#3
In the Pacific, Tom, they "killed them all" on those islands because they preferred to fight to the death rather then surrender. Kinda like our current "we love death" adversaries.
If that offends you, I wonder if you'd be willing to have us roll over this time and let them win just to see what would happen? I, for one, would not.
#4
This is what the Japanese did to the unarmed civilians of the American Territory of the Philippines [already scheduled for independence in 1946 before Tokyo decided to add it to their domains]. The same as they had done to Koreans, Chinese, native Okinawan, and any other people they deemed inferior.
#6
Yeah, Tom, next time you're in Asia, ask a Chinese what they thought of the Japanese during the war. Or a Korean. Or a Burmese. Or a Vietnamese. Or a Malayan. Or a Filipino.
Ozzie Guillen has a bone to pick...with Sean Penn?
You can add Sean Penn to the long list of people who have been called out by Ozzie Guillen.
The outspoken White Sox manager called Penn a "payaso" (clown) and "izquierdista estupido" (stupid leftist) on Twitter Friday for his praise of controversial Venezuela President Hugo Chavez.
"Oh my God, Sean Penn defended our President Hugo Chavez," Guillen, a Venezuela native, tweeted. "That's easy when you [don't] live in Venezuela and have money. LOL...shame on [you]."
Guillen, who received his U.S. citizenship in Jan. 2006, obviously disagreed.
"Oh God, you are very crazy," Guillen tweeted about Penn. "Go and move to our country. You will change your mind."
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/13/2010
17:12 ||
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I think Australia has higher standards than the Norwegian committee, DMFD.
Not that that's hard....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/13/2010 22:32
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Given that Krudd is such an unbelievably sycophantic follower of the affirmative action Teleprompter something is seriously amiss. The deflating zero is losing his charm.
#4
"Mr Rudd said the Indonesian president [who did receive the honor] was honoured for his work in tracking down terrorists after the Bali bombings, as well as for strengthening democracy."
Well, that leaves Bambi out....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/13/2010 23:42
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That's the 11th State to sign on so far, and a total of 38 are considering it. Let's all hope they can speed it up, so they can get started on the next phase of calling a constitutional convention.
Manolo! Break out the Napoleon brandy!!
Top executives at the beleaguered New York Times Company reaped hefty rewards last year, with Chairman Arthur "Pinch" Sulzberger more than doubling his total compensation to $6 million. CEO Janet Robinson got even more, reaping $6.3 million, a 31.9 percent hike. The pay numbers were disclosed in Securities and Exchange Commission filings yesterday. Fine job, Janet!
Fine job, Pinchy! I toast you!
The increases come against a backdrop of declining ad revenue, layoffs, frozen pension plans, unpaid vacations and a 5 percent pay cut for most of the rank-and-file workers last year. "Our members are really unhappy with what is happening," said Bill O'Meara, president of the Newspaper Guild of New York. "They made a voluntary sacrifice to give up some of their pay to help the company out. People are losing their jobs still." Feeling like a sap, Bill? Well, you should.
One corporate governance expert warned that even if a publicly traded company's compensation committee OK'd the compensation, it could backfire in the court of public opinion. Let 'em eat cake!
"I think the board may want to weigh the consequences of rewarding their executives, who may be worthy of the increases, against the damage that may occur to the company's reputation," said William Sannwald, a business professor at San Diego State University. HA! And who do you think you are? Krugman? Begone with you, hayseed!
Michael Golden, a first cousin of Pinch's who is vice chairman and chief operating officer of the Times' Regional Media Group, took home $2.4 million in total compensation last year, up 71 percent. CFO Jim Folo received a 20 percent boost, earning $1.3 million. Great job, men! Call girls for everybody!
A Times spokeswoman explained that the pay hikes were driven mainly by payouts tied to performance-based bonus plans with preset goals. Like what? You're still in business?
Times shares closed at $11.53, up a penny, in Big Board trading.
A phrase that warms the deeper, colder cockles of my heart ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/13/2010 14:16
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The execs are bleeding the carcass dry before they sell it- to a fool.
That would be Carlos Slim. Rich as he is, he's throwing his money away on this one ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/13/2010 14:20
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#6
I doubt he's into it for the money you get from selling issues of the NYT per se; it's more of a loss-leader for the general project of turning the US into a feudalistic society.
And if you don't think that's working... last election the two major candidates both believed in cap and trade, the new Morgenthau Plan for the United States. And the winner has worked very hard at "sealing in" the bank crisis of late '08 so it turns into a decade-long hard depression.
#7
True- Mr. Slim would get something out of a controlling stake- a national newspaper that will print anything with a straight face. Walter Duranty is but one postcard-perfect example.
The hardline philosophies of the charismatic TV host Zaid Hamid have permeated the grassroots political life of Pakistan, writes Manan Ahmed.
A new narrative is ascendant in Pakistan. It is in the writings of major Urdu-language newspaper columnists, who purport to marshal anecdotal or textual evidence on its behalf. It is on television, where the hosts of religious and political talk shows polish it with slick production values.
The basic elements of the story -- which has often, and erroneously, been called a conspiracy theory -- are simple. Local agents (or terrorists, or soldiers, or Blackwater employees) representing a foreign power (India, or the United States, or Israel) are intent on destroying Pakistan because they fear that it will otherwise emerge as the powerful leader of the Muslim world, just as the country's past leaders had predicted. The ascendant narrative is prophetic and self-pitying, nationalist and martial; it is a way to interpret current events and a call for activism to restore the country's interrupted rise to glory.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: john frum ||
03/13/2010
11:54 ||
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shift the role of Islam from Zias strictly performative one to a more flexible mould. His acolytes, who call themselves lal topis (red hats), see a pious man who is less interested in their actual religiosity whether they pray or not, give alms or not, wear hijab or not and more concerned with their devotion to the idea of a resurgent, independent Pakistan.
In other words he is a typical wanna be dictator / imperialist who would only use religion as one stepping stone as needed. I bet if you tried you could come up with a number of examples, no?
Munir Masih and Ruqqiya Bibi are convicted on the basis of the blasphemy law. In January, they were released on bail; now they are in two separate prison facilities. Extremist fringe put pressure, and perhaps corrupted police to find the right evidence to justify the conviction.
A court in Kasur district, Punjab, convicted a Christian couple, Munir Masih and Ruqqiya Bibi, to 25 years in prison. According to the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), judge Ajmal Hussein convicted the couple for touching the Quran without washing their hands.
Munir Masih and Ruqqiya Bibi were released on bail last January, but were re-arrested after the judge ruled against them. The husband was locked up in Kasur's district prison; the wife was sent to the women's prison in Multan. Both have started serving 25 years behind bars.
CLAAS, an association that fights for the rights of the poor and marginalised, said that the couple was accused of contaminating' the Quran when they touched it without washing their hands'.
The incident, which dates back to December 2008, unleashed the fury of Muslim extremists who put pressure on police. Unconfirmed reports suggest that extremists paid off police agents to discover new evidence' to justify the sentence.
At the end of the police investigation, husband and wife were charged with blasphemy.
The blasphemy law is the harshest tool for religious repression available in Pakistan. It was adopted in 1986 by then dictator Zia ul-Haq to protect Islam and its prophet, Muhammad, from attacks and insults.
In fact, it is actually comprised of sections 295-B and 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code, which respectively punish with life in prison anyone who defiles, damages or desecrates a copy of the Holy Quran, and imposes the death penalty on anyone who defiles the name of the Prophet Muhammad.
In the last two months, there were two more convictions against Christians in Pakistan.
On 11 January, a court in Faisalabad sentenced Imran Masih, a 26-year-old Christian man, to life imprisonment for insulting and desecrating the Koran. He was accused of deliberately burning Quranic verses and an Arabic book in order foment interfaith hatred and hurt the feelings of Muslims.'
On 25 February, a court in Karachi sentenced Qamar David, also a Christian, to life imprisonment for hurting the religious feelings of Muslims when he sent blasphemous SMS.
CLAAS announced that it was filing an appeal with the High Court in Lahore to have the 25-year sentence against Munir Masih and Ruqqiya Bibi overturned.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/13/2010
11:53 ||
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That reminds me. I must replace the Koran in my bathroom.
#5
Some may be curious as to why it was assumed that the couple had not washed their hands
Being Christian, Pakistanis assume them to be garbage or sewage workers. That is their lot in life. They are not forced to convert because their labor is essential to the Muslim majority. They perform jobs the Muslims will not do.
Christians are under heavy pressure in Pakistan. It is estimated that 75% of Christians are marginalised in the lowest strata of society, working in brick-kilns, as sweepers, sewer cleaners or labourers.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/13/2010 18:23
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"touching the Qur'an without washing their hands"
Funny - I'd want to wash my hands after touching one.
"I must replace the Koran in my bathroom."
I've got more respect for my bottom than that, tu. (I'm presuming it's not in there for reading material....)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/13/2010 21:43
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Virtually every aspect of Sikes's story as told to reporters makes no sense. His claim that he'd tried to yank up the accelerator could be falsified, with his help, in half a minute. And now we even have an explanation for why he'd pull such a stunt, beyond the all-American desire to have 15 minutes of fame (recall the "Balloon Boy Hoax" from October) and the aching need to be perceived as a victim. Couldn't find a finger to put in his chili, I guess? Next time put a razor blade in his Pepsi ...
#1
....and the aching need to be perceived as a victim.
...and be party to a class action lawsuite.
Here's a conspiracy theory. What if this entire bash Toyota media frenzy is an orchestrated scheme to cripple the non-union company and punish conservative voters by the UAW and their Obama administraation handlers? Examine the location of key Toyota plants.... Princeton, IN, Lafayette, IN, San Antonio, TX, Hunstville, AL, Georgetown, KY, Blue Springs, MS, Buffalo, WV, Troy, MO, St. Louis, MO, Jackson, TN.
#2
Dunno about the other news outlets in this town but 10News (Channel 10) in particular disgraced themselves with their complete acceptance of Sikes's story. They never even asked if he tried to shift it into neutral. That would have been the very first question I would have asked and I wouldn't have stopped asking it until I got some kind of an answer. Then, if the answer was not credible, I would have either run the story with emphasis on how this guy is a phony or I wouldn't have run it at all. This was bad journalism to the point of being suspicious. Just disgraceful.
It wasn't until the next day when they started looking into the guy's finances and found out that he has all kinds of debt and upside down mortgages that they began to wonder about his credibility. When they put him on the TV that first night I could see right through him right away. But the 10News reporter and her bosses at the station swallowed his whole story hook, line and sinker. Where do they get these people?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/13/2010 13:02
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Meanwhile, in the real world: Haven't found that software glitch, Toyota? Keep trying Having owned a Toyota myself, I have always been a fan of what I perceived to be the automaker's high standards for quality. I also happen to have more than three decades of experience designing, building and researching reliable computer systems, many of which are embedded inside other devices. Based on this experience, I find it very difficult to accept the statements from Toyota's chief engineer. And the implications extend beyond Toyota, to all other companies that rely on software for their product safety.
As anyone with experience in embedded systems will tell you, there are nasty software bugs that can be extremely difficult to reproduce in a laboratory test environment. There follows a fascinating story about how a simple-minded checking routine uncovered a critical flaw in NASA's Pathfinder mission operating system.
