#1
Whatever side of the gun control argument you are on, please note this quotation passed along by Ann Althouse last Friday:
"Are you not capable of mourning the horrific loss of these poor dear innocent souls without turning this into a vituperative bromide about your personal views on gun control?"
#2
nice, however, "Mom", the gun control confiscation side is using this for emotional hysteria. Where is your aprobation for that violation of our constitution? Don't lecture me, ever. My views haven't changed. That disgusting puke violated HOW many laws to do what he did? Surely a few more laws on the books restricting responsible citizens will be "just enough"? Save your crap for the other side
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/18/2012 22:59
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#1
Inanke cave is one of hundreds painted by the San people (commonly called Bushmen) about 5,000 to 10,000 years ago and located in what is now Matobo National Park (Zimbabwe). Things have gotten worse for the San over the span of time, not better. I'd recommend 'going long' on Islam as well.
Each time it involved a revolt against people who were interpreting Islamic scripture in something less than literal way.
A recent reformation in the Sunni world resulted in the Wahabbi movement. A recent reformation in the Shia world resulted in the Khomeini version Islamic Republic of Iran.
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/18/2012 11:23
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#3
NOT acceptably, they'll still "Kill for Glory"
Sorry bunch of savages.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/18/2012 11:46
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#4
The better question is "Why would Islam want/need to reform"? From their standpoint everything is going just fine.
#5
I would say that in the Islamic view, God = Allah himself would have to mandate it, most likely vee the coming "TRUE" HIDDEN IMAM = MAHDI, AS ONLY GOD = ALLAH CAN ALTER WHAT IS ALREADY "PERFECT".
#6
It is not anymore worth the effort. Let it sink into hell naturally. And they shall. Cut them off and let them fend for their own lives. They are GOD-Less.
they also had a pretty strong presence in and near ballot places -
thus coercion and intimidation also get credit for the ballot victory
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/18/2012 11:10
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#2
Hard to beat "Convert or Die"!
Similarly, 'tis hard to beat the DemoLeft's premise of "Free Money/Everything", widout need to raise taxes or raise significantly.
The DemoLeft love to publicly angrily rant agz alleged Rightist "imperialism" while covertly or silently acknowledging that its the only way to pay for their beloved massive Welfare-Nanny State + Big Govt widout looking stupid or hypocritical.
#1
There is innocent ignorance and there is invincible, dogmatic and self-righteous ignorance. Every tragic mass shooting seems to bring out examples of both among gun control advocates.___Thomas Sowell
#2
Somewhat similar to recent events in Benghazi, MAJ Nidal Hasan was figuratively.... a goat being milked by DoJ and possibly the CIA. It's a very dirty business and not every recruitment, whether witting or unwitting, ends in a made for Hollywood, career building success story. I suspect the administration would simply rather not talk about it, but wat do I know ?
#3
A statistical projection from January through June estimates 16,290 people died in vehicular crashes this year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Maybe we should ban cars. I mean what is the government doing to protect us from mayhem on the freeways?
#5
I will admit it has nothing to do with Fort Hood and also that the car has more obvious utility than the gun. But there are an awful lot of people dying and nobody says anything about it. Maybe I should say it's another way of pointing out the hypocrisy.
#1
It seems to me he wnd the Muslim Brotherhood lost the moment they stepped forward to grasp political power, but I'm sure there will be intermediate losses along the way.
#2
TW, did Hitler or Mao or Ugo, lose the moment they stepped forward?
Maybe true (they lose) in the long run, maybe in the short run, but dictators can maintain their political power for a long time regardless of what outsiders think or desire.
Four female Pakistani polio vaccination workers have been gunned down in Karachi. The victims were reportedly working with a UN-backed program to eradicate polio. The attacks took place in three separate locations in the city.
No group has taken responsibility for the shootings, but the Taliban has previously issued threats against the polio drive.
If the disease was wipespread in Pakland, visitors there (including US citizens of Pak ancestry, NGO visitors, diplomats, etc) might become infected, even if they are careful, and once infected they could be agents of further infection.
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/18/2012 11:19
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#4
An "infected diplomat".... the downside please ?
#2
Since this is now affecting public sector employees there, rest assured their problem will be attended to with great focus.
Private sector, which has been a problem longer and larger, not so much.
When is the West going to jettison this fetish for big government uber alles?
Posted by: no mo uro ||
12/18/2012 6:14
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#3
Too bad that the Spainiards can't do the Obama thing and print money to pass out but they're stuck in the Euro and Germany controls the printing press.
'We have disengaged from the West Bank and we don't want it back,' writes Jordanian columnistMedia reports that Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... is advancing a plan for confederation with Jordan have sparked a flurry of negative reactions both in Jordan and in the Paleostinian territories.
London-based daily al-Quds al-Arabi reported last Thursday that Abbas held a closed meeting with seven Fatah and PA members earlier last week to discuss the imminent possibility of a confederate union with the Hashemite Kingdom. According to the report, Abbas asked his team to prepare a report on diplomatic possibilities for negotiating the confederation plan with Jordan, which he considered "among the supreme Paleostinian interests."
A confederation could be any of a number of political unions between the two bodies. The term differs from a federation, which features semi-independent states ruled by a single central government.
Jordanians are particularly sensitive to the idea of a Paleostinian-Jordanian union since Jordan officially relinquished its claim to the West Bank in 1988
Paleostinian presidential front man Nabil Abu Rudeineh rushed to clarify that the idea of a Jordanian-Paleostinian confederation had already been raised in 1988, but could only materialize following complete Paleostinian independence and a popular referendum on the matter.
Another member of the Paleostinian leadership, PLO Executive Committee member Wasel Abu-Youssef, told al-Quds al-Arabi that mere talk of a confederation could block the road to Paleostinian statehood on the 1967 borders, since "Israel currently plans to establish a [Paleostinian] state and annex it to Jordan."
Jordanians are particularly sensitive to the idea of a Paleostinian-Jordanian union since Jordan officially relinquished its claim to the West Bank in 1988. Many in the kingdom fear that Israel plans to turn Jordan into the alternative Paleostinian homeland, considering its high Paleostinian population.
"[Jordan] will become an alternative homeland not only for West Bank Paleostinians but also for the Paleostinians of Syria and Leb... We have disengaged from the West Bank and we don't want it back; we will not allow any power in the universe to impose it upon us," wrote Jordanian columnist Nahed Hattar in the independent daily al-Arab al-Yawm.
"The United States, Europe and Israel encourage the confederation between Jordan and the West Bank in order to transfer the burden of administering the 'territories' and their residents to Jordan."
The Islamic Action Front ...Jordan's branch of the Moslem Brüderbund... , Jordan's Moslem Brüderbund party, joined the voices of condemnation on Monday, chiding "the suspect calls for a federation or confederation between Jordan and parts of Paleostine."
"While we assert our faith in Arab and Islamic unity... we reject all calls for a federation or confederation before the liberation of Paleostine and its people's ownership of their national homeland."
#2
Practically speaking (from a stability point of view) taking the West Bank as part of Jordanian territory sounds better than absorbing the West Bank population after their foolish genocidal impulses get them expelled from the West Bank.
#4
Unfortunately, IMO the newbie so-called "Three-State" Solution is more about how Israel + Egypt + Jordan is going to share economic support of the PA in Gaza-West Bank + Jerusalem, NOT ABOUT GIVING THE GOVT-WIDOUT-A-COUNTRY PA ANY SOVEREIGN PHYSICAL TERRITORY TO CALL THEIR OWN, BY + FOR PALESTINIANS.
Representative of Turkish immigrants accuses Ankara of using Jewish community as leverage against Israel
Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MİT) has launched an investigation of at least five Turkish citizens it believes collaborated with Israel in the 2010 takeover of the Gazoo-bound ship Mavi Marmara, according to Turkish media reports.
MIT believes the suspects either assisted the Israeli troops who boarded the vessel or later took part in the interrogation of the ship's activists in Israel, the Turkish daily Yeni Şafak reported on Friday.
A representative of Turkish Jews in Israel expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... that the government in Ankara was targeting the country's Jewish community.
According to the report, the investigation was launched after flotilla participants testified that they heard some Israeli soldiers speaking Turkish during and after the raid.
Israeli naval commandos commandeered the Mavi Marmara in May 2010 to enforce a naval blockade of the Gazoo Strip. The troops killed nine Turks after they were attacked by violent activists in festivities on board.
Uğur Yıldırım, an attorney with the Istanbul-based Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), which organized the flotilla, was quoted in another Turkish daily, Zaman, as saying that during the interrogation of passengers on the boat after it had been brought to port in Israel, several Turkish citizens, wearing IDF uniforms, confirmed that they had been brought in to act as interpreters.
Another IHH lawyer, Gülden Sönmez, said the organization has pictures and videos linking certain Turkish citizens to the raid. "We have delivered all these to the prosecutor's office," she told Zaman.
While the report did not specify that the MIT was targeting the Jewish community, it did state that the investigation centered on Istanbul and Izmir, two cities with significant Jewish populations.
Hüseyin Ersöz, whom Maariv identified as the Deputy Chairman of the IHH, told a Turkish television station on Saturday night that once the names were published "everyone will know who the Turkish Jews are that served in the Israeli army and killed Turkish civilians on the Mavi Marmara."
Rafael Sadi, spokesperson for the Association of Turkish Immigrants in Israel, told Maariv that the Turkish authorities "are trying to intimidate the Jews" as well as to send Israel the message that if Turkish demands are not met, the Turkish Jewish community is liable to suffer the consequences.
The investigation probed all Turkish citizens who traveled between Turkey and Israel at least two weeks before and after the Mavi Marmara incident on May 31, 2010. MIT officials were quoted as saying they expected to uncover additional suspects.
