Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Leigh Taylor-Young aka Flower power hippie girl in "I Love You, Alice B. Toklas" aka Nancy Barker in "The Big Bounce" aka Shirl in "Soylent Green" (age 66)
An iPhone app that tracks down the Taliban has been developed by Capt. Jonathan Springer, a U.S. soldier.
Tactical Nav, which is expected to be available through Apple's App Store next month, assists soldiers in mapping, plotting and photographing waypoints on a battleground and conveying coordinates to supporting units. OK, my mind is spinning now.
Springer used armored vehicles, remote observation posts and harsh combat conditions to test his invention, which can also be used to direct artillery fire on enemy positions or call in helicopter support.
Springer said most soldiers use smartphones and the app has been designed specifically for them. I can't wait until the add-ons come out, like "Track the Taliban at Night", "Where's Bin Laden", and "Get Them Where They Sleep".
#1
Dammit, now I'm going to have to surrender and get an iPhone. I've held out for years against Blackberries and iPhones, and even refused to get the internet package for my Palm Treo because my life is too uncomplicated to need such things, but this app is too cool for words.
#2
I thought they had kind of maxed out this sort of thing in Iraq, with officers and NCOs going through about six generations of tactical field computer pads, to do everything from direct small unit UAVs, to maps, secure commo, etc.
#5
Am i the only one who sees the potential downside of such an App. This is an I-phone App and it will cost probably $.99 to $3.99 or so. Terrorits and Guerillas specialize in taking what exists in the environment and modifying it to there desired outcome. I fear this could be used to make our enemy more lethal. Sometimes what helps also hurts.
[Tolo News] At least 12 hard boyz were killed in joint operations launched by Afghan and Nato forces in eastern Afghanistan, provincial officials said.
Afghan and Nato forces killed 13 Death Eaters including their commander in Khogyani district of Nangarhar province on Sunday, Ali Shah Paktiawal, police chief of Nangarhar told TOLOnews.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... seven hard boyz were killed in Afghan and coalition forces' operation in Sarkano district of Kundar province on Monday.
Local officials said the operation was launched this morning to wipe out hard boyz from the area.
There have been no military and civilian casualties in the operations, officials added.
Taliban have not yet commented about the operations.
Police officials said they will intensify their military operations in some villages to clear the province of bad boys.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
(Xinhua)-- Six Talibs were killed as Afghan and NATO-led forces conducted a search and cleanup operation in northern Lashkar Gah capital of Taliban hub Helmand province on Monday, an official said.
"A combined unit of special operation force raided Taliban hideouts some 15 km north of Lashkar Gah in the wee hours of Monday as a result six Islamic fascistiwere killed,"front man of provincial administration Daud Ahmadi told Xinhua.
He also said that the joint forces also captured four injured Islamic fascistiduring the operation in the province, 555 km south of Afghan capital Kabul.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
[Tolo News] Seven would-be-jacket wallahs were nabbed by National Directorate of Security (NDS) in southern Kandahar province, senior provincial officials said on Monday.
The jacket wallahs had infiltrated into Afghanistan from neighbouring Pakistain and they were nabbed in Haji Arab village of the scenic provincial capital, Naeem Momen, NDS Chief of Kandahar said.
Kandahar governor praised national security personnel for the achievement.
The jacket wallahs were planning to target government buildings including governor and national security offices in organised and consecutive attacks in the province, said Mr Momen.
He said all the nabbedhard boyz are Afghans but had crossed into Afghanistan from Pakistain to carry out suicide assaults.
"They are sent by neighbouring countries and we have plenty of evidence to prove it," said Mr Naeem.
NDS chief of Kandahar said this would have caused a catastrophe, if NDS had failed to detain them.
"I am happy that NDS chief along with his personnel are making serious efforts to improve security," said Governor Toryalai Weesa.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
Police fire tear gas at anti-government demonstrators in Cairo as thousands call for ouster of president Hosni Mubarak.
Inspired by Tunisian demonstrators, thousands of Egyptian protesters on Tuesday gathered in Cairo and other major cities, calling for reforms and demanding the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, Al Jazeera's correspondents have reported.
