountains, along with four of his bodyguards by rockets attack on their vehicle, while indicated to the killing of 30 ISIS militants east of Tikrit (170 km north of Baghdad).
The Federal Police Captain Raed Shakir Jawdat said in a press statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “Today the forces from the Federal Police 13th brigade were able to kill ISIS Amir of Makhoul Mountains, who was also known as Abu Abdallah, along with four of his companions by launching a cornet rocket on their vehicle.”
Jawdat added, “The 3rd brigade of the commandos also repulsed ISIS attack on Ajil and Alas oil fields, killing 30 ISIS militants, as well as destroying four vehicles belonging to ISIS.”
Posted by: badanov ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
ISIS Amir of Makhoul Mountains
Similar to an Irish King, although without the cow.
[WASHINGTONPOST] Police in southern Italia have placed in durance vile Book 'im, Mahmoud! an Algerian man wanted by Belgian authorities for alleged involvement in a Belgium-based network which provided false IDs used by people implicated in the Gay Paree and Brussels attacks, Sherlocks said Sunday.
Djamal Eddine Ouali was arrested Saturday in the town of Bellizzi, outside of the port city of Salerno, said Luigi Amato, the head of Salerno police’s anti-terrorism squad. Ouali apparently "didn’t know he was wanted" by Belgian authorities and applied for a residency permit about 10 days ago in Italia, Amato said in a telephone interview.
Ouali, 40, was locked away Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! while authorities expected extradition procedures to soon begin, the police official said.
Ouali had entered in Italia sometime after late December, Amato said. His wife, also Algerian, is also in Italia.
A statement from police in Salerno noted that authorities’ interest in Ouali was triggered when they noticed he had the same name of man sought by Belgium for alleged involvement in "a criminal network dedicated to false documents on a large scale" that emerged last year in Brussels.
Belgium issued a warrant in January, three months after a raid in the Brussels suburb of Saint-Gilles yielded some thousand digital images used for false documents.
That raid discovered "photos and of some aliases used by the three holy warriors belonging to the group which planned and carried out the attacks in Gay Paree" on Nov. 13, 2015, the Italian police statement said.
The Italian news agency ANSA said the aliases included Soufiane Kayal, the name used by Najim Laachraoui, one of the jacket wallahs in last week’s Brussels airport attack, as well as one used by Mohammed Belkaid, who was killed during the hunt for Salah Abdeslam, as well as an alias, Yassine Baghli, used by Abdeslam, the suspected ringleader of the attacks.
Amato said Oauli declined to answer Sherlocks’ questions. The official stressed he couldn’t elaborate on what links the documents’ falsification had to the suspects in the Gay Paree and Brussels attacks. Italia’s investigation of Oauli’s activities on Italian territory is also continuing.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I read an article in Discover about grey whales moving back to the Atlantic because of global climate change melting the Arctic ice caps. Supposedly, they were 'whaled out' by other human activities (hunting)in the 19th century. Later in the story, research showed the grey whales made two big migrations from Pacific to Atlantic in the Holocene and Pliocene (?) eras.
Maybe they came through the Panama Canal, because there were no coal-burning humans around during those times - the Holocene era starts roughly 12,000 years ago - after the last ice age.
So the author is willing to blame the current migration on the popular theory, so he can get published, but has no theories for the previous migrations across the Arctic.
Also not mentioned in the story is the possibility that a few were not harpooned 150 years ago and managed to avoid human contact until the era of cell-phone cameras. But he couldn't work global warming into that theory.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/28/2016 8:11
Comments ||
Top||
#2
In addition to its many advantages for the insipid ruling class and wannabe aristocrats, global warming also provides a useful distraction from real problems.
[TORONTOCATHOLICWITNESS.BLOGSPOT] Austrian media is reporting that Cardinal Schönborn of Vienna confirmed last night, during the Easter Vigil at Stephansdom that the Salesian priest, Fr. Thomas Uzhunnalil was crucified by ISIS on Good Friday. Polonia Christiana is also carrying the news, based on the Austrian reports. So Evil they'd make Beelzebub gag.
