At least six members of a group of infiltrating militants who "disappeared" soon after reportedly sneaking into the Indian side of the Line of Control in Gurez sector in March this year have been found buried in snow in Jammu and Kashmir.
The discovery of the bodies corroborates an earlier Army statement saying the militants were caught in an avalanche and had not escaped to relocate to other areas, as reported by a section of the media then.
Army officials here said six to eight infiltrators were buried by a huge avalanche. Their bodies could not be retrieved then due to the deep snow. But with the melting of the snows, the bodies of at least six of them have been found in the mountains.
Soldiers at an Army forward post caught sight of the corpses and informed their seniors earlier this week. The Army then launched an operation to trace the other bodies, during which six assault rifles were also found. "It has been confirmed that the terrorists were well equipped and clothed to infiltrate through the snow-laden ridge lines of north Kashmir," a defence spokesperson here said.
In March and April this year Gurez and neighbouring Kupwara witnessed a series of infiltrations bids by militants, most of which were foiled by the security forces.
Posted by: john frum ||
07/03/2009
19:18 ||
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too bad no soccer teams air-crashed nearby
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/03/2009 20:09
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Up to 26 Pakistani security personnel are feared dead after an army transport helicopter crashed in the tribal region of Orakzai, military officials say. Maj Gen Athar Abbas told the BBC the helicopter crashed on the border of the Khyber and Orakzai tribal region.
The cause of the crash is unclear, although officials said the most likely explanation was a technical failure.
Insh'allan maintenance strikes again ...
he BBC's Mike Wooldridge in Islamabad says it is understood the MI-17 helicopter had been flying back to Peshawar from the Afghan border region when the pilot put out a Mayday alert. The helicopter then came down "in a hostile area" where it was fired upon by militants, according to officials. Troops were sent in and exchanged fire with the insurgents.
Military officials said that an investigation into the crash would be carried out.
But our correspondent says it is a serious blow for the Pakistani military as it prepares for the next phase of its offensive against Taliban militants in the north-west tribal belt along the Afghan border. The region - on the Afghan border - is controlled by Pakistan's most senior Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/03/2009
16:14 ||
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I wonder if this was one of the new ones we just bought them?
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/03/2009 16:46
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Really This is what is most important to most rantbabies?
Who Cares
#1 I wonder if this was one of the new ones we just bought them?
Posted by: 49 Pan 2009-07-03 16:46
Hope this is not hender a greater mission in the region
#3
Rantbabies? Pan's observation would be on the subject of maintenance, moron
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/03/2009 17:16
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#4
Is that clown back again?
Mommy give you access to the computer in the basement again, p4k?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/03/2009 17:32
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#5
We gave the Paks MI17's P4K, we sent US trainers over there to train them, we are vested in them in their fight against the Talibon and AQ. Their loss is our loss and a blow to our efforts. Yes, winning this war is important to us "rantbabies" P4K.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/03/2009 19:09
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#7
yes, I believe we bought them from previous Russian Satellite countries
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/03/2009 20:30
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#8
The Pakistanis bought quite a number of MI-6/MI-17 helicopters from Russia, and were experienced in using them. We bought them some more to build up their arsenal. There's the possibility that this was one of the ones we bought, with some problems we didn't check out closely enough. If not, and it was a bird the Paks had had for some time, then Ins'allah maintenance is a distinct possibility, but nothing we could do anything about, or have any responisbility for.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/03/2009 21:14
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WASILLA, Alaska (AP) - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says she will resign from office July 26. Her spokesman wouldn't say why Palin decided to step down, but the announcement stirred speculation that she would focus on a bid for the 2012 Republican nomination for president.
Spokesman Dave Murrow says Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will be inaugurated at the governor's picnic in Fairbanks at the end of the month.
This makes no sense. She should finish her term. Americans don't like quitters.
Is there something in her closet?
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/03/2009
15:39 ||
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#1
I think she's reached the point where she's beginning to carry a gun everywhere with her, and wanting desperately to use it. I think her early retirement is to give her lt.gov some experience before he runs for the job. I think the last hit on Trig was the straw that broke the camel's back. Personally, I think she should re-form the Bull Moose Party, and run against both our current "president" and whoever the Repuglycons put up. I think, however, she'll sit the next election out, give her family a bit of time to grow up some more, and run in 2016.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/03/2009 21:07
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WASHINGTON (CNN) Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is expected to announce Friday that she will not seek a second term, three sources tell CNN. Palin has scheduled a 3 p.m. ET news conference at her home in Wasilla. The governors office offered no further details about the subject of the news conference, but the sources tell CNN that Palin will announce her decision to forgo another run.
"She thinks she has accomplished goals she has set forward," one of the sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said. "She sees what a positive influence she has had on people's lives from traveling the country in the last year."
As the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, Palin is considered one of the frontrunners for the GOP nomination in 2012. Her decision not to seek another term as governor is sure to stoke speculation that Palin is seriously eyeing a run for the White House.
No, it means she's going to run for the Senate in 2010 ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/03/2009
15:37 ||
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#1
He brother is saying she was spending %80 of her time legally defending herself from frivolous suits from the left.
#2
She is also resigning which to me is not a smart thing to do if you seek higher office. Personally I am dissapointed, she connected to us folks in fly over country better than any politician I can remember.
#3
She is setting her self up for 2012. She learned some good lessons and I'm with Seve in that she will run for Senate. Her voting will show the nay sayers how she stands, get the respect and build her leadership for 2012. The girls got tenacity, watch Palen tear up DC. Bring popcorn.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/03/2009 16:22
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#4
Alaskans will lay pine boughs at her feet along the road to the Senate. I wish her and her lekker family well in all their endeavors.
#5
Running for the senate, or not, nobody is talking about the fact that the Palins have paid $500,000 in legal fees responding to frivolous ethics complaints over the past year and a half - the Palin's don't make the kind of money required to maintain that kind of legal spending and remain solvent. I'll bet she didn't have much choice, either she puts an end to the ethics probe legal spending, or the family goes bankrupt, and the only way to make the moonbat complaints stop is to resign from the Governorship.
#6
the only way to make the moonbat complaints stop is to resign from the Governorship.
or arm and deputize Todd with a 00 number
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/03/2009 17:11
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How many people would attend a TEA party if Sarah was the speaker? The Republicans don't like her, the democrats despise her, but she is very popular with middle America. Perhaps it is time for a legitimate third party candidate.
#9
Beoserker: then if she runs third party the Republicans better wise up and not run anyone.
I suspect if the national party had wanted to help defend her they could have. I think Steele has been a disaster in not being proactive enough to fight this sort of thing. They let office politics take precedence over winning while the democrats looked on politics as conquest-by-means-other-than-war.
If the Republicans won't be serious we need a serious patriotic party that is.
Life is too short to compromise time and resources... it may be tempting and more comfortable to just keep your head down, plod along, and appease those who demand: "Sit down and shut up", but that's the worthless, easy path; that's a quitter's way out. And a problem in our country today is apathy. It would be apathetic to just hunker down and go with the flow.
#11
You make an excellent point Snowy Mtn. I like Mike Steele but in spite of his best efforts, he has failed to show any signs of mustering the Republican party. Consider this:
a. Mike Steele resigns and Sarah Palin steps in to rally the Republican party.
b. Mitt Romney becomes Rep. front runner with Newt Gingrich as his running mate.
c. Palin becomes SECDEF under a Romney administrtion.
d. Palin becomes Secretary of State during a Romney second term.
e. Palin still in her mid-50's runs for President in 2020.
#13
and what has the Republican party done for conservatives, this is not Perot. This candidate threw out bums from both parties in Alaska, drew enormous crowds as a vp candidate, is not afraid to attack the political elites and their lapdog media talking heads. This might be the begining of a third party and the restoration of middle American Values. or so I can wish.
#15
The way the repubs are acting, with their milqetoask manner and not going for the throat, shows that they are virtually finished.
Both parties have failed the country. They both need to go.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/03/2009 20:07
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#16
I think the country would be better off if she became the anti-Oprah/Springer. A daytime TV show to deprogram the masses of women and stress family, community, country, responsibility.
Posted by: ed ||
07/03/2009 20:11
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#17
Beoserker, y'know, it's as the first Republican president said to one of his generals, "Could I borrow your army as long as you're not using it?"
It's time for the Republican "leadership" to start acting like a party again. You know, try to line up candidates for 2010, etc., like the Democrats did in 2006 and 2008.
#18
In case you hadn't noticed, the GOP is finished anyway. John McStain at the Presidential candidate who refused to engage Obama's lies head on? Idiot RINO Sentaros that voted for the Stimulus? Bush's "Big Government" medicare expansion? "Benedict" Arlen Specter with McStain screwing us on judges with the "Gang of 14" bullcrap? And most lately, the 8 Cap And Tax traitors in the house?
Is there really a GOP left that's worth doing anything to save?
#19
McCain is gone. His empty-headed daughter lives, but won't be a GOP supporter. I'd expect Romney to be the frontrunner next run. People might be open to economic competence and bizniss expertise by then
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/03/2009 20:29
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#20
As long as you ignore his health plans.
Also, when the sort of smear machine that was turned on Palin gets turned on Romney... it's gonna be bad.
The chain emails will be quoting everything non-progressive in the Book of Mormon and ending with "And Romney refuses to repudiate this."
#21
Oh criminy, people, the way everyone is wringing their hands I'd better buy the five-gallon size of lotion for y'all. I'll set it up on the bar at the O-Club.
Man up.
I like Sarah as a pol and a citizen. Not sure why she did this but we'll find out. If she runs for national office I'll look closely, but she'd better bring the real goods.
In the meantime the Republican party is NOT finished. It put up a lousy candidate (for whom I voted) who, running against a charismatic empty suit with the MSM blocking for him and the Dems stealing votes every way they could, STILL got 46% of the vote.
And a fair number of independents and moderates voted for Obama because they thought it would be cool to have a black prez (argue against that, why don't you). That won't happen again in '12.
The Pubs are not finished. The Pubs need to find a voice, a strategy, some candidates and some courage. They've done it before. They might do it again.
In early 2005 the Dems had no idea that Barack Obama would win the whole show. In 1997 George W Bush was on virtually no one's radar. And nobody thought Slick Willie would win in 92 because he talked too long and liked blondes too much.
So stop with the despair.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/03/2009 22:29
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#22
Bitchslap! RB style.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/03/2009 22:50
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#23
Steve, some of what I feel is despair, and some of what I feel is being p1ssed off.
The remaining management of the republican party needs to do some soul-searching.
If they don't have a use for it, I think I'd like to borrow it, or barring that, start my own.
