As the United States convenes the NATO summit in Chicago this weekend, the fate of Afghanistan's women is on my mind. This spring marks the 10th anniversary of the return of Afghanistan's girls to the classroom. During the Taliban era, women were denied education. Women could not work, even when they were the sole providers for their families. Under the Taliban dictatorship, it was decreed that women should be neither seen nor heard.
By 2002, the consequences of such deliberate human cruelty were abundantly clear. Afghanistan faced a humanitarian crisis. Seventy percent of its people were malnourished, and 25 percent of children died before age 5. A decade ago, after years of war with the Soviet Union followed by the rise of the Taliban, basic infrastructure, such as roads and schools, lay in ruins. In rural areas, clean water and electricity are still luxury goods rather than the norm.
But the Afghan story is changing. Over the past 10 years, there has been remarkable progress. Four thousand schools have been built, and more than 100,000 new teachers have entered the classroom. Today, girls make up 37 percent of the 7 million Afghan students in primary and secondary schools. During Taliban rule, only 900,000 children, all male, attended school.
Adult learning has also accelerated. More than 62,000 Afghans attend universities. The co-educational American University of Afghanistan, which opened in 2006 with 50 students, has more than 1,700 full and part-time students and offers Afghanistan's leading MBA program. This fall, a record 52 Afghans will come to the United States as Fulbright scholars. A basic literacy and math education program that I visited in 2008 is reaching more than 300,000 Afghan adults, 60 percent of them women. I assume the Talibunnies don't need no steekin' skool.
But if this progress is to last, these business and educational investments must be protected and expanded. And, every bit as important, the Afghan government cannot negotiate away women's rights. At their gathering, NATO officials have an opportunity to communicate that aid, investment and alliances are not guaranteed if women are simply to be treated as a bargaining chip.
Having already seen the terrible cost of denying the most basic of human freedoms, do we dare risk the consequences now of abandoning the women of Afghanistan?
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/19/2012
13:20 ||
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President Obama's reelection campaign launched a national drive Friday to counter new restrictive voter-access laws, which advisers said threaten his electoral chances in November.
Organizers will fan out in key swing states this weekend to teach volunteers and voters how to navigate a series of laws passed by Republican-controlled state legislatures imposing stricter identification requirements, limiting early voting and making it harder to organize voter-registration drives.
In 2011, more than 30 states debated changes to their voting laws. A dozen passed more restrictive rules requiring voters to present state-issued photo IDs, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, although Democratic governors in four states vetoed them. Florida and Ohio cut the number of days for early voting by nearly half, and Florida lawmakers reversed rules that had made it easier for former felons to vote.
Voting rights groups and multiple-votes rights Democrats, meanwhile, have decried these measures as deliberate attempts to suppress voters and swing elections. They say there have been few cases of voter fraud, given the millions of ballots cast and compared to the high number of poor and minority voters who will be affected. Some of these groups have brought lawsuits against some of the new legislation.
Twenty-five percent of African American voters do not have a valid government-issued photo ID, compared with 8 percent of whites, according to a study by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University's law school. The report also found that 15 percent of voters earning less than $35,000 per year do not have such an ID. So they are driving without a license?
How do they cash their paychecks without ID?
But as governor of a critical swing state with a large swath of moderate voters, [Virginia Governor]McDonnell is cognizant of the possibility that the law may be seen as a vehicle for voter suppression. Earlier this year, he unsuccessfully lobbied fellow Republicans in the legislature to allow for a signature comparison for voters with no ID. And on Friday, he issued an executive order calling on the state elections board to issue a registration ID to all voters so that "on election day this year, every Virginia voter will have at least one valid ID." I hope there is a limit of one to a customer.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/19/2012
13:14 ||
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#1
How hard is it to "navigate" showing your ID? Just pretend you are at the store buying a 40.
#2
Republicans should write the legislature linking the ID needed to purchase self defence equipment and the ID needed to vote as both are constitutional rights, and deserve an equal level of check.
#3
So what for what other things do you need an ID?
To:
Buy cigarettes, beer, rolling papers, and tobacco.
Obtain a driver's license.
Obtain utility services.
Fly or travel on public transportation.
Get a library card.
To obtain food stamps/welfare.
Make apply for a credit card.
To make large credit card purchases.
Obtain a car loan.
Obtain a house mortgage.
Apply for a job.
Open a bank account.
Respond to a police officer who flags you down for a traffic violation.
Be admitted to a hospital.
Get a marriage license.
Show ID to join the military.
If Obama says we shouldn't be required to obtain ID to vote, we also shouldn't be required to show ID to purchase a firearm and we shouldn't need a concealed carry permit to carry a firearm.
#4
The local grocery store cards everyone for beer and wine. I'm 63 and they card me. They also enter the age in the computer, so they are well-protected against claims of selling to minors.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/19/2012 16:10
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The puppy blender had a article about nanny state Britain but it's crept up on you too!
Australia cannot juggle its relationships with the United States and China indefinitely and must choose a ''godfather'' to protect it, according to a prominent Chinese defence strategist.
The warning by Song Xiaojun, a former senior officer of the People's Liberation Army, comes after Foreign Minister Bob Carr was told by his Chinese counterpart that Australia's close military alliance with the US was a throwback to the Cold War era.
Senator Carr yesterday met the man expected to become China's next premier, Li Keqiang, in Beijing. Discussions centred on more comfortable matters including furthering trade and investment and the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two nations.
But Australia's strategic position in the Asia-Pacific region remains contentious. "Australia has to find a godfather sooner or later," Mr Song told The Age.
"Australia always has to depend on somebody else, whether it is to be the 'son' of the US or 'son' of China," he said. "[It] depends on who is more powerful, and based on the strategic environment."
Mr Song said Australia depended on exporting iron ore to China "to feed itself", but had not done enough to engage. "Frankly, it has not done well politically," he said.
#2
200 years ago, the Qianlong Emperor had this to say to King George: Tremblingly obey and show no negligence! The silver lining in this noxious cloud is that the general's tone is a little more moderate than the emperor in whose footsteps he is carrying on. Maybe the Chinese have finally learned a microscopic smidgen of the much-vaunted subtlety traditionally attributed to them.
#3
That's got to make China's neighbors feel all warm and fuzzy. From what I understand, Ozzies are happy to have some Marines around. Thinking back to how they were part of the Pacific theater in the Last Big One, mayhaps.
I wonder if they will regret getting rid of their Aardvarks.
Australia depended on exporting iron ore to China "to feed itself", but had not done enough to engage.
Interesting choice of words. Australia has an opportunity to do something really great if they wanted to. If they were to build a pair of the AP1000 nuclear plants along with one of the fast neutron plants and engage in recycling of fuel, they could create an area for electric arc steel mills. Rather than exporting their coal and iron ore to China, they could mill steel in the most environmentally friendly way known to mankind and not have a nuclear fuel disposal problem.
Rather than ship coal and iron ore, they could ship finished steel. And if they had more domestic steel manufacturing, they could also produce more finished goods for world export.
I suppose Australia could be satisfied with selling all of their raw materials to China. But they also have the means, if they had the will, to become much larger of a heavy industry player and still maintain their concern for the environment.
Conservative interest groups have dumped well over $20 million into congressional races so far this year, outspending their liberal opponents 4 to 1 and setting off a growing panic among Democrats struggling to regain the House and hold on to their slim majority in the Senate. Front page of the WaPo, above the fold. They must feel the panic, too.
The surge suggests that big-spending super PACs and nonprofit groups, which have become dominant players in the presidential race, will also play a pivotal role in House and Senate contests that will determine the balance of power in Washington in 2013. Too bad Obumble didn't legislate control of those groups his first term.
The money could be particularly crucial in races below the national radar that can be easily influenced by infusions of outside spending. One example came this week in Nebraska, where a dark-horse Republican Senate candidate upset two better-funded rivals in the GOP primary thanks in part to a last-minute, $250,000 ad buy by a billionaire-backed super PAC.
And in Indiana this month, veteran Sen. Richard G. Lugar was ousted in the GOP primary by challenger Richard Mourdock with the help of millions of dollars in spending by conservative groups. The Club for Growth, which backed a losing candidate in Nebraska, spent more than $2 million to help Mourdock in Indiana. Their philosophy, from their website: The goal of tax policy should be to raise the amount of money needed to fund legitimate functions of government while doing the least amount of damage to the economy and respecting the principle of treating taxpayers equally.
"We're just getting started," said Club for Growth spokesman Barney Keller, who said the group will soon begin training its fire on Democrats. "Our group has already had an impact on what the composition of Congress is going to look like next year. That's our whole goal is to have an impact, to improve the gene pool in Congress."
While Democrats welcomed the silver lining unexpected chance to compete for the Indiana seat, many are increasingly worried about the storm cloud threat posed in the fall by well-funded conservative groups.
Leading Democratic lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), have stepped up their fundraising efforts in recent months on behalf of liberal-leaning super PACs, which can raise unlimited money but have fallen far short of matching their conservative opponents.
"The very reason our group was founded in the first place was to confront the flood of outside spending from the other side," said Andrew Stone, a spokesman for House Majority PAC, a Democratic group focused on House contests. "Our donors understand the dynamics at play here. The pitch is, we saw what happened in 2010 in so many congressional districts where the Democrats were just totally overwhelmed." The only reason the conservatives won was money, so we have to have more! Can we raise taxes to fund dem candidates?
Interest groups on both sides have reported spending $29.7 million on congressional races so far this election cycle, according to a Washington Post analysis of Federal Election Commission reports. The spending is more than twice the amount similar groups had spent at this point ahead of the 2008 elections. It's also higher than the $25.2 million spent during the 2010 midterms, when several high-profile special elections and primary fights drove outside expenditures to new heights.
Spending among the largest groups favors Republicans by about 4 to 1, although that is due in part to a number of fierce Republican primary fights, the data show. GOP Senate primaries in Indiana and Texas, for example, have each drawn more than $4 million in spending by independent groups. So it really is too early to panic, but just the right time for the WaPo to urge democratic panic.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/19/2012
10:19 ||
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#1
If you realise Obama's probably going to extort any spare cash you have left on re-election it might be worth spending some to try and stop you.
#2
Isn't this the same DNC that pulled money from congressional campaigns to fund the Walker recall fight? Removing an elected Gov. in Wisc. is apparently more important than congress?
#3
Nice how that works out. As Fredrick the Great once mused - he who defends everything, defends nothing. Going after Governor Walker has cost the Donks and their ancillary union minions dearly in resources as they look at the broad national election battlefield. That's why you observe them desperately doing first class, in broad daylight, pandering. Force them to burn up their resources now and as quickly as they can think they can accumulate it. Leave them no reserves to throw in at the last moment.
#4
It wasn't so much about removing a governor anywhere, but throwing down the gauntlet to kill the idea, the idea of cutting costs and cutting union powers, to kill the idea before it caught on and, even worse for them, showed results quickly.