Fr. Tom is now in Paradise with Our Blessed Lord and His Mother. May his murderers repent and come to believe in the Gospel.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
#2
Pope Francis to the white courtesy phone please. We need some advice on how much we need to love these murderers before they will start to act civilized.
#9
Its a male catholic, and a priest as well. Indian, so insufficiently ethnic. Obama will be silent. Not someone he speaks for or cares about. No victim or minority card to play, and he would have to actually speak out against Muslims. Not going to happen. Jarret would never OK it.
Posted by: Ho Chi McGurque1753 ||
03/28/2016 14:00
Comments ||
Top||
#10
What will be happening is that Barraka Hussein will attend the opening ceremony for the largest (Islamic Forward Operating Base) mosque in America -funding courtesy of Turkey.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
03/28/2016 15:30
Comments ||
Top||
#11
Per Wall Street Journal, Obama turned it down:
Mr. Obama has turned down Mr. Erdogan’s request to join him for the inauguration of a Turkish-funded mosque in Maryland, and the U.S. president has no plans for a formal one-on-one meeting with his Turkish counterpart, who is a vital ally in the fight against Islamic State, U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal.
The White House is instead expected to have Vice President Joe Biden meet with Mr. Erdogan.
[MSN] President Barack Obama I inhaled. That was the point... is offering his prayers for the families of the two Americans killed in the bombings in Brussels and telling Belgians that "America has their back" in the fight against terrorism.
Like he has Israel's? That should inspire confidence. Or not, as the case may be.
By now everyone knows it's better to be Obama's opponent than to be his friend...
In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama is renewing his vow to continue the campaign against the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... , which took credit for the attacks. He says U.S. officials are working with allies to root out the group's operations in Europe.
Obama says U.S. officials have ramped up intelligence cooperation and that FBI agents are in Belgium assisting with the investigation into the bombings.
The president says he and allies will review the U.S.-led air campaign and special operations against IS when world leaders gather in Washington next week for a summit on nuclear security.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the Israeli army Sunday as controversy gripped the country over a soldier caught on video shooting a Palestinian assailant in the head as he lay on the ground.
The issue reportedly sparked a bitter argument behind closed doors at the Israeli government’s weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday.
Thursday’s shooting incident led to the soldier’s arrest and strong condemnation from military officials, but some rightwing politicians and their supporters have reacted angrily to the response.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
[POLITICALCULT] During a heated discussion on CNN about radical Islam on Wednesday, a female Muslim activist tried pulling the race card against a former CIA intelligence analyst after running out of options to "win" the debate. After dealing with mostly far-left commentators on the network, it’s definitely safe to say she didn’t expect the response she received.
TheBlaze’s Buck Sexton appeared on the network to discuss fundamental Islam with Rula Jebreal, a Paleostinian foreign policy analyst, and when it was evident that Sexton wasn’t buying the excuses she was giving for Muslims resorting to a life of terror, she predictably pulled the race card and said, "white people like yourself" don’t understand the Islamic culture. Fortunately, Sexton knows first-hand what the culture is like after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he had a stinging reply that she likely never saw coming.
Jebreal questioned whether or not Sexton could speak Arabic, and said that he needs to be able to "understand" Islamic culture and the language to know what’s "appealing" to Muslims wanting to join the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS). But Sexton wasn’t about to take it lying down.
"Respectfully, I served in Iraq and Afghanistan targeting people that were doing beheadings, that were building boom jackets. I mean, so I was doing that at a very specific level," he said.
Jebreal didn’t appear to like the fact that he worked hand-in-hand with Muslims overseas, which gives him some credibility on the subject, and she started talking over him to silence his opinions. When that didn’t work, out came the race card.
"With all due respect, white people like yourself who doesn’t understand the language, doesn’t understand the culture and doesn’t even know the religion--" she said.
Whoops.
"I don’t know what that has to do with trying to prevent people from blowing up buses and trying to annihilate -- that was my job, that’s what I’m speaking to on this issue," Sexton interjected, before really driving his point home.
"There are a lot of people who are disenfranchised, who don’t strap on boom jackets, who don’t decide they’re going to join a foreign fight in a foreign country as part of an imperial venture and kill as many innocent civilians in their home country as possible," he shot back.