#24
No despair here, I just don't like either of the representative parties because they don't represent me. I think Sarah has an opportunity to take a fiscal conservative, strong defense, anti corruption, anti elite bullshit media theme and shake the two party system. Call the party what you will but I hope she does it just so I can vote for someone I want to rather than the lesser of two evils.
An original first print of the American Declaration of Independence has been discovered gathering dust in Britain. The document that changed history was approved on July 4, 1776, and this is one of only 26 copies known to have survived out of 200 printed that night.
The poster size proclamation is in perfect condition and is said to be worth £5million.
It was found by chance by an American antiquarian bookseller carrying out unrelated research in the National Archives in Kew, West London. The manuscript was hidden among correspondence from U.S. colonists that had been intercepted by the British in the 18th century.
The Declaration, which helped establish the guiding principles of modern democracy, was written mainly by U.S. Founding Father Thomas Jefferson and is described by historians as 'America's birth certificate'. It includes the then extraordinary assertion: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,' which paved the way for the French Revolution 13 years later. It was signed by 56 delegates from the 13 American colonies that were at war with Britain.
The 200 first copies were made by printer John Dunlap that night and distributed throughout the colonies the following morning to be read aloud to the colonists and their militia.
It is not certain how the newly discovered copy came into British hands, but it is likely to have been captured by the Royal Navy during the American Revolutionary War which continued for seven years after the Declaration of Independence was signed.
The last discovery of a Dunlap print was at a flea market in 1989, and it sold at auction in 2000 for £4.94 million.
Despite its value, the National Archives said it will not be selling the print, although it might be loaned to former foes in the U.S.
'The Americans are very excited by it,' said a spokesman. 'We do often loan out our key documents and I'm sure if an American institution wanted to borrow it, we would consider lending it to them.
'It's amazing that it has been lying here for so long undetected. It just shows how many documents we have.'
Edward Hampshire, the diplomatic and colonial specialist at the National Archives, said it was an incredibly exciting find. 'It is likely that only around 200 of these were ever printed, so uncovering a new one nearly 250 years later is extremely rare, especially one in such good condition'.
The National Archives already has two other copies of the Declaration of Independence, one of which it keeps on display.
#2
Next time, rake the suspects with 50BMG to prevent injury to the crew of the ship. The sooner we stop playing PC with these guys, the less our injuries and the sooner this pirate crap stops.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/03/2009 20:03
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It looked like the vid was from Sri Lanka.
Posted by: ed ||
07/03/2009 20:04
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Super-Size Deposits Of Frozen Carbon Threat To Climate Change
The vast amount of carbon stored in the arctic and boreal regions of the world is more than double that previously estimated, according to a study published this week.
The amount of carbon in frozen soils, sediments and river deltas (permafrost) raises new concerns over the role of the northern regions as future sources of greenhouse gases.
"We now estimate the deposits contain over 1.5 trillion tons of frozen carbon, about twice as much carbon as contained in the atmosphere", said Dr. Charles Tarnocai, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, and lead author.
Dr. Pep Canadell, Executive Director of the Global Carbon Project at CSIRO, Australia, and co-author of the study says that the existence of these super-sized deposits of frozen carbon means that any thawing of permafrost due to global warming may lead to significant emissions of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane.
Carbon deposits frozen thousands of years ago can easily break down when permafrost thaws releasing greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, according to another recent study by some of the same authors.
"Radioactive carbon dating shows that most of the carbon dioxide currently emitted by thawing soils in Alaska was formed and frozen thousands of years ago. The carbon dating demonstrates how easily carbon decomposes when soils thaw under warmer conditions," said Professor Ted Schuur, University of Florida and co-author of the paper.
The authors point out the large uncertainties surrounding the extent to which permafrost carbon thawing could further accelerate climate change.
"Permafrost carbon is a bit of a wildcard in the efforts to predict future climate change," said Dr Canadell. "All evidence to date shows that carbon in permafrost is likely to play a significant role in the 21st century climate given the large carbon deposits, the readiness of its organic matter to release greenhouse gases when thawed, and the fact that high latitudes will experience the largest increase in air temperature of all regions."
Carbon in permafrost is found largely in northern regions including Canada, Greenland, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia, Scandinavia and USA.
The carbon assessment is published this week in the journal of "Global Biogeochemical Cycles" of the American Geophysical Union, and the radiocarbon study was recently published in the journal of Nature.
Shanghai (AFP) July 1, 2009 -- General Motors China said Wednesday sales in the world's most populous nation have risen steeply so far in 2009, marking a stark contrast to the auto giant's woes elsewhere. The iconic but struggling US automaker reported its joint ventures sold 814,442 vehicles in China in the first half of 2009, up 38 percent from the same period last year.
That's 1.6 million a year; they're on a pace to sell about 3 million in the U.S.
"China's vehicle market continued to outpace most expectations for growth," GM China Group President Kevin Wale said in a statement. "The market benefited from stimulus policies adopted by the Chinese government as well as growing demand for personal transportation in tier-three and tier-four cities and rural areas."
China overtook the United States to become the world's largest car market for the first time in January.
GM China's fortunes are the reverse image of its US parent, which has filed for bankruptcy, underlining the Asian market's growing importance for the global auto industry. GM's troubles have been further highlighted here in recent weeks after Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co, a little-known Chinese machinery maker, placed a bid to buy its iconic Hummer brand.
Sales from GM's commercial-vehicle joint venture in China with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. Group jumped 49.9 percent to 524,598 units.
"Minivans are at the low end of the auto market, which means their profit margins are thinnest," said John Zeng, a Shanghai-based analyst with consultancy IHS Global Insight. "The jump in sales of these vehicles does not necessarily mean the profitability of the industry is improving."
Sales from the passenger vehicle joint venture, with Shanghai General Motors Corp, reached 288,843. The balance was accounted for by vehicles imported into the country, according to GM China.
The company said it was optimistic about the outlook for the rest of the year. "Vehicle sales in China are expected to remain strong in the second half of 2009," Wale said.
Recent Chinese incentives to stimulate domestic consumption include slashing purchase taxes on cars with engines smaller than 1.6 litres and subsidising alternative energy vehicles.
The China Passenger Car Association has forecast auto sales in the nation could hit a record 11 million units this year, as sales in the rest of 2009 are expected to improve on the first five months, the China Daily reported.
In 2008, vehicles sales in China rose about 6.7 percent to 9.4 million units -- a modest growth rate by Chinese standards as demand was hit by the global downturn. Given the market fundamentals in China and the United States, the current Chinese domination of sales figure is unlikely to last, analysts said.
"China's weight on the global auto market is increasing, but it is unlikely to replace the United States," said Zeng. "It may surpass the US this year as the US market is still in a V-shaped rebound. The US passenger vehicle market is around 16 to 17 million units, and the Chinese market is unlikely to reach that level yet."
#1
I hear GM is changing their name to Gweilo Motors.
Posted by: ed ||
07/03/2009 15:00
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#2
"It may surpass the US this year as the US market is still in a V-shaped rebound. The US passenger vehicle market is around 16 to 17 million units, and the Chinese market is unlikely to reach that level yet.
In 2008, China surpassed the United States to become the world's second largest auto-making nation, and in 2009 is set to displace Japan as the planet's largest car producer, according to iSuppli Corp. Last year, China manufactured 9.3 million cars, while the United States built 8.7 million.
Posted by: ed ||
07/03/2009 15:03
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#3
I got my memories. I can remember when GM was a blue chip investment. You could invest in GM and be certain to earn on your investments. You could count on it was solid. Now it is part of a sordid socialistic nightmare owned by the union and government and worth nothing and it earns nothing.
#4
that is what happens when you have a true stimulus package..china offered direct coupons for purchase of autos..unlike our dictators direct payments to his cronies in our ,cough cough, stimulas package
Posted by: Dan ||
07/03/2009 19:51
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#5
"You don't multiply wealth by dividing it."
Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931-2005
Veteran Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano won the contest on Thursday to head the International Atomic Energy Agency, giving him a pivotal role in dealing with Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Tokyo's current envoy to the UN nuclear watchdog was chosen after six rounds of voting when he scraped together the requisite two-thirds majority with backing of 23 of the 35 board members. Eleven voted against and one abstained.
Seen as the Western states' candidate to succeed outgoing director-general Mohamed ElBaradei, Amano had been running against South African ambassador Abdul Samad Minty, the perceived favourite among developing countries.
Under the rules of procedure, all 145 IAEA member states are to meet again on Friday where they will formally appoint Amano "by acclamation" and his appointment will need the final go-ahead at a general conference in September.
A top Iranian cleric said Friday that some of the detained Iranian staffers of the British Embassy in Tehran will be put on trial, and he accused Britain of a role in instigating widespread protests that erupted over the country's disputed presidential election.
The announcement by Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati alarmed European nations and fueled calls for tougher action against Tehran. Britain is pressing for members of the European Union to pull their ambassadors out of Tehran to protest the arrest of its embassy staffers last week a step that the EU so far has hesitated to take.
Jannati does not hold a position in the government or judiciary, but is the head of the Guardian Council, a powerful body in Iran's ruling clerical hierarchy that stands above the elected government.
Jannati took a tough line, indirectly accusing Mousavi of treason.
Posted by: ed ||
07/03/2009
14:19 ||
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#2
Time for the Brits to nuke the he$$ out of Iran, beginning with Qom. Putting diplomatic personnel on trial on such a trumped-up charge is an act of war, and should be responded to accordingly. Too bad Jimmah Kahtah wasn't man enough to do that in 1979. We wouldn't have had this problem today if he had. What a limp-wristed psychopath - HE belongs in Iran.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/03/2009 21:09
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#3
From the NY Times:
As local employees of the embassy, those arrested did not have diplomatic immunity. None are British citizens.
Late last month Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei pointedly restated Great Britain's longstanding designation as Tehran's public enemy No. 1, surpassing the Great Satan America and Zionist Israel. In this verbal assault, the clerics credited "Perfidious Albion" with manipulating and even controlling the actions of the United States in confronting Iran and containing its ambitions. Wow!
China said Thursday it was "firmly" opposed to provisions in a new US clean energy bill that will make it easier to impose trade penalties on nations that reject limits to globe-warming pollution.
"China is firmly opposed to such measures," vice foreign minister He Yafei told reporters in Beijing. "We are firmly against such attempts to advance trade protectionism under the pretext of climate change. It is not conducive to world economic recovery. It serves nobody's interests."
It bugs me no end when I find myself agreeing with a Chinese communist ...
On Friday, the US House of Representatives narrowly passed legislation to limit pollution blamed for global warming, handing President Barack Obama a hard-fought major victory. Lawmakers voted for the first time in US history to limit heat-trapping carbon emissions and shift the US economy to cleaner energy.
