I know y'all are just as surprised as I am.
Chad Henderson is the media's poster boy for Obamacare. Reporters struggled this week to find individuals who said they had been able to enroll in one of the law's 36 federally run health-insurance exchanges.
That changed yesterday, when they found Henderson, a 21-year-old student and part-time child-care worker who lives in Georgia and says that he successfully enrolled himself and his father Bill in insurance plans via the online exchange administered at healthcare.gov.
But in an exclusive phone interview this morning with Reason, Chad's father Bill contradicted virtually every major detail of the story the media can't get enough of. What's more, some of the details that Chad has released are also at odds with published rate schedules and how Obamacare officials say the enrollment system works. Much more at the link. Ace has so much more.
Posted by: Barbara ||
10/04/2013
15:51 ||
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#1
Mods - Oops; forgot to highlight the last line.
Also, looked for a "pants on fire" graphic, but apparently we don't have one.
Posted by: Barbara ||
10/04/2013 15:58
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Let us applaud sheer genius in those United States. With concealed but effective bipartisan consensus, the President & Congressmen have succeeded in the ultimate patriotic act: shutting down most of their counter-productive Government. True, there are messy bits in the arrangement. Obamacare has not been completely annihilated, & there is some confusion over national parks. But the attention to detail is otherwise superb. For instance, an arrangement was found to continue paying the military. This is wise, because unpaid soldiers can be trouble; as Harry Truman used to say, Read your history. And you may need them to discourage zeal in those less well armed.
It is not really a shutdown, but a slim-down, according to the cooler heads. Essential services, including the goons who mind the borders, are left in place. Theres probably room for additional savings in Homeland Security & the like. But in broad outline it would seem the U.S. Government has been downsized to what it should have been all along, in a single brilliant stroke.
An Egyptian army vehicle fired live rounds in the direction of Muslim Brotherhood supporters who had been pushed away from Cairo's Tahrir Square by security forces on Friday, a Reuters witness said.
Onlookers threw rocks at the protesters, backers of the Brotherhood's deposed president Mohamed Morsi, and protesters threw them back. Riot police had earlier fired tear gas to push back the pro-Morsi march.
Like the hundreds of World War II veterans who came to National Mall to pay their respects this week, a group of Vietnam veterans found a barricade blocking the way to their memorial Friday. News4's Mark Segraves said two U.S. Park Service Rangers manning the gate asked that the group respect the government's shutdown but moved aside.
Segraves described the exchange as pleasant and respectful.
The veterans then moved the barricade and walked down to the wall to pay their respects. But a flood of tourists followed even though the memorial is closed to the general public.
U.S. Park Police arrive to the scene, asked everyone to leave and put the barricade back into place. A flood of tourists followed - largely also to pay their respects; that was the case when I was there with a class of fifth graders some years ago (Is ANYBODY smarter than a fifth grader anymore?) I am most interested to see if this flood of tourists left a mess or grafitti or chipped off souvenirs or what. My bet is no: people who visit do so because of respect, and the rare few who do not will still face the condemnation of the rest - like was the case across society a couple of generations ago, but survives only in a few niches today.
#2
Sent a woman to serve on the picture front. She has more balls than the Administration is what I gather from this. That being said, if she wasn't inwardly ashamed we have real problems.
#3
Apparently the barry-cades blocking the WWII memorial this morning have been wired together. If I were in DC today, I'd be out there with a pair of wire cutters.
Time to resist.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/04/2013 12:50
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#4
So now Obama has sent out the village idiot to say something stupid and divert the negative attention away from himself. Joe, your a fool and being used as one.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
10/04/2013 13:12
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#5
Hell, if I had an address I'd overnight a box of wire cutters today.
#8
Closing off a park that costs no money to run and shutting down government websites that cost no money to run and trying to close off parks paid for by others. And then calling the republicans childish brats. Wow, the chutzbah is stunning.
A recent Bloomberg survey found that 40 percent blame the GOP for what's wrong in Washington, while 38 percent blame the president and congressional Democrats. Back in February, Obama had a nine-point edge over Republicans and independents were evenly divided over who was responsible. Now, 42 percent of independents fault with Obama and his allies in Congress, while 34 percent blame Republicans on Capitol Hill.
The latest CNN poll found a similar trend, with the percentage who blame congressional Republicans for a government shutdown down five points and the percent who blame Obama up three points.
#1
Obama's former deputy press secretary, Bill Burton, said it's impossible to reach compromises with tea-party conservatives seeking control of the Republican Party. "There's a false idea that if the president spent more time playing golf with Boehner or having cocktails with Cruz that all this animosity would be papered over," Burton said. "There have been no willing partners."
Spoken like a true slimeball. You really believe 'compromise' is the art of golf and cocktails? Certainly there have been no willing partners - your "leader" refuses to negotiate. Even if Champ could parrot the dictionary definition, he has not a clue what it means, let alone how to do it.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/04/2013 12:11
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#2
An ad with Barack saying he will negotiate with Iran and then a second clip how he won't negotiate with Republicans would seem to be the ticket. Put it on the web, and on a few popular lefty shows.
I heard most of this on the radio this morning. WTOP is "the most listened-to station". At their website, it is one of several questions answered by "The Answer Desk" Is it really necessary to close monuments memorials on the National Mall during the shutdown?
A partner [Mahoney] with a Washington law firm focused on the federal employment sector, says the barricades on the mall send a clear message that the government is shut down. The "clear message" part was not included in the radio spot.
"It is somewhat political, I mean obviously the mall is a very publicly visible area," Mahoney says.
The park service says the monuments and memorials are closed because of staffing reductions. But Mahoney suggests some security is available.
"The park rangers are furloughed, currently, the park police are not," Mahoney says.
Some congressional Republicans complain that while the high profile spots are closed, including the Lincoln, Jefferson and Martin Luther King Jr. memorials, other park property has remained open including Constitutional Gardens and the Japanese American Memorial.
Some of the closed monuments "are open spaces on an average given day," Mahoney says, and "whether they actually need to be closed is a fair question." "A fair question." On the radio, I almost took the item to be approaching being somewhat, slightly critical of the government's approach to inflicting maximum pain.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/04/2013
06:26 ||
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#1
Obvious solution: rename it the Barack Hussein Obama National Mall.
Posted by: Matt ||
10/04/2013 7:50
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Why Is the National Mall Closed?
Cause we can't call a king a king, yet? It would be an admission that the republic is long dead and that we've been running the gauntlet of oligarchs who play the theater to the masses to keep the servile in line. You've built a imperial bureaucracy and given it grand and sweeping powers not grasping that in the end all power corrupts. Too many in the bureaucracy now fully believe, as they act, you exist to serve the state.
#3
There is no NEED to close open-air features due to staff furloughs; they are even admitting it is being done because of 'visibility', which is to say publicity and politics. THAT is an abuse of power and should be illegal.
As far as not having trash pickup etc. - I saw pictures of the Mall after Tea Party rallies (and saw in person other parks after such rallies) and am convinced the need for government trash service only applies to Democrats.
#4
Champ is King! He decides what the zeks will visit.
Champ is redefining the powers [formerly Congressionally mandated powers] of the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. His work on the Judicial has already been completed.
#6
As pointed out by the "Peoples Cube" - Yes, it's true - the official 800 national hotline number listed on the healthcare.gov website to call for assistance is 1-800-318-2596, otherwise known as 1-800-F1U-CKYO. They should have vetted that number better.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Thursday filed a rebellion complaint against Nur Misuari, the founding leader of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), for the deadly standoff following the attack launched by his followers in Zamboanga City in Mindanao on September 9. The PNP alleged that Misuari ordered his followers to attack and seize Zamboanga City Hall.
Aside from rebellion, the PNP has also filed a separate charge of violations of international humanitarian laws against Misuari and 82 of his followers at the Zamboanga City prosecutors office.
Included in the charge sheets were two captured MNLF leaders, identified as Misuari loyalists: commander Emer Misuari, his nephew, and commander Mistah Baladji, a woman.
The three-week standoff tied the city in knots, left more than 100 militants, soldiers, policemen and civilians dead and displaced more than 100,000 civilians now crammed into 56 temporary evacuation centers. More than 10,000 homes were razed and once-populated villages have been reduced to rubble.
Records showed this was the second rebellion complaint filed against Misuari. The first was an attack launched by Misuari loyalists in Sulu and Zamboanga City in 2001 that killed at least 100 people and injured scores of others.
Four soldiers were killed in a bomb explosion in Yala province yesterday as they were traveling in an armoured car. Another three civilians were wounded when their truck fell into the crater left by the blast. The soldiers were on their way to Krong Pinang when the terrorists insurgents detonated the bomb, which blasted the car off the road.
Investigators think the attackers were members of an terrorist insurgent group led by Aba Cheali, who is believed to be active in Krong Pinang and Bannang Sata districts.
Internal Security Operations Command spokesman Col Pramote Prom-in called on civic groups and non-government organizations to denounce the attack. He said the attackers are extremists who pursue their cause without considering the effects the violence has on the innocent.
Meanwhile, a man was gunned down on a road in Pattani's Sai Buri district yesterday. He was identified as Mawee Masae. Mawee had been arrested on a charge of violating the security law in 2003 but was later released.
Witnesses said the victim was standing on the side of a rural road waiting for his friend to pick him up. Two men on a motorcycle approached, and the pillion rider shot him. The assailants then fled. Mawee died at the scene.
#1
I've always wondered what would have happened if:
The First Crusade attaced North Africa and set up a number of crusader kingdoms outside the heart of muslim territory where they had a chance to stay without reinforcements
The English and French avoided the 100 years war and instead helped the Spanish remove the Muslims.
The west avoided the 30 years war and instead took all that Spanish gold and continued the reconquesta across North Africa.
Islam should have been wiped out early on but the West barely paid attention most of the time. Now we've advanced beyond the wipe out stage and basically have to live withthe constant annoyance.
[Bangla Daily Star] WE are a severe critic of this government on many issues. But on the issue of holding war crimes trial we have no hesitation in saying that without the AL in power, and without Sheikh Hasina ...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums.. 's determined leadership, it would have never happened. For this we express our heartfelt gratitude, as we have done in the past, to the AL chief's single minded focus and unwavering resolve to hold the trial and then see it through to the very end.
For those of us who remember the immediate post-Bangabandhu liquidation period, we distinctly recall how the memories of our Liberation War and that of the leaders of those momentous days, especially the role of Bangabandhu and that of Awami League, were either gradually obliterated or made questionable by selective, incomplete, and sometimes fabricated history of the period.
Bangabandhu was the founder of Baksal and Awami League the party that killed democracy were the two oft-repeated narrative of that period. The former's role in leading to the independence struggle -- how he united a divided people, how he forged an ironclad unity behind Bengali nationalism, how he emboldened us all to first demand and then fight for our rights-were swept under the carpet, and only the fact that he formed Baksal (no doubt his biggest blunder) was grilled into the public mind.
All the narratives of the Liberation War were usurped by one sentence, that Maj. Zia declared independence, and hearing his announcement over the radio, people just spontaneously started the armed struggle.
There was no political struggle from 1947 to 1970, there were no movements for provincial autonomy -- six points and eleven points -- there was no anti-martial law movement, there were no anti-Ayub and anti-Yahya movements, there was no Agartala Conspiracy case, there were no student or mass movements. There was just Zia's announcement, and like magic our Liberation War started.
