#3
I'm sure the photographer had a reason for having a picture of a man holding a sandwich behind a woman who bathes, but for the life of me I can't figure out why ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/02/2010 10:27 Comments ||
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#4
That's the Buster Keaton "You don't have to be Jewish to love Levy's" poster.
Pic could be titled "Bathing with Buster"
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2010 11:02 Comments ||
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#5
I'm sure the photographer had a reason for having a picture of a man holding a sandwich behind a woman who bathes, but for the life of me I can't figure out why ...
I noted that poster, too, but I think it's a different guy than Buster Keaton. If you've ever been to Attman's Deli on 'Corn Beef Row' near the Baltimore Harbor and Little Italy, then you might have seen another similar poster in the same series hanging on the wall, but the guy in the picture is Asian.
The hand placement is a little different in Buster's pic and the one on the wall ..
Best, Mark Cody in Arlington
Posted by: Mark ||
03/02/2010 11:34 Comments ||
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#8
Attman's is still open? I thought they'd all closed except for Jack's. I've never had Corned Beef or Hot Dog as good as Weiss's. Ahhhh.
[Quqnoos] At least five Afghan civilians were killed and 16 others wounded Monday in two separate explosions in Kandahar, officials said
A suicide bomber struck a convoy of foreign troops in the southern Afghan province in the morning, killing at least four civilians and a NATO soldier.
A few hours later, a car bomb went off nearby the provincial police headquarters in the heart of Kandahar city, leaving one dead and 16 others injured.
The wounded people have been taken to a near hospital, the Afghan Ministry of Interior said in a statement.
Afghan forces have cordoned off the area around the police station and journalists are not allowed to enter, said Quqnoos Kandahar correspondent, Mohammad Masumi.
"The city is on alert," Masumi added, "people expect more of such deadly incidents."
The suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vehicle on a road leading to Kandahar airport, a base for thousands of foreign troops -- most of them Canadians and Americans.
The Interior Ministry confirmed both of the incidents, blaming enemies, an expression commonly used to refer to the Taliban.
The explosions occurred as thousands of NATO and Afghan troops have been battling a major offensive against the Taliban in the neighbouring Helmand province for the past three weeks.
Two days earlier, US officials said they are planning to launch a major operation later this year to target Taliban hideouts in Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban.
The operation in Kandahar would be a part of 12 -- 18 month push aimed at turning the tide in the staled Afghan war.
No group, including the Taliban, has made an immediate claim of responsibility for Monday attacks.
The incidents come amid reports that Taliban are seeking to destabilise other parts of southern Afghanistan as they are under intense pressure in Helmand province.
Taliban militants have intensified their attacks across the country over the past two months, targeting government locations and security forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2010 00:00 ||
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BRUSSELS -- A NATO destroyer has sunk a pirate mothership in the Indian Ocean off the Somali coast after allowing the crew to leave, the alliance said Monday.
Shona Lowe, an anti-piracy spokeswoman, said the HDMS Absalon -- the Danish flagship of the three-vessel NATO flotilla in the region -- disrupted a pirate operation by "scuttling" one of the large boats used by Somali gangs to transport attack teams to piracy hunting areas far off the coast.
The mothership was fired on and sunk after its crew members were transferred to a smaller boat in tow, which was allowed to return to the mainland, she said.
"NATO is not in the business of firing at skiffs with pirates in them," Lowe said in an interview from NATO's naval headquarters in Northwood, near London. Lowe said no further details were immediately available. "I can say no more!"
The action occurred Sunday in the Indian Ocean, rather than the adjacent Gulf of Aden where most pirate attacks take place.
NATO maintains a three-ship flotilla -- which also includes the frigates USS Boone and the British HMS Chatham -- to fight the pirates. The European Union has a separate, six-ship squadron in the region as part of its anti-piracy mission known as Operation Atalanta, as do other nations such as the United States, India, Russia, and China.
The 6,300-ton Absalon, commissioned in 2007, serves as the flagship of the NATO flotilla. It arrived off Somalia in January.
#1
"NATO is not in the business of firing at skiffs with pirates in them," Lowe said in an interview from NATO's naval headquarters in Northwood, near London.
#2
The Indian warship Tabar is in the area. Captain Pradyut Banerjee has no such reluctance.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/02/2010 16:13 Comments ||
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#3
Figures it was the Vikings. They're in a boatload of trouble now. Maybe they should make a picture of Mo with his turban as a bomb with a circle slash the Absalom's crest.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Hundreds of civilians are feared to have died in a surge of fighting between the Sudanese army and rebels in the turbulent Darfur region, a U.N. source said on Monday.
A spokesman for Sudan's army denied any fighting was taking place in Darfur's mountainous Jabel Marra region and accused insurgents of harassing and attacking locals.