However, after the House of Representatives passed the legislation, Obama said he did not want the bill to be used to impose trade penalties on countries in the interest of curbing global warming, The New York Times reported.
Is he going to issue a signing statement?
The newspaper said Obama had told reporters at the White House that at a time when the global economy is still deep in recession, he thought "we have to be very careful about sending any protectionist signals out there."
The US Senate has still to vote on the energy bill.
China has shown increasing concern in recent years about the consequences of global warming. But as part of ongoing global negotiations to replace the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012, China has said the bulk of the responsibility for emissions cuts lies with developed nations.
#1
Heh. I agree, Dr. Steve. This should put a damper on the whole charade. If they won't buy our debt, We're fooked
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/03/2009 14:18
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#2
Sheesh. America is getting lectured by the likes of China, Pravda and Putin on economics, trade and government. Nothing unusual there, but the horrible part is they are making sense for once. Even stranger, a tiny Central American country is teaching us something about the rule of law. It's a Bizarro World!
One day, I will wake up and find it was only a dream.
#3
The quicker the US terminates most trade with communist China, the quicker and less painfully the US can reindustrialize and recover it's economy. The Cold War would have turned out very differently had the US, instead of embargoing the Soviets, given the USSR as many concessions.
Posted by: ed ||
07/03/2009 14:55
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#4
So everyone else acts in the best interests of their country...We are the only ones that are idiots? Ah, the foolish of it all. We are and have been shooting ourselves in our collective feet for some time. China gets it, our govmint doesn't.
How dare the Chinese keep those 5 million unemployed in this recession. Those should be Americans out of jobs seeking politicians to 'redistribute' the wealth! /sarc off
#6
You know, the Chinese have been dependent on the last ten years on the assfawktards in washington nickle-and-diming American manufacturing to death so they can be competitive while at the same time accepting IOU's from a deindustrializing US to pay for all the crap they want to sell us.
I don't really have much sympathy for them OR the politicians. BOO HOO, So there was no honor among thieves? The Chinese are disturbed that they can't trust these immoral idiots that were betraying OUR trust?
This ain't Chilkoot Charlie's, and "We Screw The Other Guy And Pass The Savings On To You" IS NOT A BUSINESS PLAN.
#9
If the US had the $700 billion/year of exported wealth stay in the US, providing capital for jobs and taxes, do you think the US would be in the economic bind it in in today? Would the people be in debt to their eyeballs, relying on credit cards to meet monthly budgets? Would governments up to their asses in red ink, paying for burgeoning welfare rolls, SSI and medicaid, soon unable to even borrow anymore?
That $700 billion that permanently leaves the economy would have circulated 3 times each year in the economy or another 15% of GDP. Instead it goes provide 10% growth in China, jihad and indolent lives of luxury in Arabia, and retirement nest eggs in Germany. No thanks. I'd rather the money work for Americans.
If the US built 15 million cars each year, instead of importing 50%, would Detroit, Gary, the whole "Rust Belt" still look like ghost towns or have remained the richest, most vibrant, most industrialed patch on the planet? Would Silicon Valley be deindustializing w/ technical and production jobs flowing across the Pacific? Would the oil patch be a hollow shell or a vibrant sector of the economy if there was a sensible policy of producing domestic energy? Would the nuclear industry be vibrant, producing dozens of gigawatts of new capacity each year instead of being being tossed like used tissue between the English, French and Japanese?
The only industrial sector that has done OK is aviation. A sector that is directly dependent on military R&D dollars. With the rest of the economy in shambles, even that sector will be starved as revenue will no longer be able to even may for a strong defense.
You go ahead and keep spouting laissez faire bull crap, thinking you can stay rich lending each other borrowed money while competitors eat our industry and 400 years of accumulated wealth. Maybe in another 10 years you will be selling your daughter to pay for the lifestyle you have come to expect.
/sarc off
Posted by: ed ||
07/03/2009 17:50
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#10
Anyone remember 1992 and the phrase the "giant sucking sound?" Ed is right on the money. We've been SOLD OUT by Washington and the "laissez faire" free traders.
#11
If the US built 15 million cars each year, instead of importing 50%, would Detroit, Gary, the whole "Rust Belt" still look like ghost towns or have remained the richest, most vibrant, most industrialed patch on the planet? Would Silicon Valley be deindustializing w/ technical and production jobs flowing across the Pacific? Would the oil patch be a hollow shell or a vibrant sector of the economy if there was a sensible policy of producing domestic energy? Would the nuclear industry be vibrant, producing dozens of gigawatts of new capacity each year instead of being being tossed like used tissue between the English, French and Japanese?
None of those things occured as a result of "laissez-faire economics." There were specific government policies put in place and still in place that led us down the road to ruin.
Don't British girls have enough to worry about with visible tan lines and biting insects? At least 5,000 women and girls were sent abroad to marry last year, according to a government report. Britain is toughening its stand against the practice with 'rescue' teams, hotlines, and a new campaign to protect women.
The first time Shazia Qayum met her husband was on their wedding day. Duped by her parents into visiting the poor, pious, hilly district of Mirpur in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, she arrived to a village abuzz with preparations for her wedding -- a ceremony she knew nothing about.
Seventeen years old, she had already refused to marry her first cousin two years earlier -- an act of defiance that resulted in her being withdrawn from school by her parents.
"I couldn't believe they had brought me from Birmingham to Pakistan on such a huge lie," she says. "It crushed me."
That was more than decade ago, but government figures released today suggest the true scale of Britain's forced-marriage problem is only now beginning to emerge. It is estimated that between 5,000 and 8,000 cases of forced marriage occurred in Britain last year, according to the Department for Children, Schools, and Families.
Most are teenage girls from Britain's large Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Indian communities. They're married off, according to the report, to bond the young women to their community, keep clan promises, or as a way to provide a British visa for a foreign family member or friend.
The figures have delivered a fresh jolt to Britain's multicultural paradigm, which until recently handled reports of forced marriage and associated "honor crimes" as cultural issues, beyond the remit of the justice system. But confronted by high-profile cases of murder, abduction, and forced marriage, the British government is talking tougher, hoping to establish the primacy of British law and identity over sectarian interests -- an argument reignited by French President Nicolas Sarkozy last month when he promoted a ban on Muslim women wearing the burka.
"Nobody should be forced into marriage against their will or without their free and open consent," says Chris Bryant, a minister for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. "There is no culture in which this is acceptable in the modern world, and we are determined to do everything we can to put a stop to it."
Posted by: ed ||
07/03/2009
12:53 ||
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"There is no culture in which this is acceptable in the modern world..."
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- Honduras' interim leader said he was open to early elections if it resolves an impasse with the world community, as a top diplomat headed to the Central American nation to demand he restore the president ousted by a coup.
With time running out on a Saturday deadline by the Organization of American States to return President Manuel Zelaya to power, OAS chief Jose Miguel Insulza was to arrive in Honduras Friday to push for his reinstatement. Insulza said he will meet with leaders of Honduras' Supreme Court and Congress -- institutions that approved Sunday's coup -- "basically to clarify exactly what our position is."
But he has said he will not meet with members of Roberto Micheletti's military-backed government, to avoid legitimizing it. It was unclear if Insulza would meet with U.S. Ambassador Hugo Llorens during the visit.
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Posted by: Steve White ||
07/03/2009
11:14 ||
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But he has said he will not meet with members of Roberto Micheletti's military-backed government, to avoid legitimizing it. It was unclear if Insulza would meet with U.S. Ambassador Hugo Llorens during the visit.
Shit, just pretend he's a short little iranian dude with a bad beard, why don't you?
#3
Goes to show where journalists' hearts and minds are. And people are stupid enough to allow these lefty propagandists to filter information for them.
Posted by: ed ||
07/03/2009 14:13
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At the very least it shows the gullibility of the vast majority of journalists and editors, that it doesn't occur to them to question what they're told. Anyone who passes on such blather should be pink-slipped for incompetence irrespective of their political viewpoints.
North Korea may be about to carry out another nuclear test, the British ambassador in Pyongyang has said. "We cannot rule out that a further nuclear test will take place," said Peter Hughes, the British ambassador to North Korea.
"Yesterday, two short-range missiles were launched and you'll have seen reports that there may be a launch of an ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) in the coming days or weeks," he said.
Mr Hughes said North Korea's response to British concerns over its recent actions had been that "the threat towards their country is intensifying and they have no other option but to strengthen their deterrent".
"I have seen no willingness on their part to re-engage in negotiations whatsoever," he said. But he said Britain hoped that "sanctions, together with the wider framework of measures, ... will put sufficient pressure on the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) to reconsider its position on negotiations".
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/03/2009
11:11 ||
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On top of the missile to be launched?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/03/2009 14:01
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After a long hiatus, the Israeli Navy has returned to sailing through the Suez Canal, recently sending one of its advanced Dolphin-class submarines through the waterway to participate in naval maneuvers off the Eilat coast in the Red Sea.
IDF sources said the decision to allow navy vessels to sail through the canal was made recently and was a definite "change of policy" within the service. In 2005, then OC Navy Adm. David Ben-Bashat decided to stop sending Israeli ships through the canal due to growing threats in the area.
However, the Dolphin-class submarine sailed through last month to get from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. Israeli officials said it passed through the canal above water, and that it was not done covertly.
"It is a question of policy," a senior officer explained. "Navy vessels have sailed through the canal on several occasions recently."
The significance of the move was debatable, but it could be interpreted as a message to Iran and a demonstration of strengthening ties between Egypt and Israel.
In the event of a conflict with Iran, and if Israel decided to involve its three Dolphin-class submarines - which according to foreign reports can fire nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and serve as a second-strike platform - the quickest route would be to send them through the Suez Canal. The only way to get to the Gulf of Oman without refueling would be to go through the canal. With their reported 4,500 nautical mile range, taking the long way, around Africa, would require the Dolphins to make at least two stops for refueling at a friendly port, or for fuel to be replenished at sea.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/03/2009
11:07 ||
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Hence the Arabs' insistence that they run the show; that there be no 'international agreements' regarding naval/anti-piracy operations in the Red Sea.
#2
However, the Dolphin-class submarine sailed through last month to get from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. Israeli officials said it passed through the canal above water, and that it was not done covertly
well, at least one came through on the surface...heh heh
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/03/2009 13:01
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Actually, Israelis are secretly joining the Egyptians in loathing the Gazans.
Posted by: Andy Thrirong7408 ||
07/03/2009 13:32
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I think the Egyptians were happy to coordinate sending a message to Iran ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/03/2009 13:43
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greatest.headline.evah. ht to Herr Morgenholz at AOSHQ!