Even a recall election where a different Republican won, would still be a victory for the d's.
#6
The headline is pretty retarded. The intense intra-party fights within the GOP turn off the losing factions (whether conservatives or moderates) and depress GOP turnout. The money spigot is limited, since GOP supporters also have to feed their families. The more spent in the primaries, the less money available for the general. Much as I despise Lugar, I sure hope he doesn't get replaced by a Democrat. Angle and O'Donnell were disasters as candidates - they were gaffe machines and ran way to the right of their electorates.
Apparently a high pressure signal from the engine #5 combustion chamber led to an automatic shutdown of the launch sequence 1 second from launch of the first commercial attempt to reach the International Space Station.
Next launch window is Tuesday morning at the earliest.
Todays COTS 2 Demonstration launch was aborted half a second before liftoff when the flight computer detected slightly high pressure in the engine 5 combustion chamber. We have discovered root cause and repairs are underway.
During rigorous inspections of the engine, SpaceX engineers discovered a faulty check valve on the Merlin engine. We are now in the process of replacing the failed valve. Those repairs should be complete tonight. We will continue to review data on Sunday. If things look good, we will be ready to attempt to launch on Tuesday, May 22nd at 3:44 AM Eastern.
#1
...the central thesis of the book is convincingly demonstrated: The decline of Greco-Roman civilization seems to coincide with the rise of Islam. That is hardly coincidental.The historical pattern is very clear: Where Islam enters, civilization soon exits.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/19/2012 9:31
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Many thanks Tipper.
The Mohammadian cult of death set directly against the Jew and the western infidel continues, supported by polygomy, large families, and strategic migration. Meanwhile, the myth of Moderate Islam, tollerance, and Zero Population Growth sanctioned through various popular schemes to inclue the "Right to Choose" set the stage for the extinction of Christiandom and a feckless western civilization.
#3
huess that explains the dark ages after romans fell!
Posted by: chris ||
05/19/2012 11:22
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Islam was just opportunistic taking advantage of something already in terminal decline. The Vandals had already sacked Rome by 455 signaling that Roman 'rule' [and centralized government] was already a thing of the past in the West. Islam was given an opening by the Eastern Roman Empire [the Byzantines] which exhausted itself trying to reclaim (parts) of the Western Roman Empire from the Germanic invasion and occupation while also engaging in territorial wars with a revived Sassanid Persian Empire to the east. While the Germans to the West tried to imitate the Greco-Roman model they were hampered by their own innate tribalism and lacked the administrative acumen to make it happen, which in the end devolved upon the only surviving institution that could provide the administrative infrastructure and some semblance of unifying means, the church. The church had its own agenda which was not necessarily the sustainment or revival of the Greco-Roman world. With the Islamic Conquests overrunning Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Antioch, that left only Rome and Constantinople to devolve into conflict on what that agenda would be as each claimed seniority over the other. That became the Latin vs Greek schism the 'West' still lives with today. While the Islamics weren't directly responsible, their actions feed the Christian theological/political friction of the time.
#5
Given how they have stagnated for the last half millennium or so, Islam seems to have done a bang-up job of killing off Islamic civilization. Pick any metric you want - social, scientific, cultural - the only thing novel to come out of the Islamic world is fatwas and piles of corpses.
#6
I just wish they were more successful internally. Allan wills it
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/19/2012 17:20
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Allan wills it
It is my belief that Allan has chosen the Crusaders and the Juices to lead his people into the modern world, kicking and screaming though they may go. Hey, we did it with the Japanese - and only had to nuke 'em twice.
A car bomb blew up in the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zor on Saturday, state television and an opposition group said, without giving details on casualties.
A bulletin on Syrian state television said there were reports of casualties but did not elaborate. An opposition group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the blast was near military intelligence offices and was followed by heavy gunfire.
The group said the bomb went off on a street where a military hospital and air force intelligence offices are also located.
There was no immediate independent verification of the accounts from Syria, which has limited journalist access during a 14-month old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
Group of Eight leaders agreed in their initial discussions at Camp David on Friday that Iran needs to disclose more about its nuclear ambitions and that it was time to focus on a political transition in Syria, a U.S. official said.
The leaders, including newly elected French President Francois Hollande and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, also stressed North Korea needed to adhere to international norms on nuclear issues and said it would face more isolation if it "continues down the path of provocation," the official said.
The Friday evening dinner, hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama, was the first opportunity for the G8 leaders to discuss global security concerns. They will talk about the euro zone crisis and other economic issues, including oil market pressures at the summit on Saturday.
The U.S. official described "a sense of optimism" about conditions in Myanmar, and said the leaders gathered at Camp David, in the Maryland countryside, pledged to cooperate on providing aid to the former Burma.
Controversial WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange stands a real chance of winning an upper house seat in his native Australia if he presses ahead with plans to stand for election, a poll showed Saturday.
A survey conducted by the ruling Labor party's internal pollsters UMR Research and published in the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper showed 25 percent of those polled would vote for the whistleblowing website chief.
Supporters of the left-wing Greens party were most likely to be pro-Assange, with 39 percent saying they would vote for him, meaning he had a good chance of wresting a Greens Senate spot, UMR's John Utting told the newspaper.
"There is clearly a significant level of support for Julian Assange which crosses party lines and is more concentrated amongst Greens voters," he said.
"At this stage Julian Assange stands a very real chance of being elected to the Senate should he run."
Some 27 percent of Labor supporters said they would vote for him, as did 23 percent of conservatives, in the survey of 1,000 voters.
Assange unveiled plans to run for Australia's 76-seat Senate in March, vowing to be a libertarian and "fierce defender of free media" were he elected to the upper house.
[An Nahar] The Military Tribunal rejected on Friday Islamist Shadi al-Mawlawi's request to be released from detention.
The request has been rejected by Military Examining Magistrate Nabil Wehbeh and Government Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr.
A new session of investigations has been scheduled for Tuesday.
Al-Mawlawi's arrest on Saturday in the northern city of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of thich is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... by General Security agents had infuriated the city's Islamists and sparked deadly festivities that have left at least 12 people dead and more than 100 maimed.
His supporters have vowed to escalate the situation if he is not released.
Al-Mawlawi was incarcerated Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! on charges of belonging to a terrorist organization, but his supporters say he was targeted because of his help for Syrian refugees fleeing to Leb.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2012
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[Iran Press TV] The Lebanese army has seized a consignment of weapons and explosives near the Syrian border, apparently destined for armed gangs fighting against the Damascus ...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat... government.
According to Lebanese sources, the weapons were seized after the army intercepted a pickup truck in the village of Joura in the border region of Masharih al-Qaa late on Thursday.
One gunman was killed and a Lebanese soldier was injured in the exchange of fire between the two sides.
Lebanese troops also discovered a car laden with explosives in the southern city of Sidon.
Several people have been cooled for a few years Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! in connection with the incidents.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2012
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[Federal News Radio] After three delays, the first U.S. commercial space flight is set to launch this week. A capsule built by the company SpaceX will take off from Cape Canaveral and head to the International Space Station. If successful, it will be a milestone in NASA's plan to replace its space shuttle program with commercial carriers.
"We've been launching things into space for 50 years," said NASA's Deputy Administrator Lori Garver. "It's time we did trust our industry to be able to lead the way."
Garver spoke to The Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Emily Kopp Thursday about the upcoming launch.
Aside from weather concerns and any other day-of-the-launch issues, the Falcon 9 rocket is on track to blast off on Saturday, May 19, with a backup date of May 22. The rocket will carry the Dragon capsule into space, on a mission to deliver supplies of food and water to the International Space Station.
"It is something we do need since the retirement of the space shuttle," Garver said. "This has been our plan for replacing the space shuttle, which was so much larger and built the space station by carrying the modules."
The Falcon 9 mission is a smaller, much more focused effort that allows NASA to reduce the cost of space transportation by using the commercial sector, which can open new markets and create new jobs in the U.S.
"We've been working very closely with SpaceX, who is the industry partner on this mission," Garver said, adding that the company has been reviewing all of the flight-readiness activities that used to be NASA's job.
"The last couple of times, we came to do this within the last few months, we found specific software testing that needed to continue to be done and now we're through with that," Garver said. "I talked to the folks last night and they are ready."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2012
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Launch was scrubbed this morning due to a high pressure indication at ignition from engine #5. Next launch attempt will be Tuesday at the earliest. Engines shut down automatically 1 second before liftoff.
#2
Number 5 engine. The center one in the cluster had an over pressure. There are 5 rockets in this series. The Falcon 9 ver 1.1 has a different engine arrangement (an octagon with one in the middle at a lower height instead of the current 3 rows of 3). In addition 1.1 has %50 more tanking and more powerful engines.
Speculation is that the over pressure comes from the neighboring engines firing and creating a back pressure. Abort was after T-0 with the engines already ignited.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
05/19/2012 14:16
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Turns out it is a bad check valve somewhere in the number 5 plumbing. It has now been replaced and is being tested.
[Dawn] A Taliban rocket attack on a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... base in the eastern Afghan province of Kunar killed two international soldiers and maimed six, officials said.
It came a day after gunnies dressed in Afghan police uniforms and wearing boom jackets stormed a government compound in the southwestern province of Farah, killing seven people and wounding 12 others.
The Taliban this month announced the start of their annual spring offensive, a campaign of bombings and attacks that picks up every year as the weather warms.
A local front man for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said of the latest incident: "Two Isaf soldiers were killed and six others injured in a Taliban rocket attack on an Isaf base in Nari district today."
Two other local officials confirmed the account, while the Isaf press office in Kabul
said that "two service members died following an cut-thoat attack in eastern Afghanistan".
It gave no further details and did not reveal the nationalities of the dead soldiers, in line with policy.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2012
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(Ma'an) -- A former adviser to late President Yasser Arafat is accused of embezzling tens of millions of dollars, the head of the PA anti-corruption commission said Wednesday.
Suha couldn't carry all the loot out of Ramallah...
Rafiq Natsheh told Ma'an his commission sought an international arrest warrant for Muhammad Rashid after he failed to respond to earlier summons by the foreign and justice ministers.
Rashid, who was an economic adviser to Arafat, is accused of embezzling money from the Paleostinian Investment Fund by setting up front companies.
The corruption czar said Rashid's case was transferred to the corruption court 10 days ago. He denied the momentum in the high-profile corruption case came after the defendant appeared on Al-Arabiya satellite TV last week. Natsheh said the court will rule on his case whether he appears or not, stressing that he was yet to be convicted.
Natsheh's commission was set up by the Paleostinian Authority in 2010 in an internationally-lauded effort to crack down on corruption. In early 2012, he told Ma'an the commission was chasing suspects accused of stealing Paleostinian public funds who have relocated abroad, pending agreement with their host countries.
(Ma'an) -- Interpol is refusing to cooperate with Paleostinian prosecutors to summon a former presidential economic adviser to the West Bank to answer corruption charges, the attorney-general said Friday.
