Having managed to get myself virused through an e-mail, I've turned off pop-ups on all my machines. I advise all to do the same. Since Thugburg was using popups legitimately, and popup killers can't tell the difference between legitimate and rat bastards, I've changed Thugburg not to use them. Pretty elegant solution, if I do say so m'self. Like I needed a virus, after the horrors I went through with my old host...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/30/2002 11:59 am ||
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#1
As someone who got zapped with Chernobyl last month (but miraculously managed to avoid having my BIOS zapped, which means I was able to recover fairly easily), I can say with real feeling, "been there, done that". If you don't mind my asking, which nasty was it? I've been getting three or four copies of the W32.Klez.E@mm (and its cousins) per day lately via email.
Posted by: Joe ||
04/30/2002 16:57 Comments ||
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That's the one, or at least a cousin. I'm going to let McAfee run its course for clean-up and then try reinstalling, but I'll probably end up putting all my data on CD and fdisking. Again.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/30/2002 17:38 Comments ||
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Australian special forces, backed by U.S. troops, killed up to four al Qaeda rebels on the Afghan-Pakistan border at last bringing into the open a shift of fighting to the sensitive frontier region, military spokesman said Tuesday. "Up to four" isn't a very big number. Wonder why it's so hard to arrive at?
In two clashes over a 20-hour period Monday and Tuesday the troops also uncovered major weapons caches in caves and camouflaged mud huts on the ill-defined border where for days there have been conflicting accounts of whether U.S. and other troops were operating on the Pakistan side. Guess they are, huh? Somehow, we knew they were.
The location of the latest fighting added weight to reports that many Taliban and al Qaeda followers of Osama bin Laden, chief suspect in the September 11 suicide attacks on the United States, had fled to Pakistan's lawless frontier tribal areas. Duh.
The commander of coalition ground forces in Afghanistan, General Franklin "Buster" Hagenbeck, said intelligence showed al Qaeda had dispersed but remained a cohesive force of potentially hundreds -- but "not thousands" -- capable of suicide bombings, truck bombings and rocket attacks. Nice to know we're out of the "thousands" category. And it'll probably be awhile before the Pak jihadis really feel like joining in, being as so many of them are still in jug.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/30/2002 11:58 am ||
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South Korea said on Tuesday it expected the United States to announce soon that it will open talks with the North -- a move that would cap a gradual diplomatic outreach by Pyongyang to Seoul and its allies. Really? Guesstoday'sTuesday, then.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/30/2002 12:59 pm ||
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Enaam Arnaout, the executive director of Benevolence International Foundation, was arrested at his home in the Chicago suburb of Justice on charges of committing perjury in documents filed in support of a lawsuit to unfreeze the charity's assets. According to a 35-page affidavit filed with the complaint, Arnaout, 39, has had a relationship with indicted terror mastermind Osama bin Laden dating back to at least 1989, when he was "trusted with the care of one of bin Laden's wives in Pakistan." Yeah, the Yemeni one, with the big... Oh. Well, anyway, y'don't entrust your wives to somebody you don't know pretty well. She could end up getting stoned to death or something, and how does that look when you're an international terror mastermind?
Prosecutors also allege that people connected with al Qaeda who were trying to obtain chemical and nuclear weapons for the terror network had contact with BIF. Among those people is a man named Mohamed Bayazid, who "made repeated efforts to get uranium for al Qaeda to develop a nuclear weapon" and carried an Illiniois driver's license with the address of BIF. Yeah, that implies there might have been a relationship. It's the sort of thing only a defense attorney could deny.
BIF had its assets frozen by the Bush administration in December on the grounds that it was providing aid to terrorists. Other organizations picked up at least some of the slack, however.