Without going into the nitty-gritty of the trial and its real and imagined shortcomings, the question we need to ask is that why did it need the Awami League and Sheikh Hasina in power to bring it about? There is not a single Bangalee--save perhaps the perpetrators themselves--who will deny that genocide did take place on our soil during 1971. In that genocide millions were killed and hundreds and thousands of our women raped and thousands of our villages burnt. Even today one would not find a single family that did not have one or several of its family members killed, either by the Mighty Pak Army or their local collaborators, including the dreaded Al-Badrs, Al-Shams, etc.
When such is the collective memory, then why is that it is only the AL and Sheikh Hasina who pursue the war crimes trials, and the rest of us, at best, watch like spectators and, at worst, pass sneering remarks about its so-called flawed process and legal lacunae.
Herein lies one of the biggest failures of our politics. It is so blinded by mutual hatred, jealousy, suspicion, and driven by vulgar opportunism, that we are willing to sacrifice everything, including facts relating to the Liberation War atrocities, just to suit our political convenience. We are among a few countries in the post Second World War history, which had the rare good fortune of fighting and creating a free and independent state of our own. In gaining that freedom we had to undergo tremendous sacrifices, immense sufferings, almost endless prison terms of many of our leaders, including, and especially, Sheikh Mujib.
In the final chapter of that struggle we had to face genocide. The state machinery of Pakistain and its formidable and highly trained and equipped armed forces -- armed, by the way, by our tax and jute money -- used their full might to quell our struggle for freedom. The idea was that they would kill everyone who demanded freedom and when sufficient numbers would be dead the rest would become silent.
What made our genocide different was that it was being perpetrated by "our own" army. In almost all other cases of genocide, the actor was an invading army. But in our case the army that we clothed, fed, trained, brought equipment for and housed in ideally located areas of the country, wanted a "pure Pak" people and wanted to eliminate the "impure Bengalis" from amongst them.
The above narrative was just to nudge the memory of those of us Muktijoddhas who seem to have forgotten how our Liberation War narrative was hijacked till Awami League and Sheikh Hasina retrieved it. (With a new fault of their own, that of excluding everybody from the narrative save Bangabandhu.) We hope to address that issue on a separate occasion)
We need to remember the atrocities of 1971 and the brutality perpetrated on our people, in order to fully understand the relevance of the war crimes trials. Yes, we wish we were a bit more efficient in going about it, more tech-savvy, more up to the international standard, etc. But all the shortcomings notwithstanding -- all of which were eminently avoidable -- the fundamental legal, moral and historical foundation of the process remains unshaken.
There is an urgent need for the nation to be united behind the war crimes trial. The present political process that shows a divided polity on the issue is an insult to the millions who laid down their lives so that we can live in freedom. This is not Dire Revenge™, nor retribution, but only justice. There is no way we, as a self-respecting people, can and should forget what happened in 1971. Those who say why hang on to the past, the answer is simple. There are "pasts" whose value is so immense, whose significance in our national ethos so fundamental, and whose energising capacity to drive towards the future is so powerful, that giving it up is like giving up our very dream of building a nation of prosperity, freedom, and above all, DIGNITY.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013
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[Shabelle] a heavy battle between Somali government troops allied with Kenyan troops who are part of the AMISOM contingent and Alshabab fighters occurred at Qoqani district which is located in the lower Juba region of Somalia.
Residents told Shabelle radio that they heard a heavy gunfire and motors which the opponent troops used against each other.
The fighting started when Alshabab fighters attacked a military base manned by the Kenya peacekeeping forces and government soldiers.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013
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#4
So maybe it is true the troops continue to get paid, but if they cannot use the commissaries and exchanges and have to go out in town,, that is going to put a bite into their pay; maybe not as bad as total non pay, but when the spousal unit gets wound up about budget issues, watch the moral-o-meter drop. ( for the record, here at NASWI, the NEX gas price is at least the same as in town, maybe a bit more, but off the island I can find it for 25-30 cents less, so I do not use the NEX.)
#5
Honestly, although there are two pretty lavish commissaries with reach of me - I have hardly used any of them since I retired. First - there is the convenience factor; there are two or three HEB outlets within a 5-10 minute drive from my house. The commissaries are about a 20 minute drive, or more. There is a Sam's Club also about 5 minutes away. Between Sam's and the HEB - the prices are about the same. So, not to heartbroken about the commissaries. Sorry - just not that on.
[An Nahar] Experts overseeing the destruction of Syria's chemical arsenal have begun securing their work sites, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the U.N. said in a statement.
"Joint work with the Syrian authorities has begun on securing the sites where the team will operate," said the statement, which detailed the activities of the team's first day of work on Wednesday.
"In addition, planning continues for one of the team's immediate tasks, disabling Syria's chemical weapons production facilities, which should begin soon."
Later on Thursday, the U.N. said the experts hope to begin on-site inspections and the initial disabling of arms "within the next week."
The joint mission of the U.N. and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said it "has made encouraging initial progress" adding that documents handed over by Damascus on Wednesday "look promising."
"The team hopes to begin on-site inspections and the initial disabling of equipment within the next week, but this depends on the outcome of the technical groups established with the participation of Syrian experts," they said in a statement.
The two organizations, however, warned that "further analysis, particularly of technical diagrams, will be necessary and some more questions remain to be answered."
U.N. front man Martin Nesirky declined to provide further details to journalists, saying: "The technical experts need to study everything they are given very closely."
"There is clearly a good cooperation with the Syrian authorities at the expert level to try to understand the material provided to the advance team from the U.N. and OPCW," Nesirky added.
The OPCW team of 19 disarmament experts arrived in Damascus on Tuesday.
They are overseeing the implementation of a U.N. resolution which orders Syria's chemical arsenal destroyed.
Resolution 2118 was passed after gas attacks on the outskirts of Damascus killed hundreds of people on August 21, an atrocity that prompted the United States to threaten military strikes on Syria.
The OPCW team faces a daunting task, as Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... 's regime is understood to have more than 1,000 tonnes of the nerve agent sarin, mustard gas and other banned chemical weapons.
On Wednesday, the team also considered "the health and environmental hazards which they may have to confront", said the joint statement.
"Meanwhile, ...back at the barn, Bossy had come up with a new idea, one that didn't involve kerosene... discussions on the size of Syria's stockpiles are also under way, as well as long-term planning, so that deadlines unanimously imposed by the executive council of the OPCW and the U.N. Security Council are met," it added.
Under Resolution 2118, Syria's chemical arsenal should be destroyed by mid-2014.
"In their discussions with the authorities, the OPCW-U.N. team was keen to stress that the onus was on the Syrian government to meet the verification and destruction deadlines," said the statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013
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If you asked the US armed forces to secure a building,
the Army and Marines would go in, weapons blazing, ensuring it is 100% safe;
the Navy would lock it up and go home,
[BBC.CO.UK] All staff and family members have been evacuated from the Russian embassy in Libya after gunnies attacked the compound in the capital, Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... The foreign ministry in Moscow announced that the evacuees had arrived in neighbouring Tunisia, from where they planned to fly back to Russia.
It suggested the incident was a Dire Revenge attack after the alleged killing of a Libyan by a Russian citizen.
Two Libyans were reportedly also killed during the assault on the embassy.
The Russian foreign ministry said its diplomats in Tunis would maintain ties with Libya.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013
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A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted 13 members of the Internet hacking group Anonymous for allegedly carrying out cyber-attacks worldwide, including targets that refused to process payments for WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy website founded by Julian Assange.
The U.S.-based members of Anonymous are accused of zeroing in on the computers of governments, trade associations, law firms, financial institutions and other institutions that oppose the philosophy of Anonymous to make all information free for everyone, regardless of copyright laws or national security considerations.
The indictment filed in federal court in Alexandria, Va., says that from September 2010 to January 2011, Anonymous members participated in a campaign they called Operation Payback, using software known as the Low Orbit Ion Cannon to flood websites with huge amounts of Internet traffic to shut them down.
In December 2010, the conspirators discussed possible targets related to WikiLeaks, which received more than 700,000 documents and some battlefield video from Army Pvt. Chelsea Manning, the largest-volume leak of classified material in U.S. history.
[Dawn] Following the burial of the four victims murdered on Tuesday, the surviving son of the dear departed former brigadier was picked up for questioning, it has been learnt.
The funeral prayers were offered at an Imambargah in Morgah on Tuesday night.
Brigadier (retired) Dr Sikandar Ali Malik 62, his wife, Shahida Malik, 55, daughters -- Zainab, 23, and Fatima, 20 -- were found murdered in their house on the premises of Al-Shifa Eye Trust Hospital.
Initial investigation showed that traces of tranquillisers were found from the contents taken from the stomach of the three murdered women.
A police source close to the investigation confirmed that Captain Dr Haider Abbas, the son of Brigadier (retired) Dr Sikandar Ali Malik, was the focus of military investigation and had been picked up at around midnight and taken to some holy man's guesthouse an undisclosed location for interrogation.
When asked why Dr Haider Abbas was being interrogated by the military authorities and whether there was any evidence that pointed to his involvement in the murders, the source said he had been making conflicting statements.
"Traces of tranquillisers were found from the contents collected from the stomach of Dr Haider's mother, and two sisters," the source said, adding that the police already believed that the victims were given tranquilisers before being rubbed out.
"No traces of tranquillisers were found from Brigadier (retired) Dr Sikandar Ali Malik's stomach," he said.
However, today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... a detailed report from the chemical examiner's laboratory is still awaited.
"Though the chemical examiner's report is needed to prove the cause of death during trial, the initial report can also be used," a senior doctor at a government hospital said.
After the military intelligence has interrogated him, the police would carry out their own investigation.
A four-member team led by Superintendent of Police Mohammad Haroon Joya had been formed to investigate the murders.
To a question whether the police had found any sectarian link to the murders, SP Joya denied the theory, saying that no banned outfit was involved in the killing.
"If it were a sectarian case, the killers could have targeted the family outside the house. No such sectarian incident has ever taken place in the past," SP Joya said.
The police will be retrieving information from mobile phones of all family members, and will send finger prints, collected from the scene of the crime, for forensic analysis.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013
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[Dawn] Former Taliban second-in-command Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, held in Pakistain, has been taken to a safe house in the violence-plagued city of 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. near the Afghan border, moving a step closer to starting peace talks with the Afghan Taliban, security sources said on Thursday.
Afghanistan and the United States believe Baradar holds the key to stopping the war in Afghanistan because he is influential enough to persuade his former comrades to stop fighting.
But his movements have been shrouded in secrecy since Pakistain announced his release on Sept 20. Baradar remains effectively under house arrest in Pakistain, an arrangement which could undermine his role as a peacemaker.
"Baradar was moved from one safe house in 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... to another, and has now been moved to Peshawar," one senior Pak defence official told Rooters.
"He has been in regular touch with his colleagues and the dialogue is on course."
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to discuss Baradar's movements with journalists, refused to give any further details.
It was unclear who Baradar would meet and where, or whether he would cross into Afghanistan to meet the Taliban or stay in Peshawar.
Another intelligence official confirmed separately that Baradar was in Peshawar, a volatile city hit by frequent attacks by the Pak Taliban, but gave no further details.
Baradar was once a close friend of the reclusive, one-eyed Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, who gave him his nom de guerre, "Baradar" or "brother". He still enjoys much respect among Taliban fighters.
