[DAILYMAIL.CO.UK] New Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid formed a cabinet Friday, handing many ministries to Nidaa Tounes, the leading bloc in parliament, but none to the Islamist party Ennahda, which led the previous government.
Essid, a former interior minister, was tasked with forming a new government earlier this month by President Beji Caid Essebsi, who won Tunisia's first free presidential election in December.
His name had been put forward by Essebsi's Nidaa Tounes, which won parliamentary polls in October. Ennahda came second.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2015 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] Nigeria's top security official on Friday ruled out the need for a United Nations ...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly... or African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... -backed force to fight Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... , saying the country and its partners could handle the threat.
Possible "enhanced international support" against Boko Haram will be discussed on the sidelines of an AU summit later this month, given fears about the group's threat to regional stability.
But national security adviser Sambo Dasuki, a former army colonel, said wider assistance would not be necessary.
"It's something that we can do. It's absolutely something we can do," he told BBC World Service radio in an interview.
"I think as it is we are in good shape to address the issue with those partners, Niger, Chad and Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... Representatives from Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon met this week to thrash out details of a new regional force to counter the rising threat from the Islamist murderous Moslems.
An existing force, made up of troops from Nigeria, Niger and Chad appears to have collapsed in disarray even before the January 3 attack on its headquarters near the northeastern town of Baga.
Troops from Niger and Chad were not present during the raid, which saw Baga razed and hundreds of civilians, if not more, killed in what is feared could be the murderous Moslems' worst atrocity.
Tuesday's meeting agreed to transfer the headquarters of the new force from Nigeria to the Chadian capital, N'Djamena, reflecting concern about Boko Haram's rising transnational threat.
Boko Haram has seized dozens of towns and villages in the northeast in the last six months and now controls the border of Borno State with Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
Some analysts have suggested that it is trying to revive a defunct 19th century Islamic caliphate, whose borders corresponded to parts of modern-day Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
The group's leader Abubakar Shekau, however, mocked the proposed new force in a video published online on Tuesday, boasting that his fighters would take on all comers and that "Nigeria is dead".
"The kings of Africa... I challenge you to attack me now. I am ready," he said.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/24/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
But national security adviser Sambo Dasuki, a former army colonel, said wider assistance would not be necessary.
He's discussed it with his parents Mumbo and Jumbo and they've all decided prying Western eyes external help is not needed.
#2
He's discussed it with his parents Mumbo and Jumbo and they've all decided prying Western eyes external help is not needed.
Posted by: Besoeker 2015-01-24 03:56
Word. Most of the nations there would sooner fall to Boko Haram than allow the Colonial Powers or the Tribe Next Door back in.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/24/2015 6:50 Comments ||
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#3
"Send lawyers, guns, and money."-Warren Zevon
Posted by: ed in texas ||
01/24/2015 10:00 Comments ||
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#4
Pay no attention to the murder, rape, and mayhem. It's not that important. We're comfortable in our jobs.
Nigerian government or Chicago government? Corruption and ineptitude knows no boundaries.
[AnNahar] Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, appointed second in line to the Saudi throne Friday, has waged war against Al-Qaeda and survived a suicide kaboom claimed by jihadists.
His appointment was among the first decrees announced by King Salman ...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, Cutodian of the Two Holy Mosquesand Lord of Most of the Arabians.... , the successor to King Abdullah who died after weeks in hospital where he was treated for pneumonia.
Born on August 30, 1959, Nayef became interior minister in 2012, taking over from his late father Nayef bin Abdulaziz who headed the strategic ministry for 37 years.
Nayef was the youngest Saudi royal to be named to such a high-ranking post, in a country where key figures are often advanced in age.
He was in charge of a crackdown on Al-Qaeda following a wave of deadly attacks in the Gulf state between 2003 and 2006.
His appointment helps to solidify control by Salman's Sudayri branch of the royal family, named for their mother Hissa bint Ahmad al-Sudayri.
As second crown prince, Nayef is second in line to the throne and takes over from Prince Moqren, whom Salman named as first crown prince and heir.
The position of second crown prince did not exist until Abdullah appointed Moqren last March, aimed at smoothing succession hurdles.
Nayef studied political sciences in the United States and had several military training courses, including under the aegis of the CIA, according to experts on the royal family.
In 1999, the bespectacled Nayef was given his first official post, serving as aide to the interior minister, his late father.
His formative years at the interior ministry allowed him to build a "solid network both inside Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... and regionally to fight Al-Qaeda," said a Saudi expert, on condition of anonymity.
Western governments noted his "successes" in confronting the global terror network and that Nayef's men were the first to detect and prevent Al-Qaeda attacks, said the expert.
His reputation put him in Al-Qaeda's firing line and nearly killed him.
He survived a suicide kaboom in August 2009 when a bomber managed to infiltrate the prince's security and detonated an bomb.
Prince Mohammed suffered only superficial injuries, but apart from the bomber, who was killed, no other serious casualties were reported.
The Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ...the latest incarnation of various Qaeda and Qaeda-allied groups, including the now-defunct Aden-Abyan Islamic Army that boomed the USS Cole in 2000... (AQAP) grabbed credit for the attack.
