Edited for brevity.
A gunman apparently kidnapped his ex-girlfriend and her daughter near Dallas and forced them on a 200-mile drive, firing at other motorists and police until the car crashed and officers fatally shot him, police said. Jeremy Ethon Roberson, 29, had refused to drop his shotgun when officers shot him to death inside the wrecked car, police said Friday. Andrea Nichole Allen and her 4-year-old daughter, Kiara Renee, were treated at a hospital and released late Thursday, hours after the deadly ride.
Police pursued the car for more than an hour. As it made its way into Houston, Roberson cleared away traffic by firing at cars, at one point shooting through the front windshield at a truck. He also kicked out the car's back window so he could shoot at the more than a dozen squad cars. "Bullets were flying everywhere," said Kymberly Rooks, whose car was sideswiped by the vehicle carrying the gunman.
The chase ended abruptly when the car slammed into the back of a pickup truck and careened off the highway onto the grassy side strip. Allen was thrown from the driver-side door and briefly walked on the freeway, until a deputy pulled her behind a squad car and officers fired at the vehicle. When the shooting stopped, police rescued Kiara from the car. Roberson was still inside, clutching the shotgun, homicide officers T.S. Tyler and M.S. Walker said. When he refused their demands to drop the gun, the officers shot him. He died at the scene. The poor girl and her mom will be scarred for life, but at least they won't have to worry about this pr*ck again.
Posted by: Dar ||
02/03/2006 15:07 ||
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Police pursued the car for more than an hour. As it made its way into Houston, Roberson cleared away traffic by firing at cars, at one point shooting through the front windshield at a truck.
I've tried that in Houston. It doesn't work.
Posted by: Phil ||
02/03/2006 20:39 Comments ||
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Sydney - A Japanese whaling ship collided with a Greenpeace boat in Antarctic waters on Sunday. Greenpeace expedition leader Shane Rattenbury said his ship, the Arctic Sunrise, was carrying 25 people when it was rammed by the Nisshin Maru, a factory ship belonging to a Japanese whaling fleet. He said the collision was "deliberate".
According to Greenpeace, the whaling crew ship were watching activists onboard inflatable rafts shortly before the collision occurred. Greenpeace activists were painting the words "whale meat sanctuary" on the side of the Japanese supply vessel.
Japanese vessel will be painting a rubber dingy on their stack
Rattenbury said: "At the time, we were over a kilometre from the Nisshin Maru. "There were no other vessels in the area and there was no reason to head towards us - the Arctic Sunrise was virtually stopped at the time."
"Full speed ahead, Mr. Soto. Sound collision alarm, stand by to ram!"
The Arctic Sunrise has been chasing Japan's whaling fleet in Antarctic waters for almost two weeks, hampering the hunt for 850 minke whales and 10 fin whales as part of Japan's scientific research programme. The research whaling is permitted under the rules of the International Whaling Commission, but Australia and other anti-whaling countries say it is really commercial whaling in disguise. The ships sell the whale meat in Japan.
Don't mess with the Maru!
#2
I don't condone whaling by Japan. However Greenpeace is acting in a illegal fashion on the high seas quite often. I have zero sympathy for them when they risk causing injury to others and act as vandals. I am not opposed to the the raming and sinking of their vessels. They shouldn't feel safe doing what they do or think they can act with impunity anymore than these whaler ass clowns.
If they want to do something about whaling buy a sub and get real. GD hippys!
#4
If the Japanese wish to get unpleasant, what Greenpeace is doing could be construed as falling under one of the accepted definitions of piratical acts.
Posted by: Mike ||
02/03/2006 15:29 Comments ||
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Reminds me of the video I saw a few years ago on Fox when the Native Alaskans (Eskimos) went for their annual whale hunt in a freakin' canoe. Some Greenpeace yahoo was out on a jet ski (which, btw, I'm sure didn't run on ethanol) and harrassing the Eskimos in their hunt (for just 1 whale). Along comes the Coast Guard cutter, outsizing them both and trying to stay between them. The future Green-Darwin Award nominee (I think it should be a separate class of DA) cut right in front of the cutter on her jet-ski, and balooop, the cutter ran right over her! She pops up (and her jet-ski about 20 yards away upside down) on the other side of the cutter cursing! Unfreakin-believable!
Posted by: BA ||
02/03/2006 15:36 Comments ||
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#9
"whale meat sanctuary" sounds like one of those weird japanese anime cartoons.
#10
If the Japanese had been serious about this, the "activists" would have been "lost at sea" in the Antarctic and never heard from again. The fact that these media whores are flogging their story says that nothing happened.
Posted by: Random Thoughts ||
02/03/2006 16:55 Comments ||
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A Japanese whaling ship collided with a Greenpeace boat in Antarctic waters on Sunday.
Los Angeles - Police in Los Angeles will soon be issued with a secret weapon worthy of super-spy James Bond to help them catch suspects in high-speed car chases, their chief said on Thursday. Patrol cars will have compressed-air launchers mounted on their bonnets that will fire a tracking device at a fleeing vehicle, allowing officers to keep an eye on the suspect from a safe distance.
Tracking device that sticks to the vehicle? Was the inventors name Peter Parker by any chance?
The so-called "tag" is equipped with a global positioning system device and radio-transmitter and will attach to the suspect vehicle, giving pursuing officers and armed orbiting UAV's its location while not endangering other traffic.
Los Angeles Police Department Chief William Bratton announced the new technology following a barrage of public criticism over incidents in which innocent bystanders have been injured during police pursuits. The sprawling city is the US capital of high-speed police chases that have become such a local institution that broadcasters regularly interrupt programmes to show the dramatic pursuits. The tracking device may decrease the speed of pursuits and increase officer safety, Bratton said. Police will begin using it later this year, but hopefully as soon as tomorrow. Yo Rodney King... we gotcha!
Twin Zimbabwean brothers arrested for wearing loincloths have agreed to end their shocking campaign for traditional dress and wear shirts and shorts.
