It's a start.
A list of 20 Afghan officials accused of having suspicious money in their bank accounts was sent to the Afghan Attorney General's Office. "Hmmm... Something suspicious about all this money, Watson!"
"Holmes! How do you do it?"
The Financial Transaction and Reports Analysis Center of Afghanistan said that there are possibilities that they have gained this money through drugs smuggling, corruption and tax evasion. and TARP bailouts
The Financial Transaction and Reports Analysis Center said that some key Afghan officials, including cabinet members and governors, are on the list. I have a list of those not on this list. It's blank.
Posted by: ed ||
06/18/2010 11:22 ||
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#1
This is News?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/18/2010 12:06 Comments ||
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Five Somali men were sentenced to prison Thursday for attacking a Dutch Antilles-flagged cargo ship with automatic weapons and a rocket-propelled grenade, in the first piracy case to come to trial in Europe in modern times.
The five were convicted of assaulting the Samanyulo in the Gulf of Aden in 2009, an attack that was thwarted by helicopter-borne Danish marines. Each of the attackers was sentenced to five years in prison.
"Netherlands don't like Muslim people," Sayid Ali Garaar, 39, repeated several times. "This is not legal."
"Piracy is a serious crime that must be powerfully resisted," said presiding Judge Klein Wolterink.
But one of the defendants called the decision unfair. "Netherlands don't like Muslim people," Sayid Ali Garaar, 39, repeated several times in rough English. "This is not legal."
Other defendants shook their lawyers' hands and waved at reporters as they were escorted out of the courtroom.
Prosecutors asked for seven-year sentences, but Judge Wolterink said he took into account the difficult conditions in Somalia that led the men to piracy.
Nonetheless, he said, he was swayed by the fact that the pirates "were only out for their own financial gain and didn't let themselves be troubled about damage or suffering caused to victims."
It was only by "lucky coincidence that nobody was killed or wounded," the judge said.
Other Somali piracy suspects are being held in France, Spain, Germany and the United States.
Kenya has convicted 18 pirates since 2007. More than 100 accused await trial there.
Hundreds of pirates have been detained, and several have been brought to Europe since the international armada was mobilized, but the majority have been released at sea because of the cost and difficulty of bringing them to trial.
At their trial last month the men who were sentenced Thursday denied wrongdoing. Most said they had been fishing and had approached the container ship for help when their skiff ran out of fuel and food.
Defense lawyers argued that the Danish sailors who rescued the ship were unable to testify. But the judge cited testimony from the ship's crew that the pirates had approached in a threatening manner, moving up swiftly from behind the freighter.
In written testimony, crewmen said they used flares to hold off the attackers, who sped their skiff toward the Samanyulo firing automatic weapons and at least one round from a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
Danish marines who flew over the pirates' skiff in a helicopter said after the incident they saw no weapons on board but that the skiff was carrying a ladder with hooks used for boarding ships. The helicopter pilot said there was no doubt it was an act of piracy.
After the Danish helicopter fired warning shots at the skiff, the pirates jumped overboard. All five were picked up by a Danish navy boat. They were later handed to Dutch authorities for trial because the Samanyulo was sailing under a Dutch Antilles flag.
#1
So when they get out they should have enough time in country to qualify for citizenship.
Posted by: ed ||
06/18/2010 9:58 Comments ||
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"Piracy is a serious crime that must be powerfully resisted," said presiding Judge Klein Wolterink.
"Resisted"?
Not "Eliminated"?
Do you own shares?
Lawyer-Talk is really stupid.
Say what you mean don't talk circles around it.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/18/2010 12:09 Comments ||
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Five lousy years? I much rather see real justice meted out on the high seas.
Posted by: regular joe ||
06/18/2010 15:57 Comments ||
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In her first major test of being tough on extremism, Theresa May, the new Home Secretary, said she was banning Zakir Naik from entering the UK.
Dr Naik, a 44-year-old Indian televangelist, had been due to give a series of racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic lectures at arenas in Wembley Arena and Sheffield.
The Home Secretary can exclude or deport an individual if she thinks that their presence in the UK is not conducive to the public good.
There had been speculation that Dr Naik would be allowed into the UK. However Mrs May said she was excluding him because of the "numerous comments" he made were evidence of his "unacceptable behaviour".
This behaviour applies to anyone who writes or publishes material which can "foment justify or glorify terrorist violence" or "seek to provoke others to terrorist acts".
Mrs May told The Daily Telegraph: "I have excluded Dr Naik from the UK. Numerous comments made by Dr Naik are evidence to me of his unacceptable behaviour. "Coming to the UK is a privilege not a right and I am not wiling to allow those who might not be conducive to the public good to enter the UK. Exclusion powers are very serious and no decision is taken lightly or as a method of stopping open debate on issues."
Home Office sources said Dr Naik had been filmed on a website making inflammatory comments such as "every Muslim should be a terrorist".
He said: "When a robber sees a policeman he's terrified. So for a robber, a policeman is a terrorist. So in this context, every Muslim should be a terrorist to the robber."
He has also been filmed saying: "There are many Jews who are good to Muslims, but as a whole ... The Koran tells us, as a whole, they will be our staunchest enemy."
In a web posting from 2006 he said: "Beware of Muslims saying Osama Bin Laden is right or wrong. I reject them ... we don't know. But if you ask my view, if given the truth, if he is fighting the enemies of Islam, I am for him. I don't know what he's doing. I'm not in touch with him. I don't know him personally. I read the newspaper.
