Despite the news blackout imposed by Riyadh, reports of widespread riots and clashes have been sweeping the oil-rich Eastern Provinces of Saudi Arabia between Shiite demonstrators and security forces, leaving unknown numbers of dead and wounded. One of the most violent incidents erupted at the funeral of a Shiite demonstrator shot dead by the police. The mourners set fire to police vehicles and shouted slogans calling for the overthrow of the Saudi throne. Friday night, heavy security forces reinforcements streamed to the afflicted region to crack down on the unrest.
A man was killed by gunfire and a US citizen died from a stab wound to the chest on Friday in the Egyptian city of Alexandria during clashes between supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Morsi, Egyptian security and medical officials said.
#1
Pics of protest signs express that POTUS Bammer supports the "Dictator Morsi".
As per FREEPUBLIC + OTHER, the Bammer is prepping to send in US Marines to Egypt as a precaution to protect US Embassy/Consulates + Amer Citizens in general from the escalating protests [growing threat of Civil War].
#3
According to the article, the conditions under which he was injured allowed legal status as a 'veteran'.
The other antics are legal as well. Anyone experienced with the Federal acquisition process can tell you stories about drop-ship addresses, 'cubicle corporations', etc.
She wants to blame someone, she can blame her own party.
Secret Mooslim Outreach event. Please use rear entrance.
Bin Bayyahs website claims that he met June 13 with senior Obama administration officials at the White House.
Nonetheless, it was the Obama administration which sought the meeting with Bin Bayyah, his websites account said.
We asked for this meeting to learn from you and we need to be looking for new mechanisms to communicate with you and the Association of Muslim Scholars (another name used for the IUMS), Gayle Smith, senior director of the National Security Council, reportedly said.
Bin Bayyahs June 13 account placed other senior officials in the meeting, including: Rashad Hussain, the U.S. special envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), National Security Adviser Tom Donilon and White House spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri. But the account was later changed to delete the reference to Donilons presence at the meeting. Ah yes, the odious Tom Donilon with John Brennan perhaps hiding in a broom closet ?
Smith also thanked Bin Bayyah for his efforts to bring more understanding amongst humanity during the meeting, the Bin Bayyah account said.
The White House did not respond to repeated requests for comments between June 14 and Tuesday. Unanswered "repeated requests" essentially confirm the event.
Six advocacy groups have asked the State Department to prepare a new environmental review of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline, saying that evidence has emerged showing it will hurt the environment. The demand, contained in a 48-page letter, comes as President Obama has pledged to block the project, which would carry heavy crude from Canada to the Gulf Coast, if it would "significantly exacerbate the climate problem." How convenient. Now he can kill it "for the children".
The letter sent Monday says that several new analyses show that the project will speed heavy crude extraction in Canada's oil sands region. The State Department is currently responding to more than 1.2 million comments on a draft environmental assessment issued in March, which suggested that denying a permit to the pipeline firm TransCanada would have little overall climate impact because the oil would be extracted and shipped out anyway. Duh!
"Limitations on pipeline transport would force more crude oil to be transported via other modes of transportation, such as rail which would probably (but not certainly) be more expensive," the assessment said. I like trains as much as the next guy, but pipelines do not whack stoopid drivers at grade crossings.
The advocacy groups said that the Marxist EPA has suggested that the State Department played down the amount of greenhouse gas emissions linked to the project's construction. The groups called on State Department officials to take into account the higher "social cost of carbon" the Marxist administration is now using, which is intended to reflect the negative climate impact of activities that release carbon into the atmosphere. Like breathing.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/28/2013
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Reminds me of that Far Side cartoon with the turbulence.
Since there is no real penalty for political use of the IRS, if there's a change in regimes, these guys need to be added to the list for close scrutiny. Consider it 'equal treatment before the law' or 'it all depends on who's ox is getting gored'.
Let's look at the dice. First off, this would be a huge flow of money and influence into what they call Red States, a devisive term on its own head.
Second, if its not selling here its selling somewhere else. Raw material, oil and coal, can be sold to China manufacturers at just pennies on the overbid.
Third, the activism works as a shakedown, not only against the energy sector in the way of payoffs and bribes, but also for the agitation groups as they can point and say hey, we get results so fund us.
Fourth, we pay more, which not only generates more taxes but also makes us less wealthy, wealthy being free - free to move, free to work, free to live, free to cool our family when it is 108 and 40% humid; it furthers the idea of reliance on somebody else to take care of the individual needs.
Fifth, it puts another rachet on the foot binding of the USA and adds tally marks to the collectivist agenda.
Sixth, the product can still be delivered via rail and road. This creates a power of delivery system which can be exploited politically - damage to infrastructure and collision would actually benefit the gov as it creates the need to get further involved. Of course, the tax revenue generated by these transport taxes puts a dimple on their chins as well.
I say prove they can do climate creationism globally by proving locally - refill the DC swamps and turn off the AC. Affordable energy empowers people financially and exostentially, which is the antithesis of collectivism.
Posted by: regular joe ||
06/28/2013 12:19
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#7
A fine rant, indeed.
As for the "significantly exacerbate the climate problem" nonsense, if we build the pipeline, the oil will be processed and burned here in the US under US enviro laws. If we don't, it will likely go to China which has few, if any, pollution controls. Which scenario has greater impact on the (non-existant) climate problem?
#9
So while all the econuts and Champ dither and whine, The UP, and BNSF will just keep putting more trains on the tracks and more tracks on the ground to haul the oil wherever the owners of said oil can get the best price. and all those locomotives burn diesel, making more carbon than the pipeline ever would. and since a pipeline is fixed, risk mitigation for spill response is a defined metric, unlike 110 car unit trains running all over. with lots of grade crossings as Fred inlined. we have 6 of those beauties a week traveling to the refinery at Anacortes, WA on majestic Puget Sound, competing with 8 Amtrak passengers trains (4 each direction), at least 3 unit coal trains heading to Vancouver ( plus the returning empties), as well as several manifest freights.
Bring on the pipeline naysayers.
The U.S. Park Police has lost track of thousands of handguns, rifles and machine guns in what a government watchdog agency concluded is the latest example of mismanagement on a police force trusted to protect millions of visitors to the city's iconic monuments. There is no indication that police guns got into the hands of criminals, but the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of the Interior warned that the Park Police might not know if they had. Right. Lost means no one knows where they are.
In a scathing report, the authors said there is "credible evidence of conditions that would allow for theft and misuse of firearms, and the ability to conceal the fact if weapons were missing."
"Commanders up to and including the chief of police have a lackadaisical attitude toward firearms management," wrote the deputy inspector general. "Historical evidence indicates that the indifference is a product of years of inattention to administrative detail."
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/28/2013
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Park Police need machine guns?
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/28/2013 7:55
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Frankly, I'd be worried about the wild life in the areas where the Park Police have lost these weapons, lest we see
;-)
Posted by: Au Auric ||
06/28/2013 8:53
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Ay-Pee
Retired Marine Gen. James Cartwright is under investigation for leaking classified information about the Stuxnet cyberattack on Iran's nuclear facilities, according to NBC News and The WaPo.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/28/2013
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The report did find that Cartwright mishandled an incident in which the aide, drunk and visibly upset, visited his Tbilisi, Georgia, hotel room alone and either passed out or fell asleep on a bench at the foot of his bed. Cartwright denied any impropriety and was later cleared of all wrongdoing.
#6
n June 2012, the New York Times reported that Cartwright was a crucial player in the cyber operation called Olympic Games, started under President George W. Bush.
If he was "in charge" of the program, he then was in-charge of the classification of materials of the program. Consequently, he would also be the 'declassification' authority of said materials generated.
The official death toll rose to 35 Friday from an outburst of violence that included knife attacks on police in a far-western region that has seen frequent clashes between China's Muslim minority Uighurs and the ethnic Han majority.
Initial reports said 27 people were killed Wednesday in a remote town in the Xinjiang region, with state-run media saying that knife-wielding assailants targeted police stations, a government building and a construction site - all symbols of Han authority and influx in the region.
The updated death toll included some of the severely injured dying in the hospital. It also included 11 assailants shot dead in Lukqun township in Turpan prefecture, the state-run Xinhua News agency said. Two police officers were among the 24 people they killed, Xinhua said.
The reports did not identify the ethnicity of the attackers, nor explain what may have caused the conflict in the Turkic-speaking region, where Uighurs have complained of suppression and discrimination by Han people. The report also said police captured four injured assailants.
The Wednesday violence - described as a terrorist act by China's state media - was 1 of the bloodiest incidents since unrest in the region's capital city of Urumqi killed nearly 200 in 2009.
It was impossible to independently confirm the state-run media accounts. The Global Times said police set up many checkpoints along the 30-kilometer (19-mile) road to Lukqun and dissuaded reporters from traveling there due to safety concerns.
Information is tightly controlled in the region, which the Chinese government regards as highly sensitive and where it has imposed a heavy security presence to quell unrest. However, forces are spread thin across the vast territory and the response from authorities is often slow.
Xinjiang (shihn-jeeahng) is home to a large population of minority Muslim Uighurs (WEE'-gurs) in a region that borders Central Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan and has been the scene of numerous violent acts in recent years, including the riots in the capital four years ago.
[An Nahar] A dozen relief agencies in the Central African Republic on Thursday warned that the whole population of the poor, landlocked nation faced a serious humanitarian crisis after a coup in March.