It was the first high-profile Al-Qaeda attack on the government since gunnies rammed a boom-mobile into the fortified interior ministry in Riyadh in 2004.
It was also the first strike on a royal since Al-Qaeda launched a wave of attacks in the kingdom in 2003, targeting Western establishments and oil facilities at the cost of dozens of lives.
Prince Mohammed also led a program to rehabilitate Al-Qaeda members who either surrendered or were tossed in the slammer Please don't kill me! The program has been both praised and criticized, as many gunnies who underwent rehabilitation found their way back to extremism, with some joining AQAP in Yemen.
When he himself was attacked, the royal court described the bomber as a wanted terrorist who had approached Prince Mohammed under the pretext he wanted to give himself up.
[DAWN] Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... 's new Crown Prince Muqrin represents the biggest break from the kingdom's tradition of any of his predecessors in the role - both because of his lowly maternal birth and his foreign education.
Seen as a relative progressive in the ruling family, with a grasp on the need for long-term reform, Muqrin has also voiced traditional hawkish views on Iran, but it is far from clear how much influence he will have during Salman's reign.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2015 00:00 ||
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#2
It's been a thriving family business for a number of years. They enjoy talking thing over within the inner circle. I doubt the chairs will move much.
[BBC] Soddy Arabian ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... King Salman ...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, Cutodian of the Two Holy Mosquesand Lord of Most of the Arabians.... has pledged continuity, hours after his accession to the throne following the death of his half-brother, King Abdullah.
So now the Saudis have their own King Solomon. It would be lovely were he as wise as the original, handing the disputed baby to the mother who would give it up rather than allow it to be split in half. The odds are not good, unfortunately.
The new king moved swiftly to appoint heirs and ministers, including one prince from the ruling dynasty's third generation.
King Abdullah died overnight, weeks after being admitted to hospital with a lung infection.
He was buried in an unmarked grave in Riyadh, following Friday prayers.
His burial was conducted in line with the traditions of Wahhabism - the ultra-conservative form of Sunni Islam followed by the kingdom - where funerals are austere and simple.
King Abdullah's body was wrapped in a shroud, and buried in a public cemetery after prayers attended by Gulf heads of state and some foreign leaders.
'Correct policies'
Within hours of acceding to the throne, King Salman, 78, vowed to maintain the same policies as his predecessors.
"We will continue adhering to the correct policies which Saudi Arabia has followed since its establishment," he said in a speech broadcast on state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
The new king wrote on his official Twitter account: "I ask God to help me succeed in my service of the dear [Saudi] people."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Saudi Arabia's new King Salman promises hopes without confidence for continuity.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/24/2015 8:36 Comments ||
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#5
If Salman is only a figurehead who's the real king?
It sounds like he did a lot of the decision-making when he was crown prince, so presumably the new crown prince assisted by the new deputy crown prince will be carrying the load.
#7
Arab political continuity has continued since the 7th century.
But the Hashemites owned Arabia until the Brits took it away from them after the first world war and gave it to the House of Saud, borgboy. As I recall, the Hashemite lads were given the kingdoms of Iraq, Egypt and Jordan as recompense, the first two of which were promptly lost. I'm under the impression the Sauds moved up from a minor oasis back of the beyond somewhere.
[Ynet] The United States has pulled more staff out of its embassy in Yemen, US officials said on Thursday as Washington scrambled to cope with the collapse of a government that had been a key ally in the fight against al Qaeda.
The scaling down of its presence in Yemen is the first sign that the latest turmoil there will affect US operations in a country that President Barack Obama The point I was making was not that Grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesnât. But she is a typical white person... hailed just four months ago as a model for "successful" counter-terrorism partnerships.
The US diplomatic contingent in Sanaa was drawn down due to the deteriorating security situation in the Yemeni capital, the officials said. They insisted there were no plans to close the embassy, which could have been seen as erosion of US resolve in counter-terrorism operations in the volatile Arab country.
[AnNahar] Police in Britanniatossed in the calaboose Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! six times more people linked to the conflict in Syria under terrorism legislation last year than in 2013, they said Friday.
The total for the whole of 2014 stood at 165 compared to 25 for 2013.
Officials estimate that more than 500 Britons have traveled to fight with Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... jihadists in Syria and Iraq and fear that some could return and launch attacks at home.
Britannia's official terrorism threat level currently stands at severe, the second-highest level, meaning that an attack is thought to be highly likely. Police say they foiled up to five suspected plots last year.
Parliament is debating new legislation being rushed through by Prime Minister David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... 's government which would allow the passports of people suspected of traveling abroad to fight with groups like IS to be confiscated.
It would also allow suspects to be banned temporarily from Britannia.
"Last year's arrest figures demonstrate a considerable increase in the volume, range and pace of counter-terrorism activity in the UK," said Helen Ball, the senior national coordinator for counter-terrorism policing.
"We have been running exceptionally high numbers of investigations, the likes of which we have not seen for many years."
[REUTERS] Argentina ...a country located on the other side of the Deep South. It is covered with Pampers and inhabited by Grouchos, who dance the Tangle. They used to have some islands called the Malvinas located where the Falklands are now. They're not supposed to cry for Evita... suspects rogue agents from its own intelligence services were behind the death of a state prosecutor investigating the deadly 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires.
