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Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Opinion        Politix   
Syria Calls for Urgent Arab Summit
Today's Headlines
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Page 6: Politix
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Iowahawk
With Apologies to Allan Sherman
Off you go; click the link, you won't regret it.
Posted by: Beavis || 11/14/2011 11:57 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Woke up quick, at about noon
just knew that I had to get to Wall Street soon
Gotta get high before the day begins
before my mother starts bitchn' about my trends

About to chant, damn near went blind
Old guys in the park jerkin between their theighs
Ran in my tent, and took a hit
Held the apple-mac closer to my hip

Wailed outside and started my dancin
As if on cue, guy fawlks started prancin
Walked over to Jamba, had some juice on my mind
Hit Micky D's, hate pissin outside

Then we let the drummers play
Group hugs started straight, transgender, and gay
They are neo-hippies if you get my drift
Then I took a little walk it looked something like this

Walked to catered lunch kinda slow
peeps shitting on benches, groping the girls
Afraid of TB, really need to poop
Jay-z shirts are cold making some loot

Guy walks by, what did he say?
Homeless crashed the park ate my fricasee
Organizers flush with case come running my way
Say they're gonna go deposit it with B-O-A

Cuz the 1% is evil and all
Learned that from 99% hanging at the mall
Knowin nothing in life but complaints and quips
Give me some money though I ain't done shit
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/14/2011 14:33 Comments || Top||

#2  *wife said not everyone listens to crap, you look crazy.

So, NSFW, eazy-e.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/14/2011 20:44 Comments || Top||

#3  fine waste of mid-60's Chevies.....
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 11/14/2011 23:38 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
3 gunmen took part in attack on Mayor
[Bangla Daily Star] Having been shot in the chest twice by a masked gunman, Narsingdi mayor Lokman Hossain sprung up from his chair and looked around for shelter. But in no time, another youth, also masked, entered the room and fired into his abdomen.

Three masked gunnies actively took part in the killing of the popular municipal mayor on November 1, The Daily Star has learnt from witnesses.

Five others, who also had their faces covered, stood guard outside, said Md Zaman, who witnessed the killing mission.

The first gunman stormed the district Awami League office on Sadar Road, where Lokman was talking with some locals about preparations for Eid celebrations, between 7:30pm and 7:45pm and asked all those present in the room to leave at once. Aged about 25, he was wearing black trousers and a blue T-shirt.

In his 20s, the second gunman was in a blue shirt, added Zaman.

"Lokman Bhai screamed before he collapsed. Then a third criminal rushed into the room and started shooting at him," said Sudipta Saha, one of Lokman's close friends, who was also present at the time.

However,
we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by...
no witness could remember either what the third gunman was wearing or guess his age.

At the time, there was no electricity in the AL office. It was then running on a generator.

An official of the Palli Bidyut office in Narsingdi told The Daily Star earlier that there was no scheduled power outages in the area between 7:00pm and 8:00pm on the day of the killing. He said the power lines of the office might have been snapped by someone from outside.

The assailants left the room as soon as Lokman fell on the ground, Sudipta said, adding that they fired two shots in the air as they left the office.

"I started chasing one of the killers. He turned around and shot at me. But I didn't stop. After running for some distance, I saw two other youths running away," said Zaman.

"I shouted for help in catching them even as I continued running behind one of them. But I had to give in when he again fired at me. I lay down on the street to save myself from the bullets," he said, adding that the killers by that time had managed to flee the area.

He said he could not recognise any of the assailants as they were all masked.

Hearing him screaming, some locals came out to help. But the killers continued firing in the air so that no one could go near them.

Ohi Bhushan Chakrabarti, a vice president of Narsingdi district AL, who was sitting to Lokman's left during the shooting, said he was stunned and for a few seconds could not decide what to do.

He then started screaming for help, holding Lokman in his arms. Lokman was bleeding profusely, he said.

Local people gathered in the room in 10 to 15 minutes by which time Lokman was set to be sent to hospital.