The anti-government protesters, some hurling rocks and climbing atop an armoured police truck, were chanting slogans against Mubarak, who ruled the country for three decades.
Downtown Cairo came to a standstill with protesters chanting slogans against the police, the interior minister and the government, in scenes that the capital has not seen since the 1970s.
Demonstrators marched toward what Al Jazeera's Rawya Rageh called the "symbols of their complaints and their agony," the headquarters of the ruling National Democratic Party, the foreign ministry and the state television.
But police responded with blasts from a water cannon and set upon crowds with batons and acrid clouds of tear gas to clear demonstrators crying out "Down with Mubarak'' and demanding an end to the country's grinding poverty.
Earlier on Tuesday, Rageh reported from the protests, calling them "unprecedented" in the leniency showed by security forces who allowed demonstrators to march through the capital.
The Egyptian government had earlier warned activists hoping to emulate Tunisian pro-democracy protesters that they faced arrest if they went ahead with Tuesday's mass demonstrations, which some labelled the "Day of wrath".
(Xinhua) -- Egypt security sources said on Sunday that they have jugged an Egyptian man suspected of helping Orcs and similar vermin with the church attack in Alexandria, Egyptian media reported.
Ahmad Ibrahim, born in 1984 in Alexandria, admitted that he had been hired by the Army of Islam movement to locate the important Christians and Jewish worshiping places in Egypt, official MENA news agency said.
He had informed the Islamic group about the possibility of attacking the three places in Egypt, including the Saints Church, the reported said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
He has said to the reporters that they are hoping that the five French hostages are not dead and they are very much sure of it. He has also reminded that, the two French journalists who were seized in Afghanistan for more than a year were found alive. It's absolutely possible that they are mostly alive.
Egypt's Interior Minister, General Habib Adli, made the claim in an interview with Al-Ahram newspaper, revealing that Egyptian security forces have arrested 19 suspected al-Qaida militants.
He said security forces also confiscated weapons, ammunition and documents related to al-Qaida. He did not say exactly when or where the arrests took place.
Egypt claimed that Osama bin-Laden's al-Qaeda is trying to establish terror cells in the Gaza Strip, the media report said. Let's see the MSM deny that Al Q is in Paleostine now.
And you guys let me know if you need any wood chippers for whatever reason.
(Xinhua) -- Ten suspected narcos were killed in a shootout with Mexican soldiers in a northeastern border state, Mexican authorities said Saturday.
Soldiers on patrol Friday found a camp of gunnies, who opened fire on them in the state of Tamaulipas, which borders the United States, according to a statement of Mexico's Defense Department.
In the clash, the soldiers killed 10 suspects and seized a rocket launcher, some 20 grenades, two grenade launchers and 24 rifles, the statement said.
Drug trafficking violence is constant in Tamaulipas as the region's two competing drug groups, the Zetas and the Gulf cartel, have been battling for control of smuggling routes into the U.S. market and local markets.
In November, the Mexican government sent thousands of soldiers to the state to strengthen security.
In the past months there have been several shootouts in Tamaulipas between armed criminals and the military.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Narcos
(Xinhua) -- At least six guerrillas and two Colombian soldiers died in a combat in a rural area of western Cauca province, the Colombian Army said in a statement on Sunday.
The combat began on Friday with "joint operations carried out by the National Army and the Colombian Air Forces in the municipalities of Caloto and Toribio."
"Six members" of the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were killed, 12 were maimed and four went missing, "all from the 4th squad of the FARC," the army statement said, adding "two soldiers were killed and four injured."
Established in 1964, the FARC is the oldest, largest and most powerful rebel group in Colombia.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Commies
[Iran Press TV] Mexican police have nabbed seven members of an Acapulco narco mob, including the man said to be behind the slaying of some 20 people in the resort city this month.
The government said Jose Lozano Martinez, who goes by the nickname "El Lozano," was jugged on Thursday in a raid, Rooters reported on Sunday.
