[Pak Daily Times] Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. on Sunday replaced his two vice presidents and unveiled a partially new cabinet after urgent calls for reform in the 24-year-old regime.
The changes come less than a week after leading ruling party dissident Ghazi Salahuddin Atabani said he had launched a new "Reform" party relying on youth support that has attracted thousands of supporters.
It is the most serious split in years within Bashir's National Congress Party (NCP), which has faced internal criticism over alleged corruption and stagnant leadership.
The "big changes" announced Sunday "were meant to bring forward experienced youth", NCP deputy chairman Nafie Ali Nafie said, according to the Sudanese Media Centre (SMC) which is close to the security apparatus.
Nafie himself is stepping down from his post as Bashir's adviser and assistant, to be replaced by senior NCP member Ibrahim Ghandour, officials said.
Other regime stalwarts who lost their jobs are top vice president Ali Osman Taha and oil minister Awad Ahmad al-Jaz.
Bakri Hassan Saleh, a former interior and defence minister, replaces Taha while Hassabo Mohammed Abdel Rahman becomes second vice president, senior party official Rabbie Abdelatti Ebaid told AFP.
"Yes, confirmed," Ebaid said of the appointments.
Saleh was presidential affairs minister in the cabinet which Bashir dismissed last week ahead of the reshuffle.
Abdel Rahman had been the NCP's political secretary.
But Defence Minister Abdelrahim Mohammed Hussein keeps his job, party officials told a presser at NCP headquarters.
Both Hussein and Bashir are wanted by The Hague-based International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... for alleged war crimes in Sudan's Darfur region.
Also retaining his post was Foreign Minister Ali Ahmad Karti.
A minority of cabinet members who belong to parties other than the NCP will keep their posts pending decisions by those parties, officials said.
The new vice president Saleh was a leader of the 1989 Islamist-backed coup which brought Bashir to power, Robert O. Collins wrote in "A History of Modern Sudan".
He called Saleh "an efficient and sinister defender of the revolution" who was entrusted with rebuilding the country's intelligence apparatus.
The Internal Security Bureau "demonstrated its autonomy through its extreme brutality," Collins wrote.
SMC reported that the new government was first announced by Nafie after an NCP meeting which ended at dawn.
Party officials later told news hounds that Makawi Mohammed Awad, formerly director of Sudan's railway network, becomes the new oil minister.
Finance and Economy Minister Ali Mahmud al-Rasul, who presided over the collapse of the Sudanese currency and soaring inflation, has been replaced by Badereldien Mahmoud.
He was deputy governor of the Central Bank of Sudan.
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12/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[Libya Herald] Ansar Al-Sharia has lashed out at the General National Congress over the statement overwhelmingly passed by it four days ago saying that the Sharia was the "only source for legislation in Libya" and "above the constitution".
Accusing Congress of playing political games, Ansar said that the "manoeuvre" was an attempt to confuse supporters of the Sharia and appease a Libyan public which was demanding its implementation.
The Congressional statement contained no commitment or obligation, continued Ansar, claiming that it was only "ink on paper". Comparing it to Qadaffy, it said that he had similarly stated "that the Koran is the law of society" but had never made it so.
Dismissing Congress as a "worthless" body, Ansar said it was ridden with contradictory agendas -- Islamist, secularist and nationalist. The Sharia overrode them all.
"It is clear that the Ansar Al-Sharia group does not understand the Congressional statement on the Sharia at all," GNC front man Omar Hemidan, told the Libya Herald.
Ansar was "fishing in troubled waters", Hemidan said, insisting thatr that there was no reason to criticise the statement.
The vote was a moral obligation, not a legal matter, said Hemidan. What the vote was saying, he explained, was that Congress could not issue any laws or resolutions that were against the Sharia.
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12/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[Libya Herald] Confusion reigns over the reported appointment of an army brigadier as the new military governor in Derna. As a result of the reports, the town today saw an end to a week of protests demanding greater police and army presence and the withdrawal of militias.
