IDF chief Gantz unveils new policy whereby any firing from Gaza, Sinai will be met with attack on Hamas, fire from Lebanon will result in attack on Hezbollah and any overseas attack will prompt response against Iran. About time IMO.
#1
That's a pretty deep line in the sand they've drawn.
But I did notice in the article nowhere were any of the folks quoted as saying, " I don't bluff."
Think they are serious this time. Snug your lap belts a bit more.
A commercial Launch Services Agreement between Antrix Corporation Limited (ANTRIX), the commercial arm of ISRO; and ASTRIUM SAS, a Company under EADS, France; has been signed recently. Under this agreement, an advanced Remote Sensing satellite - SPOT -6, weighing nearly 800 kg, built by ASTRIUM SAS, will be launched on-board ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), during the second half of 2012. Along with SPOT - 6 satellite, the PSLV, in its core alone configuration, will also carry other co-passenger payloads.
This Launch Services Agreement signed between ANTRIX and ASTRIUM is a part of the Long Term Agreement signed between the two agencies in September 2008.
It may be recalled that in November 2010, under a commercial contract between ANTRIX and ASTRIUM, an advanced communication satellite HYLAS was successfully built by ISRO and ASTRIUM together for a EUROPEAN customer. In the coming days, further collaboration possibilities between ANTRIX/ISRO and ASTRIUM would be explored.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/05/2012
17:06 ||
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Mostly HRW & AI whining about stuff.
The Hague-based court ordered Tripoli to "comply with its obligations to enforce the warrant of arrest" and surrender him into the court's custody without delay. In a written ruling judges at the court rejected a request by Libya to postpone handing over Saif and urged the country's rulers to "proceed immediately with the surrender."
But the issue is further complicated by the refusal of militias in Zintan, a mountain region where he has been held since his capture last year, to hand over Saif to the national government in Tripoli. The new government has set aside a purpose-built prison the size of a mansion to hold Saif in solitary confinement until a verdict is reached.
NEW DELHI: The Indian Air Force has now decided to deploy its additional six C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft at Panagarh in West Bengal-- the likely location of a proposed Army Mountain Corps headquarter-- and not in Odisha.
The IAF was earlier planning to deploy the six aircraft in Charbatia in Odisha and an announcement in this regard was made by IAF in a press conference on October 3.
"We already have an air field under the Eastern Air Command there in Panagarh and now it has been decided that the additional six C-130Js would be deployed there," IAF officials said.
The six aircraft would be used by the IAF for looking after the requirements in the Northeast and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, they said.
The first six C-130Js, procured at a cost of around USD one billion, have been deployed in Hindon air base near here and have already started taking part in special operations.
The IAF has already sent a Letter of Request (LoR) to the US government for acquiring another six aircraft.
Officials said representatives from Lockheed Martin-- the American manufacturer of these aircraft-- have already carried out a survey of the location for developing the infrastructure for these aircraft.
The C-130J Super Hercules aircraft were used extensively by the IAF for carrying out relief operations during the Sikkim earthquake.
They have already created the record for the longest flight when they air dropped a contingent of Indian Army Special Forces in Andaman and Nicobar Islands after taking off from Hindon air base.
The Army has proposed to raise a new Mountain Corps for deployment in the Northeast and Panagarh is likely to be its headquarter location.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/05/2012
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NEW DELHI: After almost two years of painstaking efforts, the CRPF has successful used unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to pick up ground conversation and movement of Maoist cadres in terrains of Chhattisgarh.
A special squad of the anti-Naxal force recently undertook an operation in the jungles of Narayanpur district during which a UAV was not only able to pick up "real-time imagery" of movement of Naxal cadres but also relayed the conversation among them.
"The conversation picked up by the radars of the UAV was immediately routed to a squad of CoBRA commandos. The UAV experiment has finally worked with all the devices of the machine functioning optimally to give the forces an edge in anti-Naxal operations," a senior CRPF officer said.
The CRPF field commanders have also begun using the modern Android phones for co-ordinates of the difficult terrain and other Naxal hotbed locations in the state.
"The images gathered by the UAV are much better than what is available on Google map and Terra explorer. The Android phones are giving us good information about the inhabited areas," the officer said.
The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), along with other forces and technical experts drawn from the Army and the NSG, has been trying to deploy UAVs for operational planning since April 2010, when 75 CRPF men and a state police personnel were killed in a deadly Naxal ambush in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada area.
The force has also begun providing its strike units with global positioning system (GPS) locators which keep alive the line of communication when radio sets and mobile phones go dead deep inside the jungles.
A CRPF official, involved in anti-Maoist operations, said personnel of the force have also begun sending SMSes through the GPS devices to their control rooms and command headquarters which continuously keep a track of the patrol units.
The force has also successfully tested a mini-UAV 'Netra' in the jungles of Bijapur. It will be exclusively used for reconnaissance of Naxal hideouts.
'Netra' runs on a small payload of chargeable batteries and it was, according to sources, able to give exact grid co-ordinates and imagery of the areas to the CRPF and state government authorities.
They said the UAV will also help security forces like the CRPF, BSF and ITBP, along with state police units, to detect laying of mines and IEDs by the Maoists.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/05/2012
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#1
If we defeat the Naxalites what tier pieces can we get?
A Grad rocket has landed in the southern Israeli city of Eilat, but has caused no damage or injuries, Israeli security officials said.
District police chief Ron Gertner told Israeli radio the rocket had been fired from Egypt's Sinai peninsula. He said it struck a construction site close to a residential area shortly after midnight (21:00 GMT).
The blast took place as thousands congregated in the resort town for the Jewish holiday of Passover.
Rocket attacks from Egyptian soil are uncommon. Attacks on Eilat and the nearby Jordanian town of Aqaba in 2010 killed one person and injured another four.
Eilat Mayor Meir Yitzhak-Halevy told the Jerusalem Post that the city would function as normal despite the attack.
A wave of unrest has hit the restive Sinai peninsula recently. Israel says militants have become active in the region since former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in February 2011.
In August 2011, an armed group crossed the border into Israel from the Sinai peninsula and killed eight Israelis. Israel blamed Palestinian militants but five Egyptian policemen were killed as Israeli forces pursued the gunmen, sparking a diplomatic row between the two countries.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/05/2012
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#1
So how fast are the camp David accords going to be tossed out the window?
Moved to Seedy Politicians. Not because Professor Ayers is a politician -- he isn't, he's merely a terrorist who moved from the hard jihad of the bomb to the soft jihad of the education department -- but because he is one of the original Friends of Obama. A man's character is shown by the company he keeps, and all that. In the end, this election really is all about Barry.
#1
Because so many fly in the cargo hold on their final trip home -
"But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before usthat from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotionthat we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vainthat this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedomand that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
#14
Duh, they go first to ensure that anyone who wants to take their clan on-board early with first class one way cash tickets will not create a numerical superiority vis-a-vis the crew at boarding time.
#16
the United States is Sparta (quote from Dorhn in the article)
So, Bernie, they'll be writing books and making movies about our national heroism 2500 years after the last of us is gone? I'm OK with that.
Politically, I hope this is the start of the Bill and Bernie 2012 road show. I hope they give the same speech in every town between Bangor and Honolulu. 'Course, if they give that speech in Texas or Alabama they won't make it as far as Honolulu.
Posted by: Matt ||
04/05/2012 19:59
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Invoking Einstein while beating the dead horse of apartheid.
How very collegiate.
A letter written in 1929 and a modern Jewish resident of Pretoria, who clearly was not the subject of an extensive interview. The columnist really knows how to pick his sources.
#2
quintessential elements of perpetual restitution.
According to Einstein's Relativity, as we go faster and faster into the future, restitution should either go to zero or infinity. I'm not sure which (but I do have an intuition).
#5
Funny how in the late 20's Einstein thought the two great semetic peoples could get along and a couple of then suddenly he's coming up with theories that helped the creation of the A-bomb. Perhaps he got a closer look at the attitudes of one of those two great semetic people who sided with the Nazis as fast as they could.
h/t Gates of Vienna
Muslims in the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan are up in arms at a vodka producer for including the word Allah on its liquor bottles.
Privately owned Channel 31 cited Bekzat Boranbaiuly, head imam at a mosque in the city of Semey, as saying the vodka maker should seek forgiveness for the blasphemous use of the sentence The Power of Allah Suffices for All.
Suspected members of Nigerian terrorist militant group Boko Haram have killed seven people in a market in Maiduguri.
Borno police spokesman Samuel Tizhe said, Seven traders were shot dead by gunmen suspected to be members of the Boko Haram on Wednesday. Three other civilians also sustained injury during the attack at Monday Market."
Borno government chairman, Wanangu Kachuwa, was assassinated by Boko Haram members in Maiduguri on Sunday. Hours later two policemen and a Boko Haram member were killed during a siege on a police station. On Monday, a member of the state security service was gunned down while getting his hair cut in Maiduguri.
h/t Instapundit
I dont think that President Obama believes a word of his remarks about what the Supreme Court can or cannot do about any given piece of legislation. Attorney General Holder said as much today when he agreed that the Supremes are there specifically to protect against laws they consider unconstitutional. Holders not picking a fight with his boss.
Its not about that. Its about power. And freedom.
Power, because the president and his people think that, since they are smarter and better than the rest of us, anyone who tries to limit their power is bad, and has to be brought into line. Thus, the tough words of warning to any justice contemplating voting against Obamacare.
Freedom, because the accumulation of power in the hands of the executive branch comes at our expense, bit by bit and law by law, precisely as Alexis de Tocqueville feared.