Lozano was nabbed with six other suspected members of the Independent Cartel of Acapulco.
The gang has grabbed credit for killings in the area over the past five months.
In early January, eighteen bodies, fifteen of them decapitated, were recovered from a mass grave near Acapulco.
Public security officials said Lozano was wanted in connection with the deaths, as the group is in a bloody pie fight with other cartels to gain control of the lucrative narcotics trade.
The families of the men, many of whom were related, said most of them were mechanics that saved up money to take a vacation together each year.
Police say another suspected drug baron, who was captured in November, has revealed that the 20 were the victims of mistaken identity.
Police quoted him as saying that a faction of his gang had mistaken Mexican tourists for members of a rival cartel.
A total of 34,600 people have been killed since 2006, when Mexican President Felipe Calderon launched a clampdown on the country's powerful gangs, involving tens of thousands of troops.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Narcos
MOSCOW airport blast may have involved a female from Russia's predominantly Muslim North Caucasus, a security source says.
"The explosion occurred the moment the presumed female suicide bomber opened her bag," the state-run news agency RIA Novosti quoted the unnamed security official as saying.
"The terrorist was accompanied by a man. He was standing beside her and (the blast) tore off his head."
Russian investigators said that they had found a head of "Arab appearance" that was initially presumed to have belonged to the suicide bomber.
The unnamed security source said the blast bore the hallmarks of an attack carried out by North Caucasus militants.
"This act of terror followed the classic scheme used by terrorists who come from the North Caucasus," the security official said.
#1
Starting to get answers to the questions Skidmark asked last night in the bomb thread: Wired Magazine asks, "Did Moscow's Airport Bombers Dodge Security Checks?", raising the point that a crowd will always gather outside the security perimeter, and that's where terrorists will hit.
#2
This comment from one of Wired's readers is quite chilling:
I have traveled quite a bit from DMD though not for quite some time. [...]
Reports out of Moscow that I have seen indicate that the scanners and metal detectors were just turned off that day, with no one manning them. This is pretty common in Russian airports if theres no one to work the security at the front gate [...] they just dont scan people.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
01/25/2011 12:51 Comments ||
Top||
#3
I don't think I have ever seen baggage security checks to enter the arrivals area post customs/immigration.
Muslims have no guarantee of being saved. They believe that all their works will be accounted for and that on Judgment Day, if your bad works outweigh your good works, you are going to go to hell. But if your good works outweigh your bad works, you'll probably go to heaven. (Since God is all-powerful, they concede that He may do with you as He pleases, even if you have been very righteous. They hope He won't be having a bad day at Judgment.) A third possibility is that you could go to hell and burn your sins off for a while and then be allowed into heaven. The only way Muslims can be guaranteed to go to heaven is through jihad. Although it is often translated holy war, jihad literally means "exerting force for God." One could be in jihad by writing a book about Islam, or by sharing his faith to bring others to Islam, or by physically fighting for the cause of Islam. If a Muslim dies in jihad, he is guaranteed to go to heaven.
#6
OK, lets take a deep breath. There is a big difference between a "head of arab appearance" and a Chechen or Daghestani. I think it is interesting that was the EXACT same claim in the subway bomobing last year. magically a head was found intact. I questioned this on the Rant last time and i question it here. 7 kilos of explosives on someones body, i think that basically tears up the average head beyond recognition no matter who has the vest on. Get off the N. Caucusus bandwagon, you foolishly play into the Russians hands. Russians want the west to include Chechens and N. Caucasians into the terror war because it legitimizes violent Russian oppression of the N. Caucusus. The west really messed up when they let Russia decimiate Chechnya, this forced anti-Russin Chechens into the Islamist radicals hands because they were strangeld and out of money to fight the Russians. Read some history sometime.
At least 13 people killed after teenage suicide bomber blows himself up near a Shia Muslim procession in Pakistan city.
A teenage suicide bomber has blown himself up near a Shia Muslim procession in the Pakistani city of Lahore, killing at least 13 people and wounding more than 50.