Speaking to LANA news agency today, Brigadier Ahmed Al-Shelawy confirmed earlier reports of his appointment as the troubled town's military head. He told the news agency he would be relying on the people of Derna and its revolutionaries to help him on his mission to maintain security there.
However, Switzerland makes more than cheese... the spokesperson for the Chief of Staff, Ali Al-Sheiki, told the Libya Herald that Shelawy had simply been recalled to Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... on a routine summons and that reports of his appointment were false.
"He has not been appointed", Sheiki said. "He has only been summoned to Tripoli and he has not yet arrived. People heard this news and assumed that he would be made governor. Derna belongs to the Jabal Akhdar military district in the east, and Derna itself is not an administrative area."
The Chief of Staff's office did confirm, however, that Abdul Majid Ahmed Zeidan had replaced Colonel Omar Al-Hasnawy as military governor in Sirte in a routine reassignment.
The announcement comes just two days after Colonel Salah Buhulaiga, the commander of the Zawia Martyrs' Brigade, the state's strongest armed force in Sirte, was killed in a car crash.
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12/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[Libya Herald] The Military Integrity and Reform Commission has disbarred 23 officers for their involvement with the former regime.
Nine of those disbarred were found to have helped transport mercenaries from outside of Libya to fight against revolutionary forces, commission front man Abdulbaset Al-Shaari told the Libya Herald. They were also said to have hidden bodies of combatants on both sides in order to convince the media and international community that there was no conflict in Libya, he added.
The disbarred servicemen now have 30 days in which to appeal to a military court against the decision.
Last month the Military Integrity and Reform Commission disbarred 915 non-commissioned officers and soldiers. Shaari said that the commission still has hundreds of files to consider on military personnel who fought for the Qadaffy regime .
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12/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] Egyptian hardline Islamist group Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya condemned on Sunday the prosecution of liberal activists Ahmed Doma, Ahmed Maher and Alaa Abdel-Fattah for protesting without authorisation in November.
The group -- a close ally of the Moslem Brüderbund, whom the activists oppose -- said trying the activists was "tantamount to putting the 25 January Revolution on trial," adding that the measure exposes the "coup" which ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... in July.
"Removing Morsi from power was a coup against the revolution and its gains, which should be a motive for the partners of the 25 January Revolution to return and protest another time," Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya said in a statement.
The statement was issued despite the activists' protests against the Moslem Brüderbund and other Islamists forces allied to them.
Leading Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya member Assem Abdel-Maged -- currently in Qatar fleeing authorities in Egypt -- had previously come out strongly against Morsi's opponents and described Doma as the "greatest thug" after the latter protested at the Brotherhood headquarters in March.
In statements aired on the ultra-conservative Al-Hafez Channel, Abdel-Maged had expressed his pleasure at Doma's assault by Brotherhood supporters during the March protest.
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12/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] An Egyptian court was to try 21 Islamist university students Sunday, including a Turkish man, after a violent protest outside the prestigious al-Azhar religious institution, prosecution officials said.
The students at al-Azhar University in Cairo are accused of attacking the headquarters of the Sunni Musselmen authority in a November protest.
A court has already sentenced 12 Islamist demonstrators to 17 years in jail for attacking the headquarters during another protest.
Universities have become a key battleground for students who oppose the military's overthrow of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... in July.
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12/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Three prominent Egyptian secular activists went on trial on Sunday charged with participating in a violent protest, following a restrictive new law that has sparked international criticism.
The trial of Ahmed Maher, Ahmed Douma and Mohammed Adel is the first of secular activists since Islamist president Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... was deposed by the army in July. Adel is being tried in absentia.
Rights groups see the trial as a widening of a crackdown on protests by the authorities, who until now have been targeting Islamist supporters of Morsi.
The three activists are accused of several charges including assaulting coppers and joining a protest without seeking a police permit as required by the new law.
Both Maher, the founder of the April 6 youth movement that led the 2011 revolt against Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... , and Douma denied the accusations.
