A SHIP-BASED laser tested by the US navy's research arm could put the heat on Somali pirates.
The Navy for the first time last week successfully tested a solid-state high-energy laser from a ship.
The beam, which was aimed at a boat moving through turbulent Pacific Ocean waters, set the target's engine on fire.
The Office of Naval Research says the laser travelled over "miles, not yards".
For now, the test is a proof of concept, and it's not yet known when it might be deployed as a weapon.
The baseball-sized laser beam, though, could be used to stop small crafts from approaching naval ships.
It could also target pirates.
"You can use the laser to ward off an attack, or you can dial it down to a non-lethal level where it basically becomes a very bright light so they know they are being targeted," Michael Deitchman, the director of air warfare and weapons at the Office of Naval Research, said today.
Mr Deitchman said the laser provides two benefits not seen in other military weapons. The laser is precise, unlike bullets that can ricochet and hit unintended targets, and the laser's strength can be dialed down from a lethal level to a nuisance level.
Graeme Gibbon-Brooks, the head of Dryad Maritime Intelligence, said the test was "remarkable" for how the Navy was able to concentrate the beam over such a long distance at sea, and given how the boat was being tossed about in rough water.
#3
and the laser's strength can be dialed down from a lethal level to a nuisance level.
If they do end up using this thing on pirates, I see no need to dial down the level.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
04/13/2011 22:25
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I'm sure the fuel and ammo on the pirate boats are properly stored and secured as not to be effected. /sarc
US fighter jets are still carrying out bombing raids on Libya's air defences, the Pentagon says, days after indicating American combat aircraft had withdrawn from NATO operations.
US warplanes have attacked air defence targets three times since April 4, when NATO assumed command of the air campaign, spokesman Colonel Dave Lapan said today.
US military officials had previously said about 50 combat jets had been pulled back after the handover to NATO, and that air strikes would be carried out by allies while the United States would provide refuelling and surveillance aircraft.
It was unclear why the Pentagon had waited to reveal the role of F-16 fighters helping to enforce the no-fly zone, but details emerged amid divisions within the NATO alliance over the air campaign.
Britain and France, which led the calls for international intervention to stop Muammar Gaddafi's attacks on his people, have pressed NATO allies to share more of the burden for the operation and deploy more combat aircraft.
Mr Lapan said the combat flights by F-16 Falcons were confined to striking radar and other air defences as part of the UN-mandated no-fly zone in Libya.
But US combat aircraft were not part of bombing runs against tanks or other ground targets that fell under a separate UN-approved mission to protect civilians against Gaddafi's forces, he said.
For that mission, American ground-attack aircraft and other warplanes remain on standby pending a request from NATO.
Mr Lapan said earlier that "we have fighter aircraft that NATO has, that they can use as part of the air tasking order for suppression of air defence missions, and they have conducted some of those missions".
The United States had assigned 11 aircraft, including six F-16 fighters and five EA-18 Growlers for electronic jamming, based in Aviano, Italy to target air defences as part of the no-fly zone mission, he said.
The three strikes by US aircraft were carried out on April 4, 6 and 7, with American pilots flying 97 sorties to suppress the regime's radar and anti-aircraft weaponry since NATO took command, he said.
President Barack Obama's administration, which has nearly 100,000 troops fighting a grinding war in Afghanistan while it tries to wind down the US mission in Iraq, has been eager for Western allies to bear the brunt of the Libya operation.
The Pentagon insisted that the United States was playing a secondary role despite the revelation that American aircraft were still bombing Libyan targets.
* FOX NEWS' CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER [Sunday Roundtable] = opined that IHO one of the expectations that comes wid a major Nation-State like the USA being the ONE-N-ONLY SOLE GLOBAL SUPERPOWER IS THAT THE REST OF WORLD EXPECTS THE US TO ASSERT LEADERSHIP + "TAKE CHARGE" IN ANY + ALL SITUATIONS EVEN IFF THE US PER SE DOESN'T WANT TO IRREGARDLESS OF THE MERITS.
In Chuck's opinion, POTUS BAMMER + ADMIN is clearly failing to do the above as per Gaddafi + the Libyuh Crisis???
#4
Wish to see an Obama future? Read R.W. Johnson. Affirmative Action or in the case of Johnson's book, Black Economic Emplowerment (BEE), and the thuggery they both empower are little more than symtoms of communism.
Britain has agreed to supply body armour to Libyan rebels fighting leader Col Muammar Gaddafi, it has been revealed.
Downing Street confirmed the UK would be sending out 1,000 sets of body armour to the rebels from surplus UK defence supplies.
It said that the decision was in line with UN Security Council resolutions and would enable the opposition forces 'to defend themselves and their communities against regime forces that attack civilians'.
#2
Anyone want to quote odds on this stuff turning up in Afghanistan?
Posted by: Matt ||
04/13/2011 16:56
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Sad thing is, Talibs might have the body armour before all the Brit troops in Afghanistan have it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/13/2011 17:34
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#4
Does anyone need a friendly reminder about what eventually happened to all of that hardware and weaponry we gave Osama Bin Laden when he was fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan?
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/13/2011 18:30
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#5
But Unicorn skin armour only works on good guys.
Here's what you need to know: Bush did it. Every single cut proposed by Paul Ryan amounts to stealing food from a starving child. Rethuglicans are evil. More defense cuts -- rocks are perfectly adequate weapons. We can have it all if we tax the rich except for the ones who make large campaign contributions to Bambi. Any questions?
Posted by: Matt ||
04/13/2011
15:36 ||
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#1
Paul Ryan's reaction When the President reached out to ask us to attend his speech, we were expecting an olive branch. Instead, his speech was excessively partisan, dramatically inaccurate, and hopelessly inadequate to address our fiscal crisis. What we heard today was not fiscal leadership from our commander-in-chief; we heard a political broadside from our campaigner-in-chief.
Last year, in the absence of a serious budget, the President created a Fiscal Commission. He then ignored its recommendations and omitted any of its major proposals from his budget, and now he wants to delegate leadership to yet another commission to solve a problem he refuses to confront.
We need leadership, not a doubling down on the politics of the past. By failing to seriously confront the most predictable economic crisis in our history, this Presidents policies are committing our children to a diminished future. We are looking for bipartisan solutions, not partisan rhetoric. When the President is ready to get serious about confronting this challenge, we'll be here.
#4
Then, as the Baby Boomers start to retire and health care costs continue to rise, the situation will get even worse. By 2025, the amount of taxes we currently pay will only be enough to finance our health care programs, Social Security, and the interest we owe on our debt.
The Liar in Chief takes us all for stupid. Karl Denninger: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare and Unemployment consume 100% of tax revenue right now.
#5
I thought the call for defense cuts was especially rich coming from a guy who just started a war. But maybe it's a little tiny war that we'll fight with little tiny weapons.
Posted by: Matt ||
04/13/2011 20:23
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#6
Henry Fonda remembers K-A-YDET RYAN.
* ION CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > [US TreaSec] GEITHNER: US WILL HIT DEBT LIMIT BY MAY 16.
POTUS BAMMER + GOP-DEM Congresscritters M-U-S-T raise the DEBT CEILING NLT 05/16th/2011 as Geithner = US Treasury Dept. may only be able to forestall de facto US DEBT DEFAULT widout change to the curr Debt Ceiling until JULY 8th, 2011.
IIUC ARTIC = after July 8th of this year, US DEFAULT WILL BE CERTAIN + UN-PREVENTABLE.
* PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > IMF SAYS WORLD GROWTH NOT ENOUGH TO CREATE JOBS.
* TOPIX > IMF: US HAS THE BIGGEST DEFICITS AMONG MAJOR WORLD ECONOMIES.
Members of Iran's parliament have sponsored a bill barring dogs from public places because they are "unclean" and keeping pets is an "un-Islamic" custom, according to Iran's state news agency Irna.
Under the bill, dog owners will be banned from taking their pets out into public spaces and in vehicles. First-time offenders will be fined five million riyals (around 4,800 dollars) and will be given 10 days to dispose of their dog.
If the dog owner fails to comply with these rules, health authorities will be called in to remove the dog from its owner. It is unclear what would be done to the dog.
The health ministry has been asked to enforce the rules, as have city councils and the 280-member parliaments culture committee, Irna reported.
Besides being unclean, keeping dogs as pets goes against Iranian values, as it is a pratice which indicates the influence of Western culture, according the 39 MPs who tabled the bill.
Hardliners have moved to crack down on dog ownership, which has been on the rise in recent years in Iran, especially among citizens in the affluent neighborhoods of the capital, Tehran.
After former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker was appointed in 1979, the consumer price index surged into the double digits, causing the now revered Fed Chief to double the benchmark interest rate in order to break the back of inflation. Using the methodology in place at that time puts the CPI back near those levels.
Inflation, using the reporting methodologies in place before 1980, hit an annual rate of 9.6 percent in February, according to the Shadow Government Statistics newsletter.
Since 1980, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has changed the way it calculates the CPI in order to account for the substitution of products, improvements in quality (i.e. iPad 2 costing the same as original iPad) ['I Can't Eat an iPad'] and other things. Backing out more methods implemented in 1990 by the BLS still puts inflation at a 5.5 percent rate and getting worse, according to the calculations by the newsletters web site, Shadowstats.com.
#1
I just can't believe inflation is that low. This current climate reminds me of the Carter years. Then we had double digit inflation. The problem is this simply. Every time you order product for resale you have a cost increase. Profit is gone and you don't recover your money spent. Inventory now takes all your money to stock. When you pay your bills is when you wonder where the money went. Sounds like the song- wonder where the money went.
#5
Three accountants apply for a job at OMB*. The interviewer asks the applicants 'what is 2 plus 2'. The first replies '4'. The second replies '4'. The third replies 'What do you want it to be?'. Of course they hired the third applicant.
#1
Let's say your dad has a sister, who is "Aunt Linda" to you. Your dad and Aunt Linda, being full siblings, have exactly the same genetic constitution
#2
I believe a lot of this is true. But not this part: "All human cultures display strict prohibitions against inbreeding and consanguineous marriage."
This displays an almost complete ignorance of history. The tabboo has always been blurred at the extreme ends of the human hierarchy. Small isolated rural clans/tribes and super elites/royalty. Basically, when family groups become distrustful of outsiders and dependent on one another.
Posted by: DJ Curtis C ||
04/13/2011 19:39
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In what The Financial Times describes as an "unusually stern rebuke," the International Monetary Fund says that the United States "urgently" needs a "credible strategy to stabilize public debt."
An IMF analysis points to the United States as the world's "only large advanced economy" - with the exception of earthquake-ravaged Japan - that's looking at an increased deficit this year.
Earlier this week, the Bank of England Governor, Mervyn King, irked US authorities by pointing out that even the worlds economic superpower has a major fiscal problem -even the United States, the worlds largest economy, has a very large fiscal deficit were his words. They were rather vague, but by happy coincidence the International Monetary Fund has chosen to flesh out the issue today. Unfortunately this is a rather long post with a few chunky tables, but it is worth spending a bit of time with the IMF analysis is fascinating.
#1
Please consider deleting. I was reading it for background info on the above article. This article is from 2010. It's now 2011 and another $2 trillion of government debt.
#1
"Zbigniew Brzezinski served as US National Security Adviser to President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981 and has also advised Barack Obama on foreign policy."
And look where that's gotten us.
In other words, another liberal everything-should-be-all-unicorns loser.
I stopped reading right there.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/13/2011 13:22
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It seems to me that the crisis involving Libya is a crisis that provides the West with a rather unique opportunity for united action and I would have been more pleased if Germany had chosen to be in some fashion part of it, even if not necessarily a direct military participant.
Can't argue with that.
I think what is involved here is a missed opportunity to underline, to affirm something that is desirable and important, namely the ability of the West to act in common.
Can't argue with that either.
The more united the West is, the shorter the conflict will be. Because obviously Gadhafi and his associates want to prolong the conflict, create a stalemate and in some fashion remain in power. So it's not irrelevant to the outcome how united the West is and how determined it is.
Dang, three in a row.
I think Mr. Brzezinski found an acorn.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/13/2011 14:11
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#3
Just don't ask ol' ZB about Israel or the Jews...
#4
When will Carter and his fellow traveling retards disappear?
Posted by: Water Modem ||
04/13/2011 14:29
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#5
...because getting the Germans all worked up about war is such a good idea [after a couple hundred years of militarism culminating in two world wars in the 20th Century]. /sarc off
Maybe we like our Germans cuddly and peaceful even if it creates complications.
#7
Snark aside, one thing about the Germans. They learned a different lesson from WW2 than the rest of the us. We learned that if you sit out too long the war will be really bad when you finally have to get involved. The Germans learned War is bad.
A leading nationalist has filed a criminal complaint against Peace Now leader Yariv Oppenheimer for giving U.S. embassy officials in Washington information with the intention of damaging the country. The alleged crimes are punishable by life in prison or even death.
I hope that American pressure on the government of Israel will bring about an implementation of orders against a Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria, he said in a document revealed last week by WikiLeaks.
Itzik Shadmi, head of the Binyamin Region Residents Committee, said, Peace Now for years incites policies against Israel in order to weaken the communities that have been established in Judea and Samaria. Peace Now sees that the public does not trust the left, and it decided to turn to the other countries.
We see these actions as damaging to the State of Israel. The publication of the documents simply confirms what we have known for years, and we expect the police to investigate Oppenheimer and his colleagues for acting against Israel and undermining the sovereignty of the government, Shadmi said.
One WikiLeaks cable stated that Oppenheimer told American officials that Israel is guilty of deception and has the tools to do what it has to do against Jewish communities. The documents said that the American officials were impressed with Oppenheimer's presentation and concluded, We are afraid that there will be a renewal of settlements, creating new neighborhoods contrary to Israels obligations to the United States. The obligations were not spelled out.
Oppenheimer has been instrumental in filing lawsuits on behalf of Arabs. The legal and military establishments have accepted many of his claims and have allowed and in some cases even encouraged an Arab land grab in Judea and Samaria.
Oppenheimer is public enemy number one among nationalists and was even slapped in the face by a nationalist academic this week.
Oppenheimer complained that Mor Altshuler slapped him violently several minutes before a television debate. She said she is sorry that she hit him in the face but added that her slap was symbolic.
She accused Peace Now of having sent her three people posing as students and trying to coax her into saying she approved the assassination of former Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin in 1995.
#2
Intentionally slapping a political Rival-Opponent on public media is a common method in many countries, espec in Asia, + has resulted in a number of POPCORN/VIRAL-WORTHY, INTER-FACTION(S). GLORIOUS MASS "BRAWLS" [pushing-n-shoving] AMONG THE POLITCOS.
#2
Let me get this straight, if I can, the FRENCH are complaining to NATO about a lack of support and follow through on a bombing campaign in a Middle Eastern Country....
It boggles the mind, the FRENCH are the new tough guys of NATO.
Either they're coming out of their hibernation or our administration has sunk so low the Brie and Wine Crowd on Avenue Foch seem like tough guys.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/13/2011 20:55
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"Either they're coming out of their hibernation or our administration has sunk so low the Brie and Wine Crowd on Avenue Foch seem like tough guys."
I'll take Door #2, Bill.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/13/2011 21:26
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#4
France has been doing this kind of thing for ages -- look at their little adventure in post-colonialism in the Ivory Coast, which they got the UN put its name on.
#5
Being cynical, I think the French felt it was time for those "things" they keep in cages over at the Foreign Legion barracks needed some fresh air and a walk so they sent them to the Cote D'Ivore.
As for Libya, that really neat attack aircraft the French are marketing is a 20 year old design so the bombing campaign is not a satellite of the Paris Air Show. I think the French got a conscience transplant when Villapaine got his walking papers. They do seem to "care" about what's happening in Libya.
Too bad they didn't "care" about Iraq.
I am still amazed the Avenue D'Marshall Foch crowd is all lined up at the pier waving hankies and cheering their boys on.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/13/2011 22:50
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Amazingly and pathetically, the one value that came out of the recent budget showdown was Obama drawing the line at family planning. When it comes to the abortion part of family planning -- the aspect that gets the most attention -- many Americans feel downright ambivalent, in favor one day, not so sure the next, and all of it dependent on trimester and that sort of thing. Yet in the self-serving leaks coming from the White House, it was abortion where the president made his stand. Abe Lincoln he is not.
The California Teachers Association is preparing for Wisconsin-type activities aimed at forcing the legislature to pass tax increases on Californians in a series of actions planned for next month culminating in a takeover of the State Capitol.
Many of the steps outlined in CTA plans include the use of students, taxpayer-funded public school facilities to which the union has access, and highly controversial "secondary boycott" tactics that involve targeting businesses in the districts of legislators who refuse to accede to union demands.
The union is conducting its actions in support of taxes under the guise of a "State of Emergency."
Union officials were clearly caught off guard today when their plans were leaked, which had been posted on a nondescript website for union organizers only. They can be viewed via these links:
STATE OF EMERGENCY State Council Ideas for Action:
This comprehensive 10-page outline of protest actions is a must-read. It includes the highly controversial secondary boycott, use of kids and classrooms to which the union has access, "letters home to parents," use of parent-teacher conferences, and more. This document is no longer posted on the CTA's State of Emergency website.
