she pretty much carried the Smallville franchise the last 6 season
The plots and the screenplay got to be so idiotic that Erica frequently smiled slyly when delivering her 'serious' lines as if she was amazed that anyone could be following it
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/21/2013 9:55 Comments ||
Top||
#4
The theme for today is "balloons"
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
06/21/2013 11:18 Comments ||
Top||
#5
OK, in keeping with the theme Balloons how is this ?
Pic deleted. Some of our gentle readers have noted in the past the such images create problems. So don't do it.
AoS
Posted by: Big Uliting1460 ||
06/21/2013 12:35 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Pic deleted. Some of our gentle readers have noted in the past the such images create problems. So don't do it. AoS
[An Nahar] Somalia's leaders vowed Thursday that progress would continue despite fresh threats by Islamist Shabaab hard boys, a day after they staged a deadly attack on the U.N. compound as a "warning" to the world body and "infidels".
Eleven people were killed when the seven-man team of suicide commandos from the al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab bully boyz shot and blasted their way into the U.N. compound in Mogadishu Wednesday, before Somali and 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... forces battled their way inside to kill the gunnies.
U.N. chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... expressed outrage at the "despicable" attack which left eight people working for the world body dead, but said that the organization would not end its work in Somalia.
In turn, the Shabaab said they would not give up their attacks.
"We wanted to show the U.N. that they will have no safe haven," Shabaab front man Ali Mohamed Rage said in a speech broadcast Thursday on the bad boy Radio Andalus station.
"It was a warning for those infidels (non-believers) who hope to violate the rights of the Somalia people in future."
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud called the Shabaab a "disgrace" to the country, warning that "violence and terror will not derail" progress made in the capital in the past year, a city where such bloody corpse counts were once a daily occurrence.
"Over the past year, Somalia has turned a corner," he said in a statement late Wednesday. "We are now on a determined path of recovery and reconciliation."
One U.N. staff member was killed, who Kenya's foreign ministry confirmed was a Kenyan national, in a statement condemning the "cruel attack".
Two South African contractors, a Somali U.N. contractor, four Somali security guards and three civilians in the surrounding streets were also killed, officials said.
Mohamed Yusuf, head of the Medina hospital, the capital's main trauma center, said that 18 maimed people were being treated, four of them with serious injuries.
Mogadishu was reported to be calm on Thursday, with the areas around the bombed-out entrance of the now empty U.N. compound cordoned off.
"The situation is quiet... security forces are conducting operations," said police colonel Abdi Mohamed.
The brazen daylight attack forced aid workers to evacuate temporarily back to the secure airport zone, the headquarter barracks of the 17,000 African Union force that is fighting the Shabaab.
"It was a shocking attack... we never thought Al-Shabaab ... the personification of Somali state failure... could hit such a defended area," said local resident Ali Muktar, adding that he had seen several vehicles carrying foreign aid workers to the airport zone.
One local aid worker, who asked not to be named, said that several foreign aid workers had flown to Nairobi on Thursday morning.
The Shabaab celebrated the attack Thursday, with Rage claiming it showed "no tanks or military arsenals will deter our mujahedeen from defending their religion".
Posted by: Fred ||
06/21/2013 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: al-Shabaab
[Shabelle] residents of Barawe district in the lower Shabelle region of Somalia are living in fear after 2 Alshabab troops fought each other.
Fighting broke up between troops loyal to Ahmed Godane also known as (Sheikh Mukhtaar Abuu Zubeyr) and other troops loyal Omar Hamami also known as (Abu Mansur Al Amriki).
It is reported that Godane's men killed a Sudanese Nationalist who belonged to Al Amriki's troops and dragged his body in the streets of Barawe town.
Telecommunication was disabled by Godane's men after they realized that Almiriki's men were plotting an attack on his troops.
Heavy fighting ... as opposed to the more usual name-calling or slapsy... occurred last night which resulted to the death of 6 Death Eaters from both sides.
Telecommunication was restored today but residents are worried fearing war might break up any time between the two Alshabab troops.
It is believed that the division between Alshabab troops is not yet settled as previously Ahmed Godane's men and Al Amriki's men clashed several times.