"We will pursue our struggle inside and outside (the prison), the authority which is using the judiciary to put us in jail will fall," Douma told Agence La Belle France Presse.
An AFP news hound said that representatives of the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... were present at the proceedings in a Cairo court.
The court took a one hour recess soon after it started the hearing.
Maher and Douma were jugged Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! after Maher's supporters allegedly scuffled with coppers outside a Cairo court on November 30, as Maher handed himself in for questioning on suspicion he had organized an illegal protest.
All three defendants were leading dissidents under Mubarak, and supported the military's overthrow of Morsi.
The passage of a law on November 24 that bans all but police-authorized protests has angered secular activists who had viewed the military-installed government as a lesser evil than Morsi's.
The United States and human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... groups have expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... about the new law, which was introduced after Egypt lifted a three-month state of emergency to stamp out unrest by Morsi's supporters.
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12/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Terrified Bangui residents anxiously waited for French troops to secure the city Sunday before emerging from their homes after a wave of sectarian violence killed hundreds.
The French force received a triumphant welcome Saturday as it deployed across other parts of the Central African Republic in a bid to stem the chaos that has gripped the country since a March coup.
The communal strife that has wracked the Central African bush for months flared in Bangui on Thursday, killing nearly 400 people.
"We have counted 394 dead in the last three days," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on La Belle France 3 television.
The French contingent, which army front man Colonel Gilles Jaron said had reached its new full strength of 1,600 by Sunday, has secured strategic locations in Bangui.
But traumatised residents were eager Sunday to see the troops move deeper into the neighbourhoods. "We're waiting for the French to enter our districts and be sure we won't encounter any of those gunnies," one resident told AFP.
"We're all exhausted from living in fear. We want this to end," said another, declining to give his name.
Jaron said no further festivities had been reported since Thursday but added that tension was palpable as French forces prepared to hunt down marauding gangs of ex-rebels.
"I think they understand that they will have to be gathered and disarmed and that the French force is subduing them, that creates tension," he said.
In comments on national radio, Central African Republic President Michel Djotodia thanked the former colonial power for its military help.
On Saturday, cheering residents honked horns, danced and banged on saucepans as some 200 French troops rolled into the western town of Bouar from neighbouring Cameroon.
"Thank you" and "Save us", yelled some of the thousands of people massed to see the convoy bristling with guns and French fighters in high-tech combat gear swoop into town.
French President Francois Hollande ...the Socialist president of La Belle France, an economic bad joke for la Belle France but seemingly a foreign policy realist... , describing the Bangui bloodshed as "terrifying", announced 400 extra soldiers on Saturday but said there would be no further reinforcements and insisted most troops would not stay more than six months.
The French presidency also announced that the 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... would boost the regional MISCA force also on the ground to 6,000 troops from a planned 3,600.
Hollande said the job of the French and African troops would be "to disarm militias who are acting like gangsters, raping women and even killing people in hospitals."
"I believe we can quickly put a stop to the current atrocities and massacres."
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12/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Brazen al Qaeda attacks on top government targets in Yemen are unlikely to abate while security services remain divided, ill-equipped and infiltrated by myrmidons, and efforts to repair the country's fractured political life remain stalled.
An al Qaeda-affiliated group attacked the defence ministry in Sanaa on Thursday, killing 56 people, in a harsh reminder that bully boy groups are able to operate in heavily secured areas of the capital despite a security crackdown.
It was the worst such attack in 18 months, heightening concerns about threats emanating from a country that flanks international shipping lanes and shares a long border with the world's top oil exporter, 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... .
Responsibility for the attack was claimed by Ansar al-Sharia ...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Libya, Tunisia and Yemen, with the Libyan and Tunisian versions currently most active... (Partisans of Islamic Law), an offshoot of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which is among the most active arms of the global jihadi network and wants to topple the government and impose its own strict version of Islamic law.
Analysts and officials see no early end to the violence.
