[Breitbart] The victim, a 21-year-old man, told law enforcement he recognized the artist and his entourage as they were pumping gas at an Exxon station at around 12:30, NJ reports. I doubt he was pumping his own gas. Recognized the 'artist' through an Escalade window did he ?
The fan allegedly approached DMX, best known for his 1999 hit "Up in Here," and the pair held a conversation about music, before a member of the rapper's entourage produced a firearm and demanded he give them all his money.
"The two had a brief conversation about rap music and during the conversation a male in DMX's entourage, showed the victim a gun and demanded the victim's money," Newark Police spokesman Ronald Glover said in a statement.
When the alleged victim cooperated with the gunman, DMX then allegedly grabbed $3,200 in cash, before leaving the scene in one of the four black Cadillac Escalades his group was traveling in, Sgt. Glover told the news site. Carrying $3,200 in cash to the gas station was he? No doubt picking up some chips and ale as well.
Don't most gas stations have cameras all over? Should be easy enough to validate the charges. They may not get BMX (sorry DMX) but they certainly could get some of the crowd. Alhtough I suspect there is a lot more to the story than what we have here.
#8
"I'm rich from my gangsta hot waxes,
So I'm kinda embarassed to ask this...
I find I must have it --
Your dough! I shall grab it!
It's time I turned theory to praxis."
Power outages are quite common in third world countries
Scattered outages in the US capital on Tuesday cut power to several government buildings, including the White House, State Department, Capitol and Justice Department.
The State Department's daily news briefing was suspended after power was lost. A department announcement said the main building and other nearby buildings were affected because electricity feeders were down. Sending everyone home for the day undoubtedly saved us millions.
Officials say that the power outtage which partially shut down Washington, DC, today (Tuesday) was caused by an explosion in a Maryland power plant. The cut even affected the White House and State Department.
#14
I wonder if they will pay attention to power system vulnerabilities now? Especially hardening the systems against major risks from EMP man-made and natural, as well as cyber warfare (the aforementioned SCADA)
Details at the link and snark at Twitchy. As a commenter there says, "Nothing inspires one with confidence in technology like the words 'Russian nuclear submarine'."
I must say, looking at the pics of this sub, the one thing it really needs is an overhaul. I thought navies didn't like rust?
Is this the one that was scheduled to take our Yellowstone Park ?
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/07/2015 10:25 ||
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#2
At first, I took the "nuke" in the title to be a verb ... as in "Russians blow up burning sub with a nuke" ... like putting an injured horse down. They don't mess around.
For a map, click here. You can enlarge the map, if you open it separately.
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
Ukrainian artillery strikes hit key regions in Donetsk on Saturday killing two and wounding two rebel soldiers.
According to a news account posted on regnum.ru, Ukrainian artillery hit Donetsk city with a massive artillery strike centered on the Donetsk airport and the settlement of Octyabrskiy using 152mm tube artillery.
The news report, citing Donetsk Ministry of Defense sources, said that residential homes were set alight by the artillery, causing some undisclosed civilian casualties.
On Sunday, Ukrainian artillery hit the localities of Gorlovka, Spartak, Shirokino and the Donetsk airport.
Rebel media said at least one artillery round hit a residential area in Donetsk and the artillery had originated from Ukrainian held areas of Peski and Avdievka. A nocturnal firefight took place late on Saturday night between forces in Spartak and Vinogradnoye. Rebels currently hold Spartak.
A separate rebel media summary said that for the second time in four days Ukrainian artillery hit the Volvo Center in Donetsk city with both mortar and tank shells originating from Peski.
The summary also said the artillery hit on Octyabrskiy originated from Opytnoye. Ukrainian artillery hit the Donetsk airport from Opytnoye and Peski.
In nearly every summary posted online, rebels continue to claim that their forces did not respond to the attacks.
However, translated videos posted online by rebel media show rebels firing on Ukrainian positions using small arms.
Ukrainian military analyst Dmitri Tymchuk said in a report posted online that rebel forces shelled a number of Ukrainian army positions in Donetsk and near Mariupol.
According to Tymchuk, rebel artillery hit Opytnoye using small arms, automatic grenade launcher, recoilless rifle and 82mm mortar fire. Avdievka was hit by small arms and 82mm mortar fire as well.
Tymchuk said that rebel 82mm mortars struck targets at Chermalyk, which is about 15 kilometers due north of Shirokino.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraina by clicking here.