Latest news from Barawe town adds that an operation is being conducted by Godane's men prosecuting the foreign troops led by Al Amriki. Godane's men outmuscled Al Amriki's men during the heavy fighting.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/21/2013 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: al-Shabaab
[Ynet] Chinese courts have sentenced 11 people for inciting religious extremism and related crimes in the northwestern Mohammedan region of Xinjiang, just weeks ahead of the anniversary of bloody ethnic rioting that spread through the region four years ago.
The Justice Ministry's official newspaper Legal Daily said Thursday that Aihetaimu Heli was given the harshest sentence of six years in jail for uploading to the Internet materials promoting jihad and ethnic hatred.
[VOA News] A bomb destroyed a Shi'ite Moslem religious center in northwestern Pakistain Friday, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens of others.
Police in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. said a small group of snuffies first opened fire on the mosque and religious seminary as worshippers gathered for Friday prayers. Officials said a jacket wallah then went inside.
Syed Muntizer Hussain witnessed the attack:
"We heard gunfire coming out from outside the mosque and we ran towards the exit. I saw a boy wearing black clothes, who had a beard and was around five feet tall, approaching the mosque interior and firing with the pistol in his hand. As he reached the inside of the mosque he went kaboom!."
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but radical Sunni Moslems who consider Shi'ites to be heretics have stepped up attacks against the minority Shi'ites in recent years.
Also Friday, gunnies in the southern city of Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... ambushed and killed a politician and his son as the two made their way home from Friday prayers.
Sajid Qureshi was a politician for the Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... (MQM), the most powerful party in Karachi.
Fellow MQM politicians Jamal Ahmed demanded quick justice.
"Bearing the loss of a son, husband and father is painful as there is no replacement of them. We demand the authorities to arrest the culprits within 24 hours, try them and convict them in two days, and punish them in public."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/21/2013 14:27 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Jhangvi
#1
Muslim on Muslim, I love it.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/21/2013 15:48 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Boy howdy, a self destructive universe. This is really sick.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/21/2013 16:01 Comments ||
Top||
[Dawn] Five men, including a supporter of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, were gunned down in separate incidents in the city on Wednesday, police said.
They said that armed men kidnapped Irfan Qasim, 29, in the Baghdadi area. They brought him to G. Allana Road, fired at him and fled in the early hours of Wednesday.
The wounded was taken to the Civil Hospital Karachi where he died during treatment.
Quoting his family, the police said that he left his residence in Musharraf Colony on Tuesday night to visit his native place in Daryabad, Lyari.
The Baghdadi police said that the victim was believed to be a supporter of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and his brother, Adnan, lodged an FIR against 'Lyari gangsters' without nominating any individual.
Killing in Mewa Shah graveyard
The bullet-riddled body of a young man was found in the Mewa Shah graveyard on Wednesday.
Pak Colony SHO Bilal Raza said that circumstances suggested that unidentified persons kidnapped and brought the victim to the graveyard where they shot him dead.
He said there were three bullet marks on the head, back and hand on the victim's body while his hands were also tied.
The body was shifted to the Civil Hospital Karachi for a post-mortem examination. The identity of the victim could not be ascertained till late.
Youth found shot dead
The bullet-riddled body of a young man was found along the Lyari riverbed in Machhar Colony on Wednesday, police said.
They said that the victim was identified as Farhan Ismail, 26, with the help of an identity card found in his pocket. He was shot five times.
Docks SHO Asif Jakhrani said that a letter was also found in his pocket, which stated that he had been 'betrayed' by his beloved 'S'.
However, the victim's family told the police that he had left his residence in Jamshed Quarters around two days ago and did not return home.
They would lodge an FIR after the burial, the police said.
Picnicker kidnapped, killed
Two picnickers going to the Keenjhar Lake along with their other relatives in a small coach on Wednesday were 'kidnapped' and one of them was found shot dead later in the day, police said.
They said that armed occupants of a car intercepted the coach in the Malir City area, and took away Raja Pervez and his cousin, Noman, at gunpoint.
Later, Pervez was found shot dead near Saleh Muhammad Goth within the remit of the Shah Latif Town police station. The kidnappers left Noman unhurt.
Area SHO Ali Hassan said that victim's brother Aurangzeb nominated their relative Rehan alias Azeem in the FIR.
He said that the complainant told the police that his relatives, living in Nazimabad and Liaquatabad, had planned a picnic and they left for the Keenjhar Lake in a small coach on Wednesday.