The clip ends shortly after, but not before one of the CNN hosts tried cutting Sexton off before he could finish his thoughts.
Following the heated altercation, Sexton took to Facebook to clarify just how much experience he has on this issue:
Sexton is absolutely right -- Muslims appear to be the only "disenfranchised" people who commit mass murder and terror because they’re allegedly disenfranchised. What kills me is that so few people realize the common denominator among Death Eaters isn’t their economic situation, it’s not their living conditions, it’s not their marital status or their views on climate change -- it’s their religion, and it’s the only religion on the planet that commands its followers kill non-believers.
But thanks to people like the Paleostinian activist above, who are aided by the liberal media, that fact is overlooked so that Americans can be given a watered down, politically correct explanation for why so many Muslims, and only Muslims, choose a life of terror. And it’s all done so that so-called "moderate" Muslims don’t become offended.
Here’s an idea, rather than becoming offended that so many people with your beliefs commit mass murder and genocide, why don’t you work on reforming your beliefs so that mass murder and genocide aren’t acceptable? A good start to that would be to become as outraged over terror attacks as they are over someone drawing Muhammad, since the taking of innocent lives in the name of Islam is far more offensive than a cartoon.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Except both the outrage over cartoons and the murder of non-believers are mandatory parts of Islam.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
03/28/2016 8:04
Comments ||
Top||
#2
A good sized meteor traveling at a good velocity, toward Mecca, on a Hajji day would have a lot of positives.
[CBSNEWS] Dutch police jugged Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! a 32-year-old Frenchie in the port city of Rotterdam on Sunday at the request of French authorities who suspect him of "involvement in planning a terror attack," prosecutors said.
Residents were evacuated from homes near addresses on two streets that were raided Sunday by anti-terror police, who also took three other men into custody.
French officials requested the arrest Friday after the suspect emerged during an investigation, according to a statement from the Dutch national prosecutor's office.
The suspect was allegedly involved in a plot disrupted by police in the Gay Paree region last week, the Gay Paree prosecutor's office said. Another Frenchie, Reda Kriket, was detained Thursday in that plot and remains in jug.
An official with the Gay Paree prosecutor's office said there is no sign of a link at this stage between Kriket's purported plot and a network behind attacks in Brussels and Gay Paree in recent months.
The Gay Paree official and Dutch prosecutors' Spokesman Wim de Bruin declined to give more details about the alleged plot.
The suspect, whose identity was not released, is expected to be extradited to La Belle France soon.
Three other men were detained in Sunday's raids; two with Algerian backgrounds and a third man whose identity could not immediately be established.
De Bruin said the three were held in relation to a Dutch investigation, but he gave no further details.
The raids came with Europe on high alert following last week's deadly suicide kabooms in Brussels.
Belgian riot police clashed Sunday with hundreds of right-wing hooligans at a temporary shrine honoring victims of the Brussels suicide kabooms, as Sherlocks launched fresh anti-terror raids, taking four more people into custody.
Police used water cannon when scuffles broke out in front of the Bourse, which has become a symbolic rallying point for people to pay their respects to those who died in Tuesday's attacks. Black clad men carrying an anti-ISIS banner with an expletive on it trampled parts of the shrine, shouting Nazi slogans. Ten were arrested and two coppers injured.
"We had 340 hooligans from different football clubs who came to Brussels and we knew for sure that they would create some trouble," Police Commissioner Christian De Coninck said. "It was a very difficult police operation because lots of families with kids were here."
Much like in La Belle France after the Gay Paree attacks, public interest in fiery ...a single two-syllable word carrying connotations of both incoherence and viciousness. A fiery delivery implies an audience of rubes and yokels, preferably forming up into a mob... far-right nationalistic populism has went kaboom! in popularity. Vocativ reports Facebook likes for Vlaams Belang, the right-wing populist party from Flanders, has surged more than 3,000 percent.
Brussels mayor Yvan Mayeur expressed his disgust, with Belgium still in mourning over the suicide kabooms at Brussels airport and subway, which killed at least 31 people and injured some 270.
