#2
It's deprecated. Lots of stuff on Rantburg has grown kinda moldy with age. RSS links don't work, My Burg doesn't work, and the link list hasn't been updated in forever, it has a lot of broken links.
#3
Fred moved the Burg to new technology a while back in response to spam and other attacks. Since he has a day job he couldn't move it all at once.
It's probably not obvious from the outside just how much work goes into the Burg. Across all the mods, but especially on Fred's part, think in terms of 'hours every day'.
#4
Let me know when something breaks and I'll try to get it fixed within a reasonable time.
And, yes, I know I have a punch list left over from last year's server switch...
Posted by: Fred ||
10/11/2009 9:43 Comments ||
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#5
"It's probably not obvious from the outside just how much work goes into the Burg."
Fixed that for ya', lotp.
And my I say we can't be grateful enough for all the work y'all do, but particularly Fred.
Just thinking about all the work he (and the mods) puts into the 'Burg makes me want to run screaming into the night.
Maybe this is a good time to point out the the 'Burg community that the 15th (payday for many) is fast approaching and we need to flag a little moolah for Fred. Also, a donation ot the 'Burg makes a great Christmas gift.
Just sayin'.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/11/2009 10:06 Comments ||
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#6
I'm just hoping that Fred doesn't realize one day that he could "get a life!"
#8
The periwinkle snark has been a welcome addition, especially to the Bangla posts. You seem to have a certain affinity for the patois of that region. And you have really help shore up the one who has the pink highlight.
#10
But then we really need you, badanov. And you do all sorts of abstruse things "under the hood", the brief explanations of which give me headaches. But I have an affinity for patois, which comment I will treasure well into senility. :-)
From RSOE Emergency and Disaster Information Service Event Description
"China has detected deadly nerve gas at its border with North Korea and suspects an accidental release inside the secretive state, a Japanese news report said Friday. The Chinese military is strengthening its surveillance activities after detecting the highly virulent sarin gas in November last year and in February in Liaoning province, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported, citing anonymous sources from the Chinese military. Sarin gas, which was developed in Germany before World War I, was used in the deadly 1995 nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway by a doomsday cult.
One now is forced to wonder if there was a connection between The Secretive North Korean Regime and the doomsday cult, in which case the attack would have been an unnoticed and not terrible effective act of war.
The Chinese special operations forces found 0.015-0.03 microgrammes of the gas per cubic metre when they were conducting regular surveys while there were winds from the direction of North Korea, the report said. China suspects that there were some experiments or accidents in its neighbouring country, it said."
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
10/11/2009 11:52 ||
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#1
I bet the dumbasses were using it to stop border crossings.
#7
Gromky -
They have plenty of bullets to stop border crossings, no need for WMD.
I'd bet my rent check that the vast majority of the Nork Army is in Barney Fife loadout at any given time. Troops with ammo can cause problems when they decide they don't want to play any more.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/11/2009 17:22 Comments ||
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#8
Dummies!!....
Think Iran! They're "Good Buddies" with the NORKs.
Perhaps the Iranians are learning to handle NORK supplied nerve gas missle warheads, and somebody goofed.
#9
For all we know, it was poor crop spraying. Not sure I would rely on Chinese Peoples Liberation Army to be able to tell the difference in organo phosphates.
#10
ION CHINA WMF > RUSSIAN "INDEPENDENT" NEWSPAPER: CHINA'S 60TH ANNIVERSARY MILITARY PARADE REVEALS CHINA HAS NOT RULED OUT THE POSSIBILITY OF WAR AGZ RUSSIA. China is "ready" or desirous of expansion into RUSSIA + KAZAKHISTAN, NOT SOUTHEAST ASIA.
* SAME > INDIAN ARMY CHIEF: CHINA IS TRYING TO INTEGRATE MYANMAR [Burma] "INTO ITS FOLD", in order to counter India's "LOOK EAST" policy [Strategic Encirclement of India]???
