[The Nation (Nairobi)] Cote d'Ivoire on Sunday faced the threat of open conflict after a deadline set by Alassane Ouattara for his rival Laurent Gbagbo to quit passed unheeded.
As pressure mounted on Mr Gbagbo, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said West African regional body ECOWAS will decide on the next steps to deal with the political standoff in Cote d'Ivoire by Tuesday.
"On Cote d'Ivoire, President Jonathan said ECOWAS will decide on further steps to address the situation in the country by Tuesday next week after receiving subsequent reports from its emissaries," a statement said.
Self-proclaimed president Gbagbo vowed not to yield to growing pressure to cede power to Mr Ouattara, the internationally recognised winner of a November 28 presidential election, with both Britain and the US saying it was time to go.
The midnight deadline issued by Ouattara's camp came as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said reports had been received of "at least two mass graves" amid fears of crimes against humanity.
If Gbagbo quit before the start of the New Year, he would "have no worries", said Mr Ouattara's prime minister Guillaume Soro.
But Mr Gbagbo said in an address to the nation on Friday that he would not cede power to Mr Ouattara.
"We are not going to give up," Mr Gbagbo said in a New Year's address.
He said pressure from Ouattara's camp and world leaders for him to quit amounted to "an attempted coup d'etat carried out under the banner of the international community".
West African regional military chiefs have set in motion plans to oust the strongman if negotiations by regional mediators fail, a Nigerian defence front man, Colonel Mohamed Yerimah, told AFP in Lagos.
The chiefs of defence staff from ECOWAS met this week in the Nigerian capital "to put machinery in motion that if all political persuasions fail... ECOWAS will forcefully take over power from Laurent Gbagbo and hand over to Alassane Ouattara," he said.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said London would support military intervention in principle but said any such move should first be cleared by the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society.
Mr Hague said it was time for Mr Gbagbo "to recognise that he must go".
US State Department front man PJ Crowley said Gbagbo should step down, adding "we hope he will choose a peaceful transition".
UN human rights ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you... experts meanwhile said they feared gross human rights violations being committed in Ivory Coast could amount to "crimes against humanity".
Evidence from credible sources suggested "enforced or involuntary disappearances, arbitrary detentions and extrajudicial or arbitrary executions and sexual violence had occurred and may still be occurring" in Cote d'Ivoire, they said in a statement.
Ms Pillay said the UN had received reports of at least two mass graves.
But she said "human rights teams have been denied access to the scenes of these atrocities in order to investigate them."
She said she had also written to Gbagbo and other key figures in his regime warning they would be held personally responsible for human rights violations.
Mr Ouattara is being protected by UN peacekeepers who were staring down a threat to storm a hotel which he has made his temporary headquarters in Abidjan.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Interesting article yesterday which points out that Gbagbo is a Christian from the south being pushed out by a concerted effort from the Muslim north. Basically the common African scenario of Muzzies trying by hook or crook to take over from the other. see also Sudan
Posted by: Alan Cramer ||
01/03/2011 11:18 Comments ||
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#2
The Christian south of Ivory Coast voted for their Christian candidate, Laurent Gbagbo and won't accept the muslim one from the muslim north of the country, why should they?
Just a reminder for all brainwashed and politically correct - appeasement didn't work with nazis some seventy years ago and definitely won't work with muzzies now...
#3
Ivory Coast on a brink:
http://www.assistnews.net/STORIES/2010/s10120040.htm
Looks like another coutry being taken over by the religion of "piece" - a piece here, a piece there, all for the worldwide ummah...
#4
Yet another casualty of colonial border lines, drawn with no regard whatever for ethnic groups and local interests.
A more accurate way to state the religious difference is that the people who live in the rainforest south don't go to church and the people who live in the semiarid north don't go to mosque. The whole area is more animist than anything else. The Marabouts are as much witch doctor as imam. In the case of Cote d'Ivoire you cannot reduce the causes of the Confusion (Liberian term covering anything from Woman Palaver to a revolution) to religious differences.
And there's nothing "Christian" about sending out death squads. Politicians blaspheme Christ's name by claiming that their evil purposes serve His.
[Bangla Daily Star] Detained Mufti Izharul Islam Chowdhury, president of an Islami Oikya Jote ... a political party in Bangladesh. In the 2001 elections the party won 2 out of 300 elected members in an alliance with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. It has a focus on building an islamic state, and has used the madrassas to gain support... (IOJ) faction, was shown jugged yesterday for his alleged involvement in the abduction of physician Azizur Rahman in the capital's Mirpur area in September 2003.
