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533548 articles and 1861503 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 64 articles and 192 comments as of 20:12.
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Unknown plane fires 3 rockets at Hadi's palace in Aden
Today's Headlines
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Africa Horn
South Sudan MPs extend president's term until 2018
[Iran Press TV] South Sudan's politicians have overwhelmingly voted to extend incumbent President Salva Kiir's term in office by three more years.

Thomas Wani Kundu, a senior parliament official, said on Tuesday that the vast majority of deputies voted to extend President Kiir's mandate from 9 July 2015 to 9 July 2018.

"The tenure of the office of the president is extended by 36 months," said Kundu, adding that the government's proposal to extend its mandate and award itself continued legitimacy "was passed overwhelmingly."

Elections in the bitterly-divided African country had been due to be held before July 9 under a provisional constitution. However,
today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday...
the current move formally ditched any plans for elections this year in the civil war-torn country.

The developments come as Kiir has recently rejected a proposed power-sharing deal with his former deputy and rebel leader, Riek Machar, with the aim of putting an end to 15 months of civil war in the country.
Posted by: Fred || 03/25/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Who's green with envy?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/25/2015 3:58 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Egypt to Build New Capital City
The debut last weekend of a showcase of Egypt's economic might was dominated with optimistic attempts to fuel private sector investments, but the bravest and most audacious of them was a plan for a new administrative capital to the east of Cairo.
A city out of the desert. Do you suppose the Juice can give them some pointers? Or maybe they can model Las Vegas?
They can dream as their ancestors did: they just need some quarries and an endless supply of slave labor...
The project hopes to house five million inhabitants in a 700 square kilometer plot of land between the current capital and the Suez Canal. The entire project would be 12 times the area of Manhattan, seven times larger than Paris, and four times that of Washington DC, according to the press releases.

"It will include neighborhoods for all groups of Egyptian society and be a critical center for new employment. It will be truly diverse, catering to all groups of Egyptian society, allowing Egypt to enter new era," he said.
All Egyptians? Really?
The first phase of construction would cost $45 billion and would take 7 years. Reports from Reuters, who quoted Mohamed Alabbar, the United Arab Emirates real estate tycoon, said it could total $300 billion for completion.
Is that in Zim-Bob dollars?
Posted by: Bobby || 03/25/2015 14:56 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Ah yes, economy on the blink, you cure it with massive construction.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/25/2015 15:09 Comments || Top||

#2  ...taking a page from FDR (and the FDR wannabee - oh wait that shovel ready program was to promote graft not real constructions jobs, never mind)?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/25/2015 15:38 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm thinking that is where the original capital was when Moses sent in the plaques and the king and army of 250.000 troops drowned chasing Moses across the sea.

Then all the survivor Egyptians got away from that area and headed to what is now Cairo.
Posted by: Ebbomosh Hupemp2664 || 03/25/2015 15:49 Comments || Top||

#4  Piker. How about some new pyramids?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 03/25/2015 16:20 Comments || Top||

#5  Well building a new capital worked for Constantine.
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/25/2015 16:22 Comments || Top||

#6  A new capital city will not really address the fundamental systemic problems of Egypt, many of which stem from a belief system that will not be named at this time.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 03/25/2015 19:35 Comments || Top||


Egypt Signs Up to Ethiopian Nile Dam, Citing Trust
Will President al Sisi be known to history as the great compromiser?
[AnNahar] Egypt, Æthiopia and Sudan Monday agreed a preliminary deal on a controversial dam project that Cairo feared would reduce its share of vital waters from the Nile.

The leaders of Egypt, Æthiopia and Sudan all gathered in Khartoum to sign the agreement of principles on Æthiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam project.

"I confirm the construction of the Renaissance Dam will not cause any damage to our three states and especially to the Egyptian people," Æthiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said at the signing ceremony.

Egypt, heavily reliant for millennia on the Nile for agriculture and drinking water, feared that the Grand Renaissance Dam would decrease its water supply.

However,
nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits...
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi said on Monday that "this is a framework agreement and it will be completed."

"We have chosen cooperation, and to trust one another for the sake of development."

Sisi said the final accord will "achieve benefits and development for Æthiopia without harming Egypt and Sudan's interests."

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir
Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it.
hailed the deal as "historic."