He was first taken to a local hospital and later shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where he died after a three-hour battle for life.
Posted by: Fred || 11/14/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


Cops arrest top suspect
[Bangla Daily Star] Detective police last night locked away Tippon Kazi, a listed criminal of Narsingdi, in connection with the Narsingdi municipality mayor Lokman Hossain murder case.

Tippon, also a member of Narsingdi district Jubo League
... the youth wing of the Bangla Awami League...
committee, a pro-Awami League youth body, is accused in 21 criminal cases including two murder cases, sources say.
Truly a prodigy, to have accomplished so much while still counted among the yoots of the nation!
However,
a woman is only as old as she admits...
Tippon was not accused in the Lokman murder case filed by Lokman's brother Kamruzzaman on November 3 with Narsingdi Model Police Station. Kamruzzaman accused 14 people in the case.

Narsingdi police sources said a police team locked away Tippon at his hideout in Gopalnathpur village in Gopalganj around 7:00pm. They suspect that Tippon was involved in the Lokman liquidation on November 1.

Narsingdi Superintendent of Police Khandker Mohid Uddin said Tippon of Satirpara of the town is a listed criminal of Narsingdi. Mohid earlier told newsmen that they are very close to identifying the people involved in the killing and hoped that the perpetrators will be locked away "very soon".

Meanwhile,
...back at the fist fight, Jake ducked another roundhouse, then parried with his left, then with his right, finally with his chin...
the Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court in Narsingdi yesterday sent Mohammad Selim on a four-day remand. Selim was jugged by police on November 8 at Tongi in connection with the Lokman murder case.

Police had sought a seven-day remand for Selim. They said Selim provided "significant clues" to the liquidation during preliminary interrogation.

Selim was shown locked away yesterday in the Lokman murder case and produced before the court.

Police sources claimed that Selim is a relative of Mobarak Hossain Moba, a Jubo League leader of Narsingdi who is accused number three in the Lokman murder case. They say that Moba used Selim's cycle of violence for reconnaissance of the Awami League office area before the killing and the same bike was found abandoned at the spot after the killing.

Police sources said they suspect Moba took part in the planning of the hit and hiring of the goons. They think Moba left for Malaysia a fortnight before the murder to make his alibi.

Lokman, twice best mayor award winner and general secretary of Narsingdi town unit of Awami League, was shot by masked gunnies inside the town Awami League office on November 1 when he was talking to his party men. He died in Dhaka Medical College Hospital three hours later.
Posted by: Fred || 11/14/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Caribbean-Latin America
PRI sweeps Michoacan state posts including governor -- UPDATED
For a map, click here. For a map of Michoacan, click here. Updating with final vote tallys.
A coalition of political parties headed up by the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) has swept the slate in Michoacan's state elections Sunday.

Fausto Vallejo for the PRI coalition has defeated Luisa Maria Calderon Hinojosa for Partico Accion Nacional (PAN) and Silvano Aureoles Conejo for the Partido Revolucion Democratica (PRD) in a closely contested race.

PRD held the governor's seat and will relinquish it in January.

Voter participation was average at about 54 percent of registered voters casting ballots. PRI's coalition garnered 563,598 for 35.39 percent of the vote, while Luisa Calderon Hinojosa gained 520,333 votes or 32.67 percent. The PRD/PT candidate, received 459,953 votes with 28.88 percent. It has been generally noted throughout Mexican press reports that anything less than a 60,000 vote margin would be considered a close election.

Monitoring election returns, early results had been a seesaw between Vallejo and Calderon Hinojosa with the two swapping places at least twice. But sometime around 0100 hrs CST, with about 25 percent of the votes counted, Valljo began to pull away from his rivals.

In the state Chamber of Deputies, the PRI coalition won 11 of 24 seats with PRD holding 8 and PAN winning 6, meaning PRI does not have control of the legislature. Unless PRI makes overtures to either PAN or PRD, a coalition between PAN and PRD is likely to rule the Chamber of Deputies.
Posted by: badanov || 11/14/2011 06:57 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Things must really suck in Mexico if these bums are back in power.
Posted by: SteveS || 11/14/2011 18:24 Comments || Top||


Police Move to Wrest Control of Brazil's Largest Favela
[An Nahar] Police forces here launched a major operation early on Sunday to wrest from criminals' control of the Rocinha favela, the largest in Brazil.