The SHO said that there was a dispute between suspect Rehan and the victim, as the former did not want him to take his wife to the picnic.
The suspect's wife was in the coach when she received a phone call from her husband who asked her location and she told him that the vehicle was at a fuel station in Malir City. As soon as it started moving, armed occupants of a car intercepted the vehicle and two of them took Raja Pervez and Noman away. Later, they killed the former.
The area SHO said that suspect Rehan had shifted to Nazimabad from Lyari and he had a criminal background.
Van driver shot dead
A young school van driver was shot dead in New Karachi on Wednesday, police said.
Khawaja Ajmer Nagri SHO Gul Baig said that Imran Wazir, 35, was targeted outside his residence in Sector-5-C-1 when he was going to pick some schoolchildren.
The motive for the murder could not be ascertained immediately.
Robbers kill man upon resistance
A young man was shot dead while his brother was wounded by robbers upon resistance in Bhitai Colony on Wednesday.The Ibrahim Haidery police said that three gunmen stormed a house and started looting valuables. As inmates resisted, the suspects opened fire on them and fled. Kaiser Iqbal, 25, was killed while his brother, Nasir Iqbal was wounded.
A suspected robber, Khalid, 28, was also wounded as bullets fired by his accomplices hit him, Ibrahim Haidery SHO Naik Muhammad said, adding that two other robbers managed to escape but they left looted valuables at some distance.
He said the wounded robber was admitted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre in a critical condition.
Woman bludgeoned to death
A woman was bludgeoned to death in her Hasan Brohi Goth home on Wednesday, police said.
They said that the body of Rizwana, 50, was found in her house.
Surjani Town SHO Shabbir Ahmed said that she was living alone in her house since the death of her husband. She had no children.
Grenade attack in Manghopir
A grenade was lobbed into a house in the Manghopir area on Wednesday. The attack, however, did not cause any damage to life and property.
Police said that the house of Shah Hussain located in Hamza Goth came under attack.
They said that the incident could be a result of ongoing gang warfare in the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/21/2013 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
[Ynet] A jacket wallah killed seven people at an Iraqi vote counting centre on Thursday evening, police said, hours after polls closed in two Sunni Mohammedan-dominated provinces.
Most Iraqis voted for provincial councils in April but the Shiite-led government postponed elections in Anbar and Nineveh, citing security concerns after months of protests by the country's Sunni minority.
A senior member of the Runda Kumpulan Kecil (RKK) terrorist militant group has been gunned down and three security officers injured in a gun battle in Yala province.
Police yesterday surrounded a house in Raman district, following information that Madaree Tayae, a most-wanted suspect, was hiding in the house along with other terrorists insurgents. Upon seeing the officers, four or five armed men inside the house began shooting, causing the officers to return fire. During the exchange, Pol Cpl Preecha Thinchana was shot and wounded.
About 9:30 a.m., police from a special operations unit, taskforce soldiers and volunteer military rangers went to the house where they blocked the mens' escape route. Both sides exchanged gunfire and two more soldiers were wounded in the battle.
After a clash lasting more than three hours, the policemen entered the house and found the body of a man later identified as Madaree. The other terrorists insurgents managed to flee.
Madaree was a key figure of the RKK's operations under insurgent chief Mazawe Kama. He was thought responsible for a series of attacks in Raman district, including an ambush of military rangers in 1998 that killed four, and arson attacks in 2005.
Madaree provided arms training to local terrorists rebels and was often assigned to carry out major attacks in Pattani's Kapho district and Yala's Raman district, a source said.
In Pattani province, three members of a military teacher protection unit were injured in a bomb blast while on patrol in Mayo district yesterday.
Not because it's unusual, but because events in that part of the world are coming thick and fast.
[Jpost] Iran has jugged Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! 12 United Arab Emirates nationals and one Indian who were aboard two boats which crossed into what Iran claims as its territorial waters in the Gulf, the English-language Press TV reported on Thursday.
"The (Iranian) forces at Abu Musa Marine Patrol Base detected two intruding UAE vessels while fishing in the Persian Gulf waters and issued the order for capturing them," Press TV quoted base commander Colonel Ali Vesali as saying.
Vesali said those placed in durance vile Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! were transferred to a military dock, without giving further details.
Political relations are strained between the two oil-rich countries which face each other across the Gulf.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
06/21/2013 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Interesting, considering the amount of smuggling traffic between the two.
