h/t Instapundit
The Syrian-origin Swedish passport holder arrested in Belgium last week for his involvement in the Brussels bomb attacks is a former poster boy for Sweden’s efforts at integrating migrants into their society.
Now accused of murder, and captured on CCTV cameras carrying bags which contained the explosive devices which killed 32 civilians, Islamist Osama Krayem had once been hailed as a model of integration. A former employee of the city of Malmo, at the age of 11 Osama starred in a documentary about migrants in Sweden.
...Crosswise has developed a cross-device identification system based on big data, data science and machine learning that identifies, which PCs, phones, tablets, digital TVs and other connected devices are being used by individual consumers. This, according to Oracle, "enables marketers and premium publishers to realize the benefits of cross-device advertising, personalization and analytics." In other words, help advertisers target appropriate consumers.
#1
Crosswise has developed a cross-device identification system based on big data, data science and machine learning that identifies, which PCs, phones, tablets, digital TVs and other connected devices are being used by individual consumers.
Which Oracle will lease to the NSA and DNC for 50 million a year.
BLUF: [The Economist] Some of these guns leak into local bazaars, or are seized when militias capture government arsenals. A study by Armament Research Services (ARES) of ammunition used by IS in an area of Iraq in 2015 found that 17% of it came from the Balkans. Videos on social media show Syrian militias using Croatian rifles--almost certainly among 10,000 supplied to Iraqi forces as part of a âŹ100m ($120m) deal in 2014-15. In 2012 Croatian arms bought by Saudi Arabia were flown to Jordan for distribution to Syrian rebels in a deal backed by the CIA. Emphasis added. With suspicions confirmed, you may wish to stop reading at this point.
Damn those ARES convicts, always sticking their bloody noses into things. Yes, that does appear to be a Millett LRS-1.
[IsraelTimes] Ismail Haniyeh says the issue of incarcerated Paleostinians is ’at the top of our priority list’; dozens riot near Israeli border
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh ...became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank... said Friday the group remained committed to armed struggle against Israel, in a speech he made ahead of Prisoners’ Day, observed by the terror organization next week.
Speaking at a rally in the Gazoo Strip, Haniyeh said, "Our message to the prisoners is a message inked in blood. The rifle and the tunnel are our commitment.
"The issue of prisoners is at the top of our priority list. As time passes, we stick to our principles, and the people who walk in the path of deaders and prisoners also stick with us."
Later Friday several dozen people rioted near the security fence on the Gazoo border, and hurled rocks at Israeli soldiers. Soldiers responded with non-lethal means. They also shot at the lower body of one demonstrator.
Later Friday several dozen people rioted near the security fence on the Gazoo border, and hurled rocks at Israeli soldiers. Soldiers responded with non-lethal means. They also shot at the lower body of one demonstrator.
On Thursday, an IDF officer said both sides were preparing for a future conflict, and while neither side was interested in renewing violence, a miscalculation on either side could bring about another round of fighting.
"Hamas suspects that we will initiate offensive action against it by surprise, and so the fear of miscalculation exists," the officer was quoted by the Hebrew website Ynet as saying. "Their level of sensitivity to our public proclamations is high. Hamas saw [the months of violent attacks] in the West Bank as a strategic opportunity, even at the cost of deterioration in Gazoo, and the movement is disappointed with the drop in the number of terror attacks. Since October, 17 Paleostinians were killed in border fence riots and some 800 were maimed," the officer said.
The terror group has been investing considerable resources in the Nukhba force, an elite unit of fighters. According to Ynet the number of Hamas fighters in the unit has grown to 5,000 people ‐ a quarter of the group’s fighting manpower.
On the other hand, the group’s development and construction of rockets has been severely damaged by Egypt’s closing of smuggling tunnels. Hamas has been finding it difficult to restore its array of short and medium-range projectiles since the end of Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014.
Speaking earlier this week at a forum dedicated to the situation in Gazoo at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, director of the Defense Ministry’s Political-Military Affairs Bureau Amos Gilad said that the Hamas armed wing, led by Muhammed Deif, ultimately paid no heed to the political wing, headed by Haniyeh.
Gilad opined, however, that conflict would not erupt this year between Israel and Hamas.
"The good news is that our deterrence is still working. They say that there will be a ’hot’ summer. That’ll only be because of the high temperatures," Gilad said, alluding to the tendency for regional conflicts to take place in warmer summer months.
[ARA News] ISTANBUL – Under the banner of “Disbelief Leaders“, radical group of the Islamic State (ISIS) has revealed a list includes dozens of Muslim clerics who are active in Europe, US and Australia, threatening to assassinate them.
The list, which was published by the group’s Dabiq magazine in its latest edition, includes 21 people with diverse orientations, some of them are linked to the Muslim Brotherhood group, while others are linked to the Salafis and Sufis of the various Islamist doctrines.
The ISIS radical group stated in its official English-speaking online magazine Dabiq that the list includes the following names: Abu Basir Tartusi, Hamza Yusuf, Pierre Vogel (Abu Hamza), Suhaib Webb, Mohammed al-Yacoubi, and Hisham Qabbani, Yasser al-Qadi, Bilal Philips, Tawfiq Chawdari, Walid Bassiouni, Hakim Queik, Muhammad Abyari, Arif Ali Khan, Rashad Hussain, Keith Ellison, Hima Abidin, Muhammad Abdul Bari, Saeeda Wirasi, Waqar Azami, Sajid Jawid, and Ajmal Masrour.
Speaking to ARA News, Syrian journalist Kamal Ayyoub said: “The barbaric group has went bankrupt politically and militarily, especially after the US-led coalition forces intensified airstrikes on its command centers and financial resources, paralyzing its movements in both Syria and Iraq.”
“Daesh has been pushed back in many areas of its control across Syria and Iraq,” Ayyoub said, using an acronym for ISIS.
“Everything indicates that ISIS is ‘on the verge of collapse’,” he argued. “That’s why it keeps posing threats everywhere.”
The hardline group had carried out a series of assassination operations since its emergence, targeting rival clerics, media activists, civilians, rival military commanders and even its own militant leaders, according to observers.
On April 4, ISIS published a footage showing pictures from the Paris and Brussels attacks along with 9/11, threatening European capitals with deadly attacks. In a propaganda film called ‘Fight them, Allah will punish them by your hands’,” ISIS threated Western leaders. “If it was Paris yesterday, and today in Brussels, Allah knows where it will be tomorrow,’ an ISIS member said in English. ‘Maybe it will be in London or Berlin or Rome,’ the militant concluded.
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Yemeni forces backed by Apache helicopters from a Saudi-led coalition wrested the city of Houta from Al-Qaeda bandidosDeath Eaters after a shootout on Friday morning, a local military official said.
Hours later, a boom-mobile detonated outside the foreign ministry building in the southern Yemeni city of Aden, causing no casualties, another local official said.
The recapture of Houta, regional capital of southern restive Lahj ... a Yemeni governate located in the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula. It is the stomping grounds on the southern secessionist al-Harak movement province which has been held by the bandidosDeath Eaters since last summer, is one of the embattled Yemeni government’s most important inroads yet against Al-Qaeda forces who have taken advantage of more than a year of war to seize territory.
Government troops began their attack at daybreak and succeeded after several hours of air strikes and heavy combat, the military official told Rooters.
"The campaign to control Houta has been completed and it has been cleansed of Al-Qaeda and hard boy elements," he said. Several people were killed and injured on both sides and 48 bandidosDeath Eaters were captured, he added.
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... and its mostly Gulf Arab allies entered Yemen’s civil war on March 26 last year in support of Yemen’s internationally recognized government after it had been pushed into exile by the Iran-allied Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... group.
Amid impoverished Yemen’s security chaos, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ...the latest incarnation of various Qaeda and Qaeda-allied groups, including the now-defunct Aden-Abyan Islamic Army that boomed the USS Cole in 2000... (AQAP) seized the port city of Mukalla and extended its area of control and influence about 600 km (370 miles) along Yemen’s southern coast toward the government seat at Aden.
Forces loyal to President Abdu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi have been repeatedly attacked by Al-Qaeda and ISIS bandidosDeath Eaters as the embattled administration struggles to secure Aden and the southern provinces where the fighters thrive.
A Rooters investigation this month revealed that the group earns up to $2 million every day by taxing imports of basic goods and fuel.
Until the attack on Houta, AQAP has suffered few territorial losses despite a stepped-up American campaign of air strikes and drone attacks on its bases.
In a related story, Houthis and their allied militia forces belonging to deposed former Yemeni President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... have continued their violations of a truce announced five days ago, Al Arabiya News Channel reported Friday.
The truce will pave the way for UN-sponsored peace talks in Kuwait on April 18.
Violent festivities took place west of Taiz, specifically in the area around the government’s Brigade 35 that the militias are trying to control.
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[NYTIMES] Senator Bernie Sanders ...The only openly Socialist member of the U.S. Senate. Sanders was Representative-for-Life from Vermont until moving to the Senate for the rest of his life in 2006, assuming the seat vacated by Jim Jeffords... did not get to meet with Pope Francis inside Vatican City on Friday, but it’s not because the pontiff didn’t want to.