The shantytown has been controlled by narcotraffickers for the past 30 years.
I'm told this kind of thing is a regular exercise in Brazil, but one can hope this time it will have a long term effect...
Rio has one of the highest murder rates in the country and the crackdown on Rocinha narco gangs is part of an official campaign since 2008 to restore security in the city before the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics, which Brazil will host.

Rocinha, built on a steep hillside overlooking the "Marvelous City" and located between two wealthy neighborhoods, would thus become the 19th favela to be cleared of traffickers.

Endemic and chronic urban violence has long tarnished the image of Rio, where more than 1.5 million people live in 1,000 slums spread throughout the city.

Antonio Bonfim Lopes -- also known as "Nem" and considered one of Rio's most wanted criminals -- was caught in the area last week as police tightened their noose ahead of the assault on Rocinha.

Posted by: Fred || 11/14/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russia: We will honor Syria arms contracts
Russia will honor all arms contacts with Syria despite continuing violence against anti-government protesters in the country, a senior military official said on Sunday.

“Since there are no restrictions on the supply of arms to Syria, Russia will fulfill its obligations under the contracts signed with this country,” Vyacheslav Dzirkaln, deputy head of Russia’s Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation, told reporters in Dubai. Dzirkaln said Moscow saw “dialogue between the government and opposition as the only solution to the current crisis” and called on Damascus to end its crackdown on protesters.

Dzirkaln also warned against a “repetition of the Libyan scenario” in the country. He said Russia was keen to resume arms sales to Libya. In September, Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) chair Mustafa Abdul Jalil said his country would not buy Russian arms.

Dzirkaln also said Russia hoped to continue arms sales to Yemen when violence there ended.
Posted by: Pappy || 11/14/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
Obama to China: Behave like "grown up" economy
President Barack Obama served notice on Sunday that the United States was fed up with China's trade and currency practices as he turned up the heat on America's biggest economic rival.

"Enough's enough," Obama said bluntly at a closing news conference of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit where he scored a significant breakthrough in his push to create a pan-Pacific free trade zone and promote green technologies.

Using some of his toughest language yet against China, Obama, a day after face-to-face talks with President Hu Jintao, demanded that China stop "gaming" the international system and create a level playing field for U.S. and other foreign businesses.

"We're going to continue to be firm that China operate by the same rules as everyone else," Obama told reporters after hosting the 21-nation APEC summit in his native Honolulu. "We don't want them taking advantage of the United States."

China shot back that it refused to abide by international economic rules that it had no part in writing.

"First we have to know whose rules we are talking about," Pang Sen, a deputy director-general at China's Foreign Ministry said.

"If the rules are made collectively through agreement and China is a part of it, then China will abide by them. If rules are decided by one or even several countries, China does not have the obligation to abide by that."

Even as Obama issued the veiled threat of further punitive action against China, it was unclear how much of his tough rhetoric was, at least in part, political posturing aimed at economically weary U.S. voters who will decide next November whether to give him a second term.

Obama insisted that China allow its currency to rise faster in value, saying it was being kept artificially low and was

hurting American companies and jobs. He said China, which often presents itself as a developing country, is now "grown up" and should act that way in global economic affairs.
Posted by: tipper || 11/14/2011 02:05 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Am I getting the vibe that chinas being blamed for the state of the global economy?
Posted by: Thrert Elmoluse8003 || 11/14/2011 2:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Obama to China: Behave like "grown up" economy

China to Obama: You first, Barky...
Posted by: badanov || 11/14/2011 2:40 Comments || Top||

#3  Shut up POTUS. You must understand the damage you create must be rectified, and maybe you are counting on not being there for the bill.

You have a pis poor attitude and you do not know what you are doing. Why don't you surround yourself with people who know their ass from a hole in the ground.

