Maybe they should just move to Egypt or Pakistan where they would not be abnormal?
When my wife and I met in college, the attraction was immediate, and we quickly became inseparable. We had a number of things in common, we came from the same large metropolitan area, and we both wanted to return there after school, so everything was very natural between us. We married soon after graduation, moved back closer to our families, and had three children by the time we were 30. We were both born to lesbians, she to a couple, and me to a single woman. She had sought out her biological father as soon as she turned 18, as the sperm bank her parents used allowed contact once the children were 18 if both parties consented. I never was interested in learning about that for myself, but she felt we were cheating our future children by not learning everything we could about my past, too. Well, our anniversary is coming up and I decided to go ahead and, as a present to my wife, see if my biological father was interested in contact as well. He was, and even though our parents had used different sperm banks, it appears so did our father, as he is the same person. On the one hand, I love my wife more than I can say, and logically, done is done, we already have children. I have had a vasectomy, so we won't be having any more, so perhaps there is no harm in continuing as we are. But, I can't help but think "This is my sister" every time I look at her now. I haven't said anything to her yet, and I don't know if I should or not. Where do I go from here?
Former chairman and present consultant of Bahria Town, Malik Riaz Hussain has signed an agreement with His Highness Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak al Nahyan, Chairman Abu Dhabi Group, Union National Bank and United Bank Limited under which $45 billion will be invested in Pakistan.
The investment will be made in various construction projects, and is the biggest-ever foreign investment in Pakistan. Out of the total investment value, $10 billion will be invested in Islamabad and Lahore whereas $35 billion will be invested in Sindh.
These projects also include the construction of the tallest building of the world in Karachi. Goodness, I wish I could make up stuff this creative!
Moreover, the project encompasses sports city, educational and medical city, international city and media city. The project also includes the construction of miniatures of the Seven Wonders of the World. These projects will employ more than 2.5 million people and will boost more than 55 industries like cement, bricks, iron, steel and glass. Moreover these projects are expected to represent all the social classes of society and middle-class and lower-middle class will have equal representation. The agreement will have a revolutionary impact on not only Pakistan's economy but also the tourism of the country and will be a milestone in reviving the lights of Karachi. Karachi was famous for its lights? Where, Afghanistan?
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/20/2013
13:21 ||
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#1
Cool! Now we can crash our planes into their skyscrapers
#2
Based on the Pak's previous construction work using 'domestic' contractors, I wouldn't want to go above the second floor, or possibly even enter the building. Heck, I would hesitate to go anywhere near its 'falling debris' radius.
(not denigrating the 'foreign' folks who've built there, but those buildings don't always work so good either)
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
02/20/2013 14:21
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#3
Using "domestic" contractors is good, because over in CHINA Beijing's push to modernize nationwide AMAP has seriously compromised contruction safety + standards.
Many of China's newest buildings have repor cracked or collapsed soon after completion.
IFF CHINA'S BUILDINGS DON'T COLLAPSE DUE TO SHODDY OR POOR CONTRUCTION, THEY'RE COLLAPSING FROM GIANT UNDERGROUND SINKHOLES DUE TO THE DUBIOUSLY ENGINEERED, REVIEWED "THREE GORGES" PROJECT + RELATED.
#5
That tallest building in the world is going to do interesting things to the Karachi Korpse Kount. I wonder how many bodies future archeologists will find buried in the foundation?
#4
Along with this buried at the end of the article:
BAE Systems notified 3,600 employees Tuesday that they could be laid off over a loss of work from the Navy, due primarily to the Pentagon facing a continuing resolution.
Bill Clifford, president of BAE Systems Ship Repair, told Ship Repair employees that the notifications under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act were going out to employees at BAE locations in Norfolk, Va., Mayport, Fla., San Diego, Calif., and Hawaii.
The WARN Act notices were a major political fight between Congress and the Obama administration during the 2012 campaign. After defense contractors threatened sending out mass notices before sequestration, the administration told contractors not to issue them 60 days before the cuts took effect and also took the step of promising to cover layoff costs if contractors had to immediately fire workers. In this case, BAE appears to be issuing the notices with enough time that it will follow the WARN law and not incur extra costs.
#6
There are 30,000 contractors in Afghan alone. As we peel the troops out, the contractors will dry up as well. Probably long over due in some areas, but the numbers will be very high for a long time. I also just heard the State dept is heading to a 4 day work week, not 4 tens either, or in simple terms, a 20% pay cut for all.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
02/20/2013 15:26
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#7
I forecast that the world will not end with the sequestration. It is a painful but needed process and should be happening in every single department of the federal government.
#10
If I remember correctly, sequestration is about half the slicing that needs to be done.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/20/2013 18:20
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#11
The alleged Anarchist-for-Globalism/Marxism Bammer may had just found his excuse not to intervene agz China or Iran until sometime next year - IIRC MSM-NET > under "Sequestration" there will suppos be few-to-no USN-USMC EBGS available for deployment in time of crisis after this summer 2013 thru most of 2014, until such time adequate funding for same is procured.
> By the time funding is procured, JAPAN COULD HAVE LOST ANY MIL CONFLICT AGZ CHINA OVER THE SENKAKUS.
> Even iff Japan does not per the above, ALL THOSE USDOD-NAVY MIL ASSETS/FORCES STANDING DOWN BACK IN CONUS MAKE TEMPTING TARGETS FOR CHINA'S SECOND ARTY = LR STRATEGIC ICBMS, SLBMS, + ALCMS.
China + PLA 2nd Arty don't even have to nuke all of the US Bases in full-scale attack - they only have to nuke those Milbases in "Limited First/Preemptive Strike" where the majority or bulk of USN CVNS, FBM Subs, + USAF Strategic Bombers are parked due to sequestration.
TO DEFEAT JAPAN, STILL MODERNIZING, TECH-INFERIOR RISING CHINA ONLY HAS TO "NOT LOSE" AGZ THE SUPERPOWER US.
Ditto in most part for IRAN, as it likely now has more time than ever to dev its NucTechs includ for NucWeaps or military purposes.
IOW, IFF ANTI-SEQUESTRATION EFFORTS FAIL IN THE US, THE LATTER'S "WINDOW" FOR ANY SORT OF EFFECTIVE MILACTION AGZ CHINA ANDOR IRAN, ETC. ENDS THIS SUMMER 2013 + MAY NOT APPEAR AGAIN UNTIL TOWARDS 2015.
WINNER - CHINA, IRAN, + HARD BOYZ, no matter what the MSM-Net says or argues to the contrary.
THE BAMMER "KEPT US OUT OF [Nuclear] WAR" BUT LOST THE FREE WORLD + US SOVEREIGNTY IN DOING SO???
#12
the 2013 sequestration is going to be pretty ugly for several reasons,
- less than half the FY to reach the reductions
- less cross subcategory funding flexibility than in the out years
The message that should be taken from this ugliness is that there is a major need to reduce the entitlements. However, that message is bad politics.
Posted by: lord garth ||
02/20/2013 21:22
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#13
President Obama is getting what he asked for. And, while he and his admirers are already loudly blaming the Republicans, it will be remembered as his.
I wonder if history books will call him the president who started reducing the size of the federal government?
#15
See PACIFICNEWSCENTER [fka Guam K-57] > VIDEO: CONGRESSIONAL REPORT DETAILS "DIRE" CONSEQUENCES FOR GUAM + THE NATION IFF SEQUESTRATION HAPPENS NEXT FRIDAY [aka March 1st, 2013].
versus
* SIASAT DAILY > ONLY 27% OF AMERICANS "OK" WID WAY THINGS ARE GOING IN US: NEW GALLUP POLL FINDS.
ARTIC = 47% of registered Democrats happy, to only 9.0% of registered Republicans. CLEAR MAJORITIES IN BOTH ARE NOT HAPPY.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORMS > JAPAN EXPLORES WAR SCENARIOS WID CHINA.
Top 3 of 5 possible = "most realistic" War Scenarios involve Sino-Nippon combat over ...
- Senkakus/Diaoyus only.
- Besides above, PLA may also attempt to take Ishigaki + Miyago Islands off Taiwan.
- General CHINESE MIL INVASION OF TAIWAN in 2021.
The possibility also exists that China may choose a battlefield other than the Senkakaus or SSSSSHHHHHH OKINAWA to confront what China belivees will be INEVITABLE US intervention forces, i.e. TAIWAN DOWN TO THE SCS, AKA WHERE THE US + JSDFS ARE NOT. This scenario entails forcing the USDOD to give battle agz the PLA close to PLA - PLAAF + 2nd Arty - coastal + interior staging bases. China's Motherly Airborne attacks Taiwan [ROK?] as expected but also attacks the northern PHIL to engage any intervening US Army-Marines in jungle + high altitude warfare under the threat of PLAAF + 2nd PLA Arty CS. FROM THE NORTHERN PHIL CHINA CAN ALSO COVER NOT ONLY TAIWAN BUT ALSO DEEP INTO WESTPAC WID LR AIRPOWER + LRBMS.
Japan is left as a secondary front - good for China as it has long desired to have Japan on its side vee the US, + ESPEC GOOD FOR NOT CAUSING CHINA'S NORTHERN RIVAL MAMA RUSSIA TO GET ALL TWITCHY ABOUT CHINA'S REAL OR STRATEGIC INTENTIONS PER THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST, AT LEAST FOR A WHILE. No major attack on Japan = Russia is happy.
Plus, for China there's ...
* CHINA DAILY FORUM > LUZON MAOISTS [aka New People's Army/NPA]: WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR, BEIJING?
Japan Red Army/Guard???
D *** NG IT, THEY DIDN'T SAY D *** NG IT!
lol.
* SAME > BEIJING MAY BE STOKING EXTREMISTS [territorial]CLAIM FOR LEVERAGE IN SENKAKUS DISPUTE.
Sino-Nippon claim, struggle for OKINAWA [Ryukyus] ARCHIPELAGO, NOT JUST OKINAWA PER SE.
ARTIC = CHINA [+ Japan] KNOW THAT CHINA CAN MAKE MORE OUTSTANDING TERRITORIAL CLAIMS AGZ JAPAN THAN IT HAS.
* TOPIX > [Jersulaem Post] WASHINGTON WATCH: IRAN [closely] WATCHING US RESPONSE TO NORTH KOREA NUKE TEST.
Will the US Navy-DOD dock at Bahrain for a protractive period. i.e. thru most or all of 2014, a Nimitz-class CVN + battle group as due to "sequestration" despite any threat to same from just-across-the-Gulf Iran???
Pro-Israel sources report that the axe on the US budget may eliminate $479 million for joint US-Israel anti-missile programs, namely David's Sling and Arrow systems, in addition to another $300 cut in military aid.
How convenient for Champ. Wonder if HUD, DoT, and DHS are getting hit...
The slash in aid would come on the eve of President Barack Obama's visit to Israel, which has been dubbed "Operation Unbreakable Alliance."
Senior Israel officials are aware of the possible reductions and are trying to figure out to deal with them, according to Israel's Globes business newspaper. Defense Minister Ehud Barak's recent visit to Washington may have been, in part, an attempt to convince Congressmen to dull the axe on funding for the anti-missile programs.
The threat of Israel's Middle East's neighbors plunging into anarchy and leaving Al Qaeda and Hizbullah in charge underscores the government's concerns.
The United States currently gives $3.15 billion in aid, although a large part of it actually is returned to American defense firms that Israel is required to use for much of the equipment and technology.
Congress and the White House have another week until the March 1 deadline, when either the federal deficit is reduced or automatic budget cuts come into effect, which could totally upset financial markets and America's credit rating.
Republicans control the House of Representatives and are using their power to try to crack the whip on government spending, both at home and abroad.
#1
In 20 years the Juice will be selling the US advanced weapons - two at a time.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/20/2013 18:15
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Will our mighty fellow OWG NAU 2015 Member-States Mexico + Canada + Greenland take up the slack in defense of Israel - ditto for our EU breathren ala OWG Trans-Atlantic Union 2015???
Not so sure about Greenland, given ...
* TOPIX > [Real Clear World = NYT] IS CHINA BUYING GREENLAND?
And thus, little Virgina, we learn once again why Daddy wasn't happy about the US Marines NOT invading Greenland back when the US had the chance(s)!
#2
They actually expect a national bailout, forgetting the ability of the other states to call a convention to end the flagrant looting to sustain petty political power.
EXACTLY. California's Plan B is for the Federal Government to save them - and the cost will literally be incalcuable, because almost certainly some Federal judge will say that every single obligation by the state MUST be upheld in the bailout, regardless of how economically insane it might be. The one good thing here is that if the Government actually decided to do it, that would be the final straw on that poor camel's back.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/20/2013 16:29
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I like Texas Governor Rick Perry's response to Governor Moonbeam's fart comment, something like "all Governor Brown can see right now is Texas's back side."