"If he is terrorising the terrorists, if he is terrorising America the terrorist, the biggest terrorist, every Muslim should be a terrorist."
He is also reported to have said suggested that western women make themselves "more susceptible to rape" by wearing revealing clothing.
He reportedly said: "Western society has actually degraded [women] to the status of concubines, mistresses and social butterflies, who are mere tools in the hands of pleasure seekers and sex marketeers"
Last night Patrick Mercer MP, the former chairman of the Commons counter-terrorism committee, said: "This is really good news. It shows that firm Government action can be taken against people. This is exactly the sort of man who we want to exclude from this country."
Dr Naik has been named as the third most popular spiritual guru in India and was judged in 2009 to be 82nd in a list of India's most powerful people.
Babelfish
A total of seven suspected members of organized crime were placed in 40 days preventative detention after they were caught with a number of military weapons, according the Mexican news daily, El Imparcial.
The arrests took place in two separate cases in the Mexican state of Sonora.
The suspects were found with five AK-47 assault rifles, an AR-15 assault rifle, about 1,300 rifle cartridges, a Chevrolet sedan and a tactical vest.
Mexican federal law permits state attorneys general to seek detention without charge of suspects for 40 days under special circumstances.
A silly question: Do Mexican gangsters all drive American cars. the way they drive Toyota trucks in jihadi countries? It's just that I've noticed in badanov's reports from south of the border that many of the stories report the vehicle the victim was driving, and they all seem to be American ones. I don't know enough about cars to know if they're late-model or not.
Where do you think the stolen vehicles in Texas go? Due south, especially high end pickup trucks like the King Ranch F-150.
#1
A silly question: Do Mexican gangsters all drive American cars. the way they drive Toyota trucks in jihadi countries?
Depends on the victim. For example the second seizure in Sonora was a Chevrolet... Corsica, an old model phased out years ago.
For example, the kidnapping ring busted yesterday one of the seized vehicles was a Nissan Maxima, and another was a Chysler Cirrus.
The running battle in Acapulco the day before with Mexican marines, they seized a Jeep Compass, two Ford sedans, a Honda Accord and a Volkswagen Jetta.
The Ford pickups seem to be the most popular for both bad guys and victims, and Jeeps are used often, but bad guys will ride whatever they can get their hands on.
Carjacking is big business in Juarez.
Bad guys and probably everyone else in Mexico drive what they can get their hands on; about what I and half the population does.
Russia aims to build a $15 billion ski resort complex in its mainly Muslim North Caucasus region, where an Islamist insurgency claimed the lives of almost 1,000 people last year, a business forum said on Friday. Dotted across the same mountain range where the 2014 Winter Olympics will be staged, the government hopes it will bring tourism to Russia and employment to the impoverished, violence-racked region the Kremlin calls its biggest problem.
Although the volatile republics of Chechnya and Ingushetia are not included in the scheme, Dagestan -- home to the pair of suicide bombers who killed 40 on the Moscow metro in March -- will be. In those three regions, at least 862 people were killed last year in clashes, bombing and gun battles, according to the Internet news agency Caucasian Knot. Other regions in the five resort complex are the nearby Muslim-dominated Karachay-Cherkessia and Kabardino-Balkaria, and majority-Christian Adygea and North Ossetia.
Russian officials are hoping to raise half of the project's 451 billion roubles ($14.46 billion) from banks including Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and Citi, with the balance coming from private investors, state-run RIA news agency said. It added the complex will be built over the next 10 years.
Ingush leader Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, who narrowly escaped a suicide bomb attack on his life last year, said on Friday tourism should not be considered while the insurgency rages on. "When the situation is stabilised and we have restored the economy, only then we can talk of comparing the Caucasus to Switzerland as a tourist destination," Yevkurov told Reuters.
#3
Russia appar hasn't heard about ASIA'S GLACIERS e.g. HIMALAYAS to suffer GW MELTWATER MELTDOWN.
To wit,
* NEWS KERALA > [GW Meltwater]CLIMATE CHANGE WILL IMPERIAL ASIA'S FOOD SUPPLY. Water levels at Brahamaputra + Indus River Basins are most at risk for meltwater loss while Yellow River Basin may see an increase.
and
* FREEREPUBLIC > [Year 2100 +/- ???]HUMAN RACE WILL BE EXTINCT WITHIN 100 YEARS, SAYS LEADING SCIENTIST.
IOW, WE WILL "FEEL THE HEAT" [1980's MTV Video = Solar].
D *** NG IT, IFF ONLY AN EARTH-DESTROYING "TEXAS-SIZED ASTEROID" WILL STRIKE + FORCE IN DAT GLOBAL ICE AGE - THAT WILL TEACH THAT SUN A LESSION!
{PETER from "FAMILY GUY" EVIL EYE/STARE here].
D *** NG IT, PETER > SAYS THE GLOWING SUN HAS NO RIGHT TO FEEL SAFE + SECURE FROM THE HAND OF MAN GOD + THE IRISH ALL WAY OUT THERE IN DEEP SPACE -WHERE O' WHERE WOULD THE SUN + ALIENS BE WIDOUT THE IRISH!
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell on Thursday called North Korea the "clear perpetrator" behind the sinking of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan in March. Campbell was speaking to reporters in Seoul after a luncheon with Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Yong-joon.
"The clear perpetrator of this act was North Korea," he said while commenting on a letter to the UN Security Council by the leftwing group People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy that raises doubts over the international inquiry into the sinking.
