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Nigeria's MEND Says It Killed 15 Security Personnel in Fight
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
09:48 6 19:30 JosephMendiola [14]
08:11 17 19:47 JosephMendiola [19]
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China-Japan-Koreas
28,000 Rivers in China disappeared - Chinese water crisis
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/08/2013 09:48 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [14 views] Top|| File under:

#1  These people do not have the mandate of heaven.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 04/08/2013 10:03 Comments || Top||

#2  Penises disappearing in Africa, rivers disappearing in China... I tell you there is some strange juju afoot.
Posted by: SteveS || 04/08/2013 11:16 Comments || Top||

#3  Poor hydraulic engineering, bad water management, over-irrigation, some desertification - people have this idea that centralized control by a command economy is somehow effective at controlling these sorts of external costs management failures, but all the worst collapses have been under the most rigid of elitist command controls. And Zhang Fei could correct me if I'm mistaken, but I believe this sort of thing is still very much a Party function in China.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 04/08/2013 11:25 Comments || Top||

#4  The ancient Roman aqueducts were marvels of engineering all too often overcome by people siphoning off a little bit here, a little bit there, till only a little bit arrived at its intended destination. Seems the inspectors hired to insure this stuff didn't happen were all too often bribable. Human nature, who'd thunk?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/08/2013 12:37 Comments || Top||

#5  Did a major paper for my BA on environmentalism in the USSR (circa 1972). Much of this kind of problem is really a function of communist/socialist/fascist economics/accounting. It's amazing what seems to be a good idea depending on how you account for the real costs and effects.
Posted by: AlanC || 04/08/2013 13:53 Comments || Top||

#6  At last check, Beijing is planning a post-Three Gorges follow-on dam project that is so huge it may slow down the rotation of the earth.

Plus, IIRC only 13% of China's land is arable for agriculture - IFF CHINA'S SCHEMAS FAIL, INSTEAD OF BEING A TECH-SAAVY "GIANT JAPAN" THEY COULD END UP BEING A STARVING, THRISTY "GIANT NORTH KOREA".

Wid few or no domestic Babes for their young men to marry, + exclusive of any negative or detrimental effects as per "Peak Oil/Resources" + Sun-focused GWCC.

WID NUKES, I might add.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/08/2013 19:30 Comments || Top||


Britain
Margaret Thatcher dies
Baroness Thatcher, Britain's greatest post-war prime minister, has died at the age of 87 after suffering a stroke, her family has announced. Her son, Sir Mark, and daughter Carol confirmed that she died this morning.

Lord Bell, her spokesman, said: "It is with great sadness that Mark and Carol Thatcher announced that their mother Baroness Thatcher died peacefully following a stroke this morning.A further statement will be made later."

Known as the Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher governed Britain from 1979 to 1990.

She will go down in history not only as Britain's first female prime minister, but as the woman who transformed Britain's economy in addition to being a formidable rival on the international stage.

Lady Thatcher was the only British prime minister to leave behind a set of ideas about the role of the state which other leaders and nations strove to copy and apply.
Posted by: tipper || 04/08/2013 08:11 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [19 views] Top|| File under:

#1  more brains and balls than our current Lyin' King
Posted by: Frank G || 04/08/2013 8:21 Comments || Top||

#2  My condolences to Carol and the family, less the evil twin of course.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/08/2013 8:28 Comments || Top||

#3  FT obit
She changed us all. We went from being a people who saw ourselves as eternally on the downward slide to a nation that was proud to be British again. On the world stage too, she made Britain count once more. She was a startling presence who brought a strong and controversial style to our diplomacy after years of Foreign Office blandness.

The words are those of Charles Powell, one of the closest aides of the “iron lady” during her time in power. Margaret Thatcher, who died on Monday aged 87, not only revolutionised the social order in her own country but did much to reshape world politics amid the crumbling of the Soviet empire.

The developed world’s first woman prime minister transformed a sclerotic UK economy, all but neutered the trade unions and endeavoured “to roll back the frontiers of the state” with a policy of offloading the great nationalised industries and selling council houses to their occupants. Abroad, she was the indomitable leader who won victory over Argentina in the Falklands war, who decided that Mikhail Gorbachev was a Soviet leader she could “do business with” and who inspired a respect for “Thatcherism” as a political philosophy that was never quite matched on the domestic front.
Posted by: tipper || 04/08/2013 8:36 Comments || Top||

#4  May she rest in the peace she deserves. A once-in-a-generation leader. We're due - will anyone recognize her when she comes?
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/08/2013 9:11 Comments || Top||

#5  I was born during her and Reagan's tenure. May both of those blessed souls be having a Scotch in Heaven, talking about old times.
Posted by: Charles || 04/08/2013 9:41 Comments || Top||

#6  Rest in Peace good lady.

Her and Regan were stalwart defenders of their countries to the end. Sad to see so much of their work going to waste.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/08/2013 9:43 Comments || Top||

#7  Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, and John Paul II -- thank goodness they were there where and when we needed them.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/08/2013 12:03 Comments || Top||

#8  The empty suit in the oval office would be better served if he would put down Saul Alinsky and read a little Margaret Thatcher.

WE would be better served if he did.

Too bad we can't seem to find a leader like her or Ron right now, we really need one.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 04/08/2013 12:19 Comments || Top||

#9  see who Champ sends to the funeral to see his true feelings for the Brits. The only reason he might go is of there is a really good photo op and fundraising gig.
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 04/08/2013 13:28 Comments || Top||

#10  The best foreign leader in my lifetime.

RIP Lady Thatcher. Tell Ronald that we miss you both.
Posted by: AlanC || 04/08/2013 13:57 Comments || Top||

#11  What Alan said.
Posted by: Barbara || 04/08/2013 16:05 Comments || Top||

#12  Zero must show.
Posted by: Shipman || 04/08/2013 17:01 Comments || Top||

#13  He might be busy at a ceremony for Chavez...
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 04/08/2013 19:18 Comments || Top||

#14  "Zero must show."

Gawd, I hope not. Mrs. Thatcher deserves better than that. :-(
Posted by: Barbara || 04/08/2013 19:20 Comments || Top||


#16  "When will the US have its first Female POTUS - IT CAN'T, BECAUSE MAGGIE THATCHER IS BRITISH"!?

Stayed true even thru Bush 41 + POTUS Billary first-term.

Thus began America's own search for its own Femme Pol equivalent - 1960's = 1980's MTV MADONNA AKA "MADGE" NOTWITHSTANDING.

I suspect the very strong character of the Femme US SecState taken hostage by rogue Korean terrorists in "OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN" is a [pro-Hillary?] composite which includes but isn't limited to the persona of Madge/Maggie Thatcher???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/08/2013 19:42 Comments || Top||

#17  FYI late 1950's + early 1960's teen heartthrob ANNETTE FUNICELLO, from Walt Disney's "Mickey Mouse Club" + "Beach" Movies" + "Frankie [Avalon]-n-Annette" fame, has also passed on, from MS.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/08/2013 19:47 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Nine killed when bus hit by roadside bomb
A roadside bomb blew up beneath an Afghan bus southwest of Kabul on Monday, killing nine people and injuring at least 22 others in an attack blamed on Taliban terrorists militants. A woman was among the dead and children among the injured.

Attaullah Khogyani, the governor's spokesman in Wardak province, said, "Today at around 8:00 am an IED (improvised explosive device) hit a bus. At least 22 people are wounded and nine others, including a woman, are dead."

The bus was a government service making daily trips between the capital Kabul and Ghazni, a neighbouring province to the southwest.

Ghulam Farouq Wardak, the public health director of the province, confirmed that nine people had been killed and said that three children were among the injured. Several of those taken for medical treatment were in a critical condition.
Posted by: ryuge || 04/08/2013 06:02 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [15 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Will we get any complaints or condemnation of this?

Probably not, to a good Moslem, women and children are just livestock or property.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 04/08/2013 12:10 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
WikiLeaks to release more US documents
[Australian] WHISTLEBLOWING website WikiLeaks is to publish more than 1.7 million US diplomatic and intelligence documents from the 1970s, founder Julian Assange says.
Posted by: || 04/08/2013 03:32 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [14 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
An Idiot Abroad: Secretary of State Kerry's Latest Adventures in the Middle East
[IsraelTimes] Kerry tries to woo Abbas with land-for-talks deal

United States Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
on Sunday offered Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
a package of Israeli concessions, including the transfer of land from Israeli to Paleostinian control, in return for agreeing to return to the negotiating table.

Kerry, making his third visit to the region in two weeks, made the offers during a meeting with Abbas in Ramallah on Sunday night, Paleostinian
media reported. However,
the hip bone's connected to the leg bone...
Abbas stuck firm to his demand that Israel put a moratorium on settlement construction as a precondition for returning to the negotiating table.

The package included transferring control of more land in the West Bank from Area C, under full Israeli control, to become Area A, under full Paleostinian control.

In addition, Kerry promised that Israel would commit to releasing frozen tax rebates and not withholding tax funds in the future.

Jerusalem won't hand Kerry list of concessions
Seeing the above, it appears The Second Smartest Man In The Room made promises he can't deliver.
Any gestures made by Israel before returning to negotiations with the Paleostinian Authority would weaken its position, government officials said over the weekend, adding that Israel would not deliver to US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
a list of concessions, as requested by the PA, before talks resumed.

PA President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
has demanded Jerusalem hand Washington a map showing the territorial concessions Israel is prepared to offer as part of a comprehensive peace deal, and threatened he would not return to the negotiation table before this was done.

Political adviser Nimr Hammad told AFP that the Paleostinian leader "wants to know, through a map to be presented by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Kerry, what the prime minister's view of a two-state solution would be, especially the borders."

"Any return to negotiations requires Netanyahu to agree on 1967 borders," Hammad told the news agency.

Unnamed Israeli officials told the Hebrew daily Yedioth Ahronoth that the PA would simply use such a map as a new starting point for negotiations, having scored a victory without having to make a move.

During US President Barack Obama
I inhaled. That was the point...
's recent trip to the region he called on the Paleostinians to resume talks with Israel with no preconditions, but so far Abbas hasn't backed down from his demand that Israel release prisoners, freeze settlement construction and agree to a Paleostinian state based on the pre-1967 borders -- before starting direct negotiations

The gaps between the sides are too big, sources close to Netanyahu were quoted as saying by the Hebrew daily. Any concession Israel makes now would only harm it in the future.

Kerry is in the region this weekend for another round of meetings with Israeli and Paleostinian officials in an effort to restart talks between the sides. He met with Abbas in Jordan on Saturday and was scheduled to hold talks with Netanyahu Sunday, following a brief visit to Ankara.

Kerry seeks speedy fix for Turkish-Israeli ties
"Manolo! Fetch my reset button! And another round of *hic* Fuzzy Navels for my guests -- they aren't drunk enough to see my hat yet!"
US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
urged Turkish leaders Sunday to speedily restore full diplomatic relations with Israel, two American allies the US sees as anchors of stability in a Middle East wracked by Syria's civil war, Arab Spring political upheavals and the potential threat posed by Iran's nuclear program.

Turkey, however, demanded that Israel end all "embargoes" against the Paleostinians first.

In Istanbul on the first leg of a 10-day overseas trip, Kerry met with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu with the aim of firming up the rapprochement between Turkey and Israel that President Barack Obama
We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us...
kick-started during a visit to the Jewish state last month.

Kerry meets later Sunday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan before traveling on to Israel.

"We would like to see this relationship that is important to stability in the Middle East and critical to the grinding of the peace processor ... get back on track in its full measure," Kerry told news hounds at a joint news conference with Davutoglu. He said that meant promises of "compensation be fulfilled, ambassadors be returned and full relations be embraced."

The two nations were once close partners, but the relationship plummeted in 2010 after an Israeli raid on a flotilla bound for the Gazoo Strip. Eight Turks and a Turkish-American died.

Before leaving Israel two weeks ago, Obama arranged a telephone conversation between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Erdogan. Netanyahu apologized for the incident, and compensation talks are expected to begin this week.

But Davutoglu suggested that full normalization of ties would probably take some time.

"There is an offense that has been committed and there needs to be accountability," Davutoglu said. He signaled that Turkey would pursue a "careful" advance toward a complete restoration of relations, with compensation and an end to Israeli trade restrictions on the Gazoo Strip as the stumbling blocks.

"All of the embargos should be eliminated once and for all," he said, speaking through an interpreter.

Fixing the Turkish-Israeli relationship has been a long-sought goal of the B.O. regime, and the US desperately wants significant progress by the time Erdogan visits the White House in mid-May.
Fixing the Turkish-Israeli relationship has been a long-sought goal of the B.O. regime, and the US desperately wants significant progress by the time Erdogan visits the White House in mid-May.

The Turks have reveled somewhat in what they view as a diplomatic victory, with billboards in Ankara celebrating Netanyahu's apology and praising Erdogan for bringing pride to his country. Perhaps seeking to buffer his leverage further, Erdogan signaled shortly after the call that he was in no hurry to finalize the deal and pledged to visit the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,-controlled Paleostinian territory soon.

From a US strategic sense, cooperation between the American allies has only become more important as Syria's two-year conflict has grown ever deadlier. More than 70,000 people have died in the war, according to the United Nations
...an international organization whose stated aim of facilitating interational security involves making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country...
, but the US fears it could get even worse -- by spilling into neighboring countries or through chemical weapons being used. Both potential scenarios have prompted intense contingency planning among Washington and its regional partners, Israel and Turkey included.

Kerry, who noted his twice-weekly telephone chats with Davutoglu, spoke of shared US and Turkish efforts to support Syria's opposition coalition. The opposition has suffered from poor coordination between its politicianship and the military factions leading the fight against the Assad regime, and from intense infighting among those who seek to guide the amorphous movement's overall strategy.

Turkey has gone further than the US in its assistance, accepting some 180,000 Syrians as refugees and sending advanced weaponry to rebels fighting to overthrow Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Supressor of the Damascenes...
. The US is only providing non-lethal aid to the rebels in the form of meals, medical kits and training.

Kerry praised Turkey for its generosity toward refugees and commitment to keeping its borders open, an issue of growing US concern as the outflow of Syrians stretches the capacities of neighboring countries to accommodate them.

The United States and Turkey will continue cooperating toward the shared goal of a peaceful transition in Syria, he said.

Although given short shrift at the news conference, a US official stressed ahead of Kerry's meetings that he would also urge the Turks to remain cautious over the contentious issue of Iraqi oil.