The world buys rare earths from China for the same reason they buy steel and TVs - cheap labor and weak enviromental regs. There are ample reserves outside China.
Lithium is a much bigger problem.
Analysis of Lithium's geological resource base shows that there is insufficient Lithium available in the Earth's
crust to sustain Electric Vehicle manufacture in the volumes required, based solely on LiIon batteries.
#6
Actually, my worry would be that 0 would give the particular areas as a collateral to Chinese to further fund the gummint largese. So, in the end China would have truly a monopoly, till end of times or until some badass merkin ninjas wrestle these from them.
#7
Lithium - Major producers: Canada, Australia, and believe it or not, ZimBobWe (I am not sure about the current state, I would presume a profound mismanagement).
Significant recently discovered reserves: Chile, Western China and Tibet.
Concerns regarding lithium availability for hybrid or electric vehicle batteries or other foreseeable applications are unfounded.
March 12, 2010 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Broadway Bank, owned by U.S. Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias' family, was defrauded in an alleged check-kiting scheme by the owners of a popular Chicago restaurant, Boston Blackies.
Nick Giannis and his son, Chris, are charged with stealing nearly $2 million. Chris posted bond and was released Friday from Cook County Jail. His father Nick remains jailed in Detroit.
Broadway Bank is not accused of any wrong doing. Yet.
However, the senior Giannis did contribute to Giannoulias' political campaigns and receive loans from the bank.
Alexi Giannoulias said Friday in a statement he was "shocked and appalled" at the arrests Thursday of principals in the Boston Blackies restaurant chain.
Thirty-eight year-old suspects Chris Giannis and Andy Bakopoulos were picked up in Chicago while Blackies founder 62-year-old Nick Giannis was detained in Detroit allegedly trying to leave the country.
Giannoulias reportedly has known the elder Giannis and son for decades. Not only has Nick Giannis donated $119,000 to Giannoulias' campaigns for treasurer and the U.S. Senate, the Giannoulias family's troubled Broadway Bank has made business loans to the Boston Blackies chain. Please, please let this story stretch to November ...
Republican Senate candidate Mark Kirk issued a statement Friday headlined "Giannoulias' association with criminals continues." The North Shore congressman said, "Nick Giannis was second largest campaign contributor outside of (the) Giannoulias family and Broadway Bank loaned Giannis roughly $6 million in mortgages...despite his felony conviction in 1996 for illegal firearm possession."
Last Tuesday, the embattled Giannoulias Campaign was buoyed during a White House visit and meeting with President Obama's senior political adviser, David Axelrod, and a Rasmussen poll that showed the Democrat leading Kirk by 3 percentage points.
Friday, Giannoulias was back on the defensive. He called his family's Broadway Bank one of several banks defrauded by the alleged Giannis scheme and he announced that his campaign would immediately "donate all contributions from these individuals to non-profit organizations". Like ACORN, for example ...
Giannoulias was unavailable for comment Friday. His staff said he was in meetings trying to raise money for his campaign. From other customers of the Broadway Bank?
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/13/2010
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Rasmussen Daily Presidential Tracking Poll
March 13, 2010
Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows that 27% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-one percent (41%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -14. Link
#5
It's a spoof, originally posted on Mark Steyn's blog on NationalReview.com. What's more, Obama wasn't even its intended target -- John McCain was. To quote Mr. Steyn's January 28, 2008 posting:
"Three weeks ago, after New Hampshire, when Hill and McCain and the gang were all bragging about being "agents of change," a (non-U.S.) correspondent of mine emailed me his all-purpose stump speech for this primary season:
"My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it."
Maggie Atkinson, who was appointed last autumn, has argued that children under 12 should not be treated as criminals under the law.
Dr Atkinson said: "Even the most hardened of youngsters who have committed some very difficult crimes are not beyond being frightened."
She argued that the fact that Jon Venables, who was convicted of two-year-old Jamie Bulger's murder at the age of 10, has recently been recalled to custody should force a rethink of the system.
Dr Atkinson told the The Times that politicians should not be swayed too much by the emotional pleas of victims' familes.
"The "we are too worried about the parents issue" is something that runs like a thread through a number of cases," she said. "My constant song is "listen to the children and young people"."
She made the comments the same week that Denise Fergus, Jamie Bulger's mother, met with Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary.
Dr Atkinson said: "None of us is born a good persn or an evil person. The backgrounds from which we come, and whether we are nurtured and secure, will shape our character."
Posted by: john frum ||
03/13/2010
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I guess Jon Venables didn't qualify for late-term abortion in jolly, old, liberal England? I never quite understood that many liberals were so in favor of abortion but were so opposed to capital punishment. I usually write it off to my frail mind not being able to juggle dissonance and incongruity.
#7
It's a simple equation. If the child is a sociopath, they were trained to be vicious, and can possibly be deprogrammed.
But if the child is a psychopath, they may be able to function in society, if it is a lesser form of the pathology. But this can only be determined with extensive training and evaluation.
If it is a serious form, they can no longer be allowed in public, any more than a wild leopard.
#7
I agree with both tu3031 and lotp, and that ain't easy :-)
Patches needs to confront and surmount his personal demons. I don't know what they are and I wouldn't render a medical diagnosis based on what I've seen so far, but this man shouldn't be in Congress. He needs to get his personal life in order and find some interesting, useful and less stressful work.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/13/2010 14:28
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As Boston columnist Howie Carr has noted these types of outbursts occur after lunch, suggesting young Kennedy had ingested a bad ice cube.
True story: a co-worker of mine was testifying before a congressional panel recently, giving a thoughtful and thorough answer to idiotboy's question. Patches began screaming at him, hurling wild and baseless accusations (it was after lunchtime, natch).
Afterward he came up to my coworker, apologized, said he didn't mean it, and that he'd only done it as that's what his constituents expect of him.
Posted by: regular joe ||
03/13/2010 17:21
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Afterward he came up to my coworker, apologized, said he didn't mean it, and that he'd only done it as that's what his constituents expect of him
I woulda punched him right in the liver. When I was charged, I'd say I assaulted his conscience. Nobody would convict me due to lack of evidence
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/13/2010 17:50
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Army Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command and earlier the top U.S. general in Iraq, will visit Saint Anselm College and the New Hampshire Institute of Politics on March 24, N.H.I.O.P. executive director Neil Levesque told The Crier.
The visit, expected at the end of this month, is among the Institute's highest profile and most distinguished guests recently. Hard to believe they think of The visit as a guest, but the Institute of Politics should be an excellent forum when the General returns to his home state of New Hampshire, where he is registered to vote as a Republican.
Jennifer Rubin, Commentary Discussing advice from Dee Dee Myers on how to "reconnect" with the American people:
...Something more fundamental is going on here: Obama seems not to respect his fellow citizens -- the uninformed rubes who crashed the health-care town halls -- nor care what they think. All his energy now is devoted to disregarding their strong aversion to his idea of health-care reform and forcing through a vote on something the public doesn't want. It's hard to bond with the American people, which is what Myers is suggesting, when your agenda conveys disdain for their concerns....
Posted by: Mike ||
03/13/2010
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your agenda conveys disdain
your agenda body language conveys disdain
your agenda look conveys disdain
Posted by: Shens Dark Lord of the Leprechauns6113 ||
03/13/2010 8:06
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The negative fallout from climate change is having a devastatingly lopsided impact on women compared to men, from higher death rates during natural disasters to heavier household and care burdens.
In the 1991 cyclone disasters that killed 140,000 in Bangladesh, 90 percent of victims were reportedly women; in the 2004 Asian Tsunami, an estimated 70 to 80 percent of overall deaths were women. Gaia's way of fixing the over-population problem
And following the 2005 Hurricane Katrina in the United States, African-American women, who were the poorest population in some of the affected States in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi, faced the greatest obstacles to survival, according to the New York-based Women's Environment and Development Organisation (WEDO). Had to go to the back of the line for food stamps?
The 2007 Human Development Report, issued by the U.N. Development Programme, points out that women are particularly affected by climate change because they are the largest percentage accounting for about 70 percent of the poor population. Wow, thst sure is a lot of non-poor dudes walking around without a wife. Maybe if that 70 percent went Lysistra on those rich dudes, they'd be able to move on up.
Climate change is also exacerbating existing gender inequalities, with a devastating effect on the quality of life of poor women and girls. In many parts of the world, women and girls are responsible for collecting water and firewood.
As these resources become scarcer in the face of increasingly erratic rainfall, they must spend more time looking for and collecting them, further reducing the time they have available to engaging in economic activities, or attending school, she said.
Women are also the main producers of food, providing 70 percent of agricultural labour in sub-Saharan Africa, and so are particularly affected by reduced agricultural output, North added. These dudes really have it made. They get the women to do all the work, they keep the profit, and still overpopulate. I'll bet they have a longer life span, too.
The care responsibilities that fall to women and girls mean that health problems associated with climate change including an increase in waterborne diseases associated with flooding often result in them taking on an increased burden of care as they are required to look after sick family members,' she noted.
The study also found the opposite to be true: in societies where women and men enjoy equal rights, natural disasters kill the same number of women and men. Except the United States as Katrina demonstrates. Oh, I forgot the US denies equal rights to women. That's why the men live longer and more money goes to research prostate cancer.
In East Africa a region that is acutely feeling the effects of climate change, with widespread drought resulting in critical shortages of food and water research suggests that increased poverty levels is having serious consequences for the education of girls. Q.E.D Post hoc ergo propter. In hoc signo vinces.
In Kenya, participants in the Gender, Education and Global Poverty Reduction Initiatives project have noted that increased poverty associated with drought has affected school attendance, with girls being more likely to be withdrawn from school than boys.
In neighbouring Uganda, the food crises associated with climate change have been linked to higher rates of early marriage for girls, as they are exchanged for dowry or bride price.
These famine marriages' as they are called not only lead to girls dropping out of school, but also make them vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections and related reproductive complications. Q.E.D Post hoc ergo propter. In hoc signo vinces.
Find out how Finland deals with the tragedy of Gaia's climate induced gender discrimination at the link.
Al-Qaida's offshoot in North Africa said Friday it released a Spanish woman it had held captive for 100 days in Mauritania because she voluntarily converted to Islam.
In a statement posted on militant Web sites, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb said it also took into account health reasons in choosing to free aid worker Alicia Gamez, although it did not elaborate. "The Spanish woman converted to Islam voluntarily after the mujahidin (fighters) exposed her to Islam and its teachings. She took the name of Aicha," the brief message said.
Gamez, 35, and two male colleagues still being held captive by the group worked as volunteers for an aid organization called Barcelona Accion Solidaria. They were kidnapped by gunmen Nov. 29 while delivering relief material to poor villages in Mauritania.
A photo with Friday's statement showed three armed men standing behind Gamez and the other hostages. Gamez appears in the photo wearing a head scarf.
"We tell the Spanish government that this positive step on the behalf of the mujahidin requires that you swiftly respond to our legitimate demands," the Internet statement said. "This is a precondition for the safety of your other citizens."
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
03/13/2010 7:07
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Better word would be "Temporarily" at least until released.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/13/2010 12:12
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"This is a precondition for the safety of your other citizens."
Can't just say it, eh?