He said anybody could understand the findings of the probe that was carried out in a scientific way if they have read them carefully, and anybody would be convinced of the truthfulness of the probe if they have seriously examined the ample evidence.
He added Seoul and Washington completely agree on the issue. "We feel very strongly that the international community must take a strong stance in the face of this provocation," he said, and must send the North a "very clear message of how unacceptable this sort of provocation is."
Campbell discussed with South Korean officials how to persuade China, which is sitting on the fence. He also briefed Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan and other officials here on U.S. measures to block cash entering North Korea. As one of the responses to the sinking, the U.S. is looking to block the flow of black money from drug trafficking and manufacture of fake dollar bills and cigarettes.
Asked about South Koreans' call to delay the handover of full operational control of South Korean troops to Seoul scheduled for 2012, he said there has been no detailed discussion yet. But the matter could be discussed at the bilateral foreign and defense ministers' meeting next month, according to a diplomatic source.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/18/2010 00:00 ||
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Finally reached the One's limited brain that he can use it to distract attention from the oil leak?
The government has declared two groups, Islamic Jihad and al-Qaeda, illegal in Albania. During a meeting Wednesday (June 16th), the cabinet also announced a list of 62 businessmen and nine commercial companies believed to be connected with al-Qaeda and the Taleban, groups that the UN considers sponsors of terrorism. Entities and individuals related to these organisations will now be subject to asset confiscation if found in Albania.
German Jewish Voice claims it has been inundated with (40) requests to join its adventure.
Out of a nominal Jewish population of 200,000, of which 104,241 (per Wikipedia) are actually registered as Jews vs choosing to be unaffiliated. (In Germany many register a religion so their children can have pretty church weddings, considering that worth paying an extra church tax to the government every year. Fewer actually believe.
Posted by: ed ||
06/18/2010 9:45 Comments ||
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Useful idiots.
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/18/2010 10:39 Comments ||
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I'm going to Germany with my mother and the trailing daughters in August, to visit friends and relatives she hasn't seen since she and her parents fled the Nazis when she was a child. It's going to be a very interesting trip.
[Al Arabiya Latest] U.S. lawmakers warned Turkey on Thursday that its ties with Washington would suffer if it continued on what they considered an anti-Israel path.
"There will be a cost if Turkey stays on its present heading of growing closer to Iran and more antagonistic to the state of Israel," Representative Mike Pence, the No. 3 Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, said.
At a news conference, Republicans and Democrats denounced NATO ally Turkey for supporting an aid convoy of ships that recently tried to run the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
The lawmakers also criticized Turkey's opposition to a recent U.N. Security Council resolution extending punitive sanctions on Iran for its secretive nuclear program. The U.N. resolution was strongly backed by Washington, which suspects Iran of trying to develop atomic bombs.
Democratic Representative Eliot Engel called Turkey's actions "disgraceful," adding that although Ankara was a member of NATO, it had stopped looking westward.
"If we look at what the Turkish government has done in the past couple of years: they certainly have a very strong Islamic bent, but a bent in terms of looking towards Iran, and looking towards the Middle East, and not looking at the West and NATO anymore," said Engel.
As for the cost Turkey might pay for its stance, Pence said he was ready to reevaluate his past reluctance to support a congressional resolution denouncing as genocide the World War I-era killings of Armenians by Ottoman forces.
The largely symbolic resolution passed a House committee in March, but amid protests from Ankara, the House Democratic leadership never brought it to the chamber's floor for a vote.
The lawmakers said on Wednesday that 126 members of the House of Representatives had signed a letter urging President Obama to oppose international condemnation of Israel over its role in seizing the aid ships last month and forcing them to dock in Israeli ports.
Nine people were killed aboard one vessel, the Turkish-registered Mavi Mara, provoking an international outcry. Israel says its commandos acted in self-defense.
One pro-Israel lobby group in Washington, J Street, took a different view, suggesting some lawmakers' statements about the Gaza flotilla were "drafted primarily for domestic political consumption" instead of advancing Middle East peace.
The group's president Jeremy Ben-Ami urged U.S. lawmakers to express "more nuanced views of the situation that might emphasize the urgency of American leadership to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through two states."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2010 00:00 ||
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After an Israeli attack on a Gaza-bound flotilla that left nine Turkish citizens dead, Ankara has introduced a roadmap to "completely" cut its ties with Israel.
After Israel failed to apologize or pay compensations for the killing of the Turkish citizens in its attack on the Mavi Marmara on May 31, Turkish Defense Industry Implementation Committee (SSIK) reviewed the country's military agreements and joint projects with Israel on Thursday.
The SSIK held a meeting chaired by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday and decided to shelve 16 military agreements with Israel, including a $757 million plane and tank modernization project and a missile project worth over $1.5 billion.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul had earlier announced that a roadmap was to be prepared on the issue of sanctions against Israel.
"The roadmap details a process through which Turkey will completely cut its ties with Israel" in several stages, Turkey's Today's Zaman reported on Thursday.
According to the roadmap, the first step would be that Turkey's ambassador to Tel Aviv, who had been previously recalled, will not be sent back unless Israel sends a member to a UN investigatory commission that aims to look into the Israeli attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla.
Furthermore, the roadmap requires all military training and cooperation with Israel to be halted and states that an internal Israeli inquiry into the attack will in no way be recognized by Turkey.