Federal prosecutors, meanwhile, said Sunday morning's raids were linked a "federal case regarding terrorism" but did not specify whether it had any links to the March 22 attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
At least one soldier was killed and two others were wounded when armed fighters from Al shabaab launched an ambush attack on Somali military convoy near El Baraf village in middle Shabelle region. The army convoy came under fire while travelling from El Baraf and heading to Biyo Adde area, where Somali National Army (SNA) soldiers were going to collect their monthly salaries.
On Twitter post, AMISOM has denied reports that Al shabaab seized the area, saying the attackers were successfully repulsed by SNA and Au troops & fled the town.
“AMISOM seeks to clarify that Somali National Army forces and our troops are still present and in total control of El Baraf area in Middle Shabelle region,” read the Twitter feed.
Al shabaab said its fighters took control of El Baraf area following an attack, a claim that AMISOM denied. Somali and AU troops are struggling to remove Al shabaab from the whole region.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: al-Shabaab
#5
"President Obama shares my level of concern regarding America's external enemies. Also my Idea of 'appropriate behavior'...
play a song for us, James"
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/28/2016 9:02
Comments ||
Top||
#6
Kerry said the President's schedule was 'not set by terrorists'
Shirley, he said the same thing for the POTUS after 9/11. Or maybe nobody asked him then?
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/28/2016 11:02
Comments ||
Top||
Two Turkish soldiers were martyred and five others injured during a counter-terrorism operation in Turkey’s southeastern Nusaybin district of Mardin province, Anadolu Agency reported.
Turkish security forces started an operation on March 14 against the PKK terrorist organization.
A handmade explosive planted by PKK terrorists in Nusaybin exploded during the search of a house. Two out of seven soldiers were martyred as the house turned to rubble. The five other soldiers were sent to Nusaybin State Hospital.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
[BLOOMBERG] Oil’s rebound to about $40 a barrel means some investors are nursing losses after betting that 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 the Soddy national face... would abandon its three-decade-old currency peg.
Contracts used to speculate on the kingdom’s exchange rate in the next 12 months have fallen to about the lowest since November. A $1 million wager on the contracts at their peak in January would have lost 68,900 riyals ($18,370), or about 1.8 percent, according to Bloomberg calculations. Several U.S.-based hedge funds were said in February to be among investors that have bet Saudi Arabia would devalue the riyal.
The decreased speculation that Gulf nations will abandon their dollar pegs underscores how crude prices have recovered this year. Oil, Saudi Arabia’s main source of revenue, is headed for a second straight monthly gain. The Saudi riyal has been trading at a rate of 3.75 per dollar since 1986, and the kingdom has taken steps to make speculating against the currency harder.
"We have argued that those positioning for a devaluation were going to be disappointed," said Simon Williams, the London-based chief economist for central and eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa at HSBC Holdings Plc. "The pegs have been in place for 30 years in times of high oil prices and low oil prices. I have no sense" that recent losses in crude are "going to change policy makers’ minds or force their hand," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[18 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia
#1
Watch out, Saudis, here comes "The Donuuuld" ...
* NEW YORK POST > TRUMP TO SAUDIS [+ ME Oil Allies-States]: FIGHT ISIS OR WE'LL STOP BUYING OIL. | TRUMP SAYS ALLIES MUST START PAYING FOR AMERICA'S PROTECTION.
* RELATED YAHOO NEWS > TRUMP WOULD CONSIDER HALTING US OIL PURCHASES FROM SAUDI ARABIA [Etal.] UNLESS THEY PROVIDE TROOPS.
OHHH-SO-NICE + PCORRECT/POPULARIST, BUT THE NAHA-RUSHIAN QUESTIONNE' IS CAN THE ISIS = HARD BOYZ, + OWG CO-SUPERPOWERS RUSSIA, CHINA, + IRAN, OTHER? OPPOSTION OR CHALLENGE TO US LEADERSHIP BE DETERRED OR DEFEATED OTHERWISE???