'Mentally colonised'
Since their release, their father has been shielding them from the media. But prior to their arrest, the 22-year-olds said that they had received a calling from God to give up their western clothing when they were living in the UK. If human nature developed from apes, so there's development in life
They had spent two years studying there, but left after Tafadzwanashe was arrested on fraud allegations and deported.
The brothers said that those who look down on them for their decision were "mentally colonised", as they were just going back to how things were before Europeans arrived in Africa.
The twins also shunned chairs and beds and sat and slept only on the floor.
I need some information on the safety of foreign workers in Burma. My brother has been offered a drilling contract (mineral not oil) in Burma. He is in Mexico working right know and has no access to the Net. I went to the State Department's web site and pretty much all it said was American cash,credit cards,and traveller's checks are not honored there,and modern medical care is virtually non-existent. Nothing on the safety of Foreign (American) workers. And found nothing at Google. How safe is it for Americans there?
I haven't seen anything since we started the Burg on foreign workers being harassed in any way in Burma. The ethnic Burmans I met in Thailand were unfailingly nice folks. If they need an IT guy, lemme know. I'd go in a flash.
"At the start of 2006, more than half the people of our world live in democratic nations. And we do not forget the other half -- in places like Syria, Burma, Zimbabwe, North Korea, and Iran -- because the demands of justice, and the peace of this world, require their freedom as well." -- Bush's State of the Union speech, 1/31/2006
PU BO MYA PLAW, Myanmar (Reuters) -- Former French commandos are helping train ethnic Karen guerrillas locked in a decades-long struggle against Myanmar's military junta, rebel leaders said on Tuesday.
Dressed in military fatigues, two foreigners attended a ceremony inside rebel territory to mark the 57th anniversary of the Karen National Union's (KNU) "Resistance Day", the start of what has become one of the world's longest-running conflicts.
"No, I'm French," one of the pair said when asked if he was American. He and his colleague, who appeared to be in their late 20s, refused to answer any more questions from reporters.
They were also reluctant to appear on film, moving away from television cameramen present at the ceremony in the guerrillas' jungle hideout around 150 miles (230 km) east of Yangon.
"They are French commandos who help us fight the SPDC," said Colonel Nerdah Mya, son of renowned and now wheelchair-bound, 79-year-old KNU supremo, General Bo Mya.
The SPDC -- or State Peace and Development Council -- is the official name of the military junta which has run the former Burma under various guises since a 1962 coup. Nerdah declined to give details of the full extent of the French pair's involvement in the KNU's fight for an ethnic Karen homeland inside the southeast Asian nation which won independence from Britain in 1948. ________________________ French mercenaries killed
Officials at the French embassy in Bangkok said they were surprised by the sighting and suggested the foreigners might have been masquerading as Frenchmen.
"I have no information about any French nationals staying with the Karen -- either mercenaries or not. But anything is possible," an embassy spokeswoman said.
However, analysts say it would not be unprecedented for former French soldiers to become involved with the KNU and its armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), which could have between 2,500 and 5,000 soldiers.
"There has been longstanding, if informal and sporadic, relationship between former French military people and the KNLA," said Anthony Davis of Jane's Intelligence Review in Bangkok.
In 1985, state media in Burma -- as Myanmar was then called -- said 28-year-old Parisian Jean-Phillippe Courreges-Clercq was killed when 150 Karen rebels attacked a Burmese military outpost near the Thai border.
An Australian, identified as Martin Donnelly, 26, alias Sonny Wingate, of Perth, suffered shrapnel wounds in the same incident and was treated in a hospital in the Thai border town of Mae Sot, the reports said.
Four years later, state media in Yangon said a French mercenary, Olivier Thiriat, had died of shrapnel wounds sustained during clashes with Karen guerrillas along the Thai border.
#4
I wouldn't do it. I live in China, and if I have some sort of medical emergency, Shanghai is only 4 hours away by taxi. No such luck in Burma. There's also the military dictatorship thingy. There are other places to make money in the world.
Feb 01, 2006 (DVB) - Burmas military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) troops have been planting landmines within Taungoo District, east of the new capital Pyinmana in central Burma allegedly for the security of the capital, but killing and maiming only innocent civilians. Thandaung and Htantapin regions within Taungoo District, mainly populated by Karen nationals, are said to be only 8 kilometres away from the new capital Kyappyay near Pyinmana and they are known to be frequented by Karen National Union (KNU) Brigade 2 fighters.
The landmines were planted by Burmese soldiers from Thandaung-based Battalion 124, and 2 civilians were killed and 5 wounded by the mines in January alone, according to KNU Information and Organising official David Takabaw. He added the army planted landmines deliberately so that villagers could not go to their farms and internally displaced people (IDP) could not move around or flee from their hiding places. Takabaw also admitted that the junta is trying to stop the movement of the KNU fighters by clearing the grassroot supports, but he insisted that the junta would never be able to stop guerrilla activities without breaking the provisional ceasefire agreement with the KNU.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/03/2006 14:03 Comments ||
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#6
We (the US) have got Burma (Myanmar) under some stiff sanctions for the way they treat dissidents.
#7
Raptor, I've never been to Burma, but I know a couple of people who have. The regime is nasty and corrupt, and the people very poor, but otherwise I understand it's a delightful place. Like Thailand was 40 or 50 years ago. Like you, I'd go in a flash.
#9
Lonely PlanetSince 1988 Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) has been under the military rule of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) - formerly known as Slorc - an abominable military junta. Prospective travellers should monitor events in Myanmar and weigh up the arguments in support of and opposition to travel.
If the Lonely Planet is hesitant, it's a no. Even Myanmar can be risky - if it's outside there, fagadabadit.
A Saudi man is in hospital after his divorced parents forced him to marry four times within six months. The battle began when the father insisted the boy should marry a cousin girl from his side of the family. The mother retaliated by ordering him to wed a cousin girl from her side, reports Arab News quoting Al-Watan daily. But the father wasn't happy with the balance of power and insisted on a third cousin wife from his side, to show who was boss. The mother, not to be outdone, then demanded that her son include another cousin wife from her side of the family.