Two weeks ago, Japan commissioned its largest naval vessel since the end of World War II. Sleek and with the clean lines of a ship designed for stealth, JS Izumo pulled into Yokosuka Naval Base, her new home port, and officially joined the Maritime Self Defense Force.
Izumo is a sign of the times, a weapons system that pushes the boundaries of Japan's war-adverse culture and increasing tensions with China.
Officially, she's a "helicopter destroyer" -- a destroyer designed to carry helicopters. But Izumo is no ordinary destroyer. Destroyers are not 800 feet long nor do they displace 24,000 tons. They also don't have a flight deck that runs the entire length of the ship, aircraft hangars, and the capability to embark up to 14 helicopters.
Izumo is what most countries -- particularly China -- would call an aircraft carrier.
Japan at the start of World War II had the greatest aircraft carrier force in the world. A fleet of six carriers attacked the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, altering the balance of power and convincing the world that the days of the battleship were over. By the end of the war most of Japan's carriers were at the bottom of the ocean, and the Asian nation vowed never to produce offensive weapons ever again, aircraft carriers in particular.
Japan says Izumo's mission is to hunt submarines and mines with helicopters, which are able to search the ocean faster and more safely than ships. Izumo also has a disaster relief mission: In the aftermath of the March 2011 earthquake, American aircraft carriers were invaluable, providing a floating helicopter base when those on the ground had been destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami.
What alarms some of Japan's neighbors -- China in particular -- is that the ships are also capable of carrying the American Joint Strike Fighter. The F-35B, designed to take off and land vertically for the U.S. Marine Corps, is an ideal fit for the Izumo class. Izumos could likely embark up to eight or nine of the stealthy, fifth generation strike fighters.
For decades, Japan has explicitly banned possession of aircraft carriers and marine infantry as tools of expeditionary, aggressive warfare. Izumo's stated role -- and a second ship of the class will enter service in 2017 -- is in line with Japan's vow not to make war on other countries but still preserve the capability for self-defense.
Now however, with China laying claim to the Japanese-held Senkaku Islands, and even inhabited islands such as Okinawa, Japan is raising a unit of marines with the idea that they are "defensive" and would be used to garrison -- or liberate -- territory from an enemy.
The same justification could be used for an aircraft carrier. Japanese fighter planes scrambled 400 times in just one year to intercept Chinese planes nearing their territory. Japan has a limited number of air bases capable of supporting the Senkaku Islands, so a floating one would actually be pretty useful.
Modifying the Izumo to make it a true aircraft carrier is a decision that won't be taken lightly. It will be expensive: In addition to the cost of procuring up to a dozen fighters (the per-unit price of an F-35B is currently a whopping $116 million), her flight deck will need to be strengthened to cope with the massive amounts of heat the F-35B generates during takeoffs and landings. The cost could end up being near two billion dollars -- as much as the ship itself.
Despite being the third largest economy, Japan doesn't have a lot of money to spend on defense. She is also deeply in debt, with a public debt approaching 230 percent of GDP. Any steps to match China's growing military power must be carefully considered.
In the end, the deciding factor which way the Izumo class goes will be China. If China continues to test Japan's airspace by flying fighters nearby, increases its holdings of modern, fifth generation fighters like the J-20 and J-31, then it will give the Japanese government all the justification it needs.
If not, converting Izumo and her yet-unnamed sister ship to full-fledged carriers will be a tough sell, particularly to the Japanese public.
Time will tell what direction Japan ultimately takes. If, 10 years from now, Izumo only has helicopters on her flight deck, the situation in East Asia will be relatively peaceful and optimistic. But if there are fighter planes on her deck, relations between Japan and China will have taken a darker -- and more dangerous turn.
#4
D *** NG IT, DATS RIDICULOUS - JAPAN IS DEV ITS OWN STEALTH AIRCRAFT.
lol.
The above being said, China is right to be alarmed or worried, as the looming expansion of Radical Islam's Global Jihad agz Russia + East Asia directly threatens its new, so-called "Belt-n-Road" strategy.
[AA.TR] Ninety percent of Moslem students enrolled in Spanish schools have no access to Islamic religion classes, according to a report published by the Union of Islamic communities (UCIDE) in Spain on Monday.
