Posted by: Fred ||
01/21/2011 00:08 ||
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#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Audrey Dalton aka Hester Halyard in "The Girls of Pleasure Island" aka Annette Sturges in "Titanic (1953 film)" aka Maire McRoarty in "This Other Eden" (age 77)
[Tolo News] Ten Taliban faceless myrmidons renounced violence and joined government in northern Kunduz province, senior provincial officials said on Thursday.
The Taliban fighters were operating against Afghan and foreign security forces under Mullah Naeem in once-peaceful Kunduz province, officials said.
Afghan cops along with their western partners have stepped up a series of counter-insurgency operations in restive parts of the country to further increase the pressure on the Taliban.
This year much of security focus will be shifted to northern Afghanistan, where Taliban are trying to increase influence.
Senior security officials in the north appeared to be optimistic about security progress in the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/21/2011 00:00 ||
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[Tolo News] In a joint operation carried out by Afghan and Nato forces in Zabul province on Wednesday night, local officials said.
The operation was launched yesterday in Arghandab district of Zabul in which nine bully boyz were killed and five others were jugged, Abdul Malik Wahidi, told TOLOnews.
There were no Afghan, foreign and civilian casualties in the operation, he added.
Taliban have not yet commented about the operation.
Insecurity has worried people in Daichopan, Arghandab and Shamalzai districts in the province where snuffies often use Improvised Explosive Devices to target Afghan and foreign forces in the province.
Khak-e-Afghan is a district that has been under Taliban control for the last 4 years, Zabul residents told TOLOnews news hound.
Local officials said they will soon launch military operations in some villages of the province.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/21/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] An Italian soldier who was killed this week in western Afghanistan was shot by an Afghan soldier, not by faceless myrmidons as originally reported, Nato said Thursday.
Italy's defense minister said at the time that one Italian soldier was shot to death and another maimed Tuesday in Bala Murghab district of Badghis province. Nato called the incident an "insurgent attack."
On Thursday, the coalition issued a new statement correcting the account, saying that the two soldiers were cleaning their weapons at a combat outpost when an Afghan soldier approached them with an M16 rifle and asked to use their equipment to clean his gun.
The Italians saw that the Afghan soldier's rifle was loaded and asked him to unload it, at which point the Afghan soldier shot the two Italians and beat feet from the base, Nato said.
Such turncoat shootings are uncommon among the Afghan forces fighting alongside coalition troops, but they have appeared to increase over the past year as both Nato and Afghan forces work more closely together.
And as there are more of each altogether.
In some cases, such shootings have been a result of arguments that turned violent; in others, the Taliban has claimed that Afghan shooters were sleeper agents.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/21/2011 00:00 ||
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South Korean special forces have retaken the Korean-owned, Maltese-flag product tanker MV Samho Jewelry, which had been hijacked January 15 when 350 nautical miles southeast of the port of Muscat, Oman.
Eight pirates were killed and five were taken prisoner in the operation which was authorized by Korea's President Lee Myung-bak. All 21 members of the crew, including eight Korean citizens, were freed. The ship's Korean captain received a gunshot wound that is reported to be non life threatening. Three South Korean soldiers suffered minor injuries and were sent to a hospital in Oman.
The Cheonghae Unit is a Republic of Korea Navy anti-piracy unit operating as part of Combined Task Force 151
The South Korean destroyer Choi Young has been pursuing the 11,500-ton Samho Jewelry since early this week.
According to Korean media reports, today's operation started at 4:58 a.m. (local time) with Navy SEALs aboard three boats closing in on the Samho Jewelry. The operation was launched when intelligence was received that a "mother ship" was headed from Somalia with pirate reinforcements.
The operation, which took place 1,300 kilometers off northeast Somalia, lasted about five hours. Nice work...
#1
"Three of our soldiers suffered light scratches on their bodies as they were fired upon by pirates on Tuesday," he added. "Our Lynx helicopter immediately returned fire and several pirates fell into the waters. We believe they are dead."