The less you say, the better.
Posted by: newc || 11/14/2011 4:37 Comments || Top||

#4  Why do I get the feeling that Euro+Us co-ordinated debt default is in the works sticking China with the haircut.
Posted by: phil_b || 11/14/2011 7:01 Comments || Top||

#5  calling China a predatory lender at 5% isn't going to be believed by anyone except the msm.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 11/14/2011 8:04 Comments || Top||

#6  *sigh* My apologies, Thrert Elmoluse8003. Fred will fix that when he pokes his head in. In the meantime, here is the perfectly innocent thing you posted:

#1  Am I getting the vibe that chinas being blamed for the state of the global economy?

Posted by: Thrert Elmoluse8003   2011-11-14 02:23  
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/14/2011 9:34 Comments || Top||

#7  Behave like "grown up" economy

= give up the profit motive?

Posted by: gr(o)mgoru || 11/14/2011 10:09 Comments || Top||

#8  gr(o)mgoru seems to be suffering from excess mendiola exposure.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 11/14/2011 10:23 Comments || Top||

#9  Smart diplomacy on display. This guy is so embarrassing.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 11/14/2011 10:34 Comments || Top||

#10  excess mendiola exposure.

Nothing a few coconut donuts wouldn't fix.
Posted by: SteveS || 11/14/2011 10:40 Comments || Top||

#11  Oh, Obama is actually correct on this. But it's way too little, way too late, from a leader who has undercut any negotiating strength we might have had on the subject.
Posted by: lotp || 11/14/2011 10:42 Comments || Top||

#12  The next target of the Blame Campaign™.
Posted by: DoDo || 11/14/2011 10:44 Comments || Top||

#13  By emasculating our industry at home he's actually worked to give China sooooo much power...

Much the same way the liberal emasculation of industry has empowered all the banksters and speculators they enjoy pretending to loathe at the Occupy My Private Parts demonstrations. They're all shocked, SHOCKED to find that gambling is going on in this establishment.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 11/14/2011 11:00 Comments || Top||

#14  So is this all that "smart" diplomacy I heard so much about? Seems weak...
Posted by: DarthVader || 11/14/2011 12:26 Comments || Top||

#15  We need to punish China. I have an idea: Let's force them to take filthy Canadian oil.
Posted by: Perfesser || 11/14/2011 14:05 Comments || Top||

#16  They are, we are not.

Because when the ship of state has loose cannons its hard to play shuffleboard.

Example, Keystone Pipeline, not like it came out of nowhere (neither did that Boeing plant), but by punting you create the very uncertainty business hate.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/14/2011 14:47 Comments || Top||

#17  For a guy who knows so little he certainly mouths off a lot.
Posted by: JohnQC || 11/14/2011 16:05 Comments || Top||

#18  They'll grow up right after voters here grow a brain.
Posted by: gorb || 11/14/2011 19:51 Comments || Top||

#19  phil b: The US/EU has botched everything else, so that would be a clever out. Caveat emptor, bitchez. I wouldn't really have a problem with that. Should I?
Posted by: RandomJD || 11/14/2011 21:44 Comments || Top||

#20  As per CHINA DAILY FORM > DAGONG GLOBAL CREDIT ratings agency is warning the US could be downgraded again due to the inability of Washington-critters to get a handle on US debt.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 11/14/2011 22:25 Comments || Top||

#21  Our Amerikan Pharaoh sez,

“So let it be written, so let it be done”.

Please get with the "Program" people...
Posted by: Angoper Smith4384 || 11/14/2011 22:26 Comments || Top||


Inscrutable Chinese Somethings, And They're Big
One is reminded of von Daniken's Chariots of the Gods theory, although Red China claims to be atheist...
Posted by: Anonymoose || 11/14/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Streets for "New Towns" laid out before the economic collapse?
Posted by: Water Modem || 11/14/2011 0:48 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/14/2011 2:12 Comments || Top||

#3  Glenn Reynolds has an interesting take on this.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/14/2011 4:01 Comments || Top||

#4  It all started over a cup of tea.

Lui - You know if we laid all those American Treasury Bonds end to end....
Posted by: Procopius2k || 11/14/2011 8:17 Comments || Top||

#5  Chinese WPA projects. Now that they made the "roads" they can smooth them all out. Not as sophisticated as "green jobs" but even better as make work.
Posted by: AlanC || 11/14/2011 8:42 Comments || Top||

#6  LOL, P2k!
Posted by: gr(o)mgoru || 11/14/2011 8:42 Comments || Top||

#7  Well, now that I'm in something of a alcohol free state and can actually see the pictures, I'm interested.