Alberto Nisman was found dead in his apartment late on Sunday, a gunshot wound to his head and a 22 caliber pistol by his side along with a single shell casing.
He had been scheduled to appear before Congress on Monday to answer questions about his allegation that President Cristina Fernandez conspired to derail his investigation of the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
The court appearance was probably a coincidence. I'm blaming extensive gambling debts and bar bill.
[Jpost] German companies helped the Syrian regime of the late Hafez Assad and his son, current President Bashar Assad, produce its chemical weapons program, according to declassified documents whose contents were revealed on Friday by the German weekly Der Spiegel.
Citing Foreign Ministry files that recently came to light by dint of the expiration of a 30-year embargo, Der Spiegel says that German companies knowingly colluded with Syrian and Iraqi government officials, helping them build a covert chemical weapons program under the guise of âagricultural and medical research.â Still trying to solve the Jewish Problem?
I think making sure German workers remain usefully employed, regardless the project, and the profits flowing in. And anyway, those Third World dictators mostly use the product on their own people, so it's not as if it's harming anyone who matters. Or possibly, if we didn't then someone else would, so why shouldn't we make the money? *shudder*
#1
Yes General Stauffen, I am happy to report that the UNSCOM inspectors have found none of the German, Swiss, Italian, or French research equipment here at the Ibn-al-Haytham Research and Studies Center .
The German Company Karl Kolb that is specialized in equipping chemical laboratories played a crucial role in supplying the defunct regime over the past 30 years with toxic chemical materials through a middleman who helped Dr Amir al-Sa'di. Al-Sa'di prepared for his doctorate in chemistry in this institution and married a German woman. He worked in the Iraqi chemical project and was in charge of coordinating the defunct regime's transactions and requirements with the management of the Karl Kolb company. In October 1985, the operations of this company ceased by order of the German judiciary after it sold Iraq two electronic systems that test toxic gas inhalation levels. These are used in closed gas chambers where they measure toxic gas reactions with biological tissues. They also measure the level of their effect on animals, such as dogs, donkeys, and mules as well as humans. These gases were tested on prisoners that opposed the Iraqi regime. Link
Hate crimes against Jews in London more than doubled last year, according to the Scotland Yard.
The police headquarters for metropolitan London reported 299 hate crimes against Jewish people between the start of April and the end of December of 2014. Beware Islamophobia!
#2
And yet, everyone seems to agree at the moment that Jews have it better in England than France. *shrug* Whatevs.
Some of French youngsters are being trained by the Israelis in hand to hand combat and resisting marauding mobs, according to recent reports; they didn't wait for government permission to obtain gun licences and training to protect themselves, especially as so much of the community leadership is appalled at the very idea of such self-reliance. In the old days working class English Jews knew such things instinctively and employed them at need, eg. driving marching Brownshirts out of their neighbourhoods in disarray back in the Thirties.
#3
Just read a novel about WWII Britain, and one of the interesting things was how all the old boys from the First War had kept their pistols. They were ready to use them too, and not just against the Jerries. The various brownshirts and thugs understood that, too. You didn't mess with a man wearing a Great War medal on his jacket because he might just blow you away. "Terribly sorry, old chap."
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/24/2015 16:30 Comments ||
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[AnNahar] Spain said Friday it was starting negotiations with Washington to host a permanent U.S. Marines intervention force for deployment on missions to Africa.
The Spanish government said it was ready to permanently extend an agreement under which the force has been based at Moron de la Frontera, near Seville in southern Spain.
The government approved negotiations to amend the two countries' 1988 defense accord, Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said after a cabinet meeting.
Spain's foreign and defense ministers will negotiate the amendment, as requested by the United States last month, "with a view to hosting the deployment for an indefinite time", she told a news conference.
The US force was first stationed at Moron in April 2013 in the wake of a deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya the previous year. Its temporary status was renewed last year.
Its duties in Africa include protecting embassies, rescuing military personnel and evacuating civilians or intervening in conflicts and humanitarian crises.
The force is made up of 800 Marines plus air support, including MV-22 Osprey vertical take-off transport planes.
The contingent aims to strengthen vigilance in "an area that is a top security priority for our partners and neighbors but also for Spain", Saenz said.
Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that the new agreement could increase the strength of the contingent to 3,000 personnel if needed.
The force operates under the orders of the U.S. military's Africa command, based in Germany.
[AnNahar] La Belle France's top legal body ruled Friday that stripping a binational convicted jihadist of his French nationality was lawful, just as the country upped its fight against extremism.
The ruling by the Constitutional Council comes after the government announced a series of anti-terror measures in the wake of the deadly Gay Paree attacks earlier this month and mulls whether to use this move more widely.
Ahmed Sahnouni, a Moroccan naturalized by La Belle France in 2003, was convicted and handed a seven-year prison term in March 2013 for being part of a terrorist organization and was stripped of his citizenship in May last year.
Born in Casablanca in 1970, he was convicted of overseeing recruitment networks of aspiring jihadists to Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, and the Sahel region ... North Africa's answer to the Pak tribal areas... of North Africa, raising funds for them and also of overseeing the operational coordination of volunteers once on the ground.