The dead included at least three police officials and one woman. A group called Fiddayan Islam has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Zahid Pervez, a doctor at the eastern city's main Mayo Hospital, said: "We have received nine bodies so far."
There were 52 people wounded, 20 of them critically, including women and children, Pervez said.
"It was a suicide attack," said senior police official Rana Faisal.
"The bomber came close to our checkpoint, threw a bag near a car and blew himself up when policemen tried to stop him."
The bombing took place at a busy intersection in central Lahore and the wreckage of a white car could be seen at the scene.
Television footage showed policemen and ambulance workers carrying the wounded away on stretchers, while other officers tried to calm a confused crowd.
(Xinhua) -- Suspected faceless myrmidons blown a girls school in a Pak tribal region in their anti-government campaign, officials said Monday.
It's only in Afghanistan that the jihadis feel the need to back off on girls' schools for the moment.
Explosives were attached to the school building in Khyber tribal region, which detonated late Sunday night, they said.
No one was hurt as the school was closed at the time of the blast.
No group grabbed credit and the officials blamed the faceless myrmidons for the attack. Talibs have grabbed credit for attacks on schools in the past.
Officials said that boundary wall and three rooms of the schools were destroyed.
The faceless myrmidons have destroyed some 40 schools, government offices and health centers in their fight against government in recent years.
Most of the dynamited schools have not yet been rebuilt, depriving a large number of students of education.
Several faceless myrmidons group, including Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain, are active in Khyber agency, bordering Afghanistan.
Militants regularly attack tankers and trucks, carrying oil and other supplies, for the NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Tribesmen complain that the government has not taken steps for the protection of the remaining schools.
The security forces have carried out two major operations against the faceless myrmidons in Khyber agency, but they show their presence through attacks on government buildings and NATO trucks.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
#1
we need to make inflatable girl's schools to drop in the Pak tribal areas as fishing lures for faceless myrmidons
Posted by: Water Modem ||
01/25/2011 1:31 Comments ||
Top||
#2
These Taliban must not have got the memo that girls' schools are OK.
(Xinhua) -- About 25 people were killed and some 40 others maimed in a car kaboom targeted crowds of Shiite pilgrims in the city of Karbala on Monday, the police said.
The attack took place around midday when a booby-trapped car detonated near processions of Shiite pilgrims at al-Da'oum area, just east of Karbala, some 110 km southwest of Storied Baghdad, a source from the city police told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Many Iraqi security forces were among the killed and maimed, as the blast occurred when security forces approached to check the car boom, the source said.
Earlier in the day, the source said that a twin car booms detonated Monday morning at a parking lot in the al-Ibrahimiyah area in east Karbala, killing six people and wounding up to 30 others, the source said.
The latest attacks targeted Shiite pilgrims who converge in tens of thousands from outside Iraq and from different Iraqi provinces on the holy shrine of Imam Hussien in Karbala to commemorate the death of the Imam who was killed in the battle of Karbala in 680 A.D.
Violence and sporadic high-profile kabooms continue in the Iraqi cities despite the dramatic decrease of violence over the last three years.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq
[Ma'an] An angry crowd on Monday vandalized the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera's Ramallah office, onlookers said.
Security forces stepped in after a dozen youths broke a security gate at the building before entering it and sprayed graffiti. Al-Jazeera International correspondent Alan Fisher wrote on his Twitter page that no one was injured before police arrived.
Footage of the incident posted on YouTube later Monday showed a handful of young Paleostinians shouting and chanting slogans at Al-Jazeera's staff. One tells a photographer to stop filming.
Making friends and influencing people, wherever they go. It's the Palestinian way.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Nine civilians were killed and two injured when a roadside bomb blew up in Yala province on Tuesday. All of the victims were Buddhists. They were in a pickup truck going to hunt wild pigs when the IED exploded
It was the deadliest attack in southern Thailand since terrorists opened fire with automatic weapons at a mosque on June 9, 2009, killing 11.
It was the second major attack in a week and will be a blow to government claims that violence has fallen significantly recently, citing more security and public relation campaigns.