Pope Francis sent a handwritten note to those attending a conference at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, including Mr. Sanders, saying he had planned to stop by the event around 7 p.m. local time, but could not because of a planned trip to the Greek island of Lesbos.
The note was sent to Msgr. Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, a senior papal official and the academy’s chancellor, who read the pope’s words: "Yesterday I realized that today was going to be very complicated because of my trip to Lesbos. Today I confirm this situation and would like to apologize for not being able to attend. I kindly ask you to greet the speakers and participants, requesting their understanding for this situation. I will keep them all in my prayers and good wishes, and send them my heartfelt thanks for their participation. May the Lord bless you. Fraternally, Franciscus."
Mr. Sanders, an ardent admirer of Pope Francis, called for a return to moral principles and a more just world economy, echoing the pontiff’s words and praising his leadership during a 15-minute address before the academy, a group that examines social, economic and environmental issues and is housed within a 16th-century villa inside Vatican City.
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Last night when I was on the stair
I met a man who wasn't there
He wasn't there again today
I wish, I wish he'd go away!
So the great Bern made a speech to a man in another country?
A ranking North Korean military officer in charge of conducting intelligence operations defected to South Korea last year, Seoul's defense ministry said Monday, as the North's leader is tightening his grip on the regime. A North Korean senior colonel, whose name has been withheld, defected in 2015 after working at the North's reconnaissance bureau tasked with carrying out espionage missions against the South, the ministry said.
"(The North Korean military official's defection) is a fact, but we cannot make public detailed information (about him)," Moon Sang-gyun, a ministry spokesman, said at a regular press briefing.
A source familiar to North Korean affairs said that the officer is viewed as an elite among North Koreans who have defected to the South.
"He is believed to have stated details about the bureau's operations against South Korea to authorities here," the source said.
South Korea's spy agency said last year that since taking power in late 2011, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has had more than 70 senior officials executed in an effort to tighten his grip on the communist regime. A number of North Korea's working-level officials based in foreign nations have sought asylum apparently to avoid Kim's so-called reign of terror, according to various sources.
Beats being torn to pieces by an anti-aircraft gun...
The North's Reconnaissance General Bureau deals with intelligence gathering and espionage operations in foreign countries, and is also responsible for cyberwarfare. The bureau is known to be behind Pyongyang's alleged cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2014.
Kim Yong-chol, a new party secretary handling inter-Korean affairs, had served as the head of the bureau since 2009.
In a separate case, a North Korean diplomat stationed in an African country and his family members defected to South Korea in May last year, said another source having knowledge about North Korea.
Last week, a group of 13 North Koreans who used to work at an overseas restaurant en masse defected to South Korea, the first mass defection since 2011. North Korean-run restaurants in foreign nations have served as a source of hard currency for Pyongyang.
The latest case came as the U.N. Security Council and major countries have slapped tougher sanctions on North Korea for its January nuclear test and long-range rocket launch in February.
South Korea's intelligence agency and other government organizations, meanwhile, have started processing the defectors to find out the motivation behind their action, according to a government source. There are more than 28,000 North Korean defectors in South Korea, with some 1,280 North Koreans entering the South last year, according to Seoul's unification ministry.
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Hopefully he's been treated very well and was permitted to keep his contacts in the North. Not sure why these defections are being publicized however.
[THEMOSCOWTIMES] More than 200 people were evacuated from the Kievsky train station in central Moscow over a bomb threat, but no explosives were found, the state-run TASS news agency reported Friday.
Police with bomb-sniffing dogs inspected the terminal's building, finding no explosives, an unidentified law enforcement official was quoted as saying.
Evacuation at Kievsky Station began in the small hours Friday, the city's Moskva news portal reported.
The bomb threat at Kievsky Station followed similar threats at Moscow's Kursky and Kazansky station a day earlier, TASS reported.
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(IraqiNews.com) Witnesses said on Friday that Turkish warplanes launched an attack on border areas belonging to the province of Dohuk, stressing that the attack sparked “panic” among the local population.
One of the witnesses reported for IraqiNews.com, “The Turkish warplanes bombed border areas belonging to the vicinity of Kani Masi in the district of al-Amadiyah in the province of Dohuk,” noting that, “the attack targeted the areas of Miska and Drickla.”
The witness added, “The attack caused the destruction of large forest and orchards,” pointing out that, “The bombing sparked panic among the residents of the area.”
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Saudi cabinet has issued a decree which restricts the Saudi Committee of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (often referred to as "inquisitors religious police" by Western media) to pursue and arrest violators, and has required members of the Commission to report violators to the police or the anti-narcotics force, al-Riyadh Arabic language daily has reported.
According to al-Riyadh, the above decision was part of a detailed decree which sought to organize the framework of the committee’s operation. The below is a translation of the report which is based on the cabinet minutes.
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The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index tracking rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities extended gains on Thursday, mainly propelled by firmer demand for bigger shipping vessels.
The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize shipping vessels, climbed 30 points, or 5.29 percent to 597 points.
The capesize index rose 87 points, or about 12 percent, to 831 points, its highest this year.
Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, rose $669 to $6,184.
A healthy amount of iron ore booking activity on the back of stronger Chinese steel prices has been the main driver of the improvement for capesizes, ship brokerage firm Clarksons Platou said in note on Thursday. Shipments of iron ore account for about a third of sea-borne volumes on the larger capesizes.
The panamax index was up 22 points, or 3.24 percent, at 700 points.
Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes, rose $170 to $5,577 on Thursday.
Among smaller vessels, the supramax index rose 8 points to 514 points, and the handysize index was up 13 points at 309 points.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Apeksha Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Koustav Samanta)
Hat tip One Free Korea. From last month but it's useful to demonstrate the tentacles North Korea has out in Africa. The tap-dancing to get around the plain meaning of UN sanctions is just what you'd expect...
DEPUTY prime minister and international relations' minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has confirmed the existence of a North Korean-built munitions factory in the country, but said the factory was not in contravention of any United Nations' sanctions against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Nandi-Ndaitwah said the Namibian government was not involved in anything untoward, and that government has cooperated with the United Nations and openly answered and forwarded information requested by the UN.
The deputy prime minister was responding to questions by The Namibian after a UN Security Council investigative report was leaked. The UN was investigating whether North Korea was in contravention of its sanctions, especially the Asian country's nuclear armament programme.
Continued on Page 49
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Yet another United Nations cock-up dating back decades, which has not surprisingly resulted in communist rule. They've also been quite fond of the Chinese for many years. Their new Nork friends should come as no surprise. Wat jy saai sal jy maai. (What you sow shall you reap).
#2
It looks, from reading the entire article through, that this wasn't against any particular Candidate. It was a clusterfuck all through where massive mistakes were made by the Colorado GOP in reference to voting id-numbers of the delegates.
In those instances where something like that happens, it's usually the person with the Ground Game present to correct the mistakes that comes out on top. You can tell from the testimonies that the Trump delegates were left floundering with no guidance from Campaign officials.
So basically the article is confirming Trumps ground game doesn't exist, and that Party Officials screw up. The former made sure the later didn't get fixed in time for TeamTrump.
Which is a perfect example of why Manafort has been brought in to desperately put something together on-site for Trump.
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[CNN] Police in Birmingham, England, said Friday they have jugged Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! five terror suspects in a joint investigation involving UK intelligence and French and Belgian authorities.
The suspects -- four men ranging in age from 26 to 59, and a 29-year-old woman, were arrested on suspicion of being involved in the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorist acts, West Midlands police said in a statement. Four were arrested in Birmingham, the fifth at London's Gatwick Airport, police said.
"The arrests were preplanned and intelligence-led," Assistant Chief Constable Marcus Beale said in a statement. "There was no risk to the public at any time and there is no information to suggest an attack in the UK was being planned."
The arrests followed revelations that Mohammed Abrini -- who Sherlocks say has been linked to the terror March attacks in Brussels and the November 2015 attack in Gay Paree -- had traveled to Birmingham several times in the year before the Gay Paree attacks.
One European security official told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that Abrini had made multiple trips to Birmingham last year, meeting with several men suspected of terrorist activity. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to provide details about the investigation.
Surveillance had been taking place on suspected cell members in the Birmingham area since the Gay Paree attacks, the official said.
A second European security official with access to Belgian counterterrorism data said West Midlands police had closed in on a ring of suspects linked to Abrini’s phone after his recent arrest.
Some 800 British citizens have gone to Syria to fight. Of those, about 100 are thought to have died and 300 or so have returned, according to the European security official who spoke about the arrests in Birmingham.
"It would be exceedingly difficult to replicate the scale of the attacks in Gay Paree, as it is still difficult in Britannia to access guns and ammunition," said Shiraz Maher, senior research fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation. "However, there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... as we’ve seen from the 2005 suicide kabooms, the threat is still severe to Britain.”
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(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source in the Iraqi police said on Friday, that a civilian was killed in an armed attack in Jumila area east of the capital Baghdad.
The source said in a brief statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “This afternoon, unidentified gunmen opened fire against a civilian in the area of Jumila, east of Baghdad, resulting in his immediate death,” pointing out that, “The security forces moved the dead body to the forensic medicine department, while opened an investigation to determine the circumstances of the incident.”
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Belgian transport minister resigned on Friday after accusations she lied about an EU report that criticized security at Brussels Airport a year before last month's ISIS suicide kabooms.