Under French law, authorities can strip people of their naturalized citizenship if they are convicted of "terror acts" -- but only if they have another nationality to fall back on. The measure has been used eight times since 1973.
The law also states that a person's nationality can be removed anytime during a 15-year period after being naturalized, or 15 years after being convicted of terror acts -- up from 10 years previously.
Sahnouni's lawyer Nurettin Meseci argued that the law creates inequalities between those who are French by birth and those who are naturalized.
"Are there French people who are more French than others?" he asked in court.
He also argued that the move aimed to expel his client to Morocco, "where he risks being sentenced to 20 years in prison."
Added to this, Meseci said that increasing the time period during which a person can be stripped of their nationality from 10 to 15 years was "disproportionate."
But the Constitutional Council ruled that the seriousness of the fight against extremism justified the move and did not "violate the principle of equality."
Meseci said Friday he regretted the "emotional context" in which the decision had been taken.
The ruling comes as La Belle France still reels from the January 7-9 attacks in Gay Paree that left 17 people dead, sending shockwaves around the world.
On Wednesday, the government unveiled a raft of measures to curb radicalization and better monitor jihadists.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the attacks had raised "a legitimate question" as to what should be done about those who attack the country of their birth, or which gave them citizenship.
Where foreign jihadists were concerned, Valls said 28 people had been expelled from La Belle France over the past three years.
For those who are French, he proposed a cross-party debate on bringing back the offense of "national disgrace" -- used after World War II against collaborators with the Nazi regime and abolished in 1951.
Less severe than treason, and allowing authorities to strip citizens of some rights, Valls said that reviving the offense would be a strong symbol of "the consequences of... committing a terrorist act."
On Friday, he welcomed the Constitutional Council ruling.
"We must absolutely not deprive ourselves of the means provided by law to assert our values and say we don't accept that those we welcomed on our soil can attack and threaten La Belle France," Valls said.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, meanwhile, said the government would continue to strip those found guilty of "acts of terrorism" of their nationality.
The Constitutional Council's decision also comes at a time of serious diplomatic crisis between La Belle France and Morocco over torture complaints filed against top Moroccan officials last year.
Since then, bilateral judicial relations have been cut and anti-terrorism cooperation frozen.
#1
La Belle France's top legal body ruled Friday that stripping a binational convicted jihadist of his French nationality was lawful, just as the country upped its fight against extremism.
Evidently citizenship still means something in France.
The government let the 75% or whatever it was surtax in millionaire incomes expire at the end of last year, as it unexpectedly lost the government significant money instead of providing the planned surplus. Which doesn't mean someone else won't come up with exact same idea in a decade or two -- France seems to trundle round the same cycles every generation. It's the Fifth Republic now, as I recall, and each previous one was followed by revolution and restoration. Though to be fair to the fourth, the second world war did somewhat force things.
[AnNahar] The number of anti-Moslem incidents in La Belle France has soared since the Gay Paree attacks, with 128 such acts registered over two weeks, almost the same amount as all 2014, a watchdog said Friday.
The National Observatory Against Islamophobia ...the irrational fear that Moslems will act the way they usually do... said 33 acts against mosques in particular and 95 threats had been reported to authorities since the January 7-9 shooting spree by three French jihadists that killed 17, compared to a total of 133 such incidents in 2014.
The tally for the two weeks since January 7 do not include incidents in Gay Paree and its surrounding region, where police have yet to release their figures.
The number of anti-Moslem incidents in 2014 had dropped 41 percent from the previous year, according to the watchdog.
"But these figures do not reflect reality, as many Moslems don't want to systematically file a complaint when they are victims of xenophobic acts, convinced that there will be no follow-up, which is unfortunately often the case," the observatory said.
[Ynet] The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... 's second highest court on Thursday annulled EU sanctions on an Iranian bank and 40 shipping companies hit with asset freezes as part of pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program.
Betcha President Obama wishes he had the EU court instead of the Republican-controlled Congress to deal with...
But they will remain under sanctions for now after the General Court gave the EU time to appeal or to decide whether to re-impose sanctions using different legal grounds.
The court's rulings were handed down as six major powers and Iran strive to meet an end-June deadline for a long-term agreement to curb Tehran's nuclear activities in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.
The EU put Bank Tejarat, an Iranian commercial bank, under sanctions in 2012, saying it had helped Iran's nuclear efforts. The General Court struck down the sanctions, saying the Council of EU governments had failed to prove that Bank Tejarat had provided support for nuclear proliferation or had helped others to avoid sanctions. It also said the bank was partially privatised in 2009 and the Iranian state was no longer its majority shareholder.
#1
Betcha President Obama wishes he had the EU court instead of the Republican-controlled Congress to deal with...
Nah, they are just as spineless as the EUnchs, and share the same testicular atrophied characteristic.
Plus they are closer to home so their waffliness will be fodder for the LSM.
[IsraelTimes] Police searching for man who appeared on surveillance camera and apparently had ties to Mehdi Nemmouche
Belgian authorities are looking for a possible accomplice to Mehdi Nemmouche, who has been charged with killing four people at the Jewish Museum in Brussels last year, the prosecutor's office said Friday.