Mexican authorities say two professional wrestlers found dead in a low-rent hotel in the capital may have been drugged to death by female robbers.
Autopsies are being performed on the two midget wrestlers, one of whom went by the name "La Parkita" or "Little Death" and wore a skeleton costume in the ring. The other was known as "Espectrito Jr."
Authorities say two women were seen leaving the men's hotel room before the bodies were discovered.
Prosecutor Miguel Angel Mancera said Wednesday that gangs of female robbers are experienced at using drugs to knock men out and rob them, but they may have used too strong a dose.
That may have been because of the wrestlers' small stature, although larger men have also died in similar crimes.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/03/2009
10:50 ||
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Do midgets get half off hookers? Or 2 for 1 deals?
Posted by: ed ||
07/03/2009 13:24
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I thought this was going to be a story about midget wrestlers attending a fake town hall meeting with fake reporters and fake prostitutes. They tried to hustle the prostitutes and came up short.
Operation Entebbe, also known as the Jonatan Operation...or Entebbe Raid or Operation Thunderbolt, was a counter-terrorism hostage-rescue mission carried out by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) at Entebbe Airport in Uganda on the night of 3 July and early morning of 4 July 1976. In the wake of the hijacking of Air France Flight 139 and the hijackers' threats to kill the hostages if their prisoner release demands were not met, a plan was drawn up to airlift the hostages to safety. These plans took into account the likelihood of armed resistance from Ugandan military troops.
Originally codenamed Operation Thunderball by the IDF (or Operation Thunderbolt in some sources), the operation was retroactively renamed Operation Yonatan in memory of the Sayeret Matkal commander Lieutenant Colonel Yonatan "Yoni" Netanyahu, who was killed in action. Three hostages and 45 Ugandan soldiers were killed and five Israeli commandos were wounded. A fourth hostage was killed by Ugandan army officers at a nearby hospital....
Posted by: Mike ||
07/03/2009
10:17 ||
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Well done.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/03/2009 11:25
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Heavy clashes between Somali government troops and hardline militia in the war-torn capital Mogadishu killed at least 15 civilians Friday, witnesses said. The government troops launched an offensive to dislodge the Shebab and other hardline fighters from positions in Mogadishu's Karan district which they had seized in recent battles.
"I have seen the bodies of six people who were killed by stray bullets. Three of them are from the same family," Ahmed Abdi Mumin, an elder in Karan, told AFP. Another resident, Hassan Abdullahi, said four people were killed at a former navy barracks in the district. Five others, including a child also died in the clashes, according to residents. "We will bury them today even without being identified," said Moalim Hassan Alas.
The Shebab and Hezb al-Islam, a more political group, launched an unprecedented nationwide offensive in May against the administration of President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed. The internationally backed Sharif has been holed up in his presidential quarters, protected by African Union peacekeepers as his forces were unable to reassert their authority over the capital.
At Wednesdays Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Board meeting, chairman H.R. Crawford a former District Council member and Marion Barry confidante told fellow Board members that he has heard talk on Capitol Hill about yanking former President Ronald Reagans name off the local airport and returning it to its previous generic moniker: National Airport.
It was just a discussion. Were not aware of anything specific, MWAA spokeswoman Tara Hamilton later told The Examiner.
Its clear that the current crop of congressional leaders want no part of Reagans grand conservative vision for America, but erasing all trace of his memory from an airport thats already been named in his honor is about as petty as you can get.
Why would anybody on Capitol Hill even consider such a patently partisan move, which is guaranteed to make Democrats look small and ridiculous? Do they so fear the inevitable comparisons between the Great Communicator and his teleprompted successor in the White House?
#1
Like the Egyptian Pharaohs did to their predecessors. Look how it turned out. Anonymity for most of them.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
07/03/2009 9:49
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"It was just a discussion. We're not aware of anything specific," MWAA spokeswoman Tara Hamilton later told The Examiner.
.....but the unused Airport Code BHO did come up a few hundred times. Skyline Drive and the Wilson Bridge are also under consideration for renaming as are the city of Leesburg, VA and Nathan Bedford Forrest State Park in Eva, TN.
#6
I read Marion Barry confidante and quit reading. Is this Marion "Cocaine" Barry or some other Marion Barry? The same Marion Barry that was potentate of Washington D.C. a few years ago. They try to remove Ronald Reagan's name from the airport and they are asking for a lot of trouble. Nothing like standing under a tree on top of a hill in an electrical storm.
#7
ed, I would propose "the bitch set me up" airport
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
07/03/2009 17:27
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"National Airport"
Hmmm. Maybe they'll add a word to the full name to bring it more into line with their thinking
National 'Socialist' Airport
Kewl!
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
07/03/2009 21:17
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Seriously. I don't know if I would want my name to still be on anything around DC these days. As depression hell continues to develop, people will come to hate that place and the dumbest collection of politicians ever seen in DC....
What happens when you put a Muslim imam, a Christian priest, a rabbi and a Buddhist monk in a room with 10 atheists?
Turkish television station Kanal T hopes the answer is a ratings success as it prepares to launch a gameshow where spiritual guides from the four faiths will seek to convert a group of non-believers. The prize for converts will be a pilgrimage to a holy site of their chosen religion -- Mecca for Muslims, the Vatican for Christians, Jerusalem for Jews and Tibet for Buddhists.
But religious authorities in Muslim but secular Turkey are not amused by the twist on the popular reality game show format and the Religious Affairs Directorate is refusing to provide an imam for the show. "Doing something like this for the sake of ratings is disrespectful to all religions. Religion should not be a subject for entertainment programs," High Board of Religious Affairs Chairman Hamza Aktan told state news agency Anatolian after news of the planned program emerged.
The makers of "Penitents Compete" are unrepentant and reject claims that the show, scheduled to begin broadcasting in September, will cheapen religion. "We are giving the biggest prize in the world, the gift of belief in God," Kanal T chief executive Seyhan Soylu told Reuters. "We don't approve of anyone being an atheist. God is great and it doesn't matter which religion you believe in. The important thing is to believe," Soylu said.
Some 200 people have so far applied to take part in the show and the 10 contestants will be chosen next month. A team of theologians will ensure that the atheists are truly non-believers and are not just seeking fame or a free holiday.
It's the moment we've all been waiting for: the launch of the "surge" against the Taliban in Afghanistan. And to judge by the enormous firepower Nato commanders have deployed for Operation Khanjar, or "sword strike", this time the Americans mean business. Four thousand US marines, supported by a further 650 Afghan troops and supplied with the best equipment the American military can provide, have moved into the lower Helmand river valley with the intention of eradicating, once and for all, the threat posed by the Taliban.
This is, of course, precisely what the British have been trying to achieve for three years. But a lack of sufficient troops and suitable equipment, such as helicopters, or vehicles that offer effective protection against roadside bombs, has severely hampered the mission. Despite engaging in some of the fiercest hand-to-hand combat since the Second World War, and taking heavy casualties in the process, the Taliban remain as much a threat to the future stability of Afghanistan as they did when the British first deployed in force in the summer of 2006. If British commanders had got their way, an extra 2,500 of our troops would have been sent to Afghanistan this summer to do precisely what the Americans are now doing taking the fight into the heartland of the insurgency. But Gordon Brown, who has consistently failed to provide effective leadership on this issue, refused the request on grounds of cost. As a consequence, British forces find themselves in the humiliating position of having to watch as the Americans do their job for them.
From now on, then, we should regard Afghanistan as Mr Obama's war, for the US offensive represents the American President's first military initiative since entering the White House. Its outcome will have a significant impact on how his presidency is perceived by friends and foes alike.
During last year's election campaign, Mr Obama made much of the fact that Afghanistan, not Iraq, should be the main focus of Washington's campaign against Islamist-inspired terrorism or the War on Terror, as it was known to the Bush administration. He promised to reallocate resources from Iraq, and committed himself "to finishing the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban". And, since coming to power, Mr Obama has been as good as his word. An extra 17,000 US troops have been deployed to support a "mini-surge" similar to the one that finally subdued the Iraq insurgency in the summer of 2007. The President has also taken the drastic step of replacing General David McKiernan, the commander of Nato forces, with Lt Gen Stanley McChrystal, a counter-insurgency specialist who commanded the special forces unit responsible for tracking down Saddam Hussein.
Having made military success against the Taliban and al-Qaeda one of his foreign policy priorities, Mr Obama is well aware that he will be judged by the American military's ability to deliver tangible results. The offensive certainly comes at an important moment for him: after nearly six months in office, some of the gloss is starting to wear off the President's image as a man who can revolutionise American politics. Even some of his most dedicated supporters have been disappointed by the concessions he has made to the Democrat-controlled Congress on domestic issues such as climate change and health care, not to mention the mess he made of the economic stimulus bill. Mr Obama has also managed to alienate America's powerful Jewish lobby, which traditionally supports Democrat presidents, after the hard time he gave Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, over the continued construction of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land.
More recently, Mr Obama has faced fierce criticism for failing to support the pro-reform protests in Iran following last month's disputed presidential election, and for not putting more pressure on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government over Iran's illicit nuclear programme. His credibility as a successful commander-in-chief of America's armed forces therefore depends to a large extent on the success of his strategy for dealing with the Islamist militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan. By appointing the combative Richard Holbrooke as his personal envoy to cover both countries, Mr Obama has initiated a dramatic shift in the West's approach to the conflict.
Previously, the main focus of the coalition's effort was the Taliban, and the threat it posed to Afghanistan. Now the military campaign has been extended to include Pakistan, where most of the key commanders of the Taliban and al-Qaeda are based. One of the more welcome features of the new American offensive in Helmand has been the active co-ordination with the Pakistani military to prevent the Taliban relying on their traditional tactic: to disappear across the border when confronted by a superior military force. But this is just one small step in a conflict that many coalition commanders believe could last for a decade or more which would hardly provide Mr Obama with the boost to his fortunes that he requires.
#1
Hats off to the concepts and ideas men, General's Petreaus, Jones and their brave Marines! Cordon and search operations can be highly successful but prolonged sustainment requires a significant logistical commitment not generally organic to Marine elements such as this. Also required is the ability to reinforce dispersed elements via a Mobile Strike Force or displacement of adjacent elements. I am unsure as to the long-term ability to sustain this effort. But then again, long-term may not be the intended goal.
US Navy officials yesterday played down security fears after an alleged terrorist plot to target ships and sailors came to light. A spokeswoman said the decision to allow the families of US servicemen back to Bahrain after a five-year gap would not be affected by an ongoing case at the High Criminal Court.