AT least four people have been killed and 15 injured when a bomb exploded on a crowded bus in the Philippine capital's financial district tonight.
Authorities said it was too early to say who was behind the explosion as the bus traveled along one of Manila's busiest roads, but Mr Aquino ordered security forces on alert.
"We have asked the police and military and the intelligence services to review their threat assessment, with the end view of hardening all areas considered under threat," Mr Aquino said in a nationally televised address.
Meanwhile a bomb struck restive southern Thailand yesterday, killing nine villagers and injuring another two, police said, in the latest violence to hit the insurgency-wracked region.
Body
The roadside device exploded at around 5:30pm local time in a village in Yala province, police said, with all the victims thought to be Buddhists returning home from work.
Islamic insurgents have waged a violent campaign in Thailand's southernmost region bordering Malaysia since early 2004, leaving more than 4,400 people dead, including both Muslims and Buddhists.
[Al Jazeera] Communist rebels have shot and killed a police chief and four other officers in northern Philippines after detonating roadside kabooms under their patrol car, officials said.
Sunday's attack killed the Rizal town police chief, his brother, wife and two other officers. Two other police officials were also maimed in the ambush.
It was the first major assault since the Philippine government and communist rebels agreed to restart talks, ending the 42-year rural-based insurgency.
Some 120,000 people have been killed in the decades-long insurgency. Jose Francisco Villaroma, Cagayan provincial police director said that Antonio Rueco, the slain police chief, called for help using his mobile phone after he was shot by the rebels, but rescuers could not reach in time to save his life.
"He was talking over the phone and suddenly, there was silence. It appears that the rebels finished him off," Villaroman said. "We are aghast by the brutality of the attack."
He said three improvised bombs went kaboom! along the road as the police vehicle was passing, then the attackers opened fire. The rebels later decamped towards a mountain hide-out, Villaroman said.
Peace negotiations
The rebels and the government met last week in Norway and agreed to resume formal negotiations from February 15 to 21.
The government said the two sides would likely observe a ceasefire during those negotiations but so far the rebels have rebuffed calls for a more permanent truce in the absence of a political agreement.
Talks between the two sides were suspended in 2004 when the rebels, who have fought for a Marxist state since 1969, withdrew from negotiations.
They have accused the government of instigating the inclusion of the Communist Party and its armed wing, the New People's Army, on US and European lists of terrorist organisations.
After the apparent breakthrough in securing an agreement on February talks, President Benigno Aquino's government said it hoped to end the insurgency within three years.
However, The infamous However... security analysts doubt that one of Asia's longest and deadliest rebellions would be over by 2014.
Ideological differences
They say that even though the rebels' manpower is down to an estimated 4,700 rebels, huge ideological differences remain between the communists and government that will prevent a permanent peace.
Brigadier General Jose Mabanta, Military front man also said Sunday's attack was proof that rebels on the ground did not want to broker a peace and give up their arms.
"While we continue our confidence-building efforts, on their part they are showing bad faith. I don't think the instructions of their leadership are being implemented at the lower level," he said.
Government officials said that forthcoming discussions will likely include the group's demand for the release of Tirso Alcantara, a senior rebel commander who was jugged just after the two sides ended a 19-day Christmas truce.
The rebels said that Alcantara should be released as a member of the negotiating panel.
However, The infamous However... refusing to release him, presidential grinding of the peace processor adviser, Teresita Deles, said on Sunday that Alcantara's name did not appear on a list of rebel negotiators covered by an agreement granting them immunity from prosecution.
Alcantara is facing 23 warrants for murder.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Commies
Protests erupted across Leb on Monday as outgoing Prime Minister Saad Hariri's Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... Movement accused Hizbullah of staging a coup by imposing its candidate to head a new government.
Demonstrations were reported in various regions with a significant Sunni population where protesters burned tires and blocked major roads as they vented their anger at the likely nomination of billionaire businessman Najib Miqati to replace Hariri.
"Sunni blood is boiling!" and "Hizbullah, party of the devil!" chanted demonstrators in the northern port city of Tripoli, Miqati's home town and Leb's main Sunni bastion.