The prosecutor's office said "we are looking for this person," who has not been identified, when asked to confirm a report in La Derniere Heure daily.
Responding to a request from the prosecutor and examining magistrate, Belgian police last week issued an appeal for witnesses so as to identify a man who appeared on a surveillance camera.
The wanted notice for the man was published in the context of a murder investigation.
On the police's website, it appears next to the wanted notice for Nemmouche, who was tossed in the clink Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! in the French port city of Marseille as he got off a bus from Brussels on May 30, six days after the museum attack.
The notices for the unidentified man and Nemmouche also carry the same date, May 24, the day of the attack.
"We confirm that there is a link between the two wanted notices and that we are looking for this person. The investigation will determine whether this person is an accomplice or not," the prosecutor's office said.
The 19-second clip from the surveillance camera shows a man with a shaved head walking on a pavement. A backpack slung over a shoulder, he is wearing a striped T-shirt and jeans.
A second man walking with him is entirely blurred out but La Derniere Heure said he was Nemmouche.
During his arrest, French police found a revolver, a Kalashnikov assault rifle and ammunition in his luggage.
Nemmouche had returned months before from Syria where he had been fighting with Islamist krazed killers.
After being extradited to Belgium, Nemmouche was charged with "murder in a terrorist context" after an Israeli couple, a French woman and a Belgian were rubbed out at the museum in central Brussels. Nemmouche has never admitted to being the killer.
The shooting was the first such attack in Brussels in three decades.
[IsraelTimes] Authorities say body of terrorist who murdered 4 Jews, policewoman was not accepted by home country Mali
The jihadist gunman who earlier this month murdered four Jews at a Gay Paree kosher shop and held others hostage for hours before being killed by police was buried Friday near the French capital.l.
Police sources said the burial took place after Amedy Coulibaly's country of origin Mali refused to accept his body.
The sources, who wished to remain anonymous, said Coulibaly -- who also shot and killed a policewoman the day before the January 9 attack -- was buried in the Moslem section of the Thiais cemetery in the Gay Paree region.
His family had asked for him to be buried in Mali, but that country's government refused.
The two other jihadists who attacked Gay Paree -- Cherif and Said Kouachi -- were buried last week in the towns where they had lived, respectively Gennevilliers near Gay Paree and Reims in the northeast.
Both were placed in unmarked graves to prevent them becoming "pilgrimage sites" for holy warriors.
[IsraelTimes] PM 'will pay price' for spat over Congress address; Obama said to have asked him to demanded he tone down pro-sanctions rhetoric; Wash. Post: Kerry's enthusiasm for defending Israel may wane.
Kerry will have to answer to his Orthodox Jewish brother for that, the one he paraded before Jewish donors and voters, when the time comes.
Details at link, but they don't really matter. The White House and its henchmen, having decided they have an excuse to browbeat Bibi once again, have daily upped the volume since the original announcement, dripping their poison into willing ears at the Washington Post and Ha'aretz -- in all ways the New York Times of Israel -- and threatening to discontinue even their paltry previous support of Israel on the world stage. It will no doubt trouble you to know, dear Reader, that at the White House they are now calling the prime minister of Israel much worse names than the mere chickenshit of yore.
And providing some perspective on the White House excuse for not meeting with Bibi this trip:
Denying it is snubbing Netanyahu, White House cites ‘long-standing practice’ of not inviting candidates close to polling day. So what was Clinton doing with Peres in 1996?
There is a precedent for election-proximate meetings, it involves Israel, and Netanyahu was the intended victim.
#1
I spit in your worthless faces; Bibi can take a number and get in line.
Posted by: Barbara ||
01/24/2015 0:27 Comments ||
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#2
Netanyahu is 10^6 times the man that O could ever in his wildest dreams aspire to be. O knows this. The only thing O&Co can think of is how to sandbag a leader and his country because his feelings are hurt and he hates Netanyahu and Israel, and everything the country stands for.
You do not need to rub O's nose in it. He does that to himself. The best thing to do is to make good things happen and leave O behind to stew in his own juices. Even his dem friends except the *ahem* RRRReverend Sharpton are abandoning him.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/24/2015 0:30 Comments ||
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#3
Hey, bub, he maybe thought you were thirsty. It's probably the best you are going to get in this lifetime.
#7
What AP said in #2. This may be hi-octane stuff in faculty lounge politics, but on the world state it just looks childish and petulant. Chickenshit doesn't begin to describe it.
If getting Bibi into the country proves problematic, we can just smuggle him in via our southern border.
#9
It’s almost like the White House has no interest in reining in supposedly rogue elements
The rogue element is the deranged narcissist in chief. Obola's response to everything is personal because he thinks everything is about him.
As a typical progressive he is incapable of seeing the other side, compromising or even invoking the "it's just business" attitude of a gangster. Nope, it's never just business it is always personal and always about him.
Disagree in the slightest, deny him any whim and you are an enemy forever.
l'etat c'est moi!
That attitude don't leave much room for negotiation does it?
Posted by: frozen al ||
01/24/2015 11:49 Comments ||
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#11
he paraded before Jewish donors and voters....
Just .39 cents.