They took down the horrible, horrible and sexist advice and said it was taken out of context. Uh-huh. You idiots tried to make women as much of a helpless victim as possible you stupid asshats.
I'm going to find the google cache image.
#4
In the 10th Circuit's ruling, a panel of three judges unanimously concluded that the university "had an official policy of showing high-school football recruits a 'good time' on their visits to the CU (University of Colorado) campus," and that the alleged assaults were caused by the university's lack of supervision over the (football) players who served as hosts. This lack of supervision, the court went on, was the result of "deliberate indifference."
#6
Usually comments like that are quickly followed by a conclave of women similar to that in the Handmaiden's Tale.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
02/20/2013 21:22
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#7
bad, I was waiting for a rival to have a gameday shirt reading:
CU
in
the
pen
Joking aside, there were a number of alligations which did and did not get settled. The coach was eventually bought out, he stating something to the defense "I thought they were talking about a therapist?!" Bought out for $3million taxpayer state university dollars. So we had a state sponsered coverup of a rape for recruiting program. Now that state wants to scuttle our young women's best last defense.
You think fuknard sat his daughters down at age 12 and told her to piss herself for her own protection?
#8
CU must have a lot of $$$ from the State Govt. which in turn must have lot of $$$ from the Bammer + Congress in Washington DC. to hire Milyuhns + Silyuhns of Campus Police, Local Police, + other related Law Enforcement to prtect the Babes.
WE CAN THUS SAFELY PRESUME THAT BOULDER, ETC. WON'T ASK THE BAMMER ADMIN TO BAIL 'EM OUT LIKE CALIFORNIA + DETROIT + ... ...
Do you suppose he'll get a nasty note from the AFLCIO?
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
02/20/2013 9:53
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#3
We have industries in the U.S. where one is hard-pressed to find jobs within the industry where workers work more than three hours/day. The unions have had their way here too.
#4
...something in the timeline of the triumph of the UAW in the late 60s/early 70s where real work ended up about 3 hours a day per average employee because the absent/drugged/drunk union member couldn't be fired. Then the Arab oil embargo struck and American's tried Japanese cars which not only got good mileage, but had incredible quality assurance not found on the UAW assembly lines, and a delivery price that didn't nickle and dime customers for every little feature other than the frame. The rest is history.
#5
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co's Amiens Nord plant employs 1,250 workers, who have been battling demands that they work more shifts or accept layoffs. The government said in January that the site faced imminent closure.
#7
I'm sorry, but this "U.S. boss" is an idiot.
I have worked in France, and French workers have one of the highest efficiency rate worldwide. Not everything may be well in La douce France, but workers do work and those 2 hour lunch breaks are a thing of the past.
Unions are stronger in France and the mind may be more rebellious but people are not lazy in France.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
02/20/2013 15:44
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#8
I have worked in France, and French workers have one of the highest efficiency rate worldwide.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
02/20/2013 16:26
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#10
According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), France is ranked just after the U.S. and Norway for hourly labor productivity, calculated by dividing gross domestic product by the number of hours worked.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
02/20/2013 16:29
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#11
AFAIK the AFL-CIO, espec the Teamsters, are now as po'ed at the Bammer as anyone in the GOP-Right.
ITV, they don't see OWG + "Globalism" doing anything positive for US Unions save eliminating them in favor of anti-Unionism + so-called "Outsourcing".
THE MSM-NET IS FULL OF ARTICS OF HOW FOREIGN WORKERS WILL BE "COMING TO AMERICA/AMERIKA", BUT NOTHING ABOUT US WORKERS' HAVING JOBS OVERSEAS OR MOVING TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES FOR WORK IN RIGHTEOUS "GLOBALIST" EXCHANGE.
Reminds me of JFK's failure to get the Mafia back into Cuba by his failure vee the Bay of Pigs to overthrow Uncle Fidel.
February 2013 has been a very bad month for Iranian-sponsored terrorism.
On Feb. 5, the government of Bulgaria struck the clerical regime a hard blow with the truth stick when it released its long-awaited official report on the July 18, 2012, terror attack in the Bulgarian Black Sea resort town of Burgas. In that attack, a terrorist bomb killed five Israeli tourists, their Bulgarian bus driver and the terrorist bomb-carrier, as well. The bomb injured another 32 people. The Bulgarian government called the attack a suicide bombing.
The Israeli government quickly blamed Lebanese Hezbollah for the murders and said Iran was behind the attack. Iran denied the Israeli accusation.
In the intervening seven months, Bulgarian investigators carefully collected and analyzed crime scene evidence and accessed surveillance data collected by several foreign intelligence and police agencies. The Bulgarians coolly solicited expert advice from several foreign police agencies. EUROPOL, the European Union's police coordination agency for cross-border investigations and criminal intelligence, reviewed the Bulgarian analysis. EUROPOL's director praised the report's thoroughness and professionalism.
The bottom line: The Bulgarian investigation supports the Israeli government's conclusion that Lebanese Hezbollah operatives conducted the attack.
After Bulgaria released the report, an indignant Iran withdrew its ambassador from Sofia. Why? When it comes to mayhem, murder and war, everyone knows Lebanese Hezbollah functions as an arm of Iranian intelligence and the Revolutionary Guards' Al Quds special operations force. Iran finances, trains, supplies and, yes, operationally directs Lebanese Hezbollah's terror operations, guerrilla and militia operations, and episodic rocket war with Israel.
The report linked the dead bomber to two men who investigators concluded coordinated the operation. Both of the coordinators are members of Hezbollah's militant wing. Investigators discovered substantial evidence that Hezbollah financed the terror operation. They also found evidence that the explosive device was rigged for remote-controlled detonation and may have been accidentally detonated by the bomber after he planted it on the bus. In other words, the evidence indicated that the attack was not a suicide bombing. There is a more cynical interpretation: One of the two still-living members of the terror cell detonated the bomb and sacrificed his own operative.
Finally there is good news on the jobs front for the Obama administration. Al Jazeera, or Terrorism TV, as it used to be known for celebrating the three thousand Americans killed on 9/11 and other exploits by Osama bin Laden, announced plans to create some 200 jobs in the United States over the next six months in its headquarters at the UN in New York, in Washington, D.C., and in bureaus in Detroit, New Orleans, San Francisco, and other cities.
Imagine six or seven years ago, trying to find real estate for Al Jazeera in Washington, gushed Rob Wheelock, the former ABC executive who is in charge of establishing Al Jazeera in the United States. Were going to have signage just like CBS, ABC, CNN, CBN, just like everyone else. Were psyched.
Perhaps the signage will include skull-and-crossbones, or some other fitting image of human slaughter.
Yes, as Mr. Wheelock said, it is hard to believe the cable network enterprise that did so many fawning interviews with the late terrorist leader and others chanting Death to America would have stood any chance of putting up its own news rooms in New York, Washington, D.C., or any other American city during the George W. Bush administration.
And that is another sign of how far our nation has regressed over the past four years.
Even now, with the beginning of the second Obama term, Sheik Hamad bin khalifa Al Thani, the ruler of Qatar, must be rubbing his goatee in disbelief at how easy it is to open a large propaganda network in the United States of America (which, at the outset, will include seven investigative reporters in the D.C. office for the presumed purpose of vilifying legislators who oppose Islamic extremism or support Israel).
He spent $500 million to acquire the money-losing and low-rated Current TV owned by Al Gore and friends which is still a great catch because it has the potential to reach 41 million homes in the U.S. on cable channels.
Half a billion dollars may sound like a lot of money, but it was no more than a scrap from the oil sheiks table. Still, it was more than enough to compensate Gore for abandoning his green friends and his green principles in striking a deal with one of the princes of Big Oil. His portion of the proceeds was one-fifth, or $100 million. Pobre hombre, even though he tried his hardest, he didnt act fast enough to protect his share of the loot from the higher U.S. taxes that took effect at the beginning of 2013.
#1
...with the beginning of the second Obama term, Sheik Hamad bin khalifa Al Thani, the ruler of Qatar, must be rubbing his goatee in disbelief at how easy it is to open a large propaganda network in the United States of America
"rubbing his goatee in disbelief?" I doubt that. He probably just watched NBC, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, or read some of the left-wing rags such as the NYTs and concluded "no problemo, piece of cake."
#2
...headquarters at the UN in New York, in Washington, D.C., and in bureaus in Detroit, New Orleans, San Francisco, and other cities
Domestic targets?
The head of security in Bahrain accused the Iranian Revolutionary Guard of masterminding terror plots to attack public officials and military sites.
Maj. Gen. Tariq Hassan al-Hassan, Bahrain's Public Security chief revealed at a news conference Tuesday in Manama that a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard identified as "Abu Nasser" masterminded terror plots.
Cell members, he said, were trained in the use of firearms, explosives, compiling intelligence and photographing sensitive sites in Iranian Revolutionary Guard camps in Iran and Hezbollah-affiliated sites in Karbala and Baghdad in Iraq, the Bahrain News Agency said.
Abu Nasser also provided $80,000 to fund the cell's activities, Hassan said.
The terror cell included Bahrain nationals who live locally and abroad and people from different nationalities, he said.
Bahraini security forces arrested a number of alleged cell members after information received led to covert operations to uncover the cell, he said. Security forces are searching for four cell members.
Those who have been arrested have appeared before the Public Prosecutor to face trial, Hassan said. He didn't mention how many cell members were involved.
Over the weekend Bahrain announced the arrests of a number of people believed to have been involved in terrorist activities. The arrests were said t have stopped planned attacks.
The Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, released video today that shows numerous IED, or roadside bomb, attacks against Syrian military personnel. The group claims that in one attack, it "simultaneously detonated 50 explosive devices on a Syrian military convoy in the Eastern Ghotah area of Damascus," according to a summary of the video by the SITE Intelligence Group, which obtained and translated the video. The attack reportedly took place on Dec. 6, 2012.
The video above, from SITE, shows the attack in question. It is difficult to determine how many bombs were detonated. I was able to count 35 distinct plumes of smoke. At 0:36, you can see a car explode (the video is filmed from a distance). The Al Nusrah Front cameraman also filmed the aftermath of the attack; about 10 vehicles were destroyed or so badly damaged that they were left behind.
I've been following the war in the Iraqi and Afghan theaters for years, and cannot recall such a spectacular IED event. I've heard reports of upwards of 20 IEDs daisy-chained together and detonated, but the attack in the video is by far the biggest that I am aware of.
This attack says quite a bit about the resources and capabilities of the Al Nusrah Front. Without a doubt, Syria has become one of the primary theaters in al Qaeda's global jihad.
#1
so it turns out your emergency blinkers go off if your car is blown up (see video at ab out 58 seconds)
who knew
Posted by: lord garth ||
02/20/2013 8:29
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#2
Unfortunately these guys have figured out the red wire green wire thing.
All I can say with all of the multifaceted interfraticidinal bickering, squabbling and killing is I would recommend Turkey and Iraq build a big high fence and buy lots of popcorn.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
02/20/2013 9:46
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#3
More irony. Iran supports the Assad regime. Iran has also been instrumental in supplying IEDs to Iraq and Afghanistan which have been used against us. The rebels have turned the technology on Iran-backed Syria. One can hope some of these convoys are Iranian.
#5
Yes they will both losewhen the fighting is over, Assad is gone and the Moslem Brotherhood steps into the vacuum and squashes all of the various groups that fought for his departure...Al Nusrah included.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
02/20/2013 12:08
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#6
Or Syria descends into a state of constant Civil War like an African nation. It could happen, I mean it's gone on this long.
Posted by: Charles ||
02/20/2013 12:21
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#7
For a military convoy there sure were a lot of civilian vehicles. Assad must be running out of eq1uipment. Syria, the 21st century Lebannon.
#8
Looks like the fuel truck survived. A lot of people in the vehicles made it out with minimal harm. Did the rebel IED detonating personnel follow up with an attack and take out the Syrian military personnel? IOW, did they capitalize on their pyrotechnic show?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/20/2013 13:43
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#9
More irony. Iran supports the Assad regime. Iran has also been instrumental in supplying IEDs to Iraq and Afghanistan which have been used against us. The rebels have turned the technology on Iran-backed Syria. One can hope some of these convoys are Iranian.
I don't see the irony. Setting a bunch of bombs to detonate on cue from a radio signal ain't brain surgery. If it were, the Iranians wouldn't have figured it out. I think there's this misperception that weapon technology is this black art that non-Western primitives can't figure out. During the Afghan rout of the British expedition almost 200 years ago, the Afghans were using rifles that outranged British weaponry, and the Afghans were even more illiterate than they are today.
#10
For a military convoy there sure were a lot of civilian vehicles. Assad must be running out of eq1uipment. Syria, the 21st century Lebannon.