Turkey has demanded a formal apology for the incident, as well as compensation for victims and the families of the dead, and for the Gazoo blockade to be lifted.
Israel has said its solders were attacked by violent thugs aboard the vessel, and insists its blockade against terror group Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,-run Gazoo is legal. Israel's government has said it "regretted" the loss of life and has offered to pay into what it called a "humanitarian fund" through which casualties and relatives could be compensated, but has refused to issue an official apology.
A UN report into the Mavi Marmara incident released in 2011 concluded that Israel had used unreasonable force in stopping the Mavi Marmara, but that the blockade on Gazoo was legal.
In November, four of the most senior Israeli military commanders at the time of the incident were put on trial on trial in absentia by Turkey. That trial is still ongoing.
Turkey's state prosecutor seeks prison sentences of more than 18,000 years each for former chief of General Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, former Navy commander Eliezer Marom, former Air Force commander Amos Yadlin and former Air Force intelligence chief Avishay Levi.
Israel dismissed the proceedings as a "show trial" and "political theater."
Doesn't the Islamic world ever get tired of its conspiracy theories and paranoia?
Posted by: American Delight ||
12/18/2012 20:25
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#2
No. It is all they have, otherwise they will have to actually face the fact that their society is full of fail and worse than anything the Jews or the West can do.
[Jpost] The number two in the Islamist organization Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has been tossed in the slammer Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! in northern Algeria, an Algerian news website reported on Monday.
The website of Tout Sur l'Algerie (TSA), an electronic daily, quoted security sources as saying that Salah Gasmi had been arrested on Sunday in front of a restaurant in the town of Cheurfa, about 90 miles (150 km) southeast of Algiers.
It was not possible to confirm the report immediately.
AQIM is a pan-Maghreb jihadist organization that has taken responsibility for a number of attacks, particularly in Algeria. It has sent fighters to Iraq and vowed to attack Western targets, according to the US Council on Foreign Relations website.
TSA said that Salah Gasmi was a communications specialist considered to be the criminal mastermind behind a series of suicide kabooms in Algeria in 2007.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
12/18/2012
00:31 ||
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[Ynet] Syria resident Ahmad Al Baghdadi Al Hassani's comments seem to indicate growing anti-Christian sentiment in Mohammedan world
Jihadi leader Ahmad Al Baghdadi Al Hassani referred to Christians as polytheists and "friends of the Zionists."
In a recent Egyptian TV address, the bad turban leader stressed that Christians must choose "Islam or death," while their women and daughters may legitimately be regarded as wives of Mohammedans.
Al Hassani resides in Syria and supports the armed opposition.
Just the people we want running things A.A. (After Assad).
#5
Kinda makes me feel like sending arms to Assad. Of course, we should be sending arms to both sides of a war like that so they can kill each other. Faster, please.
#6
Henceforth, all foreign aid to these countries should be shifted to relocating infidels to the non-mooslamic country of their choice. Evacuate the intelligent from the cesspools.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/18/2012 16:46
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#7
AL-HASSAIN OF AL-HASSANI ....
versus
* WORLD NEWS > US INTEL:"GLOBAL JIHAD" OVER BY 2030, CHRISTIAN AND HINDU TERRORISM NEXT WAVE.
I could be wrong, but it would appear to me that the only reason for Christians + Hindus, etc. non-Muslims to enggae in Terror is that the "GLOBAL JIHAD" ACTUALLY SUCCEEDED AND THAT THE FORMER ARE NO LONGER DOMINANT IN THEIR OWN COUNTRIES OR SOCIETIES.
IOW, Radical Islam + Islamist-centric MilTerrs won or mostly won the GWOT by 2030, NOT THE US = NON-ISLAMIC WORLD.
Contributing LT factors ....
* E.G. TOPIX > RESURGENCE OF AL-QAEDA-IN-IRAG [AQ Affiliate Group] ... IN IRAQ,, + SYRIA, + JORDAN, + LIBYA, + ......
RELATED SAME > HEADACHE FOR US AS AL-QAEDA REBEL BATATLION RISES IN SYRIA.
* WORLD NEWS > US-IRANIAN NUCLEAR TALKS FAIL: IRAN HAS ENOUGH PLUTONIUM [stockpiled] FOR 24 NAGASAKI-SIZE BOMBS.
Not enuff "offensively" to mil defeat the US, but is "defensively" enuff to make US Amphibious, Ground Forces in or near Iran glow in the dark.
Iff true, the Bammer Admin + USDOD will have to plan accordingly iff Iran fails to comply wid the Bammer's March 2013 deadline for Iran to suborn its NucProg to the UN IAEA, + a US or US-led Ground War agz Iran, Invasion + Occupation, etc. becomes inevitable in 2013.
Lest we fergit, "IRAN" = also includes Iran BFF Nuke-armed Pakistan, SCUD + Bio,Chemwar-armed Syria, + Other [Russia? China? Militant-Terror Groups?].
#8
ION TOPIX > JIM ARMITAGE: FRACK FUTURE COULD SEE [cause]THE US HANGING UP ITS [World/Global] POLICEMAN'S HELMET.
The US ostensibly to surrender Power-n-Authority to the OWG UNO, includ the future OWG NAU, + 2030 NWO [Commie-Socialist World Order?] at that time.
Iff "fracking" is the "tip-of-the-spear" per the OWG, NAU-suborned US becoming a Net Energy Exporter [Natural Gas], HOW WILL THAT LATTER STATUS BE AFFECTED IFF THE FUTURE OWG UN, NAU DECIDE TO OUTLAW OR SERIOUSLY RESTRICT
"FRACKING"???
The US taint gonna be the Boss anymore after 2030.
#9
send em some F-16s, like Egypt. That's sure to temper the Islamic ardor, what could possibly go wrong?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/18/2012 21:18
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#10
You know, your beloved Mohammed, THE False Prophet, and his followers will be thrown into a lake of fire, right? Do your injeel bitch and then have your Deen give me a tweet.
[Jpost] A new piece of malware that deletes date from infected computers has been found in Iran, online magazine Computer World reported Monday, citing Maher, Iran's Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center (CERTCC).
According to the report the malware deletes entire partitions and user files and the Maher Center described it as a targeted attack with a simple design.
"Despite its simplicity in design, the malware is efficient and can wipe disk partitions and user profile directories without being recognized by anti-virus software," Computer World quoted Maher as saying.
As much as I despise the man Obama and think he is the worlds biggest loser and he is nothing but toxin to US politics, sinking as low as to insult someone on their race cannot and should not be allowed.
Stick to his failed policies and lack of character as there is plenty to shoot at. Don't be a dhimocrat and be fixated only on his race.
#2
Very, very bad for business. Bad publicity, very bad for recruiting, and a potential ticket office disaster for the owners. Someone needs to call Joe and Gerry up at State and forewarn them. Oh ....... I hadn't heard.
#3
There are a lot of things to criticize Obama for in the way of failed and bad policies; one doesn't have to jump into the class and race warfare thing. Leave that up to the administration.
[Al Ahram] Protesters on Monday hurled rocks at Tunisia's President Moncef Marzouki and parliamentary speaker Mustapha Ben Jaafar in Sidi Bouzid, cradle of the revolution that erupted exactly two years ago.
The incident began after a speech by Marzouki in the central Tunisian town, where celebrations are taking place to mark the anniversary of the revolution, and as Ben Jaafar was about to speak.
The security forces swiftly evacuated the two men to the regional government headquarters, an AFP journalist reported.
The protesters invaded the square where the head of state had been addressing the crowd, shouting "the people want the fall of the government."
The police held back, after violent clashes over the past few months, which have often followed attempts to disperse protesters angry over the Islamist-led government's failure to improve living conditions in the poor region.
Clashes and strikes, as well as attacks by hardline Islamists, have multiplied across Tunisia in the run-up to the second anniversary of the start of Tunisia's revolution.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/18/2012
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#1
Eeeeevrebody must get stoned!
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/18/2012 16:58
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[An Nahar] The United States on Monday named former information minister Michel Samaha a "specially designated global terrorist" for allegedly aiding the regime of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... to launch attacks in Leb.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a statement saying that Samaha, pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13441 which targets persons "undermining Lebanese illusory sovereignty, including those who are supporting attempts by the Assad regime to incite violence inside Leb", is now a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under E.O. 13224.
Samaha, was tossed in the clink Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! on August 9 by Lebanese authorities and accused of plotting to assassinate leaders and of transporting explosives into the country for such attacks, the U.S. Treasury said.
"The United States will continue to expose any attempts by the Assad regime to meddle in the affairs of its neighbors and further destabilize the region," said Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen.
"We will continue to work with our international partners to ensure that the illusory sovereignty of Leb is respected and upheld."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/18/2012
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Two civil servants were killed and five others, including a female teacher, wounded in a fresh gun attack in Narathiwat province yesterday. The shootings came as most schools in the far South resumed classes after closing following deadly attacks on teachers last week.
Police were alerted to the latest shootings at 5:20 p.m. yesterday. The two dead victims were both officials from the Agricultural Extension Office in Sungai Padi district, and were shot in the back.
The seven victims were among 15 passengers traveling in a truck which regularly transports officials from their homes in Muang district to their workplaces in Sungai Padi.
The driver of the truck, said the attack occurred as they were returning to Muang district along a section of road flanked by rubber plantations. He said that when he realised they were being ambushed, he sped up to escape the attack and to rush the dead and wounded to a nearby hospital. At the scene of the ambush, police found more than 30 spent M16 shells and one magazine.
Meanwhile, most schools in the three southernmost provinces remained quiet as classes resumed yesterday. Few teachers and students turned up out of fear of further terrorist insurgent attacks.