They don't seem too concerned about checking that out.
Well, sharks gotta eat too...
#2
During the Vietnam War the South Koreans were known for killing anything and everything that interfered with pacifying their AO.
Nice to see they haven't forgotten.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
01/21/2011 12:20 Comments ||
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#3
More from the Korea Times...
The unprecedented rescue operation, which had been kept top secret since it started early this week, took place in high seas about 1,300 kilometers off northeast Somalia.
On Tuesday, the Cheonghae unit carried out its first rescue mission, but had to retreat after three South Korean Special Forces troops were wounded in a gun battle, a spokesman at the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.None of the three, identified as a lieutenant commander, a senior chief petty officer and a petty officer 1st class, had life threatening injuries but they were taken to a hospital in Oman, JCS spokesman Lee Bung-woo said.
He said the Cheonghae unit launched the operation after some pirates armed with AK-47 rifles left the Samho Jewelry in a small boat to hijack a Mongolian freighter. The Cheonghae units Lynx helicopter attacked the boat, killing all of the pirates onboard.
"Three of our soldiers suffered superficial injuries as they were fired upon by pirates Tuesday," Lee said. "Our Lynx helicopter immediately returned fire and several pirates fell into the waters. We believe they are dead."
Since Tuesday, a standoff between the South Korean destroyer and the Somali pirates had continued. An Omani Navy ship arrived at the scene of the confrontation to support the rescue operation.
#4
As far as timing goes, irritating SKor right now would seem to be an incredibly bad idea. In the best of times ROK soldiers are temperamental. Right now they are positively itching for some knock down drag out.
[Arab News] South Sudanese voted overwhelmingly to declare independence from the north in a referendum, according to officials in seven out of the region's ten states polled by Rooters Wednesday.
The poll is in line with widely held expectations of the result of last week's plebiscite, the climax of a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of north-south civil war. Official results are not expected until early February.
Referendum officials reported large votes in favor of independence -- some releasing early figures, some saying trends pointed to support of more than 90 percent -- in the southern states of Central Equatoria, Unity, Lakes, Jonglei, Warrap, Western Bahr Al-Ghazal and Eastern Equatoria.
"From the figures we have so far the vote is overwhelmingly for independence ... more than 90 percent across the board," said Alfred Sebit Lokuji, chairman for the referendum committee covering Central Equatoria state, a territory that includes the southern capital Juba.
A total of 153,839 people voted for independence in Western Bahr Al-Ghazal state, against 7,237 for continued unity with the north, that state's committee chairman Wol Madut Chan said.
Western Bahr Al-Ghazal lies on the south's border with the north, neighboring the strife-torn Darfur region. Its figures amounted to a 95 percent vote for separation, once spoilt and unmarked ballots were counted for.
Referendum officials in Jonglei and Eastern Equatoria states said they were heading toward a 99 percent vote for separation.
Michael Moyil Chol, the chair of the referendum committee for oil-producing Unity state, which also borders the north, said: "So far it looks like more than 80 percent are in favor of independence."
Officials did not release figures or give any indications in the states of Western Equatoria and Upper Nile while no one immediately answered calls in Northern Bahr Al-Ghazal.
Referendum officials have reported large votes for independence among groups of southerners voting in Egypt, Kenya and Ethiopia.
Southern leaders have urged people from the oil-producing region not to hold premature celebrations and to wait for the final figures.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/21/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
That is problematic because Saudi Arabia transfers huge petrodollar funds to the northern Arabs. FYI: 100% of Saudis refer to Africans as: "abds" meaning "slaves." And obama bowed to his saudi masters.
Always assuming your definition of 'injustice' includes infidels, of course...
That they exist is an injustice, you mean?
[Arab News] Soddy Arabia has called for a unified stand from all Arab and Islamic countries on regional and international issues.
That'll work. Really, it will. It always has in the past, after all.