We have only the jihadists' word that it was a military convoy. I think attacks like this are less likely in Syria, simply because the traditional remedy, probably applied with some vigor by the Syrian state, has been to kill everyone living within some distance of the attacks. It worked for France during the Napoleonic Wars and it worked for Germany during WWII.
#12
It worked for France during the Napoleonic Wars and it worked for Germany during WWII.
Well, not quite. On the Napoleonic Wars, Chandler, David, Greenhill Books, London 1994, Chapter 9, Wellington in the Peninsula: A Reassessment, pg 159-60. It has been estimated that the guerrillas at any one time never numbered more in total than between 36,500 and 50,000 under arms; yet they have been credited with causing an average of thirty French deaths a day. Thus, of the 240,000 Frenchmen who died in Spain, some 45,000 can be attributed to direct battle action, 76,650 to guerrillas, and the balance to disease and accidental causes. King Joseph's aide, General Bigarre, put the figure of French deaths from guerrilla action as high as 180,000 men over five years, and total guerrilla loses over the same period as under 25,000 - but his estimates are probably exaggerated on both counts.
Pakistan was created for the Muslims of the sub continent to live in peace and to be immune from the domination of the Hindu majority. I would not prefer to go into the rationale and justification of that decision on the part of the Muslims leaders then fighting for an independent Muslim state.
What I want to emphasize is that the treatment that Muslims of the subcontinent feared from the Hindus, the same awful treatment is being meted out to the Shias that patently are a sect within Islam like many other sects, including Wahabis, Brelvis, Deobandis, Ismailis, Qadria, Chishtia, Naqshabandi and Suharwardi.
The Shia Sunni fratricide however started following the death of Prophet Muhammad on the issue of his successor. Thus Islam was divided forever, into two branches. The Sunni claim that the appointment of first three caliphs was right. The Shias believe that the caliphate which they term as Imamate was the divinely ordained right of a member of the bloodline of prophet, who they claim was prophet's son-in-law and cousin brother Hazrat Ali.
The day Pakistan was declared as the Islamic Republic, the seeds of the sectarian discord were sown. Not only was that but the country pushed into the lap of the cruel and merciless religious bands getting stronger with the time passage. With the time passage, the religious animosity and cutthroat sectarianism has attained new horrendous heights.
Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) is a Sunni Deobandi Pakistani organization. It was formed in 1985 by a conservative Sunni cleric Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi, in collusion with the then military dictator Ziaul-Haq. Its tacit and declared goal then was and is to stem the spillover influence of 1979 Iranian Revolution in Pakistan. When Pervez Musharraf banned it in 2002 as a terrorist organization, it reemerged under a new name "Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat".
The Lashkar-e- Jhangvi is a breakaway faction of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan. It was established in 1996 by two former stalwarts of SSP namely Riaz Basra and Malik Ishaq. LJ has ties to the Talban, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Al-Qaida, and Jundullah.
These and other religious militant factions have been wreaking havoc by fomenting sectarian wars and forcing the respective government in Pakistan to accept their dictates. Since its establishment, the SSP and LJ have launched countless attacks on the Shias, their religious processions, shrines and mosques killing them in innumerable numbers.
France's defense minister says French troop units will start pulling out of Mali within weeks, despite new clashes and challenges in rooting out armed extremists in the West African country.
Extremists linked to al-Qaida seized control of northern Mali last year. France fears the region could become a terrorist haven, and France sent troops Jan. 11 to help Malian forces retake the north.
Jean-Yves Le Drian acknowledged Wednesday that the African military force meant to take over from the French is not ready yet. But he said on France 2 television that "we have no reason to stay ... it's a matter of weeks."
Le Drian said an operation in the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains that killed a French soldier and some 20 militants Tuesday will continue "for a while."
Vodka named after Allah was always sure to create a storm of controversy in mainly Muslim Kazakhstan as it did last year, when bottles bearing Allahs name went on sale in the eastern city of Semey.
Those bottles were produced in Aktobe on the other side of Kazakhstan, where it seems the countrys security services have recently uncovered a plot to blow up the offending factory.
On February 19 three young men including a minor were jailed by a court in the western city of Aktobe for plotting to plant explosives at a factory producing vodka with a label mentioning Allah, KTK TV reports.
Media reports did not name the plant at the center of the plot, but back in April last year a factory owned by Kazakhstans GEOM company (which makes liquor under the popular Wimpex brand) got into hot water for making vodka with a label showing an Arabic inscription reading Allahs strength is enough for everybody.
The court found the three young men guilty of plotting to blow up the factory and sentenced 17-year-old Salamat Akhet to three years in prison and Nursultan Tenizbayev and Arslan Zhakabayev, both 18, to five years.
Akhets mother claimed her son was the victim of a stitch-up by the security services, which have been cracking down heavily on suspected extremists particularly in western Kazakhstan since a spate of terrorist attacks began in 2011.
The offending vodka has long since been withdrawn from sale with profuse apologies, the unfortunate incident blamed on a dopey designer. But like bad hangover, the aftereffects just seem to keep lingering.
Absolutely not safe for work, so don't even consider it, though there are no pictures. Also, do not read while in the presence of others, or you will have to explain why you can't read for weeping, and why you fell off the chair, thrice.
[FRANCE24] A paratrooper with the French Foreign Legion, Harold Vormezeele, has been killed in clashes in Mali, French President François Hollande said Tuesday. Twenty Islamists were also killed in an ongoing operation in the Ifoghas mountains.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/20/2013
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#1
And so it starts---unless the French are smart enough to wipe the nearest village from the face of the Earth.
Oh crap, better find yourself a deep cellar with a heavy door and a strong lock.
Yeah, the Legion knows how to deal with these things and they will...very quietly and very effectively, like we used to before we became a bunch of foreign policy sissies.
When exactly did our State Department become such a bunch of limp weinie pacificists and non-violent activists? And when did the CIA decide to go along with that?
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
02/20/2013 10:06
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[Egypt Independent] The National Salvation Front said Tuesday it will reject parliamentary elections unless authorities guarantee they will be fair and subject to international monitoring.
The announcement came after a three-hour closed meeting that included Dostour chief Mohamed ElBaradei Egyptian law scholar and Iranian catspaw. He was head of the IAEA from December 1997 to November 2009. At some point during his tenure he was purchased by the Iranians. ElBaradei and the IAEA were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for something in 2005. After stepping down from his IAEA position ElBaradei attempted to horn in on the 2011 Egyptian protests which culminated in the collapse of the Mubarak regime. ElBaradei served on the Board of Trustees of the International Crisis Group, a lefty NGO that is bankrolled by the Carnegie Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as George Soros' Open Society Institute. Soros himself serves as a member of the organization's Executive Committee. , Wafd Party leader Al-Sayed al-Badawy and Freedom and Justice Party Chairman Saad al-Katatny.
Hamdeen Sabbahi, founder of the Popular Current Party, did not attend.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth ordered the entire 614th quadrant searched. The Green Lensman must be found!... NSF leaders and other political parties admitted it would be difficult to hold parliamentary elections after the Constitutional Court found several articles of the new elections law unconstitutional. The Shura Council has been tasked to amend the regulations.
"The Constitution was born dead," said Mostafa al-Tawil, the honorary president of the Wafd Party. "The regime is improvising with no consideration or respect for people's desires."
"The Moslem Brüderbund made a tailored constitution that is full of loopholes," he added. "The Constitutional Court's response was expected."
For his part, Refaat al-Saeed of the Tagammu Party said the Shura Council is unlikely to abide by the court's ruling. "This is the chaos we live in now," he said.
Osama al-Ghazaly Harb of the Gabha Party called on the NSF to boycott the elections, saying, "Otherwise, [the NSF] would succumb to the Moslem Brüderbund," he said, contending that the Islamists are lost much of their popularity.
Sameh Ashour of the Nasserist Party called for the postponement of the elections until national consensus is reached.
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02/20/2013
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[MAGHAREBIA] Tunisian salafists destroyed a Sufi shrine in El Kef, Espace Manager reported on Monday (February 18th). Unknown assailants attacked and ransacked the Dahmani mausoleum of Sidi Baraket on Sunday night.
In other news, Tunisian security services on Monday arrested a man for allegedly vandalising a statue of slain opposition leader Chokri Belaid, Shems FM reported. Tunisian artists had installed the memorial in El Menzah, the site of Belaid's February 6th killing, just hours before it was demolished Sunday night.
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[An Nahar] Salafist tough guys and Kurdish militias have ceased hostilities in the northern Syrian city of Ras al-Ain after sealing an accord that will see them fight together against the regime, activists said Tuesday.
Intermittent and sometimes deadly festivities have taken place between the two sides since rebels entered the majority Kurdish city, located on the border with Turkey, several months ago.
A statement was issued at the weekend detailing the terms of the final accord between the rebel Free Syrian Army and the Kurdish popular committees.
A Kurdish activist from Ras al-Ain confirmed to Agence La Belle France Presse over the Internet on Tuesday that "there have been no confrontations following the agreement."
"Hostilities ended between the two parties a week ago and yesterday things were calm. The number of battalions in the city has decreased a lot and those that remain are stationed at the entrances," he said, giving his name only as Hevidar.
Sunday's agreement, which was brokered by prominent Christian dissident Michel Kilo and other opposition activists, calls for the "complete withdrawal of military forces and displays of arms from the city", said the statement.
Ras al-Ain would be governed by a civilian council, which would also manage the border crossing with Turkey in accordance with both parties, the statement added.
The Kurdish fighters and rebels also agreed on "cooperation and coordination between the Free (Syrian) Army and the people's protection forces to liberate cities that remain under regime control," it said.
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[Egypt Independent] Two men accused of kidnapping and killing a student in Sharqiya Governorate are dead after family members took Dire Revenge™ Tuesday.
According to reports, two men from Husseiniya district had apparently kidnapped a 16-year-old teen on 17 February. When the boy's family refused to pay a LE100,000 ransom, they allegedly killed the teen and dumped his body in a nearby village.
The boy's father had reported his son missing Tuesday.
Later that day, the teen's father supposedly found the kidnappers, who immediately confessed to the kidnapping and murder.
After finding the body of his dead son, the father and other residents killed the alleged kidnappers and mutilated their corpses. Reports say they hung what remained of the bodies on lampposts.
Sharqiya residents have been known to take the law into their own hands and exact Dire Revenge™ by killing perpetrators and dismembering their bodies.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/20/2013
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#1
Good.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/20/2013 10:37
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[Egypt Independent] Jama'a al-Islamiya on Tuesday announced it has formed squads with 13 other Islamist parties and movements to fight vandals, thugs and groups like the Black Bloc.
Spokesperson Khaled al-Sherif said the squads were formed with the Fadila, Asala and Shaab Parties. "We are talking to the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis to join," he said.
He added that the squads are armed only with simple tools for self-defense. "We have phone numbers to report thuggery and banditry," he said. "We help the police restore order."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/20/2013
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#3
Get in the kitchen and make us some pie, woman! Screwing up the economy is man's work. Besides, economics is all mathy and numbers and stuff.
Personally, I found the outrage amusing. After their wholehearted participation in the great Obamellatio, the press is surprised to find they are treated with contempt by the administration? It is to laugh.
BAGHDAD An Iranian exile group attacked in Iraq this month has moved from terrorism lists to international good graces, but Baghdad wants it out over its opposition to Irans rulers and ties to Saddam Hussein.
On February 9, mortar rounds and rockets slammed into Camp Liberty, a former US military base near Baghdad that now houses some 3,000 members of the Peoples Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran (PMOI), killing five people, according to Iraqi security officials. The attack triggered condemnation from the United States and United Nations, but in Iraq officials are eager to see the group depart.
They may not be 'terrorists' any more but they aren't Boy Scouts...
The PMOIs presence in Iraq is illegal and illegitimate, Ali Mussawi, Prime Minister Nouri Al Malikis spokesman, told. Their presence is rejected.
Iraqi political analyst Ihsan Al Shammari said the nature of the relationship between the (Iraqi) political powers and Iran, Baghdads neighbour to the east with which it has close ties, is a key factor in Iraqs insistence on the PMOIs ouster.
Saddam allowed the PMOI to establish a base called Camp Ashraf northeast of Baghdad after he launched the 1980-88 war with Iran, in which the group fought alongside his forces. According to the US State Department, Saddam armed the group with heavy military equipment and deployed thousands of (PMOI) fighters in suicidal, mass wave attacks against Iranian forces near the end of the war.
Following the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, the PMOI turned over 2,000 tanks, armoured personnel carriers, and heavy artillery, the State Department said. The group was also allegedly involved in Saddams violent suppression of 1991 Shia and Kurdish uprisings in Iraq.
Like I said, they're not Boy Scouts...
Saddam gave the PMOI four bases in Iraq, buildings in central Baghdad and other perks including Iraqi passports and free petrol, Saraj said. Almost all PMOI members in Iraq have moved to Camp Liberty from Camp Ashraf, the last of their bases.
