Following the second full week of campaigning, Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) presidential candidate Enrique Pena Nieto enjoys a commanding double digit lead over all three of his rivals, according to polling data supplied by Milenio news daily.
Enrique Pena Nieto
Current data shows preference totals including undecided voters, where the race is the closest. Pena Nieto claims 36.7 percent of voter preference, while Partido Accion Nacional (PAN) presidential candidate Josefina Vazquez Mota is second with 21.7 percent, and leftist alliance candidate Andres Manual Lopez Obrador is third with 17.2 percentage.
Undecided voters comprise 23.5 percent of the total polled, which in a three way race is a significant voting block.
When compared with results of polls from the first full week of campaigning, April 9th, little has changed for any candidate. The April 9th poll had Pena Nieto with 38.4 percent, and Vazquez Mota with 21.1 percent.
Josefina Vazquez Mota
The latest results do not even show a bounce for PAN from the negative ads launched last week. PRI leaders pledged last week not to divide the vote with negative campaigning.
However, that may all be changing as Monday Pena Nieto released a new attack spot ad that responds to charges of lying against him and PRI.
Pena Nieto has to be careful. One wrong word, one misstated fact and his campaign will suffer at the hands of the Instituto Federal Electoral (IFE), which closely monitors spot ads produced by the four camps.
Negative campaigning is always dangerous for both the target as well as the camp displaying it. It can easily backfire, as can any responses.
Gustavo Madero Munoz
PAN president Gustavo Madero Munoz also has to be careful. Signs are appearing in Mexican press that some national legislative candidates are trying to distance themselves from the new negative campaigning. The lack of candidate unity among PAN legislative candidate could hurt PAN in those races.
Despite that, data shows that Mexican voters have yet to close escrow on Pena Nieto. His coming counterattack ads could change that calculus.
Five men have been arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, Scotland Yard said.
Anti-terror police swooped on a series of different addresses before dawn as part of a 'pre-planned, intelligence-led' operation.
The men, aged 21, 23, 24, 25 and 30, were all arrested at separate homes in Luton this morning and have been taken to a central London police station for questioning.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been out of sight for a week, speaking only through Twitter messages and written statements while undergoing cancer treatment in Cuba.
The lack of any appearances on television has Venezuelans wondering about what his unusual silence might say about his struggle with cancer, and whether Chavez may be coping with a particularly tough phase of radiation therapy.
More than 30 messages have appeared on Chavez's Twitter account since he left for Cuba on April 14. He has cheered on supporters with slogans such as "Let's continue building socialism!" In others, he has praised his military commanders, announced funding for local governments and vowed to survive and win re-election in October.
But he has seldom mentioned his cancer treatment.
National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello reiterated on Friday that Chavez is expected to return to Venezuela soon.
Did he say how?
"God willing, next week he'll be here again with us once he has finished the treatment," Cabello said in a televised speech. He insisted that even when Chavez is away in Cuba, "he leads just the same as if he were here in Venezuela."
"The commander's presence here isn't necessary, because just the same he's the commander of the revolution," Cabello said.
But even some of Chavez's supporters have been saying recently that they wonder what's going on with his health.
"It makes me sad, but my Comandante must not be as well as they say," said Guillermo Suarez, a street vendor selling sunglasses. "It's already been many days that we haven't seen him, heard him."
Chavez, who has been president since 1999, has long been a constant presence on Venezuelan television, often addressing the nation for several hours most days in addition to his marathon Sunday program "Hello, President." But recently there have been no episodes of "Hello, President," and Chavez said he expected his final rounds of radiation therapy, which began last month, to be rough.
They could always do re-runs. No one will notice the difference...
Chavez has not discussed details of the radiation treatments, saying they have diminished his strength but have been going well. Last weekend, he decided not to attend the Summit of the Americas in Colombia, the sort of high-profile international event where he would previously have taken center stage. Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro announced the decision, saying Chavez was skipping the summit on the advice of his doctors.
Chavez began radiation treatment in Cuba in late March after undergoing an operation in February that removed a second tumor from his pelvic region. The first was taken out last June. He has kept secret some details of his illness, including the type of cancer and the precise location of the tumors. Chavez also was away in Havana regularly last year while undergoing chemotherapy after the initial surgery.
During previous trips to Cuba, Chavez periodically appeared on television, either in phone calls or appearances with his aides or daughters, and gave the appearance of continuing to work and keeping abreast of affairs at home.
Before his latest trip to Cuba, Chavez said he planned to stay away longer to allow for his last two rounds of radiation treatment. He urged his supporters to remain united and said an "anti-coup command" was being formed within his political movement to focus on maintaining stability and countering any possible attempt to destabilize his government.
In the past week, his Twitter messages have been read aloud by his Cabinet ministers at televised events. At one event Friday, Chavez's supporters responded with shouts of "Onward, Comandante!"
In several Twitter messages Saturday, Chavez urged his party to mobilize "toward the big victory of Oct. 7" in the election. Another said: "Comrades you make me happy! Let's keep fighting very hard to defeat the bourgeoisie! A downpour is falling over Havana, and I'm with you!"
Chavez's online messages aim to "make it appear that the president is active, that the president is in control of what's going on in Venezuela," said Jose Vicente Carrasquero, a political science professor at Venezuela's Simon Bolivar University.
And they only take 140 characters.
Without Chavez on the air, state television has instead shown a salsa concert, documentaries and a Mass. Such programs and newscasts are interspersed with a short segment showing a healthy Chavez embracing children in slow motion against a background of folk music.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/24/2012
16:03 ||
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#1
Who will the US send to the funeral?
Hillary, Joe Biden, Sean Penn, Roseanne Barr
maybe all the above
Posted by: lord garth ||
04/24/2012 21:49
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#1
We don't need to 'secure' resources; this isn't the 19th century. We just need access and an economy that can generate dollars to buy resources. We have a Navy to maintain the SLOCs.
We don't need to own the resources, just to buy them.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/24/2012 13:34
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#2
The 'insecurity' with rare earths (necessary for all sorts of high tech stuff) is not that China is the only place they are found, but that we don't mine them ourselves due to pollution regulations.
#4
Yes, we're all too happy to let the Chinese do the polluting.
I love pointing that out to people that "Buy Volts to save the planet!"
You know, the batteries and rare earth compounds used are highly toxic and poisoning China and its people. They get such an deer in the headlights look.
#5
Quit building wind farms and protecting China with American dollars and jobs. One wind mill would build a lot of military hardware and or computers.
#6
"Peak Rareearth: = "Peak Oil-Gas" = PEAK ANYTHING = ITS NOT GOING TO MATTER IFF OUR FUTURE OWG = SPACE GOVT-ORDER DOESN'T DO THE PROPER "GLOBAL/GLOBALIST" THING + ACCURATELY DETERMINE AVAILABLE, FUTURE RESOURCES ON A PLANETARY = GAIEAN SCALE.
* "Planetary" - you know, aka "Global/World".
D *** NG IT, WELL LETS JUST BE ALL BOLIDAL ABOUT IT!
#7
"Peak Rareearth: = "Peak Oil-Gas" = PEAK ANYTHING = ITS NOT GOING TO MATTER IFF OUR FUTURE OWG = SPACE GOVT-ORDER DOESN'T DO THE PROPER "GLOBAL/GLOBALIST" THING + ACCURATELY DETERMINE AVAILABLE, FUTURE RESOURCES ON A PLANETARY = GAIEAN SCALE.
* "Planetary" - you know, aka "Global/World".
D *** NG IT, WELL LETS JUST BE ALL BOLIDAL ABOUT IT!
#8
Dominance. What a powerful word that is, in a 2012 world that is spinning out of control.
Dominance is a word, a concept, or even better yet; an ideal that projects power and might. We as a Nation need to decide that a shared sense of Dominance is what we need to survive.
Little new here. New and Improved TIDE? DIA has had a clan mission for decades and has accomplished little. Perhaps the title could read "DIA seeks secret, virtually unlimited budget line, directorships, SES positions."
Israel is to start building a wall along part of its border with Lebanon next week to shield the northern town of Metulla, the Jewish states Channel 10 television reported Monday.
It said the wall, more than 2 kilometers long and 10 meters high, was also aimed at preventing clashes between Israeli and Lebanese border forces whose posts are often just meters apart.
The private broadcaster said Israel had informed Lebanon of the wall project and would coordinate it through the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.
Military sources said in January that the Jewish state was considering building a wall along a section of the 79-kilometer border, fearing cross-border sniper fire at newly built apartment blocks in Metulla.
Although the two countries are technically in a state of war, Israeli and Lebanese military officials meet regularly in the presence of UNIFIL peacekeepers to liaise on border issues.
North Korea has almost completed preparations for a third nuclear test, a senior source with close ties to Pyongyang and Beijing told Reuters. This is the first time a senior official has confirmed the planned test and the source has correctly predicted events in the past, telling Reuters about the 2006 test days before it happened.
The source did not specify whether the test would be a third test using plutonium, of which it has limited stocks, or whether Pyongyang would use uranium.
We should demand that the Norks keep testing, and testing, and testing. They'll use up their entire stock of both plutonium and uranium.
#2
The US believes that a Chinese firm gave North Korea the chassis for its mobile missle carrier, but the Company - Hubei Sanjiang Space Wanshan Space Vehicle Co. - is denying any sales or trade wid North Korea.
Which side calls Al Capone or "Mugs" Moran?
Donor countries have warned Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas against trying to replace Prime Minister Salam Fayyad or confiscate his control over the PA Finance Ministry, a Western diplomat based in Israel told The Jerusalem Post Monday.
The diplomat said that the donors were aware of Abbas's repeated attempts to remove Fayyad from power and seize control over the ministry.
"We won't allow this to happen," the diplomat said. "We have made it clear to President Abbas that international aid will be affected if he or Fatah remove Fayyad."
Sneaky rat that I am, I would double-dog dare Mahmoud to can Fayyad...
The warning came as sources in Ramallah confirmed that a sharp crisis has erupted between Abbas and Fayyad.
The sources said that the tensions between the two men began after Abbas announced his intention to reshuffle the cabinet. The announcement surprised Fayyad who, according to the sources, had not been notified in advance of the planned reshuffle.
The British taxpayer has paid for a new home and funded the business interests of a convicted terrorist after he agreed to turn supergrass against al-Qaeda in a secret deal with the authorities, a court heard on Monday.
For a map, click here. For a map of Nuevo Leon state click here For a map of Monterrey, click here
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
Three unidentified armed suspects died in an encounter with Mexican Army troops in Cadereyta municipality, Nuevo Leon Monday morning, according to Mexican news reports.
The shootout took place near the intersection of Calle Mango and Avenida Naranjo in Huertas del Sauc colony. The army unit had been dispatched to the area three kilometers from the La Boca-El Castillo road on reports of a criminal group operating in the area.
The road patrol observed a suspect run into a residence at about 0600 hrs after the patrol had been spotted. Shooting began shortly afterwards. Mexican Army counterfire killed two armed suspects inside the residence. A third armed suspect died while attempting to flee aboard a parked sedan.
The firefight lasted about ten minutes. Afterward it was determined that two more suspects had been in the house, but fled into the bush.
Soldiers seized a stolen Dodge Stratus sedan, one AR-15 rifle, one AK-47 rifle and an undisclosed quantity of AK-47 ammunition found in the vehicle.
Milenio news daily in its website Monday evening reported that two more Cadereyta city workers were shot to death Saturday afternoon less that five kilometers from where three other city workers were murdered. The two victims, identified as Alfonso Gonzalez Leal, 42 and Omar Garcia Mata, 59, worked for the Cadereyta Secretaria de Desarrollo Social or Ministry of Social Development.
The report said that the two workers were travelling aboard a Nissan Tsuru sedan near the village of El Castillo on the Allende-Cadereyta road when they were attacked, presumably while still on the move. Their vehicle was attacked from behind.
