[An Nahar] A deadly attack on peacekeepers in Sudan's Darfur region appears to have been planned and carried out by government-linked forces, local sources in the area said on Monday, but authorities denied such a connection.
One Nigerian Blue Helmet was killed and two other peacekeepers were maimed in Friday's assault against a base of the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... -U.N. Mission (UNAMID) near Muhagiriya town in southern Darfur.
Two days earlier the Sudanese army announced it had regained control of the area from rebels.
The attack "looks like it was planned and conducted by forces aligned with the government," one source said, asking for anonymity.
Local sources said peacekeepers returned fire, killing at least one of the attackers.
Sudan's foreign ministry said on Monday that investigation confirmed "the one who did the attack and who was killed during the operation has no link with SAF troops and the incident happened before SAF troops completed their control of the area".
The Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) front man announced last Wednesday that troops had "liberated" Muhagiriya but rebels of the Sudan Liberation Army's Minnawi faction said they withdrew in the face of massive force.
UNAMID said its base was attacked by person or persons unknown early Friday.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is deeply sorry and condemns the killing of a peacekeeper in Muhagiriya," it said in a statement which expressed condolences to relatives of the dead peacekeeper.
It said a joint investigation is underway, supported by the army and local authorities.
"The SAF was performing its role of protecting civilians and their properties," the ministry added.
On Sunday the U.S. charge d'affaires to Sudan, Joseph Stafford, expressed grave concern "about the reports of civilian casualties and deliberate targeting of civilians by militias in Muhagiriya and Labado", a second town retaken by government forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2013 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] The British government and leaders within the Coptic Orthodox community in London met to discuss the recent sectarian violence in Egypt, Ahram Online has learned.
According to a Coptic activist who attended the meeting, the discussion focused on "the escalation of attacks on Copts in Egypt."
"We have been promised that the issue will be raised [by the British] with the Egyptian government," the activist said.
Father Antonious Thabet, the pastor of the St. Mark's Coptic Church in London, led a delegation which met with Alistair Burt, the British Middle East Minister, on 11 April at the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).
St. Mark's Church is the oldest Coptic church in Europe. It established a number of churches in the UK including the church of Stevenage, which is now the biggest the Coptic church in the United Kingdom.
Father Antonious confirmed his attendance, adding that such meeting is important.
"We are doing what we have to do to help stop the violence against Copts in Egypt," he told Ahram Online.
But he refused to comment on whether the Coptic delegation had called on the UK to put pressure on the Egyptian government over the sectarian violence in Egypt.
He added that Egyptian Copts "are seeking help from God only."
Dr. Ibrahim Habib, head of the United Copts of Great Britannia, attended the meeting and confirmed that the UK minister has been asked to "put more pressure on the Egyptian government."
"However, some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... we stressed that we are asking for more active diplomatic pressure on Egypt, not military intervention," Habib told Ahram Online.
"We do not support or agree with the appeals from other Coptic activists in the West for international protection for Copts in Egypt," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2013 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] Libyan military officers are demanding the dismissal of the army chief of staff, pledging to go on strike if he is not replaced.
Hundreds of officers met late Sunday in the eastern Libyan city of Brega. They gave Libya's government 10 days to comply with their demands, threatening to walk away from their posts.
The officers charge that the army chief, Maj. Gen. Youssef al-Mangoush, is guilty of corruption, poor management and hiring commanders from the deposed regime of Moammar Gadhafi. They also demand the dismissal of those commanders, as well as trial of officers involved in killing rebels who fought against Gadhafi in Libya's 2011 civil war.
This was the first time army officers took part in rallies against al-Mangoush. The protests have been going on for a month.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2013 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] Mohamed El-Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... , the brother of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman El-Zawahiri, has warned that the current instability in Egypt is "fertile ground for minorities [Coptic Christians] to 'triumph'."
Speaking on the 'El-Hadath El-Masry' programme on El-Arabiya El-Hadath private satellite channel on Saturday, El-Zawahiri -- who is a prominent Jihadist-Salafist leader in his own right -- added that Egypt has "suffered many injustices because it has not implemented Sharia law. Sharia law has to be implemented and the Christians' religious law must be implemented by them. This is only normal."