But after this months attack, the PMOI complained about the slow pace of the process, which has dragged on as few countries have come forward with concrete offers of resettlement.
I hear Mauritania is nice this time of year...
Posted by: Steve White ||
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[An Nahar] Sudanese riot police on Tuesday beat health workers who protested the relocation of the country's largest children's hospital, witnesses said.
About 300 medical staff gathered outside the downtown facility objecting to the planned move to South Khartoum, the witnesses said. Authorities are seeking to decentralize health facilities.
"We will cancel your decision," said one banner carried by the demonstrators. "The health of our children cannot be ignored," said another.
After about 30 minutes riot police moved in with batons to beat the protesters until they dispersed, the witnesses said.
Riot police commonly use violence against demonstrators in Sudan.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Guardian Ng] FRESH violence erupted in Borno State on Monday and Tuesday, as gunnies suspected to be members of Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... sect, in separate operations, torched the Konduga Divisional Police Station, killing an inspector (name withheld) and two others in Lassa town.
Meanwhile, ...back at the barn, Bossy had come up with a new idea... the Federal High Court, Abuja Division, Tuesday rejected a bid by Senator Ali Ndume to stop his trial for alleged acts of terrorism and sponsorship of the violent Boko Haram Islamic sect.
In a related development, President Francois Hollande ...the Socialist president of La Belle France, and a fine job he's doing of it... confirmed that seven Frenchies from one family, including four children, were yesterday kidnapped in Northern Cameroun and said he suspected a Nigerian group was responsible, according to the Agence La Belle France Presse (AFP).
The gunnies, according to an eyewitness, used Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and petro-bombs in torching the cop shoppe and vehicles packed in the place. Konduga and Lassa towns are 40 kilometres east and 195 kilometres south of Maiduguri, the state capital, and suspected hideouts for the Boko Haram sect.
The source told The Guardian that the gunnies took the coppers at Konduaga unawares when they stormed the place, disclosing that the official vehicle of the slain police officer along with several other vehicles at the station were also set ablaze.
At Lassa, police sources also said that gunnies had on Monday evening stormed two houses and killed a member of a vigilance group and farmer. A Lassa resident claimed that the victims were alleged to be informants to the security agents. The State Police Public Relations Officer, Gideon Jibrin, confirmed the incident, adding, however, that no arrests had been made.
Meanwhile, ...back at the sea battle, the Terror of the Baltic's career had come to an abrupt and watery end... Ndume had filed an application praying for an interim stay of action to enable him pursue his appeal seeking to upturn two interlocutory orders made by the trial court. In his ruling, however, Justice Gabriel Kolawole refused his application for interim stay. Instead, he granted Ndume 60 days to prosecute his appeal.
The matter is therefore adjourned to May 6 for mention while the accused/applicant would continue to enjoy his bail. The court also admitted three DVDs that contained alleged record of communication between the accused/applicant and the Boko Haram members.
On the issue of kidnap of tourists in Cameroun, Hollande said: "What is most probable is they were taken to Nigeria," adding that they were seized by a Nigeria-based "terrorist group that we know well." The tourists were reportedly kidnapped by faceless myrmidons in Northern Cameroun, near the border with Nigeria, a source close to the French Embassy in Yaounde said.
"Seven Frenchies were captured today by men, apparently on cycle of violences, in the Camerounian locality of Dadanga on the frontier with Nigeria," the source said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/20/2013
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[Bangla Daily Star] With its back against the wall, 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 resorted to a smear campaign against the Shahbagh youths, branding them as atheists, anti-Islamic and anti-social elements with the help of a few radical Islamist groups both in and outside the BNP-led 18-party alliance.
Through advertisements, reports in certain newspapers and rallies, efforts were being made to confuse people about the motive of the young organisers by tweaking religious sentiment of the people, alleged law enforcers and bloggers yesterday.
"All these are false and fabricated tales," announced Imran H Sarkar, convener of Blogger and Online Activists Network, last night on behalf of all protesters, who camped at Shahbagh for the 15th day with the demand for maximum punishment for the convicts in war crimes trial.
As part of the smear campaign, Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh, a radical Islamist organization based in Hathazari, Chittagong, got published a half-page advertisement in three newspapers yesterday with anti-Islamic contents, claiming those were posted on the internet by different bloggers. It claimed that the Shahbagh movement was against Islam.
Using such advertisements and reports in like-minded newspapers, the anti-liberation forces held protest rallies in Dhaka and Chittagong yesterday to counter the Shahbagh movement.
In a statement in the afternoon, Jamaat-e-Islami said, "The main objective of the Shahbagh protesters is to root out Islam from the country. They are involved in different anti-social activities there."
Meanwhile, ...back at the wine tasting, Greasy Thumb grabbed for his rod!... Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu said the government would not spare those who are hurting religious sentiments to create tension.
According to the law, it is a punishable offence to create tension by publishing provocative advertisements. And the organizations involved in such activities would be closed down as Youtube was shut in Bangladesh following the Ramu violence, said the minister.
"By spreading hate contents, they are dishonouring Prophet Muhammad [SM]," Inu said, adding that a meeting will be held today to decide on the issue.
Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, a top leader of Islami Andolon Bangladesh said Jamaat-e-Islami that has drawn public outrage is engaging Qaumi Madrasa-based radical Islamist groups to counter the Shahbagh movement by portraying it anti-Islamic.
They include Khelafat Majlish, Islami Oikya Jote ... a political party in Bangladesh. In the 2001 elections the party won 2 out of 300 elected members in an alliance with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. It has a focus on building an islamic state, and has used the madrassas to gain support... and Olama Mashayekh Parishad.
The Shahbagh demonstrators yesterday strongly protested the advertisements and negative campaigns, and said the anti-liberation forces have chosen a path of hatred to demean Islam by using fake identities in the social media and shift the blame onto them.
Imran H Sarkar, a key organiser of the protest, said some media houses are branding the Shahbagh movement as anti-Islami and spreading lies about slain blogger Rajib Haidar, one of the organisers of the movement.
He said the Shahbagh protesters have nothing against any religion, as the movement is against the mass murderers of 1971.
Immediately after Rajib's murder, the anti-liberation forces launched a negative campaign to brand Rajib as an atheist, claiming he had posted offensive and anti-Islami contents on the internet, said bloggers involved in the movement.
While fingers are pointed at Jamaat-Shibir for the killing, the anti-liberation elements are trying hard to brand Rajib as an atheist to justify the murder and portray all Shahbagh protesters as anti-Islam.
Rajib's family members strongly condemned the attempts to portray him as an atheist.
Ali Haider Dewan, a relative of Rajib, said a conspiracy is being hatched to divert Rajib's killing to a different direction.
As part of a conspiracy against Rajib, someone hacked into his blog and posted controversial elements after his murder, said Dewan.
Meanwhile, ...back at the bunker, his Excellency called a hurried meeting of his closest advisors. It was to be his last. They discussed the officers's efficiency rating system... Shamsuzzaman Dudu, an adviser to the BNP chairperson, alleged that the government is carrying out anti-Islami activities in the name of demonstrations by engaging a section of youths.
"These youths are being paid by the government to work as its agents," Dudu, also general secretary of Jatiyatabadi Krishak Dal, said at a discussion.
In the capital, several hundred Jamaat activists under the banner of Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish brought out a procession from the Baitul Mukarram Mosque chanting slogans that the Shahbagh youths are atheists.
They circulated leaflets that said in the name of movement against war criminals, the youths are using Shahbagh for illegal activities and spreading anti-Islami ideas.
Later, police swung into action and dispersed them.
In Chittagong, a few hundred people under the banner of Bangladesh Khelafat Andolon staged a demonstration in Hathazari upazila, demanding death penalty for "the bloggers who insulted Islam".
Locals said some people under the banner of Islami Oikya Jote circulated leaflets that read, "Foil the conspiracy of Awami atheists in the name of the Shahbagh movement, and resist all such movements across the country".
Meanwhile, ...back at the cheese factory, there was only one thought in the mouse's mind: I can do this! I can do this! Then the trap sprung... some people circulated a list of bloggers over mobile phones demanding death penalty for them.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Dawn] Unidentified motorcyclists rubbed out an official of the special branch of police department here on Monday.
Arshad Iqbal, a head constable in special branch police, was the sixth intelligence official, who fell prey to assassination in the district.
Police officials recalled that the incident occurred a month after the killings of Zulfiqar Bangash, station house officer of Chota Lahor City cop shoppe, and Khanan Khan, a sub-inspector of Intelligence Bureau.
The other officials of intelligence agencies, killed in terrorist attacks, included Arshad Ali Ghayas, Ali Zar Khan, Khanan Khan, Raj Mohammad, Maqbool Hussain and Arshad Iqbal.
Javed Khan, also a head constable in special branch police, had survived a similar attack by unidentified motorcyclists.
Sources said that Arshad Iqbal left his home for office in the district headquarters Swabi on a cycle of violence. Two motorcyclists sprayed him with bullets when he reached Gar Akakhel region, they added. He was killed on the spot and the assailants managed to escape, sources said.
"The continued killing of intelligence officials has aggravated the situation. We should take extra precautionary measures to avoid further losses," said a police officer.
An FIR was registered in Zaida City cop shoppe against the assailants. The dear departed official was laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard at Gar. He left behind three sons and two daughters.
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[An Nahar] President Barack Obama On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes -- and I see many of them in the audience here today... said Tuesday that General John Allen will retire instead of accepting the top job at NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... , as he seeks to take care of his family after a 19-month tour in Afghanistan.
Speculation had been rife for weeks that Allen, who led the war effort in Afghanistan for 19 months, would not take up Obama's offer to serve as the alliance's supreme commander, even after he was cleared of wrongdoing in a drama over emails to a Florida socialite.
"Today, I met with General John Allen and accepted his request to retire from the military so that he can address health issues within his family," Obama said in a written statement.
Allen recently returned from his post as the top commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan and had asked for more time to think over his future.
Obama praised the Marine Corps general for presiding over "significant growth" in Afghanistan's security forces and a "further degradation" of al-Qaeda.
"Above all, he cares deeply for the men and women in uniform who serve our nation -- as well as their families -- and I am grateful for the sacrifices made by his family in supporting him during his service,"Obama said.
Allen told the Washington Post in an interview published Tuesday that he wanted to focus on helping his wife, Kathy, who has chronic health problems that include autoimmune disorder.
"Right now, I've just got to get her well," Allen said. "It's time to take care of my family."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Hell no, I won't take the job Obama.
And up yours.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/20/2013 0:17
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#2
Being legally cleared of military wrong-doing is not the same as being cleared of spousal fury for being humiliated.
#3
Yes LR, but the charges had their intended effect anyway. We are watching a slow speed purge of the military leadership, presumably to more agreeable cohorts.
Talking to cute girls may not be a punishable crime in the Army, but it can sure get you in dutch at home.
Remember these brilliant people still haven't figured out how the economy real works. Other than issuing decrees, they also don't understand how the whole government system operates in a republic. Thus the gross failures in their social programs. Don't expect them to understand how the American military operates either. You can appoint all the boot lickers you want to the head masters positions, but that doesn't mean the ranks will follow when the time comes. And those ranks who get out rather than put up with crap for pure promotion purposes, will provide the strength for any opposition when the mask comes off the tyrant's facade.
[FRANCE24] Former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo appeared before the International Criminal Court on Tuesday to face four counts of crimes against humanity as judges prepare to decide whether he can be tried for masterminding a bloody 2010 election standoff.
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[Egypt Independent] Hundreds Ultras Al-Masry members and Port Fouad residents blocked the road leading to the eastern side of Port Said with tree trunks and flaming tires on Tuesday.
The move is part of ongoing acts of civil disobedience in Port Said Governorate as protesters demand an investigation into the deaths of demonstrators during recent violence and compensation for victim's families.
Violence erupted after the verdict in the Port Said football massacre sentenced 21 people to death in January.
The military attempted to convince protesters to let port workers and container trucks through, but demonstrators refused to listen.
In related news, the Strong Egypt Party, headed by former presidential hopeful Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh, froze its activities in Port Said in solidarity with the demands of protesters.
In a statement issued Tuesday, the party said, "Due to the events Port Said Governorate is experiencing since 26 January, upon which a number of innocent people and some of the finest sons of the city were martyred, and as perpetrators have not been defined until now and as opacity and non-transparency surround investigations in these events, the Strong Egypt Party in Port Said [is acting in] solidarity with the legitimate demands of Port Said."
The party backed the formation of an independent rights committee to investigate the violence as well as adequate compensation for victims and their family members, it added.
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[An Nahar] A church under construction in the largely Moslem archipelago of Zanzibar was set ablaze early Tuesday, 48 hours after the murder of a Roman Catholic priest, but there were no casualties, police said.