Baradar also belongs to the same tribe as Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid 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 has once reached out to the Kabul government with a peace proposal.
Some are sceptical about his role as a peacemaker, with critics saying his years in detention have eroded his sway over the insurgency. There are also doubts whether real decision-makers such as Mullah Omar ... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality in a country already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality... would agree to talk to him.
Many also believe war-hardened forces of Evil are likely to be suspicious of a man seen as close to Pak authorities.
Afghanistan, which suspects its neighbour of trying to influence its internal affairs, wants Baradar to be handed over and believes he cannot be considered released as long as he is on Pak soil.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013
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[An Nahar] The struggle for Syria's second city Aleppo has been locked in stalemate for months, fueling the frustration of rebels who see no way out but to doggedly battle on.
"We take a building and then lose it two or three days later, only to take it back the following week," said Abu Ahmed, whose platoon operates in the Salaheddin and Saif al-Dawla districts of the devastated city that was once Syria's commercial capital.
"There is no progress. We are not winning the war," the 42-year-old fighter grumbled as he spoke to an Agence La Belle France Presse news hound who passed the night with the platoon on the front line.
"Take this street, for example. We took it in just an hour a year ago, and since then we haven't advanced one meter (yard)."
The conflict in Syria has cost more than 115,000 lives since it erupted in March 2011 with peaceful protests that became a civil war after a harsh regime crackdown on dissent.
But the fighting came late to Aleppo.
Rebels seized parts of the northern city in July 2012 and Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Terror of Aleppo ... 's troops have been trying ever since to regain full control of it.
Morale is particularly low this night. One of the rebels has been seriously maimed by a sniper who shot him in the chest.
Resting his AK-47 assault rifle against the wall and taking off his combat jacket, one of Abu Ahmed's men said bluntly: "This war is wearing us down.
"The food is bad, and there's not enough of it. We can only wash a couple of times a week because we don't always have water, and the electricity comes and goes."
But it is not just everyday comforts that are lacking, but the means to wage a proper war, said Abu Ahmed, as he opens a plastic bag and empties its contents on the floor.
Two men collect the bullets up and snap them into magazines, which they shove in their jackets.
"We have to count every bullet," Abu Ahmed said.
The daily tedium of battle
"We don't have the luxury of wasting ammunition... If the army attacked now in force, we would only have enough to pull back without losing too many men."
The daily tedium of the battle is relentless.
The men move through the night's shadows, ghost-like shells of buildings on either side. Broken glass crunches under their boots.
Pop! A far-off sniper takes a shot at them, but no one is hit.
They run into a deserted building and up to the fourth floor.
There, through holes in the wall, they aim their Kalashnikovs into total darkness. Waiting for a flicker of light, a sound, a moving shadow.
And then, they make out a small group of men edging stealthily along the street.
They open fire, emptying their magazines into the darkness.
"And that's the way it is, night after night," said one of the fighters, Omar, his voice tinged with bitterness.
"The commanders keep telling us to wait, that they are preparing a plan to take Salaheddin, but all we do is fire through holes in the wall.
"I don't know what they're waiting for. We can't spend five or 10 years peering through holes in the wall and waiting for Allah to win the war for us."
Despite being disillusioned, the rebels see no alternative to carrying on the fight.
"We couldn't surrender because they would show us no mercy, and a political solution wouldn't change anything," Abu Ahmed said.
"No, the only solution must be for Assad to leave."
Hussein, a 23-year-old former student of Arab philology at the University of Aleppo, tries to explain why.
"Assad is discredited in the eyes of the people. How could we do a deal with someone who has massacred his people and now wants to negotiate to stay in power as if nothing had happened?"
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013
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[Shabelle] two Somali military soldiers were today executed after a court session hearing was held in Mogadishu.
According to the judge, enough evidence has been gathered confirming that 33 year old Yahye Sheikh Abdullahi Ahmed and 37 year old Hussein Ali Ahmed shot amd killed to government soldiers in Mogadishu's Wardigle suburbs.
The killing occurred when the 2 accused soldiers confronted the two deceased soldiers in unknown circumstances in last month's incident.
"The executions or penalties will be take place in the coming days. We will shot them to death and all we waited is for the court ruling" said Mr Keyse who is the front man and lawyer at the military court.
This is not the first time search rulings are being made by Somalia's military court in efforts to discipline the indiscipline government troops.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013
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The UN's climate panel (IPCC) released its latest warning about "catastrophic" climate change on Sept. 27, garnering the frantic attention of all three broadcast networks that night. CBS even aired a claim about temperatures rising "more than 200 degrees." So, I can boil an egg in the air? No more high heating bills?
Predictably, the evening news shows on ABC, CBS and NBC Sept. 27 repeated the IPCC's dire warnings without including any skeptics and without mentioning past failures such as their inability to accurately predict warming or sea level rise. Wild claims made by reporters who know absolutely nothing about anything. Good news is that no one under 55 watches network news...
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
10/04/2013
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#1
More evidencia that our future OWG-NWO consensus on GWCC is that there is no such consensus.
OTOH iff Perts are going to repeatedly claim that many or most of our historical Climate Models are wrong, IMO by extension our SOLAR MODELS may be wrong as well - and iff our Solar MOdels are wrong, ditto as per our EARTH-SPECIFIC GEOLOGIC OR GEOPHYSICAL MODELS???
I thought you were using "MSN" as shorthand for "PMSNBC," and wondered how you could stand it, even for a short while. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara ||
10/04/2013 10:26
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#5
I think even Mrs. Uluque has come to the conclusion that it's better if I don't watch Diane Sawyer. Maybe I finally convinced her that it isn't really the news that Sawyer is presenting.
[ZeroHedge] Money Shot: "So let's get this straight: 800,000 non-essential workers are furloughed, but the CIA, in its infinite wisdom, is now, when the government is shut down, doubling down on spending to make sure Al-Qaeda insurgents have even more lethal training (for that inevitable moment when they turn on their sponsor as they tend to do), and even better weapons?" ...btw, now that the urgent situation in Syria has been papered over solved by Obama/Kerry, has the USN been re-deployed elsewhere...?
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] The successor of the slain Moslemholy man Sheikh Aboud Rogo, Sheikh Ibrahim Rogo was bumped off with 3 others Thursday night by unknown assailants.
Mr Rogo with four others were heading home from Musa mosque where he had just finished preaching when their vehicle was sprayed with bullets killing four of the five occupants about half a kilometer from Bamburi police post.
The others in the vehicle were Gadaffi Mohammed who is said to be a carpenter, Issa Abdalla whose sister is married to Gadaffi was the driver of the car, Omar Abu Rumeisa and Salim Aboud who survived the attack by playing dead.
Salim Aboud said they were heading home in a Toyota Fun Cargo when people on foot started shooting at their car until the car veered off the road.
"We have finished them," Mr Salim Aboud heard them say as he pretended to be dead. The assailant are said to have sped-off in a Mark X.
Other muslim leaders including Sheikh Abubakar Sheriff alias Makaburi who arrived at the scene later pointed accusing fingers at the Anti Terrorism Police Unit.
"The ATPU were here, why have they run way? What are we going to do next and why are they killing us? We have not killed any one but the police are killing innocent Moslems," said Mr Makaburi.
"This actions are being led by Americans and Israelis, Sheikh Ibrahim was not at Westgate during the attack. Western governments do not want Moslems to talk about Jihad. It is part and parcel of Islam, kill us all," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013
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#1
...talk about Jihad. It is part and parcel of Islam, kill us all
OK
Posted by: Caesar the Rasher of Bacon9632 ||
10/04/2013 1:10
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[Shabelle] Somalia's al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... Islamists on Wednesday threatened to step up Death Eater attacks against Kenya, after Nairobi refused to pull its troops out of Somalia.
The al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab grabbed credit for last week's attack on Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall, in which at least 67 people died, with 39 more listed as missing by the Red Thingy.
"We will strike Kenyans where it hurts the most, turn their cities into graveyards and rivers of blood will flow in Nairobi," al-Shabaab said in a statement.
"The Kenyan government's decision to keep its invading force in Somalia is an indication that they haven't yet learnt any valuable lessons from the Westgate attacks," the Death Eaters added, warning that Kenya was "inviting unprecedented levels of insecurity, bloodshed and destruction".
Kenya invaded southern Somalia to attack al-Shabaab bases two years ago, and later joined the 17 700-strong AU force deployed in the country.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday said troops had been sent to Somalia to restore order to their anarchic neighbour, and they would not leave until the job was done.
"We will not be intimated, we will not be cowed," Kenyatta said. "We will stay there until they bring order to their nation."
In turn, al-Shabaab said it was "fully determined to intensify attacks inside Kenya until the last KDF (Kenya Defence Force) boots exit Somali soil", saying it had the "right to defend our land and our people from enemy aggression". --
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013
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#1
is the term "rivers of blood" a Brand name in Islam? You hear it quite often among the more pious of the Religion of Peace .
[Al Ahram] Two bombs exploded on Thursday at the Kerdasa gas unit outside Cairo, Al-Ahram's Arabic website reported.
Once an Islamist stronghold, Kerdasa (15km from Cairo) was raided by security forces on 19 September. The district's police station had been abandoned after it was hit with rocket propelled grenades and gunfire following the violent dispersal of two Islamists sit-ins in Cairo on 14 August.
On Thursday, preliminary investigations revealed that three of the gas agency's guards were tied up by six assailants, who then left three bombs in the agency that supplies a power station and an industrial zone, Al-Ahram reported.
One bomb exploded in a control room, partially burning it. The two other bombs were left near a gas pipeline. The first one exploded, damaging part of the pipeline without causing a gas leak. The second one was later defused, Al-Ahram said.
Earlier Thursday, bomb disposal experts defused a hand-made grenade found near a hotel in the Cairo neighborhood of Mohandessin, Al-Ahram also reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013
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Top|| File under: Arab Spring
For a map, click here. For a map of Nuevo Leon, click here. For a map of Monterrey, click here
Employees of El Norte news daily in Nuevo Leon state were threatened with "consequences" if the newspaper failed to pay MEX $3,000 a month in protection money, according to Mexican news accounts.
A Thursday news article featured in AnimalPolitico.com said that a truck driven by a distributor carrying 800 copies of the newspaper was stopped Tuesday by armed suspects who apparently hit the driver, pointed weapons and left the message of the demand.
El Norte, as with many newspapers in northeastern Mexico, is under near constant threat of harm from organized crime, from threats of harm if information is published to extortion, the most pervasive crime in Mexico.
Drug war news in Tamaulipas is at a premium due to threats from organized crime, especially in Nuevo Laredo, the home of Los Zetas drug cartel.
According to the AnimalPolico.com article, El Norte offices were attacked three times last July, two of them on July 10th including attacks using hand grenades in their La Silla and Linda Vista offices in Monterrey. Almost three weeks later, the Sierra Madre office was firebombed.
Newspapers are not the only victims of organized crime. Offices of Televisa and other television stations have been attacked in the past in Monterrey as well as in Tamaulipas' border cities.
The threat issued to El Norte specifically demanded payment of protection money to continue distributing newspapers in northern Monterrey.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and Borderlandbeat.com. His latest work of non-fiction, the Wounded Eagle, Volume 2, can be found at Smashwords and Amazon.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com
#1
Employees of El Norte Monterey Hearld news daily in Nuevo Leon state California were threatened with "consequences" if the newspaper failed to pay MEX $3,000 a month in protection campaign contribution money, according to Mexican news accounts.