Bangla daily Prothom Alo on May 13, 2008 published a report that a jihad boy confessed to the police that they had kidnapped homeopath Azizur for protesting jihad boy activities during his stay in Khulna.
Following the report, Harkatul Jihad Chief Mufti Abdul Hannan and several others were shown jugged in an abduction case filed by Azizur's wife.
Names of several jihad boy groups and the IOJ came up during their interrogation.
Metropolitan Magistrate Shamima Parvin issued the order to show Izharul jugged in the case after Fazlul Kabir, investigation officer (IO) of the case, submitted a petition to the court.
Fazlul Kabir, also assistant superintendent of police of the Criminal Investigation Department, sought a ten-day remand from the court to question him about Azizur's abduction.
The court fixed tomorrow for hearing the remand prayer.
Rab members nabbed Izharul at a madrasa at Lalkhan Bazar in Chittagong on December 16 for his alleged links with 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. He was shown jugged in a case filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act 2009.
Azizur, a resident of Mazar Road in Mirpur, had gone missing on September 4, 2003. The police are yet to trace him.
His wife Farhana Reza Jui filed an abduction case with Mirpur Police Station against five unidentified people on September 23 the same year.
CID Inspector Mohammad Wares, the first IO of the case, tendered final report to the court on May 12, 2007 saying the charges against the five had not been proved.
Jui submitted a no-confidence petition against the final report on September 30, 2007. The court rejected the petition since it was filed after the acceptance of the final report.
She appealed to the home ministry to reinvestigate the case after Prothom Alo published a report. The ministry accepted her request and ordered the CID to reinvestigate the case.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2011 00:00 ||
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Google Translate
The late November release of Partido Accion Nacional (PAN) politician and 1994 presidential candidate Diego Fernandez de Cevallos has sparked some speculation that that 70 year old was planning a run for the 2012 Mexican presidential nomination.
Gustavo Madero, the newly elected president of PAN has put those rumors to rest Sunday by saying Fernandez is not being considered as a possible presidential candidate in 2012.
"Diego is a great national leader of PAN, but from this already to be the great candidate, there is nothing," said Madero.
Proceso the Mexican leftist weekly, had published several stories following Fernandez's release arguing at first that Fernandez had staged his own abduction to get a high public profile sufficient run run for president, and then later saying that Fernandez's release was sufficient for him to be considered a possible candidate for 2012.
Although the Mexican senator from Chihuahua state, Santiago Creel has expressed an interest in running for president in 2012, PAN has yet to rally around a candidate.
Current possible candidate from Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) include PRI president Beatriz Parades Rangel, who ends her term as PRI president this spring. and who has previously expressed an interest in running for president.
Another possible PRI candidate and currently considered the front runner is Mexican state governor Enrique Pena Nieto, who is a high profile telegenic candidate.
Current front runners for Partido Revolucion Democratica (PRD) nomination for president include Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and president of Distrito Federal Marcelo Ebrard.
Mexican presidential elections are 18 months away, in early July, 2012.
Minister says country can't take in anymore illegal immigrants; says barrier will be similar to wall built on US-Mexico border.
Greece announced that it plans to build a wall along its border with Turkey to keep out illegal migrants, according to news reports Saturday
Citizen Protection Minister Christos Papoutsis said "Greek society has reached its limits in taking in illegal immigrants," Papoutsis was quoted by Athens News Agency as saying. "Greece can't take it anymore."
Greece shares a 206-km border with Turkey which serves as a common entry point for illegal immigrants coming to the European Union from Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Pakistan and Somalia.
The Greek minister was quoted as saying that "Cooperation with other EU states is going well. Now we plan to construct a fence to deal with illegal migration."
He said the border barrier would be similar to the one built by the US along its border with Mexico.
Reports said around 80 percent of illegal migrants in the EU arrive through Greece, where there are an estimated 300,000 illegal residents
According to Deutsche Welle, eighty percent of the illegals in the EU come through Greece's 206 km (128 mile) border with Turkey, mainly from Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Pakistan and Somalia. Goodness only knows where they'll find the money to build the fence, but they can't afford to deal with the current influx, either.
#8
ATHENS = GREECE GOVT were harshly criticized as BUILDING A NEW HADRIAN'S/BERLIN WALL between ultra-modern EU + backward Central Asia [read, Muslims].