"The whole population of the Central African Republic, 4.6 million people, is affected by a severe humanitarian crisis in the wake of the coup d'etat and the political instability that followed it," said a statement signed notably by Action Against Hunger, Save the Children and Secours Catholique (Catholic Relief).
"The United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... estimates that the CAR needs about 97 million euros ($126 million) in aid, but donations received for the moment meet only 43 percent of these needs," the statement added.
A rebel coalition, the Seleka alliance, ousted president Francois Bozize in the highly unstable country in March and one of the Seleka leaders, Michel Djotodia, became the new head of state. Unrest has persisted since the change of regime.
According to the non-governmental organizations, "more than 60,000 children and families are suffering from severe food shortages. More than 200,000 children and families have been forced in the past six months to flee their homes and need emergency shelter, food and medical care."
The relief agencies added that food and health issues were considerably worsened by insecurity, killings and looting. They also denounced many cases of rape and sexual abuse, particularly affecting children, and concluded that "the current humanitarian crisis is the worst the country has known".
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2013
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The relief agencies added that food and health issues were considerably worsened by insecurity, killings and looting. They also denounced many cases of rape and sexual abuse, particularly affecting children, and concluded that "the current humanitarian crisis is the worst the country has known".
Hopefully, this situation will not spread to Lake, Kane, Dupage, and Will counties.
#2
I thought he said the home of the CAR - Detroit. I mean that city is looking for couple a hundred mil also right?
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
06/28/2013 7:48
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I guess the "One" didn't make it from Senegal to CAR after lecturing the Senegalese leader on gay rights? The Senegal leader basically told him to butt out of their affairs.
Suspected terrorists insurgents detonated a bomb targeting a vehicle carrying rangers in Pattani province yesterday, but mistimed the explosion and did not inflict any casualties.
In Yala province, suspected terrorists insurgents opened fire on 3 local residents at a market, killing one person. The slain woman was the mother of two children who were also shot and injured.
Defense Minister Sukamphon Suwannathat said the situation in the far South was improving, but pointed out that bombing attempts were hard to counter due to a lack of necessary equipment.
Meanwhile, locals in Yala said they believed the new seven-point demand from the BRN would likely be rejected because violence was still ongoing in the far South. They also said that if a withdrawal of security forces really was to take place, the residents would need to exercise increased caution in their lives.
[Pak Daily Times] The Swiss cases saga on Thursday put Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Khurshid Shah against each other in the House when the former declared that he does not care if confrontation with the opposition party grows on this issue.
Nisar, responding to Shah's objection over constitution of a two-member committee to probe the second letter written to Swiss authorities, stated, "If confrontation intensified then let it be. However, nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits... don't distort the facts." Otherwise cool and calm Khurshid Shah warned the government that it was going to have a clash with the PPP again. "The government seems to be losing patience by reopening the Swiss cases," he observed.
"We created a reconciliatory atmosphere in our government but the PML-N after taking over is looking intolerant," he said, adding that the PPP government did not raise the issue of Hudaibiya Paper Mills, in which the Nawaz family was accused.
Shah said that past mistakes must be set aside if we wanted to move forward together. He was also sceptical about the withdrawal of security from the Senate chairman, who he said was number two in protocol after the president and the prime minister.
Chaudhry Nisar said the Swiss cases were legal, and that the government had not asked the court to take notice of the matter.
He rejected Shah's claim and said the PML-N had never excused PPP over the cases.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2013
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[Pak Daily Times] The girls once again outshined the boys in the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations by securing more top positions, according to the result announced by the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE) on Thursday. A total of five top positions were clinched by the girls in science and humanities group while the boys got four top positions. If you shoot enough girls that will change, right? That's why they keep blowing up their schools, so the guys with the turbans don't get shown up.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2013
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[Pak Daily Times] Foreign Office front man Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry on Thursday said there was no direct contact between Pakistain and the Taliban regarding the Doha talks.
During the weekly briefing in Islamabad, he said that Pakistain was happy to know that a dialogue was taking place between the Afghanistan government and the Taliban. "Pakistain is not part of the Doha talks." He said that during a visit to Islamabad, US Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistain James Dobbins updated Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... on the recent developments of Doha dialogue between Afghanistan and the Taliban. Regarding Nawaz Sharif and President Karzai's telephonic conversation, the FO front man said both the leaders had discussed the Afghan grinding of the peace processor. He said that Pakistain had always maintained its stance to facilitate all steps necessary for the Afghan reconciliation process, and in the future, "we will continue [to play] our role of a controller".
To a question, he said that Nawaz Sharif believes in talks with Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain and was ready to engage them in a dialogue to resolve internal security threats. "Pakistain is prepared to talk to any group, including the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain, for establishing peace in the country," he said. Regarding the 'Saudisation policy', the front man said that Pakistain had taken many steps to regularise Pak citizens' stay 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 the Soddy national face... , including correction of their documents. He said that Pakistain had also sought an extension in the deadline set by the Saudi authorities in this regard.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2013
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[Pak Daily Times] Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) chairman Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao on Thursday said that all the political forces should join hands to find a viable solution to the issue of militancy.
He was addressing a public gathering in Dera Ismail Khan ... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ... district where former member of the provincial assembly Ghulam Qadir Bhittani ...a Pashtun tribe centered on Jandola, in Tank district. They are the hereditary enemies of the Mehsuds, unless there are furriners or infidels around, in which case they share ammunition and targeting data... announced joining the QWP along with scores of his supporters.
Aftab Sherpao asked the government to pay heed to the issues confronting the masses. Load shedding, lawlessness and price-hike had made life miserable for the general public, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
I read Shapiro, at first glance. Old age and Evelyn Wood's reading dynamics..... the downside.
[Pak Daily Times] MASTUNG: At least two people received bullet wounds in an attack on NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... containers in the Dasht area of Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... on Thursday. Levies sources said that unidentified armed motorcyclists opened indiscriminate fire on two containers passing through the area, injuring the drivers and setting ablaze the trucks. The attackers managed to escape from the scene. A rescue team rushed to the site and shifted the injured men -- identified as Asmatullah and Shah Pasand -- to Civil Hospital. Levies personnel cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to trace the attackers.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2013
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[Pak Daily Times] The remote control bomb secreted inside a cycle of violence that targeted Sindh High Court senior puisne Justice Maqbool Baqar, failed to kill its intended target who was miraculously saved with only injuries but wiped out 10 of his security detail while 15 were maimed. The cycle of violence was innocuously parked before a mosque on the judge's route to the Sindh High Court. It is said the blast site had no CCTV cameras. Later reports said most of the CCTV cameras installed in the city were out of order. So much for surveillance and monitoring. Justice Maqbool Baqar, who has a reputation for honesty and integrity, was probably targeted for his earlier services as a judge in the anti-terrorism courts. This was confirmed by a Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) statement by front man Ehsanullah Ehsan claiming responsibility for the attack and attempting to justify it by characterising the judge's decisions as 'against Sharia and the mujahideen'. The other angle DIG South Dr Ameer Sheikh was about 70 percent convinced of was that Justice Baqar was targeted because he is a Shia. Condemnations of the attack came thick and fast, from the top politicianship to the Sindh judiciary, Bar Councils and others. The lawyers community of Sindh went on strike in protest. Security of superior court judges, the chief minister, governor, etc, is being reviewed by the Sindh government, especially those amongst them who are Shia. The Sindh Assembly passed a condemnatory resolution and MPAs warned the attack was a wakeup call indicating the snuffies were 'close'. Dr Farooq Sattar of the MQM saw the attack having taken place purely because Justice Baqar was striving for truth and justice. He underlined that the prime minister needs to sit with the chief ministers of all the provinces and the security agencies, presumably to forge an efficacious response to terrorism, whose demonstrated deadly efficiency now reaches from north to south and east to west through the length and breadth of the country. However, facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable... Dr Sattar's suggestion to summon an all parties conference, which Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif also 'announced' in Lahore, does not inspire confidence, based on past experience of such conferences. They may provide much sound and fury, but in the end all that amounts to nothing. If at all any such conference can have a beneficial outcome, it would be if all the political forces agree a common position on terrorism and how to combat it. There too, however, opinion is divided, with the range of views extending from talking to the snuffies to wiping them out. The military has been trying for at least the last five years to nudge the politicians to a consensus on anti-terrorism strategy in order to strengthen the military's hand vis-à-vis anti-terrorist operations. Alas, we are no nearer that goal today and the new dispensation has still to come out with a clear cut strategy on the issue, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar's wish list notwithstanding.
While the country as a whole is terrorism-afflicted, perhaps the one city most affected has been Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... . The metropolis of at least 18 million people, contributing 42 percent of GDP, has been beset for years with murders, kidnappings, ethnic, sectarian and political violence. To this combustible mix has been added terrorism for some years. The result is that the industrial and commercial hub of the country ha s been virtually brought to its knees. One estimate says 2,000 people were killed in the city last year due to ethnic and political violence, the deadliest toll in two decades. As we have emphasised repeatedly in this space, it is the lack of coordination between civilian and military authorities, and the federal and provincial governments that leaves gaps and holes for the snuffies to wriggle through and breach even the most elaborate security regime. Talk is in the air finally of the need for a coordinated and cooperative coming together of all these state actors if the hydra of terrorism is to have all its heads cut off. The sooner that comes to pass, the better. Already, too much water (and blood) has flown down the river. Time, gentlemen, for action, not just words.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Pak Daily Times] The Malian army captain who led a coup last year that plunged the West African nation into crisis and allowed al Qaeda-linked fighters to seize half the country has apologised to the nation for his actions.