Coptic Christians, who make up no more than ten percent of Egypt's population, "benefit more than the majority of Mohammedans in Egypt," he asserted.
The Christian minority will not feel safe and secure until Islamic Sharia law is implemented, he added
El-Zawahiri, who in March said elections violated Sharia law, called on Egyptians to use customary conflict resolution committees rather than official mechanisms, "but only in the context of what is permissible" and not in all cases so persecution does not occur.
On a separate note, El-Zawahiri denied Jihadist-Salafists ...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them... were responsible for the rockets launched from the Sinai Peninsula at the Israeli resort town of Eilat on Wednesday, asserting the gangs had denied responsibility for the attacks. He admitted he had ideological sympathies with myrmidon groups in Sinai but denied any organizational links.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
The Russian Orthodox are coming, the Russian Orthodox are coming ...
[Bangla Daily Star] The High Court on Monday rejected a petition by HuJI Founded in 1984 by Fazlur Rehman Khalil and Qari Saifullah Aktar. The Bangla branch was established in 1992 with assistance from Osama bin Laden. Recruits come mostly from Deobandi madrassahs. HuJI and Fazlur Rehman Khalil are signators of bin Laden's declaration of war on the west. leader Mufti Abdul Hannan for expunging his statement involving BNP leader Tarique Rahman ...the elder son of former President of Bangladesh Ziaur Rahman Bir Uttam, and Khaleda Zia, former Prime Minister of Bangladesh. He is the Senior Vice Chairperson of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). His nickname is Pino. There are allegations that Pino took a rakeoff from every foreign investment into the country while Mom was in office... with August 21 grenade attack.
The HC bench of Justice Abdul Awal and Justice Md Faruque issued the order after a hearing on the petition.
AHM Habibur Rahman Bhuiyan, the then additional chief metropolitan magistrate in Dhaka, recorded Hannan's statement in 2011.
Habibur, however, placed the recorded statement before the Dhaka court on February 3 this year in connection with a case filed under Explosive Substance Act-1908, which was illegal, he said.
While placing the report, Habibur told the court that Hannan in his statement mentioned names of some intelligence and political bigwigs, including Khaleda Zia Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... 's son Tarique Rahman, as criminal masterminds of the August 21 grenade assault.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2013 00:00 ||
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"[W]e're not going to solve this challenge of terror and of extremism and of people finding an alternative if we're not reaching out to people, talking to them, bringing them to the table and trying to work through major, perceived differences," Secretary of State John Kerry told a gathering in Brussels on Monday.
"I believe we have to create a new paradigm, frankly, to deal with this." Watch your wallet.
Kerry said the new paradigm includes public-private partnerships, and he pointed to new initiative that's just getting under way with Palestinians in the West Bank, where U.S. businesses are being urged to invest in places for the sake of peace, not profit. He mentioned Coca-Cola specifically. Public-private partnerships have worked so well for B.O., after all. And Coke has more of an obligation toward Paleostinians than it does to its stockholders.
"And that initiative is fundamentally to bring major corporations to the table who are looking for places to invest where they can make a difference, where it may not be that today the bottom line on a spreadsheet tells them this is the best investment in the world, but where they can also be persuaded that they're investing in the future and in peace, in changing the lives of people, and in opening up doors of opportunity."
Kerry said the private sector can provide a job base "that will change the lives of people more rapidly, and hopefully encourage people to buy into the possibilities of this economic transformation. So it's really economic diplomacy, if you will."
#1
Someone has failed to explain to the SoS that bomb and rocket making are key job titles in the community, right up there with thuggery and extortion Chicago style. The return on investment is much higher than say growing real cheap food for export to Egypt.
#9
What an idiot. Throw other people's money at the problem. He and his boss O are willing to throw millions, nay, billions at a foreign bunch of dysfunctionals, but furlough FAA air traffic controllers at centers around major US airports, causing delays.