STATE OF EMERGENCY Plan of Action
Summary of the union plans leading up to and during the week of May 9. Includes reference to taking over the state capitol.
STATE OF EMERGENCY Leaders Guide
One page summary for leaders of union protests in the field
STATE OF EMERGENCY Member Flyer
One page document to mobilize CTA members
#8
How long before they start talking some disadvanged students to become suicide bombers? Much like their hero's do.
In Washington State some machinist's union Members / Thugs were demonstrating in support of the teachers union. I had to wonder how the machinist union members would feel if the Legislature raised taxes on 'Big Corporations' (like they wanted) and they then lose their job because their employer had to move out-of-state (or off-shore).
[via Weekly Standard Blog] Sez Nancy San Fran Nan Pelosi Congresswoman-for-Life from the San Francisco Bay Area, born into a family of politicians. Formerly Speaker of the House, but it's not her fault they lost. Really. Noted for her heavily botoxed grimace...:
To my Republican friends: take back your party. So that it doesn't matter so much who wins the election, because we have shared values about the education of our children, the growth of our economy, how we defend our country, our security and civil liberties, how we respect our seniors. Because there are so many things at risk right now -- perhaps in another question I'll go into them, if you want. But the fact is that elections shouldn't matter as much as they do...But when it comes to a place where there doesn't seem to be shared values then that can be problematic for the country, as I think you can see right now.
Lemme translate that:
"Dump the Tea Party, dump the civil libertarians, dump the social conservatives, become just like us. That way if the balance does somehow tip nothing will change. The taxes will still be levied, the borrowing will go on forever and ever, the same old cows will remain sacred until there's no money left, anywhere, to pay for them and we quietly collapse into something like Greece, or Detroit, or maybe even Zim-Bob-We. Like in Greece and Zim-Bob-We and in all the decaying cities in the present U.S.A. the rubes will continue electing the same old crooks using the same old slogans, who'll continue picking through the rubble for any leftovers."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2011
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This woman has something wrong with her. Statements like this and "you have to pass the bill so you can find out what's in the bill" and how Rethuglicans want to kick 6M seniors out of their nursing homes show an inability to recognize, accept, and/or deal with reality. Look at her eyes when she speaks. She's in anoher world.
#5
For the most part they don't matter - both parties are very much the same. Polling has gotten so effective that each party is, in effect, fighting over that one voter in the middle.
I'm sure she would prefer the other traditional democratic election system - one (wo)man, one vote, one time. It worked for Chavez, Castro, Mugabe, etc.
Los Angeles has one of the few big-city police departments with a dedicated counterterrorism intelligence program.
Weve tried to institutionalize the idea of [counterterrorism] within the department so that people become collectors. People know what the threat is, they understand the threat domain, they know who the adversary is, what the capability is, what the intent is.
Until several years ago, only 30 members of the police department engaged in counterterrorism intelligence work. That number grew to 750 in November after the special operations branch was added to the 300-member unit of officers working the intelligence operations against terrorists.
The departments intelligence branch uses a hunt-and-pursue strategy employing analysts who study data collected by police and networks of recruited informants and other surveillance to identify groups or people planning attacks. Police forces then act to disrupt the operations.
We spend an enormous amount of time observing prayer, going to festivals, going to events, showing that we are not just asking for these communities for a buy-in, but we want enrollment, participation, Chief Downing said.
We spend a lot of time explaining: You live in this country, youre free to worship how you like to worship, and we protect the sacred text of the Koran, the sacred text of the Torah, and we protect the sacred text of the Bible. And what we need you to do is partner with us in protecting the sacred text of our country, which is the Constitution which gives you these rights and protects you against bigotry and hatred and all those things, he said.
The objective is to win Muslim support for the U.S. system which means supporting our Constitution and creating a bigger gap between the hard-core radicals and the critical mass of people, he said. And then we can weed out the hard-core radicals through our hunt-and-pursue model.
Weve got some equipment that is pretty incredible, he said. If a Mumbai-style attack happened here, it would not last 60 hours, Ill tell you that. It would last 30 minutes and they might have them contained in a building.
Not to mention that some of the citizenry goes about armed. Quite a comforting thought.
Los Angeles has one of the few big-city police departments with a dedicated counterterrorism intelligence program.
I'm under the impressions that New York City is another.
"We've tried to institutionalize the idea of [counterterrorism] within the department so that people become collectors. People know what the threat is, they understand the threat domain, they know who the adversary is, what the capability is, what the intent is."
Until several years ago, only 30 members of the police department engaged in counterterrorism intelligence work. That number grew to 750 in November after the special operations branch was added to the 300-member unit of officers working the intelligence operations against terrorists.
LA has 750 officers doing intel? Who's patrolling the streets?
The department's intelligence branch uses a "hunt-and-pursue" strategy employing analysts who study data collected by police and networks of recruited informants and other surveillance to identify groups or people planning attacks. Police forces then act to disrupt the operations.
"We spend an enormous amount of time observing prayer, going to festivals, going to events, showing that we are not just asking for these communities for a buy-in, but we want enrollment, participation," Chief Downing said.
Orient, Observe...
"We've got some equipment that is pretty incredible," he said. "If a Mumbai-style attack happened here, it would not last 60 hours, I'll tell you that. It would last 30 minutes and they might have them contained in a building."
Not to mention that some of the citizenry goes about armed. Quite a comforting thought.
Israels security agencies are stepping up targeted attacks throughout the world on Hamas leadership in what one Israeli official called intelligence-based prevention.
In the past two months, Israeli operatives have intercepted a German ship in international waters, fired a missile at a suspected Hamas leader in Sudan, and captured a Hamas engineer in the Ukraine, according to Israeli and Western officials and press reports from the region.
Israel defeated the wave of suicide bombing attacks against it in 2002 by identifying the leadership that was behind it and making it clear to them that they would pay a price, said Dore Gold, a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations and specialist on international terrorism.
Presently, the effort to cripple Hamas military capabilities is no longer confined to the Gaza Strip alone, but to the entire Hamas global network and that of its allies.
A scrapbook found at Wellington Menezes de Oliveira´s home, who on last Thursday has murdered 12 students in a school at Realengo neighbourhood, Rio de Janeiro, points he belonged or has links to a radical islamist group.
#2
The original article is in Portuguese but the point is quite comprehensible.
"Um caderno de apontamentos encontrado na casa de Wellington Menezes Oliveira, de 23 anos, que na quinta-feira passada matou 12 alunos numa escola no bairro de Realengo, Rio de Janeiro, indica que ele pertencia ou tinha ligações a um grupo radical islâmico."
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/13/2011 10:08
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#6
He wore a Moslem-styled beard until a few days before the murders. And he recorded a video the week of the murders, without beard, addressing Moslem "brothers" and explaining why he shaved and what his plan was.
The local authorities still claim he was a mad loner.
#7
I'm sure the Left(tm) will dismiss as a loner anyone they could remotely be link by three degrees of separation to the Tea Party for any hideous act. NOT.
Google translation: In an interview with Radio Band News from Rio de Janeiro, Roselane, the foster sister of the shooter Wellington Menezes de Oliveira, 24, said he was very attached to Islam, do not go far from home and stayed the entire time on the computer.
"It was very strange, had no friends, lived on the Internet," said his sister. "He speaks of a Muslim business." She said he lived alone for eight months, at a place near the school in the district of the Royal one. The boy's adoptive parents have died.
#1
Excellent article. It reveals a lot of alliances. And fears. For example:
The Chinese company Huawei Technologies Ltd., one of the original contractors for Libyana's cellular network backbone, refused to sell equipment for the rebel project
Sounds to me like the Chinese have some major oil uncertainty.
By March 21, most of the main pieces of equipment had arrived in the U.A.E. and Mr. Abushagur was ready to ship them to Benghazi with three Libyan telecom engineers, four Western engineers and a team of bodyguards.
Hmm. Western engineers. Who provided the bodyguards given the western personnel?
But Col. Gadhafi's forces were still threatening to overrun the rebel capital and trying to bomb its airport. Mr. Abushagur diverted the team and their equipment to an Egyptian air base on the Libyan border. Customs bureaucracy cost them a week, though Egypt's eventual approval was another show of Arab support for rebels. Egypt's governing military council couldn't be reached for comment.
I'll bet not. Not a very secure situation given Obean's habit of sitting on the fence so much that his butt crack has probably gone horizontal.
The last piece of the puzzle was securing a satellite feed through which the Free Libyana calls could be routeda solution provided by Etisalat, according to Benghazi officials.
Notice the ".ae"? That means UAE. I wonder if the UAE is beholden to anyone else on this venture. Probably not, but if so, they may have had to get approval from them, too.
On April 2, Mr. Abushagur placed a test call on the system to his wife back in Abu Dhabi. "She's the one who told me to go for it in the first place," he said.
Obean looks to the UN for approval, and these guys look closer to their hearts. Which is better?
The Communists wanted to turn every country in the world into communists, the Muslims want to turn every nation Islamic, and we want to turn them all into Democrats. Our national passion for democracy long ago overshot baseball, football, horse racing and billiards. Lately even our wars have turned into perverse democracy crusades. But the tonic of democracy does not cure all ills And like most medicines, it is quite poisonous when used against the doctors instructions..
Lately some of us have gotten caught up in the idea that the Arabs have finally become just as passionate about democracy as us. But where we have come to value democracy as an end, their passion is for democracy as a tool of change, a means, not an end. Even the most devout Mahmoud, his scraggly beard caught in the pages of the Koran, blesses democracy as Halal, so long as it ushers in the rule of the devout. What matter if the Caliphate comes by way of a lottery, inherited monarchy or the ballot boxso long as it comes.
...You can teach people to count ballots, but you cant teach them to understand why they count. They have to learn that for themselves. Otherwise theyll start miscounting the ballots or shooting everyone who doesnt vote the right way.
...Most revolutions like to call themselves democratic, because democracy is disruptive to the old order. But their revolutions are only democratic means toward authoritarian ends. The ultimate victory of one faction or another. And they typically have as much use for democracy, as the Muslim armies who captured Alexandria had for its library.
...Islams constitution is the Koran, which makes any national constitution the work of a lower body, to be overruled by even the meanest Hadith. Roughly on a par with UN covenants on womens rights and binding contracts signed with foreigners. Democracy decentralizes power by vesting power in the peoples will. Islam centralizes it in the binding of the Koran and the mouths of the Clerics who have memorized every verse. To question that centralization is to court blasphemy. And if the courts dont sentence you, the mob will.
By salaaming before the Koran, and apologizing for everyone who takes a lighter to a redundant copy of the orally transmitted venom of a frustrated desert merchant, we place the Koran above the people and the Constitution. Not by their will, but by the will of our own clerics. Clerics who subscribe neither to the Constitution or the Koran, but to the Emily Post Guide to Politically Correct International Appeasement. The Muslims have their Mullahs and we have our Senators. But the advantage of democracy is that we can more easily remove a Senator, than they can remove a Mullah. And we can generally do it without being burned at the stake for blasphemy. Which is why neither Senators nor Mullahs are fond of democracy.
Muslims who had come to pray at the Grand Mosque in Mecca were shocked when a man took the microphone and declared he was the Mahdi, the prophesied redeemer of Islam who is expected to come prior to the Day of Resurrection.
Eyewitnesses say the imam had just started the Asr prayer when the man snatched the microphone and made his announcement. Mosque security quickly arrested the man, an Egyptian national in his 30s.
Security officers took the man to the mosque's police station for investigation. Police concluded that the man was suffering from mental problems.
#7
"Police concluded that the man was suffering from mental problems."
What was their first clue? That he was in Mecca?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/13/2011 12:54
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As a kid, I used to memorize and go around spouting Lord Lawrence OLivier's lines from the movie KHARTOUM. My sister and parents were driven half nuts. Great flic by the way...
[Tolo News] Ivory Coast's UN-recognised President Alassane Ouattara has said Laurent Gbagbo ... Former President-for-Life of Ivory Coast from 2000 to 2011. Laurent lost to Alassane Ouattara in 2010 but his representtive tore up the results on the teevee and he refused to vacate the presidential palace. French troops assisted the Oattara forces in extricating him from his Fuhrerbunker... will soon face trial, reports say.
Incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo was captured by French forces on Monday and handed over to opposition leaders.
Now the main task ahead of Ouattara is to reunite the nation.
Ouattara has said a truth and reconciliation would soon be established.
Laurent Gbagbo surrendered after hus residence in Abijdan came under attack. He refused to step down after the November election in which his rival Alassane Ouattara was announced the winner.
The UN also recognised Ouattara as the legitimate President of Ivory Coast, but Mr Gbagbo refused to cede power leading to a civil war that claimed hundreds of lives.
Both the UN Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon and US President Barack B.O. Obama have welcomed the capture of Gbagbo.
Obama has urged gangs to strengthen opportunities of a democratic future and lay down their arms.
Mr Gbagbo and his wife are reportedly under UN guard at Abidjan's Golf Hotel.
In a TV message, Ouattara has called on the people of Ivory Coast to refrain from violence. A message has also been aired from Gbagbo calling for and end to hostilities.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2011
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#1
About damn time.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/13/2011 0:39
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#2
Or to die in jail of a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Slobodan_Milo%C5%A1evi%C4%87.
#4
Who's on the take to slip him the cyanide martini?
Or are they just going to stuff and mount him and send him to Ki-Moon for a birthday present? It's not often a Secretary General gets to depose a dictator. I think Gbagbo and Quadaffy would make a nice set of book ends for the UN Charter to sit in the General Assembly hall.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/13/2011 22:58
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[Iran Press TV] An improvised bomb killed two coppers in the south of Storied Baghdad overnight, a security source said on Tuesday.
The third policeman was killed in Fallujah west of Storied Baghdad by a sticky bomb, AFP reported.
What's a sticky bomb?
Six coppers were maimed in the two kabooms.
Sticky bombs in different regions outside Storied Baghdad killed one person and maimed three other people, the unnamed source said.
In another attack, two civilian contractors for the Iraqi army were killed when their home west of Storied Baghdad was targeted by dynamite.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shattered spaceship, Fffflirgoll the Arcturan slithered stealthily toward the control room, where the humans had barricaded themselves... three other family members, including a woman, were maimed, according to medical sources.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2011
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[Maghrebia] A group of Algerian journalists are determined to bring their demands to the halls of power. Tahar Fattani is one of the members of the recently-formed Initiative for the Dignity of the Algerian Press. Magharebia spoke to the journalist about the vision and future plans of the campaign.
Magharebia: Your group was launched on April 3rd, amid mounting calls for greater press freedom in Algeria. Can you tell us what this initiative is about?
Tahar Fattani: The initiative began well before the General Assembly of April 3rd, when a group of 11 journalists was appointed to communicate the platform of demands to the relevant authorities. This meeting was preceded by two other meetings which enabled the present journalists to decide on the platform of demands. This document was adopted by all of the journalists. It concerns socio-professional grievances and the protest action that might take place.
Magharebia: What are the main points of your agenda?
Fattani: The platform includes the promulgation of a new private status for journalists, the beginning of official negotiations with press workers to discuss the realities of the profession, the introduction of press passes, the revival of the National Ethics Council and the decriminalisation of "press offences", among many other demands.
Magharebia: Have the journalists begun communicating these demands to the authorities?
Fattani: May I point out that the 11 journalists who were appointed on April 3rd were not empowered to negotiate or to speak on behalf of the initiative. Today, I am replying to your questions as an Algerian journalist who has supported this initiative, not on behalf of my colleagues. I do not have the authority to speak for them. The committee responsible for communicating the platform of demands to the authorities has ten days to carry out its task. A meeting which all of the journalists will attend will be held on April 12th to sum up the situation and publish the reports of the 11 journalists.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2011
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[Tolo News] More than 30 snuffies have laid down their weapons and surrendered to Afghan authorities, Commission for Peace and National Reconciliation said on Tuesday.
The men were residents of Pashtun-infested Logar, Kapisa, Khost, Kunduz that handed over their weapons with the help of tribal elders and surrendered to government, Sayed Sharif Yosufi, deputy of Commission for Peace and National Reconciliation said.
The snuffies and their commanders have handed over all their weapons to government, he added.
In the past six years about 10,000 Death Eaters have joined the grinding of the peace processor, Mr Yosufi added.
The report comes as 50 Death Eaters surrendered to government on Monday in southern Kandahar province.
On Monday Toryalai Weesa, governor of Kandahar told news hounds that 50 snuffies including their commander Maulawi Noorul Azizi have joined the grinding of the peace processor.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shouting match, a new, even louder, voice was to be heard... Zabihullah Mujahid a Taliban front man dismissed the report and claimed that the ones who surrendered one not Taliban fighters.
Since Afghan and foreign forces have launched military operations to wipe out insurgency, dozens of snuffies have laid down their arms and joined the government.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2011
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#1
I thought they surrendered in the fall, avoided the harsh Afghan winter, and then picked up their guns in the spring to resume the war? Did these guys read their schedules backwards?