The airport runway is just fascinating to me. The older structure to the left is covered with mounds of debris. I first thought these were blast holes but it became apparent this was scrapings to level the plain for the new cyan structure to the right. The vehicle tracks suggest it was 'mined' for the surface material.

I also thought the cyan textures were scan lines from the imager, then realized these were sheets of material laid end-to-end(note lack of apparent corrosion). Some time ago it seems. You can see it is flooded with erosion debris.

In the upper right, note the 'blue' roofed buildings now in decay, and power distribution grid of pylons. Below that some 1500 feet is what appears to have been the 'workers city' of trailer stands, roads and utilities. Fascinating.

I was struggling with the pattern of the 'runway', then I ran across a memory of a laser beam-splitter experiment. Much smaller scale of course. Laser thru a prism, two paths, one longer than the other. Light arrives at the collector from the two paths, one leg delayed because of the longer path.(http://www.edmundoptics.com/products/displayproduct.cfm?productid=1939)

Given all of that, further examination of the upper left end of the cyan 'runway' shows a field of high energy strikes, dense in the center.

Not a metered target, that's one of the other structures(40.458679,93.31314). Looks like an experiment in targeting aircraft(shuttles?).

Somebody help me here: A directed plasma from an orbital generation platform as an energy source? A lightning gun? A speed-of-light, time delay experiment? A collider?

Now we know where all of the aluminum went.
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/14/2011 12:32 Comments || Top||

#8  Now this one looks like surface maintenance roads for a buried saw wave amplifier.
That's a lot of copper.
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/14/2011 12:48 Comments || Top||

#9  I checked. The physics won't support the amplifier idea. Maybe just an induction antenna.
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/14/2011 12:54 Comments || Top||

#10  Formatting fixed. Skidmark dear, next time please connect your link to a key word or words using the world-with-goggles icon in the box below the Pic-a-Nic thingy. Otherwise it breaks the site formatting. Thank you.
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/14/2011 13:13 Comments || Top||

#11 

Ancient Peruvians were a bit more artistic.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 11/14/2011 13:53 Comments || Top||

#12  My guess is its something bland like roads. Could be the Chinese are building a town, or a fake town to be used in military exercises. All that guesswork on the site about targetting just seems silly.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 11/14/2011 14:48 Comments || Top||

#13  Glad you enjoyed it RJ.

Thanks for the cleanup TW. I've not had a lot of luck with the World-link.
Posted by: Skidmark || 11/14/2011 14:58 Comments || Top||

#14  Why go to such measures for a PLA training area(s) that the US, etc. SATWAR can easily pick up???

Iff I were to make a single guess, I would say that China may be testing the overhead operat reliability + image accuracy, etc. of its own indigenous SATSYS, wid outcomes compared to signal datums received at ground monitoring stations.

IIRC China indic back in 2008 or 2009 that it would like to dev its own GPS Sys to complement its own China-specific "Beidou" internet system.

Iff modern engineering costs is too much for the National-State Budget, one can always fall back on traditional or antiquated methods combining HANDS-ON PHYSICAL MATH CALCS WID MILYUHNS + DILYUHNS = LOTS OF CHEAP, READILY AVAILAB MANPOWER + MATERIALS - the PLA is in the forefront because Beijing = Chinese Govt-State already pays them salary anyway.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 11/14/2011 19:22 Comments || Top||

#15  As per my above post ...

E.g. DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > THE NUMBER OF "YAOGAN" MILITARY RECONNAISSANCE SATELLITES HAS REACHED TWELVE (12).

China sources proclaim that the "YaoGan" MilRec satellite series has significant utility in the support of:
> Scientific experiments.
> Land Surveys.
> Crop Yield assessments
> Disaster(s) monoitoring.