About 1,200 schools in the far South called off classes on Thursday and Friday after five armed men stormed Ban Ba-ngo school in Pattani provinces and opened fire, killing the school director and a teacher on Tuesday last week.
A police source said one of the suspected attackers has been identified as Marudin Tahae, from Pattani's Panare district. Mr Marudin is believed to be a Runda Kumpulan Kecil commander. The source said he has been linked to many attacks in Pattani, and that an arrest warrant has been issued.
Brad Adams, Asia director of New York-based Human Rights Watch, yesterday called on Muslim terrorists insurgents in the far South to stop killing teachers. He said, "These attacks harm not only teachers and schools, but the Muslim students, their families, and the broader Muslim community the insurgents claim to represent."
[Xinhua] A new wave of kabooms, including 10 boom-mobileings, targeted both Iraqi security forces and civilians across the country on Monday, killing a total of 32 people and wounding more than 100 others.
Such deadly attacks are seen as apparent attempts by bully boy groups to stir up sectarian strife among Iraqis to push the country to the brink of a civil war, amid persistent political divisions that have already paralyzed the country's government.
One of the attacks targeted a residential area inhabited by an ethnic Shiite minority named al-Shabak when a boom-mobiledestroyed their village of Tahir-Awa, some 30 km east of djinn-infested Mosul, killing seven of them and wounding 14 others. Most of the victims are women and kiddies.
In a separate incident, two roadside kabooms detonated almost simultaneously in a nearby village without causing human casualty.
The Iraqi Shabak people are living in villages in Iraq's northern province of Nineveh, particularly around the thriving provincial capital city of djinn-infested Mosul, some 400 km north of the country's capital Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... Meanwhile, ...back at the pool hall, Peoria Slim swung his cue at Hurley's head... five people were killed and 25 maimed in two boom-mobilekabooms at a residential area in the city of Tuz-Khurmato, some 200 north of Storied Baghdad.
Separately, three coppers, including an officer, were killed and three others maimed when gunnies attacked their patrol with a bomb and gunfire on a main road near the village of Albu-Slaibi close to the town of Dhuluiyah, some 90 km north of Storied Baghdad.
In a separate incident, a booby-trapped car went off near a bus carrying Iranian Shiite pilgrims and travelling south of the town of Dujail, some 60 km north of Storied Baghdad, wounding 14 Iranians, the source said.
The blast also destroyed nearby cars and killed two Iraqi civilians.
Elsewhere, gunnies attacked a police checkpoint and blew up a booby-trapped car in the city of Tikrit, the capital of Salahudin province in north of Storied Baghdad, killing a policeman and wounding four others.
In the Iraqi city of Samarra, some 120 km north of Storied Baghdad, another boom-mobile went off near a police checkpoint and maimed three civilians.
In Iraq's western province of Anbar, mortar rounds landed on a residential area in the town of Rutba, some 375 km west of Storied Baghdad, killing two people and wounding six others.
Also in the province, a boom-mobile struck a police patrol in the town of Khaldiyah, some 80 km west of Storied Baghdad, killing two coppers and wounding three others, including an officer.
In Storied Baghdad, a boom-mobile detonated near Uqba Bin Nafie Square in the city's central district of Karrada, killing a civilian and wounding four others.
Near Storied Baghdad, three soldiers were maimed in a roadside kaboom near their patrol in the town of Tarmiyah, some 20 km north of the capital, while two coppers were maimed in a separate bomb kaboom near their patrol in the town of Madain, some 30 km south east of Storied Baghdad.
In Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, gunnies attacked the house of a tribal leader late Sunday at a village near the town of Qara- Tabba, some 165 km north east of Storied Baghdad, and killed his son, grandson and a woman before they expeditiously departed at a goodly pace.
On Monday morning, the attacker returned and detonated three bombs at a funeral tent set up for the victims, killing three people and wounding 10 others.
Also in the province, three people were killed and 20 maimed Monday in eight bomb and gunfire attacks, including two boom-mobileings.
The attacks came after a series of kabooms struck the city of Kirkuk Sunday night, which killed at least 11 people and maimed some 50 others.
Observers said the attacks are part of an attempt by bully boy groups, including al-Qaeda krazed killer group, to show that they are capable of carrying out coordinated and high-profile attacks to undermine the Iraqi government's promise of providing security to Iraqis.
The attacks also reflect the bully boy groups' intention to stir up sectarian strife among Iraqis and raise fears that the country could be brought back to widespread violence, particularly as Iraq is trying to avoid the spillover of violence from the ongoing conflict in neighboring Syria.
Violence in Iraq has ebbed from its climax in 2006 and 2007, when sectarian conflicts pushed the country to the brink of a civil war, but tensions and sporadic shootings and bombings are still common across the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/18/2012
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#1
A horrific, but rare, occurrence in America calls for a vast re-examination of the people's rights. Everyday festivities in a foreign land? Yawn, nothing to see here, just quaint tribal customs, move along now...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/18/2012 17:05
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#2
Saddam kept them all in line with the Iraqi version of a Dynamic Conehead woodchipper. There has to be a 'middle of the rode' somewhere. I hope they find it.
Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), the nation's longest-serving senator and a decorated World War II combat veteran, died Monday at 88.
He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in WWII. We thank you, sir, for your bravery and your service.
Inouye's office said the senator died of "respiratory complications" on Monday evening. His last word, according to a statement released by his staff, was "Aloha." The long-time senator had been hospitalized since early December because of respiratory problems.
Inouye had served in the Senate since 1963 and represented Hawaii since 1954, serving as the Aloha State's first congressman beginning in 1959. He served as the Senate pro tempore -- the designation for the chamber's longest-serving Senator -- and the person third in line to the presidency. He also chaired the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee at the time of his death.
As The Post's Jason Horowitz wrote in a 2010 profile of Inouye: "More than any other statesman in the history of these volcanic islands -- more than Kamehameha the Great, who united them into a kingdom in 1810, or Gov. John Burns, who led the political revolution that established Democratic Party rule here in 1954 -- Inouye, 86, has ruled over Hawaii."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/18/2012
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#3
the man was personally courageous and did not allow corruption in his office
however, over his lifetime, he sponsored billions and billions of dollars of earmarks, many were so awful as to be the subject of local joking; even as late as 2010 when almost everyone realized that the earmarks in the stimulus bill were mostly useless, and in some cases counterproductive, he still was a fully bore pro earmark guy (took over the Senate Appro committee when Bryd died)
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/18/2012 10:10
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[Dawn] The Anti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC) killed an alleged kidnapper and recovered a boy after a shootout on the outskirts of the city on Sunday.
AVCC SSP Niaz Ahmed Khosa told the media that six-year-old Mohammad Usman, a student of Class I, was kidnapped by a rickshaw driver who used to pick and drop him at school. For the last one year, Asghar Khan used to pick the boy from his home in Sultanabad and drop him at the school in Clifton.
On Friday he picked Usman from home as per the daily routine, but did not return in the afternoon. Later in the day, the suspect made a call demanding Rs20 million as a ransom.
Acting on a tip-off,
*ring ring* "Mahmoud the Weasel's Pakistani cousin Bilal here. Listen carefully, I will say this only once."
AVCC found Ahmed Brohi Goth off the Superhighway toll plaza and carried out a house-to-house search, and finally early Sunday morning
... at an hour when all honest householders are snug abed...
located the house the boy was kept.
"As the police raided the house, Asghar opened fire on the police party. During the shootout, the suspect was killed and the boy recovered safely," SSP Khosa said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/18/2012
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[Al Ahram] A boom-mobilewent kaboom! Monday at a compound owned by a US-based construction company under contract to the Afghan army, killing at least one person and wounding 15, police said.
Five foreigners including Americans and South Africans were among the maimed, a security source at the company told AFP.
"A small truck packed with explosives detonated between CONTRACK and Najeeb Zarab factories -- one person is dead and 15 others are maimed," Kabul police chief Mohammad Ayoub Salangi told AFP.
"We don't yet know whether there was someone in the truck or it exploded remotely. We are investigating this right now. They were very powerful explosives."
CONTRACK is a US-owned company which builds Afghan army and police facilities, an employee said.
"We were sitting in the office. There was a massive kaboom. The ceiling collapsed over us and 10 to 12 Afghans in the office were maimed," he said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but similar attacks are usually blamed on Taliban hard boyz fighting the Afghan government and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... troops.
A front man for NATO's International Security Assistance Force confirmed the kaboom but said it was not at NATO's Camp Phoenix, which is also in the area in the east of the capital near the scene of the bombing.
An AFP news hound at the scene said there were signs of a huge kaboom beyond an area blocked off by police, and some bystanders outside the compound had also suffered minor injuries.
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[Daily Telegraph.AU] THE star witness in Silvio Berlusconi's trial for paying for sex with an underage prostitute is to testify next month, lawyers say, as legal woes threaten his faltering re-election campaign. Doesn't Silvio have a dacha to retire to?
Moroccan-born pole-dancer Karima El-Mahroug - better known by her professional nickname of "Ruby the Heart Stealer" - is a witness for Berlusconi's defence and is expected to say she never had sex with him.
Prosecutors say Berlusconi had sex for money with "Ruby" when she was 17. While the age of consent in Italy is 14 and prostitution is decriminalised, paying for sex with someone under 18 is a criminal offence.
El-Mahroug has failed to testify on two previous occasions because she said she was in Mexico. Prosecutors said that was a strategy by the defence to try and draw out the trial until after elections expected on February 17.