Cute! But more than that, Besoeker. When former Secretary Kerry was running for president, I happened to be invited to a reception for the brother hosted by the local Jewish Federation, or perhaps it was the local Jewish Democrats. The lady who invited me was a fellow soccer mom -- we'd chatted at the sidelines when our daughters' teams played against each other -- and she thought I'd enjoy it. We hadn't actually discussed politics at that point. ;-)
I felt very much the spy as I wandered among the conversing groups. It seems that Mr. Kerry's brother had converted to Judaism before the family geneology was done which revealed that the side of the family that wasn't Kennedys had been Jews in Czechoslovakia (I think) until fairly recently. Candidate Kerry sent his brother to corral the Jewish vote, and certainly the people I listened to were all agog at the idea of such a close connection to the future leader of the nation, completely failing to notice that we'd heard no mention of the brother until that point, which suggested he had not considered the connection beneficial.
Nor do I recall mention of that brother since, another subtle hint.
[Rooters] Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has ordered the first group of about 100 U.S. troops to head to the Middle East in the next few days to establish training sites for Syrian opposition fighters battling Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... bully boys, the Pentagon said on Friday.
Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said the troops, mostly special operations forces, were authorized last week and would begin arriving in countries outside Syria in the coming days, with a subsequent wave of several hundred military trainers following in the weeks thereafter.
The U.S. focus in the campaign against Islamic State has been mainly on Iraq, with the exception of a large number of air strikes to support Kurdish fighters trying to prevent the takeover of the Syrian town of Kobani near the Turkish border.
Kirby said on Friday that Kurdish forces now control about 70 percent of Kobani, which was seen a few months ago as being near collapse, with much of it in the hands of Islamic State.
He said the advanced element of U.S. forces headed to establish training sites amounted to fewer than 100 troops.
"They're going to ... take a look at what's there and prepare for further deployments," Kirby said.
Turkey, Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates... and Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... have offered to host sites where U.S. forces could train members of the Syrian opposition to fight Islamic State and provide security in their home communities. Kirby did not say where exactly the first training sites were located.
The U.S. military has said it is planning to send more than 400 troops for the training mission and several hundred support forces for a total of about 1,000 or more.
Kirby said last week that several hundred foreign military troops were also expected to act as trainers, including forces from the host countries.
He said on Friday that active recruitment of Syrian trainees had not started, although U.S. military officials have been discussing the matter with Syrian groups.
U.S. officials have said if the current momentum continues, training could begin in the spring, with the first trainees returning to Syria at year's end. Officials plan to train 5,000 Syrian fighters a year for three years.
Goody. More highly trained hard boys who'll desert to ISIS or Al Nusra after they graduate.
[WashingtonFreeBeacon] Another $490 million released on Tuesday under deal
The B.O. regime on Wednesday paid $490 million in cash assets to Iran and will have released a total of $11.9 billion to the Islamic Theocratic Republic by the time nuclear talks are scheduled to end in June, according to figures provided by the State Department.
Today's $490 million release, the third such payment of this amount since Dec. 10, was agreed to by the B.O. regime under the parameters of another extension in negotiations over Tehran's contested nuclear program that was inked in November.
Iran will receive a total of $4.9 billion in unfrozen cash assets via 10 separate payments by the United States through June 22, when talks with Iran are scheduled to end with a final agreement aimed at curbing the country's nuclear work, according to a State Department official.
Iran received $4.2 billion in similar payments under the 2013 interim agreement with the United States and was then given another $2.8 billion by the B.O. regime last year in a bid to keep Iran committed to the talks through November, when negotiators parted ways without reaching an agreement.
Iran will have received a total of $11.9 billion in cash assets by the end of June if current releases continue on pace as scheduled.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/24/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
So tell me again what the incentive is for Iran to agree to anything?
They get to both continue their research and have the US to pay for it!
#3
This is not negotiation between the O administration and the MMs of Iran. This is more like giving stacks of money and begging Iran for a worthless agreement. The MMs cannot believe what a rube they ran into.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/24/2015 0:33 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Perhaps I will rethink my opinion of the new Congress when they extend the sanctions (to include the refreezing of these assets) despite the veto threat from Bambi.
I suspect they will pound their tiny fists and make noise for the cameras and move along...
[DAWN] BUNER: District police officer (DPO) Khalid Mehmood Hamdani has said that over a dozen forces of Evil are still hiding in Elum Ghar area in the houses of their sympathisers. He said that these forces of Evil had killed several local elders and police personnel.
Talking to mediapersons at Daggar Press Club here on Thursday, the DPO vowed to eliminate forces of Evil with the active cooperation of local population. He said that a strategy had been devised and the security forces and police would initiate a joint action to clear Elum Ghar and surrounding areas from the krazed killers. He said that seven police points had been established at Elum Ghar and a cop shoppe would also be established here.
Mr Hamdani said that the police would be made people-friendly. He said that cooperation among different stakeholders would be ensured to curb militancy in the district. He appreciated people of the district for rendering great sacrifices in the fight against terrorism side by side the law enforcement agencies.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] There are rocky times ahead for leaders and activists of the proscribed Hizbut Tahrir ...an al-Qaeda recruiting organization banned in most countries. It calls for the reestablishment of the Caliphate... (HuT) and the Jamaat-ud-Dawa ...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba... (JuD), as well as anyone who has ever been jugged Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! in connection with terrorism charges, as the capital city's police department has initiated action against such individuals, senior police officials told Dawn on Thursday.