"The member states should voice a uniform opinion on regional and international matters to demonstrate the solidarity of Arab nations," Shoura Council Chairman Abdullah Al-Asheikh said during an extraordinary session of the parliamentary union of Islamic countries that concluded in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
"Our nations should strive to wipe out injustice, oppression and develop a mechanism to get rid of destitution and poverty and spread the message of tolerance advocated by the religion of Islam.
"We must preen ourselves to face the challenges of the Islamic world and march forward to achieve the Arab peace initiative to safeguard our interests, pristine culture and heritage."
Preening and marching? That should prove amusing for the rest of us, and profitable for the bone setters. Thank goodness at least the culture is pristine, with no need for additional grooming with beaks.
The meeting was presided over by the speaker of the UAE's Federal National Council (FNC) Abdul Aziz Al-Ghurair.
The Shoura chairman also thanked all the heads of the Islamic countries who offered prayers and wished King of the Arabians, Sheikh of the Burning Sands, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to get well soon.
"We deem it an honor to have received this goodwill from heads of states and speakers of parliaments for our great leader, whose wise leadership had gained global fame."
Like Dr. Phil?
The chairman also said the Kingdom is deeply concerned regarding the issue of Jerusalem, claiming Israelis were trying to Judaize the holy city.
Fair's fair -- after 1948 Jordan summarily de-Judaized it.
"The Kingdom has defended Jerusalem on all occasions and carried the concerns of its people to all international forums. We stand for the political, legitimate and religious rights of the Paleostinian people."
For whom the Kingdom fulfilled its obligations by expressing support and pledging money. Actually paying those pledges is not actually necessary, which is why the UN only got about half of what was pledged last year.
Al-Asheikh expressed concern on Israeli refusal to accede to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the survival of its nuclear programs outside international control, which posed a serious threat to the security and stability of the region.
Standard boilerplate.
"Israel must abandon its obfuscations on nuclear weapons to move toward a true nuclear settlement in the Middle East," Al-Asheikh said.
More boilerplate.
He added that use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in accordance with the guidelines and supervision of the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency should be allowed in Iran and other countries of the region.
Whatever happened to Egypt's nuclear program, by the way? Last I heard, Dr. El-Baradei abandoned it for the heady life at the U.N.
He also suggested that the issue of the three islands in the Arabian Gulf, including greater Tunb, lesser Tunb, and Abu Musa, be settled peacefully according to international regulations, and if necessary, by the International Court of Justice.
A 24-article declaration at the end of the conference contained recommendations covering political, economic, social, cultural and legal issues, as well as human rights ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you... , the environment, and women's rights.
The declaration also indicates positions of the Organization of the Islamic Conference's member states on regional and international issues, including Paleostine, Syria's Golan Heights, Leb, Iraq, Tunisia, Sudan, Somalia, Cyprus, Jammu and Kashmire, Azerbaijan, peaceful uses of nuclear technology, making the Middle East a region free of weapons of mass destruction and combating terrorism.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/21/2011 00:00 ||
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This commentary is so valuable, Fred. Thanks again!
A South Korean navy destroyer and Lynx helicopters fired warning shots as elite forces, in pre-dawn darkness, silently approached the deck of the freighter Samho Jewelry, hijacked by Somali pirates Saturday, according to the Yonhap news agency.
The pirates fired with their AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades. But, but ... that's against the rules!
The South Koreans shot back. And fighting back's gotta be against the rules, too!
When it was all over, the South Koreans rescued 21 sailors, killed eight pirates and captured five others, said Lt. Gen. Lee Sung-ho, a spokesman for South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff. Now there's going to be an international outcry!
The captain of the 11,500-ton ship was shot in the stomach during the rescue but no other crew member was hurt. I feel so sorry for the rules.
[Dawn] The United States on Thursday placed an alleged top lieutenant in the Pak Taliban movement, Qari Hussain, on a terrorism blacklist.