Reports of clashes throughout last week have marred Khartoum's announcement of a new peace push in the region and come just over a month ahead of national elections. Peace was breaking out all over -- it was breaking here, it was breaking there ...
"We think that we have a mounting number of casualties ... The lower estimate is around 140. The higher estimate is closer to 400," said a U.N. source. He said the figures referred to civilian deaths.
The army spokesman told Reuters: "There are no clashes between the Sudanese army and the forces of Abdul Wahed's movement."
Abdul Wahed Mohammed al-Nour is the leader of a branch of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA).
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir declared the war in Darfur over last Wednesday, announcing the release of 57 rebel captives after reaching an initial settlement with the Justice and Equality Movement, Darfur's most powerful rebel force.
Bashir's government signed an agreement in Doha on Tuesday committing Sudan to reaching a final peace deal with the JEM by March 15.
But the SLA and other rebels have rejected the deal, demanding that security be restored on the ground before talks begin.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Hundreds of civilians are feared to have died in a surge of fighting between the Sudanese army and rebels in the turbulent Darfur region, a U.N. source said on Monday.
Holding my breath until those who become hysteric when Israel kills a terrorist, do the same about Darfur civilans.
#3
DAILY TIMES.PK/TOPIX > [AQIM = North Africa] AL QAEDA GROWING IN STRENGTH AND NUMBERS IN AFRICA; + AL-SHABAAB GROUP ORDERS WFP TO LEAVE SOMALIA [UN WOrld Food Program].
The SHABBIES = SHABAABIES believe the UN WFP are covert anti-Islamic Proxies-Agents for the US-NATO acting in support of local corrupt immoral Govt.???
Remember, people, it's the job of the reporter to answer the questions Who? What? When? Where? and How? and if the story is a background or analysis piece, add Why? and What does this portend?
Moroccan police have dismantled a terrorist network that was "active in several towns" of the north African kingdom, the state security service announced Tuesday.
Noted. Unnamed terror network based in Morocco had been arrested.
The network included six members who "were planning to commit terrorist acts inside the national territory," the security service said in a statement, without saying when the arrests took place.
Noted. More than six people have been enjoying the Number Seven truncheon for a while, and possibly even the mustache wax.
"Within the framework of efforts by security forces to combat terrorism and extremism, these services dismantled a terrorist network of six people imbued with Takfirist ideology...," the statement said.
"We do not like Takfiris," the statement did not go on to say, "because they lack manners as well as morals."
The arrests were "recently" made in the towns of Taza and Oujda in northeast Morocco and in Kenitra, 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Rabat, according to a security official contacted by AFP.
Aha! Actual towns with names, even if the arrestees as yet have none.
The "network is also accused of wanting to commit acts of violence against political figures, as well as holding up a bank," said the source, who asked to remain anonymous.
The anonymous source was no doubt our friend Mahmoud the Weasel, clearly moved up in the world since his time with the Rab of Bangladesh.
Posted by: ed ||
03/02/2010 10:05 ||
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[Maghrebia] Mauritanian state television (TVM) on Sunday (February 28th) aired footage of the twenty drug suspects arrested after clashing with Mauritanian soldiers near the Mali border on Friday night. Three traffickers were killed in the ambush in the north-eastern Mauritanian desert town of Lemzarrab. Army troops also seized six all-terrain vehicles and a truck carrying five tonnes of drugs, weapons, ammunition, fuel and food. The 20 Mauritanian, Algerian and Malian nationals were flown to Nouakchott on Sunday for interrogation.
"The group of drug dealers moved under the protection and security of terrorist groups located in the region. This shows the degree of co-ordination and collaboration between the two groups, Islamists and drug traffickers," Journal Tahalil quoted the TVM report as saying.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Why would anyone have tons of drugs in the middle of the Sahara Desert? Drug plants don't grow there, drug users don't live there (in any quantity). It's a logistically-challenged place to make 'manufactured' drugs. I don't understand.
#2
West Africa has been the way point of distribution for cocaine from South America and heroin probably from Afghanistan into Europe. Same for blood diamonds and weapons. There has been a clamp down at major ports so they adjust.
#4
Glenmore, we've had a couple of articles recently about the drug trade coming from Central/South America through Africa to the European market, with Hizb'allah and perhaps other terror groups taking a cut of the profits... and we already know the opium derivatives go from Afghanistan through Iran, with the Taliban taking a cut of those profits -- some of which may trickle into the pockets of Al Qaeda. But not much, because they've been begging for money from their subsidiaries for several years. D'you remember the letter they sent to Zarqawi when he was running Al Qaeda in Iraq?
#5
tw: it may be that "taliban central" has money but the affiliates may be money poor, or expected to pay for the privelige of owning a "Genuine Taliban Franchise."
[Iran Press TV Latest] In the wake of the assassination of a Hamas commander in Dubai -- widely believed to have been carried out by Israel -- travelers with Israeli passports will be denied entry to the United Arab Emirates. Dubai's police chief Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim said Monday that the emirate will "deny entry to anyone suspected of having Israeli citizenship."