Prosecutor Ilda Boccassini called it a "delaying tactic", saying she found El-Mahroug's "sudden decision" to go to Mexico suspicious. Berlusconi's a billionaire, so he can afford to buy an occasional plaything, or even to have "bunga-bunga" parties. He's also approximately 75 years old. Ruby was 17 at the time but she was already a pole dancer (seemingly in more ways that one). When politix isn't involved they brag about things like that in Italy.
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#1
Karima El-Mahroug? El-Mahroug, El-Mahroug..... no, our office has absolutely no record of him. None! Why do you ask? Waiter... my chilled D.O.M. please.
Posted by: Captain Louis Renault ||
12/18/2012 9:35
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[Al Ahram] Masked men rubbed out a military intelligence officer in southern Yemen on Monday, a local security source said, the latest in a series of killings targeting security officials in the Arabian Peninsula state.
Two gunnies on a cycle of violence opened fire on Shaker al-Bani late on Sunday near his house in the southern city of Ghayl ba Wazir in Hadramout ...the formerly independent Qu'aiti state and sultanate, annexed by Communist South Yemen in 1968, encompassing a region along the Gulf of Aden, extending eastwards to the borders of the Dhofar region of Oman. The people are called Hadhramis and speak Hadhrami Arabic. The city Tarimis estimated to contain the highest concentration of descendants of the Prophet Muhammad (PTUI) anywhere in the world, approximately seven in every square yard... province, abruptly ejecting him from the gene pool, the source said.
No one grabbed credit for the killing, but the source said he suspected that al Qaeda Death Eaters, who are battling the U.S.-backed government, were behind it.
There have been a number of killings of security officials and politicians in the impoverished and often chaotic country since Yemen's army drove Islamist fighters out of several southern towns earlier this year with Washington's help.
Last week, masked gunniesrubbed out Colonel Ahmed Barmadah, deputy head of the Political Security Office, the domestic intelligence service, in Hadramout.
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[An Nahar] Bahraini police used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse dozens of anti-regime Shiite demonstrators who staged a protest in central Manama on Monday to mark the opposition's "Martyrs' Day", witnesses said.
The protesters had gathered in the financial district in response to calls by the online activist group February 14th Youth, they said, adding that plainclothes police made several arrests.
Demonstrators chanted anti-monarchy slogans, including "Down (King) Hamad," and the "people want the fall of the regime."
The demonstration was held despite tight security, as authorities have not authorized protests in Manama since a month-long protest camp was demolished in mid-March 2011.
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Syria on Monday hit back at the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... over the fate of Paleostinian refugees after UN chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... voiced "grave concern" following a deadly air strike on Yarmuk camp in southern Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... "The United Nations and international community are responsible for the frustrations of the Paleostinians because they have not implemented UN resolutions related to their legitimate rights," Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said.
"Syria offered something to our Paleostinian brothers decades ago that no other Arab host country has offered," he told Ban in a telephone call, quoted by state news agency SANA.
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[Ynet] The Arabic-language Sky News channel reported of a blast in a Hezbollah weapons depot in a border town in southern Leb. According to Lebanese reports, Hezbollah members blocked access to the area to prevent Lebanese army and UN forces from reaching the site.
The big kaboom that on Monday rocked the southern Lebanese town of Tair Harfa was caused by an undetonated rocket that had been fired into Leb during the 2006 war with Hezbollah but did not detonate on impact, according to a Lebanese security official.
However, those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things... UNIFIL front man Andrea Tenenti said UNIFIL soldiers in the area were still trying to ascertain the cause.
Possibly Israeli UAVs are up to their old tricks again, as well. Happy hunting, Avi!
On Oct. 3, three Hezbollah members were killed when an kaboomdestroyed a weapons warehouse in the eastern Leb town of Nabi Sheet.
[Al Ahram] Turkey has made a new proposal to Russia for an orderly peaceful transition in war-ravaged Syria in the post-regime era, a Turkish newspaper reported on Monday.
The proposal calls for Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... to step down in the first three months of 2013 and for the transition process to be undertaken by the opposition National Coalition, which was recognised as the sole representative of Syrians by Arab and Western states last week, the Radikal newspaper reported.
The plan was discussed during Russian President Vladimir Putin ...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile... 's meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on December 3 and Putin reportedly considered it a "creative formula," according to Radikal.
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#1
But will Iran agree to it - as things stand, the answer is very likely "NO"???
As per China-vs-Japan/ASEAN in the ECS + SCS, IRAN = CHINA = WANTS EXCLUSIVE OVERSEAS/
INTERNATIONAL MILBASES IN SUPPORT OF ITS PERCEIVED "ANTI-US" OR "POST-US" "MANIFEST DESTINY".
Just as China is unlikely to give up + stop putting pressure on Japan + ASEAN until it gets its Milbases, IRAN IS SIMIL UNLIKELY TO GIVE UP ITS STRATEGEIC ACCESS TO THE EASTERN MEDITERR VEE SYRIA-LEBANON AIR-NAVAL PORTS.
No "strategic access" for Iran + China = shooting war???
[An Nahar] Want to cheat on your partner? Then the online dating service Ashley Madison is the perfect place for you. Sex sells. Selling sex sells even better.
Since it arrived in Brazil 15 months ago, the website has attracted one million lusty Brazilians, turning this South American country of 194 million people into one of the biggest markets for the Canadian company.
Created 10 years ago, Ashley Madison and its slogan: "Life is short. Have an affair" is now present in 24 countries, with eight million members in the United States and six million in Canada.
But Brazil has seen the firm's most explosive growth in terms of number of clients -- 70 percent of whom are men -- and in money spent to finance the temptations the site offers.
"Brazilians have a very strong propensity for pleasure, sex and fun," said Eduardo Borges, the company's representative in this body-conscious country famous for its exuberant samba dancing and carnival.
"Add to this a fascination for technology, for communicating and meeting other people," he noted.
The country has around 80 million Internet users and is among world leaders in the use of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.
This provides a combination which, according to Borges, does not promote infidelity but offers alternatives to practice it in a "proper manner."
Know-how is precisely the basis for Ashley Madison's marketing appeal, including references to famous cases of infidelity such as those of former U.S. president Bill Clinton and Prince Charles.
--'Lover guaranteed'--
"We started in Brazil in late August 2011. I expected 500,000 subscribers in a year, but we got more than 800,000. And we are going to close 2012 with more than one million, a much bigger growth than what we anticipated," Borges added.
With 17 million subscribers worldwide, the website will gross $120 million this year, but Borges would not say how much is generated in Brazil.
"Brazil is our second largest market in terms of income," he said, adding that before the end of the year, the company hopes to open an office in Sao Paulo, the first outside Canada.
"Brazil is the apple of our eye," he added.
There are many other leading dating sites in Brazil such as eHarmony or Second Love.
Ashley Madison was created with women in mind. They do not pay to subscribe or make contacts with men, who are the ones who must pay to send emails, chat messages, draw hearts or use other techniques of virtual seduction.
Its business model is based on credits rather than monthly subscriptions.
For a conversation between two members, one of the members must pay five credits to initiate the conversation. Any follow-up messages between the two members are free after the communication has been initiated.
A pack of 100 credits, which allows a man to contact 20 women on average, costs $25.
Bare chest pictures, faces with piercing looks, adjectives such as "sensitive and affectionate, creative and adventurous," anything goes.
"Send me a picture?" said one subscriber named "Guto" when contacted by Agence France Presse. He claimed to have been married for 21 years, said he joined the site in March and bought 4,000 credits.
"I spent more than I wanted, but I got a few contacts. So far I have had two cases of casual sex, pretty good experiences," he crowed.
To mark its first year in Brazil, Ashley Madison launched "Lover guaranteed", a program offering the money back guarantee of an affair.
"So far no one has asked for their money back," said Borges.
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Company officials see infidelity as the perfect recipe to save marriage from boredom. Could also put the kibosh on a marriage.
Bombers and gunmen killed at least 26 people in attacks mostly in northern Iraqi towns and villages on Monday in the second consecutive day of violence in areas at the center of a bitter feud between Baghdad and autonomous Kurdistan.
The ethnically mixed "Disputed Territories" - the swathe of land marking Iraq from the area administered by Kurds in the north - have been a potential flashpoint for conflict since the buffer of the last American troops left a year ago.
Two blasts hit a Shi'ite district in Tuz Khurmato, killing at least five and wounding 24 and a truck bomb killed seven in a Shabak minority area near Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of the capital, security and local officials said.
No armed group claimed responsibility for Monday's attacks, but the explosions came at a time of heightened tensions between the Arab-led central government in Baghdad and ethnic Kurds over contested land and oil rights.
Last week's rocket launch by North Korea has once again focused international attention on the renegade country, especially the opaque clique that runs it. Besides the titular leader Pudgy Kim Jong-un, whose first anniversary in power the launch marked, pundits are wondering what role is played by the young leader's uncle Jang Song-taek, often described as the eminence grise behind the throne, and his aunt Kim Kyong-hui.
Fat Boy Kim Jong-un introduced Jang to top officials early this year as his "closest revolutionary comrade," one informed source said Sunday. Another source in China said Jang reviews all official documents that are reported to Kim, advising him and intervening in policy decisions. Senior North Korean officials "believe Jang controls Kim from behind the scenes."
Jang accompanied Suet Face Kim on 100 out of his 143 public appearances this year, the most frequently spotted official next to the young leader. "An official accompanying Kim usually has something to do with the facility he is visiting," said a government official here. "That Jang accompanies Kim regardless of the kind of venue demonstrates his level of influence."
Jang was one of the two high-ranking officials who accompanied Kim on his visit to the control center last Wednesday ahead of the rocket launch. The other was Pak To-chun, the secretary for munitions in the Workers Party.