A little editing and somehow has the same feel. What, no Obamacare waiver? Coming to a Peoples Democratic Republic near you.
[Al Ahram] An Egyptian court was taken aback on Thursday after a man tortured at a Cairo protest camp by loyalists of deposed president Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... changed his account of the incident.
Ahmed Hassan Mohsen, a garage attendant, was badly tortured and had his finger amputated in the vicinity of a pro-Morsi sit-in in northeast Cairo in July. Mohsen's assailants then drove him to a desert region and threw him on a freeway.
Earlier, Mohsen told Sherlocks that he was tortured by pro-Moslem Brüderbund protesters at the Rabaa Al-Adawiya sit-in after they accused him and a friend of stealing a cell phone.
In the Thursday hearing, Mohsen backed down on his statement. He instead claimed that the defendants came to his rescue and that the accusations were trumped up by a police officer, according to judicial sources.
Mohsen said a police officer forced him to accuse the defendants of torture after the policeman failed to arrest them. He did not specify, however, who the assailants were.
Several allegations of torture of anti-Brotherhood protesters and coppers were reported during the two week long pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo and Giza, charges denied by Islamists. The interior ministry also stated that the bodies of torture victims were found at the sites.
Amnesia Amnesty International issued a report in August containing several testimonies from anti-Morsi protesters, who alleged they had been captured, beaten, subjected to electric shocks and stabbed by supporters of the deposed president.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013
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[An Nahar] The day after the U.S. government ran out of money, Maria Njoku called her landlord to let him know she would be late with the rent.
Like hundreds of thousands of civil servants, she is worried about how she will make ends meet after being placed on indefinite unpaid leave as a result of this week's government shutdown.
"It's a huge financial burden," said the 27-year-old, who works at the Pentagon as an information assistant.
Her landlord told her late fees will be imposed if she fails to make the next rent payment by October 11.
But a deeply divided Congress appears far away from any deal to fund government operations for the new fiscal year, leaving Njoku and other government workers in a financial bind.
Watching the news for any glimmer of hope, Njoku is counting on an end to the deadlock in the next few days.
This would allow her to receive a paycheck and cover her $1,300 monthly rent for her apartment in Greenbelt, Maryland.
And if the shutdown drags on? "I have to find something for myself, either get a second job, find something on the weekends to pay bills -- if it comes to that point. I'm hoping it doesn't."
Njoku said moving back in with either of her divorced parents is not a practical option, as both of them have been furloughed from their jobs at the Internal Revenue Service.
Even before the shutdown, morale was deteriorating among the Pentagon's civilian workers.
Budget cuts have forced more than half of them to take six days of unpaid leave earlier this year, with another round likely on the horizon.
"Right now, I'm just pretty much disgusted," Njoku said of Washington's politics.
In the meantime, she was in an anxious limbo, reluctant to go out to see friends with the prospect of no paycheck. "It's hard to make plans. You don't want to spend money."
Some of the 800,000 government workers on furlough staged a protest Wednesday in front of the Smithsonian Natural History museum to vent their frustration.
They wore green T-shirts with the words, "I'd Rather Be Working for You," as tourists walked by the museum -- which is closed under the shutdown.
"I'm very worried about it," said Cheryl Claus, an employee at the Agriculture Department who took part in the demonstration.
"I have financial obligations that I need to meet and there's no end in sight to this shutdown and we don't know when we'll be paid again," Claus said. "It's very frightening, it's very frightening."
She and other civil servants said they feel they are being singled out for punishment.
"We're very upset that Congress is not doing its job, not passing the budget, and is still getting paid and we're not. So we feel frankly quite victimized by it."
Some workers with no financial cushion had already had to go to friends, family or banks to borrow money.
As bars in Washington offered "shutdown specials," Erik Brine relied on black humor to get through the ordeal.
Brine holds three jobs with the government, as a civilian employee with the Air Force, a part-time role as a reservist for the defense secretary's office and as an aide to a U.S. senator under a fellowship.
He spent the first day of the shutdown sorting out furlough paper work for all three of his jobs.
"It took me the better of the day to get canned three times," said Brine, a retired C-17 pilot who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013
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#1
Bet they are demoncrats....
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/04/2013 0:29
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#2
I have that femto-violin around here somewhere...
#6
Better get use to it as we don't have the trillions to pay back for the money borrowed. This is how it's eventually going to end anyway. Make the best of the practice run now.
#7
I love the multi-generational nature of this victimization.
moving back in with either of her divorced parents is not a practical option, as both of them have been furloughed from their jobs at the Internal Revenue Service.
This is as bad (or worse) as the multi-generational welfare hoarde. A distinction without a difference?
#8
"It's hard to make plans. You don't want to spend money."
Workers in the private economy have been in that situation for years and years. Welcome to my world.
At what point can they start collecting unemployment compensation?
#9
More than 10,000 federal employees have filed claims for unemployment insurance in the capital area since the government shut down Tuesday, according to state and local offices.
In Washington, D.C., about 5,000 employees have filed claims in the first two and a half days of the shutdown, according to Lisa Mallory, director of the citys Employee Services Department. More than 300,000 federal employees work in Washington, and while most of them live outside the city limits, the workers must file unemployment claims where they report for duty.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/04/2013 9:41
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She and other civil servants said they feel they are being singled out for punishment.
No darling, you're not being "singled out". You'll know you've been properly "singled out" when you see my signature on your pink slip and last paycheck.
[CHANNELSTV] Three days after the killing of innocent students of the College of Agriculture, Gujba in Yobe state, military authority has confirmed that 15 suspected Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... hard boyz have been nabbed Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! in connection with the killings.
Spokesman of the 3 division special Operation Battalion Damaturu, Captain Eli Lazarus in a statement today in Damaturu the Yobe state capital, stated that several members of the hard boyz group were also killed in a ground and air strikes carried out by officers and men of the command.
"After the attack on the college of Agriculture in Gujba, our men carried out an operation around the Gujba axis and a camp of the snuffies was raided and several members of the terrorist group were killed, while 15 others were arrested" Eli Lazarus said.
Those arrested according to him are currently being investigated, where they will give the force useful information as to how to track down the perpetrators of the heinous act.
He said the military plans to come up with new measures of strategy that will curtail the activities of the snuffies and will continue to strengthen its collaboration with the civil populace so that timely and useful information can always be divulged to it in order for the military to continue to maintain peace in the state and the country as a whole.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013
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[An Nahar] An attempt to smuggle kaboom through sandwiches was thwarted at Roumieh prison, reported LBCI television on Thursday. "Who ordered the TNT, lettuce, and tomato?"
It said that 150 grams of kaboom were discovered in a sandwich that was being delivered to inmate Charbel Shalita, the murderer of Roland Chbeir.
The National News Agency later reported that a members of prison security was delivering the sandwich to the prisoner.
The explosives were discovered on the security guard during a routine security check as he was entering the prison to start his shift.
He confessed that Shalita had requested that he obtain the explosives that can be used to heat water.
The NNA added however that the material, with certain modifications, can be turned into an explosive substance.
According to the prisoners, this was not the first time that kaboom was smuggled into the prison, and to its B block in particular where Fatah al-Islam A Syrian-incubated al-Qaeda work-alike that they think can be turned off if no longer needed to keep the Lebanon pot stirred. inmates are being tossed in the slammer ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... , reported LBCI.
After the discovery in the sandwiches, Shalita was interrogated by state Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr and his cell was searched.
Investigations are underway to determine to whom the explosives were being smuggled to, said LBCI.
The NNA said however that Shalita, under pressure from the Fatah al-Islam inmates, was going to transfer the explosives to them.
Shalita was placed in durance vile Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! in 2012 after confessing to the murder of his friend Roland Chbeir in October of that year.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013
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#1
"Must have been that bean I ate"
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
10/04/2013 21:40
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[Tolo News] A female Afghan politician kidnapped by Talibs was the victim of a plot hatched by her brother, the country's intelligence agency said on Wednesday.
Fariba Ahmadi Kakar, one of 69 female MPs in the 249-seat lower house, was taken at gunpoint in August and held for three weeks before being released, reportedly in exchange for six Taliban prisoners.
The National Directorate of Security (NDS) said that her brother, Noor Ahmad, had been jugged ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... on charges of being a key accomplice behind the kidnapping, which attracted global headlines.
"The NDS investigation concluded that two people including Noor Ahmad, brother of MP Kakar, had plotted the kidnapping with a Taliban capo," the spy agency said in a statement.
It also released a video of Kakar's brother making a tearful confession.
"Money and some family issues may have been the motive," NDS front man General Farid, who only uses one name, told AFP.
Kakar was returning to Kabul from her constituency in Kandahar when she was taken hostage at gunpoint along with her three children, who were released soon after being kidnapped.
"I am even braver than before," she said in an interview after her release. ?I will defend Afghanistan, especially the women, until the last drop of my blood."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013
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[WORLDBULLETIN.NET] Fighter jets have bombed camps belonging to Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... in northeast Nigeria ... a particularly crimson stretch of Islam's bloody border... in response to a massacre of students at an agricultural college, an army front man said on Thursday.
Boko Haram is suspected of carrying out the night-time raid on a college in Yobe state on Sunday, in which students were dragged out of their beds and shot. Forty-one were killed.
Boko Haram, which has not grabbed credit for the attack, is fighting to impose an Islamic state in religiously-mixed Nigeria. It has become the biggest security threat to a country that is Africa's second largest economy and top oil exporter.
"We used jet fighters to drop bombs on terrorist camps, where many of the faceless myrmidons were killed," said Captain Eli Lazarus, military front man in Yobe state.
He said the strikes were carried out on Monday near Majari village on the border between Yobe and Borno, the two states worst hit by Boko Haram's four-year-old insurgency.
Soldiers have incarcerated Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! 15 people suspected of involvement in the college attack and patrols along main roads in Borno and Yobe have been reinforced, Lazarus said.
Nigeria's army has in the past exaggerated its capabilities and successes and played down casualties among soldiers and civilians, security and diplomatic sources say.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013
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[An Nahar] Belgium extradited a Tunisian former professional footballer turned convicted al-Qaeda fighter to the United States on Thursday, the justice minister said.
Nizar Trabelsi, who was locked away Book 'im, Mahmoud! just two days after the September 11 attacks in 2001, was sentenced to 10 years in jail in 2003 for plotting a suicide truck bombing against a Belgian air base where American troops are stationed.
Washington has long sought his extradition, suspecting him of also being behind a more devastating al-Qaeda plot than the one he was convicted of in Belgium.
The 43-year-old Trabelsi had long battled to avoid extradition to the United States for fear of "inhumane" treatment.
His last appeal was rejected on September 23 by the Belgian Council of State, the country's highest administrative court.
Belgium has received "assurances from U.S. authorities" that he would be tried by a civil court rather than a military tribunal and would not be sentenced to death if convicted, Justice Minister AnnemieTurtleboom was quoted as saying by the Belga news agency.
His extradition was requested by Washington in November 2008.
"The Americans believe Nizar Trabelsi is an active member of an al-Qaeda terrorist network, which was developing terror activities beyond what he was already been convicted of in Belgium," said a front man for the Belgian federal prosecutor.