Cadereyta is about ten kilometers east of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national politicial news for Rantburg.com
[Emirates 24/7] Two UN observers set up base on Sunday in Homs, their front man said, a day after video footage showed residents pleading with them to stay and ensure an end to bloodshed in the Syrian city.
The front man, Neeraj Singh, said other members of the eight-member advance UN team of observers mandated to monitor the April 12 ceasefire were pursuing field visits elsewhere in the country.
"Yesterday (Saturday), the UN advance team visited Homs where they met with the local authorities and all the parties," Singh told AFP.
"The team drove or walked around the city of Homs and stopped at different locations to talk to the people.
"Following the visit, two UN military observers have now been stationed at Homs since yesterday evening."
On Saturday, their visit to Homs included a stop in Baba Amr, a rebel stronghold battered by a month-long army bombardment that killed hundreds, according to monitors, before it was retaken on March 1.
Video activists uploaded to YouTube showed at least four of them meeting with residents who begged them to stay in the central city. Its authenticity could not immediately be verified.
"Today is the first day since two months, exactly since 5 February... in Homs without shelling... without killing, without fire," one unidentified man said in the footage.
"Because of that, we want you to stay. Please stay. This is what we want. When you come, shelling stops. When you come, killing stops," he told the observers, who sat around a table displaying the tail ends of mortars and wore blue helmets and bullet-proof vests marked "UN".
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2012
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Video at link.
Late in the evening of 21 April 1996, the first President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Gen. Dzhokhar Dudayev was martyred (Insha'Allah) as a result of a terrorist attack. Interesting backstory on the photo, if true.
The rocket strike on Dudayev occurred while he was speaking on a satellite phone in a deserted locale near the village of Gekhi-Chu in western Chechnya.The Russian leadership hoped that by killing Dudayev, Chechen resistance will be broken and the war would be quickly wrapped up in favor of the occupational army.
Dudayev was killed on April 21, 1996, by two laser-guided missiles when he was using a satellite phone, after his location was detected by a Russian reconnaissance aircraft, which intercepted his phone call. At the time Dudayev was reportedly talking to a liberal deputy of the Duma in Moscow, reportedly Konstantin Borovoy. Additional aircraft were dispatched (a Su-24MR and a Su-25) to locate Dudayev and fire a guided missile. Exact details of this operation were never released by the Russian government. Russian reconnaissance planes in the area had been monitoring satellite communications for quite some time trying to match Dudayev's voice signature to the existing samples of his speech.
For a map, click here. For a map of Tamaulipas state, click here
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
A reported third day of gunfights between Mexican Army units and armed suspects took place in the border town of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas Monday afternoon, according to various Mexican news reports.
As of Monday evening gunfights between Mexican Army soldiers and armed suspects were reported on the road to the airport in Nuevo Laredo. Earlier Twitter reports had mentioned two international bridges were the locations of roadblocks put up by drug gang shooters, but it was later confirmed that the bridges mentioned were the two bridges that lead to the airport.
Reports from El Norte news daily website Monday evening claimed a number of dead and wounded armed suspects at the hands of army troops, but those reports will remain unconfirmed. All Mexican federal government entities are under restrictions under Article 41 of the Mexican Constitution not to publish government propaganda during federal elections.
At least one pursuit and gunfight took place on Avenida Reforma at about 1530 hrs when a Mexican Army road patrol encountered a convoy of armed suspects travelling aboard several pickup trucks. Attempts by the army patrol to pursue were stopped as taxis, trucks and cars were, presumably carjacked, left in the path of pursuing security forces.
Roadblocks have been reported throughout the commercial zone, including Paseo de la Reforma hotel, avenidas Monterrey and Lago de Chapala, the airport roads and the road to Piedras Negras, Coahuila or Mexico Federal Highway 2.
Roadblocks have also been reported in Bulevar Luis Donaldo Colosio and near the intersection of Avenida Reforma and Cesar Lopez de Lara.
Nuevo Laredo is generally considered to be Los Zetas territory, but that drug gang has been under considerable pressure from Gulf and Sinaloa drug cartel operatives, who have threatened to end Los Zetas' dominance in the city.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
Hat tip to Rantburg regular Joseph Mendiola. Thank you, sir!
A top US commander in the Pacific reaffirmed the mutual defense treaty between the Philippines and the United States on Sunday amid increased tensions between the archipelago and China.
In the strongest comments yet from an American official on the South China Sea dispute, Commander of the US Marines in the Pacific Lieutenant-General Duane Thiessen said, "The United States and the Philippines have a mutual defense treaty which guarantees that we get involved in each others defense and that is self explanatory."
Thiessen was replying to a question about whether the US would help if Chinese forces attacked Philippine units over conflicting claims to the Scarborough Shoal which have sprung up recently.
The US commander also stressed that US-Philippine military exercises that began last week were neither directed at China nor linked to territorial tensions. He said, "There is no direct linkage. There is no tie between Scarborough Shoal and US movement in the Pacific."
His comments came after Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Albert del Rosario issued a call for other countries to take a stand on Chinas alleged aggressiveness in the region.
He said, "Since the freedom of navigation and unimpeded commerce in the (South China Sea) are of great import to many nations, all should consider what China is endeavoring to do in the Scarborough Shoal. All, not just the Philippines, will be ultimately negatively affected if we do not take a stand."
The standoff in Scarborough Shoal began on April 8, drawing attention to the annual joint military exercise this year. A Coast Guard ship and two Chinese vessels are still facing off over the two countries conflicting claims to the shoal.
Del Rosario said yesterday the current dispute is Chinas way of showing that it can set the rules for any country. He said the sea situation is a manifestation of a "larger threat to many nations".
He said, "The standoff is something they should be concerned about if they are interested in maintaining the freedom of navigation and unimpeded commerce in the West Philippine Sea The bigger picture is anybody can be targeted and consequenced by this.
"I think the other nations should be paying attention to what is happening. With China claiming everything, having sovereign rights to the entire South China Sea, whats the message? The message is I can set the rules for anybody."
[Dawn] North Korea's military Monday threatened "special actions" soon to turn parts of the South Korean capital to ashes, accusing Seoul's conservative government of defaming its leadership.
The North has for months been criticising the South's President Lee Myung-Bak in extreme terms and threatening "sacred war" over perceived insults.
There have been no incidents but the language has become increasingly vitriolic. Some analysts said they believe a military provocation is likely.
"The special actions of our revolutionary armed forces will start soon to meet the reckless challenge of the group of traitors," said a statement on the official news agency.
The North said its targets are "the Lee Myung-Bak group of traitors, the arch criminals, and the group of rat-like elements including conservative media destroying the mainstay of the fair public opinion".
It said the actions "will reduce all... to ashes in three or four minutes... by unprecedented peculiar means and methods of our own style".
Tens of thousands rallied in Pyongyang last Friday, screaming hatred for Lee and calling for his death over alleged insults.
Last week the nuclear-armed North accused Lee of "desecrating" mass celebrations marking the 100th anniversary on April 15 of the birth of Pyongyang's founding president Kim Il-Sung.
It bridled at anti-Pyongyang demonstrations in Seoul and at comments by Lee and conservative media. These questioned the cost of the anniversary celebrations for a nation suffering acute food shortages.
Lee said the estimated $850 million cost of a rocket launch intended to mark the anniversary could have bought 2.5 million tonnes of corn.
The launch, purportedly to put a satellite into orbit, was to have been a centrepiece of the celebrations. The rocket disintegrated after some two minutes in what was seen as an embarrassment for the regime.
Monday's statement castigated Lee for comments last Friday, which urged the North's new leader Kim Jong-Un to reform agriculture and improve human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state...
It also took issue with the South's unveiling of a new cruise missile said to be able to reach any target in the North.
The North attributed its statement to the "special operation action group"of the military supreme command. Military officials in Seoul said they had no knowledge of such a unit, and no particular military movements had been detected in the North.
One analyst said the North, unlike in the past, may well follow up its threats now that major anniversary events are over.
"The easiest option will be cyber terror... but we may have to guard against actual terrorist actions," Cheong Seong-Chang of South Korea's Sejong Institute think-tank, told AFP.
"This time, I think there's a high possibility that the North's words, unlike in the past, will actually lead to specific actions." Baek Seung-Joo, of the South's Korea Institute for Defence Analyses, said there had been "bad signs" across the border but did not elaborate.
"I'm worried about military provocations by North Korea," Baek told AFP.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2012
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#1
Lee said the estimated $850 million cost of a rocket launch intended to mark the anniversary could have bought 2.5 million tonnes of corn.
#2
"I'm worried about military provocations by North Korea,"
I'm not particularly. They could try. They could kill a lot of people, but they can't win. If they tried, push them up to the 40th parallel and make Kusong the new P'yonggang.
I agree with the "they can't win" but I'm not cynical enough to blow off "they can kill a lot of people". Not to mention that SKor is a significant chunk of the global economy.
I AM cynical enough to be concerned that this would give Zero some kind of win for his feckless "smart diplomacy". He'd only need one big bounce (see GHWB) to get him past Nov. Now THAT's scary.
#4
Yeah, I was playing too lightly with that killing a lot of people thing. I think Obama is going to attempt to trigger something in the fall that will give him a justification for postponing elections. For example, an Iran attack, Iran responds inside the US and Obama tries to postpone elections for a year or something.
#6
A great defensive weapon for South Korea would be the airmobile KFC outlet. As advancing North Korean forces move South, these would be deployed along their path. At the same time, large BBQ pits are deployed in the rear areas with heaps of juicy bulgogi cooking on the grills. Together these act to slow the advance to a crawl and direct the course of the advance as the lead elements move from KFC to KFC cleaning out each one as they advance. Rear elements are bogged down in bulgogi and rice to the point where they are unable to maneuver.
Posted by: Barbara ||
04/24/2012 17:46
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#8
Perhaps Seoul won't be "turned to ashes" vee the DPRK ...
To wit,
* TOPIX, DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > NORTH KOREA MISSLES ON PARADE ARE PAPER MOCKUPS [Models]: ANALYSTS.
versus
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > [POSTER = paraph] PLAN TYPE 094 SSBN [strategic missle sub = SLBMS]AT SEA, SET SAIL FROM SANYA TO YELLOW SEA | NUCLEAR WAR ESCALATION IFF US, JAPAN NAVAL INTERVENTION.
ARTIC + BLOG is in the CHINESE LANGUAGE.
The Yellow Sea is not the SCS as per the SINO-PHIL Scarborough dispute, but the PLAN Boomer will be able to hit USFK, USFJ, UNCOM, etc. key targets.
PCorrectness-Deniability = Beijing can always claim their Boomer was absolutely positively categorically undeniably ... part of the its NAVEX wid the Russians, NOT-N-NEVER EVAR! FOR ANYTHING ELSE???
Iff the PHIL is hoping that the US will back up its treaty obligations militarily iff shooting starts oer Scarborough Shoal, CHINA IS THE COUNTRY THAT WILL TEST THEIR THEORY.
Lest we fergit,
> Commie Guerillas fought superior Japan from 1930's-1945 despite also fighting agz Chiang Kai-shek + KMT.
> Fought the superior US + UNO in Korea 1950-53 after finally defeating Kai-shek in 1949 + despite weakness, destruction from internal civil war + WW2.
> Fought Nuclear India in 1962 - occasional border clashes since then.
> Clashed wid the Soviets oer riverine borders in late 1960's despite overwhelming Soviet Nuclear Superiority.
> Unified Vietnam in 1979 + 1980's, despite its massive support to North Vietnam agz the French + espec later agz the US.
[Dawn] Jammu and Kashmire Liberation Front chief Yaseen Malik says his party will make efforts to get the Kashmire issue resolved on its own without help of anyone if Pakistain, India and other international stakeholders continue with showing their irresponsible behaviour to resolve it.
"We feel that the issue is being sidelined despite the fact freedom fighters have dropped their guns and started efforts to get the dispute resolved through peaceful protests," Mr Malik said while talking to Dawn after a presser here at Mansoora on Sunday.