Addressing a ceremony meant to reconcile army factions, Captain Amadou Aya Sanogo said events that led to former colonial power La Belle France dispatching thousands of troops to halt the bad turban advance were "an accident".
Once portrayed as a model democracy, Mali imploded last year when the president was ousted and a mixture of Tuareg separatists and rebels occupied its desert north.
Though a French-led offensive launched in January broke the bad turbans' grip on northern Mali, the wider region now faces a threat that has been scattered across the Sahel.
"Above being soldiers, we are humans and we make mistakes without meaning to," Sanogo said late on Wednesday in comments addressed to interim President Dioncounda Traore, dozens of members of the government, religious leaders and the heads of the Mali's most important families.
"We dare to hope that our apologies will be accepted," the US-trained officer said.
Separatist rebels launched attacks on Mali's army in early 2012. But shortly after Sanogo's coup, the rebels seized Mali's three northern regions in as many days as the thin line of resistance crumbled alongside the chain of command.
Sanogo, who drew support from Malians who said years of elections had failed to deliver concrete progress to the poor nation, handed over power soon after the March 22 coup.
But soldiers kept on meddling in politics and fighting among themselves, stalling national and regional efforts to retake the north.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
In today's world, an apology ought to be enough unless you are Paula Dean (sarc).
Paula Deen, Tell Em All To Go To Hell is the current column, now on WND. An excerpt:
Blaming Old-South cultureas the prototypical knaves of conservatism are doing is unlikely to help exculpate Paula Deen in the minds of the morons who judge her for her words, rather than for her deeds. The bad old South macro-narrative is as ineffective in mitigation as is pointing out that Deen misspoke because of a near-death experience. A black man [once] burst into the bank that I was working at and put a gun to my head, recounted Deen. I didnt feel real favorable towards him.
It is for the same reason that the young mother, seen here in a video gone viral being kicked and punched repetitively and mercilessly by a burly black man, should watch her words in the future. The home of the mom was invaded by the man, who delighted in brutalizing her in front of her toddler.
Instead of sticks and stones that break bones, there can be no doubt that the mother from Millburn, N.J., would have settled during that terrifying attack for the kind of cuss words that will never hurt mecracker, to quote Trayvon Martin, RIP.
But those who watched the persecution of the mom from Millburn and the tycoon from Georgia took away a different lesson than the one implied by that wise old adage.
Mind your mouth, mom! The hate crime you endured will not mitigate or explain any future slip-of-the-tongue. You may stereotype an elderly, highly successful white woman, based on her tribes past wrongdoing; but you dare not attach statistical significance to the misdeeds of a black man, because of his groups considerable contribution to crime.
[An Nahar] A two-headed turtle has hatched at the San Antonio Zoo and officials have named her Thelma and Louise.
The female Texas cooter arrived June 18 and will go on display Thursday at the zoo's Friedrich Aquarium.
Zoo spokeswoman Debbie Rios-Vanskike said Wednesday that the two-headed turtle appears healthy and is able to swim and walk. She says experts at the zoo don't foresee any health issues for Thelma and Louise, named for the female duo in the 1991 Oscar-winning road movie of the same name.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Signs and portents, my friends. Signs and portents.
#2
What foolishness do we today record with all due gravity, that will look as mad to posterity as the Roman obsession with carefully recording these sorts of freak births as if they were important looks like to us?
Assuming there is any posterity to make mock of their lunatic forebears.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/28/2013 14:42
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[NYPOST] The mayor's race -- once Christine Quinn's to lose -- has turned into a virtual dead heat among three contenders, according to a poll released yesterday.
After leading the pack at 37 percent in February, Quinn has dropped steadily to 19 percent in the latest Quinnipiac University survey, with Anthony Weiner and Bill Thompson hot on her trail at 17 percent and 16 percent, respectively.
Public Advocate Bill de Blasio held steady at 10 percent and Comptroller John Liu, dogged by a federal investigation into his campaign finances, was struggling at 7 percent.
A May 22 Quinnipiac poll had Quinn with 25 percent, Weiner with 15 percent, and Thompson at 10 percent.
The new poll was the biggest surge of the campaign for Thompson, who has had trouble breaking into double digits. The endorsement from the United Federation of Teachers last week undoubtedly helped Thompson, said poll director Mickey Carroll.
"The big story in my book is Thompson," Carroll said. "I think the UFT moved Thompson up and I guess the second story is Quinn down and Weiner up. You can explain Thompson. The Quinn-Weiner stuff is harder to explain."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2013
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Quinn down and Weiner up
He can't loose, headline writers will jump from the roof.
#10
It's got to be the water. Great for pizza dough but hard on the grey matter. Sister in law is holding a fundraiser next week for him - and the Sausage King himself will be in attendance. Cocktails with Weiner... has a certain ring to it. Still, I don't get it at all.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
06/28/2013 12:24
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#11
"gray" matter...PIMF
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
06/28/2013 12:29
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[An Nahar] The U.S. Senate took a bipartisan vote to end debate on a sweeping but contentious immigration bill on Thursday, paving the way for its final passage in the upper chamber.
Fourteen Republicans joined a unanimous Democratic side in voting to end debate on the most general amnesty effort in a quarter century, with a final vote slated for 4:00 pm (2000 GMT).
The bill would provide a 13-year pathway to citizenship for more than 11 million undocumented people in the country, revamp the legal immigration system and devote billions of dollars to enhanced security along the border with Mexico.
"We are moving one step closer to fixing our broken immigration system," Republican Senator Jeff Flake ...Republican junior senator from Arizona, elected in 2012. Prior to that he was a U.S. Representative for twelve years... of Arizona, one of the authors of the bill, said shortly after politicians voted 68-32 to invoke cloture on the far-reaching legislation.
The four Democrats and four Republicans known as the "Gang of Eight" spent months crafting the huge document, which pours $46 billion into border security and other efforts, including electronic employment verification and a modernized entry-exit system.
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Sen. Michael Bennet, D-CO
Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-IL
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-AZ
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC
Sen. John McCain, R-AZ
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-NJ
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-FL
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY
#4
The previous amnesty 25 years ago also promised improved border securty. That never occured. Instead, the amnesty of millions encouraged millions more to enter the US illegally, estimates to as many as 20 million.
With a second amnesty, encouragement for people to enter this nation illegally is a sure bet. People who do not speak the language, know nor care for the history of the sacrifices made to keep this nation strong by past generations, in exchange for supporting a socialist party that is driving this nation into deep, irreversible and catestrophic debt that will be a huge burden to future generations.
#6
The only plan is to do an accounting trick by legally passing off Amerika's debt to the post-2015 OWG + GFU, etc.
VOILA! LITTLE TO NO "NATIONAL DEBT" ANYMORE BECAUSE THE OWG-NWO + GLOBAL FED "UNIONS" + RELATED IS NOW RESPONSIBLE. Unfortunately, the snafu comes because our fellow NAU + TRANS-PAC, ATLANTIC Member-States still want the US to pay the largest "OFFICIAL" + "UNOFFICIAL" share of $$$ Contributions + Debt Management.
SO WHAT DEBT ARE WE REALLY FACTUALLY PAYING OFF OTHER THAN PASSING IT UP THE LADDER TO THE HIGHER OWG WHICH THE US IS STILL EXPECTED TO BE THE PRIMARY/MAIN PRINCIPAL??? Iff there is some benefit I don't see it.
#8
Passage in the Senate is only one step of the process. A similar bill needs to be passed by the House (not likely, as far as I can tell) and the two bills then need to be reconciled, and the final product passed in both houses.
#9
I'll continue to recommend that efforts be made to register PRI as a legit party, particularly from California to Texas. The Donks won't see any gain from amnesty and may even see a loss in registrations. Why should the illegals vote for a party of rich white men when they have their own to look after them?
#10
Might expand the list of the Gang of 8 and make it a Gang of 9; add Sen. Corker. "Gang of 8" sounds like some leftover from the "Soviet evil empire."
Wrote to my Rep. this a.m. and asked him to vote "NO" on the Senate Amnesty Bill when it comes up. I told him the Pubs are getting rolled on the bill just like 1986. What will happen is the Donks will ignore border enforcement and concentrate on the part that favors them--amnesty.
Both the Donks and Pubs are looking towards the 2014 elections and they want to be able to say we got a compromise and did something about immigration. The bill is laden with pork (guess they are making sausage) and doesn't really address immigration problems. "Now can I have your vote in 2014?" The Pubs need to give up on the idea that Hispanics are going to love them and do what's right for all Americans.
Pubs need to focus on improving the economy and getting jobs to the middle class. In light of the Russian and Chinese military buildups and the mad mullahs obsession with getting nuclear weapons. They also might focus on re-building our military. It has been sorely damaged by Champ and his minions.
#13
This would be the same aisle of legislation who just flash mobbed my Secretary of State's family at their home.
And since when does a pander for a prog get them to stop the hating? I don't get that benefit from friends in my own home state, nevermind declared lobsterbacks from coastal palaces.
#17
Republicans want me to stay home on the next election day? Just keep going the way you are and I will.