Turkey wants to import oil directly from Iraq's autonomous Kurds in the north, a step that would enrage the central government in Storied Baghdad
...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...
and one the US opposes. Washington doesn't want the riches of Iraq to bring the country back to sectarian warfare and has urged that any export arrangement get the Iraqi government's blessing.

The secretary of state is flying later Sunday to Israel, his third trip there in the span of two weeks. He'll meet Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
in Ramallah on Sunday night, followed by Netanyahu and other senior Israeli and Paleostinian officials Monday as part of a fresh American bid to unlock the long-stalled Middle East grinding of the peace processor.

Conversations in Israel will also cover shared US and Israeli concerns over Iran's nuclear program. The US and other world powers met the Islamic republic in Kazakhstan for another round of negotiations, but no breakthrough was announced on a proposed deal that would see international sanctions on Iran eased if Tehran convinces the world it is not trying to develop nuclear weapons.

Kerry said the "door is still open" for a negotiated agreement, but that the onus was on the Iranians.

"If you have a peaceful program for nuclear power, as a number of nations do, it's not hard to prove that," he said. "They have chosen not to live up to the international requirements and standards with respect to verification of their program."
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [12 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Isn't it obvious by this time that Abbas does not want negotiations, nor a peace agreement?
Why?
Reason 1: a significant portion of his most radical followers among "Palestinian refugees" fears that peace would mean the end of UNRWA, their welfare organization. They will attempt to disrupt any apparent progress toward peace and probably attempt to assassinate Abbas if there is progress.
Reason 2: Hamas would use any gesture toward a peace agreement against him.
Reason 3: A significant portion of the Palestinian population wants good relations with Israel in the interest of jobs and economic prosperity, though they are afraid to say so. They do not like the idea of a two state solution with a state of cold war between the two, which is the most they can expect from Abbas. Thus they are not enthusiastic for Abbas negotiating for peace.
So why should he want to negotiate?
Posted by: djk || 04/08/2013 13:06 Comments || Top||

#2  "Kerry tries to woo Abbas with land-for-talks deal"

Great idea, Jawn! You give him a bunch of YOUR land.

Clueless idiot.
Posted by: Barbara || 04/08/2013 16:12 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Venezuela's Maduro Claims there is U.S.-Led Plot to Kill Him
[An Nahar] Venezuela's acting president Nicolas Maduro has accused former U.S. officials Roger Noriega and Otto Reich of plotting to kill him to prevent his victory in next week's presidential elections.

Speaking at a televised campaign event on Saturday, Maduro said the plot also involved "right-wing forces" from El Salvador, which had already dispatched paid assassins to Venezuela to implement the plan.

"Their goal is to kill me," said Maduro, who had been designated by the late Venezuelan supremo Hugo Chavez as his heir apparent. "They want to kill me because they know they cannot win free and fair elections."
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [15 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  he also placed a curse on voters who didn't vote for him. He's lost/losing his mind
Posted by: Frank G || 04/08/2013 8:22 Comments || Top||

#2  I hope it's true this time
Posted by: Clusong Gromort6441 || 04/08/2013 14:12 Comments || Top||

#3  He's a Cuban Mole and will win.
My over and under is down to 2 years. After that gawd-given hair get's his chance at the cash.
Posted by: Shipman || 04/08/2013 17:03 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
China's President: No One is Allowed to Throw Asia into Chaos
[An Nahar] Chinese President Xi Jinping said Sunday that Asia faced "new challenges" to its stability and warned no one should be allowed to throw the region into chaos as tensions mounted over North Korea.

Xi, delivering a speech at an annual international forum on the southern Chinese island of Hainan, did not mention the crisis on the Korean Peninsula or China's territorial disputes with Japan and Southeast Asian nations.

But he said there should be no tolerance for those who foster "chaos for selfish gains" and reiterated that China would "firmly" uphold its "illusory sovereignty" and "territorial integrity."

"We need to make concerted efforts to resolve major difficulties to ensure stability in Asia," Xi said.

"Stability in Asia now faces new challenges as hot spot issues keep emerging and both traditional and non-traditional security threats exist," he added.
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [14 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  "THAT'S OUR JOB!!!" -- China
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 04/08/2013 9:35 Comments || Top||

#2  So we've heard from the Chinese president. When do we here from the US president?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 04/08/2013 11:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Hear. I meant when do we hear from the US president?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 04/08/2013 11:27 Comments || Top||

#4  "Present!"

/you're welcome
Posted by: Frank G || 04/08/2013 11:44 Comments || Top||

#5  Is he talking indirectly to NORK or is he warning the US to keep hands off?

If he wants us to keep hands off, he better be prepared to make sure the NORK doesn't do anything stupid with their missiles or nukes.

AND he better be prepared to go INTO NORK and solve the leadership problem.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 04/08/2013 12:16 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran bars 'drunk' Saudi diplomat from leaving over deadly crash
[Al Ahram] Tehran prevents a Saudi diplomat, who had a car accident, from leaving the country as 'several bottles of alcoholic drinks' were found in his vehicle
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [16 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  He must have just confiscated the booze from some infidel, since consumption of alcohol is forbidden to practitioners of the RoP, especially officials from the KSA, the keepers of the rock.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/08/2013 8:13 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pornographic terrorism
Delicious. If I could write like that...
Posted by: tipper || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [15 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
One Dead in Clashes after Funeral of Egypt Coptic Christians
[An Nahar] One person died Sunday in festivities at Cairo's Coptic cathedral after funeral prayers for four Christians during which angry Copts chanted against Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, an official said.

Fighting between Christians and Moslems meanwhile erupted anew late Sunday in a town north of Cairo where sectarian violence had killed five people two days earlier, police said.

The bitter festivities underscore the simmering tensions in a divided Egypt that has seen violent confrontations between Morsi's main Islamist allies and a wide ranging opposition.

They also highlight sectarian tensions that have been brewing for several years.

Witnesses to the Cairo festivities said they began when mourners were pelted with stones by residents of the area as they left the cathedral, symbol of the Coptic community which has long complained of discrimination and marginalization.

Black-clad riot police intervened, firing tear gas at the cathedral, witnesses said, but not before one person had been killed.

"There is one fatality in (Cairo's) Demerdash hospital," health ministry official Ahmed al-Ansari told Agence La Belle France Presse.

Hani Sobhi, a young Copt, explained that live television coverage of the funeral service had been the spark for the latest violence.

"Inside the cathedral we chanted 'down with the Brotherhood rule' and that was aired live on television. At the exit (of the cathedral) the people were ready and waiting for us," he said.

There were scenes of chaos outside the cathedral in the central Cairo neighborhood of Abbassiya where Coptic bishops had been calling for peace and calm after the killing of the Christians on Friday.

Loud blasts could be heard, as clouds of smoke rose up into the sky and people ran in several directions.

Rows of Abbassiya residents hurled rocks and bottles at the cathedral and were met in kind from Copts inside the church complex.

The mourners had been planning to carry the bodies of the Christians out of the cathedral to the presidential palace as a protest against the violence, one of them said.

"There were tensions with police and the residents of the area were hostile to us and sided with the police," another Christian, Sami Adli, told AFP.

"They were running after Christians. Police fired tear gas at the seat of the Pope. What kind of state allows such a thing? The Copts won't let this pass," said a very emotional Adli.

Another Copt, Michel Lamii who emerged from the scene wiping his eyes, said dozens of people were affected by tear gas inside the cathedral.

"The government wants this. The only solution is for the army to intervene," said a man in his 50s who did not give his name.

A group of volunteers arrived at the church with medical supplies, an AFP news hound said.

In a statement, the interior ministry said "a number of mourners began to damage cars in the area which led to confrontations with residents of the area."

Sunday's service was being held for four Christians killed in sectarian festivities on Friday. One Moslem was also killed in the violence which flared in al-Khusus, a poor area in Qalyubia governorate, after a Moslem in his 50s objected to children drawing a swastika on a religious institute.

The man insulted Christians and the cross, and an argument broke out with a young Christian man who was passing by, escalating into a gunbattle between Moslems and Christians in which assault rifles were used.

The incident sparked rioting during which a church was partially burnt and a Christian's home torched, while a pharmacy owned by a Copt was ransacked.

Clashes in the town erupted again on Sunday evening, police said.

"There are festivities between Christians and Moslems, and some youths are also clashing with police," a police officer in al-Khusus told AFP by telephone.
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Britain
Are British sharia councils putting women at risk?
Apparently BBC One viewers can find out today at 20:30 BST.
Me! Me! Call on me, Teach -- I know the answer!!
Posted by: ryuge || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [13 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
Sudan army men jailed up to 5 years over 'coup'
[Al Ahram] A group of Sudanese military officers have been sentenced to between two and five years in prison for their role in an alleged coup against the Sudanese government last year, a lawyer said on Sunday.

"Today the military court issued its decision about the members of SAF who have been accused of a coup. It gave various jail sentences from five years to two years against nine of the soldiers," one of their lawyers, Hashiem Al-Jali, told AFP.

All were expelled from the military but a 10th accused was freed for lack of evidence, Jali said.

He added that the heaviest sentence, five years, went to Brigadier Mohammed Ibrahim who played a role in the 1989 coup which brought the current regime of 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.
to power.

Most of the detainees are close to a vocal group of former volunteer mujahedeen fighters and an elite group within them called Al-Saihun or "tourists for the sake of God".

They are veterans of the country's 1983-2005 civil war.
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [13 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan


India-Pakistan
Three gunned down in city
[Dawn] Three people were rubbed out in different incidents in the city on Saturday, police said.

They said that gunnies riding a cycle of violence targeted 32-year-old Muhammad Ali, who was heading home on a cycle of violence near Sindhi Hotel in New Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
. The firing also left a woman passer-by maimed.4

"The victim had a criminal record and had spent time in prison twice," said an official at the New Karachi cop shoppe. "He was a resident of New Karachi and his killing seems to be linked with his criminal activities. The woman, Shabana Syed, was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for treatment."

In Malir, a 28-year-old man was killed days after he contracted a freewill marriage.

The area police said that gunnies fired at Shaharyar Nawaz near Naad-e-Ali bus stop. "He was hit by two bullets and was struck down in his prime," said Malir City SHO Inspector Ejaz Rajpar. "A few days ago, he married a girl against the will of his own and her family. We are not sure about the motive for the killing but that could be one of the reasons."

A young man was rubbed out allegedly by his friends in Landhi on Saturday, police said.

They said some youngsters were sitting at a place, commonly called Dera, near Bait-ul-Mukarram Masjid in the Landhi's Future Colony.

"The information is not complete because people inside the Dera at the time of incident bravely ran away after firing," said Sharafi Goth SHO Inspector Irfan Meo. "Sajjad Sher Muhammad was sitting with his friends at the Dera when he had a heated debate with other youngsters. The situation turned ugly when someone fired at him. He sustained three bullet wounds and died."
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [23 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How's that compare with Chicago?
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/08/2013 9:06 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
1 Dead, 8 Held as Leb Army Foils Delivery of Arms to 'Extremists' in Ain Zhalta
[An Nahar] Army troops have thwarted an attempt to deliver arms to "extremists" in the Shouf area of Ain Zhalta, the Army Command said in a communique on Sunday.

A gunman was killed and eight others were tossed in the slammer
You have the right to remain silent...
, while a soldier and a member of the gang were maimed, said the communique.

"After the Intelligence Directorate obtained information that a number of individuals were preparing to smuggle weapons to bad boy groups, an army unit thwarted the delivery of arms in the Ain Zhalta area, where the gunnies were caught red-handed shortly after midnight on April 7, 2013," the Army Command explained.

The gunnies "opened fire on the patrol, prompting its members to fire back," it added.

"The gunman Ghassan al-Zohor was killed, the gunman Mohammed Serhan and a soldier were maimed, seven gunnies were arrested while a military vehicle was damaged," the communique said.

The seized cache of arms contained "heavy-, medium- and light-caliber weapons and a large quantity of ammunition of various types," the Army Command added.

It said the eight detainees were being interrogated under the supervision of the relevant judicial authorities.
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [19 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan
NATO Strike Kills 10 Children in Afghanistan
[An Nahar] A NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization....
air attack in eastern Afghanistan has killed 10 children, officials said Sunday, the latest case of civilian casualties which provoke great anger in the war-torn country.

The children were killed during a joint Afghan-NATO operation in the Shigal district of restive Kunar province
... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country.....
bordering Pakistain late on Saturday.

An Afghan official involved in the operation who did not want to be named said air support was called in after local and coalition forces came under attack, resulting in the death of an American and injuries to several Afghan soldiers.

The official said the force did not know there were women and kiddies in the houses that were hit.

Civilian casualties caused by NATO forces have been one of the most contentious issues in the 11-year campaign against Taliban krazed killers, provoking harsh criticism from Afghanistan's Caped President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
and angry public protests.

"Ten children and eight forces of Evil were killed in the strike, six women were maimed," Wasifullah Wasifi, the front man for Kunar province, told Agence La Belle France Presse.

Shigal district governor Abdul Zahir confirmed the corpse count. He said people had brought the children's bodies to the center of the town and the maimed women were taken to Kunar's central hospital.

Sayed Rahman, security commander of Shigal, said one women was also among the dead. "We have reports that 10 children and one woman have been killed in the air strike," he said.

A front man for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed the strike but said up to 10 women and kiddies were maimed in the attack rather than killed.

A U.S. civilian died in a jihad boy attack at the scene, he said.

The interior ministry said in a statement the attack by coalition forces killed six Taliban including two senior commanders.
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [10 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Good thing it weren't 10 children in Gaza --- we'd never hear the end of it.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/08/2013 4:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Its a terrible thing that its 10 children anywhere. The only thing worse is that local culture put them in harms way.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/08/2013 6:31 Comments || Top||

#3  Did they move the guys who cut bad warrants at DHS to Afghanistan [the Eastern Front] for target selection?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/08/2013 9:28 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
AMISOM Commander: Alshabab Wiped out Along Mogadishu and Baidoa Highway
[Shabelle] the commander of the AMISOM troops in Somalia has assured the Somali public that members of the outlawed group Alshabab have been wiped out of the long highway that connects the city of Mogadishu and Baidoa city. The long highway is estimated to be 241 KM.

The federal Government troops and the AMISOM troops are reported to be finalizing a joint assault on the militia group to eradicate the terrorist along the main highway that connects the two cities.