He said India and other western countries were previously of the view to initiate serious efforts with the Kashmiri leadership if the Kashmiris struggling for freedom disarm themselves and start peaceful protests. "But it is very sad that the Indian government and the western countries did nothing to resolve the dispute despite the fact that Kashmiris fulfilled their demand.
Earlier speaking at a presser, Mr Malik said status quo would neither be acceptable to Kashmiris nor such a policy could help resolve the issue peacefully.
Flanked by Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... chief Syed Munawar Hasan and other JI leaders at Mansoora, he said Kashmire was not brought into focus since start of the ongoing dialogue between Pakistain and India on various issues. "Now the Kashmiris have the impression that the issue is being frozen," he said, adding that Pakistain and India should not hope for a lasting peace in the region without solution to the issue.
He said initially India had desired a peaceful atmosphere for beginning talks on the issue. Accordingly, the Kashmiris gave up their armed struggle and started a peaceful struggle.
"At present, there is an ideal atmosphere for dialogue and both the governments should try to find out a peaceful solution to the issue."
Mr Malik said since the Kashmiris gave up their armed struggle and began a peaceful movement, India started crushing the Kashmiris' freedom movement by killing the peaceful protesters. "They (the Indian forces) are arresting the protesters and throwing them into torture cells. Do they want to push the peaceful protesting Kashmiris back to their previous armed struggle?"
He warned that if both the countries were unable to find a peaceful solution, the Kashmiris would be forced to begin the armed struggle again.
He said the successive Pakistain governments had been mentioning the Kashmire issue one way or the other but the present rulers in Islamabad were not even talking of the Kashmire issue. The Kashmire Committee should also discharge its duty accordingly, he said.
The JKLF leader said after the 9/11 terror attacks, the world community had decided to resolve the international issues through peaceful efforts. The Kashmiris also took up the path by opting for the peaceful process. The international community should also discharge its responsibility by giving due rights to people of Kashmire under democratic norms,
he said.
Malik said he, personally, was in favour of a sovereign Kashmire. However, corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds... he said, the Kashmiris should be allowed to decide whether they wanted to join Pakistain or India or have a sovereign state.
Earlier speaking on the occasion JI Amir Syed Munawar Hasan said the Kashmiris were trying to protect Pakistain's lifeline. He appealed to the political parties, the media, the Kashmire Committee and the government to focus on the issue once again so that the Kashmiris could get courage to give strength to their movement again. He said shift in Kashmire policy by the Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... government had done a great harm to the Kashmire cause and the present elected rulers were also toeing the Musharraf's line. He said the Kashmire Committee was not independent and was working with no focus on the issue. "The Kashmire cause is not of the Kashmiris alone. They are fighting Pakistain's war but the Pakistain government, political parties and even the media are ignoring the issue."
He said the Kashmire Committee had also failed to highlight the issue at international level. JI Azad Kashmire chief Abdur Rashid Turabi, and other Jammat leaders were also present on the occasion.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2012
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[Emirates 24/7] A Soddy Arabian diplomat who was kidnapped last month by Al Qaeda-linked gunnies is in "good health" and could be released within "the coming hours", a powerful tribal leader in southern Yemen said on Monday.
Riyadh said last week that a suspected Al Qaeda bad boy had grabbed credit for kidnapping the diplomat, Abdallah Al Khalidi, and demanded the release of gunnies in Saudi prisons. He threatened in a call to the Saudi embassy in Sanaa to kill the diplomat unless his demands were met.
Sheikh Tareq Al Fadli, a tribal head in Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... and a prominent leader of Yemen's southern separatist movement, said he had been mediating with the kidnappers for Khaladi's release.
"Things are going well... The man is fine, he is in good health," Fadli told Rooters, adding that he would be released "within the coming hours".
Khalidi, the Saudi deputy consul in Aden, was seized outside his residence on March 28.
A Saudi front man said the al Qaeda caller had been identified as Mishaal Al Shodoukhi, who was named on a list of runaway Al Qaeda gunnies by Saudi authorities in 2009.
Shodoukhi said his group would "prepare the knives" unless their demands were met, an official Saudi front man said, and threatened further attacks, including an embassy bombing and the liquidation of a Saudi prince.
Riyadh, which has substantial influence among Yemeni tribes, rejected any negotiations with Al Qaeda for the release of Khalidi and vowed to do all it could to free him.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2012
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[Yemen Post] Yemen's Interior Ministry has sated that it ordered the Coastguards Authority to activate its patrols in all Yemeni coasts and seize any suspicious boats, stressing the significance of securing Yemen's coasts.
In its online website, the ministry made it clear that the new measures aim at ending any crimes, illegal immigration, and drug trafficking and combating piracy.
It further said that its directions came on the base of information about the existence of an unidentified vessel at a distance of 6-7 miles off Al-Qasht island of Hajja governorate located beside Saada governorate in which the Houth rebels centre.
The New Times Newspaper has recently said Iran increased its political outreach and arms shipments to the Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates.... rebels and other political figures in Yemen as part of what American military and intelligence officials describe as a widening Iranian effort to extend its influence across the greater Middle East.
The US Ambassador to Yemen Gerald Feierstein had voiced concern about Iran's efforts to raise security and political troubles in Yemen, pointing out that Iran interferes in Yemen's affairs through supporting Houthis.
Yemeni authorities said it seized in February a weapon-loaded Iranian ship while it was en route to the Houthi fighters nearby the Hodeidah port, a Saudi newspaper, Alwatan has affirmed, affirming that the ship included mortar launchers, anti-armor shells and other weapons.
Meanwhile, ...back at the game, the Babe was wondering why the baseball kept getting bigger and bigger. Finally it hit him... Somali pirates have kidnapped nine Somalis last week while they were fishing in the territorial water of the Arabian Sea, Yemen's Interior Ministry has said.
Media sources stated that 57 ships were hijacked in the Yemeni territorial waters with 225 failed hijacking attempts in 2010.Seaborne gangs have been exploiting political turmoil in Yemen to smuggle fuel, and possibly other supplies including food.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2012
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#1
And what does Iran sayeth to this naval activity by Yemen, espec as per ...
* WORLD NEWS > IRGC NAVY COMMANDER SAYS IRAN IS [a Gulf, Regional "Supervisor"] DOMINANT POWER IN THE [Persian Gulf +] STRAIT OF HORMUZ.
* WAFF > {Defensetech] IRAN PRETENDS TO CONTROL THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ, i.e. both Entrances as well as Exits.
IMO prolly more correct to say its being DIALECTIC, as per NEO-PERSIANISM + SHIA-LED OWG CALIPHATE; + ALSO "SHAPING THE BATTLEFIELD" AGZ ANY POTENS US-LED GROUND INVASION VEE ITS NUCPROGS, i.e. keeping US CVNS/CVBGS + Gator Navy + Sealift, etc. outside of the main Gulf + in the Sea of Oman or beyond = "KILLING ZONE".
(Sh. M. Network)- heavily armed forces from Somalia's semi-autonomous state of Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... have on Monday conducted major operations against Al shabab fighters in Galgala mountainous hide outs in Barri region.
Cabdullahi Mohammed Donyale, the security advisor of Puntland president Abdirahman Farole told news hounds in Garowe town that Puntland has began this operations after Al shabab has shifted its guerilla- style warfare in Galgala, a small town that strategically located 40 Km away south of port town of Bosaso.
"I call on people in Puntland to stand firmly with the forces to avert attacks from Al shabab cut-throats against government buildings and as well as civilian targets. Al shabab seem to bee regrouping in Galagal Mountains after they were defeated in south and centralSomalia," he added.
Hundreds of residents in Galagala area started fleeing from the town to saver areas in Puntland in fear of battle between Punland forces and Al shabab myrmidons.
Al shabab fighters have sought refuge in the mountainous region of Puntland which remains relatively free of local or international police or military forces. They are publicly declaring their relocation, recruitment drive and intention to oust the government of Puntland.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2012
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#1
Puntland, I salute you.
Posted by: American Delight ||
04/24/2012 20:27
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[Yemen Post] Gunmen assassinated on Monday a Yemeni officer in Hadramout ...the formerly independent Qu'aiti state and sultanate, annexed by Communist South Yemen in 1968, encompassing a region along the Gulf of Aden, extending eastwards to the borders of the Dhofar region of Oman. The people are called Hadhramis and speak Hadhrami Arabic. The city Tarimis estimated to contain the highest concentration of descendants of the Prophet Muhammad (PTUI) anywhere in the world, approximately seven in every square yard... province and bravely ran away, newsyemen.net reported, quoting a security source.
Major Adnan Ukaish, deputy director of the drug combating department in the eastern province of Hadramout, was killed by unidentified gunnies after noon Monday, the website said.
"The gunnies intercepted the car of the officer in the Ghail Bawazeer area and shot him dead," it said, quoting the security source as saying an investigation was launched into the incident.
In recent years, many officers and troops have been killed in wide-spread attacks on security and military targets in southern and eastern regions.
With some blamed on and claimed by al-Qaeda, gunnies held ambushes for commanders, carried out suicide kabooms on security offices and military camps and targeted checkpoints, convoys and patrols.
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04/24/2012
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[Yemen Post] Security services have managed to arrest five suspects who kidnapped a French aid worker in Al-Zaidiah of Hodeidah governorate on Saturday night, security sources said.
The sources said that the suspects were held on Sunday night at a checkpoint of Al-Qanawas located in port city of Hodeidah, pointing out that three of the arrestees are from Shabwah governorate and one of Saada. They did not spoke about the identity of the fifth one.
The kidnapped French is an aid worker of the International Committee of the Red Thingy as he was travelling from north Yemen to the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, the ICRC said on Sunday.
Media sources said the French was with two Yemeni drivers who were released shortly afterwards.
Yemeni analysts did not rule out that terrorist groups were behind the abduction of the man, indicating that most the captors were from Shabwah governorate that Al-Qaeda are active.
A Swiss woman working as a teacher was also kidnapped in Hodeida in March. French news agency AFP reported that she is being held by al-Qaeda after being taken to the far eastern province of Shabwa.
Meanwhile, ...back at the dirigible, Jack stuck the cigar in his mouth, stepped onto the gantry, and asked Got a light, Mac?
Von Schtinken stopped short, lowering the dagger and trying to control his features. If you light that thing, Herr Armschtröng, he pointed out, his voice tense, we all die!... the fate of a Saudi diplomat, Abdullah Al-Khalidi, kidnapped in the port city of Aden is still uncertain after three weeks of abduction.
The diplomat have been holding by Al-Qaeda for three weeks after being kidnapped outside his home by Al-Qaeda cut-throats who called for the release of cut-throats held in Saudi prisons in return for his release.
The Saudi Embassy in Sana'a has cautioned against plans of Al-Qaeda to target it, asking all its officials and employees to be alert and take all precautions, diplomatic sources said.
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04/24/2012
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... turned its sights on the Assad couple's high-end lifestyle Monday, banning the export of luxury goods as part of new sanctions to punish the regime's relentless violence.
In a 14th round of EU sanctions against Syria in a year, foreign ministers from the 27-nation bloc banned shipments of luxury items to Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... and further restricted the sale of goods used to repress dissidents.
"The EU will continue its policy of imposing additional measures targeting the regime ... as long as repression continues," ministers said in a statement.
Russia, which has agreed to the presence of UN truce monitors, at the weekend condemned the idea of new EU sanctions.
But European ministers and diplomats said the new restrictive measures were a direct response to continuing violence in Syria, despite the presence of UN truce observers in the country.
"It is very important for us to keep up that pressure, step up that pressure," said British Foreign Secretary William Hague. "They are not in full compliance of the ceasefire requirements of the (Kofi) Annan plan."
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04/24/2012
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(Sh.M.Network)- Launched in 2008 to prevent and repress the increasing acts of piracy and armed robbery off the Somali coast and in the Indian Ocean, the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... 's Naval Force Somalia -- Operation Atlanta has so far tossed in the calaboose and transferred for prosecution 117 suspected pirates and in 2011 disrupted 27 pirate action groups.