China rolled out the red carpet for Jang when he went on a six-day state visit to Beijing in August. Last month, Jang was appointed head of North Korea's Sports Guidance Commission, a position that has emerged as a new power base, and South Korean intelligence believe he has also gained control of the Guard Command, which handles security for Kim.
The source of Jang's influence is his wife Kim Kyong-hui, the sister of former leader Kim Jong-il, who is believed to have taken over the reins along with Jang and Kim Jong-il's wife Kim Ok when the former North Korean leader suffered a massive stroke in 2008. Kim Kyong-hui was also influential in the appointment of Kim Jong-un to succeed his father.
The South's National Intelligence Service told the National Assembly in July this year that Kim Kyong-hui (66) is Kim Jong-un's "advisor." Some pundits say Kim was a heavy drinker and is in poor health, and Jang's position would be in jeopardy without her.
The couple's legitimacy comes from the fact that they are members of the Kim family. "Nobody can tell what will happen to Jang Song-taek when Kim Kyong-hui dies or how that will affect Kim Jong-un," said one informed source. "Kim Jong-un's leadership may hinge on his aunt's health."
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12/18/2012
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Jang controls Kim from behind the scenes."
Sounds reasonable. My question is "who controls Obama from behind the scenes?" As with Kim, no way he is actually answerable to himself only.
#2
OBumbles doesn't fart without Valorie Jarrett's approval. It's believed that she blocked opportunities to kill Bin Laden a number of times. I believe that the only reason he was finally killed was that she was unavailable and Bumbles actually made a decision on his own. Oops!
[Al Ahram] A Cairo misdemeanour court sentenced Islamic preacher Sheikh Abdullah Badr to a year in jail and set bail at LE20,000, for insulting well-known Egyptian actress Elham Shahin. What do I get if I insult Lindsey Lohan?
The popular actress filed a lawsuit last September against Badr after he criticised the actress during his TV show on El-Hafez channel, saying that "Elham Shahin is cursed and she will never enter heaven."
Shahin claimed Badr attacked her publically after she made a statement expressing her fear of the Islamic political current and said that she would not vote for Islamic political parties in the elections.
In recent months, several public figures have filed lawsuits against religious preachers accusing them of defamation.
Last November, Masr El-Gedida TV host and Salafist preacherKhaled Abdullah, known for vocal criticism of liberals and protesters, was taken off the air for 25 days by Egyptian courts.
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[Al Ahram] The results of the first phase of Egypt's constitutional referendum have revealed unequivocally that the country is largely divided, with the margin between those who support the draft charter spearheaded by the Islamist current and those who reject it failing to exceed 6 per cent, according to unofficial estimates.
To some, the results indicate a weakening of the Islamist movement, which was able to garner more than 70 per cent in last year's parliamentary elections.
"A 44 per cent rejection rate for the constitution is quite high and shows that the nation is deeply divided," Mohamed Adel, member of the April 6 youth movement, said in a Sunday statement. "The results have killed the dream of the Islamist current and the Moslem Brüderbund after half of the nation said 'no' to the draft charter."
"It's hard to imagine that any respectable country would pass a constitution rejected by 44 per cent of society, especially when turnout rates failed to exceed 31 per cent," he added.
Islamist figures, for their part, now point the finger of blame at the opposition, which, they say, successfully campaigned to turn public opinion against the draft constitution with "lies."
On Sunday, Salafist Nour Party front man Yousry Hammad accused liberal forces, a "corrupt" media and remnants of the former regime of spreading false information about the draft charter.
"It comes as no surprise that people were misled by liberal forces, who operate above the law," he said, adding that these same forces had "promoted lies" about the draft's contents.
Ahmed Oqeil, for his part, member of the Moslem Brüderbund's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), praised the Egyptian public's participation in last Saturday's referendum.
"The Egyptian people have resisted all the campaigns against the referendum process and all the claims that there weren't enough judges to supervise the polling and the predictions of violence," Oqeil told Ahram Online. "Despite all this, the level of participation was high."
"Now the opposition is trying to get people to believe that a 56 per cent approval rate is not sufficient for the charter to pass, which is not the case," he added. "No constitution can garner a 90 per cent approval rate. A 50+1 approval rate is all that is necessary."
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[An Nahar] A keenly-awaited inquiry into a deadly bad turban attack on a U.S. mission in Libya has been completed and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Richelieu ... is reviewing it, a top official said Monday.
The findings of the Accountability Review Board set up by Clinton just days after the September 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi could unleash a Christmas bombshell for the U.S. administration.
Four Americans, including the ambassador Chris Stevens, died in the assault by dozens of heavily-armed bad turbans, who overran the consulate before unleashing a hail of mortar fire on a nearby annex being used as a safe house.
Republicans have excoriated the administration for failing to provide proper security, and for allegedly trying to cover-up the attackers' ties to al-Qaeda.
"The ARB has completed its work. Its report has gone to the secretary this morning," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, adding there was an unclassified part, and a separate classified section which would not be released to the public.
U.S. politicians hoping for answers from the top U.S. diplomat about the events in Benghazi will be frustrated, however, that Clinton was forced to cancel plans to testify to House and Senate committees on Thursday because of ill-health.
"The secretary had anticipated testifying," Nuland stressed, but added "she is still under the weather. She was diagnosed as having suffered a concussion after fainting and falling, and her doctors have urged her to stay home this week."
Clinton had sent a letter to the committee chairmen Monday to say "thank you for your understanding, and that I wish I could have been there myself," Nuland said, adding she would work with them going forward "on these very important issues."
The inquiry's chairman, veteran diplomat Thomas Pickering, and Admiral Mike Mullen, will now brief U.S. politicians behind closed doors on Wednesday.
And deputy secretaries of state Bill Burns and Tom Nides will then appear on Thursday in Clinton's place at the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Clinton may now appear before U.S. politicians in January, before she steps down after four years in office, Nuland said.
"She's making clear in her communication with the committee that she expects that they're going to have to have ongoing conversation in January, and she's available for that," Nuland told journalists.
Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said it was "unfortunate" Clinton would not testify as planned.
Lawmakers still have "tough questions about State Department threat assessments and decision-making on Benghazi. This requires a public appearance by the secretary of state herself," she said in an earlier statement.
Three months after the attack, many questions about the events of that night remain unanswered, and the attack became a political football in the bitter run-up to the November presidential elections.
It is unclear why Stevens traveled to Benghazi from the better-protected embassy 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... on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States -- a day when security is ramped up in diplomatic outposts around the world.
Stevens is believed to have died, along with information manager Sean Smith, when they were overcome by smoke after the gunnies set fire to much of the compound. But no autopsy has been released.
Exactly who was behind the attacks has also yet to be made public, although the administration has fingered gunnies with links to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and vowed it will bring the killers to justice.
The fierce firefight lasted from 9:40 pm local time until about 4:00 am, during which the consulate staff were evacuated to the safe house, which also then took mortar fire. Two former CIA agents were killed there.
Clinton fell ill after contracting a severe stomach virus on her return from a European trip earlier this month. She suffered "extreme dehydration, and subsequently fainted," her doctors said, adding they had recommended she continued to rest this week.
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#1
It is only probes into government gun-running that seem to be very, very slow and impossible to understand. Not so in public setting shootings such as theaters and schools. Answers are quick and ready knee-jerk reactions from the politicians but it always comes down to trying to regulate the guns (sarc).
#5
Ok, it's been a very long day Madam Secretary. Are you comfortable with the approved responses to the financial aspects and approval regime of facility security.... or do you wish to go over them once again in the morning? If not, we'll move on to the noticiations (when and where) folder tomorrow after brekkie.
[Shabelle] Somali defense minister Abdi hakin Haji Mohamudd Fiqi has warned Somali government not to act in an undisciplined manner which can harm the civilians.
Speaking to the media in Mogadishu, Mr. Fiqi said that military court will be set up in every new town where government forces take over throughout and he said that any soldier found with a crime of transgressing the rights of the Somali civilians will court-martialed.
Meanwhile the defense minister also told that forces of the moderate Islamist group of Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama would be integrated into the Somali national army and he stressed that the government has already had talks on that issue with the leaders of the group.
Ahlu Sunna fought a bloody war the other thug group of Alshabab after the later group started to demolish scared shrines where well known leaders of Ahlu sunna were buried and Al shabab calls such shrines as un-Islamic though there were there in Somalia for hundreds of years.
Most of the Somali population is moderate Moslems where tolerance within the people is widely accepted.
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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's Socialist Party has increased the number of governorships it holds, winning 20 of the country's 23 states.
The country is pretty much toast. Time to hold the average people accountable for their decisions. When Venezuela becomes Zimbabwe we should stand to one side -- and return the boat people...
The opposition coalition held on to two key states, including Miranda, where Henrique Capriles was re-elected.
Sunday's poll took place amid uncertainty over the health of Mr Chavez, who is in Cuba recovering from cancer surgery.
Socialist Party leaders urged voters to turn out in support of the president. However, the number of people voting was put at 53%, well down on the 80% turnout in October's presidential election.
Aides said Mr Chavez had been watching the election closely and had "resumed giving instructions and governing".
Opposition leader Henrique Capriles won re-election as governor of Miranda state by defeating former Vice-President Elias Jaua. Mr Capriles, candidate of a coalition of opposition parties, was defeated by Mr Chavez in October's presidential election.
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In private meetings, Hugo has indicated there was some "47 percent that would not vote for him".
[Reuters] Syrian rebels took full control of the Yarmouk Paleostinian refugee camp on Monday after fighting raged for days in the district on the southern edge of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's Light of the Alawites... Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... powerbase, rebel and Paleostinian sources said.
The battle had pitted rebels, backed by some Paleostinians, against Paleostinian fighters of the pro-Assad Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine-General Command (PFLP-GC). Many PFLP-GC fighters defected to the rebel side and their leader Ahmed Jibril decamped two days ago, rebel sources said.