The Pubs have called us repeatedly asking for money and support. I usually don't answer the call when they show up on caller ID. My wife does answer the phone and gives it to them. Tells them to get their national leadership straightened out, start representing her, stop being so wishy-washy when running elections, get your principles straightened out and what you stand for, and stop trying to look like the Democrats. She says call back when they get that done, and I will support you and think about giving you money in this tough economy.
Well, it seems pulling their lever hasn't accomplished much. They appear to be just accomplices in the Three Card Monty game played in the Beltway working the rubes.
When Republicans find themselves losing elections all the time because they're really just a bunch of RINOs and they can't even get the conservative base to the polls, some of them might wise up. Hell, if nothing else is working it seems to me like it might be worth a shot. I voted for McCain in 2008 because I was afraid of Obama. But now my worst fears have been realized. Whether this so called "landmark" immigration bill passes or not doesn't matter because Obama's gonna do whatever the hell he wants anyway and the likes of John McCain won't say anything about it. I've been disenfranchised. I have no standing. So I don't feel like I have any more to lose.
#20
Always show up and vote. Pick a third party, if there is one. If not, vote for the non-incumbent. Change registration so as to be eligible to vote against incumbents in primaries.
#21
It isn't enough to simply sit-out the election. You have to send them a message as to why you are sitting out the election and not sending them donations.
Why?
Because they are kind of slow and... sorta-kinda stupid. They won't figure out on their own that people are staying home because they have RINOs like McCain and that they need to be more conservative and more like the Tea Party.
In fact they are more likely to simply allow the media talking heads do their thinking for them and accept that people are staying home because they are not more like the Democrats.
That is, after all, pretty much what they are doing now isn't it? The media (and insitutional consultants) are telling them that they need to be more like the Donks and the EVIL Tea party is the reason they are loosing.
#24
The GOP needs to be demolished. Just like the Whigs. The problem is the way the GOP and Dems in DC have dug in for the last century, its impossible to replace the de-facto 2 party system, so demolishing the GOP will end up with a one party state. The TRAITORS (yes they are) in the GOP that have become the party of the beltway are at fault for this. Yet they will never be held to account for the massive damage they have done liberty in this country.
The only way out is to destroy the GOP from within, hollow it out and use the shell to move forward. Question is, are there enough of us willing to do so that it can be done? So far, the answer is no.
So in the end it will eventually come to slavery or revolution. And revolution will be the only way out given the path our gutless politicians are taking. Bullets, pipe bombs, assassinations... its going to be horrible. I am almost glad Im so old that I will likely not see it. But if I am still able to help, I will, if it comes to that.
Until then, Im trying to gnaw away at the GOP jerks like McCain, and elect principled ones, like Ted Cruz.
[Pak Daily Times] A woman was killed in an honour killing, while two others including a cop were bumped off in cityon Thursday.
In what looks like an honour killing, a woman was axed by her husband over suspicions of illicit relation. Official of Jackson cop shoppe said deceased 35-years-old Kulsoom's husband Nawaz killed her with an axe and later expeditiously departed at a goodly pace. On being informed police reached the spot and shifted her body to Civil Hospital Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... (CHK) for postmortem. Police told that deceased hailed from Sargodha.
A police constable was rubbed out near Liaqat chowk within the premises of Rizvia cop shoppe. Police officials said that Muhammad Asif, 32, was attacked by unidentified gunnies when he was sitting near to his house with a friend.
As a result Asif sustained multiple bullet wounds and was struck down in his prime, however his friend remained safe. Victim's body was taken to Abassi Shaheed Hospital (ASH). Police informed that deceased was deployed at crime branch, and further investigations into his murder are underway.
A man was bumped off in Nazimabad No 2, within the precincts of Gulbahar cop shoppe. Officials said that victim namely 40-years-old Irfan Ullah Ansari, was killed when he was returning home after offering Fajar prayers at mosque located near Pardah Park. Armed pillion riders shot up him, resultantly, he sustained multiple bullet injuries and was struck down in his prime. The body of victim was handed over to heirs after autopsy at Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH).
Lawyer Sindh High Court Ahmed Ali Jan Bangash departed this vale of tears after one week treatment at local hospital. Baghadai Police said that on June 23 unidentified gunnies sprayed bullets on his car when Bangash was passing through the area along with his son Shabir Ali Jan Bangash.
Police further informed that victim's son was killed on the spot, while he was admitted at local hospital adding that the culprits had attacked them over sectarian basis.
Bodies found: An unidentified bullet riddled body of a man was found near Navel Flats, Agra Taj Colony within the remits of Kalri cop shoppe. Police expects the victim to be around 30-years-old. It said that unidentified culprits kidnapped the victim and later threw his body at said place after killing.
The body was moved to morgue for identification after autopsy at CHK. Police further said the victim apparently looked like belonging to Kachi community.
Another young man belonging to Kachi community was found dead within the remits of Chakiwara cop shoppe. Police said the victim was 26 year old and later moved his body to morgue for identification.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[An Nahar] A Dutch woman kept her dead 83-year-old mother in the freezer for a week because she couldn't bring herself to say goodbye, police said on Wednesday.
"The woman froze her mother's body and kept it for a week," police spokeswoman Esther Boot told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"She couldn't say goodbye," Boot said.
A family friend contacted police on Monday, saying they could "no longer live" with the secret of the body in the freezer.
Police went to the house in Kamperland, a small town in the southwestern Netherlands, and the 46-year-old daughter immediately confessed.
"There was no indication that the mother didn't die of natural causes, but the body has nevertheless been taken for his appointment with Doctor Quincy," Boot said.
The daughter was taken to the cop shoppe, interviewed and examined by a psychiatrist and allowed to return home.
Police said the daughter was "too sad" to let her mother go.
"She wanted to keep her nearby," Boot said.
The two women had lived together for 17 years, during which time the daughter took care of her mother day and night "with lots of love," police said.
"We don't yet know if there will be criminal proceedings, that's up to the prosecutor," Boot said.
"Technically it's a crime to keep a body in the freezer."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2013
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#1
"Technically it's a crime to keep a body in the freezer."
Technically it may just be more of a crime to keep it out
Posted by: European Conservative ||
06/28/2013 10:09
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[An Nahar] Three European women with feminist protest group Femen arrived in Gay Paree on Thursday after they were freed from a Tunisian jail where they were held for baring their breasts in public.
The three, two Frenchwomen and a German, were released from a prison in northeastern Tunisia on Wednesday after an appeals court suspended their sentences when they apologized for their protest.
Marguerite Stern and Pauline Hillier from La Belle France and Josephine Markmann from Germany were tossed in the slammer ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... after staging their bare-breasted protest in Tunis on May 29.
They were sentenced on June 12 to four months in jail for indecency and an attack on public morals over the protest in support of Amina Sboui, a detained Tunisian activist with the same group.
The trio were greeted by the head of the French branch of Femen, Inna Shevchenko, and the group's lawyer Patrick Klugman after arriving at Gay Paree's Orly airport.
Surrounded by police, the three women emerged into the airport arrivals area with their right fists raised over their heads, before leaving in a taxi without making statements to journalists.
"We welcomed them, we took them in our arms. They seem tired but the important thing is that they are here," a fellow member of the group, Sarah Constantin, told news hounds at the airport.
"We've won one battle, but as long as Amina remains in prison, we will continue to fight," she said.
Klugman said the three did not regret their protest despite their apology to the court.
"What they expressed were regrets about the way their action was perceived," he said. "They do not, however, regret their action or its meaning."
Sboui was incarcerated I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! for painting the group's name on a wall near a cemetery in the central city of Kairouan last month, in protest against a planned gathering of radical Islamists. She risks prison terms of two years and six months respectively for desecrating a cemetery and indecency.
The jailing of the three European activists, on charges of indecency and attacking public morals, were criticized as harsh by international rights groups and European capitals.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2013
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#1
Thank you for not posting pics. I have a feeling, I would have trouble scrubbing those images from mind; might even have to seek therapy.
[MAGHAREBIA] Ansar al-Sharia ...an Islamist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends... is showing up on the streets of Nouakchott.
Much like its eponymous peer in Tunisia, the Mauritanian group is calling for the application of Islamic law.
This political arm of al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) was only able to gain a foothold in Arab Spring countries Tunisia and Libya after their revolutions, L'Authentique daily noted, so its appearance in Mauritania comes as a surprise.
The Mauritanian Ansar al-Sharia "was established at the Dar Naim central prison, where most of its members are placed in durance vile Please don't kill me! for belonging to radical Islamic groups", the paper said.
On Sunday (June 23rd), terror-linked salafist Khadim Ould Semane invited "all Mauritanians" to support the "Sharia application group", ANI quoted his placed in durance vile Please don't kill me! brother as saying.
Another salafist inmate, Ahmed Salem Ould al-Hasan, founded the group "to combat secularists, make God's Sharia rule, and reinstate the scholars of the nation", according to ANI.
"I'm launching this campaign to demand the application of God's Sharia because I believe in Salafist ideology that contradicts with secularism and democracy," al-Hasan told the news agency from prison.
It is not just placed in durance vile Please don't kill me! salafists who are drawn to the Islamist movement. Imams from myrmidon mosques and a few politicians have joined the group in demanding the application of Sharia in Mauritania.
The latest Ansar al-Sharia event was held last Friday in Nouakchott.