The agreement is made up of 10 principles, Egypt's Water Resources Minister Hussam al-Maghazi told Agence La Belle France-Presse.

The countries agreed on the "fair use of waters and not to damage the interests of other states by using the waters."

They also agreed to establish "a mechanism for solving disputes as they occur," Maghazi said.

He gave no details as to when the final agreement would be signed.

Sudan's deputy water resources minister, Saif al-Din Hamed, said the signing of the agreement "will not stop the current construction and building" of the dam in Æthiopia.

- Africa's largest dam -
Æthiopia began diverting the Blue Nile in May 2013 to build the 6,000 MW dam, which will be Africa's largest when completed in 2017.

Æthiopian officials have said the project to construct the 1,780-meter-long and 145-meter high dam will cost more than $4 billion.

Before the agreement, the dam sparked a dispute between Æthiopia and Egypt, which use the river in different ways.

"For Egypt, the Nile is its only water supply and thus underpins the very existence of the country, providing water for its cities, industries and farms, as well as generating hydropower," said Dale Whittington of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Whereas for Addis Ababa, "it provides the opportunity to develop financially attractive hydropower projects to fuel its economic development," the professor of environmental sciences and engineering said.

Æthiopia had said that the project would not adversely affect Egypt's share of the precious waters, but its plans still raised tensions with Cairo.

Bashir said at the ceremony on Monday that the preliminary deal would "reflect positively on the security" of the region.

Sudan, Æthiopia and Egypt's foreign ministers agreed to the basis of the deal signed on Monday after hours of talks in Khartoum.

Egypt believes its "historic rights" to the Nile are guaranteed by treaties from 1929 and 1959 which grant it 87 percent of the river's flow and the power to veto upstream projects.

But Nile Basin countries, including Æthiopia, signed another deal in 2010 allowing them to work on river projects without Cairo's agreement.

In protest, Egypt withdrew from the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), a forum to discuss management and development of the region's resources, but later resumed participation.

Neither Sudan nor Egypt has signed the 2010 Nile Basin deal, however.

Sudan, like Egypt, relies on Nile resources but has said it does not expect to be affected by Æthiopia's Grand Renaissance project.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/25/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Over / under for eventual war between Egypt & Ethiopia - five years.
Posted by: Raj || 03/25/2015 1:09 Comments || Top||

#2  The FLA is going to want a beeeeeg piece of the action of this baby.
Posted by: Shipman || 03/25/2015 11:05 Comments || Top||

#3  FLA?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/25/2015 13:48 Comments || Top||

#4  Flyash Liberation Army©
Posted by: Frank G || 03/25/2015 14:06 Comments || Top||

#5  Googled it. There were two references and both of them led back to Rantburg. Kinda like jacket wallah. I take it to mean somebody's gonna rip off the concrete but I could be wrong.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 03/25/2015 16:26 Comments || Top||

#6  That was Commodore Frank's comment years ago on Three Gorges dam article, heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 03/25/2015 19:40 Comments || Top||

#7  Googled it. There were two references and both of them led back to Rantburg. Kinda like jacket wallah

:-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/25/2015 20:35 Comments || Top||

#8  LOL - ahead of our own time
Posted by: Frank G || 03/25/2015 21:22 Comments || Top||


Britain
Britain To Boost Falklands Islands Defences
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 03/25/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  See also RELATED FREEREPUBLIC > [CNBC] FALKLAND ISLANDS' FEARS OF RUSSIA-BACKED [Argentinian] INVASION.

Iff Vlad can fly TU-95 "BEARS" near = SSSHHHHH... CCCCCCCC over GUAM, he can do the same oer the Falklands, although methinks his deterrence is aimed at RISING IRAN + ISLAM'S VARIOUS FUTURE BLUE-WATER NAVY(S), NOT CHINA + PLA [PLAN] VEE GUAM-WESTPAC.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/25/2015 20:50 Comments || Top||


Britain to spend 280mn pounds on renewing Malvinas Falklands defenses
[Iran Press TV] Britain has unveiled plans to bolster defenses on the Malvinas Island to counter what it calls possible threats from Argentina.

Defense Secretary Michael Fallon told the parliament that London will spend £280mn over the next decade on renewing its military arrangements on the Malvinas Island.