#2
I think this may be an attempt to infiltrate the country from within, Glenmore. The people that attacked the UN compound were also chieu hoi's. Perhaps the government should announce that anyone committing acts of violence after surrendering to the government should have both feet removed -- at the knees.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/13/2011 13:03
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#3
It's harvest time!
When those poppy balls a-ripen, you got to do some very quick slicing, in those old poppy fields back home....
[Iran Press TV] Iran's Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hosseini has urged European countries to avoid encouraging Islamophobia. ...the irrational fear that Moslems will act the way they usually do...
"We expect European countries to guarantee the individual and social freedoms of Mohammedans," Hosseini said, What's the procedure for building a new church in Qom, bub?
calling on Europe to adopt "dialogue among religions" as the basis for cooperation instead of "flaming conflicts and spreading Islamophobia." And how about a nice Buddhist monastery and rest house in downtown Tehran?
No need to go exotic: how about the Baha'i not needing to make Israel their home base because their place of origin is unsafe?
The Iranian minister made the remarks during a meeting with Director General of Austria's National Library Johanna Rachinger in Tehran on Tuesday, IRNA reported.
Hosseini hailed Iran-Austria's relations, and expressed hope for the enhancement of ties between the two countries.
Iran-Austria Cultural Committee was formed after the Second World War, and good steps have been taken to boost relations between the two countries and to have exchange visits by various academic delegations, he said.
During the meeting, a cooperation pact was also signed between Iran and Austria's national libraries.
Rachinger, for her part, expressed willingness to enhance cultural ties with Iran's National Library to familiarize the Austrian nation with the Iranian culture.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2011
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#1
How about Christian rights in Iran and the Middle East?
[Straits Times] THAILAND on Tuesday extended emergency rule in most of its violence-plagued deep south for three more months, a government front man said.
The decree, which was first introduced in 2005 and covers most of the Mohammedan-majority provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, has been criticised by rights campaigners who say it effectively gives the army legal immunity.
The state of emergency allows the military to detain suspects for questioning without charge.
Suspected Islamic Death Eaters have waged a violent campaign in the region since early 2004, leaving more than 4,500 Mohammedans and Buddhists dead.
'There are still attempts to use violence to attack officials and innocent people,' deputy government front man Supachai Jaisamut said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2011
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[Iran Press TV] The mayor of Washington DC has been jugged by US police while participating in a protest rally against a federal government budget bill that will enforce major spending cuts.
Vincent Gray, who was among a group of protesters blocking traffic, said the government has not offered a "response" to his recent letter regarding budget cuts that affect the Washington DC public, a Press TV correspondent reported on Tuesday.
"In the recent past, I sent a letter just a couple of days ago to (Republican) Speaker Boehner (of the House of Representatives) and the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, ... the charismatic former Senate majority leader ... making the case once again and asking for their support to give the citizens of this city ... [but] I got no response," he said.
"What Congress has done is just complete disrespect and contempt for us as colonial subjects," said a member of the DC Statehood Green Party.
One of the protesters, who had left Ethiopia for lack of voting rights, said she did not expect the same thing in the United States, describing the matter as "upsetting."
Despite US promotion of democracy throughout the globe, the residents of the US capital city do not have the right to have representative in the US Congress. Washington D.C. is "Federal City." In theory the government can buy up all the land in the city for federal use. Until relatively recent times it was run by the federal government as an island of political neutrality. The denizens of any capital have the capacity to exert pressure on the government through simple proximity. The Founding Fathers were familiar with the Roman republic's long series of gang wars between the Sullan and Marian factions -- which led to the eventual emergence of Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus -- and wanted to avoid the possibility in their own republic. Yon Gray hath a lean and hungry look.
Many years of protest and the city's official efforts to gain the right of representation in Congress has produced no results, despite promises by a number of Democratic presidents, including Barack B.O. Obama, to push for the basic right.
US politicians had earlier agreed on a record $38 billion in spending cuts to avert a government shutdown that would seriously affect its troubled economy.
The budget bill would prohibit the capital from spending its own local money for reproductive health care services -- affecting low-income women -- on procedures such as abortion, etc. It could also even eliminate initiatives that help prevent the spread of AIDS.
The White House earlier expressed concerns in case the congressional Republicans fail to raise the $14.29 trillion debt limit by May 16.
Republicans at the House of Representatives say that Obama has to agree to further budget cuts, other than the $38 billion, in exchange for his demand over raising the debt limit.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2011
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#1
See also TOPIX > DEBT CEILING OR NO DEBT CEILING, THE BUDGET BOMB IS COMING.
The US Budget is gonna blow like a righteous
"2012" massive Solar Storm, + there's nothing the Fed = US Congresscritters can do about it anymore as per staving/putting off unpopular across-the-board cuts.ITS ONLY A CHOICE BETWEEN CUT-DEEPER-VS-CUT-DEEPEST - THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS "EXCESSIVE BUDGET CUTS" ANYMORE.
#2
OOOPPPSIES, forgot PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM/DRUDGEREPORT AM > US SEES [15.7% < 16.0%] BUDGET DEFICIT INCREASES.
POTUS BAMMER + FED = NOT-OZZIE/SHARON OZBOURNE = GETS A "BANK NOTICE" OF PAYMENT OVERDUE? The US is being asked by the UNO to make to make some kind of "down payment" on its obligations.
#3
when DC elects Marion Barry as Mayor and sends that racist idiot Eleanor Holmes Norton to Congress (thank Gawd she can't vote) you don't deserve respect. I too have nothing but contempt for you
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/13/2011 7:54
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#4
They should follow the model of the land the feds returned to Virginia on the other side of the Potomac. The purpose of the Federal District was to be a place outside the influence and control of states. That's hardly a problem or issue anymore. Keep the federal property as is and which you can find in many other states as far as jurisdiction issues and autonomy. Return the rest of the place back to Maryland. That way the inhabitants can get direct representation through the state, just as those south of the Potomac get today.
(Irish Times)EUROPEAN FOREIGN ministers resolved to conduct an EU military operation in Libya if the UN requests a mission to support humanitarian relief and protect refugees.
Yup, it's coming. That's why we have the Bataan waiting off shore. Remember how the amphibious assault group was ordered out of Norfolk a couple weeks ago? What a coincidence. Ditto the Brits who have a similar (but smaller) unit that just happens to be in place.
Ireland might participate in such an operation, to be known as "EUfor Libya", as it would have a UN mandate.
Each of the EU governments will contribute a small force, since that's all they have. They'll need the US to commit a Marine regiment (at the least) and all the logistics (at the least) to make this work. Put a good chunk of 'EUfor' into Misrata or similar coastal town and it stops Gaddafi from getting to Benghazi. The logistics tail goes to that city.
The Government will have to discuss that and obviously there are procedures for participation in any mission," Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore told reporters. He did not elaborate.
With Nato members of the EU already involved in the aerial campaign to enforce the UN no-fly zone over Libya, the initiation of any new mission would deepen Europe's military involvement in the country.
However, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said an intervention would be nothing close to "the traditional form of putting troops on the ground". Military assets are used only in certain circumstances, she said.
Oh no, nothing close at all. It's all for 'humanitarian' purposes. But it does allow the oil to continue to flow from rebel-held Benghazi and Tobruk to European markets. That's just an unfortunate side-effect of a supremely humanitarian mission. Want to bet that the EU collectively wins a Nobel Peace Prize for being such humanitarians?
"It is absolutely right that in terms of looking at humanitarian support one uses assets very carefully, especially military assets, because it's very important that people involved in humanitarian aid are safe." Such a mission is contingent on a request from the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), giving it a UN mandate. And so the slide into the (quag)mire continues.
I am also rather disturbed by the blurring of the distinction between the UN and the UNSC. The UN itself is run by kleptocrats and microstates whose votes are for sale to the highest bidder.
#2
It will be a total clusterf*ck. The Marines may be the exception, but will doubtlessly be hamstrung by insane ROEs. Probably like Lebanon. Carry weapons but no ammo.
This thing will not bode well. Look, the EU cannot even really handle Somalia piracy.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/13/2011 1:57
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#3
They may be a total clusterf*ck, Alaska Paul, because Qadaffy is bound to have weapons more effective than he's used so far. There won't be a total clusterf*ck because of idiotic ROE, because there won't be any idiotic ROE. War crimes only happen in wars that International Community doesn't approve of---haven't you noticed?
#6
"EUfor Libya" sounds like a bunch of musicians singing songs like USA for Africa. They could have come up with a better name. Even Operation "Bend 'em like Beckam" would have been better.
#9
Our current Pretender-in-chief has made the same fatal mistake others have made before him -- never get into a war you don't intend to win. Also, you can't afford to fight a war "on the cheap" -- there's no such thing. You fight to win, and you fight with all the forces you have in your arsenal. Two or three days of constant ARCLIGHT strikes on Tripoli would have ended this war before it was a week old, and Kadaffy Duck would either be a hulking vegetable or toast. Now it'll probably drag out another two or three years, at very high cost in human and other treasure.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/13/2011 13:08
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#10
The Euro-Inn fighting has begun. I'll give it another week or two and they'll be marching home, at each other's throats playing the blame game. It's what they've always done.
#12
My niece is on the Bataan. Though she's not in line to get directly in harm's way (she's an avionics tech), the idea of having her sent overseas as part of this madness rankles the hell out of me. As a commenter at Belmont Club put it: "We have no plan, and we're sticking to it."
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's son and heir Jong-un was appointed director of the State Security Department, the regime's chief spy agency, in late 2009.
"Signals intelligence we've obtained suggests Kim Jong-un is being called 'director' of the security department," a South Korean government official said. "It seems he has already gained control of the security agency."
The department's main duties are to ferret out dissidents and put residents under surveillance. It has about 50,000 agents.
At an extraordinary party congress last September, the regime appointed U Dong-chuk, the first deputy director of the department, and Kim Chang-sop, the chief of the political bureau of the department, to the Politburo, the first time in the regime's history that the political bureau chief has joined the top body.
Kim Jong-un visited the department twice in October last year. Kim Jong-il has reportedly headed the department himself since its former chief Ri Jin-su died of acute cirrhosis in 1987.
Kim senior was designated the successor to power in 1974 after he seized control of the party apparatus in 1972 as secretary in charge of organization and propaganda. But Kim Jong-un gained control of the security department first.
Another intelligence report says Kim junior was groomed as the successor in the administration bureau of the powerful National Defense Commission. The regime promoted Gen. Ri Myong-su, the chief of the administration bureau, to minister of public security on April 7.
"The North Korean military is under surveillance by Kim Jong-gak, the first deputy chief of the General Political Bureau," a North Korean source said. "The military and police are effectively under Kim Jong-un's control with Kim Jong-gak and Ri Myong-su acting as the front."
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/13/2011
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#1
ION WMF > DANGEROUS RUSSIAN WEAKNESS/WAFFLING ON THE ISSUE OF INTER-KOREAN REUNIFICATION. FAILURE OF RUSSIA TO ASSERT LEADERSHIP + INFLUENCE ON NORTH KOREA IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE "CHEONAN" + "YEONGPYEONG" MILITARY INCIDENTS AGZ SOUTH KOREA. THE ONLY POTENT OBSTACLE TO PRO-US, WESTERN INTER-KOREAN RE-UNIFICATION WILL BE THE ABYSS, MILITARY-LED FEAR + DESPERATION OF CHINA.
[Maghrebia] The international "contact group" on Libya will hold its first meeting on Tuesday (April 12th) in Doha. UN Special Envoy to Libya Abdel Elah Al-Khatib will attend the Qatar event. The United Nations ...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involve making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country... delegation will include representatives of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The contact group was established at the London Conference on Libya at the end of March.
On Thursday, UN chief Ban Ki-Moon, Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... Secretary-General Jerry Lewis doppelgänger Amr Moussa ... who has been head of the Arab League since about the time Jerry and Dean split up ... , AU Commission Chairman Jean Ping, OIC head Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton will meet at the vaporous Arab League headquarters in Cairo to co-ordinate the international response to the crisis in Libya.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2011
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[Tolo News] Rebels have rebuffed a peace plan proposed by an African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... delegation that visited both Tripoli and Banghazi.
An African Union delegation headed by the South African President Jacob Zuma expressed optimism about the peace visit after the Libyan Leader Muammar Qadaffy welcomed the AU ceasefire proposal.
While the delegation was on its way to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi there were reports of increasing attacks of pro-Qadaffy forces on the besieged city of Misrata.
The rebel representatives have insisted that no ceasefire will be accepted if Qadaffy and his sons are to remain in power.
Mistra has been under siege for day and there are concerns about the humanitarian situation in the city.
Red Thingy had earlier succeeded to ship essential medicines to a Misrata port.
Meanwhile, ...back at the precinct house, Sergeant Maloney wasn't buying it. It was just too pat. It smelled phony... the French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has criticised 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 style of the American pants... for not doing enough in Libya.
Juppe has said despite the continuing air strikes, NATO has not been able to destroy Qadaffy's heavy weaponry.
The comments come as NATO recently stepped up air srikes against the Libyan government forces and even destroyed 15 tanks. How many tanks does he have?
Some countries believe that NATO has already exceeded the UN mandate in Libya. NATO has even been criticised for serving as the Libyan rebels' air force.
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04/13/2011
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[Asharq al-Aswat] La Belle France and Britain, who first launched air attacks on Libya in coalition with the United States, on Tuesday criticised 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 style of the American pants... 'S bombing campaign, saying it must do more to stop Muammar Qadaffy bombarding civilians.
Canada's running this operation, right? They probably have airplanes with missiles -- they seem to have everything else important to running a war. Sweden's planes are waiting in Italy for fuel trucks with the right nozzles...President Obama has made it plain America has shot off all the missiles they're going to... is there anyone else in NATO who can conduct a bombing campaign?
NATO took over air operations from the three nations on March 31 but heavy government bombardment of the besieged western city of Misrata has continued unabated with hundreds of civilians reported killed.
The criticism by London and Gay Paree followed new shelling of Misrata on Monday and the collapse of an African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... peace initiative.
Echoing rebel complaints, Alain Juppe told La Belle France Info radio, "It's not enough."
He said NATO must stop Qadaffy shelling civilians and take out heavy weapons bombarding Misrata. In a barbed reference to the alliance command of the operation, Juppe added: "NATO must play its role fully. It wanted to take the lead in operations, we accepted that."
British Foreign Secretary William Hague also said NATO must intensify attacks, calling on other alliance countries to match London's supply of extra ground attack aircraft in Libya.
NATO, is operating under a U.N. mandate to protect civilians, stepped up air strikes around Misrata and the eastern battlefront city of Ajdabiyah at the weekend. It rejected the criticism.
"NATO is conducting its military operations in Libya with vigour within the current mandate. The pace of the operations is determined by the need to protect the population," it said.
Libyan state television said. ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
on Tuesday a NATO strike on the town of Kikla, south of Tripoli, had killed civilians and members of the police force. It did not give details.
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04/13/2011
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[The Nation (Nairobi)] Embattled Yemeni President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, after serving as a lieutenant colonel in the army. He had been part of the conspiracy that bumped off his predecessor, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, in the usual tiresome military coup, and he has maintained power by keeping Yemen's many tribes fighting with each other, rather than uniting to string him up. ... said today he was ready for a "peaceful" and constitutional transfer of power, a day after Gulf states urged him to hand over power to his deputy.
Protesters have rejected the proposal made by foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council, saying they wanted the fall of Saleh's regime altogether and insisting that Yemen's strongman should also be tried.
"In compliance with statements (he) made several times... his excellency the president has no reservation against transferring power peacefully and smoothly within the framework of the constitution," said a statement issued by Saleh's office.
The statement said that the Yemeni president again "welcomes efforts exerted by brothers in the Gulf Cooperation Council to help in finding a solution for the current crisis in Yemen."
But it fell short of saying clearly whether he accepted a direct GCC proposal calling on Saleh to ensure a peaceful transition of power to his deputy, Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi.
"The Yemeni Republic stresses that it will deal positively with the (GCC) statement as a base for dialogue," said the statement, which came a day after a meeting of GCC foreign ministers in Riyadh.
His defiant statement came after Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani had said that the GCC member countries "hope to reach a deal with the Yemeni president to step down."
Yemen, an impoverished neighbour of the GCC, recalled its ambassador to Doha in protest.
Thousands of protesters headed Monday from Sanaa's University Square, dubbed as Change Square after protests, to the residence of Saleh's deputy, Hadi, according to an AFP journalist.
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04/13/2011
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[Dawn] A Pak-American man was sentenced Monday to 23 years in prison for plotting attacks on subway stations around the US capital with people he believed were Al-Qaeda affiliates.
Farooque Ahmed, a naturalised US citizen who lived in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, admitted photographing stations in 2010 to plan simultaneous kabooms.
The 35-year-old pleaded guilty to charges of attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organisation and collecting information to assist in planning a terrorist attack, US officials said.
A federal judge also sentenced Ahmed to 50 years of supervised release after prison, as part of a plea agreement between Ahmed's lawyers and prosecutors.
Ahmed was caught in a sting operation by US authorities, who said that "at no time was the public in danger during this investigation and that the FBI was aware of Ahmed's activities from before the alleged attempt began and closely monitored his activities until his arrest."