* IIRC DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > MORE HUMILIATION FOR THE EURO-ZONE: RISING CHINA TO PAY OFF HUNGARY'S [massive]DEBTS.
HMMM, HMM, as Beijing does $$$ for Budapest, etal. it can also do for Athens???
Yousuf Raza Gilani is the first Pakistani Prime Minister to appear on a live TV show and take questions from the public, including some on Indo-Pak ties.
The first episode of the live show 'Prime Minister Online' was aired last night, during which Gilani answered questions from the public and listened to their grievances.
During last night's, Gilani answered questions on Indo-Pak ties in the aftermath of the Mumbai assault, a gas and power shortage, price hikes, corruption and improvement of education.
He said dialogue is the only way to come to terms with India because the two countries "cannot afford wars." Gilani also expressed the government's resolve to begin a 'jihad' against corruption this year through legislation, including an accountability law.
Maybe Obama should lend Gilani his accountability czar. Or perhaps his transparency czar. After all, neither has been very busy in DC over the past two years.
Yes, yes, I know those two positions don't exist yet.
#1
Pollard will never, ever be released. Even though what he did was relatively unimportant, the Israelis had pulled off a major, nuclear weapons related scheme against the US, and those agents had got away clean. So the US decided to punish Pollard instead.
That is, if we can't punish your spies we want to punish, then will punish your other spies.
And that means forever. It balances the universe again.
Still more ways to make some people feel good by spending your money.
As Southern California's traditional water supplies diminish under a variety of pressures, all that runoff sheeting across sidewalks and roads into the maws of storm drains is finally getting some respect.
"This isn't wastewater until we waste it," said Noah Garrison, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council who co-wrote a 2009 paper on capturing and reusing storm water. Isn't the rainfall sort of seasonal? Where will they store January's runoff until July's demand?
The report concluded that the region could increase local supplies by an amount equal to more than half of Los Angeles' annual water demand by incorporating relatively simple water-harvesting techniques in new construction and redevelopments. These include installing cisterns and designing landscaping to retain runoff and let it seep into the ground. I wonder if that will have an effect on mudslides?
Los Angeles is poised to adopt an ordinance that takes a step in that direction. Most new and redeveloped commercial, industrial and larger apartment projects would have to be designed to capture the runoff generated by the first three-quarters of an inch of rain. New single-family homes would have to install a rain-harvesting device, such as a rain barrel or a hose that diverts water from gutters to landscaping. More jobs! For bureaucrats.
Google "catalog rain barrel". They cost $15-$100 and require basic handiman skills to install. I'd recommend getting a small pump. Connect a standard pierced watering hose to the end of the downspout and the second requirement is taken care of. There is the inspector who'd need to be called when you're done to sign off on it, but for new construction and redevelopments the inspector would have to come out anyway. It's about time the wise men of Los Angeles started acting like they ruled over a desert area -- cisterns go back millenia, and pierced hoses for over a century.
But the proposed rules would save only a fraction of the city's runoff. "If we're able to convince people to do it on their own, there's so much more" that can be captured, said Los Angeles Public Works Commissioner Paula Daniels. "The really important thing to do is unpave and change the texture of Los Angeles." Like 1848. That was a good year for California, before the gold rush ruined it.
Pooh. Replace the concrete with pierced concrete blocks, and plant groundcovers in the soil filling the holes. In Germany they do driveways in the stuff. Of course, that would cost a medium sized fortune, and California has been functionally bankrupt for a while, but the project is do-able without going back to dirt roads. And, of course, it would ruin the surface for skate boarding.
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/03/2011 05:55 ||
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#1
As Southern California's traditional water supplies diminish under a variety of pressures,...
Nature's invisible hand saying 'You got too many people in one place'.
#2
Our city council (in typical Democratic fashion) should stop tackling our most pressing problems and simply issue a decree that from now on all rain must fall uphill.
Actually after 2 wet years in a row, our reservoirs are at 160% of normal, and the snowpack in the Sierras is over 20 ft.
And we're barely into January.
But our city fathers (who always seem to know what's best for us) still tell us we're in a drought.
I guess they have failed to study past weather patterns that show a rough balance between the wet & dry years. Ebb & flow as it were.
Actually LA is one of the least dense large cities in the world.
LA City (by itself) covers about 500 square miles, with a population of about 3.5 million.
