Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Courtney Peldon aka Ashley in "Road to Hell (2008)" aka Amber in "Freeloaders (2011)" aka Cher Falwell in "Say It Isn't So (2001)" aka Becky Emerson in "Boston Public (20032004)" aka Candy in "Skin Walker (2004)" aka Patty in "National Lampoon's Adam and Eve (2005)" aka Tina in "Mortuary (2005)" (age 31)
[An Nahar] At least five people, including three civilians, were killed late Thursday when a jacket wallah struck in northern Afghanistan, police said.
The attack in Kunduz city was the latest in a wave of violence recently that has left dozens of Afghan civilians as well as Afghan and foreign security forces dead or injured.
"I confirm that three civilians and two coppers were martyred in a suicide kaboom in Kunduz city this evening," interior ministry front man Sediq Sediqqi told Agence La Belle France Presse, adding that five other civilians were also injured in the blast.
It was not immediately clear who the target of the attacker was, but a local official speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... said the head of the provincial rapid reaction force commander Abdullah Guard was among those injured in the blast.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2012 00:00 ||
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(Sh.M.Network)- The Islamist Orcs and similar vermin of Al shabab inSomaliahave banned Thursday chewing and trading the popular narcotic green leaves of Khat from many of their stronghold regions in southern war-torn horn ofAfricacountry, locals said. Oh, that's gonna win 'em points...
Twitchy, short-tempered jihadis facing twitchy, short-tempered natives, all of them armed? That overpopulation problem is going to fix itself toot sweet.
According to a resident who spoke anonymously, fearing repercussion, Orcs and similar vermin loyal to Al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... ordered days ago people in some districts in Gedo, Bay and Bakol region of south and westernSomaliato refrain from the use sale and consumption Khat.
The Islamic fascistihad employed Thursday in vehicles carrying loudspeakers to propagate the message, instructing the public to abstain from the use of khat, ordering consumers of Khat to leave from the areas under Al-shabab fighters inSomalia.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2012 00:00 ||
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[Yemen Post] 50 officers and soldiers of the Republican Guard have been tossed in the clink inside military jails in Sana'a due to their support to the Yemeni public revolution, military sources have said.
The Republican Guard commanded by Ahmed Ali, a son of the former president President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... who forced in February to resign after the escalation of the revolution. Ahmed Ali had ordered to arrest a number of officers and soldiers when protests broke out inside some camps of the Republican Guard.
The Yemeni Government, the Interior Ministry and the Military Committee had ordered to free all detainees who were held due to the revolution and returned those who were dismissed to their jobs.
A Yemeni human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... organization, Hood, revealed last month that hundreds of Yemenis are held in underground jails, demanded President Abdu Rabo Mansour Hadi to swiftly release them.
Hood called Hadi to form a commission of judges, the Interior Ministry, the Human Rights Ministry and civil society organizations to release the prisoners, shut down the jails and bring those officials responsible for such violations to justice.
It further said that hundreds of protesters who took to streets against the fromer president Ali Abdullah Saleh are languishing in prisons run by the Republican Guard, the Central Security and the intelligence services.
It pointed out that it sent Hadi a letter including a list of 190 names of prisoners who their fate are still uncertain.
Meanwhile, ...back at the the conspirators' cleverly concealed hideout the long-awaited message arrived. They quickly got to work with their decoder rings... the Sana'a-based Himaia Organization for Human Rights disclosed that 192 soldiers are held inside the main camp of the Central Security in Sana'a.
The group said that a specialized court documented their cases as it visited the military last week after it was ordered by the Attorney-General.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2012 00:00 ||
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[Yemen Post] Yemeni government said on Thursday that a new sabotage attack took place targeting the supply power lines providing the Yemeni capital of Sana'a with electricity in Jaadan area in Marib province, where the main gas-operated power station is based.
"The first circuit of the electrical transmission lines Marib-Sana'a was subjected to a fresh sabotage attack today around 11.am in Marib," reported the official Saba news agency citing a high-ranking official in the General Electricity Corporation.