As he said, The nature of despotic power in democratic ages is not to be fierce or cruel, but minute and meddling. Tocqueville described the new tyranny as an immense and tutelary power, and its task is to watch over us all, and regulate every aspect of our lives:
It covers the surface of society with a network of small complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate, to rise above the crowd.
We will not be bludgeoned into submission; we will be seduced. He foresees the collapse of American democracy as the end result of two parallel developments that ultimately render us meekly subservient to an enlarged bureaucratic power: the corruption of our character, and the emergence of a vast welfare state that manages all the details of our lives. His words are precisely the ones that best describe our current crisis:
That power is absolute, minute, regular, provident and mild. It would be like the authority of a parent if, like that authority, its object was to prepare men for manhood; but it seeks, on the contrary, to keep them in perpetual childhood: it is well content that the people should rejoice, provided they think of nothing but rejoicing. For their happiness such a government willingly labors, but it chooses to be the sole agent and the only arbiter of that happiness; it provides for their security, foresees and supplies their necessities, facilitates their pleasures, manages their principal concerns, directs their industry, regulates the descent of property, and subdivides their inheritances: what remains, but to spare them all the care of thinking and all the trouble of living?
Much of what passes for this sort of behavior is for "our protection". Ben Franklin said that anyone who is willing to trade a little freedom for a little security will wind up with neither.
Much of the Constitutional justification for government intrustion into private affairs is through the "general welfare" clause. In my thinking, much of what is passed off as the "general welfare" is actually the "average welfare". There is a difference: in "the general welfare", EVERYONE benefits, while in "the average welfare", some are benefitted only at the expense of others. Note that to make this acceptable, advocates of "the average welfare" do not see governmental waste, inefficiency, and even GRAFT, on their or anyone's part, as downsides: as long as the amount of money in the total system remains the same, the "average welfare" is maintained and is not "bad", provided the target beneficiaries are somewhat better off. To them, the only way the "average welfare" could go down is if someone took the government subsidy, convered it to cash, and burned it.
The framers of the Constitution did not have "average welfare" in mind when they said "general welfare", mainly because of the Eminent domain clause requiring "just compensation" for any property taken by the Government, including intermediary transfers (See Kelo). Kelo established the right of government to take from some to give to others for a "public" purpose, but did not waive the "just compensation" requirement. When the government takes property or items, there is a bit of question as to the dollar value of the property taken, and usually it is the government that dictates the "value" of what was taken as "just compensation", but that does not apply to money, for the value of money taken is the exact amount taken.
People are being allowed into areas around Fukushima with ambient radiation levels of 20mSv or less without protective gear. This is allowing cleanup, repairs, and operation of business concerns in the area. At present, people are not allowed to stay overnight. The main contaminant is Cesium-137 which is water soluble so the contamination levels should continue falling with every passing rainstorm.
#2
Just out of idle curiosity, what is there to return to? I doubt the land will be farmable in our lifetime (salt water tends to lower the crop yield, I understand). What else can they use it for?
Posted by: Barbara ||
04/05/2012 23:02
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CAIRO - Two army officers who took part in protests against Egypts ruling generals last year have been jailed by a military court, an army source told Reuters on Wednesday.
Major Ahmed Ali Shouman, who joined crowds calling for an end to military rule following the overthrow of president Hosni Mubarak, was sentenced to six years in prison, said the source.
Captain Amr el Metwalli, who also participated in rallies around Cairos parliament and cabinet buildings at the end of last year, was jailed for five years, the source added. Ahmed Shouman was sentenced to six years in jail, charged with refusing to obey military rules and voicing political views in media outlets, the army source said, asking not to be identified. This was a violation of martial law that bans military personnel from communicating with the media, the source said, adding Shoumans sentence will be announced formally at a court hearing on April 11.
Shouman also took part in the uprising against Mubarak that started in Cairos Tahrir Square in January last year.
He was pardoned for participating in those protests by Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the head of the ruling military council that took over from Mubarak. But the latest charges related to his decision to return to the square to join crowds calling for the ruling generals to hand over power to civilians.
El Metwalli, still in his first year of service, was accused of disobeying orders, abandoning his unit, wearing army fatigues outside his unit and publishing material on the internet that would demoralize the army during the protests that left 17 dead, said the source. The military council, which took over from Mubarak in February last year, has said it will hand over to civilians by July 1. A presidential vote will be held in May and June.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/05/2012
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#1
Means the Junta is not going down without a fight.
SANAA: Yemeni tribal militants freed three Filipino sailors they kidnapped last month in the central province of Maarib, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday. The ministry gave no further details about the release, but it had said last month that the tribesmen held the sailors to press the government into releasing a tribesman held by the authorities.
In a separate incident, an Oil Ministry official said Islamist militants fired at a team of engineers as they attempted to fix an oil pipeline that the militants blew up on Monday. One person was injured in the attack.
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Sixteen hard boyz were killed and eight others were maimed in joint Afghan and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... troop operations in the Tagab district of Kapisa province on Tuesday, a front man of the Selab 201 military corps in eastern of Afghanistan, Noman Atifi told TOLOnews.
The operation, which was launched three days ago to clear rid the district of the insurgency, is continuing.
He did not provide any reports about the casualties of the Afghan, NATO and civilians in the operation.
Tagab district is considered insecure within the province.
Meanwhile, ...back at the scene of the crime, Lieutenant Queeg had an idea: there was a simple way to tell whether Manetti had been the triggerman -- just look at his shoes!... joint forces captured a Haqqani controller during an operation in the Pul-e 'Alam district of Wardak province on Wednesday, Isaf said in a statement.
According to the statement, the "controller" coordinated the placing of roadside kabooms for attacks against Afghan and coalition security forces throughout the district. An additional suspected cut-thoat was also jugged.
In the country's southern Daman district of Kandahar province, a joint Afghan-Isaf operation discovered a cache of 500 pounds of marijuana on Tuesday, which was destroyed at the scene, the Isaf statement said.
Also a routine operation in Chahar district, Nimroz province on Tuesday uncovered more than 3,150 pounds of narcotics in two vehicles while conducting an airborne patrol. The drugs were also destroyed on site. Isaf did not disclose which kind of drugs were found.
AFP - Prince Hashem, half brother of Jordan's King Abdullah II, paid a visit on Wednesday to Jerusalem, where he prayed at Al-Aqsa mosque, palace officials said.
"Prince Hashem visited Jerusalem today and prayed at Al-Aqsa," the state-run Petra said in a brief statement, quoting the officials.
It added without elaborating that he also met with officials of Jordan's ministry of Awqaf and Islamic affairs in the Holy City.
Jordan, which has a 1994 peace treaty with Israel, is the custodian of Mohammedan holy sites in Jerusalem.
One of the most sensitive places in the Middle East, the mosque is Islam's third-holiest site. It is referred to by Mohammedans as Al-Haram Al-Sharif, while it is known to Jews as the Temple Mount and is revered as Judaism's most sacred site.
NEW DELHI - India has added a Russian Nerpa nuclear submarine to its navy, becoming the sixth country to operate underwater nuclear-powered vessels.
Hear that, Pakistan?
The ship renamed INS Chakra-II is on a 10-year lease from Russia at a cost of nearly $1 billion.
Wednesdays induction of the submarine takes India into an elite group of countries operating underwater nuclear-powered vessels. It joins the United States, France, Russia, Britain and China.
Defense Minister A.K. Antony says the submarine will strengthen the Indian navy.
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MQM chief says those spilling innocent blood are enemies of country
KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain has deplored the killing and injuring of innocent people in Gilgit in grenade attacks and firing after being taken off from a passenger bus. Such vicious attacks were aimed at undermining sectarian harmony, he said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
Hussain said the snuffies spilling innocent blood in Gilgit were open enemies of the country and were striving to erode unity among Mohammedans. Cruel snuffies were steeped in the darkness of ignorance and did not deserve any leniency, he added. He appealed to the religious scholars belonging to various schools of thought to come forward and play their role for restoring sectarian harmony, peace and amity in Gilgit.
He asked them to foil the conspiracies to undermine peace and order by remaining united.
He extended heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved family members of the persons killed in incidents of terrorism and violence in Gilgit and asked them to bear with patience and fortitude. Hussain prayed for the divine forgiveness of the dear departed persons and for speedy recovery of the injured. He stressed upon President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... , Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, Interior Minister Rehman Malik Pak politician, current Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. and Chief Minister Gilgit-Baltistan Syed Mehdi Shah to take serious notice of the killings of innocent people.
Hussain also called for steps to promote sectarian harmony and establishing peace and tranquillity in Gilgit. Every effort should be made to bring to justice the elements involved in killings of innocent people, he added.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shattered spaceship, Fffflirgoll the Arcturan slithered stealthily toward the control room, where the humans had barricaded themselves... Hussain has strongly condemned the kaboom in a passenger van in the Jamrud area of the Khyber Agency. He expressed his grief and sorrow over the loss of lives and injuries to many others, a statement said on Wednesday.
The elements responsible for targeting the passenger van were barbaric snuffies and were playing with the lives of innocent people, he added. Hussain said the courage and resolve of the nation against terrorism would not diminish with by acts of terrorism. The army and other law-enforcing agencies were working to quell terrorism with unfaltering determination, and they would not rest content unless this menace was eradicated from the country, he added. Hussain sympathised with the bereaved family members of the persons killed in the attack and prayed for the early recovery of the injured. He appealed to President Asif Ali Ten Percent Zardari ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who has been singularly lacking in curiosity about who done her in ... and Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani to take serious notice of the incident and take effective steps the terrorist elements behind it.