According to the UCIDE demographics study of the Moslem population in Spain, only in Andalusia, Aragon, Basque Country, Canary Islands and the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla offer basic Islamic education in elementary schools.
There are over 6,065 Moslem students in the Basque county, of which 5,032 are foreigners and the rest (1033) Spanish. However, Switzerland makes more than cheese... there are two Islamic education teachers in total at the primary level, the report says.
Meanwhile nine out of 10 Islamic education teachers are unemployed. In total, there are 275,324 Moslems students in Spain (112, 214 Spaniards and 163,110 immigrants) and only the aforementioned communities and two autonomous cities have Islamic education teachers.
The UCIDE report suggests that, depending on the density of Moslem students in primary and secondary schools, communities of Balearic Islands, Catalonia, La Rioja, Madrid, Murcia, Valencia and Castilla-La Mancha should also offer Islamic religion classes.
According to UCIDE, Moslems make up 3.8 percent of the Spanish population, 40 percent are Spanish and the remaining 60 percent are immigrants.
Most of the Moslems in Spain are mostly from Morocco although there is a significant presence of Paks and Senegal ... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees... ese Moslems in cities like Barcelona, Valencia and Logrono.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/07/2015 00:00 ||
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#6
Two mole parents peered through thick glasses
Across the windswept Spanish grasses:
"Mmm, perfume and fresh sheets!"
"Pastilla and sweetmeats!"
But Junior squeaked, "I smell... Moor asses!"
[AnNahar] Greece has agreed to repay its debt to the International Monetary Fund by April 9, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said after a meeting with Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis.
There was speculation ahead of the visit that Athens might fail to meet the 460-million-euro ($501-million) IMF installment if forced to choose between the IMF and paying government workers.
Lagarde said repaying the IMF debt was in the country's best interest.
"Continuing uncertainty is not in Greece's interest and I welcomed confirmation by the minister that payment owing to the Fund would be forthcoming on April 9th," Lagarde said in a statement.
Greece has not received the remaining funds in its 240-billion-euro European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... -IMF rescue package as Brussels has demanded to first approve Greece's revised reform plan.
Lagarde encouraged Athens to continue talks in Brussels -- which she said would resume on Monday --and to "conduct the necessary due diligence in Athens."
"The Fund remains committed to work together with the authorities to help Greece return to a sustainable path of growth and employment," Lagarde added.
[Hurriyet Daily News] Thousands of Turkish students have raised their voices in online campaigns to build Jedi and Buddhist temples at their universities, after a series of mosques were constructed on their campuses by rectors who stressed "huge demand."
The debate started last month when Mehmet Karaca, rector of Istanbul Technical University (ITÜ), announced that "a landmark mosque" would be built on the campus.
While stressing "huge demand," the rector referred to a petition on change.org that more than 185,000 people signed to demand the construction of ITÜ's first mosque.
Karaca's positive response to an online campaign encouraged university students from other religions around The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , as well as many others who launched satirical campaigns to point at what they claimed to be a political emphasis on "religious populism" even as many education institutions lack scientific instruments and research funds.
In one of the counter-campaigns on change.org, more than 25,000 people demanded a Buddhist temple at ITÜ.
"I can't fulfill my religious needs because the closest Buddhist temple is 2,000 kilometers away, and I can't go there during lunch break," a petitioner named Utku Gurcag Boratac said on the website.
Zeynep Özkatip, who launched the petition, complained in an interview to daily Hurriyet that the university administration did not contact her despite the "huge demand" for the proposed Buddhist temple.
"If they think that building a mosque is realistic, unlike building a Buddhist temple, for the fact that donations need to be collected for the construction, they are wrong. We have already received enough donation promises to complete the construction," she said.
Özkatip, a third-year student in ITÜ's Civil Engineering Department, also complained that she received "threats" due to the petition.
"We ironically see that those who keep talking about Islamophobia ...the irrational fear that Moslems will act the way they usually do... have no tolerance for other religions," she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/07/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
If you build a Jedi temple, the Sith will come.
[Hurriyet Daily News] Turkish authorities have blocked access to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube over their initial refusal to remove photos of a prosecutor who was taken hostage by hard boyz in Istanbul, but the ban was revoked as all three social media platforms complied with a court order after eight hours.
A recent court ruling seen by daily Hurriyet ordered authorities to block a total of 166 websites that published the controversial photos. Beside the world's largest social media websites in the list, there are also specific links to the stories published by Turkish newspapers.