The saboteurs threw the lines with an iron chain connecting the power isolated lines, and thus forcing Marib Power Station to be out of service with all its capacity, the unnamed official explained.
Meanwhile, ...back at the fist fight, Jake ducked another roundhouse, then parried with his left, then with his right, finally with his chin... the power was blacked out again in Sana'a with residents complaining about the bad management of the power lines, which are subjected frequently to attacks since the outbreak of protests against ex President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... long rule, by the concerned authorities.
Ahmed Ali Al-Badoui told Yemen Post, "we hold the authorities responsible for the repeated attacks on power towers and lines as they are responsible for protecting them from any saboteurs."
"Since last year, we have heard of hundreds of attacks on the vital service transmission lines, but we did not hear, even for once, about the saboteurs being set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock and be severely punished for their crimes," he continued.
Last month, the electricity minister Saleh Sameih directly accused Saleh of being behind the attacks and demanded Saleh and other powerful figures pay the owed power bills.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2012 00:00 ||
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[Yemen Post] Violent festivities have become more violent between Al-Qaeda and the newly-formed tribal committees backed by the Infantry 111 Brigade in Lawdar district of Abyan governorate, local sources affirmed.
The Defense Ministry stated on Wednesday that dozens of Al-Qaeda gun-hung tough guys were killed during the escalation of confrontations, pointing out that Al-Qaeda leaders were killed on Wednesday , pointing Saudi, Pak and Somalis nationals were among the killed.
Local sources cited that the chief of the local council of Lawdar, Mohammad Juabol Sheikh, was killed on Wednesday as a result of shells fired by Al-Qaeda gun-hung tough guys against Lawdar.
They reitrated that Al-Qaeda targeted the electricty station on Thursday and completely destroyed it, leaving two rustics who were inside the station killed.
The sources affirmed that the public committees managed to detain Ahmed Darawish, a big shot of Al-Qaeda in Abyan.
Meanwihle, military sources said Yemen President Abud Rabo Mansour Hadi ordered to send military reinforcements to engage in street war with Al-Qaeda gun-hung tough guys in governorates of Abyan, Shabwah and Abyan, military sources said on Wednesday.
Security sources had revealed that Al-Qaeda has plans to capture some areas, as well as carrying out some armed operations against vital government facilities, particularly in southern governorates.
Al-Qaeda gun-hung tough guys could capture some Yemeni towns in the South following the popular protests that hit most Yemeni governorates in 2011.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2012 00:00 ||
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[Yemen Post] Yemen President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi instructed Defense Ministry to send the Counterterrorism Units in the Central Security Forces, the Elite Republican Guards and the Special Guard to the trouble-torn restive southern province of Abyan, trusted media sources reported on Thursday.
Counterterrorism units are equipped and trained by USA and UK and other countries involved in the war against terrorism such as La Belle France, with the aim of fighting the increasingly dangerous al-Qaeda branch in the country.
However, a lie repeated often enough remains a lie... the Counterterrorism Units (CTU) have not been involved so far for such purposes.
Hadi wants the well-trained forces to carry out unprecedented cleansing operations in Abyan, in which al-Qaeda has taken control of two towns and laying siege on the third, and Shabwa and Lahj provinces, according to the sources quoted by Marib Press.
The gulf Al-Kalij newspaper reported on Thursday citing familiar sources that CTU forces will be sent within the coming two days to areas controlled by Ansar al-Sharia ...a Yemeni Islamist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends... , al-Qaeda offshoot in the country, and will be involved in streets shootouts with the terrorists.
Hadi has further ordered the commanders of the Eastern and Southern Military Regions to provide the CTU forces with all required assistance, according to Al-Kalij.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2012 00:00 ||
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An anticipated missile launch by North Korea failed today when the country fired a long-range test rocket in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions and an agreement with the United States.
The 90-ton rocket launched at 6:39 p.m. EDT, but 81 seconds into the launch, the U.S. detected a substantially larger than expected flare and by ten minutes after launch, the rocket was no longer on several radar screens, U.S. officials said.