Beijing likes to say that China's indigenous techs is par wid anything in the US-West + Russia, or soon enuff will be - IT HAS TO FIND AN INTERNAL WAY(S) OF RELIABLY TESTING THE MERITS OF ITS OWN CLAIMS.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 11/14/2011 22:37 Comments || Top||


Europe
"Italian Prussian" Monti enters political storm
Mario Monti, the economist who will head an emergency Italian government following the departure of Silvio Berlusconi, brings credentials earned in a decade of battles as a European Commissioner from the 1990s.

Monti made his name as the powerful Competition Commissioner who took on U.S. corporate titans General Electric and Microsoft, blocking GE's planned merger with rival Honeywell and imposing a record 497 million euro ($683 million) antitrust fine on the software giant.

His technical expertise, sharp intellect and diplomatic skills added to his refusal to bow to intense lobbying pressures made him one of the most highly regarded officials the Commission has seen.

"He didn't have a very Italian way of going about things," recalls one former ambassador, who worked with Monti in Brussels and remembers him as a hard but reliable negotiating partner. "His nickname in those days was 'The Italian Prussian'".

He was nominated by Berlusconi as internal markets commissioner in 1994, taking over the competition portfolio in 1999 where he served for five years.

Named last week as Senator for Life by President Giorgio Napolitano, Monti, 68, is expected to appoint a small cabinet made up largely of technical specialists to steer Italy through a crisis that has brought it to the brink of financial disaster.

A similar technocrat government under former Bank of Italy official Lamberto Dini passed important reforms in 1995 and the hope of many outside Italy is that Monti can do the same.

A convinced free marketeer with close connections to the European and global policy-making elite, Monti has always backed a more closely integrated euro zone and has written a series of articles in recent months lambasting the Berlusconi government's policy failures.

He is chairman of the European branch of the Trilateral Commission, a body that brings together the power elites of the United States, Europe and Japan and is also a member of the secretive Bilderberg Group of business leaders and other "leading citizens".
Posted by: tipper || 11/14/2011 01:57 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm surprised the author of that nonsense can write and cellars at the same time.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 11/14/2011 7:25 Comments || Top||

#2  cellars is what my idiotic phone changed fellate into.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 11/14/2011 7:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Trilateralists and Bilderbergers probably rate at about the same intellectual level as the anarchists holding up the banner that said, "Abolish Capitalism and Replace It With Something Good!"

Despite ivory tower credentials, they have no clue as to how business works. Instead they rely on theory and computer models made by equally clueless people.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 11/14/2011 7:44 Comments || Top||

#4  Italian Prussian
Now there's an oxymoron. Besides, "Senator for Life"? WTF kind of third-world joint are we dealing with here?
Posted by: Spot || 11/14/2011 7:58 Comments || Top||


Great White North
Honor-killing father said daughters betrayed Islam
The day before a Montreal man was charged with killing his three daughters and his first wife, he was recorded on a wiretap saying that even if he is sent to the gallows, nothing is more important than his honor.

"They betrayed kindness. They betrayed Islam. They betrayed our religion and creed. They betrayed our tradition. They betrayed everything," Mohammad Shafia is heard telling his wife, Tooba Mohammad Yahya.

Shafia, Yahya and their eldest son, Hamed Mohammad Shafia, 20, are each charged with four counts of first-degree murder. Three teenage Shafia sisters, Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13, along with Rona Amir Mohammad, 50, were discovered dead inside a car submerged in the Rideau Canal in June 2009.

Police hid a microphone in the Shafia family van after family members returned to collect the victims' belongings. On Tuesday, the courtroom listened to wiretap conversations recorded in the weeks between the day the bodies were found and the arrests.

During the taped exchanges, Shafia says "even if they hoist us onto the gallows ... we have not done anything bad."

Mohammed Shafia can be heard saying, "God curse their generation, they were filthy and rotten children. To hell with them and their boyfriends, may the devil shit on their grave."

The father goes on, comparing his daughters to prostitutes for having boyfriends, and saying that nothing is worth more to him than his honor.

