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Sectarian clashes kill at least 22 in Yemen
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2012 00:58 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot

Rosamund Pike (English) aka Andromeda in "Wrath of the Titans (2012)" aka Jane Bennet in "Pride & Prejudice (2005)" aka Miranda Frost in "Die Another Day (2002)" aka Samantha Grimm in "Doom (2005)" aka Nikki Gardner in "Fracture (2007)" aka Miriam Grant-Panofsky in "Barney's Version (2010)" aka Lisa Hopkins in "Made in Dagenham (2010)" aka Jessica in "The Big Year (2011)" (age 33)



Back to the Future
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 01/27/2012 4:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Reminds me of Audrey Hepburn in a way.
Posted by: Dale || 01/27/2012 11:01 Comments || Top||

#3  must.make.eye.contact.
Posted by: Frank G || 01/27/2012 14:52 Comments || Top||

#4  eyes?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 01/27/2012 19:39 Comments || Top||


--Tech & Moderator Notes
France, Karzai urge NATO Afghanistan exit
FRANCE and Afghanistan will ask NATO to hand over all combat missions to the Afghan military in 2013, a year earlier than planned, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said.

It signalled a sharp break by France, the fourth-largest troop contributor in Afghanistan, from its previous plans to adhere to the US goal of withdrawing combat forces by the end of 2014.

The proposal was made a week after four unarmed French troops were killed by an Afghan soldier described as a Taliban infiltrator.

Mr Sarkozy, who made the announcement during a visit by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, said France has informed President Barack Obama of the plan, and will present it at a February 2-3 meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels.

Mr Sarkozy said he was planning a phone call with Mr Obama on the matter today.

The effort comes at a time of widespread fatigue among European contributors to the 10-year allied intervention in Afghanistan, and would accelerate a gradual drawdown of NATO troops that Mr Obama has planned to see through until the end of 2014.
Posted by: tipper || 01/27/2012 16:51 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Fine. Make Karzai's security detail the first troops out of the country. See how eager he is for us to leave then.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 01/27/2012 17:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Just be sure Karzai knows that if circumstance force us to come back, we will only be flying over, not landing -- and making the rubble bounce, starting with his palace, tribe and properties.
Posted by: OldSpook || 01/27/2012 18:19 Comments || Top||

#3  Don't worry, OldSpook. If Karzai has any sense at all he'll be sitting in his Swiss chalet and counting his money by then.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 01/27/2012 18:50 Comments || Top||

#4  ...and if he isn't then he deserves whatever he gets.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 01/27/2012 18:51 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Car bomb kills four Afghans
KABUL: A suicide car bomber targeting a NATO-sponsored reconstruction team killed four Afghan civilians, including a child, and wounded 31 on Thursday in southern Afghanistan, officials said.

Three civilian international members of the aid team - two men and one woman - were among the wounded, a provincial governor spokesman Daud Ahmadi said. He said their injuries were not life threatening and did not know their nationalities.

The bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle on Thursday morning as a convoy of a NATO Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) passed by in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province, Ahmadi said. The blast ripped through the convoy of armoured vehicles, knocking at least one over and charring others. The explosion also shredded nearby storefronts and damaged at least 17 civilian cars nearby, a provincial statement said.

Afghan National Army soldier Dad Muhammad witnessed the attack while on patrol in the town. “A car passed our vehicle and parked down the road,” he said. “When the foreigners’ vehicle was passing this road, it was targeted and there was an explosion.”
Posted by: Steve White || 01/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
Key Darfur Rebel Group Says New Leader Chosen
[An Nahar] A key rebel group in Sudan's troubled Darfur region said on Thursday it has chosen a one-time university professor to head the movement after his brother, the former leader, was killed last month.

At a two-day meeting in South Kordofan state, the Justice and Equality Movement selected Gibril Ibrahim to replace his brother Khalil, the group's front man Gibril Adam Bilal told AFP.

"(The) Justice and Equality Movement held its extraordinary general conference in South Kordofan, attended by 109 people who elected Gibril Ibrahim as the leader," Bilal said by satellite telephone.

The JEM meeting affirmed its commitment to work with other rebel groups "to remove the regime", and endorsed all decisions made by its late leader in previous years, he added.

Gibril Ibrahim trained as an economist and worked as a professor at universities in Khartoum and Soddy Arabia. He has recently been based in London where he served as an adviser to JEM and head of its foreign relations.

JEM announced that his brother Khalil Ibrahim, 54, was killed on December 23 in an air strike, although Sudan's military said the longtime rebel chief was maimed during a clash with government forces in North Kordofan, which adjoins North Darfur state, and died later.

JEM and other rebel groups drawn from Darfur's ethnic minorities rose up against the Arab-dominated Khartoum government in 2003 and were confronted by state-backed Janjaweed militia in a conflict that shocked the world and led to allegations of genocide.

Since then, the rebel movements have fallen into banditry and the government is keen to bring JEM into a peace deal to bring a "clean end" to the conflict, said Magdi al-Gizouli, a fellow at the Rift Valley Institute, a non-profit research and advocacy group.

"The politically motivated rebellion of 2003 is essentially dead," he said.

The United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
estimates at least 300,000 people have died as a result of the Darfur conflict, with about 300 killed in festivities last year.

The Sudanese government puts the corpse count at 10,000.

Gibril Ibrahim inherits a movement that has been weakened by chronic war and divisions, Gizouli said.

"Unless he has some regional backing, his options are limited" and he may ultimately seek an accommodation with the government, Gizouli said.
Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2012 00:32 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan


Ethiopian Court Jails Journalists, Opposition Leader
[An Nahar] An Ethiopian court on Thursday handed out heavy jail sentences to five people on terrorism charges, including three journalists and an opposition leader, with one receiving a life term.

"The court sentenced every one of them, from 14 years to life in prison," one of the case's public prosecutors told Agence La Belle France Presse, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Rights groups condemned the sentences, with Amnesia Amnesty International calling for the immediate release of those convicted.

US-based journalist Elias Kifle was sentenced in absentia to life in prison, while two other journalists, Woubshet Taye and Reeyot Alemu, were given 14-year terms.

Opposition leader Zerahun Gebrezabier was sentenced to 17 years in prison, while Hirut Kifle, accused of having links to Elias, received 19 years.

Elias runs the U.S.-based online Ethiopian Review, while Woubshet was the editor-in-chief of the now defunct Awramba Times. Reeyot is a well-known Ethiopian columnist.

All five were found guilty last Friday of participating in a "terrorist organization and planning a terrorist act".

"They passed the punishment according to criminal law and the anti-terror proclamation," the prosecutor said.

Reeyot's father protested at the sentence.

"The conviction was not fair, it was not according to the law or the defenses submitted to the court," Alemu Gobebo Reeyot said.

The five were charged under Ethiopia's anti-terror law, which rights groups have accused of being vague and far-reaching.

"There is no evidence that they are guilty of any criminal wrongdoing," Amnesty's Ethiopia researcher Claire Beston said in a statement.

"We believe that they are prisoners of conscience, prosecuted because of their legitimate criticism of the government. They must be released immediately and unconditionally."
Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2012 00:31 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ethiopia is an odd place. One description of it is "African Scotland", with very tough mountain Highlanders, and equally tough Lowlanders.