The Spanish response should be a commitment of an additional 5,000 troops for each Spaniard killed. But Spain's president probably looks at these kidnappings as a "misunderstanding".
City education officials discriminated against an Arabic-language school principal when they canned her for making comments to The Post defending students who wore shirts with the words "Intifada NYC," according to a ruling by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
In the decision, released by her supporters yesterday, the EEOC says the Education Department "succumbed to the very bias that creation of the school was intended to dispel."
Debbie Almontaser, who headed up the Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn, told The Post in 2007 that "intifada" on the shirts meant simply "shaking off oppression" and was not an endorsement of the Palestinian uprising against Israel.
But the comments led to wide-spread calls for her firing.
"The EEOC's finding is without any basis whatsoever," said Paul Marks, Deputy Chief of Labor and Employment at the NYC Law Department.
Almontaser is seeking more than $300,000 in compensation for court costs, lost wages and pain and suffering. She also wants to get her job back. The EEOC has asked both parties to negotiate a settlement.
#1
In the decision, released by her supporters yesterday, the EEOC says the Education Department "succumbed to the very bias that creation of the school was intended to dispel."
Our beloved EEOC propaganda machine defending a like-minded re-education wing. Nothing new here.
Three of seven Muslims detained over a suspected plot to assassinate a Swedish cartoonist have been released from custody.
Gardaí last night confirmed a man and two women were freed after three and a half days of questioning. A file will be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions, they said.
Three men and one woman remain in garda custody in the south east of the country over an alleged international conspiracy to murder Lars Vilks, who controversially depicted the Prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog.
#1
Lars Vilks, who controversially depicted the Prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog.
Image below:
Posted by: Shens Dark Lord of the Leprechauns6113 ||
03/13/2010 8:39
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Irish law allows suspects to be held without charges for 7 days. The one woman is an American from Colorado, who also had contact with La Rose, of Philadelphia. Mobley also attended a mosque in Philadelphia and all had computers seized. Law enforcement knew about this for awhile, and La Rose picked up last October so they could continue the investigation. I hope they continue to connect the dots, as they are beginning to look like the world wide web. From the WSJ:
Ms. Paulin-Ramirez is the second American woman to be linked to an alleged plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist who made fun of the Prophet Mohammed. An indictment was unsealed this week against Colleen R. LaRose, 46, a suburban Philadelphia woman who authorities said used the Web alias "JihadJane."
Ms. LaRose was accused of plotting to kill the cartoonist and attempting to recruit jihadis via the Internet.
She was arrested in October and later charged with providing material support to terrorists.
The Justice Department kept its case under wraps until this week while investigators in the U.S. and Europe pursued their investigation against other potential suspects in the U.S. and abroad.
The main contact for Ms. LaRose is believed to be one of the men in Irish custody, an Algerian, who has a relationship with Ms. Paulin-Ramirez, according to a person close to matter.
A person close to the Irish police couldn't confirm whether Ms. Paulin-Ramirez and the Algerian are married.
Ms. LaRose spent roughly two weeks in Ireland last fall, a person familiar with the matter said.
The Irish police are holding four men and three women, including three Algerians, a Croatian, a Palestinian, a Libyan and a U.S. national, according to a person close to the police.
They are being questioned and haven't been charged.
Joseph Mendiola:WAFF > HAMAS SERMON ON AL-AQSA TV: ROME WILL BE CONQUERED BY ISLAM | MUSLIM STRUGGLES AND JIHAD BEGUN IN PALESTINE, IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN AND CHECHNYA WILL NOT CEASE [until US-West, World is under Islam].
Golf clubs in hands or not, the children of South Park are ready to take on Tiger Woods.
Creators of the Comedy Central cartoon have long since proven that no subject is sacred to them. So for the opening of its 14th season on Wednesday, the troubled golfer encounters Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman in their animated Colorado town.
"It's such an important issue in America right now -- the sex addiction outbreak," Matt Stone, who makes the series with partner Trey Parker, said. "We're all really concerned about him and hope he gets better."
Sex addiction, the intersection of powerful men and willing women, late-night phone calls to the police and bad public relations gave them so much fodder they could have made an entire Tiger-centric season, Stone said.
Since the Peabody Award-winning show's first episode in 1997, Parker and Stone haven't worried about lines between good taste and bad if they can get a laugh.
"There's a delicacy in talking about (Woods) that we don't have to worry about," Stone said.
He wouldn't give many details about the episode, in part because he and Parker were still writing it. Stone said he was fascinated and disgusted by Woods' public apology, so it's likely that will be worked in.
'South Park' is airing its 200th episode next month. "We can't even believe we're still here doing this," he said.
#1
Golf clubs in hands or not, the children of South Park are ready to take on Tiger Woods.
The little imps, pulling the tigers tale.
Posted by: Shens Dark Lord of the Leprechauns6113 ||
03/13/2010 8:00
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#2
South Park at its best, can't be topped. 'Whale Whores' this season was awesome, looking at reality television.
BTW, all the episodes are available for free streaming, and they're only 20 minutes long. Just google 'south park studios.'
NO LINK: Tipper, please provide one ...
A 31-year-old mother from Colorado was one of seven Muslims arrested this week in Ireland in an alleged plot to assassinate Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, the woman's parents said Friday. Christine Mott of Leadville said she was told of the arrest of her daughter, Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, in the case by the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies. Jihad Jamie ...
She told The Associated Press that her daughter disappeared last September and later told her family she went to Ireland with her 6-year-old son and married an Algerian whom she met online.
Irish authorities only identified the seven as three Algerians, a Libyan, a Palestinian, a Croatian and an American woman married to one of the Algerians. They were arrested Tuesday, hours before U.S. authorities unveiled a terror indictment against Colleen LaRose, 46, of Philadelphia, who bills herself as "Jihad Jane".
LaRose is accused of plotting with others to kill Vilks because of his 2007 sketch depicting the head of the Muslim prophet Muhammad on a dog's body. The drawing provoked terror front Al-Qaida in Iraq to offer a $100,000 bounty for his slaying.
Denver FBI officials say they can't confirm that the FBI had contacted Mott about the case. The U.S. Justice Department did not immediately return a call for comment early Saturday.
The Wall Street Journal, quoting anonymous sources familiar with the case, reported on its Web site that Paulin-Ramirez was being held in the alleged plot.
Her stepfather, George Mott, said the FBI seized a desktop computer in late September but did not tell the family what they found. The Motts said they're concerned for the welfare of their grandson, who has been placed in the custody of Ireland's foster care system.
"This is about my baby," Christine Mott said. "We need some help to get this baby back. I'm concerned about my daughter but I'm concerned about our baby boy because he shouldn't be caught in the middle of this."
The Motts said Paulin-Ramirez announced to her family last spring that she was converting to Islam and began wearing headscarves.
"It came out of left field," Christine Mott said. "I knew she was talking to these people online... What caused her to turn her back on her country, on her family and become this person? I don't know how or why. All I know is she was in contact with this Jihad Jane. "The only thing I could think of is that they brainwashed her."
Christine Mott said her daughter was getting 4.0 grades as she studied to become a nurse practioner and was working a $30,000 job at Eagle Valley Medical Clinic in nearby Edwards.
While the rest of America was stunned to hear that a suburban Pennsylvania woman allegedly used the Internet identity of Jihad Jane and tried to join militant jihadists, for a group of 'Net vigilantes it was old news.
In fact, at least one of the Web sleuths claims to have alerted the feds to Colleen LaRose's alleged efforts to raise money and recruit fighters for Islamic terrorists and to carry out her own jihad.
Groups like JawaReport, Quoth the Raven and the YouTube Smackdown Corps claim they had been monitoring LaRose's growing militancy for three years, and watched as the Internet -- particularly YouTube -- fed her fervor.
They also said "Jihad Jane" is not the only one on the Internet that the groups are monitoring. "There are certainly many others out there who are more eloquent and appear to be more dangerous from the way they talk," a man calling himself Rusty Shackleford told ABC News. Hah! That's what he calls himself! Asks him where he gets all those robots!
Shackleford, a pen name, says he is a libertarian college professor who created the blog JawaReport in 2004 after he was enraged that Iraqi Islamists had beheaded an American named Nick Berg. "It was my way of venting. But mostly it was about countering violent Islamist propaganda, specifically the videos that were being produced by al Qaeda in Iraq and other Salaafist jihadists fighting our troops," he said.
Shackleford said his goal from the beginning was combating violent Islamist material and support on the Web. "I'm a blogger, but also an activist against violent Islamism. One of the things we do is try and pressure Webhosts to remove Websites that belong to terrorist organizations. An example of this would be the dozen or so times we've successfully had the Taliban's website removed. The websites sometimes pop back up, sometimes not," Shackleford said.
Shackleford and other contributors to JawaReport and sites like it noticed YouTube had become a hub for videos and comments in support of violent extremism and attacks against the West and its allies, leading to the creation of the YouTube Smackdown.
Shackleford said the groups identify videos in support of violent Islamism and pressure the Web site to take them down, "as they would child pornography or other obscene material."
According to the "Quoth the Raven" blog, since the "smackdown" movement began in 2007, users have had over 31,000 videos removed from YouTube, and 695 users suspended. They say LaRose was one of those suspended.
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03/13/2010
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#1
Rusty Shackleford . From cartoon King of the Hill. Rusty is the alias used by the character Dale Gribble.
[Al Arabiya Latest] More than 100,000 people have been forced to flee their homes across Somalia since the start of the year amid "relentless and indiscriminate" fighting, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday.
The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned that more people could pour into an overcrowded refugee center in neighboring Kenya's Dadaab camp which is now already hosting 270,000 refugees.
"UNHCR is extremely worried about the worsening situation for the civilian population in Somalia which is, once again, exposed to relentless and indiscriminate fighting in Mogadishu and elsewhere in the country," said Andrej Mahecic, the agency's spokesman. Perhaps they could get the Pakistanis and the Mighty Uruguayans to send in a peace-keeping force ...
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#5
Zimbob and Zuma are Barry's pals. Birds of a feather. There will be no mention of the Matabeles or any of the other atrocities meted
out by the ANC over the past 30 years.
#6
For the Pig Ignorant, the New Rhodesia Forum may enlighten re American Politics, and I certainly can't say I am grateful. May what happened to us, happen to you, and I do think you have it coming, I wish it weren't so.
#7
Rather harsh words I'd say from perfidious Albion, land of Labor and the original betrayors of World War II hero and gifted stateman Ian Smith. Remind me to visit a British cemetery of war dead here in the States will you?
#8
Harsh, I was not meant to be, Besoeker, china. This old Albion had its arm twisted like a good one, Carter, Vorster, Carrington, and I bet that doers Kissinger had something to say, old history.
All I say is, ignoring the Terrorist war, and then actually supporting them, maybe History repeats itself for the Self-interest of those Mo-fos who gain the most. Just trying to point you guys in the right direction. I have been there, lost a country; I don't call myself a refugee. I dont have war graves I can visit either, so there is no past for me.
What I am saying is, what happened to us, will happen to you guys, I believe we had one of the first Terrorist Wars, and the Free World(?) stood down in the first instance of the PC World.