In a formal confirmation, the Royal Palace said King Philippe had accepted the resignation of Jacqueline Galant, who was expected to give a news conference shortly.
A day earlier, Prime Minister Charles Michel had defended Galant, who is from his own centrist party in the coalition government, insisting that her office had not been aware of a critical report sent in March 2015 by EU officials.
Government officials could not immediately be reached for comment. Public broadcaster RTBF quoted a front man for Michel's centrist MR party saying documents presented late on Thursday showed that Galant's office had indeed been told of the report.
On March 22, two ISIS jacket wallahs detonated suitcase bombs in the airport departure hall before a third struck a metro train in the city. In all, they killed 32 people.
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Outside the cop shoppe, Iraqi men in robes and headscarves wait for permits to leave the dusty border town of Rabia, which was wrested from ISIS 18 months ago but remains isolated and impoverished by the battle lines drawn around it.
To the east is the city of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , still held by ISIS krazed killers. To the west is the crossing into Syria, but that has been closed by Iraqi Kurdish authorities. The only way out is north to Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdish region, where authorities are suspicious of Rabia's mostly Arab residents and require them to apply to enter.
Continued on Page 49
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ISIS militants have seized a string of opposition-held villages in Syria’s Aleppo province near the Turkish border, a monitoring group said Thursday.
Areas around Aleppo have seen a spike in violence on several fronts in recent days, sparking concern over a fragile six-week truce as a new round of peace talks gets under way in Geneva.
“Fierce clashes are raging between rebels and ISIS after the jihadists secured an advance and seized control of six villages near the Turkish border,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The most important village to come under ISIS control was Hiwar Kallis, about one kilometre (less than one mile) south of the Turkish border, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.
Warplanes meanwhile raided ISIS positions in the area, he said, adding that they were likely from the US-led coalition.
In recent weeks, battles have been intensifying between ISIS and rebels over the border strip, which both sides use to transport fighters and weapons.
Rebels had secured significant gains against ISIS before the militants pushed them back, like in the strategic town of Al-Rai, which is on an ISIS supply route to Turkey.
Meanwhile, rebels and their allies from the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front fought fresh clashes against regime troops and militia in southern Aleppo, the Observatory said.
Over 100 fighters from both sides have been killed in fighting there since Sunday, the Britain-based monitor said.
Neither Al-Nusra nor ISIS are included in the truce that began on February 27, but the fact that rebels are fighting alongside Al-Nusra while regime forces push back has sparked concerns over its durability.
Washington voiced concern Monday that a regime assault on Al-Nusra in Aleppo could spread to areas controlled by moderate rebel factions, and cause the truce to collapse and derail peace efforts.
Syria’s conflict began in 2011 as a peaceful revolt seeking democratic change, but has since escalated into a multi-front civil war that has left over 270,000 people dead and forced millions to flee their homes.
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] An Afghan man has reportedly been tossed in the clink Book 'im, Mahmoud! in western Herat ...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... province of Afghanistan allegedly for smuggling a teenage Syrian girl from The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... .
According to the local security officials in Herat, an investigation is underway regarding the alleged smuggle of the girl from Turkey.
Provincial governor’s front man Jilani Farhad said they are aware regarding an alleged smuggle of a 16-year-old girl from Turkey.
He said an investigation is underway and it has been reported that the girl is originally hailing from Syria.
According to Farhad, the arrested man is originally a resident of Ghor province and was keeping the girl in Injil district of Herat province.
Turkey is host to millions of refugees who have fled civil war from Syria as well as Afghan migrants colonists who have left the country during growing instability.
Scores of Afghans are leaving the country and heading towards Turkey in a bid to reach the European countries by travelling through the Turkish waters.
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Around 10 North Korean workers dispatched to Angola have died of yellow fever in the southern African country, a U.S. radio outlet said Friday. About 450 people have been confirmed to be infected with the viral disease in Angola since the first case was reported in December in the country's capital, the Washington-based Radio Free Asia (RFA) report said.
Among those that caught yellow fever, 178 have died so far, with the disease spreading rapidly in nearby countries, the RFA said, quoting sources. It said some 1,000 North Korean workers are in Angola, including construction workers and medical staff, the report said, referring to the workforce North Korea dispatches overseas to earn money.
The recent deaths of the North Koreans calls into question the quality of North Korea's yellow fever vaccine and the veracity of North Korea's claims to have inoculated its workers sent to the African country, according to the report.
Those who became sick have asked to be repatriated, but the North Korean government has opted to not comply out of fear that they could cause the disease to spread at home, the media company said.
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To paraphrase Mr. Bond, James Bond: "Yes, of course they did."
North Korea attempted and failed to launch what experts believe was an intermediate-range ballistic missile on Friday in defiance of U.N. sanctions and in an embarrassing setback for leader Kim Jong Un, drawing criticism from major ally China.
The failed launch, as the reclusive country celebrates the "Day of the Sun" on the birthday of Kim's grandfather, follows the North's fourth nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch in February, which led to new U.N. sanctions. But the North has nevertheless pushed ahead with its missile program, supervised by Kim, in breach of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
A U.S. government source told Reuters on Friday the missile never got off the launch pad, instead bursting into flames on the ground. It was not yet clear what caused the failure but further tests are expected, said the source, who asked not to be named.
China, North Korea's most important economic and diplomatic backer, has been angered by Pyongyang's nuclear tests and rocket launches in the face of U.N. sanctions that China also has backed. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the U.N. Security Council was clear on North Korean rocket launches.
"At present, the situation on the peninsula is complex and sensitive," he told reporters. "We hope all parties can strictly respect the decisions of the Security Council and avoid taking any steps that could further worsen tensions."
Chinese state media was more direct.
"The firing of a mid-range ballistic missile on Friday by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), though failed, marks the latest in a string of saber-rattling that, if unchecked, will lead the country to nowhere," China's official Xinhua news agency said in an English language commentary.
"... Nuclear weapons will not make Pyongyang safer. On the contrary, its costly military endeavors will keep on suffocating its economy."
All this is true. Still not sure if the Chinese really mean this or if the Chinese leaders are placating the rubes (Obama, the Democrats, the MSM, the UN). When they stop the oil from going into North Korea then we'll know they're serious...
The U.S. Defense Department said in a statement the launch at 0533 Korea time (2033 GMT Thursday) was detected and tracked by the U.S. Strategic Command, which also assessed it had failed.
The missile likely was a Musudan, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said, an intermediate-range ballistic missile with a design range of more than 3,000 km (1,800 miles) that can be fired from a road mobile launcher but which has never been flight-tested.
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#1
Taking action against it's satellite would seem not to be in China's best interest. A successful launch would put China in an uncomfortable position. Critical missile components undoubtedly come from China. Dot.dot.dot. It would be interesting to see the real reason the launch failed.
[NYTIMES] More than a thousand people gathered in downtown Cairo on Friday, chanting slogans denouncing President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and protesting his decision to transfer illusory sovereignty of two islands in the Red Sea to 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... The demonstration was the largest in at least two years in Egypt. And it was the most significant public challenge to Mr. Sisi by antigovernment activists who have been all but forced into the shadows by a state crackdown on dissent.
By venturing into the streets in defiance of a strictly enforced ban on political protest -- testing the authorities’ often reflexive use of force -- the activists appeared emboldened by recent criticism of Mr. Sisi, including from once resolute government loyalists.
The downtown protest and a handful of other demonstrations were in response to Mr. Sisi’s decision last week to transfer illusory sovereignty of Tiran and Sanafir, two uninhabited islands at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea, to Saudi Arabia. The government said it was simply returning to Saudi Arabia territory that had been transferred to Egyptian control in 1950, amid concerns that Israel might seize the islands.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2016
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[CAPITOLHILLCUBANS] The Panamanian authorities have intercepted over 401 kilos of cocaine in a shipment from Cuba en route to Belgium. Not sure about the source. Anybody familiar with it?
The cocaine was found in a container camouflaged by molasses tanks.
Details are forthcoming of this interdiction at the Colon Free Trade Zone, which has been dubbed by intelligence officials as "Operation Fiery Cane" ("Caña Brava").
It's important to note that the interception -- also by the Panamanian authorities -- of 240 tons of illegal weapons from Cuba to North Korea in 2013 was originally under suspicion of a drug shipment.
It's also important to note that Cuba's port facilities are owned -- and tightly-controlled -- by the Castro regime's military.
In other words, the only criminal network that has access to Cuba's ports is the Castro regime itself.
In 2013, the Obama Administration allowed Cuba's regime to get away scot-free, despite clear evidence that it was at the center of a major illegal shipment of arms from its Port of Mariel to North Korea.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2016
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[THEHILL] Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as The Heroine of Tuzla and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Walter Q. Gresham ... was booed at Thursday night’s Democratic presidential debate after she defended raising money from Wall Street by arguing that President B.O. had done the same.
"Make no mistake about it, this is not just an attack on me, it’s an attack on President B.O.," Clinton said, provoking jeers from the Brooklyn crowd.
"Let me tell you why -- you may not like it, but let me tell you why," the former first lady responded.