"In the future, those we suspect of carrying dual nationality [including Israelis] will be treated very carefully," he said.
"If they look Jewish, they must have dual nationality. See how easy it is?"
"If Israel and Mossad mistreated Europeans, we will not... Our treatment of Europeans will not be affected," he added.
"We love Europeans, especially when they bring lots of money to spend."
Tamim said earlier that most of the suspects behind the terror of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh would be found in Israel. The police have released photos and information of 26 suspects in the terror, most of them holding European passports, saying they were Mossad agents carrying fake documents.
Ninety-nine percent sure, based on nothing at all.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Following this logic how can a Saudi national enter the U. S.?
#3
the emirate will "deny entry to anyone suspected of having Israeli citizenship."
"In the future, those we suspect of carrying dual nationality [including Israelis] will be treated very carefully," he said.
It's like they know the assassins were Mossad with 99% certainty, mojo. Thus they need no proof. Likewise for those they decide a priori must be Israelis travelling on their other passports -- actual facts are unnecessary, and are unwanted lest the assumption be proved untrue.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Yemeni security forces clashed on Monday with suspected rebels in the southerly Abyan province, where separatists are campaigning against the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Residents said at least three Yemeni policemen had been killed and five wounded. But a government source in Sanaa said only two members of the security forces had died.
He said the gun battle took place when security forces tried to arrest an arms dealer suspected of supplying the separatists, and that four other people had been killed, including a man suspected of links to al-Qaeda named as Ali al-Yafie and some members of his family.
Last week a policeman was shot dead in an ambush in the south, and on Sunday crowds protested in the southern provinces of Abyan, Dalea and Aden against the arrest of 21 people accused of rioting. Many carried the flag of the former South Yemen.
North and South Yemen united under Saleh's presidency in 1990 but many in the south, home to most Yemeni oil facilities, complain that northerners have abused unification to grab resources and discriminate against them.
Yemen's government struck a truce on Feb. 11 with Houthi rebels whom they had been fighting in the north, allowing them to turn their attention to the rebellion in the south as well as al-Qaeda militancy.
Yemen rose to the forefront of Western security concerns after the Yemeni arm of al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for a failed attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound plane in December.
Western governments and neighboring Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, fear al-Qaeda is exploiting instability in Yemen to recruit and train militants to launch attacks in the region and beyond.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2010 00:00 ||
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Never saw that coming, didya ...
MADRID (Reuters) -- Spain demanded Venezuela explain itself after a judge accused the South American government on Monday of helping Basque ETA rebels and Colombian FARC guerrillas plot possible attacks on Spanish soil.
A ruling by Spain's High Court said the Venezuelan government facilitated contacts between the armed groups which led to FARC asking ETA for logistical help in case it tried to assassinate Colombian officials visiting Spain, including President Alvaro Uribe. High Court Judge Eloy Velasco issued arrest warrants for 13 FARC and ETA suspects, including one Spanish-born employee of the Venezuelan government.
Spain's Socialist government, which at one stage had relatively good relations with Venezuela's left-wing firebrand President Hugo Chavez, demanded an explanation from Caracas.
"The Spanish government will act in accordance with that explanation," Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told a news conference in Hanover, Germany, after meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Venezuela reacted strongly to the case. "The Venezuelan government found out by way of the press of the Spanish ruling in which it makes unacceptable, politically motivated allusions about the Venezuelan government," a statement read.
The statement said the ruling made several disrespectful references to Chavez and made unfounded and tendentious allusions about the Venezuelan government.
Speaking on radio in Uruguay Colombian President Uribe would not be drawn into making a statement. "We have to react with prudence and find out what is happening through the diplomatic channels," he said.
The spat comes as tensions run high between Venezuela and its neighbour Colombia, over Caracas' alleged support for FARC, or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
Spain's relations with Venezuela have suffered in recent years, with King Juan Carlos telling Chavez to "shut up" at a summit in Chile in 2007 after the Venezuelan repeatedly interrupted Zapatero. Spanish oil company Repsol has significant investments in Venezuela. Spain's second-largest bank BBVA also has interests there.
According to Monday's detailed court ruling, in 2007 ETA rebels were given a Venezuelan military escort to a site in the jungle where they gave a course on handling explosives to visiting FARC guerrillas.
"This shows Venezuelan government cooperation in the illicit collaboration between FARC and ETA," Judge Velasco said in the document, adding that one of those wanted is Arturo Cubillas, who has worked for Venezuela's government since Chavez won elections in 1999.
Venezuelan legislator Hayden Pirela, who heads the parliament's subcommission for border affairs and integration, said the fact Cabillas had worked in the government did not mean Venezuela supported ETA.