Bumbling idiots.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/23/2013 15:03 Comments ||
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#10
Why don't you start with Heinz catsup, Jawn? I'm pretty sure catsup is halal, and Te-ray-za would be happy to help, no doubt, being the good little progressive leftist she is.
Remember, it's for the children!™
Posted by: Barbara ||
04/23/2013 15:25 Comments ||
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Two complementary principles are at work here: First, half of everybody is below average. It's not necessarily the same half that's below average intellectually that's below average morally. Second, we no longer institutionalize the insane, except briefly for observation when they're frothing at the mouth. Therefore, the howls coming from the crazyhouse are dispersed among the population.
#1
All true Yellowbar, however the dispersal is NOT uniform, it is clustered. Fortunately the clusters are in coastal states. Unfortunately these states have dense clusters dispersed across the demographic and high electoral counts.
#2
My key takeway from the article: there will always be those that idolize psychopaths, lust after serial killers, and tweet longingly about suspected bombers. Noticing that is much easier now that we have the internet & social media.
--- Some of the insane only froth at the mouth after they are riddled with bullets. In those cases the period of observation is very short and often doesn't involve an institution.
-- I think the crazy / violent are pretty well distributed.
-- rhetoric can drive the otherwise sane, insane. Doris Lessing wrote about an imaginary disease she called "undulant rhetoric". It was an epidemic in revolutionary France and in Nazi Germany.
#3
They are also places where terror bombings are likely to occur. I expect sympathy to disappear after a few more bombings. Killers seem much less romantic after they kill your friends and family.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
04/23/2013 11:55 Comments ||
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US security officials are to face questions in Congress over whether they mishandled information about Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
They will brief the Senate Intelligence Committee in a closed hearing, after some US politicians accused the FBI of failing to act on Russian concerns.
Tsarnaev was questioned in 2011 amid claims he had adopted radical Islam.
He was killed in a manhunt after the attack but his maimed brother Dzhokhar has been charged over the bombings.
NBC News is reporting that Tamerlan Tsarnaev "had been seen making six visits to a known Islamic militant in a mosque in the Russian republic of Dagestan" and the "visits came during a six month trip that Tamerlan made to the city of Makhachkala to see his family."
According to the Telegraph, a local police official said "a case file on Tsarnaev was then handed over to the FBI along with a request for further information. However, the FBI never replied."
UPDATE (6:15 PM EDT):
The House Committee on Homeland Security sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, National Intelligence Director James Clapper and FBI Director Robert Mueller raising concerns about the efficacy of federal counter terrorism efforts.
According to Fox News, Committee Chairman Rep. Mike McCaul (R-TX), "says bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev appears to be the fifth person since 9/11 to participate in a terror attack, despite being under FBI investigation" and noted the incidents "raise the most serious questions about the efficacy of the federal counter terrorism efforts." And then there is this:
Another detail offered by Wright and Vincent provides an unsettlingun remark made by FBI whistleblower Colleen Rowley. In her May 2002 memo to FBI Director Robert Mueller, Rowley--the chief attorney for the Minneapolis FBI office--referred to roadblocks thrown up by FBI Headquarters to impede the investigation of Zacarias Moussaoui. Zacarias Moussaoui (Arabic: ÒßÑíÇ ãæÓæí) (born May 30, 1968 in St Jean de Luz[2]) is a French citizen of Moroccan descent who was convicted of conspiring to kill Americans as part of the September 11, 2001, the so-called "20th Hijacker.") "HQ personnel never disclosed to the Minneapolis agents that the Phoenix division had, only approximately three weeks earlier, warned of al-Qaeda operatives in flight schools seeking flight training for terrorist purposes!" complained Rowley.
#1
According to the Telegraph, a local police official said "a case file on Tsarnaev was then handed over to the FBI along with a request for further information. However, the FBI never replied."
From Rt.com, last week
There just wasn't anything there
The FBI confirmed Friday that agents had interviewed Tamerlan Tsarnaev and other family members in 2011 at the request of a Russian intelligence agency but did not find any terrorism activity, domestic or foreign, they agency said in a statement on Friday.