All the dead on the Roll of Honour of Rhodesia come down to nothing for you guys, like it means nothing. Import your Somali refugees, they are surely worth less than a bucket of sh*t by the Metric Tonne and probably more dangerous than their weight in fertiliser.
#9
FTA the above for the meek of mind, aka, Pappy, it is not racial, it is Tribal, don't s'pose you get it though.
Would you be terribly offended if I told you to "Fuck Off"?
I'm quite aware of Rhodesia's history, RF, as well as that of the other African hell-holes. It's not like I've never been there (especially since someone tried to recruit me while I was in Kenya).
Do me a favor - when you next speak to me, or about me, do it sober.
#10
For the Pig Ignorant, the New Rhodesia Forum may enlighten re American Politics, and I certainly can't say I am grateful. May what happened to us, happen to you, and I do think you have it coming, I wish it weren't so.
By that you must mean that minority blacks rule over the US while keeping majority whites from voting.
Nah, that can't be it.
Maybe majority whites rule over minority blacks while keeping blacks from voting.
That ain't it either.
What was the problem, again?
Oh yeah. White minority rule while keeping an overwhelming majority of blacks from voting. That's ain't happening here, RF, no matter how fervently you wish it so.
And for all the bulsh*t we hear from our liberals here, it is majority politics under a republican system which protects/guarantees minority basic rights, the includes entities which can't vote such as the wealthy, businesses small and large. Both elements, BTW, critical to wealth creation and economic prosperity for ALL.
You're lamenting the failure of an oppressive regime, something which were it to happen here ( one majority violating the right of any minority ) I would expect to support its dissolution or at least its opposition.
I don't agree with Pappy in many things either but I will amplify with this: Sober up and get your facts straight before browbeating us over the political change in Africa.
#11
I stand corrected, Rhodesia was a Hell-hole in Africa, some guy who was in Kenya said it was so. If you want to pull cheap shots, you maybe want to fuck off yourself.
#14
Last thoughts, you might want to brush up on your African history, maybe check up on whats been happening the last 30 years or so.
Sheesh, talk about shooting the messenger, you are way too sensitive for your own good.
#15
Last thoughts, you might want to brush up on your African history, maybe check up on whats been happening the ast 30 years or so.
Sheesh, talk about shooting the messenger, you are way too sensitive for your own good.
You're right. I watch the TV and I see all those poor starving children of African and I turn to my wife and I tell her:
#16
I think you wilfully miss the point, badanov. The point is that it was American politicians that sold us down the river, and they are going to do the same to you, if they haven't done so already. I would advise a stiff drink to make this news palatable, B-)
#19
Civil, well-reasoned? Well, I guess mods get away with ignoring the guidelines, everyone else gets dusted.
Yes, civil and well-reasoned, Rhodesiafever. Pappy could have attacked you in the best tradition of senior NCOs and mid-level officers in the Navy and Marines, which he has the experience to do. And this after you baited him openly enough that even I recognized what you were doing.
I'm quite sure you're right that the U.S., along the rest of the civilized world let the Whites be driven from Rhodesia by the Blacks and the their Soviet enablers, just as they subsequently did to South Africa, and as they are gearing up to do to Israel.
Nonetheless, what took place in this thread is indeed well-reasoned discourse, and fairly civil under the circumstances. Perhaps if you hadn't started "for the weak of mind, aka Pappy," you would not have gotten a response you didn't like.
Essential primer.
Curbing North Korea's illicit arms trade is difficult since the renegade country launders containers carrying weapons three or four times, a defector who was in charge of illicit arms deals told the Chosun Ilbo on Monday.
The defector revealed that a factory in Jagang Province, which is believed to produce tractors, is the center of the communist country's weapons production, including chemical warheads. The defector, who is under police protection, did not want his identity to be revealed fearing reprisal attacks against family members still in the North.
◆ Foreign Forwarders Transport Weapons
Five departments of the North Korean government are involved in arms exports: the military arms production wing of the Workers' Party, the Second Academy of Natural Sciences, the Surveillance Division of the People's Armed Forces, Operational Department of the Workers' Party and the Second Economic Committee. He said the Economic Committee, which is directly under the control of the powerful National Defense Commission, is the biggest.
The military arms production wing procures materials for the Yongbyon nuclear plant and North Korea's nuclear weapons program. "The General Bureau of Atomic Energy only produces yellow cake [the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment], while the arms production wing is in charge of the Yongbyon facility," the defector said. The Second Academy of Natural Sciences exports missiles and also provides after-sales service for exported products by upgrading performance and exchanging components.
"The main client is the research center of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, while experiments are conducted in unison," he said. Iran successfully test-fired a rocket on Feb. 3 which is believed to have been powered by the same engine as North Korean Rodong missiles.
But international sanctions against North Korea make it difficult to export weapons by conventional means. "This is where the Surveillance Division of the People's Armed Forces comes in," the defector said. Its "traders," who studied at Pyongyang University of Foreign Studies, are fluent in English and Chinese and sign deals with "forwarders" from other countries. Through this process, North Korea sends containers across the Apnok (or Yalu) River to China one third or half filled with weapons. "The forwarder who received this cargo enters a port in a third country, where the containers are filled with freight unrelated to weapons and the paperwork is completed," he said.
These "laundered" containers are laundered again in Hong Kong, Singapore or other ports. "The containers are mixed with other cargo in those transit points. They are searched, but not thoroughly," the defector added. "Even if customs or other officials roll their sleeves up and search for weapons, how can they possibly find the arms among the mountains of other containers headed to other countries?"
◆ 'Tractor Factory' Is Weapons Production Base
North Korea's main weapons production base is Kanggye General Tractor Plant No. 26. Before the Korean War, the plant was based in Pyongyang and made Soviet-designed PPSh 41 submachine guns but has since been relocated. Over 10,000 workers there manufacture ammunition and even chemical weapons. The People's Armed Forces is in charge of chemical weapons production. "The Bio-chemical research center affiliated with the military is located next to the Kanggye plant," the defector said. "The toxic gases produced at the research center are loaded onto warheads manufactured at the plant."
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il makes a point of visiting the factory two to three times a year. He last paid a visit on Dec. 9, 2009.
◆ AK-47 Rifles and Ammunition Are Top Sellers
"Small arms ammunition are hot export items and the Second Economic Committee even built a factory in Ethiopia," the defector said. The rugged AK-47s, which can operate flawlessly even in the sand-filled battlefields of the Middle East, are extremely popular, he said.
Anti-tank missiles are more complicated to manufacture, so the blueprints are in Russia, while North Korean factories are merely subcontractors. North Korean arms are believed to be exported to Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and the Philippines. "North Korean weapons with engines [such as tanks] are extremely poor quality, but those carrying warheads are not bad," the defector said. Around 20 percent of the parts used to make export versions of missiles are imported. But missiles for domestic use are made using mostly North Korean-made parts, so there is a difference in performance. "North Korea tried to import Harpoon anti-ship missiles from Taiwan," he added. "This probably has something to do with the South Korean Navy's use of the Harpoon missiles."
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#1
ION CHINESE MIL FORUM [Abused] NORTH KOREAN WOMEN GIVE BIRTH TO 20,000 HALF-CHINESE BABIES.
[Asharq al-Aswat] Whilst a senior Libyan official informed Asharq Al-Awsat that Libyan authorities are ready to hold the first Arab Summit in Libya at the end of this month, and that all logistic arrangements have been completed, well-informed Arab sources stated that Libya still owes the Arab League approximately 20 million dollars in total for not paying its regular share to the annual budget of the Arab League over the past four years.
Asharq Al-Awsat learned that Libyan President Colonel Muammar al Gaddafi will ask the Arab Summit to take the immediate decision to halt any negotiations with Israel in light of the Jewish state continuously belittling Arab and international endeavours to establish peace in the Middle East.
A prominent Libyan official said, "Colonel al Gaddafi would like the Tripoli Summit to revive the famous three No's of the Khartoum Summit [1969] in view of the fact that the political scene in the region has not changed much since the 1960s."
Arab sources have stated that the Tripoli Summit is at risk because of current divisions in Arab relations, indicating that without real reconciliation, the Tripoli Summit will be nothing more than a cover up of these disputes rather than a method to solve them.
In a telephone conversation, the Libyan official told Asharq Al-Awsat that Libya will not extend an invite to Iranian President Ahmadinejad or head of the Hamas Politburo Khaled Meshaal to attend the upcoming Arab Summit. The source maintained that the summit will be limited to Arab kings, heads of state and leaders who have already been invited to take part in the summit.
The source, who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity, said that Tripoli is enthusiastic about the upcoming summit and hopes the outcome will be in the best interest of the joint Arab project and it does not want to ruin the atmosphere surrounding the summit before it is held.
The source added, "Some of our Arab brothers believe that Iran has no right whatsoever to attend the summit on the basis that it is an annual meeting that concerns the presidents and heads of state and leaders of Arab countries only. Even though we believe in the necessity of improving Arab-Iranian relations and engaging in serious political dialogue with non-Arab neighbouring countries, the Iranian President Ahmadinejad will not be invited to attend the summit." "Nevertheless, we might invite Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki to attend the opening session of the summit," said the source. The source maintained that Tripoli was also planning to extend an invitation to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, the President of Malawi in his capacity as the current Chairman of the African Union, the President of the European Commission [Jose Manuel Borroso], and King Juan Carlos of Spain whose country presides over the current rotating EU Presidency.
The Libyan source stated that "there is a classic list of invitees that was always drawn up during all former Arab summits, and so the Libyan authorities will preserve the same tradition."
There has been increasing speculation over the likelihood of some Arab leaders not attending the Tripoli Summit such as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who has recently undergone surgery to remove a gall bladder in Germany, and Lebanese President Michel Suleiman against the backdrop of the Libyan-Shia dispute over the fate of Imam Musa al Sadr who disappeared along with his travel companion in 1978.
Last January, President of Djibouti Ismail Omar Guelleh threatened to boycott the Tripoli Summit because Libya refused to pass a draft resolution condemning Eritrean policy against Somalia. Djibouti considered this a clear indication of the flaws in inter-Arab relations in general.
However, Arab and Libyan sources said to Asharq Al-Awsat that the Libyan leader, who will be presiding over the Arab Summit for the first time, hopes there will be an effective Arab presence and distinct meetings to crown the successful return of Libya to the international community after decades of hostilities with the West and the US.
Libyan officials said they hoped President Mubarak would recover quickly and be able to attend the Arab Summit in view of the warm bilateral relations between both countries and between Mubarak and Colonel Gaddafi. Cairo has not yet officially announced whether or not President Mubarak, who is currently recuperating in Germany, will attend the Arab Summit or whether he will delegate Egyptian Prime Minister Dr. Ahmad Nazif or Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Dr. Moufid Shehab to head Egypt's delegation in the event of President Mubarak's absence.
An Egyptian official said, "It is still too early to decide. The entire matter depends on the President's health after surgery. He might not be able to attend simply because the summit requires physical effort and strength owing to the series of meetings held on the sidelines."
The Egyptian President did not attend the last two Arab summits held in Syria and Qatar respectively. Dr. Moufid Shehab headed the Egyptian delegation in both of these summits and he is being nominated by Egyptian political circles to succeed incumbent Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Moussa whose second term will come to an end early next year.