As far back as November 2007, a U.S. grand jury claimed Trabelsi was part of a conspiracy to murder American nationals outside the United States, a crime punishable by life imprisonment.
He is also accused by Washington of having participated in a "criminal association for the use and attempted use of weapons of mass destruction" and for providing financial support to terror groups.
Trabelsi played football in Germany for Fortuna Dusseldorf, but later fell into drugs, and went through al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013
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[Dawn] An Indian court on Thursday sentenced former Bihar chief minister and prominent politician Lalu Prasad Yadav to five year in jail on charges of a multi-million rupee corruption scam.
Yadav, a former federal minister whose Rashtriya Janata Dal party supports the ruling coalition, had been convicted by the same court on Monday along with 44 others on charges of conspiracy and cheating over a scam which first came to light in 1996.
Mr Yadav was chief minister of India's state of Bihar when some 380 million rupees of public money intended to buy cattle feed for use by poor villagers was allegedly siphoned off.
According to Indian media, a special CBI court sentenced Yadav to 5 years in jail in the fodder scam case, and also fined him 2.5 million Indian rupees.
Former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra, who was among the co-accused, was sentenced to four years in prison.
The 66-year-old Yadav, known for his often amusing oratory in parliament, was born into a cow herder's family and is an outspoken critic of the Indian elite. He has always denied any wrongdoing over the so-called fodder scam.
His sentencing comes after political controversy erupted last week over the Indian Supreme Court's ruling in July that politicians should be barred if they are found guilty in criminal cases carrying jail terms of more than two years.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013
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[Dawn] A Saudi court has sentenced four men to up to 10 years in prison and 2,000 lashes for dancing "naked" in public, media reported on Thursday.
In a video posted on YouTube, several men appear dancing atop a vehicle in the ultra-conservative province of Qassim. None seemed naked.
The court in Buraydah, Qassim's provincial capital, sentenced one defendant to 10 years in prison and 2,000 lashes, and another to seven years in prison and 1,200 lashes, Al-Sharq newspaper reported in what media have dubbed the "naked dancing" case.
Their two companions were jailed for three years and sentenced to 500 lashes each, it said.
The four were charged with "dancing on a vehicle in public and posting a video online, encouraging vice, defying norms of the society and violating public morals," according to Al-Sharq.
Two of them were identified as security officials.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013
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#1
Macho, macho man...they want to be a macho man!!
For a map, click here For a map of Tamaulipas, click here
Three armed suspects were shot to death in an armed confrontation with Mexican security forces in Matamoros, Tamaulipas Wednesday night, according to official government news sources.
According to a news release posted on the state government website of Tamaulipas, the incident took place at 2100 hrs near the intersection of Avenida Division del Norte and Calle Republica de Cuba in Modelo colony, where a Mexican Army road patrol had observed and then signaled a number of armed suspects traveling aboard a Chevrolet pickup truck.
The armed suspects fired on the army patrol, which returned fire, killing all three men.
One of the dead was identified as Juan Antonio Sanchez Lumbreras, 22, of Matamoros.
After the confrontation ended army troops seized three rifles, an undisclosed number of weapons magazines and ammunition. The suspects were wearing bulletproof vests, and according to the news release had military style haircuts.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and Borderlandbeat.com. His latest work of non-fiction, the Wounded Eagle, Volume 2, can be found at Smashwords and Amazon.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com.
[Shabelle] Two Somali nationals facing charges of being in possession of an improvised bomb yesterday appeared before Nairobi Principal Magistrate Joseph Karanja.
Abdirahman Ahmed Heeyle Mohamud and Nucmaan Mohammed Hassan are accused that on March 31, this year, at the Outering Road/Juja Road Junction near Kariobangi roundabout, they committed an act of terrorism by placing an explosive aboard a public service vehicle.
On March 4, police conducted swoops in Eastleigh where they incarcerated Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! some of the suspects.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013
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#1
The answer to this is simple, start calling 911 if you see a school administrator picking up things like pencils and pens or any other 'weapon' and have them arrested for violating zero tolerance and possessing deadly weapons. After a few visits from the police, maybe they'll learn to not be morons.
Yeah yeah, you can't fix stupid. All you can do it is take it out back and shoot it in the head. I know.
#5
Didn't DHS or some agency recommend fighting back against armed invaders using scissors? (Yeah, I know:never bring scissors to a gunfight)
Anyway, that implies that scissors are a weapon. As Silentbrick suggested, call 911 whenever a teacher (or better yet, a principal or administrator) picks up a pair of scissors.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
10/04/2013 8:42
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[Dawn] 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... has convened a multi-party conference in 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. tomorrow (Friday) to discuss lawlessness in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... and viable ways and means to restore durable peace in the region.
A news release issued by Al-Markaz-e-Islami, the JI provincial secretariat, on Wednesday said various political parties and civil society groups from the province had been invited to the event, where JI provincial chief Professor Ibrahim would be in the chair.
It said Awami National Party, Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam ...Assembly of Islamic Clergy, or JUI, is a Pak Deobandi (Hanafi) political party. There are two main branches, one led by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, and one led by Maulana Samiul Haq. Fazl is active in Pak politix and Sami spends more time running his madrassah. Both branches sponsor branches of the Taliban, though with plausible deniability... -Fazl, Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam-Sami and Pakistain Mohammedan League-Quaid had agreed to attend the conference, while the decision of Pakistain Mohammedan League-N was awaited.
Earlier, Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... , which leads the coalition government in the province, had announced to call a similar conference on the issue in Peshawar.
The JI release said a party delegation visited the ANP Central Secretariat and discussed the agenda of the conference with ANP parliamentary leader in the provincial assembly Sardar Hussain Babak.
It said Sardar Babak assured the delegation that his party would support every move meant for the restoration of peace in the province and adjoining tribal areas.
Meanwhile, ...back at the comedy club, Boogie was cracking himself up, but nobody else seemed to be getting the non-stop jokes... JI front man Israrullah said APC held in Islamabad last month had given mandate to the federal government to find out peaceful solution to terrorism and begin talks with the Taliban for it.
He said unfortunately, the federal government had yet to make serious efforts for peace and that a series of suicide and kabooms in Peshawar, Upper Dir and parts of tribal areas had caused a serious security crisis in the province and Fata.
Mr Israrullah said the provincial politicianship should pressure the federal government and the Taliban to begin talks for early end to the bloodshed.
He said thousands of innocent people in the province had been killed or injured in the so-called war on terrorism, while economy of the province was in ruins.
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10/04/2013
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[Al Ahram] Turkey's parliament voted on Thursday to extend by a year a mandate authorising the deployment of troops to Syria if needed after the government said the possible use of chemical weapons by Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... posed a threat to Turkey. The motion, put forward by the ruling AK Party, which has a strong parliamentary majority, had been widely expected to pass despite stiff resistance from opposition parties. The current mandate is due to expire on Friday.
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[UK.REUTERS] Several powerful Syrian rebel groups on Thursday demanded al Qaeda-linked bully boyz and a rival rebel faction stop fighting and called on the hardline Islamists to withdraw their forces within 48 hours, a statement said.
The al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) seized Azaz, about 5 km (3 miles) from the frontier with Turkey, last month and has repeatedly clashed with the local Northern Storm brigade since then.
A previous attempt by rebel groups to broker a truce between the two sides did not hold.
The fighting prompted Turkey to close its border crossing, a lifeline for Syria's rebel-held northern areas because it let refugees out and supplies like food and building materials in.
A statement posted online by four rebel brigades on Thursday called for an "immediate ceasefire" between the two sides and called on them to submit their dispute to an Islamic court in Aleppo, about 30 km (20 miles) to the south.
"We ask our brothers in the faction of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant to withdraw their forces and equipment to their essential bases immediately," said the statement.
"We consider them above spilling the blood of Moslems or rushing to describe them as infidels and apostates."
The statement was signed by commanders from the powerful Ahrar al-Sham, Liwa al-Tawheed, Suqour al-Sham and Army of Islam brigades, and a copy was posted to Northern Storm's Facebook page. It did not say what the groups would do if the two sides did not stop fighting or if ISIL did not withdraw.
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[Dawn] A Taliban-claimed bully boy attack in Spin Tall area on the border of Orakzai and Kurram tribal regions killed at least 17 persons and injured another 22, according to security sources.
Although Spin Tall is part of settled areas in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... 's Hangu district ... Hangu is famous for its greenery, hills, beauty and water. Most of the people of this area are Bangash & Orakzai Pashtuns. Part of the Bangash are Shia. The Orakzai and the Sunni Bangash are determined to kill them... , it has the status of semi-tribal territory.
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) front man, Shahidullah Shahid, speaking to Dawn.Com grabbed credit for the attack, saying Mullah Nabi Hanafi had been supporting the government against the TTP and hence was their target as anyone opposing the Taliban ideology and fighting against them would be on the TTP hitlist.
Security sources said that the compound of an anti-Taliban militia commander Mullah Nabi Hanafi was targetted by snuffies who opened fire before detonating an explosive-laden vehicle inside the compound.
The bully boy compund was completely destroyed in the kaboom, Deputy Superintendent of Police Tall Tehsil Shaukat Ali Shah told Dawn.com.
He added that there were reports of at least 17 people dead, including a woman and a child whereas 22 others were maimed.
Security forces reached the site of attack and sealed the area.
Moreover the injured were shifted to the local hospitals as reports of another jacket wallah were received.
The intensity of the kaboom was so huge that the area residents claimed to have felt its jolt similar to that in an earthquake.
There are also reports, whch could not be confirmed by official sources, that Mullah Nabi Hanafi was also injured in the attack.
The intelligence reports said that two attackers who had tried to enter the compound were also bumped off, but the snuffies surrounded the compound and no one was allowed to enter as the injured were rushed out.
The details could not be independently verified as access of media is restricted in the region.
Mullah Hanafi was associated with the Tehrik-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) in the past but later, after developing differences, formed his own bully boy faction to fight against the TTP.
TTP snuffies have also targetted Hanafi's training compunds in the past.
Moreover, Hanafi is also wanted by authorities in connection with the killing of Fareed Khan, a Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) MPA from Hangu, after an tossed in the slammer Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! accused member of his group confessed to the killing.
Orakzai is one of Pakistain's seven semi-autonomous tribal regions in the northwest, where Pak Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked snuffies are said to have carved out strongholds.
Security officials have claimed in the past that up to 92 per cent of Orakzai has been cleared of Death Eaters.
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[LATIMES] The Paleostinian Authority has launched a security crackdown after a wave of lawlessness in West Bank cities.
Hundreds of masked special forces, dressed in black and armed with machine guns, were dispatched Wednesday to the northern city of Jenin in a show of force, according to its governor, Talal Dweikat. He said the troops were there "to reinforce the work of the local security forces and to help them restore law and order to the city."
Jenin has been plagued by shootings, property destruction and other attacks since Israeli troops last month killed a man during a raid at a refugee camp there. Local authorities, fearful of a return to the time, from 2000 to 2007, when armed snuffies controlled the streets, appealed for help from the central government.
Dweikat said the security forces had locked away Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! dozens of people since their arrival.
The Paleostinian Authority is worried that its arch-rival Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, which governs the Gazoo Strip, is trying to stir up trouble in the West Bank to undermine peace negotiations with Israel.
Paleostinian and Israeli negotiators met Thursday in Jerusalem but reported no major progress. It was their eighth meeting since the resumption of direct negotiations this summer.