"President B.O. had a super-PAC," she continued. "President B.O. raised tens of millions of dollars from campaign contributors, and President B.O. was not at all influenced when he made the decision to pass and sign Dodd Frank, the toughest regulation on Wall Street in many a year."
Her primary rival, Bernie Sanders ...The only openly Socialist member of the U.S. Senate. Sanders was Representative-for-Life from Vermont until moving to the Senate for the rest of his life in 2006, assuming the seat vacated by Jim Jeffords... , began the exchange by attacking Clinton’s judgment, saying she could not possibly be committed to overhauling the nation’s banking system because she’s influenced by tens of millions of dollars the industry has given to groups supporting her campaign.
"This is a phony attack designed to raise questions when there is not evidence or support to undergird the insinuations he’s putting forward," Clinton said.
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04/16/2016
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[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Afghan national security forces have repulsed an offensive by the Talibs to seize control of the strategic Kunduz city, local officials said Friday.
Provincial police chief General Mohammad Qasim Jangalbagh said the Talibs launched coordinated attack on Kunduz city and other nearby districts in the early hours of Friday morning.
He said at least 40 Taliban turbans were killed after the attack was repulsed by the Afghan cops in the outskirts of Kunduz city and at least six other districts.
The Talibs seized the control of the city late in mid-2015 after launched coordinated attacks on the city.
However, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... the Afghan Special Operations Forces have retaken the control of Kunduz city from the Talibs earlier in the month of October after the city was in control of the snuffies for almost a week.
The Taliban turbans were accused of horrific criminal activities after they seized control of the city, including murders, rape, kidnappings, use of civilians as shields, looting of public and private properties.
The Independent Human Rights Commission of Afghanistan said at least 50 non-combatants were killed and over 350 others were maimed.
However, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... the rights organization said the number could be relatively higher as AIHRC said their statistics was based on hospital reports and several others had not been taken to hospital after they were killed or injured.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2016
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[NATION.PK] Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... on Thursday proposed the formation of a body within the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to solidify and institutionalise cooperation against terrorism.
This came in Erdogan’s opening speech to the opening session of the 13th OIC Summit held in Istanbul, under the theme "Unity and Solidarity for Justice and Peace".
The two-day summit is attended by heads of states and governments from over 30 countries.
It is necessary to conduct operations against terrorist groups on the ground, while there should be efforts to target those organizations’ financial and human resources, Erdogan said.
International cooperation is vital in this regard and establishing a body that would "solidify and institutionalise cooperation against terror within the OIC is the right step to take," he added.
Erdogan, whose country was handed over presidency of the OIC Summit, noted that terrorism is among the gravest problems facing the Islamic world.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2016
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#1
note that OIC also stands for Opioid Induced Constipation
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/16/2016 9:11
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#2
So dats what it wuz. They put a tube thru my nose to get out the evil green stuff, OIC, live and learn.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) said Friday that the Afghan, U.S and NATO forces in Afghanistan will deliver a lasting defeat to Daesh amid the recent victories made by the Afghan and foreign forces against the group in several fronts across the country.
The alliance meanwhile has hailed the recent victories made by the Afghan troops and their foreign counterparts against Daesh in Afghanistan, stressing that Daesh is losing ground in the country.
U.S, NATO and Afghan troops are winning against Daesh in the battlefield and the insurgent group has lost large parts of its territories in the country particularly in the eastern province of Nangarhar, said Brigadier General Charles Cleveland, spokesman for NATO and U.S forces in Afghanistan.
He said that a 100 air strikes were carried out against Daesh over the past three months.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister David Cameron has said that a stable Afghanistan is in the interests of world peace and security.
According to Cleveland, Daesh had seized six to eight districts across Afghanistan, but now the group controls only two or three districts and Daesh fighters are now on the run toward Kunar and Nuristan provinces bordering Pakistan.
He said that Afghan forces are now on the offensive.
"Hence what I want to try to do is a kind of comprehensive overview of how we see the threat as well as what we are doing from a mission standpoint and the purpose of all that really established a kind of starting point and kind of baseline.
U.S forces in Afghanistan continue to have a mission to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaeda and so do we have the authority to target any al-Qaeda member. In January, of course that authority or the authority for the U.S forces Afghanistan to begin targeting ISIS (Daesh) was also provided," he said.
Cleveland said that the Afghan forces are trying to take the fight to the enemy and that already there are indicators of that.
"They are trying to take the fight to the enemy. So we have already seen indicators of that and evidence of that. We have seen them engaging up in northeastern Kunduz and engaging the Taliban there. We have seen them begin to reestablish their presence in Helmand and we have seen them on the offense particularly trying to clear some areas on the eastern part of Helmand," he added.
In addition to this, Cameron in a meeting with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the NATO mission in Afghanistan needed to ensure international peace and stability.
US statistics reveal that 1,000 to 3,000 Daesh fighters operate in Afghanistan.
[NATION.PK] RAW is planning to kidnap officers of Pak secret services from Pak territory for a possible swap with Commander Kulbhusan Yadav, a high-profile Indian spy caught last month from 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... Security agencies officials told The Nation yesterday that Indian intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) with the connivance of Afghan National Directorate of Security ...the Afghan national intel agency... (NDS) has planned kidnapping Pak intelligence officers from Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
Continued on Page 49
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[ARA News] KOBANE ــ At least ten rebel fighters were killed during clashes with the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in the vicinity of the mainly Kurdish neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud in Syria’s northern province of Aleppo, leadership of the YPG said on Friday.
The YPG’s Media Center issued a statement, obtained by ARA News, saying: “The joint attacks launched by the terrorists of Sultan Murad brigade, Ahrar al-Sham, the 16th Brigade, the Conquest Brigade, Fastaqim Kama Umirt group, the 13th Brigade, the Northern Division and the Nour ad-Din Zanki Brigades on the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood in the city of Aleppo are still ongoing.”
“The terrorists [in reference to Syrian Islamist rebels] attacked the neighborhood with mortars and hell cannons in a bid to break into the Sheikh Maqsoud through the Youth Housing area and the Intelligence Street, but our units [YPG] engaged with them in clashes that lasted for several hours until the morning hours,” the statement read.
The YPG’s leadership emphasized the Kurdish forces were able to kill three rebel fighters in the Youth Housing area as well as three more in the Intelligence Street.
“As clashes continue between the two sides, our fighters [YPG] were able on Friday midnight to kill four other terrorists from the assailants [rebels],” the statement added.
Speaking to ARA News in Sheikh Maqsoud, media activist Imran Darwish said that the Kurdish Asyaish security forces in the neighborhood have imposed a curfew within the neighborhood, saying the move come in a bid to protect civilians.
After clashes erupted last February between rebels and the YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces, fierce clashes have been took place over control of the neighborhood of Sheik Maqsoud and the Castello road, which has so far killed at least 85 Kurdish civilians since 16 February.
Meanwhile, speaking to ARA News, a spokesman for the YPG said that the anti-terrorism units [a Kurdish special force] carried out a clearing campaign against the Islamist rebels in the village of Shuwaikh, which lies between the city Hasakah and the area of Shaddadi, and were able to foil an ISIS-prepared plan to launch an offensive on the region, capturing one of jihadis in the area.
“The campaign resulted in the arrest of the jihadi militant Hani Mohammed al-Khudair, aka Abu Hazim, seizing control of three Kalashnikov rifles, 9 magazines, 200 bullets, in addition to a pistol along with three military backpacks with two mines,”the Kurdish official said.
[NATION.PK] General Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... finally left the country but the mark of blood libel stays on him, including the alleged murder charges of 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... and Bugti, the Lal Masjid
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2016
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[INDEPENDENT.CO.UK] A man appears to have deleted his entire company with one mistaken piece of code. By accidentally telling his computer to delete everything in his servers, hosting provider Marco Marsala has seemingly removed all trace of his company and the websites that he looks after for his customers. Ummm... No backup?
Mr Marsala wrote on a forum for server experts called Server Fault that he was now stuck after having accidentally run destructive code on his own computers. But far from advising them how to fix it, most experts informed him that he had just accidentally deleted the data of his company and its clients, and in so doing had probably destroyed his entire company with just one line of code. This has gotta be from some sort of IT Onion...
The problem command was "rm -rf": a basic piece of code that will delete everything it is told to. The "rm" tells the computer to remove; the r deletes everything within a given directory; and the f stands for "force", telling the computer to ignore the usual warnings that come when deleting files. Yep. That's what it does.
Together, the code deleted everything on the computer, including Mr Masarla’s customers' websites, he wrote. Mr Masarla runs a web hosting company, which looks after the servers and internet connections on which the files for websites are stored. He should be backing up, his customers should be backing up, and I have a hard time believing the whole shebang was run on a single server.
That piece of code is so famously destructive that it has become a joke within some computing circles. Everybody and his girlfriend knows about it.
Normally, that code would wipe out all of the specific parts of the computer that it was pointed at. But because of an error in the way it was written, the code didn’t actually specify anywhere ‐ and so removed everything on the computer.
"I run a small hosting provider with more or less 1535 customers and I use Ansible to automate some operations to be run on all servers," wrote Marco Marsala. "Last night I accidentally ran, on all servers, a Bash script with a rm -rf {foo}/{bar} with those variables undefined due to a bug in the code above this line." 1535 sites? On one machine? With no backups? Sounds like he had one physical server and a number of virtual servers.