FARC has killed thousands of people in a decades-old war to set up a Socialist state in Colombia. ETA has killed more than 850, fighting for independence for the Basque Country. FARC is also believed to have had training from suspected members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) on bomb-making techniques.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/02/2010 16:37 ||
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MADRID (AFP) The suspected military chief of ETA may have been planning a kidnapping when he was arrested along with two others at the weekend, Spain's interior minister said Monday.
"One of the theories is that he was planning a kidnapping," Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba told Spain's radio Cadena Ser. As opposed to a square dance ... Ibon Gogeascoechea Arronategui, 54, the "most senior" member of the Basque separatist group, was arrested in the northern French town of Cahan early Sunday, Spanish authorities said.
The two ETA suspects detained along with him were "saying goodbye" to Gogeascoechea before leaving for Spain, Rubalcaba said. He said the handcuffs they were carrying led the police to suspect they were about to stage a kidnapping.
Spanish newspaper ABC said Gogeascoechea was meeting the two others "to finalise the details of a kidnapping".
But it said the identity of the person targeted was unclear, although police suspect it may have been a Basque businessman or a politician or even a judge.
One of the two others arrested, Beinat Aguinalde Ugartemendia, 26, is suspected of the assassinations of a former socialist councillor and a Basque businessman in 2008, the Spanish interior ministry said Sunday.
Rubalcaba had warned in December that ETA may be planning a "spectacular" attack or kidnapping during Madrid's EU presidency, which began on January 1, to prove it is still strong despite a series of setbacks.
The latest arrests came amid stepped-up, cross-border cooperation by French and Spanish police against ETA, blamed for 828 deaths in its 41-year campaign for independence in the Basque region of northern Spain and southwestern France. ETA figures on several terrorist blacklists, including those of the European Union and the United States.
Several members of the separatist outfit, mainly members of its armed wing, have been arrested in France in recent years. In November 2008, police in France arrested the then military chief of the organisation, Garikoitz Aspiazu, and captured his successors Aitzol Iriondo and Jurdan Martitegui over the following months. In October, they also detained the suspected political leader of ETA, Aitor Elizaran.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/02/2010 16:35 ||
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DAMADOLA, Pakistan (AFP) Pakistan's army said on Tuesday it had captured a key Taliban and Al-Qaeda complex dug into rocky mountains close to the Afghan border after killing 75 local and foreign militants.
Commanders gave journalists a guided tour of the bastion, which one general said numbered 156 caves developed over five to seven years, and carved into sheer rock within clear view of the snow-capped peaks in eastern Afghanistan.
Posted by: ed ||
03/02/2010 09:54 ||
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#1
Shouldn't have given that photo-interview to Better Caves & Gardens, now should ya?
[Dawn] A young girl has been killed during an intense crossfire between militants and security forces in Safi Tehsil of Mohmand agency on Monday.
The crossfire, which continued for four hours, took place after militants attacked a security check-post in Lakaro area of Safi Tehsil in the agency.
The militants' latest attack seems to have dampened security forces claims that life is coming back to normal in Mohmand Agency.
Mohmand Agency, a stronghold of militants, has been the scene of various operations launched by security forces in the wake of the Waziristan operation.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2010 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] Five activists of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were arrested and arms were recovered from their possession on Monday from Attock. Speaking to Geo TV, Regional Police Officer (RPO) Aslam Tarin confirmed the arrestes and said they were arrested on the identification of already nabbed terrorists. Three suicide vests, anti-tank mine, wireless set, hand grenade and motorcycle were also seized. The arrested men also include a mastermind, Tariq, who is allegedly behind several terrorist attacks. Tarin told that the accused wanted to target key installations in Rawalpindi.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2010 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] An al Qaeda-linked militant who has called for attacks on China over its treatment of Muslims has been killed in a U.S. missile strike in Pakistan, Pakistani intelligence and Taliban officials said on Monday.
Abdul Haq al-Turkistani, leader of a group called the Turkistani Islamic Party, was killed in an attack by a U.S. drone aircraft in the North Waziristan region on the Afghan border on Feb. 15, they said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2010 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Pakistani security forces have killed a senior Taliban commander in clashes in Swat valley, where the military claims to have quelled an uprising.
In a late Sunday gun battle in the town of Madyan, Mohammad Alam Binouri, who had a $117,000 reward on his head, as well as another a fellow-commander named Shankoo Mullah, were killed.
According to an anonymous military official, Binouri was killed in an exchange of fire after army soldiers surrounded the house where he was. Three other militants were captured alive during the raid.
"The bodies of the insurgents were placed in the main bazaar of Madyan, where the residents identified the pair," local police officer Islam Jan said.
He said Binouri was a close aide of fugitive Swat Taliban commander Maulana Fazlullah.
The bodies were taken to Swat's main town Mingora, where the wounded insurgents are being interrogated.