According to a statement from U.S. Northern Command and NORAD, the missile was tracked on a southerly launch over the Yellow Sea.
"Initial indications are that the first stage of the missile fell into the sea 165 km west of Seoul, South Korea," the statement said. "The remaining stages were assessed to have failed and no debris fell on land. At no time were the missile or the resultant debris a threat."
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said in a statement that despite the failed launch, "North Korea's provocative action threatens regional security, violates international law and contravenes its own recent commitments."
Carney added "any missile activity by North Korea is of concern to the international community. The United States remains vigilant in the face of North Korean provocations, and is fully committed to the security our allies in the region."
The rocket was launched from the Sohae Satellite Launching Station in the northern part of the country, near North Korea's border with China. Had the launch been successful, the rocket's third stage was expected to burn up in the atmosphere about ten minutes after launch, with debris falling north of Australia.
After the launch, South Korea's president Lee Myung Bak called an emergency cabinet meeting of his government.
Japanese officials, meanwhile, rushed to hold an emergency security meeting just after the launch. Japanese Defense minister Naoki Tanaka said no PAC3 missile batteries were used in the launch and the rocket was, "No threat to Japan."
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/13/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Haw haw haw haw. (points and giggles)
So Solly Rocket go splashy.
Honorable Missile fails, so bad,so solly.
no thurt honerable face, no failt srarving worker fail o bolt sub assembry on,Yes.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/13/2012 0:33 Comments ||
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#2
And with the big Party party tomorrow, as well.
P.S. Jim, Koreans don't substitute L for R. It's the Japanese language that lacks that sound. Japan and Korea are as different as Arkansas and Alabama.
#3
The ball is now in the Bammer's court - by launching the rocket, the DPRK seemingly put its food aid at risk whether the rocker succeeded or not. Iff the Bammer = USA stops the food aid as threatened, then IMO its going to be a very tensive Summer 2012, vee Iran + DPRK.
PAR FOR THE COURSE/SUMMER? AS THE GOP POTUS RACE COULD STIL END UP BEING A SPLIT TICKET - iff it is a split or brokered ticket, this will be one for the Popcorn.
#4
Does anyone who knows anything about anti-missile technology tell us whether the point at which it 'disintegrated' could result from a missile fired from an Aegis or similar system?
#5
The point at which it fell apart leads to three possible causes:
Mechanical failure when it reached maximum Q (maximum mechanical stress on the spacecraft due to dynamic pressure from flying through the atmosphere), a failed stage 2 ignition resulting in a controlled destruction, a catastrophic engine failure in either stage 1 or stage 2.
Indications are that the first stage impacted separately from the rest of the spacecraft but that isn't enough to say if stage 1 separation occurred normally or if it just broke apart.
If stage 1 separation was normal, there could have been a problem with stage 2 ignition or it might not have ignited at all resulting in a controlled destruction.
My guess is that someone might be getting a very closeup view of a nuclear test in the next few days.
#6
The failure of the UNHA-III has important Tech ramfications for several countries.
> RUSSIA was repor helping the DPRK dev its Space Rockets + LR Missles.
> The DPRK was repor helping + sharing techs wid both IRAN + PAKISTAN. Pakistan also was helping Iran on its own.
> The DPRK was hoping to use a successful Rocket design for export revenues vee other Third World countries.
IMO THE FAILED UNHA-II HAS ONCE AGAIN [indirectly]PROVEN NEWT GINGRICH CORRECT IN THAT THE US SHOULD RETURN + BUILD A MOON BASE.
Not to argue that Iran, Pakistan's + even Russia's, etc. Ballistic Missles + Space Rockets will absolutely fail but the danger is indeed there.
* FYI DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Defector]KIM JONG-IL WARNED NORTH KOREA TO STAY AWAY FROM CHINA IN HIS WILL, as China may prove to be the country North Korea most needs to watch + carefully monitor in coming time.
#9
Does anyone who knows anything about anti-missile technology tell us whether the point at which it 'disintegrated' could result from a missile fired from an Aegis or similar system?