"RED-LINE" ANTI-US US OBAMA = POST-JAN 2017 "PRO-US", BUT STILL "RED-LINE" US POTUS TRUMP???
versus
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Russia Today] SAUDIS TO MOVE FROM OIL [declining oil revenues], EARN MORE FROM HAJJ [+ Ummah Pilgrimages].
#7
This is scandalous. Why would unions fight for a legislated minimum wage when their reason for existence is to increase the wages of their members? They are making themselves obsolete.
The reason is that union members are exempt from the minimum wage. Thus unions are working to decrease the wages of their members.
#8
Why would unions fight for a legislated minimum wage when their reason for existence is to increase the wages of their members? They are making themselves obsolete
No more than K Street. Law is power. Better to directly control the law than engage in negotiating a thousand separate contracts. Besides, they don't object to adding several million illegals to the fold which while depressing wages overall, means the leadership keeps the gravy train running to their jobs and pensions. So, they make sure that an artificial floor is created with minimum wage to cover the damage. Which means, that business that can, move to other states or find alternate means to substitute for labor.
#11
California wants the poor people out. After all, they consume the most resources and pay the least taxes. Poor people disproportionately take minimum wage jobs. This change effectively eliminates those jobs. Result is they have to leave the state with their jobs or give up and go on full time public assistance, in which case the state owns them. This is the hard and fast reality of late stage socialist realpolitik.
#16
And now the elite will get to break the law twice - Once for the employment and once for the underpayment. So they'll go to jail twice as long.
But 2x=0. Solve for x, the jail term.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/28/2016 13:07
Comments ||
Top||
#17
"Why would unions fight for a legislated minimum wage when their reason for existence is to increase the wages of their members? They are making themselves obsolete.
"
In some states, the Union bosses raise is tied to the wage increase.
[REUTERS] Syrian government forces backed by heavy Russian air support drove Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... out of Palmyra on Sunday, inflicting what the army called a mortal blow to gunnies who seized the city last year and dynamited its ancient temples.
The loss of Palmyra represents one of the biggest setbacks for the ultra-hardline Islamist group since it declared a caliphate in 2014 across large parts of Syria and Iraq.
The army general command said that its forces took over the city with support from Russian and Syrian air strikes, opening up the huge expanse of desert leading east to the Islamic State strongholds of Raqqa and Deir al-Zor.
Palmyra would become "a launchpad to expand military operations" against the group in those two provinces, it said, promising to "tighten the noose on the terrorist group and cut supply routes ... ahead of their complete recapture".
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said festivities continued on the eastern edge of Palmyra, around the prison and airport, but the bulk of the Islamic State force had withdrawn and retreated east, leaving the city under Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... 's control.
Later the Observatory said six powerful kabooms were heard in the city triggered by triple boom-mobileings inside the city and its edges by the krazed killer group. Three gunnies with suicide belts also blew themselves up inside the captured city, inflicting unspecified casualties among army forces and allied troops.
Syrian state-run television broadcast from inside the city, showing empty streets and badly damaged buildings.
It quoted a military source saying Syrian and Russian jets were targeting Islamic State fighters as they fled, hitting dozens of vehicles on the roads leading east from the city.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
Rebuild and restore is the next phase. The Russians are eager to showcase the pearl of their efforts. Museums and history will return.
(IraqiNews.com) Babel – A source within the police force in Babel province said on Sunday, that the security forces had managed to detain 17 wanted individuals on different criminal charges in different parts of the province.
The source said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com, “The provincial police was able to detain, today, to arrest 17 wanted individuals on criminal charges, ranging between murder and armed robbery, during operations carried out across the province,” adding that, “The detainees were taken to a police station for interrogation.”
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] In their first meeting in Riyadh on Sunday, military chiefs from Muslim nations vowed to "dry up terrorists’ resources," a Saudi military front man told news hounds.
They'll stop donating to ISIS, Al Nusra, and suchlike badmen? No? Which terrorists' resources do they have in mind to dry up, then, and who do they think will bell that particular cat for them?
Brig. Gen. Ahmed Assiri said the representatives of the newly-formed Islamic Alliance -- made up of 34 Muslim countries -- had discussed "ideological, media, financial and military" aspects to combat terrorism.