Ankara announced, however, that joint projects between Turkish and Israeli private sectors are excluded from the plan that will put an end to all Turkey's ties with Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2010 00:00 ||
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Pete Doughtie is an experienced newspaperman who publishes a family owned free weekly publication, The Rutherford Reader (The Reader), supported by third party advertisers. The Reader appears in supermarket racks, fast food chains and various retail outlets in several counties in middle Tennessee. In addition, it has more than 43,000 on-line subscribers. The Reader is based in Murfreesboro, a community of 100,000 in the buckle of the bible belt. However, that locale didn't prevent Doughtie and The Reader from being falsely accused of "hate speech" and having his publication yanked from Kroger Supermarkets, a Kentucky Fried Chicken fast food outlet, and even the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce.
If the intimidation of The Reader distributors, who were prodded by false claims of "hate speech," causing them to pull the publication from racks, isn't enough, there was the sudden revelation of a 52,000 square foot Murfreesboro Islamic Center project to be built on a 15 acre site in the community with no public debate whatsoever. Taking it to the bible belt. h/t Maggie's Farm
A nationwide alert has been issued for 17 members of the Afghan military who have gone AWOL from an Air Force base in Texas where foreign military officers who are training to become pilots are taught English, FoxNews.com has learned.
The Afghan officers and enlisted men have security badges that give them access to secure U.S. defense installations, according to the lookout bulletin, "Afghan Military Deserters in CONUS [Continental U.S.]," issued by Naval Criminal Investigative Service in Dallas, and obtained by FoxNews.com.
The Afghans were attending the Defense Language Institute at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. The DLI program teaches English to military pilot candidates and other air force prospects from foreign countries allied with the U.S. It's the English language school for all foreign military and a lot of foreign government civilians. Had students from around 90 countries when I was there.
"I can confirm that 17 have gone missing from the Defense Language Institute," said Gary Emery, Chief of Public Affairs, 37th Training Wing, at Lackland AFB. "They disappeared over the course of the last two years, and none in the last three months." We've had reports about this here at Rantburg. This isn't actually new news.
Yeah, we had a couple of people a year walk away. One gal later turned up working as a bartender somewhere. And she was a Captain, I think, from eastern europe.
Each Afghan was issued a Department of Defense Common Access Card, an identification card used to gain access to secure military installations, with which they "could attempt to enter DOD installations," according to the bulletin. Base security officers were encouraged to disseminate the bulletin to their personnel. It's a standard US military ID card, with BIG LETTERS on front stating they are foreign military. They ain't getting in anyplace they ain't supposed to.
"The visas issued to these personnel have been revoked, or are in the process of being revoked. Lookouts have been placed in TECS," it reads.
Treasury Enforcement Communications System (TECS), which is shared by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, is a computer-based database used to identify people suspected of violating federal law. Included in the bulletin are photos of the 17 men, accompanied by their dates of birth and their TECS Lookout numbers.
The bulletin requests, "If any Afghan pictured herein is encountered, detain the subject and contact your local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office, the FBI or NCIS." Have you checked taxi cabs and 7-11's?
A senior law enforcement official said Friday that the Afghans' disappearance was more of an immigration violation than a security threat, saying there are no "strong indications to any terrorism nexus or impending threat."
The official further said that an unspecified number of the 17 have been caught. "A number of these guys have already been located or accounted for by now," the official said. "Some are in removal proceedings to be deported already. (Authorities) still need to locate the others, and that is why the bulletin went out."
The official said the information is "kind of old" -- up to two years -- but added, "It is important in the sense that some people look to come to the U.S. and will take advantage of invitations to train or attend a conference or to study, etc. But their real intention is to get to the U.S. and start a new life. It is not completely rare for this to happen....
"Although we are vigilant and need to work toward not allowing this to happen," the official said, this alert should "not necessarily" be described as "a national security threat, more of a 'hey these guys violated our laws and we need to find them.'"
The FBI and NCIS did not respond to requests for comment. A Department of Homeland Security spokesman referred FoxNews.com to the FBI.
#1
I cannot entirely blame these guys for taking the chance. Of the Afghans I have met currently living in the US, their nostalgia for their home country is worth a good five seconds of nostalgic reverie, and that's about it.
#3
I think the point I was making with this post was that these guys should have been restricted to base, NOT given ID badges that permit them access to ANY other installation. This, of course, notwithstanding any potential security risk of these guys being security risks of a different sort.
This scenario exemplifies the lax security within our government & military, imho.
We will get Spain back!
Writing in Jinnah chief editor Jinnah stated that while visiting Masjid Qartaba in Spain with a group of journalists as Prime Minister Gilani visited Brussels, he noted that the Masjid had been deprived of its Muslim character. But Islam was spreading and the Muslims will be back in Spain soon to reclaim it. His feelings were shared by other journalists like Zahid Malik, Muhammad Malik and Saleh Zaafar, etc. They also considered treating the churches in Pakistan the same way.
Shahrukh Khan in Madrid
Chief Editor Jinnah wrote that while he and a group of Pakistani top journalists were in Madrid they saw that a cinema hall had long queues of people trying to buy tickets. They discovered that it was an Indian film featuring Shahrukh Khan and Kajol. Shockingly the film was dubbed and there was a lot of accompanying literature being sold to acquaint people with the theme.
Veena still loves Asif
According to Jinnah film actress Veena who recently got engaged to marry Faisal on her parents' insistence still loved cricketer fast bowler Muhammad Asif who had abandoned her and married someone else. She said she loved Asif despite the fact that he ate up Rs 1.5 crore that belonged to her and were given to him as help. She said she could not bear to see Asif looking at another woman.