#10
I don't know anything about anti-missile technology, phil b, but I do know a a bit about communist dictatorships: math and the laws of physics are always sacrificed to ideology.
#11
Exploration: either technological, or geographical; always pays off. It's what made your country superpower.
Just ask world-striding Portugal, who was devoured by its empire rather than vice-versa.
I saw someone call the moon landings "the greatest accomplishment of world Communism", that is, if it weren't for the pressure of the Cold War, the moon shot would never have happened. Big-ticket "exploration" is, like most of the Edwardian empires (especially the German one) a sort of assertion of existing power, rather than the source of new power.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
04/13/2012 8:18 Comments ||
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#12
How hard can this be? It's not like it's rocket sci... oh, wait, yes it is.
#17
"Exploration: either technological, or geographical; always pays off. It's what made your country superpower."
1. I agree but we have some much bigger fish to fry right now. Current budget deficits are 10x what they were in 2007, lets get that under control first.
2. Exploration should have some sort of goal. A moon base COULD have a useful purpose. It could serve as a place for astronauts in 0 G for a long time to get used to gravity before returning to Earth. It could also be used as a manufacturing location that works better than 0 G. You can set a tool on a table on the moon and it will stay there. It would make for the ultimate semiconductor fab clean room, too. Great location for doing large scale vacuum deposition type work, etc.
3. Would make a good launch facility for deep space. You get an extra "fling" from the Moons orbit around Earth and you don't have to worry about launch through an atmosphere. A lot of titanium on the moon could mean some manufacturing of the craft could be done there.
#18
Gee, what could be invisible on radar, have pinpoint accuracy, be aircraft based, and cause a second stage malfunction through a high energy hole burned in the missle? Klingon disrupter maybe?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/13/2012 16:08 Comments ||
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#21
#17 You're not going to close the deficit by living more frugally. You're not going to save your way of life by printing more money. You're not going to take manufacturing (in it's current format) back from the Chinese. Your only hope is ushering in Third Industrial Revolution.
#22
I don't disagree with gr(r)omgoru's premises. But Jeremy Rifkin is an alarmist kook whose books have so far all turned out to be wrong. He is also "an adviser to several European Union heads of state," if that says anything about the value of his advice.
#23
Taking back manufacturing is a political act requiring a reindustrialization capitol inventment plan to incentivize the marketplace and escalating tariffs which gradually make currency amipulation and hidden subsidy advantages for china slowly fail. What they own is our debt, policy can control how we pay it to those whose aim is not to earn honest profit, here. To capitulate to not being industrial again is mere foolishness. This hemisphere and out own nation is far more resourced for self sufficiency than anywhere else in the world. Only a post industrial mindset in Washington and on the left hancuffs American reindustrialization.
#25
CHINA refuses to give NOKOR any more Food Aid than as current, + also doesn't want to care for any NOKOR Defectors or Refugees fleeing oer the Yalu to escape their country's hunger + povery - that leaves Pyongyang wid no choice but to bully or intimidate the US-West, etal. into giving them unilateral Food Aid AMAP ASAP ALAP.
Not unlike the former USSR = Soviet Union now Russia vee its Cold War East Eoropean allies [Warsaw Pact], COMMIE CHINA'S BIGGEST FEAR IS NOT NOKOR FIRING AN INDIGENOUS NUKE(S) ACROSS THE DMZ TOWARDS SOKOR + US + JAPAN, OR EVEN RUSSIA, BUT FIRING IT NORTHWARD ACROSS THE YALU AGZ BEIJING + MAJOR CHINESE CITIES + CCCC/CCP.
CHINA = USSR = MUST CONTROL MOST OR ALL OF THEIR ALLY'S OR ALLIES' ARMED FORCES + ADVANCED STRATEGIC, TACTICAL MILTECHS, ESPEC NUCLEAR FORCES [Nukes-WMDS].
CHINA = USSR = may all NOKOR some freedoms or local autonomy, but not + never to the point where they will be able to threaten or destroy China. IT WAS + REMAINS THE "COMMIE WAY".