As piracy in the Western Indian Ocean has been a threat to security and international shipping, EU NAVFOR -- Operation Atlanta has been able to provide protection to vessels of the World Food Programme (WFP) delivering food aid to displaced persons inSomaliaand has escorted 155 WFP ships carrying about 900 metric tons of food toSomalia.
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04/24/2012
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Any excuse, any excuse, to run this photo of Cindy...
That photo is labeled "The Mad Chipmunk" in my head, for some reason.
is preparing to run for her old 4th Congressional district seat on the Green Party ticket.
McKinney was defeated by 4th district incumbent Hank Johnson
...who is no prize himself...
in 2006 after serving six terms in Congress and has kept a low profile since returning to Atlanta from the San Francisco area where she moved in 2007.
Except for running for president, making trips to Tehran, and being her usual crazy self, she's kept a low profile. Just the MFM plowing the road there...
Since February she has made a few public appearances in her old district but stayed low key with her plans. She filed paperwork April 2 with the Federal Elections Commission declaring her intention to run.
Tracked down at her mother's home Thursday by a reporter from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, McKinney declined to comment and ordered the reporter off the property.
"Git off'n my land, ya varmint!" [SNIC-SNAC]
Last week she was recruiting volunteers to collect the 18,860 signatures of registered voters she'll need by August 6 to get on the newly redrawn 4th district ballot, according the Georgia Secretary of State's office.
A lightning-rod political figure,
As in, holding up a two-iron in a thunderstorm...
McKinney, 55, was defeated in 2006 by Johnson after a much-publicized run-in with a U.S. Capitol police officer and her accusations that the Bush administration may have known beforehand about the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
In 2008 she won the Green Party nomination and ran for president. McKinney and running mate Rosa Clemente were on the ballot in 31 states, but not Georgia. The party had hoped with McKinney's name recognition to get at least 5% of the vote so the party would automatically be on the 2012 ballot in all 50 states. She got less than 1 percent of the vote.
Even the Progressives knew she was crazy...
In the summer of 2009, McKinney made international news for her involvement in the Free Gaza Movement, during which she was detained after a ship she was aboard carrying humanitarian supplies was stopped by the Israeli Navy for allegedly running a blockade.
Back in Atlanta, McKinney's associates in the Green Party -- which she joined in 2007 after quitting the Democratic Party -- have closed ranks in support.
They're stuck, you see...
Her former Green Party campaign manager, Hugh Esco, said Wednesday he could not confirm McKinney plans to run, as first reported by the Atlanta Progressive News. "I would call that report a wild rumor," said Esco.
Everything about our gal Cindy is a wild rumor...
Frank Redding, a friend of McKinney's late father, former state legislator Billy McKinney, who has known Cynthia since childhood, said Thursday he's not surprised to hear she's back in her old district and making the rounds for a political rebirth.
"She's been around and been more visible and I believe she's going to make a run, though I've not had a personal conversation with her," said Redding. "But anywhere she runs in South Dekalb County she's going to be viable."
Because the voters there are as crazy as she is...
The new District 4 contains about two-thirds of DeKalb County including the cities of Stone Mountain and Scottdale, and portions of Gwinnett, Newton, and Rockdale counties.
Other former supporters question whether McKinney has the resources or enough remaining clout and presence in the district she left six years ago to get the signatures needed to get on the ballot.
"That's going to be the real challenge for her," said John Evans, who handled McKinney's last congressional campaign, in 2006.
Jan Selman, a Decatur political consultant and former McKinney supporter who backed Hank Johnson in 2006, said she still supports Johnson, and doubts most voters will "get off the rail" and vote Green Party, no matter the candidate.
She said she would never underestimate McKinney. "She's a very determined person," said Selman. "But we need someone in the 4th district with tenure. Hank's been in there three terms. I can't see that changing right now."
There's crazy and there's crazy, you see...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/24/2012
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#1
Even the Progressives knew she was crazy...
There's a rule that you can't be too overt about it, anyway.
#2
...now Chuck Schumer, he be sayin", She be, and she always has been fully-ready fo public positions. Cynthia be "RED-I" fo Pharaoh's call, whenever it comes. She be chillin' willin' and waiting to be tapped for ANY Cabinet appointment available. McKinney is, and always has been certifiably crazy.
The Recovery Act has committed $84.2 million to GA-04 (as of May 30, 2009). These investments include tax cuts for families and critical funds for new roads and improved highways, improved schools, safer communities, and modernized energy systems. Key funds include:
~~ Transportation and infrastructure: $30.9 million
~~ Education: $9.7 million
~~ Social Security: $18.1 million
~~ Small Business Administration: $6.2 million
Nope, it's a well-known running joke. The two were wingmen if I remember right, and it was a skit they came up with years before in the Navy. They played it beautifully.
#22
He's too dumb to be clever enough to it that deadpan, Gorb. You will never convince me unless you had pre-quote "here's how we'll play it" youtube. He has enough stupid on the tubes to back me up. The question is what do you do about a district that sends these assholes, idiots, and morons to Congress. I'm thinking a high wall and cut off communications, food, and energy. Offer flights out
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/24/2012 21:13
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AQAP, alQaeda's branch in Yemen, set April 30 as the final deadline to execute about 73 soldiers who were incarcerated during raids on military posts in Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... province in early March.
In a statement distributed in Jaar, one of the cities held by faceless myrmidons in Abyan and quoted by media, the group said this deadline came after it had decided to execute the soldiers.
The group declared the decision in public and put posters over the decision in Jaar on Monday, according to locals.
Earlier, al-Qaeda demanded the release of its members held inside the political security jails in return for freeing the soldiers.
Meantime, media outlets have reported the decision on the executions came after disagreements between leaders inside AQAP. Some leaders suggested releasing the soldiers but others saw AQAP has the right to determine their fate, reports said.
The few days ago, two national human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... organizations warned the soldiers were facing the danger of execution.
The HOOD and al-Karama organizations, which sent an activist team that visited the soldiers last year, revealed al-Qaeda was threatening to kill ten soldiers a week. The government has not made comment.
The government is currently battling the faceless myrmidons in Abyan and other southeastern regions killing and injuring hundreds of them.
With direct support from the US, the army in association with popular fighters has advanced toward towns, which were held by faceless myrmidons in mid-2011 including Zinjibar, the capital, taking over many areas and positions.
In early March, faceless myrmidons raided some military posts in Abyan killing and abducting scores of soldiers and looting military equipment.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2012
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[An Nahar] U.S. President Barack Obama In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died -- an entire town destroyed... said on Monday that the "killing of innocents" must end in Sudan and South Sudan, after weeks of border fighting in contested regions and tension between the two states. "Don't make me come over there!" Right after we're done mopping up the Taliban...
"In Darfur, Abyei, South Kordofan and the Blue Nile, the killing of innocents must come to an end. The presidents of Sudan and South Sudan must have the courage to negotiate because the people of Sudan and South Sudan deserve peace," Obama said at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington.
Washington had earlier condemned a Sudanese air raid on South Sudan and urged an "immediate" halt to hostilities and a return to talks.
"The United States strongly condemns Sudan's military incursion into South Sudan yesterday and calls for the immediate cessation of hostilities and the withdrawal of all Sudanese armed militia from South Sudan," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland in a statement.
"Sudan must immediately halt the aerial and artillery bombardment in South Sudan by the Sudan Armed Forces. Sudan and South Sudan must end all military support for rebel groups within the other country," she added.
Sudanese bombs fell Monday on a key bridge and a market in the state capital of Bentiu, killing at least two children, prompted heavy gunfire from Southern soldiers hoping to shoot down Khartoum's warplanes.
Nuland said Washington recognized South Sudan's right to self-defense and urged it to exercise restraint in its reaction to Sudan's attack in Unity State.
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04/24/2012
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#1
Nuland. Now there's a gal with some real serious "street cred".
[Yemen Post] Yemen's Chief Prosecutor, Ali al-Awash, referred to the Military justice a complaint by the Air Force members calling for arresting commander Muhammad Saleh, who has rebelled against a decree removing him from his post by President Hadi.
Spokesman for the Air Force, Major Abdul Rahman al-Hilali, said the decision by the prosecutor was good, though the man has just avoided responsibility.
"The decision to arrest and try al-Ahmer, a half-brother of ex-president Saleh, remains good because the Yemeni people realize no one has that authority to prosecute military commanders," he continued.
The complaint of the forces suggested the arrest and the stripping of the military ranks of and a trial for al-Ahmer. It also called for a decision by the chief prosecutor to prevent him from travel and seize his properties.
Within the reforms inside the armed forces according to a power transfer deal sponsored by the international community, President Hadi issued weeks ago decrees firing senior army commanders including relatives of Saleh.
The relatives of Saleh including the commander of the Air Force refused to leave their posts, in a move that triggered skepticism about the ability of the new government to control the situation. Some senior commanders within the army and the securit systems are relatives of Saleh including his son, Ahmed, the commander of the elite republican guard.
In response to the rebellion of the commanders, Hadi warned to strip them of their military ranks and turn them over to a military court.
The countries sponsoring the power transfer deal, which ended turmoil in November, announced their support to Hadi and warned anyone trying to hinder the deal.
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04/24/2012
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(Sh. M. Network)- People in Mogadishu woke up on Monday morning hundreds of TFG security forces being put into the streets across Mogadishua head of the anniversary of armed forces.
Forces were seen patrolling streets and ordering people to stay at doors until the operations will be ended. This has affected locals to go this morning to their Business centers and educational institutions in Mogadishu.
"There were heavy army presence this morning at KM4, Ex-control Afgoye junction and as well as airport street. People have been asked to remain in their houses. The police and military jointly were conducting searches at houses to maintain security," a resident told Shabelle Media.
The capital, which has been at the heart of a four-year insurgency between beturbanned fascisti and the Western-backed government, was packed with security forces on Monday to prevent Al shabab from attacking government forces during their anniversary.
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04/24/2012
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[Dawn] Federal Minister for Interior Rehman Malik Pak politician, current Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. on Monday revealed that activists belonging to political parties of the PPP-led coalition government of Sindh are to be blamed for the menace of extortion in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , DawnNews reported.
Malik said that activists of Pakistain People's Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... (MQM), Awami National Party (ANP) and other parties were involved in extortion in the metropolis.
Speaking to media representatives at the Quaid-e-Azam-International Airport, the interior minister also said that few parties were involved in the deteriorating law and order situation.
The minister also rejected the speculations that armed operations were only conducted in Lyari, adding security agencies have also raided offices of the MQM and other political parties in the violence-ridden city.
"If security agencies are attacked with hand grenades, they would not shower flowers in response," said the PPP leader.
Moreover, the minister said that national tragedies, like the Bhoja Air crash, should not be used for political gains.
Criticising Pakistain Mohammedan League-Nawaz (PML-N) for opposing probe commission formed to investigate the crash, he blamed Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan for doing politics on the tragic incident.
The minister claimed that the airline was awarded licence during Nawaz Sharif's ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... government while ignoring the rules and regulations.
He said that the government is taking all steps for a transparent inquiry into the air crash.
He assured that action will be taken against those responsible in the light of inquiry report. "We should wait for it and avoid doing politics on the issue, he added.
To a question, Malik said that law enforcement agencies have set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock a group involved in creating law and order situation in Gilgit, Bloody Karachi and Balochistan. ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... The interior minister also said that Ali Musa Gilani (son of PM Gilani) had arrived in the country to face allegations against him in the "ephedrine case."
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04/24/2012
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[Emirates 24/7] Iraq, locked in a public row with neighbouring Turkey, has summoned Ankara's ambassador in Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... to protest at critical remarks by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, the foreign ministry said on Monday.
The envoy, Younis Demerer, heard the Iraqi complaint on Sunday after several days of charge and counter-charge.
Erdogan accused his Iraqi counterpart Nuri Al-Maliki on Thursday of stoking conflict between various groups through "self-centred" behaviour.
Maliki fired back that Turkey was becoming a "hostile state" with a sectarian agenda, saying it was meddling in Iraqi affairs and trying to establish regional "hegemony".