The commander of the AU troops General Andre Guti said that they are planning to establish a peaceful environment for motorist travelling along the busy highway and will ensure them that they travel without fear.

Mr. Guti praised the fact that now Alshabab have weakened, there are small groups who are still hiding along the Mogadishu-Baidoa highway robbing motorist of their belongings and ordering them to pay money. The commander said that they were conducting a man hunt for the gang and ensures that they clear them out of that area.

This comes after reports came out that the outlawed group operating along the highway conducting tax collection and robbing motorist.
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [8 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


Africa North
Egypt's President Morsi: Attack on cathedral is attack 'on me'
[Al Ahram] Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has told Coptic Pope Tawadros II via telephone that he considered any attack on Cairo's Coptic cathedral "an attack on me," state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
reported on Sunday evening.

The comments follow an attack by unknown assailants on mourners at a Coptic funeral at Cairo's Abbasiya cathedral.

On Sunday afternoon, unidentified elements attacked Cairo's main Coptic cathedral, where a funeral was being held for four Coptic Christians killed in Saturday's sectarian festivities in the Qalioubiya governorate north of Cairo.
"Unidentified elements" means they have no idea who it was, but, boy howdy, if they ever find them, they're in large trouble!
In a written statement issued Sunday evening, President Morsi urged the Egyptian public to refrain from taking any actions "that might threaten the nation's security or cohesion."

The president also called for an immediate investigation into Sunday's cathedral attack.

During the latter years of the Mubarak era, Moslem-Christian festivities erupted periodically.Since Mubarak's ouster in early 2011, incidents of sectarian violence -- both in the capital and in Egypt's countryside -- have occurred with increasing frequency.
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [13 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian troop redeployments raise concerns over Golan security
The Syrian government has withdrawn large numbers of troops from the Golan Heights in a move that has cast doubt over the future of a UN peacekeeping force on the strategically vital plateau and increased the risk of an intervention by Israel in the conflict.

Western diplomats said the Syrian redeployments near the Golan ceasefire line were the most significant in 40 years, with at least several thousand soldiers thought to have been moved in recent weeks to battle fronts closer to Damascus.

Rebel groups have moved into the vacuum, and Israel fears that jihadists will use the area as a staging ground for attacks on territory it controls.

Meanwhile, the United Nations observer force on the Golan Heights, UNDOF, finds itself in an ever more vulnerable position, with states whose peacekeepers comprise the mission known to be reconsidering their commitment, including the Austrians, who provide the largest individual contribution of troops.

The eastern border of the Golan Heights, an area of high ground that was seized by Israel in 1967 during the six-day war, was until recently thought to be occupied by four Syrian army divisions whose positions helped make the Golan the safest of Israel's four borders for more than four decades.

"They [the Syrian government] have moved some of their best battalions away from the Golan," said a western diplomatic source of the Syrian changes. "They have replaced some of them with poorer-quality battalions, which have involved reducing manpower. The moves are very significant."

Separate media reports in Israel suggest the Syrian redeployments could amount to as many as two divisions – up to 20,000 soldiers.

"UNDOF is of the highest importance, now more than ever," said one senior Israeli government official. "We know some participant countries are having second thoughts and we're concerned about that. We are talking to them to try to understand what they plan on doing if the going gets rougher. We know some are hesitating, and it's a problematic situation.

"We are also talking to New York [the UN headquarters] about whether there could be a replacement in case one contingent pulls out. We don't envision a scenario in which UNDOF dissolves but we are very aware of the fragility of the situation."

Croatia withdrew its troops from UNDOF in February, putting extra onus on the Austrians to stay.
Any Uruguayans available?
Another senior Israeli official said: "It's clear UNDOF is having very serious problems in meeting its challenges. But Israeli national security figures are very sceptical as to the real utility of international forces in dealing with our security issues.

"We are very concerned [about the Golan]. Since 1974 the Golan has been remarkably quiet. That has now changed, and we are following the situation very closely. As you know, we are building a fence along the border and monitoring matters very closely. We are aware of different actors in close proximity to the border, and we are watching them very closely."

The former commander of the Israeli Defence Force liaison unit responsible for relations with peacekeeping forces, Brigadier General Baruch Speigel, said: "It's a very sensitive situation [with UNDOF]. It's important to find a mechanism to allow them to stay, but I'm not sure if it's possible because of the situation in Syria.

"If the UN is unable to fulfil its mission, this is a big, big dilemma. No one can tell you the bottom line. We have never faced this situation, but we have to act very responsibly. But worst-case scenarios can bring us worst-case answers."

Austrian soldiers comprise close to a third of the 1,000-strong UNDOF contingent and are considered essential to the viability of the mission. Vienna has made no decision to pull out its troops, but the cabinet is known to have held recent discussions about the issue. The Austrian foreign ministry did not return calls.

The area from the southern Syrian town of Deraa – where the uprising started in March 2011 – to the Jordanian border has been the most active battleground in the country since early January. Rebel groups and jihadists there have made significant territorial gains since late January, including in the Quneitra governorate near Israel, where they took over an artillery base two weeks ago near the demilitarised Golan buffer zone.

Since then a key border crossing to Jordan has been closed and Syrian opposition figures claim that it is now being used as a resupply route to rebel groups.

The CIA is known to have trained a small number of Syrian rebels at bases in Jordan in an attempt to drive a wedge between jihadist groups such as the al-Qaida-aligned Jabhat al-Nusra, which continues to gain prominence in key Syrian battlefronts. Informed sources, who refused to be identified, said some of the US-trained rebels were deploying to the Golan area to act as a buffer between the jihadists and Israeli units.

Israel has reported a number of incidents of small arms fire directed at its units near the ceasefire line. It has three times fired back across the border with missiles, but has not publicly blamed either rebel groups or loyalist forces for the attacks.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [15 views] Top|| File under:


Bangladesh
Angry at soft Hefajat programme, BNP decides not to support its hartal
[Bangla Daily Star] Just a day's hartal
... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ...
called by the Hefajat-e Islam appears to have upset the BNP, which wanted tougher action from the Islamist group to make April a turning point in the opposition alliance's oust-govt movement.

The main opposition party had expected that Hefajat men from their Motijheel rally on Saturday would announce agitation programmes such as non-stop shutdowns or sit-ins for several days.

It also decided to support Hefajat actions and supplement those by enforcing more hartals and blockades.

The BNP had relied upon stalwarts of some Islamist parties that are its alliance partners to convince the Hefajat top leadership to go for tougher programmes.

The Islamist leaders, who also hold posts in Hefajat, had made hectic efforts to push through the opposition alliance's agenda.

But Hefajat Ameer Shah Ahmad Shafi did not agree with them and only called a day-long hartal for today, sources in the alliance and Hefajat say.

On Saturday night, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia
Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ...
, chief of the 18-party alliance, expressed her resentment at two separate meetings with the party's policymaking body and top leaders of her alliance.

Finally, the BNP, which supported the Islamist group's long march and provided food, drinks and other logistics to the marchers on Saturday, decided not to back today's hartal.

Khaleda Zia also suspended the alliance's April 10 rally.

The BNP had also given a break to its street agitations, thinking that the Hefajat would announce tougher programmes. The party-led alliance also decided not to go for any nationwide hartal after April 2.

"Now it is almost certain that April will not be a turning point in the opposition movement. The agitation has apparently lost momentum after Hefajat's go-slow strategy," a BNP policymaker told The Daily Star yesterday, wishing anonymity.

Asked, Brig Gen (retd) ASM Hannan Shah, a member of the national standing committee of the BNP, said people had expected that Hefajat would opt for tougher agitation programmes and political analysts had forecast it would give a boost to the opposition movement.

"The opposition one-point movement could have got pace had Hefajat announced tougher agitation programmes."

Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [14 views] Top|| File under: Salafists


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Councilman busted in bribery probe was flogged by leaders of his religion
Ick.
[NYPOST] The city councilman who bungled his way into federal bribery charges is also a total bonehead in his kooky heathen religion -- whose members wear medieval garb, make sacrifices to multiple gods and compete in combat games.

Dan Halloran (R-Queens) -- who was arrested Tuesday as the suspected bag man in state Sen. Malcolm Smith's alleged plot to buy his way onto the mayoral ticket -- has been publicly flogged and lost a spear-throwing contest as part of his Theodish punishments.

Halloran converted in the 1980s from Catholicism to the pre-Christian Germanic religion, whose believers drink mead or whiskey from horns and dress like characters in a Renaissance fair.

He learned about their tough disciplinary code when he committed an undisclosed act against a female "thrall" -- or probationary servant.

He was stripped to his waist, strapped to a tree and flogged with a belt 11 times.
So he was no longer enthralled...
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [24 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/08/2013 4:47 Comments || Top||

#2  go your room, Dr. Steve
Posted by: Frank G || 04/08/2013 8:13 Comments || Top||

#3  *to*


not enough coffee
Posted by: Frank G || 04/08/2013 8:14 Comments || Top||

#4  Halloran converted in the 1980s from Catholicism to the pre-Christian Germanic religion, whose believers drink mead or whiskey from horns and dress like characters in a Renaissance fair.

Let's not be so judgmental. I can see piety hear.
Posted by: Shipman || 04/08/2013 17:07 Comments || Top||

#5  Hell, I can smell it, never mind see it.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 04/08/2013 21:37 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hackers Launch Massive Cyber Attack on Israeli Websites
[An Nahar] Hackers launched a massive international cyber attack campaign against Israeli government websites on Saturday and Sunday, amid numerous threats from the Anonymous hacker collective.

The global hacker group had promised a mass assault to protest Israeli policy toward the Paleostinians. The attack appeared timed to coincide with Israel's annual Holocaust memorial day, beginning at sundown Sunday.

In a video message posted on YouTube, Anonymous said that on April 7, "elite cyber-squadrons from around the world have decided to unite in solidarity with the Paleostinian people against Israel as one entity to disrupt and erase Israel from cyberspace."

Addressing the Israeli government, the group stated: "You have NOT stopped your endless human right violations. You have NOT stopped illegal settlements. You have NOT respected the ceasefire. You have shown that you do NOT respect international law."

Anonymous pointed out on Saturday night that they had shut down several government sites, including those of the Prime Minister's Office, the Israel Securities Authority, the Immigrant Absorption Ministry and the Central Bureau of Statistics, but the government denied the claim, Haaretz reported.

The hackers also released a list of email addresses and credit card numbers, reportedly lifted from the online catalog of Israel Military, a privately-owned business that sells military surplus, Haaretz reported. Israel Military officials indicated that the information made public did not come from its site.

The cyber attack was just the latest in an almost constant effort by Israel's foes to shut down its vital websites.

Israeli experts said they welcome the attempts as ways of sharpening their defenses. Israel itself is accused of taking part in much more sophisticated cyber attacks against its enemies, particularly Iran.

Web posters using the name of the hacking group Anonymous warned they would launch a mass attack on Israeli sites in a strike they called (hash)OpIsrael, starting April 7.

An official from the bully boy Paleostinian Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, which rules the Gazoo Strip, praised the attackers. "God bless the minds and the efforts of the soldiers of the electronic battle," Ihab al-Ghussein, Gazoo's chief government front man, wrote on his official Facebook page.
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [12 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Qaouq Says Hizbullah to Play 'Positive' Role in Cabinet Formation Process
[An Nahar] Hizbullah announced Sunday that it will play a "positive" role in the process of forming a new cabinet after MP Tammam Salam was appointed as prime minister-designate on Saturday.

Hizbullah "wants to be together with March 14 in the same national position in order to confront the Israeli threats," said Sheikh Nabil Qaouq, the deputy head of the party's Executive Council, during a memorial service in the southern town of Kawthariyet al-Siyyad.

"A stance is needed ... and it is unacceptable and unpatriotic from any party in Leb to offer Israel a stance that relieves it and makes it happy," Qaouq added.

He stressed that Hizbullah is "keen on pacifying the domestic political atmosphere and defusing the sectarian tensions."

"The consensus over naming PM-designate Tammam Salam is an exceptional, positive chance that must be grabbed and boosted, because this consensus created a positive shock amid the sectarian and security tensions and political divisions," Qaouq added.
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [19 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


Southeast Asia
MILF: Politicians wooing us get turned away
Posted by: ryuge || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [14 views] Top|| File under: Moro Islamic Liberation Front


Bangladesh
Beaten, tendons of legs cut off
[Bangla Daily Star] A local Jubo League
... the youth wing of the Bangla Awami League...
leader was killed as Jamaat-Shibir and BNP activists beat him up and severed tendons of his legs
Was he a blacksmith? In the olde days they used to do that to blacksmiths so they would!'t run away, 'tis said.
at Kalai upazila in Joypurhat district yesterday morning.

The dead, Towhidul Islam Sabuj, 30, son of Afzal Hossain of Beyalla village, was organising secretary of Jubo League ward-2 under Matrai union of the upazila.

"A gang of around 20 to 25 people, mostly activists of Jamaat-Shibir and BNP, picked up Sabuj from his house around 9:30am," said Tariqul Islam, officer-in-charge of Kalai Police Station.

They took him to a nearby field and beat him up savagely before slashing the tendons of his two legs, the OC added.

Once they left the area, locals with the help of police took Sabuj to Kalai upazila health complex where he died around 11:40am.

Doctors at the health complex said the victim bled to death.

Police sent the body to Joypurhat Modern Hospital morgue for an appointment with Dr. Quincy, the OC said.

Quoting locals, ANM Sowkat Habib Talukder -- Matrai union parishad chairman and organising secretary of Joypurhat Awami Swechchhasebak League -- said, "Shajahan and Rezaul Karim of Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
and Lutfar Rahman of BNP took part in the assault on Sabuj."

Earlier on March 4, Jamaat-Shibir activists along with BNP men swooped on Matrai union Awami Leaguers and vandalised their houses.

Following the incident, supporters of Matrai UP chairman picked up BNP activist Alam Mia and beat him up severely on March 30. Alam is now undergoing treatment at a hospital in the capital.

Police said Jamaat-Shibir and BNP men might have killed Sabuj in retaliation for the attack on Alam.

A tense situation was prevailing in the area following the Jubo League leader's murder.

Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [12 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami

#1  Strict gun laws might have prevented this.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/08/2013 6:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Jubo League is essentially the junior Awami party (the Awami party is the ruling political party in Bangladesh)
Posted by: lord garth || 04/08/2013 11:25 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Obama to Offer Entitlement Cuts in Budget
[An Nahar] President Barack Obama
Ready to Rule from Day One...
will make key concessions to Republican foes next week when he unveils his U.S. budget that proposes cuts to cherished entitlement programs, the White House said Friday.