"There just wasn't anything there," said a federal law enforcement official who has been briefed on the matter. "We ask that the government get back with us if they develop new information, but they did not. The Russians seemed satisfied, so we closed it."
#2
Other news stated the FBI was unaware of last year's sojourn by Tamerlan T in Russia. Little has been said about the reverse emigration of his parents from the USA back to Russia, which occurred in 2012.
Guess they never looked at any of his immediate family, noticed his beard, bad temper, past violent convictions, took note of his trouble down at the mosque, took any pitchers or vinger prints, spoke to any of his mysteriously deceased [via throat slashing] Jewish pals, lack of employment, heavy weed use, nutcase mom, long-distance father, punk brother, gun collection, or went onto the internets. eh Willy ?
We get hundreds of these per year. These racist Russian terrorist leads are worthless, what do they know about domestic terrorism anyways. Them Chechianiks is good ole boys, they're helping with the Arab Springy thing in Syria. Erik Holler ain't gonna like this stuff. Throw that into the shredder, don't bother to respond. We'll just call er a day.
All the Kings Horses and All The Kings Menthe agencies the government has created to protect usoften possess the requisite information needed to stop or supervise certain characters closely, but opt not to.
For example, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the suspect in the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound plane on Christmas or 2009. The FBI received advance warning about the 23-year-old Nigerian national, with reported links to al-Qaeda, from no other than his father. This good man the FBI discounted.
Maj. Nidad Hasan, any one? During his secure tenured career as a psychiatrist in the Army Medical Corps, Major Nidal, as he was known, openly proselytize for his faith. Preaching Islam to already traumatized patients did not hinder his rise through the ranks. Read Your Governments Jihadi Protection Program for the extent of the betrayal.
What do Muslim, bomb-carrying boys to do in order to get the attention of the scatterbrained schemers at Homeland Security? Go on Oprah? This is a cry for help!
And YOU want to entrust governmentan entity in which every single incentive to act productively is invertedwith your healthcare.
#6
I doubt it BP. I suspect the OP was handed off or transferred early on. The FBI is probably a convenient cut-out and cover action. Anyone who thinks this file fell on the floor and was forgotten about is totally naïve and misinformed.
#9
What do Muslim, bomb-carrying boys to do in order to get the attention of the scatterbrained schemers at Homeland Security?
They just have to blow up some Americans or kill them in other colorful ways.
#10
He reportedly didn't trigger the watch list due to his name being misspelled.
Didn't he need his passport to get onto a plane and back into the USA? Is his name spelled differently there? I don't buy that excuse.
Note well: Last Thursday night / Friday morning I was able, using the search term "Dzhokhar Tsarnaev", to find the Russian Facebook equivalent used by him, even though the spelling on that website differs from the name currently being used by the media. Google did a search on variant spellings automatically.
#12
Other news stated the FBI was unaware of last year's sojourn by Tamerlan T in Russia
Yea right, his Obamaphone went dead and he just disappeared on us for 6 months and nobody thought ask the family about his absence or give the Russians a heads up. But he skyped on the internets back to the wife once a day from Russia and nobody at Fort Meade picked that up either.
Oh and.... the Russians never thought to tell us the bastid was in country. Then he just fok'ing slipped back in again like a good non US person Chechen and no one noticed. Ok, I got it.
#13
You know, I'm saddened and angry beyond words about the bombing, but I'm even MORE angry that we are continuing to be fed this absolute line of total bullshi* by our own government.
The system pinged when he was leaving the United States, she said. By the time he returned the matter had been closed, a reference to the FBI investigation of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, based on a tip from the Russian government.
She said, There was a mismatch because his name was misspelled on his Aeroflot airplane ticket. Even with the misspelling, under our current system there are redundancies, and so the system did ping when he was leaving the United States.
But Sen. Lindsey Graham, R- S.C. asked Napolitano,
The system picked up his departure, but did not pick up him coming back -- is that correct? She replied, Thats my understanding.