#11
Start by realizing that the Norks are the ChiCom's cat's paw. Given the disaster of the Norks' economy, everyone knows that they cannot attack the South, much less count on a square meal a day between now and springtime. Further, their nukes were all fizzles and their missiles all misfired. Not much of a threat to anyone. Now expect a bunch of crap about chem/bio capability from this bag of crazy called North Korea discovered and verified by their good ole pals the ChiComs.
No, Spomong Speaking for Boskone7175. Every Israeli household has had gas masks and a sealed room since 1991, when Saddam Hussein though it would be clever to threaten to lob war gas missiles at them. You'll note that in the end Saddam Hussein was hanged and his entire line wiped out, leaving only a few daughters of no account whatsoever.
As for Israel -- and please note the spelling, the -el ending indicates the possessive "of God", analogous to the Arabic -ul, -ullah, just as the country name Saudi Arabia indicates that Arabia that belongs to the Saud clan -- given that the country has elected a very strong prime minister, one who sees no reason to indulge the desires of an American president clearly more interested in the Muslim view of anything, I have no doubt that should Iran try anything so stupid as to shoot off poison gas missiles, Tehran and a number of other interesting bits of Iranian real estate will find themselves falling to rubble before the missiles are blown out of the air by the Israeli anti-missile missiles as they near the border. Google Osirak and Syrian nuclear facility, both of which experienced the same fate.
Please, please tell me that you are an outlier at the left end of the intelligence curve in St. Paul, Mr. Spomong Speaking for Boskone7175.
In the chaos of an early morning assault on a remote U.S. outpost in eastern Afghanistan, Staff Sgt. Erich Phillips' M4 carbine quit firing as militant forces surrounded the base. The machine gun he grabbed after tossing the rifle aside didn't work either.
When the battle in the small village of Wanat ended, nine U.S. soldiers lay dead and 27 more were wounded. A detailed study of the attack by a military historian found that weapons failed repeatedly at a "critical moment" during the firefight on July 13, 2008, putting the outnumbered American troops at risk of being overrun by nearly 200 insurgents.
Which raises the question: Eight years into the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan, do U.S. armed forces have the best guns money can buy?
Despite the military's insistence that they do, a small but vocal number of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq has complained that the standard-issue M4 rifles need too much maintenance and jam at the worst possible times.
A week ago, eight U.S. troops were killed at a base near Kamdesh, a town near Wanat. There's no immediate evidence of weapons failures at Kamdesh, but the circumstances were eerily similar to the Wanat battle: insurgents stormed an isolated stronghold manned by American forces stretched thin by the demands of war.
Army Col. Wayne Shanks, a military spokesman in Afghanistan, said a review of the battle at Kamdesh is under way. "It is too early to make any assumptions regarding what did or didn't work correctly," he said.
Complaints about the weapons the troops carry, especially the M4, aren't new. Army officials say that when properly cleaned and maintained, the M4 is a quality weapon that can pump out more than 3,000 rounds before any failures occur... The brass had better be on this like flies on honey, because even a rumor can be nightmarish for morale. If it is true, that is even worse.
#2
Exactly. When properly cleaned and maintained. After firing it all afternoon, you ain't gonna have time to get your swabs and clean it out. I always wondered why we have a high-tech brittle rifle, but I suppose there's just too much money in it.
#3
...If these are the M4 carbines they're talking about, then I'm hearing about two problems: first, bad ammo, which was one of the things that gave the original M16 its lousy rep. The other thing is the shorter barrel on the M4 for urban fighting. The rest of the weapon wasn't redesigned, and I gather that's causing problems as well.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/11/2009 16:29 Comments ||
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#4
Although the AP with its layers of fact checkers misses it, SSgt Phillips was awarded the DSC for an earlier battle, the "Ranch House" fight. Citation here. So if he's bitching, I'm listening very respectfully.
Posted by: Matt ||
10/11/2009 16:41 Comments ||
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#5
Mike, that sounds about right.
