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AQAP Announces Allegiance to New Al-Qaeda Leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri
Today's Headlines
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 07/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot

Ali Landry aka Celia in "Bella" aka Kate in "Repli-Kate" aka Rita Lefleur in "Eve (TV)" aka Bella in "Outta Time" aka Elissa Bauer in "Who's Your Daddy?" aka Miss USA (1996) aka Doritos Girl from her 1998 Super Bowl commercial (age 38)



Carpet Kitten
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 07/21/2011 1:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Point me towards the Doritos, I'll buy em.
Posted by: JohnQC || 07/21/2011 10:13 Comments || Top||

#3  Ixnay the Audisay PIay.
Posted by: Eohippus Phater7165 || 07/21/2011 18:08 Comments || Top||

#4  Justice chewed through his restraining straps again!
Posted by: JohnQC || 07/21/2011 19:04 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Afghan Forces Take Security Lead in Helmand
[Tolo News] Afghan forces on Wednesday officially took over security responsibilities of Lashkargah, the capital of Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
province, from British troop based on security transition initiative.

Helmand governor warned that full security transition to Afghan lead would be impossible as long as security is not maintained in border regions of the province.

Governor Gulab Mangal said: "We hope security is ensured in borders so that terrorist cross-border activities, including enemy infiltration and drug smuggling are prevented; otherwise, it wouldn't be possible to have the transition done in all Helmand districts."

"I want to announce that $765 will be spent in Helmand for an improvement in security in the next three years which will be unprecedented in the history," Security Transition Chief Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai told news hounds.

Afghan forces have already taken over security responsibility in the relatively peaceful province of Bamyan province and Mehtarlam, capital of Laghman province.

After Lashkargah, foreign forces will hand over security responsibility of Kabul, Panjshir, Herat city and Mazar-e- Sharif city to Afghan forces as part of the first phase of security transition.

The hand over is seen as a critical step in a transition of security lead before foreign troops end combat operations in 2014.

Afghan forces will take full security responsibilities by the end of 2014 when foreign forces will leave the country.

Britannia has around 10,000 troops in Afghanistan most of them based in Helmand province.

During a recent visit to Afghanistan David Cameron
... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ...
, British Prime Minister announced that 1,000 British troops would be pulled out by the end of 2012.

With the security transition to Afghan forces, violence has also increased in some parts of the country and Taliban have attacked some Afghan key officials.

Recently Ahmad Wali Karzai, President Karzai's younger brother and head of Kandahar provincial council, Jan Mohammad Khan, advisor to President Karzai and former governor of Oruzgan and Mohammad Hashim Watanwal, a member of parliament have been killed in attacks claimed by the Taliban.
Posted by: Fred || 07/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Police Official Killed in Kandahar Clashes
[Tolo News] Gulab Shah Khan, first district police chief and three other coppers were killed in festivities with two Talibs in southern Kandahar on Wednesday, local officials said.

The incident happened at 09:30 am local time when Afghan forces launched an operation to capture two Talibs in a home in Ghargai area of first district of Kandahar, local officials said.

The Talibs were also killed in festivities with Afghan forces and the area is under control, officials added.

Meanwhile,
...back at the shattered spaceship, Fffflirgoll the Arcturan slithered stealthily toward the control room, where the humans had barricaded themselves...
the Taliban grabbed credit for the incident.
Posted by: Fred || 07/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Bike Suicide Bomber Kills 4 in Afghanistan's Mazar-i-Sharif
[An Nahar] A jacket wallah on a bicycle struck Mazar-i-Sharif on Wednesday, killing four Afghans in one of the country's safest cities poised to transition from NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization....
to local control.

The attack will likely fuel fears that putting Afghan cops in control of seven different areas this week is happening too quickly, with violence at a record high in the decade-long Taliban insurgency.

Police and ministry officials said 11 people were maimed in the kaboom close to the northern city's famous Blue Mosque.

"He was a suicide kaboomer," said interior ministry front man Siddiq Siddiqi, who gave the toll and said all the casualties were civilians.

Bicycle parts were scattered across the ground, which was covered in glass shards and spatters of blood.

Ahmad Tamim, a teenage bread seller, said he was carting his wares along the street when the bomb went off. Shrapnel from the blast injured his cheek.

"There was suddenly a big kaboom. I was thrown back," he said. "I saw thick smoke rising from the bomb site and the car windscreens around were all shattered. Then police took me to hospital," he said.

A police front man for Balkh province, of which Mazar is the capital, said the transition ceremony would go ahead this weekend but conceded to harboring fears over bad turban activity in other parts of the province.

"The enemy have stepped up its efforts to create chaos and disrupt the transition of security," said front man Shir Jan Durani, assuring the media that the police were fully in charge.

"We are, however, concerned about the security of some volatile districts in the province as there are not sufficient number of security forces to foil any major attempt by the enemy," he admitted, urging the national ministries and NATO to provide more equipment for decampedgling forces.