"This demonstrates the seriousness of ... terrorist attacks, it demonstrates that al Qaeda obviously has planners, and executors and capabilities," Yemen's Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi told Rooters on the sidelines of a security conference in the Bahraini capital Manama.
Islamist bully boyz took advantage of the chaos of 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... 's overthrow after months of mass protests in 2011 to seize several southern cities, but were driven out in a government offensive a year later aided by U.S. drone strikes.
But divisions within Yemen's security services - loyal to rival Yemeni leaders, including Saleh himself - have made it all the more difficult to confront the myrmidons.
The security services also have to contend with fighting southern secessionists and a rebellion in the north that has flared up in recent weeks, killing more than 100 people.
"If al Qaeda is indeed responsible (for the defence ministry attack), which seems likely at this point, it sends a strong message that they can strike where the government is strongest," the International Crisis Group's senior Yemen expert April Longley Alley told Rooters.
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12/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... has called a dawn-to-dusk countrywide hartal ... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ... for tomorrow protesting death warrant against its leader Abdul Quader Mollah.
In a blurb this evening, the party termed the death warrant a planned conspiracy to kill politicians.
The hartal is an addition to a 72-hour countrywide blockade that started from Saturday morning. The BNP-led 18-party opposition alliance in which Jamaat is a key component is enforcing the blockade.jamaat-logo
Earlier in the afternoon, the International Crimes Tribunal-2 issued the death warrant for the Jamaat assistant secretary general who was awarded the capital punishment for his wartime offences.
ICT registrar AKM Nasiruddin Mahmud told journalists the "warrant of execution" and copies of Supreme Court verdict were sent to Dhaka Central Jail, home ministry and Dhaka district magistrate for the execution of Mollah.
Arunav Chakraborty, a deputy registrar of the ICT, said he handed over the warrant and SC verdict copies to jail authorities around 4:15pm and the district magistrate around 4:35pm.
Another staff of the tribunal, meanwhile, took the copies of death warrant and SC verdict to the home ministry.
Earlier in the day, the copy of the full text of Supreme Court verdict awarding death penalty to Quader Mollah for war crimes reached the tribunal.
Staff of the SC registrar office along with the verdict copy and other related documents went to the tribunal's registrar office in the capital at 11:55am.
The SC on Thursday released the full text of the verdict of the Appellate Division bench, which awarded death penalty to Mollah on September 17.
The SC pronounced the judgement, overruling Mollah's life term imprisonment awarded by the International Crimes Tribunal-2.
Tajul Islam, a counsel for Mollah, told The Daily Star this afternoon that they were yet to receive the certified copy of the verdict.
There seems to be a debate among lawyers on whether Mollah has the right to move a review petition before the apex court.
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12/09/2013 00:00 ||
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In a bid to squash dissent within North Korea's ruling elite, the once-powerful uncle of Fat Boy Kim Jong Un was removed from his government position at a Ruling Workers' Party politburo meeting Sunday, according to a statement by North Korea's state news agency KCNA.
Jang Song Thaek, who married Kim's aunt, was the vice chairman of North Korea's top military body and has often been pictured beside Kim. John Park, a Northeast Asia analyst at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, said, "Some see this as perhaps the last part of the power consolidation phase, that Pudgy Kim Jong Un has in fact removed all of the old guard close to his father and is now finalizing the inserting of his own inner group."
Jang and his allies were accused by Kim of double-dealing behind the scene, "dreaming different dreams" and selling the country's resources at cheap prices, thereby threatening North Korea's economic development, according to the statement. It said, "Jang desperately worked to form a faction within the party by creating illusion about him and winning those weak in faith and flatterers to his side."
The same statement also chastises Jang for improper relations with several women, drug use, gambling, eating at expensive restaurants and getting medical treatment in a foreign country.
Last week two of Jang's close allies - Lee Yong-ha and Jang Soo-kee - were publicly executed.
#2
The same statement also chastises Jang for improper relations with several women, drug use, gambling, eating at expensive restaurants and getting medical treatment in a foreign country.