But she repeated that by then the FBI probe had expired.
#16
We will learn lessons from this attack, just as we have from past instances of terrorism and violent extremism. We will apply those; we will emerge even stronger."
Seems we've heard this before. I just can't remember when...
Police in Massachusetts are re-examining a brutal 2011 triple murder involving the best friend of the now-dead suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings.
Authorities have confirmed they are investigating a possible link between Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, killed during a gun battle with police on Friday, and the murder of a man said to be his close friend, Brendan Mess, 25. Also killed were Erik Weissman, 31, and Raphael Teken, 37.
The bodies of the men were discovered in September 2011 at Mess's home in the Boston suburb of Waltham. Each of the men's throats were slashed and they were almost decapitated. Their mutilated bodies were covered with marijuana.
Guy shoots girlfriend, decides to shoot anyone else, too. F*cking dumbass.
From TFA:
Five people died late Sunday in shootings at an apartment complex near Seattle, including one man shot by police, authorities said.
When officers arrived at the scene in Federal Way, Washington, just south of Seattle, they could still hear gunfire, said police spokeswoman Cathy Schrock. They also saw two men lying wounded in a parking lot.
Police attempted to rescue the injured men, but one of them reached for a gun, and the officers opened fire, killing him. The second wounded man also died, Schrock told CNN affiliate KOMO.
[Al Ahram] The father of the suspected Boston bombers insisted in an interview published Monday that his sons Tamerlan and Dzhokhar were innocent and could not have carried out the bombings.
Their plans for the future had included returning to work in Russia, Anzor Tsarnaev said in the telephone interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda daily, adding that he hoped to travel to the United States where his younger son Dzhokhar is in hospital after his capture with serious injuries.
"I only know what they are showing on television. We plan to go and see him in America if Allah permits."
His two sons "were studying and working" in the United States, he said.
He said that he last spoke to his elder son Tamerlan Tsarnaev after the bombings. His son told him then that he had received a phone call saying he was a suspect, he said.
The men's father argued that the attacks were somehow orchestrated by the FBI, who he said "kept my Tamerlan constantly under surveillance."
"They just wanted to set up Tamerlan and Dzhokhar just turned out to be in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said.
"Tamerlan was driving him to school when they started shooting at them," he claimed.
"Tamerlan was driving him to school when they started shooting at them," he claimed.
"This is a set-up, a political order, a Hollywood show."
"Tamerlan changed jobs a few times: he delivered post, he changed tyres, he was a boxing trainer and in recent months a baby sitter -- he sat at home with his three-year-old child. His wife worked. She looked after disabled people."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
"This is a set-up, a political order, a Hollywood show."
Obviously he's viewed 'The Raid on Osama bin Laden' too many times.
#2
When the mom came out with some of the same stuff the other day, I thought it was an indication the family is more intimately tied into the radical Islam, Chechnya Emirate, Jihad than we thought.
If the Father was here on "Political Asylum" why did he go back?
The things the mom and dad are saying sound a lot like the crap the PFLP supporters would say about their suicide bomber kids.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/23/2013 10:28 Comments ||
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#3
Let Dad come back, then send him on a tropical vacation to Gitmo.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
04/23/2013 11:34 Comments ||
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I think this is page 7 of Ad Lib's Jihadi Stories (748, Random Mosque Publications).
Your son was such a loser he couldn't keep a job delivering posts - 14 year olds are able to deliver posts. His wife made the money, he cleaned the kitchen then slinked off to the gym to get his clock cleaned - while he wasn't winking at the young boys and having naughty thoughts.
#6
Don't know what the Al Queda playbook says but I'd have everyone proclaim the innocence and muddle the issue for the useful idiots to help divide your target.
[Dawn] Pakistain Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto will lead the election campaign through a video link because of a threat to his life, said Sindh PPP Secretary General Taj Haider on Sunday.
While addressing a presser at the 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... Press Club on Sunday, Mr Haider, who was flanked by other party leaders, said in order to take the party message to every home the PPP had released its CDs containing party programme, anthems and a message of the party leadership.