Imperial Palaces (Castles) and Residences of Ethiopia.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/27/2012 8:53 Comments || Top||

#2  cool photohistory, Moose
Posted by: Frank G || 01/27/2012 21:30 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Clashes between the army and saboteurs at Sinai gas plant
The military has countered an attack on a natural gas plant in North Sinai Governorate. The plant is located 10km south of the city of Arish.

Masked men in two four-wheel cars approached the station and attempted to plant explosives, but found the armed forces and local guards lying in wait.

The gunfight is ongoing, eyewitnesses said.

After repairing damage to the pipelines caused by a series of bombings,Egypt resumed pumping eight days ago.

Last year, militants in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula targeted natural gas pipelines nearly a dozen times. The pipelines supply consumers in Israel and Jordan.
Posted by: tipper || 01/27/2012 01:03 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This bit of clever mischief has the dual advantages of not only messing with the Juices, but also reducing Egypt's much needed income. It's Lose-Lose all around. Ain't that the Middle East in a nutshell!
Posted by: SteveS || 01/27/2012 3:40 Comments || Top||

#2  Apparently, while they detected the attack quickly, they still need some work in setting up a KZ, so that bad guys have no escape route, no cover, and can be wiped out expeditiously.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/27/2012 8:45 Comments || Top||

#3  It's Egypt, Anonymoose. The soldiers hold their guns and their sandles together with duct tape, and the professional officer corp has an army of draftees. It's been a while since the Mamluks fielded an impressive fighting force.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/27/2012 12:41 Comments || Top||


Tuareg Rebels Launch New Attack in Mali
[An Nahar] Tuareg rebels and Malian troops fought over the northern town of Anderamboukane on Thursday, officials said, as the rebels carried out their first major offensive in the region in three years.

The Tuareg rebels, many of whom recently returned from fighting in Libya, last week attacked three towns in northern Mali, announcing an offensive as they seek greater autonomy and independence for their nomadic desert tribe.

After a morning of heavy fighting
... as opposed to the more usual light or sporadic fighting...
, both sides claimed to be in control of the town of Anderamboukane by late afternoon.

"Fighting is over in Anderamboukane, the MNLA is in control of the town," said Moussa Ag Assarid, front man for the Azawad National Liberation Movement (MNLA), which is demanding autonomy for the nomadic desert tribe.

Another front man Moussa Salem said rebels held the town's military camp and had "seized four armored vehicles and other military equipment. We also have eight military prisoners. The Malian army could not resist the force of our attack."

A military official speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
from the regional headquarters in Gao categorically denied this.

"The Malian army had no armored vehicles in town and we are in control of the situation in Anderamboukane. The attackers are in disarray. Helicopters intervened causing panic among the attackers. The fighting is over," he said.

"It is not the time for negotiations, we are defending our country and from now on we will attack them," he added.

The town of 3,000 people on the border of Niger is some 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Menaka, one of three towns attacked last week by Tuareg rebels.

Mali's defence ministry said 45 rebels and two soldiers were killed in two days of fighting last week. The Tuareg claim the military took heavier losses.

Anderamboukane is known for hosting a popular Tuareg festival in January of every odd year.

The MNLA, formed in late 2011, has taken up the decades-old demand for independence by the tribe, which has fought rebellions in Mali and Niger in the 1960s, 1990s and early 2000, with a resurgence between 2006 and 2009.

"This new organization aims to free the people of Azawad from the illegal occupation of its territory by Mali," the organization said in its first press statement in October 2011.
Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2012 00:29 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Two Copts Killed in Southern Egypt
[An Nahar] Unknown assailants rubbed out two Coptic Christians in a village of southern Egypt on Thursday, prompting an angry protest by more than 1,500 of their co-religionists, police said.

A police official said Muwad Hassaad and his son Hassaad Muwad Hassaad were bumped off as they were seated in front of their shop in the village of Bahgura, 600 kilometers (360 miles) from Cairo. The assailants decamped the scene.

More than 1,500 Copts later gathered in the nearby town of Magaa Hammadi to protest the killings.
Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2012 00:19 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Copts owing shops is unislamic?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/27/2012 7:35 Comments || Top||


US outrage as Egypt bars Americans from leaving
CAIRO - Six Americans working for publicly funded U.S. organisations promoting democracy in Egypt have been barred from leaving the country, provoking angry demands in Washington that Cairo’s new military rulers stop “endangering American lives”.

Among those hit by travel bans - one of those targeted called it “de facto detention” - is a son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, as well as other foreign staffers of the International Republican Institute and National Democratic Institute, officials at the two organisations said on Thursday.

The United States said Egypt should reverse them: “We are urging the government of Egypt to lift these restrictions immediately and allow these folks to come home as soon as possible,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

A month after police raided the Cairo offices of the IRI, NDI and eight other non-governmental organisations, it raises the stakes for Washington, which had already indicated it may review the $1.3 billion it gives the Egyptian military each year if the probe into alleged breaches of local regulations went on.

Some see it as a poor omen for Egypt’s fledgling democracy following last year’s overthrow of Hosni Mubarak.

John McCain, the leading Republican senator who chairs the IRI, voiced “alarm and outrage” at a “new and disturbing turn” which included a travel ban on Sam LaHood, the group’s Egypt director and son of President Barack Obama’s transport chief. The younger LaHood said he was stopped at Cairo airport on Saturday and prevented from boarding a flight out.

McCain, in a statement referring to Egypt’s ruling military council, said: “I call on the Egyptian government and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to cease the harassment and unwarranted investigations of American NGOs operating in Egypt.

“This crisis has escalated to the point that it now endangers the lives of American citizens and could set back the long-standing partnership between the United States and Egypt.”

Visiting Cairo, the U.S. State Department’s top human rights official, Michael Posner, declined to comment on the travel bans, which some of the NGO officials affected said Egyptian officials have yet to confirm in writing. However, of the dispute over NGO registration in general, he urged the Egyptian government to “redress this situation”. He noted that the release of aid was dependent on Congress, where many disapprove of Egypt’s actions against the NGOs and which is waiting for reports from the State Department before voting.

“The NGO issue is very much part of that package and as you know there has been considerable attention in the Congress to the restrictions on NGOs,” Posner told reporters. So we are very much engaged in trying to encourage progress on that issue.”

Cairo-based political analyst Elijah Zarwan said the move would give ammunition to those in Congress seeking a review of aid: “This will clearly strain an already tense relationship between Egypt military rulers and Washington,” he said.

Sam LaHood told Reuters that a judge had charged him and three other IRI employees with managing an unregistered NGO and being paid employees of an unregistered organization, charges that carry a penalty of up to five years in jail.

His counterpart at the NDI, which like the IRI receives U.S. public funding and is loosely affiliated with one of the two major political parties in Washington, said she, too, was on the banned list for travel. But Julie Hughes told Reuters she was unaware of any formal charges against her or her staff.

NGO officials said the ban affects four IRI staff, including three Americans and one other foreigner, and six foreigners from the National Democratic Institute (NDI), also including three U.S. citizens.