#3
According to geologists, California frequently (relatively speaking) gets droughts that last for hundreds of years.
The most practical long term solution is to set up an offshore desalinization submersible, that uses water pressure and a series of filters, eventually a nanotube filter, to produce fresh water that is then electrically pumped to shore. The brine is returned to the ocean, so it doesn't mess up the salinity for the critters.
#4
Hyper-expensive 3rd world solutions to a faltering 1st world economy breaking down because no one in public policy positions for the last 40 years has increased the water storage system in California. Same for the agricultural catastrophy of the central valley, now a dustbowl-like mosaic of unemployment and poverty like that of central America. This is Democrat leadership at its finest folks.......
Elephants can be as stupid as donkeys sometimes, especially in Calif. All of Calif. is oink-headed about water use, no matter what political party they belong to. The golf courses of Palm Springs are an obscenity. In June, temp is 115 degrees and my cousin is watering her lawn from sprinklers 24/7. You can imagine how much the 25 golf courses guzzle. Xeriscaping, anyone?
Damming the Colorado River has reduced it to a trickle at its mouth, and is screwing up the ecology of the entire lower Colorado and the Gulf of California.
TW's observations are useful, as usual. The suburbs in Switzerland use the pierced concrete blocks too. Looks a bit shabby sometimes but it works.
#8
Bermuda does it. Been doing it for years. It actually works out pretty well.
A unique feature of Bermuda roofs has been their role in water supply. Until the 1930s, rain water provided the only source of potable water. Water was collected on roofs, where wedge-shaped limestone "glides" were laid to form sloping gutters on the roof surface, diverting rain water into vertical leaders and thence into storage tanks.
Early storage tanks were rum puncheons or cisterns made of cedar. Others were formed by excavation into rock and made tight with mortar. Prior to the 20th century, tanks were located at the outside rear of dwellings, partly or entirely above ground. Water was removed from tanks by bucket or hand pump and carried indoors. In some later systems, hand pumps transferred water to elevated indoor storage tanks. Current systems include storage tanks under buildings with electric pumps and pneumatic tanks.
#9
nothing wrong (and most things right) with home rainwater detention. Trouble is, some local governments are claiming rainfall in the jurisdiction that fell on your house is public water and should either be turned over or subject to a tax. Nice way to screw you coming and going when you try to do the right thing
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/03/2011 22:10 Comments ||
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#10
Trouble is, some local governments are claiming rainfall in the jurisdiction that fell on your house is public water
Some local governments are doo-doo heads. Clearly they're desperate to find additional sources of funding that require no up-front investment on their part.
[Arab News] Shops in Iran have been banned from selling Valentine cards and gifts as the traditional lovers' day gains increasing popularity in the Islamic republic, the ILNA news agency reported on Sunday.
"In the run-up to Valentine's Day on Feb. 14 the printing works owners' union issued a directive banning the printing and distribution of any goods promoting this day," ILNA news agency reported.
"Printing and producing any goods related to this day including posters, boxes and cards emblazoned with hearts or half-hearts, red roses and any activities promoting this day are banned," the union said in the directive.
"Outlets that violate this will be legally dealt with," it warned.
The annual homage to romance on Feb. 14 has become popular in recent years in Iran and other places in the Middle East.
The backlash in the Islamic Theocratic Republic is part of a drive against the spread of Western culture.
Over the past three decades the regime has sought to prevent the spread of Western culture among its overwhelmingly young population.
Every year gift shops in large cities are festooned with Valentine's Day paraphernalia and restaurants in Tehran are packed with young men and women.
However, The infamous However... the trend has been harshly criticized by conservatives who see no room in Islamic culture for such celebrations.
Some nationalist Iranians have also suggested replacing Valentine's Day with Mehregan -- a pre-Islamic but obsolete festival in early October -- marking the autumn equinox and honoring the ancient Persian symbol of love, Mithra.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Perhaps they can replace Valentine's Day with an annual celebration of suicide bombing or stoning women to death.
North Dakota is now looking at the possibility of 700,000 barrels of oil a day within the next four to seven years.
Federal and state estimates had pegged North Dakota's portion of the Bakken shale and underlying Three Forks-Sanish oil formations in western North Dakota at about 5 billion barrels of oil, using current horizontal drilling technology. Helms said that estimate has more than doubled based on drilling success and current production rates. "We're starting to see indications that we could reasonably get 11 billion barrels," Helms said.