Former MP Mustafa Alloush, of Hariri's Mustaqbal Movement, blasted the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hizbullah for staging a "coup" which he said was aimed at imposing an Iranian form of religious government in Leb.
"Following the coup aimed at allowing Hizbullah to impose its rule in Leb ... we call on the Lebanese to express their anger and their refusal to fall under Iranian control through peaceful protests," Alloush said.
He blasted Hizbullah for seeking to "instate 'Velayat-e Faqih'," referring to Shiite Iran's form of Islamic rule.
Tripoli MP Mohammed Kabbara also called for a "day of anger" on Tuesday.
"This aggression against the Sunni confession and the nation is unacceptable," Kabbara said.
A security official told Agence La Belle France Presse that hundreds of demonstrators had cut off major roads leading in and out of the capital in the early evening.
Some demonstrators were seen overturning dumpsters and burning tires as the army and police boosted their presence across the country.
Roads were also cut off in the eastern Bekaa region, near the southern coastal city of Sidon and in several other towns in northern Leb.
In central Beirut, some 200 people gathered in front of Hariri's residence to express their support.
Another group of demonstrators gathered in the downtown area carrying placards that read "No for Hizbullah rule" and "Pasdaran not welcome," referring to Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
The unrest came after Hizbullah and its allies put forward Miqati's name to head the new government during consultations with President Michel Suleiman earlier on Monday.
Suleiman is due to announce his choice for the top post on Tuesday after meeting with all of the groups in parliament.
Hizbullah on January 12 brought down Hariri's Saudi- and Western-backed government after a long-running dispute over a U.N.-backed tribunal probing the 2005 murder of ex-premier Rafik Hariri, Saad's father.
Hizbullah had been pressing Hariri to disavow the tribunal, which it believes will implicate Hizbullah members.
Miqati, who served briefly as premier in 2005, said that should he be appointed he would act as a consensual candidate representing all parties.
"I extend my hand to everyone," he told news hounds after meeting Suleiman. "If I am appointed, my actions will speak for themselves."
After the protests broke out he also issued a statement urging calm.
"We call on our brothers in Tripoli and across the north to exercise wisdom and patience," said Miqati, who was elected to parliament in 2009 on Hariri's list.
The 55-year-old tycoon is a major shareholder in South Africa's telecom MTN Group, owns the French fashion line Faconnable and has major real estate investments.
Later Monday, the Army Command warned in a statement against messing with security and violating the rules of peaceful protest.
Forbes magazine in 2010 estimated his net worth at 2.5 billion dollars, making him one of Leb's richest men.
The appointment of a Hizbullah-backed premier has sparked fears within the international community, notably Israel, of Iran gaining further influence in Leb and has prompted comparisons with Gazoo, ruled by the Islamist group Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,.
But Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has dismissed such claims, saying that his coalition would seek to include Hariri's camp in the new government.
Hariri, however, has ruled out joining a government headed by a premier appointed by Hizbullah.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
It's been a while since a situation merited dear Alexius Comnenus in all his glory.
.Demonstrations in support of caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri broke out Monday in Beirut as well as in and around the northern city of Tripoli and in the southern city of Sidon after parliamentary consultations showed that former PM Najib Miqati was winning the battle against Hariri. Miqati is a compromise kind of candidate. His party only controls two seats in parliament. He was prime minister before, in 2005, taking over from Karami and marking time for a few months in the last days of Lahoud's presidency before handing off to Siniora.
Results at the end of Day 1 of binding parliamentary consultations -- which showed 59 MPs voted for Miqati while 49 only voted for Hariri -- sparked a public outcry. That'd be because March 14th holds a couple seat majority over the Hezbollah bloc. I'm guessing there are a lot of people unhappy with Wally Jumblat at the moment. There will be more in the days to come.
Hundreds of demonstrators condemning Miqati's nomination for premiership erupted into the streets of Tariq Jedideh, Cola, Corniche Mazraa, Cite Sportive as well as Naameh and Jiyyeh south of Beirut and in neighborhoods in and around Tripoli shortly after the results emerged around 5:30pm, blocking roads with burning garbage containers.
Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... supporters in Saadnayel and Majdel Anjar also blocked the highway linking Beirut to Damascus.
Hizbullah's Loyalty to the Resistance That'd be the Hezbullies, natch... bloc headed by MP Mohammed Raad, Michel Aoun's ...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah... Change and Reform bloc and Suleiman Franjieh's bloc as well as other Opposition blocs have all voted for Miqati, including Druze leader Walid Wally Jumblat ... who's been on every side in Leb at least four times... and six MPs from his bloc.
Following the collapse of Hariri's government, Hizbullah won the support of Jumblat, a longtime kingmaker in Leb's politics.
The four other MPs of Jumblat's Democratic Gathering bloc -- Marwan Hamadeh, Mohammed Hajjar, Fouad al-Saad, and Henry Helou -- announced support for Hariri. Hamadeh was injured in a car bomb explosion on October 1, 2004 that killed his driver and injured his bodyguard. He probably retains a bit of curiosity about who dunnit. Helou and al-Saad occupy Maronite seats. I believe Hajjar was also aligned with March 14th with a nominal membership in Wally's Democratic Gathering bloc.
At this point, Jumblat emerged from talks with President Michel Suleiman at Baabda Palace, announcing the end of his Democratic Gathering parliamentary bloc, after four MPs of the 11-member gathering decided not to back Miqati. Jumblat, instead, said he was renaming his bloc "The National Struggle Front." As in the Struggle to find new members after selling the other ones out for a mess of pottage.
Among the politicians who endorsed Hariri were MPs Michel Murr and Nayla Tueni. The Tueni family owns an-Nahar. Gebran Tueni was assassinated in 2005 by a false nose and mustache group calling itself "Strugglers for the Unity and Freedom of al-Sham" -- al Sham is Greater Syria. Murr is Nayla Tueni's grandfather.
Monday's consultations included in addition to Hariri, Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri ... the Hizbullah sock puppet ... whose Development and Liberation bloc also named Miqati. ... since nominating Knobby as PM would have been asking for trouble...
Berri described the atmosphere as "very, very good" following talks with Suleiman. ... despite the people out in the street burning tires...
The fate of the two-day consultations, which are scheduled to resume on Tuesday, remains unknown following the protests.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
7:43pm NBN: Pro-Hariri protesters have blocked the al-Beddawi road in the North and the Bekaa international highway with burning tires.
7:41pm Pro-Hariri protesters have blocked the Akkar-Syria international highway with burning tires.
7:36pm Protesters from al-Naameh and Haret al-Naameh blocked the coastal highway leading to the South with burning tires, prompting army units to immediately intervene in a bid to reopen the road.
7:35pm NBN: Mustaqbal supporters have blocked the coastal highway leading to the South, stranding citizens in their vehicles. People are urging security forces to intervene.
7:32pm MP Mohammed Kabbara: Tomorrow will be a Day of Anger across Lebanon to protest interference in the affairs of Lebanon and the Lebanese Sunnis.
7:23pm MP Khaled Daher: We announce our rejection of the candidate backed by the "party of arms." What was plotted yesterday was a coup by a group that didn't respect the voters' freedom by relying on its weapons to threaten all Lebanese.
7:19pm MP Khaled Daher: We call on those who reject the Persian scheme in this defiant Arab country to stage a sit-in tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. at the al-Nour Square in Tripoli.
7:17pm Future News: Protesters in Bekaa have blocked the road to Damascus.
7:14pm Security source to Naharnet: Angry residents blocked several roads in Beirut's Cola, Sports City and Corniche Mazraa districts with garbage containers and stones.
7:03pm MTV: The Jnah-Sports City road has been blocked with burning tires.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
[Emirates 24/7] Iran hanged on Monday two political activists held during the 2009 presidential election unrest, state media reported, despite a plea by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill... for their release.