[An Nahar] One person was killed and five others were maimed on Thursday as protesters blocked several roads in the Bekaa, the North and Beirut to express "solidarity" with the town of Arsal.
One person was killed and another was maimed as residents of the town of Majdal Anjar staged a sit-in near the al-Masnaa border crossing in support of Arsal's residents, state-run National News Agency reported, without mentioning the reason behind the injuries.
Protesters also blocked the Saadnayel road in both directions near the town's mosque.
LBCI television said "four protesters were maimed during an attempt by the army to reopen the Saadnayel-Taalabaya road."
"Gunfire and kabooms were heard in the Bekaa region of Taalabaya," OTV reported.
Voice of Leb radio (100.5) said "the Dahr al-Baidar-Zahle-Baalbek road has been completely blocked by protesters expressing solidarity with Arsal."
LBCI said protesters also blocked the al-Fayda-Zahle road in Saadnayel's outskirts with burning tires.
"The road linking al-Masnaa to Rashaya, Riyaq and al-Faour and the al-Marj road have been blocked in solidarity with Arsal's residents," Voice of Leb radio (93.3) said.
"The army exchanged gunfire with protesters who blocked the Saadnayel-Taalabaya road, which left four people maimed, one critically," it added.
Later on Thursday, the blocking of roads spread to Beirut and the North.
"The Cite Sportive road in Beirut has been blocked with burning tires in solidarity with Arsal," LBCI reported.
Future TV said the Corniche al-Mazraa road was also blocked near the Abdul Nasser Mosque.
In the North, protesters blocked roads in al-Abboudiyeh and al-Bireh.
On Wednesday evening, LBCI reported that "the residents of Arsal are complaining that they are facing a near-siege due to attacks on their cars once they leave the town through the only route that links Arsal to al-Labweh and the rest of the Bekaa."
But in the wake of the protests on Thursday evening, OTV said "the Arsal-al-Labweh road has been reopened after a meeting between the Amhaz family and Hizbullah officials."
"The Amhaz family (in al-Labweh) called for preserving the best relations with Arsal and allowing the passage of Arsal residents, except for those accused of the Wadi Rafeq crime," Voice of Leb radio (93.3) said.
LBCI said the head of al-Labweh Municipality and a delegation from the Amhaz family informed the army checkpoint at Arsal's entrance that the al-Labweh-Arsal road is "under its authority."
Several meetings were held at the building of Arsal Municipality on Wednesday afternoon, in the presence of the municipality members, mayors, the imams of mosques and educational, social and political figures, after which they issued a statement condemning the recent Wadi Rafeq crime.
Four people were killed on Sunday, including two from the Jaafar clan, as their car came under gunfire in Wadi Rafeq, a mountainous region near Ras Baalbek and al-Qaa.
Arsal's residents had condemned the incident and disavowed the perpetrators, "regardless of their identities."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/21/2013 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
[An Nahar] Syrian rebels urged friendly world powers on Thursday to provide them with heavier weapons and to impose a no-fly zone over parts of the country they control to avert a humanitarian disaster.
On the ground, troops and rebels battled in several districts and suburbs of Damascus, and the army shelled bully boy positions using heavy artillery and mortars, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Western and Arab powers from the so-called Friends of Syria group will meet in Doha on Saturday, and Free Syrian Army front man Louay Meqdad said "the regime could use Scud missiles with unconventional warheads to shell liberated areas. So we need a safe haven."
"It is necessary to establish secure areas and impose no-fly zones in the south or north," he told Agence La Belle France Presse in Dubai.
Calling for anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, he said that "if they do not provide us with arms to protect civilian areas, a humanitarian disaster will occur because regime troops are committing massacres in the areas they are recapturing".
Meqdad said "foreign militias, including Hizbullah and Abulfadhl al-Abbas brigades (made up mainly of Iraqi Shiites) do not respect any international conventions".
Foreign ministers from Britannia, Egypt, La Belle France, Germany, Italia, Jordan, Qatar, 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... , Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United States are to discuss aid for the rebels, including military help, a French diplomat said on Wednesday.
Western powers have so far refused to arm rebels fighting Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... 's troops -- backed by Shiite militias from neighboring countries -- out of fear they could fall into the hands of radical Islamists.