Fazlullah still remains at large and a 50-million-rupee ($5,400) award has been set for his head.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Monday that both, the banned sectarian outfit Sipah-e-Sihaba Pakistan along with Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, were involved in terrorist activities in Pakistan and the government had taken notice of the fact.
Malik appeared before Accountability Court Number 1 in Rawalpindi today where he stated that he be exempted from appearing before the court.
However, Accountability Judge Tariq Abbasi turned down his request and said that he can only be exempted for one day.
Talking to the media, Malik said that he had told the court that he had been warned by intelligence agencies that he was under serious threat for his prime role in fighting the war against terror and thus he should be exempted.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2010 00:00 ||
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[Ma'an] Egyptian security arrested a Palestinian child working inside a smuggling tunnel in the Salah Ad-Din area in Rafah on Monday, reportedly extracting him from the subterranean passage beneath Egyptian soil.
Egyptian security forces were searching the area when they located 14-year-old Mustapha Shukry as he hooked up pallets of goods to transport machinery in the tunnel.
The security unit removed the child, searched the tunnel for additional workers then began setting up explosives that would destroy the passage, they said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2010 00:00 ||
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[Ma'an] Israeli shells killed a member of the Popular Resistance Committees' (PRC) military wing in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip and injured a second on Monday.
Abu Atayam, the spokesperson of the PRC's An-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades, said 20-year-old Muhammad Ghabein was killed while on an "observation mission," and monitoring Israeli activity at the Gaza border. Witnesses said four shells were fired at the area.
Medical sources at the Kamal Udwan Hospital said a second man was injured by the border area shelling.
According to residents, a second round of shells targeted Al-Qaraya Al-Badawiya, or Umm An-Nasser, a village north of the Beit Lahiya wastewater treatment plant.
Locals in the village said several shells were fired at a residential area.
An Israeli military spokesman told Ma'an "earlier this afternoon an IDF force identified a squad of Palestinian terror operatives preparing to plant an explosive device along the security fence in the northern Gaza Strip. The force on the scene fired tank shells toward the terror squad. One operative was killed by IDF fire and two were injured."
The spokesman added that the army identified the operatives as members of the Popular Resistance Committee. According to the spokesman, during a sweep of the area, an anti-tank missile was fired at Israeli forces, with no damage or injuries caused. The spokesman said a motor bomb and "several other suspicious items" were found in the area.
"The IDF will continue to operate firmly against anyone who uses terror against the state of Israel and sees Hamas as solely responsible for maintaining peace and quiet in the Gaza Strip," the spokesman concluded.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2010 00:00 ||
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Israeli army tanks opened fire on northern Gaza Strip, killing a Palestinian and wounding another near the town of Beit Lahia, Palestinian sources say.
According to witnesses living in the area, the army tanks fired four artillery shells at the area on Monday, DPA reported.
The head of Gaza emergency services, Muawiya Hassanein, also confirmed that a Palestinian was killed, saying they recovered the body of Mohammed Ghaban, 20, who was killed by shrapnel from Israeli shelling near Beit Lahia.
Medics at Kamal Odwan Hospital earlier said that one Palestinian, who had been critically wounded, was admitted to the hospital.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
saying they recovered the body of Mohammed Ghaban, 20, who was killed by shrapnel from Israeli shelling near Beit Lahia.
Did he still have the rockt Igniter, or did he throw it away?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/02/2010 13:10 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A jailed senior Hamas leader disowned his son on Monday after the young man admitted to having spied on the Islamist group for Israel and playing a major role in the arrest of senior militants. I'm even more pissed off about this than you guys, okay? So please don't kill me...
The youngster is a grown man in his thirties; his admission came in a book published in the U.S. explaining in detail why he left Islam and converted to Christianity. It's not like his cried out a confession after being confronted by an angry and disappointed paterfamilias.
"I, Sheikh Hassan Yussef... my wife, sons and daughters announce that we have completely disowned the man who was our oldest son and who is called Mosab," he said in a statement. You're dead to us, Fredo Mosab! Dead!!
"Please don't hurt us..."
The decision was taken following "the man who is called Mosab's apostasy towards God and his prophet... his betrayal of Muslims, his cooperation with the enemies of God and the damage he caused to our people and our cause."
Last week, Israel's Haaretz daily reported that Mosab Hassan Yussef, 32, was a top informer for Israel's Shin Bet internal security agency and was known by the codename "The Green Prince." Gonna take more than just shooting him in the feet ...
The article was based on extracts of a book, "Son of Hamas", co-written by Yussef, who converted to Christianity 10 years ago and now lives in California. The book is set to be published in the United States this week.
Haaretz said Mosab was crucial in the arrests of Ibrahim Hamid, a Hamas military chief in the West Bank, and Abdullah Barghuti, the bomb maker behind an infamous 2001 suicide attack on a Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem. Ummmmmmmm...sorry, guys. I'd throw some acid on him or sumthin, but he's in California. And I'm in Joooo jail.