With respect to the Lebanese President, an official in the Libyan government said that Libya would welcome him if he decided to take part in the summit. However, the Libyan official indicated that the Lebanese state should try and keep its relations with Libya away from "political and media wrangling" carried out by some Shia circles in Lebanon.
The official added, "We understand that the decision lies with the President of Lebanon himself. If he decides to attend, that would be good. The entire matter concerns the Lebanese government. We are not involved in any rivalry with any Lebanese party."
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#1
Mubarak had to go to Germany for simple gall bladder surgery? doesn't have much faith in Egypt's school of inshallah medicine, does he?
[Maghrebia] Moroccan Communication Minister and government spokesman Khalid Naciri on Thursday (March 11th) discussed the deportation this week of some twenty foreigners. The British, Dutch, American and New Zealand nationals, who worked at an orphanage near the Atlas mountain town of Ain Leuh, were expelled on Tuesday for allegedly trying to convert the children.
Naciri said that such "rare cases" of expulsion from the country are not linked to the practice of the Christian religion but rather to acts of proselytism", adding that "the same severity was used against the fundamentalist Muslims of the Salafia Jihadia group or against the over 100 Qur'anic schools contrary to dominant Muslim practice".
The Catholic Archbishop of Rabat and the head of the Evangelical Church in Morocco released a joint statement about the incident, saying that they "have always been able to act within the framework of the freedom of worship attributed to Christian foreigners", For his part, the president of the Rabbinical chamber of the Casablanca court on Wednesday stated that "all religions, Muslim, Jewish and Christian, are practiced without constraints or limits".
In related news, MAP reported that according to the 2009 Report on Human Rights Practices, released Thursday by the US Department of State, Morocco "supported and facilitated religious activities" of its 4,000--member Jewish community.
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BANGKOK, March 12 (Xinhua) -- The overall situation in Thailand 's capital Bangkok has remained peaceful on the first day of a mass anti-government rally as the government has attempted to ensure that no violence will occur amid the continued rally.
Thailand's weekly cabinet Tuesday decided to impose the ISA law in eight provinces to ensure law and order during the rally by the United front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) group from March 12 to 23. Of the total eight provinces, the ISA imposition has been enforced in the whole area of capital Bangkok and Nonthaburi, which is next to Bangkok, while it is imposed in some 21 districts of the six other provinces nearby Bangkok, including Pathum Thani, Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon, Chachoengsao, Nakhon Pathom, and Ayutthaya.
Totally, under the ISA law's enforcement there are 50,000 security men, who will maintain security during the mass rally.
According to Police Major General Piya Uthayo, Spokesperson of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, about 6,500 protesters gathered at five main rally spots in Bangkok on Friday, the National News Bureau of Thailand (NNT) under the state-owned Public Relations Department, reported.
The traffic was generally light during the first day of the rally as there was no report of violence. The UDD or red-shirted protesters voluntarily dispersed by 5:00 p.m., local time, Friday after they marched by various routes in downtown area.
They plan to regather at about 17:00 p.m., local time Saturday at Ratchadamnoen Road, open-field Sanam Luang, and King Rama V Equestrian Monument in the center of capital Bangkok.
In a related development, Deputy Prime Minister in charge of security affairs Suthep Thaugsuban is satisfied with the security operations during the first day of the rally, Thai News Agency reported. However, Suthep has repeatedly instructed the security men to be patient and not to use violence to deal with the protesters.
At the same time Metropolitan Police Commander Lt-General Santhan Chayanon has ordered to beef up security at eight check points, which are tasked by army-police forces, the NNT said.
With 24 hours' responsibility, the check points have been set up on areas, which border capital Bangkok and provinces next to Bangkok.
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[Maghrebia] Mauritania and Mali are concerned by the number of al-Qaeda terrorists who have left Algeria's Kabylie region to join armed Islamist groups in the Sahara-Sahel, Mauritanian news agency ANI reported on Thursday (March 11th). Officials reportedly fear that the vast Sahara region of northern Mali and Mauritania will turn into the new AQIM battlefield.
On Thursday, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility for the deadly March 8th suicide bomb attack on an army barracks in western Niger.
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[Iran Press TV Latest] India says Pakistan must transform itself to a genuine democracy and a responsible neighbor if it wants to resume stalled dialogue in the wake of the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Speaking at a seminar on South Asian security, Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said Pakistan had proved to be a "difficult neighbor" ever since it gained independence in 1947, adding that India hopes for a political transformation in Islamabad.
The Indian minister went on to warn Pakistan of a "swift and decisive" response if it fails to curb militancy emanating from its soil.
"If another attack emanates from Pakistan soil or we have evidence to show that people in Pakistan were behind the attack, our response will be swift and decisive," he told TV TODAY, on the sidelines of the annual India Today Conclave in New Delhi, on Friday.
India broke off a four-year-long sluggish peace initiative with Pakistan after the November 26, 2008 Mumbai attacks, which killed 166 civilians. India blames the attack on Pakistan-based militants.
In reaction to the Indian official's remarks, Pakistani High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik said that dialogue is the only solution to the issue, adding that "I can assure you that Pakistan has no intention whatsoever in any aggressive designed activities against India."
Meanwhile, Chidambaram went further to ask the Pakistani government to provide proof of its commitment to India by giving authorities in New Delhi "the voice samples of the suspects we have named."
The Indian minister was referring to Hafiz Saeed -- a key suspect in the Mumbai attacks.
Chidambaram also rejected Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi's claim that India never demanded the arrest of Hafiz Saeed, the rabble-rousing head of the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group blamed for the Mumbai killings.
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Sharif Mobley, 26, worked for contractors at plants in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland from 2002 to 2008, mostly hauling materials and setting up scaffolding, plant officials said. Mobley, a U.S. citizen of Somali descent, has not been linked to any wrongdoing at any of the plants.
Mobley worked for contractors at the Salem and Hope Creek nuclear plants in New Jersey from 2002 to 2008; the Peach Bottom, Limerick and Three Mile Island plants in Pennsylvania from 2003 to 2007; and Calvert Cliffs in Maryland for two weeks in 2006, operators said.
Company officials said most of his work came during periodic refueling outages, when hundreds of contract employees descend on the plants. The workers do a variety of jobs, but "nothing technical," said Curt Jenkins, business manager at Mobley's union, Local 222 of the New Jersey Laborers Council.
Mobley had "vital access" that allowed him into any area of the plants where he worked in New Jersey, Jenkins said. But guards were posted in the most sensitive places, and "anywhere that you might be able to do anything, they pretty well got that pretty secure." Every worker entering a plant has to clear security, explosives and radiation checkpoints, and that information is recorded, the NRC's Sheehan said. The plants also teach employees to recognize and report suspicious behavior.
Jenkins said that he never saw any sign of trouble from Mobley and that he was a union member in good standing. "He always treated us with respect," he said. "Very well-mannered."
A law enforcement official says Mobley traveled to Yemen with the goal of joining a terrorist group. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is still going on. A second official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, says the U.S. government was aware of Mobley's potential extremist ties long before his arrest. The official did not say how long the government had been paying attention to him.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Two suicide bombings targeting the Pakistani military killed at least 49 people in Lahore on Friday, officials said, in a challenge to government assertions that crackdowns have weakened Taliban insurgents.
A third bomb exploded near a police station in Lahore later on Friday, police said, wounding up to four people and further rattling nerves in the eastern city near the border with India. Two other blasts were heard minutes later.
Militants have renewed pressure on the U.S.-backed Pakistani government, with five bomb attacks this week alone
Continued on Page 49
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#1
ION NEWS KERALA >US LAWMAKERS: OBAMA ADMIN MUST [immediately] CRUSH LeT ARMY OF SAVAGES; + CURTIS: US MUST DEFEAT LASHKAR [LeT] WITH SAME FORCE [+ Urgency] AS AL QAEDA.
* SAME > US EXPERTS: LeT AMBITIONS EXTEND [far] BEYOND INDIA | LeT DESIRES TO ESTABLISH ISLAMIST STATE IN INDIA AND ALL OF SOUTH ASIA.
A New Jersey nuclear plant laborer arrested in Yemen with 10 other suspected al Qaeda members was in contact with the same radical Yemeni-American cleric tied to Fort Hood shooting suspect Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, federal law enforcement officials told ABC News. Just more dot-connecting. Pay it no mind ...
The New Jersey man, Sharif Mobley, was detained by Yemeni security forces earlier this month and taken to a hospital for medical treatment. He allegedly tried to escape from the hospital over the past weekend by grabbing a security guard's gun and engaging in a gunfight that killed one of the guards.
Mohammed Albasha, a spokesman for the Yemeni embassy in Washington, told ABC News that details of Mobley's case "will be clearer in a couple of days."
Asked about Mobley's apparent connections with the cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, Albasha said he was not surprised because radicals and extremists in Yemen seek Awlaki out. "He is a fixture in jihad 101," Albasha said of Awlaki.
Before fleeing the United States, Awlaki taught at a Virginia mosque visited by 9/11 hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Hani Hanjour. Since then, Awlaki has become a prominent influence with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and is believed to be in Yemen.
He also was in contact with Hasan, accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009.
Awlaki is believed to have survived a cruise missile strike on a meeting with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leaders in December that killed several other of the group's members.
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#1
"Gunfight that killed one of the [Yemeni] Guards" > SO-O-O IIUC, Its in Mobley's interest to "sing like a Bird" about anything, everything he knows about ALWAKI + CO., ETAL. becuz his alternative is face the Hangman, the Head Choppin' block, or other such punishment Yemen normally dishes out.
#2
Mobley, an American of Somali descent, inquired about studying in Yemen from his Philadelphia imam in 2007. He had attended classes in Arabic locally since the 1990's. Law enforcement was aware of him before the hospital incident. I'm afraid there are lots o' dots still out there.
(CNSNews.com) -- Two members of Congress said this week that someone in the White House may have committed a crime if they offered Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) an administration job in exchange for him not running in Pennsylvania's Democratic senate primary against Sen. Arlen Specter, an allegation that Sestak said was true.
Meanwhile, despite several media inquiries over the last few weeks and the comgressmens' statments, the White House continues to withhold comment on the matter.
Sestak's opponent in the primary, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, both said this week that if Sestak's claim is true, such a job offer could constitute a federal crime.
Specter specifically said it would constitute bribery, while Issa referenced three sections of the U.S. code on the matter.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has repeatedly declined to confirm or deny Sestak's allegation. He did so again on Thursday, Mar. 11, even after the two members of Congress said criminal conduct could have been involved. However, the Philadelphia Inquirer previously reported that an unnamed White House source had denied Sestak's claim.
This week, Sestak reaffirmed on MSNBC's Morning Joe what he claimed in other TV interviews: That he was offered a job with the Obama administration if he would drop his challenge to Specter, a former Republican who switched parties in early 2009.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2010
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Specter specifically said it would constitute bribery, while Issa referenced three sections of the U.S. code on the matter.
[Al Arabiya Latest] British computer expert Peter Moore, held captive in Iraq for 2-1/2 years until his release in December, has said he was tortured and subjected to mock executions by a well-trained kidnap gang. In an interview with the Times newspaper, Moore said his kidnappers had links with the Iraqi government and denied U.S. intelligence assessments that he had been held for part of the time in Iran.