Obama's fiscal blueprint slashes the deficit by $1.8 trillion over 10 years, in what a senior administration official described as a "compromise offer" that cuts federal spending, finds savings in Social Security and raises tax revenue from the wealthy.

Republicans led by House Speaker John It is not pronounced 'Boner!' Boehner
... the occasionally weepy leader of House Republicans...
are opposed to new tax hikes, after the president secured $600 billion in increased tax revenue in a year-end deal.

Boehner's party controls the House of Representatives, and passage of the president's budget is unlikely if it contains new tax revenue provisions.

But Obama's concession to conservatives in the form of reduced cost-of-living payouts for Social Security benefits could revive consideration of a deficit-reducing "grand bargain" that has proved elusive in recent years.
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [12 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...which will then be known as the "Republican Entitlement Cuts" and used to frighten the faithful.
Posted by: Grunter || 04/08/2013 8:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Let me guess - instead of spiking it 20% he will only raise it 19.995%.

And yes he will blame the slash-cut which forces seniors, children, and puppy dogs to eat stale cat food on the Evil Republicans.

And the Republicans will accept the blame. Because that's what they do.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/08/2013 8:28 Comments || Top||

#3  ..And yes he will blame the slash-cut which forces seniors, children, and puppy dogs to eat stale cat food on the Evil Republicans.

...and yet funding will still be above 2008 levels when these things never occurred. The minions of the Ministry of Truth will make sure no one remembers that little data point.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/08/2013 9:13 Comments || Top||

#4  Not cuts.

Decrease in the rate of increase.

and paltry at that
Posted by: lord garth || 04/08/2013 9:43 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Iraq cabinet unveils sweeping reform of Saddam law
[Al Ahram] Iraq's cabinet unveiled sweeping reforms to a law barring members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party from public life on Sunday, in a bid to head off months of rallies by the country's Sunni Arab minority.

The amendment to a De-Baathification law still needs to be approved by parliament but if implemented would mark a key concession to demonstrators in Iraq's north and west who have alleged the current rules promote unfair targeting of their community by the Shiite-led authorities.

Ministers on Sunday approved a draft amendment that would allow Baath branch chiefs, or firqa-level members, to rejoin the civil service, and would provide for pension payments for many members of the Fedayeen Saddam, a paramilitary organization loyal to the now-ousted dictator.

It would also put a time limit on the law, ensuring that only names blacklisted by the end of 2013 would be restricted from public life.

In all, the draft law would allow thousands of people to either enter the civil service or receive pensions.

"Cabinet today approved an important amendment to the law of Justice and Accountability," Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlak said in a statement summarising the reforms, referring to the formal name for Iraq's De-Baathification law.

"This law has excluded many talented people and prevented the country from (benefiting from) their services."

Critics have said the existing rules are too broad-reaching, disproportionately target Sunni Arabs, who were largely in power during Saddam's rule, and could theoretically be applied in perpetuity.

In particular, Sunni Arab protesters have railed against the law during months of protests alleging that anti-terror legislation is used to target their minority.
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [13 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Southeast Asia
Two soldiers brutally killed in southern Thailand
Two soldiers were blown from their motorcycle by a remote controlled bomb then savagely gunned down by suspected terrorists militants, while four policemen were wounded in another incident in Narathiwat province on Sunday.

After the report of an attack in Narathiwat's Ra-ngae district, a team of police and a bomb disposal unit arrived at the scene. They found two field soldiers lying in a pool of blood next to a damaged motorcycle. Their bodies were riddled with bullets.

About 20 meters from the bodies, police found a two-foot deep bomb crater. More than 20 spent shell casings were found on the road.

It appears that the gunmen detonated the bomb when the two soldiers passed by. They then approached the two wounded officers and opened fire on them. The assailants then stole M16 and AK rifles from the soldiers and fled.

In Narathiwat's Cho Airong district on Sunday morning, four policemen from a bomb disposal unit were slightly wounded when a pickup truck in which they were traveling was hit by a landmine.

The unit was on the way back to Narathiwat town when the bomb was detonated remotely by radio. The unit was returning from examining the site of a bomb blast in Sungai Padi district at about 8:20 p.m. last night.
Posted by: ryuge || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [19 views] Top|| File under: Thai Insurgency


India-Pakistan
Five arrested with arms in Dir
[Dawn] The security forces in Maidan tehsil placed in durance vile
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
five suspected persons and recovered arms and ammunitions from them.

The seized arms included five LMGs, three MGs (sakeela), one RPG, one pistol, four RPG rounds, 329 HMG rounds, 1,412 SMG rounds, two hand grenades, 12 drum mags and one RPG fuse. The arms were displayed for media at Kumbar.

Briefing journalists operational Commander Colonel Zulfiqar Bhatti said Maidan had been cleared of bad boys. Addressing a gathering of Maidan elders he said gun-hung tough guys would no longer be allowed to carry out sabotage acts.

Meanwhile,
...back at the barn, Bossy was furiously chewing her cud and thinking...
people of the area and administrative staff took out a walk to observe cleanliness. Hundreds of local people took part in the walk.

Timergara police claimed arresting an inter-provincial car lifter -- Usman Ghani, resident of Manzary Tangay Dargai -- and recovered a stolen car from him.
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [17 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian troops shell Damascus neighborhood with Toshka missiles
Syrian local coordination committees said on Saturday that regime troops shelled Damascus with Toshka surface-to-surface missiles, whose warheads can be replaced with nuclear ones, Al Arabiya reported.

The opposition committees added that ever since the revolution erupted, Assad's forces have hit the capital twice with those kinds of missiles.

The missiles on Saturday targeted the Damascus' neighborhood of Baraza and the attack comes a few days after the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmuk was struck with the same weaponry.

Toshka missiles are short-range ballistic missiles and are transported on a vehicle where they are erected prior to the launching. Toshka missiles were designed to be used by troops fighting on field. These arms are specialized in their ability to accurately hit targets and are highly-destructive given they explode 16 meters before reaching its mark. The missiles' warheads can be replaced with chemical or biological warheads, not only nuclear ones, the weight of the warheads can amount to 500 kilograms.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [27 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Tochka (point in Russian) missiles.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/08/2013 4:32 Comments || Top||

#2  "Assad Pulls Ahead in Syrian War". Debka Today.
Sounds like a good old quagmire. Now get the diplomats in to paint a rosy picture on a turd.
OK, I'm grouchy.
Posted by: Dale || 04/08/2013 16:41 Comments || Top||

#3  Good place for a quagmire.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/08/2013 19:56 Comments || Top||


Europe
Portugal Considers Paying Public Workers In Treasury Bills Instead Of Cash
Money shot:
"By paying one month of salary in T-bills to public workers and pensioners, the government would save an estimated €1.1 billion in expenses, narrowing the budget gap significantly."
I will be interesting to see how this would be incorporated - my guess is the bill holders receiving a receipt for bonds kept in trust by the Govt. Is it possible for something to be worth less than nothing...?
Since the bond and the cash will shortly be worth the same thing, I think the answer to your question is, technically, 'no'...
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [19 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So instead of using money they don't have now, they are using money they won't have in the future. Skeptical me suspects there is an arithmetic fly in this financial ointment.

"We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us"
-- Ivan Ivanovich, fUSSR
Posted by: SteveS || 04/08/2013 0:28 Comments || Top||

#2  The Barnette Trade Gun

Who knew ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/08/2013 3:13 Comments || Top||

#3  More on Portugal from the BBC

"Since tax increases were out of the question after the unprecedented increases already in the budget, he [Protugal's Prime Minister] said, the only option was to cut back on other public services".
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/08/2013 3:39 Comments || Top||

#4  What they do mostly has a negative value so paying them in something with a negative value would seem to be a match.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 04/08/2013 6:37 Comments || Top||

#5  Sure. One of these days I feel I'm going to read a story about workers being paid in bonds or IOUs, and will have taxes due on that income, and will only be allowed to pay the taxes with real money.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/08/2013 9:22 Comments || Top||

#6  swksvolFF
Coming to a Kalifornia near you soon...

Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 04/08/2013 9:32 Comments || Top||

#7  Besoeker, that article on trade guns understated the impact of those weapons on the political reality of the west. I've read accounts that as a result of the trade in guns along the Mississippi and Missouri tributaries, the Comanche and other Plains nomads were significantly better armed than the Spanish colonies in New Mexico and Texas, and this was a big part of how New Mexico became a tributary of the Comanche in the late 18th century, and how the Tejans were driven out of the interior and into enclaves near the coast and along the lower Rio Grande. See The Comanche Empire.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 04/08/2013 9:42 Comments || Top||

#8  Thanks for the link Mitch, but I'm so far behind in my reading. Guns and transport have so often made the difference. You might find the following of interest:

1900-1901 - The Government of the United States of America disgraced itself by violating the law and allowing British officers to establish recruiting camps for horses, mules and men on its sacred soil, thereby assisting the great monarchy of the British Empire to destroy two little republics in South Africa struggling so hard for their liberty and independence. One of these camps was in New Orleans, at Chalmette, a spot of ground sacred in the eyes and hearts of all true Americans. The governor of the state protested against this camp. The mayor of the city protested against this camp, and the people of America protested against this camp, yet it was allowed to remain.

John Y.F. Blake, A West Pointer with the Boers, Angel Guardian Press, Boston 1903, page. 216

[Blake was an American and the Commander of the Irish Brigade. He was a graduate of West Point and had served in the Indian Wars in the American west and was quite family with Indian tactics and indigenous struggles.]
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/08/2013 10:31 Comments || Top||

#9  Coming to a Kalifornia near you soon...

Already been toyed with in deferred tax refunds.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/08/2013 10:47 Comments || Top||

#10  Also, "EMPIRE OF THE SUMMER MOON: Quanah Parker and the rise and fall of the comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American History.
Posted by: bman || 04/08/2013 11:24 Comments || Top||

#11  I wonder if the term "shin Plasters" will have a resurgence.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 04/08/2013 12:08 Comments || Top||

#12  How is that materially different from Portugal abandoning the Euro and issuing their own Portuguese fiat money?
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 04/08/2013 13:17 Comments || Top||

#13  US and Europe Job market is going to get allot worse. Next to lose will be service jobs. In my opinion.

Posted by: Dale || 04/08/2013 17:06 Comments || Top||

#14  There's another factor in the job market that I don't think has gotten enough pub.

Our local school system is drastically cutting back next year on Kindergarten classes. Why? There aren't anywhere near enough 5 year olds in the pipeline.

My wife is a Kindergarten teacher and they may cut her position this summer. Right now, due to seniority, she's okay but they are cutting at least 3 of the 8 sessions in the 4 town grade schools.

Not only are they running out of money to pay public employees, they're running out of jobs for them to do in the schools. The reverse baby boom is starting to pinch.
Posted by: AlanC || 04/08/2013 18:15 Comments || Top||

#15  AC that is interesting. I'd bet this is happening in Europe as I know it is in Russia and China.
Lower incomes means putting of children. Perhaps not getting married then get government money. I know of people with one having a good job and the other is in welfare system. They are way ahead that way.
Posted by: Dale || 04/08/2013 18:31 Comments || Top||

#16  IIUC, these Workers should not just be tax-p1ayers but also now official Owners in their Govt. or Public Agencies.

Is this the OWG Globalists new plan to offset the sustantive effects of Global Socialism = Global Liberal Communism??
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/08/2013 19:52 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Israeli Minister Calls On World Powers To Set Deadline For Mil. Action "In Weeks" If Iran Talks Fail
...and a free color comparison as well.....
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [13 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Methinks its fair to say that, given how many Americans don't trust POTUS Bammer to protect or defend Amer's interests, IFF ISRAEL FINALLY DECIDES TO MILITARILY ATTACK IRAN'S NUCPROGS ON ITS OWN IT HAD BETTER BE PREPARED TO SUFFER LONG + HARD, IN GREAT NATIONAL TRIAL = STRESS + TURMOIL.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/08/2013 1:27 Comments || Top||

#2  In short Joseph, Israel can expect things to be regular.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/08/2013 4:36 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Australia gets first female Muslim MP
A Pakistani-born migrant who made the top ranks of environmental engineering is set to become the first Muslim woman elected to an Australian parliament, after the NSW Greens chose Mehreen Faruqi to fill a state upper house vacancy. The Greens said yesterday that Dr Faruqi had been preselected by a mail ballot of all NSW members of the party, from a field of seven in a contest in which only women could run.

Islamic Friendship Association spokesman Keysar Trad yesterday hailed the move as a major advance in demonstrating opportunity for Muslim women in Australia, but warned Dr Faruqi could have difficulty reconciling the teachings of Islam with Green policies, such as the party's support for gay marriage.

Dr Faruqi indicated she will fully take on board the leftist agenda, saying she would be "fighting for gender equality and equal marriage" and taking up "the campaign against coal-seam gas mining".

Dr Faruqi called herself a practising Muslim, but said she came from a modern stream of Islam in Pakistan and did not, for example, wear a niqab.

She steered around whether she, like former Greens NSW leader and now senator Lee Rhiannon, supported the international Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions campaign against Israel, saying she supported the Green policy of promoting human rights for Palestinians and Israelis.

Mr Trad said the elevation of Dr Faruqi would encourage Muslim women to enter politics. But he said Islamic leaders remained absolutely opposed to homosexuality and gay marriage, creating a dilemma for Dr Faruqi. He said, "It will be something that is likely to test her . . . we will be watching to see whether she will allow her beliefs as a Muslim to succumb to the party policy."

The Greens, often criticized as the party of trendy inner-city elitists, claimed Dr Faruqi as another triumph -- she will become the first Greens MP in NSW from a migrant background, which she plans to use to help the party build links with migrant communities in west Sydney.
Posted by: ryuge || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [8 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
N. Korea may fire missiles around Wednesday
SEOUL -- South Korea's presidential office said Sunday Pyongyang may make additional provocations, including missile test-fires, before or after Wednesday, the deadline it has provided to foreign countries for requesting help in evacuating their embassies from the communist country.

"We're thoroughly preparing for this, leaving all possibilities open," said Kim Jang-soo, chief of the National Security Office. "There are no signs of a full-scale war as of now, but the North will have to prepare for retaliation in case of any local war."

The recent spate of threats from North Korea are intended to push South Korean President Park Geun-hye who took office in February to alter her tough policy toward the communist state by raising security concerns among South Koreans, Kim said.