MOSCOW - Russia warned Western and Arab nations on Wednesday against arming opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, saying it would lead to years of bloodshed without helping the rebels to defeat government forces.
Bloodshed that the Rooskies will aid and abet...
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the "Friends of Syria" group of Western and Arab nations is undermining international envoy Kofi Annan's efforts to end more than a year of violence, and criticized countries that support arming the opposition.
"It is clear as day that even if the opposition is armed to the teeth, it will not defeat the Syrian army, and there will simply be slaughter and mutual destruction for long, long years," Interfax news agency quoted Lavrov as saying.
We'll be the judge of that...
Russia has emphasized that the efforts of U.N.-Arab League envoy Annan are the only path to peace and has stayed away from "Friends of Syria" meetings, saying the group is biased in favor of Assad's opponents and is not promoting peace.
Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said that Syrian forces has begun withdrawing from cities and towns in accordance with Annan's plan. Gatilov added that Russia hoped Syria would meet the April 10 deadline, but made clear it would be wary of any new formal action by the Security Council.
After the Council statement in support of Annan's mission, "we believe artificial prodding of this process does not foster conditions for realization of Annan's plan", Interfax quoted Gatilov as saying. "We do not accept any ultimatums."
"In principle we believe it is possible to do without any Security Council decisions. Kofi Annan is continuing his efforts, the Syrian side has begun withdrawing forces from cities. The main thing now is for all sides to carry out Annan's proposals," he said.
Gatilov said Russia would be willing to consider "additional impulses from the Security Council" if other members believe they are needed, but added: "Any reaction by the Security Council must be balanced and contain an appeal to both sides - the government and opposition."
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#1
Mama Russia is essentially telling the anti-Assad US-NATO/EU + Arabs to butt out + leave Bashir + any Syria Peace to the UN + Kofi's Peace Plan.
WASHINGTON - Accused September 11 criminal mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four suspected co-conspirators were referred on Wednesday to trial before a Guantanamo war crimes tribunal on charges that could carry the death penalty, the Pentagon said.
The five are charged with terrorism, hijacking aircraft, conspiracy, murder in violation of the law of war and other counts, and were referred to a capital military tribunal, meaning they could be sentenced to death if convicted, the Pentagon said.
KARACHI: Five people, including an activist of Awami National Party (ANP) and Rangers sepoy, fell prey to separate acts of target killing in the metropolis on Wednesday.
An activist of ANP, Omar Malook, 30, resident of Sector 36, Taiser Town, was sitting in front of his house when unidentified armed men riding a motorcycle shot him dead and fled to unknown destination. The body was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate medical Centre (JPMC) for medico-legal formalities.
A police official said the victim was the area president of ANP and was working at a bus stand as a clerk. The victim was the father of three children. Initially, police revealed that it was the target killing incident.
Soon after the incident, tension engulfed surrounding area of Surjani where all shops were closed due to uncertain condition. Heavy contingents of police and Rangers were deployed in the troubled area to avoid any untoward incident. The victim hailed from Bajaur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Later, police handed over his body to heirs. No case was registered till filing the report.
In another incident, a 26-year-old man, Sher Hakeem, was standing near New Sabzi Mandi, Super Highway, within the limits of Sohrab Goth police station when unidentified armed men opened fire on him; resultantly he received bullet injuries and died on the spot. On information, police rushed to the scene and shifted the body to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH) for medico-legal formalities.
A police official said the victim was the resident of an area near Bismillah Market where the incident took place. He was labourer by profession. The official said the victims younger brother Wazeer Malook received his body from ASH. Malook told police that his brother had no affiliation with any political or religious party.
Police believed that personal enmity was motive behind the incident. Police have registered a case against unidentified men on the complaint of Malook and initiated a probe into the case.
Separately, police found body of a man packed in a gunny bag from Karimabad, within the jurisdiction of Azizabad police station. SHO Haseeb Qureshi said the victim had several torture marks on his body and a nylon rope was also in his neck. He said the victim appeared to be 25-year-old Balochi speaking. The body was shifted to ASH for an autopsy, where doctors said he died due to suffocation.
Later police moved his body to Edhi Morgue for identification and registered a case against unidentified men on the complaint of state.
Meanwhile, a Shahbaz Rangers sepoy, Irfan, 34, son of Abdul Rehman, who injured on April 1 near Met office, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, succumbed to his injuries at private hospital on Wednesday. A police official said Irfan was crossing the road along with his wife, when unidentified men targeted him. Resultantly he received four bullets. Police shifted him to a private hospital where after three days of treatment, he breathed his last. The victim was posted in Shahbaz Rangers, Sukkur.
Police have registered an FIR against unidentified men on the complaint of victims wife. The victim was the father of two children and police have initiated a probe into the case.
In yet another incident, an owner of PCO was shot dead at his shop near Al Asif Square within the precincts of Sohrab Goth police station. The incident took place at a PCO situated at the backside of Al Asif Square, where 32-year-old Noroz Khan was sitting, when unidentified armed men opened fire on him. Resultantly he received bullet injuries and died on the spot. The body was shifted to ASH for medico legal formalities.
SHO Abdul Ghaffar Jumani said the victim was the resident of same area where the incident took place. The victim hailed from Afghanistan. The victims family gave statement to police that the victim had some enmity in his community that might be the motive behind the incident. Later, police handed over his body to the heirs.
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Kremlin critics and Russian bloggers mercilessly mocked President Dmitry Medvedev after microphones broadcast him promising to "transmit" a message from President Obama to Vladimir Putin.
"I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir," Medvedev was heard saying in English to Obama in a "hot-mike" exchange that has already caused a stir in the United States.
Medvedev was responding to a pledge by Obama that the United States will be more flexible on some bilateral issues such as missile defense once, as he expects, he is re-elected.
Russian bloggers immediately circulated Medvedev's phrase on Twitter, mocking Medvedev for his apparent admission that all information needs to go through the all-powerful Russian number one Putin.
Opposition movement leader Alexei Navalny tweeted, "Today, let's all respond to every tweet: 'I will transmit this to Vladimir'."
"Vladimiru", Russian for "to Vladimir", became a worldwide Twitter trend in a matter of a couple of hours Tuesday morning as bloggers used it as a universal response to any sort of statement.
"I am Dima, I don't want to make any decisions. I will transmit to Vladimir," tweeted @sult, using the familiar form of Dmitry.
Bloggers spread an image of Putin answering his cell phone in the country side, with the caption, "Hello, I am Vladimir. Did anyone transmit anything to me?"
Medvedev has never able to shake off his reputation as a president who is not in control. Last September similar footage made its way onto the Internet of Medvedev pushing finance minister Alexei Kudrin to quit at a government meeting, to which Kudrin replied "I will consult with the prime minister."
#4
Yeah, this is funny and mockable. But I care less about Dima being Vlad's messenger boy and more about my Prez thinking he will have more flexibility to sell our country out after he is re-elected.
#11
Putin and Medvedev go to a restaurant. Putin orders steak. The waiter says, "Very good, sir, and for the vegetable?". "The vegetable will also have the steak."
THE HAGUE, Netherlands: The International Criminal Court has told Libyan authorities to surrender former dictator Muammar Qaddafi's son -- wanted by the permanent tribunal for crimes against humanity.
If I were running Libya, my answer would be a curt 'no'. I'd tell the ICC that as a sovereign country, Libya is perfectly capable of trying and executing a man who had murdered many of his countrymen. I would then accuse the Euros of being imperialists for implying that Libya can't dispense justice. Then I'd watch the Euros squirm...
Yes, but you are devious and cynical, unlike the simple, well-armed Libyan rebels, who firmly believe all they've been told about international organizations.
Seif Al-Islam Qaddafi was arrested in November by rebel fighters in Libya's remote southern desert, and has been held largely without access to the outside world since then.
Libyan authorities say they plan to put him on trial, and -- despite requests from The Hague -- have so far taken no action to hand him over.
Hmm... Perhaps I was wrong about their simplicity.
In a written ruling published Wednesday, judges at the court rejected a request by Libya to postpone handing over Seif and urged the country's rulers to "proceed immediately with the surrender."
Seif's father also was indicted by the court but was killed by rebel fighters in October.
The Libyans are gonna wish they'd just whacked Seif by the time this is over.
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Joaquin Loera Guzman discussed attacking US buildings in Mexico City to "send the gringos a message", according to Mexican and English language news and official accounts.
Transcripts of wiretaps of conversations among Loera Guzman, known by his Mexican alias El Chapo, or Shorty, and a recently extradited associate, Jesus Zambada Garcia AKA El Rey or The King, Margarito Flores, a presumed Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) informant and others revealed that Loera Guzman was frustrated enough by US law enforcement efforts against his drug empire to discuss committing acts of terrorist violence against US interests in Mexico City, including US legations and consulates.
Loera Guzman is now easily the number one Mexican drug trafficker, with narcotics operations that stretch from South America and into the United States. His group is the Sinaloa drug cartel which last year formalized an alliance with the Gulf Cartel, and moved drug shipping operations from the west coast to the east coast.
The Sinaloa and Gulf cartels, according to Twitter and other informal accounts have recently moved into the Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulpas border crossing in a bid to end Los Zetas dominance in the area.
Jesus Lambada was arrested in October 2008 in Matamoros, Tamaulipas. He was one of the leaders of the Pacifico cartel, a west coast drug gang with ties to the Sinaloa Cartel and with other minor drug gangs including Jalisco Nueva Gente, the group which lost two of its top leaders to Mexican Army counternarcotics operations last month in Jalisco state.
Jesus Lambada is expected to stand trial in New York.