"Training camps organized by Hussain are notorious for recruiting and training men of all ages as jacket wallahs, and Hussain has gained particular notoriety for his heavy recruitment of children," the State Department said.
The move blocks "all property subject to US jurisdiction in which Hussain has an interest," and prohibits "all transactions by US persons with Hussain," the statement added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/21/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
they need too add a few politicians and ISI members too the list
Posted by: chris ||
01/21/2011 19:52 Comments ||
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[Dawn] A Pak court Thursday rejected a challenge to the detention of a bodyguard who confessed to killing a governor in the name of religion, officials said.
The petition demanding the release of Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, who bumped off governor of the Punjab province Salman Taseer on January 4, was "dismissed after the preliminary hearing," Islamabad High Court assistant registrar Umar Farooq told AFP.
"Wait a week and then get back to us. The damned infidels will be distracted by then!"
Police say Qadri who was the outspoken politician's bodyguard, has admitted killing his boss because the governor wanted to reform the country's blasphemy laws.
Lawyer Malik Zafar Awan, who filed the petition, told AFP that he had demanded Qadri be released and his trial by an anti-terrorism court be stopped.
Taseer's killing has met with mixed reactions in Pakistain, with many from the country's conservative religious quarter praising the gunman for acting to silence the outspoken moderate politician.
Rallies have been held in honour of Qadri, who was showered with petals at court after he admitted to shooting killing Taseer outside an Islamabad coffee shop. Qadri has said he killed the governor because he sought to amend a law used to sentence a Christian woman, Aasia Bibi, to death for blasphemy.
"I told the court that to protect and safeguard the prestige and honour of the Prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him, is the first and foremost duty of every Mohammedan wherever he is and to perform such a duty is not an offence," Awan said.
"Qadri's detention is therefore illegal."Judge Malik Mohammad Anwar Kansi rejected the petition and observed "there is a law against blasphemy and there are courts to deal with such cases," court official Farooq said.
"No one can be allowed to take law into his own hands," the judge had said.
Awan noted that his petition had been dismissed "but I have my right to appeal."
Human rights activists say the law against defaming the prophet is often used to settle petty disputes, but in the face of huge public support for the legislation, the government has said it has no plans to change it.
The next hearing in Qadri's case is scheduled for January 24.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/21/2011 00:00 ||
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[Arab News] A pair of car booms blasted through security checkpoints ringing the Iraqi holy city of Karbala Thursday and killed at least 51 people, mostly Shiite pilgrims headed to observe yearly religious rituals.
It was the latest in a wave of attacks in recent days, as Death Eaters test Iraqi security forces ahead of the planned US withdrawal at the end of the year.
President Obama has already extended the date by which American troops will leave Afghanistan. What odds he does the same for Iraq?
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Authorities estimated as many as 183 people were maimed in the near-simultaneous blasts set off by jacket wallahs driving cars packed with explosives.
Ali Khamas, a pilgrim from the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City in Storied Baghdad, said he saw a car speeding toward one of the checkpoints, its driver refusing to stop despite warnings screamed by Iraqi soldiers.
"He sped up and blew up his car near the checkpoint," said Khamas, a 42-year-old truck driver. "After the kaboom, people started to run in all directions, while maimed people on the ground were screaming for help. I saw several dead bodies on the ground." Still, Khamas said, the pilgrims continued to head to Karbala: "It will not deter us from continuing our march to the holy shrine ... even if the kabooms increase." Crowds of pilgrims headed to a Karbala hospital to donate blood for the maimed. Authorities said 11 soldiers and coppers were among the dead, the rest were pilgrims.
Iraqi security officials and hospital staff who gave details on the attacks and casualty figures all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information.
The series of attacks this week shattered a relative calm since the formation last month of a new government under Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, a Shiite whose family comes from the Karbala area.