The son has now been admitted to a hospital for psychological treatment. He is refusing to see his parents or his wives.
#9
"The son has now been admitted to a hospital for psychological treatment. He is refusing to see his parents or his wives."
He seems pretty rational to me.
An Egyptian passenger ship carrying around 1,300 people, mostly Egyptians, sank in the Red Sea overnight, and rescue ships arriving at the scene Friday had pulled 15 bodies and 12 survivors out of the water so far, officials said. The 35-year-old ship, "Salaam 98," went down 40 miles off the Egyptian port of Hurghada, the head of the Egyptian Maritime Authority, Mahfouz Taha Marzouk, told The Associated Press. The cause was not immediately known, but there were high winds and a sandstorm overnight on Saudi Arabia's west coast, from which the ship departed Thursday evening. Reports are passengers were returning from the Haj. No reports of terrorism yet. The photo shows an extremely top heavy ship that could easily have capsized in a storm.
Posted by: ed ||
02/03/2006 07:29 ||
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Seething and BB (Blaming Bush) in 4, 3, 2... We had to do something, since RB was down for a few days! Who knows, maybe it was the Jooooooos or maybe Johnny Jihadi(tm) got some new toys to play with at the hajj and played with them a little too soon.
#8
Top-heavy doesn't begin to describe it. I don't think the ships were designed to carry that number. A sister ship carrying pilgrims collided with a cargo ship back in October and sank. If I recall correctly, there were way more than 1300 people on board, most of them 'deck passengers'.
#10
I looked at the pictures. Somebody took a conventional little passenger RO-RO and put a four-story office block on top of it. I'm no naval architect, but she looks like she'd roll over on you if you looked at her crosseyed. Ever heard of "metacentric height," boys?
Posted by: Mike ||
02/03/2006 13:28 Comments ||
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This is looking extremely bad. Only 180 known survivors.
Posted by: ed ||
02/03/2006 13:53 Comments ||
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That's terrible, ed.
I know they had some lifeboats - some people were picked up from them. Wonder if they didn't have enough lifeboats/life preservers, or if the ship just turned over too quick.
My first thought when I saw a picture of the ship this morning was how top-heavy it looked.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/03/2006 14:48 Comments ||
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If she flipped over fast enough, the lifeboats on the side she rolled to would have been crushed by the ship. The ones on the other side might've floated free, but unless you were in the right place on one of the upper decks, you wouldn't have a chance to get to one.
Posted by: Mike ||
02/03/2006 15:33 Comments ||
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Inshallah.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/03/2006 15:37 Comments ||
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That water is crawling with sharks and rays...
I remember as a kid going up toward the suez the men would pretend to shoot skeet off the ship and shoot sharks instead.
#17
Hopefully, it will take the area's mind off cartoons for a moment. Vent some justified rage at the right people.. for the right reasons.
Never happen. Allah meant for all those people to die on that ferry; there's absolutely nothing anyone could have done about it. Oh, sure, one of kaffirs would point to it being overloaded, to the modifications turning into a top-heavy disaster in waiting, and heck, I bet there's even solid evidence of government officials raking in cash to overlook the whole thing -- but that's just crazy talk, because Allah meant it to happen, and there's nothing that could have been done to stop it.
The cartoons, though, they're the act of men, and for it, those men must die.
*spit*
Like Tim Blair said, for there to be a clash of civilizations, there have to be two civilizations. From where I'm sitting, there's one civilization and a great big pack of barbarians. The barbarians are doing their damnedest to provoke us. I don't think they quite comprehend what that would mean.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/03/2006 22:28 Comments ||
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By the passenger manifest, 324 have been rescued and 1100 are missing or dead. Any folks here know long one can survive in the Red Sea during wintertime?
Posted by: ed ||
02/03/2006 22:49 Comments ||
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long one can survive in the Red Sea during wintertime?
Unfortunately, ed, probably just long enough to be eaten by 3dc's sharks. Even if the passenger's could swim, which I b'lieve in those parts is the hobby of rich men's children (there are lots of crocodiles in the Nile, I understand).
They'll do everything necessary to create jobs except that which is necessary to create jobs.
CAIRO - Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif said plans to tackle crippling unemployment levels are high on the agenda of his new government programme, which he unveiled Monday in parliament. The cabinet gives priority to job creations in order to absorb the growing workforce and implement President (Hosni) Mubaraks program for 4.5 million new jobs in six years, he said.
According to official figures, unemployment in Egypt -- a country of 73 million -- is just under 10 percent but independent observers say it is twice that.
All of whom seethe on command.
Revealing his programme to MPs, Nazif promised 260 million dollars in funding for small and medium-sized enterprises, which he said should lead to the creation of 150,000 jobs. In addition, some 130,000 jobs will be created each year through other means of funding such as bank loans, said the premier, whose cabinet was sworn in a month ago.
"What will all these new workers do, Abdul?"
"I dunno, Mahmoud. Make 'em bank examiners, I don't care."
Nazif said the funding of larger projects should generate 240,000 jobs each year and also promised the creation of some 125,000 jobs in the tourism industry. We are hoping to increase the number of tourists by one million every year, he said. According to government figures, the number of tourists who visited Egypt rose from 8.1 to 8.6 million in 2005.
Wait til the Islamic Brotherhood blows up a few tourists.
Nazif said that the unwieldy number of civil servants paralysed the economy and added that young Egyptians should be educated and encouraged to set up their own businesses.
There's a foreign concept. How about firing a whole bunch of civil servants instead of giving them pay raises?
During Mubaraks campaign for Egypts first multi-candidate presidential election in September last year, he vowed to hike the salaries of five to seven million civil servants by 75 to 100 percent, build half a million new housing units, thousands of miles of roads, 3,500 schools and 1,000 factories.
No clue as to what the civil servants would do to add value to the system, no idea of how to build the houses or roads, no plan to educate Egyptian children for the future, and no clue as to what to build in those shiny new factories.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/03/2006 00:00 ||
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Is the cartoon from Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of the Universe? Great book. I think Larry didn't show Muhammed either, btw.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
02/03/2006 13:46 Comments ||
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Washington - U2's Bono, citing the Koran, the Bible and rock band Dire Straits, urged President George W. Bush on Thursday to boost US aid to the world's poor by about $25bn (about R150bn).