The Pacifico Cartel fell apart with the death of Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel at the hands of Mexican Army operatives in the fall of 2010.
Wiretapped conversations in December 2008 included another drug trafficker, Ismael Zambada-Garcia, telling Flores to contact men in America coming back from the war, to try to gain American weapons, big American weapons like rocket launchers. and not one, but 10 or even 20 units.
Flores then attempted to contact his DEA handler to provide black market prices so that he would appear knowledgeable about US weapons.
One of the hallmarks of drug cartels attempting to use explosives and bombings against specific targets has been their inability to acquire sufficiently high quality explosives to do the job. The La Linea car bomb in Juarez in July of 2010 used Tovex, which is a commercial grade dynamite used in mining. Other car bombs, particularly in the east coast of Mexico have made use of gunpowder from fireworks and hand grenades tied to car fuel tanks.
La Linea is the enforcement wing of the Juarez cartel.
The only other car bomb to have caused injury during the six months following the Juarez car bomb took place in San Luis Potosi state in the fall of 2010, when a local police chief was killed.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Dug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
#2
Also pissing off the one country that has the drone capability to consistently drone-zap your leadership the moment you get defined as a major terrorist threat. Right now, we try to arrest and try the Cartel bigwigs, if they set themselves up as the Mexican Taliban, then we can just start feeding them Hellfires, Mexican national airspace be damned.
An official from the militant Hamas group that rules Gaza says the Islamic Palestinian movement will start choosing its secretive, decision-making council and its administrative leadership this week.
The official said on Wednesday that the process should be completed by the end of the month.
AFP - Arab youth and sports ministers on Wednesday announced their boycott of sports apparel manufacturer Adidas over the company's sponsorship of last month's Jerusalem marathon.
"All companies that have sponsored the marathon of Jerusalem, including Adidas, will be boycotted," said Saudi Prince Nawaf bin Faisal, chairman of the Arab youth and sports council of ministers, after a meeting in Jeddah.
Prince Nawaf told a presser the ministers also agreed to organise a separate marathon next year to coincide with the annual Jerusalem event.
Entitled "Jerusalem is Ours", that event will take place in cities throughout the Arab world next March.
"Israel is trying to misguide public opinion into believing that Jerusalem is its capital and that is a violation of all UN resolutions," added Nawaf.
Around 15,000 runners participated in the March 16 International Jerusalem Marathon, which sparked controversy because part of the route passed through Arab east Jerusalem.
Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the rest of the world.
The Jewish state considers Jerusalem its eternal and indivisible capital, a claim not recognised by the international community. The Paleostinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state.
#3
They been smoking the Adihash, makes 'em thinks their brains is fast with the illusion they're real quick on their feet, or is it the other way round, don't know, they got me fooled.
Gulliver Energy granted first-ever domestic permit to explore for radioactive metallic element
The Water and Energy Ministry has granted Gulliver Energy a domestic uranium exploration permit, Ynet learned Tuesday.
The company, headed by former Mossad Chief Meir Dagan, will dig for the radioactive metallic element in the Negev.
It's good to give former intelligence heads something to do to keep busy and out of trouble.
The permit given to Gulliver Energy is the first of its kind. Ministry sources said that the license was not exclusive and that other companies can bid for uranium exploration permits as well.
A blurb by Gulliver Energy said that the company's permit, allotted for a period of one year, will allow it to explore for uranium across 12,000 acres stretching between Arad and Sodom.
A feasibility study done in the area suggests that there is a good chance that there radioactive elements can be found there.
Initial testing was done at shallow depth and the company plans to conduct further testing, in various depths, in order to explore the type of elements in the ground.
#1
12000 acres is not much. 12000/640(acre/sq mile) = 18.75 sections.
or about half the size of a cousin's hard scrabble ranch.
sneeze and you will miss it.
good luck...
Posted by: Water Modem ||
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Israel is expanding the reach of its Iron Dome rocket interceptors to make do with fewer given the prospect of reduced financial support from a cash-strapped United States, a senior Israeli official said on Wednesday.
Better to live within one's means than take gifts with handcuffs attached.
The US Congress approved $205 million for Iron Dome in fiscal year 2011, which ended on Sept. 30, and President Barack Obama I inhaled. That was the point... 's administration said on March 27 it would seek "an appropriate level of funding" for further acquisitions.
Israel has deployed three of the systems, which helped fend off Paleostinian rocket salvoes during a flare-up in fighting around the Gazoo Strip last month, and has spoken of needing 13 or 14 in total to protect its various fronts.
But a senior Israeli official said that full deployment could be reduced thanks to planned advances in Iron Dome, which uses small radar-guided missiles to blow up Katyusha-style rockets with ranges of between 5 km and 70 km, as well as mortar bombs, in mid-air.
The official, who briefed a small group of journalists on condition of anonymity, predicted an increased interception range of up to 250 km, as well as more flexible aiming of Iron Dome units, which cost around $50 million each.
"You could post it in the Dan region (greater Tel Aviv area) and it would have enough range in either direction, both north and south," the official said, referring to Israel's borders with Leb and Gazoo, territories where Islamist guerrillas have sizeable rocket arsenals.
Iron Dome's manufacturer, state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., said last month that the government had ordered seven units so far. The company is also developing David's Sling, also known as Magic Wand, an interceptor designed to shoot down longer-range rockets and cruise missiles.
As a safeguard against enemy ballistic missiles of the kind held by Iran and Syria, Israel has also deployed Arrow, which carries out interceptions at atmospheric altitudes.
Like Iron Dome and David's Sling, Arrow has been extensively underwritten by the United States, which is keen to show its support for Israel in the face of an Iranian nuclear program that Israel has described as a mortal threat.
The Israeli official anticipated that talks with the United States on a "new round" of missile-defense funding would be completed in two or three months.
While praising American largesse, the official said US planners had asked Israel to "point out honestly where the upper limit is in terms of what can be implemented" with Iron Dome.
Summarising Washington's message, the official said: "We don't want to give money for the sake of it, we are deep in (fiscal) challenges ourselves."
#3
The missiles are expensive, but cheaper than high rises and schools full of people. This is one of those systems that you just have to bloody fund if you live where the Israelis live. And if it means chopping away at discretionary spending, then do that; because not to build enough of these interceptors is consigning your cities to destruction at the hands of Arab terrorists and their Iranian paymasters.
#4
They are planning on a war where they'll be defending on three fronts (Gaza + Lebanon + Syria = 100,000 explosive things flying at them) while flying over the fronts to bounce some rubble in Iran, guys. It's possible their resources are stretched a bit thin at the moment. They've retrofitted enough buildings to get 75% of the population under cover when the time comes, and most of the population has gas masks, should Syria and Hizb'allah crack out the WMDs they acquired for the purpose.
This is in response to the hint of yet another broken promise from our beloved president.
#7
US support for Israel's missile defense program is, IIUC, considered a big success in the US DOD.
It has essentially allowed testing multiple platforms, devices, targeting algorithms, etc. in a way that the Pentagon could never have done by itself. The improvement in missile defense is of not just tactical but also strategic importance as the US and Europe will face missile threats of various kinds over the next decades.
Posted by: lord garth ||
04/05/2012 7:42
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#8
Right from the start critics said that Iron Dome is too expensive. I think they are right.
Cheaper to let people be murdered, right?
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
04/05/2012 9:55
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#9
Yes, on stupid kikes who keep believing Amurican promises.
What? Free isn't good enough for you? You have to make a profit on top of it?
Israelis, Egyptians and Palestinians have cost Americans dearly for 40 years. In money, lost economic opportunity and dead lives. All three of you can pay for your own damn intrigues or good riddance to the lot of you.
Cheaper still to bomb their enemies territory into pea gravel and matchsticks. Or, uncork a few physics packages on some major population centers. Way past time for that. It's coming though.
1. Israel has deployed three of the systems
2. said last month that the government had ordered seven units so far.
3. Iron Dome units, which cost around $50 million each.
4. The US Congress approved $205 million for Iron Dome in fiscal year 2011
Yeah, the US taxpayer just paid 100% of the cost for the 4 units just ordered.
In addition, after accounting for any US components already paid with the $3B/year US mil aid dollars and the taxes the the 4 units generate, the Israeli government makes quite a tidy profit. And that doesn't even get into foreign sales.
Same for a lot of other US funded projects like the Arrow or cancelled Lavi where the American tax money spent generated more in Israeli taxes than Israel's contribution to the project. OK, not the same, since the Israelis made extra money by selling the Lavi design to the Chinese.
#18
That's a neocon fetish, isn't it? Again with American tax money.
You're sounding a bit stereotypical, Shimble Guelph5793. Nowadays neocon is generally used as shorthand for American Jew, but possibly you were not aware of that,
You summarized the numerical details of the article nicely. However, the overall thrust is that the funding the Israeli government was led to expect will not be made available because America, for tactfully unmentioned reasons, can no longer afford it. And so, Israel will make do. As lord garth pointed out, for reasons of its own the USDoD considers the monies well and profitably spent, which the article also tactfully did not mention. Nor that a good part of the reason Israel finds itself in this position is that the current, non-neocon White House has worked both overtly and covertly to prevent Israel from in any way acting to defend itself against Iran and Iran's allies in the region.
Let me ask you this: is America getting better or worse value for their donations to Israel compared to Egypt, Pakistan, Afghanistan, or Germany? How about Korea or Japan? In which of those countries is an American in uniform welcome?