"The evangelical church of Siloam was set on fire by unknown men. There were no casualties and the fire was extinguished," Mohamed Mhina, front man for the police on the semi-autonomous Tanzanian island chain said.
Only part of the church, on the main island of Unguja, was burned, along with several dozen chairs.
Attackers demolished the church last year, in what was variously described as a dispute over land ownership and a religiously motivated attack. It was in the process of being rebuilt.
It was not clear whether Tuesday's attack was linked to land issues or whether it was the work of religious krazed killers.
"The police has undertaken to find the perpetrators ... but for the moment no one has been incarcerated ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... ," the police said in a statement.
Catholic priest Evarist Mushi was rubbed out outside his church on Sunday, the second such attack on the Moslem-majority island in recent months.
Zanzibar's Christian community is a tiny minority, an estimated three percent of the 1.2 million population, which is otherwise almost entirely Moslem.
There have been tensions between the two communities in the past few months.
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An assistant village leader was killed in a drive-by shooting in Pattani province on Tuesday morning. The victim was identified as Somsak Surasith, an assistant village chief.
Witnesses said that Somsak was traveling on his motorcycle on a rural road when a terrorist gunman riding pillion on another motorcycle shot at him with handgun. Somsak was hit in the head and torso and died on the spot. Police blamed separatist terrorists militants.
In Khok Pho district, a school teacher was shot and seriously injured late Monday night. Police said Saman E-so was returning home in a pick-up truck when a group of terrorists men in another pick-up truck opened fire at his vehicle. Mr Saman was admitted to the hospital. Doctors said he was now out of danger.
Early Tuesday morning, a former paramilitary ranger was injured in a drive-by shooting in Yala province. Police said Marase Saekaela was traveling by motorcycle on a rural road in his village when he was shot by a terrorist gunman on another motorcycle. The terrorists assailants then fled.
In Narathiwat province, a 60-man combined police and military force raided a house before dawn and nabbed two suspects wanted for bombings and arson.
The house was reported to be a hideout of a group of RKK terrorists militants led by Repae-ing Useng who took part in an attack on a marine base on Feb 13 in which 16 terrorists militants were killed.
As the authorities approached the house three terrorists men fled into the forest. Two others terrorists remained behind and surrendered.
The first terrorist man was identified as Isueman Jehama. He is wanted on warrants for a bombing in 2008 in which eight policemen were wounded and another security related incident. He is also thought to be one of the terrorists insurgents who attacked a marine oupost on the morning of Feb 13. The other man is Ali Baka. A warrant was issued earlier for his arrest for setting fire to a school in 2007.
A suspected terrorist militant threw a hand grenade at soldiers doing evening exercises Tuesday and the blast injured eight of the troops.
Two suspected terrorists insurgents drove a motorcycle past Wat Lak 5 at 6 p.m. as soldiers were doing physical training at the temple field. One of the terrorists motorcyclists tossed an M-26 grenade over the temple wall into the group of soldiers, injuring eight.
[ONLINE.WSJ] Heavily armed robbers broke into the national airport here and stole more than 120 packages of diamonds from a Swiss-bound flight Monday night, in one of Europe's most brazen and valuable tarmac holdups in a decade, Belgian prosecutors said Tuesday. I seen dis movie!
Shortly before 8 p.m. Monday, two black vehicles with blue lights resembling police transport pulled up to a Helvetic Airways Fokker 100 jet plane, operating for Swiss International Air Lines, that had just been loaded, according to Belgian prosecutor Ine Van Wymersch and other people familiar with the events. The mastermind, he's George Clooney. Or maybe it's Jean-Paul Belmondo...
Eight masked men with machine guns held the ground staff, crew and passengers at gunpoint as they forced security workers to open the plane's cargo door. The men selectively removed at least 120 packets of diamonds, Ms. Van Wymersch said. The vehicles then sped away. No shots were fired and nobody was hurt in the theft, she said. But his second in command, see, he's the bad guy. He plans on killing all the other guys and jacking the whole swag for himself.
Ms. Van Wymersch declined to place a value on the stolen gems. Another person familiar with the events said the jewels are worth at least $350 million. And he's gonna keep the babe for himself, too. That's Julia Roberts, or maybe it's one of those Frenchie babes. I forget.
"It was well-prepared and very professional," said Ms. Van Wymersch. "The whole operation took just a few minutes." And they got this guy, he's an expert with diamonds and stuff, and he's the comic relief...
One vehicle was later found thoroughly burned and "was probably used" in the theft, Ms. Van Wymersch said. "At this stage of the investigation, everything is still possible." All the guys in the gang but George Clooney and the comic relief guy are cinders in the truck. Or Alain Delon, maybe it was. I forget. And the bad guy. He's not a cinder.
A Swiss spokeswoman declined to comment, referring questions to Belgian prosecutors. A spokesman for Brussels Airport couldn't immediately be contacted. Yeah, you gotta see when their car's bein' chased by this helicopter...
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02/20/2013
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And he's gonna keep the babe for himself, too. That's Julia Roberts, or maybe it's one of those Frenchie babes. I forget.
I'm holding out for Charlize Theron in a Mini-Cooper.
The standoff in Sabah has infuriated Philippine President Aquino, who suspects that the incident is intended to sabotage his administrations peace initiatives with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), reliable sources said yesterday.
The well placed sources said Malacañang believes Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III is not acting on his own in highlighting his familys claim over Sabah. Kiram, the sources noted, is sick and is undergoing dialysis.
Among those being considered by administration officials as possible instigators of Kiram are Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) chieftain Nur Misuari, former national security adviser Norberto Gonzales and even the Presidents uncle, former Tarlac congressman Jose Peping Cojuangco and his wife Margarita, who is running for senator under the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).
Up to 300 of Kiram's followers are holed up in Sabah and have been surrounded by Malaysian security forces. Kiram has said his followers would not leave because Sabah is our home.
The sources said that the President was furious over the Sabah incident, as it came on the heels of progress achieved in the governments peace initiative with the MILF.
The sources said the standoff in Sabah may also be linked to the recent attacks by an MNLF faction identified with Misuari on Abu Sayyaf strongholds in Jolo, Sulu, ostensibly to secure the release of hostages. Misuari, who is running as an independent candidate for governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in the May elections, points out that the government has not fully implemented the peace agreement signed with the MNLF in 1996.
The sources suggested that the standoff in Sabah is seen as a way of derailing the peace process with the MILF.
A military official earlier said Kirams Royal Sultanate Army began recruiting members over ten years ago. The official, who asked not to be named, said, In the following years, they never gave the Philippine government any problem until this standoff in Sabah until they went to Lahad Datu and declared they have the right to stay in Sabah.
The official pointed out that even the reported armed encounter between the MNLF and Abu Sayyaf in Sulu looked like an acoustic war, with no bodies being found despite reports of casualties on both sides.
BRUSSELS European Union foreign ministers announced on Monday that they were keeping current sanctions against Syria in place for three months, rejecting attempts to alter an embargo on the country so that arms could be funneled to rebels fighting President Bashar Assad.
However, in an apparent nod to the UK, which had argued that the rebels should be exempted from the embargo, the ministers adopted a non-specific amendment so as to provide greater non-lethal support and technical assistance for the protection of civilians.
More bandages!
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said that the meaning of that would be defined in meetings among the representatives of member countries to the union. She denied to reporters that the wording was a political fudge.
"No, no, certainly not!"
Still, British Foreign Secretary William Hague appeared to claim victory, saying many countries had not even wanted to discuss changing the embargo at a meeting in November.
Most states were opposed to any amendment of the embargo and today we have amended it in a very important way, in a couple of very important ways, Hague said. He added that further amendments could be made three months from now, an indication that Britain might continue its push to arm the rebels.
We will have to have that debate at the time, and I think that will depend on whether any political progress is now made in Syria and depend on the continued loss of life which continues on an appalling and unacceptable scale, Hague said.
Several EU foreign ministers said, in strong terms, that they opposed sending any more arms into the ravaged country. That view was supported on Monday by a new report by a UN-appointed panel that said Syrias civil war is becoming increasingly sectarian and the behavior of both sides is growing more and more radicalised. The report urged the international community to curb the supply of weapons and anti-government forces to part with foreign fighters.
Hard to get the rebels to give up one of the key factors that has gotten them to this point.
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[MAGHAREBIA] Bands of baton-wielding salafists have mounted security patrols in Tunisian cities in recent weeks, leaving many citizens to question what is behind the phenomenon.
Salafists ...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them... say they are patrolling neighbourhoods in the name of safeguarding citizens and their property, amid increased instability in Tunisia that followed the February 6th slaying of opposition leader Chokri Belaid.
Since his liquidation, Salafist security patrols became more prevalent in Tunis and other cities. The patrols, which each number dozens of members, move about on foot or on cycle of violences, or in cars flying black flags.
An online call by Ansar al-Sharia ...a Yemeni Islamist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends... mobilised salafists to fan out and patrol the streets as unofficial security details. The radical salafist group posted the call on Facebook for its supporters to protect citizens and property in the aftermath of Belaid's killing.
"They do not have any hidden agendas," young salafist Ali Zaghouani said.
"Their goal is not to replace the security apparatus but to support its efforts in maintaining security during these security lapses that are taking place from time to time," he added.
Yet Ansar al-Sharia does want to bring Sharia law to Tunisia, and has resorted to violent acts of extremism. The group is widely seen as responsible for a series of attacks in Tunisia in May 2012 and last September's protests at the US embassy in Tunis that left four dead and 49 others injured.
With the street patrols, however, many Tunisians say that the salafists are up to something sinister. To some, the radical Islamists are encroaching on the government's security apparatus and ability to maintain and law order.
This could weaken the state and undermine its civil character, Social Democratic Party front man Samir Bettaib told Magharebia.
"This is something we cannot accept and it really angers us," Bettaib said.
"If anything, it shows the weakness of the state, especially its security apparatus, in ensuring security for citizens and the protection of their properties."
The Salafist patrols are illegal and a clear encroachment on state institutions as well as the privacy of citizens, said Adel Soltani, a 34-year-old resident of Ettadamon, a suburb of Tunis.
He said he saw uniformed salafist patrolmen stopping passers-by, asking for their I.D. and sometimes even carrying out arrests.
"We do not want those who seek to impose a trusteeship on the security of citizens or interfere in private lives, because only state agencies are authorized to perform this job," Soltani said.
For college senior Firas Jouini, the salafist patrols have a nefarious goal.
"I think that there is a blueprint being prepared by these groups to strike the official security apparatus and compromise the country's security," he said.
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[An Nahar] Turkish police launched a massive nationwide crackdown Tuesday against a radical Marxist group which claimed a suicide bomb attack against the U.S. embassy this month, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported. Not that my opinion counts for much, but I'd think you'd launch a crackdown the first time they kill somebody.
Police issued arrest warrants for 167 people in 28 cities as part of the operation against the Revolutionary People's Liberation Front (DHKP-C), which is classified as a terrorist organisation by the United States, Anatolia said.
A Turkish guard at the U.S. embassy in Ankara was killed in the February 1 attack and three other people including a journalist were wounded.
The outlawed DHKP-C has waged a string of attacks over the past few decades that have left dozens of people dead, including prominent political and military figures.
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For a map, click here. For a map of Tamaulipas state, click here
Two armed suspects were killed in an exchange of gunfire with a Mexican Army road patrol in Nuevo Laredo, according to Mexican news accounts.
According to a news report posted on the website of Milenio news daily, the shootout took place near the intersection of Calle Esfinge and Bulevar Canseco in Reservas Territoriales colony.
The two suspects were travelling aboard a Volkswagen Jetta sedan when the shootout took place. The report suggested more than the two suspects were aboard the vehicle when the gunfight took place. Soldiers found two AR-15 and two AK-47 rifles aboard the vehicle after the shootout.
Separately, three unidentified Tamaulipas state government employees were wounded in Ciudad Victoria -- Tamaulipas' state capital -- when two explosive devices, presumably grenades, were detonated Tuesday afternoon near the Palacio Gobierno which is located near the intersection of calles 15th and Hidalgo. Twitter reports say two grenades were detonated.
According to a news report which appeared on the website of Milenio, the attack took place at around 1635 hrs.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
[Egypt Independent] Tarek al-Zomor, founder of Jama'a al-Islamiya's Construction and Development Party, said Tuesday his party would try to heal the rift between the Moslem Brüderbund's Freedom and Justice Party and the Salafi Nour Party.
He added that differences between Islamists and other groups should be resolved for the sake of the nation.
For his part, Alaa Aboul Nasr, the party's secretary general, said Islamists stand to lose should the dispute between the two groups continue.
Tensions between the FJP and Nour Party is at an all-time high over the dismissal of Nour Party member Khaled Alam Eddin, the president's advisor for environmental affairs, from the presidential team.
Nasr called for an investigation into allegations driven by former presidential spokesperson Yasser Ali that claim Alam Eddin was abusing his post for personal gain.