Imran Khan and Maulana Fazlur Rehman
Famous columnist Haroon Rashid stated in Jang that after the 2005 earthquake in Azad Kashmir, Imran Khan went to witness the situation and soon ended up building 10,000 shelter homes for the stricken people. But Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who also went there and pledged to a build similar number of homes, had not built a single one since 2005.
Paradise for killing Qadianis
Reported in Jinnah terrorist Abdullah, caught after the May 28 massacre of Ahmadis in Lahore, said he had been told to kill Qadianis to get to Paradise. He said he wanted to use the suicide jacket he was wearing but lost guts at the last moment. He said he and his brother were trained at Miramshah in North Waziristan. The paper also reported that another terrorist was caught at Chenab Nagar looking for an opportunity to attack Ahmadis there.
ANP doesn't love Pakistan'
Ex-army chief Aslam Beg was quoted by daily Pakistan that those who demanded that the NWFP be renamed Pakhtunkhwa never loved Pakistan. The man who coined the name, Abdul Ghaffar Khan did not express commitment to Pakistan and the character of his son Wali Khan too was not hidden from anyone. Beg stated that it would be folly to start an operation against the Taliban in Punjab and that the US had got Pakistan to agree that the Taliban would be kept out of the Afghan coalition.
Load-shedding in India
Writing in Jang Hamid Mir stated that during his last visit to India he discovered that India was no better than Pakistan in outward civic conditions, but the Pakistanis across the border had no way of knowing it. There was extreme poverty to be seen on the roads, more intense than the one in Pakistan. There was load-shedding in New Delhi and Mumbai up to four hours while in Bihar and Assam it went up to 18 hours. Like Pakistan, the city roads were dug-up by contractors working at snail's pace on their development projects.
Don't call them a Muslim sect!
Daily Islam reported from Karachi that the great ulema of the city like Mufti Munib had said that calling the Ahmadis a Muslim sect was against the law and they will not allow anyone to call them so. They said that those who sympathised with the Ahmadis after the Lahore massacred were against Islam and should be proceeded against.
Anchors on the take
Writing in Jang Hamid Mir stated that there were many black sheep in the media who took money from the agencies. He revealed that a lady MNA and her father were known for passing the bounty around to the media persons and anchors and were still doing the job on behalf of Musharraf. Musharraf was told in Dubai that if he paid Rs 5 crore any anchor could be bought.
Army chief has too many powers'
As another proof that some see General Kayani leaning to the American line, ex-ISI chief Hamid Gul told daily Pakistan that Pakistan's army chief had too many powers which should be curtailed, but he did not say how. He said a big change was coming in Afghanistan in which his part too would be revealed.
No burqa' in Pakistan, please!
Reported in Jang former Justice Nasira Javid Iqbal stated that Pakistan should impose a ban on the wearing of burqa by women as it was not a part of Islamic civilisation but had been taken from local culture. She welcomed a decision handed down by a court in Bangladesh banning the wearing of burqa. She said the chadar was in the right tradition.
Who first' wrote national anthem?
Writing in Jang Hamid Mir stated that the Quaid-e-Azam had first asked a Hindu poet Jagan Nath Azad to write a national anthem for Pakistan which he did. His anthem was ordered sung by the Quaid on Radio Pakistan which actually happened till he died. After his death Jagan Nath Azad's anthem was removed and a new one obtained from Hafeez Jalundhari, which is the current national anthem.
Why did Zia kill Bhutto?
According to Hamid Mir in Jang, General Zia got Bhutto out of jail to ask him to change the Constitution and make space in it of a permanent military role as in the case of Turkey, but Bhutto refused whereupon a case of murder was trumped up against him and he was hanged. A book compiled from Bhutto's last words says Bhutto criticised Wali Khan, Mufti Mehmood and Nawabzada Nasrullah for letting him down.
Ankhon mein ankhey dal kar'
After hearing chief minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif saying that he would talk to India after ankhon mein ankhey dal kar (putting eyes in the eyes of) columnist Nazir Naji wrote an imaginative piece in Jang saying that India had chosen Reena Rai to look Shehbaz Sharif in the eye. After they had clasped together their eyes, an interesting dialogue had ensued.
Fatima Bhutto and Zardari
Daily Pakistan quoted the daughter of Murtaza Bhutto, Fatima Bhutto as saying in her book that after her father was expected to be arrested after his press conference she rang Benazir but she would not pick up the phone. But Zardari finally took the phone and said don't you know that your father has been shot dead? She said the road was washed after Murtaza's death; so was the road washed after Benazir's death.
Destruction of the zarraar' mosque
Dr Salees Sultana Chughtai wrote in Daily Islam that the Holy Prophet PBUH was asked by pretenders and deceivers to come and pray in the third mosque they had built in Madina after Quba and Nabwi. The Prophet PBUH knew that this was not a genuine mosque and did not comply. Later the Quran explained the mosque of Zarraar (mosque that does damage) as a plot - which made the Prophet PBUH give orders to destroy it.
No sawab' for Qadianis, please!
Daily Islam reported from Azad Kashmir that an ulema committee passed a resolution in Muzaffarabad saying that anyone praying and sending sawab to Qadianis was rebelling against the Constitution , which will not be tolerated. They said the Lahore massacre was a plot to get the army to attack South Punjab.