In reply to a question, he said that the PPP did not have any electoral alliance with any party and it would not even like to have an alliance with any other party.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2013 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... (PTI) chairman Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who ain't the sharpest bulb on the national tree... has said that he will salvage the nation from the American slavery and restore lasting peace to the region, if voted to power.
He was speaking at election rallies in Karak and Dera Ismail Khan ... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ... during a daylong tour of southern districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... on Sunday to formally launch the PTI election campaign.
Mr Khan told mammoth public gatherings that a "new Pakistain" would emerge after three weeks, where people would live with peace and the plunderers of national wealth would be taken to task.
The PTI chief said that after coming to power he would break the shackles of US slavery and would generate revenue by utilising the country's own resources.
He said that he would call back the army from the tribal areas and pull out the country from the US war to establish peace in the region. The military would not be used against own citizen of the country, he said and added that peace was the first condition
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
he would break the shackles of US slavery and would generate revenue by utilising the country's own resources.
According to the CIA Factbook, Pakistain's natural resources consist mainly of internal political disputes. I'm really not sure you can call scheming against the other factions in your country 'resources', but never mind. If you can deliver Pakistain from Pakistain they should make you king.
[Dawn] Some 200,000 members of Pakistain's minority Ahmadi community will boycott next month's election in protest at their treatment by the authorities, a front man said Monday.
"We have been boycotting the election process since 1985 when Ahmadi voters were put in the list of religious minorities," Saleemuddin, a front man for Jamaat-e-Ahmadiya told AFP.
Election registration forms require voters to give their religion and address and Ahmadis refuse to complete them for fear of being attacked.
He said the community wanted its voters to be included in the joint electorate system.
"We will stay away from the election and boycott it like in the past to register our protest," he said.
Pakistain goes to the polls on May 11 for a general election that should see the first democratic transition from one civilian government to another after the completion of a five-year mandate.
Election registration forms require voters to give their religion and address and Ahmadis refuse to complete them for fear of being attacked. Their graveyards are often targeted and in 2010 nearly 100 people were killed in Lahore after gunnies stormed two Ahmadi prayer halls.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2013 00:00 ||
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[Xinhua] Iran's Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi categorically denied claims about al-Qaeda's activities in his country, stressing that such allegations are "ridiculous," semi-official Fars news agency reported Tuesday.
On Monday, Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Canada had foiled an al-Qaeda-supported terror plot against a domestic passenger train by arresting two suspects.
Police said neither of the two suspects is Canadian and they had received direction and guidance from "al-Qaeda elements" in Iran.
On Tuesday, Salehi said assertions about al-Qaeda's activities in Iran are "the most ridiculous claims" that he has ever heard. " It is a sheer lie, a scandalous lie that surprised me."
Also, Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Ramin Mehmenparast, on Tuesday dismissed the accusations from Canada.
No proof or document has been presented by the Canadian officials about the case, Mehmenparast said in his weekly press briefing.
"The political and ideological views of the beturbanned goon groups, especially al-Qaeda beturbanned goons, are by no means consistent with those of the Islamic republic," said Mehmenparast.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2013 13:21 ||
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[Al Ahram] The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... offered fresh aid Monday to Syria's opposition, easing an EU oil embargo in favour of the rebels fighting Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad, Despoiler of Deraa... but stopping short of supplying offensive weapons. Good idea. They can use the money to buy guns and ammunition from the Russers.
In a new signal of support, EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg formally adopted measures enabling EU companies on a case-by-case basis to import Syrian crude and export oil production technology and investment cash to areas in the hands of the opposition.
"We want regions controlled by the opposition to develop, we want to help economic reconstruction," said German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle on arriving for the talks.
"People will see there is a real alternative to the Assad regime exists."
This first easing in two years of harsh sanctions against Damascus ...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat... aims to help tilt the balance in the conflict but is a response to complaints by the civilian population that international sanctions are harming ordinary Syrians more than they are the regime, EU sources said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Hizbullah official Sheikh Nabil Qaouq has said the party's fighters had a moral and nationalistic duty to protect Lebanese citizens from rebels in villages and towns on the Syrian-Lebanese border.