#4
The attorney-general added that he had asked Interpol to intervene but it would not help because Palestine is not a recognized state. If Palestine was a member of the UN it would be easier to bring suspects in front of the Palestinian judiciary, he said.
Interpol extorting justice? Thinly disguised anti-Americanism--Europe deserves their Muslim problem.
The rest of the story about the Tunisian policewoman whose actions caused Tunisian fruit vendor Mohamed Bouazizi "to set himself on fire in front of city hall" in protest, setting off the Arab Spring protests.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/19/2012
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Tyler Durbin at ZeroHedge hosts John Aziz of Azizonomics, who takes on Finnish writer Pentti Linkola. Mr. Linkola wants to reduce the number of people on the planet to 500 million, says that it's wrong to organize society around desires and freedom, and says that only 1 in 10,000 people know how to organize society, so they should be in charge.
Naturally he's one of them. And it goes without saying that he, his family and his cousins would be among the 500 million lucky people who are too essential to murder.
If you've read Mark Levin's Ameritopia this will be familiar to you: Mr. Linkola is a 'master-mind'.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/19/2012
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The real problem with centrally-planned Malthusian population reduction programs is that they greatly underestimate the value of human beings.
Who needs Malthusianism? We already have "A Woman's Right to Choose!"
#2
Nice pic. He live in a dumpster?
Plus the eyes? A little too close together. Hmmmmm...that indicates...sumthin. Pentii, why don't you move to the front of the line. Don't know if we can take the chance of you maybe contaminating the gene pool. I'm sure you understand...
The revolution is successful. But survival depends on drastic measures. Your continued existence represents a threat to the well-being of society. Your lives mean slow death to the more valued members of the colony. Therefore, I have no alternative but to sentence you to death. Your execution is so ordered, signed Kodos, Governor of Tarsus IV.
--Kodos the Executioner, from the Star Trek: TOS episode The Conscience of the King. Murdered half the colonists, maybe including an elderly Hoshi Sato, because he'd deceived himself into thinking it was the only way to ease a famine. Based on his own eugenic theories, natch.
[Dawn] British minister and co-chairman of the Conservatives Party Baroness Sayeeda Warsi has said that a small minority of Pak men believe that white women "are a fair game."
Warsi's comments follow the sentencing of nine men (eight of Pak origin) for plying white girls, as young as 13, with alcohol and drugs so they could be used for sex.
"There is a small minority of Pak men who believe that white girls are fair game. And we have to be prepared to say that. You can only start solving a problem if you acknowledge it first," the Baroness was quoted as saying by reports in British media.
UK's first female Mohammedan minister said religious leaders must isolate such men who treat white women as "third-rate citizens."
"In mosque after mosque, this should be raised as an issue so that anybody remotely involved should start to feel that the community is turning on them," she said.
Following the case, the Greater Manchester police did not highlight race as one of the major factors in the crime but Warsi insisted that "cultural sensitivity should never be a bar to applying the law."
Good for her. Sad that it needed to be said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2012
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Interesting to note, the WHY they believe that is not being discussed.
[An Nahar] Detained Islamist Shadi al-Mawlawi denied the accusations against him that he belongs to the al-Qaeda terrorist organization as his release is not expected to take place any time soon, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Friday.
Informed sources from the investigations with the detainee revealed that al-Mawlawi had also denied accusations that he had fought alongside the Free Syrian Army against the Syrian army.
He in fact denied ever having traveled outside of Leb.
He was also interrogated about his ties with suspected snuffies Qatari Abdullah Aziz al-Atiyeh and Lebanese Hamza Mahmoud Tarbey.
Al-Mawlawi said that Atiyeh had arrived in Leb for surgery and had proposed that they aid Syrian refugees in Leb.
He denied that funds had been sent to support the Syrian revolt, saying that they were aimed at solely aiding the refugees.
As for Tarbey, al-Mawalawi explained that he had purchased a mobile phone recharge card from his store.
On his ties with nabbed Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! suspected bad turban Jordanian Abdul Malek Othman Abdul Salam, al-Mawlawi said that the suspect had inquired about Syrian families that had sought refuge in Leb in order to provide them with aid.
He denied knowledge that Abdul Salam was linked to Al-Qaeda or any other terrorist organization.
Military Investigative Judge Nabil Wehbi had interrogated both al-Mawlawi and Abdul Salam on Thursday.
A request to release al-Mawlawi was referred on Thursday to the Military Court, with his lawyer expecting that a ruling would be issued Friday.
Military Investigative Judge Nabil Wehbi interrogated Mawlawi for around four hours, in the presence of his lawyer Mohammed Hafza who filed the release request.
Wehbi then referred the request to Government Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr who will have the final say in the matter.
Saqr told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published on Friday that the "appropriate decision" in al-Mawlawi's case will be taken.
Asked if the detainee can be released, he warned against jumping to conclusions in the investigation.
Al-Mawlawi's arrest on Saturday in the northern city of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of thich is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... by General Security agents had infuriated the city's Islamists and sparked deadly festivities that have left at least 12 people dead and more than 100 maimed.
Al-Mawlawi was nabbed Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! on charges of belonging to a terrorist organization, but his supporters say he was targeted because of his help for Syrian refugees fleeing to Leb.
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[An Nahar] The U.N. human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... body said on Friday that a panel of experts will travel to Libya next week to investigate the use of mercenaries in last year's conflict.
The group will hold talks with government officials, civil groups and private military and security companies from May 21 to 25.
Mercenaries -- non-nationals who take part in conflicts for private gain -- reportedly backed Muammar Qadaffy ...a reminder that a single man with an idea can change an entire nation, usually for the worse... in the revolution that led to the toppling of his four-decade dictatorship.
"In addition to the question of mercenaries, we intend to obtain direct and first-hand information on the activities of private companies offering military assistance, consultancy and security services on the international market, the type of activities they undertake in Libya and their effect on the enjoyment of human rights," said Faiza Patel, head of the U.N. working group on the mercenaries.
The Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights said the visit was taking place at the invitation of the Libyan authorities.
Last September, Patel said mercenaries had reportedly carried out serious rights violations in Libya, including summary killings and torture.
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#1
"we intend to obtain direct and first-hand information on the activities of private companies offering military assistance"
To what end? Trial in a criminal court for serving as a contractor to--at the time--a sitting head of state?
Posted by: American Delight ||
05/19/2012 9:15
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Mercenaries -- non-nationals who take part in conflicts for private gain -- reportedly backed Muammar Qadaffy
Contractors Mercenaries not specifically sanctioned by the UN also backed existing governments in Iraq and Afhganistan. The upcoming visit is taking place "at the invitation of the Mooslim Brotherhood Libyan authorities."
#3
Uh, they better not investigate, otherwise they'll find all the black Africans that worked for Khadaffy. Remember that? Obviously it wasn't reported in the news until after Khadaffy lost, then the media went with the tired old racism theme when the Libyans retaliated.
[Ynet] Several South American countries are readying for a potential Iranian-sponsored terror attack on their territory, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported. Brazil, Colombia and Bolivia are among the nations under threat.
According to the report, operatives belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force or Hezbollah could carry out the attack.
[Washington Examiner] When they published their revealing book last August about the nation's fight against terrorism, the authors, two New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... national security news hounds, immediately felt heat from the Pentagon for dishing too much operational info about the killing of the late Osama bin Laden. ... who abandoned all hope when he entered there... "I was stopped by a very senior officer in the special operations community who basically wanted to rip my lungs out," said Thom Shanker, who co-authored "Counterstrike: The Untold Story of America's Secret Campaign Against Al Qaeda," with Eric Schmitt.
But, he revealed at a counter terrorism expo this week, the info came directly and officially from the White House, not some garbage can digging operation. "I said to him, 'Sir, that information came officially to us from the podium at the White House,'" Shanker said.
He added, "Your civilian leaders make choices about describing missions, perhaps for their own partisan political ends, perhaps to show the nation that their tax dollars are being spent well, but that's the way it is."
Shanker, an acclaimed Pentagon news hound and author, said he had a little advice for the unidentified officer: If you make general, "this is part of your new world."
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05/19/2012
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#1
Ah pissing off and endagering the people trained to kill people like Shanker in a vast variety of ways, and then giving them patronising advice.
That's modern journalism. Wonder how those newspaper sales are going?
(Sh.M.Network)-The chairman of Somalia's people party (PP) professor Sa'eed Isse Mohamud, has called upon Somalis not to boycott and stay away from the new draft constitution for the conflict-ridden east African country.
Amid Somali people showed their stiff opposition against the UNDP long and much-funded new draft constitution, the PP urges not to generate further conflict and disorder which will not help the country to move from the critical stage of transitional period by August 2012
"There is no any nation in the world that has no a constitution. Somali people should approve the draft constitution to end the 20-years of war and division," professor Sa'eed Isse Mohamud, the chairman of people party, told Shabelle Media.
135 of Somali Traditional elders are meeting inMogadishuto select a constituent assembly of 825 elders that will ratify the new draft constitution and form a permanent parliament.
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Hundreds of Zim-bob-wean MPs will be circumcised by the end of next month to help popularise the latest HIV/Aids prevention method.
Ouch. Still, apparently it significantly reduces the probability of catching the disease, provided neither you nor any of those who preceded you under the unwashed knife are already infected.
The 175 politicians would also undergo HIV tests and counselling, Mr Blessing Chebundo, the chairperson of Zim-bob-we Parliamentarians Against HIV and Aids (ZIPAH) told NewsDay newspaper today.
Before or after receiving the cut? Before answering, see above,
"We will walk the talk as role models and lead by example to embark on voluntary HIV testing and male circumcision, as well as to inspire young people to do the same," he said.
"We need to go down to constituencies, provinces, districts, wards and villages as ZIPAH to spread messages to fight HIV/Aids and encourage males to undergo voluntary circumcision," he added.
Mr Chebundo said 20 MPs had already booked appointments for circumcision at various centres set up by the government and donors.
"Almost 175 MPs who are members of ZIPAH are in support of this and also 25 members of staff at Parliament," he said.
"We are still updating the list of volunteers. Obviously, female MPs are not going for circumcision,
An interesting comment...
but we have encouraged their spouses to join us," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2012
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#1
It would be easier to just keep their pants on.
[Iran Press TV] Results of Egyptian expatriates' polls which are streaming in from around the world, show that former Moslem Brüderbund (MB) member, Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, is leading the polls overseas.
That would be the definition of former which means current. An unconventional useage, but not original in the legal sense.
The poll results come ahead of next week's presidential elections which will be the first in the post-revolution nation.
Presidential campaign is still underway in Egypt, where 13 candidates are competing in the country's first presidential election since the downfall of the country's former long-time dictator, Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... , in 2011.