Ahmed was jugged in October 2010. Authorities said he had studied security operations at subway stations, took photographs, and provided diagrams to the fake Al-Qaeda affiliates.
Ahmed also "provided suggestions as to where explosives should be placed on trains in Metrorail stations in Arlington to kill the most people in simultaneous attacks planned for 2011," the US Department of Justice said in a statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2011
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
What a drag! Poor Farooque was duped by the evil Juice and their American stooges! Then the court's Bush cronies ignored the evidence and convicted him anyway.
Moral of the story: Stay home, in your third-world dump.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/13/2011 6:05
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[Al Jazeera] Belarus has nabbed several people in connection with the metro bombing in Minsk that killed 12 people, state media quoted the deputy prosecutor as saying.
"Information is being worked on from several people," Andrei Shved, the deputy prosecutor general who is in charge of the investigation, was quoted as saying by the Belta news agency on Tuesday.
"People have been jugged," Shved said; however, he did not give numbers or say if those jugged are formal suspects.
Shved added that photo-fit images of those wanted individuals still on the lam had been prepared and would be released to the public in a short time.
Earlier on Tuesday, Anatoly Kuleshov, the interior minister, said police had created composite pictures of two male suspects using testimony from witnesses. He said the explosive apparently was radio-controlled.
The bomb was placed under a bench on the Oktyabrskaya station and went kaboom! as people were coming off the trains at an evening peak hour, killing 12 people and wounding more than 200.
Viktor Sirenko, the chief doctor of the Minsk Emergency Hospital, said that many victims had lost arms or legs.
People streamed to the site of kaboom to lay flowers as police tightened security at all subway stations.
"I went through that hell, I saw that pile of disfigured bodies," Nina Rusetskaya, a 37-year old Minsk resident, said as she lit a candle at the kaboom site.
"I rode a car in the back of the train and only survived by miracle."
'Foreign forces'
Lukashenko said at a meeting with officials late Monday that foreign forces could be behind the kaboom, but he didn't elaborate.
Lukashenko took his six-year-old son to visit the site of the kaboom about two hours after the blast. He later ordered the country's feared security agency, which still goes under its Soviet-era name KGB, to "turn everything inside-out" to find the culprits.
Alexander Milinkevich, a prominent opposition leader, voiced fears that the kaboom could serve as a pretext for a further crackdown on dissent.
"Forces both inside and outside the country, which are interested in the destabilisation of the situation in Belarus, could profit from that terror attack," Milinkevich said in a statement Tuesday.
"These forces want to provoke even harsher political repressions."
More than 700 people, including seven presidential candidates, were nabbed after massive protests against fraud in December's presidential vote.
The European Union and the United States have responded to the flawed vote with sanctions, leaving Lukashenko to rely exclusively on it main sponsor and ally Russia.
Lukashenko has often launched diatribes at the West, accusing it of trying to destabilise Belarus. But his relations with Russia also have often been strained in the past as he accused the Kremlin of trying to wrest control over Belarus' key economic assets.
Belarus is facing a severe economic crisis with hard currency reserves running critically low and people waiting in day-long lines to exchange rubles as they prepare for devaluation of the national currency.
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The Swedish JAS Gripen aircraft deployed in Sicily as part of NATO's Libya mission remained grounded on Thursday as the fuel available is suitable only for US navy aircraft.
So British/French complaints that nobody else is stepping up to the plate aren't quite fair.
The eight fighter jets are located in the US part of the Sigonella airbase on Sicily and the only fuel available it that which is used for US navy aircraft. The Gripen were due to participate in their first mission over Libya on Thursday but this has now been delayed and test flights have been postponed.
According to the outline plan, the eight aircraft were all due to monitor the UN no-fly zone over the civil-war torn country from Thursday but on arrival at the base they discovered that no fuel was available.
The Sigonella base is designed as a naval air force base, lieutenant colonal Mats Brindsjö, head of the Swedish Air Operation Center, said.
"And US navy aircraft use somewhat different fuel to that which we use in our planes," he told the TT news agency.
The US fuel variety is known as JP5 while the Gripen normally fly using a civil fuel known as Jet A1.
"Certain additives and some equipment are needed to change JP5 to Jet A1 in a controlled manner. This equipment is not as yet in place down there and in the time being we are trying to buy the fuel from a place off the base."
From a commenter at ID:
The Navy still uses JP5. JP8 replaced JP4 but not JP5. Sigonella does not have JP8. If it ever had it in the past, it was many years ago. The former Fuels Chief (3 tours at Sigonella) never dealt with JP8 at Sigonella.
Swedes knew before they showed up that Sigonella had only JP5 but were under the impression it would not be an issue. Turns out the engine burns JP5 just fine, it is some of the ancillary systems on the aircraft that require the properties of JP8 (or Jet A1) that JP5 does not have.
Yes, there is a commercial airport down the road, and when the refuelers showed up to refuel the Swedish aircraft, they were unable to refuel the aircraft due to not being the proper type of refueling truck.
First deployment outside of Sweden in 50 years--there were bound to be issues to be worked through.
"This really should have been investigated as soon as we arrived, but we didn't have time with all the other details," Mats Brindsjö said, adding that he expects the Gripen aircraft to be in the air on Friday.
The Swedish aircraft will undergo a test flight in order to familiarize themselves with the airspace before NATO authorities are informed that the Gripen stand at the ready.
Sweden is not a member of NATO, although it has been in NATO's Partnership for Peace programme since 1994 and has contributed some 500 troops to the alliance's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) force in Afghanistan. Sweden also took part in operations in Kosovo.
Nevertheless Sweden's air force has not been involved in action since it took part in a UN-mandated operation in the then Belgian Congo from 1961-63.
The Libyan operation will be the first combat tour for the JAS Gripen 39, produced by the Swedish defence group Saab.
Pic at this link: April 8th; a Gripen gets a drink from a Swedish AF C-130 tanker.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/13/2011
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#1
The Saab Gripen, aka "Griffin", the mythological flying lion.
#3
The Gripen will fly fine on JP-5 (see F-18) but the Swedes were too cheap to certify it for JP-5. After all the the Gripen is land based, therefore needs only Jet A-1/JP-8. Coalitions? The Swedes don't need no stinkin' coalitions.
military capability entails more than just buying equipment. Logistics matter a lot, as do doctrine, training and political clarity about military operations.
NATO has atrophied in all those areas. Both the US and Europe are complicit in this - the US asserting a dominating leadership (for good historical reasons) and the resentful free-riding Europeans having, as Fred wrote a while back, their hands in our pockets while also criticizing the style and color of our clothes.
#6
...Not to mention that one reason (of several) that the F-22 isn't patrolling the skies of Tripoli is that its secure comm system can only talk to other F-22s and US AWACS (E-2, E-3) - it can't talk to Allied aircraft except over an open channel, which is like, you know, dangerous in combat. For some reason, our Allies never decided to develop a secure comm unit that would talk to the airplane that was intended to defend their butts. (There is a US unit in low rate production that can do it, but we're pretty much paying for the whole program and we're equipping our birds first) There was a VERY strong concern that an Allied pilot, being sneaky and all that, might somehow track a -22 (it can still be seen visually, it does have an IR signature albeit a small one, and there are any number of possibilities that could create an increased radar signature) and blow it out of the sky thinking he'd just whacked one of Qadaffi's finest. Wouldn't have looked at all good for the USAF to be explaining a $135,000,000 hole in the ground caused by one of our Allies.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/13/2011 8:45
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#7
Interoperability bites back. One of the key functions often overlooked in Coalition warfare is the ability of members sharing logistic support. Gas quality, size of the gas nozzles to feed equipment, size of the loaders to reach the place to transfer material, size of bullets, ability of radio communications to talk to each other, etc etc etc. It's hard enough to get our own services to cooperate, image the teeth pulling to get NATO members to play and then again to non-NATO. That creates its own army of administrators and bureaucrats.
#8
My, how things change. The Russians were late in getting to Austerlitz because nobody noticed that they were still on the Julian, not Gregorian calendar. That, and the Prussians were not too cool about three Russians armies crossing their turf.
#9
I had a Saab in the late 80's awful car. You can't drink and drive when the ignition is in the floorboard, one spilled drink and you have buy a new ignition.
#10
The most common equipment is US and ex-USSR. IF you wish to sell into a market dominated by giants like that you should be certified to be able to eat the same supplies. If you don't... your stockholders should EXECUTE your Board and make the CEO eat his bennies.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
04/13/2011 14:28
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#11
Water Modem: I strongly suspect that the whole situation was contrived by some people in the Swedish forces who really didn't want to get involved in the cluster$$$$ and used this as a way of dealing with the situation.
[Tolo News] Maulawi Abdul Aleem a Taliban shadow provincial chief of Agrestan district of Ghazni province was captured in an operation carried out by Afghan forces on Monday night, local officials said.
Congratulations, guys!
The operation was launched in Ajrestan district of Ghazni province last night to clear hard boyz and Maulawi Abdul Aleem a Taliban shadow provincial chief was nabbed by Afghan forces, Zorawar Zahid, police chief of Ghazni told TOLOnews.
Afghan forces and civilian have suffered no casualties in the operation, he added.
Ajrestan is an insecure district where bully boyz are active in most villages and use Improvised Explosive Devices to target Afghan forces.
The Taliban have not yet commented.
The Taliban have not commented an awful lot, lately.
The operation comes as the Taliban have closed the highway of Jaghury and Qarabagh districts of Ghazni province to residents for the last three days. Ghazni officials said that the Taliban have warned the drivers not to use the highways.
The warning was release after government wanted to reconstruct the roads in the district, officials said.
Provincial officials said that Afghan and foreign forces trying to wipe out the hard boyz soon.
Militants are said to be active in most districts of Ghazni province and they often attack on government buildings and police check posts.
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[Arab News] Japan raised the severity level of the crisis at its crippled nuclear plant Tuesday to rank it on par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, citing cumulative radiation leaks that have contaminated the air, tap water, vegetables and seawater.
Japanese nuclear regulators said the rating was being raised from 5 to 7 -- the highest level on an international scale overseen by the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency -- after new assessments of radiation leaks from the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant since it was disabled by the March 11 tsunami.
The new ranking signifies a "major accident" that includes widespread effects on the environment and health, according to the Vienna-based IAEA.
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04/13/2011
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#1
See also FREEREPUBLIC > JAPAN: AFTERSHOCK SEQUENCE MAY LAST [up to] TEN YEARS: REPORT
[Ross Stein - Geophysicist, USGS].
and
* WORLD NEWS > TEPCO LIABILITY MAY BE CAPPED AT US$24-45 BILYUHN [Y$2.0-3.8 Trilyuhn]:REPORT.
Presuming that TEPCO Bigwigs don't weirdly-n-mysteriously declare formal bankruptcy first, it amy have to payout US$100-200Bilyuhn annually for 15 years from its corporate profits.
* SAME > BOJ REPORT NOTES MASSIVE DAMAGE TO LOCAL ECONOMIES. Urban-Suburban-Rural.
* TOPIX > JAPAN NEEDS TO BRACE A PERIOD OF BIG QUAKES.
* SAME > EXPERTS:JAPAN TO EXPERIENCE FUKUSHIMA AFTERSHOCKS FOR NEXT 6-12 MONTHS [High-Mangitidue = MAG 7.0 or greater].
* WMF > 03/11/2011 "SENDAI" QUAKE-TSUNAMI DESTROYED JAPAN'S ECONOMY FOR NEXT 5-20 YEARS, UP TO 18.0MILYUHN JAPANESE MAY LEAVE JAPAN FOR CHINA DUE TO RADIATION POISONING.
* WMF > SENDAI QUAKE CAUSED PARTS OF JAPAN"S TERRITORY EQUIVALENT TO 1/2 THE LAND AREA OF TOKYO TO SINK TOWARDS SEA LEVEL.
* WMF > PROFESSOR TAKASHI OF TOKYO EARTHQUAKE RESEARCH INSTITUTE:MORE EARTHQUAKES OF MAG. 9.0 OR GREATER SIMILAR TO 03/11/2011 DISASTER MAY OCCUR IN JAPAN REGION, WORLD WITHIN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS, JAPAN MAY SUFFER UP TO EIGHT MAJOR AFTERSHOCKS OF MAG 7.0 OR HIGHER FROM THE FUKUSHIMA QUAKE.
* WMF > JAPAN METEREOLOGICAL AGENCY WARNS OF VIGILANCE AS NATION'S TOP 20 VOLCANOES ARE EXHIBITING HIGHER FREQUENCIES OF EARTHQUAKES.
* TOPIX > [Helium.com] CASCADING EARTHQUAKES + THE THEORY OF GLOBAL RUPTURE | WHAT IFF A SUPER-EARTHQUAKE LED TO OTHER SUPER-QUAKES AND SENT THE WORLD INTO A CASCADING CARCOPHY OF CATASTROPHE?
Lest we fergit, "2012" + "QUAKE HEARD/FELT AROUND THE WORLD", aka Global = Universal Quake.
Which according to the HISTORY CHANNEL must be a Quake = "Trigger" Quake of minima MAG 10 or HIGHER???
#3
WMF > JAPAN THINK-TANK: EXPANDING CHINESE PLA MILITARY TEHCNOLOGIES, MISSION SCOPES COULD LEAD TO SINO-JAPANESE WAR.
* SAME > WHITE RUSSIANS BEGIN TO FLEE RUSS FAR EAST DUE TO FEARS OF RADIATION POISONING FROM JAPAN "FUKUSHIMA" NUCLEAR CRISIS.
CONUS + NATO-EU, ready or not here they come!
* SAME > CPLA MUST PLAN FOR POSSIBLE REGIONAL WAR AGZ JAPAN DUE TO DESPERATION OVER THE DOMESTIC CONSEQUENCES OF THE FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR DISASTER. RISE OF DISASTER-LED JAPANESE MILITARISM [including NUCLEAR].
* SAME > RUSSIA'S DECLINING POPULATION: 20,000 VILLAGES, SMALL CITIES ARE "EMPTY" DUE TO LOW BIRTHRATES + RURAL-URBAN ECON RELOCATION.
#4
This upgrade is not due to any change in the situation at the site. Radiation levels continue to decline and the situation continues to stabilize. The change is a result of a recalculation of iodine-131 released a few weeks ago. It appears more of it was released than previously thought (75% of which has now decayed and is no longer in the environment).
This is more of an administrative change than anything else. There will be no changes to stability operations at the site.
* RENSE > JAPAN COVERED UP [Pre-SENDAI = 03/11 QUAKE] PROBLEMS AT FUKUSHIMA BEFORE 2006.
* SAME > JAPAN'S ECONOMY IN "SEVERE" CONDITION AFTER QUAKE.
* PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > JAPAN:RAISING GENERATIONS OF RADIATION. Nippon's already "greying" population to be complemented by their radioactive descendants, environment.
* IRNA > OVER 600.0MILYUHN PEOPLE IN EUROPE STILL SUFFER FROM CHERNOBYL AFTER-EFFECTS:STUDY [IPPNW].
* DAILY TIMES.PK > CHINA CONCERNED AT JAPAN'S PROLONGED NUCLEAR CRISIS.
* WMF > JAPAN MINISTRY OF EDUCATION: HIGHER MAGNITUDE QUAKES [MAG 9.0-plus] MAY OCCUR THROUGHOUT VARIOUS CHINA SEAS REGIONS, NEW 700-KM LONG REGIONAL FAULT LINE MAY FORM INTERCONNECTING THE SEA OF JAPAN, EAST + EAST CHINA SEAS, SOUTH CHINA SEAS, + MIYAZAKI EARTHQUAKE ZONES.
* SAME WMF > MASSIVE HUMAN DIASPORA OR MASSIVE HUMAN INVASION TO BE CAUSED BY FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR CRISIS + JAPAN'S DUMPING OF HIGHLY RADIOACTIVE WATER INTO THE PACIFIC THAT SPREAD TO MULTIPLE INTERNATIONAL REGIONS..
The following news is so terribly shocking that the prestigious Captain Louis Renault Award must be issued yet again this month. Here goes: the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, or ISI, was behind the 2008 terror assault on Mumbai. This shocking news comes up in the testimony of two Pakistanis who were detained by the US and are currently on trial for terrorist activities, including the scouting of the Mumbai terror assault.
#2
ION DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > PAKISTAN'S NUCLEAR WEAPONS: A DETERRENT AGZ INDIA BUT ALSO AGZ THE US?
ARTIC = denotes that POTUS Bammer had warned that there will be "serious consequences" iff any major terr strikes are traced back to Pakistan; LIBYA is the third Muslim Nation-State attacked + engaged in war by the US.
* SAME > CIA EXPULSION SUGGESTS PAKISTAN IS BREAKING WID THE US?
* FOX NEWS AM > powerful PAK ARMY CHIEF warns the USA not to "push/test Him" + PAK ARMY vee Islamabad's demands.
[Dawn] Three alleged faceless myrmidons and a policeman were killed and another official sustained injuries in a clash at Jamrud Road here in the small hours of Monday.