"This is not about charity, it's about justice," the singer and activist told an annual US national prayer breakfast, peering through orange-tinted glasses at Bush, US lawmakers, and Muslim, Christian, and Jewish leaders.
"That's too bad, because we're good at charity," he said. "But justice is a higher standard. Africa makes a fool of our idea of justice; it makes a farce of our idea of equality."
"There's no way we can look at what's happening in Africa and, if we're honest, conclude that, deep down, we would let it happen anywhere else," said the rock star.
"Mr President, Congress, people of faith, people of America, I want to suggest to you today that you see the flow of effective foreign assistance as tithing, which, to be truly meaningful, will need an additional 1% of the federal budget tithed to the poor," said Bono.
Bush's Office of Management and Budget estimated that the US government spent about $2.473 trillion in 2005, making the singer's request roughly $25bn.
Balance of this kak at the link.
Please hilite your comments when you submit articles
#2
Not as completely bubble-headed as all that, given the little noticed comments he's made in past. Namely that "Bush has done more for Africa than any US President."
That makes me notice that he said "justice, not charity". Charity has been tried, and it often does not work, specifically because much of Africa is controlled by dictators, warlords, fanatics, etc. They are the forces arrayed *against* charity, development, and improvement of the place. They are literally "the enemy" of the people of Africa.
So the only way for charity to work is if you replace the dictators, et al, with true democracy and freedom.
All of a sudden, it makes you wonder what Mr Bono is *really* asking for. A little "regime changing" perhaps?
My goddam wallet that I'm sick of people who "know better" keep sticking their hands into?
Throw Use your own money down a rathole, asshole.
Oh, yeah - and your so-called "music" sucks, too.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/03/2006 17:17 Comments ||
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Ain't that just a hoot? When money is needed, the first to be called on almost always seems to be Uncle Sam. Why, it's as if money trees grew on our soil...
Belgian military material valued at several million euros went missing in the African nation Equatorial Guinea at the end of last year.
Some 15 expensive armoured Pandur vehicles, several trucks, radio equipment and tents went missing, newspaper 'Het Laatste Nieuws' reported on Friday.
The material was meant to be delivered to UN peacekeeping troops in Benin. The troops are to protect election observers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo later this year.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is now negotiating with the Equatorial Guinea government in a bid to regain the military equipment.
The Belgian Defence Ministry said the equipment departed
from Zeebrugge in December and travelled to Tanzania on a Ukrainian container ship.
The captain moored the ship at an island near Equatorial Guinea, but the four soldiers entrusted with guarding the equipment were captured.
The military equipment was then unloaded and has since disappeared. The Defence Ministry fears the armoured vehicles and other equipment have been sold.
A ministry spokesman said it is UN's responsibility to regain the materials. The material was jointly supplied by the UN and Belgium.
Meanwhile, Belgium has decided to send extra election observers to its former colony of the Congo. Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht has allocated EUR 500,000 to the mission.
In a surprise visit to the finance ministry late Wednesday, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf said she was firing all previously appointed staff. She said the ministry had embarrassed Liberia in front of the international community. ... Earlier this week, she ordered all ministers from the previous transitional government to stay in Liberia pending a financial audit into their activities. There have been reports of millions of dollars missing from several ministries, as well as accounts of outgoing officials grabbing office equipment and looting government cars.
Posted by: James ||
02/03/2006 09:33 ||
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......accounts of outgoing officials grabbing office equipment and looting government cars.
A very typical day on the continent I'd say. Good luck Ellen!
Zimbabwe's main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai was deported from Zambia early yesterday together with eight other officials of his party for having violating immigration laws. A spokesperson for Zambia's Immigration Department said Tsvangirai and his colleagues from the crisis-hit Movement for Democratic Change were accosted by officials while in a meeting with an unnamed Kenyan at a resort. No charges were laid against them and the Kenyan was still being held in custody awaiting deportation, the official said.
The group had been at the Zambezi Sun Hotel in Livingstone when hotel staff tipped off immigration officials about the meeting. Zambian officials did not say what the meeting that Tsvangirai, who entered Zambia on a tourist visa on Monday, was about.
#3
Could backfire. Or, it could prove to be one element in a rebuilt Liberia. A professional army is a big step forward from warlords using ragged kids to kill other kids.
#4
The thing is, an American-style army only works when the troops work as a cohesive whole. Where it might turn out to have been a bad idea to train them, they won't be able to effectively use the skills against us anyway.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld likened Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Adolf Hitler, reflecting continuing tension in relations between the United States and the Latin American government.
Rumsfeld, asked during a National Press Club appearance Thursday about indications of a deteriorating general relationship between Washington and parts of Latin America, said he believes such a characterization "misses the mark."
"We saw dictatorships there. And then we saw most of those countries, with the exception of Cuba, for the most part move towards democracies," he said. "We also saw corruption in that part of the world. And corruption is something that is corrosive of democracy."
The secretary acknowledged that "we've seen some populist leadership appealing to masses of people in those countries. And elections like Evo Morales in Bolivia take place that clearly are worrisome."
"I mean, we've got Chavez in Venezuela with a lot of oil money," Rumsfeld added. "He's a person who was elected legally just as Adolf Hitler was elected legally and then consolidated power and now is, of course, working closely with Fidel Castro and Mr. Morales and others."
There have been increasing signs of hostility between Washington and Caracas, and on Monday Chavez said Venezuela's intelligence agencies have "infiltrated" a group of military officials from the U.S. Embassy who were allegedly involved in espionage.
Venezuelan authorities, including the vice president, have accused officials at the U.S. Embassy of involvement in a spying case in which Venezuelan naval officers allegedly passed sensitive information to the Pentagon.
It was not the first such charge by Chavez.
He has accused President Bush of backing efforts to overthrow his leftist government, and specifically has charged that the United States supported a short-lived coup in 2002, fomented a devastating strike in 2004 and expelled some American missionaries from Venezuela for alleged links to the CIA.