Aboul Fotouh along with former Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... chief, Jerry Lewis doppelgänger Amr Moussa ... who was head of the Arab League for approximately two normal lifespans, accomplishing nothing that was obvious to the casual observer ... , leader of the Dignity Party, Hamdeen Sabbahi, and chairman of the Moslem Brüderbund's Freedom and Justice Party, Mohammed Mursi, are viewed as frontrunners in the landmark election.
Egyptian people will go to the polls on May 23-24 to choose the country's president.
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The incidents of assassinations continued in the city, as at least 12 people were killed and four other dead bodies were found from different areas of 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... on Friday.
Three men were rubbed out by person or persons unknown in Federal B Area in the jurisdiction of Samanabad cop shoppe today. The dear departed were identified as Imran, Abdul Basit and Shoaib. An official at the cop shoppe said they had come from 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... to receive bodies of their two relatives killed in Baldia town a few days earlier.
Two bullet-riddled and tortured dead bodies were found from Baldia Number 5. The dear departed were identified as 22-year-old Mitho and 25-year-old Amir.
A young man, Usman Ali, was rubbed out by unidentified gunnies near Al-Asif Square, Sohrab Goth area last night.
Unidentified gunnies attacked three coppers, who were patrolling the area of Baldia town last night; two of the coppers were dead on the spot while the third received minor injuries.
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!... bullet riddled body of a young man was found in Liaquatabad on early hours of Friday, police said.
Four people, including a child, were rubbed out in Mansehra ...a city and an eponymous district in eastern Khyber-Pakthunwa, nestled snug up against Pak Kashmir, with Kohistan and Diamir to the north and Abbottabad to the south... Colony in the jurisdiction of Sharafi Goth cop shoppe.
Decomposed body of a girl was found from a Gulshan-e-Iqbal on Friday, police said.
At least ten days old body of eight-year-old girl was recovered from empty plot in block 20 of Gulshan-e-Iqbal.
Two men were rubbed out at Gul Bai, Sher Shah Area and Shah latif town area. They were identified as Abdul Qadir and Sabir respectively.
After these incidents of violence police and rangers beefed up patrolling and started snap checking in different parts of Bloody Karachi.
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(Ma'an) -- Egyptian authorities uncovered a stash of anti-aircraft missiles in central Sinai on Thursday, a security source said.
An Egyptian official told Ma'an that General Saleh al-Masri, security director of North Sinai, received a tip-off that weapons were stored behind a cop shoppe in the desert.
Which certainly indicates something...
Officers found an underground weapons store and confiscated a collection of around 30 missiles they said were left over from previous wars in the peninsula.
[Iran Press TV] The United States has carried out overnight Arclight airstrikes in Afghanistan, killing five civilians in the eastern province of Wardak, Press TV reports.
The US military officials in Kabul said on Friday that they targeted eight beturbanned goons on Thursday night as they were planting roadside kabooms to attack US military convoys in Wardak's Sayedabad district.
Local Afghan villagers, however, rejected the statement, blaming the US forces for killing harmless civilians with no links to any krazed killer groups.
"Sure, from up there it looks like mayhem with malice aforethought, but down here on the ground we could see they were actually playing with fluffy bunnies."
Local authorities have reportedly launched an investigation into the identity of those killed in the two US attacks.
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#1
You'd think that after 10 years the civilians would have learned it is a bad idea to gather up the wife and kiddies and go dig wild roots along the roadside in the middle of the night. Maybe by the next generation Darwin will have weeded the slow learners out.
[Iran Press TV] A senior Iranian military commander says the regimes of Al Khalifa in Bahrain and Al Saud in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... will face the same fate as former despots in Iraq, Tunisia and Egypt.
"Al Khalifa and Al Saud regimes should come to realize that their American masters are simply looking for new lackeys in the region. What happened ultimately to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Saddam Hussein, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... and other dictators, now awaits them," Commander of Iran's Basij Force Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi said in Tehran on Friday.
He noted that Iranians defend the rights of Bahraini people and support their months-long struggle for democracy.
Brigadier General Naqdi also lashed out at US, UK and other hegemonic powers' hollow claims of support for human rights ...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you... , arguing that they should answer to world public opinion for their protection of Al Khalifa despotic regime.
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05/19/2012
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[An Nahar] The whereabouts of the six Orcs and similar vermin who had escaped the Ein el-Hellhole Paleostinian refugee camp remains unknown, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Friday.
It said that it is likely that they headed to the northern city of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of thich is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... before heading to Syria to take part in the revolt against the country's ruling regime.
Haitham al-Shaabi, Mohammed al-Aarfi, Ziad Abou al-Niaaj, Mohammed Ibrahim al-Mansour, Oussama Shehabi, Mohammed al-Doukhi, and Toufic Taha escaped Ein el-Hellhole on Tuesday.
Taha's escape is yet to be verified.
The Army Command later issued a statement on Friday announcing that it had intensified its presence around Ein el-Hellhole amid reports of the bad boys' escape, adding that it had set up checkpoints in various regions to follow up on the matter.
Five of the Orcs and similar vermin belong to the al-Qaeda terrorist organization, said al-Joumhouria, while An Nahar daily reported Friday that the Orcs and similar vermin belong to Jund al-Sham and Fatah al-Islam A Syrian-incubated al-Qaeda work-alike that they think can be turned off if no longer needed to keep the Leb pot stirred. Al-Joumhouria added that Abou Niaaj, a prominent member of al-Qaeda, received the order to leave the camp directly from the organization through the internet.
He was reportedly ordered to head to Tripoli in preparation to traveling to Syria to carry out "special operations."
A security source confirmed the escape to As Safir newspaper on Friday, saying that the Orcs and similar vermin are in fact heading to Syria.
He revealed that they "had written their wills and handed them to their families or superiors before leaving the camp."
A widely informed source told the newspaper that the escape may be linked to the various reports on the infiltration of terrorist groups into Leb recently and which are seeking to carry out liquidations against various politicians.
Paleostinian sources told the Central News Agency on Thursday that the Paleostinian leaderships are vigilant over any emergency development and contacts are ongoing between the various factions and Lebanese security agencies.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch, Butch and the Kid finally brought their horses under control... the Lebanese army discovered overnight a booby-trapped car as it was leaving Ein el-Hellhole, while the Army Command said that the car was loaded with weapons.
A security authority told As Safire newspaper in remarks published on Friday that the driver was going to deliver the car to a side that was seeking to "use it against a very sensitive target."
The Army Command statement explained that the car loaded with weapons was headed to Qazi's guesthouse an undisclosed location in Leb, it stated.
The driver and individual, who was awaiting the vehicle, have since been locked away Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! , said the army.
Investigations are underway to determine the details of the incident, it added.
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(Sh.M.Network)-The war against Somali piracy must be fought on two fronts: battling the country's pirates, and feeding its people.
That was the view of envoys from seven countries whose citizens have been held by Somali pirates.
The diplomats fromItalia, the Seychelles,Pakistain,Sri Lanka,Kenya,Tanzaniaand Thailand were in Abu Dhabi yesterday to discuss ways to end piracy.
They broadly agreed the keys were military action, restoring law and order, and increasing aid.
"Yes, we must get rid of the bases of pirates to avoid attacks but the international community cannot rely only on a military option," said Giorgio Starace, the Italian Ambassador to the UAE.
"There must be economic and social change linked to Somalia's recovery. Aid is not only for times of emergency. We need more engagement."
Somali pirates cost governments and the shipping industry up to US$6.9 billion (Dh25.35bn) last year, the advocacy group One Earth Future Foundation says.
The diplomats mapped out a range of measures to cooperate against piracy.
Pirate attacks and ransom demands are common offSomalia's coast because of its proximity to theGulf of Aden, a shipping route through which 20 per cent of world trade passes.
This week, the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... Naval Force conducted its first operation to destroy pirate equipment on the Somali coast, with the support of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia.
Until Tuesday, such operations were restricted to the waters offSomalia.
During yesterday's conference inAbu Dhabi, the ambassadors said tracing the money trail to find out where ransom funds were channelled was imperative.
"Somali pirates have become a destructive force because they have a safe haven," said Mohamed Gello, the Kenyan Ambassador.
"They can attack ships and take these back toward the shore because the land is available to them.
"You deny them that opportunity and that is the solution to stop them. The answers lie in maintaining military pressure to reduce piracy and speed up the process of stability."
Mohamed Juma, the Tanzanian ambassador, said pirate attacks harmed tourism, with the number of luxury cruise ships falling from 20 vessels in 2006 to none last year.
There have also been pirate attacks on oil rigs offTanzania, Mr Juma said.
Tanzaniahas amended its laws to allow the prosecution on its soil of pirates captured in international waters. It is awaiting the UN's Security Council's sanction to launch a special court for prosecuting locked away Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! pirates.
Law and order must be restored to Somalia, Mr Juma said.
"The Somali youth for 20 years have known nothing more than disorder. The institution of government must be made strong," he said.
Piracy also severely hit tourism and fishing in Seychelles, said Dick Esparon, that country's ambassador. There are now specially designated fishing zones patrolled by foreign security guards and Seychelles officers, he said.
Hussein Mohamed, the charge d'affaires ofSomalia, said the average citizen there was hurt by food shortages and high prices.
Mr Mohamed said the families of hostages should know "the Somali people and its government are against such unlawful and illegal acts, which endanger people's lives".
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2012
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#1
Yes, the military part of the solution must be implemented to deny the pirates a base and to send a message that they will be hurt or killed if the continue their activities.
However who is going to take on the role of foster mom and dad to change them? That is a tall order, given the long history of evil in the region.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/19/2012 13:17
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Well, How did the surrounding Nations combat ans ultimately end Carribean Piracy?
Sink'em where you find em, no mercy, hang those who surrender.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/19/2012 14:44
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[Dawn] Pakistain allowed four containers of office supplies for the US embassy in Kabul to cross into Afghanistan for the first time following a six-month blockade, officials said on Friday.
The trucks were permitted to cross as President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... prepares to meet NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... leaders at a key summit in Chicago, accepting a last-minute invitation after his foreign minister indicated Pakistain was willing to call time on the blockade.
Islamabad closed its Afghan border crossings to NATO supplies on November 26 when US air strikes killed 24 Pak soldiers, leaving hundreds of containers of international supplies stranded at the port 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... and plunging relations with Washington to a new low.
The four trucks of US embassy supplies crossed Pakistain's northwest Torkham border into Afghanistan, the officials told AFP on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to release the information to the media.
"I can't give you the exact number but a lot more will go to Afghanistan in coming days. These all are diplomatic shipments, I mean non-NATO supplies," one of the officials said.
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#1
Pakistain allowed four containers of office supplies for the US embassy in Kabul to cross into Afghanistan for the first time following a six-month blockade, officials said on Friday.
The cheques cleared. The trucks with the Embassy Keurig K-Cups, commissary items, and T-shirts go first. That military stuff can wait until we have a chance to go through it.
(Ma'an) -- A man died on Thursday after suffocating in a smuggling tunnel beneath the Gazoo-Egypt border, medics said.