#1
American Citizen Merrill Newman Deported From ends mission in North Korea, Lands In San Francisco ... Merrill H. Newman of Oregon, a platoon leader who won a Silver Star for valor.."for certain actions"...thank you sir for your continued service
Posted by: Au Auric ||
12/09/2013 1:26 Comments ||
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#2
Mods please note any IP addresses out side of USA coming into RB for the next few days, likely NK, Iran, ChiCom or surrogates will monitor sites for confirmation of information on an "84 year old operative" ... engaged in espionage...against the "fatherland".... By the way, DON'T touch that button... or you will blow your head off... on 2nd thought...touch it....seems appropriate
Posted by: Au Auric ||
12/09/2013 1:42 Comments ||
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#3
Of course, this is sarcasm against the NK... I'm glad this gentleman has returned safely to his family, and hopefully NK's paranoia, does not match mine.....
Posted by: Au Auric ||
12/09/2013 2:02 Comments ||
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#4
"American Citizen Merrill Newman Deported From North Korea, Lands In San Francisco"
Poor guy - from one socialist hellhole to another.
[Pak Daily Times] President Mamnoon Hussain said on Sunday that it is high time terrorism and corruption are eliminated from the country.
Addressing a conference on interfaith harmony, which was organised by Nazria Pakistain Council (NPC) Trust Islamabad, the president said practicing Islamic teachings in their true spirit could guarantee our betterment in the world and the life hereafter. He said the whole nation was united on the issue of terrorism, sectarianism and extremism, and the government was also striving to fulfil its responsibilities.
The president hoped that the government, with the cooperation of masses, would take the issues of terrorism and extremism to their logical conclusions and purge the country of these menaces. Terming the promotion of inter-faith harmony and tolerance as need of the hour for peaceful co-existence in society, President Mamnoon Hussain urged the religious scholars to guide the masses in accordance with the true spirit and teachings of Islam.
He advised the Mohammedans of Pakistain and the world to promote love and harmony, respect the non-believers and collectively work for the country's progress, setting aside all differences. The president said the country was in the grip of issues that affected the lives of individuals as well as masses. "Unfortunately, the country which was achieved for free atmosphere to practice our faith, has been caught up by terrorism and sectarianism. Regrettably, neither the mosques and imambargahs nor the churches and shrines are safe. Today, schools are being blown up and innocent people are being oppressed," President Mamnoon remarked.
He said Islam never allowed imposing own faith on others. "It was the outcome of religious tolerance that Mohammedans had ruled the sub-continent and people had embraced Islam being impressed by the tolerance practiced by Mohammedan saints." He called for following the philosophy of saints to regain the grandeur of Islam and introduce the religion to the world in its true form. President Mamnoon Hussain said terrorism had created panic across the globe and unluckily, the Mohammedans were being blamed for the prevailing situation.
President Mamnoon urged Learned Elders of Islam to follow the teachings of Islam to promote harmony, brotherhood, peace and tranquillity in the country. He said owing to the attitude of a few unguided people, Islam was being illogically linked with extremism and terrorism. "Factually, our religion preaches peace, brotherhood and harmony. Islam strictly prohibits bloodshed and chaos. It also declares the killing of a human tantamount to killing the whole humanity," the president added. He said Islam is a universal religion.
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12/09/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon Hussain said on Sunday that it is high time terrorism and corruption are eliminated from the country.
Good luck, It will be as hard as convicting Capone, and just as deadly. (Probably longer too.)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/09/2013 5:41 Comments ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has said that drone attacks by the United States are a violation of Pakistain's independence and illusory sovereignty, and they would not allow such attacks.
Talking to party workers and media persons at his residence on Sunday, the chief minister said the suspension of supplies by the US through the Torkham border after the protests by the PTI was their victory. He said it was a decision of the PTI and allied parties to block the supplies and a final decision on it would be taken by Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who ain't the sharpest bulb on the national tree... on his return from India.
He said the provincial government was preparing to hold local government elections in March after consultation with other parties.