Pyongyang also wants to win a turnaround in the current deadlock in international dialogue to resolve its nuclear program through the move, urging Washington to send a special envoy, China and Russia to take a mediating role and South Korea to offer a dialogue with North Korea, he said.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [21 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "No signs of a full-scale war right now" ...

AFAIK thus far its been China that has been doing the mobilizing, NOT "Pudgy" = the DPRK.

Across from TAIWAN, VIETNAM, + now NORTH KOREA.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/08/2013 1:35 Comments || Top||

#2  South Korea's Unification Minister says there are "signs" that the North may be prepping for a 4th nuclear test.

* ION BIG NEWS NETWORK > [WSWS.org] US THREATENS WAR AGZ NORTH KOREA, DEMANDS CHINA CUTOFF SUPPORT, to Jong-un + Regime.

* SAME > [Sky News] NORTH KOREA: NEXT SEVEN DAYS MAY BE CRITICAL.

April 10th + April 15th.

* YONHAP > KIM JONG-UN ORDERS INCREASED [reliable = "trustworthy"] ARTILLERY PRODUCTION IN NORTH KOREA: REPORT.

* ASIA-PACIFIC DEFENSE FORUM > NORTH KOREA FAMINE FORCES PEASANTS, [even] SOLDIERS TO FLEE.

Again, it just may be that North Korea's ability to withstand the effects of pervasive or lingering famine + other is MUCH WEAKER = PRECARIOUS THAN THE US-WORLD REALIZES, THAT IMPLOSION IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER???

Jong-un + Pyongyang Boyz may be fearing that a North Korea state collapse + de facto consequent Chinese takeover is rapidly accelerating + may be unstoppable.

Unlike the USSR, neither Jong-un nor "Mahanist" China may be interested in a peaceful or mostly peaceful outcome???

* TOPIX > NORTH KOREA THREAT TO GUAM IS DEADLY SERIOUS:OPINION.

In more ways than meets the eye.

IMO one way the DPRK = China threats can be interpreted is as a proxy or indirect challenge to the US Sphere-of-influence in WESTPAC all the way to CENTPAC, as China would like the US to be contained or isolated to EASTPAC only, i.e. US West Coast + Hawaii + peripherals, by 2020 or ASAP thereafter.

Guam + PACOAS was caught in the middle between Japan + US before + during WW2 - now its CHINA, as well as upstart NUCLEAR ISLAM/ISLAMISM.

"DR. STRANGELOVE, OR HOW HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING + LOVE THE BOMB" VERSUS "DR.FEELGOOD, OR HOW I LEARNED TO WORRY BY NOT USING/DROPPING THE BOMB".
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/08/2013 2:54 Comments || Top||

#3  Bring popcorn.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 04/08/2013 11:59 Comments || Top||

#4  "... urging Washington to send a special envoy..."

sure - propose a team of, say, Jimmy Carter, Bill Richardson, George Soros, Al Sharpton and Bill Ayers to relate to Pyongyang and remain there until the end of all tension in the Korean Peninsula.
Posted by: lord garth || 04/08/2013 20:44 Comments || Top||

#5  I sincerely believe I saw what is either a THAAD missle interceptor test, or a Laser test yesterday afternoon after 5:30PM while walking to the local Agana McDonalds from the Agana Library.

All I saw was a straight, solid, super-fast "white" line or streak than suddenly emanated angularly from the horizon upward to the sky. IMO I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time, like the good Madonna + 1960's Texas-sized asteroid fan I am.

* FYI TOPIX > [JPost]US NAVY TO FIELD FIRST FIRST LASER WEAPON THAT COULD SHOT DOWN DRONES.

"Drones" = wink-wink.

Wonder iff its one of my designs???

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > CRS: BREACHING CHINA'S ASBM CHAIN.

* RELATED SAME, TOPIX > CAN [land-based]PATRIOT PAC-3'S SHOOTDOWN CHINA'S CARRIER-KILLERS?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/08/2013 23:24 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Jordan Arrests Anti-Israel Hackers
Jordanian security forces arrested several youths who are suspected of attacking Israeli internet sites as part of the large scale cyber attack on Israel declared by the group called Anonymous.

In response, Anonymous threatened to attack Jordanian internet sites. The group demanded the activists' immediate release.
Oh, the little big men threaten so...
A Facebook group called "The Third Intifada – Jordan" boasted that 100,000 Israeli internet sites had been disabled.

"Today we invade their internet sites and their electronic fortresses, and tomorrow we will attack them in their homes, which were established upon our land and which robbed us of our rights," the group wrote.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [15 views] Top|| File under:

#1  yadda yadda yadda

Palestine will be ours etc.
o
(o FLUSH ooo )
Posted by: Threater Flusoper9823 || 04/08/2013 6:45 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Africa: The Growing Campaign to Revoke Champ's Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize that Champ received 40 months ago has emerged as the most appalling Orwellian award of this century. No, war is not peace.

George Carlin used to riff about oxymorons like "jumbo shrimp," "genuine imitation," "political science" and "military intelligence." But humor is of the gallows sort when we consider the absurdity and tragedy of the world's most important peace prize honoring the world's top war maker.

This week, a challenge has begun with the launch of a petition urging the Norwegian Nobel Committee to revoke Obama's Peace Prize. By midnight of the first day, nearly 10,000 people had signed. The online petition simply tells the Nobel committee: "I urge you to rescind the Nobel Peace Prize that was awarded to Champ."
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [15 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So why did you give him the prize in the first place, you morons?
Posted by: SteveS || 04/08/2013 0:14 Comments || Top||

#2  So why did you give him the prize in the first place, you morons?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/08/2013 4:45 Comments || Top||

#3  Remind me again what he actually DID to merit a Whatsis Piss Prize.

He's the Messiah, right? ( yeah, that's the ticket )

And he's gonna bring us Hope and Change. AND he has frizzy hair if that floats your boat. There are so many "young" people and black people and people who stare at television who need someone to represent them. Naive walmart buttcrack people who drive Volvos. But, hey, Kerry got to be head of the State Department. That's somethin'.....
Posted by: Threater Flusoper9823 || 04/08/2013 7:07 Comments || Top||

#4  I was calling for him to get the Heisman and Cy Young awards at that time, for much the same reasons. But did they listen to me? No.
Posted by: Grunter || 04/08/2013 8:09 Comments || Top||

#5  in the footsteps of: racist loon Desmond Tutu, Arafat, the EU, climate liars IPCC and AlGore, Jimmy Carter, IAEA and El Baradei, serial liar Rigoberta Menchú, ....


he's a perfect fit
Posted by: Frank G || 04/08/2013 8:19 Comments || Top||

#6  Not heard much jaw wagging of late from Arch-Druid Desmond, the champion of African faith-based social justice. I certainly hope he is well.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/08/2013 8:39 Comments || Top||

#7  ...in the footsteps of: racist loon Desmond Tutu, Arafat, the EU, climate liars IPCC and AlGore, Jimmy Carter, IAEA and El Baradei, serial liar Rigoberta Menchú, ....

...Le Duc Tho...
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/08/2013 9:09 Comments || Top||

#8  In the defense of Le Duc Tho, he refused his award. He may have been a blood-soaked doctrinaire Communist thug, but he wasn't a total hypocrite like Kissinger.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 04/08/2013 9:45 Comments || Top||

#9  ..the point is the decision making process and team awarding the prize at all as reflected in the selections.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/08/2013 10:07 Comments || Top||

#10  Actually, I think the Peace Prize looks good on Champ's mantel. They deserve each other. And it serves as a reminder to others of the Prize's true value.
Posted by: Iblis || 04/08/2013 12:28 Comments || Top||

#11  This prize should be referred to as the "Nobel Piece Prize".
Posted by: djk || 04/08/2013 13:29 Comments || Top||

#12  Since Nobel invented TNT maybe the prize was actually properly given to all of these warmongers and we've just taken the wrong meaning of the name.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 04/08/2013 14:25 Comments || Top||

#13  I am sure they are thinking of swapping the Peace Prize for the one in Economics.
Posted by: airandee || 04/08/2013 14:30 Comments || Top||

#14  "Not heard much jaw wagging of late from Arch-Druid Desmond, the champion of African faith-based social justice. I certainly hope he is well."

Why?
Posted by: Barbara || 04/08/2013 16:10 Comments || Top||

#15  It should have been mine. I kept the peace with 3 kittehs, 4 dawgs and a man chile.

I damn sure deserve this one.

Who do I see to bitch if I don't get it?
Is there cash?
Posted by: Shipman || 04/08/2013 17:10 Comments || Top||

#16  In looking over the winners during my lifetime, only a very few truly deserved it: Mother Teresa, Norman Borlaug,George Marshall, Lech Wałęsa,and a few others.

Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and John Paul II should have gotten it for bringing down the Soviet Union and preventing WWIII.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 04/08/2013 17:47 Comments || Top||

#17  This was a great fraudulent selection:

THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) , Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr.
Posted by: Airandee || 04/08/2013 18:15 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Salam: Resistance is Legitimate but War, Peace Decisions Must Rest in State Hands
[An Nahar] Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam on Sunday stressed that resistance against Israel is legitimate, but noted that "the decisions of war and peace must rest in the hands of the Lebanese state."

In an interview with BBC, Salam revealed that Iranian Ambassador to Leb Ghazanfar Roknabadi relayed to him a message from Iran's leadership on Sunday, in which Tehran "wished him success in forming a new cabinet and stressed its keenness on the resistance."

Asked whether Iran had linked facilitating his mission to keenness on Hizbullah, Salam said "everyone knows Iran's stance."

"Resistance against Israel is legitimate, but the decisions of war and peace must rest in the hands of the Lebanese state and we must put an end to the use of arms in the domestic arena," the PM-designate said.

Asked whether he was surprised by receiving an Iranian message although he is "the candidate of the March 14 forces," Salam said: "Today, I'm a prime minister-designate and I communicate with everyone. I have also received a letter of support from Russia, which was carried by the Russian ambassador."

Salam denied being contacted by Syrian Ambassador to Leb Ali Abdul Karim Ali.

He noted that "there is international and regional consensus on helping Leb during this period," revealing that "regional and international influences were behind the consensus" on naming him.
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [20 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Netanyahu Says Israel Can Only Rely on Self against Iran
Indeed. At this time of Holocaust remembrance, it is well to recall this.
[An Nahar] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel cannot rely on any other country, even an ally, when it comes to facing up to the perceived nuclear threat from Iran.

"We appreciate the efforts of the international community to halt Iran's nuclear program," Netanyahu said in a speech on the eve of Holocaust Day.

"But at no stage will we abandon our fate into the hands of other countries, even our best friends," he said, in an apparent reference to the United States whose Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
flew in to Israel on Sunday.

"What has changed since the Shoah (Holocaust) is our determination and our capacity to defend ourselves with our own means," said the Israeli premier, who charged that Iran openly proclaimed an ambition to annihilate the Jewish state.

"The murderous hatred of the Jewish people has not disappeared from the world. It has changed face and become a murderous hatred of the state of Israel," he said at the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem.

President Shimon Peres, at the same ceremony, said anti-Semitism was still alive in Europe. "Crises are again being exploited to create new Nazi parties, ridiculous but dangerous," he said.
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [12 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Once upon a time... “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”
Posted by: SteveS || 04/08/2013 0:37 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, Benji, be prepared to suffer greatly waging the righteous fight.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/08/2013 1:30 Comments || Top||

#3  I wonder when he got this revelation?

2008 or 2012?

I don't expect the US to lift a finger to solve Iran except to write out another sternly worded letter.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 04/08/2013 12:14 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Tunisia police tear-gas pro-government protest
[Al Ahram] Tunisian police on Sunday used tear gas to disperse supporters of the Islamist-led ruling coalition who protested against a meeting by a secular opposition party, an AFP journalist said.

"Get out, you bastards!" chanted protesters, referring to post-revolution premier Beji Caid Essebsi, leader of the opposition movement Nidaa Tounes and a fierce opponent of the Ennahda party that heads the government.

Essebsi's party, which Ennahda accuses of harbouring remnants of the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who was ousted in 2011, is often the target of attacks by pro-government activists without police intervening, the opposition says.

At the end of December, hundreds of Ennahda activists and members of the pro-government League for the Protection of the Revolution militia attacked a hotel in Djerba in the south where a Nidaa Tounes meeting was being held.

For months the opposition has demanded the disbanding of the League for the Protection of the Revolution, accusing it of brutal acts of violence, but Ennahda has steadfastly refused to disband the militia.

League members were accused of lynching a Nidaa Tounes activist in autumn last year and also of attacking the headquarters of the UGTT, the country's largest trade union, in December.
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [14 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hamas Shaves Heads Of Long-Haired Gaza Youths
Making friends and influencing people in the inimitable Islamist way. I wonder what percent of the younger generation is desperate to leave Gaza nowadays?
[IsraelTimes] Police in Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,-ruled Gazoo have started grabbing young men with long or gel-styled spiky hair off the streets, bundling them into jeeps, mocking them and shaving their heads, two of those targeted and a rights group said Sunday.

It is the latest sign that the Islamic Death Eaters are imposing their strict practices on the population.

Hamas has been slowly forcing its fundamentalist interpretation of the religion on already conservative Gazoo since it overran the territory in 2007, but the new crackdown on long hair and tight or low-waist pants -- in several cases accompanied by beatings -- appears to be one of the most aggressive phases of the campaign so far.

The crackdown began last week, and two of those targeted told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named said they were rounded up in separate sweeps in Gazoo City that included more than two dozen young men.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [10 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  "Long or gel-styled spiky hair" > FINALLY, there's something I + HAMAS can agree on!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/08/2013 1:21 Comments || Top||

#2  the new crackdown on long hair and tight or low-waist bell bottom pants -- in several cases accompanied by beatings --
very '70s
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/08/2013 2:16 Comments || Top||

#3  But do they also glue long beards on them?
Posted by: Spot || 04/08/2013 8:24 Comments || Top||

#4  Get a haircut
and get a ji-hahd
get your feet washed
quit being a slob
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/08/2013 14:41 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Shelling Kills 15 near Damascus, Army Takes Village near Aleppo
[An Nahar] At least 15 civilians, including a child and three women, died on Sunday in shelling of towns east of Damascus
...The capital of Iran's Syrian satrapy...
, a monitoring group said, while tanks pounded rebel enclaves on the Syrian capital's edges.