With no backups, either machine or virtual. I suspect he will have considerably fewer customers a week from now.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2016
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#1
You hear legends and rumors of this sort of thing. This is the first time I have seen a documented case of the awesome power of the mis-applied 'rm -rf'
"... Modify the user's password minimum from 6 to 32 letters, give the password a 1 day lifetime, set it so that they HAVE to use the password generate utility when they change their password (so their password will always be something that looks like vaguely pronouncable line-noise), add a secondary password with the same as the above, then redefine their CLI tables so that the only command that works is DELETE, and all other commands point to it."
Beautiful. Shit I'm good.
He calls back.
"MY FILES ARE GONE!", he screams, panicking.
"Did you have a backup?", I ask, as sweet as pie.
"But that's what you people are supposed to do!", he sobs.
"Yeah, well we did - but then we switched to those 8mm tapes, and they're the same size as the ones in my video camera, so I've been using them to tape the neighbor's sex romps..."
I hear the revolver go off, but what the hell, it's 5pm, and not my problem...
#8
In 5 years there's going to be some hacker movie called "RM -RF" staring Nicholas Cage.
Posted by: Charles ||
04/16/2016 9:18
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#9
Safe bet: Nicholas Cage stars in everything...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/16/2016 10:01
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#10
I see lawsuits in his future...
Sounds like he used a tool to run the same command on all his servers... And the journalist is an idiot.
I've seen something similar. A customer had just upgraded to a new Tandem nonstop system and the field engineer started taking down the old system. The first thing he started as to 'relabel' (read reformat) all the disks. Unfortunately he was working across the network on the new production system. Oops!
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has warned that a political crisis engulfing his country over anti-graft reforms could hamper the war against ISIS myrmidons.
The crisis escalated this week with the cancellation of two voting sessions in parliament over a planned cabinet reshuffle sought by Abadi as part of his anti-corruption drive.
Tussles between politicians broke out on Wednesday, a day after the first attempted vote. After a second cancellation of the vote on Thursday dozens of politicians held a mock session where they removed the speaker.
"The conflict has crippled parliament ... and could obstruct the work of the government, impacting the heroic operations to free our cities and villages (from ISIS)," Abadi said in a statement issued late on Thursday.
Iraq, a major OPEC exporter which sits on one of the world's largest oil reserves, ranks 161th out of 168 countries on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index.
Corruption became a major issue after global oil prices collapsed two years ago, shrinking the state budget at a time when it needed additional income to wage war against 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.... , the ultra-hardline Sunni group that controls swathes of northern and western Iraq, including the city of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... Abadi announced a government overhaul in February under pressure from the clergy of Iraq’s Shiite majority.
He initially proposed independent technocrats as candidates to try to free the ministries from the grip of a political class that built its wealth and influence on a patronage system put in place after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Abadi then modified his list to include candidates nominated by the dominant political groups, prompting protests inside parliament by politicians who say it will again result in corruption.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2016
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A Syrian jet plane was probably shot down on Thursday by ISIS militants near a military airport in southern Syria but the pilot appears to have been rescued, a monitor said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had received information that the hardline group had hit and may have brought down a Syrian plane near Khalkhala airport, north east of the city of Sweida.
Earlier Amaq, a news agency close to the militants, said in a newsflash it had downed a Syrian army plane in the vicinity of the same airport.
Posted by: badanov ||
04/16/2016
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#1
Ambassador Stevens could not have been reached for a comment.
(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – The commander of Anbar Operations Command, Maj. Gen. Ismail al-Mahalawi, announced on Friday the killing of 15 ISIS elements during a military operation east of Ramadi.
Mahalawi said in a press statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “A force from the army’s Tenth Division had managed to kill 15 ISIS elements, using artillery, in the areas of Albu bali and Albu Obeid east of Ramadi,” adding also that, “A force from the Third regiment of the [army’s] Eighth Division had managed to detain a wanted individual near Bzabz Bridge in the vicinity of al-Ameriyat (23 km south of Fallujah).”
Posted by: badanov ||
04/16/2016
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[WASHINGTONPOST] Politicians in the Czech Republic are set to put decades of debate to an end this week by officially announcing a new name for the country: Czechia. That's Czech for "Betty."
In a meeting with news hounds this week, Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek said he supported the move, suggesting that foreigners often mangled his country’s name when he met them abroad. "It is not good if a country does not have clearly defined symbols or if it even does not clearly say what its name is," Zaoralek said, according to the Czech News Agency.
When the decision does go through, Czechia will officially become the conventional short-form name for the country, while the Czech Republic will remain the conventional long-form name.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2016
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#1
Sounds too much like another Country you would not want to tour.
#4
Undialyzed dude of Bohemia,
I wonder what cured your uremia?
[loooooooooong pause]
Well, whether 'twas celery,
Or maybe the Keller, ye
Piss like the Lion of Nemea!
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A distressing video has emerged online which purportedly shows an Afghan army Russian-made Mi-17 helicopter blown up by Talibs.
The authenticity of the video could not be verified, however, the high quality video shows an Mi-17 helicopter is blown up, apparently by an Improvised Explosive Device as it performs an operation.
There are no reports regarding the location of the incident but the video purportedly shows the helicopter blown up on top of a rocky mountain.
The location where the incident took place is similar to the mountainous regions of eastern Kunar and Nuristan provinces of the country.
The distressing video has been released as part of Taliban’s ongoing propaganda as the group has launched its spring offensive under the name of Omari Operations.
The video has been released as the Afghan Air Force capabilities have significantly grown during the recent months.
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04/16/2016
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... called his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday to demand that Moscow press its Syrian allies to respect a crumbling ceasefire.
"Secretary Kerry said the United States expected Russia to urge the regime to comply with the cessation and that we would work with the opposition to do the same," US front man John Kirby said.
Kerry’s call came as a new round of fierce fighting around the northern city of Aleppo overshadowed peace talks aimed at ending Syria's five-year-old civil war.
According to Kirby, Kerry told Lavrov of Washington’s "serious concerns over the ongoing threats to the cessation of hostilities in Syria and the urgent need for the Assad regime to stop its violations of the cessation."
US officials have complained that Russian jets appear to be flying in support of Syrian forces attacking rebel positions in Aleppo, despite having signed on to efforts to promote a political settlement.
A monitoring group said on Friday that at least 210 combatants in Syria’s civil war have died in a surge in violence around the second city of Aleppo this week, a monitoring group.
Among those killed were 82 army troops and pro-regime militiamen, 94 members of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front and allied rebel groups, and 34 ISIS holy warriors, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
On Friday, Syrian regime forces battled ISIS group forces of Evil near Aleppo city as they clashed with a local Al-Qaeda affiliate and allied rebels nearby, a monitoring group said.
The upsurge in fighting, which the United States says is straining a fragile truce, came as a new round of peace talks got under way in Geneva.
"Fierce fighting raged between regime troops and loyalist militia against ISIS... to the east of Khanasser" southeast of Aleppo city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The army is trying to recapture several areas seized by ISIS on Thursday near Khanasser, the Britannia-based monitor said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shouting match, a new, even louder, voice was to be heard... troops and militia loyal to Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... ’s regime battled Al-Nusra Front and allied rebels on a northern front in the battered province, the group said.
At least 14 troops and pro-regime forces of Evil as well as 20 rebels and Al-Nusra forces of Evil have been killed in the past 24 hours around the flashpoint area of Handarat north of Aleppo city, it said.
The latest violence came a day after a bigwig in Washington told AFP that the United States was "very concerned" about reports of a Russian-backed Syrian government offensive near Aleppo.
Even though the fight against ISIS and Al-Nusra is excluded from the truce, violence around Aleppo has sparked concerns that the ceasefire may not last, partly because rebels are involved in the battles there too.
"Aleppo is the key to war and peace in Syria," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
"Every side in the war has a stake in Aleppo."
Syria’s conflict began in 2011 as a peaceful revolt, with protests across the country that spread in 2012 to Aleppo province, which borders The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... Meanwhile, ...back at the shouting match, a new, even louder, voice was to be heard... Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry discussed the Syria crisis settlement in a phone talk on Friday, Russia’s ministry said in a statement.
Lavrov and Kerry also discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh and Ukraine conflicts, it added.
On Friday, a Syrian government delegation arrived in Geneva to join a new round of UN-mediated peace talks underway with an umbrella opposition group that seeks to find a resolution to the country’s five-year civil war.
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[NATION.PK] Pakistain on Friday dismissed as preposterous reports that its intelligence agency helped fund a 2009 suicide kaboom on a CIA outpost in Afghanistan that was one of the deadliest attacks in the U.S. spy agency's history.
A heavily redacted U.S. government document, released under the Freedom of Information Act, said that an unidentified officer of Pakistain's Inter-Services Intelligence ...the Pak military intelligence agency that controls the military -- heads of ISI typically get promoted into the Chief of Army Staff position. It serves as a general command center for favored turban groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, tries to influence the politix of neighboring countries, and carries out a (usually) low-level war against India in Kashmir... directorate paid $200,000 to the Haqqani network to facilitate the bombing.
The attack, at a site known as Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost, Afghanistan, killed seven and maimed six.