He also said the attendance of 39 Muslim nations, not all of which were members of the coalition, "sends a strong message on importance and nature of the alliance," adding that such force is needed in the face of "ISIS recreating Muslims and Arabs to put them in confrontation with the world."
Assiri said the officials met to discuss a "unified" strategy to degrade terrorism, and it is based on "proposed initiatives."
"Today’s meeting is to put the foundation stone for the coalition," he said, adding that the meeting "is about proposed initiatives. Today we did not discuss any individual cases."
However, there's more than one way to skin a cat... he said "Saudi has presented a paper to follow the resources of terrorism funding."
The front man emphasize that the coalition will work according to "international law and standards," dismissing that any country "would take a unilateral decision."
"Sovereignty is respected," he reiterated. "States that want a military intervention in their countries would lead the mission."
While many of the Muslim states in the meeting - including Saudi, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... and the UAE - are also part of the US-led coalition against ISIS, the Islamic Alliance would not only target the murderous Moslem group but "other terrorist groups in the wider sense."
The meeting, considered the first of its kind, aims to coordinate efforts among the 34 Muslim countries involved in the alliance.
The coalition was announced in December by Saudi Defense minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a bid to establish a unified Muslim body to fight terrorism.
The coalition started through the establishment of a joint operations center in Riyadh.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia
#1
military chiefs from Muslim nations vowed to "dry up place further controls on terrorists’ resources,"
#3
Honestly doesn't sound like a big deal. Everyone had to scramble, but the fact that it was handled in 2 hours kind of makes it a success story, not a failure.
#4
Oh well. If you're using code that resides on somebody else's web site, you have no control over it so that kind of thing might happen. At least with jquery you get to install the libraries on your own system so nobody can mess with it. Maybe next time write your own code.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/28/2016 11:33
Comments ||
Top||
#5
This takes me back 30 years to the beginning of the whole OpenSource debates and the creation of OS languages and operating systems.
The relevant term was "industrial strength" AND when your system crashes and burns "Who ya gonna call"?
#6
These days if you have to call HP you're gonna be outta luck. Unfortunately I suspect it's pretty much the same with the other vendors.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/28/2016 14:46
Comments ||
Top||
#7
This is where hackers can wreak havoc on systems that rely on remote code servers. This news release will alert mischievous hackers of a new target area.
Posted by: Ho Chi Crinens5363 ||
03/28/2016 21:07
Comments ||
Top||
#8
A tempest in a teapot. But I fear it's just a harbinger of catastrophic things to come. Just wait til the whole cloud comes crashing down like a shattered glass ceiling.
External dependency is simply bad business.
I wonder how much of our national infrastructure is now dependent on external private repositories. A catastrophe waiting to happen.
I agree with Abu Uluque about code libraries such as jquery.
But only as long as they exist internally within your own system.
Not only have external repositories proven fragile, but the link itself presents a duel pathway to hackers. It allows potential hacker access, not only to the repository, but also to your own system files.
Leads to fears the jihadis have the intelligence to cause a meltdown disaster
[DAILYMAIL.CO.UK] Two workers from a nuclear power plant in Doel fled to Syria to join ISIS
One was 'killed in Syria' and another served time for terror offences in 2014
Security guard at a Belgian nuclear research facility murdered in Charleroi
Officials say killing is being treated as a criminal act rather than a terror act
Nuclear power plants are known to be targets for the terror network behind the Brussels bombings
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
FTA "Some 1,000 people work on sites like these. Their backgrounds are all checked thoroughly"
So, do some time 2 years ago for jihadi stuff and that is no impediment to getting hired at a nuke plant.
Digging their own graves, the Euros are....
Posted by: Bov Flimbers ||
03/28/2016 16:05
Comments ||
Top||
#2
And if the Euros can't figure out whether or not someone's a jihadi when they have a reasonable background on them, how are they supposed to find the jihadis in the Syrian rapefugees?
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Following days of growing rift among the supporters of two prominent political figures in northern Afghanistan, the tensions have been resolved in the northern Faryab province.