The army said it had laid siege to rebels east of Damascus, although the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said battles and shelling raged on in the area.

Elsewhere, loyalist troops made a rare advance in the north and took control of a strategic village near the city of Aleppo, said the monitoring group.

Fifteen people, among them a child and three women, were killed in shelling of the towns of Jisreen, Kafr Batna and nearby areas, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of activists, doctors and lawyers for its reports.

Another six rebel fighters were killed in fighting in Nashabiyeh, also east of Damascus, said the Britannia-based group.

Some of Syria's fiercest and best organized rebel groups hold enclaves east of Damascus -- known as the Eastern Ghouta area -- and the army has for the past several months fought to halt the faceless myrmidons in their tracks.

In a statement carried by state news agency SANA, the military said on Sunday it has laid siege to rebels in Eastern Ghouta.

"Units from our army in the Eastern Ghouta carried out a special operation yesterday, in collaboration with honest citizens from the region, that resulted in the tightening of a siege on the whole of the area," it said.

But Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence La Belle France Presse that many villages and towns were still under rebel control.

On the edges of Damascus, meanwhile, army tanks pounded rebel enclaves in Qadam and Jobar, said the Observatory.

In the north, the army took control of the flashpoint village of Aziza, following several days of fierce bombardment, it said.

Sunday's violence came a day after at least 116 people were killed across Syria, said the Observatory.
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [16 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


India-Pakistan
Gas pipeline blown up in Balochistan
[Dawn] An 18-inch Sui gas pipeline was blown up in the early hours of Sunday in the Uch area of Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
, DawnNews reported.

According to the report, the kaboom suspended gas supply to the Uch power plant in Balochistan causing a reduction of more than 525 megawatts of power generation.

As a result, electricity supply in many areas in Lahore and Punjab has been shelved.

Gas officials said that repair work has already commenced and restoration could take about two days.

Barely two days earlier, a gas pipeline kaboom in Quetta, reduced 150 megawatts of power generation due to which Habibullah Coastal Power and Sheikh Munda Power Houses are still closed.

The overall electricity shortage in the country has reached 5000 megawatts.
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [16 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Second verse, same as the first.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/08/2013 8:48 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Al-Qaeda Chief Wants Islamic State in Syria
The leader of the Al-Qaeda terrorist group, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has urged rebels to fight to establish an Islamic state in Syria, AFP reported. The message came in an online audio message Sunday, in which the Al-Qaeda chief also warned France against its military intervention in Mali.

"Let your fight be in the name of Allah and with the aim of establishing Allah's sharia (law) as the ruling system," he said, in his first message posted on the Internet since last November.

"Do all that you can so that your holy war yields a jihadist Islamic state," said Zawahiri, adding that such a state would help to re-establish the Islamic "caliphate" system of rule.

"The enemy has begun to reel and collapse," he said, referring to forces loyal to President Bashar Al-Assad.

Islamist rebel groups such as the Al-Nusra Front, which has links to Al-Qaeda, have eschewed the main opposition National Coalition. Al-Nusra is one of 13 factions in the radical Islamist rebel council that announced its secession from the main opposition force and declared its own Islamic state in Aleppo.

Zawahiri in his message also warned France over its military involvement against Islamists in Mali, AFP reported, saying it will be defeated in the same way, according to him, the Americans were defeated in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I call upon our Muslim nation in Mali to hold and be patient, and hopefully, effect a new defeat to the global crusade," said Zawahiri.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [15 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Speaking of Mali + global-jihad-vs-global-crusade

* BHARAT RAKSHAK > AL-QAEDA WANTS AFRICA: ARE THE FRENCH IN OVER THEIR HEADS IN MALI???

I read last week that attempt may be in the works to sneekily-sneak Ayman back into Morsi-led EGYPT???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/08/2013 1:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Now this is a shocking revelation.

An islamic state in Syria?

I thought with all of the killing, torture, and general mayhem, it already was an Islamic state.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 04/08/2013 12:12 Comments || Top||

#3  OT: Side note to BC... are you in the PHS?
Posted by: Shipman || 04/08/2013 16:59 Comments || Top||

#4  OOOOPPPSIES, forgot to say DEFENCE.PK/.FORUMS > MAIL NEEDS 11,000 PEACEKEEPERS, UN SAYS.

That sound you're hearing is the NOW + aligned FemiNazis demanding - as they've done before in times past - that only Male soldats be sent to Mali.

Apparently the ER Amendment + "Equal Pay for Equal Work", Women in Combat, etc. doesn't apply iff it involves DemoLefty femmes themselves actually getting shot at.

AS FOR AYMAN, PERHAPS HE COULD RUN FOR PRESIDENT LIKE MULLAH OMAR BUT IN EGYPT???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/08/2013 23:32 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Tirah valley operation intensifies, 23 soldiers killed
[Dawn] A decisive operation has been launched against Islamic fascisti in the Tirah valley of Bara by Special Services Groups (SSG) forces along with regular troops, during which at least 23 troops have been killed along with local lashkar men.

Scores of Islamic fascisti have also been killed in the offensive during the last three days.

Official sources confirmed to Dawn.com that several soldiers, including SSG commandos, have been killed in the battle for Tirah valley on Saturday, around 30 Islamic fascisti have also been confirmed dead along with scores of others injured.

On late Sunday evening, a clash took place between security forces and Islamic fascisti in Akka Khel area of Bara tehsil. Ten Islamic fascisti were killed in the fighting, official sources said.

Sources said that SSG commandos along with regular army troops and Frontier Corps are battling to root out the last pockets of resistance in the Tirah valley especially on the border of Orakzai Agency
... crawling with holy men, home to Darra Adam Khel, the world's largest illegal arms bazaar. 14 distinct tribes of beturbanned primitives inhabit Orakzai agency's 1500 or so square kilometers...

The landlocked area is reported to be a bastion of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) and other foreign beturbanned goons.

The offensive has entered a crucial phase, after softening of targets by gunships and jet fighters.

Ground troops along with local volunteers have been mobilised to clear the area.

Security experts had already hinted at a decisive strike in the Tirah valley as the TTP and Lashkar-e-Islam had started consolidating their positions in the valley.

The two groups pose a serious threat to the settled areas especially Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.

The FC media cell had confirmed on Friday that four soldiers were killed and over 14 Islamic fascisti had died in the festivities which have been continuing since then.

Sources have confirmed to Dawn.com that one dead body of an SSG commando and six injured SSG soldiers along with eight other solders were shifted to the CMH Peshawar on Saturday.

Artillery and mortar shelling has also intensified as troops have started an advance march and door-to-door offensive to clear pockets of resistance.

The former secretary of security for Fata region and an expert on tribal affairs, Brigadier Mehmood Shah speaking to Dawn.com said that Tirah would become a headache for the Pakistain administration if it is not cleared of beturbanned goons.

He said that Islamic fascisti from Khyber Agency's Bara area and the Dara Admakhel TTP have also shifted their operational base to Tirah valley as they consider it to be a safer place to regroup.

He added that if Tirah valley is left unattended, it would become even more dangerous than South Wazoo Agency.

The recent festivities between the Ansarul Islam (AI) and the TTP, also supported by the Lashkar-e-Islam (LI), had left many fighters dead on both sides, providing a conducive environment for security forces to launch a major offensive.

Another factor which might help the security forces this time is the internal rift in the TTP after the death of its commander Tariq Afridi.

Following the death of Tariq Afridi, the Central TTP and Afridi's own faction both have appointed their own chiefs.

This indicates widening rifts between the Hakimullah-led Islamic fascisti and Tariq Afridi's loyalists who suspect that the TTP central commander was responsible for Afridi's murder.

The central TTP nominated Umer Khalifa while the Afridi faction nominated Zubair alias 'Kaka' as their chief.

But widening difference clearly surfaced after the two factions were unable to consolidate their positions.

The TTP-AI fight has made things more difficult for the TTP in Tirah valley.

The TTP front man Ehsanullah Ehsan has repeatedly blamed security forces of backing the AI while he has also refused to accept the Dara Adamkhel Taliban chief Zaubair.

Security forces may benefit from the discontent and can take the TTP factions separately who are already at odds with each other.

They can also take on the LI through the AI whose fighters are already part of the Zakha Khel peace committee, which is fighting the LI in Maidan valley.
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [19 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar-e-Islami


Great White North
How three Canadians graduated from high school to terrorism
Posted by: ryuge || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [15 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa

#1  Well, they weren't really Canadians, eh.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/08/2013 6:39 Comments || Top||

#2  They were Canadian as BHO is American.
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper || 04/08/2013 15:29 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Major Failures, Minor Successes For Anti-Israel Hackers
Bottom line: script kiddies go up against Israeli white hats, fail.
[IsraelTimes] If anti-Israel hackers hoped, as they boldly proclaimed, "to erase Israel from the Internet" during Sunday's #OpIsrael hacking attacks, they failed miserably, said Nir Goldshlager, Israel's most famous "white hat" hacker and CEO of Break Security. Instead of toppling and defacing government, bank, and insurance sites, as they promised to do, the hacking groups, ostensibly associated with Anonymous, were able to attack only minor web sites that were not well protected.

It was not for lack of trying, though. Although the statistics aren't in yet, Israel was clearly in the crosshairs of hackers on Sunday. Several Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, and web sites churned out updated lists of sites the hackers claimed to have taken down or defaced, and posts on social media sites made unsubstantiated claims like "Anonymous causes Israel to lose $5 billion" in stock market losses (false) and "Tel Aviv loses all Internet connection" (ditto).

The main tactic used by hackers to attack large government and financial sites was the denial of service (DDoS) attack, in which tens of thousands of connection requests are sent to a server at one time, in the hope of overwhelming the server's system and causing it to slow down to a crawl, or to shut down altogether. Dr. Tal Pavel, director of the MiddleEasterNet site, which gathers intelligence on Internet usage and events in the Arab world, uncovered several sites where users could participate in DDoS attacks against Israeli sites by clicking on buttons. Each click generated thousands of connection requests.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [22 views] Top|| File under:

#1  In each and every generation they rise up against us to destroy us.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/08/2013 4:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Script Kiddies are called script kiddies for a reason.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 04/08/2013 6:35 Comments || Top||

#3  Samuel Johnson - "Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully."
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/08/2013 9:32 Comments || Top||

#4  2K thanks for a bit of history there. Tourette syndrome late in life would have been misunderstood. He loved the written word and contributed much to the English language.
Posted by: Dale || 04/08/2013 10:47 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
China Seeks N. Korea Assurance, Warns on 'Troublemaking'
[An Nahar] China said it had asked North Korea to ensure the safety of its diplomats after a warning that missions should consider evacuating, and that it would not tolerate "troublemaking" on its doorstep.

North Korean authorities on Friday told embassies in Pyongyang that their safety could not be guaranteed if a conflict breaks out, after weeks of escalating threats against the United States and South Korea.

Foreign Ministry front man Hong Lei said China "expresses grave concerns" about the growing tensions on the Korean peninsula but that the Chinese embassy was "operating normally."

"The Chinese government has already asked the North Korea side to earnestly ensure the safety of Chinese diplomats in North Korea, in accordance with the Vienna Convention and international laws and practices," he said in a statement on the foreign ministry website Sunday.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a phone conversation with U.N. Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
that there were deep concerns over the situation on the Korean peninsula.

"We oppose provocative words and actions by any party in this region, and will not allow troublemaking on China's doorstep," he said in unusually sharp comments released by the ministry late Saturday.
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [13 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  1st step: 'Borrow a corpse to resurrect the soul'

2nd step: 'Kill with a borrowed knife'
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 04/08/2013 2:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Sending twenty division across the Yalu would get their attention and speak volumes. Just saying. If you were serious.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/08/2013 9:25 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Over 30 organisations react angrily at assault of female journo
[Bangla Daily Star] Women's rights activists, citizens' groups and journalists yesterday strongly condemned the assault on ETV journalist Nadia Sharmin by Hefajat-e Islam supporters.

Expressing grave concern over the regressive and anti-women stances of the radical Islamist group, they said Hefejat's demands undermine women's rights and the group seems bent on pushing the women back to an era of darkness.

The Qawmi madrasa-based Islamist organization, however, denies its involvement in the assault.

Addressing a presser yesterday, its leaders claimed government supporters had infiltrated into the rally venue and staged the attack.

When journalists provided proof of Hefajat men's involvement, the Islamist leaders expressed regret over the incident.

Besides Nadia, three other journalists were attacked while covering Hefajat's programme in the capital on Saturday.

Meanwhile in Chittagong, three photojournalists were assaulted by pro-hartal pickets at Kazir Dewri yesterday.

The injured are Sourav Das of daily Prothom Alo, SM Tamanna of daily Amader Shomoy and Golam Ali Mortaza of daily Bonik Barta.

Hefajat men beat up the three near Kazir Dewri intersection when the latter were taking pictures of the procession. Of them, Tamanna was injured critically, said police.

According to prothom-alo.com, the attackers hit Tamanna in the head with bricks. The journalist was admitted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital.

Some of the attackers were BNP and Jamaat-Shibir activists in Hefajat procession, said eyewitnesses.

Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [10 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Rocket Fired from Gaza Crashes into Southern Israel
[An Nahar] A rocket fired from Gazoo crashed into southern Israel on Sunday, without causing casualties or damage, shortly after the arrival of U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
on a peace bid, police said.

Police front man Micky Rosenfeld told Agence La Belle France Presse the rocket landed in an uninhabited sector of the Negev desert, as Kerry started a three-day visit to Israel and the Paleostinian territories.
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [17 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Olde Tyme Religion
Pope installed as Bishop of Rome
[INDEPENDENT.IE] Pope Francis has been formally installed as Bishop of Rome in a ceremony characterised by more simplicity than the usual rituals and pomp enjoyed by papal predecessors taking up their pastoral duties.

In yet another sign that Francis sees his mission as pontiff as one of humble service, he used his arrival at St John in Lateran Basilica to honour a past pope who remains wildly popular in Rome.

Francis arrived 30 minutes early to bless a plaque renaming a corner of the piazza outside the church after Pope John Paul II, who died in 2005.

Francis applauded, then gave his blessing after Rome's mayor unveiled the simple white stone plaque marking Giovanni Paolo II Square in a section of the vast piazza, which often hosts free rock concerts and political and union rallies.