State television's website, quoting the Tehran prosecutor's office, named the pair as Jafar Kazemi and Mohammad Ali Hajaghaei. It did not say where the two men were hanged.
"Two elements of the Monafeghin (hypocrites) cell named Jafar Kazemi... and Mohammad Ali Hajaghaei... were executed early today," the prosecutor's office said, referring to the Iranian exiled opposition group, People's Mujahedeen of Iran (PMOI).
On August 10, Clinton had urged the Iranian authorities to release the two activists.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
(Xinhua) -- Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri said on Monday that he refused to participate in any government headed by a Prime Minister from the Hezbullies-led bloc.
According to a statement from Hariri's press office, there is no consensual candidate presented to the parliamentary consultations Monday.
Lebanese President Michel Suleiman Monday kicked off the consultations with the 128-seat parliament to designate a new Prime Minister, after Saad Hariri's government toppled by the Hezbullies-led March 8 Alliance on the conflict of his father, former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri's murder case.
March 8 Alliance are reportedly likely to nominate former Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who officially announced his candidacy on Sunday night.
Hezbullies's general secretary Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech Sunday evening that if his bloc's candidate won the post, every party is welcome to join the new government.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
[Emirates 24/7] Lebanese telecoms tycoon Najib Mikati, who is backed by Hezbullies and its allies, was set to lead a new government on Monday after winning support from Druze leader Walid Wally Jumblatt. ... who's been on every side in Leb at least four times...
But caretaker Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri said he and his Future Movement would not take part in a government where the Hezbullies has the upper hand.
Leb was plunged into political crisis after Hezbullies and its allies walked out of Hariri's unity government on January 12 in a dispute over still-confidential indictments by a UN-backed tribunal which is investigating the 2005 killing of statesman Rafik Al-Hariri, the premier's father.
Hariri has stayed on in the interim and hoped to form a new coalition. But support from Jumblatt and six members of his parliamentary bloc -- added to the 57 members of Hezbullies and their allies, plus Mikati himself -- will give Mikati 65 votes in the 128-member parliament.
Hariri, a Sunni Mohammedan who has support from the United States and Soddy Arabia, said his supporters would not serve under a premier chosen by the Iranian-backed Shi'ite group.
"The Future Movement ... rejects taking part in any government headed by a March 8 candidate," his office said in a statement on Monday. The March 8 bloc includes Shi'ite movements Hezbullies and Amal, along with Christian leader Michel Aoun. ...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah... Hezbullies leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has offered to accept any group within a cabinet led by Mikati, a Sunni businessman and politician -- a post reserved under Leb's constitution for a member of the Sunni community.
The collapse of Hariri's government and political deadlock since then has deepened sectarian divisions in Leb, and the prospect of a government formed by Hezbullies will alarm Israel, which fought a month-long war with the beturbanned goon group in 2006.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
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.
An iPhone app that tracks down the Taliban has been developed by Capt. Jonathan Springer, a U.S. soldier.
[Tolo News] At least 12 
(Xinhua)-- Six Talibs were killed as Afghan and NATO-led forces conducted a search and cleanup operation in northern Lashkar Gah capital of Taliban hub Helmand province on Monday, an official said.
[Tolo News] Seven would-be-
Egypt's Interior Minister, General Habib Adli, made the claim in an interview with Al-Ahram newspaper, revealing that Egyptian security forces have arrested 19 suspected al-Qaida militants.
[Iran Press TV] Mexican police have 
(Xinhua) -- Suspected 
The attack took place around midday when a booby-trapped car detonated near processions of Shiite pilgrims at al-Da'oum area, just east of Karbala, some 110 km southwest of 
[Ma'an] An angry crowd on Monday vandalized the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera's Ramallah office, onlookers said. 
Nine civilians were killed and two injured when a roadside bomb blew up in Yala province on Tuesday. All of the victims were Buddhists. They were in a pickup truck going to hunt wild pigs when the IED exploded
[Emirates 24/7] Iran hanged on Monday two political activists held during the 2009 presidential election unrest, state media reported, despite a plea by US Secretary of State 