But Meqdad said "we are committed to ensuring that these weapons do not fall into the hands of unorganized or myrmidon groups".
FSA chief of staff General Selim Idriss is seen as a reliable partner by the West, who mainly voice fears of groups such as Al-Nusra Front, whose aim is to establish an Islamic state in Syria.
Meqdad said the regime has been amassing troops in preparation for an offensive on rebel-held areas on the outskirts of Damascus and second city Aleppo.
The expected campaign comes after Assad forces regained control of the strategic town of Qusayr, on the border with Leb, with Hizbullah help.
On Thursday, President Michel Suleiman ...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... urged Hizbullah to end its participation in the war and "return to Leb... because this intervention leads to tensions in Leb".
Last week, Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah said his fighters would stay in Syria.
The opposition has said Hizbullah forces are now deploying at other key sites in the country, including in the north.
"If they (Hizbullah) participate in the battle in Aleppo and there are more deaths in the ranks of the party it will raise tensions further. Qusayr must be the end, and they must return to Leb," Suleiman said.
In Moscow, meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the West was dragging its feet on agreeing to a date for a peace conference because "they are not at all sure that they will be able to sell the opposition".
Speaking of this week's G8 summit in Northern Ireland, Lavrov said Russia pushed for a concrete time frame to be spelled out but its Western partners refused to do so.
The opposition has long insisted that Assad's departure is a precondition for any settlement, and said it "reserves the right to use all means at its disposal" to bring him down, "chiefly military action".
The army, in some instances backed by Hizbullah, was seeking to retake rebel positions in suburbs south of the capital, and to cut off supply lines to others inside the capital, the Britannia-based Observatory said.
Meanwhile in the war-torn country, Syrian troops and rebels battled in several southern and eastern districts of Damascus on Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding the army used heavy artillery to target some bully boy positions.
Clashes that began a day earlier in the north-eastern Qabun neighborhood were continuing, as army troops sought to storm the district, firing mortar shells and heavy artillery, the Observatory said.
Several homes in the area caught fire as a result of the bombardment, the group said.
The northern Barzeh district and eastern Jubar neighborhood, both home to pockets of rebel fighters, were also under fire.
In the south of the capital, the contested neighborhoods of Al-Hajar al-Aswad and Qadam were the scene of ongoing festivities, with shelling forcing the closure of the road leading to the Paleostinian Yarmuk refugee camp.
A woman and a child were killed by an army sniper in the area, according to the Observatory, which relies on a network of activists, doctors and lawyers on the ground.
Rebel have established rear bases in parts of the southern and eastern districts of the capital, prompting the Syrian military to launch raids in a bid to uproot them.
Earlier this week, a rebel attack in Qadam killed 11 Syrian soldiers.
In southern and eastern suburbs of the city, rebels were also battling troops backed by members of Hizbullah, the Observatory said.
Government troops are pushing in particular to retake the village of Zayabiya and Babila, south of the capital, mixed Sunni-Shiite villages near the Sayyida Zeinab shrine, a Shiite pilgrimage site.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/21/2013 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[An Nahar] The Lebanese army made on Thursday a heavy deployment in the areas of al-Labweh and Arsal in the Northeast after residents of the two towns exchanged gunfire.
The deployment came amid high tension caused by sectarian splits in the country, which were exacerbated by the war in Syria.
The National News Agency said the military deployed after gunnies from the Sunni town of Arsal opened fire on residents from al-Labweh, drawing retaliatory fire.
Al-Labweh is majority Shiite. There was no report of casualties in the shooting.
On Sunday, four Lebanese men were killed in an ambush in Wadi Rafeq which is not far from the two towns.
The murder of the men -- two from the Jaafar clan and another from Amhaz family - hiked the sectarian tensions and concerns over the spillover of the civil war raging in Syria.
Gunmen from the families of the slain men erupted into the streets and set up roadblocks, accusing Arsal residents of being behind the killings.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/21/2013 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
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.
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
[VOA News] A bomb 
[Dawn] Five men, including a supporter of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, were gunned down in separate incidents in the city on Wednesday, police said.
A senior member of the Runda Kumpulan Kecil (RKK) 
[An Nahar] Syrian rebels urged friendly world powers on Thursday to provide them with heavier weapons and to impose a no-fly zone over parts of the country they control to avert a humanitarian disaster.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