"Allegations in the media on Pakistain’s involvement with HQN are preposterous," a Pak Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a statement, using an acronym for the Haqqani network, which the United States has designated as a terrorist organization.
"In fact, we were shocked and deeply saddened when precious American lives were lost at the Chapman facility in 2009 in an unfortunate attack that was later claimed by TTP in a publicly available video, featuring the jacket wallah with the leader of the TTP," the statement said.
The TTP, or Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain, is the main Pak Taliban faction.
"Pakistain is determined to eradicate the scourge of terrorism and has taken action against all terrorist elements, without discrimination," the statement said.
The declassified U.S. government document, obtained by the National Security Archive, a non-governmental research institute at George Washington University, can be found here.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2016
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#1
A heavily redacted U.S. government document, released under the Freedom of Information Act,
Do the acquisitions require any further proof? Thank you IB. The PK release last year of Mumbai terrorist planner 'Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi' prompt your actions by chance? Once again, thank you Indian Bureau of Intelligence.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A front man for the US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan has said 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 has the potential to be an ’enormous’ threat in Afghanistan.
The chief of communications for the coalition, Brigadier General Charles Cleveland, kept in touch with the world by Obamaphone, ...was ruled by a Democrat machine from 1942 through 1971. After the river caught fire during the administration of Carl Stokes they tried a Republican, then went back to being Democrats when the party hacked up Dennis Kucinich ... , has said the threat exists despite the group has received major setbacks during the recent months, pointing towards the growing US forces Arclight airstrikes against the loyalists of the terror group.
"Obviously, we’ve all seen them, how rapidly they are able to spread, in other parts of the world," Gen. Cleveland said during a briefing at Pentagon.
He said between January and March, the United States has carried out 70 to 80 Arclight airstrikes against ISIS in Afghanistan, according to The Hill newspaper.
The Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) carry out operations against ISIS, and the Taliban fights against ISIS, he added.
According to Gen. Cleveland "Here in Afghanistan, one of the things that appear[s] to be common to just about everybody is that nobody really wants ISIS in the neighborhood."
The General further added "And so, whether it’s the Taliban attacking ISIS, whether it’s locals trying to rise up against them or the ANDSF operations and now some of our unilateral strikes, we do think they are being contained more than they probably were last fall."
The General did not have a specific number of how many ISIS fighters remain in the country.
However, we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by... earlier estimated indicated there are about 1,000 to 3,000 fighters, and that the number is probably on the lower end of that range, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2016
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[NATION.PK] Pak forces battled on Friday to dislodge a criminal gang holding 24 hostages from its island hideout in the prosperous province of Punjab, with a top regional official saying it had at most 48 hours in which to surrender.
The security operation involving more than 1,600 security forces is now in its tenth day, an unprecedented use of force by the powerful military in Punjab, which is the political power base of 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... .
Television broadcast images of police and army commandos firing assault weapons at the 10-km- (6-mile-) long island in the centre of the Indus River, as an armoured personnel carrier drove by.
"The gang will not be allowed to get away," 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.... Law Minister Rana Sanaullah told news hounds in televised comments.
"Political and military leaders agree that there will be no negotiations with these criminals, nor will we entertain any of their demands."
He added, "They will either have to surrender or be eliminated within the coming 24 to 48 hours."
While Pakistain's attention has for years been focused on the Taliban and al Qaeda threat on the Afghan border in the remote northwest, hard boyz and criminals have quietly expanded their influence and won recruits in the country's heartland of Punjab.
At least six police officials have been killed in the battle for the island, launched in a sweeping crackdown after a Taliban suicide kaboom killed 72 people in Lahore, the scenic provincial capital, last month.
It was unclear just how many members of the "Chotu Group", blamed for hundreds of cases of kidnapping for ransom, murder and robbery, were trapped there, but police said their families were believed to be accompanying them.
Police spokeswoman Nabeela Ghazanfar said seven of the gang's leaders had been killed by police and eight injured, while six police officials had died and seven were hurt in festivities. Policemen were among the 24 hostages, she added.
The battle is taking place near Rajanpur, one of the poorest districts in Punjab, where the Panjnad River flows into the Indus, Pakistain's lifeline.
Authorities said the gang was led by Ghulam Rasool, also known as Chotu, a longtime criminal active in the border areas of the provinces of Punjab and Sindh.
Previous military crackdowns have focused on the lawless tribal regions where the Taliban and other hard boyz are based. Paramilitary Rangers also launched a crackdown on criminals in the violent southern port city of 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... in 2013.
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04/16/2016
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#1
"unprecedented use of force by the powerful military in Punjab"
In its 10th day, huh? Doesn't see so powerful...
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/16/2016 12:46
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SANAA: Thirteen pro-government fighters were killed in a militia attack on their positions near Sanaa, despite a UN-brokered cease-fire taking effect this week, military sources said on Thursday.
The militias attacked positions of Gulf-backed loyalist fighters in Nihm, northeast of Sanaa, where clashes have occurred for two weeks despite warring parties promising to abide by a cease-fire that took effect on Sunday at midnight.
A number of Iran-backed militias were also killed in fighting that erupted after the Wednesday attack, sources said.
[THEMOSCOWTIMES] The head of the State Duma's ethnic affairs committee has denounced a "Miss Russia" beauty pageant contestant from the predominantly Muslim region of Dagestan ...a formerly inoffensive Caucasus republic currently bedevilled by low-level Islamic insurgency, occasional outbreaks of separatism, ethnic tensions and terrorism, primarily due to its proximity to Chechnya. There are several dozen ethnic groups, most of which speak either Caucasian, Turkic, or Iranian languages. Largest among these ethnic groups are the Avar, Dargin, Kumyk, Lezgin, and Laks. While Russers form less than five percent of the population, Russian remains the primary official language and the lingua franca... for posing for photographs in a bathing suit, and suggested she should stop disclosing her Dagestan origin, media reports said Wednesday.
But 21-year-old contestant Albina Ildarova, the daughter of two kickboxing athletes, came right back with a sharp retort.
Continued on Page 49
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04/16/2016
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#1
“What is the world coming to. Such daughters should be buried alive,” a commentator on social networks said, according to a screenshot posted by LifeNews. Yet another one chimed in: “Somebody shoot her.”
[IBTIMES] 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... ’s $681 million donation to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was "genuine," according to Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir, Malaysian state news agency reported Friday. Najib has been embroiled in a corruption scandal at state-run fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
Al-Jubeir said that Saudi officials were aware of the donation and it was made without accepting anything in return, news agency Bernama reported. Malaysia’s Attorney General Mohammed Apandi Ali thoroughly investigated the case and did not find the donation to be unlawful, the Saudi minister added.
"So, as far as we are concerned, the matter is closed," Al-Jubeir said.
Najib, who set up 1MDB in 2009 to boost economic growth in Malaysia, has consistently denied the corruption allegations, first made in a July 2015 report by the Wall Street Journal, which said that Sherlocks tracked money from an account at Falcon Private Bank in Singapore to accounts in Malaysia.
In January, Apandi did not prosecute Najib for corruption allegations, saying the money was a "personal donation" from the Saudi royal family. However, the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits... he did not elaborate on why the royal family donated the money or what it was used for.
Earlier this month, the bipartisan Public Accounts Committee said the fund’s board -- headed by Najib -- did not carry out its responsibilities and that its former CEO Shahrol Halmi should be probed. The PAC report stated that the fund’s advisory board -- headed by Prime Minister Najib Razak -- should be abolished and any reference to the prime minister must be changed to finance minister in 1MDB’s memo and related documents.
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04/16/2016
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#1
A little walking around money from a supporter. How much from his other ardent admirers is squirreled away in Najib's freezer?
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Most states in an Islamic summit on Friday denounced Leb’s Shiite group Hezbollah for spreading "terrorism" and for destabilizing the national security of its member countries.
This week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... hosted the summit of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), comprised of 57 member states. Over 30 leaders attended the summit, including the Saudi king and Iranian president.
The final declaration expressed hope that negotiations that started in Geneva on April 13 would contribute to resolving "the Syrian crisis as soon as possible" and "deplored Iran’s interference" and "continued support for terrorism" not only in Syria but also Bahrain, Yemen, and Somalia.
OIC, however, did not officially blacklist Hezbollah nor circulate its final communique when it condemned the Lebanese group.
Hezbollah has long been a key ally to Iran, who are key backers of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... The statement comes after Saudi King Salman ...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, Cutodian of the Two Holy Mosquesand Lord of Most of the Arabians.... made important trips to both Egypt and later The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... to improve and consolidate the kingdom’s ties with the two.
King Salman visits to Ankara showed a visible improvement ties between Turkey and 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... since his inauguration as king in 2015.
Salman Dosri, an analyst, told Al Arabiya News Channel that it is "first time" that the summit denounces an Iranian proxy of such sort. He said Turkey is further consolidating its ties with Saudi since both "share the same outlook on Syria."
The host Turkey saw the summit as a chance to shore up its prestige in the Islamic world where Erdogan has made it his mission at the meeting to bring the world’s 1.7 billion Muslims closer together.
Erdogan, who chaired OIC’s final session, lamented the fact that Muslim countries who are "the heirs of a civilization that was built on columns of peace and justice are being remembered more for wars, armed conflict, sectarianism and terrorism."