"We don't notice that people are alarmed about the demand to apply Sharia at a time when same-sex people demand to be licensed to engage in their activities," Imam Manou Ould Mohamed of al-Shorofa mosque said in his Friday sermon.
"We don't desire to have any posts or responsibilities, but we're just demanding that our government apply God's Sharia on us," Cridem quoted Ould Mohamed as telling worshippers. "We're ready to sacrifice our own money, bodies and minds to realise that."
Ahmedu Ould Lemrabott Ould Habib al-Rahman, Mauritania's mufti and imam of the Grand Mosque, reacted strongly to Ansar al-Sharia's request.
"I say to those who are demanding the application of Sharia that they must distance themselves from political movements and purposes, politicians, manoeuvres, demonstrations and calculations," he said.
"I've told them that the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice must remain distant from politics," he said in his sermon last Friday.
The emergence of Ansar al-Sharia is raising fears that the experience of Tunisia and Libya could be repeated in Mauritania.
"Tunisia's salafists have influenced their peers in Mauritania, as the Mauritanian salafists found the courage to take to streets as well under the pretext that they aren't less than their peers in Tunisia," sociology researcher Ya'cub Ould al-Mostafa told Magharebia.
Ansar al-Sharia in Mauritania is exploiting citizens who do not dare criticise those who speak in the name of religion for fear of being accused of kufr, he said.
"Therefore, I think that the security authorities are avoiding festivities with them for fear of raising sensitivities," Ould al-Mostafa said.
In turn, youth expert Omar Ould Ahmed said: "With their extremism and fatwa, those people have killed the spirit of innovation and volunteerism, and they now prohibit music, theatre and cinema."
"I think that the suitable reaction to Ansar al-Sharia is to organise counter campaigns among youth. We must express our rejection of the Tunisian and Libyan experiences," he said.
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#1
"Political [not Military?] arm of the AQIM" > well there ya go.
[An Nahar] The U.N. Security Council on Thursday eased sanctions against Iraq imposed after Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait amid a significant thaw between the neighbors.
The council lifted the threat of action linked to the search for Kuwaitis and property missing since the invasion ordered by the former dictator.
Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari called the unanimous council vote a "landmark" in Iraq's efforts to restore its international image.
An international coalition ended the occupation of Kuwait in 1991 and a U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam in 2003. Iraq was ordered, however, to pay compensation and to help find more than 600 Kuwaitis missing since the invasion.
Kuwait backed resolution 2107 under which the missing people and property will now be handled under Chapter VI of the U.N. Charter, which calls for a peaceful resolution of disputes.
They had previously been dealt with under Chapter VII of the charter, which allows for sanctions and military intervention to enforce council demands.
The sanctions threat remains for Iraq's payment of war compensation. The U.N. also still has an arms embargo against Iraq under Chapter VII.
Iraq was ordered to pay just over $52 billion to its neighbor. Iraq says it still owes about $11 billion and that the debt will be fully paid in 2015.
The resolution acknowledged "the importance of Iraq achieving international standing equal to that" before the 1990 invasion and also welcomed Iraq's "demonstration of its commitment to the full implementation of its outstanding obligations."
U.N. leader the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... called for the sanctions to be eased in a recent report. He said both governments have shown "statesmanship and respect" in their efforts to heal the war wounds.
Zebari paid tribute to the Kuwaiti government for its "support and assistance" to get the sanctions regime changed and vowed to increase cooperation with Kuwait.
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[An Nahar] Libya's Defense Minister Mohammed al-Barghathi is to be replaced, Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said on Thursday, the day after deadly festivities between gangs in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which 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... "The defense minister will be thanked and we are going to name a new minister," Zeidan said in a speech.
He noted that Barghathi had already put forward his resignation at the beginning of May before withdrawing it shortly afterwards at the government's request.
On ground, tension was palpable in the Libyan capital on Thursday, a day after deadly fighting broke out between groups of ex-rebels, highlighting the country's continuing insecurity nearly two years after dictator Muammar Qadaffy ...a proud Arab institution for 42 years, now among the dear departed, though not the dearest... fell.
Much of Libya's recent unrest has centered on the eastern city of Benghazi, the cradle of the 2011 uprising against Qadaffy, where attacks blamed on Islamists have targeted both the authorities and Western interests.
But it now seems to be spreading to Tripoli, where brigades of ex-rebels remain entrenched despite government efforts to disarm them and impose its authority.
Since the fall of Qadaffy's regime, militia groups, mostly ex-rebels, have managed border controls, prisons, strategic facilities in the country and vital institutions.
Coming from different parts of the country, representing different tribes and with varying ideologies, they have received salaries and perks from the authorities, and some have even benefited from smuggling and extortion.
Deadly events on Tuesday and Wednesday epitomized the sense of lawlessness that surrounds them.
A group of gunnies from the city of Zintan who had been guarding oil facilities in the southern desert, attacked the Tripoli headquarters of the petroleum industry security force on Tuesday.
They had been replaced by another group and wanted their jobs back.
Another "brigade" of ex-rebels, loosely attached to interior ministry's high security commission, intervened in the fighting. Five people were killed and five of the Zintanis seized.
On Wednesday, armed Zintanis attacked the Tripoli headquarters of the brigade, located in the capital's Abu Slim district. They ransacked it and freed their comrades.
Five people were also killed in that fighting and another 97 maimed, the health ministry said.
The interim head of Libya's army, General Salem al-Konidi, said "we tried to intervene, but our resources did not allow it".
"The government refuses to equip the army," Konidi told Libya Al-Ahrar television.
On Thursday, military police remained deployed at key points along the airport road near Abu Slim, having arrived during the previous days festivities.
While there were no outright threats, there was a sense among people in the city that there could be more inter-militia festivities.
There are also worries that the city may see further incidents of this kind in retaliatory attacks but limited to inter-militia festivities
Konidi also disowned the Zintanis, who are officially attached to the defense ministry, saying "forces that don't follow our orders don't belong to us".
The government limited itself to issuing a statement overnight in which it regretted the "deplorable acts" and affirmed its intention to enforce its decision to remove "illegal militias" from the capital.
That decision had been taken by the General National Congress (GNC), the country's highest legislative and political authority, after deadly fighting in Benghazi three weeks ago.
And the government said on Thursday that, during the course of the day, Prime Minister Ali Zeidan would speak about the latest festivities.
But while violence hit Tripoli, there were deadly attacks elsewhere in the country.
Overnight, three boom-mobiles went kaboom! in Sebha, 700 kilometers (434 miles) south of the capital. Two people died and 17 were maimed in the blasts, which came at roughly half-hour intervals, officials said.
And in Benghazi on Wednesday, an army officer died after a bomb placed in his official vehicle went kaboom!.
The death of Lieutenant Colonel Jemaa al-Misrati came a day after gunnies killed six soldiers at a checkpoint south of Sirte, the late Qadaffy's hometown.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[An Nahar] The army on Thursday handed over a group of soldiers accused of abusing a detainee to the military police for questioning, a military source and the state-run National News Agency said.
The move came after amateur video emerged showing a group of soldiers humiliating, beating and kicking a man suspected of supporting a Salafist holy man Ahmed al-Asir whose men fought troops near the southern city of Sidon.
"The group of soldiers behind the beating of a civilian in Sidon has been enjugged Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! by the military police and is now being investigated," the NNA said.
A military source confirmed the report, adding: "We do not accept this kind of behavior."
Soldiers battled supporters of al-Asir in Abra neighborhood in Sidon last weekend in a major shootout lasting 24 hours.
Asir is now on the run after 18 soldiers were killed in the clash.
Earlier on Thursday, the army said it had ordered a "major investigation" into the beating of a suspect.
The video footage shows the man saying he worked in al-Asir's mosque, but that he has no weapons and had nothing to do with the fighting.
"I have no weapons... I don't like him (al-Asir), may God curse him," says the man, visibly afraid.
"Liar!" cries a soldier.
Wearing a white T-shirt, the suspect is seated cross-legged on the ground, with around a dozen troops surrounding him.
The video shows one man in civilian clothing hitting him, then a soldier kicking him and finally several others joining in.
A man is heard ordering those filming with their telephones to stop, and the footage ends abruptly.
The Abra clash was the worst in Leb since the outbreak of conflict in neighboring Syria 27 months ago has deepened sectarian tensions.
In a separate development, Hizbullah evacuated two apartments in Abra on Thursday near al-Asir's headquarters, after the holy man had accused it of stocking arms there and of spying on him.
"We have evacuated the buildings in order to keep the peace in the area," a Hizbullah source told Agence La Belle France Presse on condition of anonymity.
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#1
Every time I glance at an article about these nutz I do a double take on the name. No its not the guys that live across the BiFrost Bridge. Minus an 'e'.
[An Nahar] The U.N. Security Council on Thursday backed U.N. peacekeepers in the Golan Heights carrying machine guns, as fallout from the Syria war increases in the ceasefire zone. Because nothing sez "keep the peace" like a machine gun.
The 15-member council passed a resolution to extend the mandate of the force, which monitors a three-decade-old ceasefire between Syria and Israel, but which called on Syrian government and opposition fighters to stay out of the zone.
The council strongly condemned three abductions of U.N. peacekeepers in the Golan since March and expressed "grave concern" at violations of the 1974 ceasefire accord.
Members of the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) and the U.N. Truce Supervision Organization were kidnapped by different opposition groups between March and May.