He played down Wednesday's attack as an "accident", saying the explosives had detonated prematurely when the bicycle collided with a car.

Transition comes with U.S. and Afghan officials trying to reach out to the Taliban to broker a peace deal as NATO-led troops begin a gradual withdrawal designed to recall all foreign combat troops by the end of 2014.

Meanwhile,
...back at the Senate, Odius Sepulcher called for war against the Visigoths...
in the volatile south, the focus of a U.S. military "surge" last year to reverse Taliban momentum, NATO troops held a ceremony to transfer Lashkar Gar, the capital of Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
province, to local control.

The Afghan defense minister and the head of the transition authority Ashraf Ghani led bigwigs attending the ceremony at government house in Lashkar Gar, where mostly British troops are based.

Ghani claimed it was a sign of progress that Afghan forces were now able to assume responsibility in what is one of the provinces worst-hit by gun-hung tough guys and narcos.

"We're very happy," added Helmand governor Gulab Mangal. "It's like an Eid day festival," he said, referring to a Mohammedan holiday.

In the neighboring province of Kandahar -- birthplace of the Taliban and the scene of last week's shock liquidation of the Afghan president's brother -- a gunbattle killed three coppers and two bad turbans.

The Taliban also accused the United States of hacking their mobile phones after a text message purportedly from one of the cut-thoats' spokesmen said their reclusive leader Mullah Omar was dead.

Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that Omar was alive and that the text message and an email also seemingly from the Taliban saying he had died from a heart condition were false.

The reclusive Omar has not appeared in public since 2001.

Posted by: Fred || 07/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa North
Libyan FM: Gadhafi's Departure Not Up for Discussion
[An Nahar] Libyan leader Moammar Qadaffy's
...Proof that a madman with money will be politely received...
removal from power is not up for discussion, Foreign Minister Abdelati al-Obeidi said Wednesday following talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

"The question of Qadaffy's departure is not up for negotiation," Obeidi told news hounds after an hour of talks with Russia's chief diplomat at Moscow's foreign ministry headquarters.

"Right now we are discussing the initiative of the African Union,
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
which focuses on ending the war and bloodshed," he said.

Taking another dig at the United States and some other Western powers, the Libyan diplomat added: "We are not very happy that certain countries have recognized the National Transitional Council."

Posted by: Fred || 07/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well, what if he's thrown out, but Not Told he's thrown out?
Just go.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 07/21/2011 7:15 Comments || Top||

#2  There's a thought. Surround him with enough fembots and he'll never know.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/21/2011 7:57 Comments || Top||

#3  In my opinion we should be working with the African Union. I believe I would look to the French on that move. We want stability as soon as possible. Obama should just go on vacation and get out of the way.So many pressing issues in the world this is a terrible waste of resources. It is what it is. They will go their own way anyway. Egypt had hundreds of thousands of workers in that country so they desperately need their people working. Idle hands will do the devils work.
Posted by: Dale || 07/21/2011 8:04 Comments || Top||

#4  Egypt may have hundreds of thousands of workers there, but they have no plan to get rid of Qadaffy, or evident ability, and as soon as there's stability again, Qadaffy's first move will be to fire every one of them to go squat in a ditch and BEG for a living in Egypt while he replaces them with contractors from Sinopec.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 07/21/2011 9:48 Comments || Top||

#5  They should have made sure they had a plan for winning better than the underpants gnomes' before they decided to make reconciliation impossible and start the damn war.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 07/21/2011 9:50 Comments || Top||

#6  The Defecation Obsession of JUSTICE is truly pathological.
Posted by: Pollyandrew || 07/21/2011 17:57 Comments || Top||

#7  Yeah, he gets it from his mother.
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/21/2011 17:59 Comments || Top||


Gaddafi defiant as rebels push on
[Emirates 24/7] Libyan leader Moamer Qadaffy
...Custodian of Wheelus AFB for 42 long years...
vowed Tuesday to resist both rebels and NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions...
air strikes, as the rebels sought to consolidate gains on one front and readied to push forward on another.

"Millions of people are on my side," Qadaffy said in a speech broadcast over loudspeakers to partisans in Al-Aziziya, 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of the capital.

"We are in our own home, and we will fight to the last drop of blood to defend our honour, our oil and our riches," he said.

"This war was imposed on us, and our only choice is to fight -- men, women and kiddies -- with all our weapons to liberate (the rebel strongholds) of Benghazi, Misrata and Al-Jabal Al-Gharbi (the Nafusa mountains southwest of the capital).

"We will march on the cities controlled by the traitors and mercenaries of NATO to retake them. NATO's bombs do not scare us."

In his last address on Saturday, Qadaffy said he would never leave the land of his ancestors after new international calls for him to step down and as rebels pressed their campaign to overthrow him.