“The principle threat to the islands remains…I am confident that, following this review, we have the right deployment,” he was quoted as saying by the British media.
Posted by: Fred || 03/25/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Argentina is engaged in the gratuitous military harassment of a nation that could turn Argentina into radioactive ash.

Why doesn't deterrence work for a nuclear UK when it is working for a nuclear Pakistam, a less nuclear North Korea and a pre-nuclear Iran?

If non-nuclear, rational Argentina isn't deterred today, will a nuclear and irrational Iran be deterred tomorrow?
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 03/25/2015 6:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Argentina views the UK as a wimpy state that would never, ever consider using nukes to preserve control of the Mal-Falklands-vinas, and they're probably correct.


Iran would have to be blind, irrational and stupid to view Israel in that way.
Posted by: AlanC || 03/25/2015 8:01 Comments || Top||

#3  The Brits have no choice. They'll get absolutely no assistance from the Champ regime this time around. If fact, I would not put it past the regime to goad the Argies on.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/25/2015 8:08 Comments || Top||

#4  No nukes, but all bets are off next go around regarding tomahawk strikes on the Argentine mainland. There are enough missiles in the UK inventory to keep most of the Argentine population in the dark for an indefinite period.
Posted by: Shipman || 03/25/2015 8:53 Comments || Top||

#5  Falklands a tripwire and staging area against Iran's hegemony in the Western hemisphere and against Argentina's ambitions for a nuke program?
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/25/2015 9:30 Comments || Top||

#6  Offshore oil?
Posted by: OldSpook || 03/25/2015 10:58 Comments || Top||

#7  Sheep and toothfish fishing licenses.
Posted by: Shipman || 03/25/2015 11:07 Comments || Top||

#8  More Vlad = Russia + LatAm News this AM ...

* GROONG > RUSSIA INTERESTED IN LATIN AMERICAN ASSOCIATIONS' INTEGRATION WID EEU: FM LAVROV.

CELAC, UNASUR, Pacific Alliance, + MERCUSOR Blocs.

ARISE, OWG BRIC GIRL PAULA, ARISE, but FTLG stop kicking Daddy's coconut trees!

lol.

* BIGNEWSNETWORK > RUSSIAN OFFICIAL PROPOSES 12,000-KILOMETER INTERCONTINENTAL HIGHWAY.

Ostensib to connect London + Moscow wid Alaska.

* SAME > SPEAKER OF RUSSIA'S UPPER HOUSE WANTS A "SILICON VALLEY" IN CRIMEA.

Reminds me of a famous scene from IIRC ROGER "JAMES BOND 007" MOORE'S "LIVING DAYLIGHTS" MOVIE, where a Top Soviet Party Boss teases a fellow Soviet Apparatchik = "ON THE CONTRARY, ... WHERE WOULD RUSSIAN/SOVIET RESEARCH-N-DEVELOPMENT BE WIDOUT IT[California's Silicon Valley]"!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/25/2015 22:52 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Ukrainian oligrach Kolomoisky resigns


An influential Ukrainian oligarch whose private army had seized control of state-run oil firms has resigned after a tense standoff with security forces in Kiev. Igor Kolomoisky, the former governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, submitted his resignation after meeting with President Petro Poroshenko on Tuesday, according to media reports.

Kolomoisky, once a key ally of Poroshenko’s government, clashed with Kiev over the control of two state-owned energy companies, UkrNafta and its subsidiary UkrTransNafta, after parliament moved to retake control of the companies from him.

In response, men suspected to be from Kolomoisky’s Dnipro-1 battalion stormed the offices of UkrTransNafta, after which Kolomoisky emerged from the building and said his men had stopped an attack by “Russian saboteurs.” The government reportedly refuted his claims of attempted sabotage.
Posted by: badanov || 03/25/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


100+ weapons missing from Dnepr-1 armory


More than 100 weapons came up missing in a search of the Dnepropetrovsk armory belonging to a volunteer battalion, according to Russian language news reports.

According to a news account from lenta-ru, an inventory conducted by Ukrainian Ministry of Interior investigators found several weapons missing, including RPGs and grenades.

Although the article doesn't state it, the raid was likely the result of an encounter between Ukrainian Security Service troops and members of the Dnepr-1 volunteer battalion Monday which killed one SBU officer. The Dnepr-1 battalion is based in the riverine town of Dnepropetrovsk.