He said he and his four British guards were seized from an Iraqi Finance Ministry building in Baghdad in May 2007 by dozens of men in the uniforms of Iraqi security forces. "They were Iraqi resistance. They have representation in the government," he said.
Moore denied the gang was acting on the orders of Iran's Revolutionary Guard. "The only Iranian link is that there is an interest in Iran, probably covert funding by Iran," he told the Times.
His captors were convinced he was a military intelligence officer and questioned him for hours, he said.
Three of Moore's British guards were killed by their captors, and the fourth was believed to have been killed although his body was never returned.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2010
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The government on Thursday pledged to develop technology that will dramatically reduce radioactive waste and recycle spent nuclear fuel as an alternative resource. I'm sure they can find a use for all that pesky waste plutonium ...
The pledge, a thinly veiled protest against U.S. refusals to allow Korea to reprocess its own spent nuclear fuel rods, was made by Prime Minister Chung Un-chan in his opening speech at the 2010 Summit of Honor on Atoms for Peace and Environment that kicked off in Seoul.
"The premise to the successful worldwide adoption and use of atomic technology is bilateral or multilateral cooperation through sharing of relevant information and experience," he said. Seoul is banned from reprocessing spent fuel rods under a nuclear agreement with the U.S., signed in 1953 and amended in 1973. It expires in 2014, and the two sides are gearing up for negotiations for its renewal.
However, former International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, on Thursday said, "All new enrichment and reprocessing activities, anywhere in the world, in future should be put exclusively under multilateral control." ElBaradei said the "final step" would be "to convert all existing enrichment and reprocessing facilities from national to multinational operations." Except for the operations in Iran, Pakistan and Syria ...
"This is, clearly, a tall order. However, if we lack the vision and the will to move in that direction, we risk witnessing the emergence of more and more nuclear-weapon-capable states, in addition to those which already have nuclear arsenals," he added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/13/2010
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#1
The PHILIPPINES repor wants NUCENERGY PLANTS as well.
* ION SPACEWEATHER > CHILEAN QUAKE SHIFTS/SHIFTED EARTH'S AXIS.
Shade of YEAR 2012 + "QUAKE FELT/'ROUND THE WORLD".
FYI iff youse thought 1960's-early 1970's GUAM TAOTAMONAS didn't know about NICHOLAS CAGE
S RECENT FILM "KNOWING", REST ASSURED YOUSE WERE WRONG.
Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. gave more ammunition to his critics Friday, admitting he had failed to tell a Senate committee about half a dozen briefs to the Supreme Court that he had signed, including two involving a terrorism dispute.
Holder's aides said the failure to mention the briefs last year before his confirmation was an oversight and a mistake. Just one of those things, I guess ...
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, called it an "extremely serious matter" that would trigger sharp criticism when Holder is due to be questioned March 23. "The attorney general, as with all nominees, has a duty of candor. . . . It is simply unacceptable that briefs in such significant cases were not provided to the committee so they could be discussed during his confirmation hearing," Sessions said.
Holder has run into a drumbeat of Republican criticism since he announced in November that he had decided to move the admitted Sept. 11 plotters, including self-proclaimed mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, from military custody at Guantanamo Bay to be tried in a federal civilian court in Manhattan. The attorney general said this trial would demonstrate the nation's commitment to the rule of law.
His Republican critics said these foreign terrorism suspects did not deserve to be tried in a civilian court with all the rights of Americans. More recently, the Obama administration has backed away from Holder's plan, but has not decided where the men will be tried.
The six briefs to the Supreme Court were not Holder's work alone. In every instance, he was one of a group of prominent lawyers or ex-judges who signed a friend-of-the-court brief.
Twice, Holder signed briefs along with former Atty. Gen. Janet Reno in the case of accused "dirty bomber" Jose Padilla. Though he was an American citizen who was arrested in Chicago, the Bush administration maintained it could hold him indefinitely in a military brig as an enemy combatant. Reno and Holder argued that an American citizen had a right to be charged with a crime and tried in federal court.
Two lower courts agreed with the Bush administration, but when Padilla lodged an appeal in the Supreme Court in 2006, the administration reversed course. Padilla was sent to trial in a federal court in Florida, where he was convicted for supporting terrorists and imprisoned.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/13/2010
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#1
Atty Genl's assistant blows him self up at the white house gate. Nothing to see here...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/13/2010 1:29
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#2
Holder should discuss some of these very disturbing international laws with the Senators:
It is illegal to wear white shoes in Tibet.
In Equatorial Guinea, it is against the law to name your child Monica.
In Italy, public kissing is legal only at railroad stations.
False teeth are against the law in Switzerland
Posted by: Shens Dark Lord of the Leprechauns6113 ||
03/13/2010 7:40
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#3
Keep firing the ammo that triggers the criticism coming: there's a movement afoot to impeach Holder--Judicial Watch, I believe.
#4
Holder needs to resign, this is crooked as hell. Were it a Republican the MSM would be creating a shitstorm over this sort of thing - and they should regardless of party. Omitting important things like that brief is a serious breach of his legal duties.
#7
I am not a lawyer, but it seems to me that writing an amicus brief for the Supreme Court is not a minor event that one would forget.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
03/13/2010 12:21
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#7 I am not a lawyer, but it seems to me that writing an amicus brief for the Supreme Court is not a minor event that one would forget. Posted by: Rambler
Unless of course, someone else penned it and you simply attached your name.
[Bangla Daily Star] Rajshahi University Shibir leader Ekram Hossain gave confessional statement before a Rajshahi court yesterday reiterating his statement in Dhaka that linked central leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami and Shibir with the February 9 violence.
The violence in RU on February 9 left Chhatra League leader Faruk Hossain dead.
The second court of Metropolitan Magistrate Ziaur Rahman recorded Ekram's confessional statement under Section-164. It took him four and a half hours since 2:00pm to record the statement, said court sources.
None was allowed in the court when the statement was being recorded. Ekram's lawyer Abu Raihan Al Biruni was allowed in the court after it was recorded.
He told reporters afterwards that the statement was "similar to the statement given before the media in Dhaka".
Sources said Ekram in the statement said he took part in the attack on Chhatra League with the Shibir group led by RU Shibir President Shamsul Alam Golap. He said Golap contacted several times with central Jamaat and Shibir leaders during the night of violence.
His statement mentioned Jamaat Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami, Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid and Shibir President Rezaul Karim, said Raihan.
Ekram Hossain, president of Amir Ali Hall unit of Islami Chhatra Shibir and a masters' student of Islamic studies department at RU, was placed on a seven-day remand on March 10 in connection with police assault case, one out of 11 cases filed in connection with the violence on February 9.
Senior police officials said they are yet to know details of the statement as none including the police was allowed in the court when it was recorded.
Rapid Action Battalion-1 arrested Ekram at Savar on March 7.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2010
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[Bangla Daily Star] Police recovered 37 handmade bombs from a sand heap outside district Jamaat office at Bhadughar under Brahmanbaria Sadar Thursday night.
Police said they reached the spot following a blast at the eastern side of Al Hera Complex at Bhadughar around 10:45pm.
Led by Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Sadar Police Station Md Hamidul Islam, the team recovered 37 handmade bombs of different sizes--some weighing up to one kilogramme--from a sand heap outside the boundary of Brahmanbaria Jamaat office around 11:30pm.
The bombs were brought to the police station and kept in water in a tub. An explosives expert would soon examine the bombs, sources said.
Contacted, the OC said he had assigned second officer of the police station Sub Inspector Mahbubur Rahman to investigate how the bombs got there.
Investigation officer Mahbubur Rahman told The Daily Star over phone that at least 48 handmade bombs were recovered from Jamaat dominated areas in Brahmanbaria.
Earlier on February 13, police recovered three handmade bombs from outside the house of Brahmanbaria Jamaat Ameer. On the same day around 11:00am, they recovered eight more bombs from Brahmanbaria Cadet Madrasa.
On February 11, seven people were arrested in connection with an explosion in a room of a dormitory of Brahmanbaria Residential School and College, a Jamaat dominated institution. A case was lodged in this connection.
Contacted over mobile pone, district Jamaat Ameer Kazi Nazrul Islam Khadem said he had heard about the recovery of bombs from outside Jamaat office and Al Hera Complex. But he knew nothing about how the bombs got there.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2010
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Egyptian police on Friday arrested nearly 50 members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood who were staging anti-Israel demonstrations, a security official said. They were rounded up after weekly prayers as they demonstrated against Israeli plans to build Jewish settlements in Arab east Jerusalem and place two West Bank shrines on a list of Israeli heritage sites.
The Brotherhood had urged Egyptians to take part in the protests across the country and the arrests took place in several provinces, the source said. He said protesters chanted slogans denouncing Israel's plans as well as "the silence of Arab governments."
Friday's arrests were the latest targeting the Brotherhood ahead of upper house elections in April and lower house elections in October. The Islamists have accused the authorities of cracking down on them ahead of the polls.
Brotherhood lawyer Salah Abdul Maqsud said that among those detained were "prominent figures who could run in the elections."
In February deputy leader Mahmoud Ezzat was among 16 Brotherhood members arrested in a move denounced by the group as well as by international human rights watchdogs.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch said February's arrests dealt "a blow at hopes for genuinely free elections."
The Muslim Brotherhood is banned in Egypt but is tolerated, and police regularly arrest its activists. How exactly is arresting the activists 'tolerance'?
Despite the ban, the Brotherhood controls a fifth of seats in parliament after it fielded candidates as independents in a 2005 election.
Police rounded up hundreds of Brotherhood activists last year. The group, founded in 1928, has renounced violence and says it wants to establish an Islamic state through peaceful means.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
How exactly is arresting the activists 'tolerance'?
they use a smaller truncheon?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/13/2010 10:22
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They only beat their ankles, Doc,instead of their entire body. They're also "escorted" into the paddywagon, instead of being thrown in head first.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/13/2010 15:01
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[Iran Press TV Latest] US Secretary of state Hillary Clinton has criticized Israel for its announcement this week of plans to build new housing units in East Jerusalem Al-Quds.
On Friday, Clinton told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Tel Aviv's latest settlement plans are a "deeply negative signal."
Who, oh who will PM Netanyahu ignore next when they deliver this message, President Obama himself?
She also said that the move has undermined trust and confidence in the so-called peace process.
Good enough. Let the rest of the world feel what Israel has felt for some time.
Clinton underlined that Israel is expected to take actions to improve the prospects for re-launching peace talks with Palestinians.
And the Palestinians? What is expected of them, dear Secretary Clinton?
The dispute opened up a rare diplomatic rift between the US and Israel, as the announcement for the new construction came while Vice President Joe Biden was in Israel.
And then VP Biden returned the favour by showing up for a state dinner in his honour a full 90 minutes late. I'd say Obama's people and Netanyahu's are even on points.
On Tuesday, Israel announced a decision to approve 16-hundred new housing units in East al-Quds. The move drew condemnation from the UN and even Israel's western allies.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2010
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#1
ION WMF > US TO BECOME THE NEXT SOVIET UNION/USSR?
versus
NEWS KERALA > RUSSIA TO CREATE
USD$3.0BILYUHN "FREE ECONOMIC ZONE" IN INDIA.