Two Bahrainis have been accused of smuggling weapons into the country and planning to attack US ships and personnel at Mina Salman. Police believe the pair had met members of an Al Qaeda terrorist cell abroad. But the navy spokeswoman said officials were confident that Bahrain's security forces were taking necessary action to protect their interests. "We have been co-operating with the local authorities on the developments in the case and the way it has been handled has given us the confidence we need to feel safe in Bahrain," she said. The spokeswoman said a decision to have families of US servicemen back was based to a large extent on the navy's confidence in Bahrain's security.
Prosecutors revealed last Tuesday that US ships and personnel in Bahrain were the target of an alleged terror attack uncovered in last April, on the day of the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix. The Bahrainis, aged 22 and 21, were arrested on April 26 when police allegedly seized machine guns, weapons, computer discs and other evidence from their homes in East Riffa. Both deny plotting terror attacks and smuggling weapons and ammunition into the country.
Their arrest came after National Security Agency received information that the 22-year-old unemployed man, of Jordanian origin, had intensified contacts with the cell in Iran. Officers allegedly found tapes, CDs, computers, bank statements and exchange company documents in his house. He then led police to the other defendant, a junior customs officer, who was said to have possessed the smuggled weapons. Police raided his house and allegedly found two machine guns, a pistol, bullets, knives and swords. They were also said to have seized several books on making missiles, rockets, weapons and explosives, and pictures of the American base and Navy ships along with videos on jihad, alleged prosecutors. During questioning, the younger defendant confessed to planning an attack on US forces at Mina Salman, according to court documents.
The men allegedly carried out their plans for the attack during 2007 and 2008, say the papers. They state the men confessed during questioning to smuggling the weapons and ammunition from Jordan. An Interior Ministry statement earlier said the men were part of a terror network plotting attacks in Bahrain and elsewhere in the Gulf. Interior Minister Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa said at the time of their arrest that the men were rounded up after allegedly intensifying contacts with the terror cell abroad, travelling to a neighbouring Arab country, buying weapons and ammunition and smuggling them into Bahrain.
Families of US servicemen had left Bahrain in July 2004 amid regional security fears. US Naval Forces Central Command commander Vice-Admiral Bill Gortney earlier said the return of family members was an important sign of the security and stability in the Gulf. The Pentagon had in July 2004 ordered the departure of more than 650 dependents of military personnel and non-emergency defence officials from Bahrain, amid reports that Islamist extremists were planning attacks on US interests.
A Syrian terror suspect appeared in court yesterday for the first time since Canada's intelligence service admitted that two confidential informants used in the case had credibility problems. Hassan Almrei sat in a Toronto courtroom as federal lawyers portrayed him as a devoted jihadist, and his own lawyer argued the government's case had been irreparably tainted by the conduct of CSIS.
Mr. Almrei was arrested in 2001, two years after he used a false passport to enter Canada. The federal government called him a member of the Osama bin Laden network and a threat to national security. But last week, CSIS notified Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley that one of its informants had been deemed "deceptive" and a second had not taken a lie-detector test, as CSIS had earlier told the court. It was the second time in recent weeks that CSIS had admitted to reliability troubles with its informants; the agency had also failed to notify the Federal Court that a confidential source used in the case against Algerian terror suspect Mohamed Harkat had failed a lie-detector test.
Lorne Waldman, Mr. Almrei's lawyer, said CSIS had provided three reports to the court about the informants used in Mr. Almrei's case but all were inaccurate. He said the intelligence agency had shown a "pattern of consistent non-compliance." Justice Mosley, who must decide whether the government's case against Mr. Almrei is reasonable, said he was concerned about the matter and that the new information about the CSIS sources would factor into his rulings.
Federal lawyer Marianne Zoric told the court Mr. Almrei should be deported because of his membership in a terrorist group and because he is a security threat due to his past participation in armed jihad. She said Mr. Almrei had attended training camps in Afghanistan, one of them under the command of the late Chechnya rebel leader Ibn Khattab. He also participated in paramilitary activities in Tajikistan, she said. Unlike the "Gucci jihadis" who made a single trek to Afghanistan to fulfill a youthful curiosity, Mr. Almrei "went back again and again" and "made multiple returns to jihad," she said. "He returned repeatedly from 1990 to 1995."
ISLAMABAD U.S. missiles struck a training facility operated by Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud and a militant hide-out Friday, killing 15 people and wounding 27 others, intelligence officials said.
The two attacks by drone aircraft took place in South Waziristan, a Mehsud stronghold close to the Afghan border where Pakistani troops are gearing up for a military offensive, two officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
They took place as U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano met government officials in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. She discussed topics of "mutual interest" with them, a U.S. Embassy spokesman said.
The drone attacks were the latest in more than 40 believed to have been be carried out by the United States against militant targets in the border area since last August. Washington does not directly acknowledge being responsible for the attacks, which kill civilians as well as militants.
Most Pakistanis criticize the drone attacks, and Islamabad officially protests them as violations of its sovereignty. Still, most experts believe the government secretly approves of them and likely provides the United States with intelligence.
One of the attacks Friday targeted an abandoned seminary in the village of Mantoi that was allegedly being used by militants from Mehsud's group for training, said the officials. The other struck a hide-out in the nearby village of Kokat Khel, they said. In total, 15 people were killed and 27 others were wounded, they said.
On Thursday, U.S. Marines in neighboring Afghanistan launched a major anti-Taliban offensive in southern Helmand province. Pakistan said it moved troops to the stretch of its border opposite Helmand to stop militants fleeing the American assault.
The United States wants Pakistan to crack down on militants on its side of the border, believing it essential to stabilizing Afghanistan eight years after the invasion that ousted the Taliban there.
The Pakistani military launched an offensive in the Swat region close to the border since early May and is currently gearing up for operations in South Waziristan to eliminate Mehsud, who has been blamed for a string of deadly suicide attacks across the country that have killed more than 100 people in the past month.
In neighboring North Waziristan Friday, Pakistani warplanes bombed suspected militant hide-outs, killing at least four insurgents and wounding seven others, two more intelligence officials said. Those airstrikes hit targets where Taliban fighters killed 16 government troops in an ambush earlier this week, the officials said, also speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The U.S. appears to be ramping up the pressure on Mehsud, who is viewed in Islamabad with growing alarm. Last week, the Taliban leader narrowly escaped a strike on a funeral for militants killed in an earlier drone attack. Eighty people died in the strike, although Mehsud escaped unharmed.
Posted by: tu3031 ||
07/03/2009
07:10 ||
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#1
Long War Journal: A senior trainer of suicide bombers was reported to be among those killed in the Kotat Khel strike. "The missiles hit an office of Mufti Noor Wali who was once in charge of training militants for suicide attacks," a Pakistani intelligence official told Dawn.
Righteous hit. Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud works for Baitullah Mehsud, so is the monster who was brainwashing kidnapped or purchased children to be suicide bombers?
CNN: The people killed and wounded were Taliban fighters, the Taliban official said. But others in the village were scared to go out of their homes and retrieve the bodies because of the possibility of another missile attack.
Good. Bleedout is welcome.
Posted by: ed ||
07/03/2009 14:09
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This is the only piece of news that references our op in Afghanistan. Must be going pretty well. Glad we are 'staying' after. I did hear of one casualty yesterday god rest his soul.
Hearing a female voice on the radio may be nothing new the world over but it is something of a novelty in the rugged mountainous terrain of Pakistan's northwest, where women are bringing about modernization via the airwaves. For most people in the region the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) known for its strict male domination hearing female voices on the recently established FM channel, Radio Khyber, is not only a pleasant surprise but also a sign of much awaited social change.
The new station, set up by the FATA authorities, aims to counter several illegal stations run by the extremists who air anti-West and pro-Jihad propaganda and has raised a few eyebrows for breaking away from social norms in the region severely hit by the Taliban-led insurgency. We initially got a tough response and often resistance for having women. We had to air songs asked for by women under mens names. But now situation is gradually easing out, a station official said. Were glad to have become a harbinger for change that was awaited for long, said another official.
With an initial six hour transmission, divided into two three-hour segments in the morning and evening, Radio Khyber provides its listeners with a blend of news, music, talk shows with live responses and carefully edited programs on health, education and social issues including taboo subjects, but discussions on religious issues are discouraged. The station's female broadcasters hail from local towns and other nearby cities and they take pride in pioneering the success of women in the area. We have made a dream come true, and now women have become a reality in the local media which is going to stay forever, said a beaming female reporter.
Posted by: ryuge ||
07/03/2009
06:51 ||
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With budget negotiations stalled, a cash crisis looming and its fiscal crisis deepening, California today will begin issuing IOUs formally called registered warrants to tens of thousands of businesses and individuals to whom the state owes money. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday declared a fiscal emergency and ordered a third unpaid furlough day each month for 235,000 state employees. California's fiscal crisis has been years in the making and will not be easy to fix. But is there a solution?
In Sacramento, which rises like the city of Oz on the flat plains of the California's Central Valley, Schwarzenegger has not underplayed the gory details. "Our wallet is empty, our bank is closed. Our credit is dried up," he says. But the crisis has not helped bind up the gaping political divisions over what to do about it. Democratic lawmakers have proposed cutting billions of dollars from the state's safety net and educational system to balance the budget. Governor Schwarzenegger says the cuts must go even deeper and joins legislative Republicans in refusing to raise taxes. On Wednesday, Schwarzenegger said, "Haven't we promised too much the last couple of decades?"
Conservatives view the budget crisis as an opportunity to slash California's spending back to the level it had reached 10 years ago. "Gross overspending and fiscal irresponsibility will not be tolerated by the people of California," says Senate Republican Leader Dennis Hollingsworth. Liberals, however, see this as an attack by the right on the public infrastructure that helped make California an economic giant, and an act of war against the poor and minority populations in particular.
Conservatives claim California is a high tax state. In fact, California's taxes are similar to other high-tech, industrial states. According to the non-partisan Legislative Analyst Office and the Tax Foundation, California has comparatively high sales taxes and rates for corporate income, but very low property taxes. State income taxes are very progressive, with a large proportion of revenue comes from households earning more than $100,000, as well as from taxes on stock options and capital gains. Low-income households, meanwhile, face lower tax rates that in most other states. This tax system, says Steve Peace, director of finance under Gov. Gray Davis, "worked in a highly leveraged, supercharged economy. Those days are gone."
The state's finances could be made more stable by raising income taxes on middle and low-income families which would reduce the state's dependency on volatile stock and capital gains income a big reason for the current catastrophic deficits. But that is all but politically impossible in California.