Washington has repeatedly rejected the allegations.
I'm getting extremely tired of the Hitler accusations, on all sides. To me, saying that someone is *just like Hitler* means you have no better argument to make. Lame, lame, lame.
#6
Actually the Volokh Conspiracy does a good job of explaining when and where it is appropriate here.
In what situations are modern-day comparisons to the Nazis likely to follow Godwins Policy of being useful, rather than trivial or hyperbolic? There are several obvious cases for which the Nazi comparison is neither hyperbolic nor trivial, even though the case in question may have some significant differences from the Nazis. This list is meant to be suggestive, not comprehensive:
1. When discussing followers and leaders of a political movement that is explicitly founded on Nazi principles or my admirers/allies of Nazism. These would include some, but not all, of the racist hate groups. These also include the Baath parties of Iraq and Syria, since Baath was founded as an Arab nationalist syncretic blend of Nazism and Stalinism.
2. When discussing somebody who adopts the nickname Hitler, as well as followers and cohorts of such a person. This would include Zimbabwe, where the late right-hand man of the tyrant Robert Mugabe was Chenjerai "Hitler" Hunzvi. It also includes the Fatah Party in the Palestinian Authority, one of whose members of the national assembly, Jamal Abu Roub, sports the nickname "Hitler."
3. People who publish and read Mein Kampf not as an exploration of an evil mind, but because they like its agenda. This group apparently includes a huge number of Arab and Turks.
4. People who attempt to delegitimize the Jewish need for a national homeland by denying that the Holocaust took place. This does not mean that everyone who disagrees with the creation of Israel is fit subject for a Nazi analogy. I am referring only to people who implicitly defend the Nazis by denying the historical reality the Holocaust.
5. People who advocate for (or rule) dictatorships and who simultaneously espouse extreme forms of anti-semitism--as in God hates Jews or regret that Hitler didn't finish killing all the Jews.
#7
5. People who advocate for (or rule) dictatorships and who simultaneously espouse extreme forms of anti-semitism--as in God hates Jews or regret that Hitler didn't finish killing all the Jews.
This rule fits Chavez. Remember his announcement that the Mossad had been planning some sort of attack on him or Venezuela, accompanied by a raid on a Jewish school? And the line about how he's standing up against the people who "killed Christ"?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/03/2006 22:21 Comments ||
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Attackers with assault rifles today opened fire on a police convoy transporting two suspects -- including an American -- in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. The attack left two policeman and a suspect wounded. The shootings happened in broad daylight outside the Nuevo Laredo police department. The suspects are accused of participating in a Monday shooting that killed one man and wound another.
Suspect 19-year-old Rebeca Garcia was wounded. Suspect Javier Escalera, of the United States, was unharmed. No information on his hometown was immediately available. Both Garcia and the police officers were taken to a hospital for treatment.
The city across the border from Laredo, Texas, has been the scene of a bloody turf war between rival drug gangs fighting over trafficking routes.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/03/2006 00:42 ||
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CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - President Hugo Chavez said Thursday that Venezuela is expelling a U.S. Navy officer for allegedly passing secret information from the Venezuelan military to the Pentagon and warned he will throw out all U.S. military attaches if further espionage occurs. He also accused Navy Cmdr. John Correa of encouraging Venezuelan officers to consider overthrowing his government, which weathered a brief coup in April 2002.
The U.S. Embassy denied any of its military attaches had done anything wrong.
Venezuela's accusations of espionage, which began last week, have heightened tensions in an already rocky relationship between Washington and Chavez's government. Chavez, whose nation is a major supplier of oil to the United States, is an outspoken critic of U.S. economic policies. "We have declared the United States Navy commander named John Correa persona non grata. He should leave the country immediately," Chavez said in a nationally televised speech celebrating the seventh anniversary of his government.
"We warn the imperial government of the United States that if their military attaches in Venezuela continue to do what this commander has been doing, they will be detained, and the next step would be to withdraw the whole so-called military mission of the United States," he added, drawing cheers and applause from an audience of several thousand.
That goes likewise for their embassy in Washington, though I suspect our guys are more valuable in Caracas than theirs are in DC.
The U.S. Embassy received a letter from Venezuela on Tuesday asking Correa to appear before military prosecutors and on Thursday got another letter ordering him to leave the country, embassy spokeswoman Salome Hernandez told The Associated Press. "None of the military attaches at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas was or is involved in inappropriate activities," she said, adding that embassy has 21 military personnel in Venezuela while Venezuela has about 65 military officers working in the United States.
U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield said the communique from Venezuela's government only accused Correa of conducting himself in a way that did not conform to international agreements. "We have not received any communication from the government that explains the reason" for the expulsion, Brownfield told Venezuelan TV channel Globovision.
The case surfaced last week when Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said an undisclosed number of active and retired Venezuelan military officers were caught passing information to the Pentagon. Chavez said he had evidence the naval attache met with a group of Venezuelan officers to drum up support for a coup attempt modeled after the 1989 U.S. military invasion of Panama that deposed leader Manuel Noriega.
Good man, Correa, hope his replacement keeps at it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/03/2006 00:04 ||
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#1
good job - If Hugo's happy, you're in the "old-mode"State job. Not joning the "Bolton-generation". Thks Hugo - we'll replace him with 24 SoCom seals....happy?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/03/2006 0:14 Comments ||
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#2
Time to go and kick his loudmouth ass!!!But have mommy sh*thead there when we do it.
#3
Just wondering... but does Chavez _have_ any ships in his navy he didn't get from a NATO ally?
Posted by: Phil ||
02/03/2006 10:54 Comments ||
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#4
I went to a conference once with some South Amercian Military types and they ALL think they have the Duty/Right/Honor to overthrow the Goverment when they feel it is hurting the country. In fact it is written into many of their Constitutions (I am not BSing). I would not be surprised if there were some officers discussing that option if Hugo makes too many more enemies.