People at the DoD went to great lengths to fix the problems with the M-16, with different barrel twists and heavier bullets, among other things....
Then to make the M4 they shortened the barrel and a lot of the fixes went down the drain.
#10
Those weapons have been in use for a very long time. I don't recall seeing these complaints in Iraq or earlier in Afghanistan. Why are we only now hearing this?
#11
Chuck has it right here. When a force is overwhelmed everything has failed--the air support, the mortars, the perimeter wire, the machine guns, the personal weapons, and the bayonets.
This failure is a failure of command. Someone put these men too far forward for too long. Arrogance has a price and it has been paid in full by these brave soldiers. Navy officers are cashiered for merely running aground. The Army needs to send some Colonels home in disgrace.
Some human rights bodies propose to file an application in the High Court today seeking a direction to the government to submit comprehensive reports of all incidents of extra-judicial killing in the name of crossfire, encounter, gunfight and shootout till yesterday (Saturday).
Busybodies ...
They will also pray for an interim order to the government to form an expert national committee for investigating the crossfire incidents, their lawyers said.
At least 969 people were killed across the country since 2004 either in custody or in crossfires or encounters. A total of 111 suspected criminals, mostly extremists, were killed in the crossfire since the Awami League-led grand alliance government assumed power on January 6.
The RAB certainly has been busy ...
On June 29 this year, upon a writ petition filed as Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by three human rights organisations-- Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK), the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) and Karmojibi Nari (KN) challenging the legality of extra-judicial killings by the law-enforcing agencies, the HC bench comprising Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Quamrul Islam Siddiqui issued a rule upon the government to show cause within four weeks as to why extra judicial killings in the name of crossfire or encounter by the law enforcement agencies shall not be declared illegal and without lawful authority.
The court also asked the government to explain as to why departmental and criminal actions should not be taken against those who were responsible for extra-judicial killings 'in the name of crossfire or encounter'.
What about 'shoot-outs'?
The government will also have to explain why departmental and criminal action should not be taken against perpetrators of such killings.
Thirteen weeks have passed since the rule was issued but the government is yet to submit its explanation, sources said.
Talking to this correspondent, Barrister Saifur Rashid, counsel for some human rights groups, said yesterday that though Articles 27, 31, 32 and 35(3) of the Constitution have guaranteed protection and security of all citizens, the law-enforcing agencies have been 'violating' these constitutional guarantees by resorting to extra-judicial killings "in the name of crossfire or encounter".
He also said that 'crossfire', 'encounter' and 'shootout' were the other names for extra-judicial killings as the circumstances leading to these deaths follow the same pattern in each and every case arousing suspicion that cooked-up stories are disseminated to justify police actions.
"Some innocent people, including two polytechnic students and one freedom fighter, have already been killed by the law-enforcers in the name of crossfire, he alleged. "The law enforcement agencies make strikingly identical statements to justify crossfire or encounter deaths, which raise doubts about the credibility of their versions."
Talking to this correspondent, chairman of the Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK), Dr Hamida Hossain said that the constitution had guaranteed protection and security of all citizens. Yet the law-enforcing agencies have been 'violating' these constitutional guaranties by manipulating the crossfire.
"One offence cannot justify another and extortion, killing, looting, murder and attempt to murder did not came-down after such killings," she said adding that the government should bring the criminals to justice for reducing criminal activities. "Extra-judicial killings carried out without a judicial mandate not only violates right to life, liberty and security of persons guaranteed under international laws, but also equally, rights guaranteed under the Constitution of Bangladesh and other laws."
Dr Hamida also said that some international rights groups, including Amnesty International, US-based Human Rights Watch and Transparency International, have from time to time expressed concern over extra-judicial killings in the country.