Two peacekeepers have been maimed in shelling as Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... 's forces attack rebels in the ceasefire zone.
The council stressed the "need to enhance the safety and security" of peacekeepers, and endorsed U.N. leader the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... 's changes to the mission's operations to "enhance the self-defense capabilities of UNDOF."
The council resolution did not set out the measures. But U.N. officials and diplomats say that UNDOF peacekeepers, who traditionally only carry very light arms, will get machine guns, extra body armor and more armored vehicles.
UNDOF has already halted night patrols in the Golan and it will close some observation posts and strengthen those that stay open.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2013
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#1
What in the hell did they use before? Muskets? Pikes? WTF?
#3
This would be the same UN who is trying to disarm the USA because guns are not not peace?
But U.N. officials and diplomats say that UNDOF peacekeepers, who traditionally only carry very light arms, will get machine guns, extra body armor and more armored vehicles.
What, no safety vest? Sheeet mohn, can't fill the truck without three layers of reflective.
#4
Did it say that it would authorize more than 9 rounds of ammunition? Per person? Per squad?
For the whole 'Peacekeeping' force?
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
06/28/2013 13:41
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#5
Whether it is "one riot, one ranger", or the Big Red One, you get peace when determined men with guns show up. I rather suspect it is not the guns, but the will to use them that matters.
[An Nahar] Asian immigrants tend to live in highly segregated enclaves in the United States and their income level is often higher than that of white Americans, said a U.S. study out Wednesday. Up at 3:30 in the morning to make the donuts...
The nearly 18 million Asian immigrants to the United States are the country's fastest growing minority group, more than doubling since 1990, said the research by Brown University. To bed at 1:30 after studying for the chemistry test...
Data from the U.S. Census provided a snapshot of the Chinese, Indian, Filipino, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese living in the United States and how trends have changed. Helping cousin Vib finance his 7-11 franchise...
The report, "Separate but Equal: Asian Nationalities in the U.S.," found that Indians and Japanese were the most economically advantaged nationalities, while Vietnamese had the lowest incomes and the least education among Asian groups. Applying to eight medical schools to increase the chances of being accepted at one...
Still, Vietnamese tended to live in neighborhoods that were about on par with average whites, said the report. Every other Asian nationality lived on average in neighborhoods with higher incomes and more college-educated residents than non-Hispanic whites did, it said. Delivering General Tso's Chicken for Dad in a neighborhood that would have scared Luca Brasi...
"We are so aware of the disadvantaged situation of blacks and Hispanics that we tend to assume that segregation results in unequal neighborhoods for minorities," said John Logan, a sociology professor at Brown University. "... and don't forget to apply to Brown, Number One Son."
"Yes, Dad. But don't call me Number One Son, okay? People will think your name is Charlie!"
"'Charlie' Chan? What a funny name!"
"This isn't the case for any major Asian nationality. And that means there is very little incentive for Asians to assimilate into white neighborhoods." "Hey, yo! Ma man! Ma homey! Whuzzup?"
"Ummm... Sorry, Buzz. I don't speak the language."
Chinese were the single largest national group, with more than four million people or a quarter of the Asian total, followed by Filipinos (3.4 million) and Indians (3.2 million). "Dad, I've been thinking of majoring in Modern Dance... Dad! No-o-o-o! Aaaiiieeee! I am undone!"
"Indians and Japanese are the more advantaged nationalities, while Vietnamese have the highest unemployment, lowest income, and least education among these groups," said the report. "Kumar! You look so happy! We got the Subway franchise?"
Indians had the highest median household income among Asians, at $89,600 in 2010 compared to non-Hispanic whites at $54,000. Filipinos were second highest, followed by Chinese and Japanese.
"Asians live separately but in some respects they live in better than equal neighborhoods compared to whites," said the report.
"Although there are variations among the Asian national origin groups (with Vietnamese living generally in the least affluent neighborhoods, and Japanese, Koreans and Indians in the more affluent areas) the findings are similar for all groups."
Los Angeles and New York have the highest number of Asian immigrants, with nearly 1.5 million in each metro area. "Junior, are you going to get up? It's 2 p.m.!"
"Aw-w-w-w, Mom! I'm a night person!"
"Well, I think you..."
"Shut up. Leave me alone. Britch."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2013
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#1
Imagine how much better they would do if there were no affirmative action. Asians are generally discriminated against under AA.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
06/28/2013 18:26
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[An Nahar] Ecuador on Thursday denied ever authorizing a "safe passage" travel document to U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden and said it would not be able to process his political asylum request until he enters Ecuadoran territory.
"We confirm that the government of Ecuador has not authorized the delivery of any safe passage or refugee document that would allow Mr. Snowden to travel to our country," Political Issues Minister Betty Tola told news hounds.
Tola added that Ecuador has not been able to process the U.S. runaway's asylum request "because the petitioner is not in Ecuadoran territory as the law mandates."
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, whose anti-secrecy website has assisted Snowden, said on Monday that Ecuador had given Snowden a "refugee document of passage" that would allow him to travel here.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2013
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#1
Endangering 20% of your GDP not worth the good air time of MSNBC?
#2
See also CHINA DAILY FORUM > [Washington Times] OBAMA ON SNOWDEN:"I'M NOT GOING TO BE SCRAMBLING JETS TO GET [shoot down?] A 29-YEAR OLD HACKER".
RELATED ...
> PRAVDA = OBAMA WON'T DOWN AIRCRAFT WID SNOWDEN ON BOARD.
> EN.RIAN.RU = US SENATOR [Lindsey Graham] AIMS TO FORCE RUSSIA'S HAND ON SNOWDEN. Packages of measures agz Mama Russia being prepped.
> BBC = OBAMA WON'T BARTER FOR EDWARD SNOWDEN.
* TOPIX > [PressTv] US MUST NOT HUNT DOWN SNOWDEN: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL. EX-NSA HACKER FACES GOVT. PERSECUTION IFF EXTRADITED BACK TO US.
versus
* TOPIX > [Real Clear Politics] UNDER OBAMA, US HAS BECOME FRANCE.
Proudly surrendering like France since 2009? or twas it 2012?
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/28/2013 5:36
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#3
just wait - Presidential Pardon for OFA cash
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/28/2013 8:31
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#4
If you and I "commingled our funds," the IRS and FBI would be kicking down our doors, seizing files and assets and we would be doing the "perp walk."
[Bangla Daily Star] Mongolian President Tsakhia Elbegdorj won a second term, according to preliminary results yesterday, defeating a wrestling champion and the country's first woman presidential contender in an election dominated by a debate over mining wealth.
The incumbent gained 50.23 percent of votes, Mongolia's General Elections Commission chief Sodnomtseren Choinzon said, after announcing that all ballots had been counted.
But the result of Wednesday's election would not be official until the ballot papers were counted again on delivery to the capital Ulan Bator, Choinzon said.
Results announced through the night suggested that Elbegdorj, a former journalist who played a leading role when Mongolia peacefully threw off 70 years of communist rule in 1990, was on course for victory.
The Democratic Party candidate is expected to continue his policy of using foreign cash to power Mongolia's economy, which has been expanding rapidly in recent years.
The exploitation of Mongolia's vast coal, copper and gold reserves has helped transform an economy once characterised by nomadic lifestyles not far removed from its famous empire-building hero, Genghis Khan, 800 years ago.
But rising inequality in the cities and environmental damage in rural areas have dominated the political debate, while recent falls in commodity prices and slowing demand in the key market of China sparked uncertainty ahead of the election.
Elbegdorj's main challenger Badmaanyambuu Bat-Erdene won 41.97 percent of the vote, according to the results. The champion wrestler is the opposition Mongolian People's Party's candidate.
The third candidate, Natsag Udval from the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP),is the first woman to contest the presidency. She won 6.5 percent, according to the preliminary figures.
Elbegdorj became president in 2009 after twice serving as premier. He has guided the growth of the Mongolian economy following the arrival of foreign mining giants, which have moved in to exploit huge and largely untapped reserves of coal, copper and gold that China and other customers need to fuel their industries.
"In this election the Democratic Party candidate Tsakhia Elbegdorj received the trust of voters and is leading by the number of votes he received," said Prime Minister Norovyn Altankhuyag, of the Democratic Party, before the results were announced.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2013
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#1
I dunno bout you, but I simply LOVE their names!
[An Nahar] Hizbullah vacated several apartments in the area of Abra in the southern city of Sidon, handing them over to the Lebanese army, three days after gunbattles turned the city into a battle zone.
The apartments, which lie meters from the Bilal bin Rabah Mosque compound in which Salafist holy man Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir was a preacher, were one of the main reason for the fierce campaign launched by him against Hizbullah.
TV footage showed two apartments burned and damaged.
The army and security forces on Tuesday launched a manhunt for Asir after festivities between soldiers and his supporters left around 18 troops dead.
The military consolidated its grip on Sidon after overrunning the holy man's mosque complex late Monday. But Asir remained on the lam.
Syria's civil war has been bleeding into Leb for the past year, following similar sectarian lines of Sunni and Shiite camps. The military has struggled on multiple fronts in the eastern Bekaa valley and the northern city of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which 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... , where armed factions have fought street battles that often last several days.
Al-Asir, a 45-year-old holy man, supports the overwhelmingly Sunni rebels fighting to topple Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... Few had heard of him until last year, when he began agitating for Hizbullah to disarm and to clear the apartments near his mosque.