With the talks stalled and Israel increasing the pace of settlement building in the West Bank, Hamas and other radical Paleostinian groups have called for a third intifada, or uprising.
Two Israeli soldiers were killed in separate incidents in the West Bank last month.
The Paleostinian Authority has conducted a series of raids to arrest suspected krazed killers, notably in the southern city of Hebron, where one of the soldiers was shot and killed in what officials suspect was an attack by a Paleostinian sniper.
Days earlier, a Paleostinian man was said to have lured an Israeli soldier to the West Bank village of Siniria and killed him.
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10/04/2013
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#1
Lawlessness in the West Bank? I'm shocked! What are things coming to? Next, we'll be hearing about gambling in the back room!
In the midst of a misspent youth I worked one summer building in-ground vinyl swimming pools. The customer was the nephew of Sam, who was tied up in Rahway State pen IIRC, who wanted a pool for his grand-kds.
Several "funny" stories about that job. (the electrician's scheduled changed realllllly quick when he found out the client) 8^)
[An Nahar] Hizbullah is mulling to withdraw its fighters from the neighboring country Syria if the reasons behind its intervention in battles in Damascus were resolved, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Thursday.
According to the newspaper, the leadership of Hizbullah is discussing the withdrawal of its fighter from Syria with President Michel Suleiman ...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... Sources told the daily that the party voiced hope that the conditions in Leb would be adequate to kick off the withdrawal process.
Suleiman said in an interview with As Safir newspaper on Thursday that he is "against the party's engagement in battles in Syria."
He stressed, however, that he is ready "to discuss with it the matter in an attempt to convince it to withdraw its fighters."
Hizbullah has dispatched fighters to battle alongside the Syrian regime against rebels seeking the overthrow of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... The conflict, pitting a Sunni-dominated rebel movement against Assad, has raised sectarian tensions in Leb and Lebanese Sunni fighters have also been killed while fighting alongside Syrian rebels.
Suleiman expressed hope on Friday that Hizbullah would withdraw its fighters from Syria immediately as per the Baabda declaration that calls for disassociating Leb from regional conflicts, and to maintain Leb's best interest.
The Baabda Declaration was unanimously adopted during a national dialogue session in June 2012. It calls for Leb to disassociate itself from regional crises, most notably the one in Syria.
Lebanese parties are sharply divided over the crisis in Syria as the March 8 alliance continuously expresses its support to Assad, while the March 14 camp voices its support for the popular revolt.
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[An Nahar] The trial of three Tunisian coppers for raping a young woman last year, which sparked outrage when the prosecution tried to blame the victim, was adjourned Thursday until November 4.
The prosecutor asked for postponement because the alleged victim's medical report was still not ready, prompting condemnation from the defense lawyers.
The defense had asked for a doctor to conduct a psychiatric examination of the woman.
"It's not possible. We have been waiting (to make our case) since April 4," one of the coppers's lawyers, Sami Rebai, told the court.
But the judge insisted that the file, including the medical report, must be complete before the trial begins.
The woman's lawyers have also called for a postponement because the young woman has expressed her wish to attend but is now living in La Belle France, one of them, Bochra Belhaj Hmida, told Agence La Belle France Presse.
The three coppers are in jug awaiting trial, two of them on rape charges, with the third accused of extorting money from the woman's boyfriend.
The police say they took the couple by surprise as they were having sex in their car, in a suburb of Tunis, in September 2012.
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[An Nahar] A bomb went kaboom! near a football field in Iraq on Thursday, killing five people and wounding at least 11, officials said.
The bombing in Madain, south of Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... , was just the latest in a string of attacks this year targeting young men playing Iraq's favorite sport.
Militants seeking to cause maximum casualties have also bombed other areas where crowds of people gather, including markets, parks, cafes, mosques and funeral tents.
Violence has reached a level unseen since 2008, and there are fears Iraq is slipping back toward the intense Sunni-Shiite bloodshed that peaked in 2006-2007 and killed tens of thousands.
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[Dawn] Pakistain is still keen to pursue dialogue with local Talibs, the government's top national security adviser said Thursday, despite a spate of bloody attacks in the country's northwest.
Three bombings in the space of a week in the city of 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. killed more than 140 people, most of them civilians, prompting many to question a government plan to seek peace with the bad boys.
The umbrella Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) group has denied responsibility Nope. Nope. Wudn't us. for the attacks, which included a double suicide kaboom on a church, and claimed a conspiracy to thwart the talks was afoot.
Sartaj Aziz, adviser on national security and foreign affairs to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... , said talks should be given a chance.
"Despite these incidents the dialogue option should be pursued, because the Taliban are many groups and many of them have said they do want to pursue dialogue," he told news hounds.
"There are some elements who want to disrupt the dialogue but the whole purpose of the dialogue is to put an end to such incidents."
The TTP, which has waged a bloody insurgency against the Pak state since 2007, has issued stringent conditions for its participation in talks, including the release of its cadres from jail and the withdrawal of troops from the tribal areas along the Afghan border.
Aziz's remarks came a day after the TTP said it would only consider a government ceasefire to be valid if it included an end to US drone strikes in the tribal areas, where it has strongholds.
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[An Nahar] Women and children rallied quietly outside Sudan's state security headquarters Thursday calling for the release of prisoners held in a crackdown after protests over fuel price hikes, an Agence La Belle France Presse news hound said.
The crowd of around 45 carried photographs of the detainees, including social media activist Dalia El Roubi and Amal Habani, a journalist with Al-Khartoum newspaper, the news hound said.
Children held signs reading "Freedom for my mum" while others called for "justice".
Demonstrators gave security officers a memorandum asking for immediate release of the prisoners, and then they peacefully left the area, the news hound said.
Roubi, an employee of the World Bank in Khartoum, was taken from her home on Monday. Her husband Abdelrahman Elmahdi told AFP he still had no news about her on Thursday.
He and the couple's 13-year-old daughter attended the demonstration.
"They didn't try to disperse us," Elmahdi told AFP. "I think we got our message across."
Sudan's government says it has jugged Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! about 700 "criminals" after last week's protests.
But rights watchdog Amnesia Amnesty International said Wednesday that "reports from journalists, members of opposition parties, activists, and family members indicate that the figures are much higher".
It said security forces were believed to have killed more than 200 protesters, many with gunshot wounds to the head and chest.
Authorities say 34 people died after petrol and diesel prices jumped on September 23 when the government cut fuel subsidies, sending thousands into the streets in the worst urban unrest during 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. 's 24-year rule.
The government said it had to intervene last week when crowds turned violent, attacking petrol stations and police facilities.
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[Al Ahram] Syria's army took back control of a strategic town in the northern province of Aleppo on Thursday after a weeks-long battle pitting troops against rebels, a monitoring group said.
Rebels meanwhile made fresh gains in southern Syria, while activists accused an Al-Qaeda front group of destroying a symbolic statue in the northern city of Raqa, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Observatory said dozens of fighters on both sides were killed in the battle for Khanasser, a town located on a key supply route linking central Syria to second city Aleppo.
Opposition factions had cut off the army's supply route to Aleppo in August, when they had seized Khanasser and some nearby villages.
At least 25 rebel fighters were killed on Wednesday alone, as were 18 pro-regime militiamen, said the Britannia-based Observatory.
Fighting has raged on, as Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Terror of Aleppo ... 's regime "used helicopters and warplanes to bombard" the area, it added.
Al-Watan, a pro-regime newspaper, also reported the takeover, a development it said "opens the way to allow aid to reach the city (of Aleppo) in the coming hours".
Meanwhile, ...back at the abandoned silver mine, the water was up to Jack's neck and still rising. And then he smelled the smoke... Aleppo-based citizen journalist Abu Omar told AFP that "the fighting is hit and run. The takeover of Khanasser does not mean the battle is over".
Large swathes of Aleppo have been out of army control for months, but the army has pushed hard to reopen a route into the quiet provincial capital, Syria's one-time commercial capital.
In Daraa in southern Syria, meanwhile, rebels took control of Bakar village, said the Observatory.
"It is important because it shows the opposition is making continuous progress in the south," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
Daraa is strategically located between a sensitive area between Jordan, Damascus and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
"At the moment, there isn't a single Syrian loyalist soldier deployed anywhere from Daraa city to the Golan Heights," Abdel Rahman said.
In the north, meanwhile, activists accused the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) of tearing down a statue of Harun al-Rashid in Raqa city.
Rashid was an Abbasid ruler who lived in the eighth century, and whose era was marked by cultural progress.
ISIL fighters in Raqa, Syria's only rebel-held quiet provincial capital, had recently set fire to statues and crosses inside churches.
Jihadists had previously torn down a statue of a well-known poet, Abu al-Alaa al-Maari.
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[BREITBART] A woman driving a black Infiniti with a young child inside tried to ram through a White House barricade Thursday, then led police on a chase toward the Capitol, where police shot and killed her, witnesses and officials said. I'd ask what's the country coming to, but it looks like we're already there.
Tourists watched the shooting unfold on Constitution Avenue outside the Capitol as politicians inside debated how to end a government shutdown. Police ordered passersby and people in the Capitol and Supreme Court buildings to find shelter. Within two minutes, everyone outside had been shifted to the Capitol. The Capitol was then put on lockdown, with Capitol Police wary in the aftermath of the Navy Yard shooting two weeks ago, during which a civilian contractor for the Navy opened fire with a shotgun, killing 13.
The News Agency that Dare Not be Named reported, "As a warning was sounded, the House abruptly went into recess and politicians left the chamber floor. The Senate also suspended business." The Republican House had just finished passing a bill that would have paid National Guard and Reserve members.
Capitol Hill has been reopened after about an hour, and NBC's Pete Williams states that the incident is now "over." Capitol Police Chief Kim Dine said that the scene was "under control." President B.O. was briefed about the incident.
The White House was locked down, according to the AP, after the incident, as was part of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, who said he was briefed by the Homeland Security Department, said the woman was killed. Asked if she was armed, he replied: "I don't think she was. There was no return fire."
Police described it as an isolated event and saw no indications of terrorism.
The pursuit began when a car with Connecticut plates sped onto the driveway leading to the White House, over a set of lowered barricades. When she couldn't get through a second barrier, she spun the car in the opposite direction, flipping a Secret Service officer over the hood of the car as she sped away, said B.J. Campbell, a tourist from Portland, Ore.
A fleet of police and Secret Service cars chased the Infiniti toward Capitol Hill. An amateur video shows the car circling a fountain in front of the Capitol. The driver slows down as police approach, and then speeds away.
"The car was trying to get away. But it was going over the median and over the curb," said Matthew Coursen, who was on his way to a legislative office building when the Infiniti sped by him. "The car got boxed in and that's when I saw an officer of some kind draw his weapon and fire shots into the car."
Coursen watched the shooting from his cab window.
"I thought to myself, `The car is getting blocked in. The car is going to surrender,'" he said. "Now the cop has his weapon out. The car kept trying to get away. Then he fired shots."
Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance Gainer said a child was taken from the car to a hospital but said he knew of no harm to the youngster. Tourist Edmund Ofori-Attah said the child appeared to be about 2 to 3 years old.
A police officer was injured in the traffic accident but Gainer said the injuries were not life threatening.
"We heard three, four, five pops," said Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., who was walking from the Capitol to an office building across the street. Police ordered Casey and nearby tourists to crouch behind a car for protection, then hustled everyone into the Capitol.