Iff China thought that Pyongyang had dev a WORKING, RELIABLE, ACCURATE LR NUCLEAR MISSLE
SYS ON ITS OWN, THE FIRST THING CHINA WOULD DO IS FORMALLY TAKE OVER NORTH KOREA, A SCENARIO WHICH NEITHER PYONGYANG OR SEOUL, ETC. WANT.
As said or inferred times before, NOKOR cannot be seen as "too successful" in China's eye as per any dev of potent indigenous military tehcnologies.
HENCELY WE HAVE THE THREAT FROM THE ALLEGED NOKOR "THIRD NUCLEAR TEST", which in all likelihood will be used by NOKOR to demand no cut-off in Food Aid by the Bammer = US-Allies, or more Food Aid, Other from same.
#28
Pharaoh say, aerospace technological advancement "spin-off" products? "Say Wha...?" We don't do it that way in Chicago/Chi-town/ "The Hawk"...
We reject all Cracker innovation, and My Administration will crush it (gently) whenever " The Man" tries to take charge.
An Albanian who had tried to travel from New York to Pakistan to join up with the jihad and "marry with the girls in paradise" pleaded guilty Thursday to terror charges. Agron Hasbajrami, 27, who lived in Brooklyn at the time of his arrest, is now facing up to 15 years in a US prison. He has agreed to be deported after serving his time.
Hasbajrami wired more than $1,000 to terror groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and began emailing with a Pakistani terrorist militant.
Hasbajrami wrote that it was difficult to get donations from his fellow Muslims when they found out that the money was intended for jihad
Good for them.
"Pshaw. Depriving widows of needed ammunition? And you folks call yourselves 'religious'? Just you wait until we talk with the local hard boyz at the Heyan Ima Takileak."
and that he wanted to travel abroad to "marry with the girls in paradise." The Justice Department said in its statement that this was taken to mean he wanted to die as a martyr.
Nothing gets past this Justice Department.
In a statement, FBI assistant director Janice Fedarcyk said, "If not for his arrest, he would have traveled to Pakistan to wage jihad and aim to kill American soldiers. Our mission includes not only preventing acts of terrorism here but also preventing would-be terrorists from going abroad to harm Americans."
Hasbajrami was arrested in September 2011 at JFK International Airport in New York while attempting to board a flight to Turkey. His intent was to go from there to Pakistan to join a terrorist militant group. He had a one-way ticket, and was bringing a tent, boots and cold-weather gear.
After his arrest, police searching his home found a note that said, "Do not wait for invasion, the time is martyrdom time."
[Dawn] An activist of the Pakistan People's Party was gunned down in North Karachi on Wednesday night, police said.
They added that Rashid Baig, 25, was targeted by gunmen riding a motorbike near his house within the remit of the Khawaja Ajmair Nagri police station.
The victim sustained two gunshot wounds and was rushed to the Civil Hospital Karachi, where he died during treatment, the police
said.
Following the killing, tension gripped the locality.
SP Gulberg Division Tanvir Odho confirmed to Dawn that the victim was an activist of the PPP.
District Central PPP President Sohail Abidi said that Mr Baig was an active party activist like his brother, Amir Baig, who was an
active member of the PPP's wing of People's Youth in PS-98 constituency.
Mr Abidi said that the incident seemed part of the ongoing targeted killing of party activists in the city.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2012 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Two activists of the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz were killed in retaliatory fire while they were forcing traders in the Khadda Market area of Lyari ...one of the eighteen constituent towns of the city of Karachi. It is the smallest town by area in the city but also the most densely populated. Lyari has few schools, substandard hospitals, a poor water system, limited infrastructure, and broken roads. It is a stronghold of ruling Pakistan Peoples Party. Ubiquitous gang activity and a thriving narcotics industry make Lyari one of the most disturbed places in Karachi, which is really saying a lot.... to pull down shutters on a call by the JSQM for a province-wide strike, police said.
Over half a dozen persons, including three girls, were maimed in firing and at least four vehicles were destroyed in different arson attacks in certain areas. However, a hangover is the wrath of grapes... life in most parts of the city remained normal.