Earlier, a similar crackdown was launched aginst those affiliated with the Ghazi Force and Lal Masjid ...literally the Red Mosque, located in Islamabad and frequented by all sorts of high govt officials. The proprietors, Ghazi Abdul Rasheed and Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi, unleashed their Islamic storm troopers on the city, shutting down whorehouses and beating people up who weren't devout enough. The Musharraf govt put an end to the nonsense by besieging the place. Abdul Aziz Ghazi was nabbed while he was trying to escape dressed up like a girl. BBC reported that the corpse count at 173, but other claims, usually hysterical, say there were up to 1000 titzup. Among their number was Abdul Rashid Ghazi. Everyone then said tut-tut and what a nice guy he had been... , as well as anyone whose name is included in the 4th Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act's, they said.
Police have already started surveillance and reconnaissance of those suspected to be former or current members of the Ghazi Force, those affiliated with Lal Masjid or those arrested during Operation Silence. Each individual's current whereabouts and their activities are being closely watching, sources said.
Officials said that over 500 suspects were arrested by the army and intelligence agencies during Operation Silence in 2007, but they were acquitted by the courts. Following their release, police and intelligence agencies claimed that they had regrouped and established the Ghazi Force, which was tasked with avenging the operation.
There are 27 people, including religious holy mans, who are on the 4th Schedule watch list, officials said, adding that a proposal to add 27 more names to the list had already been sent to the concerned quarters.
The officials said that the list was prepared in light of police records and contains the names of suspects, along with their affiliations and details of their criminal records.
Over 150 people had been taken into custody by Islamabad police over their alleged involvement in terrorism-related cases between 2007 and 2014.
While the HuT was not actively involved in any kind of terrorist activity in the country, police officials said they were instigating ordinary people, officers and armed forces personnel to revolt and set up a caliphate. Dozens of cases had been registered by capital police regarding the HuT's activities and a number of their activists had also been arrested, they added.
However, a clean conscience makes a soft pillow... there were no cases registered in the capital against activists or leaders of the JuD.
The list prepared for the capital has been distributed to each cop shoppe and includes the names of every suspected terrorist who has ever lived in the capital or has a permanent or temporary address from Islamabad on their CNICs, officials said.
Station house officers have been asked to keep track of these people and those who are originally from other parts of the country would be tracked down with the help of the law enforcement agencies in their native towns, police officials said.
Officials said that when they started the exercise, a majority of the people they were looking for went into hiding and could not be found at their given addresses in the city.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2015 00:00 ||
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[ARABNEWS] The president of Iraqi Kurdistan complained on Friday about being excluded from a meeting in London this week of the US-led coalition against Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... , saying Kurdish fighters deserved more respect.
Masoud Barzani issued a statement saying it was "disheartening" that no Kurdish representative was invited to the meeting, where Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi called for greater military support.
"We were expecting everyone to show respect to the sacrifices made by the people of Kurdistan and its peshmerga by inviting a representative from Kurdistan to this event and similar such events," Barzani said.
His comments followed criticisms earlier this month from Iraq's prime minister and parliament speaker about the pace of the coalition's efforts, which US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel rejected as "unhelpful."
Washington is struggling to balance its support for the central government in Baghdad and Iraq's Kurds, who have their own nationalist ambitions.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
"We were expecting everyone to show respect to the sacrifices made by the people of Kurdistan and its peshmerga by inviting a representative from Kurdistan to this event and similar such events," Barzani said.
Those who fight and die for freedom are supposed to remain in the trenches, fighting and dying. If things really go badly, we'll send in the 38th Irish, or the Highland Brigade.
[AnNahar] The United States and Iraq are preparing to retake Iraq's second-largest city djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... from the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group by this summer, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
A group of Kurdish fighters and other Western-trained forces should be ready to launch the offensive by the spring or summer, the head of the U.S. military's Central Command General Lloyd Austin told the Journal.
"If we did things alone or with some of the other allies on the ground, it could move faster," he told the newspaper. "But the Iraqis have to do this themselves."
The general said he had not decided whether to recommend that U.S. forces accompany Iraqis on the offensive.
The U.S. air strikes have recently focused on putting pressure on IS-held Mosul. Kurdish peshmerga forces have also launched successful offensives against IS-held roads near Mosul, which is in the north of the country.
The city once held well over a million people but now is likely a fraction of that size.
The general told the newspaper that the international coalition fighting IS has made significant headway in its battle to roll back the group's control over large swaths of the country.
Defense officials say their air strikes have killed thousands of jihadists.
The Iraqi government recently asked for more weapons to help its military that partially collapsed in early stages of the fight against IS.
The U.S. and Iraq have begun preparations for an assault by summer to retake Mosul, selecting and training military units and cutting supply lines to Islamic State turbans who control Iraq's second-largest city, the top American commander in the Middle East said.
Gen. Lloyd Austin, the head of the military's Central Command, told The Wall Street Journal that the international campaign against Islamic State has inflicted significant damage. Opposing forces have reclaimed about 300 square miles of territory in djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... province.