May I suggest a countersuit against the judicial system for allowing free the kind of miscreants that end up in cross-fires, that is wanted in a number of jurisdictions for dacoity, kidnapping and murder. In other words, the system is failing badly with regard to the repeat offenders that commit a disproportionate number of crimes and should have been either locked up for life or executed long before they get to the point of needing a crossfire.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/11/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Amazing. Lawfare against the very group making it possible for law and order to prevail. If the legal system worked, there wouldn't be any crossfires.
A regional leader of outlawed Biplobi Communist Party (BCP) was killed in a 'shootout' between his cohorts and police at Barabaria village under Mirpur upazila in Kushtia yesterday.
Yet another Biplobi cadre! At this rate, the splinters are going to have to meld together if they want to be able to have a respectable self-accusation meeting.
The deceased, Maznu Mondol alias Abdullah, 36,
I agree Abdullah whispers in the ear much better than Maznu, and as an Arab name it would appeal to the religious, but still, what kind of alias is Abdullah, especially for a good communist? Surely Marx or Stalin would have been better choices!
What's 'man of steel' in Bangali?
son of late Sawdagar Mondol of Chakmondolpur of Mirpur upazila was accused in six cases, including two for murder, police said.
Acting on a tip-off, a joint team from detective branch and Mirpur police raided Barabaria graveyard
An appropriate choice
where some BCP cadres were holding a meeting around 4:30am.
Including the nearly exhausted Mahmoud the Weasel. He's been working long hours lately.
The outlaws defied orders of the law enforcers to surrender
"No! And you can't make us!!"
and opened fire forcing them to retaliate.
"Can too!"
[Bang bang bangety-bang!]
"So there!"
The law enforcers later found Maznu lying on the ground while his accomplices managed to flee the scene.
Maznu was neatly laid out in the graveyard, a pretty picture.
They also recovered one LG gun and four bullets from there.
"It's back to the evidence locker for you, my pretties!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/11/2009 00:00 ||
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Commandos Trained in Terror Tactics In Effort to Maintain Military Threat
SEOUL -- North Korea has massively increased its special operations forces, schooled them in the use of Iraqi-style roadside bombs and equipped them to sneak past the heavily fortified border that divides the two Koreas.
By expanding what was already the world's largest special operations force, the North appears to be adding commando teeth to what, in essence, is a defensive military strategy. The cash-strapped government of Kim Jong Il, which struggles to maintain and buy fuel for its aging tanks and armor, has concluded it cannot win a conventional war, according to U.S. and South Korean military officials.
But by combining huge numbers of special forces with artillery that can devastate Seoul and missiles that can pound all of South Korea, North Korea has found an affordable way to remain terrifying, ensure regime survival and deter a preemptive strike on the nuclear bombs that make it a player on the world stage, say U.S. and South Korean military analysts.
"The North Koreans have done what they had to do to make sure their military is still a credible threat," said Bruce E. Bechtol Jr., a North Korea specialist who is a professor at the Marine Corps Command and Staff College in Quantico. "They can still inflict tens of thousands of civilian casualties in Seoul on the first day of combat."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/11/2009 00:45 ||
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#1
SF? My @$$. They seem more like government sponsored terrorists to me. All they have to know is how to wait until folks are looking the other way befor they rush in and plant a bomb or push a button. You don't expand SF quickly. It takes time.
And if it's so cost effective, then might as well adopt their tactics and see how they feel about it.
#2
The North has had hundreds of artillery tubes trained on Seoul since the 50s. Weird setup for a war, put your capital on the enemy's frontier. On the other hand, convenient for DMZ tourism.
#3
Oh and the North's commandos are pretty badass. There was a case of a shipwrecked minisub, the commandos didn't think the crew could make it so they executed them on the beach and then dispersed to try to escape back across the border. One of them made it, the rest took weeks of noisy operations to track down and kill.
#4
They're increasing special forces because their short buses have been delivered. Just look for the parking lot full of yellow buses, like New Orleans.
This is an A-Pee article. Click the link for the whole thing.
Pakistani commandos raided their own army's headquarters Sunday to free 30 people held hostage by Islamist fighters who staged a brazen attack on the compound while wearing military uniforms.