Egyptian officials have made no comment on the bans.

“These organisations have been operating for years. They meet with the government. Their funding is known,” said Heba Morayef of Human Rights Watch in Cairo. “There can be no motivation except a desire to control and silence the human rights community.”

NDI’s Hughes said her organisation had submitted a registration request when it started up in Egypt in 2005, but after dealing with queries in 2006 the request went no further. She said the group was in regular contact with the authorities.

“We have never received any official correspondence from the government of Egypt with problems or requesting us to cease,” Hughes said. “We are hoping ... this controversy yields a more constructive dialogue.”
While we at the Burg have some mistrust when we hear about western NGOs, these two seem like well-supported and sponsored groups that were doing useful work. That may be exactly why the new Egyptian government wants them discredited and (eventually) out of the country. But jugging Americans is dangerous for a country with virtually no food, no foreign reserves and near anarchy in government and on the streets. Losing the American aid might end up being the least of their problems.

Wonder if Bambi has a plan to get these Americans out?
Posted by: Steve White || 01/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Please. The Bellman has no plan except to tingle his bell.
Posted by: Muggsy Johnson7466 || 01/27/2012 0:48 Comments || Top||

#2  If they just wanted to rid themselves of a pesky NGO they'd deport these foreigners, or let them leave the country and refuse reentry. No one in the West would have payed attention.

This is serious. It is a hostage situation and the hostage taker is the Egyptian regime.

<speculation>
This is part of the deal between the military and the MB. They want to exchange these hostages for Egyptian islamofascists in US custody, including the Blind Sheikh.

The Taliban will be rewarded for 9/11 so why should Egyptians accept punishment for an attack that was trivial by comparison.
</speculation>

The Americans in question should be brought to the US embassy ASAP, lest they 'disappear.'

And Tantawi should be told that it is "LaHood&Co free and alive or Tantawi dead" he would do well to remember the fate of the last North African potentate who took Western hostages (NSFW).
Posted by: Crainter Hitler5733 || 01/27/2012 6:24 Comments || Top||

#3  International Republican Institute is mainly funded by U.S. State Department, U.S. Agency for International Development and the National Endowment for Democracy. Board of Directors

National Democratic Institute was created by the United States government by way of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) to channel grants for furthering democracy in developing nations. Board of Directors

As can be assumed, each is loosely affiliated with the major US political parties, particularly the center-left factions of each. Technically, they're NGOs, but each performs some semi-official tasks that used to be performed by intelligence and other agencies.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/27/2012 11:15 Comments || Top||

#4  Pappy. To me it smells like a finishing school where the children of the elites get foreign relations experience (necessary for future political career) under safe (until now) conditions. Kinda like kids of roman senators spending a couple of years as military tribunes in a legion stationed in a safe province.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/27/2012 11:43 Comments || Top||

#5  Crainter,
Ditto.

IMHO, make them pay. Divide the US foreign aid to Egypt by 366 (this is a leap year) and deduct that amount for each day that the Americans are held. Then start ratcheting up the pressure from there; say putting delivery of military items and spare parts on hold. Tell the CIA to think up other ways to start pressuring the MB directly.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey || 01/27/2012 12:14 Comments || Top||

#6  To me it smells like a finishing school where the children of the elites get foreign relations experience (necessary for future political career) under safe (until now) conditions.

Well, yes. There aren't as many opportunities in State or the CIA (most of of the good-deeds and public relations work was farmed out to the IRI).

And it's not just political elites either - NDI gets a sizeable portion of up-and-coming young people affiliated with (or sponsored by)various unions.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/27/2012 14:09 Comments || Top||

#7  So, Bambi openly undercuts Mubarak in a way that also undercut the military who were aligned with him.

Is this administration really so naive as to think that they would respond like wealthy US liberals to his community organizer demands?
Posted by: lotp || 01/27/2012 20:09 Comments || Top||

#8  "Is this administration really so naive as to think that they would respond like wealthy US liberals to his community organizer demands?"

Of course, lotp. Silly you.

Next question?
Posted by: Barbara || 01/27/2012 20:14 Comments || Top||

#9  lotp, I think he thought they'd find a way to hurt American interests without attacking him or his vassals personally.

As usual, the headlong rush into feudalism is pushed by those least psychologically equipped to deal with feudalism.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 01/27/2012 21:34 Comments || Top||

#10  He's only successful at feudalism because his little feudal power structure is situated in a larger republican society that he can cannibalize for profit.

If he lived in a real mostly feudal country, he'd be running a doughnut shop, or if he tried to rise past his level of competence, dead.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 01/27/2012 21:44 Comments || Top||

#11  "If he lived in a real mostly feudal country, he'd be running a doughnut shop, or if he tried to rise past his level of competence, dead."

Naaahhhh, Thing. He'd just be dead. He doesn't have a level of competence.
Posted by: Barbara || 01/27/2012 21:55 Comments || Top||

#12  Mubarak was a good guy. The fact that Obama hung him out to dry is proof of that.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 01/27/2012 22:03 Comments || Top||


Egyptian protesters plan sit-in until army leaves
CAIRO: Egyptian youths camped out on Thursday in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and vowed to stay put until the army hands power to civilians, a day after a mass demonstration marked a year since an uprising which brought down Hosni Mubarak.

Tens of thousands of Egyptians poured into the square and onto streets of other cities for the Jan. 25 anniversary of the day the revolt began. Although good-natured, the demonstration exposed rifts in the Arab world’s most populous nation. The Tahrir crowds were broadly split between youths demanding the army cede control to civilians immediately and Islamists celebrating a political transformation that has handed them sweeping gains in parliament after decades of repression.

Sit-ins have in the past sparked violence when the police and army have sought to clear protesters out, but on Thursday the scene was peaceful. Scores of youths occupied the square surrounded by dozens of tents pitched on traffic islands. Vendors sold hot drinks and some activists huddled round open fires to keep warm in the morning air.

“The military council commits the same abuses Mubarak committed. I don’t feel any change. The military council is leading a counter-revolution. We will protest until the military council goes,” said 23-year-old student Samer Qabil.

Although troops were cheered when they were ordered onto the streets in the uprising, they have since drawn the wrath of many for heavy-handed tactics against protests demanding they go back to barracks.

“There will be a sit-in until they leave,” said Alaa Abdel Fattah, a blogger and activist who was detained by the army after clashes outside state media offices killed 25 protesters in October.

In Alexandria, about 100 protesters had also set up tents late on Wednesday near police headquarters, demanding the army hand over power immediately.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
Nigeria Arrests 200 after Attacks, Mostly Chadians
[An Nahar] Nigeria has made some 200 arrests after last week's bombings and shootings in the city of Kano, with most of those jugged Chadian "mercenaries", a senior police source said Thursday.

"Many arrests have been made since the attacks," the police source said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly following Friday's attacks that killed at least 185 people.

"We have locked away around 200 attackers and 80 percent of them are Chadians. They came in as mercenaries."

The source alleged there had been indications the Chadians were paid to participate in the attacks attributed to Islamist group 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...
However,
nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits...
Nigerian authorities have come under immense pressure over the spiraling violence blamed on the Islamists and have in the past been accused of rounding up innocent civilians in response to attacks.