You're sounding a bit stereotypical, Shimble Guelph5793. Nowadays neocon is generally used as shorthand for American Jew, but possibly you were not aware of that,
I am aware. Sometimes I get tired of gromguru's Juden Uber Alle attitude, especially when it's on America's dime. I won't let a comment like this
Go and build a nation somewhere---if possible, far away from where I live.
pass and not remind him who were the most passionate advocates of the disastrous policy of nation building. $2 trillion and 6000 American lives plus hundereds of British and other allies lives, and counting, down a rat hole. Best and brightest indeed. And now we can't one of them to accept the responsibility for their actions.
You summarized the numerical details of the article nicely. However, the overall thrust is that the funding the Israeli government was led to expect will not be made available because America, for tactfully unmentioned reasons, can no longer afford it. And so, Israel will make do.
So how how about a thank you to America for shelling out an additional $200 million this year that we can't afford and keep the whining off an American forum? It sounds so ... Palestinian. It is not America's responsibility to buy Israel the latest and shiniest weapons, though somehow, we seem to shoulder that burden too. If it is so important for Israelis, how about they pay for some of it? Why are Americans footing this year's entire buy? Are Americans expected to foot the entire cost of next year's buy? The next after that?
??????????????
When the Chicoms took power they reneged on all the bonds China owed, a lot of it used to build their railroad system. The present value owed to Americans is around $350 billion.
The same, in reverse, will happen when the Chinese decide to go war to kick the Americans out of the eastern Pacific.
LANDIKOTAL/Islamabad: A remote-controlled bomb attack killed seven people and injured another two on Wednesday in Jamrud tehsil of Khyber Agency. Two tribal elders were also among the deceased.
Officials said a passenger vehicle was targeted in Kharkiabad Jaba area of tehsil Jamrud. Sources said that the double-cabin passenger truck (P 4311) was on its way to Jamrud Bazaar from Gunj Gari when the roadside bomb exploded. Seven people were killed on the spot. Two people received fatal injuries and were rushed to the Bara Headquarters Hospital and the Hayatabad Medical Complex.
Jamrud Assistant Political Agent Muhammad Jamil confirmed the incident and said that it seemed to be a target killing. Locals and Khasadar officials said all the deceased were relatives and had been supplying goods to NATO forces in Afghanistan. A Khasadar official, requesting not to be named, said that some of the deceased had been receiving threats for allegedly supplying goods to NATO. No one has claimed the responsibility for the attack so far.
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VICTORIA - A U.S. drone crash-landed at the Seychelles main airport and careered
Layers of fact and spell checking at Roooters...
So true. But in this case it's the fact that they're British, and speak a different language.
into the ocean on Wednesday, the second remotely piloted MQ-9 Reaper aircraft to crash on the Indian Ocean archipelago in four months.
Sure it crashed. It was a long flight. Went straight to bed. Next morning it woke up, emptied the hotel room mini-fridge, swallowed some aspirins and meandered down to the beach to sleep it off...
The Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) said the aircraft had technical problems soon after taking off and tried to land at Seychelles International Airport on the main island of Mahe.
"It touched down on the runway and bounced a few times before ending (in) the sea at the extreme southern end of the runway," the SCAA said in a statement.
Who the hell put an ocean at the end of the runway?
A Reuters witness said police prevented reporters from entering a public area next to the end of the runway.
"You there! No loitering in a public area!"
There was no immediate comment from the U.S. embassy and it was not clear what the drone's mission had been.
Basic flight safety training for the Seychellean air force?
A classified U.S. diplomatic cable dated 2009 showed that unmanned aircraft carried out missions over Somalia and the Horn of Africa from the Seychelles. Local officials say drones based in the archipelago are also tracking pirates in regional waters.
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#1
Some joystick jockey is in hot water for this. He might get his breakroom privileges revoked.
#2
D *** NG IT, it may NOT had crashed iff it had been Nukulaar ...
To wit,
* RENSE > BUILDING NUCLEAR DRONES - COULD STAY ALOFT FOR MONTHS [Years?] | [Guardian.UK] US DRAWS UP PLANS FOR NUCLEAR DRONES.
SOLYNDRA, etc. FAILURES = ditto as per SOLAR-POWERED DRONES???
versus
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > AS DRONES RISE, A MANNED FIGHTER FALLS.
* INDIAN DEFENCE FORUM > SECRET US NUCLEAR DRONE PLAN NIXED BY POLITICAL REALITIES .
Artic read, US Budget $$$ woes.
Lest we fergit, INDIA = wants to dev an LCS-styled NT Surface Warship that can also submerge + operate like a UW Submarine - FLY??? NOT TO ARGUE THEY WILL, BUT KUDOS TO INDJUH ARE APPROPRIATE AS THEY WANT TO INVESIGATE + DEV THE CONCEPT.
Don't read or hear, etc. the USA + USDOD-DARPA saying to do the same thing.
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#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Élodie Bouchez (French) aka Isabelle 'Isa' Tostin in "The Dreamlife of Angels (1998)" aka Maïté Alvarez in "Les roseaux sauvages (Wild Reeds) (1994) " aka Marlene in "CQ (2001)" aka Louise in "Louise (Take 2) (1998)" aka Juliette in "Too Much Flesh (2000)" aka Cécile in "Je déteste les enfants des autres (I Hate My Best Friends' Kids) (2007)" (age 40)
French police rounded up 10 suspected radical Islamists in their second countrywide sweep in several days Wednesday, leading to criticism that President Nicolas Sarkozy ...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... is ramping up raids to win votes in a tight election.
The arrests are part of a high-profile crackdown in the wake of attacks on soldiers and a Jewish school. They were carried out as part of a preliminary investigation opened Monday into terror-linked activity in La Belle France, a judicial official said.
Elite French police nabbed at least eight suspected Islamists in early morning raids on Wednesday in several cities, including Marseille, a police source said.
Another official close to the investigation said the 10 were suspected of links to bully boy websites and of threatening violence in online forums. Some of them may have been trying to attend bully boy training camps along the Afghan-Pakistain border, he added. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity, citing policy. The operation was led by La Belle Frances counterespionage agency, DCRI, and targeted people authorities feared could turn to action, instead of just issuing idle threats, according to the judicial official. Police seized computer hardware in the raids. The raids in five cities, mostly in southern La Belle France, were the second in several days and appeared to be part of a new focus on rooting out radical Death Eaters in La Belle France.
Police have arrested seven suspects thought to be involved in the deadly bomb attacks across southern Thailand on Saturday.
In the Hat Yai bomb incident, Narathiwat police said three of the suspects surrendered after a combined military-police team surrounded a house at a village in Rueso district yesterday. A task force had been sent to the house following a tip that suspects might be using it as their hideout.
The three - Dulloh Haseng Yamaska, 50, Abdul Asis Hatama, 41, and Adnan Duramae, 31 - emerged from the house after a half-hour of negotiations with the officials.
Police said they found a pickup truck belonging to the head nurse of a local hospital in Yala province during a search of the property. The nurse was killed in an Oct 19, 2011 attack. The truck was allegedly stolen by her attackers. The license plate of the pickup truck had been found on a stolen Honda which was used to carry one of the bombs at the Hat Yai hotel.
The arrest of the two other suspects in the Hat Yai bomb attack was announced at a separate press conference in Bangkok by national police chief Priewpan Damapong earlier yesterday. Pol Gen Priewpan declined to reveal their identities but said the two were being interrogated.
He said, "Preliminary findings from the investigation show there are 20 others who were involved in the attack."
Pol Gen Priewpan's disclosure came as military and police officers continued their hunt for suspected bomb plotter Jehma Wani and a suspected bomb maker identified only as Mr Baeyu. Both are suspected of being behind Saturday's car park bombing.
Police investigators called Mr Jehma a former Islamic teacher and soldier and a hardcore terrorist insurgent. They said Mr Baeyu is a reclusive bomb maker. They believe both were trained to make bombs in a foreign country and are transferring their knowledge to terrorists insurgents in southern border provinces.
The car park bomb killed three, injured hundreds more and caused heavy damage to the hotel. The car that supposedly carried 50-60 kilograms of radio-detonated explosives was deliberately parked on the third basement parking floor which is the middle floor of five underground floors of the hotel. The blast was meant to create maximum impact to vehicles parked on other parking floors to trigger chain explosions.
Meanwhile, security officials are closing in on some suspects thought to be responsible for the bombings in Pattani and Yala provinces on Saturday.
Pol Maj Gen Pichet Pitisetpan yesterday brought to the press a male bombing suspect identified as Samlee Huluduereh, 34.
The man was arrested at his wife's house in Pattani province. Security officials confiscated from him a 100-meter length of cable, a set of pliers, nails and a mobile phone.
The suspect was identified from recordings of six surveillance cameras, witnesses' accounts and a record of his cell phone use. He is thought to be the man who detonated a bomb-laden motorcycle in front of a food shop in Pattani province on Saturday. The blast injured a senior police officer and damaged property.
Mr Samlee denied involvement in the bombing.
Investigators questioned a 22-year-old suspect identified as Anuwat Tohjeh about the bombings in Yala province on Saturday. The man had allegedly driven a vehicle following a bomb-laden pickup truck before the first car bomb went off. Police identified the man from recordings of surveillance cameras. He denied any involvement in the blast.
On Tuesday, soldiers, police and local administrators searched Ban Pongruerai village in Yala province and found what were believed to be components of improvised explosive devices.
Interviews with the senior leadership on both sides of the North-South border continue to show that neither side believes that a full-scale open war is in its interest. But, as history in Sudan and elsewhere has shown, just because politicians and generals believe that conflict is better avoided, doesnt mean that it can't break out in the near future. The longer the impasse lasts and the more the hardliners in Khartoum and Juba gain influence, the less likely it is that peace can be maintained.