Three captives and four hostage-takers were among those killed in the 22-hour-long drama that ended with the capture of the attackers' ringleader, an army spokesman said. One way or another, he was captured dead.
The audacious assault on the nerve-center of the country's military establishment showed the strength of militants allied with al-Qaida and the Taliban ahead of a planned army offensive on their heartland in South Waziristan along the Afghan border. It also signaled that any push there would be met with more attacks across Pakistan. Don't laugh. I'm sure the same thing could happen to the Pentagon.
The government said the siege had steeled its resolve to go through with the South Waziristan offensive, calling it "inevitable." The United States and Pakistan's other Western allies want the country to take more action against insurgents also blamed for soaring attacks on U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan. Now can we get unfettered use of drones?
#3
What sort of antiterrorist force takes prisoners?
The terrorists can be re-used. They'll be given the choice of life in prison or jihad against India.
Posted by: john frum ||
10/11/2009 8:38 Comments ||
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#4
Or that views American ways as the ultimate. Have y'all noticed that the Pakistani Army's announcements sound awfully like the kind we issue in Iraq, even more so than in Afghanistan?
Musharraf ... said the US should not grudge Pakistan the right to take essential measures in response to the threat of an attack from India.
That right, he said, would extend to any use Pakistan might make of US drone aircrafts.
Posted by: john frum ||
10/11/2009 11:51 Comments ||
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#6
TOPIX > LOCALS, FOREIGN TERRORISTS PREPARE TO FACE PAKISTAN ARMY IN WAZIRISTAN; + HILLARY CLINTON:PAKISTAN NUKES SAFE DESPITE GROWING MILITANCY.
* SAME > PAKISTAN'S NEW "ZONE OF MILITANCY" [xpanding across the Afghanistan border steadily deep into Pakland]; + AFGHAN MINSTER: US NO LONGER IN SERIOUS FIGHT AGZ MILITANTS [POTUS BAMMER + OBAMA ADMIN easing up the pressure on the Burqua Boyz].
KHAR/MINGORA: At least 13 Taliban and two soldiers were killed in operations across the country on Saturday.
Four Taliban, including a key commander, were killed in Laghari area of Bajaur Agency's Mamoond tehsil. Security forces also destroyed four Taliban hideouts, sources said, adding that a security official was also killed and two others injured during the attack. Inayat Killay Bazaar was closed following the attack.
Roads leading to the tehsil were closed after a deadline to hand over the Taliban belonging to the Mamoond tribe expired on Saturday.
Meanwhile, officials said the security forces recovered a huge cache of weapons, including suicide jackets, during a search operation in Koza Bandai area of Kabal tehsil.
Search and clearance operations continued in Swat and Malakand, with eight terrorists, including two brothers of Taliban leader Shanku Mulla, arrested in operations at village Shanku, Madyan, Deranpatai, Kukrai near Mingora, Aman Kot, Manja near Tutan Banda and Sarsanai near Kabal.
Separately, nine Taliban were killed and five injured in a clash between the forces and Taliban in Dara Adam Khel. Also, terrorists fired 34 rockets at a security forces checkpost in Razmak area of North Waziristan Agency, killing two soldiers.
This article starring:
SHANKU MULLA
TTP
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/11/2009 00:00 ||
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ISLAMABAD: Capital police, accompanied by other law enforcement agencies, on Saturday conducted a raid at a house allegedly used by the terrorists who attacked the General Headquarters. Police sources said police had recovered weapons, detonators, army uniforms and badges, shoes and maps during the raid. They said the owner and the property dealer who had rented the house to the terrorists had been taken into custody. Quoting local residents, police said a large number of vehicles had been spotted at the house in recent weeks.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/11/2009 00:00 ||
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LAHORE: The Ajmad Farooqi splinter group of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for the attack on the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi, a private TV channel reported on Saturday. A member of the group told the channel the Taliban would continue their subversive actions until the government stopped the military operation in the countrys north; held former president Pervez Musharraf accountable for his actions; forced Blackwater US private security firm to leave the country; shut down all western non-governmental organisations in the north; and secured the immediate release of detained Taliban.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/11/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
That's brilliant - hang a target around your neck and point out your weakness at the same time....