"All of the camp is under the control of the (rebel) Free Syrian Army," said a Paleostinian activist in Yarmouk. He said festivities had stopped and the remaining PFLP fighters retreated to join Assad's forces massed on the northern edge of the camp. In a day or two we can take PFLP-GC off the list of terror orgs, since it won't exist anymore...
The battle in Yarmouk is one of a series of conflicts on the southern fringes of Assad's capital, as rebels try to choke the power of the 47-year-old leader after a 21-month-old uprising in which 40,000 people have been killed.
Government forces have used jets and artillery to try to dislodge the fighters but the violence has crept into the heart of the city and activists say rebels overran three army stations in a new offensive in the central province of Hama on Monday.
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[Al Ahram] Iran has detailed a plan to put an end to the crisis in its ally Syria, calling for an immediate ceasefire and the start of national dialogue between Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... and rebels, media reported on Monday.
The proposal, whose details were published on Sunday by the foreign ministry, was originally announced on October 14, when Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi gave it to visiting international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi.
The six-point plan calls for "an immediate halt to violence and armed actions under the supervision of the United Nations" ...a formerly good idea gone bad... Tehran, the main regional ally of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators... 's regime, says the next step is "the lifting of sanctions against Syria to pave the way for the distribution of humanitarian aid."
"Once calm is restored, national dialogue must begin... a transitional government will then be in charge of organising free elections for parliament, the constituent assembly and the presidency," the text of the plan reads.
Iran has long advocated a political solution and dialogue between the government and opposition groups to end the Syrian crisis.
However opposition groups reject any Iranian involvement in the search for a solution, reflecting the view that the US and some Western and Arab countries hold that Tehran is discredited by its unwavering support for Assad.
Tehran's proposal also envisages "the release of political prisoners by the government and impartial trial of those enjugged Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! for involvement in crimes" since the revolt broke out in Syria more than 21 months ago.
"A committee must be formed to assess the conflict's resulting damage to Syria's infrastructure," it said. "The current campaign of misinformation against Syria must also end."
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North Korea is mourning the death one year ago of leader Kim Jong Il, in a special memorial ceremony led by his son and successor Kim Jong Un.
The North's official Korean Central News Agency reported Monday that hundreds of thousands of people stood silent and still outside the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun Mausoleum in the capital, Pyongyang. The current leader's father and grandfather are permanently lying in state in the mausoleum.
A siren sounded as a signal to begin three minutes of silence, which was observed across the country and even by ships at sea. The nation came to a halt to observe the moment one year ago, when Kim Jong Il died of a heart attack, 20 years after taking power upon the death of his father the nation's founder Kim Il Sung.
Several scientists who worked on the North's successful long-range rocket launch last week were among the first to pay tribute. The country's current leader did not speak but watched over the proceedings.
Three generations of the Kim family have ruled North Korea with an iron fist for more than six decades.
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[Dawn] Dr Mohammad Sher, dean of science faculty and head of anti-plagiarism committee at the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI), has been found guilty of plagiarism for the second time in less than two years. The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has officially informed the university that a research paper authored by Dr Sher in 1998 was plagiarised, Dawn has learnt reliably.
Was it written by one of his doctoral students or by that Albert Einstein guy? A man is known by the caliber of his plagiarees, after all.
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#1
Perhaps the HEC will recommend that a letter stating its finding be discreetly placed with the official copy of Dr. King's Mohammad Sher's dissertation in the university's library.
[Bangla Daily Star] Law enforcers placed in durance vile Please don't kill me! Tasneem Alam, central publicity secretary of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami ... a Pakistani catspaw remaining active in Bangla politix, loosely affiliated with the Pak religious party of the same name and closely affiliated with most of the terror organizations in Bangla. A member of the BNP's four party governing coalition.... , at his Uttara residence in the capital yesterday for possession of anti-government leaflets and booklets.
Police also rounded up 21 female members of Jamaat and its women students' wing Islami Chhatri Sangstha from the latter's office in Moghbazar for their suspected link to subversive activities.
The detainees include Sanowar Jahan, wife of Jamaat's Assistant Secretary General Abdul Quader Mollah, who is now facing trial on charge of committing crimes against humanity.
Protesting the detention of Tasneem, Rajshahi city unit Jamaat yesterday announced an eight-hour hartal ... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ... in Rajshahi division for tomorrow.
In an email sent to local journalists, Ataur Rahman, ameer of Rajshahi city unit Jamaat, said they will enforce the shutdown from 6:00am to 2:00pm, reports our Rajshahi correspondent.
Police jugged Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! Rajshahi University teacher Shah Hossain Ahmed Mehdi when he was in a meeting with some Jamaat leaders at a house in Rajshahi city. Two Jamaat men were detained at the meeting.
A local court last night sent the teacher to jail after police produced him before it, said SM Moniruzzaman, commissioner of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police.
Contacted, officer-in-charge of Uttara Police Station (West) Khandaker Rejaul Hasan said the seized leaflets and booklets are provocative and offensive.
Police were conducting drives in different areas in the capital along with detained Jamaat leader Tasneem Alam, he added.
Meanwhile, ...back at the scene of the crime, Lieutenant Queeg had an idea: there was a simple way to tell whether Manetti had been the triggerman -- just look at his shoes!... at least 25 people including seven copperswere maimed when Jamaat-Shibir men fought pitched battles with law enforcers in Shibganj and Kadamtoli in Sylhet city yesterday afternoon during their processions in support of tomorrow's half-day (6:00am to 2:00pm) hartal in Sylhet division, adds our Sylhet correspondent.
Jamaat announced the shutdown demanding release of its acting secretary general Shafiqur Rahman. He was arrested on Thursday at his Dhanmondi residence in the capital in a case filed under the anti-terrorism act. The following day, a Dhaka court placed him on four-day remand.
Regarding the detention of 21 female leaders of Jamaat and Chhatri Sangstha, police said Sanowar Jahan is a central working committee member of Jamaat, while the rest are students of different educational institutions in the city.
Acting on a tip off, law enforcers raided the Chhatri Sangstha office and recovered a huge number of 'Jihadi' books and leaflets, said Shible Noman, assistant commissioner (Ramna) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
In a release yesterday, Jamaat acting ameer Moqbul Ahmed condemned the detention of Tasneem Alam.
A few months ago, Tasneem was arrested on charge of an arson attack on a bus, but he came out of jail on bail.
Shamsunnahar Nizami, secretary of Islami Chhatri Sangstha, in another statement, blasted the government for detaining its female leaders and activists and demanded their immediate release.
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[Al Ahram] Rebel fighters on Monday launched an all-out assault on army positions across Hama in some of the worst violence in the central province for months, a watchdog reported.
"Several rebel units began an all-out offensive against positions of the regular army in Hama province," Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP.
"The festivities are the most violent in this province for months," he added.
Abdel Rahman said rebels were laying siege to army positions along an axis stretching from Khan Sheikhun in the province of Idlib further north to Mharde, in the western district of Hama province.
Syrian troops withdrew from several positions, including Sheikh Hadid, which rebels pounded with mortars and anti-tank rockets, he added.
A member of the military command of the main rebel Free Syrian Army said overnight that the battle to "liberate" Hama and its province had begun and issued a deadline of 1100 GMT Tuesday for soldiers to leave.
Colonel Kassem Saadeddin announced in a statement "the start of the liberation of the city of Hama and its province of the Assad gangs and the shabiha," in reference to troops and a militia of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... 's regime.
"We have asked all the brigades and battalions to surround and take over all the military positions in the province and we give the soldiers until 1:00 pm on Tuesday (1100 GMT) to desert."
Hama is known as the site of an 1982 uprising which was crushed amid tens of thousands of deaths by President Assad's father and predecessor Hafez al-Assad. It also has been at the forefront of the 21-month conflict.
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[Dawn] While police and Rangers have failed to recapture three suspected hard boyz after their escape in 2010 from the City Courts premises, the file of the 2009 Ashura blast case pending trial before an anti-terrorism court has been gathering dust for around two and a half years.
The three suspected hard boyz Murtaza alias Shakil, Muhammad Saqib Farooqui and Wazir Mohammad beat feet from the city courts in 2010 and their accomplice Murad Shah was killed in an encounter with the police.
The suspects, said to be associated with the banned Death Eater outfit Jundullah, were booked in four cases pertaining to attacks on Muharram processions in Dec 2009, including a devastating kaboom in the main Ashura procession on M.A. Jinnah Road that had left over 45 people dead.
Following their escape, the ATC III, where the four cases against them were pending trial, on June 26, 2010 abated the legal proceedings in all cases after the investigation officers submitted in court that they had escaped.
On June 20, 2010, the suspects were brought to the city courts in connection with another case. After the hearing, the suspects got freed from the police custody by their accomplices following an armed attack on the city courts premises and suspect Murad Shah was killed during the attack.
The ATC-III had issued life warrants against the three suspects and directed the police to arrest and produce them in court as soon as possible.
Although the suspects escaped around two and a half years ago, the city police and their special investigation units have so far failed to trace them. It is highly surprising that why the suspects were not tried inside the prison if the law-enforcers knew that they were high-profile criminals.
Investigators believed that they got sufficient evidence to link the suspects with the 2009 Moharram bombings. But despite this jail authorities had neither made any request for a jail trial nor had they made arrangements for proper security while taking them to the city courts.
Legal experts believe that long suspension in the trial of such high-profile cases might cost the cases of the prosecution as the delay in trial always benefited the accused party and damaged the prosecution case.