Is there a solution to California's dilemma? A number of reforms are receiving attention. On the tax and budget side, these include eliminating the need for a two-thirds majority vote on budget and tax matters and instituting a split-roll for property taxes that would allow homeowners to continue to pay according to the low rates mandated by Proposition 13, but require commercial property to be assessed at market value. To relieve the logjam in California politics, momentum is growing for an open primary system, in which the two top vote getters in the primary, regardless of party, would face each other in the general election. Proponents believe it would loosen the grip of partisan ideologies and make it easier of moderates to win elections. In addition, a redistricting reform won narrow approval last November and proponents of good government keep trying to lengthen the state's term limits on legislators.
#1
There is a way out. Spend less, roll back regulations that limit business, strike taxes that keep businesses out, unfetter the energy industry, and demolish the unions and their prohibitively expensive pensions.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/03/2009 14:01
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#4
I don't know. I think it's a dead heat race between Time, Newsweek and Jet.
Posted by: ed ||
07/03/2009 14:15
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#5
A crafty partial solution would be to substitute huge fines for common non-violent misdemeanor offenses.
For example, first time, non accident DUI has a "fee" of $30,000. But if you pay the fee, it is an administrative, not judicial, fine, which can only be appealed to an administrator, not a judge.
A lot of shoplifters are not poor, like Winona Ryder, so why not slap them with the cost of whatever they stole, plus $10,000 fee and a cut going to the retailer. Many are so compulsive they would be glad to pay the fee, and keep shoplifting.
Johns that go after high end prostitutes could probably shell out the big bucks, especially if it was kept discreet.
And while this would only bring in several billions of dollars to the State coffers, that would still help.
#6
The State needs to cut spending, not increase income via dubious "fees", increased taxes, or any other dipshit scheme.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/03/2009 14:30
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#7
All this breast beating about CA's deficit that is 22% of revenues and hardly any newspaper ink about the 2010 federal budget deficit that is greater than 100% of tax revenues.
Posted by: ed ||
07/03/2009 14:42
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#8
2009 federal budget
Posted by: ed ||
07/03/2009 14:57
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#9
"California's Budget Crisis: Is There a Way Out?"
Yes, there is.
QUIT SPENDING!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/03/2009 15:02
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#10
"California's Budget Crisis: Is There a Way Out?"
Between 2005 and 2007, 2.14 million Californians moved to other states, while only 1.44 million people from elsewhere moved to the Golden State, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
#11
"Between 2005 and 2007, ... 1.44 million people from elsewhere moved to the Golden State"
So there are 1.44 million certified idiots in Californicate? And that doesn't even include the politicians.
I think I see the problem....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/03/2009 16:23
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#12
And more of us to follow. I've lived here since 1976 and have watched Paradise be ruined by a cavalcade of political idiots in the legislature and the governor's office who ceaselessly write BS laws and regulations about everything, and who give special breaks to everyone to buy votes, and who rig the electoral process to insure incumbancy, but who haven't built a freeway while the population more than doubled, nor a new dam, nor any power plants, or any other major public works projects. Just defer real government and clutter up peoples lives with 1600 new bills form the legislature each and every year......
all the while doing everything possible to change the demographics of the electorate, 1 in 4 people here were born in another country, and somewhere betwen 3-6 million illegals crowd our hospitals, prisons and schools.
Many of me peers are doing the same thing I'm doing, getting ready for next spring's housing rebound, what ever little bit it might be, and getting out.
Tragic to think my own government is chasing me out of my adopted state....
#13
Just defer real government and clutter up peoples lives with 1600 new bills form the legislature each and every year......
all the while doing everything possible to change the demographics of the electorate..NoMoreBS
#14
As I stood in line behind a woman in a Burqa yesterday, at the local Target store, it was not hard to figure out who has left the state and who replaced them.
Born and raised in CA, I've watched this state change from one of the best in the nation to a third world toilet. Waiting for housing prices to stabilize, then it's AMF!
#16
Wouldn't be that difficult. Just check back on the books when the present revenue income match the preceding years records. If your income matches 2001 or 1996, that's your budget for the year, to include suspending laws passed since that date. Somehow the state survived during those preceding years, otherwise it wouldn't be here.
#17
The only way out is through. I pity California home-owners & home-borrowers. California housing prices will stabilize only when they return to a reasonable level with respect to California household incomes.
Georgia is on my short list. I lived there in the 60s. I was in Sylvania for a couple of years and then moved to Savannah. I loved living in the "State of Chatham". Sold my property on Skidaway Island in the 70s.(Bad mistake)
Maybe we can get together someday and have some barbecue and a "mess of shrimp".
A school security guard was seriously wounded in Pattani on Friday afternoon in a drive-by shooting by two men on a motorcycle. Police said Royali Ding, 30, a security guard at Ban Khao Toom School in Yarang district, was followed by two men on a motorcyle while returning home from prayers at a mosque. He was fired on by the pillon rider and hit twice in the body.
A total of 148 Buddhist monks were flown here in an Air Force plane so that they could stay at temples during the Buddhist Lent, which starts on Wednesday. The monks came from northern and northeastern provinces. They will stay at some 100 temples in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat.
It is a tradition that all Buddhist temples must have at least one monk staying during the 3-month-long Buddhist Lent but most temples in the three southern border provinces are deserted because of the violence.
Egyptian Writer Muhammad Ibrahim Mabrouk: Columbus Was Trying to Recruit the Chinese Emperor to the Liberation of Jerusalem When He Stumbled Upon America
Following are excerpts from an interview with Egyptian writer Muhammad Ibrahim Mabrouk, which aired on Al-Majd TV on April 27, 2009.
"Columbus Wanted to Liberate Jerusalem From the Muslims"
Interviewer: "American society was not born and did not grow in the United States. It is a mixed society - a society of immigrants, of different nationalities. How can it be claimed that this society in its entirety was melted down into a single, utilitarian doctrine, if the original societies, which go back hundreds of years, were not able to melt down its people into a united society?"
Muhammad Ibrahim Mabrouk: "The main characteristic at the basis of a certain society... The ideology or concepts upon which a certain society is based become the main characteristics of the people who join it later.
"I will try to present some of the concepts... How was American society formed? It might come as a surprise to the viewers that when Christopher Columbus went to America... It is taught in every school that he..."
Interviewer: "... discovered [America]."
Muhammad Ibrahim Mabrouk: "Yes, he discovered it when he was on his way to India, from the other direction. He stumbled upon America and discovered it."
Interviewer: "You say that this is what we are taught. Do you have a different idea?"
Muhammad Ibrahim Mabrouk: "Of course. It wasn't like that at all. This is mentioned in a Western book titled The Conquest of America, which was translated by Shuruq Publishers."
Interviewer: "It was fabricated? It's a lie?"
Muhammad Ibrahim Mabrouk: "Completely fabricated. It is mentioned in the memoirs of Christopher Columbus..."
Interviewer: "So what is the truth?"
Muhammad Ibrahim Mabrouk: "The truth is that Christopher Columbus wanted to liberate Jerusalem from the Muslims. He was trying to reach the Chinese emperor.
"Europe had failed completely in its efforts to attack the Muslims, and to take Jerusalem from them. Columbus wanted to reach the Chinese emperor from the other direction, and to convince him to give him cavalry in order to liberate Jerusalem.
"Imagine, the whole thing is about aggression. He stumbled upon this new continent. When Christopher Columbus discovered this continent...
"It's not like we've been told - that he met a group of barbarian Indians. According to anthropological studies, the Indians have a civilization that is 12,000 years old - the Mayan civilization.
"It's not that he didn't encounter a civilization, but the annihilation of that civilization by the pioneers who came with Columbus, and later by the Dutch, the British, and the Portuguese..."
The Puritans Sought To Annihilate the Natives in Their 'New Israel' - According to the 'Notion of Annihilation That Appears in the Jewish Books'
"The most significant component of America to this day is the Pu... Pur... Puritans, who were of English origin."
Interviewer: "Could you say it again, as it's such a difficult word?"
Muhammad Ibrahim Mabrouk: "The Puritans. They were English Protestants. They believed - according to Protestant leaders Luther and Calvin - that some people are destined to go to Heaven, while others are destined to go to Hell, and they were among those who were going to Heaven. America means to them what Israel means to the Jews. It is the 'New Israel.' So, just like is written in the Book of Isaiah, they should annihilate the people that lived in this 'Israel.'
"This is the notion of annihilation that appears in the Jewish books. By annihilating the Indians, they would get closer to their god.
[...]
"Three percent of the people in New York have AIDS. Half of the children in England are illegitimate. 40% of all 15-year-old girls in the US have lost their virginity."
Interviewer: "In an illegitimate way, mind you..."
Muhammad Ibrahim Mabrouk: "What does Christianity have to say about this?"
#2
Funny how the interviewer added the bit on losing virginity because in Islam one can be 15 and legitimately lose you virginity and they see the west as mideviel.
#3
Maybe he came to America to rescue the Nephites.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
07/03/2009 9:47
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#4
As a Lutheran it is news to me that we believe in predestination!
heh heh...
This before you dig into the rest of his crap.
I don't recall Luther nailing anything about predestination on any church door.
I don't recall anything about it in Luther's Catechism.
I don't recall Luther wanting Chinese armies to invade the Holy Land. I think he was kind of busy with some of the Pope's.
On other points - where does he mention old Christopher hanging out in Iceland for a few years. Its kind-of-important to the story as we know the Vikings were in the New World.
I suspect he read the book 1421 the year China discovered the world.
It didn't matter who discovered the New World.. The difference with Chris is that he exploited his discovery to the max!
Nobody else did.
And... if he really wanted to attack the Holy Land he would have arranged some other method.
Now... some Portuguese did have that dream but they got sidetracked by the wealth of the spice trade and never got around to attacking Mecca. They did have a nasty battle with the Egyptian fleets in the Red Sea though.. Kind of sunk them.. then grabbed Aden...
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Security forces killed 23 militants during the last 24 hours in the troubled Swat Valley, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Thursday.
According to the ISPR media update, security forces engaged militants hiding in a Nullah and killed five of them during a search operation in Kanju. Forces also targeted militant hideouts in the area around Miana, Ahingro and Banai Baba Ziarat. As a result, one militant was killed and two others were apprehended.
During a clearance operation in Meragai area, security forces demolished two terrorist hideouts and recovered eight rifles with 66 rounds, four pistols with 48 rounds and one binocular. The Army troops also consolidated their positions around Shah Dheri. At least 17 terrorists were killed during an exchange of fire in the area.
Besides, during a search operation around Chakdara, forces apprehended three militants and recovered illegal FM radio equipment, one rifle and a pistol. The ISPR release said the militants fired three rockets at the Jandola Fort in South Waziristan Agency. However, it said, no loss of life was reported.