Commander of the battalion, Yuri Bezera said Tuesday his unit was not involved in the shootout at Volnovakha in Ukrainian held Donetsk.

Among the weapons missing were: 34 grenade launchers, nine RPG launchers, five machine guns (probably 7.62x54Rmm PK machine squad medium machine gun) and 16 each 5.45x39mm AK-74 rifles, five rifles (probably 7.62x54Rmm SVD squad sniper rifle), 26 each 9x18mm Makarov pistols, 7 each 9x18mm Fort pistols and 7 sets of handcuffs.

The inventory will result in charges being filed under Article 262, although the specifications were not disclosed in the news account.

Volunteer combat formations such as Dnepr-1 and others have come under criticism from Ukrainian authorities, as they try to find a solution to the end of the war in southeastern Ukraine.

One of the requirements in the latest iteration of the Minsk Ceasefire, known as Minsk II, is that all illegal armed formations must disarm. Originally, this was thought to apply only to the rebels of southeastern Ukraine, but now formations such as Dnepr-1 are under some pressure to maintain higher standards or disarm.

A proposal by the Ukrainian government has been to fold some volunteer units into the Ministry of the Interior as special forces, but so far, little has come of the proposal.

Dnepr-1 is also under pressure because it is funded in part by Igor Kolomoisky, a Ukrainian oligarch and governor of the Dnepropetrovsk oblast. Ukrainian president Piotr Poroshenko reserved his latest criticism for volunteer units Tuesday, characterizing them a "pocket armies", which can be seen as a direct swipe at Kolomoisky.

Units such as Dnepr-1 have gained a reputation as marauding military formations, especially since Dnepr-1 is filled with volunteers from the Ukrainian Right Sector political movement, said to be one of the most violent groups in Ukraine.

Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraina by clicking here.
Posted by: badanov || 03/25/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Incompetence.
Posted by: OldSpook || 03/25/2015 1:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Para 5 would indicate they at least had an accurate inventory and knew what went missing, which appears to be more than we can now do.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/25/2015 1:36 Comments || Top||

#3  Trade is a foundation of international relations.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/25/2015 3:55 Comments || Top||


Bad guys knock over eatery in Donetsk, killing 2


Two unidentified individuals were killed in a restaurant robbery in downtown Donetsk Tuesday afternoon, according to Russian language news reports.

The robbery was preceded by an explosion and gunfire at the Panorama restaurant on Prospekt Ilicha in the Voroshilov district at around 1330 hrs.

Three vehicles and a nearby cafe were damaged in the fire and mayhem.

The news account says that an armed, uniformed Chechen group was responsible for the robbery. Chechens in differing capacities fight for both sides in the war in southeastern Ukraine.

Donetsk officials are apparently having a very hard time with crime in their new republic between violence, robberies and illegal smuggling.

A shipment of illegal alcohol and tobacco bound for rebel held parts of Donetsk was seized on Monday in Volnovakha in Donetsk in Ukrainian territory by members of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU). The resulting shootout killed one SBU officer and drove the Ukrainian Interior Ministry to round up 11 individuals suspected of involvement.

The bust and shootout had a connection with Dnepropetrovsk governor Igor Kolomoisky. He personally funds Right Sector political groups, including volunteer military units fighting against pro Russian rebels in southeastern Ukraine.

Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraina by clicking here.
Posted by: badanov || 03/25/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
Japan commissions Izumo 'helicopter carrier' as largest ship in MSDF fleet
The Maritime Self-Defense Force on March 25 officially commissioned the largest ship in its fleet, Izumo, a massive destroyer that gives it the capability of detecting highly advanced Chinese submarines.

The Izumo measures 248 meters in length, leading some, including media in China and South Korea, to describe it as a "semi-aircraft carrier." It is 51 meters longer than the destroyer Hyuga, which was the largest ship in the MSDF fleet until now. Jane's Fighting Ships, a respected reference book on the world's warships released annually in Britain, describes the Izumo as a helicopter carrier.
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/25/2015 13:17 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Open source sez that, though the Izumo does not have STOL capability, it is engineered so as to be retrofit-able.
Posted by: Pappy || 03/25/2015 13:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Some background info on the Izumo name, history, and controversy.
Posted by: Pappy || 03/25/2015 13:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Great link Pappy, thanks.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 03/25/2015 15:15 Comments || Top||

#4  That is a great link. Thanks Pappy.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 03/25/2015 18:06 Comments || Top||

#5  This answers some questions I've had recently about additions to the JSDF.