Mobile phones belonging to top Greek military and government officials - including the prime minister - and the U.S. embassy were tapped for nearly a year beginning in the weeks before the 2004 Olympic games, the government said Thursday.
It was not known who was responsible for the taps, which numbered about 100 and included Greek Prime Minister Costas Caramanlis and his wife, and the ministers of foreign affairs, defense, public order and justice. Most of Greece's top military and police officers were also targeted, as were foreign ministry officials and a U.S. embassy number. Also tapped were some journalists and human rights activists.
...
Roussopoulos said the surveillance was carried out through spy software installed in the central system of Vodafone, the mobile telephony provider that served the targets.
...
Vodafone - one of the country's four mobile telephony providers - discovered the tapping after receiving complaints from customers over problems operating their phones.
A bit too sophisticated for AQ, but sloppy enough to get caught.
Posted by: James ||
02/03/2006 14:09 ||
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...for being a Stasi spy and reporting her activities to the GDR:
Two-time Olympic figure skating champion Katarina Witt holds no grudge against coach Ingo Steuer for spying on her (and others) in the former East Germany and has urged the German Olympic Committee to let him go to the Turin Games. He was dropped from the German delegation for the February 10-26 Games because documents said he worked for the East German secret police, the Stasi, 1985-1989 and was paid for it. Steuer is currently back on the German delegation via an injunction, but the German Olympic committee has appealed this court ruling, with the case to be decided on Monday.
"The whole thing could have been looked into much earlier. This helps no one. And the Olympics don't get any better this way for Germany," Witt told Bild. "I read my entire Stasi files 15 years ago and know since then who has sniffed around in my life. Ingo was one of quite a few people. For me the whole issue is over. I have put the documents away and hope they gather dust," she said.
#4
sinffing, Chuck? Did ya get that one from Pat Robertson?
Posted by: BA ||
02/03/2006 10:40 Comments ||
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#5
Great Playboy photoshoot of her from 1999 I think.
She has a bod that only God can give - and she looks good nude - the stuff dreams are made of, a woman, not a "girl". No skeleton like most models these days but no flab either. Why do women think they have to be so bony? A real man wants a real woman. That means hips, thighs and other areas should have something to them. A little bit of a belly is not a bad thing.
#8
Darn! The links didn't work, so follow these instructions:
Go to the official Katarina Witt website, click on Pictures, then go to the top and click on Magazines link. You can also browse around on her site and find amazing shots of her on skates, showing off those killer legs!
#11
I don't follow sports. Was she an East German at the time he was spying? If so, why the hell is anyone surprised? I'd be shocked if he didn't spy. People now tend to forget what it was like then - just about everyone in commie countries spied on someone.
If she was skating for and living in West Germany, on the other hand....
He can go to hell.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/03/2006 14:54 Comments ||
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#12
um. This is second hand info and I can't vouch for it but there was a story going around a few years ago that she (she did skate for East German) was quite easy to get to know and didn't mind the fact that the Stazi was filming her and her "friends" enjoying some quality time. Actually a bit of a "sparrow" if the same term is applied to East German as Russian female intelligence sex workers.
Vandals tried to derail a high-speed ICE train near Oberhausen in Germany on Sunday evening. The train, travelling from Amsterdam to Frankfurt, stayed on the tracks. But it was too badly damaged to continue on its journey. None of the 230 passengers were injured, the German police said on Monday. The train, which was scheduled to leave the Dutch capital at 7.07pm, was passing Oberhausen at 130 kph when it hit a metal plate left on the tracks. The driver managed to bring the train to a halt a few hundred metres further on, near a level crossing. The passengers had to exit the train by stepping down on to the tracks. Another train picked them up two hours later.
The police view the incident as attempted murder, but have no suspects. A spokesperson said this was not the first incident of this kind in the Ruhr area. A train hit four metal objects left on the tracks at Castrop-Rauxel in June 2004. An ICE train collided with a piece of metal at Kamen in April of that year.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/03/2006 15:07 Comments ||
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#3
Have they considered using a form of cowcatcher? Sounds like they get sabotage metal on the rails a lot.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/03/2006 17:12 Comments ||
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#4
at 130 kph when it hit a metal plate left on the tracks. The driver managed to bring the train to a halt a few hundred metres further on,
Impresser brakes. An AmTrak consist runnin at 75 mph likely would still be moving. The real question is about the "metal plate" Soviet teeth? A frog guard? An industrial fastfood thing?
Posted by: Mr Ed ||
02/03/2006 18:01 Comments ||
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(2006-01-30) Cindy Sheehan, the California woman who parlayed the death of her soldier son into a successful public speaking and writing career, will join Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Tuesday night to deliver the Democrat response to President George Bushs State of the Union address.
Our choice of Cindy and Hugo demonstrates our commitment to diversity, and personifies our platform for the future, said Howard Dean, chairman of the Democrat National Committee (DNC). Plus, theyre among the few well-known progressives who didnt vote to support the war in Iraq while publicly attacking the Bush administration for its policy toward Iraq.
Mr. Chavez, whose generous contribution of cheap oil prevented the freezing deaths of thousands of residents of the impoverished commonwealth of Massachusetts, said his rebuttal of the Bush speech will constitute a major counter-terrorism offensive.
Mrs. Sheehan, a potential candidate for Dianne Feinsteins Senate seat, said, Ive never given a speech for a national television audience, so Im going to spend the next 24 hours organizing my thought, and turning that thought into a good rhyming chant.
Mr. Dean said the DNC has given Mrs. Sheehan a small stipend for her efforts that should cover the cost of laundering her t-shirt.
#3
ARMYGUY, it's scrappleface. Satire. Meantine, here's a comment by a Sheehan supporter talking about her recent arrest.
"Too bad cindy is too old to have more kids, they could hold her hostage while she was nursing, killing her baby, like the duuuhbyaist regime does in Iraq.
That'd teach ALL those damn terrorist enabling war protesters!!"