Last year, he set up a protest tent city that closed a main road in Sidon for a month in a sit-in meant to pressure Hizbullah to disarm.
Earlier this month, he accused the army of "defending" the apartments owned by the Shiite party.
He warned he would resort to a "military option" if his demand to vacate them were not met.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2013
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#1
This is what happens with Rent Control, plan accordingly.
[An Nahar] Syrian regime forces stormed a town in the central province of Homs on Thursday after days of fierce festivities with rebels, a monitoring group said.
State television said the army had "restored peace and security" to Al-Qariatayn.
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman said regime forces had "stormed the town of Al-Qariatayn" after days of fighting.
"Now the army is searching the town and detaining people," he said.
The army has been pressing an assault on villages surrounding Homs city, dubbed "the capital of the revolution" by anti-regime activists.
Few enclaves remain in rebel hands today.
Regime forces have besieged rebel-held districts in Homs city for more than a year, shelling them daily.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Scourge of Qusayr... 's troops seized the former rebel stronghold of Qusayr in the province earlier this month, supported by fighters from Hizbullah.
North of Homs city, the army has intensified its bombardment of rebel-held Rastan and Talbisseh.
On Thursday, the army renewed shelling the town of Houla, scene of a massacre last year, according to the Local Coordination Committees, a network of activists.
To the east, rebels maintain a presence in a handful of areas, among them Palmyra in the eastern desert.
"The army wants to secure a kind of moral victory by crushing Homs," Abdel Rahman said.
"Areas east of Homs city are important because they lie near Damascus province," he told Agence La Belle France Presse.
Activists in and near Damascus have reported daily bombing of rebel areas, and a major assault that has lasted more than a week against the Qaboon and Barzeh districts in the north and east of the capital.
Meanwhile, ...back at the fist fight, Jake ducked another roundhouse, then parried with his left, then with his right, finally with his chin... the army has captured parts of Barzeh, the Observatory said.
"Regime troops used mortars and rocket fire to target Qaboon," said the Syrian Revolution General Commission, another network of activists.
In southern Damascus, festivities raged around the Yarmuk Paleostinian refugee camp, said the Observatory.
Towns near Damascus held for months by opposition forces for months, such as Harasta, Zamalka and Douma, have been coming under intense fire, said the Observatory.
Clashes also raged in Rashidin district in the northern city of Aleppo, the Observatory said, days after a rebel attack aimed at taking regime-controlled areas of the city.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2013
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[Pak Daily Times] KARACHI: At least eight coppers were maimed during an encounter at Haji Mureed Goth within the precincts of Gulbahar cop shoppe on Thursday. As per detail, Gulbahar police conducted a targeted raid at a drug peddlers hideout, where criminals shot up the raiding party which resulted in wounding DSP Najamul Hassan, Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Akram Butt and police constable, Nasir Abbas, Usman and Ramzan. The injured were immediately rushed to the hospital where doctors termed their condition stable. Following the incident, a large number of police force along with Rangers personnel reached the encounter site and initiated a search operation after cordoning the area. Officials said that during the operation, they incarcerated ... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... at least ten suspects and recovered weapons from their possession. The detainees were shifted to some holy man's guesthouse an undisclosed location.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2013
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Top|| File under: Narcos
[Pak Daily Times] Lawmakers in the National Assembly are divided over the high treason trial of former military dictator Pervez Musharraf, as the opposition parties PPPP and MQM want the trial to start from the events of October 12, 1999 when he staged a military coup to topple the democratically elected government of Nawaz Sharif. The two parties have even suggested going as far back as the era of first military dictator, Ayub Khan.
The announcement by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan about the constitution of a four-member FIA team for investigation against Musharraf stirred up a heated debate in the House. The MQM lawmakers created a pandemonium when the Speaker switched off the mike of their parliamentary leader, Dr Farooq Sattar, to cut short his speech on the issue.
The government side contended that the move has been prompted by the order of the Supreme Court and it would not defame the institution of army. It said Pervez Musharraf should not be considered representative of the whole institution. PPPP President Makhdoom Amin Fahim who initiated the debate on Article 6 of the constitution supported the government's decision to try Musharraf for his November 3, 2007 imposition of emergency in the country. However, he urged that the trial should start from October 12, 1999 when an elected government was overthrown by him.
"We will not accept this double standard of the government. Is the sin of October 12, 1999 been forgiven?" Fahim questioned. He said that the government's decision to try the dictator for only the November 3, 2007 emergency showed that it wanted to save some individuals. He urged the government to move prudently on the matter, saying it is going to be a historic event as a military dictator will be tried under Article 6 of the constitution for the first time since 1947.
Nisar Ali Khan said that it would be unjust that the army is maligned for the actions of Musharraf and said that the government does not want that to happen. He rejected the claim of Amin Fahim that the government had double standard. Meanwhile, MQM's Dr Farooq Sattar said that he has castigated the government for taking shelter of the Supreme Court on this issue and noted that it is the prerogative of the government, not the court, to initiate the case against Musharraf.
Farooq said that all those who validated the October 12, 1999 actions are also not exempted from this unconstitutional action and pointed out that this article is wrongly being implemented. Shaikh Rashid Ahmed of the Awami Muslim League (AML) called for the trial of all the dictators under Article 6 and all those who abrogated the constitution since 1956. He said that the incident of October 12, 1999 had resulted into the dissolution of the National Assembly and noted that an elected prime minister was arrested.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2013
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[An Nahar] Lebanese men from al-Tufayli family kidnapped eight Syrians in retaliation for the capture of their next of kin in the eastern city of Baalbek, they claimed in a statement released late Wednesday.
"After Faisal Haidar al-Maarrawi from the Syrian town of al-Maarra and his brother Rifaat along with their gang kidnapped our son Mohammed Medhat al-Tufayli, several young men from the family kidnapped eight Haidar members," said the statement.
Al-Tufayli was kidnapped at noon Wednesday in the outskirts of the town of Nahle, said the state-run National News Agency.
The eight Syrians were later kidnapped while working in livestock grazing in Nahle, it said.
Among them were Khaled Haidar, his brother Ahmed, Hussein Haidar, and Mohammed Darwish.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2013
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[An Nahar] A suicide kaboom in a Christian area in the heart of the Syrian capital on Thursday killed at least four people, state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
said.
"A terrorist suicide kaboom... in Damascus has left four people dead and several others maimed," the broadcaster said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the toll, adding that the likely target of the bombing was a Shiite Mohammedan charity located in the Christian neighborhood.
"According to preliminary reports, four people were killed and several others maimed," said the Britannia-based Observatory.
"The bombing took place close to the Ihsan charity, which is Shiite," watchdog director Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"I believe the charity was the actual target."
Though it began with peaceful protests calling for the fall of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators... 's regime, Syria's war has grown increasingly sectarian over time.
The majority of Syria's rebels -- like the population -- are Sunni Mohammedan, while Assad belongs to the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
Sectarian tensions have grown further in recent months, ever since the entry into Syria's conflict of Leb's Hizbullah.
Residents of the neighborhood told AFP the police blocked off the road linking the two historical neighborhoods of Bab Tuma and Bab Sharqi, where the bombing took place.
An AFP journalist saw a corpse stretched out on the pavement.
At least two shops were damaged by the blast, said the correspondent, adding that firefighters, security forces and soldiers were all deployed in the area.
Official television channel Al-Ikhbariya broadcast footage of the body of a man in a white T-shirt, saying it was the remains of the jacket wallah.
It also showed body parts strewn across the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2013
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#1
MURDER BOMBING, Not suicide.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/28/2013 15:11
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[Pak Daily Times] MINGORA: At least two alleged bad boyz were potted in a shootout on Thursday, while the police said it managed to rescue 10 hostages from their captivity. According to media reports, the alleged terrorist opened indiscriminate fire on a police party in the suburbs of Dandona Qilla.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2013
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[An Nahar] Turkey's Islamic-rooted government will submit a proposal to parliament on Thursday to amend an army rule seen as the legal basis for the military to justify coups.
The move marks the latest step in the government's efforts to curb the influence of the once powerful army, which has staged four coups in half a century.
"The draft will be submitted to parliament today," Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said in televised remarks.
Article 35 of the army's internal code stipulates that it is the duty of the armed forces to preserve and protect Turkey.
But critics say the code, which entered into force after the first coup in 1960, turned the army into the self-appointed guardian of Turkish secularism and gave it the legitimacy to intervene in politics.
Bozdag said the government would not abolish the rule, without giving further details.
But local media speculated that the amendment would limit the army's duty to protecting the republic "from external threats".
Parliament is due to examine the bill after a summer recess.
Since coming to power in 2002, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AKP government has sought to curb the powers of the military, throwing hundreds of army officers behind bars for alleged coup plots.
In September, more than 300 officers were sentenced to up to 20 years in jail.
A verdict in another coup trial involving 275 defendants, including top military figures, is expected in August.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2013
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#1
A minor modification that costs the United States 700,000 lives and is still in dispute.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.....
[An Nahar] The Army command criticized on Thursday "fabricated" videos of gunnies allegedly fighting alongside troops in the southern city Sidon, vowing to take judicial action.
"At a time that the Lebanese army was fighting a fierce battle against an gang that was spreading sedition and meddling with the country's security... A cheap political and media campaign was targeting it," a communique issued by the army said.