The affidavit, which was signed by FBI Agent Robert Walker, charged that BIF was founded by a wealthy Saudi sheik, Adil Abdul Galil Betargy, who is an associate of bin Laden, according to documents seized in Bosnia. According to the affidavit, BIF has sent 19 wire transfers totaling $685,560 to Chechen rebel training camps in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. Kinda dents my parallel lines theory, I guess, though it doesn't disprove it. On the bright side, Betargy looks like he's another of the Learned Elders of Islam, maybe even one of the top level guys.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/30/2002 01:47 pm ||
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Pakistan's government and opposition squabbled about the turnout as counting began on Tuesday after a referendum to extend President Pervez Musharraf's rule. Musharraf is expected to win easily — partly because his strong stance against corruption has won him widespread support, partly because the opposition has called for a boycott — but the turnout is seen as a barometer of just how popular he is. If the Bad Guys thought they could beat him, they'd have had their people turn out to vote "No." Instead, they're keeping their people home and probably have the thugs on the streets to keep people from showing up.
The government described the turnout as "unprecedented," and said it would not be surprised if it topped 30 percent. The main opposition party put turnout at five percent, and said Musharraf had lost all legitimacy and should step down. And let them run things.
Initial results are expected to start trickling in during the course of the night. Musharraf, voting just after midday, said he was "very confident" of a victory that would grant him five more years in power. It's his guys counting the votes, so he'd damned well better win.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/30/2002 11:50 am ||
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A Pakistan court Tuesday moved the trial of four men charged with kidnapping and killing American reporter Daniel Pearl out of Karachi because of security fears, the prosecution said. The advocate general of the province of Sindh, Raja Qureshi, told Reuters the trial had been moved from the port city of Karachi to an anti-terrorism court in Hyderabad, some 100 miles to the northeast. The guys making the death threats aren't going to go there?
"Curses! They moved the trial, Ahmed!"
"Raskolnikov, Mister Big! They didn't!"
"They did."
"Now what shall we do?"
"I just don't know, Ahmed. I'm so confused. They're too smart for me. They've outthought me at every turn!"
"I have it, Mister Big! We should give up our lives of crime."
"By Allah, Ahmed, you've got it! I shall buy a guitar!"
"Maybe we'll meet some chicks...?"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/30/2002 01:20 pm ||
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Gulf defense sources said the Saudi government has approved projects for Pakistan to help train and maintain units of the armed forces. The sources said Riyad has also provided the green light for projects that include the defense research and development as well as the joint production of weapons. That's a good choice. Last war the Paks won was... ummm... On the other hand, they do have nuclear weapons. No doubt the Saudi Entity intends using them only for peaceful purposes...
Saudi officials have acknowledged what they termed as an increasing defense cooperation with Islamabad. They said Riyad has financed Pakistani projects meant to expand Saudi's defense industry. "There is cooperation between the two countries in economic and military field," Saudi ambassador to Islamabad Ali Awadh Asseri said. "We want to do a lot on economic front." Yes, it's a cooperation that goes back many years, and is active on many levels.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/30/2002 07:02 pm ||
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In a crack in Israel's month-old siege of Palestinian gunmen in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, 26 people filed out of the shrine. It was the largest such release since the standoff began but dozens of other people remain inside. The Israeli army said half of the group were members of Palestinian security forces and the rest civilians, including youths. They mean hostages and human shields.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/30/2002 12:02 pm ||
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Well, yeah. What are, after all, civilians for, from the Pallie POV?
Posted by: Joel Rosenberg ||
04/30/2002 12:22 Comments ||
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U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Tuesday the United Nations had "done everything" to meet Israeli concerns about a U.N. fault fact-finding mission into the Israeli army's assault on the Jenin refugee camp. But he declined to say what his next step would be after the Jewish state told him to go to hell said it would go on blocking the team from investigating what happened at the West Bank camp following Palestinian charges — denied by Israel — that a massacre took place there. Believe the gist of the Israeli response was "Hang it in yer ear."