Jihad Barakeh, 18, was pronounced dead upon arrival at a Gazoo hospital, having been pulled out of a tunnel by other workers.
Since Israel tightened its blockade on the Gazoo Strip in 2007, goods smuggled in from Egypt through underground tunnels have provided a lifeline to the coastal enclave.
Under siege, Gazoo's economy collapsed and a 2011 UN study found that unemployment rates in Gazoo were among the highest in the world.
Gazoo officials say over 160 young men have died at work in smuggling tunnels, but with a lack of alternatives many are still drawn to the hazardous profession.
#1
Since Israel tightened its blockade on the Gazoo Strip in 2007, goods smuggled in from Egypt through underground tunnels have provided a lifeline to the coastal enclave
hello? Welcome to 2012? Time to update your meme, Journo-tool
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/19/2012 9:50
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Appears Barakeh will not get his Gazoo Tunnel Digger merit badge. Interesting how these tunnel digging chores appear to be the domain of "young men." Drinking chai, smoking smuggled US cigarettes and talking kak with the boys appears to be a privilege of age and rank.
#3
Whenever the word "blockade" appears in such a story, you know it's just lefty agitprop. Any true blockade of Gazoo requires Egyptian participation. Wake me when the Israeli's shut off the water.
#4
Gazoo officials say over 160 young men have died at work in smuggling tunnels, but with a lack of alternatives many are still drawn to the hazardous profession.
Hmmmmmm...Is there a waiting list for the jobs at the five star restaurants and the new malls?
DUBAI - Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahri on Thursday urged Saudis to rise up against the kingdom's ruling Al-Saud family, suggesting they draw inspiration from uprisings that have deposed leaders across the Middle East and Africa in the past year and a half.
Speaking in a video clip that was posted on an Islamist website, Zawahri, who took over the leadership of al-Qaeda after the late Osama bin Laden ... who used to be but now ain't... was killed in Pakistain just over a year ago, said:
"Mohammedan brothers in the land of the holy mosques, a year has passed since the uprising of the Arab people against their rulers...my dear brothers why do you still accept to be ruled by the Al Saud family. They are one of the worst corrupt governments who steal your money," he said.
"Why don't you rise up (against the Al Sauds) as you are the companions of the Prophet," he added.
Manchester Paleostine Solidarity Campaign says BDS should include any references to Israel's wildlife.
LONDON -- Anti-Israel activists sharply criticized the socialist British daily the Morning Star for referring to Israel's national bird the hoopoe in its daily quiz.
In a letter to the newspaper, Linda Claire, the chairwoman of Manchester's Paleostine Solidarity Campaign, asked why it had referred to the bird after it has "always been the newspaper you could rely on to support the cause of the Paleostinians."
"Maybe you don't support the methods chosen by the international solidarity movement of BDS [boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel] to assist the Paleostinians in their struggle for freedom and justice," she said, adding that this included any reference to Israel's wildlife.
"Despite its condemnation of zionists [sic] it yet finds space to include an item in its daily quiz about Israel's national bird. Is the Star not aware there's a cultural boycott going on?" Claire's husband, George Abendstern, asked in another letter.
"And then, despite it's [sic] condemnation of the Bahrain Grand Prix and rightly so, it then goes on to tell us who won. For goodness sake comrades, get your act together," Abendstern continued.
After a letter appeared condemning the couple's stance, the anti-Israel activists said, "It was not the bird we object to but what this bird represents -- the racist and apartheid State of Israel."
President Obama announced Thursday that he's nominated the first U.S. ambassador to Burma in 22 years and will ease investment restrictions on the former pariah state. Hailing the move as a "new chapter" in U.S. relations with Burma, aka Myanmar, Obama announced that he was tapping Derek Mitchell to be his envoy. Mitchell presently serves as the special representative and policy coordinator for Burma.
Obama noted the parliamentary election of opposition figure Aung San Suu Kyi as an example of progress but cautioned that he had concerns about Burma's closed political system, its treatment of minorities and detention of political prisoners and its relationship with North Korea.
"Since I announced a new U.S. opening to Burma in November, President Thein Sein, Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma have made significant progress along the path to democracy," Obama said in a statement. "The United States has pledged to respond to positive developments in Burma and to clearly demonstrate America's commitment to the future of an extraordinary country, a courageous people and universal values. That is what we are doing. "
Two top Republicans Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. John McCain praised the president's move. Both lawmakers have been outspoken critics over the years of the military junta.
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WikiLeaks may have been responsible for exposing Majid Jamali Fashi, the 24-year-old kickboxer who was hanged in Tehran on Tuesday morning after "confessing" to assassinating a nuclear scientist on behalf of Israel, a British media report said.
The Times of London reported Wednesday that a document from the US Embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan, seemingly drew attention to Fashi. The September 2009 US diplomatic document -- identified by the code 09BAKU687 -- quotes an Iranian source who was a licensed martial arts coach and trainer as describing to his American contacts pressure from the Iranian regime to train soldiers and militiamen in martial arts.
Fashi was reportedly in Baku for an international martial arts competition only days before the US Embassy document was written.
The suggestion is that the Iranian authorities identified Fashi as someone who was in illicit contact with the West on the basis of the document. He was arrested days after the publication of the document by WikiLeaks in December of 2010 and charged with carrying out the January 2010 assassination of nuclear scientist Masoud Ali-Mohammadi on behalf of the Mossad.
The British report Wednesday quotes a UK academic, Birmingham University professor Scott Lucas, speculating that the diplomatic cable may have been a critical piece of evidence or simply a pretext on which to arrest Fashi. "It could have been used as a pretext against him; to set him up as a person who could take the fall for the assassination," Lucas said.
There is nothing in the US document pertaining to Israel.
Iranian authorities claimed that Fashi admitted to travelling to Tel Aviv for training from the Mossad and funding for the killing of Ali-Mohamaddi.
Tehran has complained to Baku about its close ties to Israel, saying it suspected that Azerbaijan was allowing the Mossad to operate against Iran from its territory.
(Sh. M. Network)-An official in SKA, air and Logistics Company which has Mogadishu airport management agreement with the Transitional Federal Government (TFG)of Somalia, said on Friday a worker for the company has defected with large sum of money.
The staffer whose name has been released only as Machdi, an Egyptian national,but holds US passport, has secretly departed from Aden Adde International airport in Mogadishu on Friday taking money owns by the SKA.
Tony, an officer working for SKA has informedSomalia's immigration and nationalization agency the report and asked to help the capture of the defected employee. Some reports say the defector was intercepted in Kenyan capital,Nairobi.
The Somali government has signed a deal with a Dubai-based firm, SKA Air and Logistics, to control all the activities at Adan Ade international airport.
SKA Air & Logistics is a provider of aviation services and logistics and was set up in 2003.
The teams that currently make up SKA have been operating inIraqsince 2003 and are now expanding its operations inKuwait, the UAE,Afghanistanand the African continent.
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[Dawn] A businessman was killed and another injured when a remote-controlled bomb went kaboom! in their spare parts shop near Scheme Chowk on the outskirts of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar.The blast was so loud that it damaged windowpanes of vehicles parked nearby.
An official of the Badbher cop shoppe said the kaboom injured two and one of them died of critical injuries at the Lady Reading Hospital.
He said the dead man was Mohid Khan, a 30-year-old resident of Peshawar's Qari Qamar Din area, while the injured was
Israruddin, a 40-year-old resident of Peshawar's Bazidkhel area.
Israruddin later said the kaboom took place almost 10 minutes after he reached the shop owned by Mr Mohid.
A bomb disposal unit official told Dawn that improvised bomb packed in a ghee canister was placed inside a cupboard of the shop.
He said IED contained steel nails and other metallic pieces but police didn't find evidence for use of any remote-controlled device in the blast.
Police said Mohid was an Afghan national but it had yet to be ascertained if he had any links with the Taliban.
They said they had started the paperwork but haven't done much else against unidentified Islamic fascistiand began investigation. However, the hip bone's connected to the leg bone... no arrests could be made until night.In another incident, suspected faceless myrmidons attacked a checkpoint with a hand grenade in the limits of Hayatabad cop shoppe on Thursday evening, leaving two private guards injured.
An official of Hayatabad police said that the injured guards, identified as Haris and Tauheed, were associated with a private security company, who used to wear police-like uniform. He said that the checkpoint was located at a short distance from the FIA provincial headquarters in Peshawar. The officials claimed that the attack was aimed at police.
Cantonment circle SP Shabih Hussain told media persons that the injured was shifted to a local hospital and search for the arrest of attackers had been launched.
Meanwhile, ...back at the bunker, his Excellency called a hurried meeting of his closest advisors. It was to be his last. They discussed the officers's efficiency rating system... provincial police chief Akbar Khan Hoti directed his force's top bosses to ensure strict security checks in the province to prevent terrorism.
The directions were issued during a meeting at the central police office in Peshawar on Thursday.
Police officers from all Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... regions attended the meeting during which overall law and order situation in the province came under discussion.
Mr Hoti directed the deputy inspector generals to call a meeting of coppers in their respective regions to examine security apparatus and its shortcomings and find ways and means to correct them.
He said the Elite Force was a striking force so its personnel could not be detailed to guard VIPs otherwise their professional capabilities would spoil. He asked the commandant of the Elite Force to task the Elite Force with what they have been trained.Mr Hoti warned police official against negligence, violence and corruption and said those found involved in such acts would be dealt with strictly.
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[An Nahar] Some Lebanese areas near the Lebanese-Syrian border "have become an incubator for terrorist elements from the al-Qaeda and the Moslem Brüderbund organizations who are tampering with the security of Syria and its citizens," Syria's foreign ministry said in a statement addressed to U.N. chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... .
These elements "are seeking to undermine the six-point plan of U.N. Special Envoy to Syria Kofi Annan ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo... ," said the letter sent by Bashar al-Jaafari, Syria's Permanent Representative to the U.N. Security Council.
The letter claims that "arms depots" have been created in Leb's border areas, noting that the alleged weapons are being shipped "by sea or on planes belonging to certain countries, which are shipping arms to Leb with the aim of smuggling them into Syria."
The letter mentioned some incidents "confirming that terrorist groups in Syria are being supplied with arms and that cut-throats are being smuggled across the Lebanese-Syrian border," noting that "the offices of some charitable societies supervised by Salafist groups and the Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... Movement in Lebanese border areas ... have been turned into places for receiving and harboring terrorist elements from the al-Qaeda and the Moslem Brüderbund organizations."
Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... added that maimed opposition fighters "are being treated under fake names in hospitals and dispensaries affiliated with those groups and finance by countries such as Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... and Qatar."
The letter also claims that "50 cut-throats are stationed in the town of al-Qalamoun in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of thich is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... under the command of Khaled al-Tanak, Khaled Hamza and Zakariya Ghaleb al-Khouli."