According to the source, suspected members of Boko Haram have reached out to the police for potential dialogue, with the emir of Kano as mediator. The emir is the most important traditional leader in Kano.

"They said they want the emir to mediate in the dialogue they proposed," the source said.
Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2012 00:31 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram

#1  "We have locked away around 200 attackers and 80 percent of them are Chadians. They came in as mercenaries"

Qadaffi is no more, and Chadian mercs gotta eat...
Posted by: Pappy || 01/27/2012 11:20 Comments || Top||


German Kidnapped on Outskirts of Nigeria's Kano
[An Nahar] Gunmen on Thursday kidnapped a German engineer working with a construction company on the outskirts of the violence-hit Nigerian city of Kano, police said.

A driver along with two other assailants "came and kidnapped the engineer Raupach Edgar, attached to Dantata and Sawoe construction company," said police front man Magaji Majia.

"They came and handcuffed him and put him in the boot and zoomed away."

The incident occurred around 8:00 am in an area where a bridge is under construction, he said. Police had not had any contact from the kidnappers, according to Majia.

"All the major highways were blocked and even the neighboring states were equally alerted," he said.

Kano, Nigeria's second-largest city, was hit by coordinated bombings and shootings on January 20 that left at least 185 people dead in violence attributed to Islamist group 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...
Majia said he could not say yet who was behind the kidnapping.
Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2012 00:30 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


Who are Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamists?
They're a particularly bloodthirsty group of terrorists. But this BBC piece is a good primer if you want a quick reference. They have a map, timeline and more.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Funded from north Nigerian politicians who want a muslim President
Posted by: Chunky Henbane1146 || 01/27/2012 5:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Boko Haram is the nickname.

The official name is:

People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad
Posted by: Lord Garth || 01/27/2012 8:26 Comments || Top||


Jonathan in challenge to Boko Haram
The president of Nigeria has challenged the Islamist terrorist militant group Boko Haram to identify themselves and state their demands as a basis for dialogue. Goodluck Jonathan said there was no doubt that Boko Haram had links with other Jihadist groups outside Nigeria.

He said if they did not identify themselves, talks were impossible.
Thank you President Obvious...
It comes as the leader of Boko Haram denies killing civilians in last week's Kano bombings, in which 185 people died.
"Wudn't us."
In an interview with Reuters, Mr Jonathan said: "If they clearly identify themselves now and say this is the reason why we are resisting, this is the reason why we are confronting government or this is the reason why we destroyed some innocent people and their properties, why not.

"See, as a president of a country you will not preside over dead bodies. You will be a president of people who are alive. So if they clearly identify themselves then there will be a basis for dialogue."

He acknowledged the fears of the United Nations and neighbouring governments that the groups training and arming were being bolstered by Jihadist allies such al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and al-Shabaab.

In Kano, Christian leaders have welcomed the President's appeal for dialogue to end the current state of insecurity.

The group has acknowledged carrying out attacks on police stations and other official buildings. But in a message posted on YouTube, Abubakar Shekau blamed the deaths of "innocent civilians" on Nigeria's security forces. Nigeria's authorities deny the allegations.

Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is forbidden", says it wants to overthrow the government and impose Islamic law.
But oh no, it would never kill innocent civilians, nope, nope, never...
Thus it is proved that all those killed deserved it. Q.E.D.
This week security forces arrested more than 150 suspected members of the organisation.
See, they're not so unidentifiable...
In his 40-minute audio message, Mr Shekau also threatened to carry out a bombing campaign against Nigeria's secondary schools and universities - unless security forces stopped what he claimed was a series of recent attacks on Islamic schools or madrassas in the northern town of Maiduguri.

The still picture posted on YouTube shows Mr Shekau dressed in a black turban and a white gown and bullet-proof vest - holding an AK 47 rifle. He reiterated claims that the Nigerian government would not be able to stop Boko Haram - and demanded the release from prison of all its members.

On Tuesday, President Goodluck Jonathan sacked the chief of police, Hafiz Ringim, forcing him to retire early, a statement from the presidency said. There had been calls for the police chief's resignation since a man suspected of masterminding Boko Haram's Christmas Day bomb attacks on churches escaped from police custody earlier this month.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Good luck, Mr. President. You're gonna need it.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 01/27/2012 11:43 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Bahraini forces attack mourners
[Iran PressTV] - Saudi-backed regime forces have attacked peaceful Bahrain mourners attending the funeral procession of protesters killed by the government, Press TV reports.

The violence broke out on Thursday in the northern village of Daih, west of Manama, where regime forces fired teargas to disperse the huge crowd.

Scores of people were tossed in the calaboose in the incident.

Meanwhile,
...back at the pound, Zebulon finally found just the friend he'd been looking for...
a similar funeral procession was reportedly held in the village of Na'eem.

The demonstrators had gathered to mourn the deaths of four Bahrainis killed by regime forces in the past 24 hours.

Among the dead was a man identified as Muhammad Ali Ya'qhoub, who died on Wednesday after a Bahraini police car runs over him in the town of Sitra, south of the capital.

Earlier in the day, the body of a protester named Saeed Fakher was found one day after his arrest, while bearing horrific signs of torture.

On Tuesday, two other protesters died due to teargas inhalation during an anti-regime rally outside of Manama.

Bahrain has been hit by a wave of anti-regime protests since mid-February, which was immediately met with a brutal crackdown by the ruling Al Khalifa family.

Dozens of demonstrators have been killed and scores maimed in the popular uprising in the Persian Gulf nation.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Saudi forces kill another protester
[Iran PressTV] - Saudi security forces have shot dead another protester in the town of Awamiyah in the east of the country, as anti-regime demonstrations continue in the kingdom, Press TV reports.

On Thursday, a protester, identified as Montazar Sa'eed Al-Abdel, was rubbed out and two others were maimed by Saudi regime forces in the Eastern Province.

At least seven anti-government protesters have been killed by Saudi forces since November 2011. Human rights groups have slammed the Saudi government, urging it to probe into the deaths.

Saudis have held peaceful demonstrations since February last year on an almost regular basis in the eastern region, demanding reforms, freedom of expression and the release of political prisoners.

The protesters also want an end to economic and religious discrimination as well as their government's involvement in brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests in neighboring Bahrain.

The peaceful demonstrations have turned into protest rallies against the House of Saud since November when Saudi security forces killed five protesters and injured many others in the Eastern Province.

This month, the Saudi regime again stepped up its brutal crackdown on the protesters.

On Tuesday, Saudi security forces met the demonstrators with hot lead in the Qatif region of the Eastern Province, injuring many people. Some of the maimed are reportedly at death's door.

Nine protesters were also placed in long-term storage for their involvement in anti-regime demonstrations.

On Monday, Saudi security forces jugged Zaher al-Zaher, a social activist, in Awamiyah.