Also, two truckloads of food and relief items were distributed amongst the displaced people of the Malakand Division. Repair work on the Takhtaband Bypass is still in progress by the Army engineers, the release added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009
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[Straits Times] CANCER-STRICKEN former Philippine President Corazon Aquino left the intensive care unit and was in stable condition, her spokeswoman said on Thursday, as prayers for her recovery poured in from friends and even political enemies.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009
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Article in Spanish, computer translation with clean-up by me.
El Salvador reopened this Thursday its border to the commerce with Honduras, after its closing 48 hours before by the proxies of the Group Central America-4 (CA-4) in retaliation by the supposed coup d'etat that deposed the president Manuel Zelaya, reported the Salvadorian government.
"The commerce between El Salvador and Honduras began to be normalized first thing in the morning of this day", stated the Office of the secretary of Communications of the Salvadorian Presidency in a communiqué.
The CA-4, that integrates Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, maintains free commerce, and free traffic of people through its terrestrial borders.
The closing of the borders was criticized by the business dome of El Salvador, that reckoned the losses to be about 3.2 million dollars.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/03/2009
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[Straits Times] A FORMER child survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime's main torture centre sobbed on Thursday as he told Cambodia's war crimes court of his harrowing separation from his mother at the jail.
Norng Chan Phal, who was around nine years old at the time, also described seeing bodies when Tuol Sleng prison was finally liberated after invading Vietnamese-backed forces toppled the 1975-1979 movement. He was testifying at the trial of jail chief Duch, who is accused of overseeing the torture and execution of around 15,000 people who passed through Tuol Sleng.
'I could see my mother on the second floor with her hands on the bars of the window looking at me and she did not say even a single word to us,' Norng Chan Phal said of the last time he saw her.
Norng Chan Phal, now 39, said they had been promised they were going to meet his Khmer Rouge cadre father in the capital Phnom Penh, but they were locked in a room on their first night at Tuol Sleng and would never see him.
'When my jeep took us to that location, I and my brother were happy because we could ride on a jeep. But then we were threatened and my mother was forced to get off the jeep and she was not very well,' he told the court. 'They (Khmer Rouge cadres) shouted and threatened her and I was also terrified,' Norng Chan Phal said.
He and his younger brother were then separated from his mother the next day, he said. In 1979 Vietnamese-backed troops found the two brothers hiding along with three other children at the prison, a former high school.
He said the youngsters at Tuol Sleng were placed under the care of an old woman at a workshop and usually given two meals per day, but they never bathed and were not permitted to wander.
In April 1979, when the Khmer Rouge regime collapsed, the back entrance of the prison was flung wide open and 'there seemed to be a rush' of people leaving Tuol Sleng, he said. He remembered that the old woman insisted he leave through the back gate, but he hid near a pile of clothes instead.
'I was behind the building. I was looking and waiting to see my mother,' he said. 'I saw an opened door and climbed upstairs to the second floor to look through the opened door, but I could not find my mother.'
Norng Chan Phal said he then ran to the adjacent building and stumbled on a gruesome scene. 'I saw people lying inside the room and maybe they already died, although they were not swollen. I could see them lying on the beds and there was blood and I was scared,' he told the court.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009
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[Bangla Daily Star] Special Branch (SB) of Police in Gazipur arrested Abdur Rahim alias Shahadat, the chief organiser of "Islam and Muslim", a new offshoot of banned Islamist militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).
During a raid late Tuesday night, the intelligence officials along with local police also arrested Sajedur Rahman alias Hanif, a regional commander of the new organisation. According to the SB, Islam and Muslim had a plan to dominate an area comprised of several upazilas of Chapainawabganj, Rajshahi and Naogaon. The intelligence officials also seized some books on Jihad during their drive.
Following information gleaned from the two arrestees, the SB's anti-militancy unit captured Jalaluddin alias Jalal, Bagmara upazila JMB commander, at the once JMB-infested Bagmara in Rajshahi with an Indian single-shot gun and five rifle bullets.
The SB disclosed the arrests of the militants and seizures of the arms and books yesterday calling in journalists to its city office and handing them a statement that contained information on the arrests. The arrestees were also paraded before journalists. Shahadat along with Selim, a leader of JMB, formed Islam and Muslim following their disagreement with some influential JMB leaders over financial matters, according to the SB statement. However, Shahadat told journalists, "We started the outfit organising work around four months ago in an attempt to have our contribution in the country. We contacted around 15 people asking them to join."
SB officials said Shahadat was made the chief of Bagmara after Bangla Bhai made the upazila an organisational district. He actively took part in the Bangla Bhai-led vigilante operations in Rajshahi region under the banner of Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) in 2004.
The three other arrestees were also close aides to Bangla Bhai. But due to his organisational capability, Shahadat was made the JMB commander of the greater Rajshahi region.
The SB officials also said Shahadat fled to India after the arrests of former JMB chief Abdur Rahman and his deputy Bangla Bhai. He played a key role in strengthening the JMB's wing in India during his two-and-a-half-years stay in Murshidabad, Nadia and Maldah districts of West Bengal state. "On his return, Shahadat formed the Islam and Muslim with an aim to dominate an area comprised of Gomastapur, Shibganj and Bholahat upazilas of Chapainawabganj, Bagmara of Rajshahi and Raninagar and Atrai of Naogaon," said the SB statement.
For their attempt to this end, the JMB members opted to wage an armed struggle (Jihad) with small arms rather than their usual usage of bombs. The newly-formed organisation also started training their members on arms and bullet manufacturing, the statement said. Asked how he learned to make arms and bullets, Shahadat told The Daily Star that he does not know how to make them.
Police earlier arrested four other members of the JMB offshoot in Shibganj, Bholahat and Gomastapur upazilas of Chapainawabganj and seized four single-shot guns from each of them, bullets, books on jihad and bullet-making materials. The arrestees are Abdul Munib, Abdul Mumin, Abdul Rakib alias Sumon, and Rabiul Islam.
Our Dinajpur correspondent adds: Rapid Action Battalion arrested Enamul Haque, 22, a JMB member and a charge-sheeted accused in a murder case, at Kalai upazila of Joypurhat yesterday morning. Police said Enamul was conducting JMB activities from hiding.
This article starring:
ABDUL MUMIN
JMB
ABDUL MUNIB
JMB
ABDUL RAKIB ALIAS SUMON
JMB
ABDUR RAHIM ALIAS SHAHADAT
JMB
ABDUR RAHMAN
JMB
ENAMUL HAQUE
JMB
JALALUDIN ALIAS JALAL
JMB
MOSTAFIZUR RAHMAN MONTU
JMB
RABIUL ISLAM
JMB
SAJEDUR RAHMAN ALIAS HANIF
JMB
SIDIQUL ISLAM ALIAS BANGLA BHAI
JMB
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009
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[Maghrebia] Libyan leader and current AU chairman Moamer Kadhafi on Wednesday (July 1st) said Caribbean countries should join the African Union since they are "considered to be African countries", AFP reported. Addressing the 13th African Union Summit of Heads of State in Sirte, Libya, Kadhafi expressed his desire to strengthen ties between Africa and the Caribbean. Representatives of seven Caribbean countries attended the summit as observers.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009
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#1
Betcha Haiti and The dominican republic will be pissed to hear that, Cuba, Dunno.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/03/2009 1:31
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July 1 (Bloomberg) -- Hondurass military acted under judicial orders in deposing President Manuel Zelaya, Supreme Court Justice Rosalinda Cruz said, rejecting the view of President Barack Obama and other leaders that he was toppled in a coup.
The only thing the armed forces did was carry out an arrest order, Cruz, 55, said in a telephone interview from the capital, Tegucigalpa. Theres no doubt he was preparing his own coup by conspiring to shut down the congress and courts.
Cruz said the court issued a sealed arrest order for Zelaya on June 26, charging him with treason and abuse of power, among other offenses. Zelaya had repeatedly breached the constitution by pushing ahead with a vote about rewriting the nations charter that the court ruled illegal, and which opponents contend would have paved the way for a prohibited second term.
She compared Zelayas tactics, including his dismissal of the armed forces chief for obeying a court order to impound ballots to be used in the vote, with those of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Some say it was not Zelaya but Chavez governing, she said.
The arrest order she cited, approved unanimously by the courts 15 justices, was released this afternoon along with documents pertaining to a secret investigation that went on for weeks under the high courts supervision.
Zelaya said yesterday he had no plans to seek re-election when his four-year term ends in January. In an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais the day before his overthrow, he said the non-binding vote, which included a question on allowing re- election, would only benefit his successor.
Cruz acknowledged that the interim government faced a very difficult task trying to sway the U.S. and other countries to recognize its authority. But as a sovereign and independent nation, we have the right to freely decide to remove a president who was violating our laws, she said. Unfortunately our voice hasnt been heard.
The United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution yesterday calling for Zelayas reinstatement and asking that no government recognize the interim replacement appointed by congress, Roberto Micheletti. The U.S. was a co-sponsor of the measure.
The U.S. also joined 33 other countries in an emergency session of the Organization of American States yesterday to demand Honduras reinstate Zelaya within 72 hours or face suspension from the Washington-based group. Zelaya said he will return to the country this week, with OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza and Argentinas President Cristina Fernandez.
Cruz said the military decided to shuttle Zelaya out of the country for his safety and that of other Hondurans because riots wouldve erupted had he been held for trial. If he had been allowed to stay in the country, there wouldve been blood on the streets, she said.
Although lawmakers were moving toward impeachment proceedings against Zelaya for trying to conduct the poll, the ouster allows him to portray himself as a victim, said Rafael Lopez, a senior Honduras adviser to the Washington-based International Foundation for Electoral Systems. No country on earth can legally force an elected official into exile without a formal proceeding, he added. The Honduran government cant just take any citizen to an airport and kick them out, let alone a president.
David Matamoros, a member of Honduras Supreme Electoral Tribunal, also defended the militarys action. He said Zelaya originally called the vote a plebiscite, then, when that was barred, shifted to describing it as a poll, creating uncertainty as to its legal standing and his intent. No government agency was willing to conduct the vote, he said. All the ballots and equipment for the illegal poll were flown in on a Venezuelan plane, he said. The court ordered the materials confiscated.
Still, he acknowledged the interim governments hold on power was tenuous. Now we have the international problem, he said in a phone interview from Tegucigalpa. How do we convince people this was in our best interest after the president was kicked out of the country in his pajamas?
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/03/2009
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#1
The Honduran government cant just take any citizen to an airport and kick them out, let alone a president.