The drilling technology has cut the amount of time needed to complete a well from 65 days in 2008 to about 25 days.
North Dakota has about 5,300 producing oil wells. About 2,000 of those have spudded in just more than three years, aimed at the Bakken and Three Forks. About 95 percent of rigs drilling in North Dakota are aimed at those formations, and 99 percent of them hit oil, while nine of 10 are profitable, Helms said.
Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, said about 650 new wells were drilled in 2010. He and Helms expect up to 2,000 new wells in 2011, which would double the number of Bakken and Three Forks wells to date. Keep the enviro-wiennies out of ND and the stupid federal courts as well and we might actually have some good, cheap energy available.
#2
Light crude closed at $91.55 a bbl today, and is expected to reach $100 bbl before too long. Already, some are suggesting gasoline in the $4-$5/gal range.
Hopefully there will be godawful political pressure put on those weeners to open up domestic production.
#3
Obama wants higher gas prices. It will encourage conservation, reduce CO2 emissions, lower the oceans, save the penguins, and bring the dawning of a new era of peace, prosperity, and kumbaya. Also, damage the economy and increase unemployment.
#4
there are formations like the Bakkan in Australia and France (yes, really, France - its called the Paris formation)
probably there are others yet to be fully explored and appraised
American technology will be used in those places.
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/03/2011 18:45 Comments ||
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#5
LOL, so odd to see a news story on where I am and what I'm doing. I'm in North Dakota right now on a rig drilling down into the Three Forks. Most likely this is where I'll be for the next few years as well. Halliburton Sperry Drilling is really ramped up to work on this area. It does tend to be cold and 'going to town' doesn't quite mean the same thing when the town has a listed population of 35 people.
Still, it's fun and profitable up here, I enjoy my work as an MWD and there's tons of snow and ice. I could do without the -35 degree wind chill when it's already -14.
Posted by: Silentbrick - Lost Drill Bit Division - Halliburton ||
01/03/2011 19:28 Comments ||
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#6
Hard to imagine Larry Hagman in a TV show called Dickinson. At least I visited before it went big time.
#1
NOW HERE WE GO THEY PASSED DADT AND VENGEANCE IS ON THE GAY AGENDA, THEY HAD TO WAIT 5 YEARS TO RUIN A NAVAL OFFICERS 30 CAREER
Posted by: joe of the jungle ||
01/03/2011 8:47 Comments ||
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#2
At the end of Obama's one term in office (I hope) will the military be in better or worse shape than it was after Carter?
Posted by: Alan Cramer ||
01/03/2011 11:12 Comments ||
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#3
LMAO I wonder what would be said if they got a video of one of the many shipboard ceremonies? How about the gauntlet that ALL Chiefs must undergo to achieve that title? McCain (yes the Senator) needs to come out and say "Phooey" to all this publicity.
#4
God help them if they get wind of the wilder old Shellback stuff done to the pollywogs.
This was someone with an axe to grind to hold this then pop it years later.
Posted by: No I am The Other Beldar ||
01/03/2011 11:59 Comments ||
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#5
His mistake was not delegating this stuff to the video staff, telling them what he wanted, but with no officers on the movie. Then, like any good bomber, "to be nowhere around when the bomb goes off."
Then, he could personally disavow the movie, claiming it was not what was intended, which is cool, as long as he insures that not only does nobody in video production take the hit, but that they all get a substantial payoff for keeping their mouths shut.
Nobody should really have that much rank without a knifeproof back and a light coating of Teflon. And, like Bill Clinton, put nothing even slightly incriminating in writing.
#6
Shell back and the CPO initiation are mere shadows of what they once were; blame PC and/or women on boats.
while on the Kennedy ( 1997) it wasn't called the love boat for nothing; many a time i came out of my shop to find some level of he-in' and she-in' going on. bad for morale and discipline, but far better than the forthcoming he-in' and he-in'/she-in' and she-in' that will ultimately become mandatory, rather than optional.
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.
Yousuf Raza Gilani is the first Pakistani Prime Minister to appear on a live TV show and take questions from the public, including some on Indo-Pak ties. 
[Arab News] Shops in Iran have been banned from selling Valentine cards and gifts as the traditional lovers' day gains increasing popularity in the Islamic republic, the ILNA news agency reported on Sunday.
North Dakota is now looking at the possibility of 700,000 barrels of oil a day within the next four to seven years.