Regime forces also killed 22-year-old protester Essam Mohamed Abu Abdellah and maimed three others in Awamiyah on January 12.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Saudi forces kill another protester

Oh boy, are they gonna get it from UNHRC!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/27/2012 7:38 Comments || Top||


Sectarian clashes kill at least 22 in Yemen
SANAA: At least 22 people were killed in clashes between Shia rebels and fighters from a Sunni group in a province under rebel control in rugged northern Yemen, tribal sources said on Thursday. A source close to the Shia rebels known as Houthis said fighters from a Sunni group known as the Salafi attacked the rebels overnight in Hajja and in the Kataf area of Saada province, an area that has seen intense sectarian fighting in recent months.

“We blocked the attack in under an hour and 13 people died in Hajja and nine in Kataf,” said the Houthi source.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caribbean-Latin America
8 die in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon
For a map, click here. For a map of Nuevo Leon state, click here. For a map of Monterrey, click here.

By Chris Covert

A total of eight men were shot to death in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon early Wednesday morning, according to Mexican news accounts.

The shootings took place near the intersection of calles Aramberri and Martín de Zavala near Zona Centro, where the victims were lined up and shot at least once in the back of the head. Reports say 20 9mm spent cartridge casings were found at the scene. The ages of the victims ranged from 15 to 35.

Local police made the discovery of the bodies while on routine patrol.

Reports say the victims had been kidnapped from throughout the city, gathered to the location and shot.

The method recalls a similar hit in Guadalajara in November when several individuals, presumably unrelated to organized or gang crime activity, were kidnapped over a brief period of time and then executed all at once.

That murder was performed in response to a similar hit against Los Zetas in Veracruz just weeks before by Los Matazetas group. That group was once thought by authorities to be a vigilante group, but it was later determined Los Matazetas were in fact affiliated with the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels.
To read the Rantburg report on the Veracruz mass murder by Los Matazetas in September, click here.
Guadalajara at the time was considered a Sinaloa/Gulf territory. Monterrey as late as the summer of 2010 was considered disputed, but mainly Los Zetas territory.
To read the Rantburg report on the Guadalajara mass murder, click here.
Currently, both the Los Zetas and gangs allied with the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels have been hitting each other in response to the others' attacks throughout Mexico.

The last mass murder by either side was performed near the end of 2011 year when 39 individuals were murdered in northern Veracruz state and southern Tamaulipas state.

Those hits were said by press reports to be the direct result of a massive redeployment of Mexican Army troops to northern border areas in Nuevo Leon, Coahuila, and especially in Tamaulipas state. The tightened security had apparently forced organized crime gangs out of the north into previously unfamiliar territory.
Posted by: badanov || 01/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


5 bad guys die in Zacatecas
For a map, click here. Fora map of Zacatecas state, click here
A total of five armed suspects were killed in Zacatecas Tuesday and Wednesday, according to Mexican news accounts.

A Policia Federal unit encountered an armed group in Guadalupe municipality early Wednesday morning in the village of Martinez Dominguez on a road to Trancoso. Four armed suspects were killed in the gunfight.

No federal personnel were wounded in the exchange of gunfire. Agents seized four rifles and some ammunition in the aftermath.

In Zacatecas Tuesday, the capital of Zacatecas state, one armed suspect entered a hospital to obtain treatment for gunshot wounds sustained in a firefight between Mexican Army personnel and an armed group Monday afternoon in Saltillo, Coahuila, some 150 kilometers to the northeast.

In that battle four armed suspects were killed following a brief pursuit, ending in a gun battle when suspects dismounted their vehicles and attempted to hold off Mexican troops in the garage of a residence.

The suspect seeking treatment later died, while his companion was detained.

Zacatecas is considered Los Zetas territory, except that since early last summer their power has been reduced owing to the increased presence of Mexican federal security forces in the region and several counternarcotics operations.

The encounter at Guadalupe is but one example of the problems Los Zetas face in retaining control in the state.
Posted by: badanov || 01/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: WoT
Muslim Pleads Guilty to Shooting Military Buildings in Virginia
Key graph:
Yonathan Melaku admitted today that during the second shooting at the National Museum of the Marine Corps, he set up a video camera within the interior of his vehicle to record the shooting incident. The video shows Melaku repeatedly firing a handgun out the passenger-side window, and he narrates the incident on the video and states, among other things: “That’s my target. That’s the military building. It’s going to be attacked,” and at the conclusion of multiple shots exclaiming, “Allahu Akbar,” repeatedly.
The Washington Post adds a great deal of detail, including:
Melaku, a 2006 graduate of Edison High School in Franconia, is a naturalized citizen who moved to the United States from Ethi­o­pia in 2005, according to U.S. authorities. Marine Corps officials have said he joined the reserves in September 2007 and that he was never deployed overseas and was not scheduled to deploy.

Before his arrest in the shootings, Melaku had been linked to a spate of vehicle break-ins in Loudoun County. He was found guilty of two counts of grand larceny in Loudoun in November and was also convicted of trying to escape from his jail cell by digging through a cinderblock wall. A plea agreement in that case ended with Melaku having to serve six months in jail.
Someone, somewhere, will make the argument that the poor dear did not adjust well to the change of cultures. Someone will be correct, which is why the poor dear will spend the next quarter century in prison, embedded in yet a third culture.
Posted by: Unolumble Ometer6416 || 01/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Me thinks that the third culture will be embedded in him.
Posted by: Sliter Hupavitch9100 || 01/27/2012 3:20 Comments || Top||

#2  If he killed the building he should be sentenced to death.
Posted by: gorb || 01/27/2012 8:36 Comments || Top||

#3  they believe and eye for an eye. Shoot him.
Posted by: chris || 01/27/2012 10:08 Comments || Top||

#4  Maybe there are mitigating circumstances. Maybe the building contractor was a Christian.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/27/2012 11:28 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Militant ambush kills 6 Pakistani troops
[Iran PressTV] - At least six Pakistani paramilitary troops have been killed after gunmen attacked a check post in the troubled southwestern province of Balochistan.

A dozen of militants attacked the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) post in the Dera Bugti district, situated about 400 kilometers (250 miles) southeast of the provincial capital Quetta, in the early hours of Thursday.

"The attackers came before dawn and opened fire on the soldiers after encircling the check post. All six soldiers were killed on the spot," a senior security official said on condition of anonymity.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the act of terror.

Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants and associated groups have carried out numerous attacks on security forces as well as civilians and managed to spread their influence in various regions of the country despite frequent offensives by Pakistani government against them.

Over 35,000 Pakistanis have lost their lives in bombings and other militant attacks since 2007, according to the Associated Press.

Since late 2009, there has been a surge in militant attacks in Pakistan.

Thousands more have been displaced by the wave of violence and militancy sweeping across the country.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Troops kill 20 terrorists in Kurram Agency
PARACHINAR: A government official on Thursday said that security forces had killed 20 terrorists after coming under attack near the Afghan border. Wajid Khan said 22 other troops were injured in the gun battle in Kurram Agency. He said the fighting began when a group of militants attacked a security post. The troops returned the fire and killed 20 of them, he added.

The death toll could not be independently confirmed as the fighting was in a remote mountainous area that is off-limits to journalists.
What part of Pakistain is safe for journalists?
Posted by: Steve White || 01/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Five soldiers killed in Dera Bugti attack
QUETTA: Five security personnel were killed while one went missing when unidentified armed men ambushed a security checkpost in the Sui area of Dera Bugti late on Thursday. Later, the Baloch Republican Army claimed responsibility for the attack.