Israel originally agreed to the mission to Jenin, the scene of the fiercest fighting during a crushing Israeli offensive in the West Bank. But it later withdrew its approval, objecting to the team's mandate and composition. "We've really done everything to deal with their concerns. And I think we've been very forthcoming. Obviously the decision is theirs and I am waiting to get a formal notification," Annan told reporters. If he wanted something to happen, instead of Striking a Blow Against Zionist Aggression⢠he'd get professional military men to fill out a real team and make sure the human rights hacks didn't have veto power over their findings.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer both told him a U.N. team would be welcome and Israel had nothing to hide, Annan said. He said he was expecting a note from Peres and "I would much rather wait to see what the formal communication from the government is, have further discussion with the (Security) Council and decide what to do next," he said. He's hoping Peres will give him what he wants...
In Brussels, European Commission President Romano Prodi called the Israeli refusal "unacceptable." Yeah. Da noive o' dem Jews.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/30/2002 12:14 pm ||
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Kofi Annan on Tuesday moved toward abandoning a U.N. fault fact-finding mission on Israel's military assault on the Jenin Palestinian refugee camp because of Israel's continued objections. "The secretary-general is minded to disband the team," said Kieran Prendergast, the U.N. undersecretary-general for political affairs, after briefing the 15-nation Security Council. Annan was expected to make a decision shortly. Diplomats said he probably would either cancel the mission entirely or resume legal talks with Israeli officials, enabling it to go forward at a future date. "Obviously when the secretary-general makes his decision, we will fully respect it," U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte told reporters, piously. Behindthescenesed him. But that's tough to do. It burns a lot of political points for both the U.S. and Israel. We're gonna need all those piety points when Yasser's car explodes or his helicopter crashes. (I shouldn't have said that...)
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/30/2002 08:39 pm ||
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One of the dead was Tarek al-Dufashi, a member of the Hamas military wing involved in Saturday's attack in Adora in which four people were killed. Hope he was gut shot.
The others killed included Ahmed Bashir, a member of Force 17, and Rajeb Abu Shami, a member of Fatah's Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade. They are now gaily cavorting with flat-chested 12-year-olds. In lieu of flowers, donations should be made to your local explosives manufacturer.
According to Hamas, one of those arrested was involved in planning the attack in Adora and dispatching the terrorists. He should be busy "falling down the stairs" about now, and occasionally "walking into doors."
The IDF said Ghazi Abu Shama, a senior Tanzim commander, was killed and three others, Omar Fahim Nasser a-Din, Hatem Mahmud al-Gamal, and Mussa Ayoub Abu Turki, wounded when soldiers opened fire at a car in the city. The wounded were taken to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba. And from there to jug.
Security officials said Gamal is the assistant to Marwan Zalum, the head of the Fatah Tanzim in the city killed in an IAF missile attack last week. All three are involved in numerous terror attacks.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/30/2002 07:28 pm ||
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The IDF was attempting to prevent a repeat of the Church of Nativity standoff last night, after 17 Palestinian gunmen, three of whom were lightly wounded, sought sanctuary in Hebronâs Alia Hospital. The army said only one of them is on a wanted list. Hey, it worked in the church. Kinda.
Troops have surrounded the hospital and have prepared to raid it to capture the fugitives, senior IDF officers said. Kofi and Mary and Terje will pee themselves.
But the army would prefer the matter be resolved quietly, and efforts were under way to persuade the men to escape. I love honest cynicism. Isn't that ever so much more refreshing than the sniffery of the handwringers and the professionally Concerned®?
"One of the ways of terrorists is to grasp hold of the altar, such as a church or a hospital," said deputy divisional commander Col. (res.) Moshe Hagar. "Since most of the fugitives are in our hands already, we can allow ourselves not to turn this hospital into another Church of the Nativity. We will catch them sooner or later. We have their names." "We know where you live."
Division commander Brig.-Gen. Amos Ben-Avraham, also a medical doctor, entered the hospital and spoke with staff members, who told him they did not want the gunmen on the premises, said Hagar. But, y'know, they're the ones with the guns. What're they gonna do? Give 'em pills? Heyyyyy...!
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/30/2002 08:39 pm ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