The letter said the alleged cut-throats "possess IDs carrying the stamp of the U.N. that they use to go through Lebanese army checkpoints."
Jaafari added in his letter that Colonel Riyadh al-Asaad, chief of the rebel Free Syrian Army, had "recently arrived in Leb to prepare for creating a Syrian buffer zone within Lebanese territory."
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The US Treasury Department put two people that it alleged have ties to myrmidon Islamist groups active in Afghanistan on a blacklist on Thursday and banned American citizens from any dealings with them.
The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control said Bakht Gul was a communications official for the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network, accused by the United States of involvement in attacks in Afghanistan, and that Abdul Baqi Bari was a money launderer for the Taliban.
Mohammed Rashid demands probe into Abbas's wealth, says PA funded Arab parties in Israel during general elections.
Muhammad Rashid, the former economic adviser to Yasser Arafat who is wanted by the Paleostinian Authority for embezzling hundreds of millions of dollars, revealed on Thursday that the PA had provided financial aid to Arab parties during general elections in Israel.
He also demanded an investigation into the source of PA President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... 's wealth.
Rashid, who is currently in London, said that Abbas used to "take millions of dollars from the Paleostinian Authority and the private sector under the pretext of helping Arab parties in Israeli elections."
Better known as Khaled Salam, Rashid did not name the Israeli parties that had received financial aid from Abbas.
His revelation came during an interview with the Saudiowned Al-Arabiya TV station.
Rashid scoffed at the PA's decision earlier this week to ask Interpol to arrest him and hand him over for trial on charges of embezzlement and fraud, allegedly committed during the years that he served as Arafat's top financial consultant.
A Kurd from Iraq, Rashid said he was prepared to report for interrogation only before an independent commission of inquiry and not one that is controlled by Abbas.
The PA's Anti-Corruption Commission, which issued the arrest warrant against him, is itself very corrupt, Rashid said.
There is that.
He pointed out that two ministers in Prime Minister Salam Fayyad ...Fayyad's political agenda holds that neither violence nor peaceful negotiations have brought the Paleostinians any closer to an independent state. The alternative to both, violent negotiations, doesn't seem to be working too well, either... 's new cabinet have been accused of involvement in corruption scandals, but the commission did not take any measures against them.
The former adviser, who is considered one of the wealthiest Paleostinians in the world, launched a scathing attack on Abbas, holding him and his two businessmen sons responsible for corruption.
"When Mahmoud Abbas returned to the Paleostinian territories [after the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993], I gave him $25,000 at the request of the late president Yasser Arafat," Rashid claimed.
"Today, he and his sons have palaces and property estimated at 15 million Jordanian dinars [approximately $21m.] in Paleostine, Jordan, Tunisia and other places."
Rashid said the timing of the arrest warrant against him was linked to a series of interviews he gave to Al-Arabiya and to the PA's fear that he would expose various corruption scandals.
Rafik Natsheh, head of the commission in the West Bank, denied Rashid's charges, saying he had been wanted long before his TV appearance.
Natsheh added that the PA had previously summoned Rashid for questioning, but the latter refused to comply. He said that Rashid would stand trial whether in person or in absentia for his role in the theft of public funds.
Welcoming the PA's decision to go after Rashid, several Paleostinian political analysts wondered whether other bigwigs would also be charged with corruption.
"The question is, how many Muhammad Rashids do we have in the Paleostinian arena?" asked analyst Nabil Batrawi.
"Where are the others who became wealthy by working in the public sector? Where are the realtors who used to take money from investors who wanted to come to Paleostine? "Where are all those who used to take bribes and extort investors?" he asked.
#1
Ah, so the PA took a page from Saudi Arabia's book. The Saudis have been funding Islamist parties throughout Southeast Asia. Election manipulation/campaign financial crimes in that part of the world make John Edwards look like patty cake.
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[Al Ahram] Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the United Nations ...When talk is your weapon it's hard to make yourself heard over the sound of artillery... on Friday to boost the number of military observers in Syria to far more than a planned total of 300.
"Three hundred observers will not be enough ... maybe 1,000, 2,000 or even 3,000 observers are required in Syria," Erdogan told journalists on a visit here.
"Syria's entire territory has to be covered with observer missions for everybody to know what is going on, when and where," he added after talks near Varna with his Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borisov and visiting Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani.
"Our biggest concern is that, unfortunately, the plan of (UN-Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... special envoy for Syria Kofi) Annan is not yet active, it is not being implemented," he added, noting that he and his interlocutors had "overlapping" views on the subject.
Between 250 and 270 UN military observers out of a planned 300 are now in Syria monitoring a cessation of hostilities that began on April 12 but has barely held, with government and opposition groups continuing attacks.
Reiterating a call for the killings in Syria to end, Sheikh Hamad called the situation there "frustrating."
"We are waiting to see how Annan will manage to enforce his mission," he added.
"My brother al-Thani and I, we have been enjoying mutual relations with (Syrian President) Bashir al-Assad. ... We were friendly," Erdogan also noted.
"But if you become a tyrant upon your own people, we cannot keep on supporting you."
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[An Nahar] Regime forces fired on protesters who erupted into the streets of Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... on Friday, wounding several people at the biggest rally seen in Syria's second city since a revolt erupted last year, as at least 20 people were killed across the country, a rights group and activists said.
The Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, said security forces killed nine people in the central province of Homs, three in the central province of Hama, three in the northwestern province of Idlib, two in the southern province of Daraa, two in the northern province of Aleppo and a person in the Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... suburb of Douma.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said demonstrators suffered gunshot wounds in Douma, a key protest hub, but did not provide any casualty figures.
"Thousands of people demonstrated in various districts (of Aleppo) despite the repression," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.
"These are the most important events in Aleppo since the beginning of the revolt," he told Agence La Belle France Presse.
The government said its forces foiled a suicide kaboom in Aleppo last Friday, a day after twin bombings in Damascus killed 55 people and maimed nearly 400. It has repeatedly blamed such attacks on "terrorists".
U.N. chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... said on Thursday he believes al-Qaeda committed the Damascus attack.
"Very alarmingly and surprisingly, a few days ago, there was a huge serious massive terrorist attack. I believe that there must be al-Qaeda behind it. This has created again very serious problems," Ban said.
Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators... , as well as the United States and Russia, has already pointed to an al-Qaeda presence in the country since the revolt against his regime began.
The Observatory said at least seven died in violence across the country on Friday, including two children and a woman killed by regime forces.
Besides Aleppo, protests demanding the ouster of Assad also took place in Damascus, the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, northeastern Hasaka, Homs in central Syria, and northwestern Idlib, said the Britannia-based Observatory.
The Observatory said tens of thousands of people rallies across the country, in the biggest demonstrations since an April 12 ceasefire which has been violated on a daily basis.
"We want freedom, whether you like it or not, Bashar, enemy of humanity," protesters chanted in Deir Ezzor.
The rallies came after a call by activists for Syria-wide protests under the rallying cry, "heroes of Aleppo University", in solidarity with students in the northern city who demonstrated there the day before despite brutal repression.
On Thursday, the students were met with brutal repression by security forces, despite the presence of U.N. military observers, who now number more than 250 across the country out of the total of 300.
One protester was killed in a separate demonstration Thursday night in the Aleppo neighborhood of Salaheddin, according to the Observatory, while an officer was killed in a bomb kaboom in the city on Friday.
On May 3, security forces killed four students in a night time raid on their dormitories at Aleppo University, bringing Syria's second largest city into the forefront of its deadly unrest.
Violence persisted elsewhere, with regime forces renewing their bombardment of Rastan in central Homs province on Friday, according to the Observatory -- only a day after a blistering assault on the rebel stronghold.
Heavy gunfire and shelling was reported in several neighborhoods of Homs city, said the watchdog.
In Damascus province, heavy gunfire was reported near the town of Harasta, while the army suffered casualties in an attack on a military checkpoint at the town of Dariya.
Artillery attacks on towns have declined since the U.N. observer mission began deploying in mid-April, but the corpse count is still high.
With the violence unabated, U.N. Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... envoy Kofi Annan ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo... plans to return to Damascus "soon" to further efforts to find a peaceful solution to the crisis, his front man said on Friday, without saying when.
The head of the U.N. observers' mission, Major General Robert Mood, told news hounds in Damascus his mission "will reach full operational capabilities in record time."
Nearly 260 military observers out of a planned 300 were now in Syria.
"No volume of observers can achieve a progressive drop and a permanent end to the violence if the commitment to give dialogue a chance is not genuine from all internal and external factors," Mood acknowledged.
"We are very committed to the Syrian people, innocent women and kiddies, to return back to normality," he told news hounds in Damascus. "But we must be given a real chance to do that from the fighting parties and their supporters."
In an apparent first, Syrian authorities have sentenced to death for "treason" an activist who was jugged ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... in April and "brutally tortured," the Syrian League of the Defense of Human Rights said on Friday.
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[Iran Press TV] Unidentified gunnies have killed at least two Pak Shiite coppers and maimed another two in the troubled 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... province, Press TV reports.
On Thursday, masked gunnies opened fire on a Pak police patrol in Sardar Karez area in the Eastern Bypass in the Balochistan bustling provincial capital city of Quetta.
Two Hazara Shiite coppers named Ghulam Mortaza and Sanaullah were killed on the spot and two others named Asi Muhammad Hussain and Deen Muhammad were maimed and taken to Bolan Medical Complex.
Balochistan's Governor Zulfiqar Magsi and Chief Minister Aslam Raisani have condemned the terrorist attack.
The assailants managed to escape the scene of the liquidation and no group has so far grabbed credit for the attack.
The Saudi-backed Wahhabi terrorist groups have recently escalated their violent attacks against Shiite Mohammedans of Pakistain, Iraq and some other countries.
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#2
Soldiers experience high-pressure shock waves and immense forces during explosions in the field, but research suggests brain trauma is caused merely by the sudden head movements.
#3
An explosion causes a sudden acceleration of the skull, a solid thing, which then accelerates the brain, a squishy thing, which gets bruised by the impact and gets little internal 'tears' by the deformation. Same as happens when the skull decelerates suddenly by hitting the windshield during a wreck or the ground after a fall.
#4
Does forehead banging on a mat multiple times a day count as a source of brain damage too? think of the acceleration/deceleration forces involved and all.....
[Emirates 24/7] The head of Syria's main opposition council offered to resign Thursday after some members threatened to pull out of the umbrella group amid rampant infighting, striking a blow to efforts to present a united front against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs...
Burhan Ghalioun said he did not wish to be a divisive ...politicians call things divisive when when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never divisive, they're principled... figure and was ready to step down, just days after he was re-elected to a third, three-month term as head of the Syrian National Council.
``I announce my resignation as soon as a new candidate is picked, either by consensus or new elections,'' he told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named. ``I will continue to work to serve the revolution from my position as a member of the council.''