There are actually two such "helicopter carriers" built by Japan, with ship numbers I81 and I83. The Izumo is I83. It differs from I81 in having a second elevator on the side aft of the superstructure, instead of in the middle of the deck, like the forward elevator.

China is forcing Japan to rethink its military posture. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Japan build a full-size aircraft carrier in the near future.

For those interested, you can see the shipyard with the two vessels under construction at 39-23.5N, 139-38E. I81 is in dry-dock, I83 is at a fitting-out pier, and has no number yet.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 03/25/2015 21:41 Comments || Top||

#6  * WORLD MILITARY FORUM > JAPAN'S "SANKEI SHIMBUN" MEDIA: PM ABE SAYS JAPAN MUST NOT "THROW IN THE TOWEL" OR BE DISHEARTENED IN THE FACE OF CHINA'S MILITARY EXPANSION BEYOND ITS OFFICIAL DEFENCE BUDGET LEVELS. JAPAN'S SDF TO SEE ITS OWN BUDGET INCREASE IN ORDER TO HELP DEFEND JAPAN'S SOVEREIGN TERRITORIES.

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > SINO-RUSSIAN MILITARY POWER DWARFS US MILITARY POWER | [Global Times] CHINA REBUKES US OFFICIAL OVER MARITIME PATROL PROPOSAL.

US/USN-supported joint patrols BY ASEAN in the disputed SCS.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/25/2015 22:28 Comments || Top||


Economy
Global demand to help oil prices despite US oversupply
[ARABNEWS] Stronger-than-expected global oil demand should help support crude prices at around $55-$60 a barrel in the next two months despite some signs of a growing glut in the United States,˝ a senior Gulf OPEC delegate told Rooters on Tuesday.

The comments appear to counter some market forecasts that the US oil glut may push prices to as low as $20-$30 and are a sign that the core Gulf OPEC members remain confident about their strategy of defending market share.

"Global demand is definitely growing much stronger than expected. In December, January, and especially February ˝it was beyond what forecasts anticipated," the delegate said.

Low oil prices may have encouraged demand to pick up particularly in the United States but also in Asia, the Gulf delegate added.

Oil prices are expected to fluctuate around $55-$60 a barrel through April, when they may come under pressure because of seasonal refinery maintenance and rising stocks in the United States, the Gulf OPEC delegate said.

Underlining brimming US supplies, crude stocks rose nearly three times as much as expected, as storage at the Cushing, Oklahoma oil hub reached a new record, a government report showed last week.
Posted by: Fred || 03/25/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


The Grand Turk
Turkey, China Wrangle over Suspected Uighurs Detained in Thailand
The non-Kurdish Turks aren't making nearly enough babies domestically, but it seems they've found a foreign source, as it were.
[AnNahar] A family of suspected Uighur Moslems, among hundreds detained in Thailand since last year, will Friday learn their fate in a court case that has sparked a diplomatic wrangle between The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
and China.

Both countries are seeking the repatriation of the family, who use the surname Teklimakan and claim they are Turkish.

They were detained by Thai police in March 2014 after illegally entering the country along its eastern border with Cambodia.

That same month dozens of migrants also thought to be from China's mostly Moslem Uighur minority were discovered during a raid on a suspected people-smuggling camp in the kingdom's deep south and sentenced for illegal entry.

They similarly presented themselves to police as Turkish.

The 17 Teklimakan family members -- including 13 children of whom two were born in jug -- were issued passports by the Turkish embassy while in detention. But China has insisted they are Uighurs from its restive northwest region of Xinjiang.

During a hearing at the Southern Bangkok Criminal Court Tuesday, attended by both Turkish and Chinese officials, a judge said the case was "related to (international) relations", and a decision on whether or not to release the family would be made Friday.

Uighurs, who number around 10 million in China's violence-racked Xinjiang region, are a Turkic-speaking ethnic minority who have long chafed under Chinese control.