"What Hizbullah is doing regarding this issue is a nationalistic and moral duty in protecting the Lebanese in border villages," Qaouq, who is the deputy head of the party's executive council, said.
The Syrian National Coalition -- the main opposition group -- warned on Sunday that Hizbullah's involvement in Syria's civil war could lead to greater risks in the area, and urged the Lebanese government to "adopt the necessary measures to stop the aggression of Hizbullah" and to control the border to "protect civilians in the area."
The statement coincided with a surge in fighting around the contested town of Qusayr in Syria's Homs province near the frontier with Leb.
Reports said that over the past two weeks, the Syrian military, supported by Hizbullah fighters, has pushed to regain control of the border area.
The pro-regime gunnies are members of the Popular Committees, which were set up last year in Syria with Hizbullah's backing to protect Syrian villages inhabited by Lebanese Shiites, although rebels accuse the fighters of attacking opposition villages in the area and fighting alongside government forces.
While Hizbullah confirms backing the Popular Committees, it denies taking part in Syria's civil war.
Qaouq snapped back at critics, saying Hizbullah "would not leave citizens in border villages to be killed, kidnapped and massacred."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Moral. Hizbullah. Right.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
04/23/2013 9:38 Comments ||
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#2
All depends on your definition of 'moral.' In the Arabic-speaking world it can be pretty convoluted.I think it's because they have to translate from eight or nine explanatory sentences to a single English word.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2013 10:40 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] Iran wants Syria's embattled Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... to stay on and contest the presidential election scheduled for next year, a visiting senior Iranian envoy said on Monday.
"We think the best scenario is for Mr. Assad to remain president of the republic until the summer of 2014," said Aladin Borujerdi, head of parliament's national security and foreign affairs commission.
"After that, free elections will be held and the Syrian people can express themselves and decide on their future," he told a Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... presser after a meeting with Iran's ally Assad.
He criticized neighboring countries which support rebels fighting to oust Assad, charging they were "seeking to deepen dissent and the crisis" in Syria.
Such countries, which he did not name, "must know that this crisis will end sooner or later and then only the bad policies of these states will stay behind in the memory of the Syrian people," said Borujerdi.
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04/23/2013 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia
[An Nahar] Islamist holy man Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir, the imam of Sidon's Bilal bin Rabah Mosque, on Monday announced the creation of the "Free Resistance Brigades," urging whoever is capable of heading to Syria to go there to aid "the oppressed" in Qusayr and Homs.
Asir called on "all the Lebanese who fear attacks by Iran's party (Hizbullah) in Leb to arm themselves and form 5-member secret cells in order to be ready to exclusively defend themselves and their families should the need arise."
He also called for fundraising in order to finance jihadist fighters seeking to enter Syria "to support our people."
Meanwhile, ...back at the wrecked scow, Harrigan had lost the feeling in his legs from the cold. I told 'em they'd never take me alive, he thought. I was right!... Salafist holy man Sheikh Salem al-Rafehi of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... announced that he has decided to "send men and weapons in support of our Sunni brothers in Qusayr."
He called on "all Sunni men to be fully prepared ahead of sending the first batch (of fighters) to perform the jihadist duty in Qusayr."
Addressing President Michel Suleiman ...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... , Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, a member of AMAL, a not very subtle Hizbullah sock puppet... and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati, Rafehi added: "Your silence over Hizbullah's interference and attacks against Lebanese and Syrians in Qusayr opens the doors of Leb to a sectarian strife."
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Monday said elite fighters from Hizbullah are leading the fight against rebels in the region of Qusayr in the central province of Homs.
"It's Hizbullah that is leading the battle in Qusayr, with its elite forces," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"It's not necessarily fighters coming from Leb. It's Hizbullah fighters from Shiite villages on the Syrian side which are inhabited by Lebanese," he said.
Over the weekend, Syrian regime forces retook control of a string of strategic villages in the region, which is along the border with Leb.