Fifteen months into the uprising, Syria's opposition is still struggling to overcome infighting and inexperience, preventing the movement from gaining the traction it needs to present a credible alternative to Assad. Its international backers have repeatedly appealed for the movement to pull together and work as one unit.
Since its inception last September, the Syrian National Council has acted as the international face of the Syrian revolution and served as a reference point for Western leaders when it comes to the Syrian opposition. If it continues to tank, it could complicate efforts for the West and others to get behind the opposition.
Ghalioun's statement came after a key activist group accused the SNC's leadership of marginalizing council members and acting alone on major decisions.
The Local Coordination Committees, a network of activists based both inside and outside of Syria, warned the SNC was drifting away from the spirit of the country's revolution and threatened to suspend its membership.
``We have seen nothing in the past months except political incompetence in the SNC and a total lack of consensus between its vision and that of the revolutionaries,'' the Local Coordination Committees, a network of activists based both inside and outside of Syria, said in a statement.
The SNC, whose leaders are largely Syrian exiles, has tried with little success to gather the opposition under its umbrella and has alienated minorities inside Syria, including the Kurds and Alawites, the tiny sect to which Assad belongs.
Some opposition figures accuse its leadership of being out of touch with reality on the ground while several prominent dissidents have already quit the SNC, calling it an ``autocratic'' organization.
In a rare acknowledgment of shortcomings, a leading figure inside the council said the group needed an overhaul and should become more inclusive.
Bassma Kodmani, a Gay Paree-based senior council figure, said over the telephone Thursday that the LCC concerns were ``justified and legitimate.'' She acknowledged this week's opposition meeting in Rome during which Ghalioun was re-elected for a third, three-month term as head of the SNC, was marred by the absence of several members and should have been better prepared and organised. She did not elaborate.
But Kodmani also said differences within the Syrian opposition were ``natural and healthy'' and a sign of democracy, ``otherwise we would be just like the Baath Party and the Assad regime.''
Ghalioun, a professor at the Sorbonne in Gay Paree who has led the council since its formation in September, has been criticized by some opposition figures of being too close to the Moslem Brüderbund and of trying to monopolise power.
Ghalioun ran against George Sabra, a Christian council member seen by many as a better choice to soothe concerns by Syria's religious minorities, some of whom have remained loyal to Assad out of fear for their future in case his regime collapses.
In a televised interview following his re-election, Ghalioun acknowledged divisions within the SNC and said the group was working on a new strategy.
Unlike Libya's National Transitional Council, which brought together most factions against Muammar Qadaffy ...The late megalomaniac dictator of Libya, admired everywhere for his garish costumes, funny hats, harem of cutie bodyguards, and incoherent ravings. As far as is known, he is the only person who's ever declared jihad on Switzerland... 's regime and was quickly recognized by much of the international community, Syria's opposition has no leadership on the ground and has not been officially recognised by significant powers.
A conference sponsored by the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... in Cairo to help unite the disparate opposition was cancelled this week, largely because of infighting between various groups.
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#1
In a rare acknowledgment of shortcomings, a leading figure inside the council said the group needed an overhaul and should become more inclusive.
I want rustlers, cut throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, ass-kickers, shit-kickers and Methodists.
#3
Barry Rubin at Rubin Reports, who, unlike me, favors Assad's overthrow, says that the SNC, which is essentially Erdogan's hand puppet, is dominated by Islamists. Syrian Kurds have threatened secession, not simply from the group, but from Syria. Remember during the anti-Soviet Afghan War when we allowed the Pakistanis to pick the most anti-American mujahideen factions to arm? These days, the Turks are doing the same kind of thing with respect to the Syrian opposition. Maybe New Yorkers will get lucky, and have a second chance to rebuild the WTC (maybe this time with the twin toothpicks, the way it was meant to be), courtesy of a new jihadist sanctuary in the Levant.
A court granted bail for Sri Lanka's ex-army chief on Friday, a move seen as a step toward a full pardon for the man credited with ending the country's long civil war but who later was incarcerated Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! after challenging the president in elections.
Sri Lanka's High Court set Sarath Fonseka's bail at $8,000 in a case where he is accused of harboring army deserters. His lawyer, Saliya Peiris, said that Fonseka was also asked surrender his passport.
The court's decision comes ahead of a meeting between Sri Lanka's foreign minister and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton ... sometimes described as The Heroine of Tuzla and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Edward Everett ... on Friday in which human rights ...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... issues in the island nation are expected to be discussed. The U.S. has called Fonseka a political prisoner.
However, the hip bone's connected to the leg bone... Fonseka will not be freed immediately because he is serving a 30-month jail term after a court martial found him guilty of planning his political career while still in the military and of committing fraud in purchasing military equipment.
Separately, in November 2011, he was sentenced to an additional three-year prison term for implicating the defense secretary and president's brother Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in war crimes during Sri Lanka's civil war. He has appealed the conviction.
Fonseka has said the cases are a political vendetta launched to persecute him for daring to run against incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the 2010 election. The government has denied any political motive for the legal action.
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Police locked away Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! three prisoners, who were on the run following Bannu jailbreak incident, from Moslemabad area here.
Officials said that one of the set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! outlaws identified as Gul Dad Shah of Junglekhel was awaiting death sentence, while the other two -- Shaukat and Mohammad Sadiq -- were undergoing life imprisonment in Bannu jail. They said that all the three belonged to Kohat.
POLICEMEN HURT: Two copperswere maimed when an unknown myrmidon lobbed a hand grenade on their mobile van in Bilitang town here on Thursday.
Officials said that a police mobile van was on a routine patrolling when an unidentified man threw a hand grenade on it near Bilitang hospital.
As a result, head constable Mumtaz and constable Asim Bashir received injuries.
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#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Lily Cole [English] aka Valentina in "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)" aka Polly in "St. Trinian's (2007)" aka Ernessa in "The Moth Diaries (2011)" aka Elise in "Confession of a Child of the Century (2012)" aka Lettuce Leaf in "Rage (I) (2009)" (age 24)
[An Nahar] Hundreds of nurses wearing Robin Hood hats and red t-shirts calling for "an economy for the 99 percent" rallied in Chicago Friday ahead of the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... summit.
"NATO is here, the time is right for dancing in the streets," they sang as the cheerful crowd broke out into a dance routine.
"They'll be teachers teaching and nurses healing -- dancing in the streets.... it's time to tax Wall Street!"
Sharon Tobin, a nurse from San Francisco, laughed and shouted "lets do that again" when the song wound up.
"We were practicing and practicing and practicing," she told Agence La Belle France Presse. "Demonstration or no demonstration, we always have fun."
The nurses and over 100 other groups are using the summit to call attention to a global movement to enact a Robin Hood tax on financial transactions such as stock, bond and derivatives sales that would raise an estimated $350 billion every year to pay for healthcare, education, and other basic needs and services.
Thousands of protesters are expected to descend on Chicago as the leaders of 50 countries gather for a NATO summit on Sunday and Monday.
Fears that the protests could turn violent have put the city on edge, with some downtown businesses even telling office workers to ditch their suits and ties and dress down to avoid being hassled or targeted on the streets.
Police and protest organizers have vowed that there will be no repeat of the trouble that erupted at G20 summits in London and Toronto or the riots that scarred Chicago during the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
The decision to move the G8 summit -- set for Friday and Saturday -- from Chicago to the presidential retreat of Camp David outside Washington is expected to lessen the intensity of demonstrations in President Barack Obama The campaign's over, John... 's adoptive home town.
Several rallies held so far have been peaceful, although four protesters were cooled for a few years Drop the rosco and step away witcher hands up! Tuesday at a rowdy rally outside a Chicago immigration court.
Eight protesters were charged with trespassing after they refused to leave the Chicago office tower which houses Obama's campaign headquarters.
Turnabout is fair play, and all that. Or sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander -- I get the two confused.
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Okay, let me see if I have all this straight. Bill Clinton, a white Southerner, was the first black president. Obama, an apparently straight guy, is the first gay president. George Zimmerman, a Hispanic, is a white guy. Elizabeth Warren, the whitest white woman anybody ever saw, is an Injun.
Andrew Sullivan, a liberal, considers himself the last true conservative. The Democrat Socialists, left-wingers to a fault, consider themselves centrist or moderate, and Mitt Romney, who is a liberal, is a right-wing extremist ( )...Violent OWS revolutionaries are mostly peaceful. Layabouts who collect government benefits are hard-working Americans,and
(Sh. M. Network)-The Æthiopian force commander in Somalia's southern regions of Bay and Bakol Jeneral John, announced on Friday that they will soon clean Al shabab out of those two regions.
Mr.John, told news hounds in Biadoa town, situated 256 kilometers (159 mi) northwest of the capital Mogadishu that Æthiopian troops will not pull out from Somalia until Al shabab will be out completely in the country.
"There are no reasons just compel us to withdraw fromSomalia. Æthiopian troops re-entered the country to held TFG in fight against the Al Qaeda-aligned forces of Evil of Al shabab whom pose security threat the entire east African nations," he added.
Lastly, He emphasized that Æthiopian troops are committed to take over the Somalia's southern strategic port town of Kismayu, the nerve cell of Al shabab's economic resources after losing the main market of Bakaro in the capital, Mogadishu followed an offensive by Somali and AU peace keeping soldiers known as AMISIOM.
These comments came as Somalia's parliament speaker is in Baidoa town for boosting the operations against Al shabab and as well the security in the newly liberated areas in Bay and Bakol regions from the thugs.
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[Dawn] Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... challenged the opposition Pakistain Moslem League -- Nawaz on Friday, daring the Sharifs to bring a vote of no-confidence against him.
"The only way to unseat me democratically is through a vote of no-confidence ... the president can only be removed through impeachment. If you have the courage then go ahead and use the available option," said the prime minister.
The PM was speaking to news hounds in Lahore at a joint presser with Pakistain Moslem league -- Quaid (PML-Q) chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, who is a coalition partner of the Pakistain People's Party (PPP).
Gilani was found guilty of contempt by the Supreme Court for refusing to reopen corruption cases against the president, but received only a symbolic sentence of a few minutes' detention in the courtroom.
The opposition PML-N has said they do not consider him the prime minister after his conviction by the SC, and threaten to hold a long march if he stays in office. Gilani, however, says that he will remain the prime minister as long as the parliament allows him to.
"I will not resign on somebody's wishes ... I have complete support of the parliament," said PM Gilani, Pakistain's longest serving democratically elected prime minister.
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(Sh. M. Network)- A rift grows larger and harder between the top leaders of Somalia's Galmudug ...a semiautonomous region in central Somalia, bordering Puntland on the north. Galmudug is not trying to obtain international recognition as a separate nation, but rather considers itself autonomous within the larger Somali federalism, for what that's worth... state who are reportedly not in agreement over the presidential election deadline.
Awke Hajji Abdirahman, the deputy of speaker of Galmudug parliament, told Shabelle Media that the epicenter or root-cause of the disagreement is all about the time limit of the election and the time of the ruling president to quit.