Responding to pressure from Beijing, countries including Cambodia, Malaysia and Pakistain have all in recent years forcibly returned fleeing Uighurs to China.

At Tuesday's hearing Ahmet Idem Akay, first counselor for the Turkish Embassy, told Agence La Belle France-Presse the Teklimakan family were Turkish citizens. "For us this is a humanitarian issue," he said.

Chinese officials at the hearing refused to comment.

There are 355 Uighurs currently detained in Thailand, police Lieutenant Colonel Jitti Sangthong from Thailand's immigration bureau told the court.

He said both the Chinese and Turkish embassies had been asked to help establish the family's nationality.

Later he told news hounds that members of Thailand's National Security Council are due to travel to China in the next few days to discuss the "sensitive issue" after an earlier trip to Turkey.

The decision on whether or not to release the Teklimakans could have important implications for the other Uighurs detained in Thailand.

"I am hoping this case might set a precedent for other Uighurs," Kessarin Tiawsakul from the Office of the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand told AFP. "It's about human rights
...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you...
."
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/25/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Turkey's check to China for the antiaircraft missiles must have cleared.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 03/25/2015 20:45 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Maldives invites UN to observe ex-president's court appeal
[ARABNEWS] The Maldives government on Tuesday invited the United Nations
...the Oyster Bay money pit...
and other international organizations to observe the former president's appeal of his 13-year jail sentence for ordering a judge's arrest while in office.

The United States, European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
and others have raised concerns about the court process that found Mohammed Nasheed guilty of ordering the arrest of a senior judge when he was in office three years ago. The court said the arrest was akin to abduction under the country's terrorism law.

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it has invited the United Nations and the Commonwealth to send representatives to observe the appeal hearing. The invitation didX not elaborate, but it comes after UN human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty...
chief Zeid Raad Al-Hussein said last week there were "flagrant irregularities" in the case against Nasheed and urged the Maldives government to allow international jurists to observe the appeal.
Posted by: Fred || 03/25/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:


Indian top court strikes down free speech curbs
[ARABNEWS] India's top court Tuesday struck down a controversial law that made posting "offensive" comments online punishable by jail, a rare victory for free speech campaigners in a country criticized for a series of recent bans.

The Supreme Court said the 2009 amendment to the Information Technology Act known as section 66A was an unconstitutional curb on freedom of speech.

"Section 66A is unconstitutional and we have no hesitation in striking it down," said Justice R.F. Nariman, reading out the judgment.

"The public's right to know is directly affected by section 66A."

The Supreme Court had been asked to examine the legality of the amendment, which makes sending information of "grossly offensive or menacing character" punishable by up to three years in jail.

In 2012 two young women were jugged
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
under the act over a Facebook post criticizing the shutdown of financial hub Mumbai after the death of a local hard-line politician.

Posted by: Fred || 03/25/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


Science & Technology
Study: Feces Contains Gold Worth Millions
Literally turning sh1t into shinola. Hurrah for science!
[AnNahar] Human feces contains gold and other precious metals that could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, experts say.

Now the trick is how to retrieve them -- a potential windfall that could also help save the planet.

"The gold we found was at the level of a minimal mineral deposit," said Kathleen Smith, of the U.S. Geological Survey, after her team discovered metals such as platinum, silver and gold in treated waste.

A recent study by another group of experts in the field found that waste from one million Americans could contain as much as $13 million worth of metals.

Finding a way to extract the metals could help the environment by cutting down on the need for mining and reducing unwanted release of metals into the environment.

"If you can get rid of some of the nuisance metals that currently limit how much of these biosolids we can use on fields and forests, and at the same time recover valuable metals and other elements, that's a win-win," said Smith.

"There are metals everywhere -- in your hair care products, detergents, even nanoparticles that are put in socks to prevent bad odors."

More than seven million tons of biosolids come out of U.S. wastewater facilities each year: about half is used as fertilizer on fields and in forests and the other half is incinerated or sent to landfills.

Smith and her team are on a mission to find out exactly what is in our waste.

"We have a two-pronged approach," said Smith. "In one part of the study, we are looking at removing some regulated metals from the biosolids that limit their use for land application.

"In the other part of the project, we're interested in collecting valuable metals that could be sold, including some of the more technologically important metals, such as vanadium and copper that are in cell phones, computers and alloys."