"Two Iraqi military divisions will advance to take the lead in Nineveh battle," he assured.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/24/2015 00:00 ||
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Israel warned Lebanon and Syria on Friday not to allow any attacks on Israel from their soil, hoping to avoid reprisals for an Israeli air strike in Syria that killed an Iranian general and senior Hezbollah fighters.
"Israel will see the governments, regimes and organizations beyond its northern border as responsible for what emanates from their territory," Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said in a statement. "(Israel) will exact a price for any harm inflicted on Israeli sovereignty, civilians and soldiers."
#1
Which I think illustrates the crux of the problem. Ever since Lebanon lost the Lebanese Civil War they have about as much input into Iranian decisions to use Lebanese territory to launch attacks on Israel as, say, Brooklyn does. (Maybe less, since Brooklyn at least has the opportunity to vote in US elections. Which it throws away by voting for Obama and his ilk).
[Ynet] Large number of military vehicles, IAF planes participate in drill held after alertness level raised; Gantz: 'We are prepared and ready for any action needed'.
military exercise in the Northern Command on Friday after it raised its level of alert in the northern border following the strike attributed to Israel earlier this week that killed senior Hezbollah officers and Iranian soldiers.
IDF officials said that the decision to hold the exercise was made after a situation assessment conducted in recent days, and that a large number of military vehicles and IAF planes participated in it. The exercise was executed before the onset of Shabbat.
On Sunday, Jihad Mughniyeh, Hezbollah's commander of the Syrian Golan sector and the son of Lebanese terrorist Imad Mughniyah, were killed when an Israeli helicopter allegedly fired two missiles in the Syrian province of Quneitra near the Israeli Golan Heights.
Israel has deployed its Iron Dome missile defence system in the north, where local media say it is amassing tanks and infantry reinforcements.
#1
Pre=emptive strike on supposedly 100,000 missiles would save many many lives...why wait? Israel will be condemned for defending itself in any war anyway...?
[IsraelTimes] Jihad Mughniyeh, who was killed in the attack, was coordinating with commander of Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Channel 2 report says
The reported Israeli strike on Syria on Sunday, in which an Iranian general and top Hezbollah commanders were among 12 killed, targeted the leaders of a substantial new Hezbollah terror hierarchy that was set to attempt kidnappings, rocket attacks and other assaults on military and civilian targets in northern Israel, an Israeli TV report said Friday.
The new terror unit involved Hezbollah commander Jihad Mughniyeh, who was killed in the strike, and who was coordinating with the commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Qasem Soleimani, the Channel 2 report said. There was no suggestion in the report that Soleimani, a key figure in supporting Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now... and Hezbollah, was in the area at the time.
The terrorist hierarchy included recruitment and intelligence departments, and was set to begin operations targeting Israel from the Syrian Golan, including "kidnappings, firing rockets and mortar shells, and using anti-tank weapons against Israeli residential areas."
[TIME] While the clock ticks down for two Japanese hostages held by ISIS, their countrymen think they've brought the problem on themselves
Japanese government officials continued to press for the release of two Japanese citizens being held by Islamist bandidosmurderous Moslems in Syria late Friday, even as an alleged deadline for paying the $200 million ransom expired.
The hostage drama has dominated the news cycle since ISIS released a video showing two Japanese men being threatened by a masked murderous Moslem with a knife. But in very Japanese fashion, much of the anger has focused on the hostages themselves, who are seen by many as having acted recklessly. "The public thinks these guys put themselves in harm's way, and that it is their problem -- not the government's or the taxpayers problem," says Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University's Tokyo campus.
Haruna Yukawa, 42, a failed businessman who hoped to re-invent himself as a private military contractor, was kidnapped in August after entering ISIS-controlled territory. Kenji Goto, 47, an experienced freelance journalist, was captured in October after entering Syria in what he told friends was a quest to free Yukawa, whom he had met there earlier.
In the video released Tuesday, the murderous Moslem accuses Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of taking sides in the Mideast conflict by pledging $200 million in aid to countries fighting against ISIS, which controls vast territory in both Syria and Iraq. The murderous Moslem said the hostages would be killed if an equal amount was not paid within 72 hours ‐ a deadline that Japanese officials presume expired Friday afternoon.
Abe has stressed that the aid money--which he pledged during a six-day trip to the Middle East that was interrupted by the hostage crisis--is for humanitarian purposes only and said his government is doing all that it can to secure the hostage's release. But he has vowed not to "give in" to terrorists, and most analysts believe he will not authorize payment of the ransom--either openly or otherwise.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Makes too much sense. Something's gone wrong, fer sure.
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.
[Ynet] The United States has pulled more staff out of its embassy in Yemen, US officials said on Thursday as Washington scrambled to cope with the collapse of a government that had been a key ally in the fight against al Qaeda.
David Cameron
[IsraelTimes] Authorities say body of terrorist who murdered 4 Jews, policewoman was not accepted by home country Mali
[DAWN] There are rocky times ahead for leaders and activists of the proscribed 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[ARABNEWS] Iranian and US diplomats resumed talks in Switzerland on Friday, as the pace intensifies toward a complex deal on Tehranâs nuclear program.