The attacks point to the resiliency of the Sunni Death Eaters and to the inability of the Shiite-dominated security forces to prevent major assaults, even though the level of violence is far lower than at the height of the war three years ago.
As long as Iraq's security forces are unable to stop such attacks, there is a risk that faceless myrmidons could re-ignite sectarian violence and destabilize the country as the American military presence fades.
Attacks against Shiite pilgrims have been a tactic of Sunni faceless myrmidons since the early years of the Iraq conflict. Shiite politicians encouraged huge turnouts at religious celebrations to dramatize the power of the Shiite majority after the fall of the Sunni-dominated regime of Saddam Hussein.
"The enemies always develop their tactics and improvise new plans to make use of any security breach," said Karbala provincial councilman Shadhan Al-Aboudi.
He blamed the blasts on Al-Qaeda and Saddam loyalists: "They have apparently found a gap today in the security measures and they carried out an evil act against innocent believers who were practicing religious rituals." The bombings were the latest in a three-day barrage of attacks across Iraq that have killed more than 120 people since Tuesday.
Earlier Thursday, a jacket wallah rammed his explosives-packed car into the front gate of a police headquarters in the eastern Iraqi city of Baqouba, killing three. Another, earlier strike on Shiite pilgrims walking to Karbala from Storied Baghdad killed one and maimed 10 of them.
A day earlier, on Wednesday, another jacket wallah killed seven people after he blew up the ambulance he waqouba.
And on Tuesday, 65 people died when a jacket wallah set off his explosives-packed vest in a crowd of police recruits in Saddam Hussein's northern hometown of Tikrit.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/21/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] At least 50 people died in a spate of kabooms across Iraq on Thursday, including 45 in twin suicide car booms that rocked the holy city of Karbala, the third major attack in as many days.
The attacks mostly targeted pilgrims marking the Shiite Mohammedan mourning day of Arbaeen, and were the latest in a series of bombings that have shattered a relative calm in Iraq following the formation of a new government last month.
In Karbala, home to the shrines to two revered Shiite Mohammedan imams, two jacket wallahs detonated vehicles packed with explosives 20 minutes apart, the head of Karbala provincial council Mohammed Hamid al-Moussawi said.
The first attack struck at Karbala's northern outskirts at around 3:00 pm (1200 GMT), Moussawi said, with the second kaboom occurring at around 3:20 pm some 15 kilometers (nine miles) south of the city.
"At least 45 people, including women and kiddies, have been killed and 150 have been maimed," he said.
Earlier on Thursday, a roadside kaboom detonated among a crowd of Shiite pilgrims at the Al-Rasheed vegetable market in southern Storied Baghdad, killing one and wounding nine, while another such blast in a central Iraqi town killed one and injured three, an interior ministry official said.
The groups of pilgrims were walking to Karbala, 110 kilometers south of the capital, as part of ceremonies to commemorate Arbaeen, which marks 40 days since the anniversary of the death of the 7th century Imam Hussein, who is revered among Shiite Mohammedans.
More than a million pilgrims are expected to visit Karbala in the coming days to commemorate Arbaeen, set to climax on Tuesday.
Also on Thursday, a jacket wallah blew up an explosives-filled car at a police headquarters in the central city of Baquba, killing two coppers and a female journalist in the third attack on Iraqi security forces in three days.
The jacket wallah detonated his payload at around 10:00 am (0700 GMT), just 200 meters from the site of a large suicide car boom against another security agency Wednesday morning.
"I heard a massive blast and suddenly, there was a rain of shrapnel falling from the sky," said Murtada Aiseh, a 47-year-old local government employee who was in a nearby market with his wife and suffered head injuries.
"I woke up in the hospital and found my wife near my bed, she suffered injuries to her right hand."
The attack left three dead -- two guards for the headquarters and the journalist -- and 30 maimed, according to Ahmed Alwan, a doctor at Baquba hospital.
An interior ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... , confirmed the toll.