Hours before Qadaffy spoke, rebels, who claimed to have retaken the oil refinery town Brega in the east, said they were trying to push the enemy far enough west to place the city out of shelling range.

Rebel military sources said some Qadaffy forces were still thought to be at Bishr to the west, and were arcing rockets over Brega onto rebel positions.

The bulk of their forces were still waiting to enter the city, hampered by vast quantities of mines and trenches filled with flammable liquids, they said.

Abdulrazag Elaradi, a National Transitional Council (NTC) member visiting the front, said that in one 7.5 kilometre (five mile) tract the rebels had found more than 700 mines.

"This has never been done before; people have to know about this," he said, appalled that Qadaffy would mine his own country.
The rebels said on Monday loyalist forces had retreated from Brega, leaving just 150 to 200 fighters pinned down inside.

Citing intercepted radio chatter, another rebel military source said loyalists were led in retreat by their commander, Qadaffy's son Mutassim, leaving just a few fighters with dwindling supplies.

Qadaffy front man Mussa Ibrahim denied Brega had fallen to the rebels.

"They tried to recapture the town, but were repulsed losing 500 of their fighters in the battle," Ibrahim said in Tripoli.

Medics said at least seven rebel fighters were killed and 45 maimed during the day.

Brega is a major centre for channelling oil through the pipelines of the resource-rich Sirte Basin to the rest of the world.

In the west, rebels consolidated their grip on the desert hamlet of Gualish south of Tripoli as commanders said a new push on the capital could be launched by the end of the month.

"We are preparing for the battle. We hope (it will take place), God willing, before Ramadan," or just after the start of the holy Mohammedan fasting month at the beginning of August, said rebel commander Mokhtar Lakhdar.

Speaking in Gualish Lakhdar, he said they were waiting for the green light from rebel headquarters in Benghazi.

The next rebel target is Asabah, 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of the capital, and the last barrier between rebels and the garrison town of Gharyan.

Meanwhile,
...back at the bake sale, Umberto's Mom's cannoli were a big hit...
amid mounting diplomatic pressure on the Libyan regime to step down after four decades in power, US envoys held a rare meeting with regime representatives at the weekend.

US officials said it was a one-off meeting to deliver a message to Qadaffy,
...dictator of Libya since 1969. From 1972, when he relinquished the title of prime minister, he has been accorded the honorifics Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya or Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution. With the death of Omar Bongo of Gabon on 8 June 2009, he became the longest serving of all current non-royal national leaders. He is also the longest-serving ruler of Libya since Tripoli became an Ottoman province in 1551. When Chairman Mao was all the rage and millions of people were flashing his Little Red Book, Qadaffy came out with his own Little Green Book, which didn't do as well. Qadaffy's instability has been an inspiration to the Arab world and to Africa, which he would like to rule...
though Ibrahim told CNN television the talks were the start of a diplomatic process and the "first step in dialogue."

The White House on Tuesday said Qadaffy was clearly losing his grip on power and on his way out after four decades leading Libya, with front man Jay Carney insisting the Libyan strongman was "cut off from fuel and cash."

Meanwhile,
...back at the barn, Bossy had come up with a new idea...
Russian news agencies said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Libyan counterpart Abdelati al-Obeidi will discuss the current situation in Libya and African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
-led mediation efforts on Wednesday in Moscow.

And rebel military leaders from Misrata will meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy
...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit...
on Wednesday seeking extra aid, a source close to them told AFP.

Sarkozy's office declined to comment.
Posted by: Fred || 07/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "We will fight to the last drop of Blood",
Fine by me, get on with it and less noise.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 07/21/2011 12:35 Comments || Top||

#2  My, he looks distinguished with his new 'stache and chin-whiskers.

Does he have a new bauble in his left armpit? Snappy!
Posted by: Bobby || 07/21/2011 12:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Boris? Is that you Boris?

Is AutoCad still pissed?

Posted by: S || 07/21/2011 18:28 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Nigeria admits police were 'overzealous'
[Al Jazeera] The Nigerian government has for the first time admitted that its soldiers were "overzealous" in their fight against a radical Mohammedan group.

The military has been accused of extra-judicial killings and causing the deaths of civilians during its crackdown on the Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. Currently wearing a false nose and moustache and answering to Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda'Awati Wal Jihad, or Big Louie...
sect.

Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, has waged a violent campaign against Nigerian police and politicians.
Posted by: Fred || 07/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Defendant says didn't fund Iraq insurgency
JEDDAH: The prime suspect among the 16 defendants facing trial in a special court in Jeddah for supporting terror activities said Wednesday charges made against him were false.

On the second day of the trial, the judge read out the incriminating portions of a confession by a defendant identified only as No. 12 who accused the primary defendant of hosting in 2002 Iraqi extremist and opposition members of unnamed Arab countries in a type of informal gentleman's meeting called a diwaniah. No. 12 identified the Iraqis were affiliated with Al-Jaish Al-Islami and that during the meeting pamphlets extolling the terrorist group were distributed.