According to official sources, unidentified assailants attacked the security forces in Tehsil Sui late on Thursday, as a result of which five officials were killed.

A BRA spokesman telephoned the media and claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the group had completely destroyed the checkpost in Kachhi Canal area of Sui and killed at least 10 security personnel. He also claimed that they had taken one of the men with them.
Trailing Wife found another headline that sez the body count is up to six...
Posted by: Steve White || 01/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iranian border forces kill 6 Pakistanis
Boy howdy the Iranians sure do know how to be friendly with all their neighbors.
QUETTA: Six Pakistani nationals were killed and four others injured when Iranian border security guards opened indiscriminate fire on them without prior warning, in the Iranian territory close to Zaran border overlooking Chabahar – a normal route for local people, including fishermen, for smuggling informal trade across the border.

Reports from across the border claimed that the Pakistanis were travelling in a vehicle and heading towards Chabahar from Zaran border, when they were intercepted by Iranian border security guards. The Iranian guards encircled the vehicle and opened fire from all sides, killing six of the Pakistanis on the spot and injuring four others.

Reports from across the border stated that the Iranian security personnel took the dead and injured to Chabahar where the injured were provided treatment at the only government-run hospital, while the bodies were sent for autopsy and legal proceedings.

Identities of the dead and injured could not be ascertained until filing of this report. However, locals claimed that some of the dead were Baloch residents of Gwadar district, while others could be Pakhtuns, who were being smuggled into Iran for better job opportunities.

It is pertinent to mention here that residents of border regions usually exchange goods, including cattle, to meet the demand for beef and mutton in Iranian Balochistan.

In recent weeks, Iranians have become more sensitive about border security after it was tightened during naval exercises in the region. Last month, a number of Pakistani fishing boats along with fishermen were captured close to Pakistani territorial waters near Chabahar. A number of fishermen were killed, as Iranian coast guards opened direct fire on some of the fishing vessels from the Pakistani side without any prior warning.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Suicide bomber near Shi'ite funeral kills 31 in Baghdad
A suicide bomber blew up his explosive-filled taxi near a funeral procession in Baghdad on Friday, killing 31 people in the latest attack on a Shi'ite neighbourhood. At least 60 people were wounded in the attack.

The bomber detonated his vehicle near a group of Shi'ite mourners passing by a small market street in the Zaafaraniya neighbourhood in the southwest of the city. Eyewitness Ali Mohsen said, "I was in the old Zaafaraniya market when a funeral came by and just as it passed, a car bomb exploded. I helped evacuating the dead and injured people, their blood covered the ground."

The suicide car bomber may have also tried to target the Zaafaraniya police station, blowing himself up close to shops and the market instead, according to one official.
Posted by: ryuge || 01/27/2012 07:08 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Thinking back to how many funerals and funeral processions have turned into mass casualty events, you would think that somebody, anybody, would get around to saying, "Hey, why don't we stretch it out so to minimize casualties from any attack?"

Instead of cramming everything into an hour, let people trickle in and out all day.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/27/2012 8:43 Comments || Top||

#2  why can't Fred Phelps and his asshole Westboro church protest at these funerals?
Posted by: Frank G || 01/27/2012 16:21 Comments || Top||


Escaped Al-Qaeda Commander from Mosul Prison arrested
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: The police forces in northeast Iraq's Diala Province have arrested the Emir (Prince) of al-Qaeda Organization, Ghafour Hadi, who had escaped from Mosul's Ghizlany Prison, Diala Police Director reported on Thursday.

"Our police forces have arrested the Emir (prince) of al-Qaeda, Ghafour Hadi, who had escaped from Mosul's Ghizlany Prison, in the city of Baaquba, the center of Diala Province, on Thursday," Lt. Brig. al-Shimmary told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Shimmary said Hadi's detention took place in a broad campaign in the city of Baaquba by the city's police forces.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "I am the Emir of Al-Qaeda! Unhand me!"
*bonk*
"and I'm the Queen of Sheba, shut up and get in the back"
Posted by: Frank G || 01/27/2012 16:22 Comments || Top||


Ten dead in attack on policeman's home in Iraq
In case you missed it...
HILLA - An Iraqi policeman and nine relatives were killed as they slept when terrorists militants bombed their home south of Baghdad on Thursday, police sources said, in the latest attack on local officials and security forces.

The terrorists attackers planted bombs around the outside walls of the house shortly after 1 a.m. in the town of Mussayab, about 40 km (25 miles) north of the city of Hilla, two police sources said. The blasts destroyed the house, killing four men, four women and two children, the sources said.

Soldiers, police, government workers and politicians are frequent targets as terrorists insurgents try to undermine the government and challenge the rebuilt security forces.

On Wednesday, terrorists gunmen in a speeding car, killed two off-duty policemen in southeastern Kirkuk. The two brothers were killed in front of their house.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm wondering if some of the surge in violence in Iraq is due to Saddam-ites returning to Iraq as Syria implodes?
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/27/2012 7:18 Comments || Top||

#2  More to the fact that Sunni know Shia are going to ethnically cleanse/exterminate them---so, they've nothing to lose.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/27/2012 8:06 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Free Syrian Army: Becoming a threat to the Assad Regime
The Free Syrian Army (FSA) is now engaged in combat in at least six of the country's fourteen governorates, inflicting greater losses on regime personnel and equipment than at any time since its involvement in the uprising began. Both its ranks and its popular support are growing, and its forces have the types of weapons they need for the kind of warfare they are conducting...Some FSA communiques have mentioned an "Office of Strategic Planning," suggesting an effort to improve coordination. The militia is also reportedly working to tighten relations with the Syrian National Council in order to better coordinate the opposition's political and military activities, but the results of this are not yet clear...Meanwhile, the armed and unarmed struggles are reinforcing one another. For example, one recent set of Friday demonstrations was dedicated to the FSA, showing the degree of acceptance it has achieved as the defender of the people....
Posted by: Lord Garth || 01/27/2012 16:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Good!
Posted by: Barbara || 01/27/2012 20:15 Comments || Top||


Syrian Forces Raid Douma, 49 Killed throughout Country
[An Nahar] Syrian security forces killed 49 civilians, including 10 children, in festivities across the country on Thursday, a rights group said.

"The toll for the day has risen to 49 civilians killed by the security forces in several regions of Syria, mostly in Homs," in the centre of the country, said the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

An Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
team is to take the 10-month-old crisis in Syria to the U.N. Security Council, as activists said security forces launched an assault on a protest hub near the Syrian capital on Thursday.

U.N. human rights
...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions...
chief Navi Pillay, meanwhile, said the United Nations
...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
could not keep track of the corpse count in Syria's unrest that has already cost more than 5,400 lives.

At the Cairo-based Arab League, the organization's chief Nabil al-Arabi said he and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani were to head to New York on Saturday to seek support for an Arab plan on Syria.

Arab League ministers last week urged Assad to delegate powers to his vice president and clear the way for a national unity government within two months, a plan which Damascus
...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
has ruled out as interference in its internal affairs.