#2
grom - Kuwait and a couple of the smaller Emirates seem to meet the criteria at the moment, but that's about it, even for Muslims with Muslim neighbors.
ISLAMABAD: Former ambassador to the United State (US) Husain Haqqani on Wednesday submitted an application before the memo commission to adjourn Thursday's (today) hearing owing to his health.
The former ambassador submitted the application through his counsel Syed Zahid Husain Bokhari. Haqqani stated that he was undergoing cardiac treatment. He also stated that he was scheduled for an MRI/CT scan at the National Institutes of Health on April 4. Haqqani also submitted a certificate from the practice administrator, Cardiology Center of the US.
Haqqani's lawyer said the US doctors have found Haqqani to have symptoms of crescendo angina and have advised thorough investigation and tests. Doctors advised Haqqani that he should consult his cardiologist as soon as possible, he added.
The counsel said Husain Haqqani had also attached a copy of a letter from Arshad Rehan, MO, the Fairfield Cardiovascular Associates.
On March 31 the memo commission had summoned the former ambassador to record his statement.
ISLAMABAD: Reacting to the US bounty on Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Pakistan on Wednesday said the United States must provide concrete evidence if it wanted Islamabad to act against Saeed.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said Islamabad would rather be presented with evidence about Hafiz Saeed than have a public discussion on the matter. In a democratic country like Pakistan, where judiciary is independent, evidence against anyone must withstand judicial scrutiny, the spokesman added in a statement.
The United States on Monday slapped a $10 million bounty on Hafiz Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, the banned organisation accused of masterminding the carnage that killed 166 people in Mumbai four years ago. The reward was announced by US Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman in India on Monday.
Paks don't want to turn him over? Make the bounty $20 million...
Meanwhile, Saeed made a defiant public appearance mocking his US bounty. He said he was ready to face any American court to answer charges. The 62-year-old former engineering and Arabic professor appeared on stage at a specially-convened press conference in the Flashman Hotel, close to the headquarters of the Pakistan Army in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. If the United States wants to contact me, I am present, they can contact me. I am also ready to face any American court, or wherever there is proof against me, he told reporters in the hotel named after a fictional colonial hero.
Saeed lives openly in Pakistan and has spent recent months making a number of high-profile appearances at demonstrations calling on the government not to reopen NATO supply lines to Afghanistan, which have been closed since November.
He mocked the idea of offering a bounty for someone who lives so openly. Americans seriously lack information. Dont they know where I go and where I live and what I do? he said. These rewards are usually announced for people who are hiding in mountains or caves. I wish the Americans would give this reward money to me. The US decision is aimed at silencing the Defence Council of Pakistan and to ensure resumption of supplies through backdoor channels and increase interference in Pakistan, he said.
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White House officials held talks with representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood in Washington this week, as the Islamist group threw itself into the fray in Egypt's presidential election.
The meeting on Tuesday with low-level National Security Council staff was part of a series of US efforts to broaden engagement with new and emerging political parties following Egypt's revolution last year, a US official said.
The White House pointed out that Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain, and other US lawmakers and officials had also met with Brotherhood representatives in Egypt and elsewhere in recent months.
That's different. Congress-critters from both parties do that from time to time, and it can be a useful way to deliver a quiet message. But you don't invite an adversary like the Muslim Brotherhood to the White House.
"We believe that it is in the interest of the United States to engage with all parties that are committed to democratic principles, especially nonviolence," said National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor. "In all our conversations with these groups, we emphasize the importance of respect for minority rights, the full inclusion of women, and our regional security concerns."
The Muslim Brotherhood's political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, said on Saturday it would nominate Khairat al-Shater, a professor of engineering and business tycoon, to contest Egypt's first presidential election since a popular uprising ousted Hosni Mubarak last year.
The Islamists, who control parliament, had repeatedly said they would not put forward a member for the election in order to mitigate fears that they were trying to monopolize power.
They lied, of course. Wonder what they promised at the White House?
Of course. Lying is required, when dealing with unbelievers. Or even with believers, to smooth things over. It must get awfully crowded in their heads.
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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - A Saudi Foreign Ministry official says Iraqs fugitive vice president has arrived in the kingdom after a four-day official visit to neighboring Qatar.
He's not going home any time soon. Might soon find him in Idi Amin's guest house...
Iraq has issued an arrest warrant for Tariq al-Hashemi on terror charges and called on Qatar to extradite him so he can stand trial in Baghdad. Qatar refused the request.
The Saudi official says al-Hashemi arrived in the country on Wednesday and is meeting with the kingdoms Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter with the press.
Al-Hashemi is the top Sunni official in Iraqs Shia-dominated government. He has been taken refuge in the self-ruled Kurdish region in northern Iraq since the December arrest warrant.
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* Top US diplomat says relationship that respects Pakistain's interests, represents US concerns can be achieved
* 'Too much at stake for us to turn away from each other'
* Gilani says relations must be based on mutual respect, interest
ISLAMABAD: A top US diplomat on a fence-mending visit said on Wednesday that Pakistain had to address US concerns about security, calling for a "balanced" relationship that worked through the countries' differences.
Deputy Secretary of State Tom Nides held talks with Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and other cabinet ministers as part of a gradual process designed to reset relations that nose-dived over a series of crises in 2011.
"We believe that we can achieve a balanced approach in a relationship that respects Pakistain's illusory sovereignty and interests but also represents our concerns about our national security," said Nides.
"Too much is at stake for us to turn away from each other, so we must work through all of these challenges," he added.
Gilani said relations "must be based on mutual respect and mutual interest".
He said that "new rules of engagement" between Pakistain, the US, NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... and its US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan "must respect illusory sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistain".
"We can achieve our objective, peace and stability in region, and Afghan reconciliation through greater cooperation and on the basis of mutual trust," Gilani was quoted as saying in a statement from his office.
The prime minister said the ongoing parliamentary review offered an unprecedented opportunity to bring transparency and credibility to the rules of engagement with the US, NATO and ISAF. Separately, Nides also called on President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... at the Governor's House in Lahore.
The president said that for long-term and sustained Pak-US ties, it was important that the relationship was based on transparency, mutual respect and mutual interest.
Zardari said that Pakistain attached great importance to its relationship with the US and the two countries had mutuality of interests to pursue. He said the government was awaiting the parliamentary review to reset its ties with Washington. Nides said the US recognised Pakistain's role in the fight against terrorism and wanted to restore multifaceted cooperation and relationship with Pakistain. He said rebuilding the trust and confidence between the two countries was essential to pursuing common objectives.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Nunzio had his hands full of angry bleached blonde... the two countries also agreed to go beyond security-related relations and promote public-private partnership in business and trade ties.
The agreement came during a meeting between Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh and Thomas Nides.
In a joint news conference, they said Pakistain and the US wanted to expand their economies and provide jobs to their citizens.
Sheikh said Pak-US relationship was going through a tough phase, adding that the two sides were working together to overcome these difficulties and start a new chapter.
Most coups, and certainly most that succeed, are the result of plans carefully constructed by determined plotters. That evidently was not the case with last month's coup in Mali.
[AFP] - The United States charged the self-proclaimed criminal mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, along with four alleged plotters on Wednesday, vowing to seek the death penalty in a much-awaited military trial.
"The charges allege that the five accused are responsible for the planning and execution of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, in New York and Washington DC, and Shanksville, Pa., resulting in the killing of 2,976 people," the Defense Department said in a statement.
"The convening authority referred the case to a capital military commission, meaning that, if convicted, the five accused could be sentenced to death."
KSM, along with Walid bin Attash of Soddy Arabia, Yemen's Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Pakistain's Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali -- also known as Ammar al-Baluchi -- and Mustafa al-Hawsawi of Soddy Arabia will appear in court for arraignment proceedings within 30 days.
The trial, which could be months away, will be held at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the US government has set up military commissions to try terror suspects.
#1
Was that in response to the July meetings where our dumb ass leaders went over and told them we would be invading by October to help the women and children or was it for the towers. Why does the generals men look like girls and how about that women loving Karzai what a prize!
KABUL: A suicide bomber blew himself up at a park yesterday in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 10 people, including three NATO service members, officials said, the latest in a string of attacks as spring fighting season gets under way.
Abdul Satar Barez, deputy governor of Faryab, said the attack occurred about 10:30 a.m. near a park in downtown Maimanah. The bomber was riding a motorcycle when he detonated his explosives at the gate of the park in Maimanah, the capital of Faryab province, police spokesman Lal Mohammad Ahmad Zai said. It was not clear what was targeted, but he said four of those killed were police officers.
Associated Press video footage of the scene of the attack showed what appear to be dead Afghan civilians, police and foreign troops at the explosion site. Body parts were strewn around the gate and on the ground and blood was spattered everywhere.
Faryab is relatively calm, but it is considered to be a stronghold of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, or IMU, an Al-Qaeda affiliated group that has been most active in the northern provinces of Afghanistan.
On March 26, a joint Afghan and coalition force killed the groups leader in Afghanistan, Makhdum Nusrat and detained two other insurgents. The coalition said Nusrat had been leading attacks against Afghan and coalition troops in the north for the past eight months and had been plotting the assassination of a member of Parliament in Kabul.
NATO said three of its service members were killed in a bombing yesterday in northern Afghanistan. It provided no other details about the attack or the nationalities of the three and did not confirm a link to the Maimanah attack. It was the only attack in the north yesterday.
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#1
As spring fighting season gets under way, The Inconceivably Holy Lions of Islam can only bide their time (murdering infidels, beating female family members, and buggering dancing boys) salivating in anticipation of Opening Day.