It seems she was invited by a California Congressperson and agreed not to do anything provacative. She had the shirt covered up until she took her deat. She said, "I was hoping the cameras would focus on my shirt." She knew she would be arrested and just wanted to cause a stink. She also claimed the Police roughed her up, a claim denied by the Police and everyone who saw her being led out.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/03/2006 8:52 Comments ||
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#4
Not to mention, DB, that Congressman's wife who wore a "pro-war" shirt and was escorted out herself! But, hey, who am I to get in the way? The Donks agree with Bush, just have a "better way" of doing things!
Posted by: BA ||
02/03/2006 9:28 Comments ||
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Seriously, wouldn't it be kinder for Sheehan's supporter to get to her a pyschiatrist and sort throught the grief process? She's stuck at Stage Anger and blame the world. Pathetic. Truly.
#7
I don't think Ms. Sheehan is grieving much -- certainly the photos show her smiling gleefully at any attention. It sounds like she was estranged from her son long before her death, and that he volunteered to serve in repudiation of her positions.
#8
she's world class stupid, and the adoration of those using her (KOS, Move-On, Code Pink, et al) keep reaffirming her self-esteem at a level far above what it should be. She's got an audience of loving enablers and won't stop. In fact, she'll actually be surprised she doesn't beat Di-Fi for US Senate Dem nod.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/03/2006 23:22 Comments ||
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This is a look at the accomodations official Washington is making in the DiploDance. City Paper is DC's free "alternative" weekly...
The Days Inn on New York Avenue has always had a ghetto-compound vibe. It sits along a crummy streetscape, near warehouses and some gritty Northeast neighborhoods. And in recent weeks it has acquired a chain-link fence topped by a string of barbed wire that blocks all entrances.
The construction of the barrier coincides with a wholesale change in occupancy at the Days Inn. In the near future, the hotel will serve as living quarters for hundreds of Chinese construction workers tasked with building the new Chinese Embassy on Van Ness Street NW, just west of Connecticut Avenue. We believe they are renting to construction workers, says Days Inn regional liaison Bill Langan. We really cant stop them from doing thatnot that we would want to.
The Days Inn national office wouldnt confirm the arrangement. At this point, we consider that speculation, and we dont comment on speculation, says spokesperson Stacey Kennedy. Try to book a room at the New York Avenue location on the companys Web site, though, and youll be met with this: Dates for this property are not available on our system at this time.
Gong Mei, a Chinese Embassy spokesperson, confirms that most of the construction of the Van Ness Street installation will be done by Chinese laborers, though she says she is unaware of where theyll be housed. Cherry Hill Construction, a Maryland company, is handling excavation of the embassy site.
Today, the Days Inn is mostly unoccupied. On the afternoon of Jan. 19, five Asian workers shuffled around a mostly empty parking lot. An Asian man in a guard station inside the barbed wire indicated that he did not speak English. Another man, who claimed to have been a management consultant with the Days Inn, refused to give his name but said that the lease to house Chinese laborers was signed within the last few weeks for a period of two-and-a-half years. He said that the Chinese will be managing the hotel for the duration of the lease. When the lease is up, it will return to being a Days Inn. Gong says the embassy construction is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2008.
A Jan. 18 call to the Days Inn was answered by a man with a strong Chinese accent who spoke little English. When asked if a reservation could be made, he said, Busy. Asked if a reservation could be made in the year 2010, he said, Buildings changed.
Jamie Howser, manager of a Days Inn on Connecticut Avenue NW, says he started getting calls from confused customers about three weeks ago. They explained to Howser that theyd attempted to make a reservation over the phone at the New York Avenue spot but were unable to communicate with whomever was answering the phone. Howser called the New York Avenue number and reports that a guy who was definitely not staff answered. Howser cant confirm that the Northeast hotel has been booked solid for Chinese laborers but professes that such a move wouldnt be out of character for that outlet. Theyve always sort of done their own thing, he says. Its a totally different market.
Given the functions of embassies, foreign countries routinely bring in their own workers to do construction. American workers are currently building sensitive sections of a new American Embassy in Beijing, though Chinese workers have been hired for unrestricted tasks, a State Department spokesperson says.
When it comes to communist nations, the United States has had a checkered history of embassy building. An American Embassy in Moscow under construction during the 70s and 80s was found to have surveillance devices built into its structure. Détente-era negotiations had allowed pieces of the building to be assembled by Soviet workers without U.S. supervision. The building was reconstructed by Americans in the mid-90s and did not open until 1999.
During the bug affair, U.S. officials delayed work on a new Soviet Embassy in D.C. Though planned as early as 1973, the building, on Wisconsin Avenue NW, was not fully occupied until after the USSR collapsed and it became the embassy of the new Russian Federation. Yevgeniy Khorishko, a Russian Embassy spokesperson, says the complex was primarily built by Soviet and then Russian laborers. (Not that that stopped American spies: It was revealed in 2001 that a surveillance tunnel was dug underneath the compound in the 80s.)
There was no Days Inn, however, for the Soviet proletariat. Workers were housed at the embassy compound. No one decided to stay here after the building was finished, says Khorishko when asked about defectors. Nobody even wanted to do so.
It appears that Chinese workers who are already in the District are being housed in a three-story, temporary dormitory on Van Ness Street across from the construction site. The dorm and another temporary building nearby are surrounded by a corrugated metal fence.
Two Cherry Hill workers walking past the work site said they were aware that Chinese workers would soon be replacing them. Theyre bringing their guys in and booting us out, said one. I dont think they trust us American workers.
Security Council President US envoy John Bolton surprised diplomats as he listed on the body's consultations for Thursday, besides the programme of work for February, "Modernizing Security Council Operations". One of the decisions Bolton took during his presidency this month is to call for council consultations at 10:00 O'clock sharp, not one minute later. The chimes today did ring at 10:00 but the consultations began at 10:06. Consultations scheduled for 10:00 usually begin at 10:20 or later under other council presidents.
Ten minutes after the consultations began, a stunned council diplomat rushed out to tell reporters that Bolton already suggested that the UN Secretariat come down to the council every day at 10:00 sharp to brief the members on whatever the UN is working on that day. He wants the briefing to be both written and oral. Bolton took over the council's presidency on Wednesday, February 1st from Tanzania. The council usually does not meet on the first day of the month, allowing the president to conduct bilateral meetings.