Khaled Al-Sheref, media consultant to Construction and Development Party, demanded the president's office issue a statement revealing the facts behind Alam Eddin's dismissal.
In response, the president's office released a statement Tuesday saying Alam Eddin was dismissed based on "information according to which he could not continue with his role in order to preserve the presidential [team's] standing."
The statement added that the decision was not based on Alam Eddin's partisan affiliation and that dismissing any adviser is a "decision taken by the president's office based on national interests." The president's office also expressed its appreciation for Egypt's political factions and their willingness to come to the table for talks, singling out the Nour Party in particular.
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For his part, Alaa Aboul Nasr, the party's secretary general, said Islamists stand to lose should the dispute between the two groups continue
"The Joos! You're supposed to be going after the Joos!"
[MAGHAREBIA] Algeria's Tiguentourine gas plant is set to resume production by February 24th, APS reported on Monday (February 18th).
According to Sonatrach chief Abdelhamid Zerguine, the In Amenas facility will start up again at one-third capacity.
The Sonatrach-BP-Statoil site had been closed since January 20th, when Algerian forces freed hundreds of hostages held by fighters loyal to al-Qaeda emir Mokhtar Belmokhtar. The four-day siege left 38 people dead.
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[An Nahar] A cabinet minister on Tuesday said his country will demand compensation from Western officials who have imposed sanctions on Syria causing the deaths of "thousands".
"Who said that the embargo does not kill," Domestic Trade and Consumer Protection Minister Qadri Jamil said during a speech to parliament, which was broadcast by Syrian state television. ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
Syria "will reclaim its rights by holding world officials accountable for imposing this unjust embargo that has killed thousands of Syrians," he said.
Jamil, who is also deputy prime minister for economic affairs, said that the government had "not yet calculated the number of Syrians who perished because of the embargo, cold, hunger and disease."
"We have been harmed by foreign intrusions. Compensation must be paid to the Syrian people," he said.
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[FRANCE24] Seven Frenchies have been kidnapped in Cameroon, French President François Hollande confirmed on Tuesday. FRANCE 24's sister network Radio La Belle France International had earlier reported that those kidnapped were taken by gunnies on cycle of violences.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Obviously someone did not get the memo that kidnapping French citizens is a bad idea.
Pierre and the other rough men ready to do violence from the Legion and other equally nasty and capable groups in the French Military will come knocking and they are not bringing flowers and cake.
After the Mali incursion and the attempted hostage rescue, I have to take back most things I have said about the French. Since Villapain left the foreign ministry, the attitude has become more aggressive.
The Moslem riots in France were a national turning point in their policies toward Islam and Islamonutjobs.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
02/20/2013 9:49
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Update French special forces help Cameroon in hostage investigation French special forces have arrived in northern Cameroon from their regional base in Chad to help an investigation to locate a French family kidnapped on Tuesday and moved to Nigeria, a local governor said on Wednesday.
The abduction highlights the growing risk of attacks on French nationals and interests in Africa since Paris sent forces into Mali to oust Islamist rebels occupying the country's north.
"French special forces came in yesterday from N'Djamena to help with the investigation. They left yesterday and came back today," Augustine Fonka Awa, governor of Cameroon's Far North Region told Reuters by telephone."
Well, at least this one had his clothes on. I guess it's their version of escalation as the Cartelists seem to have a lead with beauty pageant winners.
[MAGHAREBIA] The Algerian Interior Ministry refused to license the first salafist party in the country.
The Free Awakening Front had planned to hold its founding convention on Saturday (February 16th). The interior ministry officially notified the party officials, through Algiers wali, that their application for the convention had been denied.
The interior ministry did not explain the decision.
"We were surprised with the rejection because our file has met all legal requirements," salafist party head Abdelfattah Zeraoui Hamadache told news hounds. "We think that this involves an illegal move on the part of security authorities."
"We've tried to get explanations from Algiers wilaya officials about the reasons for rejection, but they said they don't know anything and can't comment on that," he added.
Hamadache said that his group would "stage a sit-in opposite Algiers wilaya and interior ministry headquarters to demand our right to engage in politics", if their demand for a meeting with officials was rejected.
The salafist party "hasn't wreaked havoc in land, hasn't thrown stones, hasn't attacked a road, hasn't sown chaos, and hasn't undermined the country's security and stability", Hamadache said.
There were indications suggesting that the Algerian authorities would refuse to give a licence to the party.
Religious Affairs Minister Bouabdallah Ghlamallah had recently accused the salafist movement in Algeria of trying to seize power. During a seminar on the Algerian religious marji'ya held in Dar al-Imam on February 12th, Ghlamallah said he never feared those who called for salafism.
"What do those people want?" he wondered. "Do they want to correct Islam or seize power?"
Ghlamallah added that pursuant to law, the interior ministry wouldn't license religion-based parties.
The amended version of the law pertaining to political parties, which was issued last August, bans licences to religious parties. It also bars anyone linked to the Black Decade from returning to politics.
"Islamic parties that declare their affiliation to a system other than the republican and democratic system wouldn't be licenced," Nourredine Lajal, a professor of political sciences, explained.
"The government won't give up on this regardless of the pressures that some parties try to exercise over it taking advantage of the Arab Spring events that brought the Islamists to power" [in the Maghreb]," Lajal added.
Kamal Hadef, a journalist specialising in security affairs, said that the "unrest which some countries are witnessing following the accession of Islamists to power, such as Egypt and Tunisia, serves the interest of the Algerian government".
Hadef noted that Islamist parties have a real presence in the scene and are politically active. But they have not been able to build a popular base that would enable them to win election and come to power, he added.
"These parties have understood the rules of democracy and refuse to use violence as a means to get to power," Hadef said. "They just don't want to repeat the same mistake of the disbanded Islamic Salvation Front (FIS)."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#2
Imbecillus infante.
You think we don't know what you're saying?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/20/2013 4:02
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Intelligent Design? Intelligent Design?! SLOWLY I TURNED, STEP BY STEP, STEP BY STEP, I CREPT UPON HIM AND WHEN I SAW THE SNEER ON HIS FACE, I STRUCK, AND I GRABBED HIM AND I SHOOK HIM AROUND. That's what I did with him.
#4
Gentleman, when you look at a beautiful woman and look how perfectly they are designed to drive us crazy, take our money, and leave us gasping for air, it has to be intelligent design. Nothing like that happens by accident.
That is somewhat a reasonable proof of God being female.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
02/20/2013 10:02
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[Dawn] The people of Sarki Lawagher, Shagi Lawagher and adjacent localities in Karak district on Monday refused to let health workers vaccinate their children against polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... over unavailability of facilities in the region.
However, there's more than one way to skin a cat... they allowed vaccinators to carry out polio campaign after the tehsil administration officials assured them of early meeting of their demand.
In the morning, local residents and their elders gathered near the seminary of Sarki Lawagher and demonstrated against unavailability of gas and drinking and irrigation water to the area.
They also declared that health workers won't be allowed to administer polio drops to children in the region.
Elders Ramzan Shah, Abdur Rehman, Mosahib Gul and Zainullah told protesters that around 30,000 people lived in the region but they were without gas, electricity and drinking water and that neither roads were blacktopped nor were canals built to carry water from Lawagher dam to the local residents' land for irrigation.
They said the dam had been constructed on their land but the government had been denying them water.
The speakers said they would not allow vaccination of their children until their demands were met.
Later, tehsildar of Takht-e-Nusrati Gul Ghazi Khan met protesters and assured them that the district administration would meet their demand at the earliest.
Thereafter, protesters dispersed peacefully prompting health workers to administer polio drops to children.
They threatened to demonstrate again if facilities were not provided to the region without a week.
In Bajaur Agency, aka Turban Central ...Smallest of the agencies in FATA. The Agency administration is located in Khar. Bajaur is inhabited almost exclusively by Tarkani Pashtuns, which are divided into multiple bickering subtribes. Its 52 km border border with Afghanistan's Kunar Province makes it of strategic importance to Pakistain's strategic depth... , the three-day polio campaign began on Monday after paramedical staff ended boycott of vaccination.
Senior health official Dr Zakir Hussain told news hounds in Khar that paramedics had ended boycott of polio campaign after suspension of two World Health Organisation officials, who allegedly misbehaved with some of their colleagues.
He said the announcement to end boycott of polio campaign came after leadership of paramedical staff held successful talks with the director general of Fata health services.
Dr Zakir said senior health and WHO officials had taken serious note of the two WHO officials' alleged misbehaviour over their dispute with some paramedics.
"A three-member inquiry committee comprising bigwigs of health the deportment and WHO has been formed to identify the main cause of the dispute," he said.
The health official said the two WHO officials won't supervise polio campaign.
According to the local health department officials, all paramedical staff and bigwigs are participating in the campaign.
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Today's weather: brief protest in the morning, followed by more killings later in the afternoon.
[Dawn] A six-member parliamentary delegation of the government reached an agreement with Quetta sit-in participants on Tuesday, after which nationwide protests were called off, DawnNews reported.
The government representatives accepted most of the demands made by the sit-in participants, with the notable exception of calling in the army in Quetta. The major demand of the protestors accepted by the government was that targeted operations would be conducted with the involvement of Army personnel.
Earlier on, relatives and members of the Hazara community had refused to bury the victims of the Kirani road incident claiming that the protests would continue until Quetta was handed over to the army. However, if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well... upon appeal of the Shia Ulema, the Kirani Road protesters have now decided to call off the sit-in.
The Shia Ulema announced in a presser that burial of the blast victims would now be held at 9 am on Wednesday.
Protesters all over the country have demand that the army be called in Quetta and take immediate action against the bad boy Death Eater group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi ... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ... , which in recent months has targeted Shias, mainly the Hazara community of Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... The team comprised of Federal Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, PPP MNA Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, PPP MNA Nadeem Afzal Chan, PPP Senator Sughra Imam, PPP MNA Yasmeen Rehman and Federal Minister for Political Affairs Maula Bakhsh Chandio.
The sit-in had been called by the Majlis Wahdatul Mohammedaneen (MWM) , Balochistan Shia Conference and Milli Yakjehti Council, who held successful negotiations with the government delegation.
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North Korea threatened South Korea with "final destruction" during a debate at the United Nations Conference on Disarmament on Tuesday, saying it could take further steps after a nuclear test last week.
"As the saying goes, a new-born puppy knows no fear of a tiger. South Korea's erratic behavior would only herald its final destruction," North Korean diplomat Jon Yong Ryong told the meeting.
As WHAT saying goes? That makes about as much sense as army-first juche...
Jon's comments drew quick criticism from other nations, including South Korea, France, Germany and Britain, whose ambassador Joanne Adamson said such language was "completely inappropriate"
oh, oh, oh. Feel the strongly-worded statement!
and the discussion with North Korea was heading in the wrong direction.
"It cannot be allowed that we have expressions which refer to the possible destruction of U.N. member states," she said.
Really? I guess Khrushchev pounding the podium with his shoe was something, um, different...
Spanish Ambassador Javier Gil Catalina said the comment left him stupefied and appeared to be a breach of international law.
"In the 30 years of my career I've never heard anything like it and it seems to me that we are not speaking about something that is even admissible, we are speaking about a threat of the use of force that is prohibited by Article 2.4 of the United Nations charter," Catalina said.
So are you going to enforce the Charter or just point to it?
Since the North tested a nuclear bomb last week in defiance of U.N. resolutions, its southern neighbor has warned it could strike the isolated state if it believed an attack was imminent.
That's called 'self-defense'. I think you can find it in the Charter if you look...
Pyongyang said the aim of the test was to bolster its defenses given the hostility of the United States, which has led a push to impose sanctions on North Korea.
"Our current nuclear test is the primary countermeasure taken by the DPRK in which it exercised its maximum self-restraint," said the North Korean diplomat Jon.
"If the U.S. takes a hostile approach toward the DPRK to the last, rendering the situation complicated, it (North Korea) will be left with no option but to take the second and third stronger steps in succession," he said, without indicating what that might entail.
North Korea has already told key ally China that it is prepared to stage one or two more tests this year to force the United States into diplomatic talks, a source with direct knowledge of the message told Reuters last week.
I don't see how that forces us into ... oh, wait, we're dealing with Champ and 'Lucky Hat' Kerry. I think they'll both be bowing to the Norks shortly...
U.S. Ambassador Laura Kennedy said she found North Korea's threat on Tuesday profoundly disturbing and later tweeted that it was "offensive".
Poland's representative suggested North Korea's participation in the U.N. forum should be limited.
Jon said last week's test was an act of self-defense against nuclear blackmail by the United States, which wanted to block North Korea's economic development
...like that's hard...
and its fundamental rights.
Do 'fundamental rights' include feeding the people?