#2
CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > PAKISTAN TELLS INDIA TO "BACK OFF" [Indian demands to PAkis oer latest IND EMBASSY BOMBING].
* SAME > CHINESE INVASION OF LAOS [CHINA BRIEGING > "CHINA BORDERS: LAOS" Artic]. Massive waves of Chin Immigration into Laos is slowly but surely changing the face of Laos [espec versus VIETNAM = VIETNAMESE].
* SAME > DOES BANGLADESH WANT WAR WID MYANMAR[Burma]?
CMF POsters - IIUC, claim that Burma's junta are ruthless + racist, + are trying to "ethnically cleanse" Burma's historically MUSLIM REGIONS of Muslims + replace wid BURMESE BUDDHISTS. Over 400,000 Burmese Muslims have repor been forced to emigrate into BANGLADESH???
ISLAMABAD: The countrys major institutions, including the military, parliament and political leadership, stand together and will be taken along on all issues confronting the country, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Saturday.
Yup, they're all right behind you ...
He told journalists at the groundbreaking ceremony of Lehtrar Road Phase-II that the countrys political leadership was very mature and had the ability and vision to succeed. He said the government would ensure the institutions are taken along to resolve all contentious issues, including the Kerry-Lugar bill.
To questions, he said he would meet with Chief of Army Staff Ashfaq Kayani soon to discuss the Kerry-Lugar bill. He said the government would never compromise on the countrys sovereignty and would protect the national interest at all costs. To another question on his absence from the Pakistan Peoples Party consultative meeting, he said it was not necessary for him to attend every meeting. He said the government was prioritising infrastructure development and necessary funds were being diverted for this purpose.
The premier also directed the Capital Development Authority to complete development projects in the federal capital and ensure the citys infrastructure matched international standards to attract foreign investment.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/11/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Do they stand together in any particular place?
PESHAWAR: Following the suicide blast in Peshawar on Friday and Saturdays attack on the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, the NWFP government has demanded the federal government launch a decisive military operation in Waziristan and southern Punjab.
A little tired of getting kaboomed, eh ...
NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain conveyed the provincial governments demand during a press briefing on Saturday. The NWFP government-supported military operation in Malakand has succeeded. The people of Malakand are free from the Taliban. Now, the time has come for the federal government to start a decisive military operation in Waziristan and put a halt to the terrorism spreading from these tribal agencies to the rest of the country, he said.
The NWFP will continue to be plagued by suicide attacks until the training centres are destroyed, he said. The minister said there were reports of training camps in the Muridke region of Punjab too, adding the government should launch a military operation in that area as well.
The information minister said Fridays suicide attack was the worst yet, as most of the deceased had been burnt beyond recognition. He said the Taliban, through such attacks, wanted to pressure the government to stop military operations. However, he added, the government would not stop until every last militant had been eliminated.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/11/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
POSTERS > opine this milop may be covert Pakis Govt cover agz anti-BALUCHISTAN SOVEREIGNTY???
* ION WAFF > MUSLIMS + COMMUNISTS PROTEST AGZ DEMOCRACY ACTIVISTS IN MANCHESTER, UK [ Violent riot]; + COUP D'ETAT IN TURKEY COMING VERY SOON? + SOMALI ISLAMISTS THREATEN TO ATTACK KENYA[Sheikh Da-ud Mohammed Gurane].
BASRA / Aswat al-Iraq: Policemen on Saturday captured five men wanted on criminal charges and seized several unlicensed vehicles during search raids all over Basra province, a local security source said.