*shrug* Every day the PA doesn't make peace is a day they lose more territory. Enjoy your consequences, guys.
(Ma'an) -- The Paleostinian presidency on Wednesday condemned Israel's issuing of tenders for hundreds of new settler homes near Bethlehem.
Israel's Housing Ministry published tenders on Tuesday for 827 new houses in illegal settlement Har Homa, between East Jerusalem and Bethlehem, Israeli daily Haaretz reported.
The new settler neighborhood will extend Har Homa to the south and east towards Beit Sahour, the report said. Director of Israeli rights group Ir Amim Judith Oppenheimer told the daily the construction would make permanent the separation between Bethlehem and Jerusalem.
Paleostinian presidency front man Nabil Abu Rudeineh said the decision "does not encourage the resumption of negotiations," official PA news agency Wafa reported.
He called on the international community, and the Middle East Quartet ... The Quartet are the UN (xylophone), the United States (alto), the European Union (soprano), and Russia (shortstop). The group was established in Madrid in 2002 by former Spanish Prime Minister Aznar, as a result of the escalating conflict in the Middle East. Tony Blair is the Quartet's current Special Envoy.... in particular, to stop Israeli settlement building in the interests of peace.
The last round of direct peace negotiations collapsed in September 2010 when Netanyahu refused to extend a partial freeze on illegal settlement building.
Israeli and PLO envoys held five meetings in Amman in January, but the preliminary talks failed to yield full scale negotiations.
Next wee, a delegation of Paleostinian officials will deliver a letter from President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... to Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu to outline the PLO's position on the grinding of the peace processor, a presidential adviser said Wednesday.
India on April 4 formally inducted a Russian-made nuclear-powered Nerpa attack submarine to its navy at a ceremony in the eastern city of Visakhapatnam. India thereby joins an elite club of nations having submarines capable of deploying nuclear weapons.
#1
thereby joins an elite club of nations having submarines capable of deploying nuclear weapons.
Yes, but is it capable of having an equal number of submergences and surfaces? that is the real question.
#2
Normally, extended warranties are a sucker's game, but in this case, might be justified.
But why are the Indians buying Rooski boats? Can't they get real ones somewhere? I know they have a history of buying commie stuff, but they also have an indigenous (and growing) arms industry.
Indian subs would seem a nice counterweight to the Chinee mil expansion.
#3
There are only 5 major producers of nuclear submarines in the world: US, UK, France, Russia, and China. No way in hell would I get on a Chinese nuke boat, and the Chinese are not going to sell one to the Indians. US, UK, and France all have major socialist groups that are trying to get rid of their nuke boats at home. The Russians have poor quality control but they are willing to sell or lease the boat to the Indians. Nuke surface vessels are a bitch to get right, let alone reducing the size of the power plant to fit inside a submarine.
#5
Because only an idiot, or somebody who has no choice, sticks with a single arms supplier.
Evidence Exhibit A: Please examine the wide diversity of Naval Tactical Airpower on any CV.
( Hint: it looks like a lawn dart)
But the Name Which Must Not Be Spoken is the Swiss Army Knife of airplanes. It replaces Intruders, Tomcats, Prowlers and a pair of them can serve the tanker role, much like a pair of African swallows can carry a coconut between them with a strand of creeper. Heck, the NWMNBS even replaces the venerable Hornet!
#7
SteveS; you forgot the original platform that was the rational for the NWMNBS: the A-7 Corsair.
not sure i wanna see a drop tank suspended between a pair of Swallows, African or otherwise.... :)
WASHINGTON: The United States issued charges on Wednesday against the self-proclaimed criminal mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, along with four alleged plotters, setting the stage for a much-awaited military trial. Mohammed and the other four are accused of planning and executing the September 11, 2001, hijacked airliner attacks that killed 2,976 people in New York, Washington and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. They are accused of conspiring with al Qaeda leader the late Osama bin Laden ... who has won the race to that place where we all eventually end up... and other members of the group.
The official overseeing the Guantanamo tribunals, retired Vice Admiral Bruce MacDonald, referred the case to a capital military tribunal on charges of terrorism, hijacking aircraft, conspiracy, murder in violation of the law of war, attacking civilians and other counts, the Pentagon said. The decision to move to trial in a military court follows years of political and legal wrangling over whether terrorism suspects like Mohammed and his alleged co-conspirators should be tried in civilian courts as criminals or before military courts as enemy combatants.
Asked on Wednesday about the decision to proceed to trial, White House front man Jay Carney said, "It has been more than 10 years since 9/11 and the president is committed to ensuring that those who were accused of perpetrating the attacks against the United States be brought to justice."
The referral of charges comes one year after the administration abandoned efforts to try the five before a civilian court near the site of the World Trade Centre attack, as US President Barack Obama The campaign's over, John... had promised, and shifted the case to a military tribunal at Guantanamo.
TRIPOLI - Libyan authorities warned on Wednesday that insecurity could cause a delay of elections for a constituent assembly and demanded an immediate halt to violence in the west of the country.
It's not stopping Afghanistan...
Lack of stability could affect the decision of holding elections on time, government spokesman Nasser al-Manaa told journalists in Tripoli.
He stressed that all government ministries were working towards holding the vote for constituent assembly as scheduled in June, but that continued violence could push the ruling National Transitional Council to push back the date.
Manaa urged Libyans not to resort to force to settle legitimate grievances and to leave matters of security and justice to the authorities.
Army chief Yussef Mangush said during the same news conference that the army was ready to impose a ceasefire with force if needed.
The interim government has struggled to impose its authority with several militias holding onto their arms and refusing to follow commands.
Freedom does not have to mean chaos and rights should not be claimed by picking up arms, Manaa stressed, urging all parties to act with restraint.
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CAIRO - An Egyptian court on Wednesday sentenced a 17-year-old Christian boy to three years in jail for publishing cartoons on his Facebook page that mocked Islam and the Prophet Mohammad, actions that sparked sectarian violence.
Gamal Abdou Massoud was also accused of distributing some of his cartoons to his school friends in a village in the southern city of Assiut, home to a large Christian population and the hometown of the late Coptic Orthodox Pope Shenouda.
"Assiut child's court ordered the jailing of Gamal Abdou Massoud ... for three years after he insulted Islam and published and distributed pictures that insulted Islam and its Prophet," the court said in a statement seen by Rooters.
The cartoons, published by Massoud in December, prompted some Mohammedans to attack Christians. Several Christian houses were burned and several Christians were maimed in the violence.
NYC police to deploy heavily armed roving counterterrorism units to Jewish neighborhoods during holiday
Happy Holiday. Your watchfulness will be highly appreciated.
The New York Police Department is beefing up security at the city's synagogues and other Jewish sites this week for the Passover holiday in the wake of a deadly attack on a religious school in La Belle France last month.
Authorities stressed that there have been no specific threats reported in the city for the weeklong holiday, which starts at sundown Friday.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said there would be heightened security and the deployment of heavily armed roving counterterrorism units.
"We'll ensure that coverage is more than adequate in those neighborhoods, adding foot posts, visits by officers to synagogues, outreach by community affairs officers, and a heightened presence of anti-crime," Kelly said Tuesday to a roomful of the city's Jewish leaders.
Kelly said the security measures were not related to the investigation of an online mock movie poster that warns that al-Qaeda wants to return to New York City. The poster surfaced early Monday, and came from a forum where known cut-throats have participated.
The department has kept a constant eye on myrmidon groups for signs they might attack in New York, which has the largest Jewish population outside of Israel. The city faces constant threats in al-Qaeda, the Hezbullies guerrilla group and so-called homegrown terrorists, Kelly said.
The NYPD dispatched extra patrols to more than 50 locations throughout New York last month on the news that an armed man on a cycle of violence had attacked a Jewish school in Toulouse, a southwestern city north of the Pyrenees Mountains. The shooting left a rabbi, his two young sons and a schoolgirl dead.
There were no specific threats against New York then, either, but the department decided to take the measures as a precaution.
The nation's largest police department also discussed with leaders that it took similar precautions in 2008 after Imad Mughniyeh, a senior Hezbullies commander, was killed in a car booming in Syria. The group blamed Israel for Mughniyeh's death.
A decade after the September 11 attacks, "we know that counterterrorism is now a permanent part of our mission," Kelly said at the briefing.
Rough men and women standing guard so New Yorkers sleep safely at night.
The Obama administration is petitioning Interpol to deny Egypts request for the arrest of American and other nongovernmental workers accused of illegally operating democracy programs and stirring unrest, in a push to prevent further escalation of the planned prosecution that sparked the worst crisis in U.S.-Egypt relations in three decades.
More smart diplomacy from Champ. We should have gotten these people out of Egypt just as soon as it became evident that there was trouble with the military government. Think the Muslim Brotherhood is going to treat our people any better?
According to people familiar with the case, State Department counsel Harold Koh and Justice Department Deputy Assistant Attorney General Bruce Swartz are trying to convince Interpol to dismiss as politically motivated Egypts request for worldwide notices seeking the arrest of some personnel from several nongovernmental organizations that receive U.S. funding.
Cairos continued plans to prosecute the NGO workers is a sharp rebuke to the U.S., which has been pressing Egypt to drop the criminal charges against 43 nongovernmental workers17 of them Americansfrom the Washington-based National Democratic Institute, International Republican Institute, Freedom House, and International Center for Journalists.
They may all be legitimate as far as we're concerned, but it's becoming clear that a fair bit of the rest of the world doesn't like -- or is learning not to like -- our quangos. This is why we should have had them registered as diplomats, and had them abide by diplomatic rules of engagement and procedure.