Speaking to his son, Hamed, also charged with first-degree murder, Shafia said, "I'm happy and my conscience is clear. They haven't done good and God punished them."
Posted by: ryuge || 11/14/2011 23:05 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
India close to buying $1bn more in Russian helicopters
India is close to finalizing a second contract with Russia for another 59 Mi-17V-5 tactical transport helicopters after the phased delivery of the first 80 of these choppers began this fall, The Times of India reported on Sunday.

In November, India took the delivery of the first batch of 80 Mi-17V-5 helicopters ordered under a $1.345 billion deal in 2008. The Mi-17V-5 is designed for utility cargo work and can carry up to 36 passengers or four tons.
Posted by: Pappy || 11/14/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The fact that the Obama administration has dissed the Indians on multiple occasions of late has absolutely no relevance to this decision, I'm sure.
Posted by: lotp || 11/14/2011 17:55 Comments || Top||

#2  I understand its a handy piece of equipment for the price, perhaps someone more familiar could add.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 11/14/2011 20:49 Comments || Top||


Opposition's unconstitutional steps not to be tolerated: Gilani
[Dawn] Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani
... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ...
on Sunday said that unconstitutional steps of the opposition against an elected government would not be tolerated, stressing that government's reconciliatory policy should not be construed as weakness.

"The opposition may bring no-confidence move against me (the prime minister) or an impeachment motion against the president if it has developed certain disliking against the both," he said while addressing a public meeting after inaugurating various public development projects at Phalia.

The prime minister said PPP stood firm to its manifesto and the Charter of Democrcay (CoD) as per the vision and philosophy of the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, adding that PML-N president 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...
, one of the signatories of the CoD, had forgotten it.

He said that over 80 per cent of the Charter of Democracy has been implemented.

Gilani said PPP would not retreat from serving the public and strengthening democracy and democratic institutions in the country.

The premier announced to launch country-wide 'Carvan-e-Tameer' from Phalia, Mandi Bahauddin, adding that he would go from Bloody Karachi to Khyber to launch development projects.
Posted by: Fred || 11/14/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


PTI to hold talks with like minded parties: Imran
[Dawn] Chairman Pakistain Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan
... aka Taliban Khan, who ain't the sharpest bulb on the national tree...
said on Sunday that PTI will hold talks with like minded parties, having vision to make the country free of corruption.

Addressing a presser here after attending Central Executive Committee meeting, he said the PTI would hold talks with anti-status quo parties, having the vision to make the country free of corruption.

He said presently efforts are being made to strengthen the party. Alliance with any party may be made near general election, not now, he said.

He ruled out any possibility of an alliance with the Pakistain Peoples Party or Pakistain Moslem League- Nawaz in the next general elections.

He also announced to set up a scrutiny committee to probe the assets of the candidates. The responsibility of the committee is to dig out concealed assets of the politicians, who accumulated a lot of money but were reluctant to pay tax.

He claimed that the popularity graph of PTI was increasing day by day, especially after holding a successful public meeting in Lahore on October 30.

The PTI Chairman said that holding of elections would be ensured under an independent election commission, adding, the party would deploy ten youths at each polling booth across the country to monitor the voting process.
Posted by: Fred || 11/14/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Four shot dead on court premises
[Dawn] In what is being termed a major security lapse by some and a well-planned attack by the police, three under-trial handcuffed alleged murderers and a passer-by were rubbed out while another person was injured after their rivals targeted them on the strictly-guarded district court premises here on Saturday.

The four attackers managed to escape from the scene. At first, they snatched a cycle of violence at gunpoint from outside the court premises and then hijacked a taxi to escape toward Morgah. Police, however, claimed to have caught three of the accused and said hunt for the fourth was underway.

City Police Officer (CPO) Azhar Hameed Khokhar acknowledged a security lapse, and said 10 coppers guarding the prisoners had been suspended and more would be punished after conducting an inquiry into the incident.

The CPO was, however, jubilant over the arrest of three of the attackers and attributed it to the good work by the Morgah police.

The three under-trial prisoners involved in a triple-murder case registered with the Waris Khan police were brought to the district court from Adiala jail at around 10:30am for the proceedings of their two separate cases being tried in the court of additional district and sessions judge Chaudhry Amjad Nazeer and civil judge Ismail Tasleem.