"There were multiple shots fired and the air was filled with gunpowder," said Berin Szoka, whose office at a technology think tank overlooks the shooting scene.
Continued on Page 49
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#1
A woman believed to be a dental hygienist from Stamford, Conn., was shot dead by police today after allegedly attempting to ram the White House gates and leading authorities on a high-speed chase to the U.S. Capitol, officials said.
The related gunfire sent senators and staffers scrambling inside the Capitol, which was put under lockdown.
Authorities believed the dead suspect was Miriam Carey, 34, according to a spokesman for Carey's family. Authorities said she had a history of mental health issues, and her mother told ABC News she suffered from post-partum depression.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/04/2013 0:16
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#5
WAA WAA. Let's move Our nations "leaders" to Detroit. One car chase and the world looks at this piece of shit DC as some kind of anomaly. Walk 9 blocks up from the Capitol building.
Self aggrandizing make hey out of nothing Twerks.
#6
I almost drove off the road last night laughing at the irony, listening to the radio justifying the use of deadly force - "The police could have been injured by her actions so they had a right to defend themselves."
But not you and me, Newshound?
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/04/2013 6:23
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#7
Apparently, the only shots fired were by the various and overlapping government personnel. Not that anyone in the WH has any grasp of the implications, but their theater may soon blow up in their face like Lexington Common. Nothing to see here, move along.
#8
The woman had mental illness issues. She acted improperly/irrationally and somewhat dangerously, and I can understand the need for police response. Main criticism is that if she really had been seriously dangerous their marksmanship was inadequate to have prevented catastrophe. I wonder if jihadis are watching and taking notes.
As most reports of police shootings seem to indicate. Too much time in departments playing SWAT soldier to claim an overdue library book or stop unpasteurized milk leaving a farm. These people should be under the Barney Fife ammo restriction until they get real weapons control training.
I'm sure there is enough video to do a 3-D real time review with bullet cam, but I have not seen it and reserve judgement, so don't know if she was acting the loon or trying to make a scene, still it all happened in two No Funny Stuff Zones especially in the age of the suicide bomber.
The national peoples' republic of radio is a joke to offer any explanation without the basic facts; parrots to a pirate captain.
#15
One car chase and the world looks at this piece of shit DC as some kind of anomaly.
To be fair:
1. It follows on the heels of the Navy Yard shootings,
2. Security situation in D.C. is a bit tense right now, whether you you want to believe that or not.
But hey - who am I to stand in the way of a mindless rant?
so don't know if she was acting the loon or trying to make a scene
Reports this morning are that the deceased was briefly institutionalized for mental health issues, and that she drove down from Stamford to D.C. that day. That's about a 5-6 hour drive, btw.
Whatever happened to caucasian loonie shooters and whacko's ?
Haven't shown up, much to the MSM's disappointment.
#16
..but when he does, it'll be 24/7 coverage for most of a week, extra days if they're able to tie him no matter how indirect or coincidence to their favorite whipping boys.
#17
so don't know if she was acting the loon or trying to make a scene
I have seen some raw video of only a few moments, no real context but that part looked like panic and evasion rather than deliberate action - at that moment.
Still, a No Funny Stuff Zone, especially after Navy Yard. I would think one of the scenarios they run is a car bomb, so at the very worst I currently am at I understand. Its not like a person call call an efn time out and do twenty questions especially when a car runs into a White House security device and then speeds off and attempts to ellude the cops.
Whatever happened to caucasian loonie shooters and whacko's ?
Odds on sharpton typing up the poh-lease gunning down ill black mother story?
#19
I would think one of the scenarios they run is a car bomb, so at the very worst I currently am at I understand
Sorry swksvolFF, can't agree with this as an excuse for a trigger happy cop. This is becoming all to prevalent that cops get a free pass 'cause someone might be a scary terrorist. Anyone could be a splodeydope or driving a car bomb and a panic attack by a cop should not be excusable in any case.
This is all of a piece with the militarization of the police which I find very troubling. Without going all Godwin there's precedent for concern.
#21
All I'm saying is wait a bit before throwing lettuce at a team designated to help protect the seat of government of the United States.
Because we all know how accurate the newsworks are on this kind of reporting. Just say that there were 24 or so shots fired - were they all from handgun or AR-15 shotguns? Is that all from one officer, or four officers firing three times each? Was the vehicle moving at the time? Had she given up and then shot down or was she being erratic and dangerous? They keep showing this picture of a smashed police cruiser - is there public video out which would show if the cop ran into her or if she used her vehicle as a ram? The woman initiated this scenario not the police, unlike say a raid or sting.
The militarization of the police is a concern, especially how giving boys toys they will want to play with them.
If there is a site where the video and timeline has been collected and can be studied I would take a look. If this is one officer going through three magazines at a stopped vehicle, year thats bull, but three officers attempting to shoot out tires and/or driver of an evassive fast moving vehicle then 24 rounds, if that is correct, would make sense.
#22
This is not as clear a case of overuse of force as say flash-banging grandpa in his attic, or mistaking two latinas for a black man.
As for our techie working in and office for a think tank in DC screaming Air is Filled with Gunsmoke!...I get the feeling he does not know what that statement really means.
#23
swksvolFF - there was a video clip out yesterday, looked like maybe from an i-phone, where you saw the car back away from the barricade and start to drive away. At that point you could hear what sounded like about a magazine of 9 mm shots that seemed to have no effect. The video showed the car moving at a high speed (for the environment - maybe 30 mph)around the area for a while. Did not hear other gunshots. Do not know if the woman died from one of the initial shots eventually having effect or if they shot later.
Concur with you that this was not an obvious overuse of force under the circumstances (may have been overuse but certainly not obviously so.)
#24
From the short video clip I saw this morning, she refused to stop. They had her stopped but then she put it into reverse and tried to get away again. So they shot her. It looked understandable to me. But then, maybe she should have been wearing a tin foil hat.
#26
They keep showing this picture of a smashed police cruiser - is there public video out which would show if the cop ran into her or if she used her vehicle as a ram?
The police car skidded into a security bollard. No other vehicle involved.
#27
an Infiniti is not an uparmored HumV or M-RAP. The police should be capable of stopping such a vehicle without wild firing if the driver is NOT armed and shooting back.
I'm all for the police stopping bad-guys but there have been all too many over-reactions by these supposed civil servants and the excuse that she could have been a terrorist with a car bomb is right up there with planting the evidence.
#28
Also interesting to know would be the SOPs and Training Scenarios & Guidelines; considering the location the police may be required to disable any erratic and unresponsive driver/vehicle ASAP.
The police car skidded into a security bollard. No other vehicle involved.
Ooopsies.
That's why I don't just jump on the newsies when these things happen - too much misleading, falsehoods, and deliberate lying. I figure a report will be issued tomorrow outlining the event. Maybe even right after the half of the second game.
I'll certainly agree with you on waiting on the REAL facts. I guess my big change of attitude is that I used to have a default that the cops were right; now my default is that the police state is wrong until proven otherwise.
#30
"The car got boxed in and that's when I saw an officer of some kind draw his weapon and fire shots into the car."
That's murder, The cop should testify WHO AUTHORIZED IT.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/04/2013 19:04
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#31
Mark my words (he intoned ominously), she'll turn out to have been an avid fan of that "Scandal" program who couldn't handle the buildup for the season premiere last night. Or maybe she got an early look at it and the three-way in the secret bunker put her over the edge. Kinda shaky today, myself, but I'm not gonna say it. Hysterical! Okay, I said it. Yikes.
#32
AlanC,
I'm not much different. This would be abnormal for me just on account of its location and the lady trying to get away when it was past obvious she was in trouble. If she was having a bad day, it was the wrong place and wrong time, with the Navy Yard and a shooter in the Capital Building not so long ago.
But you are right, SWAT teams to do water samples, Education Department raids, Youth Brigades with armored vehicles, and you know that if war equipment is handed out to law enforcement, they are going to want to use it.
Even SWAT teams were a nice tool to have in the box, but now Everybody gotta have at least two. So then we have the civilianization in charter and behavior of the military, and the militization of the police. Batteries are going in backwards and its not going to work.
[Dawn] PAKISTAN'S future lies with its youth, declared a speaker at a function at the Gujrat University on Tuesday -- with a great sense of occasion. He was flanked by Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, otherwise known by the rather unworthy title of 'deputy chief minister of Punjab'. For a city that has had its bright spots in history, this advent of future good governance was a moment that called for celebration. Trust the bad losers in Chaudhry Shujaat Husain's party to allege that the schools in the area had been closed for the day and students and teachers were forced to give a standing ovation to the honourable guest. Surely, the students will be happy to carry this brush with royalty as a memento for all times to come.
Hamza Sharif's advance in recent months has thrown up plenty of clues about his -- and our -- destiny. Recently, he led a long caravan for a sasta Sunday bazaar inspection in Sheikhupura. A few months earlier, veteran foreign players in Lahore, promoting the city as a safe sporting venue, were stunned when asked to abruptly suspend their hockey match for an urgent photo-op with the Sharif heir apparent. There were a few 'oohs' and 'ahs', half-hearted ones if truth be told. These seniors could do with an extra break provided by the emerging leadership. The case for passing the baton to the new was strengthened when a similar veterans' game the following day had Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif as the guest of honour. This time no whistle for an unscheduled halt was blown in contrast to the sound of trumpets that had accompanied Hamza Sharif's visit. That tradition continues as the Sharif scion seeks to provide a break to another veteran in another game involving the wielding of stick and the occasional dangling of carrot.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013
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[WASHINGTONEXAMINER] Senate Democrats blocked four resolutions to fund government programs, including paying the National Guard and opening national parks, as Republicans offered the limited measures in an attempt to win the government shutdown fight by financing popular programs and leaving those they oppose untouched.
"Unbelievably, today Senate Democrats went on record to oppose funding for National Guard and Reserve salaries, veterans' services, lifesaving medicine and cures, and national parks and museums," Senate Republican Conference chairman John Thune, R-S.D., said in a release following the procedural battle.
"Congress unanimously passed a bill to ensure active-duty military personnel are paid during this lapse in government funding, and it's unclear why Senate Democrats wouldn't pass similar measures to fund these important services," Thune said.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., asked for unanimous consent to pass funding for the Veterans Affairs Department and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, requested unanimous consent to pass a bill funding the national parks and monuments. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid ... the charismatic senator-for-life from Nevada, currently majority leader ... , D-Nev., rejected both.
"Senator Reid is countering Republicans' UC request with a request to pass a clean [continuing resolution] that reopens the entire government," Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson tweeted.
Thune offered a measure that would ensure the National Guard and Reserve units do not see their pay interrupted, and Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., called for the Senate to fund the National Institutes of Health. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., blocked the measures.
Sen. Chuck Schumer Senator-for-life from New York, renowned for his love of standing in front of cameras. Schumer has been a professional politician since 1975, when disco was in flower. , D-N.Y., defended the maneuvers during a press conference Thursday afternoon. "To fund these piecemeal bills would give Ted Cruz a veto power over what is funded and what isn't," Schumer said. "We are not going along with that -- how could we?"
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013
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Reid also followed up on his controversial comments from Wednesday, when he took issue with the idea that the Senate should vote to fund clinical trials for cancer patients at the National Institutes of Health during the shutdown.