Capital City Police Officer Liaquat Ali told journalists that a police party led by assistant sub-inspector Sajid Iqbal Khan was on a routine patrol when faceless myrmidons attacked their vehicle near Hayatabad Industrial Estate at about 2am.
He said that at least 20 people armed with sophisticate weapons opened indiscriminate fire on the police van from the rooftop of a building in Khushaal Market. The ASI and another policeman identified as Bakhshis Khan of Naguman Charsadda sustained bullet injuries in the attack.
Mr Ali said that three attackers were killed in retaliatory firing by coppers. "Soon after the encounter, additional force also reached the spot and started search operation but the attackers managed to escape," he said. However, The contradictory However... bodies of three Death Eaters were found on the rooftop, where they had taken position, he added. He said that three Kalashnikovs and hand grenades were also found on the rooftop.
The injured coppers were shifted to Hayatabad Medical Complex, where the ASI was pronounced dead. Bakhshis Khan was stated to be in stable condition.
The funeral prayer of the ASI was offered at Malik Saad Khan Police Lines with full honour and later his body was shifted to his village Daudzai, on the suburbs of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, for burial.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... Governor Barrister Masood Kausar, Khyber Assembly Speaker Karamatullah Khan Chagharmati, Minister for Information Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Inspector General of Police Fiaz Ahmad Khan Turo, Frontier Constabulary Commandant Mohammad Akbar Khan Hoti and other officials attended the funeral prayer.
The governor condemned the killing of police official and termed the attack as cowardly act. The government, he said, was determined to uproot the menace of terrorism once for all and would never bow down to any pressure in this regard.
The bodies of killed Death Eaters were shifted to local morgue. A source at the mortuary said that no one had so far contacted them for taking the bodies.
A police source claimed that the Death Eaters belonged to Khyber Agency and one of them was an activist of jihad boy organisation Lashkar-i-Islam.
The others two belonged to Qambarkhel and Kokikhel tribes, he said. However, The contradictory However... he did not disclose their names.
An official of Haytabad cop shoppe, when contacted, said that FIR was registered against unidentified terrorists. He said that police had started search operation in the surrounding areas but no one had so far been tossed in the slammer. He said that faceless myrmidons might have decamped to Khyber Agency as the area was located close to the scene of the crime.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2011
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[Dawn] Three persons were killed and 13 others received injuries in a roadside kaboom blast in upper Kurram tribal region on Monday.
The residents of the area said that a pick-up vehicle, carrying passengers from Kanraki to Parachinar, hit a landmine planted by suspected snuffies along a roadside. As a result the vehicle was destroyed and driver Mohammad Hassan, Noor Wali and a religious scholar Maulana Rahmat Ali were killed on the spot.
Thirteen other passengers were maimed in the blast. Two of the injured were stated to be at death's door. The injured also included a woman and children.
The locals rushed to the site of occurrence and started rescue work. The injured were taken to agency headquarters hospital in Parachinar.
Meanwhile, ...back at the wreckage, a single surviver held tightly to the smashed prow... most of the areas in tehsil Safi plunged into darkness when unidentified persons blew up two power transmission towers in Mohmand ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Bloody Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... tribal region on Monday.
Locals said two electricity towers were blown up by suspected persons in Qayumabad and Bayankhel areas of tehsil Safi on Sunday night. The towers were destroyed completely, disrupting power supply to several areas of Mohmand and Bajaur agencies. They said that power supply to Mamagat grid station was also disconnected.
Meanwhile, ...back at the wreckage, a single surviver held tightly to the smashed prow... jet fighters and helicopter gunships pounded suspected jihad boy hideouts in Baizai and Safi tehsils. The artillery also targeted jihad boy positions in Mattai and Suran Darra. However, The wishy-washy However... no casualty was reported till late night.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2011
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UN leader the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon told Ivory Coast president Alassane Ouattara on Monday the country must avert new "bloodshed" and ensure there is no retaliation against supporters of fallen strongman Laurent Gbagbo ... Former President-for-Life of Ivory Coast from 2000 to 2011. Laurent lost to Alassane Ouattara in 2010 but his representative tore up the results on the teevee and he refused to vacate the presidential palace. French troops assisted the Oattara forces in extricating him from his Fuhrerbunker... , a UN front man said.
The UN secretary general spoke to Ouattara in the hours after the internationally-recognized president's forces captured Gbagbo in his Abidjan bunker, which followed a new military operation by UN and French troops.
Ban said the Ouattara government was responsible for Gbagbo's safety and "underlined to President Ouattara the expectation that with Mr. Gbagbo now in the hands of the president's forces any further bloodshed will be avoided.
"He stressed in particular the need to ensure that there is no retaliation against Mr. Gbagbo's supporters," UN front man Martin Nesirky said.
The UN chief welcomed Ouattara's call to set up a national truth and reconciliation commission to look into accusations of massacres and other crimes made against both sides in the Ivory Coast conflict, Nesirky added.
Ban reaffirmed that "those responsible for human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... abuses, regardless of their affiliation, must be held accountable."
Ivory Coast now has an "historic opportunity" and must work to foster national reconciliation, establish a national unity government, ensure accountability for serious human rights violations and re-establish state authority throughout the West African nation, which has been in turmoil for much of the past decade, Ban said.
The United Nations ...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involve making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country... , which has more than 9,000 troops and police in Ivory Coast, will keep up its mission helping to re-establishing law and order and Ban offered help countering what he called a "critical" humanitarian emergency after the conflict.
Several hundred people have been killed in the unrest since a presidential election in November, which Gbagbo refused to recognize he had lost.
UN guards are now protecting Gbagbo even though he is in the custody of Ouattara forces.
Ban called on "all parties to work together to put an end to this tragic chapter, which could have been avoided had Mr. Gbagbo respected the will of the people at a far earlier stage," said his front man.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2011
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He stressed in particular the need to ensure that there is no retaliation against Mr. Gbagbo's supporters
Any bets on how many non-Muslims Ivory Coast has 10 years from now?
For a map, click here. For a map of Tamaulipas, click here.
The death toll in the mass grave in San Fernando, Tamaulipas rose to 116 after 28 more dead were found, according to Mexican press reports.
Conflicting press accounts also put the toll at 120, but that higher number is so far unconfirmed.
In a joint press conference with Tamaulipas government officials Tuesday newly installed Mexican attorney general of the republic (PGR) Marisela Morales said that a total of 17 suspects in the mass murder have been detained to date, 14 of which have been ordered to preventative detention by court order.
Morales also mentioned that evidence points to the criminal gang Los Zetas as the most likely involved.
The discovery of the grave took place only a week ago with information released last Thursday when 59 bodies were found, and it was thought at that moment that was the extent of the crime.
But since last Thursday, several suspects arrested have apparently led authorities to additional gravesites with additional bodies. To see the Rantburg report on the original finding click here. An update is here.
In a related development Matamoros, Tamaulipas director of Proteccion Civil Oscar de la Cerda said Tuesday that enquiries from at least 200 families have been made to authorities in Matamoros concerning missing relatives. The calls have come from the Mexican states of Oaxaca, Chihuahua, San Luis Potosi and Chiapas.
Matamoros would be the logical place to enquire since it was the terminus to the bus trip from Ciudad Victoria.
[Yemen Post] At least 12 suspected Al-Qaeda snuffies were killed in festivities between Yemen's security forces and Al-Qaeda snuffies in Yemen's southern province of Abyan.
According to Yemen's Defense Ministry website and Interior Ministry sources, two of the snuffies killed in the festivities were foreigners.
Abyan province is considered the main stronghold for Al-Qaeda members as festivities their have been ongoing for months.
Lately, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, AQAP, has increased its attacks against Yemeni forces since the rise of protests demanding President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2011
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[Iran Press TV] Forces loyal to embattled Libyan ruler Colonel Muammar Qadaffy ... dictator of Libya since 1969. From 1972, when he relinquished the title of prime minister, he has been accorded the honorifics Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya or Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution. With the death of Omar Bongo of Gabon on 8 June 2009, he became the longest serving of all current non-royal national leaders. He is also the longest-serving ruler of Libya since Tripoli became an Ottoman province in 1551. When Chairman Mao was all the rage and millions of people were flashing his Little Red Book, Qadaffy came out with his own Little Green Book, which didn't do as well. Qadaffy's instability has been an inspiration to the Arab world and to Africa, which he would like to rule... has killed at least 10,000 people during the ongoing fighting in the North African country, opposition says.
Libya's National Transition Council said on Tuesday that another 30,000 were maimed and 20,000 more are still missing, AFP reported.
The revolutionary council, headed by Libya's former Justice Minister Mustafa Abdel Jalil, plans to lead the country to an election.
Jalil was among the first high-profile Libyan figures to join protesters following Qadaffy regime's brutal crackdown on the opposition.
The developments come as there are grave concerns regarding the humanitarian situation and the safety of civilians in the city of Misrata which is under siege by Qadaffy's forces.
Misratah has been the scene of heavy bombardments for more than a month now, with fighting reaching its central parts.
Meanwhile, ...back at the bunker, his Excellency called a meeting. It was to be his last... the Western coalition says it has destroyed over 20 tanks belonging to forces loyal to Qadaffy over the weekend.
Libya's state-run television says a 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 style of the American pants... Arclight airstrike on the town of Kikla has killed a number of civilians and police members.
Dozens of civilians have been killed in Libya since the Western military alliance launched aerial and sea attacks on the North African country.
Human rights groups say Libyan troops have also killed thousands of civilians since a revolution started against Colonel Qadaffy in mid-February.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2011
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#1
'Gaddafi forces killed 10,000 in Libya'
Not anywhere near enough.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/13/2011 0:47
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Given the gratitude shown by the Kosovo-ans as demonstrated with the shooting and killing of US Airmen in the airport by a Kosovo jihad-ist, perhaps the west should have left the Serbs to their typical Balkans butchery, and stayed out of that mess.
Posted by: The Other Beldar ||
04/13/2011 10:26
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That's not the point Beldar, the point that the numbers used to justify 11 weeks of bombing Serbia were a lie.
[Al Jazeera] Hosni Mubarak, ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... the former Egyptian president, has been hospitalised at the Red Sea port of Sharm el-Sheikh, where he has been staying since he was ousted from power by a popular uprising on February 11.
"He has been under house arrest in Sharm el-Sheikh ever since he was ousted from power. We are still not sure of what condition he is in, but the former president has been complaining that he's been unwell for some time now," reported Zeina Khodr, Al Jizz's correspondent in Cairo.
Mubarak has kept a low profile since he stepped down from the presidency, but released an audio message earlier this week saying that he would cooperate fully with the prosecutor-general's investigations into allegations of corruption committed by his himself and family members.
Mubarak had been expected to be questioned by Sherlocks for the first time on Tuesday in connection with corruption allegations and violence against protesters during the uprising.
The public prosecutor issued the summons on Sunday.
Mubarak's sons Alaa and Gamal have also been summoned for questioning.
"He was supposed to travel to Cairo to be questioned about his wealth, about his assets, by the prosecutor-general here, but he said that he was unable to travel. Now whether or not its a coincidence that he falls ill just days after the prosecutor-general decided to summon him as well as his two sons, Gamal and Alaa, for questioning about their wealth and their assets ... in fact, at this hour, ministry of justice officials are questioning his sons," Khodr reported.
"Now this has been a demand of the pro-democracy protesters here in Egypt for the prosecution of the president, as well as high-ranking members of the former regime, in order to hold them accountable for what they believe was the amassing of billions of dollars of wealth."
Mubarak also has a history of illnesses, and while in power would routinely travel to Germany for check-ups. The former president had suffered from a number of health problems and had undergone gallbladder surgery in the days leading up to the end of his rule.
"Definitely this news will not be welcomed by pro-democracy protesters, this is what many of them actually feared, that the president will not be tried, will not be held accountable for his actions over recent decades. And definitely, a lot of them will be sceptical - they will wonder whether or not he is really sick," Khodr said.
She said that many freedom fighters were "ridiculing" Mubarak's hospitalisation, and were of the opinion that the timing of his admission to hospital was not coincidental.
There has been no official statement from the army or health authorities regarding Mubarak's admission, but sources within the army have confirmed that the former president is indeed being looked at by doctors.
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As per CNN + FOX AM NEWS, apparently a number of local Egyptians are NOT convinced Mubarak is actually sick or had suffered a genuine heart attack???
A total of 30 individuals were murdered in Chihuahua, Mexico in ongoing drug and gang related violence that included three Juarez police officers shot last Sunday.
One unidentified inmate at a Chihuahua prison was killed Friday night. The knife fight also severely wounded a second inmate. Oscar Alejandro Quiñonez Maguregui, 28, was killed in the intake hall of the prison.
Juarez municipal police officers rescued a kidnap victim early Friday morning. Three armed suspects fired on police officers who rolled up on the scene near the intersection of calles Cedro de la Cumbre and Cedro de la Sierra in the Urbivilla del Cedro Etapa II colony. The suspects were arrested at the scene. The unidentified female kidnap victim was found hiding from the suspects inside a garbage can.
An unidentified man and his seven year old son were shot to death in Chihuahua, Chihuahua Friday. The victims were aboard a Datsun sedan near the intersection of calles 11th and Morelos in the Aldama colony when they were shot.
An unidentified married couple and an unidentified man were shot to death in Chihuahua, Chihuahua Friday. The couple were near the intersection of 1st de Mayo and Revolucion Proletaria in the Tierra y Libertad colony when armed suspects aboard a Dodge Ram pickup truck fired on them. Another man was shot to death near the corner of calles Victoria del Pueblo and Venceremos. The children of the couple were present at the time of the shooting, but escaped harm. Several AK-47 assault rifle and 9mm spent shell casings were found at the scene.
Four unidentified men were shot to death at an automotive repair shop in Juarez Friday. The victims were at the Fuel Injecion Ramirez shop near the intersection of calles Guadalupe and Leticia in the Lomas del Rey colony when armed suspects came and shot them and two other victims. The victims were all drinking beer when the attack took place.
Four unidentified men were shot to death in two separate attacks in Juarez Saturday night in the Felipes Angels colony, according to the Mexican news dailyLa Polaka.
Three men were shot to death near the corner of calles Irapuato and Mochis as they were working to repair a vehicle.
A man was shot to death about ten blocks away.
One man was shot to death and two others were wounded in an attack in a funeral parlor in Juarez Saturday evening. The shooting took place at the Funeral Miranda funeral home near the intersection of avenidas Tecnologico and Arturo de Córdova in the Lourde colony, where a man and a woman walked into the chapel and concentrated their gunfire on the victim, Jorge Ugarte Saenz 32. The shooters escaped the scene aboard a BMW sedan.
Two unidentified men were found tortured and shot to death in Juarez Saturday night. The victims were dumped near the intersection of Calle Miguel Trillo and Bulevar Oscar Flores in the Kilometro 5 colony, bound hand and foot and gagged with duct tape.
An unidentified man was shot to death in Juarez Sunday. The victim was found naked to the waist, bound hand and foot, and gagged with duct tape near the intersection of calles Che Guevara and Ponciano Arriaga in the Mexico 68 colony.
An unidentified Juarez city police officer was shot to death in Juarez Sunday afternoon. The victim was shot near the intersection of calles Ricardo Peña and Mendoza in the Oasis Revolucion colony just as he was leaving home. Several 9mm and .40 caliber spent shell casing were found at the scene.
An unidentified man in his 20s was shot to death in Juarez Sunday. The victim was near the intersection of calles Ajusco and del Arena in the Diaz Ordaz colony hen he was shot. Several .40 caliber spent shell casings were found at the scene.
Two unidentified men were shot to death in Juarez Sunday. The victims were near a residence near the intersection of calles General Teran and Ignacio Alatorre in the Mariano Escobedo colony when they were shot. More than 60 spent shell casings were found at the scene, mostly for AK-47 assault rifles. The shooters were aboard trucks when they fired.
Another unidentified Juarez municipal police officer was shot to death Sunday. The officer was on calle Caridad Bravo in the Revolucion Mexicana colony when he was shot.
An unidentified female Juarez police officer was shot and wounded in Juarez Sunday night. The victim was aboard her Ford Expedition near the intersection of Santiago Blancas and Yepomera in the Hacienda las Torres colony when armed suspects fired on her and her five year old daughter who was with her at the time. The shooters fired their weapons at least a dozen times. The girl was unhurt.
Two Chihuahua, Chihuahua municipal police officers were arrested by Mexican Federal agents as they attempted to loot an ATM Monday night. The ATM belonged to Banorte and was on avenida Teofilo Borunda. Ramon and Jesus Gomez Durän were caught with a cutting torch and a bankcard at the scene.
Three unidentified men were shot to death in Chihuahua Monday. The victims were near the intersection of calles 36th and Batallon de San Patricio in the Rubio colony when they were shot. The shooting took place just two blocks from a Mexican Army base.
La Linea, the armed wing of the Juarez drug cartel has issued a new warning against Juarez municipal police officers who are part of the Delta group. The message in the form of graffiti in Juarez was erased quickly by Juarez city workers. Delta Group US equivalent would be a major case squad. La Linea is demanding the resignation of newly installed Juarez police chief Julian Leyoazala, who is under fire for his practices in his previous post in Tijuana. Three of his officers were arrested last week for their alleged involvement in the kidnapping of four individuals,who have yet to be found.