Erdogan returned to the fray on Saturday, saying: "If we respond to Mr. Maliki, we give him the opportunity to show off."
Analysts say mainly Turkey is worried that growing tensions in Iraq and violence in their mutual neighbour Syria may lead to a wider conflict in the region.
Erdogan's government has also recently forged close ties with Masoud Barzani, president of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, which is embroiled in a row with the Storied Baghdad government over claims to the city of Kirkuk and the region's oil.
"(Foreign ministry undersecretary) Mr. Labeed Abbawi acquainted the Turkish Ambassador with the Iraqi government's intense protest against the recent statements," the Iraqi foreign ministry said on its website.
"Undersecretary Abbawi expressed hope that the Turkish government will stop giving statements that affect Iraq's illusory sovereignty and internal affairs."
Erdogan has criticised Maliki several times since sectarian tensions flared in Iraq in December when the government tried to remove Deputy Prime Minister Saleh Al Mutlaq and sought an arrest warrant for Vice President Tareq Al Hashemi on charges he ran death squads.
Hashemi decamped Storied Baghdad and has since met Erdogan in Istanbul.
The rift between Storied Baghdad and the Kurds worsened this month when the Kurdistan Regional Government said it was halting oil exports because the central government was not paying oil firms operating in the north.
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04/24/2012
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[Dawn] Indian police have ordered the deportation of 10 Frenchies who they say worked with a non-governmental organization that supports Maoist bad turbans.
Police official Paras Nath said the Frenchies violated their tourist visas by working for Unity Forum in the eastern Indian state of Bihar.
Nath said the group was flown to New Delhi on Monday and would be deported.
The Frenchies were jugged in a densely forested area of Bihar where Unity Forum had organised a meeting of local farmers.
Unity Forum says it works to protect the land and water rights of the poor.
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04/24/2012
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[Yemen Post] Yemen's Chief Prosecutor, Ali al-Awash, referred to the Military justice a complaint by the Air Force members calling for arresting commander Muhammad Saleh, who has rebelled against a decree removing him from his post by President, Hadi.
Spokesman for the Air Force, Major Abdul Rahman al-Hilali, said the decision by the prosecutor was good, though the man has just avoided responsibility.
"The decision to arrest and try al-Ahmer, a half-brother of ex-president Saleh, remains good because the Yemeni people realize no one has that authority to prosecute military commanders," he continued.
The complaint of the forces suggested the arrest and the stripping of the military ranks of and a trial for al-Ahmer. It also called for a decision by the chief prosecutor to prevent him from travel and seize his properties.
Within the reforms inside the armed forces according to a power transfer deal sponsored by the international community, President Hadi issued weeks ago decrees firing senior army commanders including relatives of Saleh.
The relatives of Saleh including the commander of the Air Force refused to leave their posts, in a move that triggered skepticism about the ability of the new government to control the situation. Some senior commanders within the army and the securit systems are relatives of Saleh including his son, Ahmed, the commander of the elite republican guard.
In response to the rebellion of the commanders, Hadi warned to strip them of their military ranks and turn them over to a military court.
The countries sponsoring the power transfer deal, which ended turmoil in November, announced their support to Hadi and warned anyone trying to hinder the deal.
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04/24/2012
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[Bangla Daily Star] Two people were killed and at least 50 including 10 coppers injured in fierce festivities between pro-hartal pickets and law enforcers at Bishwanath upazila headquarters in Sylhet during the BNP-enforced second straight countrywide hartal ... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ... yesterday.
The festivities, which lasted over two hours, also saw the
agitators set fire to the upazila parishad building and lay siege to the local cop shoppe.
Of the dead, Monwar Hossain, 30, was an activist of Jubo Dal, while the identity of the other could not yet be known, said police.
Bishwanath is part of the constituency (Sylhet-2) of former BNP politician Ilias Ali, who along with his car driver disappeared in the early hours of April 18 from the capital's Banani area.
Meanwhile, ...back at the wrecked scow, a single surviver held tightly to the smashed prow... the main opposition BNP yesterday declared a third consecutive dawn-to-dusk hartal for today in protest over the disappearance of Ilias and his driver.
"The government is staging a drama over the Ilias issue. It must stop the drama and return Ilias to us," Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, acting secretary general of BNP, told a presser at the party's central office in the capital's Nayapaltan yesterday afternoon.
He said, "Since the government has kidnapped Ilias, the agitation will continue until it returns him."
Fakhrul said 371 people including party Vice-Chairman Selima Rahman were placed in durance vile, and 795 more were maimed in attacks by law enforcers and ruling party men yesterday.
Hours after the announcement of the fresh hartal, three buses were torched in the capital's Nayapaltan, Matsya Bhaban intersection and Abdullahpur in Uttara, said police.
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04/24/2012
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Security forces narrowly escaped death from a powerful improvised bomb buried underground in front of a village defense unit in Narathiwat province.
Hamadma Damaree, 40, a defense volunteer, was waiting for someone to replace him on shift. He sat at a marble table in front of his unit late Monday when he noticed that the dirt underneath the table appeared to have been freshly dug up and replaced. He examined the spot further and discovered what appeared to be a sheet of metal buried underneath the ground and alerted police.
Bomb disposal squad agents used a mobile phone jammer to stop phone signals in the area and spent about 10 minutes defusing the bomb. The device was made of explosives placed in a fire extinguisher and ready to be detonated by a phone signal.
The area where the bomb was hidden is a popular gathering area for police officers and defense volunteers after they finish work.
In Yala, police yesterday arrested a man suspected of killing two policemen in 2007 in Yala province. The two were patrolling Bang Lang dam when they were ambushed.
The 37-year-old suspect, Mayalee Doka, denied the charges and told the police that he worked as a village defense volunteer reporting on the movements of terrorists separatists. However the inspector in charge said police had enough witnesses and solid evidence to back up the charges.
[Emirates 24/7] Iranian authorities are investigating a suspected cyber attack on Iran's main oil export terminal, Iranian industry sources said on Monday.
The virus struck late on Sunday, affecting the main Internet and communications systems of Iran's Oil Ministry and national oil company, Mehr news agency reported.
As a precaution, the IT systems controlling Kharg island and a number of Iran's other oil facilities have been disconnected from the Internet, the report said.
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04/24/2012
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[Bloomberg] Francois Hollande, the winner of the first round of La Belle France's elections, said Europe's austerity drive fueled despair and created conditions for the record-high score for anti-euro National Front leader Marine Le Pen. It couldn't have anything to do with continuous assaults against European culture by large numbers of North African colonists...
Le Pen, the leader of the nationalist, anti-immigrant party, won 17.9 percent, or 6.4 million votes, surpassing poll estimates with the highest tally for the National Front created by her father Jean-Marie Le Pen in 1972. Hollande, the Socialist candidate, got 28.6 percent in the April 22 ballot, leaving him to face President Nicolas Sarkozy ...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... in next month's runoff. Sarkozy won 27.2 percent.
"It's this austerity everywhere that brings desperation to people and leads them to vote for the far-right," Hollande said yesterday in a speech in Quimper, in Brittany, where the National Front almost doubled its score from 2007.
Europe's front against austerity has expanded in recent weeks after Spain struggled to meet European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... -imposed deficit targets, election campaigns in Greece faced anti- austerity rumblings and a revolt against extra spending cuts in the traditionally budget-conscious Netherlands propelled Prime Minister Mark Rutte's coalition toward an early breakup.
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04/24/2012
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#1
Europe is what happens when you try and implement an oxymoron.
You cannot have a viable political system where the (supposedly) sovereign entity, France, Spain, etc., do not have control over their own currency. It just won't work.
So, you either have to cede most sovereignty to the EU to go along with their control of the Euro. or you have to revert to the individual currencies.
No question that the elites want the former, effectively a United States of Europe where the central government has all the power and the regions get a few crumbs; less then our states have. Leaves the UK in an anamolous position cause they'll either have to leave the EU or join the euro.
In anycase all the central bankers of the various "countries" will have to devolve into one. That should provide a few laughs when it becomes apparent.
#2
""It's this austerity everywhere that brings desperation to people and leads them to vote for the far-right," Hollande said yesterday in a speech in Quimper, in Brittany, where the National Front almost doubled its score from 2007."
Ergo, responsible government leads people to vote for more responsible government?
#5
You cannot have a viable political system where the (supposedly) sovereign entity, France, Spain, etc., do not have control over their own currency.
Two solutions to that:
a) return currency controls to individual sovereign nations
or
b) impose a single sovereignty over all those countries
#6
Yep, the whole history of the EU dating back to the '20s was for the continent to be subsumed. Kinda had a little hiccup in the '30s & '40s but that served to accelerate the movement with the first treaty of the Coal & Steel Community circa 1950 rith on up to the present day.
Still may crumble at least around the edges due to trying to take on too much at once with all the countries...fall of USSR...etc.
We will see, but, the EU is not at all a democracy and was never so intended.
#7
Bingo, AlanC. But - the 20s? The EU is the fourth attempt to unite Europe. The first three were Charlemagne, Napoleon, and Hitler. Not sure why they thought this would work out any better.
#8
"Not sure why they thought this would work out any better."
Because of the definition of insanity, Random. :-(
Posted by: Barbara ||
04/24/2012 17:41
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I said when the Germans abandoned the Deutschemark* that they'd regret it - looks like I was right. :-(
*Didn't much care about the other countries.
Posted by: Barbara ||
04/24/2012 17:43
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Hell, many Germans regretted it at the time! So did the Dutch. Always getting swallowed by grand European projects.
To be fair, I'd say it's situational myopia. Like women who keep winding up with wife-beaters. They recognize the pattern, but not that their own decision-making is the problem. And, well, look at the US. We put Ogabe in charge and getting rid of him is not a given. We've fucked ourselves pretty good too, so I'm disinclined to accuse Europeans of insanity/stupidity these days.
#11
The Germans couldn't actually "regret" it (the people, that is) because they were never asked.
There would never have been a majority for that in Germany.
Eurocrats still try to convince the Germans that they benefitted from the Euro. Cheaper expots and all that.
They seemed to have a point. But Germany managed to export its stuff very well under a strong Deutschmark, and we're finding out now that many Euroland countries bought our stuff but couldn't afford to pay for it. We're paying off their debts they accumulated with buying our products (and corruption, of course).
Won't go on forever.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
04/24/2012 22:10
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Agreed, EC. I make a sharp distinction between Europe's rulers, and the ruled.
Right, so the exports were purchased with a credit card, they now can't pay, and Germans are being handed the bill. On top of solidarity tax (if that is still in effect?); and if I understand correctly, Germany only recently (2009?) completed paying WWI reparations.
No, it won't go on forever - it can't. I'm surprised that Merkel remains so committed to The European Project. Being a physicist from the DDR, I expected her to recognize the folly of a centralized superstate. But I suppose suggesting the alternative - a return to the sovereign nation-state - is just too radical. Similar problem in the US.
Lebanon's Most Wanted Sunni Terrorist Blows Himself Up
When one of Lebanon's most wanted terrorists kills himself while planting a bomb it is cause for at least some sort of grim celebration. But when the chief bomb-maker of the country's most notorious terror group self detonates while helping rebels fight in Syria, it is cause for concern. Concern? No, pass the popcorn please.
TIME has learned that Abdel Ghani Jawhar, one of the leaders of the Sunni fundamentalist terror group Fatah al-Islam, died in the Syrian city of Qsair on Friday night. The founding cleric of Fatah al Islam, Sheikh Osama al Shihabi, confirmed Jawhar's death to TIME with a quote from the Koran:
This is not the first time that Jawhar is thought to have been killed; several previous death announcements have been retracted over the years. Is this guy a cat, with nine lives or something?