The pope, who has stressed the importance of simplicity, arrived for the unveiling wearing a plain white cassock, a more modest wardrobe choice than that of the Italian cardinal who welcomed him wearing a red cape.
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [12 views] Top|| File under:

#1  About tcomment in the Good Morning section I think it is more like becoming pope automatically carries becoming Bishiop of Rome. A bit like the {King,Queen} of England becoming head of the Anglican church and Heads of State in some country automatically becoming head of the highest decoration in the Country (Victoria Cross, Légion d'Honneur). Despite automatic nomination there still are separate offices.
Posted by: JFM || 04/08/2013 10:02 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Court sends Fakhrul, 7 others to jail
[Bangla Daily Star] Eight senior BNP leaders, including Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Moudud Ahmed and Mirza Abbas, were sent to jail yesterday in connection with "torching vehicles, assaulting police and preventing them from discharging their duties" during opposition agitations.

The leaders appeared before Dhaka courts and sought bails in the seven cases filed by police against them with cop shoppes in the capital on December 9, 2012, and March 2 and 6, 2013.

The courts rejected the bail petitions and ordered them to be sent to jail, drawing sharp a reaction from BNP-led 18-party opposition alliance, which almost instantly declared a two-day hartal
... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ...
from tomorrow morning on top of Hefajat-e Islam's hartal today.

Outraged, opposition activists brought out procession and in cases resorted violence at many places in the country.

As many as 148 BNP leaders, including Opposition Chief Whip Zainul Abdin Farroque, were tossed in the calaboose
Please don't kill me!
and put behind bars on March 11 in two other cases filed in connection with vandalism of vehicles and assaulting police. They were also denied bails twice. A total of five BNP politicians are now behind bars.

Of the accused in the seven cases, Moudud Ahmed MP, Mirza Abbas and Goyeshwar Chandra Roy are members of the national standing committee of BNP. Barkatullah Bulu and Shahiduddin Chowdhury Annee are party's politicians and Abdullah Al Noman and Moazzem Hossain Alal are vice-chairman of BNP and chief of its young front Juba Dal respectively. Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir is BNP acting secretary general.

The eight BNP leaders appeared before the courts around 2:00pm yesterday on expiry of their four weeks' ad-interim bail granted by the High Court. The lawyers of the accused yesterday morning had filed separate petitions for extending their bails.

Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [17 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
Japan to Order Shooting Down of N. Korea Missile
[An Nahar] Japan will order its armed forces to shoot down any North Korean missile headed towards its territory, press reports said Sunday as Pyongyang was reportedly readying to fire one.

The order may be issued by Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera on Sunday or "in a day or two," the Yomiuri newspaper and the Jiji news agency reported.

The order would not be made public so as not to alarm the public, the Kyodo news agency quoted government sources as saying.

Under the order, Aegis destroyers equipped with sea-based interceptor missiles would be deployed in the Sea of Japan so they could intercept a North Korean missile if it appeared likely to land in Japanese territory, Kyodo said.

According to South Korean media, North Korea has loaded two intermediate-range missiles on mobile launchers and hidden them near its east coast, fueling fear of an imminent launch that may further escalate tensions.
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [16 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  IIRC, they said that the last time.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 04/08/2013 11:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Japan has repor deployed PATRIOT PAC-3's around Tokyo, includ its Defense Ministry.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/08/2013 23:11 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Judges charge ex-Brotherhood leader with insulting Egypt's judiciary
[Al Ahram] A number of Appeal Court judges on Sunday lodged a request with the heads of Egypt's of Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) and Court of Cassation for an investigation into charges that former Moslem Brüderbund supreme guide Mahdi Akef had "insulted" judicial figures.
"When mustache cursing is illegal only outlaws will have mustaches!"
The judges asked for an impartial investigation into statements made by Akef in a recent interview with a Kuwaiti newspaper in which, the judges claim, Akef insulted certain judicial personages.

"[Egyptian] Judges are corrupt," Akef said in the interview. "They're the ones who dissolved [Egypt's] last parliament [last summer]...because they were afraid of the laws it would adopt."

"This is because the first law that the dissolved parliament was going to approve was one to retire some 3,500 judges above 60 years old," Akef said.

He added: "In order to achieve Egypt's national revival, you must seek out those who support the notion of renaissance. Then you find the court and the judges working to together to dissolve parliament. Corrupt judges don't want Egypt's revival."

"When the president appoints a new prosecutor-general, which is his right under the new constitution, then all of the judges object," Akef asserted.

The telephone interview with the former Brotherhood leader was broadcast in Egypt on Friday by prominent Egyptian television presenters Mahmoud Saad and Mona El-Shazly.

Earlier on Sunday, a number of leading judges called for the resignation of Prosecutor-General Talaat Abdullah, appointed by President Mohamed Morsi last November.
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [13 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran Navy's 25th fleet sets off for Gulf of Aden
The 25th fleet of the Iran Navy has left the country's southern port of Bandar Abbas for the Gulf of Aden to provide security for shipping lines in that region, Press TV reported. The 25th fleet, which carries the message of peace for the region, left Bandar Abbas on Sunday after the 24th fleet successfully conducted its 72-day mission in international waters and returned home on April 4.

The 25th fleet of Iranian warships comprises the Larak logistical warship and the Alborz missile-launching corvette frigate destroyer.

On Thursday, Iran Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said that presence in the Indian and Pacific oceans and the China Sea, patrolling Southeast Asia's strategic Strait of Malacca, crossing the Equator, docking at China's Zhangjiagang port and identifying 370 surface and subsurface vessels were among the important tasks carried out by the 24th fleet. The 24th fleet consisted of Sabalan corvette frigate destroyer and Kharg Ol-class replenishment oiler helicopter carrier along with 800 naval personnel.

In recent years, Iran Navy has been increasing its presence in international waters to protect gun running naval routes.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [22 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Be interesting to watch the trail of oil leaks and retrieval vessels.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/08/2013 6:40 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Road blocks in Kismayu.
[Shabelle] there are reports coming from Kismayu, the capital city of the juba regions that road barriers have been put along the roads in the entire city. The city is being administrated by members of the Raskamboni brigade.

Eye witness who refused to reveal his identity because of security reasons told Shabelle media that money was being collected at the road blocks from vehicles and business men who are in the city. It is confirmed that the Raskamboni administration have imposed the rules on the civilians around the region.

This has created fear among the civilians and motorist operating in the city as there is no correct formula of collecting money.

The civilians said that the road blocks were new to the city and the administration did not announce such activities to be conducted. The barriers have officially started operating in the region.

Shabelle media tried to contact the transitional administration but it was not possible.

Other reports from Kismayu say that unknown gunnies robbed business premises in the city and took away unknown amount of money and property.

The men are said to be six heavily gunnies and no one challenged them.

Until now the officials of the Raskamboni grouped have not released a statement about the incidents.
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [9 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
Nigeria's MEND Says It Killed 15 Security Personnel in Fight
[BLOOMBERG] "All oil companies and the public are advised to ignore the false sense of security," portrayed by the security agencies, Gbomo said. "We remain resolute in our resumption of hostilities."

The attack comes after MEND warned on April 3 they would resume their operations in Africa's largest oil producer on April 5 after their suspected leader, Henry Okah, was sentenced to 24 years in prison in South Africa.

The Nigerian military is on "red alert" in the region following the threat, Chris Olukolade, a Defense Ministry front man, said in an e-mailed statement. The Joint Task Force in the region is also on alert, he said in a text message in response to questions.

"Maritime and air assets have also been mobilized and patrols intensified both on land and waterways," Olukolade said.

The rebel group will start to carry out "a plague of attacks," Gbomo said last week. "The attacks will be sustained until an unreserved apology is offered to MEND and the Nigerian government shows their willingness for dialogue."

Boat Attacked

Bayelsa state police front man Kingsley Omire said today 11 coppers were still missing after unknown gunnies opened fire when they were on a boat heading to Azuzuama on April 5. The boat was carrying 15 coppers and four of the coppers jumped into the river and were rescued, he said.

Omire said it was too early to identify the attackers.

A South African court sentenced Okah to 24 years in jail after he was found guilty of 13 counts of terrorism, including a bombing that killed 12 people in the capital, Abuja, on Oct. 1, 2010. MEND claimed the attack. While Okah denies he leads the group, he has said he commands the support of many armed factions in Nigeria's oil region.

Attacks including kidnappings and bombing of oil installations by groups including MEND cut more than 28 percent of Nigeria's oil output between 2006 and 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The violence declined after thousands of fighters accepted a government amnesty offer in 2009 and disarmed.
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [18 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
Darfur rebels denounce Doha donors meet
[Al Ahram] Rebels who have been fighting for 10 years in Sudan's Darfur region on Sunday denounced an international donor conference which seeks support for "rebuilding" the devastated region.

"I would like to condemn very strongly" the meeting which began the same day in the Gulf state of Qatar, said Abdel Wahid Mohammed al-Nur, who heads a faction of the Sudan Liberation Army.

"To have (a) donors' conference you have to have peace and security on the ground first," said Nur, who launched the rebellion in 2003.

Speaking to AFP, he alleged that donated money "will not go to the people".

Gibril Adam Bilal, front man for the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), asked the international community "not to participate in giving the government of Sudan a chance to conduct crimes" against the people.

The Doha conference, which ends on Monday, was agreed under a July 2011 peace deal which Khartoum signed in the Qatari capital with an alliance of rebel splinter groups.

Major rebel movements including JEM and Nur's faction have refused to sign the peace pact.
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [14 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan


Africa North
Top Egyptian prosecutor urged to step down
What, again?
Egypt's highest judicial body on Sunday urged the country's top prosecutor to step down, nearly five months after Islamist President Mohammed Morsi appointed him.
Then they'd be down to only one...
A statement by the Supreme Judiciary Council carried by the official MENA news agency urged Talaat Abdullah "to express a wish" to return to his previous job as a judge for the sake of the unity of the judiciary.

Abdullah's appointment was decried as illegal by many judges and fellow prosecutors. It has led to days of protests outside his office in downtown Cairo by judges and prosecutors. The protests late last year forced him to tender his resignation, but he eventually withdrew it and stayed in office.

A court ruling last week annulled the presidential decree appointing Abdullah, but he has continued to carry out his duties. The presidency said last week it was still considering whether to appeal the ruling.

There was no word immediately available from Abdullah on his plans.

Removing Abdullah has been a key demand of the mostly liberal and secular opposition and Sunday's advice by the council of the judiciary appeared aimed at offering him an honorable exit and to end a long running crisis within the judiciary over his appointment.

Abdullah has over the past two weeks issued summons against several media celebrities critical of Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president. They included popular TV satirist Bassem Youssef, who was accused of insulting Morsi and Islam.

Youssef's questioning last week, plus earlier arrest warrants issued by Abdullah's office for five rights activists, has created tension between Egypt and the United States. The satirist was released on bail.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [9 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
US-Pak drone deal exposes Kashmir rider
[TIMESOFINDIA.INDIATIMES] Pakistain's former military strongman Pervez Perv Musharraf
... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...
allowed the CIA to conduct Drone strikes in Pakistain's tribal areas as long as the United States kept away from the country's nuclear facilities and mountain camps where faceless myrmidons were being trained for attacks on India, according to explosive new disclosures that break the wall of silence from both sides on the controversial Predator attacks, and if accurate, again exposes U.S duplicity on terrorism.

The breakthrough moment reportedly occurred in 2004 when Pakistain, which had till then resisted pressure from the US to allow it to conduct Drone strikes, was humiliated militarily by a tribal warlord named Nek Mohammad.

"Muhammad's rise to power forced them to reconsider," the New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
related in an account of the deal in Sunday. "The CIA had been monitoring the rise of Mr. Muhammad (in South Wazoo) but officials considered him to be more Pakistain's problem than America's. In Washington, officials were watching with growing alarm the gathering of Qaeda operatives in the tribal areas, and George Tenet, the CIA director, authorized officers in the agency's Islamabad station to push Pak officials to allow armed drones."

According to the report, negotiations were handled primarily by the Islamabad station of the CIA, with the station chief calling on then ISI Director General Ehsan ul Haq to discuss terms of the deal: The CIA would kill Mohammad if ISI allowed armed Drone flights over tribal areas. Pakistain's terms: they should be allowed to approve each drone strike, giving them tight control over the list of targets; and nuclear facilities and terror camps directed against India would be no-go areas.

Implicit in the report is Washington's acceptance of the terms, considering that India-specific terror camps remain untouched by Drones.

The report says the ISI and the CIA agreed that all drone flights in Pakistain would operate under the CIA's covert action authority - meaning that the United States would never acknowledge the missile strikes and that Pakistain would either take credit for the individual killings or remain silent. As it turned out, Pakistain did take credit for killing Nek Mohammad, even though the CIA had done the job.

The deal also had the stamp of approval from Musharraf, who the NYT says, did not think that it would be difficult to keep up the ruse.

"In Pakistain, things fall out of the sky all the time," it cites him as telling a CIA officer, in a callous remark that is certain to make his already torrid situation in Pakistain even more difficult.
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [16 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Europe
25,000 protest against Cyrillic signs in Vukovar
Some 25,000 people staged a demonstration Sunday against plans to introduce street signs written in the Cyrillic alphabet for the minority ethnic Serbs of Vukovar, a Croatian town devastated by Serb rebels in the 1990s.

The protestors, many of them veterans of Croatia's 1991-95 war wearing their wartime uniforms, demanded that Vukovar be exempted from a law requiring the use of Cyrillic where Serbs make up one-third of an urban population.

The organizers' spokesman, Dragutin Glasnovic, said, "There's no way that we accept Cyrillic. Vukovar should be treated differently due to a special respect for its victims on which Croatia was founded."

Rebel Serbs opposed to Croatia's independence bid captured Vukovar after a bloody three-month siege, marking the start of the war, which claimed some 20,000 lives.

The protestors arrived from all across Croatia. Many wore T-shirts with the inscription "For a Croatian Vukovar - No to Cyrillic" and chanted the town's name. A giant banner reading "Vukovar will never be Vukovar (in Cyrillic)" was raised in Zagreb's main square.

The government has repeatedly said it would proceed with its plans to begin using Cyrillic on signs in Vukovar, but veterans have threatened to remove them by force.
Posted by: ryuge || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sure. We kept spanish street signs out of SoCal.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/08/2013 6:43 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel arrests four Islamic Jihad members in Hebron
[Al Ahram] Israeli occupation forces incarcerated
Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!
five Paleostinians Sunday morning, including four Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
leaders, in Hebron after storming their homes.