The findings were presented at the 249th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society, taking place in Denver through Thursday.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/25/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just how in the hell did they start doing these examinations?
Posted by: chris || 03/25/2015 0:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Something tells me this won't pass a cost / benefit analysis.
Posted by: Raj || 03/25/2015 0:58 Comments || Top||

#3  You mean 'the smell test', Raj?
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/25/2015 2:38 Comments || Top||

#4  :)
Posted by: Shipman || 03/25/2015 5:57 Comments || Top||

#5  Who said studies ain't worth a sh1t?
Posted by: Bobby || 03/25/2015 7:23 Comments || Top||

#6  Next up! The EPA claims jurisdiction over all your sh*t and starts regulating when and where you can take a dump.

Diarrhea is heavily fined and Obama appoints a sh*t czar,
Posted by: CrazyFool || 03/25/2015 8:08 Comments || Top||

#7  Universal colostomy care, the septic tank tax, dental cap and bridge turn-in. Gaia moans, the rivers and earth are being contaminated. You knew it was coming.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/25/2015 8:17 Comments || Top||

#8  Already have a septic tax here in island county wa; if you don't take the required training to dip your tank and report sludge level or pay a professional to do so, there is a lien placed against your place. And the training is address specific so if you move or just wasn't to help the old widow lady next door, you are sh!t out of luck. This program was placed into being by a county board comprised of 100% Democrats
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 03/25/2015 10:19 Comments || Top||

#9  You didn't make that sludge! Forget the widow lady next door. She is no longer of any concern to you. Yes, the 'training' is address specific and GEO monitored under a joint contract by Google and NASA. Abide by the rules and no one will get hurt. This is your last warning.
Posted by: Septic Violations Division || 03/25/2015 11:32 Comments || Top||

#10  There's gold in them there ...
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/25/2015 12:04 Comments || Top||

#11  Well forget it!
The IRS just got all of my sh*t.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/25/2015 14:07 Comments || Top||

#12  "shitter's full!"
Posted by: Frank G || 03/25/2015 14:09 Comments || Top||

#13  Olde Man economics will rear his ugly head, but the gummint will ignore him. You need to map the waste stream literally and figuratively and examine the economics of extraction. They will map the waste stream, but economics is such a bore.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 03/25/2015 16:04 Comments || Top||


Government
Champ snubs NATO chief as crisis rages.
[Bloomberg] President Champ has yet to meet with the new head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and won't see Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg this week, even though he is in Washington for three days. Stoltenberg's office requested a meeting with the Champ well in advance of the visit, but never heard anything from the White House, two sources close to the NATO chief told me.
Champ got the Vlad e-mail and wave-off.
How hard can this be? You meet with the guy for 15 minutes, say a nice sentence or two to the pool reporter, and get on with your golf game. ValJar has to know the message this is sending to Europe, and that may be precisely the point: the Euros better cooperate with Champ on everything, including Iran, or he's going to abandon them.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/25/2015 09:13 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  These days, being snubbed by POTUS speaks well of the snubbee.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/25/2015 10:48 Comments || Top||

#2  He's already abandoned them. He just doesn't care to bother to cover it up anymore.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 03/25/2015 11:14 Comments || Top||

#3  The vindictiveness and stupidity of this administration in foreign policy alone, is astounding.
Posted by: OldSpook || 03/25/2015 11:39 Comments || Top||

#4  His petty behavior will blunder us into a war.
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/25/2015 12:23 Comments || Top||

#5  His petty behavior will blunder us into a war.

I think that is what he has in mind.
Posted by: Woozle Scourge of the Wee Folk4194 || 03/25/2015 12:38 Comments || Top||

#6  I think that is what he has in mind.

Don't you mean "that's what ValJar has in mind"?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/25/2015 13:55 Comments || Top||

#7  You know, O, that if things get out of hand, the only golf you will be doing will be a few short putting holes in a bunker. A real bunker. So there is some incentive to solve the problems, see?
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 03/25/2015 16:06 Comments || Top||

#8  Always remember it has been democrat presidents who have gotten us into our nastiest wars. WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam...Champ has two more years and a legacy to think of.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 03/25/2015 16:32 Comments || Top||



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