It noted that "fabricated" videos, audio tapes and pictures were released concerning the army in the town of Abra and gunnies fighting alongside the troops.
"The army command reminds that the intelligence bureau's members wear civilian cloths... Any moral or security violations by any soldier or army unit will be investigated and the appropriate measures will be taken," the statement said.
The army command expressed regret that some local media outlets reached a level of deception that any technical expert could easily detect.
It described the matter as a "media scandal," warning that it will not remain mum over it.
"We have the right to refer the matter to the competent judicial authority," the statement said.
The Sidon festivities broke out when supporters of Salafist holy man Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir attacked the army.
Al-Asir, a 45-year-old holy man, supports the overwhelmingly Sunni rebels fighting to topple Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... Several media outlets displayed videos showing gunnies with yellow armbands fighting alongside the army, indicating that Hizbullah took part in the battles.
However, you can observe a lot just by watching... Hizbullah denied the matter.
Meanwhile, ...back at the palazzo, Count Guido had been cornered by the banditti... Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji visited on Thursday Caretaker Premier Najib Miqati at the Grand Serail.
A statement issued from Miqati's press office said the two men discussed the army's investigation into the videos "that tarnish the image of the military institution."
"The army should deal with all citizens equally," Miqati said.
He also called for distancing the military institution from the political campaigns.
Syria's civil war has been bleeding into Leb for the past year, following similar sectarian lines of Sunni and Shiite camps. The military has struggled on multiple fronts in the eastern Bekaa valley and the northern city of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which 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... , where armed factions have fought street battles that often last several days.
Few had heard of al-Asir until last year, when he began agitating for Hizbullah to disarm and to clear the apartments near his mosque.
Last year, he set up a protest tent city that closed a main road in Sidon for a month in a sit-in meant to pressure Hizbullah to disarm.
Earlier this month, he accused the army of "defending" the apartments owned by the Shiite party.
He warned he would resort to a "military option" if his demand to vacate them were not met.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2013
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A lawmaker representing the ruling United Russia party in the parliament of the Russian republic of Dagestan has been arrested for alleged links with Islamic terrorists insurgents.
Magomed Magomedov was detained on June 27 during a break in the parliamentary session. The Dagestani leader's office confirmed the reports but refused further comment. Magomedov is a member of the parliamentary committee for interethnic relations and religious issues.
Lawmakers immediately voted to expel Magomedov from parliament.
[An Nahar] Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been indicted on a total of 30 counts, including the use of a weapon of mass destruction, over the April attacks, federal prosecutors said Thursday.
Tsarnaev, 19, faces the death penalty or life imprisonment on 17 of the counts. Three people were killed and more than 260 were maimed in the bombings at the finish line of the Boston marathon.
The teen has also been charged with shooting dead a campus police officer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as he and his accomplice brother Tamerlan attempted to steal his vehicle.
Tamerlan, 26, was killed in a shootout with police three days after the April 15 bombings.
Among the other charges delivered against the younger Tsarnaev are bombing of a public place, malicious destruction of property resulting in death, carjacking and firearms offenses.
A Moslem of Chechen origin, Tsarnaev was naturalized as an American citizen last year. That worked well.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2013
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#1
Tamerlan, 26, was killed in a shootout with police three days after the April 15 bombings
I don't think being unsuccessfully used as a speed-bump by his brother helped.
[An Nahar] Some 200 people in a camp in southeast Tunisia for those who fled the Libya conflict in 2011 will be evicted Sunday when the U.N. refugee agency closes it, an NGO said Thursday.
"They are pushing the refugees out of the camp, they are closing it. We condemn the lack of humanitarian aid, the lack of security, the lack of resettlement," Nicanor Haon, with the Boats 4 People NGO, told a news conference.
If only they'd been Palestinians, or the Tunisians had been Jewish, they would've been set for generations. A pity, that.
Around 700 people, most of them sub-Saharan Africans, are still living in the camp near the Libyan border; 250 are waiting to be resettled in the United States and the same number have been offered accommodation in Tunisian cities, according to the UNHCR.
But the remaining 200 have had their asylum requests rejected and will no longer be the responsibility of the UNHCR when it closes the camp on June 30.
Haon said they risked expulsion, arrest or worse, adding that Tunisia did not have specific laws governing refugees, and that even those under the protection of the UNHCR who are to be resettled within Tunisia have no guarantees for their future.
"It would be very easy to finish this work, we're only talking about a few hundred people. It's one of the smallest refugee camps in the world," he said, adding that all the camp's residents should be granted refugee status.
Dalia Al Achi, a UNHCR representative, said proposals for work and housing had been made to those still in the camp, but that the agency could no longer support those who did not have refugee status.
"They were turned down in the first instance and again on appeal. (Nevertheless) we allowed them to stay since the end of 2012," she said.
Tunisia opened its borders to a flood of people -- more than 300,000 -- fleeing the conflict in Libya that led to the overthrow and death in October 2011 of Muammar Qadaffy ... who had more funny outfits than Louis XIV...
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[Bangla Daily Star] Three people have been killed in Indonesia's restive eastern region of Papua, police said yesterday, in an attack claimed by separatists during which a soldier was rubbed out and a civilian hacked to death.
A third civilian died after jumping into a ravine while trying to escape the ambush in the Puncak Jaya district, police said.
Tuesday's attack was claimed by a local leader of the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM) who said only members of the security forces were killed, not civilians.
Attacks on security forces are common in Papua, where poorly-armed bully boyz have for decades fought an insurgency on behalf of the mostly ethnic Melanesian population.
Papua province police front man I Gde Sumerta said that there was "an exchange of fire, the gunnies killed the soldier by shooting him in the head".
The attackers then used a machete to hack to death the male civilian driving the car the soldier had been travelling in, the front man said.
A second male civilian travelling with the group died after jumping into a nearby ravine as he tried to flee from the attack, said Sumerta, adding his body was found early Thursday.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
As per DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS, four Chinese nationals were repor killed in an alleged apparent attempt to escalate the issue on the Regional, World stage???
[An Nahar] Russia accused 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 the Soddy national face... and some other Gulf states on Thursday of funding "international snuffies and bully boys" in the Syria conflict.
Moscow's angry statement came in response to accusations by Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, that Russia was responsible for mass killings in Syria because of its military support for the regime.
"Of course, we are not going to justify ourselves before anyone. Our fundamental position on Syria is well known," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
"At the same time, a number of capitals, including Riyadh, unfortunately are not ashamed of employing all sorts of methods and contacts, including by financing and arming international snuffies and bully boys," the ministry statement said.
"Such actions must really be stopped."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2013
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#1
He is right, but room to talk with Hezbollah and Iran is kind of limited.
[MAGHAREBIA] ANP forces eliminated a terrorist near the town of Ifigha, east of Tizi Ouzou, APS reported on Wednesday (June 26th). The Algerian military action on Tuesday reportedly followed citizen tips about the terrorist's location.
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[An Nahar] The European rights court on Thursday rejected a request by survivors of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia to overturn a Dutch court ruling that confirmed the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... ' immunity from prosecution over the killings.
The "Mothers of Srebrenica", made up of some 6,000 survivors and relatives of the 8,000 men and boys killed in the massacre of Moslems by Bosnian Serb forces, has for years been seeking a trial of the U.N. and the Dutch state over the alleged failure of peacekeeping troops to protect the enclave.
The group had turned to the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) after the Dutch Supreme Court rejected the suit last year.
But in a unanimous ruling released Thursday, ECHR judges said their appeal was inadmissible because "the granting of immunity to the U.N. served a legitimate purpose".
The court said giving national courts jurisdiction over U.N. operations would allow states "to interfere with the key mission of the U.N. to secure international peace and security".
The Strasbourg court's decision is final.
Srebrenica was a U.N.-protected Moslem enclave until July 11, 1995, when it was overrun by Bosnian Serb forces who loaded thousands of men and boys onto trucks, executed them and threw their bodies into mass graves.
The Serbs brushed aside lightly armed Dutch U.N. peacekeepers in the "safe area" where thousands of Moslems from surrounding villages had gathered for protection.
The massacre, which has been judged an act of genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, was Europe's worst atrocity since World War II.
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The U.S. Park Police has lost track of thousands of handguns, rifles and machine guns in what a government watchdog agency concluded is the latest example of mismanagement on a police force trusted to protect millions of visitors to the city's iconic monuments. There is no indication that police guns got into the hands of criminals, but the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of the Interior warned that the Park Police might not know if they had. 
[Pak Daily Times] The Swiss cases saga on Thursday put Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Khurshid Shah against each other in the House when the former declared that he does not care if confrontation with the opposition party grows on this issue.
Nawaz Sharif
[An Nahar] A two-headed turtle has hatched at the San Antonio Zoo and officials have named her Thelma and Louise.
[NYPOST] The mayor's race -- once Christine Quinn's to lose -- has turned into a virtual dead heat among three contenders, according to a poll released yesterday.
[Pak Daily Times] A woman was killed in an honour killing, while two others including a cop were 
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[An Nahar] Syrian regime forces stormed a town in the central province of Homs on Thursday after days of fierce 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Pak Daily Times] KARACHI: At least eight 
[An Nahar] A suicide 
[An Nahar] The Army command criticized on Thursday "fabricated" videos of 
Najib Miqati