In most cases of inordinate delays in trial, prosecution witnesses go underground or change their residence due to fear and even in some cases they die. Besides, it is hard for a witness to remember the exact evidence for years while it is also a difficult task for IOs to maintain the case property, police files and keep in touch with his witnesses.
The suspects in the present cases were nabbed Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! after a shoot-out on Hawkesbay Road on Jan 23, 2010. They also confessed to having carried out the attacks on the Muharram processions.
They were charge-sheeted under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 and their cases were sent to the ATC-III for trial and the court had supplied copies of documents to the suspects under Section 265-C of the criminal procedure code. However, nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits... they escaped before their indictment.
Suspects Murtaza and Saqib Farooqui were booked for their alleged involvement in the 2009 Ashura blast. The duo were also charge-sheeted in the Paposh Nagar blast that took place on Dec 26, 2009 (8th Muharram) when a Muharram procession was passing through and it left 13 people maimed.
Murad Shah and his absconding accomplices, Haider, Hasnain and Sajid, were charge-sheeted in a case pertaining to a low-intensity blast that targeted 9th Muharram procession in Qasba Colony on Dec 27, 2009. Seventeen people were maimed in the blast.All the four suspected hard boyz were also facing trial in another case under Sections 4/5 of the Explosive Substance Act read with Section 7 of the ATA at the Sir Syed cop shoppe since the police claimed that they had seized kaboom on a lead given by the suspects.
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[Times Of India.India Times] At least 19 people were killed and 74 injured when a powerful boom-mobilewent kaboom! close to government offices in Jamrud town of Pakistain's northwestern Khyber tribal region on Monday. The kaboom follows a deadly Taliban assault on the airport in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. over the weekend which left 15 people dead, 10 of them attackers, underlining the strength of Death Eaters in the country's restive tribal regions and adjoining areas.
Monday's car kaboom, according to officials, used an estimated 90 pounds of explosives. Intelligence officials said explosives were packed into a Suzuki Alto car and detonated through a remote device. Bloodied pieces of human flesh littered the blast scene, along with blood-stained clothes, school books, children's shoes and mangled metal. The blast destroyed at least 20 vehicles and 17 shops.
"Nineteen people were killed in the blast. Fourteen bodies were brought to this hospital while three people died of their wounds on way to hospital in Peshawar," said Dr Sameen Jan Shinwari at Khyber Agency's hospital in Jamrud.
"Four women were among those killed and they were all Afghans," Shinwari said. "At the moment we're not in a position to tell what exactly was the motive behind the attack," said Khyber region's top administrative official Mutahir Zeb. No one has grabbed credit for the attack, but security officials believe that a pro-government Zakakhel tribe could have been the target. Members of this tribe have been targeted by Taliban earlier as well.
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[Dawn] Citing Pak Interior Minister Rehman Malik Pak politician, Interior Minister under the Gilani government. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. He had to give up the interior ministry job because he held dual Brit citizenship. s account on Hafiz Muhammad Saeed ...who would be wearing a canvas jacket with very long sleeves anyplace but Pakistain... arrest, Indian opposition on Monday demanded to call off the upcoming cricket series between the two countries, BBC Urdu Service reported.
Leaders of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) have said that India should refrain itself from having dialogues with Pakistain. Former chief of the party Venkaiah Naidu said terrorism and cricket can not go along. On one hand they (Pakistain) support terrorism and on the other a cricket series is being host for them this cant go side by side, he said.
The interior minister is back from New Delhi where he went on a three-day visit to formalise a new visa accord last week.
Meanwhile, ...back at the barn, Bossy was furiously chewing her cud and thinking... Indian Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde also criticised his Pak counterparts claim that Islamabad had thrice tossed in the slammer Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... (LeT) founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed for his alleged role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Malik appears misinformed on the matter, Shinde informed the Rajya Sabha (Parliament.)
Shinde said that through the documents, provided by Islamabad regarding detentions of Saeed on three instances, it is clear that he was arrested for other reasons and not for his role as a conspirator in 2008 attacks.
He pointed out that the Pak interior minister has been telling us repeatedly that he had arrested Saeed thrice and that, on each occasion, he was let off by the courts for lack of evidence.
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#1
I was hoping both sides would play a vicious bodyline and do triple-leg-over ball bowling.
#2
But having researched each and every test I came to the realization that both sides would employ Deep-Brooders on both the fore and the port. So it would be for naught.
[Dawn] The residents of Kandi Jamroze Khan, a small locality opposite the western boundary wall of Bacha Khan International Airport and PAF Base, are in a state of shock after the Saturday night brazen attack by Islamic fascistithat left several houses and vehicles damaged besides five persons dead and over 40 injured.
On Sunday several of the families in the area were seen leaving their houses as they were no longer fit for living. Over a dozen houses were damaged badly in the attack. The boundary walls of several houses were demolished and cracks were visible in several others. Roofs of some of the structures caved in and their windowpanes were shattered.
A small road separates the locality, situated in Abdara village, from Bacha Khan International Airport and PAF Base both of whom share a joint airfield.
However, a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... the two portions of the western wall, which the attackers breached, are towards the base and installations of PAF and
Army Aviation Authority are situated in that area. The road connects Bara Road to several villages and Old Bara Road in an upscale University Town locality.
The security forces erected a makeshift curtain to hide broken portion of the boundary wall of the PAF Base where some labourers were busy in its reconstruction. Residents of the area and passersby were peeping through holes in the curtain.
The wreckage of the vehicle used by the attackers to make a breach in the wall by exploding it was also lying nearby the broken
wall. Blood stains were also visible at different spots which the local people said were of the killed Death Eaters. Remains of a suicide vest were also lying nearby along with pieces of human flesh.
A big cater at the place of occurrence was a testimony to the severity of the blast. Local people said that first they heard an kaboom and when they came out of their residences they saw the vehicle was being pushed by Islamic fascistitowards the boundary wall and soon it went kaboom! with a deafening noise.
Soon it was chaos with injured people lying at different spots groaning with pain amidst complete darkness and plume of
dust, said Abdul Ghafoor, a resident of the locality. He said that they saw remains and bodies of the attackers, probably four or five in number. He said that the outer wall of his residence collapsed and windows were also broken, but his family remained unhurt.
Most of the inhabitants contradicted the accounts of the law enforcement agencies that the attackers were killed in exchange of fire.
They said that soon after the vehicle went kaboom! they saw the dismembered bodies whereas one of the attackers was still alive but maimed critically. They said that after about an hour the injured Death Eater also expired.
However, a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... none of them had seen any of the Islamic fascistifleeing.
Provincial Senior Minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour, who visited the area and inspected the damage, told the people that on Saturday night he was passing by the site of the first blast near Old Bara Road where he spotted a vehicle on fire while two persons, apparently attackers, were fleeing away. He added that it was a well coordinated attack, carried out from different sides.
He told journalists that it was time for the federal government to decide about shifting of the airport and base from the populated area to some safer location.
About compensation for the damaged property and vehicles, Mr Bilour said that it was not the policy of provincial government to pay compensation for damaged property. The affected persons should submit applications that would be considered by them, he added.
Faheem Khan, another resident of the locality, was busy in loading important household items in a tractor trolley. He said that as the entire structure of his house had cracked, therefore he shifted his family to residence of one of their relatives in some other area.
Mr Khan said that Saturday night occurrence was like a nightmare and the loud kabooms still echoed in his mind. He said that women and kiddies in the area were crying and the injured were calling for help.
He added that the government should compensate the people as most of the affected persons belonged to poor families.
Several linemen of Wapda were seen busy in repairing the snapped wires on both sides of the road. One of them said that they had been trying their level best to repair the broken wires so that electricity could be restored at the earliest.
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#3
In other royal pregnancies, the Duchess of Cambridge faces 6+ months of uncontrollable projectile vomiting, 24/7. If I were Ri Sol-ju, I would be envious.
[An Nahar] A fire that killed 111 workers at a Bangladesh garment factory last month was caused by sabotage and managers at the plant prevented victims from escaping, the head of an official inquiry said Monday.
"We have found that the fire that gutted Tazreen Fashion factory in Ashulia was an act of sabotage," Main Uddin Khandaker told Agence La Belle France Presse after submitting a report into the November 24 tragedy to the government.
"The statements of the witnesses revealed that it was an act of sabotage. There was no possibility of the fire originating due to an electric short-circuit or any other reason."
Khandaker did not suggest who might have carried out the sabotage or why.
He also said his inquiry team would recommend that the owner of the factory in the Ashulia industrial district near the capital Dhaka should face murder charges for gross negligence.
"There was also gross negligence on the part of the owner. We have suggested legal action against him and nine of his mid-level managers who barred the workers from leaving the burning factory," he said.
The owner of the plant, Delwar Hossain, told news hounds after the blaze that he believed it was started deliberately but gave no details.
Fire Sherlocks have said the nine-story factory, which made clothing for Western retailers such as Walmart and C&A, lacked a valid safety license at the time and only had permission for three floors.
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[Al Ahram] Members of the higher council of the Egyptian State Council's judges club will not supervise the upcoming second phase of Egypt's constitutional referendum, club head Hamdi Yassin stated on Monday evening.
Yassin said the decision was due to "unfulfilled promises" on the part of official entities that had been agreed upon before the referendum.
"Every judge in the State Council has the right to decline to supervise the second phase of the referendum," Yassin stated.
He went on to cite several points on which judges had earlier conditioned their participation. These included securing the supreme referendum committee and associated sub-committees; protecting voters and judges; and banning electioneering outside the committees.
"No judge will allow his dignity to be compromised," said Yassin.
He went on to call for an end to the "siege" of certain state institutions, especially Egypt's High Constitutional Court.
Last Saturday, Egyptians voted in the first phase of a contentious constitutional referendum. The second phase of voting is scheduled to take place next Saturday.