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12/09/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has said that drone attacks by the United States are a violation of Pakistain's independence and illusory sovereignty, and they would not allow such attacks.
OK, How you gonna stop them, become Christian?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/09/2013 5:44 Comments ||
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[Pak Daily Times] NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... shipments from Afghanistan via Pakistain are due to resume after the end of anti-drone protests, officials said, as US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel headed to Islamabad for talks on Monday.
Hagel, who has been in Afghanistan since Saturday, will meet with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... in the first visit by a Pentagon chief to Pakistain for nearly four years.
Ties between Washington and Islamabad have been deeply troubled over US drone strikes targeting suspected faceless myrmidons in Pakistain's tribal belt, while American officials have long accused Islamabad of allowing Afghan Taliban sanctuaries inside its borders.
In recent weeks, activists opposed to the drones forcibly searched trucks in northwest Pakistain in a campaign to disrupt NATO supply routes to and from Afghanistan.
But a US defence official told news hounds in Kabul that the suspension of shipments via Pakistain had been lifted because the protests had stopped, allowing NATO trucks to move safely through the Torkham gate pass.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Israeli President Shimon Peres said Sunday he would be prepared to meet his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani, even though their two countries consider each other arch-enemies.
Asked at an economic forum over a possible meeting, Peres replied: "Why not? I don't have enemies. It's not a question of personalities but of policies.
"The aim is to transform enemies into friends," said the president, whose role in Israel is symbolic and ceremonial.
Peres also recalled that "there was a time that we did not meet, for example, with (Paleostinian leader) Yasser Arafat," until his Paleostine Liberation Organization recognized Israel.
"We must concentrate all our efforts on making sure Iran does not become a nuclear danger for the rest of the world," he told journalists.
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[Pak Daily Times] The Philippine government and the main Mohammedan rebel group on Sunday signed a crucial power-sharing accord, paving the way for a final peace agreement, government statements said. The accord, signed by negotiators from the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Kuala Lumpur, is another step towards finally ending a decades-long Mohammedan rebel insurgency in the south that claimed an estimated 150,000 lives.
"The signing of the Annex on Power Sharing ensures the achievement of a genuine and viable autonomy for the Bangsamoro (Filipino Mohammedans)," Teresita Deles, the head of the government peace panel, said in a statement.
"It has been a very difficult round but we were able to overcome a lot of obstacles," she added.
President Benigno Aquino's front man Herminio Coloma said the president had been informed of the signing of the annex and had congratulated both parties.
The two sides in October last year had signed an initial pact on ending the conflict, in preparation for a final agremeent.
Under the plan, the 12,000-strong MILF would give up its quest for an independent homeland in the southern island of Mindanao in return for significant power and wealth-sharing in a new autonomous region there.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/09/2013 00:00 ||
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#2
How long do you think it will be before that '12,000 strong' MILF becomes something like 2,000 strong as most of it 'splinters off' into a new, 'seperate' Muslim group demanding even more territory?
[Pak Daily Times] Iranian president Hassan Rouhani said tackling inflation and boosting growth were the country's economic priorities as he presented an austerity budget, his first, to parliament on Sunday.
Inflation has soared in the last few years, a trend analysts say is due to increasingly tough economic sanctions and fiscal mismanagement by former president Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad.
"Employment is the most important future issue for the economy but now the biggest problem is (tackling) stagflation," Rouhani in a live address on state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
.
"The combination of stagnation and inflation over the past two years was unprecedented," he said. Iran's budget for the year starting in March 2014 tops $66 billion, calculated on an open-market exchange rate.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/09/2013 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
International Criminal Court
[Pak Daily Times] Terrified Bangui residents anxiously waited for French troops to secure the city Sunday before emerging from their homes after a wave of sectarian violence killed hundreds.
In a bid to squash dissent within North Korea's ruling elite, the once-powerful uncle of 
[Pak Daily Times] President Mamnoon Hussain said on Sunday that it is high time terrorism and corruption are eliminated from the country.
Nawaz Sharif