Yussef reportedly worked for the Shin Bet at the height of the 2000 Palestinian intifada, or uprising, when Hamas carried out dozens of deadly suicide bombings in Israel and Israel waged an all out war on the group.
The elder Yussef -- a senior Hamas leader in the West Bank who was arrested in September 2005 and is still being held in an Israeli jail -- had earlier denied his son was ever an active member of the group. He just answered the phones and swept up the office. Maybe did a pizza run once in awhile...
"From 1996, when he was 17 years old, (Mosab) faced blackmail and pressure from Israeli intelligence and, when he revealed his situation at that time, the sons of the movement were warned about him," he said in an earlier statement. Sounds like some of them didn't get your voicemail, pops...
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2010 00:00 ||
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#2
According to author Joel C. Rosenberg, who is meeting Mosab at an international luncheon, there are more like him out there, particularly in Iran and Syria. His speech is entitled, "Israel, The Iran Threat, and Modern Day Lessons From The Book of Esther." And just as the Lord had strategically positioned two believers - Mordechai and Esther - close to the leader of Persia to do His will at "such a time as this," so, too, the Lord placed Mosab right next to the leader of Hamas to serve Christ at a critical moment.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Israeli police stepped up security around al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem on Monday after several people were wounded in clashes in and around the fiercely contested holy site, as the Palestinian Cabinet held its weekly meeting in Hebron as a challenge to Israel's plans to add the Tomb of the Patriarchs to its list of national heritage sites.
"We have deployed reinforcements inside the Old City and will continue to limit access to the Temple Mount to Muslim men over the age of 50 as well as women," Jerusalem police spokesman Shmulik Ben Rubi told AFP, referring to the site by its Jewish name.
The compound will also be open to tourists "like any normal day," he added.
Clashes
On Sunday clashes erupted after Muslim worshippers threw stones at a group of visitors they believed were Jewish extremists threatening the tense status quo of the site, where only Muslims are allowed to pray.
Police entered the compound soon thereafter, sparking clashes in and around the historic Old City between stone-throwing Palestinian youth and security forces. Seventeen people, including two police officers, were wounded.
Al-Aqsa mosque compound is the holiest site in the world for Jews and the third holiest for Muslims after Mecca and Medina. It has been a tinderbox for Israeli-Palestinian violence for decades.
On Monday, Shmuel Rabinovitch, the rabbi for the Western Wall, a Jewish pilgrimage site adjacent to the site, sought to defuse tensions by reminding Jews that they are forbidden from entering the site for religious reasons.
"The Halacha (Jewish religious law) forbids Jews from entering the Temple Mount. There is no reason to fear that Jews will enter, not only for political and security reasons, but for religious reasons," he told military radio.
Jews are forbidden from entering for fear they would profane the "Holy of Holies" the inner sanctum of the Second Temple that is believed to have stood on the site before it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Human Rights Violations ! C'mon : Bring : UN : Sanctions : Monitors ! Need : UN : Peacekeepers ! Have Israel Withdraw : Scene ! Alright !
[Ma'an] A bomb was detonated in the car of the Gaza police operations chief on Monday morning, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) said. Hey, chief, ain't that your car that just blew up?
"At approximately 06:00 on Monday, 01 March 2010, unknown persons detonated a bomb in a car belonging to Talal Banat, 44, chief of police operations in Gaza, when it was parked near his house in al-Nasser Street in the north of Gaza City," PCHR said in a statement. Damn. And I just had it detailed...LOUSY BASTIDS!
"The car was heavily damaged, but no casualties were reported. The police arrived at the area soon and initiated an investigation," the statement added. Awwwww, they can just buff that right out, boss...
The group condemned the attack as a sign of a "state of security chaos and proliferation of weapons" in the Palestinian territories. ...as they always do.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
It's a message. Otherwise they'd have waited until he was in it.
Philippine media is reporting that on February 21, leading Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) commander Albader Parad was killed along with five other fighters on the island of Jolo, in the volatile Sulu archipelago, in a confrontation with Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) 2nd an 3rd Marine Battalions (Mindanao Examiner, February 23; The Manila Times, February 22). In what Filipino commanders described as both a moral booster to the AFP and a severe blow to the ASG's hierarchy, the death of Parad came after a fierce gun battle with the militants in Jolo's remote Karawan district where ASG men had taken shelter. Parad had arisen in the militant scene with a logistically astonishing raid and mass kidnapping on a Sipadan Island dive resort off the coast of Malaysia's Sabah state (Borneo) on April 23, 2000 in which 21 tourists and resort employees were ferried off to Jolo in the group's first act of cross-border terrorism.