Jamshed Dasti knows his Suras
Quoted in Jang PPP MNA Jamshed Dasti who resigned from parliament for possessing a fake degree told Alim on Line talk show that when the Court asked him to name the two first Suras of the Quran he was too overawed to remember (zaban phissal gai) but the truth was that he was truly of firm faith (rasikh aqeeda) and actually remembered the names of many Suras.
Posted by: john frum ||
06/18/2010 00:00 ||
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The Prophet PBUH knew that this was not a genuine mosque
[Geo News] Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira Thursday urged religious scholars to play their role for changing mindset of the people to end terrorism and extremism from the society.
Addressing the participants of a condolence reference arranged on the first death anniversary Shaheed Dr. Sarfaraz Naeemi here at National Press Club he said, "Extremism has turned into a monster and the entire nation and Ulema will have to fight united to purge country of extremist organisations and reform mindset of the people."
He opined that Ulema and religious scholars can play key role in fighting terrorist and extremist elements in the country.
He viewed the extremism as the biggest challenge confronting the nation, stressing the conscious efforts to reverse the tide.
He added that extremism is not a new phenomenon as its foundations were laid by world powers after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan when religion was used as a tool, establishing religious seminaries and changing culture, syllabus and psyche of the nation.
The minister said prior to that, Pakistan was a tolerant society but these powers transformed it into an extremist one. Kaira said that only the government or security agencies cannot eliminate the threat rather the entire nation will have to stand united against extremists.
He added that it would not be fair to link terrorism to particular area or region of the country as it has no religion rather it is a mindset.
"We bagged a lot of achievements in shape of war on terror, 'Aghaz-Haqooq-e-Balochistan,' Gilgit-Baltistan issue, NFC Award and 18th Amendment. All the political forces supported us in these efforts. We have raised a platform towards right direction."
The minister also paid tribute to Dr. Naeemi for his services to Islam and Muslim unity, urging people to follow his teaching.
The minister said Islam is religion of peace, love, tolerance and harmony and viewed that Muslims are suffering in the world as they have not invested in education sector.
He urged the new generation to seek contemporary education along with religious one and observed that war is no solution to issues but it brings difficulties in people's lives. "Not war, but love and tolerance can win minds and hearts of the people", he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Dawn] The United States has presented evidence to Pakistan that a militant faction aligned with the Taliban and based in Pakistan orchestrated brazen attacks last month in Afghanistan, a top general said on Wednesday.
The United States has long pressed the Pakistani military to crack down on the so-called Haqqani faction in the North Waziristan tribal region, which borders Afghanistan, but Islamabad has so far balked at doing so.
General David Petraeus, who oversees the Afghan war as head of US Central Command, told a Senate hearing that he, the top US and Nato commander in Afghanistan and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff raised Haqqani links in a recent meeting with Pakistan army chief Ashfaq Kayani.
"We have shared information with him about links of the leadership of the Haqqani network located in North Waziristan that clearly commanded and controlled the operation against Bagram air base and the attack in Kabul, among others," Petraeus said.
Suicide bombers carrying rockets and grenades launched a brazen predawn attack on the base on May 19, killing an American contractor and wounding nine US troops. About a dozen militants, many wearing suicide vests packed with explosives, were killed, the Pentagon said at the time.
A day earlier, a suicide bomber attacked a military convoy in Kabul, killing 12 Afghan civilians and six foreign troops.
Bagram is the main base for the US-led troops in Afghanistan, with the largest airfield in the country. It was used by the former Soviet Union during its invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s.
The Pentagon has expressed confidence that Pakistan will eventually mount an offensive in North Waziristan, but said Islamabad would decide on the timing.
The Haqqani network has long been described by US forces as one of their biggest enemies in Afghanistan.
But analysts say there are strategic reasons for Pakistan's hesitancy to attack the Haqqanis.
Pakistan allegedly sees the group as a strategic asset that will give it influence in any peace settlement in Afghanistan so Islamabad will want those militants on its side.
The United States has increased pressure on Pakistan to act in North Waziristan following a botched May 1 car-bombing in New York's Time Square that US investigators have blamed on the Pakistani Taliban.
But Pentagon officials have said they understood the Pakistani military was already stretched by operations in other tribal areas.
Regarding the Haqqani network, the New York Times reported on Wednesday reportd that the group has formed an alliance with the Lashkar-i-Taiba and has used LT militants for carrying out operations in Afghanistan.
The report claimed that the Haqqani network maintains a sophisticated insurgent network that stretches from Pakistan's North Waziristan agency, through the south-eastern provinces of Afghanistan, all the way to Kabul.
The expansion of this network from Afghanistan's southeast to Kabul has provided the Haqqanis with the ability to stage spectacular suicide attacks in the city.
The report also claimed that militant outfits like LT, Al-Qaeda and the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan have increased their cooperation with each other and with the Haqqanis over the past several years.
According to the NYT, the Haqqani network is using LT militants in six to eight provinces in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, officials in Islamabad told journalists on Tuesday that Pakistan is trying to mediate a deal between the Haqqani network and the Hamid Karzai government, in an apparent effort to have a major say in the country's set-up after US troops withdraw in 2011.
Pakistan has entered the reconciliation process in Afghanistan by taking on the task of acting as a bridge between the network of militant commander Sirajuddin Haqqani and the government in Kabul, the officials said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan
#1
Paks wont act against their assets/foreign policy!
Lawfare should really have it's own category.
The U.N. refugee agency said Friday it is investigating claims by Iraqi asylum seekers that they were mistreated by British officials before being deported back to Iraq.