"According to the constitution of Galmudug state of Somalia, the president's time for the office is only three-years. The constitution is also draws to hold a presidential election after very three-years and now its time has come," he added.
Shabelle Media made and attempt to get in touch with Galmudug speaker for reaction, and he repulsed the accusations. The speaker added: "everything is going as planed and the elections will be held in accordance with the schedule.
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DUBAI - Saudi Arabia's thrust for a Gulf Union, driven by fear of Arab Spring contagion and spreading Iranian influence, has stumbled on misgivings among smaller neighbors about a loss of sovereignty and increasing domination by Riyadh.
Preferring not to be swallowed by the killer whale (Iran), the Gulf states are about to be swallowed by the sea lion (Saudi Arabia). The point, and what the sheiks are figuring out now, is you lose your sovereignty either way.
Gulf diplomats, officials and analysts expressed surprise that Saudi Arabia had opened itself up to such a public setback.
The union proposal, initially designed to contain Shi'ite Muslim dissent in Bahrain and counter the growing sway of Shi'ite Iran, surprised Gulf Arab leaders when King Abdullah first unveiled it at a summit in December. Rather than fade away, it acquired momentum when a Saudi minister outlined plans for shared foreign and defense policy last month.
Yet when the meetings ended on Monday, there was little hiding the fact that some leaders in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) had put the brakes on the project, if not shot it down entirely.
"These things need to be looked at in depth," said Ghanem al-Najjar, professor of political science at Kuwait University.
"You don't just decide that you will have unity, by trying to create some sort of unified body against Iran and to handle the development created by the Arab uprisings," he said, referring to street revolts that have toppled several dictators since early 2011 and have rattled GCC member Bahrain's monarchy.
It will "take time" to get all Gulf countries on board, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told reporters after the GCC summit, explaining that Gulf leaders wanted to know "details and details of the details" of how Saudi Arabia imagined a "union" bringing them closer than they are now.
He even stated baldly that there was "no step to have a special relationship between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia" - despite fanfare to the contrary in pro-government Bahraini media - while admitting both leaderships would welcome a closer association.
"They had no idea really what they wanted the union to look like, then they came on Sunday to try to work things out and couldn't agree. By Sunday night there were strong rumors it wasn't going well," said a Qatar-based analyst familiar with the talks. Saudi officials were angry and disappointed, he said.
The people don't want to be 'united', and the sheiks just want the world to leave them alone. Prospects for union are adjusted accordingly...
It's not just being united, it's being united with the bloody-handed Saudi muttawa. The men the morals police hire are awfully fond of hitting people.
People with access to the room where the leaders met noted few smiling faces, in contrast to most such events, and even sensed anger among some of them.
Revealingly, heads of state from Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) did not attend the summit, which brought leaders from the other three member states - Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait.
The Saudis envisage close economic, political and military coordination and a new decision-making body based in Riyadh, replacing the current Secretariat of the 31-year-old GCC.
Reports from officials, diplomats and media suggest that Oman, Kuwait and the UAE mounted the strongest objections to the union proposals, fearing being lorded over by the Saudis as well as difficulties in integrating varying social and political systems. A Saudi spokesman was not available to comment.
"The UAE will not accept a single country taking over a union, so that issue has to be clear," a UAE official told Reuters, pointing to the UAE's 2009 withdrawal from a monetary union over Saudi insistence that Riyadh host the central bank.
Asked if he thought the union would eventually happen, the official added: "Let's just say it will take more time."
Although the six states look similar on the surface - Arab, conservative Muslim and with similar social customs - there are wide differences of tribe, history, sect and geography among them, particularly in Bahrain with its Shi'ite majority, as well as in their degree of openness to Western culture.
Oman, which has long sought to protect its identity deriving in part from a distinctive Indian Ocean coast and maritime tradition, said as early as 2006 that it would not join the as-yet unrealized single currency project.
"The UAE may not be as keen on a stronger union because they may worry about Saudi Arabia being dominant within that," a Western diplomat said.
Dubai-based defense analyst Theodore Karasik said the UAE was also concerned that rushing into a Gulf Union could endanger progress already made in delicate defense negotiations. The UAE and Saudi Arabia are arguing over where to locate the central command of a Gulf missile shield that the United States has pushed them on as the best means of defense against Iran, but they are reticent about sharing data.
Kuwaiti parliament speaker Ahmed al-Saadoun said equal levels of political openness in each country should precede a closer political compact. Saudi Arabia has no elected parliament, while Kuwait has the most lively political culture.
"Freedom of expression and the right of popular participation in decision-making..., we hope (that) will be achieved in all GCC states shortly so the union can be established," Saadoun said on Twitter.
"Leaders of Kuwait, Qatar, UAE and Oman expressed concern about a loss of identity of individual states and pointed to differences in law between the countries," the Kuwaiti daily al-Qabas commented. "A lot of GCC decisions have still not been implemented. It would be better to get these done first."
Even the rise of Iran over the past decade and the Arab Spring uprisings have failed to put all GCC six on the same page, while lingering border disputes have often marred ties among states where personalized, dynastic rule is the norm.
While Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE want a strong policy to stem Iranian influence in the region, Qatar and Oman have hedged their bets by nurturing good relations with Tehran.
The only country to wholeheartedly welcome the fast track to Gulf Union appears to have been Bahrain, where many see the proposal as a way of crushing an uprising led by majority Shi'ite Muslims who they believe have backing from Iran.
"I believe the union between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain will happen 100 percent, with maybe the others coming afterwards," said Anwar Eshki, a Saudi analyst and ex-adviser to the cabinet.
Bahrain, whose economy relies on oil from a field shared with Saudi Arabia, allowed Riyadh to send in Saudi troops in an initial attempt to suppress the protests last year. But the turmoil has revived, economic growth has been cut in half and a sense of crisis pervades an island state increasingly divided by sect where hardliners on both sides gain ground.
Iran has strongly objected to the Saudi move to formalize its influence over Bahrain, with parliamentarians saying it would deepen divisions on the island and speaker Ali Larijani even suggesting it should be Iran that Bahrain integrates with.
Nabeel al-Hamer, media adviser to Bahrain's King Hamad, tried to reassure supporters afterwards, promising a Riyadh summit in coming months to sign a unity charter including Qatar.
Bahrain's opposition movement dismissed the entire project as just the latest maneuver by aloof, entrenched rulers to put off the day when they cede powers to an elected government.
Continued on Page 49
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For a map, click here. For a map of Nuevo Leon state, click here.
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
A Mexican Army unit of the 7th Military Zone discovered a mass grave site in eastern Nuevo Leon state Friday evening, according to Mexican news sources.
An article posted on the website of Milenio news daily reported five narcofosas, or deep pits containing full skeletons discovered at around noon Friday. At least five full sets of charred human remains have been exhumed. Reports say more are expected. Organized crime groups in the area have used remote sites such as the one near China for years to discard their victims.
One report by Excelsior news daily speculated that some partial remains were also found at the site saying some of those remains could be those of the 49 butchered individuals found last Sunday in Cadereyta, Nuevo Leon.
However, an Agency France-Prese Spanish language wire story posted on the Internet at midnight Saturday quoted an unidentified source with the Nuevo Leon attorney general's office saying the remains found were at least a year and more old, and ruled out the possibility those remains were of some of the victims found last Sunday in Cadereyta. Those officials characterized the number of dead found as "indeterminate."
The find was about 10 kilometers along a road to Mendez, Tamaulipas, which is southeast of China. China itself is 40 kilometers east of Monterrey and 30 kilometers east of Cadereyta, where the 49 unidentified individuals were found last Sunday.
The day before the discovery of the China mass graves, a Mexican Army unit detained eight unidentified individuals said to be members of a local Gulf Cartel group operating in the area. News releases by the Secretaria de Defensa Nacional (SEDENA), the controlling agency for the Mexican Army, hinted the eight detainees may have had involvement in the 49 dead found in Cadereyta.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
[Iran Press TV] At least five people have been killed after three roadside kabooms destroyed a busy outdoor market in the Iraqi capital, Storied Baghdad. ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... Dozens of others were also maimed in the early morning blasts targeting a pet market in in Hussainiya area, northeast Storied Baghdad, on Friday.
"The three bombs went kaboom! almost at the same time. After I heard one of the kabooms, I found myself in hospital with shrapnel in my hands, legs and head," said Ahmed Kareem at Sadr City General Hospital.
The attack came hours after a kaboom at a restaurant in southeast Storied Baghdad killed five people.
Nearly 100 people were killed by kabooms at two other pet markets in Storied Baghdad in 2008.
There has been a rise in violence in Iraq since US troops left the country in December, 2011, leaving hundreds of Iraqis, among them police and security personnel, dead.
It is widely believed that the increasing attacks are part of an anti-Iraq plot to show that the Storied Baghdad government is incapable of protecting Iraqis.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2012
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#1
I guess pets are non-Islamic. How many critters were killed or maimed by that bombing? And is PETA or SPCA interested?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A car bomb blew up in the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zor on Saturday, state television and an opposition group said, without giving details on casualties.
After three delays, the first U.S. commercial space flight is set to launch this week. A capsule built by the company SpaceX will take off from Cape Canaveral and head to the International Space Station. If successful, it will be a milestone in NASA's plan to replace its space shuttle program with commercial carriers.
Paleostinians threw Molotov cocktails at IDF forces guarding a large group of Jewish worshipers at Joseph's Tomb in Nablus.
[Washington Examiner] When they published their revealing book last August about the nation's fight against terrorism, the authors, two 
Hundreds of Zim-bob-wean MPs will be circumcised by the end of next month to help popularise the latest HIV/Aids prevention method.
Jerry Lewis doppelgänger Amr Moussa
The incidents of 
a city and an eponymous district in eastern Khyber-Pakthunwa, nestled snug up against Pak Kashmir, with Kohistan and Diamir to the north and Abbottabad to the south...
[Iran Press TV] The United States has carried out overnight 
[Iran Press TV] A senior Iranian military commander says the regimes of Al Khalifa in Bahrain and Al Saud in 
[An Nahar] The whereabouts of the six 
Somali pirates
Asif Ali 
(Ma'an) -- A man died on Thursday after suffocating in a smuggling tunnel beneath the 
WikiLeaks may have been responsible for exposing Majid Jamali Fashi, the 24-year-old kickboxer who was hanged in Tehran on Tuesday morning after "confessing" to assassinating a nuclear scientist on behalf of Israel, a British media report said.
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
The US Treasury Department put two people that it alleged have ties to
Mohammed Rashid demands probe into Abbas's wealth, says PA funded Arab parties in Israel during general elections.
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hundreds of nurses wearing Robin Hood hats and red t-shirts calling for "an economy for the 99 percent" rallied in Chicago Friday ahead of the 
(Sh. M. Network)- A rift grows larger and harder between the top leaders of Somalia's 