In the interview, Reid criticized Boehner for bowing to a conservative faction of his caucus that insists on attaching anti-Obamacare provisions to a temporary spending bill needed to fund the government.
His job is not as important as our country, Reid said.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
10/04/2013 0:12
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#2
that reopens the entire government
Typical Democrap, give me everything I want or you're a meanie.
#3
All Reid and Obama are concerned about is the retention and exercise of power, the 'old' country be damned in their view. The brave new world of total centralized power is their want and desire.
#4
I would prefer all budgets be presented in small bites; 80% of Americans probably agree on 80% of the spending, and in a 'business' world, that would get funded so operations could continue with minimal disruption (and less cost too) while the remaining 20% was debated. But in the political world the 80% is held 'hostage' to the 20%. And we let them do it, and ultimately pay the ransom, so the technique prospers and grows.
#7
Why is Reid doing all the talking? If Obama is running the country shouldn't Obama be in the thick of it? Does Reid run the country? Does Obama take orders from Reid?
Obama is looking even less presidential these days -- a difficult trick to pull off!
Bambi takes order from Soros (and God knows who else; the Arabs, at least). >:-(
Maybe Reid delivers Soros' messages.
Posted by: Barbara ||
10/04/2013 10:18
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#9
It's pretty clear after that Syrian business that Obummer is taking orders from the Soddies. He's not alone, of course, his strange bedfellows McCain and Graham are too.
Reid accused House Speaker John Boehner of being more worried about his job than the country amid a government shutdown.
Unlike Reid, Boehner will have to face his constituents in 2014 and that election is now close enough that his constituents are likely to remember whatever way this situation gets resolved. It could also be that Boehner doesn't have fat cat developers who funnel illegal cash into his campaign coffers.
#17
Well, he has never done anything to effectively address the rumors that he is a pedophile, has he?
Frankly, at this point, I don't think there's anything too scummy for the Dem Party leadership to indulge in.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
10/04/2013 20:37
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#19
See also NEW YORK TIMES > BOEHNER TELLS REPUBLICANS HE WON'T LET THE NATION DEFAULT.
* TOPIX > [USA Today] WALL STREET: ODDS OF US DEFAULT CLOSE TO ZERO.
* SAME > [WaPo] YOU PROBABLY THINK THE SHUTDOWN IS ABOUT SPENDING, BUT IT ISN'T.
* RIGHT WING NEWS > IN CASE REPUBLICANS IN D.C. HAVEN'T NOTICED, THEY'RE WINNING THE SHUTDOWN FIGHT.
The Debt + Deficit have both been going down - an Obama victory on the shutdown means he + Dems will raise the debt ceiling which in turn which means the Debt + Deficit will reverse + go back up.
versus
* TOPIX > [Business Week] WHY AMERICA'S ADVERSARIES LOVE THIS SHUTDOWN!?
* SAME > [IBT.com] ANALYSIS: NEXT OBAMA QE TO BOOST ECONOMY, COUNTER SUTDOWN EFFECTS TO ALSO ACCELERATE DEBT. US AT HIGH RISK OF HYPER-INFLATION.
IOW, its NOT the Republican shutdown, but raising the debt ceiling as desired by the Bammer Admin + Democrats, that will worsen US economic woes.
#21
VOICE OF RUSSIA > US SHUTDOWN HAMPERS IMPLEMENTATION OF IRAN, SYRIA SANCTIONS - WHITE HOUSE.
Yokay, but China has NucWeapons while Japan + PHIL + ASEAN do not; + the Bammer + Democrats = US need China to borrow post-shutdown. I DON'T SEE THE US PUTTING ANY SANCTIONS ON CHINA IFF IT OPEN FIRED AGZ JAPAN + PHIL, ETC.
* Also from VOICE OF RUSSIA > US GOVT. SHUTDOWN: OBAMA DOESN'T WANT TO LEAD HIS OWN NATION - INTERVIEW, wid Patrick Young.
-------------
As a reminder ...
* TOPIX > JENSEN: IRAN WILL HAVE NUCLEAR WEAPONS.
Its what OWG Global, SSSSSHHH...CCCCCCCC P-A-R,
"C0-Superpowers" do???
[Nigerian Tribune] THE Court of Appeal, Abuja division, on Wednesday, struck out the motion filed by Senator Mohammed Ndume, seeking to stay his trial before the Federal High Court siting in Abuja, over his alleged link with the Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... sect.
The development was sequel to an application brought by Ndume through his counsel, Ricky Tarfa, seeking to withdraw the motion.
It will be recalled that Ndume had appealed the ruling of Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the High Court, which admitted some exhibits against him, while the prosecution opened its case.
The panel of three justices of the appellate court, led by Justice Amir Sanusi, struck out the motion after it was withdrawn by Tarfa and adjourned till November 1.
Ndume was accused, among other charges, of sponsoring members of the Boko Haram sect.
The senator, however, denied all the charges when read to him and was admitted to bail by the trial judge at the lower court.
Ndume had approached the Court of Appeal to set aside the ruling of the trial judge, who admitted in evidence DVDs containing alleged conversation between him and front man of the Boko Haram sect, Ali Konduga.
He prayed the court to expunge the admitted evidence from the record, on the ground that the judge erred in law when he admitted non-admissible documents, which the senator described as fundamental to his case.
At the last adjourned date, his motion for stay of proceedings could not be entertained by the court, following the sudden objection to the motion brought by the Federal Government.
Meanwhile, ...back at the abandoned silver mine, there was another kaboom... the Conference of Commonwealth Speakers and Presiding Officers has passed a resolution condemning the killing of people at a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya and the College of Agriculture, Gujba, Yobe State, Nigeria by suspected terrorists.
"The Conference of Commonwealth Speakers and Presiding Officers recalls that the dignity and sanctity of human lives, as well as the imperatives of combating terrorism has always been high on the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association agenda.
"It, accordingly, condemns this barbaric terrorist attacks on the peace-loving peoples of the Republic of Kenya and Nigeria.
"The conference calls on Commonwealth Parliaments yet to adopt or domesticate the United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... (UN) Conventions on terrorism, particularly the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, to urgently do so."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013
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[Shabelle] news from Jowhar town in the middle Shabelle region report that a loud blast was heard at the entire town and its surrounding in the early hours of Wednesday evening.
The residents add that the loud blast was followed by a heavy gunfire which is believed to be opened by military troops who were on a patrolling mission when the incident occurred.
The town has suffered from planned attacks by unknown gunmen believed to be the opposing Alshabab fighters.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Top|| File under: al-Shabaab
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] The Gambia ... The Gambia is actually surrounded by Senegal on all sides but its west coast. It has a population of about 1.7 million. The difference between the two is that in colonial days Senegal was ruled by La Belle France and The Gambia (so-called because there's only one of it, unlike Guinea, of which there are the Republic of Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, New Guinea, the English coin in circulation between 1663 and 1813, and Guyana, which sounds like it should be another one) was ruled by Britain... n government has announced that the former British colony is pulling out of the Commonwealth with immediate effect, saying it would "never be a member of any neo-colonial institution".
"The general public is hereby informed that the government of the Gambia has left the Commonwealth of Nations with immediate effect," it said in a statement.
"(The) government has withdrawn its membership of the British Commonwealth and decided that the Gambia will never be a member of any neo-colonial institution and will never be a party to any institution that represents an extension of colonialism."
The Commonwealth bloc is a voluntary association of more than 50 countries, many of them former territories of the British empire.
No further details were given but a foreign ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... , told AFP that the decision came after the government rejected a proposal by the Commonwealth last year to create commissions in Banjul to protect human rights ...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you... , media rights and fight against corruption.
HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERNS
The proposal followed an April 2012 visit to the Gambia by Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma, during which he met with President Yahya Jammeh and other top government officials.
Jammeh, who is regularly accused of rights abuses, has ruled mainland Africa's smallest country with an aura of mysticism and an iron fist since seizing power in 1994.
Earlier this year, the Gambia was singled out for its poor rights record in Britannia's annual Human Rights and Democracy report, which cited cases of unlawful detentions, illegal closures of newspapers and radio stations and discrimination against minority groups.
A front man at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office said early Thursday: "We would very much regret Gambia, or any other country, deciding to leave the Commonwealth."
He noted however that "decisions on Commonwealth membership are a matter for each member government".
The Gambia is a tiny sliver of land wedged into Senegal ... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees... . It suffers from widespread poverty but its miles of palm-fringed beaches are a favourite among sun-seeking European tourists.
NO DONOR FUNDS
The west African anglophone nation, the smallest on the mainland, has long been dogged by rights concerns under Jammeh's administration.
Jammeh, who seized power in a 1994 coup, brooks no criticism. He has been re-elected to power three times.
The man who claims he can cure AIDS and other illnesses is often pilloried for rights abuses and the muzzling of journalists.
In 2010, the EU, the country's top aid donor, cancelled 22 million euros ($30 million) in budget support for Banjul because of concerns over human rights and governance.
In August 2012, Jammeh came under attack from Amnesia Amnesty International and others for sending nine prisoners to the firing squad and promising many more would go the same way.
Many brass hats have found themselves charged with treason, often related to coup plots which observers have said are a sign of paranoia by Jammeh, who has woven an aura of mysticism around himself, dressing in billowing white robes and always clutching his Koran.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2013
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#1
And another one bites the dust.
Can official failed state status be far behind?
has ruled mainland Africa's smallest country with an aura of mysticism and an iron fist since seizing power in 1994.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
An Egyptian army vehicle fired live rounds in the direction of Muslim Brotherhood supporters who had been pushed away from Cairo's Tahrir Square by security forces on Friday, a Reuters witness said.
A partner 
The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Thursday filed a rebellion complaint against Nur Misuari, the founding leader of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), for the deadly standoff following the attack launched by his followers in Zamboanga City in Mindanao on September 9. The PNP alleged that Misuari ordered his followers to attack and seize Zamboanga City Hall.
/rachael%20leigh%20cook/rachael-leigh-cook-18-m.jpg)
[Bangla Daily Star] WE are a severe critic of this government on many issues. But on the issue of holding war crimes trial we have no hesitation in saying that without the AL in power, and without 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
The UN's climate panel (IPCC) released its latest warning about "catastrophic" climate change on Sept. 27, garnering the frantic attention of all three broadcast networks that night. CBS even aired a claim about temperatures rising "more than 200 degrees."
[An Nahar] The day after the U.S. government ran out of money, Maria Njoku called her landlord to let him know she would be late with the rent.
[Dawn] A Saudi court has sentenced four men to up to 10 years in prison and 2,000 lashes for dancing "naked" in public, media reported on Thursday.
[Dawn] 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Dawn] A Taliban-claimed
[Dawn] Pakistain is still keen to pursue dialogue with local Talibs, the government's top national security adviser said Thursday, despite a spate of bloody attacks in the country's northwest.
Nawaz Sharif
[Dawn] PAKISTAN'S future lies with its youth, declared a speaker at a function at the Gujrat University on Tuesday -- with a great sense of occasion. He was flanked by Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, otherwise known by the rather unworthy title of 'deputy chief minister of Punjab'. For a city that has had its bright spots in history, this advent of future good governance was a moment that called for celebration. Trust the bad losers in Chaudhry Shujaat Husain's party to allege that the schools in the area had been closed for the day and students and teachers were forced to give a standing ovation to the honourable guest. Surely, the students will be happy to carry this brush with royalty as a memento for all times to come.
Harry Reid