#3
"And then VP Biden returned the favour by showing up for a state dinner in his honour a full 90 minutes late. I'd say Obama's people and Netanyahu's are even on points."
Biden should have shown up and said, Well Bibi ole boy it looks like you dont want my help here oh and by the way I just clogged your toilet so maybe you can handle my shit this time.
#4
with Slow Joe there's always the chance he got lost, wandering the streets for 90 minutes
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/13/2010 11:21
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#5
Biden should have shown up and said, Well Bibi ole boy it looks like you dont want my help here oh and by the way I just clogged your toilet so maybe you can handle my shit this time.
Depot Guy, Vice President Biden was not there to be helpful. He was there to get Israel to start walking down the road to surrender. Had it not been the announcement of building permits for Jews in Old Jerusalem (why is it again that Jews may not live there on property they own?), President Obama's messengers would have found something else to complain about. President Obama prefers the Muslim world to Israel, and will keep pushing until something happens that makes Israel go away for ever.
#6
I wonder where all the people who were talking about how Hillary was really more conservative (and smarter and tougher) than Zero in foreign policy are right now?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/13/2010 18:25
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#8
I'm right here, Snowy Thing. I still think that, on her own, she would have been, because she listens to her husband, who listens to voters. However, I never thought she would have been as wise as even a generic Republican in the of president.
[Bangla Daily Star] Law enforcers have again seized documents including a hit list of 27 Chhatra League leaders and activists, and a scheme to attack BCL workers from the room of a Shibir activist at a Rajshahi University dormitory.
During a raid Thursday night, they seized 200 jihadi books and leaflets from Shaheed Shamsuzzoha Hall.
Earlier, law enforcers Thursday noon recovered a machete and 50 iron rods, and seized 1,000 jihadi books and leaflets from the rooms of Shibir activists at the hall.
RU officials with the help of law enforcers seized answer sheets of pharmacy department's final examination from the room of a Shibir activist.
Police said they found the documents at the room of Shibir cadre Sultan Mahmud alias Sabuj who went into hiding after the February 9 incident.
None was arrested in the four-hour raid until 12:00 midnight.
Hall Provost Dr Murtuza Khaled said they conducted the raid in response to requests from resident students.
Shibir cadres might have persuaded the examiner concerned to give them the answer sheets and took those to their rooms to write answers, Dr Murtuza said.
Meanwhile, Motihar police on Thursday night arrested a RU employee with link to the February 9 violence on RU campus.
Arrestee Billal Hossain works at Shah Mukhdoom hall where Shibir cadres allegedly hacked to death BCL worker Faruque Hossain on February 9.
Tofazzel Hossain, officer-in-charge of Motihar Police Station, said Billal was arrested after detained Shibir activists mentioned his name in interrogation.
"We shall produce him before the court after primary interrogation," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2010
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[Bangla Daily Star] The government is about to begin another round of combing operations in the nation's south-western districts to curb the recent increase in criminal activities by outlawed parties.
Highly placed sources told The Daily Star that operations will commence shortly after the State Minister for Home Shamsul Haque Tuku visits Khulna on March 16.
The operations are a response to the non-fatal bomb attack on Khulna's Phultala upazila Chairman Sarder Alauddin Mithu on March 6.
The state minister said, "In the wake of rising of criminal activities in the region, I will hold a series of meetings with law enforcement agencies in Khulna.
"I will provide the necessary guidelines to root out criminal activity, especially by outlawed party men."
He said the government will show zero tolerance to extremists.
Fugitive outlaw party men and those released on bail from various jails have regrouped over the last year and have contributed to a slide in law and order in the region.
Over 100 chairmen of upazila and union parishads in 10 districts of Khulna division have left their localities since the bomb attack.
Many are reported to have filed general diaries with police seeking protection, said sources at intelligence agencies.
Ashraful Alam Khan, chairman of Batiaghata upazila parishad and organising secretary of Khulna district Awami League said, "Chairmen in seven unions of my upazila have shifted their families to rented premises in Khulna city, out of fear of being killed by listed outlaws."
Rupsha Upazila Parishad Chairman Sheikh Ali Akbar said notorious outlaws are moving freely and making death threats to various professionals.
Monirul Hasan Bappi, chairman of Srifaltala union under Rupsha upazila, said he has received three death threats over his cellphone in the past month.
DIG of Khulna Range police Sheikh Himayetuddin said, "We are on the alert and we have taken adequate measures to capture the criminals and outlaws."
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] An activist of outlawed Purba Bangla Communist party (PBCP- Janajuddha) was hacked to death by their rivals in Haripur village under Ataikul upazila of the district early Friday.
The deceased was identified as Akkas Ali, 42, son of Gafur Pramanik of the same village.
Police said Akkas was holding a secret meeting with his associates in a field near his house Thursday night when their outlawed party rivals swooped on them with local weapon at about 12:30am.
The outlawed chased Akkas and chopped him indiscriminately near his house leaving him in a critical condition. Later he was sent to Pabna General Hospital where he died early Friday, police added.
Officer-In-Charge Md Sirajul Islam of Ataikul Police Station said the police has recovered the body and send it to Hospital for autopsy.
The deceased was the regional leader of Janajuddha faction of PBCP and their outlawed party rivals might have killed him for internal feud, he also added.
A case was lodged with Ataikul Police Station in this connection.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Almost as if the RAB has a Correspondence Course on-line for the aspiring upzila clean up activists.
This was probably the 'Secret Meeting Intervention 101' and a knife substituted for the fabled Stutter Gun.
[Ma'an] Hamas and Palestinian opposition factions organized rallies in Gaza to support the Al-Aqsa Mosque and other holy sites believed to be under Israeli threat, a representative said on Friday.
Demonstrators gathered at mosques throughout Gaza City, walking toward the Field of Palestine Part, then on to the ruins of the Palestinian Legislative Council.
Speaking in front of the PLC building, Islamic Jihad leader Muhammad Al-Hindi called on the Arab world "not to give a cover to those who want to give up Palestine," and withdraw their support for US-sponsored "proximity talks."
The Palestinian officials who participated in negotiations in past years must be exposed, Al-Hindi said demandeding a declaration of the failure of the peace process.
Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya addressed the crowd after Al-Hindi, saying "It's time for the Arab and Islamic nations to rise up to protect Al-Aqsa and the holy sites."
Addressing comments to his rival Fatah party, Al-Hayya said, "It's time to launch the resistance in the West Bank, let us unite on the bases of resistance," and called on Palestinians across the country to rise up in defense of Al-Aqsa.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2010
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Israeli forces sealed off the West Bank and massed riot squads around Jerusalem's Old City and Arab neighborhoods during Muslim weekly prayers on Friday, facing down Palestinian anger over Jewish settlement expansion, as U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton delivered a stinging rebuke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his government's announcement.
The 48-hour closure to run until midnight on Saturday drew harsh criticism, with European Parliament chief Jerzy Buzek saying it was "unhelpful" and would complicate efforts to revive the Middle East peace process.
Israel barred Palestinians from crossing from the West Bank into Israel and Jerusalem, and barred men under 50 from al-Aqsa mosque, the flashpoint holy site in the walled Old City.
Four Palestinians were detained for throwing stones and two officers were slightly injured in Jerusalem, a police spokesman said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
No statement available from the European Parliament as to the "helpfulness" of the Palestinians murdering Jews I suppose.
dickweeds
Posted by: abu do you love ||
03/13/2010 1:37
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#2
it was "unhelpful" and would complicate efforts to revive the Middle East peace process
Yemen said on Friday it was holding a U.S. citizen suspected of being an al Qaeda militant who killed a hospital guard last week, and a U.S. firm said the suspect had worked at nuclear reactors in New Jersey.
The man, named as Sharif Mobley, was among 11 al Qaeda suspects arrested during a series of raids in the Yemeni capital in early March, a Yemeni government source told Reuters. He said Mobley killed a guard as he tried to escape from a hospital where he was being treated.
A U.S. company which owns several nuclear power plants said Mobley, 26, worked at the Salem and Hope Creek nuclear reactors in New Jersey and other reactors in the area.
The company, Public Service Enterprise Group Inc, said in a report to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission that Mobley worked as a labourer from 2002 to 2008, mainly during refueling outages for several weeks at a time. He did routine labour work carrying supplies and assisting maintenance activities.
The source from the Yemeni government told Reuters that Mobley was the al Qaeda suspect who started a gunbattle at a hospital in Sanaa last week in a bid to escape detention. He was recaptured, but not before killing one person and wounding several others.
Yemen became a major Western security concern after the Yemen-based regional arm of al Qaeda claimed responsibility for a failed attempt to bomb a U.S.-bound plane in December.
A 23-year-old Nigerian man suspected of being behind the attack had visited Yemen to study Arabic and Islam and had had contact with radical U.S.-born Muslim preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, who is based in the impoverished Arab country.
Awlaki was also linked to a U.S. Army psychiatrist who shot dead 13 people at the Fort Hood base in Texas in November.
In February, U.S. counterterrorism officials said U.S. spy agencies believed Awlaki to have played a bigger role than first thought in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's decision to start launching attacks against U.S. targets.
Western allies and neighbouring Saudi Arabia fear al Qaeda is exploiting instability in Yemen on many fronts to recruit and train militants for attacks in the region and beyond.
In addition to fighting al Qaeda, Yemen is also struggling to contain separatist tensions in the south where violence has escalated in recent weeks.
Sanaa is also bringing an end to a northern Shi'ite insurgency. Last month, facing international pressure to turn its sights to al Qaeda, Sanaa declared a truce in the long-running northern conflict.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2010
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#1
WAFF > HAMAS SERMON ON AL-AQSA TV: ROME WILL BE CONQUERED BY ISLAM | MUSLIM STRUGGLES AND JIHAD BEGUN IN PALESTINE, IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN AND CHECHNYA WILL NOT CEASE [until US-West, World is under Islam].
[Maghrebia] Maghreb imams and other experts on Islam are reacting with everything from doubt to cautious optimism about a fatwa against terrorism issued by a prominent Pakistan-born religious scholar.
The 600-page fatwa, which was issued in London on Tuesday (March 2nd) by Dr. Muhammad Tahir Qadri, says "hellfire" awaits suicide bombers, and categorically rejects attacks that kill innocent people. "Look at our deplorable situation today," Qadri said in an interview that appeared March 5th in the London-based newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat. "People are killed inside mosques and on the streets. They are killed while sleeping in their beds. Terrorists bomb marketplaces where women, children and the elderly get killed. There is no justification for this at all."
Qadri, born in 1951 in Pakistan's Punjab province, received his Ph.D. from Punjab University. A lecturer in Islamic Sciences since 1974, he has also worked with various Pakistani government bodies, including the High Court and the Ministry of Education.
Many in the Maghreb welcomed Qadri's fatwa, which includes the opinions of key ancient and modern scholars, as an important step forward.
In Mauritania, Salick Ould Yerbe, the imam of a Nouadhibou mosque, told Magharebia that the fatwa "is very important and will have a good impact, God willing, on the souls of Muslims". He said the fatwa's content had been explained by Mauritanian scholars "who have issued repeated fatwas that terrorism and violence have no place in the true religion of Islam, and that the fate of suicide bombers is hell".