The decision, signed by Bekir Altun, the judge at Istanbul's 1st Criminal Court of Peace, was taken after Istanbul's Chief Public Prosecutor's Office's Terror and Organized Crime Investigation Bureau demanded the ban on news and videos.
The decision stated content removal would be implemented and a possible blockage would be put in place if this was not done.
A number of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's leading Internet service providers implemented the ban in the afternoon of April 6, an official confirmed after widespread complaints about access problems to the social media websites.
Speaking to daily Hurriyet, Internet Service Providers Union (ESB) Secretary General Bulent Kent stressed that "the procedure continues" as all service providers are expected to implement the ban immediately.
Tayfun Acarer, the head of the Information and Communications Technologies Authority (BTK), told daily Hurriyet that the ban on Facebook had been lifted after it rapidly complied with the court ruling on April 6.
YouTube.com ran the text of a court ruling on its site saying an "administration measure" had been implemented by the country's telecommunications authority (TIB).
Posted by: Fred ||
04/07/2015 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] Sri Lanka and Pakistain signed six agreements including one on atomic energy Monday, the two countries' leaders said, as the strategically important island looks to build its first nuclear plant.
Details of the agreement were not immediately available but it comes after Sri Lanka signed a pact with India in February to build its atomic energy infrastructure, including training of personnel.
Sri Lanka's new president Maithripala Sirisena swept to power in January, ending a decade of rule by Mahinda Rajapakse, and has moved to reduce China's influence in his country, which had irked India.
His arrived in Pakistain Sunday for a three-day state visit has been watched by observers for clues over any further changes in Colombo's foreign policy.
Pakistain and Sri Lanka have traditionally enjoyed strong ties, particularly over defence, with Islamabad providing military assistance during the war against Tamil Tiger guerrillas that ended in 2009.
Speaking at a presser with Pakistain's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... , Sirisena said: "At critical moments in our post-independent histories we have stood in solidarity with each other," adding he was "profoundly grateful for the strong support in the fight against terrorism" by Pakistain.
"We discussed regional and international agreements and signed six agreements in the fields of disaster management, sports, shipping, atomic energy... and in narcotics and academic cooperation," he added.
Pakistain currently has three operational nuclear plants generating a total of around 740 MW of power and has begun work on two more, including a 2,200-megawatt station to be built with Chinese technical assistance on the Arabian Sea coast at Paradise Beach, 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... Earlier Sharif had spoken of his desire to improve trade and economic relations.
Sirisena will also meet Pakistain's President Mamnoon Hussain during his visit and is due to leave Tuesday.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/07/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Armed men in Swabi kidnapped and gang-raped a transgender person on Monday after killing two others in a pre-dawn incident, police said. Oh, noze! A culture of rape? And murder? The place must be crawling with Republicans...
The incident took place in the Yar Hussain neighbourhood of Swabi district, where a group of transgenders was returning home after performing a music and dance show at a wedding party.
Sajjad Khan, district police chief of Swabi in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... province, said the men were waiting for them in a field and tried to abduct all of them but they refused.
"The attackers opened fire after the refusal. One transgender and one drummer was struck down in his prime while another was maimed," Khan said.
The gunnies then kidnapped one transgender who was released hours later, Khan said.
"The victim told police that he was set free after being gang-raped by four persons," the police officer added.
Police later raided separate locations and tossed in the clink Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! six suspects, charging them with murder and gang-rape, Khan said.
A second police official in the area confirmed the incident and told AFP the six detainees often attended the shows by the transgender group.
"These men were fond of transgenders and used to regularly attend their music and dance shows," the official said, requesting anonymity.
In Pakistain, where sexual relations outside marriage are taboo and homosexuality is illegal, transgender dancers and musicians often perform at weddings and birth celebrations. But they are also treated as sex objects and often become the victims of violent assault.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/07/2015 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Two weeks ago, Japan commissioned its largest naval vessel since the end of World War II. Sleek and with the clean lines of a ship designed for stealth, JS Izumo pulled into Yokosuka Naval Base, her new home port, and officially joined the Maritime Self Defense Force.
[AA.TR] Ninety percent of 
[Hurriyet Daily News] Thousands of Turkish students have raised their voices in online campaigns to build Jedi and Buddhist temples at their universities, after a series of mosques were constructed on their campuses by rectors who stressed "huge demand."