Posted by: ed ||
06/18/2010 10:39 ||
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Iraq's revered Shiite spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani threatened on Friday to intervene in protracted coalition talks if they do not produce a new government soon.
Posted by: ed ||
06/18/2010 10:37 ||
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#1
Versies
* NEWS KERALA > AL QAEDA SPREADING ITS TENTACLES TO MALAY MOSQUES.
and
* CHINESE MIL FORUM > POSTER(S) Threads > INDIA WILL BECOME THE WORLD'S LARGEST MUSLIM STATE, IIUC once Local, Regional? Muslims successfully defeat + suborn the HINDU MAJORITY = "HINDUSTAN"???
versus
SAME POSTER - opined that INDIA AS A STATE WILL BE FINISHED IN 20 YEARS [circa Year 2030?], due to NEW DELHI's = INDIAN GOVT's unlikely-to-change-anytime-soon perennial failure to CLOSE THE POLITICAL, ECONOMIC + CULTURAL, ETC. GAPS BETWEEN INDIA's VARIOUS ETHNIC GROUPS DESPITE ITS IMPROVING OR RISING ECONOMY???
"INDIAN DEMOCRACY" = NOT sharing the Wealth, Pol Power amongst patriotic Indjuns regardless of peronsal background or ideo???
#2
* TOPIX > INDIAN SCHOLAR: NO END TO INSURGENCIES [in AFPAK or even India as per Maoists, Other]WITHOUT TALIBAN INVOLVEMENT/ROLE IN PEACE TALKS | PEACE TALKS WILL FAIL WITHOUT TALIBAN ROLE.
IOW, INDJUH's domestic probs wid INDIA-BASED MAOISTS = NAXALS, ETC. WON'T END OR BE RESOLVED UNLESS REGIONAL TALIBS ARE FORMALLY INCLUDED IN ANY PEACE TALKS??/
[Iran Press TV Latest] A senior Israeli military official has warned the Beirut government against allowing an aid ship to depart Lebanon for the besieged Gaza Strip.
"I say clearly to the government of Lebanon: You are responsible for the sea vessels leaving your ports with a clear and known intention of trying to break the naval blockade on Gaza," Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Thursday.
The warning came days after a group of female Lebanese activists announced that a plan to send an aid ship loaded with medical supplies to Gaza.
Israel said that its navy would not allow the boat to reach Gaza.
"The Lebanese government has responsibility for such vessels leaving its ports ... as their cargo that could result later in a violent and dangerous clash if the ship refuses to come to Ashdod (port)," Barak said.
The organizers of the aid convoy say 50 Lebanese and foreign activists would be aboard the ship.
"We are all independent women who believe in breaking the siege on Gaza," said Samar Hajj, who is coordinating the trip.
Israeli forces on May 31 attacked the multinational Freedom Flotilla relief mission, which had set sail to break Tel Aviv's siege of the Gaza Strip. The assault in international waters left at least 20 human rights campaigners dead and over 40 other injured.
The attack on the Freedom Flotilla has provoked ferocious international condemnation of Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hamas
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says if US politicians allowed the American nation free access to government conduct, US citizens would rise against their outrageous policies.
President Ahmadinejad, who is touring Iran's western province of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari with his cabinet and staff, criticized US policies on the global stage on Wednesday and warned officials in Washington about an imminent 'just' world order.
"If the US offered its citizens the right to freedom of information on world affairs, so that the American people could be fully informed of their leaders' support for Israeli atrocities as well as the crimes they have committed in Iraq and Afghanistan, the people would take effective measure against their statesmen," the Iranian president said.
He went on to emphasize that the US pursues an authoritarian foreign policy, noting that it only seeks to " squander" the entire world but is encounters Iran's opposition everywhere it goes.
President Ahmadinejad also censured official Washington for spearheading efforts to force the passage of the recent UN Security Council (UNSC) sanctions resolution against Iran.
"US politicians think they can isolate Iran with one resolution," the president scorned. He then challenged US official to travel to any part of the world along with an Iranian official so that they can factually see which country is indeed isolated, Iran or the US.
The remarks came as the United States moved firmly away from the Obama administration's pledges of diplomatic engagement with Iran while pushing through a new round of UNSC sanctions against Tehran.
As a result, the 15-member UN Security Council voted in favor of a fourth round of sanctions against Iran on June 9 under the pretext that Tehran sought nuclear weapons, despite repeated assurances from the International Atomic Energy Agency on non-diversion of Iran's nuclear materials.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
"Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says if US politicians allowed the American nation free access to government conduct, US citizens would rise against their outrageous policies. "
Like This??? (Massive Iranian Demonstrations against Ahmaddinejad.)
U.S. intelligence showing Iran likely would have the capability to attack Europe with "scores or even hundreds" of missiles factored into the Obama administration's decision to overhaul missile defenses, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Thursday.
Citing the growing Iranian missile threat, the United States announced plans last September to integrate sea- and land-based missile defenses in and around its NATO allies in Europe, referred to as the "phased adaptive approach."
"One of the elements of the intelligence that contributed to the decision on the phased adaptive array (approach) was the realization that if Iran were actually to launch a missile attack on Europe, it wouldn't be just one or two missiles, or a handful," Gates said at a congressional hearing.
"It would more likely be a salvo kind of attack, where you would be dealing potentially with scores or even hundreds of missiles."
Gates voiced confidence that upgraded missile interceptors in development "would give us the ability to protect our troops, our bases, our facilities and our allies in Europe."