News of his death has been relayed by multiple--and unrelated--sources in both Syria and Lebanon. According to a fellow fighter, who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Ali, Jawhar had been preparing an explosive device to be used against the Syrian army, which had been attempting to enter the rebel-dominated town not far from Homs. As Abu Ali narrated the tale over Skype, the sound of bombs and explosions could be heard in the background. Jawhar's bomb went off prematurely, says Abu Ali. "He was killed directly. We wanted to send his body back to Lebanon but we couldn't because it was torn into pieces." Instead Jawhar's fellow fighters were forced to bury what was left of him in a neighboring garden because it was impossible to reach the graveyard during heavy fighting. I just love a happy ending.
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] A stench of death filled the air and oil leaked onto the ground Monday in Sudan's main petroleum centre of Heglig, where Sudan's army says more than 1,000 Southern soldiers died in battle.
"The numbers of killed from SPLM are 1,200," Sudan's military commander Kamal Marouf told thousands of troops in the area, from which Southern forces said they had withdrawn on the weekend.
The toll is impossible to verify, but an AFP correspondent who accompanied Marouf said the putrid bodies of dead South Sudanese soldiers lay beneath trees scattered among the oil fields.
He said the number of bodies was so large they were "uncountable."
They bore the South Sudanese flag on their uniforms, and some had fallen inside the area's main town.
No civilians were visible, only Sudanese soldiers camped or on patrol.
Khartoum has not said how many of its own soldiers died in the operation.
During its 10-day occupation of Heglig, South Sudan's army said 19 of its soldiers were killed and that 240 Sudanese troops bit the dust.
Early in the occupation one Southern soldier in Bentiu, capital of the South's Unity State, said: "There are so many bodies at the front line, so many dead" that it is impossible to bury them or bring them back.
"Our talks with them were with guns and bullets," said President Omar al-Bashir Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. , who arrived in the region wearing a military uniform to address celebrating troops on Monday.
The AFP correspondent saw one captured tank bearing a South Sudanese flag, and another damaged tank which could not be identified.
In Heglig town itself, televisions and computers lay damaged in the street.
Sudan did not allow journalists or other observers into the Heglig area during the standoff with the South, and no foreign news hounds were permitted on Monday's visit which lasted about four hours.
South Sudan said it completed a tactical withdrawal from the Heglig region on Sunday, a move that followed intense international diplomacy to pull the two sides back from the brink of a wider war.
Khartoum claimed to have defeated the South and forced it out.
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(CNN) -- Sudanese warplanes crossed a disputed border region to strike Monday in South Sudan, escalating fighting that threatens to return the neighboring African countries to full-scale war, a witness said.
A Sudanese military commander, Kamal Marouf, was quoted by Radio Sudan's website as saying that more than 1,200 South Sudanese had been killed.
It's a shame the South Sudanese can't get itself an air force. Too bad the Ruritanians aren't in a position to help.
A Sudanese military front man denied that Sudan had used military aircraft to bomb the south. "We have nothing to do with what's going on in Unity state," he said, implying that militias or South Sudanese rebels were behind any fighting.
The report of the bombing of the towns of Bentiu and Rubkona came days after South Sudan pulled its troops at the request of the United Nations ...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involves making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country... from the disputed oil-rich region of Heglig, though Sudan says its soldiers retook the area from South Sudanese soldiers.
Two fighter jets fired four missiles at the neighboring towns, divided by a river, hitting an open-air market and killing at least one person, said journalist Alan Boswell, who is in Bentiu.
Boswell was in his car crossing the bridge between the two towns when anti-aircraft fire erupted. That was followed, he said, by missile strikes. "I saw one boy who about 10 years old who was completely burned," he said. "There are other casualties."
The remains of thatch-covered stalls in Rubkona smoldered for hours after the morning bombing, Boswell said.
In a statement, South Sudan Information Minister Banaba Marial Benjamin said that three bombs had struck a market in Bentiu, killing two civilians, including a 12-year-old boy.
"The Security Council must take its responsibility and punish the Republic of Sudan for continuing this aerial bombardment and the violation of the airspace of Sudan," he said.
Soon after, the United Nations called for Sudan to halt the aerial bombings after what it described as four morning attacks, including one on the capital of oil-rich Unity state.
"These indiscriminate bombings resulting in the loss of civilian lives must stop," said Hilde F. Johnson, special representative of the secretary-general for South Sudan, in a statement.
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... condemned the bombardment and called on Sudan to cease all hostilities immediately, a front man for the secretary-general said in a statement.
He called on Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. and South Sudan's President Salva Kiir "to stop the slide towards further confrontation and urges both sides to return to dialogue as a matter of urgency," the statement said.
The U.N. peacekeeping mission said one of its helicopters was in the air during the 8:30 a.m. attack on Bentiu, the Unity state capital.
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04/24/2012
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#1
Lets hope a shipment of anti-air missiles are on its way from Israel.
[Yemen Post] The former governor of Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... , Ahmed Al-Maysari, has demanded Yemeni holy mans to issue a fatwa against Ansar Al-Shariah (Supporters of the Islamic Law), a group linked to Al-Qaeda.
In remarks to the London-based Al-Sharaq Al-Awsat Newspaper, he asked religious scholars to issue a clear-cut fatwa against criminal acts committed by Islamic fascistiin Abyan.
Al-Maysari affirmed that the military could separate Zinjibar from Jaar, the two towns that are considered the main strongholds of the group in Abyan.
Confrontations have been continuing between Ansar Al-Shariah and the Yemeni Army in the outskirts of Zinjibar, leaving dozens of both sides killed and maimed.
Local sources affirmed that the army could control on the southeast of the town and could reach to the hear of the town after air-fighters launched strikes on the town.
The Defense Ministry affirmed that it is determined to expand its military operations to the neighboring town of Jaar , ensure the return of the displaced persons and impose security and stability.
The ministry affirmed that 32 Al-Qaeda Islamic fascistiwere killed during two days of raids against Lawdar, stressing that many veteran leaders of Al-Qaeda.
Military sources have said strikes targeted vehicles in the desert, destroying one and partly disabling another, pointing out that third vehicle was able to escape.
They further said President Abdurabu Mansour Hadi ...the second and possibly the last president of Yemen, successor to former President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh... ordered to send military reinforcements to fight Al-Qaeda amid an objection to use US drone in the military attacks by some members of parliament.
Gerald Feierstein, the U.S. ambassador to Yemen, during a presser at the embassy on Sunday attributed the army's progress to changes made by President Abdurabu Mansur Hadi in the military's leadership.
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04/24/2012
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Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2012
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#1
Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Melinda Clarke aka Julie Cooper in "The O.C. (TV 20032007)" aka Jessica Priest in "Spawn (1997)" aka Amanda in "Nikita (TV 2010-2012)" aka Candy in "La lengua asesina (The Killer Tongue)(1996)" aka Starring in "Cold Sweat (2002)" (age 44)
An AWACS plane just flew over, followed by what looked like a JSTARs both with very tight fighters on the left and right. F16s on the AWACS, tornados on the JSTAR.
[Dawn] The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned the hearing of Air Martial (retd) Asghar Khan's petition to April 25, DawnNews reported.
A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez heard the case.
Asghar Khan had filed the petition in 1996, accusing the ISI of financing several politicians during the 1990 elections to create the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) and prevent Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... 's PPP from winning. The ISI allegedly dished out Rs140 million for the purpose. The petition was based on the affidavit of former ISI chief Asad Durrani.
During the hearing, the court directed the attorney general to summon secretary interior and secretary law in his office and obtain information on a 17-year-old report regarding Mehran Bank and Habib Bank. The court also summoned records of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) cases against Younus Habib, one of main characters behind the controversy and a former head of the now defunct Mehran Bank.
The chief justice in his order again directed that the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to submit its report regarding the distribution of secret funds. The IB had submitted a reply to the court on the case earlier today.
Also during the hearing, former army chief Gen (retd) Mirza Aslam Beg's ...occasionally incoherent retired four-star general who was the Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army, succeeding the creepy General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, after the latter was rubbed out died in an air crash in 1988. The general was involved up to his hairy ears in the Mehran bank scandal, shuffling millions in public money to buy or lease politicians, and is believed one of the prime movers in the sale of Pak nuclear technology to Iran. He ranks second only to Hamid Gul in the volume and flavor of his anti-Western vitriol.. counsel, advocate Akram Sheikh, submitted his client's reply. "Yez got nuttin' on me client, coppers! Nuttin'! Da witnesses is all dead!"
The reply opposed the idea of forming a judicial commission to probe the distribution of secret funds to politicians and accused Habib for wanting to prolong the matter by forming the commission.
Beg's reply further stated that Habib was accountable to the NAB and that he had to pay 115 crore (1150000000) rupees to NAB.
Earlier, a petition was filed by Habib to form a judicial commission to recover the money disbursed to politicians.
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04/24/2012
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[Bloomberg] Egypt is willing to negotiate a new agreement to supply natural gas to Israel under different prices and terms, the country's Planning and International Cooperation Minister Fayza Aboulnaga said.
The Egyptian parties to the 2005 accord notified East Mediterranean Gas Co., which transports the gas to Israel, five times about past-due amounts before deciding to end the agreement yesterday, Aboulnaga told news hounds in Cairo. The last notification was issued on March 31, she said.
Ampal-American Israel Corp. (AMPL), which owns 12.5 percent of EMG, said yesterday it had been informed by EMG that Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. and the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co. were terminating the gas-supply agreement.
The scuttling of the deal may offer an already unpopular post-Mubarak government the opportunity to collect political capital as it struggles against an Islamist-dominated parliament intent on passing a no-confidence motion. That could damage already shaky investor confidence in the country as it heads toward electing a new president on May 23, analysts said.
With or without the deal, "investors are genuinely very concerned about the direction that Egypt is going in," Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Doha Center in Qatar, said in a telephone interview yesterday.
"There isn't a responsible leadership. Whether it's the Brotherhood or SCAF, there's a sense that both of them are willing to play the nationalist" card, he said, referring to the ruling military council by its acronym. "I don't think that's reassuring a lot of outside observers."
'Willing to Renegotiate'
Egypt "is willing to renegotiate the deal, though it would be under a new contract, with new terms and prices," Aboulnaga said. She didn't say how much money was past due.
Mahmud Ghozlan, a front man for the Moslem Brüderbund who earlier lauded the move as affirming Egypt's illusory sovereignty, said talk of renegotiating the deal "doesn't represent the Egyptian people and I don't think the people will welcome it."
The gas deal "has been a cause of a lot of pressure on the regime and on the military council," said Emad Gad, a secular politician who also heads the Israeli studies program at the Al- Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, in an interview. "It was difficult for them to terminate it until a legal opportunity presented itself when the payments weren't made."
Egyptian officials said the decision had no political motivation, while Israeli officials yesterday said the move raised concerns about the peace agreement between the two countries. Israel later softened its tone, saying it hoped the matter was purely commercial.
'Nationalist Credentials'
Oil Minister Abdalla Ghorab said in an e-mailed statement today that the termination was in line with the contract's terms. "The dispute is merely a commercial one that does not reflect any political considerations or any state position," he said.
Egypt's government is "trying to assert its nationalist credentials," said Hamid. "Being anti-Israel and anti-American is the lowest hanging fruit. It's the easiest thing to do, it doesn't take a lot of effort and there's really no downside domestically."
Egypt refused to authorize permits for eight U.S. non- governmental organizations, including the Carter Center, saying their work runs counter to the country's sovereign interests, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported yesterday.
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#1
Sadly, the gas cutoff will harm Egypt more than Israel, according to Arutz Sheva:
Citi Capital Markets says that the disruptions in Egyptian gas deliveries in 2011 and the first quarter of 2012 have given Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) plenty of opportunity to find alternative sources of supply, particularly since the agreements suspension is unlikely to have come as a surprise.
"Although the Israeli Ministry of Finance estimated that Egyptian gas suspensions have cost Israel NIS 15bn (1.7% GDP), we dont think that the damage to Israel is particularly visible. And since Israels offshore gas field Tamar is due to begin production in April 2013, any further domestic shortfalls are likely to be relatively brief," the company said.