Replying to the charge, the defendant, identified as No. 1, told the judge that people from different walks of life and countries used to meet at his house and discuss diverse topics. The topics were sometimes political, just as newspapers discuss different issues. He added that the participants were mainly his friends and their visits were legal and not secretive. No. 1 also denied that anyone attending these meetings were militants and that no incendiary pamphlets were distributed at these meetings.

No. 12 accused No. 1 of accepting cash donations to fund terrorism activities, specifically accepting cash from a woman working as a doctor at an unnamed university hospital and another doctor working in Jeddah's Al-Nahda district. No. 1 also appeared on local television as an expert on relief activities as part of his ruse to take charitable contributions and use them for terrorism activities, according to No. 12's confession.

No. 1 denied taking money from any woman doctor, but said that he used to send No. 12 to collect donations for approved relief operations in Iraq. No. 1 also claimed he received letters of thanks from former high-ranking government officials for his work on raising charity for relief campaigns.

No. 12 also reportedly claimed in the confession that he accompanied No. 1 to a shop on Jeddah's Tahliah St. while No. 1 wore a mask. According to the confession, No. 1 told No.12 that he was wearing a mask because he wanted to collect a donation at a shopping center but he didn't want the donor to recognize him. No. 12 then said, according to the confession, that he noticed No. 1's wife at the shopping center.

No. 1 responded to this allegation by saying that indeed he went to the shopping center wearing a mask, but that it was a joke and that his wife was indeed present in a shop but she didn't have the money to pay for a transaction.

No. 1 also denied another allegation in No. 12's confession that he gave cash to Rafi Al-Isawi, a manager of a hospital in Falujah, Iraq, and that he told the manager to spend the money any way he deemed fit. He also claimed that all of his charity activities were reported to the Interior Ministry.

Also on Wednesday, the presiding judge in the hearing expelled two reporters, one of them a television reporter, from the court at the request of No. 1, who said the two reporters concocted false claims against him.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Emir (Leader) of Marib Qaeda Dead in South Yemen
[Yemen Post] Emir of Al-Qaeda in Yemen's Marib province was killed in the battles between the army and suspected Al-Qaeda gunnies in the southern province of Abyan, 26 sep.net qouted a security source as saying on Wednesday.

Aedh Al-Shabwani was killed along with tens of Islamists in Zinjbar, Abyan's capital, the website said, adding that another Al-Qaeda leader, Awadh Muhammad Saleh Al-Shabwani, was also killed in Zinjbar battles.

Aedh Al-Shabwani beat feet an Arclight airstrike by a U.S. drone last year.

On Tuesday, an Al-Qaeda leader was killed in Abyan where Islamists consolidated control over some cities during the past two months.

Meantime, the army with support from tribes and popular armies are continuing the battles against Islamists in the province and they have regained several areas.
Posted by: Fred || 07/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


South Yemen car bomb kills Briton
[Bangla Daily Star] A police official said a Briton was killed in a car booming yesterday in the main southern Yemeni city of Aden, in an attack that an intelligence officer said carried the "fingerprints of al-Qaeda."

The Briton, who was the head of a shipping company, was killed by a bomb in his car in the Moalla area near a hotel where his company has an office, the police official said.

The police officer did not comment on the motive of the attack but an intelligence officer told AFP: "The operation carries the fingerprints of Al-Qaeda."

Police did not let journalists approach the site of the blast.

Witness Abdullah al-Sharafi told AFP: "I heard the kaboom, I hurried there and I found the car in pieces and a charred body."
Posted by: Fred || 07/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


Al-Qaeda Leader Killed in South Yemen
[Yemen Post] An Al-Qaeda leader was killed on Tuesday in south Yemen where the army continued battling Islamists who have consolidated control over some cities in Abyan province, a security source said.

Muhammad Al-Khadir, an Al-Qaeda affiliate who returned from Afghanistan, was wanted in connection with attacks on military commanders and personnel in southern areas, the source said.

In recent years, Al-Qaeda carried out many attacks and ambushes targeting military and security leaders, personnel , offices and vehicles, killing dozens.

Tens of Al-Qaeda gunnies and soldiers have been killed in Abyan in the past few days, as popular fighters retook control of some citeis which were taken over by Islamists.

Now, tribes are supporting the army in the fight against suspected Al-Qaeda snuffies in Zinjbar or the Sharia supporters.

The military camp which has fought the snuffies for almost two months could with help from tribes break the seige impsed by the snuffies and regain some areas in Abyan.

Meantime, local tribes have set a two-day dealine for the Jaar armed people to leave the city, as Al-Qaeda published a statement warning tribes against a plan aimed at dragging them into fighting the Sharia supporters.