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[Dawn] The Supreme Court on Monday has taken suo motu ...a legal term, from the Latin. Roughly translated it means I saw what you did, you bastard... notice into the nomination of Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashrafs son-in-law, Raja Azeem-ul-Haque, as an executive director of the World Bank.
The suo motu notice was taken over media reports.
A three-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali has also been constituted to hear the case on Dec 19.
According to media reports, the PM appointed his son-in-law to the post by using his discretionary powers.
The finance ministry had opposed Mr Haques nomination even though the summary for his appointment was moved by the Economic Affairs Division. Ultimately, the finance ministry had to give in to the wishes of the Prime Minister Secretariat, said the reports.
Some government officials had been critical of Mr Haques nomination because of his quick promotions within a few years from grade 18 to 21.
Raja Azeem-ul-Haque, an officer of the Income Tax Group, was working in grade 18 when the PPP government came into power more than four years ago. He left this job and was hired by the Employees Old-age Benefit Institution in grade 20 about two years ago.
Soon after Raja Pervez Ashraf assumed the PMs office, he was elevated to grade 21 and posted in the Prime Minister Secretariat.
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[Dawn] Unidentified beturbanned goons blew up the building of PTCL exchange in Lachi town of Kohat district in the small hours of Sunday.
Police said that beturbanned goons planted explosives at the boundary wall of the telephone exchange building and blew it up. The blast damaged the boundary wall and the building. Nobody was injured in the kaboom, they said.
Police and the bomb disposal squad reached the spot soon after the incident and collected evidence. Police started the paperwork but haven't done much else against unidentified terrorists.
In Nowshera, two CD shops were blown up in two separate blasts on the night between Saturday and Sunday.
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[Al Ahram] Strict instructions have been issued to Egypt's interior ministry to arrest and prosecute anyone found taking part in attacks on public or private property, presidential front man Yasser Ali said at a Monday presser.
The presidential front man pointed to "recent attacks on the offices of certain political parties, government institutions, media outlets and places of worship," which he described as "a new phenomenon in Egypt."
Ali's comments came in the wake of Saturday's attack on the liberal Wafd Party's Cairo headquarters by Salafist activists. Earlier this month, the regional offices of the Moslem Brüderbund and its Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) were subject to attacks by unknown assailants.
"We condemned these attacks before and have called on all other parties to condemn them as well," Ali stated. While stressing the citizen's right to express his or herself, he added that such acts of violence and vandalism were "illegal and therefore unacceptable."
Ali went on to assert that no party or group should instruct its followers to attack the offices of their political rivals. Such actions, he said, "should be rejected by everyone."
On Saturday night, Mohamed Tharwat, managing editor of the Wafd Party's news website, stated that some 500 Salafist activists -- whom, he alleged, were followers of prominent preacher Hazem Abu-Ismail -- had attacked the party's headquarters in Cairo's Dokki district.
Tharwat told the media that attackers surrounded the building and sprayed it with fireworks before destroying several cars parked outside the building.
In early December, several offices of the Moslem Brüderbund and its FJP were attacked and set on fire by unknown assailants. The attacks coincided with violent festivities between supporters and opponents of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi outside Cairo's presidential palace.
On Sunday, FJP Vice-Chairman Essam El-Erian stated that those who had attacked and torched the Brotherhood's offices were the "same elements" that had attacked the Wafd Party's headquarters.
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[Dawn] ANOTHER military airbase attacked; another full set of lessons that perhaps will not be learned. Since the attack on the Mehran airbase in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , the snuffies have demonstrated a sophisticated understanding of both the psychology and methodology of high-profile attacks. Targeting an airbase in even a semi-successful attack captures public attention in a way that a highly successful attack against other military targets would not. And while the security forces appear to be protecting vulnerabilities at airbases better than was the case before the Mehran attack, the snuffies are also adapting. They appear to be probing for weaknesses by deploying new combinations of fidayeen and suicide kaboomers, and still have fairly good intelligence on their targets. Why this is so is a question that the public has not received an answer to. So the focus must necessarily turn to more transparency and accountability within the security and intelligence apparatus.
Every new high-profile attack is a reminder of how little is known publicly about the investigations into previous such attacks. Was physical security as rigorous as it could be? Was the vetting of security personnel posted at these installations thorough? Were maps and schematics and other information protected adequately? And after weaknesses were exposed, how effective was the response of the security apparatus to ensure a repeat would be difficult? Clearly, as the attack on a foreign airbase in southern Afghanistan proved, the snuffies can exploit weaknesses in defences in even the most hostile environment. But in the absence of transparent and public investigations and accountability, we cant be certain that negligence, incompetence or complicity in the security apparatus here is being identified and punished as thoroughly as it should.
Then there is the broader question that always comes up in these moments. Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. is adjacent to the tribal areas and as such will always remain more vulnerable than most Pak cities unless a coherent policy for eliminating militancy is developed. But despite having tens of thousands of troops stationed in Fata and launching a series of military operations that have recovered swathes of territory that had virtually been ceded to the thugs, the absence of a zero-tolerance policy towards militancy has made it difficult to win this war. Apologists for the Taliban, who refuse to see that the thugs war is against Pakistain and its people, have stood in the way of a unified stance. North Wazoo, and also the Tirah valley, remains a fundamental threat to security in Pakistain. Yet it is still not clear how the army-led security establishment intends to defang that threat. Paralysis and policy drift will only enable the snuffies to push harder to find even more weaknesses.
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For a map, click here. For a map of Tamaulipas state, click here
A total of five armed suspects were killed in an encounter with a Mexican Army unit in Tamaulipas state Sunday, according to Mexican news accounts.
A wire dispatch originating from El Universal news daily reported that the gunfight took place at around 1310 hrs in Ciudad Victoria near the intersection of calles José Sulaiman Chagnon and Pamoran.
Ciudad Victoria is the state capital of Tamaulipas.
The incident involved two civilian vehicles, one of them a 2012 Nissan Rogue SUV. Presumably, suspects in the second vehicle escaped the encounter. All five of the dead were inside the SUV. Soldiers also found five AR-15 rifles.
Two of the suspects were identified as Amado Gustavo Teran de la Fuente, 33, and Esau Shealtiel Cepeda Espinoza, 22. The other three were unidentified men in their 20s.
[Dawn] Unknown gunnies attacked the car of deputy director of the department of Public Relations on Monday near Liaquat park killing the official and three coppers, DawnNews reported.
The attackers sprayed the car of the Public relations department official with bullets killing one policeman on the spot.
The deputy director of the Public relations department, Khadim Hussain Noori, was critically injured and succumbed to his wounds while he was being shifted to a hospital for treatment.
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Sheriff's officials say a man opened fire in a San Antonio movie theater parking lot, wounding one person before an officer shot him inside the theater.
Bexar County sheriff's spokesman Louis Antu says the incident started about 9:30 p.m. Sunday when the man fired shots inside a nearby restaurant. It's not clear what led to the shooting.
Antu says the man headed toward the theater and shot a male in the lot. The age and condition of the victim wasn't immediately known, but Antu says his injuries did not appear life-threatening.
The gunman entered the theater. Antu says the man fired a shot but struck no one. An off-duty sheriff's deputy working security then shot the gunman. Rumor has it bystander Texans in reality drug him out of the parking lot into the theator urging her to shot him 27 times ... and then git-a-rope.
#7
I have coached a few female marksmen. Not certain why, but I've found quite a number to be naturals and damn good shots!
I'm a firearms instructor, and concur with that observation. The ladies tend to listen to the coaching and give it a try. Too many guys think having a Y chromosome means you automatically know how to shoot.
[Al Ahram] Judge Talaat Ibrahim Abdullah has tendered his resignation late Monday as Egypts prosecutor-general, succumbing to mounting pressure from judges and prosecutors only weeks after being appointed by President Mohamed Morsi.
Hundreds of judges and prosecutors had staged a protest at his office earlier in the day after marching from the Judges' Club building, in protest of President Mohamed Morsi's decision to replace Mubarak-era prosecutor-general Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud with Abdullah.
Representatives from the protesters met with Abdullah's deputy Adel El-Said but failed to reach a conclusion. Accordingly, a group of protesters attempted to enter the prosecutor-general's office to demand a meeting, but security forces deployed to his office banned them from doing so.
Later in the day, El-Said presennted Abdullah's handwritten resignation to the protesters.
Al-Ahrams Arabic news portal reported that Abdullah left his office shortly afterwards escorted by security forces. Protesters chanted in support of the decision.
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[Al Ahram] Two kabooms rocked cop shoppes in the Libyan city of Benghazi early on Monday and police foiled a third attack, a security official told AFP, adding that there were no casualties.
Police in the eastern city had placed checkpoints and bolstered security around their stations following two Sunday attacks, blamed on radical Islamists, which claimed the lives of four officers, an AFP correspondent said.
The cop shoppes of Garyunes and Al-Oruba were targeted before dawn on Monday, the security official said on condition of anonymity, adding that a separate attack by a would-be bomber was foiled.
"A parcel of explosives was dropped from a speeding car in front of the Garyunes station. It went kaboom! but there were no casualties," said the source, adding that the culprit was captured shortly after.
A similar attack was staged outside Al-Oruba station, he added.
Security forces later jugged Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! the driver of a vehicle residents had seen circling Al-Hadaiq cop shoppe, a target of previous attacks. He had a grenade, a suicide belt and three rocket-propelled grenades in his car.
The man got out of the car clutching the grenade and threatened to blow himself up, but police were able to negotiate his surrender, the security source said.
The latest violence follows the arrest of a suspect for his alleged role in the killings of several police and military officers.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/18/2012
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Top|| File under: Arab Spring
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.