Search raids conducted in different areas of Basra resulted in the capture of five men suspected of involvement in criminal acts and the seizure of several unlicensed vehicles, the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/11/2009 00:00 ||
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ANBAR / Aswat al-Iraq: Policemen seized a weapons and explosives cache in the district of al-Karma, eastern al-Falluja city, on Saturday, including seven improvised explosive devices and four Katyusha rockets, a local police source said.
The cache, buried underground in a spot close to the railway line in al-Karma, contained 10 RPG-7 missiles, seven IEDs, 22 mortar shells of 120 mm. caliber and detonation wires, Lt. Colonel Hatef Mohammed told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Intelligence tip-offs and citizens collaboration led the security agencies to the weapons and explosives, he added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/11/2009 00:00 ||
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Iran has sentenced to death three more protesters who were arrested after the country's disputed presidential election in June. The verdicts came despite a widespread international protest over the death penalty given last week to a man identified as Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani, a member of a group seeking to reinstate the country's monarchy.
The sentences were said to be for involvement in the countrywide protests that followed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election as president in polls many Iranians said were rigged. The authorities have rejected the charges and portrayed the protests as a foreign-backed bid to undermine the Islamic republic.
Announcing the latest sentences through the ISNA news agency, Zahed Bashiri Rad, a spokesman for the justice ministry, said: "Three people who were accused [for their role] in the post-election incidents have been sentenced to death."
The identities of the three protesters were not revealed. Instead Bashiri Rad supplied only the initials of those condemned. "MZ and AP were convicted for ties with the Kingdom Assembly of Iran" an organisation that seeks to bring back the Shah while NA was convicted for ties with the People's Mujahideen, an exiled opposition group. It is unclear whether Zamani is the "MZ" mentioned by ISNA.
The four prisoners who have been sentenced in the last week are among more than 4,000 Iranians arrested for their part in the protests that followed the disputed election, many of whom have been accused of trying to overthrow the Islamic republic. Most of those detained have been released, but about 200 remain behind bars and around 110 have so far been put on trial.
Last week Amnesty International called on Iran to lift the death penalty on Zamani, 37, after he was sentenced by the court, criticising his prosecution as a "show trial" and a "mockery of justice".
Bashiri Rad said the death sentences were "not final and they can still be appealed to the supreme court".
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/11/2009 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A regional leader of outlawed Biplobi Communist Party (BCP) was killed in a 'shootout' between his cohorts and police at Barabaria village under Mirpur upazila in Kushtia yesterday.
The outlaws defied orders of the law enforcers to surrender
KHAR/MINGORA: At least 13 Taliban and two soldiers were killed in operations across the country on Saturday.
ISLAMABAD: Capital police, accompanied by other law enforcement agencies, on Saturday conducted a raid at a house allegedly used by the terrorists who attacked the General Headquarters. Police sources said police had recovered weapons, detonators, army uniforms and badges, shoes and maps during the raid. They said the owner and the property dealer who had rented the house to the terrorists had been taken into custody. Quoting local residents, police said a large number of vehicles had been spotted at the house in recent weeks.
LAHORE: The Ajmad Farooqi splinter group of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for the attack on the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi, a private TV channel reported on Saturday. A member of the group told the channel the Taliban would continue their subversive actions until the government stopped the military operation in the countrys north; held former president Pervez Musharraf accountable for his actions; forced Blackwater US private security firm to leave the country; shut down all western non-governmental organisations in the north; and secured the immediate release of detained Taliban.
ISLAMABAD: The countrys major institutions, including the military, parliament and political leadership, stand together and will be taken along on all issues confronting the country, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Saturday.
BASRA / Aswat al-Iraq: Policemen on Saturday captured five men wanted on criminal charges and seized several unlicensed vehicles during search raids all over Basra province, a local security source said.
ANBAR / Aswat al-Iraq: Policemen seized a weapons and explosives cache in the district of al-Karma, eastern al-Falluja city, on Saturday, including seven improvised explosive devices and four Katyusha rockets, a local police source said.