"We urge wise and respectful people in Abyan to avoid being deceived by the plan, for which only tribes will pay," the statement said.

Hundreds of snuffies and soldiers have been killed since the battles in Abyan started after the Sharia supporters declared the province as an Islamic emirate.

Also, more than 50000 families have been displaced and are now facing many problems in nearby cities.
Posted by: Fred || 07/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


AQAP Announces Allegiance to New Al-Qaeda Leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri
[Yemen Post] Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, AQAP, declared its allegiance to Ayman Al-Zawahiri
... Second in command of al-Qaeda, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is...
who was appointed as head of the global Al-Qaeda organization after killing the late Osama bin Laden
... who has left the building...
months ago.

U.S. media outlets cited Al-Qaeda English language magazine INSPIRE as saying that AQAP will support Al-Zawahiri, who played a key part in founding Al-Qaeda, to lead the terrorist network.

The army has been fighting suspected Al-Qaeda bully boyz in the southern province of Abyan for almost two months killing many of them including wanted leaders.

In the past few years, Yemen launched a massive hunt and battles against AQAP members across its territory after they vowed more attacks against local and foreign interests inside the country. Many snuffies has been killed, injured and placed in long-term storage, with some of those placed in long-term storage going on trial and receiving jail and death sentences.

AQAP was formed in early 2009 when Al-Qaeda wings in Yemen and Soddy Arabia merged and since then the group has been responsible for dangerous terrorist plots inside and outside Yemen.

The group was described by the U.S. as most dangerous than the main Al-Qaeda group of Osama bin Laden.

In recent years, it has drawn the world's attention to Yemen with some countries concerend of the existence of snuffies in Yemen which receives support from the U.S. and other regional and world countries to fight terrorism.
Posted by: Fred || 07/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda

#1  Nice forehead Bump, Looks like a perfect spot to put the Bullet.
A target, so to speak.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 07/21/2011 12:38 Comments || Top||


Yemen Opposition Leader Survives Assassination Attempt
[An Nahar] Yemen's opposition accused the government of attempting to assassinate a leader of al-Islah party on Wednesday by firing at his car in Sanaa, an opposition website said.

Mohammed Abdullah al-Yadumi's car was fired on about 2:00 pm (1000 GMT), said a statement attributed to the Common Forum of parliamentary opposition parties, carried on alsahwa-yemen.net, which is affiliated with the Islamist al-Islah (Reform) party.

The Common Forum "holds the national security leadership, the head of the Elite Republican Guards, the head of the special guards and the leader of central security responsible for this criminal event," the statement said.

The shooting was "an attempt at escalation and to reshuffle the deck, and push the country to civil war, under the illusion that this will enable them to remain in power," it said.

The statement did not specify whether or not Yadumi, who heads the high commission of al-Islah, was in the vehicle when it was fired upon.

Protesters have since January been calling for President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh,
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower...
who has been in power since 1978, to quit power.

Saleh has been hospitalized in Soddy Arabia for blast wounds since early June, but Deputy Information Minister Abdo al-Janadi said on Saturday that Saleh will return home "soon."

Some Yemeni generals and military units have pledged their support for protesters seeking Saleh's ouster, but elite units such as the Elite Republican Guards have remained loyal to the president.

Posted by: Fred || 07/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russia averts 'major' terror act near Moscow
AFP - Militants from the volatile North Caucasus had planned to stage a "major" terror act just outside Moscow, the head of Russia's state security agency told President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday.

"One of major terror acts was averted in the Moscow region several days ago," FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov told the Kremlin chief.

He said in televised remarks the agency had detained four people from the restive Northern Caucasus, adding the militants had planned to target public places and "transport infrastructure" in the Moscow region. The FSB also confiscated several explosive devices carrying 10kg of TNT equivalent, arms and maps, Bortnikov told Medvedev.

Russia is battling a Muslim insurgency in the North Caucasus where attacks on officials are a daily occurrence and after a lull of several years, suicide attacks have returned to Moscow. A suicide bomber from the North Caucasus killed 37 people at Russia's busiest airport Domodedovo in January. Two female suicide bombers from that region killed 40 and wounded dozens on the underground during morning rush hour last year.

Over the past six months Russia has seen 169 terror-linked crimes including 110 in the Caspean region of Dagestan which has experienced most of the deadly violence, Bortnikov said. The FSB national security service has lost 95 employees over the same period, while 200 have been wounded, he added.

The Kremlin calls the Caucasus unrest its biggest domestic problem. Russia's leading Islamist rebel Doku Umarov in February vowed to make 2011 "a year of blood and tears", urging the Kremlin to withdraw from the region. The Russian authorities have repeatedly said that letting the Caucasus go and negotiating with "terrorists" was not an option.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Cookies are good.
Posted by: badanov || 07/21/2011 0:54 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Tribesmen kill six militants in Kurram
[Dawn] The pro-government rustics killed six hard boyz during festivities in central Kurram Agency
...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora...
on Wednesday, sources said.