An unidentified man was shot to death in Chihuahua Monday. The victim was shot by several armed suspects who were aboard a pickup truck. The shooting took place in the Cafetales colony near the campus of the Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua.
An unidentified man was beaten and strangled to death in Juarez Monday night. The victim was dumped near the intersection of calles Kripton and Donato Guerra in the Postal colony. He was beaten, bound hand and foot and suffocated with a plastic bag.
Two unidentified men were mutilated in Juarez Monday night. The victims were found near the calle Rivera Lara and Maria Martinez. One of them men were beheaded and quartered, while the other was suffocated with a plastic bag.
[Asharq al-Aswat] Syria's main human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... movement said the corpse count from pro-democracy protests against President Bashar al-Assad had reached 200 and urged the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... to impose sanctions on the ruling hierarchy.
Syria, the latest Arab country shaken by mass uprisings against authoritarian rulers, has witnessed unprecedented protests across the tightly-controlled country for the last three weeks.
Assad has responded with force -- witnesses say security forces have opened fire on protesters -- vague pledges of reform and attempts at appeasing minority Kurds. Protests have shown no sign of abating but have not yet reached the levels seen in Tunisia and Egypt where leaders were ultimately tossed.
"Syria's uprising is screaming with 200 deaders, hundreds of injured and a similar number of arrests," the Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... Declaration group said in a letter sent on Monday to the secretary general of the vaporous Arab League.
The Damascus Declaration is named after a document signed in 2005 by prominent civic, Islamist and liberal leaders calling for the end of 41 years of Assad family rule and its replacement with a democratic system.
"The regime unleashes its forces to besiege cities and terrorise civilians, while protesters across Syria thunder with the same chant 'peaceful peaceful'," it added.
"We ask you to... impose political, diplomatic and economic sanctions on the Syrian regime, which continues to be the faithful guardian of Hafez al-Assad's legacy," the letter said, referring to the iron-fisted rule of President Hafez al-Assad, who died in 2000 after 30 years in power.
"RESPONDING WITH REPRESSION"
The protests, which erupted in the southern city of Deraa last month before spreading, have demanded freedom of expression and assembly and an end to corruption.
The authorities blame "gangs" and "infiltrators" for the violence, in which they said soldiers and police have also been killed. On Tuesday, state news agency SANA named six security service personnel it said had been killed and 168 maimed in Deraa, suburbs of Damascus, Homs and Latakia.
"President Assad has been only giving promises for the last 11 years. Instead of solutions he talks, as the regime usually does, about an outside conspiracy," the letter said.
Last Friday was one of the deadliest since the uprising began in Deraa, an agricultural city near the border with Jordan where many Sunni Mohammedan tribes resent the wealth and power amassed by minority Alawites, the sect to which Assad belongs.
Human Rights Watch, which said 27 people were killed in Deraa, condemned Syria's security forces for preventing maimed protesters reaching hospitals and stopping medical teams from treating them in two towns.
"The Syrian authorities are responding to protests against repression with more repression: killings, mass arbitrary arrests, beatings and torture," HRW's Sarah Leah Whitson said.
HRW said protesters told the rights group that demonstrators seized weapons from an abandoned army checkpoint and shot at security forces, killing at least a dozen of them and setting on fire two cars belonging to the army and security services.
"SLOW-MOTION REVOLUTION"
Western governments who have been trying to coax Syria out of its anti-Israeli alliance with Iran as well as to give up its support for bad boy groups Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, and Hezbullies, have denounced the violence against the protesters and urged Assad to take more vigorous steps towards reforms such as lifting emergency law.
"Time is running out as every new casualty makes the clock tick faster," said the International Crisis Group's Peter Harling on the Foreign Policy blog.
"To open the space required for a radical reform agenda to take hold, the regime's top priority must be to ensure a period of relative calm. Prospects will look grim were the country to witness yet another bloody Friday," he said, describing Syria as a "slow-motion revolution".
Assad has said the protests are part of a foreign conspiracy to sow sectarian strife. His father used similar language when he crushed leftist and Islamist challenges to his rule in the 1980s, killing thousands.
Syrian security forces sealed off the coastal city of Banias on Monday following pro-democracy protests and killings by irregulars loyal to Assad, residents said.
Since the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, authorities have intensified a campaign of arrests against dissidents and civic activists. Authorities generally embark on a round of arrests after protests, according to activists and witnesses, before later releasing some.
Fayez Sara, a journalist who was placed in durance vile for two-and-a-half years along with 11 Damascus Declaration members and released in 2010, was nabbed again on Sunday, rights activists said.
"The secret police have been rounding up every outspoken figure they can get their hands on. They either call them in for 'interrogation' and keep them, pick them up from the street or break into their homes," one of the rights defenders said.
Most of the Damascus Declaration members have spent long periods as political prisoners, including leading opposition figure Raid al-Turk, who spent more than 17 years in solitary confinement under Hafez al-Assad.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
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ION HAARETZ > [Exiled]SYRIAN MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD LEADER DECLARES SUPPORT FOR ANTI-ASSAD PROTESTS.
Mohammed Riad Shafqa.
* Also from HAARETZ > AHMADINEJAD: ARAB WORLD CONFLICTS WILL LEAD TO COLLAPSE OF ZIONIST REGIME ["New Middle East to rise widout Israel or the US].
OWG Caliphate.
* TOPIX > IRAN, SAUDI ARABIA FACE OFF IN ISLAMIC "COLD WAR".
* TOPIX/ISRAEL NN > THE SIX GCC MEMBERS WANT DIPLOMATIC, MILITARY CONFEDERATION, to counter agz Iran + Iranian belligerencies.
Lest we fergit, SAUDI ARABIA = would prefer itself, + a GCC = Saudi-led Regional Bloc, to possess NUCLEAR WEAPONS.
[Maghrebia] The UN Special Rapporteur on free speech began his first official visit to Algeria, Liberte reported on Monday (April 11th). "This mission will provide me with an opportunity to better understand issues concerning freedom of opinion and expression in Algeria, by allowing me to collect first-hand information from the people concerned," UN Special Rapporteur Frank La Rue said ahead of his Sunday arrival.
Through April 17th, the independent expert on the right to freedom of opinion and expression will meet with representatives of Algeria's judiciary, legislature, media and civil society. He will present his findings to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
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[The Nation (Nairobi)] Nigeria's opposition seems to have eroded the ruling party's dominance of parliament, results showed today, with the children of ex-presidents among losers in polls seen as a step towards real democracy.
The ruling Peoples Democratic Party, however, looked set to remain the largest party in the 469-member legislature despite losing ground in the southwest and parts of the north of Africa's most populous nation.
Saturday's parliamentary polls, the first of three crucial elections this month, have been described by officials and observers as a clear sign of progress in Nigeria despite violence and two earlier postponements.
Presidential elections are to be held this coming Saturday, while governorship and state assembly ballots are set for April 26.
Losses for the ruling PDP included Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, a senator and daughter of ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo, and Maryam Yar'Adua, daughter of late president Umaru Yar'Adua who was defeated in her bid to join the house.
The speaker of the house of representatives, Dimeji Bankole, also lost his seat -- and reacted in a way that may have surprised Nigerians weary with win-at-all-cost politicians.
"For me, the race was not a life and death duel," he said in a statement.
"Of more importance is building, maintaining and developing our democratic institution and processes as a means towards true national development and greatness."
In the country's southwest, where the economic capital Lagos is located, the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria had made a strong showing.
The Congress for Progressive Change opposition, whose presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari, an ex-military ruler, is seen as the main challenger to incumbent Goodluck Jonathan ... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau... , made inroads in the north.
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[Dawn] Three workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM) were killed in a firing incident in the Mehmoodabad area of Bloody Karachi, DawnNews reported on Tuesday.
The three activists of MQM, Syed Asif Ali, Naeem and Munir were seriously injured when unknown men on cycle of violences attacked them. They gave up the ghost on the way to Jinnah Hospital.
According to police in the area, the victims were employees of the Water Board.
Following the murders, festivities broke out in numerous areas of the city and shops and stalls in the area immediately shut down.
The deployment of Rangers and police has also increased in the city.
In the last 48 hours, eight people have fallen victim to murders in Bloody Karachi.
However, The essential However... Chief Minister Sindh Qaim Ali Shah also on Monday, claimed that murders in Bloody Karachi were under control.
The CM said that top priority was being given to the law and order situation in the city and legal action would be taken against those involved in the criminal acts.
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HMS Iron Duke has completed its final patrol of Iraq's oil terminals, heralding the end of the Royal Navy's eight-year involvement in their protection.
Since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, Britain's frigate fleet has been committed to almost round-the-clock patrols of the waters around the Khawr Al Amaya and Al Basrah Oil Terminals - known throughout the fleet as KAAOT and ABOT. The two platforms deliver millions of barrels of oil to waiting tankers each day - generating around 80 per cent of the country's income in the process.
The safeguarding of the invaluable terminals, off the Al Faw peninsula at the tip of the Gulf, has been performed principally by Royal Navy, US and Australian forces and, increasingly, Iraqi sailors and marines.
The latter were trained by a UK-US team at Umm Qasr, Iraq's principal port and naval base, and have already taken over responsibility for defending the older KAAOT.
With responsibility for the protection of the ABOT now due to be handed over to Iraq's own forces, last week Iron Duke sailed away from the terminal, for probably the last time, after two months of patrolling. The Royal Navy command team on the platform are expected to follow suit in the coming days.
Congratulations on taking over another aspect of your own defense, Iraq. Good luck.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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[Straits Times] AN INDONESIAN woman exhales cigarette smoke into the mouth of a gaunt, naked patient at a Jakarta clinic, where tobacco is openly touted as a cancer cure.
Cheez! Why didn't I think of this?
The Western patient is suffering from emphysema, a condition she developed from decades of smoking. Along with cancer and autism, it's just one of the ailments the Griya Balur clinic claims it can cure with cigarettes.
'I missed this,' says the woman, a regular customer, with an American accent, as Phil Collins's 'I Can Feel It' blares in the background.
Griya Balur would be shut down in many parts of the world, but not in Indonesia, one of the developing-country new frontiers for big tobacco as it seeks to replace its dwindling profits in the health-conscious West.
Long traditions of tobacco use combined with poor regulation and the billions of dollars that flow into government coffers from the tobacco industry mean places like Griya Balur go unchallenged.
The 'treatment' for the emphysema sufferer includes the blowing of smoke from 'divine cigarettes' infused with 'nanotechnology' to remove their cancer-causing 'free radicals", through a tube into her diseased lungs.
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[Ennahar] The security services have managed to foil attacks by terrorist sleeper cells constituted of jacket wallahs who were planning to carry them out in many sensitive places in the country.
These operations were to be executed in the coming days, according to the confession of a member of a cell, jugged earlier this week in the province of Bouira.
The terror network was preparing attacks against official buildings, especially against the seats of security and justice.
The urban security in the district of Lakhdaria, province of Bouira, jugged last Saturday a lady who was taking pictures of the penitentiary.
The woman, aged 42, from the region of El Amariah, in the province of Medea, lives in the town of Fouka (Tipaza), and was recruited by terrorists.
Her camera contained pictures of official sites, including the center of the national security of Rouiba, the penitentiary of Lakhdaria, the seat of the gendarmerie in Rouiba and photos of the third urban security in Algiers, in addition to photos of the seat of the Parliament, the Directorate General of National Security in Bab El Oued, the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense and Abbane Ramdane Court of justice in Algiers.
The defendant has admitted working on behalf of a relative, a dangerous terrorist wanted by the security services since long time.
She told Sherlocks that she was preparing to commit a suicide kaboom in late April before the general direction of national security with a car boom. She recognized in her statements that she was also preparing for the kidnapping of a senior army officer, since she worked in an area close to the officers.
The investigation by the security services of Lakhdaria also revealed that it is a cell of suicide bomber, created about five months ago, according to statements of the jugged lady.
The investigation is still underway to get to the other cell members.
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[Al Jazeera] A federal appeals court in the United States upheld a preliminary injunction against major parts of a tough Arizona law that targets undocumented Democrats.
The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday turned down an appeal filed by governor Jan Brewer.
The governor had asked them to lift an injunction imposed by a federal judge in Phoenix the day before the law was to take effect on July 29, 2010.
Arizona's law would require police to determine the immigration status of a person they have jugged and suspect is in the country illegally.
On Monday, the court ruled that a lower court did not abuse its authority by enjoining key sections of the state law that were challenged by the B.O. regime.
The law, which was signed by Brewer at the end of April last year, had wide support in the Mexico border state and across the United States as a whole, but was opposed by Obama and civil rights groups.
Opponents of the law said it would lead to harassment of Hispanic Americans.
Stemming the flood of undocumented Democrats
The US Justice Department had sued to block the law. It argued that it violated the constitution because enforcing immigration law was a federal issue.
Brewer's lawyers said the federal government hadn't effectively enforced immigration law and that the state law would assist federal authorities.
The Republican-controlled Arizona legislature passed the measure to try to stem the flood of thousands of undocumented Democrats who cross its border from Mexico and to cut down on drug trafficking and other crimes in the area.
Susan Bolton, the US District Court Judge, had blocked the law's most controversial elements shortly before it was due to come into effect last July, arguing that immigration matters are the federal government's responsibility.
In addition to the requirement that police check immigration status, Bolton also had blocked a provision
requiring immigrants to carry their papers at all times and made it illegal for people without proper documents to solicit for work in public places.
Immigration as an issue has festered in US politics for years and attempts to overhaul the system have failed, most recently in 2007 when Republicans torpedoed reforms pushed by George W. Bush, then the Republican president.
Posted by: Fred ||
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I stopped reading as soon as I saw it was the Ninth Circus. On to the SCOTUS.
Suggestion
1) SoCal AZ NM Nevada Circuit
2) Rocky Mtn Circuit
3) The Giggling Class Circuit centered on SanFran
4) The Ecotopia/Tourist/Alaska Circuit made up of Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii and Pacific Islands
Posted by: Water Modem ||
04/13/2011 14:23
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#3
Mexico and 10 other Latin American countries got real gleeful about this.
[Arab News] The Shoura Council recommended a separate department to issue Islamic verdicts, or fatwas, on women's affairs on Monday. The proposal was made by a Shoura member at a session chaired by the council's chairman Abdullah Al-Asheikh.
Taking sexual segregation to a new level. It will be interesting when the male/female rules diverge as a result, and the fatwa departments start to argue among themselves.
Shoura Council Secretary-General Muhammad Al-Ghamdi told news hounds that the suggestion was made by the council's committee for Islamic affairs and judiciary when it presented its observations on the annual report of the General Presidency for Scientific Research and Issuing Fatwas.
An interesting combination...
"It was pointed out that such a department for issuing fatwas on women's affairs should be linked to the standing committee based at the General Presidency for Scientific Research and Issuing Fatwas," Al-Ghamdi said. He added that the house strongly felt that there should be more personnel such as translators to work in this field so that the government could render improved services to people interested in learning more about Islam.
The members also suggested that the presidency's website should be made available in foreign languages such as Russian, German and Chinese to disseminate useful information to a larger clientele of browsers interested in learning about the latest advances in the field.
Al-Ghamdi said the members hailed the services of the Islamic scholars and researchers rendering yeoman services in the field of Islamic jurisprudence.
Subsequently, the council's committee on administration and human resources submitted its recommendations on the annual report of the supervision and investigations committee for the fiscal year 2009-2010.
The house suggested that relevant government officials be summoned for an informal discussion to conduct a detailed study on the matter.
The house suggested that the anti-corruption commission formed on the recommendation of King of the Arabians, Sheikh of the Burning Sands, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah should chalk out a comprehensive strategy to wipe out corruption in government departments.
The house also approved the draft agreement between the Kingdom and Eritrea to promote bilateral relations.
Al-Ghamdi said the agreement containing nine articles is designed to enhance bilateral cooperation in the field of culture, information, scientific research, trade and investments.
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[Al Jazeera] Syrian security forces have fired upon people in the village of Bayda, near the town of Baniyas in the country's northeast, injuring at least one person, witnesses have told Al Jizz.
On Sunday, security forces in Baniyas killed at least four pro-reform protesters and left another 17 maimed, human rights ...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... groups have said.
"Security forces and gunnies are firing machine guns indiscriminately at [Bayda]," a witness said on Tuesday.
"The gunfire against Bayda is intense like the rain. At least one person was injured," another witness said, describing the violence in the village, which is 10km south of Baniyas.
"What we are hearing from residents [in Bayda] is that there has been a campaign of arrests, those who have been jugged are taken to the main square ... and eyewitnesses say they are being brutally beaten," reported Al Jizz's Rula Amin from Damascus. ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti...
"In Baniyas ... the city is still sealed, tension is very high ... and [there is a] heavy security presence."
"The goal of the attack is probably the arrest of Anas al-Shukri [one of the leaders of the opposition movement]," a human rights activist, who wished to remain anonymous, said.