"It is the disposition and firm will of the army and people of the DPRK to counter high-handed policy with tough-fist policy and to react to pressure and sanctions with an all-out counter-action," he said.
Jon said the United States had conducted most of the nuclear tests and satellite launches in history,
...excepting the Russians...
and he described its pursuit of U.N. Security Council resolutions against North Korea as "a breach of international law and the height of double standards".
Neither Russia nor China, which are veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council, spoke at Tuesday's meeting in Geneva.
Of course not. They both approve...
Before its nuclear test, North Korea was already facing growing diplomatic pressure at the United Nations.
I'm sure of it. Feel the feather!
The U.N. Human Rights Council is widely expected to order an inquiry next month into its leaders' responsibilities for crimes against humanity.
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The DPRK repor has also released a new video depicting POTUS Bammer "in flames".
Pragmatically, 'tis likely safe to say that the DPRK still has it in agz the Japan-based USS "GEORGE WASHINGTON", the USDOD-Navy ACKNOWLEDGED ONE-N-"O-N-L-Y" US NUCLEAR CARRIER CAPABLE OF BEING DEPLOYED OVERSEAS IN TIME OF CRISIS DUE TO LOOMING "SEQUESTRATION" CUTS.
"Sink the Geogie, Sink the Georgie".
Speaking of "sequestration" ...
* 1ST HEADLINES > [WKTR] NAVY SAYS [USS] "BATAAN"
WON'T DEPLOY, AIR WINGS [4 of 9] WILL SHUT DOWN IFF BUDGET CUTS HAPPEN.
ARTIC = In addition, the US Navy may not be able to deploy any Amphib CV's + USMC EBGS come Fall 2013 all the way into sometime 2014.
China + Iran must be happy as larks - that leaves only the "Mighty George" + BG as the only US CVN in the entire Asia-Pacific to worry about, + bulk of the US Navy per se will be forcibly ECONOMICALLY tied up in homeports all over CONUS, TEMPTING TARGETS FOR THE PLA SECOND ARTY LRBMS = MIRV ICBMS IFF CHINA DECIDES TO PREEMPTIVELY NUKE THE US MAINLAND IN A "NUCLEAR" PEARL HARBOR.
RELATED? TOPIX > CHINA FINDS A TARGET-RICH ENVIRONMENT.
* FYI DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > CHINA FIRMLY REJECTS UN ARBITRATION IN WEST PHILIPPINE SEA [South China Sea] ISSUE.
Its back to armed CMS + PLAN versus the PHIL's two Coast Guard cutters + angry Fil fishermen.
* SAME > [FrontPage Magazine] BANGLADESH GOVT. FOCUSES ON [proposed]DEEP-SEA PORT, at Sonadin in Cox's Basar in coordination wid UAE, China, + Other.
* TOPIX > [DiploNews] NORTHERN TERRITORIES [South Kurils] REMAINS THE LARGEST PENDING MATTER BETWEEN JAPAN AND RUSSIA, RECENT DEVELOPMENTS ADD TO REGIONAL TENSIONS.
versus
* OTOH TOPIX > [Business Insider] NORTH KOREA'S GERIATRIC AIR FORCE IS A HARMLESS JOKE STRAIGHT OUT OF THE 1960'S.
Dire need of modernization.
Truth be told, IMO the only reason for overlord China to keep the DPRK AF in such a state is that China requires the DPRK Armed Forces to be bloodily sacrificed to the ROK, US, + UNCOM at the begining of any mil conflict, to the advantage of China + PLAAF. THE JOB OF THE DPRK IS TO DIE KILLING OR DESTROYING AS MANY OF THE ROK + US + UNCOM FORCES AMAP ALAP BEFORE CHINA + PLA INTERVENE FRESH-AS-A-DAISY TO "SAVE" NORTH KOREA SSSSHHHH....CCCCCCC FOR CHINA.
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > INDONESIAN MULLAH DECLARES CHINESE NEW YEAR CELEBRATION "HARAM".
"Forbidden" to Indonesian Muslims, as due to alleged historical links to anti-Islamic ancient Buddhist temple practices.
* DEFENCE/PK/FORUMS > SULTAN OF SULU REVIVES CLAIM ON SABAH AS "PATRIMONY OF THE FILIPINO PEOPLE".
* SAME > SULTAN OF SULU: LEAVE SABAH? ITS OUR [ancestral] HOME - MALAYSIANS ARE MERELY PAYING RENT.
Not sure iff China will see it that way - what they will "see" is a SCS-losing PHIL = Filipino Muslims attempting to circumvent the ongoing Sino-PHIL SCS dispute by asserting sovereign ties to a Sabah that is now part of a Malaysia-Indonesia which has large Chinese communities + is also part of China's "core" interests in SE Asia + SOPAC. CHINA WILL WORRY THAT THIS INCIDENT WILL HELP ATTRACT NEW FOREIGN = NON-ASIAN OR NON-SE ASIAN ISLAMIC MILITANT-TERROR GROUPS + FIGHTERS TO THE SCS REGION.
#2
If you go to Google Maps and enter North Korea, select Satelite view, pan over to the DMZ near the coast, then zoom in to 50 feet per inch, you see a lot of what appears to be housing with green roofs as if that camouflages them, even though they are clearly visible.
Pan down south of the DMZ to South Korea, the buildings are bright and colorfull. What a contrast.
#3
threatened South Korea with "final destruction"
I think that this kind of crap should be considered a declaration of war and all that entails. Just because you declare war, or accept the declaration of an enemy, does not mean that you immediately start shooting. It does open up a whole nother level of response though.
#4
BTW, what's the reason that there are so many ex-countries (Spain, France, Germany, etc.) in the UN instead of just the one sovereign state, the EU, that exists over there now?
#6
Then again, during the Soviet era, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia had separate memberships. Maybe we can get Puerto Rico and Guam memberships? /sarc off
#7
...Gawd, just freaking ONCE I'd like to hear this:
"...The North Korean 'government' is comprised of a family of power-mad maniacs who are bent on watching the world burn. They know full well that no one has any intention of attacking them and they know full well that their policies are inflicting genocide upon their own people. With that in mind, not a single grain of rice will be shipped, not a single word of negotiation will be spoken, and not a single sign of acknowledgement will be given until Kim Jong Un PERSONALLY says that his nation is renouncing their nuclear weapons program - no weasel words, no vague promises of future actions, no diplomatic platitudes, but plain direct language stating that the Government of North Korea is abandoning their nuclear program.
You know how to contact us."
And as long as I'm dreaming, I'd like a pony.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/20/2013 9:12
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#8
Hell Mike K., with that size dream you deserve the Budweiser Clydesdales and the reincarnation of Secretariat and a unicorn that farts rainbows.
#11
If you have any information at all about the reincarnation of Secretariat, please forward immediately. With enough advance warning I could be a one-man national stimulus program.
#13
South Korea ought begin discussing plans for a blockade of the North. They have the naval forces, to blockade the coasts, they have the DMZ locked down. All that remains is to destroy all the bridges over the Yalu and Tumen by air and missile strikes.
Just having that conversation will drive the Chinese to change the Nork leadership.
[An Nahar] Ten children were among at least 23 people killed in an apparent surface-to-surface missile strike on the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, a monitoring group said on Tuesday.
"It is likely a surface-to-surface missile strike" hit Jabal Badro on the edge of Aleppo late on Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said
Ten children aged under 16 years and three women were among the dead, and the "toll is likely to rise as bodies are being rescued from under the rubble," the Britannia-based Observatory said, adding that people were critically injured.
There were no planes overhead when the missile hit, according to residents cited by the Observatory, and the extent of the destruction indicated a surface-to-surface missile was likely used, director Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence La Belle France Presse.
Abu Hisham, an Aleppo-based citizen journalist who spoke to AFP via the Internet, said "housing in the district was informally built. It took one surface-to-surface rocket to destroy an entire neighborhood."
Video footage and photographs shot by activists in Aleppo, scene of fierce fighting since the army launched an all-out assault to stop a rebel advance on Syria's second city on July 20, showed massive destruction in Jabal Badro.
Amateur video posted online by the anti-regime Aleppo Media Center showed crowds of people gathering around hills of rubble and a bulldozer shoveling the debris as residents searched for relatives.
"I swear to God! I rescued a baby aged just two months from the rubble!" cried an unidentified man interviewed by an amateur cameraman.
AFP could not authenticate the video.
Meanwhile, ...back at the wreckage, Captain Poindexter wished he had a cup of coffee. Even instant would do... two mortar shells fired by "terrorists" went kaboom! near the Tishreen presidential palace in the west of the Syrian capital on Tuesday, state news agency SANA reported.
The mortars "landed near the southern wall of Tishreen palace, only causing damage", SANA quoted an unnamed official as saying, blaming "terrorists" for the attack.
Activists have reported the army's use of surface-to-surface missiles on various targets in northern Syria since late 2012.
A security source in Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... told AFP late last year that such missiles were a Syrian-made version of the Scud, and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... has since reported ballistic missiles being used in Syria.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/20/2013
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[An Nahar] Bahrain accused Iran on Tuesday of having formed a "terrorist cell" busted at the weekend, saying its aim was to foster violence in the Gulf kingdom.
The announcement was the latest in a series of claims that Iran was backing activists demanding a greater say for the Shiite majority in Bahrain's politics and likely to exacerbate tensions between the two neighbors.
General Tareq al-Hassan, who heads the general security agency, told a news conference members of the cell were to have "brought in arms and explosives and to launch operations at a moment decided by their command in Iran."
He said they had been recruited by two Iran-based Bahrainis and were commanded by a member of Tehran's elite Revolutionary Guards named Abu Nasser.
He said they had undergone training by the Guards in Iran and also by the Lebanese group Hizbullah in Iraq, as well as received financial support.
They were tasked with collecting intelligence and taking photographs of sensitive sites and military installations, as well as preparing depots and stocking arms until receiving orders to act.
On Saturday, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah al-Khalifa said a "terrorist cell" linked to Iran, Iraq and Leb had been dismantled, slamming what he called "escalation" as the Shiite opposition intensifies its protests.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/20/2013
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[Bangla Daily Star] A secretive Chinese military unit is believed to be behind a prolific series of hacking attacks, a US computer security company has said, contradicting claims in Beijing that the government is not involved in such operations.
The report, by Mandiant, identified the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) Shanghai-based Unit 61398 as the most likely perpetrators of the hacking. The company said it believed the unit had carried out "sustained" attacks on a wide range of industries.
"The nature of Unit 61398's work is considered by China to be a state secret; however, we believe it engages in harmful computer network operations," Mandiant said. "It is time to acknowledge the threat that is originating in China, and we wanted to do our part to arm and prepare security professionals to combat that threat effectively."
China has dismissed the allegations as "groundless", saying it strictly outlaws the practice, and says it has also been a victim of such crimes.
Questioned on the report, the foreign ministry front man Hong Lei said he doubted the evidence would withstand scrutiny. He said: "To make groundless accusations based on some rough material is neither responsible nor professional."
Unit 61398 is based in the Pudong district, China's financial and banking hub, and is staffed by perhaps thousands of people proficient in English as well as computer programming and network operations, the report said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
I say every time the try to hack us, we tell them we are going to fine them . Then declare we aren't going to repay our loans by 1 billion dollars per hack.
[FRANCE24] Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali announced his resignation Tuesday following a meeting with President Moncef Marzouki. Jebali's political future was put in jeopardy after his Ennahda party rejected his plan for a non-partisan government.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[An Nahar] A Turkish court released on Tuesday 10 pro-Kurdish politicians who were among hundreds, possibly thousands of people on trial accused of ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
The court in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir freed the politicians on the grounds that the time they spent in jug had now exceeded any prison term they would serve if convicted, court sources told Agence La Belle France Presse.
Turkish authorities first launched a major campaign of arrests in 2009 against the Union of Kurdistan Communities (KCK) which is considered a terrorist organization and an urban wing of the PKK.
Critics of the crackdown say the number of people incarcerated Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! pending trial in the KCK case tops 3,500 while official figures from late 2011 say over 600 people had been arrested.
Tuesday's decision comes amid peace talks between the state and jugged Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! PKK chief Abdullah Ocalan to negotiate an end to the Kurdish insurgency which has left 45,000 people dead since the PKK took up arms in 1984.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[An Nahar] Nigeria on Tuesday charged 15 Russian sailors nabbed Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! since October with illegally bringing weapons into the west African nation that is awash with black-market fire arms.
The crew of the MV Myre Seadiver were temporarily denied bail by Lagos High Court Judge Okechukwu Okeke, with a final ruling on the bail application set for February 25.
The ship was seized on October 19 off the coast of Lagos by a naval patrol which also detained its 15 crew members.
Weapons found on the vessel included 14 AK-47 rifles with 3,643 rounds of ammunition as well as 22 Benelli MR1 rifles with 4,955 rounds of ammunition.
The intended destination or planned use of the arms was not clear.