They said that four other hard boyz and six rustics were also injured in the festivities. Clashes erupted between rustics and a group of hard boyz in Neka Ziarat area of Kurram where security forces launched an operation, they added.

Sources said that both sides used heavy weapons during the festivities, resulting in killing of six Islamic exemplars. The injured rustics were shifted to a hospital in Sadda. Two of them were stated to be at death's door.

In Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, two attackers were killed and a law enforcer was injured when hard boyz attacked a police post in Matani area early Wednesday. A police source said that a group of hard boyz attacked the police post at about 12:30am. A police van was destroyed when it was hit by rockets but the attack was successfully repulsed, he added. He said that hard boyz also blew up a government school in Sheikhan village in the limits of Badbher cop shoppe. The source said that three remote controlled explosives were planted at the school that damaged its building.

Police front man Jalal Shah said that two hard boyz were killed in the attack on police post. Militants took the body of one of the attackers with them, he said. He added that body of the other killed Islamic exemplar was left behind by the fleeing attackers.

Police also recovered a rocket, three hand grenades, a wireless set and hundreds of cartridges of Kalashnikov from the spot, he said. The injured policeman was shifted to Lady Reading Hospital where his condition was stated to be stable.

The body of the Islamic exemplar was shifted to a local mortuary. The official said that no one had so far contacted them to take possession of the body. Sources said that hard boyz had blown up the residence of a peace body member, Khan Wazir, at Kohat Road by targeting it with rockets on Monday night. In Frontier Region of Kohat, hard boyz fired rockets at a security checkpost in Jammu area, sources said.

They said that the rockets caused no damage to the checkpost as they landed in open filed. The rockets were fired from the mountains of Darra Adamkhel, they added. Security forces retaliated by targeting the hideouts of hard boyz with artillery and machineguns. The Islamic exemplars, who had been flushed out from the main bazaar and other parts of the Darra Adamkhel, have been attacking villages in FR Kohat for the last two years.

"The local rustics have formed an armed lashkar, which patrols the villages but hard boyz manage to sneak into the area from other unfrequented routes," sources said.
Posted by: Fred || 07/21/2011 19:21 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Protesters want end to US interference
[Dawn] The infuriated protesters here on Tuesday asked the government to stop the USA from interfering in the internal affairs of the country.

The protest rally, organised by Almi Muttahida Ulema-o-Mashaikh Council on Sher Shah Suri Road against the increasing US influence in the region, was attended by activists of different religious parties.

The protesters were holding banners and placards inscribed with slogans against the US and Zionist forces.

The chairman of the council, Maulana Mohammad Shoaib, Jamaat-i-Islami local leader Advocate Baharullah Khan and Jamiat
Ulema-i-Islam district chief Qari Rafiq Shah led the protesters.

Addressing on the occasion, Maulana Shoaib said that America was killing Mohammedans in drone attacks and wanted to corrupt the new generation through its vulgar culture.

"The gay party at US embassy in Islamabad is a live example of the nefarious designs of Americans, who want to promote anti-Islamic culture on our soil," he said.

He added that such activities were tantamount to challenging Mohammedans.

Other speakers said that no religion of the world allowed homosexuality but western countries wanted to impose their culture on Mohammedans world. They said that they would not tolerate such attitude.

The US, they said, had failed to win the war against Mohammedans and now it was attacking them through such immoral activities.

They asked the rulers to condemn the gay party and call the US ambassador to the foreign office to apprise him of the sentiments of Mohammedans.

They also demanded of the government to ban such activities in the country as it had come into existence under the Islamic ideology. "There is no room for such activities in our country," they said.

The speakers urged all Mohammedan countries of the world to join hands against such immoral attacks.
Posted by: Fred || 07/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Muttahida worker, constable shot dead
[Dawn] A young activist of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement
...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead...
(MQM) and a police constable were rubbed out in separate incidents of firing in the city on Tuesday, officials said.

The body of 23-year-old Mohammad Iftikhar was found at a garbage dump in the Azeempura area within the remit of the Al-Falah cop shoppe.

The police said the body bore two bullet wounds in the head and chest.
.
They said the young man, a known worker of the MQM, went missing on Monday evening. "He was a resident of Gulshan-i-Fatima Housing Society in Malir. The motive and people behind his killing are not yet clear," said a police official.

In Orangi Town, a police constable, posted in a security zone of the police organizational structure, was bumped off outside his home.

The official said 26-year-old Ali Mazhar was rubbed out in Rabbani Muhallah of Frontier Colony No 3.

"The victim had worked on some important postings during his service but that doesn't seem to be the reason behind the killing," said an official of the Pirabad cop shoppe.