Chaudhry Shaukat Ali, his brother Chaudhry Arshad Ali and their nephew Chaudhry Ghalib alias Mithu were brought to the court in an armoured personnel carrier (APC) amid tight security as they were considered `dangerous prisoners` who had been facing life threats and needed extra security.

"Seven to eight coppers were guarding the prisoners when the attackers opened fire on them from a close range, killing the three and a passer-by identified as Iqbal," the CPO said.

He added that the coppers guarding the prisoners didn`t retaliate only because of the presence of a large number of people around them.

Since entry into the district court premises, where the incident took place, was conditional to security clearance, the police sources told Dawn that the person responsible for taking weapons inside the guarded area was assumed to be a woman who might have defied security clearance and slipped into the guarded area.

"It is to be investigated that how the weapons were brought inside as nobody was allowed entry without a security check in the morning. Whoever is found guilty of security lapse would be punished," the CPO said.

It is pertinent to mention that the three killed in the attack were placed in durance vile by Waris Khan police for murdering Mohammad Shafeeq alias Sheikh Papu, Sadaqat Khan alias Kala Khan and Mushtaq Khan on September 27, 2009.

Chaudhry Shaukat Ali, his brother Chaudhry Arshad and their nephew Ghalib had been nominated as murderers by Nawaz Khan, the brother of Sadaqat Khan, and subsequently they were placed in durance vile.

Abdul Waheed, 41, who was injured in the attack, told Dawn from the hospital bed that he was coming out of the court along with his relatives when their rivals, who were wearing jackets and shawls, appeared on the scene and opened fire on them.

The survivor said: "When the attackers opened fire, the coppers guarding the under-trial prisoners beat feet from the scene leaving the handcuffed men behind. It all was done in connivance with the police because it was for the first time that the prisoners facing life threats from their rivals were brought out of the APC against the past practice."

Earlier, an attempt to murder the three inside the Adiala jail by smuggling weapons into the premises had been foiled by the jail authorities, he added.

Azhar Hameed Khokhar, the CPO, while talking to Dawn said a sub-inspector who was leading the coppers had requested the judge for remand custody of the accused without producing them in the court as he was reluctant to bring them out of the APC. "However,
there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly...
he had no other option except obeying the judge`s order to produce the accused in the court," he added.

The CPO said the motive behind the incident was `old enmity` between the two rival groups. During off-time, they managed to bring weapons into the court premises and acted on their plan when they got a chance.

The police handed over the bodies to their families after conducting the postmortem. A murder case was registered with the Civil Lines police against the accused.

The murder of four people inside the district court premises sparked panic among the lawyers who took out a rally and staged a demonstration in front of the CPO office. The protesting lawyers rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud against the CPO and demanded that security should be ensured for them. Later, the protesters dispersed peacefully.
Posted by: Fred || 11/14/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:



Who's in the News
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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2011-11-14
  Syria Calls for Urgent Arab Summit
Sun 2011-11-13
  Syrian brownshirts storm Saudi embassy
Sat 2011-11-12
  Iranian Terror Plot Against Bahrain Uncovered
Fri 2011-11-11
  Mexican minister who fought drug cartels killed in crash
Thu 2011-11-10
  Cash shortage threatens Pakistan flood aid
Wed 2011-11-09
  Kim Jong-il Death Rumors Rattle Markets
Tue 2011-11-08
  Syria Says U.S. behind 'Bloody Events', Urges Arab Help
Mon 2011-11-07
  19 Killed as Syrians Rally on Eid al-Adha
Sun 2011-11-06
  Suicide bomber kills six at mosque in Afghanistan
Sat 2011-11-05
  65 dead in Islamist raid on Nigerian town
Fri 2011-11-04
  Al-Shabaab militants fall back to defend Kismayu
Thu 2011-11-03
  Syrian tank fire kills two in Homs despite deal
Wed 2011-11-02
  Viktor Bout found guilty by NY NY court!
Tue 2011-11-01
  Unesco gives Palestinians full membership, U.S. pulls funding
Mon 2011-10-31
  Egypt brokers another truce to halt Gaza fighting


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