Tensions between Washington and Cairo eased on March 1 when seven American democracy workers were allowed to leave Egypt after their institutions paid some $5 million in bail to lift the travel ban against them. These Americansincluding IRIs Sam LaHood, son of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHoodstill face charges in a trial slated to resume on Tuesday, but are not currently wanted for arrest in Egypt.
Shortly after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton signed off on military aid to Cairo, Egypt asked Interpol to issue so-called red notices for other nongovernmental workers who were not in Egypt at the time, or in some cases, who never worked there at all.
So they cashed our check and then went after our people. Nice. They don't stay bought...
As many as 10 of them are Americans. Among them are prominent figures in Washington, like Freedom Houses Charles Dunne, a former U.S. diplomat who also served on the National Security Council under President George W. Bush.
If convicted, they could face a hefty financial penalty and up to five years in an Egyptian prison.
The State and Justice departments, as well as Interpol headquarters in France and its bureau in Washington, all declined to comment on Egypts request for the red notices, which are usually viewed as precursors to filing extradition papers. The United States is making known in every relevant forum, and before every relevant agency, its objection to these politically motivated trials in Egypt, State Department spokesman Edgar Vasquez told National Journal.
Successfully convincing Interpol that Egypts prosecution is politically motivated would prevent the organization from issuing the red notices, because its constitution mandates neutrality and strictly forbids it to undertake any intervention in matters of political, military, religious or racial character.
The United States, unlike many of the 190 countries participating in the international police organization, is not obligated to arrest anyone on its soil subject to a red notice because it does not view this as probable cause for an arrest warrant, according to Douglas McNabb, a Washington-based international criminal lawyer.
Individuals wanted under red notices can appeal Interpols decision in a process that can take months or even years, said McNabb, who specializes in Interpol notice removal and international extradition.
Its serious when someone files a red notice, McNabb told NJ. Its used to try and locate an individual with a view of later having them put in extradition proceedings.
Those who are listed under Interpols red notices are effectively landlocked, McNabb said, because they are likely to be arrested if they travel to other countries.
There may be even bigger legal battles ahead for the U.S. government if Egypt chooses to follow up with extradition requests. In that case, the U.S. would have to abide by its extradition treaty with Cairo and arrest the suspects, McNabb said. A U.S. judge would then decide whether the individual is extraditable or not. However, the U.S. government would be forced into the uncomfortable position of having to represent Egypt in court-- against the American defendants it considers to be wrongly accused of violating Egypt's highly restrictive laws on civil society.
At what point would we abrogate the extradition treaty -- about the moment Ray LaHood's boy is arrested?
The Egyptians acceleration in its planned prosecution of the pro-democracy workers is sure to anger U.S. lawmakers and activists who were concerned Cairo might be emboldened by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clintons recent decision to waive new congressional conditions on the package of $1.3 billion in military aid.
It certainly makes clear that someone in Egypt is delighting in twisting the screw on us and making us look stupid and weak.
My worry is the [Egyptians] are going to feel they now have a green light to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law, Dunne told National Journal, referring to Clintons decision to waive restrictions that would have required her to certify Cairo was respecting the transition to democracy, and implementing policies to protect due process of law and freedom of expression, association, and religion.
So we hold all further financial transfers, remove all American military and diplomatic personnel, list Egypt as 'unsafe' for Americans to travel thus killing the tourist trade, decline to sell them wheat and corn, and flip 'on' the kill switches on the military equipment we've sold them.
Fayza Abul Naga, the Egyptian minister who coordinates foreign aid, has for years tried to clamp down on these NGOs and spearheaded the recent investigation of what she called their illegal activities. Naga, in a March 9 op-ed in the Washington Post, blasted Washingtons decision to redirect some funds to programs run by local and American civil society groups to aid the democratic transition in Egypt after Hosni Mubaraks ouster.
IRIs Egypt country director Sam LaHood, has dismissed as malarkey the claims by Naga, who is a holdover from Mubaraks government.
Shes alleged that the U.S. government is actively trying to sow unrest, trying to divide Egypt, and undermine the revolution, LaHood told National Journal upon returning to Washington last month. For a minister of another country to allege those things in a court of law and in public seems outrageous, and she points to our organizations as tools that are doing that.
That's how you see it. She's an Egyptian and sees it differently. Isn't it rather imperialist of you, Sam, to tell her how she ought to feel?
Despite the politicized pall over the case, the NGO workers face technical charges of managing an unregistered international organization. They sound like the things you might get a $20 ticket for-- but are being prosecuted as criminal charges, Dunne said. The Egyptian government had for years left pending the applications of some groups Washington considers most critical to democracy programs in the country-- like those of IRI and NDI-- even as it tacitly allowed them to operate.
Dunne, who has no plans to return to Egypt, said his lawyers plan to argue Freedom House did nothing wrong in court next week. The group had submitted its registration papers just before the late December raid in which the Egyptian authorities seized all their equipment and paperwork and sealed the offices. IRI and NDI had been granted permission to monitor the parliamentary elections just before Egyptian prosecutors raided their bureaus, backed by police and military forces carrying machine guns.
Freedom Houses Sherif Mansour, an Egyptian who just received American citizenship days ago, has not been in Egypt since July and was surprised to find out about the charges against him through a news conference in February. They one-sidedly declared me a fugitive, said Mansour, who like Dunne still hasnt seen any official documents proving he is actually being charged with crimes in Egypt.
That shows how political this case is, Mansour said. It is basically meant to indict people in front of the media and publish their image from the start."
Yup, and it's working on the streets of Cairo.
Meanwhile, the prosecution has effectively sidelined some U.S.-funded democracy programs in the Egypt. Our ability to operate as a fully functioning operation is nonexistent at the moment, Dunne said. With Egypt investigating as many as 400 organizations in the country, Dunne said, theres a terrible concern about the chilling effect on Egyptian civil society.
In turn we should sideline Egypt's ability to grab and spend our money, and use the military equipment we've sold them.
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* FO says US must provide 'concrete evidence' against JD chief
* Evidence must withstand judicial scrutiny
* Saeed mocks US move
* Says America can contact him whenever it wants to
* Ready to face 'any American court' to answer charges
ISLAMABAD: Reacting to the US bounty on Jamaat-ud-Dawa ...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba... chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed ...who would be wearing a canvas jacket with very long sleeves anyplace but Pakistain... , Pakistain on Wednesday said the United States must provide "concrete evidence" if it wanted Islamabad to act against Saeed.
Foreign Ministry front man Abdul Basit said Islamabad would rather be presented with evidence about Hafiz Saeed than have a public discussion on the matter. "In a democratic country like Pakistain, where judiciary is independent, evidence against anyone must withstand judicial scrutiny," the front man added in a statement.
Meanwhile, ...back at the fist fight, Jake ducked another roundhouse, then parried with his left, then with his right, finally with his chin... Saeed made a defiant public appearance mocking his US bounty. He said he was ready to face "any American court" to answer charges. The 62-year-old former engineering and Arabic professor appeared on stage at a specially-convened presser in the Flashman Hotel, close to the headquarters of the Pakistain Army in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. "If the United States wants to contact me, I am present, they can contact me. I am also ready to face any American court, or wherever there is proof against me," he told news hounds in the hotel named after a fictional colonial hero.
Saeed lives openly in Pakistain and has spent recent months making a number of high-profile appearances at demonstrations calling on the government not to reopen NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... supply lines to Afghanistan, which have been closed since November.
He mocked the idea of offering a bounty for someone who lives so openly. "Americans seriously lack information. Don't they know where I go and where I live and what I do?" he said. "These rewards are usually announced for people who are hiding in mountains or caves. I wish the Americans would give this reward money to me. The US decision is aimed at silencing the Defence Council of Pakistain and to ensure resumption of supplies through backdoor channels and increase interference in Pakistain," he said.
Pak rightwing, religious and cut-thoat groups have called for nationwide protests to denounce the US bounty on Saeed. "On Friday there would be countrywide protest," said Maulana Samiul Haq, chief of the Defence Council of Pakistain.
#3
Given all the factions and factions-within-factions, there must be somebody in Pakistain who would whack this guy for less than 10 Mil. And make it look like an accident. Where's Bill Donovan when you need him?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A Grad rocket has landed in the southern Israeli city of Eilat, but has caused no damage or injuries, Israeli security officials said.
People are being allowed into areas around Fukushima with ambient radiation levels of 20mSv or less without protective gear. This is allowing cleanup, repairs, and operation of business concerns in the area. At present, people are not allowed to stay overnight.
Asif Ali 
WASHINGTON - Accused September 11 
Kremlin critics and Russian bloggers mercilessly mocked President Dmitry Medvedev after microphones broadcast him promising to "transmit" a message from President Obama to Vladimir Putin.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands: The International Criminal Court has told Libyan authorities to surrender former dictator Muammar Qaddafi's son -- wanted by the permanent tribunal for crimes against humanity.
VICTORIA - A U.S. drone crash-landed at the Seychelles main airport and careered 
ISLAMABAD: Reacting to the US bounty on 
[AFP] - The United States charged the self-proclaimed 
KABUL: A suicide bomber blew himself up at a park yesterday in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 10 people, including three NATO service members, officials said, the latest in a string of attacks as spring fighting season gets under way.
Quartet
CAIRO - An Egyptian court on Wednesday sentenced a 17-year-old Christian boy to three years in jail for publishing cartoons on his Facebook page that mocked Islam and the Prophet Mohammad, actions that sparked sectarian violence.
cycle of violence