Earlier, a banking court official was found rubbed out inside his apartment in Gulistan-i-Jauhar, police said.

They added that 49-year-old Hussain Bux Solangi was living alone in a flat, situated in block 18 of Gulistan-i-Jauhar.

"He was an employee of a banking court. His friend came to see him and found him rubbed out in one of the rooms," said an official at the Sharea Faisal cop shoppe.

"The victim hailed from the interior of Sindh and had been settled here in Bloody Karachi for the last several years. We suspect some personal enmity behind the incident."
Posted by: Fred || 07/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Security officials impede foreigners entering Peshawar
[Dawn] Seven US citizens were stopped by security officials from crossing the Beautiful Downtown Peshawar toll plaza without a No Objection Certificates on Wednesday, DawnNews reported.

The US embassy has expressed serious concern over the incident, DawnNews reported.

Security officials said the foreigners were traveling in three cars and it was the second time they had attempted to enter without a NOCs.

They are required to obtain a NOCs from the relevant ministry before entering into Peshawar, said security officials.
Posted by: Fred || 07/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Militants slaughter FC man, kill two hostages
[Dawn] Militants slaughtered an official of Frontier Constabulary in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar district and killed two hostages in Kurram Agency
...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora...
on Monday night, sources said.

"The body of FC man Taj Alam Khattak was found near Sheikhan police post," sources said, adding that he went missing on Monday when he was on way to his post in Aziz Market area.

An official said that the FC man, a resident of Mian Wali, had been on leave since July 2. He was supposed to join his duty on 18 but he could not reach his post as cut-throats kidnapped him in the limits of Badbher cop shoppe, he added.

"On Tuesday morning someone informed police about presence of a body. Police reached the area and recognised the dear departed as Taj Alam," the official said. He added that the FC was slaughtered by his kidnappers.

"The area is close to Khyber Agency and involvement of cut-thoat group Lashkar-i-Islam cannot be ruled out," the official said.

Meanwhile,
...back at the sea battle, the Terror of the Baltic's career had come to an abrupt and watery end...
cut-throats killed two hostages, including a student, in Charkhel area of lower Kurram Agency. They were kidnapped two days ago after an attack on a convoy of trucks coming from Parachinar to Thall.

The kidnappers burnt the body of the student identified as Syed Ijlal Hussain while the other hostage, Zakir Hussain, was sprayed with bullets.

They were laid to rest at their ancestral graveyards in Parachinar on Tuesday.

Syed Ijlal, who was going to Peshawar to get admission at a technical institute, was the lone son of Habib Hussain.

Militants had burnt six trucks and kidnapped 12 people including drivers during the attack. They set free 10 drivers after interrogation and kept the two deceased in their custody.

After the incident, president of Kurram chapter of Pakistain People`s Party Dr Syed Riaz Hussain demanded of the government to launch helicopter service for the residents of the region. Addressing a presser, he said that local population was suffering owing to closure of Thall-Parachinar Road, therefore, government should launch regular chopper service between Peshawar and Parachinar.

Meanwhile,
...back at the sea battle, the Terror of the Baltic's career had come to an abrupt and watery end...
a primitive identified as Noor Hussain suffered injuries in a landmine blast in Sharemkhel area in upper Kurram on Tuesday. He was shifted to agency headquarters hospital in Parachinar for treatment.

In Akkakhel area of Khyber Agency, the activists of a local peace committee killed the relative of a local cut-thoat commander on charges of spying.

Sources said that Salim Khan was picked up by members of peace committee when he was standing in front of his house. He was later rubbed out allegedly for passing information to local cut-throats against whom the peace committee had been raised, they added.

Also, in Akkakhel area unidentified gunnies fired at a helicopter, which was returning from Orakzai Agency
... crawling with holy men, home to Darra Adam Khel, the world's largest illegal arms bazaar. 14 distinct tribes of beturbanned primitives inhabit Orakzai agency's 1500 or so square kilometers...
on Monday night. The helicopter also returned fire and targeted cut-thoat hideouts.

In Landi Kotal, nine youngsters were maimed when cut-throats fired six mortar shells at the local helipad on Tuesday.

Zahid Khan, an eyewitness, told Dawn that scores of local youth were playing cricket near the helipad when mortars were fired from nearby hilltops.

Local sources said that one of the mortar shells hit the house of a holy man, Mufti Ijaz, near the army camp while another fell in a government school.
Posted by: Fred || 07/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israeli warplanes raid two neighborhoods in Gaza
(KUNA) -- Israeli warplanes raided, early Wednesday, Al-Zaytoon and Shujaaiya neighborhoods south and south eastern Gazoo Strip.

F-16 warplanes struck an empty area in Shujaaiya, in addition to a site in Al-Zaytoon used by Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,' Ezziddeen Al-Qassam brigades. The raids caused material damage but no casualties, local sources told KUNA.