The strike call was given by the party after the family and party leaders rejected the initial findings of the doctors describing the death of Bashir Qureshi as natural.
The police said at least three persons, including two seminary students, were maimed when JSQM workers opened fire in an attempt to force shops' closure in Khadda Market. A group in the area fired at the activists in retaliation, leaving two of them maimed. Both were rushed to the Civil Hospital Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , where Ghulam Husain, 29, and his associate, Waqas aka Naqqash, 25, died during treatment.
Earlier, a passer-by maimed in firing in the area was taken to hospital for treatment.
In the Kalakot area, three girls were maimed when some gunnies opened fire in an attempt to force traders to pull down shutters.
Aitya, 8, Shaheen, 7, and Sara, 22, were passing through the area in a rickshaw when they sustained gunshot wounds. They were rushed to the Civil Hospital for treatment.
SSP-South Nasir Aftab said it was not clear if they were targeted or caught in crossfire.
Two passengers of Shiraz coach, Noor Shah and Muhammad Abdullah, were maimed when a couple of gunnies opened fire presumably to force all passengers to leave the vehicle before setting it on fire near Dua Hotel on Mauripur Road.
They also set fire to a truck parked nearby. The coach was destroyed in the blaze while the truck was partially burnt, the police said.
Earlier, a minibus of G-13 route and another of D-27 route were torched in Gulistan-e-Jauhar's Bakhtawar Goth and Safoora Chowk, respectively.
Safoora Goth and its neighbouring areas wore a deserted look with all shops remaining closed during the day.
Similarly, commercial activities in Gulshan-e-Hadeed had been suspended since late Tuesday night.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2012 00:00 ||
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Three men were gunned down as they left a mosque in Pattani province on Wednesday night, and a woman was wounded in a grenade attack at her home in Yala province on Thursday morning.
The three villagers were killed when gunmen opened fire on them as they left the mosque after prayers in Panare district. 16 spent AK-47 cartridge shells were recovered from in front of the mosque.
Police are investigating, but initially blamed Muslim terrorists militants.
A woman was injured by a grenade explosion at her house in Yalas Raman district on Thursday morning. The victim was identified as Dariyahasi Sama-air, 25. She was hit by shrapnel and taken to hospital.
Witnesses said a man riding pillion on a motorcycle tossed the grenade into the house. Police inspected the scene and found a big hole in the roof of the house and property inside was also damaged.
Five passengers were injured when a bus was attacked by gunmen on motorcycles in Pattani province on Friday morning.
The bus was traveling down the road when gunmen riding pillion on two motorcycles fired on the bus with assault rifles. The attackers then fled. The driver of the bus did not stop but drove on to ask for help from a security unit at a checkpoint. Five passengers were hit by the gunmen and were taken to the hospital.
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] A UN-backed ceasefire to end 13 months of bloodshed in Syria appeared to be holding after coming into force at daybreak today, prompting a call for fresh protests to test Kofi Annan ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo... 's peace plan.
China welcomed Syria's decision to uphold a "comprehensive ceasefire" describing it as a step towards a political solution, as Russia called for more time for the plan to work.
After breaking a commitment to pull back forces from population centres by Tuesday under the agreement brokered by former UN chief Annan, there were still no signs of a withdrawal, monitors said.
"The situation remains calm in all the regions of Syria," said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, almost six hours after the ceasefire deadline.
A "few kabooms" were heard in the town of Zabadani, just outside the capital, shortly after it came into effect, Abdel Rahman told AFP in Beirut.
"There have not been any serious withdrawals of checkpoint of military reinforcements in Idlib, Hama, Homs, the province of Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... or the northern Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... province," he said.
Activists in Damascus, Hama, and Daraa also reported that calm has prevailed since the deadline. The reports could not be verified due to the Damascus government's curbs on media.
"The test will be tomorrow, when demonstrators take to the streets" after the Mohammedan Friday prayers, a traditional high point for protests, said activist Muaz from Damascus.