Citi added, "The deterioration in Egypts relationship with Israel is likely to lead to economic costs in future. Although Egypts gas exports have no formal status within the Camp David accords that govern Egyptian-Israeli relations - Egypt was not a gas exporter in 1979 - this weeks news is perceived as a symbolic devaluation of Camp David, which in turn could have real-money consequences for Egypt in two main respects."
These effects include greater risk of reduced America aid. Although $1.3 billion has already been approved for 2012, future aid allocations are growing less likely. The decision also jeopardizes Egypt's Qualifying Industrial Zones (QIZs), which generated almost $1 billion in exports in 2011, Globes reported.
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Egypt has refused to license eight US civil groups, including the election-monitoring Carter Centre, amid a crackdown on foreign NGOs and a month before presidential polls, state media reported Monday.
Should they continue operating, the groups would be "subject to Egyptian law" which bans non-govermental organizations from operating without licences or from receiving foreign funds, the official MENA news agency reported.
The news agency quoted a government source as saying it refused to license the groups because their activities were "inconsistent with the state's illusory sovereignty on its lands."
An official with the Carter Centre, which observed Egypt's parliamentary elections, held in stages between November and January, said the government had not yet contacted the group.
The NGO, founded by former US president Jimmy Carter ... the worst president ever. Maybe the second worst. The votes aren't all in yet... , had no permanent presence in Egypt, she added, on condition of anonymity.
Egypt placed workers with five foreign NGOs, including Americans, on trial for operating without licences and receiving foreign funding, sparking a crisis in relations with the United States.
The American defendants, and those from other foreign nationalities, were allowed to leave the country in March after posting bail.
The other groups mentioned in the MENA report include Seeds of Peace, which tries to promote dialogue among young people in conflict zones.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2012
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#1
Boggles the mind, how breathlessly arrogant these NGOs are that they are accustomed to barging in and interfering in the internal politics of sovereign nations. I've been waiting for someone to do this for a long time.
For a map, click here. For a map of Durango state, click here?
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
Four individuals, three of them unidentified, were found shot to death in a remote location in Durango state Sunday morning, according to Mexican news accounts.
One of the dead was identified as Israel Diaz Martiniano, 43 from the village of Garrame de Arriba. The four were found a few meters from the Los Herrera-Topia road in the Durango Sierras, but Durango state authorities have failed to disclose a more accurate location.
Five other individuals were killed in Durango state in ongoing drug and gang related violence.
A father and his son were shot to death in an apparent home invasion last Thursday morning in Gomez Palacio. Armando Cardoza Marrufo, 64 and José Armando Cardoza Gutierrez, 31 were shot to death at a residence on calle 16 de Septiembre in Filadelfia, colony as they resisted an apparent attempt by armed suspects to steal their vehicles.
A man in his 20s was shot to death in Durango city last Saturday night. Manuel Alejandro Rodriguez Gonzalez, 27, was travelling by foot along calle Vicente Guerrero in Insurgentes colony when two suspects aboard a motorcycle shot him twice, once in the chest and once in the head. Three 9mm spent shell casings were found at the scene.
Two men were shot to death and another two were kidnapped in Mapimi municipality Saturday night. Ignacio Montelongo Cardenas, 36 and Edgar Roberto Alvarado Montelongo, 19 were attempting to buy alcohol in the village of Bermejillo when several armed suspects travelling aboard two vehicles fired on them. The suspects also took two other unidentified individuals and fled the scene. A total of 18 spent shell casings for a .223 AR-15 rifle and 15 from an AK-47 rifle were found at the scene.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
THE HAGUE, Netherlands: The Dutch government, one of the most vocal critics of European countries failing to rein in their budgets, quit Monday after failing to agree on a plan to bring its own deficit in line with EU rules.
The government information service announced Queen Beatrix had accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his Cabinet after a meeting in which Rutte told her talks on a new austerity package had failed over the weekend.
Rutte is to address parliament Tuesday to discuss interim measures to keep public finances in order and schedule new elections. No date for elections was immediately announced, but opposition lawmakers called for a vote as soon as possible.
The Dutch government collapse came a day after the first round election victory of France's soft-on-austerity socialist candidate Francois Hollande. It calls into question whether austerity policies that are causing trauma in countries such as Greece, Spain and Portugal can be enforced even in "core" European countries such as France -- or the Netherlands, one of the few along with Germany to maintain an AAA credit rating.
Rutte's hopes to clinch a deal to cut the target below the EU's 3 percent target evaporated on Saturday, when his most important political ally, populist euroskeptic Geert Wilders walked out of the talks, saying a slavish adherence to European rules was foolish and would harm the Dutch economy.
That view is shared by some, such as the government's own Central Plan Bureau, and opposed by others, such as Dutch Central Bank President Klaas Knot.
"We don't want our pensioners to suffer for the sake of the dictators in Brussels," Wilders said.
European Commissioner Neelie Kroes called Wilders a hypocrite, since the Netherlands itself, along with Germany, had been one of the loudest in demanding Brussels adopt 3 percent deficit limit in the first place.
"Pointing to Brussels now is dumb, it's untrue, it's distracting, and it doesn't solve anything," said Kroes, who is a member of Rutte's free-market VVD party.
A spokesman for the German finance ministry said that despite developments over the weekend, approval for Europe's plan to tackle government debt by cutting spending is actually "increasing." He didn't give evidence backing that assertion.
"We should not now simply let ourselves be thrown off track by daily developments," Martin Kotthaus told reporters in Berlin.
He said Europe's recent reforms had been well-received at a weekend meeting of the International Monetary Fund. "The road is right; Europe has done its homework," he said.
Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager insisted he still plans to submit an outline budget to Brussels by April 30, as mandated by European rules. He said he was optimistic about prospects for agreeing some cuts with opposition parties in Parliament.
Opposition lawmakers say they are prepared to work with Rutte to draw up a 2013 budget. However, Diederik Samsom, leader of the opposition Labour Party, signaled he would not insist on bringing the Dutch deficit back in line with EU norms next year.
"As far as we are concerned, you don't have to reach 3 percent by 2013," he said.
Although the Netherlands has relatively low levels of national debt, its economy is in recession and it is expected to post a deficit of 4.6 percent in 2012.
The package Rutte had been negotiating with Wilders would have slashed foreign aid and hastened a planned increase in the retirement age to 66 from 65.
Those sound fairly sensible for a small country...
Wilders, who is publishing a book in the US next week about his struggle against Islam, said abruptly Saturday he could not support the package because it was unfriendly to the elderly.
He's a better agitator than he is a leader...
He's right about the Muslim issue and Israel, but he is a Socialist party heretic, with all that entails.
Yields on Dutch bonds were up 0.11 of a percent higher than they were before the weekend. Netherlands government bonds are trading around 2.35 percent for 10-year debt, about 0.6 percentage points more than Germany.
Ratings agency Fitch last week warned the Netherlands stands to lose its AAA credit rating depending on the outcome of the budget talks that failed Saturday. Central Bank President Knot has predicted Dutch interest rates will increase by around 1 percent if the country's rating is cut, making budget reform vital.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/24/2012
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#1
Wilders would be a hypocrite if it was HE who had advocated the 3% limit. If the Dutch government, in a fit of euro-philism, had advocated the limit, but Wilders did not, then Wilders is off the hook and Kroes is trash-talking.
(Sh.M.Network)- A Joint Board of Inquiry consisting of Sherlocks and bombexperts from AMISOM and Somali security agencies yesterday begun investigating anattack two weeks ago on the newly reopened National Theatre in Mogadishu in which 11 people bit the dust.
The Board was formed following a request from the TransitionalFederal Government, and consists of experienced and professional Sherlocksfrom the AMISOM Police Component, the Somali Police Force and the NationalSecurity Agency. It will also be joined by bomb experts from AMISOM's military component.
Hon. Wafula Wamunyinyi, the Deputy Special Representative of theChairperson of the 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... Commission onSomalia, the most senior AMISOM official inMogadishu, urged city residents to cooperate with the team sothat the probe is expedited.
"I call upon politicians and the public to exercise patienceand refrain from making statements that may prejudice the outcome of theinvestigation," he said. "Unwarranted speculation can only hinder the effort tolearn lessons and to ensure that the people ofMogadishuare better protected,"he added.
"With the help of AMISOMand the international community, the people of Somalia have made great stridestowards lasting stability which all must come together to defend," he said,noting that the country was on track to adopt a new constitution and complete the transition to permanent and representative government.
Hon. Wafula stressed that despite the attack on the Theatre, forwhich the Al-Qaeda affiliated terror group, al-Shabaab ... Harakat ash-Shabaab al-Mujahidin aka the Mujahideen Youth Movement. It was originally the youth movement of the Islamic Courts, now pretty much all of what's left of it. They are aligned with al-Qaeda but operate more like the Afghan or Pakistani Taliban... , has claimedresponsibility, the Somali capital was experiencing its longest period ofrelative peace since the collapse of central government in 1991. He thanked thepublic for providing information which has led to the majority of al-Shabaabplots against the city being disrupted.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2012
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[An Nahar] Massoud Barzani ... hereditary head of the Kurdish Democratic Party, maybe a little too close to the Medes and the Persians for most people's tastes... , the president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan, said he opposes the sale of F-16 warplanes to Iraq while Nouri al-Maliki ... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party.... is premier, as he fears they would be used against the region.
The United States has agreed to sell 36 F-16 jets to Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... in a multi-billion-dollar deal aimed at increasing the capabilities of Iraq's decampedgling air force, a weak point in its national defenses.
"The F-16 must not reach the hand of this man," Barzani told news hounds at his residence near the Kurdistan region's capital Arbil on Sunday, referring to Maliki.
"We must either prevent him from having these weapons, or if he has them, he should not stay in his position," Barzani said.
Barzani alleged that Maliki had discussed using F-16s against Kurdistan during a meeting with military officers.
"During a military meeting, they talked about problems between Storied Baghdad and Arbil," Barzani said.
"They told him, 'Sir, just give us the authority, and we would kick them out of Arbil,'" Barzani said. "And (Maliki) answered: 'Wait until the arrival of the F-16.'"
There are long-running disagreements between Kurdistan and the central government over disputed territory and dozens of energy contracts Kurdistan has signed without the approval of Storied Baghdad, but tensions have recently reached a new high.
Barzani accused Maliki of aiming to "kill the democratic process" after the head of Iraq's electoral commission was tossed in the clink for alleged corruption, and previously said Maliki was moving toward dictatorship.
Earlier this month, Kurdistan stopped oil exports over $1.5 billion owed to foreign oil companies working in the region that it says Storied Baghdad has withheld.
The central government's top two oil officials responded by saying Arbil owed Storied Baghdad more than $5 billion in promised exports, and was smuggling the oil it produced to Iran.
Kurdistan also hosted Iraq's Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi after he was accused of running a death squad and declined to hand him over to the central government.
The region then permitted the runaway official to leave on a trip that first took him to Qatar, then Soddy Arabia, and now Turkey.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2012
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#1
I once said that Maliki is an Islamist (given that he does represent the Islamist Dawa Party sold as moderate Muslims by Bush's brain trust) who will replace Saddam as Iraq's El Lider Maximo, if we withdraw*. If he does pull a Salvador Allende (without the happy ending in which Allende killed himself) in Iraq, it will pain me greatly to say - "I told you so".
* The Sunnis, the Kurds and the secular Shias were too retarded to see this, so they agitated against the limits a US presence would put on their corruption. Now they're about to lose the whole enchilada, and the sad thing is - they brought it on their own heads.
#4
Let me give you a thought experiment here, and it is the following: without addressing the Palestine - Israel problem, lets say you were an advisor to the President of the United States, how would you respond to current events there?
Clear all the Arabs out of Gaza and tell them they have just regained their Egyptian citizenship. Then tell the WB Arabs the same fate awaits them if they don't behave.
#5
Let me give you a thought experiment here, and it is the following: without addressing the Palestine - Israel problem, let's say you were an advisor to the President of the United States, how would you respond to current events there?