Albader Parad was one of Manila's most wanted men and the quintessence of a high-value target before his death. His most infamous operation was the kidnapping of three International Committee of the Red Cross volunteers in north Jolo's Patikul region on January 15, 2009 (Philippine Inquirer, January 17, 2009). Parad was on the United States radar in connection with the killings of two U.S. soldiers by an improvised explosive device on the island last fall (Philippine Inquirer, September 30, 2009). The AFP commander of Western Mindanao, Lt. General Benjamin Dolorfino, believes the death of another major ASG figure puts the group's future on shaky ground and that "there are no other young leaders emerging" to take over where Parad so violently left off (Philippine Inquirer, February 23). Dolorfino touted the elimination of Parad as a concurrent victory for the Philippine military's American sponsors, telling the press that the U.S. had offered a multimillion dollar bounty for Parad but a U.S. embassy spokeswoman in Manila was quick to put down the claim, stating "reports of a $5 million reward being offered by the US are incorrect (ABS-CBN News, February 22)."
With Albader Parad now gone from the scene, the future of Abu Sayyaf remains unclear. A number of other high-level ASG leaders who were with Parad on the Sipadan dive resort raid have recently been captured which may affect both the morale of existing militants in the organization as well as disincentivize further potential recruits.
In the last several months Abu Sayyaf leaders, including Abdul Basit Usman in Pakistan (see Militant Leadership Monitor, January 2010), are being captured and killed in significant numbers in proportion to the group's current size, which the Philippine press estimates to be about 400 guerrillas. The ASG had been making a sizeable resurgence in Jolo under the former leadership of Albader Parad but the AFP may have strongly tamped down that perceived surge in a series of recent victories (Al Jazeera, February 21).
If the past is to be a guide, Parad's absence from Abu Sayyaf is not necessarily a harbinger of the group's imminent end. The killing of ASG's amir, Khaddafy Janjalani in 2006 did little to stop the militants from terrorizing their theater of activity. Philippine military commanders on the ground in the south appear more optimistic than Manila's political elites. "We consider the leaders the center of gravity. Once we have neutralized the leaders, we expect that the group (ASG) will crumble" Dolorfino told Philippine television (ABS-CBN News, February 22). Much, much more at the link. Link points to Georgia Daily article on armored trains...
Eight bomb attacks by suspected insurgents blasted various places Tuesday morning in the southernmost province of Thailand and banks seem to be the main targets, the National News Bureau of Thailand (NNT) reported. According to the bureau, which is under the state-owned Public Relations Department, the bomb attacks started from 6.40 am local time, as four five-kilogram-weight bombs were separately planted at various spots in Narathiwas province, including three in the city of Narathiwas and one in Ranage district. Two local residents got injured.
Among the four attacked spots are branches of the Government Savings Bank (GSB) in the city of Narathiwas and Rangae district, and inside the Automatic Transfer Machine (ATM) of Krung Thai Bank PCL (KTB) in the city of Narathiwas. A street cleaner was injured in the explosion at the KTB's ATM in Narathiwas city and a villager wounded in the bombing accident at the ATM of the GSB bank's branch in Ranage district.
Meanwhile, a suspected item was found in front of the KTB bank' s branch in Rangae district and it was under investigation. Moreover, an army patrol force in Bajoh district was also attacked by another a bomb of terrorists suspected insurgents, but no one was injured. Another two spots in this district were also found planted with bombs.
The series of bombing incidents in Deep South took place days after four branches of Bangkok Bank, Thailand's largest commercial bank, in the capital city and a nearby province were attacked by grenades Saturday night.
#1
The way banks have been behaving around here lately it would be hard to assume 'insurgents' or Islamists or even just old-fashioned robbers were to blame.
[Straits Times] ONE of two Chinese men who spent more than three months as a hostage of Al Qaeda-linked Islamic militants in the southern Philippines died on Monday just days after walking free, police said.
Oscar Lu, 51, died of kidney failure three days after his ordeal at the hands of Abu Sayyaf captors on the remote island of Basilan ended with him being rushed to hospital in extremely bad health, police said.
'Lu has died of kidney failure. They were famished and extremely dehydrated when they were recovered' last Friday, regional police chief Felizardo Serapio told reporters.
Abu Sayyaf militants abducted Lu and Michael Tan, 27, both illegal Chinese immigrants, along with a third employee of Hitech Woodcraft Corp. on Basilan on November 10.
The Abu Sayyaf is a small band of militants fighting for a Muslim state in the southern Philippines and is on the US government's list of foreign terrorist organisations. It has been blamed for the nation's worst terrorist attacks, as well as a series of kidnappings.
Police said they had 'rescued' Lu and Tan on Friday. But the police and military did not explain the circumstances leading to the recovery of the two hostages, amid reports of a possible ransom payment by their families. The third hostage, Mark Singson, was beheaded a month after being abducted when ransom negotiations broke down.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
C'mon, China--unleash the dragon.