The supporters of Junbish-e-Milli party led by vice president General Abdul Rashid Dostum ...ethnic Uzbek warlord who distinguished himself fighting the Soviets and the Taliban. The story that he had a bad guy run over with a tank is an exaggeration. It was an armored personnel carrier... 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... party led Ata Mohammad Noor reconciled in northern Faryab province shortly after the growing rift led to a bloody encounter last week.
The supporters of the two prominent political parties reinstalled the removed pictures belonging to Gen. Dostum, Ahmad Shah Massoud and Burhnuddin Rabbani in this province.
Faryab governor Syed Anwar Sadat said the reconciliation was achieved following a meeting attended by the representatives of the two prominent political parties in the provincial government office.
The officiasl of the two political parties said they hope to continue standing side by side with each other and support the Afghan cops in a sensitive moment the country is going.
They also insisted on resolving any issue they may come across the in the future through negotiations and understandings.
The supporters of General Abdul Rashid Dostum and Ata Mohammad Noor engaged in a clash last Thursday in northern Faryab province of Afghanistan, leaving one dead and five others maimed.
This comes as the former Afghan Intelligence -- National Directorate of Security ...the Afghan national intel agency... (NDS) Chief Rahmatullah Nabil has warned regarding ongoing attempts to create ethnic divisions among the Afghan people.
Nabil issued an online statement amid intensifying tensions among the supporters of top political figures, General Abdul Rashid Dostum and Ata Mohammad Noor.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
[DAWN] ISN’T President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... -- with full respect to him -- debasing himself by being a complainant in a case that involves one of democracy’s fundamental principles: media freedom? On Friday, a Turkish court ordered that two of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... ’s leading journalists, Can Dundar, editor-in-chief of daily Cumhuriyet, and Erdem Gul, its Ankara bureau chief, be tried in camera and agreed to have the president as a complainant. The two have been accused of espionage because they published a report that said Turkish intelligence agencies were sending arms to Syria under cover of humanitarian aid, though the government says the trucks were carrying relief goods for ethnic Turkmen. According to President Erdogan, the report was part of an attempt to undermine the country’s international standing. The court accepted the prosecutors’ plea that evidence to be produced in court involved state secrets.
There is no denying President Erdogan’s popularity. The fact that the November re-election gave his Justice and Development Party (AKP) an absolute majority in parliament testifies to a popular approval of his economic policies, which have given the Turks a higher standard of living and made Turkey the world’s 15th largest economy. These assets should help the president develop greater confidence in his ability to stand dissent. Instead, his policies over the years have been characterised by strong authoritarian tendencies, with the media and judiciary coming under intense state pressure. Earlier this month, the state took over Zaman, its sister publication Today’s Zaman and news agency Cihan. Seen in the light of the crackdown on Cumhuriyet the world wouldn’t be wrong if it considered the AKP regime as waging war on Turkey’s vibrant media. There is no doubt Turkey needs political stability more than ever before, especially because of the Syrian civil war and a spate of terror attacks in Istanbul and Ankara. But political stability is not incompatible with freedom of expression. If the Cumhuriyet journalists have violated any laws, they must be given an open, fair trial.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least 46 murderous Moslems including loyalists of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group were killed in the latest clearance operations conducted by the Afghan national security forces.
The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said the operations were conducted in the past 24 hours in Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... , Nuristan, Badakhshan, Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. and Paktika ...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo... provinces.
According to an operational update by MoD, at least 18 murderous Moslems were killed and a vehicle along with three bikes were destroyed while 17 landmines were dismantled during the operations in Sangin disrict of Helmand.
MoD further added that 7 murderous Moslems were killed including a commander of the group and 10 others were maimed in Nuristan operations conducted in Du’ab district.
At least 15 ilitants were killed and 5 others were maimed in separate operations conducted in Jurm district of Badakhshan and center of Kunduz province, MoD said, adding that 6 murderous Moslems including 2 ISIS loyalists were killed during the raids in Achindistrict of Nangarhar and Domanda area of Paktika.
According to MoD, at least three soldiers of the Afghan National Army (ANA) forces also bit the dust during the same operations.