Bolton also surprised diplomats when he first became ambassador here by telling the council president, who called on him when his turn came to read his speech on Afghanistan, that he would rather submit his speech in writing because he had nothing in particular to say, thus saving a few minutes from the council's time. He said at that time that he wanted other council members to do the same.
Bolton came to the UN last August enthusiastic to "clean the Glass House of waste, corruption and fraud". The UN is already under the spot light for the oil-for-food scandal and fraud in the Peacekeeping procurement operations.
#1
I think it's time John gave credit to his wife, Penelope - a.k.a. Mistress Scorpion. She deserves a consulting fee for her obvious contributions to his UN reform efforts.
Feb 02, 2006 (DVB) - Around 900 inmates from the notorious Rangoon Insein Jail were transferred to Pyinmana Kyappyay region in central Burma on the morning of 1 February, according to sources close to the prison. Eyewitnesses told DVB that they saw prisoners being goaded and loaded onto Chinesemade military trucks and a prison staff confirmed the report. He added that prisoners were transported to Pyinmana in thirty trucks and three sorties.
Because death "marches" attract too much attention
The same prison official, who doesnt want to be named, said that the authorities from above sent a directive ordering the transfer of another one thousand 'police-controlled' prisoners to the area in order to finish the construction of the new capital in haste.
Wonder if they'll be clearing launch sites for these?
February 02, 2006 (DVB) - More missile launching pads and carriers believed to be from Ukraine, had arrived in Burma on 30 January aboard a ship registered in Ukraine, according to a Burmese port authority official who doesnt want to be named. The official also said that he could not give the name of the ship but he confirmed that the ship travelled from Thilawa Port to Rangoon on 1 February. Another port official said that 10 launching pads and 10 carriers transported in containers, were picked up by army personnel from nearby Hmawbi Airbase and they were accompanied by 10 foreign people believed to be Ukraine nationals. No independent confirmation has been obtained about the report.
CENTREVILLE, Ala. Feb 3, 2006 A series of fires damaged six rural Alabama churches overnight, and investigators Friday were trying to determine whether arson was involved.
Most of the churches were Baptist, located near major highways, and all but one were in Bibb County, about 25 miles south of Birmingham.
In 1996, race was a factor in a series of arsons that damaged rural black churches in Alabama and elsewhere. But Ingram said the fires late Thursday and early Friday destroyed both the churches of predominantly black congregations and predominantly white congregations.
The Ashby Baptist Church in Brierfield, Rehobeth Baptist Church in Randolph and Pleasant Sabine near Centreville all burned to the ground, said Bibb County Chief Sheriff's Deputy Kenneth Weems.
The other two churches, Old Union Baptist in Brierfield and Antioch Baptist in Antioch, were damaged. Wild speculation here: Is it just coincidence that these churches were set on fire on the International Day of Muslim Seething?
Remember back 'bout ten years ago when Billary Clinton got everyone worked up about a supposed epidemic of church burnings? As the debunking progressed, I remember hearing from authoritative sources that most church arson is committed by firebugs. They pick on churches because all that varnished wood in the pews is easy to ignite, and the fire backlighting the stained glass is spectacular.
Posted by: Mike ||
02/03/2006 12:55 Comments ||
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#2
Coincidence I'd say. Muzzie's in Bibb County would stand out purty good. Would take a lot of courage to carry that one off in Larry the Cable Guy country.
#3
Didn't the Mormons get a little miffed at the Southern Baptists awhile back. Possible connection maybe? Lets face it, it only takes a couple of yahoos to do something like this. And I think if it was Muslims they'd be torching St Peter's or St Paul's.
#5
Unless some seething Muslims were driving along SR 25 and SR 139, it's likely a local nutjob. The line about "located near major highways" is exaggerating a bit, IMHO. Brierfield's about 10 miles away from I-66.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/03/2006 15:35 Comments ||
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#6
And here I was thinking every day was International Seething Day.
Posted by: Phil ||
02/03/2006 15:47 Comments ||
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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.
A Saudi man is in hospital after his divorced parents forced him to marry four times within six months. The battle began when the father insisted the boy should marry a 
An Egyptian passenger ship carrying around 1,300 people, mostly Egyptians, sank in the Red Sea overnight, and rescue ships arriving at the scene Friday had pulled 15 bodies and 12 survivors out of the water so far, officials said. The 35-year-old ship, "Salaam 98," went down 40 miles off the Egyptian port of Hurghada, the head of the Egyptian Maritime Authority, Mahfouz Taha Marzouk, told The Associated Press. The cause was not immediately known, but there were high winds and a sandstorm overnight on Saudi Arabia's west coast, from which the ship departed Thursday evening.
Attackers with assault rifles today opened fire on a police convoy transporting two suspects -- including an American -- in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. The attack left two policeman and a suspect wounded. The shootings happened in broad daylight outside the Nuevo Laredo police department. The suspects are accused of participating in a Monday shooting that killed one man and wound another. 
Vandals tried to derail a high-speed ICE train near Oberhausen in Germany on Sunday evening. The train, travelling from Amsterdam to Frankfurt, stayed on the tracks. But it was too badly damaged to continue on its journey. None of the 230 passengers were injured, the German police said on Monday. The train, which was scheduled to leave the Dutch capital at 7.07pm, was passing Oberhausen at 130 kph when it hit a metal plate left on the tracks. The driver managed to bring the train to a halt a few hundred metres further on, near a level crossing. The passengers had to exit the train by stepping down on to the tracks. Another train picked them up two hours later.
Security Council President US envoy John Bolton surprised diplomats as he listed on the body's consultations for Thursday, besides the programme of work for February, "Modernizing Security Council Operations". One of the decisions Bolton took during his presidency this month is to call for council consultations at 10:00 O'clock sharp, not one minute later. The chimes today did ring at 10:00 but the consultations began at 10:06. Consultations scheduled for 10:00 usually begin at 10:20 or later under other council presidents.