Just hours before the deadline expired at 6 am, the military unleashed a lethal offensive against protest centres, killing 25 civilians on Wednesday, including 10 in the rebel stronghold of Rastan.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
OTOH WAFF > PM: TURKEY MAY INVOKE NATO'S ARTICLE 5 OVER SYRIAN BORDER FIRE.
More popularly aka "An Attack agz One is an Attack agz All".
[An Nahar] Syria's government on Thursday offered an amnesty to opposition gunnies without "blood on their hands," urging them to surrender as a U.N.-backed ceasefire entered into force.
"The interior ministry calls on gunnies whose hands have not been stained with Syrian blood to hand themselves in, along with their weapons, at the nearest police center. They would be released and all legal procedures against them would be terminated," it said, quoted by state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
Syria also urged tens of thousands of displaced people who took refuge inside or outside the country due to violence to return home.
"The interior ministry calls on brother citizens, who were forced to flee their homes, whether to areas within the country or to neighboring states, to return home, and ignore propaganda and misleading news," it said in a statement carried by state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
Some 25,000 Syrians have decamped to Turkey.
In Jordan, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR has registered between 5,000 to 8,000 Syrians, but the kingdom's foreign minister Nasser Judeh said more than 90,000 Syrians have sought refuge in the country.
In Leb, there are around 16,000 Syrian refugees, according to the UNHCR.
The number of internally displaced people is not available.
Calm prevailed in Syria on Thursday after Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... said it would halt military operations against rebels at daybreak, on the day set by the U.N.-Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... peace envoy Kofi Annan ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo... as a deadline to implement a ceasefire aimed at ending 13 months of bloodshed.
Meanwhile, ...back at the abandoned silver mine, the water was up to Jack's neck and still rising... state media reported that a "terrorist" attack killed a Syrian army officer and maimed 24 other people in second-largest city Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... on Thursday, accusing rebels of seeking to "torpedo" the U.N.-backed peace plan.
"An armed terrorist group used an bomb to target a bus transporting officers and non-commissioned officers to their unit in Aleppo. It killed a lieutenant colonel and maimed 24 other people" at 8:00 am (0500 GMT), the official SANA news agency reported.
State television said the gangs were "intensifying criminal operations in an attempt to destablize Syria and torpedo the plan" of international peace envoy Kofi Annan, which went into effect at 6:00 am (0300 GMT).
The head of Aleppo military hospital, Brigadier Osama Qashqash said that three of the maimed were at death's doors, SANA reported.
The government mouthpiece posted a picture of damage to the front of a civilian bus.
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[An Nahar] A ceasefire in Syria appeared to be holding on Thursday, as the Syrian government and its foes traded charges of trying to wreck U.N.-Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... envoy Kofi Annan ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo... 's peace plan.
Renewed bloodshed on Thursday killed at least 23 people, putting to the test the hard-won ceasefire plan.
The Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, said security forces killed nine people in Homs, six in Idlib, five in Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... ' countryside and two in Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... The opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) said earlier on Thursday that regime forces killed three civilians and tossed in the clink dozens more in defiance of its undertaking to Annan to halt all military operations and withdraw troops from towns and cities by 6 am (0300 GMT).
The SNC said the epicenter of Thursday's bloodshed was the flashpoint central region of Hama, long a focus of dissent to Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... 's regime.
Spokeswoman Basma Qoudmani called for peaceful demonstrations across Syria to test the government's readiness to accept public shows of dissent. "The real test will be if there is shooting or not when people demonstrate," she said.
State media charged that it was the opposition who were jeopardizing the long-awaited truce, accusing rebel fighters of bombing a bus ferrying troops to their base in Syria's second-largest city Aleppo.
"An armed terrorist group used an bomb to target a bus transporting officers and non-commissioned officers to their unit in Aleppo. It killed a lieutenant colonel" and maimed 24 others, state news agency SANA said.
The interior ministry urged tens of thousands of people who decamped the violence both inside and outside the country to return home and offered an amnesty to opposition gunnies without "blood on their hands."
The rebel Free Syrian Army, for its part, insisted it was "100 percent committed" to the ceasefire in a conflict which monitors say has killed more than 10,000 people since March last year.