The journalist, Wejdan Assad al-Juburi, had been a news hound for the Iraq al-Mustaqal (Independent Iraq) newspaper.
Alwan added that among the maimed were seven coppers, including a captain, two women and a young child.
Diyala was an al-Qaeda stronghold as recently as 2008. While violence has dropped off dramatically both in Diyala and nationwide since then, the province remains one of Iraq's least secure.
Thursday's violence comes a day after attacks in Diyala killed 16 people, including 14 from a suicide kaboom at the offices of the agency responsible for securing government buildings.
That came a day after a suicide bomb at a police recruitment center in the central city of Tikrit killed 50, the deadliest single attack to hit Iraq in more than two months.
The attacks come amid a spike in violence in Iraq.
The Tikrit blast was the first major strike since Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki named a new cabinet on December 21, ending nine months of stalemate after the March 7 parliamentary elections.
He has yet to name an interior, defense or national security minister, however, leaving him temporarily in charge of Iraq's entire security apparatus.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/21/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
This rotten villainy has been going on in southern Thailand for some time now, but it seems to fly under the media radar. Maybe the violence isn't sexy enough, or like Mexico, it doesn't fit The Narrative.
MANILA, Philippines - The military foiled a plot to free a ranking communist rebel leader at the Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio after arresting the leader's aide who had slipped inside the headquarters Tuesday night.
Army spokesman Col. Antonio Parlade said Romulo Luna was apprehended around 6:15 p.m. by two Army MPs about 15 meters from the sentry of the camps Gate 2. Sentry guards on duty said they ignored Luna because they thought he was mentally ill. An innovative, though ultimately unsuccessful method of infiltration.
Parlade said Luna is a security escort of Tirso Alcantara, alias Ka Bart, who was arrested by government forces last Jan. 4 in Lucena City along with an associate.
Luna is also a member of the Special Partisan Unit, the New People Armys liquidation wing. Funny how communist groups always have liquidation wings.
When stopped and asked for his identification by the military police, he tried to run inside the camp, which prompted the military police to arrest him, said Parlade, adding Luna had a hand grenade inside his pocket. Didn't use it? Wuss.
Parlade said two unidentified men, believed to be companions of Luna, stayed outside the gate and fled when Luna was accosted.
He added that 5 members of the "Morong 43" positively identified Luna as an NPA member. According to them, Luna is known to be the security escort of Ka Bart and a member of the SPARU unit in Southern Tagalog Regional Party Committee, said Parlade.
Luna was turned over to the Taguig police station for filing of charges of trespassing, direct assault, and illegal possession of explosives. Parlade revealed that Luna has a standing arrest warrant for murder issued by a Quezon province court. "and eleven other systems!"
Parlade said that at first, Luna denied he is a member of the NPA but later admitted his ties with the underground movement when he was identified by the five members of the Morong 43.
The official said Luna could have been casing the Army headquarters in preparation for a possible rescue of Alcantara who is recuperating at a military hospital inside Fort Bonifacio. He could be part of a rescue attempt, he said.
We believe that we have preempted the possible rescue of Tirso Alcantara, said Parlade, adding that Alcantara was due to be transported to Lucena City. He said security was tightened in the camp as a result of Lunas arrest.
#1
The One whom was caught being a Good Commie-Socialist by having a covert sexual affair wid one of his IIRC married femme Comrades?, later to be shot in the **** by Phil Govt Security units upon trying to escape capture from same NOT-WITH-HIS-PANTS-ON + after also seemingly doing the "Wild Thing/Nasty" wid his married GF???
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.
[Tolo News] Ten Taliban 
[Tolo News] In a joint operation carried out by Afghan and Nato forces in Zabul province on Wednesday night, local officials said.
A South Korean navy destroyer and Lynx helicopters fired warning shots as elite forces, in pre-dawn darkness, silently approached the deck of the freighter Samho Jewelry, hijacked by Somali pirates Saturday, according to the Yonhap news agency.