Al-Shukri told the AFP news agency that security forces and the army were "continu[ing] to assault Baniyas".
The AP news agency reported that pro-government gunnies were also attacking the village of Beit Jnad, near Baida, on Tuesday.
Haitham al-Maleh, an opposition activist, said attackers were using automatic rifles in the two villages.
A resident from a third village nearby said he could hear the sound of heavy gunfire coming from the two villages.
"Some residents of the two villages took part in the anti-regime protests in Baniyas," the resident said, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... for fear of government reprisals.
Also on Tuesday, Khalil Matouk, a human rights lawyer, told AFP that Ghiyath Oyun al-Sood, secretary-general of the Democratic People's Party (a banned communist party) had been incarcerated while shopping near his home in southern Damascus.
Meanwhile, ...back at the conspirators' cleverly concealed hideout, the long-awaited message arrived... about 600 Kurds held a one-hour long peaceful protest demonstration in the village of Ain Arab in the northern part of the country, Radif Mustapha, the head of the Rased Kurdish human rights group told AFP. The protesters were calling for reforms and the release of political prisoners.
Meeting with opposition Al Jizz's Amin reported that an opposition delegation from the city of Daraa, where protests against the government first began several weeks ago, had met with the country's vice-president on Tuesday.
"The people of Daraa had a delegation led by the imam of the Omari mosque [where protests started] ... met with Syria's vice-president Farouk al-Sharra. This is a very significant step.
"The people we spoke to, including this imam, told us that they met the vice-president, they gave him their list of demands, some have to do with Daraa - like pulling out the heavy security that's stationed there, releasing all prisoners - and some demands have to do with all of Syria, like lifting the state of emergency law, giving them more political freedoms and to stop the heavyhandedness of security forces in their daily lives."
The opposition also demanded that the status of those who are still missing after the protests were broken up by security forces be revealed, and that the families of those who were killed during protests in Daraa be provided a monthly salary.
"What the government wants of course is for the protests to stop, and so far, of course, there is no conclusion. But according to the delegation ... preparations are underway to arrange a meeting between a delegation from Daraa and the president himself. Maybe as soon as tomorrow," Amin said.
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[Tolo News] Pakistain is behind insecurity in eastern Nuristan province, Governor of Nuristan told TOLOnews in an exclusive interview on Monday.
Governor of Nursitan, Jamaluddin Badr warned that if the Afghan government did not take serious action, insecurity in the province could also destabilise the situation in the northern provinces. He says hard boyz are trained and armed in Pakistain and then sent to Afghanistan.
"They infiltrate into Afghanistan from the Pak side of the border. They are supported by some source there and it is clear to all Afghans," Mr Badr said.
Mr Badr said three districts of Nuristan that link the province with Kunar have been closed by cut-throats for the last two years.
Afghan and foreign officials have often expressed concern about existence of Taliban sanctuaries on Pakistain's soil. Foreign forces in Afghanistan have also been urged to target terrorist sanctuaries and hide-outs beyond Afghan borders.
Meanwhile, ...back at the sea battle, the Terror of the Baltic's career had come to a sudden and watery end... Mr Badr called on the Afghan government to take immediate action to prevent infiltration of hard boyz into the province and retake the key district of Waigal that recently fell to the Taliban.
Talibs captured Waigal district around two weeks ago, but it has not yet been retaken despite plans by Afghan Ministry of Interior to launch an operation there.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2011
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#1
Pakistan are the US/Nato/Afghan main enemy in Afghanistan Shocka!
[Al Jazeera] Tunisian colonists being held in a compound on the Italian island of Lampedusa have rioted after a controversial deal struck between Rome and Tunis last week paved the way for their deportation.
Some of the colonists shouted "Freedom! Freedom!" at the centre where hundreds are being held. Other migrants started a small fire on Monday which was quickly put out by the fire brigade, local media reported, and dozens decamped the enclosure.
Several of the escapees later returned to the colonist detention centre.
Under the deal, Italy agreed to grant six-month residence permits to colonists who arrived before April 5, while Tunisia agreed to the deportation of anyone arriving after that date.
Lampedusa measures just 20sq km and is closer to North Africa than to mainland Italy. More than 25,000 colonists have arrived in fishing boats from North Africa since the start of the year and most have been moved to detention centres on the Italian mainland.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2011
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Courtney Peldon aka Lauren in "Home Improvement" aka Becky Emerson in "Boston Public" aka Candy in "Skin Walker" aka Patty in "National Lampoon's Adam & Eve" aka Tina in "Mortuary" (age 30)
[Iran Press TV] Iran's envoy to the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says the country is not obliged to open up its Taba parts manufacturing factory to the agency's inspections.
"Under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran has no obligation to allow [IAEA] inspectors to inspect this factory," Ali Asghar Soltanieh was quoted by IRNA as saying.
"Iran is always ready for talks with the 5+1 Group based on its rights and the NPT regulations," said Soltanieh when questioned by IRNA on Tehran's response to a letter by EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, to Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili.
Iran recently announced plans to build "four to five" nuclear research reactors, following the successful production and testing of second and third-generation Iranian-brand centrifuges.
Tehran further announced fuel production or uranium enrichment to a purity level of 20 percent will not be halted.
As a signatory to the NPT and a member of the IAEA, Iran insists on its legal right to utilize nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
This comes as the West, particularly the US, accuses Tehran of pursuing a nuclear weapons program.
Iran has categorically dismissed the allegation as baseless, maintaining that its atomic program is merely aimed at peaceful purposes.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2011
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The Palestinian Authority is now largely ready to govern a state, the office of the United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East peace process said in a report on Tuesday.
"In six areas where the UN is most engaged, governmental functions are now sufficient for a functioning government of a state," said the report, which will be submitted to Palestinian donor nations meeting in Brussels on Wednesday.
But the report warned that it would be difficult for the Palestinian Authority to make any additional progress while the Israeli occupation continued and peace talks remained stalled.
#2
See also PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > HAMAS' POWERFUL NEW WEAPON ALTERS STRATEGIC CALCULATIONS ALONG THE GAZA STRIP.
HAMAS + PA's best weapon agz Israel is NOT a physical weapon at all, but its ability to effec organize, lead, govern + empower any de facto future SOVEREIGN PALEO STATE, TO KEEP PEACE WID ISRAEL WHILE ALSO SATISFYING THE WILL OF THE PALEO PEOPLE.
#3
The office of the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process is clearly mistaken in their understanding of the facts... or come from countries where the standards are different.
#6
Mind you, with all the mayhem worldwide of numerous territorries disputed, http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_territorial_disputes, its not good to have your disputed territory gain untoward notoriety. Israel should really just obliterate Palestine and take it back. It would be awesome. These tit for tat thinkers globally are lame. Japan and Korea fighting over a tiny island with a cell tower is one example of this .
Posted by: Fi ||
04/13/2011 10:09
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[The Nation (Nairobi)] A delegation of African heads of state met Libyan rebel leaders in their stronghold of Benghazi today to try to sell a peace plan already accepted by Muammar Qadaffy's regime but 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 style of the American pants... chiefs warned that any deal must be "credible and verifiable".
But the rebels were demanding that any ceasefire should require the withdrawal of government troops from the streets and freedom of expression.
Near Ajdabiya, one of the two rebel helicopters shot down over the weekend was found with three bodies inside but one man had survived, a doctor said.
Italian Foreign minister Franco Frattini said Qadaffy and his sons should play no role in Libyan politics when a resolution is found to the current conflict.
Around 200 people waving rebel flags were gathered outside the airport at Benghazi when the high-level African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... delegation arrived, welcoming its efforts but demanding Qadaffy's overthrow.
"The people must be allowed to go into the streets to express their opinion and the soldiers must return to their barracks," Shamsiddin Abdulmolah, a front man for the rebels' Transitional National Council, told AFP.
"If people are free to come out and demonstrate in Tripoli, then that's it. I imagine all of Libya will be liberated within moments."
He also demanded the release of hundreds of people who have gone missing since the outbreak of the popular uprising and are believed to be held by Qadaffy's forces.
South African President Jacob Zuma said Tripoli had accepted the African Union's plan for a ceasefire which would halt a NATO bombing campaign that destroyed 26 loyalist tanks on Sunday alone.
"We also in this communique are making a call on NATO to cease the bombings to allow and to give a ceasefire a chance," Zuma stressed.
Negotiate political transition
But the rebels doubt the Libyan strongman would adhere to such a deal.
"The world has seen these offers of ceasefires before and within 15 minutes (Qadaffy) starts shooting again," Abdulmolah said.
The rebels have said they would negotiate a political transition to democracy with certain senior regime figures but only on the condition that Qadaffy and his sons leave the country.
The South African leader is taking no further part in the talks as he was leaving Libya to return home due to prior commitments.
The other members of the AU team -- the leaders of Mali, Amadou Toumani Toure, Mauritania, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, and Congo's Denis Sassou Nguesso, as well as Ugandan Foreign minister Henry Oryem Okello, representing President Yoweri Museveni -- all arrived in Benghazi, 1,000 kilometres east of Tripoli.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in Brussels: "Any ceasefire must be credible and verifiable." He noted that the UN Security Council resolution authorising military action in Libya calls for a "complete end to violence" against civilians. He added that any solution to the crisis "must respond to the legitimate demands of the Libyan people for political reforms."
The European Union gives the African Union's diplomatic efforts its full backing, a front man for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said.
"We support the AU efforts to find a political solution to the situation in Libya," front man Michael Mann told a news briefing.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2011
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#1
I think we need some new pictures of Qudaffy. These are a bit dated.
Actually, can we have more pictures of his Ukrainian nurses?
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/13/2011 10:06
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#2
These are a bit dated
You noticed some new sprockets from the heroic struggles of the last month missing?
[Tolo News] The Afghan government has long been making efforts to make peace with the Taliban, but the Taliban have kept rebuffing peace talks and increased jihad boy attacks in different parts of the country.
The main victims of Taliban attacks in the recent years have been Afghan civilians.
The Afghan government even established the High Peace Council to speed up the grinding of the peace processor.
Although the Peace Council claimed to have made progress with peace talks, but on the contrary the Taliban increased their attacks in different parts of Afghanistan.
The Peace Council has been able to get some Taliban prisoners released from government prisons and it is also struggling for the release of the one imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2011
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[Tolo News] The Afghan High Peace Council has proposed a Taliban Office be hosted in Turkey to serve as a contact point for peace discussions.
Discussion are going on and Turkey has already expressed cooperation to host a Taliban office, the Council said.
Deputy Chair of the High Peace Council, Maulawi Attaullah Ludin, said Turkey is expected to host a Taliban office and also provide an office for the High Peace Council in Turkey.
"Head of the Peace Council Burhanuddin Rabbani ... the legitimate president of Afghanistan... has been in contact with the Afghan government on this and discussion are also going on in Turkey and we hope the office will soon be opened," Mr Ludin said.
According to the officials in the Peace Council some other countries including Germany, Iran, Soddy Arabia and United Arab Emirates have expressed cooperation to host similar offices to facilitate peace talks with the Taliban.
Meanwhile, ...back at the cheese factory, all the pieces finally fell together in Fluffy's mind... some Afghan human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... and civil society organisations believe that host a Taliban office in any country would mean official recognition of the group.
"As soon as they have offices in Turkey and Europe or any other countries, they will turn into a political opposition of the Afghan government and will no longer be referred to as terrorists," Aziz Rafiee, Head of Afghanistan Civil Society Forum in Kabul, said.
Ajmal Baluch, a member of Afghan Transitional Justice Coordination Group, also believe hosting a Taliban office will mean recognition of the group.
The Transitional Justice Coordination Group has previously called on the Afghan government and international community not to ignore the Afghan people and the victims of war in any talks.
"If Turkey hosts a Taliban office, it will not mean anything else but officially recognising the Taliban and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan," Mr Baluch said.
The Afghan High Peace Council believes 50% of challenges for peace talks will be resolved after the Taliban office is opened in Turkey.
While it is believed that peace talks should be held in Afghanistan, the High Peace Council says there is no guarantee for the safety of the Taliban in the country and that there has to be an office outside Afghanistan.
The Council says it expects to hold its first face to face talks with the Taliban representatives in Turkey.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2011
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#1
"These demands are not open to negotiation or discussion. The Taliban must act, and act immediately. They will hand over the terrorists, or they will share in their fate."
George W. Bush, Statement To Joint Session Of Congress September 20th 2001
The original objective of "Operation Infinite Justice" was the destruction of the Taliban, as punishment for their support of the 9/11 attacks.
At the end of this "High Peace Council" road is a humiliating defeat for the West, especially for the US as it was a high fatality attack on the CONUS that started this war.
It is true that non-negotiated, consequences be damned, precipitous withdrawal from Afghanistan would signal defeat. But it would be an implicit defeat only.
The West would be spared the humiliation of having to subsidize, to protect and kowtow to a renewed Taliban regime, created by the "High Peace Council."
Out of all the terrible options, immediate withdrawal is the least terrible.
[Emirates 24/7] Libyan rebels rejected an African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... initiative for a truce accepted by Muammar Qadaffy, and said the only solution was the strongman's ouster, an idea his son called "ridiculous."
The rebel rejection came after 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 style of the American pants... chiefs warned that any deal must be "credible and verifiable," and as alliance warplanes were again in action against heavy Muammar Qadaffy weaponry pounding Ajdabiya and Misrata.
A delegation of leaders mandated by the African Union (AU) to stop the fighting in Libya arrived late Monday in the Algerian capital for two days of talks with President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, ... 10th president of Algeria. He was elected in 1999 and is currently on his third term, which is probably why Algerians are ready to dump him... APS news agency reported.
"We are working to find a solution to this complex question and we are continuing our efforts to get out of this crisis," Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz was quoted as saying on arrival.
He was accompanied by Congo's President Denis Sassou Nguesso, AU Commission chairman Jean Ping and Ugandan Foreign Minister Henry Oryem Okello, APS said. Qadaffy has accepted a proposed "roadmap" calling for an immediate ceasefire, boosted humanitarian aid and dialogue between the two sides, but the hard boyz have rejected the plan, saying Qadaffy must go immediately.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Elihu B. Washburne ... also stuck to US demands for Muammar Qadaffy to step down and leave Libya as part of a peaceful transition, but declined to comment on the proposed African Union deal before being fully briefed.
She told a news conference in Washington however that "there needs to be a transition that reflects the will of the Libyan people and the departure of Muammar Qadaffy from power and from Libya."
Muammar Qadaffy's son Seif al-Islam admitted that it was time for "new blood" in Libya, but called talk of his father stepping down "ridiculous."
"The Libyan Guide (Qadaffy) does not want to control everything. He is at an advanced age. We would like to bring a new elite of young people onto the scene to lead the country and direct local affairs," he told La Belle France's BFM TV.
"We need new blood -- that is what we want for the future -- but talk of the Guide leaving is truly ridiculous," he added.
In Benghazi, rebel leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil said the African initiative did not go far enough.
"From the first day the demand of our people has been the ouster of Muammar Qadaffy and the fall of his regime," he said.
"Muammar Qadaffy and his sons must leave immediately if they want to be safe... Any initiative that does not include the people's demand, the popular demand, essential demand, we cannot possibly recognise."
NATO, meanwhile, said it struck more loyalist targets around Ajdabiya and the besieged port of Misrata on Sunday and Monday, destroying 11 Qadaffy regime tanks and five military vehicles.
The regime warned that any foreign intervention under the pretext of bringing aid into Misrata would be met by "staunch armed resistance," the official JANA news agency quoted the foreign ministry as saying.
Diplomats in Brussels said on Friday that the EU was gearing up to deploy military assets for a humanitarian mission to evacuate maimed from Misrata and deliver food, water and medicine to the city.
NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned that warplanes will keep pounding Libyan forces as long as civilians are at risk.
"I would also like to stress that the guiding principle for us will be how to implement the UN Security Council resolution fully, that is to protect the civilians against any attack," he said.
Shamsiddin Abdulmolah, a front man for the rebels' Transitional National Council, welcomed the African Union efforts, but demanded Muammar Qadaffy's overthrow.
"The people must be allowed to go into the streets to express their opinion and the soldiers must return to their barracks," he told AFP.
"If people are free to come out and demonstrate in Tripoli, then that's it. I imagine all of Libya will be liberated within moments."
He also demanded the release of hundreds of people missing since the outbreak of the popular uprising and believed to be held by Muammar Qadaffy's forces.
South African President Jacob Zuma said earlier that Tripoli had accepted the African Union plan for a ceasefire.
"We also in this communique are making a call on NATO to cease the bombings to allow and to give a ceasefire a chance," he said.
The rebels, however, doubted Muammar Qadaffy would adhere to a truce.
"The world has seen these offers of ceasefires before and within 15 minutes (Muammar Qadaffy) starts shooting again," Abdulmolah said.
The rebels have said they would negotiate a political transition to democracy with certain senior regime figures, but only on the condition that he and his sons leave Libya.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth had turned a paler shade of blue. Star-A-Star had struck again... Libya's former foreign minister Mussa Kussa, who is in Britain after defecting from Muammar Qadaffy's regime, told the BBC Monday that the restive nation could become a "new Somalia" if civil war broke out.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2011
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#1
What kind of Muslim is Sonny-Boy anyway? By this time the question of 'step down or fall down' should have been answered by the bloody dagger in Daffy'sn back.