"The regime is being elusive. We are 100 percent committed to the ceasefire, but the regime is not abiding by it," FSA front man Colonel Qassem Saadeddine told Agence La Belle France Presse by Internet.
Saadeddine denied any involvement in the attack on the bus, dismissing the report as regime propaganda "to avoid fulfilling its commitment."
Among Syria's allies, China welcomed the regime's decision to uphold a "comprehensive ceasefire" describing it as a step towards a political solution. Russia called for more time.
Hours before the deadline expired, the military unleashed a lethal offensive against protest centers, killing 25 civilians on Wednesday, including 10 in the rebel stronghold of Rastan, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
U.S. ambassador to the United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... Susan Rice said Assad's regime had intensified violence since it first committed to Annan's six-point plan on April 1.
"Its commitments therefore have little, if any, credibility ... given that track record," Rice said.
Annan's plan calls for the withdrawal of forces from urban areas, a halt to fighting, a daily two-hour humanitarian truce, the release of arbitrarily jugged people, freedom of movement for journalists and the right to demonstrate.
SNC chief Burhan Ghalioun urged the international community to "monitor its implementation in full, mainly the right to demonstrate... and to provide the means to protect the people if the regime violates the plan."
"International observers should be on the ground as soon as possible," he said.
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[An Nahar] U.N.-Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... envoy Kofi Annan ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo... said Thursday that a ceasefire in Syria appears to be holding but Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... must carry out all parts of an agreed peace plan, as U.N. chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... said plans were being made to send an observer team to Syria as soon as possible.
"Syria is apparently experiencing a rare moment of calm on the ground," Annan said in a statement released as he briefed the U.N. Security Council on the 13-month-old crisis in which the U.N. says more than 9,000 people have been killed.
A ceasefire came into effect in Syria on Thursday and Annan said: "I am encouraged by reports that the situation in Syria is relatively calm and that the cessation of hostilities appears to be holding."
Annan added, however, that the Syrian government must carry out all parts of the agreed peace plan which includes a withdrawal of troops and heavy weapons from Syria's cities.
"All parties have obligations to implement fully the six-point plan. This includes both the military provisions of the plan and the commitment to move to a political process," he said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the bunker, his Excellency called a hurried meeting of his closest advisors. It was to be his last. They discussed the officers's efficiency rating system... Ban Ki-moon said that plans were being made to send observers to Syria, starting with the dispatch of a U.N. peacekeeping general as early as Friday.
"We are working to send an observer team as promptly as possible," Ban told a news conference in Geneva, saying Thursday marked a "critical moment" in the U.N.'s six-point plan for ending the violence in Syria.
Ban said he had spoken with Annan who said he would dispatch Norwegian general Robert Mood and his team "as early as tomorrow (Friday) as a way of preparing this observer mission."
Speaking about the ceasefire which came into force at 6:00 am Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... time (0300 GMT), the U.N. secretary general said: "The situation looks calmer. We are following it closely.
"The world is watching however with skeptical eyes," he added, since previous promises made by the Syrian regime "have not been kept."
"Once again I call on the government of Syria to fully implement ... the six-point plan," said Ban.
"I also call on the Syrian opposition to sustain the cessation of violence in all its forms," he said. "This is a time for a fundamental change of course. It's time to stop the killing."
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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.
[An Nahar] At least five people, including three civilians, were killed late Thursday when a 
[Yemen Post] 50 officers and soldiers of the Republican Guard have been 
[Yemen Post] Yemeni government said on Thursday that a new sabotage attack took place targeting the supply power lines providing the Yemeni capital of Sana'a with electricity in Jaadan area in Marib province, where the main gas-operated power station is based.
[Yemen Post] Violent 
[Yemen Post] Yemen President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi instructed Defense Ministry to send the Counterterrorism Units in the Central Security Forces, the 
An activist of the Pakistan People's Party was gunned down in North Karachi on Wednesday night, police said.
Two activists of the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz were killed in retaliatory fire while they were forcing traders in the Khadda Market area of 
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