The anti-government armed turban groups including the Taliban turbans have not commented regarding the reports so far.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[IsraelTimes] Terrorists who strike European countries often follow attacks with mass hacking, according to Israeli cyber
Terror attacks are often followed, in an extra strike of cruelty, by major cyber-attacks on the targeted country, according to data gathered by Israeli cyber-security firm Cytegic.
Such second strike attacks then provoke a response by anti-terror cyber-activists, with the result that a country could find its networks paralyzed for days because of the huge strain, just when communication is especially vital.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[IsraelTimes] Three attackers blew themselves up in Brussels, a fourth man was caught and charged, and a fifth remains on the lam
Two brothers who dabbled in crime, a freelance journalist, a university drop-out and a mystery man -- the five suspects in Belgium’s airport and subway train attacks are a mixed lot.
Two of the men blew themselves up at the Brussels’ airport, a third inside a metro train, killing 31 people and injuring 300 on March 22.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A mother of two children has been executed allegedly for having immoral contacts with a man disregarding her husband in northern Jawzjan province.
Officials say the woman was accused and handed over to Taliban by her in-laws.
Shakib, governor of Faizabad district told Pajhwok Afghan News that the woman was bumped off in Mimlik village on Saturday night.
Taliban spokesperson has also confirmed the killing but rejected involvement of his group in the incident.
Mujahid said Taliban had received a complaint from the woman’s husband accusing her for having wrong character but she was not killed by them.
According to Mujahid, the woman was executed by her husband.
However, some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... Maghfirat Samimi who heads mission of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) in Jawzjan has said that the woman was killed by fighters of Mullah Ahmad Shah, a Taliban capo.
Due to the fact that some remote areas in the country are not under full control of government, therefor turban groups, local warlords or strongmen in those villages have established their own desert courts.
They execute people based on their way of justice. Sometimes the accused are not even given a chance to have a say.
Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. , Pashtun-infested Logar, Ghazni, Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... , Zabul and Farah are among other provinces where similar incidents have taken place.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016
00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
[IsraelTimes] 3,200 attend two-hour sessions provided by rescuers to learn how to react in emergency situations
About 3,200 Gay Pareeians have attended free first aid training in the French capital to be better prepared for possible terror attacks.
The two-hour sessions provided Saturday by rescuers in every district of Gay Paree aimed to teach participants how to react in emergency situations. The measure was approved by the Gay Paree city council in December in the wake of the November 13 attacks that killed 130 people.
"We must all know the five or six basic techniques that will help protect the population if ever there are other attacks," said Dr. Patrick Pelloux, an emergency room doctor. Pelloux was also a columnist for Charlie Hebdo ...A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe... and was among the first to arrive at the satirical newspaper’s offices after the January 7 massacre there last year.
Gay Paree plans to repeat the event at least once a year.
"I was so shocked by the attack in Gay Paree, and again this week in Brussels, that I wanted to be able to do the right thing at the right moment, in order not to feel powerless if I ever have to face an emergency situation," 29-year-old Gay Pareeian Aurelie Bois said.
The capital’s firefighters and the French Red Thingy have noted a sharp increase in demand for their first aid training programs since the Gay Paree attacks.
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.
German train operator has announced it is introducing women and children-only train carriages amid fears over sex attacks in the country.
[LI] San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said in a statement Friday he doesn't want any city workers to travel to North Carolina unless necessary in wake of its legislation which blocks anti-discrimination for gay, lesbian and transgender people.
[DAWN] Around 10,000 people protesting the execution of Mumtaz Qadri -- a former
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Scores of anti-government armed 
[EXPRESS.CO.UK] Pak police confirmed that a 
When the U.S. Department of State released a statement condemning the Pakistani Taliban faction's Easter bombing in a Lahore park, it noticeably omitted the fact that Easter-celebrating Christians were specifically targeted.
[TORONTOCATHOLICWITNESS.BLOGSPOT] Austrian media is reporting that Cardinal Schönborn of Vienna confirmed last night, during the Easter Vigil at Stephansdom that the Salesian priest, Fr. Thomas Uzhunnalil was crucified by ISIS on Good Friday. Polonia Christiana is also carrying the news, based on the Austrian reports. 
'Life doesn't stop because one terrible incident takes place'
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe...