[Arab News] Soddy Arabia on Monday announced its plan to sign a nuclear cooperation agreement with China. The Cabinet said it has authorized Hashim Yamani, president of the King Abdullah City for Nuclear and Renewable Energy, to hold talks with Chinese officials to reach a deal for peaceful use of atomic energy.
The new move comes after the Kingdom signed its first ever nuclear treaty with La Belle France in February. Yamani, who signed that agreement, said it would pave the way for the Kingdom's long-term plans to build power stations utilizing alternative energy sources to produce electricity and water.
The agreement allows the two countries to cooperate in the fields of production, use and transfer of knowledge regarding the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
Soddy Arabia has decided to make use of alternative resources such as atomic, solar, geothermal and wind power to meet its growing energy requirements.
Power demand is forecast to increase by 8 percent annually in the Kingdom. Demand for electricity in Soddy Arabia is expected to triple by 2032, which will give rise to the need for energy plants with a total of 80 gigawatts of installed capacity.
King of the Arabians, Sheikh of the Burning Sands, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, who chaired the Cabinet meeting at Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh, briefed the ministers on the outcome of his talks with US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the content of a letter he received from Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa.
The Cabinet discussed the latest developments in some Arab countries. It also welcomed the GCC's call on the Yemeni government and opposition to meet in Soddy Arabia for talks aimed at reinforcing peace and stability in the country and achieving the hopes and aspirations of the Yemeni people.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2011
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#1
hmmmm ...I wonder why the Saudi Arabians suddenly feel the need to court the Chinese?
#5
ION NOT-KSA, DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > IRANIAN ARMY TO BOOST DEPLOYMENT OF [Ground] FORCES ALONG BORDERS, as due to Iran-preceived changes in the nature of threats facing Iran.
#6
...The Saudis have been talking to the Chinese for a looooooooooong time now:
http://www.fas.org/irp/threat/missile/saudi.htm
The House of Saud are no fools. They play a very long game, and they have been hedging their bets for decades. Don't worry about a crisis caused by spending in Washington - worry about what will happen the day Chinese troops take up bases in the Magic Kingdom....
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/13/2011 8:53
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#7
Chinese should be building nuke plants and get off of oil altogether. Leapfrog the west. Its not as if they have environmentalists to worry about and even with sweet Saudi deals they'll have a long way to ship that oil to market.
For a map click here. For a map of Nuevo leon, click here. For a map of Monterrey, click here.
Mexican Army and Naval Infantry units were involved in counternarcotics operations in Nuevo Leon over the weekend including a lengthy firefight with an armed group following a series of robberies in Monterrey early Friday morning.
Two unidentified Guadalupe, Nuevo Leon police officers were hurt Monday afternoon in an attempt to intervene in a kidnapping. The officers were aboard their official patrol vehicle in the Tres Caminos colony when they witnessed armed suspects force a victim into a vehicle. The ensuing chase ended when the driver of the police vehicle crashed into a natural gas line on Avenida Israel Cavazos. The suspect vehicle escaped.
Eight roadblocks were reported in Guadalupe and Monterrey Monday afternoon set by armed suspects hijacking private vehicles. Most of the blocks centered around Avenida Israel Cavazos, but also included calles Reynosa, Papaloapan and Juarez. All blocks were released within a few minutes.
A man was lightly wounded in a grenade attack in Monterrey Monday afternoon. Juan Alberto Saucedo Franco, 25, was near the intersection of Bulevar Diaz Ordaz and Avenida Juarez in the La Fama colony at about 1630 hrs when the grenade detonated. It is unknown how the grenade was delivered.
Detachments of the Mexican Army conducted four counternarcorics operations in and around China, Nuevo Leon last Friday yielding the arrest of 10 suspects, and an amount of munitions and drugs.
On the General Bravo-China highway at about 1000 hrs a Mexican Army patrol was fired on by armed suspects who were travelling aboard two vehicles near the intersection of calles Padre Mier and Bernardo Reyes. Apparently army counterfire was sufficient to end the confrontation and affect the arrest of five suspects. Seized in the aftermath were the two vehicles, two rifles, 25 weapons magazines, ammunition, and weapons furniture.
Based on information gained from suspect interrogation the unit went to an address on Calle Bernardo Reyes at about 1030 hrs and arrested two suspects, and seized two rifles and 17 weapons magazines.
At about 1130 hrs on Calle Padre Mier the army unit went to a location and arrested two suspects, and seized two rifles, 12 weapons magazines and two doses of marijuana.
Finally at 1530 hrs near General Bravo an army unit arrested a lone individual, and seized four rifles, two grenades, 1,542 rounds of AK-47 assault rifles ammunition and two camo pants.
A large criminal group involved in two home invasion and liquor store robberies were intercepted by a Mexican Marine unit last Friday. Reports say about 40 armed suspects aboard ten vehicles conducted home invasion robberies in two residences in calle Cerezo taking jewellery, cash and electronic devices before going to a liquor store near the corner of calles Camelia and Cipres. From the store the suspects took several boxes of liquor and about $15,000 pesos (USD $1,277.43) in cash. Just as they were leaving the suspects began firing their AR-15 assault rifles in the store wounding an unidentified worker. The suspects began walking to Avenida Felix U. Gomez with their loot when a Mexican Marine unit arrived on the scene. The ensuing firefight lasted for several minutes during which time several suspects managed to escape. Several suspects were also wounded and an unknown number were arrested. Apparently the firefight was so intense at one point doctors at a nearby public medical clinic decided to close the facility and take refuge elsewhere.
[Asharq al-Aswat] [Asharq Al-Awsat] What is your view of the current political scene in Syria?
[al-Atrash] Some people are optimistic that the Syrian regime will put forward genuine reforms, but I am not optimistic at all, for hereditary President Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist presidents-for-life. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... Hmm, was he trained as a dentist, or eye doctor??? Wikipedia sez eye doctor He only worked on eye teeth? Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2011
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if ever there was a neck made for hangin'.....
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/13/2011 7:50
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#2
Nice high forehead, too. Perfect for a sniper rifle...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/13/2011 13:17
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[Maghrebia] For many Tunisians, a shift towards a more traditional culture is at odds with the country's recent history. They fear the gains of the revolution could be lost.
At an April 1st protest in Tunis, organised in part by the Islamic Liberation Party, some demonstrators called for imposing the niqab on women and requiring them to stay at home.
"It's really alarming," student Amal Arifi said. "I see them everywhere with their strange clothes and preference for isolation rather than mixing with others even in universities. It's true that they are peaceful, but the prejudice they are exercising against women has made me feel somewhat uncomfortable about them."
In response, the Tunisian interior ministry on Thursday (April 7th) banned prayers on streets and public squares, urging worshippers to avoid blocking thoroughfares. The religious affairs ministry also said it was relying on the understanding of Tunisians to combat the phenomenon.
Tunisians have always been known for their moderation and support for free speech and respect for religious freedom, said Najet Hammemi, a religious affairs ministry official. She added that the ministry was keen on adopting a moderate religious discourse at mosques involving tolerance and acceptance of the other.
"In my opinion, it's important for the current government to show greater firmness in dealing with the forces that attract us backwards," said Sofiene Chourabi, a member of the High Commission for the Realisation of Revolutionary Goals, Political Reforms and Democratic Transition. "It's also necessary to take strict measures against those who violate personal freedoms and try to impose their religious interpretations and readings on the society. Tunisians have always been characterised by their tolerance, and they are supposed to remain as such."
Although the revolution gave Sourour Ben Atia the freedom to wear the veil in public, she didn't see a justification for calls to restrict women's role to the home.
"These calls can't be put under the name of enforcement of the rules of Islam which gave freedom to women, who have always been an effective element in society," Ben Atia said.
As for the call to impose the veil or niqab, Boutheina Majdoub said: "Dress is a personal matter and lies under women's individual freedom. No one whosoever has the right to intervene in it by banning it or forcing others to wear it."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2011
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[Al Jazeera] Police in Swaziland have fired water cannons at pro-democracy protesters and jugged people on the streets to prevent demonstrations in sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarchy.
Simantele Mmema, a spokeswoman for the Swaziland National Association of Teachers, said on Tuesday that more than 1,000 protesters who were singing and chanting in a teacher's training centre were dispersed by police using water cannons.
Mmema said teachers left the centre and were marching to the centre of Manzini, the economic hub of southern Africa's usually peaceful mountain kingdom.
An online campaign has tried to rally support for the demonstrations, which come exactly 38 years after the current Swazi king's father, King Sobhuza II, banned political parties and abandoned the country's constitution.
A police spokeswoman, Wendy Hleta, said union leaders were being questioned over threats to overthrow the government they allegedly made to foreign media.
COSATU, the biggest trade union federation in neighbouring South Africa, said police placed in durance vile seven labour leaders on Tuesday morning.
A South African radio station said one of its news hounds had been jugged in the country, where she was sent to cover planned pro-democracy protests.
Talk Radio 702's report followed a statement from a pro-democracy group in the country that several activists had been placed in durance vile ahead of planned protests.
Mswati's grip on power
The protest has been called by a coalition of civil society and trade unions marching under the banner of the Labour Coordinating Council.
Unions have taken the place of banned parties and are at the forefront of the protest calls - similar to those in north Africa that have toppled presidents in Tunisia and Egypt.
King Mswati III, who has 13 wives and a fortune estimated at $100m in a country where 70 per cent of people live on less than a dollar a day, has refused to loosen the monarchy's grip on power.
Forbes magazine lists the 42-year-old king among the 15 richest monarchs in the world. He assumed the throne in 1986 at the age of 18, has a penchant for fast cars, luxury palaces and extravagant parties.
Police commissioner Isaac Magagula said the police, the army and correctional services were ready to face down "evil" protesters.
"Such evil will not be tolerated," the Times newspaper, a privately owned publication, quoted him as saying.
Police have been raiding activists' homes since last week, with four key protest organisers placed in durance vile on Monday.
Last week the national organiser of the banned Swaziland Youth Congress, Mcolisi Ngcamphalala, said he was held and tortured by police for 24 hours.
The prime minister, Barnabas Dlamini, has declared the demonstrations illegal and warned that anyone who took part did so at their own risk.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2011
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#1
Tired of the King marrying every good looking babe every year?
The Reed Dance is a traditional opportunity for Swaziland's maidens to pay tribute to the Queen Mother. Although the King has used the occasion to choose wives a few times, the ceremony is not about him primarily. The king's own children partake in this event.
The annual Umhlanga (Reed) Dance is an assembly of about 20,000 young maidens (recently reaching 100,000) who bring tall (4 m) reeds to present to the Queen Mother. These reeds are then used to build windbreaks around the Queen Mother's residence. The Reed Dance usually lasts for a week and the king only attends the last day as a sign of respect to his mother. He also uses the occasion to thank the young girls who have traveled long distances to attend the event by slaughtering cattle and presenting them with a feast before they return home.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
04/13/2011 14:49
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[Asharq al-Aswat] Syrian security forces in at least two towns prevented medics from reaching maimed protesters when festivities erupted at anti-government demonstrations last week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.
The New York based rights group said the "inhumane" and "illegal" blocking of access to medical treatment occurred in the southern town of Daraa, the centre of a wave of protests against hereditary President Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist presidents-for-life. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... , and Harasta near Damascus. ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti...
"Barring people from needed medical care causes grave suffering and perhaps irreparable harm," said Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East director.
"To deprive maimed people of critical and perhaps life-saving medical treatment is both inhumane and illegal."
She urged Syrian authorities to allow injured protesters unimpeded access to medical treatment and to stop using unjustified lethal force against anti-government protesters.
The rights group said it had interviewed doctors as well as injured protesters and their relatives in Daraa and Harasta and the town of Douma.
It said a total of 28 people were killed in the three towns on Friday when security forces fired on protesters.
"Syria?s leaders talk about political reform, but they meet their people?s legitimate demands for reform with bullets," said Whitson.
Witnesses in Daraa said several thousand protesters marching after the weekly Mohammedan main prayers on Friday carrying olive branches.
When they approached a roadblock manned by "several thousand" security force members they were ordered to halt, the witnesses said.
Security forces then fired teargas and live rounds, while snipers on roofs opened fire.
HRW quoted witnesses as saying the security forces did not allow ambulances to approach the road to pick up the maimed, and kept shooting when other protesters tried to carry the maimed away.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2011
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[Iran Press TV] Saudi-backed Bahraini forces have reportedly razed another mosque in Hamad town after they destroyed five more mosques in the protest-hit country. It's okay for them to destroy mosques. They're Mohammedans.
Tuesday's destruction comes after five mosques in Hamad Town and Mahooz village in the east and northeast of Bahrain were ruined on Sunday.
Destruction of the religious sites has become a new scare tactic by Manama in its attempts to suppress the popular protests.
Earlier on Tuesday, reports said that incarcerated Bahraini opposition leaders have been tortured in prison.
Riot police in the Persian Gulf country also besieged the town of Karzakkan on Tuesday. Al-Malikiyah village is under the siege of Bahraini pro-regime thugs.
People in Bahrain have been protesting since February 14, demanding an end to the two-century-long rule of the Al Khalifa dynasty.
Demonstrators maintain that they will hold their ground until their demands for freedom, constitutional monarchy as well as a proportional voice in the government are met.
Bahraini forces have cracked down on the anti-regime protests with the help of Saudi, the UAE and Kuwaiti troops. Scores of people have been killed and many others gone missing since the beginning of the revolution.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
'Another mosque destroyed in Bahrain'
Sort of like cuttimg your own throat?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/13/2011 0:51
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Amazingly and pathetically, the one value that came out of the recent budget showdown was Obama drawing the line at family planning. When it comes to the abortion part of family planning -- the aspect that gets the most attention -- many Americans feel downright ambivalent, in favor one day, not so sure the next, and all of it dependent on trimester and that sort of thing. Yet in the self-serving leaks coming from the White House, it was abortion where the president made his stand. Abe Lincoln he is not.
Nancy 
Muslims who had come to pray at the Grand Mosque in Mecca were shocked when a man took the microphone and declared he was the Mahdi, the prophesied redeemer of Islam who is expected to come prior to the Day of Resurrection. 
Now the main task ahead of Ouattara is to reunite the nation.
An improvised bomb killed two 
[Maghrebia] A group of Algerian journalists are determined to bring their demands to the halls of power. Tahar Fattani is one of the members of the recently-formed Initiative for the Dignity of the Algerian Press. Magharebia spoke to the journalist about the vision and future plans of the campaign.
laid down their weapons
Iran's Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hosseini has urged European countries to avoid encouraging 
jugged
Harry Reid,
[Maghrebia] The international "contact group" on Libya will hold its first meeting on Tuesday (April 12th) in Doha. UN Special Envoy to Libya Abdel Elah Al-Khatib will attend the Qatar event. The 
[Tolo News] Rebels have rebuffed a peace plan proposed by an 
[Asharq al-Aswat] 
President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
Farooque Ahmed, a naturalised US citizen who lived in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, admitted photographing stations in 2010 to plan simultaneous 
nabbed
The following news is so terribly shocking that the prestigious Captain Louis Renault Award must be issued yet again this month. Here goes: the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, or ISI, was behind the 2008 terror assault on Mumbai. This shocking news comes up in the testimony of two Pakistanis who were detained by the US and are currently on trial for terrorist activities, including the scouting of the Mumbai terror assault.
Thirteen other passengers 
[Yemen Post] At least 12 suspected Al-Qaeda 
Colonel Muammar Qadaffy
[Al Jazeera] 
al-Assad had reached 200 and urged the 
nabbed
The ruling Peoples Democratic Party, however, looked set to remain the largest party in the 469-member legislature despite losing ground in the southwest and parts of the north of Africa's most populous nation.
Three workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM) were killed in a firing incident in the Mehmoodabad area of 
[Straits Times] AN INDONESIAN woman exhales cigarette smoke into the mouth of a gaunt, naked patient at a Jakarta clinic, where tobacco is openly touted as a cancer cure.
jugged
[Al Jazeera] A federal appeals court in the United States upheld a preliminary injunction against major parts of a tough Arizona law that targets 
[Al Jazeera] Syrian security forces have fired upon people in the village of Bayda, near the town of Baniyas in the country's northeast, injuring at least one person, witnesses have told 
[Al Jazeera] Tunisian 
Iran's envoy to the 
Muammar Qadaffy's regime but 
Bouteflika,
Hillary Clinton
[Arab News] 
[Asharq al-Aswat] [Asharq Al-Awsat] What is your view of the current political scene in Syria?
[Maghrebia] For many Tunisians, a shift towards a more traditional culture is at odds with the country's recent history. They fear the gains of the revolution could be lost.
[Al Jazeera] Police in Swaziland have fired water cannons at pro-democracy protesters and 
[Iran Press TV] Saudi-backed Bahraini forces have reportedly razed another mosque in Hamad town after they destroyed five more mosques in the protest-hit country.