In December, Russia's foreign ministry said it had reached a deal to secure the release of the sailors, explaining that Nigeria had agreed to drop the case to preserve cordial relations between the two nations.
That pact, if it ever existed, appears to have been sidelined.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
From what I can glean from open-source, the Seadiver was an 'arsenal ship'; a floating armory for the oil fields that it worked in. Its last op-area was over in the Indian Ocean region. It was seized while in transit.
Apparently somebody either refused to pay off the West Africans, or was slow in paying them.
#2
there's a LOT going on behind the scenes that's not reported in this story. Don't take it at face value. Suffice it to say ... there's nothing fair in war, love, or the Oil Business. Hahahahaha!!!
[An Nahar] Protesters clashed with Bahraini police on Tuesday at a memorial service for a teenager killed last week in demonstrations marking the second anniversary of a Shiite-led uprising, witnesses said.
Police fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse hundreds of people who gathered in the Shiite-populated village of Daih, near Manama, to pay tribute to Hussein al-Jaziri, the witnesses said.
The 16-year-old was killed in Daih on Thursday as rallies were staged on the anniversary of the start of the uprising on February 14, 2011. A policeman was also killed on the same day at al-Sahla village, also near the capital.
Protesters on Tuesday called for the ouster of Bahrain's king, shouting "Down Hamad," according to the witnesses.
The interior ministry, in a message posted on Twitter, said security forces dispersed "saboteurs" who had briefly blocked traffic on a road near Manama after the memorial service.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Dawn] Assistant Political Agent Landi Kotal Khalid Mumtaz Kundi died on Tuesday from injured sustained when jacket wallahs struck his office a day earlier during a meeting to discuss looming general elections, officials said.
Kundi, a deputy of Khyber Agency Political Agent Mutahir Zeb, died in a military hospital in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. .
"They operated on him for several hours overnight but several pieces of shrapnel had entered his body and he died," a security official told AFP.
Officials in the Khyber administration confirmed his death.
Six people have now died as a result of the attack, in which two suicide bombers stormed the Khyber administration's compound in Peshawar as Zeb chaired a meeting on arrangements for the elections.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[An Nahar] The late King of Pop's eldest child, "Prince" Michael Jackson, has started work as a television showbiz reporter, the show employing him announced Tuesday.
The 16-year-old landed the job -- or the show's producers landed him -- for Entertainment Tonight, starting by interviewing stars of an upcoming remake of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz."
"I'm looking to become well-rounded as a producer, director, screenwriter and actor," he said after being mentored through interviews with James Franco, Zach Braff and director Sam Raimi, of "Oz the Great and Powerful."
Jackson's father, who died in 2009 aged 50, played The Scarecrow in the 1978 feature film "The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical Wonderful Wizard of Oz," directed by Sidney Lumet.
ET correspondent Brooke Anderson, who gave the younger Jackson some on-screen tips on interview technique, said he seems so much wiser and older than 16.
"That's what most of my people say. That was all thanks to my dad. He raised me right," said the teenager.
He said he now wants to interview "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" director Peter Jackson.
"I just love the way he shoots (and how) he brings things and depicts it back to life. I used to study his movies with my dad, put the volume off and just watch it, just the shots to see how he put it together," he said.
Michael Joseph "Prince" Jackson is the eldest of the pop icon's three, along with Paris and "Blanket." Paris launched her acting career last year on "Lundon's Bridge and the Three Keys," at the age of 13.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/20/2013
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#1
As far as I know, the Super Queer had no children.
And no opportunity either.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/20/2013 15:27
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[Dawn] Nine people were killed in different incidents of violence in Karachi-- the restive southern metropolis of Pakistan-- on Tuesday.
A 28-year-old man, Dilshad son of Muhammad Hanif, who was injured in an armed attack by unidentified motorcycle riders in Korangi's Gulzar Colony last night, breathed his last at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC).
Police said the man was sitting at the shop when the incident took place.
Separately, an office-bearer of Muttahida Ulema Council, 42 year-old Tauqeer Hassan son of Sanaullah was killed by unidentified armed men in Bihar Colony, Orangi Town within the precincts of Pakistan Bazaar police station.
His aunt Taranum Banu was also injured in the incident. The body and injured were brought to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for an autopsy and treatment respectively.
Police said the victim was standing outside his home when unidentified armed men shot him dead on the spot.
The Managing Director Pakistan Machine Tool Factory, Muhammad Ashraf Parvaiz was killed and General Manager Mohammad Kashif injured in firing by unidentified armed men in Bhains Colony, within the jurisdiction of Sukhan police station.
The incident took place when the factory officials were leaving in their car.
Similarly, 30-year-old Safdar Ali Kazmi son of Waqar Ali Kazmi was gunned down by unidentified armed men near airport signal, within the remit of Airport police station.
A 50-year-old man, identified as Ejaz Siddiqui son of Ishfaq Siddiqui was killed by a gun fire by unknown armed men in Korangi Industrial Area.
Meanwhile, ...back at the chili cook-off, Chuck and Manuel's rivalry was entering a new and more dangerous phase... four people were killed in a firing incident at a mobile phone market in Landhi area of the city.
Initial reports suggest, a man opened indiscriminate firing at the mobile market of Daud Chowrangi Landhi, killing four people.
Police arrested the accused and shifted bodies to a hospital and began probe.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Dawn] ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said on Tuesday that the responsibility of Saturday's deadly bombing which had claimed 87 lives in Quetta fell on the Federal government, DawnNews reported.
A three-member bench of the apex court led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was hearing the case.
Justice Iftikhar remarked during the hearing the Governor of Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... should have met with dignitaries in order to find a solution to the problems.
He further said the the ex-chief minister Nawab Aslam Raisani was held responsible for the previous attack (Quetta's Alamdar road blast) adding that why should the Prime Minister and Governor not accept responsibility for the recent incident.
The bench adjourned the hearing on the case until tomorrow (Feb 20) and directed the intelligence agencies to submit their report by Tuesday evening.
Earlier during the hearing the court had summoned the Interior and Defence Secretaries.
Giving his remarks, CJ said that the previous attack in Quetta's Alamdar Road was a good opportunity to conduct a clean-up operation.
He further said that law enforcement and intelligence agencies had failed and that the federal and provincial government did not take the necessary steps to improve the situation.
Moreover, he inquired regarding the steps that the government had taken until now. And about the truck which was used in the Kirani road blast.
The advocate General Balochistan Amanullah Kinrani replied that the four suspected terrorist were killed in an operation conducted near Quetta earlier on Tuesday and engine and chassis number of the truck were under examination.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[An Nahar] The U.N.'s human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... office on Tuesday took Egypt to task over a planned law on public protests, saying it would curb freedoms and breach international rules.
"Although freedom of assembly can be subject to certain restrictions, freedom should be considered the rule, and restrictions the exception," Rupert Colville, front man for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, told news hounds.
He said draft legislation approved last week by Egypt's cabinet would undermine "one of the cornerstones of democracy".
The draft stipulates that organizers must inform authorities in advance of plans to protest and the interior ministry has the right to reject a demonstration.
Protests will be restricted to a specific location in each province to be decided by the governor.
The draft also prohibits setting up platforms for speakers and the use of tents during sit-ins, as well as the carrying of banners or the chanting of slogans deemed defamatory or insulting to religion or state institutions.
The Egyptian government argues that the legislation -- which still needs to be ratified by the upper house of parliament -- is meant to prevent the mixing of peaceful and violent protests.
Colville said freedom of assembly was protected by a raft of international human rights accords ratified decades ago by Egypt.
"No one should be criminalized or subjected to any threats or acts of violence, harassment or persecution for addressing human rights issues through peaceful protests," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Oh this is a surprise. Tyrants act like tyrants and the UN says inane things about it.
I'm sure Zero is drooling at the idea of implementing something like this here.
[Dawn] Police report that a man spotted burying his dog near a graveyard has been sent to Adiala jail on judicial remand.
Station House Officer at Shahzad Town cop shoppe Inspector Fayaz Ranjha told Dawn that the man, a resident of New Shakrial, was placed in durance vile Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! under PPC 297 (trespassing burial places).
Students at a Rawalpindi seminary spotted the man digging a grave in the local graveyard in Shakrial along the expressway, with a shroud-wrapped body lying nearby.
According to the SHO, the students informed other people in the area, and eventually "dozens" of people reached. When they found that the shroud contained the body of a dog, they went to the police.
Fayaz Ranjha said that the man was digging next to the graveyard, not within it, but that the police arrested the man to "defuse sentiments".
He reported that during interrogation, the suspect explained that the dog was a pet that he had found on the road and raised for a long time. When the dog died, on Sunday, he wanted to give it a proper burial.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
I can see why people are angry. After all,
I don't want to be buried in a Pet Sematary,
I don't want to live my life again,
I don't want to be buried in a Pet Sematary,
I don't want to live my life again.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
02/20/2013 7:49
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#2
"You can't bury dead things here. This is a graveyard!"
[Dawn] A Yemeni air force plane crashed in the capital Sanaa on Tuesday, killing at least 12 people, security sources said.
State news agency Saba said three women and two children were among those killed when the plane, on a training flight, came down in a western residential district. Eleven people were maimed, security sources said.
Pictures of the crash on social media sites showed one body near burning wreckage of the aircraft. Several cars were on fire and debris littered the street.
A security official said the pilot had ejected from the plane. There was no immediate word on whether he had survived.
"It's terrible and painful," resident Abdullah al Ashwal said. "The police and medics evacuated five completely burned bodies, they were all unrecognisable."
Abdul Sattar Mohammed said he saw a plane burning near houses that were also set on fire. "People were terrified and ambulances arrived late," he said.
A military official said the plane was a Russian SU-22 fighter/ground attack aircraft.
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[An Nahar] The body of a kidnapped Russian lawmaker has been found in a cement-filled barrel in a cellar outside Moscow, investigators said Monday. "What do you make of it, Holmes?"
"I suspect foul play, Inspector!"
"The body of Mikhail Pakhomov, a lawmaker from Lipetsk city council, has been found in one of the cellars of a private garage in a metal barrel filled with cement," the Investigative Committee said in a statement.
"Investigators have gathered enough evidence to establish the violent nature of Pakhomov's death," it said. Normally when a body's found in a 55-gallon drum of concrete you suspect he died a violent death.
Pakhomov, 37, disappeared on February 12 in the central Russian city of Lipetsk, and investigators immediately opened a probe into murder.
The interior ministry said Monday that police had detained 11 people on suspicion of committing the crime including the suspected mastermind, whom it described as a 40-year-old Muscovite. "So, Professor Moriarty! We meet again!"
Before the discovery of the body, the Investigative Committee had announced Sunday it was charging the former deputy minister of housing services for the Moscow region, Yevgeny Kharitonov, with ordering Pakhomov's kidnapping. Investigators have not disclosed the motive for the apparent contract killing. "But why do you want him bumped off, Professor Moriarty?"
"So he's dead!"
Posted by: Fred ||
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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.
These projects also include the construction of the tallest building of the world in Karachi.
[An Nahar] 
[Egypt Independent] Jama'a al-Islamiya on Tuesday announced it has formed squads with 13 other Islamist parties and movements to fight vandals, thugs and groups like the Black Bloc.
[Guardian Ng] FRESH 
[Bangla Daily Star] With its back against the wall, 
[Dawn] The people of Sarki Lawagher, Shagi Lawagher and adjacent localities in Karak district on Monday refused to let health workers vaccinate their children against 
...Smallest of the agencies in FATA. The Agency administration is located in Khar. Bajaur is inhabited almost exclusively by Tarkani Pashtuns, which are divided into multiple bickering subtribes. Its 52 km border border with Afghanistan's Kunar Province makes it of strategic importance to Pakistain's strategic depth...
[Dawn] A six-member parliamentary delegation of the government reached an agreement with Quetta sit-in participants on Tuesday, after which nationwide protests were called off, DawnNews reported.
North Korea threatened South Korea with "final destruction" during a debate at the United Nations Conference on Disarmament on Tuesday, saying it could take further steps after a nuclear test last week.
[An Nahar] Ten children were among at least 23 people killed in an apparent surface-to-surface missile strike on the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, a monitoring group said on Tuesday.
[Bangla Daily Star] A secretive Chinese military unit is believed to be behind a prolific series of hacking attacks, a US computer security company has said, contradicting claims in Beijing that the government is not involved in such operations.
[Dawn] Nine people were killed in different incidents of violence in Karachi-- the restive southern metropolis of Pakistan-- on Tuesday.
[An Nahar] The U.N.'s 
[Dawn] Police report that a man spotted burying his dog near a graveyard has been sent to Adiala jail on judicial remand.
[An Nahar] The body of a kidnapped Russian lawmaker has been found in a cement-filled barrel in a cellar outside Moscow, investigators said Monday.