Gates said having those interceptor systems in place by around 2020 was critical not only because of the missile threat from Iran and North Korea, but because "I think by 2020 we may well see it from other states, especially if we're unsuccessful in stopping Iran from building nuclear weapons."
Earlier in the hearing, however, Gates sought to allay Russian concerns about the new U.S. approach to missile defenses in Europe by playing down the system's ability to counter a large-scale attack from Russia.
RUSSIANS 'HATE IT'
"Our missile defenses do not have the capability to defend against the Russian Federation's large, advanced arsenal. Consequently, U.S. missile defenses do not and will not affect Russia's strategic deterrent," Gates said.
"The Russians know that our missile defenses are designed to intercept a limited number of ballistic missiles launched by a country such as Iran or North Korea," he said.
The Obama administration has held out the possibility that Moscow could take part in the missile defense system in partnership with the United States.
But Gates said: "There is no meeting of the minds on missile defense. The Russians hate it. They've hated it since the late 1960s. They will always hate it, mostly because we'll build it and they won't."
U.S. intelligence agencies have long warned about Iran's growing missile threat and officials say anti-ballistic missile systems should cover all of Europe by 2018.
The multibillion-dollar effort is designed to defend against Iranian missiles that could be tipped with chemical, biological or nuclear warheads, officials say.
According to U.S. estimates, Iran could produce enough bomb-grade fuel for a nuclear weapon in as little as one year but would probably need three to five years to deploy a "usable" one. Like the great Orson Welles movie, 'The Man Who Saw Tomorrow' (1981), which showed a blue turbanned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad launching salvos of missiles at civilization.
#5
PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUMS > WORLD [Read, espec INDIA] MUST RECOGNIZE PAKISTAN AS A NUCLEAR POWER: GENERAL MAJID [ GEN. Tariq Majid, PAK Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman] | [Majid]WORLD MUST UNDERSTAND PAKISTAN'S INTERNAL, EXTERNAL SECURITY CONCERNS.
IIUC MAJOD > PAK's DEV OF NUKE ARMS THE ONLY PRAGMATIC OR REALISTIC WAY FOR ISLAMABAD = PAK TO COUNTER THE VARIOUS MULTI-STATE [Also read, MILITANTS] REGIONAL MIL-NUKE BUILDUPS IN OCCURRENCE, CURR OR FUTURE.
* SAME > INDIA: NUCLEAR DEAL/N-DEAL WID PAKISTAN MAY HARM TIES WID CHINA.
A man arrested in Kosovo is linked to the eight Triangle-area men suspected of plotting terrorist attacks, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Bajram Asllani, 29, an ethnic Albanian and native of Mitrovico, Kosovo, was convicted of terrorism in Serbia but had been living out in his home country when he was arrested Thursday following an extradition request from the United States, police said. He faces charges of providing material support to terrorists and conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim or injure persons.
An April 19 criminal complaint unsealed Thursday alleges that Asllani conspired with eight men charged last July with plotting a series of terrorist attacks overseas and securing weapons and training in North Carolina.
Seven suspects Daniel Patrick Boyd, 39, his sons, Dylan Boyd, 22, and Zakariya "Zak" Boyd, 20, and Hysen Sherifi, 24, Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan, 22, Ziyad Yaghi, 21, and Anes Subasic, 33 are being held in the U.S. An eighth suspect, Jude Kenan Mohammad, 20, is believed to be in Pakistan.
The criminal complaint alleges that Asllani was in contact with the other suspects, solicited money for them and helped them travel with the purpose of establishing "a base of operations in Kosovo for the purpose of waging violent jihad."
Sherifi became acquainted with Asllani during a July 2008 trip to Pristinia, Kosovo, court documents say. The documents say that Asllani directed Sherifi to return to the U.S. and collect money to establish a community in Kosovo, which would be used to store weapons and ammunition and as a base to launch attacks in Kosovo and other countries.
Sherifi returned to the U.S. in April 2009 and collected $15,000 but was arrested before he could return to Kosovo, documents say. Sherifi is also accused of giving Asllani money for travel documents.
The court documents say that Daniel Boyd said he wanted to go, along with his sons, to Kosovo. The sons and Sherifi allegedly talked with Asllani online.
U.S. authorities said that Asllani was placed under house arrest by Kosovo law enforcement in 2007. In September 2009, a Serbian court convicted him in abstentia on terror-related charges and sentenced him to eight years in prison.
Kosovo police said the arrest and a search of Asllani's home were authorized by a judge with the European Union's Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo, known as EULEX. Police spokesman Baki Kelani said they only had executed the arrest warrant, and everything else was handled at the diplomatic level between both countries and EULEX.
#1
I've been waiting for 12 years for Americans to admit that they've screwed up bad in Kosovo. Of course, I've been waiting for 40 years for Americans to admit that they've screwed up bad in seeking Arab allies.
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.
Five Somali men were sentenced to prison Thursday for attacking a Dutch Antilles-flagged cargo ship with automatic weapons and a rocket-propelled grenade, in the first piracy case to come to trial in Europe in modern times.
Russia aims to build a $15 billion ski resort complex in its mainly Muslim North Caucasus region, where an Islamist insurgency claimed the lives of almost 1,000 people last year, a business forum said on Friday. Dotted across the same mountain range where the 2014 Winter Olympics will be staged, the government hopes it will bring tourism to Russia and employment to the impoverished, violence-racked region the Kremlin calls its biggest problem.