That raised fears among rebels that the town of Qusayr itself, a stronghold of the uprising, could fall into government hands.
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04/23/2013 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hezbollah
[An Nahar] Influential Moslemholy man Youssef al-Qaradawi ...crackpot Egyptian Islamist theologian. He is best known for his program Shariah and Life on Al Jazeera, with an estimated audience of 60 million kindred souls worldwide. He is also well-known for IslamOnline, which occasionally advocates things like slavery and thumping the old lady with a rod no thicker than an inch, and has published more than 120 books, including Islam: The Future Civilization. Joe has long had a prominent role within the intellectual leadership of the Moslem Brüderbund. Some of his views have been controversial in the West, though less so among the rubes of the Mysterious East, and he was refused entry to the United Kingdom in 2008. In 2004, 2,500 Muslim academics from Saudi Arabia, Iraq and from the Palestinian territories condemned Qaradawi, and accused him of giving Islam a bad name.... on Monday urged al-Nusra Front to stay loyal to the mainstream Syrian rebel army, describing its pledge of fealty to al-Qaeda as dangerous.
"Al-Nusra Front, which has done very well in its jihad (holy war) against the tyrant regime of Damascus ...The capital of Iran's Syrian satrapy... , should ... remain within the ranks of the Free (Syrian) Army, to maintain unity," the International Union of Moslem Scholars which he heads said in a statement.
"This pledge causes internal and external dangers, and its impact on the revolution is dangerous, because it breaks the ranks of the mujahedeen," the Doha-based group said.
Listed by Washington as a "terrorist" group, al-Nusra has been playing an effective role in the fight against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... 's forces.
It has long been suspected of links to Al-Qaeda in Iraq, but the announcement of an alleged merger between the groups and its pledge to al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... earlier this month have raised hackles among some in the Syrian opposition.
The union urged al-Nusra Front "to leave the issue of rule and state in Syria until after the liberation, when the people can freely choose an Islamic system or any other system of rule."
It warned that the pledge to al-Qaeda only "strengthens" the Assad regime.
Rebel fighters and activists have been reluctant to criticize the group publicly, unwilling to alienate one of the fiercest fighting forces battling the regime.
When the United States designated the group a "terrorist" organization last December, the Syrian National Coalition and other opposition groups criticized the decision.
But there has been discomfort with both al-Nusra's tactics, including suicide kabooms, and its explicit calls for the establishment of an Islamic state in Syria.
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04/23/2013 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Nusra
[An Nahar] Lebanese Forces A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb... leader Samir Geagea ... Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005 ... condemned on Monday the kidnap of Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Aleppo Youhanna Ibrahim and Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Aleppo and Iskanderun Boulos al-Yaziji, describing the incident as "an act of terrorism."
"We promise to contact Arab officials to find, as soon as possible, a solution for this issue," Geagea told Metropolitan of Aleppo and Iskanderun Boulos al-Yazij over a phone conversation.
The LF leader had released a statement prior to his talks with al-Yaziji, describing the kidnap as a "terrorist act that serves the interests of the Syrian people's enemies and is against their bloody fight for freedom."
The state-run National News Agency had reported earlier on Monday that Ibrahim and al-Yaziji were kidnapped at the hands of gunnies near the northern Syrian city.
"An gang intercepted the vehicle carrying both men and forced them to step out of the car, killing the driver and abducting archbishops Ibrahim and Yaziji," the agency detailed.
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04/23/2013 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] The Syrian National Coalition named veteran dissident George Sabra as caretaker leader of the main opposition grouping on Monday, following the resignation of Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib. Sabra "was assigned today to carry out the functions of the head of the Coalition until elections for a new president," one of the Coalition's main constituent groups, the Syrian National Council, said in a statement.
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04/23/2013 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.
Zawahiri
Khaleda Zia
[Al Ahram] The father of the suspected Boston bombers insisted in an interview published Monday that his sons Tamerlan and Dzhokhar were innocent and could not have carried out the bombings.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Najib Miqati
Samir Geagea