Destroy Mecca from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
#10
Remember : Liberty Ship : Never Again , Israel ! June 24 , 1967 Thus It's 2012 : Obama , Obama , Allah O Akbar : Obama : Arabiya : Arabia : Allah O Akbar
Posted by: Barbara ||
04/24/2012 17:50
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#14
Mrs. Cass Sunstein strikes me as having the potential to be a dangerous woman. Hopefully, she will be spayed and Obama will be neutered in November. Maybe that could be a campaign bumper sticker: "Neutered in November--For the good of the country." Both Power and Bammer are radicals who don't give a fig about Israel. They are hard leftists who are antisemitic.
Is Samantha Power the czar of the Atrocities Prevention Board? Is her job to prevent or promote holocausts?
[An Nahar] Syrian troops killed 44 people across the country on Monday, including 34 civilians in the central city of Hama alone, monitors said, as U.N. military observers toured protest centers near the capital and both the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... and the United States imposed new sanctions.
Regime forces killed 35 people in Hama, three in the southern province of Daraa, two in the central province of Homs, one in the northwestern province of Idlib and one in the eastern protest hub of Deir Ezzor, the Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, said.
The persistent bloodshed 11 days into a promised ceasefire sparked growing criticism from opposition activists of the fledgling U.N. mission which still numbers just eight observers out of a planned initial deployment of 30.
Government troops strafed Hama's Arbaeen neighborhood and its environs with light and heavy machineguns, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Video footage posted online by activists showed mortar rounds hitting the area with plumes of smoke rising skywards.
The U.N. observers visited several rebel suburbs near the capital and were met by thousands of protesters demanding the collapse of the regime.
Amateur video posted by activists on YouTube showed four of the unarmed observers in blue helmets walking in Douma, a northern suburb of Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... , surrounded by a huge crowd waving Syria independence flags.
"The people demand the fall of the regime," some chanted while others called for the arming of the rebel Free Syrian Army.
Monitors also visited the town of Zabadani, 50 kilometers (30 miles) northwest of the capital, where regime forces and rebel fighters have clashed repeatedly in past months.
Fares Mohamed, an activist in Zabadani, said the observers' visit lasted barely a half hour.
"They refused to head to a location less than a kilometer (mile) from the town to see tanks hidden by the regime," said Mohamed, who was reached by Agence La Belle France Presse via Skype.
Two members of the observer advance team on Sunday set up base in the central city of Homs, scene of some of the fiercest fighting between government troops and rebels since the outbreak of the 13-month revolt against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... 's regime.
The official state news agency SANA said the observers toured the battered city's al-Waer neighborhood on Monday.
U.N. leader the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... has decided that the deployment of 300 ceasefire monitors in Syria can start next week, a U.N. front man told AFP on Monday.
Following a U.N. Security Council resolution that allowed the mission, Ban was left to make an "assessment" as to whether it was safe for the monitors to go. "The decision has been taken" and the monitors should start arriving next week, deputy U.N. front man Eduardo del Buey said.
Activists have been skeptical of the U.N. mission, saying the regime was simply buying time and was not committed to the ceasefire plan.
Abu Omar, an activist in Damascus, said the observers were playing by the regime's rules by coordinating all their movements exclusively with the authorities.
"They are not coordinating with us and by not doing so, their mission does no good to the Syrian people," he told AFP. "Their mission is a failure because they are not working with people on the ground."
Despite a lull in the fighting in regions visited by the observers, the violence has continued unabated in other areas, activists say.
One civilian was killed overnight in Damascus province amid festivities between opposition and government forces, the Observatory said.
Five soldiers were also killed in festivities in Hama province and in Daraa province, south of Damascus, the watchdog added.
The United Nations ...Parkinson's Law on an international scale... has estimated that more than 9,000 people have died in Syria since the revolt against the regime of Bashir al-Assad broke out in March last year.
In a sign of Western frustration with Damascus, the European Union agreed Monday to slap new sanctions on the regime, banning luxury goods exports and further restricting the sale of items used to repress dissidents, a diplomat said.
The extent of the luxury ban has yet to be defined but the aim is to deliver a symbolic blow against the posh lifestyle of Assad and his glamorous British-born wife Asma, another diplomat said.
"The Assad couple, as well as his inner circle and leaders of the regime, must be made to understand that events in Syria will also impact their personal lives," the source added.
Brussels also decided to expand the blacklist of dual-use goods which can be used for internal repression or for the manufacturing of equipment used for internal repression.
U.S. President Barack Obama My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it... ordered sanctions and visa bans for companies and individuals providing technological know-how, computers or other equipment that help Syria and its main regional ally Iran oppress their people.
Obama said in an executive order that the two nations had committed serious human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... abuses through network disruption and by using tracking technology and by perpetrating the "malign use of technology."
The move blocks the property and interests of people who have participated in such trade and suspends their right of entry to the United States.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2012
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Seven Algerian diplomats kidnapped in Gao in northeastern Mali are in good health, Algeria's foreign minister said Monday, adding that contacts had been established with the kidnappers.
The Algerian consul and six colleagues were seized April 5 and taken to an unknown destination in a brazen kidnapping claimed by Al-Qaeda dissident group, the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO).
"The information we've received shows the Algerian hostages are doing well," Mourad Medelci told state-run news agency ...and if you can't believe the state-run news agency who can you believe?... APS.
He said Algerian authorities were in contact with kidnappers and were monitoring the health of the hostages.
"We expect this will soon bear fruit," he said.
A Mali security official in Bamako told AFP that an Islamist group, led by a Malian Tuareg, was negotiating their release with MUJAO.
Ansar Dine, one of the groups that has seized control of much of northern Mali, "is currently involved in negotiations to free the seven employees from the Algerian consulate in Gao," the security official said.
Islamist fighters and Tuareg rebels seized Mali's vast north in the days following a coup in the capital Bamako.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2012
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[An Nahar] Somali pirates have released an Italian chemical tanker with 18 crew captured off the coast of Oman in December, the foreign ministry in Rome said on Monday.
The Enrico Ievoli, owned by Naples-based shipping company Marnavi, was carrying caustic soda from the United Arab Emirates to the Mediterranean and has seven Indians, six Italians and five Ukrainians on board.
"The foreign ministry confirms the release of the crew of the Italian ship 'Enrico Ievoli' off the Somali coast," the ministry said in a statement.
Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi was quoted as expressing his "great satisfaction" and said it was part of "a wider diplomatic effort carried out also with Somali authorities in recent months."
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti in February asked his Somali counterpart Abdiweli Mohamed Ali to do "everything in his power" to ensure the release.
"This incident is further confirmation of the gravity of the security threat posed by the phenomenon of piracy," Terzi said on Monday.
Ship owner Domenico Ievoli was quoted by ANSA news agency as saying: "The ship has already left Somalia and there are Italian military on board."
An Italian warship met the Ievoli after it came out of Somali waters and sent a party of armed marines aboard to protect it on the remainder of its journey.
The Ievoli, a 138-meter (453-foot) vessel, was carrying 15,750 tons of caustic soda when it was hijacked in the Indian Ocean.
The Italian navy, which is taking part in anti-piracy operations in the region, had already thwarted an attack on the same ship in 2006 near Yemen.
Three other hijacked Italian vessels were freed from Somali pirates in November and December, two of them reportedly following ransom payments, among dozens of ships that have been captured in recent years.
There are no Italian vessels now in Somali captivity but pirates still hold hundreds of hostages and dozens of ships.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/24/2012
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#1
The article doesn't say how much they had to pay the pirates.
[Dawn] Pak police rubbed out two people allegedly involved in sectarian violence in the troubled southwestern province of Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... , officials said Monday.
Anti-Islamic fascistiofficers in the province, a flashpoint for violence between Pakistain's majority Sunni Moslems and minority Shia's, gave chase after they tried to approach the suspects in a Toyota car which sped away.
The suspects then abandoned the vehicle and tried to escape into fields under the cover of fire, provincial police chief Qazi Abdul Wahid told AFP.
"An ensuing gunbattle police potted the pair," he said, adding that the encounter took place near Quetta's suburban Akhtarabad neighbourhood which lies close to the Shia Hazara community. Police recovered six pistols and one hand grenade from the suspects.
"We firmly believe they are hit mans who had been on some mission. They belong to some bad boy group involved in sectarian violence," Wahid added.
Around 35 people have been killed in Balochistan over the past month in what police called assassinations by gunnies from the rival Moslem sects.
The minority Shia's account for around a fifth of the country's 167 million population.
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04/24/2012
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AFP - Taiwan plans to purchase four warships from the United States as part of the island's efforts to modernise its forces and offset the perceived military threat from China, local media reported on Sunday.
The defence ministry briefed President Ma Ying-jeou on the proposed arms deal during a meeting last month and is prepared to set aside the budget next year, the United Daily News said, without specifying the cost.
If finalised, the arms deal will increase to 12 the total number of such warships owned by Taiwanese navy.
The four Perry-class frigates, separately built in the 1980s and to be retired by the US navy lately, are aimed to replace the Taiwan navy's fleet of eight Knox-class frigates, the daily said.
Ties between Taiwan and its former rival China have improved drastically since Ma Ying-jeou of the China-friendly Kuomintang party became president in 2008 promising to boost trade and tourism links. Ma was elected for a second term in January.
China however still claims illusory sovereignty over Taiwan, which has governed itself since 1949, and has vowed to get it back -- by force if necessary -- even though the island has ruled itself for more than 60 years.
China has repeatedly threatened to invade Taiwan should the island declare formal independence, prompting Taipei to seek more advanced weapons, largely from the United States.
#1
Lack of numbers aside, the eight KNOX-class should be more than equal to anything the PLAN has currently.
The above being said, the greatest single threat to Taiwan stems from China's large Airborne + Commando forces [conventional first strike + follow-on] as due to China's doctrinal + political willingness to tolerate prohibitive combat casualties in exchange for decisive
"airhead/bridgehead" tactical success.
China desires TAIWAN + DAOYUS, ETC. FOR LR PLAAF, PLAN, + SECOND ARTY-BASED STRATEGIC POWER PROJECTION IN SUPPORT OF ITS CURRENT + FUTURE "POST-US" STATUS - IFF IT CAN'T DO SO, IT WILL NUKE TAIWAN AS MANY TIMES AS NECESSARY TO KEEP THE US-ALLIES FROM USING IT AGZ CHINA.
#2
Taiwan, like a few other loyal US allies are hanging on by a thread, while We continue to rot to the point where we are no longer recognizable on the World stage...Bwa-hahahahaha...
Psst..there might still be hope.......................
#3
China isn't going to invade. Taiwan will slowly, slowly integrate with the mainland, but it will take 50 years. There is all sorts of investment going on both ways, and recently direct flights and individual tours were permitted. China, master of long-term planning, is willing to wait.
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.
Enrique Pena Nieto
Josefina Vazquez Mota
Gustavo Madero Munoz
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been out of sight for a week, speaking only through Twitter messages and written statements while undergoing cancer treatment in Cuba.
Two UN observers set up base on Sunday in Homs, their 
North Korea
[Dawn] Jammu and 
Pervez 
Yemeni authorities said it seized in February a weapon-loaded Iranian ship while it was en route to the Houthi fighters nearby the Hodeidah port, a Saudi newspaper, Alwatan has affirmed, affirming that the ship included mortar launchers, anti-armor shells and other weapons.
Former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney 
[Dawn] Federal Minister for Interior 
Nawaz Sharif's
Indian police have ordered the deportation of 10 
Iranian authorities are investigating a suspected cyber attack on Iran's main oil export terminal, Iranian industry sources said on Monday. 
Lebanon's Most Wanted Sunni Terrorist Blows Himself Up
(CNN) -- Sudanese warplanes crossed a disputed border region to strike Monday in South Sudan, escalating fighting that threatens to return the neighboring African countries to full-scale war, a witness said.
The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned the hearing of Air Martial (retd) Asghar Khan's petition to April 25, DawnNews reported.
Jimmy Carter
(Sh.M.Network)- A Joint Board of Inquiry consisting of 
Massoud Barzani
Nouri al-Maliki
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