The Israeli Army meanwhile reported that a Paleostinian missile was launched yesterday from the strip to hit the Negev, southern Israel.

A Qassam missile targeted an uninhibited area in Sdot Negev in the Negev desert in southern Israel, a front man of the Israeli Army told Radio Israel. The missile attack did not cause any casualties or material damage, he added.

The Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations
...what started out as a a diplomatic initiative, now trying to edge its way into legislative, judicial, and executive areas...
sent an urgent letter to the UN Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon,
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
condemning continuous Paleostinian missile attacks from Gazoo on targets in Israel.
Posted by: Fred || 07/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria Apologizes to Qatar for Embassy Attack
[An Nahar] Syria has apologized to Qatar for an attack by demonstrators on its embassy in 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...
that prompted it to suspend work in the strife-torn country, an official in Doha said on Wednesday.

"Syria has sent a letter of apology to the Qatari ministry of foreign affairs," the Qatari official said on condition of anonymity.

A diplomatic source in Doha said protesters had attacked the embassy in Damascus with stones and eggs on July 11, the same day they had targeted U.S. and French diplomatic missions in the Syrian capital.

An official from the Qatari delegation to Syria told Agence La Belle France Presse on Monday that Qatar's ambassador to Damascus, Zayed al-Khayarine, had quit Syria and the embassy had suspended its work.

"The diplomats have left Syria and work has been suspended until further notice," the official, who declined to be identified, said while refusing to specify the date of the ambassador's departure and reasons for leaving.

Qatar had long enjoyed cordial relations with Damascus but recently Al-Jazeera, the Doha-based pan-Arab satellite news channel, has come under strong criticism by the Syrian authorities for its coverage of the popular revolt against President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
regime that erupted in mid-March.

Damascus deems Al-Jazeera to be exaggerating the protest movement.

In late April nearly 100 people gathered outside Al-Jazeera's Damascus offices, accusing the channel of "lies" and of "exaggeration" in its coverage of the protests.

Posted by: Fred || 07/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  No apology to France or the United States?
Posted by: Water Modem || 07/21/2011 11:00 Comments || Top||

#2  One simply does NOT apologize to infidels, dear boy...
Posted by: mojo || 07/21/2011 11:48 Comments || Top||

#3  Driving a cab is hard work, so I'm going to cut you some slack.
Posted by: S || 07/21/2011 18:34 Comments || Top||


Syrian forces 'surround Damascus suburb'
[Al Jazeera] Troops commanded by Syrian President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
brother have surrounded the 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...
suburb of Harasta, residents say.

The move appears to be part of an ongoing crackdown on urban centres that have experienced protests on a daily basis.

"Hundreds of Fourth Division troops have sealed off all of Harasta's dozen entrances," a resident of the large suburb, who works as an engineer and managed to leave Harasta, told the Rooters news agency by telephone.

"They are wearing combat fatigues, helmets, ammunition belts and carrying assault rifles. Water, electricity and phones have been cut."

Syrian troops also swept through the central city of Homs, arresting "gunnies" and confiscating "stockpiles of weapons", the pro-government Al-Watan newspaper said on Wednesday.

"An uneasy calm has reigned in Homs since Tuesday afternoon after top quality operations by the army, who set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock a number of gunnies and seized large quantities of weapons."

Activists say pro-government assailants have killed at least 20 people Homs since Monday, including seven mourners at a funeral.

Syria's third largest city, Homs has spearheaded demonstrations against al-Assad and his government since protests erupted on March 15.

The army had already entered the city in May in a bid to stop rallies calling for the fall of the regime.
Posted by: Fred || 07/21/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria



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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.
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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2011-07-21
  AQAP Announces Allegiance to New Al-Qaeda Leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri
Wed 2011-07-20
  'Death squads' on streets of Homs
Tue 2011-07-19
  Libyan Rebels Claim Control of Brega
Mon 2011-07-18
  Gunmen Kill Senior Karzai Aide, Afghan MP in Kabul
Sun 2011-07-17
  Yemen protesters form council to run country
Sat 2011-07-16
  Indonesia arrests principal after school blast
Fri 2011-07-15
  U.S. Strikes in Yemen Said to Kill 8 Militants
Thu 2011-07-14
  Saudi Dismantles Group Plotting to Overthrow Regime
Wed 2011-07-13
  Three blasts in Mumbai, city on high alert
Tue 2011-07-12
  Karzai's brother killed by bodyguard
Mon 2011-07-11
  Syrian Protesters Break Into The U.S. Embassy In Damascus
Sun 2011-07-10
  21 Die in Bar Massacre in Monterrey
Sat 2011-07-09
  Sudan Recognizes Republic of South Sudan
Fri 2011-07-08
  US drone strikes kill dozens in Somalia
Thu 2011-07-07
  Syrian troops kill 22 in Hama

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