Mohamed El Koury Ould Abd El Hay, a Mauritanian professor of fiqh, called the fatwa "a decisive and binding argument for those who believe in God and the Last Day. I think that its impact will be very big, especially in our Islamic world." "There is no doubt that Sheikh Qadri and people like him ... have recognised the damage brought by terrorism to the Islamic religion and Muslims everywhere across the world", the professor added.
In Tunisia, Professor Monia Ferjani, an expert on Islamic movements, said that "finally, a Muslim scholar has come forward and condemned suicide bombing, calling it by its real name, 'terrorism', and issuing a fatwa calling it blasphemy". "We've been desperate for such fatwas that condemn violence in all its shapes and forms," added Ferjani.
"Islam has always appealed for dialogue and rejected violence," Said Bouziri, a theology professor at the Tizi Ouzou University in Algeria, told Magharebia. "If even one life is saved as a result of that fatwa, I consider that a victory."
Some Maghreb analysts had doubts about the fatwa, though more based on concerns over its form and effectiveness than out of conflict with its content. A Moroccan expert on Islamic movements, Mohamed Darif, told Magharebia that the Muslim world's many schools of thought, including Arab, Asian and European currents, detracted from efforts to establish unified positions. "This kind of fatwa, pronounced in London, can't have an impact on the Arab world, given that imams have always condemned acts of terrorism", Darif told Magharebia. "This scourge can only be tackled by way of... security policies and laws", added the expert. "So far, this policy has borne fruit in Morocco".
Abdelbari Zemzemi, a Moroccan imam and member of Parliament, said that terrorist groups do not heed fatwas issued by imams because such extremists have their own points of reference. "In the Muslim world, all Islamic ulemas denounce acts of terrorism," said Zemzemi. "The role of imams is to make the public aware of this, so that they don't veer towards fundamentalism." The imam added that it is "essential" not to lump fundamentalists together with those who defend their own land, especially in Palestine.
"I agree with the rationale behind it," said Tunisian lawyer and feminist thinker Bochra Belhadj Hmida of the fatwa; nevertheless, she rejects it "because a fatwa is a political tool that governments use to serve their present interests."
What is needed, Hmida continued, "is for governments to loosen up on the media and make them accessible to thinkers in the region, who are capable of developing societies, media and arts."
Other Maghreb experts and scholars took a mixed view of Qadri's fatwa, assessing it as having both strong and weak points. The head of Amnesty International in Tunisia, Lotfi Azzouz, called the fatwa "valuable but hard to implement, especially by the young people, because of their inclination toward radicalism, and away, to an extent, from rationalism".
Azzouz added that "Islamic institutions are governmental and authoritarian institutions, and because of conspiracy and subordination to the government, they've lost credibility with the people; even ... similar fatwas go unrecognised".
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2010
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A senior member of Iraq's main secular opposition bloc on Friday protested of blatant fraud in favor of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki during Iraq's general election last weekend.
The national election commission, meanwhile, said the claims of fraud were either politically motivated or fuelled by lack of understanding of the counting procedures.
"I understand that very high officials from the Iraqi Electoral Commission have been caught cheating by entering false data on the election computer"
Struan Stevenson, president of Delegation for Relations with Iraq
But it would nevertheless investigate any complaints it received.
"There has been clear and flagrant fraud," said Intisar Allawi, a senior candidate in ex-prime minister Iyad Allawi's Iraqiya bloc, the main rival to Maliki's State of Law Alliance.
"There were persons who manipulated or changed the figures to increase the vote in favor of the State of Law Alliance."
She said that Iraqiya's own election observers for last Sunday's poll had found ballot papers in garbage dumps in the northern disputed province of Kirkuk.
The accusations came a day after the European Delegation for Relations with Iraq reported that "blatant attempts are underway to defraud the Iraqi people of their true democratic choice in last weekend's elections."
"I understand that very high officials from the Iraqi Electoral Commission have been caught cheating by entering false data on the election computer," President of the delegation Struan Stevenson told the European Parliament.
"It appears that massive efforts are going into attempts to deny victory to Mr Allawi and his secularist, nationalist Al-Iraqiya list, who clearly must have secured an outright victory in the polls when such blatant attempts at fraud are taking place," Stevenson added.
But Iyad al-Kinaani, an official in Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), told AFP such claims were fuelled by political motivations or a lack of understanding of the count.
"When we receive any accusations and there are problems, we block the ballot box and start an investigation," Kinaani said.
"We are used to receiving these accusations from political blocs because either they do not know our procedures or they have not had good results in the election.
"That is why they are talking about fraud."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2010
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The Independent High Electoral Commission of Iraq (IHEC) has fought back against its critics, after a day of fielding accusations of fraud, malpractice and incompetence. The IHEC is responsible for counting the votes in the March 7 general elections, and for investigating complaints about the voting process.
In frank interviews with Al Jazeera, senior figures in IHEC expressed frustration and indignation at the slew of criticisms. They were fully backed up by officials at Unami - the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (TK) - who are dismayed and disappointed at the allegations. There's a surprise ...
Faraj al-Hayderi, the chairman of IHEC, lashed out at Struan Stevenson, a European MP who had issued a statement claiming there were "suspicious delays" in announcing the results, and that "widespread fraud during the elections ... amounted to a plan to drive Iraq into a crisis".
Al-Hayderi said the allegations were a "complete fabrication", and that Stevenson had no professional contact with the many EU observers who had been stationed in Iraq for the vote. "He had nothing to do with the Iraqi elections. He's sitting over in Brussels and it's his own opinion," al-Hayderi said. "He has to do something to protect his phoney-baloney job!"
Concerns about IHEC's ability to handle the volume of paperwork and computer programming involved in processing the election results of about 50,000 polling stations began to emerge when the commission cancelled a scheduled news conference on Tuesday when it had hoped to announce some of the preliminary results. This led to claims that the count was falling behind schedule.
But on the day the results began to emerge, Sandra Mitchell, Unami director of elections, denied those claims.
"The chairman of IHEC said it would take four days [from the elections]. Today is that day," Mitchell said. "From the UN's perspective, there is no delay and the counts are being released on schedule as planned."
She also defended IHEC against charges that it was understaffed, pointing out that they had three times the staff assigned to work on the provincial elections in 2009. "I don't think you could get many more staff into this facility, or that they could work any harder," Mitchell said.
But the allegations took on a more damaging turn when an article in the New York Times on Friday - since withdrawn by the editor, and replaced with a far more measured piece - claimed that the IHEC computer system was "overloaded and crashed for hours on Wednesday". So the NYT isn't content to wreck America ...
That was a malicious distortion, Qasem al-Aboudi, an IHAC spokesman, said. He explained that the vast amount of data being processed for the election - the software required scans of the original documents to be entered into the database - means the server has to be reset once a day.
"It was not a crash - it was a routine service. At the start it took up to three hours, but now we are much quicker," al-Aboudi said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/13/2010
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[Geo News] Jamaat-e-Islami Amir Syed Munawar Hasan Friday alleged that infamous US security firm Blackwater was behind all terror attacks in Pakistan under the supervision of Interior Minister Rehman Malik. Addressing a news conference here on Friday, Hasan advised the ruling PPP to give the portfolio of interior ministry to someone else to save it's standing. The JI leader alleged that Karachi target killing and Lahore bombings were carried out by Blackwater. The Interior Minister was supervising all the activities of Blackwater across the country, he said. Such incidents, he said, would continue unless the interior minister was removed.
The Afghani soil is being used for 'proxy war', he said, adding the United States now wants to use Afghanistan against Iran. To a question, Hasan said that Pakistan-India talks would not yield results with solution of the Kashmir dispute.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2010
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#1
If it worked for the Democrats it should work for JI! /s
Good, even-handed piece on the Cheney family, with emphasis on Dick Cheney's continued willingness to mix it up and Liz Cheney's plans for the future.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/13/2010
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#1
I really enjoy the fact that Dick is willing to pick up his mace and shield and go at it with the ninnies in the press and the useful idiots in the white house.
For all of BO's publicized intellect, Chaney can out think him in his sleep.
Posted by: Karl Rove ||
03/13/2010 2:28
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#2
Dick Cheney responds to Zero's Dog and Pony Show
The players carefully chosen will receive marching orders and talking points consisting of distorted data, facts and tainted realities. All will be prepared in advance with script in tow to be acted out scene by scene in the presence of an overly enthusiastic liberal media eager to do their messiahs bidding.
Dog and Pony Show
Posted by: Shens Dark Lord of the Leprechauns6113 ||
03/13/2010 7:49
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#3
Gimme hope.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/13/2010 13:15
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[Iran Press TV Latest] The Middle East diplomatic Quartet has condemned Israel's plans to build new housing units in annexed East Jerusalem al-Quds.
The group -- the European Union, the United States, Russia and the United Nations -- "condemns Israel's decision to advance planning for new housing units in East Jerusalem." "The Quartet reaffirms that unilateral actions taken by either party cannot prejudge the outcome of negotiations and will not be recognized by the international community," the group said in a statement released Friday.
The Quartet said that the Palestinian-Israeli peace and the creation of "an independent, contiguous and viable state of Palestine is in the fundamental interests of the parties, of all states in the region, and of the international community."
The party said it had agreed to closely monitor developments in Jerusalem and to keep under consideration "additional steps that may be required to address the situation on the ground."
Israel announced Tuesday during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden that 1,600 new settler homes would be built in East al-Quds.
The announcement was made as indirect talks with the Palestinians appeared to have been resumed under United States mediation.
The Palestinians however said they would not enter direct or indirect peace negotiations with Israel unless it halts its new settlement plans. But then, they wouldn't enter direct or indirect peace negotiations before the settlement plans, either.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2010
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#1
The dirty Juice---they refuse to go into showers!
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.
Maggie Atkinson, who was appointed last autumn, has argued that children under 12 should not be treated as criminals under the law.
While the rest of America was stunned to hear that a suburban Pennsylvania woman allegedly used the Internet identity of Jihad Jane and tried to join militant jihadists, for a group of 'Net vigilantes it was old news.
[Al Arabiya Latest] More than 100,000 people have been forced to flee their homes across Somalia since the start of the year amid "relentless and indiscriminate" fighting, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday.
[Iran Press TV Latest] India says Pakistan must transform itself to a genuine democracy and a responsible neighbor if it wants to resume stalled dialogue in the wake of the 2008 Mumbai attacks. 
[Iran Press TV Latest] US Secretary of state Hillary Clinton has criticized Israel for its announcement this week of plans to build new housing units in East Jerusalem Al-Quds. 
[Bangla Daily Star] The government is about to begin another round of combing operations in the nation's south-western districts to curb the recent increase in criminal activities by outlawed parties. 
[Bangla Daily Star] An activist of outlawed Purba Bangla Communist party (PBCP- Janajuddha) was hacked to death by their rivals in Haripur village under Ataikul upazila of the district early Friday.
[Ma'an] Hamas and Palestinian opposition factions organized rallies in Gaza to support the Al-Aqsa Mosque and other holy sites believed to be under Israeli threat, a representative said on Friday.
[Iran Press TV Latest] The Middle East diplomatic Quartet has condemned Israel's plans to build new housing units in annexed East Jerusalem al-Quds. 