Among those arrested include Mohamed Abd El-Qader Al-Mohtassab, Ahmed Abd El-Karim El-Eyoyee, and Akram Khalid Ahmaro, according to the Maan news agency.

Occupation forces arrested 17-year-old Mokdad Ahmaro, Akram's son, 6 March. Both father and son are members of the Islamic Jihad, a Paleostinian resistance group.

In the village of Beit Ula, Israeli forces arrested Diaa Ezz El-Din, a farmer with the Islamic Jihad, as well as, Anas Abdel Malek Abdel Qader of Surif. They were transferred to an unknown location.

Israeli forces also raided the home of Bilal El-Hashemoun, inspecting it with police dogs, the Hashemoun's told Maan.

For its part, the Islamic Jihad movement says it will hold Israeli occupation authorities wholly responsible for the safety of its leaders and cadres within the occupation's prisons.

"We are under the conviction that this targeted escalation, which has reached our popular leaders in the West Bank, is meant to impede resistance and the breaking out of a popular uprising in the face of the occupation," the movement said in a statement Sunday.
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [14 views] Top|| File under: Islamic Jihad


Africa North
Five die in Christian-Muslim clashes in Egypt
Leave it to Reuters to call it 'Christian-Muslim clashes', when what is going on is 'Muslims Murdering Christians'. But if the Christians are fighting back it's about time.
Five Egyptians were killed and eight wounded in clashes between Christians and Muslims in a town near Cairo, security sources said on Saturday, in some of the worst sectarian violence in Egypt for months.

Christian-Muslim confrontations
...that is, where Muslims beat, murder or torch Christians in their homes and churches...
have increased in Muslim-majority Egypt since the overthrow of former president Hosni Mubarak in 2011 gave freer rein to hardline Islamists repressed under his rule.

Four Christian Copts and one Muslim were killed when members of both communities started fighting and shooting at each other in El Khusus north of the Egyptian capital, the sources said. State news agency MENA put the death toll at four.

An angry crowd smashed shops belonging to Christians, residents said. A Reuters reporter saw a burned-out Coptic day care center and several damaged shops belonging to Christian traders. An apartment inhabited by Muslims was also burned.

Residents said the violence broke out on Friday when a group of Christian children were drawing on a wall of a Muslim religious institute.

A Reuters reporter saw what looked like a swastika drawn on the wall. Muslim residents said it had offended them because it looked like a cross.
Whereas a swastika is no big deal...
"I saw the kids drawing on the wall after afternoon prayers so I grabbed them and told them to remove what they'd just written," said Mahmoud Mahmoud al-Alfi, a Muslim resident.

Then another man arrived and started beating the children, drawing a large crowd, he said. The situation escalated when someone drew a gun and fired into the air, killing one boy with a stray bullet.
'Firing into the air' followed by 'killing one boy'. You'd think someone could connect the dots...
"Suddenly the area was full of weapons,"
...what, they were near a mosque?...
Alfi said, while weeping Muslim women sat nearby in front of a house, showing pictures of a man they said had been killed during the clashes.

The president's office expressed condolences to the victims and vowed to fight any sectarian violence.

"The presidency ... totally rejects any attempt against the unity and cohesiveness of Egyptian society and will decisively confront any attempt to spark sectarian strife among Egyptian people, Muslim and Christian," according to a statement.

Muslim leaders were also quick to condemn the sectarian violence
...especially when Christians fight back...
which comes as Egypt struggles with a severe economic crisis and high inflation after two years of political upheaval.

Grand Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, of Egypt's leading Islamic authority Al-Azhar, urged measures to prevent the situation from escalating and to "preserve the national character which characterises the Egyptian people, Muslims and Christians," MENA said.
The national character of first- and second-class citizens...
"The sectarian riots which happened in El Khusus are unacceptable and grave," Saad al-Katatni, the head of the Muslim Brotherhood political party, said on his Facebook website. "There are some who want to set Egypt ablaze and create crises."

On Saturday the situation was calm but tense in the small town where Muslims and Christians live close to each other but in separate streets. Security was tight with police vehicles parked in the main streets.

Police detained 15 people, a security source said.

In a Christian neighborhood dozens of angry young men gathered at noon on Saturday, chanting "with our blood and soul we sacrifice ourselves for the cross". The crowds left after a priest came and asked them to leave to calm tensions.
The difference here is that the priest tries to calm the crowd...
"There are people who want to cause sectarian strife between Muslims and Christians," said a Christian man who gave his name as Kameel. "I've been here longer than 30 years and I have never seen any violence or extremism in our area."

Sectarian tensions have often flared into violence, particularly in rural areas where rivalries between clans or families sometimes add to friction. Love affairs between Muslims and Christians have also sparked clashed in the past.

Since Mubarak was ousted by a popular uprising, Christians have complained of several attacks on churches by radical Islamists, incidents that have sharpened longstanding Christian complaints about being sidelined in the workplace and in law.

As an example, they point to rules that make it harder to obtain official permission to build a church than a mosque.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [14 views] Top|| File under:


Government
Sec. Of State Kerry Leaves Top Spots Empty
Saving the country's budget, one non-hire at a time. Imagine what he could have done had he been elected the country's chief executive officer in 2004!
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [11 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Accountability and delegation just is not part of the plan.
Posted by: newc || 04/08/2013 0:19 Comments || Top||

#2  His brain?
Posted by: European Conservative || 04/08/2013 4:18 Comments || Top||

#3  Requiring Senate approval? Better to have 'kitchen advisers' off the book than expose the backgrounds of these individuals, yes?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/08/2013 9:11 Comments || Top||

#4  Presumably the folks who actually do the work for the political appointees in the assistant secretarial offices are still carrying the load. Insofar as anyone actually gets anything done in those offices, I dunno.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 04/08/2013 9:48 Comments || Top||

#5  Why is this a problem? Kerry is so smart, he can do it all. He served in Viet Nam, after all.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 04/08/2013 9:52 Comments || Top||


Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 04/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [13 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Birthday Gam Shot

Ana de la Reguera [Chicano][Filmography](age 36)



Diseño Desnudo como un Huevo



Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 04/08/2013 0:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Fred,

I'm getting the following from Chrome

Content from zlubob.org, a known malware distributor, has been inserted into this web page. Visiting this page now is very likely to infect your computer with malware.
Posted by: phil_b || 04/08/2013 1:10 Comments || Top||

#3  You are our third report tonight on that, phil_b, which I'm sure will be helpful in tracking down the problem. Do you get the same message with a different browser?
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/08/2013 2:55 Comments || Top||

#4  TW, nothing in IE. I don't have FF installed.
Posted by: phil_b || 04/08/2013 4:11 Comments || Top||

#5  I also got a warning message that Firefox blocked an attacking site when I opened Rantburg. It didn't block Rantburg itself but another site that tried to load with it. It had a very long gibberish URL
Posted by: European Conservative || 04/08/2013 6:16 Comments || Top||

#6  Clean here: IE9 and Opera.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/08/2013 6:28 Comments || Top||

#7  FF here, no message.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 04/08/2013 6:43 Comments || Top||

#8  Check out Adknowledge, there's a tracking cookie of them on the Rantburg site.
Posted by: European Conservative || 04/08/2013 7:08 Comments || Top||

#9  Fed by

http://cache.blogads.com/127899083/feed.css
Posted by: European Conservative || 04/08/2013 7:08 Comments || Top||

#10  A real pest, btw... known distributor of Malware
Posted by: European Conservative || 04/08/2013 7:09 Comments || Top||

#11  Ghostery has this info

Detected tracker source URLs:
http://cache.blogads.com/127899083/feed.css
http://cache.blogads.com/852137360/feed.css
http://cache.blogads.com/127899083/feed.js
http://cache.blogads.com/852137360/feed.js
Posted by: European Conservative || 04/08/2013 7:18 Comments || Top||

#12  I got the same from Chrome, phil_b. A hour later it was Ok.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/08/2013 7:49 Comments || Top||

#13  The Malware may just be fed by a certain ad that doesn't recur too often.
Posted by: European Conservative || 04/08/2013 7:51 Comments || Top||

#14  Got the same message last night but not now. But I did get an infection earlier and had to run MacKeeper to erase it out.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 04/08/2013 9:23 Comments || Top||

#15  Drapes, why do they hate us?
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 04/08/2013 9:34 Comments || Top||

#16  Actually in islamist sites you can find photos of "naked like eggs" women except for the burka, the under-burka, the under-under-burka, the under-under-under burka, the ....
Posted by: JFM || 04/08/2013 10:05 Comments || Top||

#17  What ever it was it lock my computer up as well.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 04/08/2013 12:00 Comments || Top||

#18  49 Pan: drapes are tricky that way...
Posted by: Steve White || 04/08/2013 12:04 Comments || Top||

#19  I got that last night too in Chrome, but it is okay today. More menacing, and probably unrelated, is that Paypal locked my account recently saying that someone had logged in from Iran. Anyone had that happen before? I generally use the same computer/browser for Rantburg and Paypal. Not saying there is a link, just wondering what other hacks are out there we should be careful about.
Posted by: Beau || 04/08/2013 13:31 Comments || Top||

#20  Beau - did they say someone had - or had *attempted* to login from Iran?

Paypal uses email addresses as 'id' so it's somewhat easy for someone to attempt to login as you (since you give your optional email to Rantburg comments).

Best to either not give your email address or give a different address than what you use for Paypal.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 04/08/2013 14:23 Comments || Top||

#21  test
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 04/08/2013 15:47 Comments || Top||

#22  It was blue screen of death time for me too - I couldn't restart Windows and had to do a fresh re-install. Jason
Posted by: Secret Master || 04/08/2013 16:37 Comments || Top||

#23  Got a blocked attack warning from Norton yesterday as I opened R'burg. Can't copy cleanly from Norton but here's what it said:

Fake APP attack: Fake AV Redirect 29
Port 4474



Attacking URL: Category: Intrusion Prevention
Date & Time,Risk,Activity,Status,Recommended Action,IPS Alert Name,Default Action,Action Taken,Attacking Computer,Attacker URL,Destination Address,Source Address,Traffic Description
2013-04-06 9:12:04,High,An intrusion attempt by 66.75.81.217 was blocked.,Blocked,No Action Required,Fake App Attack: Fake AV Redirect 29,No Action Required,No Action Required,"66.75.81.217, 4474","www3.s4nb2qyk6mrqdp21-8.lflink.com/?dobswgj27=iOTL17SYmmJrq1ra1W+erZGq4d6unaFmZmVwm5+XpKeL&f1342b1=01%01%02%02%03%02%04%00%09","188.116.34.244, 80",66.75.81.217,"TCP, Port 4474"
Network traffic from www3.s4nb2qyk6mrqdp21-8.lflink.com/?dobswgj27=iOTL17SYmmJrq1ra1W+erZGq4d6unaFmZmVwm5+XpKeL&f1342b1=01%01%02%02%03%02%04%00%09 matches the signature of a known attack. The attack was resulted from DEVICEHARDDISKVOLUME2PROGRAM FILESINTERNET EXPLORERIEXPLORE.EXE. To stop being notified for this type of traffic, in the Actions panel, click Stop Notifying Me.


The 188 URL is the attacker, the 66. was the target


Posted by: Mercutio || 04/08/2013 17:40 Comments || Top||

#24  BTW___ running IE 8 on XP.
Posted by: Mercutio || 04/08/2013 17:41 Comments || Top||

#25  I got the "Fake APP" attack notice from Norton too, when I opened Rantburg for the past couple of days, including just now.

IE 8.
Posted by: Barbara || 04/08/2013 19:19 Comments || Top||

#26  hi - it does not happen every time but i'm receiving

Infection Details
URL: http://www1.u6a001l18pkriv13q.lflink.com...
Process: C:Program FilesMozilla Firefox irefox...
Infection: URL:Mal

malware probably from an ad site

on firefox with adblocker and ghostery +
Posted by: linker || 04/08/2013 20:20 Comments || Top||

#27  to quote our Sage Joe. Running FF (up-to-date) got nuthin
Posted by: Frank G || 04/08/2013 20:22 Comments || Top||

#28  oh - that was logged with avast
Posted by: linker || 04/08/2013 20:25 Comments || Top||

#29  whenever you go to

http://www1.u6a001l18pkriv13q.lflink.com

you will get a malware notice
Posted by: linker || 04/08/2013 20:27 Comments || Top||

#30  All,

Sorry I didn't reply to the Idaho comments yesterday but got the same pesky malware note on my Macbook.

We're off to the Boise Area. As I work in IT (have for 30 yrs) will look to partly retire/ partly work and say adios to Kali...certainly not to the 'Burg however...truly a beacon of truth and light amidst the Coastal Aristocrats and other Obama fellow travelers.
Posted by: Warthog || 04/08/2013 21:12 Comments || Top||

#31  Geh mit Gott Warthog. :-)
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/08/2013 22:38 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
33[untagged]
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2Taliban
1Govt of Syria
1al-Qaeda in North Africa
1TTP
1Islamic Jihad
1Thai Insurgency
1Lashkar-e-Islami
1al-Shabaab
1Moro Islamic Liberation Front
1Govt of Iraq
1Govt of Pakistan
1Salafists

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On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2013-04-08
  Nigeria's MEND Says It Killed 15 Security Personnel in Fight
Sun 2013-04-07
  Bangla: AL man beaten and hacked to death at madrasa
Sat 2013-04-06
  Egypt's Azhar, Mursi supporters clash near Muslim Brotherhood HQ
Fri 2013-04-05
  Syrian regime troops appeal for immediate aid in Al-Raqqa
Thu 2013-04-04
  Syrian jets 'attack' Lebanese town
Wed 2013-04-03
  N. Korea approves nuclear strike on US
Tue 2013-04-02
  Dutch Hold 4, Search for Alleged Sarin Nerve Agent
Mon 2013-04-01
  Al Nusra Front chieftain killed in Syria
Sun 2013-03-31
  North Korea Declares 'State of War' with Seoul
Sat 2013-03-30
  Hundreds rally against Egypt's prosecutor general
Fri 2013-03-29
  52 Taliban killed in one day in Afghanistan
Thu 2013-03-28
  Sectarian clashes in central Nigeria kill 23: Military
Wed 2013-03-27
  Bangla: 12 vehicles torched, Train compartment set ablaze, police station bombed
Tue 2013-03-26
  Egypt: ‘Morality Police’ Thrashed for Whipping Woman
Mon 2013-03-25
  Riad al-Asaad, Syrian rebel commander, loses leg in bomb attack

Better than the average link...



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