"As Muslims, we cannot overcome our difficulties without achieving unity in spite of our differences," said the Turkish leader during the closing ceremony after delegates took a break to perform Friday prayers.
Erdogan also said the establishment of an international arbitration body in Istanbul is part of the OIC 2025 action plan and welcomed a decision reached a day earlier to create a Turkey-based police coordination center aimed at increasing cooperation against terrorism.
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04/16/2016
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... is signaling that it will consider moving security personnel into Libya to help stabilize the chaotic country if requested by a new UN-backed Libyan government, according to a draft statement seen by Rooters.
Impetus for the move comes in part from fears of an uncontrolled new tide of migrants colonists into Italia from Libya unless law and order can be rebuilt soon in the North African state.
EU foreign and defence ministers will hold a special dinner on Monday in Luxembourg where they are expected to agree to look into police and border training missions for Libya, initially in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... , where the new government is trying to establish itself.
"The EU stands ready to offer security sector support in response to possible (UN) Government of National Accord requests," ministers are expected to say, according to a draft statement prepared by diplomats that is still under discussion.
"A possible civilian ... mission could support Libyan efforts ... through advice and capacity building in the fields of police and criminal justice," said the draft, referring to counter-terrorism, border management and tackling the smuggling of migrants colonists across the Mediterranean to Europe.
An EU security presence in Libya, which would not involve soldiers, would be Europe’s biggest step in the oil-producing nation since a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... -backed mission led to the fall of Libya’s long-time leader Muammar Qadaffy ...The late megalomaniac dictator of Libya, admired everywhere for his garish costumes, funny hats, harem of cutie bodyguards, and incoherent ravings. As far as is known, he is the only person who's ever declared jihad on Switzerland... in 2011.
Diplomats said there had yet to be a detailed discussion with the new UN-brokered Libyan government in defining what kind of assistance they wanted from the EU, and that it keen to avoid the impression of moving into the country uninvited.
"It is a delicate balance," said one senior EU official involved in the plans. "We need to prepare to help Libya, but we cannot jump the gun."
Libyan officials with the new unity government were not immediately available for comment on the specific document. But they have said any international security cooperation must be Libyan-led and so far have made no detailed request for aid.
But inviting in foreign military trainers remains a sensitive subject for the new government, who opponents accuse of being a foreign-imposed body with no legitimacy.
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04/16/2016
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Last Saturday, helping a friend get his new AR-15 rifle broken in, I went to the gun range to boresight the rifle using a reflex/laser sight combo sight. The last time I fired an AR was the M-16 way back in 1973 at basic training, a dim memory at best.
The rifle was as smooth as can be. Before, I didn't realize just how smooth the 5.56mm platform could be. As a personal matter facing a number of problems here locally in Oklahoma, the time at the gun range was time well spent as a counter.
The range report? 29 rounds fired, 0 rounds on target, and zero rounds on paper. I wound up having to acquire a laser bore sighting system, and I will be heading out to the range this weekend to finish boresighting the rifle.
I don't swing by Weapons Man enough. This week a post appeared about two separate visits from two ATF agents in two parts of the country. You can read about two separate attitudes, but the takeaway is that the law enforcement elements who oversee commercial sellers of firearms are rather dim in the area they are supposed to oversee.
Some good news from Colorado is that the legislators are considering repealing the magazine ban. The law impelled Magpul to leave the state for freer environments.
From Western Rifle Shooters Association comes technical specifications for spoofing GPS software in cell phones. Not a lot, but enough to prevent a lock.
Loads.
Rantburg's summary for arms and ammunition:
Prices for pistol ammunition were mostly unchanged. Prices for rifle ammunition were unchanged.
Prices for used pistols were lower across the board while used rifles were mostly higher.
New Lows:
None
Pistol Ammunition
.45 Caliber, 230 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (4 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: LAX Ammunition, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Cased, .24 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: LAX Ammunition, Tulammo, FMJ, Reloads, .24 per round (From Last week: Unchanged)
.40 Caliber Smith & Wesson, 180 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (7 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Goose Island Sales, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .22 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: Freedom Munitions, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .22 per round (From Last Week: +.01)
9mm Parabellum, 115 Grain, From Last Week: +.01 Each
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Bud's Gun Shop, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .17 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: J&G Sales, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .16 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (5 Weeks))
.357 Magnum, 158 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (6 weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Goose Island Sales, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .25 per round
Cheapest Bulk: 1,000 rounds: SG Ammo, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel cased, .25 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (4Q, 2015))
Rifle Ammunition
.223 Caliber/5.56mm 55 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (4 Weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Goose Island Sales, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .21 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: LAX Ammunition, Tulammo, FMJ, steel casing, .22 per round (From Last Week: +.01 Each After Unchanged (4 Weeks))
.308 NATO 150 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (4 Weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Goose Island Sales, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Casing, .34 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: J&G Sales, Tulammo, steel casing, FMJ, .34 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (5 Weeks))
7.62x39 AK 123 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Top Gun Supply, Russian Military, steel case, FMJ, .25 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: Munire USA, Wolf WPA, steel case, FMJ, .23 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (7 weeks))
.22 LR 40 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (4 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Ammomen, Aguila, RNL .08 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds (2 Cases Max): Ammunition Supply Company, Remington Thunderbolt, RNL, .07 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged)
Guns for Private Sale
Rifles
#1
Thanks badanov.
Well, bad day at the range is better than a good day whatever. Last time I fired an unfamiliar pistol I was unhappy with the score, embarrassed even. Range won by unanimous decision. Still, good time.
Speaking of, did anyone see the modified Glock to appear similar to the Duck Hunt controller? One of the comments was something like 'bad idea may teach kids that guns are toys.'
Where I thought, 'What the hell kid today knows what Duck Hunt is?'
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Idaho State University’s president said on Thursday he had been in talks with Saudi and Kuwaiti education officials seeking to allay concerns about students from those countries facing anti-Muslim harassment in the college town of Pocatello.
The discussions with officials from the two Gulf states, which together account for about 1,000 of the foreign students enrolled at Idaho State, were disclosed as school officials sought to determine the origin of anti-Muslim propaganda being distributed anonymously via DVDs on campus.
Separately, police in Pocatello have opened a hate-crime investigation into an attack on a man of Middle Eastern descent who was stabbed in the arm earlier this week for no other apparent reason than his appearance, Police Chief Scott Marchand said.
The off-campus assault was reported to police by the hospital where the man, who was not a university student, was taken for treatment, Marchand said.
Idaho State President Arthur Vailas said he was unaware of any individual complaints of anti-Muslim discrimination or harassment other than those cited in recent media accounts, such as a New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... story last month about campus tensions faced by Saudi and Kuwaiti students.
"I expect all students to bring forth their concerns. The only way we can help is for people to come forward and we can look into the cases," Vailas told Rooters in an interview on Thursday.
But Vailas said the university was consulting with higher education officials from 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... and Kuwait, whose students account for nearly 10 percent of the school’s 11,000 undergraduates, to address concerns about Islamaphobia.
The Arabic-language Kuwaiti daily newspaper Al-Qabas and English-language outlet Gulf News reported on Thursday that the two Gulf nations were suspending scholarships earmarked for Idaho State and transferring their respective students at that school to other universities.
Kuwait’s higher education minister was quoted as saying some 400 students were facing racial discrimination at the Pocatello campus.
Vailas said he had no indication that the 535 Kuwaiti students or 481 Saudi students were being transferred elsewhere.
The US attorney for Idaho planned to meet publicly with international students from predominantly Islamic countries as part of a push announced this week by the US Justice Department to stem discrimination against Muslim, Arab, Sikh and South Asian Americans following bully boy attacks in Brussels, Gay Paree and San Bernardino, Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2016
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#1
Kuwait’s higher education minister was quoted as saying some 400 students were facing racial discrimination at the Pocatello campus.
But nothing compared to the virtual slavery suffered by thousands of Filipinos in Kuwait.
#4
Exactly g(r)om. We don't discriminate here. They just don't like the fact that we refuse to allow their evil practices. Permit-less concealed carry now in effect. "An armed society is a polite society" just sayin....
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Afghan Air Force (AAF) flew 83 missions in the past 24 hours with the newly added A-29 Super Tucanos playing a key role in providing close-air support to the Afghan Forces. (Photo 438th Air Expeditionary Wing)
The Ministry of Defense (MoD) front man Dawlat Waziri said the air campaigns incurred heavy losses to the anti-government armed murderous Moslems during the past 24 hours.
He said at least 34 murderous Moslems were killed and 7 others were maimed in the Arclight airstrikes carried out in the areas falling under the control of 209th Shaheen Corps of the Afghan National Army.
The 209th Shaheen Corps are mainly in charge of the security in northern zones of the country, including Balkh province.
According to Waziri, a commander of the murderous Moslems identified as Abdul Qahar was among those killed in the raids.
Waziri further added that the murderous Moslems were looking to carry out insurgency activities in Dand-e-Ghori, Dand-e-Shahabuddin areas of Baghlan and Dasht-e-Archi district of Kunduz province.
He said Arclight airstrikes were also carried out in Lalpur district fo 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.. where a vehicle of the murderous Moslems was destroyed and two of them were killed.