It's in all our interests--U.S., China, Japan, and the Philippine government--to eliminate these Abu Sayyaf urchins.
Posted by: American Delight ||
03/02/2010 18:23 Comments ||
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[Straits Times] SEVEN men arrested in a raid by anti-terror police in a remote region of Indonesia's Aceh last week were possibly given military training overseas, police said on Monday.
'None of them are foreigners but there's an indication that they have had training abroad,' national police spokesman Edward Aritonang told reporters, without specifying which countries.
'We're trying to get more details about this,' he said, adding that the suspects had been charged with terrorism-related activities.
More than 100 heavily-armed police took part in the raid last week in a forested part of Aceh Besar, where some 50 militants were said to be conducting military-style training including the use of firearms.
During the raid, police found rifles, Malaysian military uniforms and propaganda material including videos of the 2002 bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali which killed more than 200 people.
Provincial police chief Aditya Warman said the suspects were 'strongly suspected' of being part of regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, which is blamed for multiple attacks across Indonesia.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2010 00:00 ||
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[Straits Times] INDONESIAN police have charged four men with terrorism-related offenses after they were arrested in a raid on a suspected paramilitary training camp in the restive province of Aceh a week ago, a newspaper reported on Monday.
Aceh Police Chief Commander Esa Permadi said the men - two from Aceh and two from the main Indonesian island of Java - had been charged under tough counterterrorism laws enacted in 2003, the Jakarta Globe newspaper reported.
The report did not give details of the charges, and police declined to comment on the report on Monday. A national police official in Jakarta, Brig. Gen. Sulistiyo Ishak, told The Associated Press that an announcement on the prisoners' status would be made on Tuesday.
The four were arrested Feb 22 when more than 100 police officers raided the suspected training camp hidden in Aceh mountains. Police are allowed to hold the four without charge until Tuesday.
Police say 50 armed militants fled into the jungle after an hour-long gunbattle in which an innocent bystander was killed in the crossfire. Police say they suspect the arrested men are part of the first cell of the Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiyah ever found in Aceh. But several security analysts independent of the investigation have expressed doubts about a JI link, although there are currently no other militant groups known to operate in Aceh.
Al-Qaida-linked JI has been blamed for a number of bloody attacks in Southeast Asia, including a 2002 bombing on the resort island of Bali that killed 202 people. Information gleaned from the four suspects led police to arrest another three suspected militants on Thursday in a raid on a village house in Aceh. All seven suspects are in police custody in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2010 00:00 ||
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[Straits Times] PHILIPPINE troops clashed on Monday with armed followers of a political warlord who was arrested in connection with the country's worst election-related massacre, killing two gunmen, the military said.
Troops on combat patrol confronted about 30 men in the outskirts of southern Maguindanao province on Monday, triggering a gunfight that killed two, said military spokesman Maj. Randolph Cabangbang.
Prosecutors have charged Andal Ampatuan Sr., a former three-term Maguindanao governor, and his son, Andal Ampatuan Jr., with murder in connection with the killings of 57 people on Nov. 23.
Among the massacre victims were supporters and relatives of Esmael Mangudadatu, who is running for governor of the province. They were headed to an election office to file Mangudadatu's candidacy papers when they were killed, along with at least 30 journalists and staff members who were providing news coverage of the event.
The Ampatuans have denied the charges, and most of their followers have fled a crackdown in the province. Still, thousands of militiamen loyal to the Ampatuan clan are in hiding and considered a security threat in Maguindanao. They are being pursued by government troops. 'Those who remain in hiding are the ones probably directly involved in the massacre,' said Mr Cabangbang, adding that thousands of troops continue to provide security in the impoverished province.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who had previously struck a political alliance with the Ampatuans, has named a commission to recommend steps to rid the Philippines of more than 100 private armies that illegally operate on the payroll of political warlords.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2010 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Quqnoos] At least five Afghan civilians were killed and 16 others wounded Monday in two separate explosions in Kandahar, officials said
BRUSSELS -- A NATO destroyer has sunk a pirate mothership in the Indian Ocean off the Somali coast after allowing the crew to leave, the alliance said Monday.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Hundreds of civilians are feared to have died in a surge of fighting between the Sudanese army and rebels in the turbulent Darfur region, a U.N. source said on Monday.
[Geo News] An al Qaeda-linked militant who has called for attacks on China over its treatment of Muslims has been killed in a U.S. missile strike in Pakistan, Pakistani intelligence and Taliban officials said on Monday.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Pakistani security forces have killed a senior Taliban commander in clashes in Swat valley, where the military claims to have quelled an uprising. 
[Dawn] Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Monday that both, the banned sectarian outfit Sipah-e-Sihaba Pakistan along with Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, were involved in terrorist activities in Pakistan and the government had taken notice of the fact.
[Ma'an] A bomb was detonated in the car of the Gaza police operations chief on Monday morning, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) said.