On Thursday, there was no let-up in violence on the ground with activists reporting that troops were pressing a major assault on the central city of Hama, long a hotbed of resistance against the Assad regime.

Just north of Damascus, security forces attacked the town of Douma that activists say was in the hands of rebel troops last week before a withdrawal.

The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there were also festivities between the army and deserters in Daraa province, south of the capital, cradle of the uprising against Assad's regime.

It said at least four civilians, including a 14-year-old boy and a 58-year-old woman, both rubbed out by security forces, and four soldiers were killed in violence across the country on Thursday.

"Violent festivities pitted security forces against groups of deserters at the Misraba bridge near the town of Douma, which was rocked by strong kabooms," the Observatory said.

It said more than 200 arrests were made in the town during the assault, although there was no independent confirmation of the reports as foreign media are restricted in their coverage of Syria's unrest which erupted in mid-March.

On the diplomatic front, Pillay's admission of losing count of the dead came as European and Arab governments worked on a Security Council resolution condemning Assad's government for its deadly crackdown on dissent.

The authorities on Thursday organized loyalist rallies in a string of major cities as they reacted angrily to mounting criticism from Arab governments that have taken the lead role in diplomatic efforts to end the bloodshed.

Pillay gave a toll of more than 5,000 dead when she spoke to the Security Council in early December, but has not updated it.

Undersecretary general B. Lynn Pascoe told the council on January 10 that at least 400 people had been killed since a widely criticized Arab observer mission deployed in Syria on December 26.

After meeting Security Council ambassadors again, Pillay said the toll had risen but added: "We are experiencing difficulties because of the fragmentation on the ground.

"Some areas are totally closed such as parts of Homs, so we are unable to update that figure," she told news hounds.

Russia said on Wednesday it would consider "constructive proposals" to end the bloodshed but opposed the use of force or sanctions against its Syrian ally.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said any Security Council resolution backed by Moscow "must firmly record that it cannot be used or interpreted to justify anyone's outside military intervention in the Syria crisis."

Russia and China both blocked a previous Western attempt to have the Security Council formally condemn Assad's crackdown and impose stiff sanctions if he refuses to enter direct talks.

According to diplomats at the United Nations, European and Arab governments are drafting a new text they hope to put to a vote in the Security Council early next week.

In the capital, thousands erupted into the streets on Thursday in support of the government, chanting slogans hailing its longtime ally Moscow and denouncing the vaporous Arab League.

"Never will a people led by Bashar be defeated," the loyalist demonstrators chanted, an AFP correspondent reported. "We are all Bashar."

State television carried footage of similar pro-Assad rallies in other towns from Hasaka in the far northeast to Tartus on the Mediterranean coast where Russia retains a naval base.
Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2012 00:24 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Syrian Opposition Figure Calls for Talks with Russia
[An Nahar] A Syrian opposition figure on Thursday called on the Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
to hold talks with Russia before turning to the United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
for intervention in the Syria crisis.

"We hope to see Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi head to Moscow before New York," said Haitham Mannaa of the Syrian National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change, the second largest coalition after the Syrian National Council.

Mannaa, whose group is strongly opposed to international intervention in Syria, warned that Russia would stand even more staunchly by the side of the embattled regime should it feel sidelined.

"Russia could support the vaporous Arab League proposal if it feels that it is a party that is directly involved but if sidelined, it would stand against it," Mannaa told AFP by telephone.

"Russia wants a bigger role."

Russia and China have both blocked attempts to have the Security Council formally condemn Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Lord of the Baath...
's crackdown on dissent and impose stiff sanctions if he refuses to enter direct talks.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said this week however that Russia would consider "constructive proposals" to end the bloodshed in Syria.

Lavrov warned any Security Council resolution could not be "used or interpreted to justify anyone's outside military intervention in the Syria crisis."

The Arab League chief and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, head of the bloc's panel on Syria, will meet with the Security Council in New York on Monday to seek ratification of a Syria plan which would see Assad cede power to his deputy and clear the way for a national unity government.

Arab League ministers meeting in Cairo last week had asked for UN support in their efforts to resolve the crisis in Syria, where a crackdown on protests has left more than 5,400 people dead since March.
Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2012 00:22 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Iran Says 11 Pilgrims Kidnapped in Syria
[An Nahar] Eleven Iranian pilgrims have been kidnapped in unrest-swept Syria, the foreign ministry said on Thursday, calling on Damascus
...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
to help secure their release.

"According to our information, 11 Iranian pilgrims travelling by road to Damascus were kidnapped by an unknown group," said ministry front man Ramin Mehmanparast, quoted by the state news agency IRNA.

"We call on the Syrian government to use all means ... to release the Iranian nationals," he said.

In a similar incident in late December, seven Iranian engineers were kidnapped in the Homs region of central Syria, a hub of deadly unrest which has swept the Arab state since last March.

Syria is Iran's main ally in the Arab world. Anti-regime circles have accused Tehran of aiding the regime's crackdown on dissent.
Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2012 00:20 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Syrian Rebs are claiming to had captured SEVEN pro-Assad Iranian fighters???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/27/2012 20:41 Comments || Top||


BFFs no longer? Iran condemns Syria pilgrims abduction
[Iran PressTV]- Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast has condemned the kidnapping of 11 Iranian pilgrims in Syria, calling the act inhumane and unjustifiable.

"These acts, which are against humane principles and moral and international obligations, are by no means justifiable, and it is expected that these people take immediate action to free Iranian pilgrims," Mehmanparast said on Thursday.

Earlier on the day, a group of unknown gunnies attacked an Iranian bus on the road from the Syrian capital Damascus
...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
to the northwestern city of Aleppo
...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins...
, abducting 11 Iranian men. The assailants drove off to an unknown destination afterwards, leaving the female passengers in the vehicle.

"We also request the Syrian government authorities to employ all means available to ensure the safety of these Iranian nationals and their quick freedom," Iran's foreign ministry front man added.

The gunnies have contacted the relatives of a kidnapped passenger in Tehran, confirming the abduction of the Iranian nationals and demanding a ransom. It was not known how much the abductors had wanted.

Meanwhile,
...back at the cheese factory, all the pieces finally fell together in Fluffy's mind...
five Iranian electrical engineers were kidnapped on December 21 on their way to a power plant in the troubled Syrian city of Homs by unknown gunnies.

Two more Iranian experts, who were trying to clarify the situation of the five kidnapped engineers, have also been kidnapped and there has been no report on their whereabouts.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011.

The Syrian government says "outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups" are responsible for the unrest, which is being orchestrated from abroad.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Makes you wonder how many of them are al-Quds?

Remember also that Iranians have been imported by Assad specifically to kill Syrians that Syrian military was hesitant to do. This has not endeared the Iranians to the revolutionaries.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/27/2012 8:57 Comments || Top||

#2  "...take immediate action to free Iranian pilgrims.."