At least 5 more were killed in a separate Arclight airstrike in Khogyani district and 41 murderous Moslems 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 were killed in Achin district.
The anti-government armed Death Eater groups have not commented regarding the reports so far.
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04/16/2016
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[Guardian] Russia is more dangerous than Islamic State, Poland’s foreign minister Witold Waszczykowski, told reporters during a visit to Slovakia. More dangerous to Poland, and at the moment.
"By all evidence, Russia’s activity is a sort of existential threat because this activity can destroy countries," said Waszczykowski, who was speaking in a debate on the future of Nato at the annual Globsec security forum in Bratislava on Friday.
"We also have non-existential threats like terrorism, like the great waves of migrants," he added, according to Poland’s PAP news agency.
He described Isis as a very serious threat but said "it is not an existential threat for Europe".
Waszczykowski also called for Nato to approve the deployment of troops on the alliance’s eastern border at its July summit due to be held in Warsaw.
"This will be a symbol of the determination to defend the eastern flank," he said. "We can discuss the scale of this deployment."
The Czech defence minister, Martin StropnickĂ˝, said at the conference that strengthening the Nato’s collective defence capability would be the main point on the agenda at the summer summit, while warning that Russia "should not be isolated".
He added that Russia was actively "testing the defensive capabilities of Nato in the Baltic region" where a number of countries have come under pressure, the Czech news agency CTK reported.
Russia will use rare talks with Nato next week to protest the alliance’s "absolutely unjustified" military buildup in the Baltic states, Moscow’s Belgian ambassador said on Friday, adding that the alliance was using the Ukraine crisis as a pretext.
Russian and Nato ambassadors will meet in Brussels on 20 April for their first formal talks in nearly two years to discuss security issues, including the crisis in Ukraine, where Moscow is accused of backing pro-Russia rebels against the pro-western government in Kiev.
#5
Perhaps yes, but only because Russia is a threat Poland has no means to defend against. ISIS is something they CAN defeat, if they choose to do so, which makes it less dangerous.
[Wash Examiner] Lawmakers themselves couldn't seem to believe that Friday's House Armed Services hearing on waste in Afghanistan involved discussing a herd of Italian goats. Not really that bad an idea. Afghans raise and export goats. It probably would have helped a lot to provide vet services to make sure the breeding herd was healthy.
"This is the kind of stuff that belongs on 'Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,' not as a subject of a congressional hearing," said Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., and ranking member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing, referencing a satirical news show on HBO.
The Pentagon spent $6.1 million shipping Italian male goats to Afghanistan to mate with female Afghan goats to make cashmere as one of several initiatives to boost the Afghan economy after the war. It does sound pretty pricey for goats. Just doing a quick search, billies were going for a couple hundred dollars for average weight 95 pounds in Iowa last month. That's an awful lot of shipping and handling. It probably would have been cheaper to air freight them from Iowa. I think I'd like to see some itemized receipts on that project.
But many of the female goats were infected with a disease that could have wiped out the whole herd, Speier said. As a result, only two of "those fancy Italian goats" are still usable, she said. So the Afghan goats gave the Italian goats a dose of clap. [Rolls eyes]
I heard something about a similar story a while back. But in that story the locals ate the pricey studs.
[FRONTPAGEMAG] When I studied Russian I had several instructors who had escaped the 1917 (and later) festivities. One of them walked all the way across Siberia. They experienced Revolution™ up close and personal. Occasionally we'd see the rotting eggs necessary to make the Vietnamese omelette, too.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2016
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#2
If I knew the the trunks would hold Congress, I'd vote for him in a heartbeat before the.
That said, we have a 10% chance of a Mattis nomination, he would win the general election (Yes I did) in a landslide.
#4
Sanders wouldn't even go after Clinton over the email scandal. He's more a Trotsky with the Revolutionary Zeal ad all but he'll be erased by those with the willingness to violence.
#5
No he hasn't and yes he hasn't held a real job in his life and has always been a "Worker of the people" aka, government office holder sucking of the taxpayer teat.
A leading terrorist was captured today in Benghazi while there is report that armed forces commander-in-chief Khalifa Hafter is about to announce that the city will been entirely in government hands “within a week”.
If such a pledge is indeed given, it will be only the latest is a series of victory promises that Hafter has made in the last 18 months.
In a coup for the authorities, the police today arrested the commander of the militants’ 17 February Brigade. Ahmed Idris Al-Aghili was detained in a butcher’s shop in Bu Dazira, near the eastern entrance to the city.
The fierce and deadly fighting that erupted today in several areas of western Benghazi appeared to demonstrate that the army is trying to restore the momentum of its successful attacks last month.
At least five soldiers died and six were injured, two of them seriously in fighting around the Hawari cement factory. A top military source told the Libya Herald that the casualties had been caused by mines as troops sought to enter the plant.
In the course of the battle, fuel storage tanks close to the factory were set on fire and a huge pall of smoke rose above the district. Though the army says it has made progress in Hawari, it does not seem that the much fought-over cement factory is completely in its hands.
It is however being reported that at least 20 IS fighters were killed in the initial explosion of the fuel tanks, though a source added that it was hard to give a precise figure for enemy casualties since IS and Anaar al-Sharia fighters always tried to recover the bodies of their dead..
Elsewhere in the city, there was fighting in Gwarsha, Garyounis, Suq Al-Hout and Sabri. The last two districts were also attacked from the sea by navy patrol craft. This may have been in response to yesterday’s successful mortar attack on the naval dock. Ansar Al-Sharia this morning claimed that it had fired the pattern of mortar shells that ignited an ammunition dump and is thought to have hit the naval patrol vessel Janzour. An unnamed special forces officer is said to have lost a hand in the attack, which also hit fishing boats tied up at the fishing dock.
There was also a series of overnight airstrikes by both fixed wing aircraft and attack helicopters. This newspaper has been told that pilots are now using new night-vision technology while troops have received new guns and ammunition. The source declined to say from where this new equipment had come.
In what is seen as an attempt to finally end the battle for Sabri, the long-besieged IS enclave near the port, Hafter has appointed a new district commander. The job has gone to Colonel Ali Al-Zirghani who led the successful ouster of the terrorists from Leithi last month.
[NEWSDAY] Former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver had extramarital relationships with two women, one who lobbied him for clients with state business and the other whom he helped get a state job, prosecutors alleged in documents released Friday in federal court.
The lobbyist lobbied Silver "on a regular basis," the government claimed in a motion filed before Silver’s trial last year, and the other woman was recommended for a job "over which he exercised a particularly high level of control."
The names of the two women were redacted, but prosecutors said they had a recording of a conversation between Silver and the female lobbyist in which they discussed "both State and private business" and spoke "quietly and in whispers" about how to hide their relationship from news hounds.
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#1
who lobbied him for clients with state business
Tools of the trade. Simply tools of the trade. Let's move along shall we ?
[NATION.PK] 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... chief Sirajul Haq ...current head of the Pak Jamaat-e-Islami. Siraj was born in 1962 and entered politics shortly after that... has demanded of the politicians including 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... having offshore accounts and assets confirmed by the Panama leaks to quit their party and public offices.
"Mr Nawaz Sharif should take lead in resignation after his family’s involvement in offshore companies was proved in Panama leaks," Sirjul Haq said while addressing the religious parties’ moot at Mansoora yesterday.
He held that the foreign assets of the rulers were much beyond the expectations of the people. "If these assets had been made through lawful means, there was no reason for hiding them in off-shore accounts," he added.
The JI chief said that the issue of Panama leaks would not die naturally. The parties who had been in power in the past had tried to conceal one another corruption but this could not continue now, he further said.
"Time has come that everybody have to account for his wealth and there won’t be any discrimination."
Sirajul Haq remarked that in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , a ’Dry Cleaning Plant’ had been installed and those coming out of it were issuing certificates of innocence to the extortionists, land mafia and hit mans.
He added that the rulers had forsaken morality which was the basis of all laws, constitution and democracy.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2016
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[CAPITOLHILLCUBANS] The Panamanian authorities have intercepted over 401 kilos of cocaine in a shipment from Cuba en route to Belgium.
Hillary Clinton
Pervez 
[INDEPENDENT.CO.UK] A man appears to have deleted his entire company with one mistaken piece of code. By accidentally telling his computer to delete everything in his servers, hosting provider Marco Marsala has seemingly removed all trace of his company and the websites that he looks after for his customers.
"I run a small hosting provider with more or less 1535 customers and I use Ansible to automate some operations to be run on all servers," wrote Marco Marsala. "Last night I accidentally ran, on all servers, a Bash script with a rm -rf {foo}/{bar} with those variables undefined due to a bug in the code above this line."
A Syrian jet plane was probably shot down on Thursday by ISIS militants near a military airport in southern Syria but the pilot appears to have been rescued, a monitor said.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[THEMOSCOWTIMES] The head of the State Duma's ethnic affairs committee has denounced a "Miss Russia" beauty pageant contestant from the predominantly Muslim region of 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Wash Examiner] Lawmakers themselves couldn't seem to believe that Friday's House Armed Services hearing on waste in Afghanistan involved discussing a herd of Italian goats.
[FRONTPAGEMAG] 