I doubt there are any worthwhile sites in Syria that would attract a Shiite from Iran. The guys taken were probably there to help Assad murder people and the anti-Assad people recognized the Persian accented arabic or the clothes or the big viva Ayattolah sign on the bus.
Posted by: Lord Garth || 01/27/2012 13:11 Comments || Top||

#3  Wikipedia says that there's three significant Shia shrines or pilgrimage sites in Damascus, Garth, but I can't find anything about a shrine in Aleppo. Unless they were en route to the Turkish border for some sort of generic Muslim pilgrimage - maybe to Istanbul?

I don't know why anyone would immediately blame this kidnapping on the Alawi regime - looks and sounds like freelance disorder, unless it's a false-flag provocation designed to infuriate the Iranians and keep the money taps flowing. Pretty stupid false-flag op, though, if that's what it is, because it's designed to piss off Iran about Syrians in general, some of that has to get on the regime as well.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 01/27/2012 14:02 Comments || Top||

#4  Yes there are some Shia shrines in Damascus but for someone from Iran, these are less important than those in Iraq or Iran.

I'm thinking the Free Syrian Army killed or captured the Iranian 'pilgrims'.
Posted by: Lord Garth || 01/27/2012 16:05 Comments || Top||

#5  D *** NG IT, "T-S-U-F" [Thats So Unfair], or whatever it was in the Commercial.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/27/2012 20:57 Comments || Top||


Iran to execute two bloggers
Iranian courts have sentenced two bloggers to death for "spreading corruption," and government security forces have arrested four other journalists, in the lead-up to the nation's March elections.

"In the past two weeks, security forces have reportedly arrested four journalists," the U.S. State Department said in a statement, "including Shahram Manouchehri, Sahamedin Bourghani, Parastoo Dokouhaki, and Marzieh Rasouli, and Iranian courts confirmed death sentences for bloggers Saeed Malekpour and Vahid Asghari, both of whom were not accorded due process and now face imminent execution on charges of 'spreading corruption.'"

The State Department faulted Iran for trying "to extinguish all forms of free expression and limit its citizens’ access to information in the lead-up to March parliamentary elections."
Pointing this out publicly is good, but as you may have noticed, Iran doesn't give the proverbial rat's patootie what we think.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Don’t you see? Voldemort himself created his worst enemy, just as tyrants everywhere do! Have you any idea how much tyrants fear the people they oppress? All of them realize that, one day, amongst their many victims, there is sure to be one that rises against them and strikes back!" Albus Dumbledore

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince", J. K. Rowling
Posted by: Mike Ramsey || 01/27/2012 13:03 Comments || Top||


Syria security forces kill 34 civilians
NICOSIA — Syrian security forces killed 34 civilians, including 10 children, in clashes across the country on Thursday, a rights group said.

“The toll for the day has risen to 34 civilians killed by the security forces in several regions of Syria, mostly in Homs,” said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Separately, seven deserters and eight regular soldiers died in clashes, according to the rights group, among them a colonel killed in Homs, a protest hub in central Syria.

The Observatory said the army launched an offensive on Thursday evening in the Karm al-Zeitoun district of Homs, killing 26 civilians, including nine children, and wounding dozens. And in the rebel city of Hama, also central Syria, where the army launched a major assault on Tuesday, four civilians were killed, including a 58-year-old woman shot dead by snipers, according to the same source.

Elsewhere, one civilian reportedly died in the restive northwestern province of Idlib, and two others were killed in the suburbs of Damascus.

In the southern province of Daraa, cradle of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, a teenager was killed when security forces fired indiscriminately on a student demonstration in the town of Nawa, the Observatory said, citing residents.

Thursday’s casualties could not be independently verified because of government restrictions imposed on journalists covering the unrest in Syria, which first has broke out last March and has claimed more than 5,400 lives according to UN estimates.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Syrian troops storm Damascus suburb
BEIRUT: Syrian troops stormed a flashpoint suburb of Damascus on Thursday, raiding homes and searching vehicles, while tens of thousands of backers of President Bashar Assad poured into the streets of several cities in a show of support for his embattled regime.

Just days after pulling out of the suburb of Douma following intense clashes with anti-regime fighters, government troops pushed back in early Thursday from all directions, meeting no resistance, activists said.

“They are entering homes, searching cars and stopping people in the streets to check identity cards,” activist and Douma resident Mohammed Al-Saeed told The Associated Press, saying the soldiers had lists of wanted people. “There is very little movement in the streets and nobody is allowed to leave or enter Douma.”

The suburb has become a flashpoint in recent months, with large protests against Assad that security forces crushed by force.

Just 10 miles (16 kilometers) away in downtown Damascus, thousands of people waved Syrian flags and shouted support for President Bashar Assad. Similar rallies were held in Aleppo in the north, according to state-run media.

Violence, meanwhile, has continued unabated. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a joint army and police force was ambushed Thursday near the town of Khirbet Ghazaleh, killing four members of the security forces and wounding five more.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/27/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Terror Networks
U.S. Blocks Funds to Three Alleged Islamic Extremists
[An Nahar] The United States moved Thursday to deny any U.S. financing or material support to alleged Islamic bully boyz operating in Afghanistan, Europe and Leb.

The State Department targeted brothers Yassin and Mounir Chouka, who it said are recruiters, controllers and propagandists for the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) and stage operations along the Afghanistan-Pakistain border.

It also targeted Mevlut Kar as a controller and recruiter for the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU). It said he is implicated in a 2007 bomb plot targeting U.S. military facilities and U.S. citizens in Germany.

The Chouka brothers, which Washington lists as dual Moroccan and German nationals, and Kar, listed as a dual Turkish and German citizen, are also alleged to have links with Al-Qaeda.

Kar, wanted by the Lebanese government, was sentenced in his absence to 15 years in prison for attempting to establish an Al-Qaeda cell in Leb, the State Department said. Interpol has also issued a warrant for his arrest.

The State Department formally designated the three as global terrorists, prohibiting Americans from engaging in financial transactions with them and freezing any assets they may have under U.S. jurisdiction.
Posted by: Fred || 01/27/2012 00:28 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda



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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2012-01-27
  Sectarian clashes kill at least 22 in Yemen
Thu 2012-01-26
  Woman Dead as Bombs, Bullets Rain on Nigeria Police Station
Wed 2012-01-25
  SEALS Spring Two, Bag Nine
Tue 2012-01-24
  EU imposes sanctions on Iran oil
Mon 2012-01-23
  U.S. aircraft carrier goes through Strait of Hormuz without incident
Sun 2012-01-22
  Syrian Forces Kill More than 50 Civilian as Dissidents Clash with Troops
Sat 2012-01-21
  Terror attacks in Kano, Nigeria, kill at least 162
Fri 2012-01-20
  Aslam Awan of Abbottabad Dronezapped
Thu 2012-01-19
  Bangladesh army says plot to topple government foiled
Wed 2012-01-18
  Syria 'absolutely rejects' calls for Arab troops
Tue 2012-01-17
  Kenyan jets bomb Al-Shabaab bases
Mon 2012-01-16
  Kenya Arrests 29 Ugandans 'Headed to Somalia to Fight'
Sun 2012-01-15
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Sat 2012-01-14
  Mob Kills 2, Burns Mosques in Raid on Nigerian Village
Fri 2012-01-13
  Syrian Forces Kill 32, Fire on Protesters in Presence of Monitors

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