The president is not just any citizen. As president I suggest this precedent is applicable:
"whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it"
#2
Article 239: "No citizen who has already served as head of the Executive Branch can be President or Vice-President. Whoever violates this law or proposes its reform [emphasis added], as well as those that support such violation directly or indirectly, will immediately cease in their functions and will be unable to hold any public office for a period of 10 years."
Notice that the article speaks about intent and that it also says "immediately" as in "instant," as in "no trial required," as in "no impeachment needed."
#3
The following was published in the Christian Science Monitor by Octavio Sánchez, a lawyer, and a former presidential adviser (2002-05) and minister of culture (2005-06) of the Republic of Honduras:
..... On June 26, President Zelaya issued a decree ordering all government employees to take part in the "Public Opinion Poll to convene a National Constitutional Assembly." In doing so, Zelaya triggered a constitutional provision that automatically removed him from office ..... His actions showed intent.....
According to Article 239 [of the Honduras Constitution]: "No citizen who has already served as head of the Executive Branch can be President or Vice-President. Whoever violates this law or proposes its reform , as well as those that support such violation directly or indirectly, will immediately cease in their functions and will be unable to hold any public office for a period of 10 years."
Notice that the article speaks about intent and that it also says "immediately" â as in "instant," as in "no trial required," as in "no impeachment needed."
Continuismo â the tendency of heads of state to extend their rule indefinitely â has been the lifeblood of Latin America's authoritarian tradition. The Constitution's provision of instant sanction might sound draconian, but every Latin American democrat knows how much of a threat to our fragile democracies continuismo presents. In Latin America, chiefs of state have often been above the law. The instant sanction of the supreme law has successfully prevented the possibility of a new Honduran continuismo.
The Supreme Court and the attorney general ordered Zelaya's arrest for disobeying several court orders compelling him to obey the Constitution. He was detained and taken to Costa Rica. Why? Congress needed time to convene and remove him from office. With him inside the country that would have been impossible. This decision was taken by the 123 (of the 128) members of Congress present that day.
Don't believe the coup myth. The Honduran military acted entirely within the bounds of the Constitution. The military gained nothing but the respect of the nation by its actions .....
#4
The administration is going the reverse opposite direction on this case. It must back down NOW or risk having a military situation in the south that will be hard to justify.
Reverse order, Obama. New elections are to be heald very soon.
COLORADO SPRINGS | U.S. missile defenses are prepared to try to knock down the last stage of a Taepodong-2 missile that North Korea is expected soon to launch if sensors detect the weapon threatens U.S. territory, the commander of the U.S. Northern Command told The Washington Times.
"The nation has a very, very credible ballistic-missile defense capability. Our ground-based interceptors in Alaska and California, I'm very comfortable, give me a capability that if we really are threatened by a long-range ICBM that I've got high confidence that I could interdict that flight before it caused huge damage to any U.S. territory," said Air Force Gen. Victor E. "Gene" Renuart, Northcom commander.
The general said the United States won't activate its missile defenses if the North Korean missile appears it will fall safely into the water as the country's last test missile did. Asked if North Korea is likely to conduct a July 4 Taepodong-2 test, as occurred in 2006, Gen. Renuart said in an interview this week with The Times at Northern Command headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base, "I think we ought to assume there might be one on the first of July and continue to be prepared and ready."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/03/2009
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#3
Send one (They cant do shit about it) have it loaded with brightly colored handouts laughing at the Kimmie and Co incompetence, have it open at 10,000 feet and blanket the countryside.(He can't get them all)Laugh loudly and publicly.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/03/2009 1:25
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#4
I think we should tell Kimmie that if he sends one our way, he dies before tomorrow. Then prepare to launch a nuke at the guy's bedroom. Then, see if he blinks. If he does, he will lose much of his inflated stature. If he doesn't, then he realy was crazy after all.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/03/2009 11:04
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#5
"decision logic does not always follow in the same vein as ours does"
Well, the logic is probably based on Kimmie overcompensating for something small of his.
Posted by: GirlThursday enjoying a cocktail for 4th ||
07/03/2009 12:16
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#6
Sh**, with this fascist ahole in office what we're ready to do is send an abject apology and a couple hundred billion dollars.
Media coverage on Honduras this week has been filled with opinions condemning the coup that overthrew President Manuel Zelaya. I include myself among those who oppose any form of violent and/or unconstitutional change of government.
Nonetheless, President Zelaya's speech at the United Nations this week has left me pondering whether this man was overthrown for violating the Honduran constitution or because he simply thought that Hondurans were not intelligent enough to believe his justification for conducting an unauthorized referendum. Its outcome might have enabled him to remain in office beyond January 2010, when his term is scheduled to end.
President Zelaya explained to the world this week that he was overthrown by a military coup for simply attempting to conduct a public opinion poll. He added that he was about to perform nothing more than what a regular polling firm such as Gallup does on a regular basis when he was violently escorted out of the country by machine-gun-wielding soldiers.
Zelaya also explained that 37 countries and the Organization of American States had sent observers to see how he conducted the poll. Finally, he said that the poll was nonbinding and that it was simply intended to ask Hondurans a couple of questions, including whether he should be allowed to stand for reelection in November and whether a Constituent Assembly ought to be called to modify the constitution.
As someone who has been involved in public opinion research throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, I am disconcerted by Zelaya's attempt to justify a dubious referendum by claiming that he was doing nothing more than any reputable research firm might conduct.
If Zelaya wanted to conduct a public opinion survey he would have been better off hiring one of the many good Central American or Honduran firms that regularly survey public opinion in Honduras. Or, he might have even gone back to the prominent Washington firm that ran his campaign in 2005. The cost in either case would have been less expensive in both the financial and political sense.
Even if one were to give President Zelaya the benefit of the doubt regarding his public opinion poll, he could stand for a basic refresher course in the ethics and mechanics of survey research.
First, Zelaya could have significantly improved the questionnaire to allow for a more in-depth examination of the results. Two or three questions are generally insufficient to really get to the core of what Hondurans or any other national citizenry is thinking about any particular issue.
Second, no serious research firm would have handed out the questionnaires using untrained personnel.
Third, were foreign observers from so many countries and organizations really necessary? A good research firm would have insured proper supervision of the survey even in the most remote areas of Honduras.
Finally, who was in charge of processing the results and more important, how were these results to be used?
That Zelaya attempted to dupe Hondurans into believing that his referendum was simply a public opinion survey and that the results were really only for academic purposes is one thing. It is quite another, in my view, that he also attempted to sell that explanation to a worldwide audience at the United Nations.
It is true that some governments around the hemisphere have bought part of Zelaya's explanation and were even in on the scheme. It is also true that other governments understand that Zelaya did attempt to pass off a cat for a rabbit, as the old Spanish saying goes (gato por liebre), but like me they were not about to justify a military coup of any kind.
Given the international condemnation of the coup that toppled Zelaya, it is very likely that he will return soon to Honduras and that he will probably be allowed to resume his duties as the only real constitutional president of that impoverished country. In the final months of his mandate it would be wise for Zelaya to leave the polling to professional pollsters who don't require teams of international observers and the direct intervention of foreign governments to deliver credible and professional results.
Eduardo Gamarra is professor of political science at Florida International University.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/03/2009
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Sounds like a typical crook's whine, "I din't do nuttin wrong"
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/03/2009 1:40
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If the government acts on the orders of the Judiciary (legal in Honduras by their constitution), and the military stands down, returning the presidency to the civilian authorities, it is the shortest military coup in known history.
Or it is the military acting legally under the framework of the existing constitutional regime.
#4
I lived in Central America during the heavy coup period. Zelaya's conduct is consistent with the juntists that I remember. It is the Supreme Court and the military that is acting to preserve a constitutional order. The editorial nonsense on this issue has been sickening. There hasn't been the slightest evidence that the armed services intended to form a military dictatorship. Obama is with Castro and Chavez - juntists - on this one.
Posted by: Andy Thrirong7408 ||
07/03/2009 13:30
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Obama is with Castro and Chavez - juntists - on this one. Posted by Andy Thrirong7408
This is an area where "Change" cannot apply. Any destabilization or disruption of the cartels or their leadership has the potential of creating a corresponding negative impact on the "creation" and saving of jobs" in urban America.
#6
The jackass author of this is a PROFESSOR? And yet he cannot be bothered to read the constitution of Honduras, which is the basis for ALL the actions taken legitimately by the Honduran Congress, and Supreme Court - and the military under their lawful order in expelling Z.
Article 239: "No citizen who has already served as head of the Executive Branch can be President or Vice-President. Whoever violates this law or proposes its reform [emphasis added], as well as those that support such violation directly or indirectly, will immediately cease in their functions and will be unable to hold any public office for a period of 10 years." Notice that the article speaks about intent and that it also says "immediately" as in "instant," as in "no trial required," as in "no impeachment needed."
So when will this idiot be educated as to the CONSTITUTION of Honduras and that the current president it the ONLY constitutionally elected president of Honduras, not the criminal would-be dictator he proposes to illegally restore to power?
[Iran Press TV Latest]Moscow opposes imposing sanctions on Iran over what the West describes as a crackdown on protesters who illegally took to the streets following the country's presidential election.
"We believe that sanctions against Iran over its internal political problems would be unlawful and counter-productive," Xinhua quoted Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Andrei Nesterenko as saying on Thursday.
Nesterenko warned that such a move would provoke unwelcome events in the country and the region. He stressed that all disputes should be addressed through legal channels.
Iran's 10th presidential election which was held on June 12 resulted in a landslide victory for incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Unrest in some Iranian cities began when supporters of some defeated presidential candidates took to the streets to protest against alleged 'irregularities' in the election process.
The Guardian Council, which oversees the election, confirmed the election results earlier this week after launching a probe into the allegations.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009
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#1
Russia must want something from Iran.
I dunno, customer for nuke fuel? Patsy? Distraction? Something.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/03/2009 1:18
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(1) Iran has been a client of Moscow for decades.
(2) Putin wants the oil market off of the US $$
(3) The Russian economy contracted by >30% in the last year. The revenues they gave up from cancelled Iranian missile sales hurt.
(4) I wonder if the militants in Ingushetia have good relations with Teheran ....
Working-level officials from the two Koreas are poised to hold their third round of talks on issues related to operations at the joint industrial park in Kaesong on Thursday. The two previous sessions ended with little progress on narrowing the gap over differences between the two sides.
Seoul has been demanding the release of a Hyundai Asan worker detained in the North since late March for allegedly denouncing North Korea's political system and encouraging a female North Korean to defect. Pyongyang for its part has refused to address this matter and instead appears determined to see a significant rise in wage and rent from the South for industrial activities at the joint complex.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/03/2009
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[The News (Pak) Top Stories] The tribal lashkar in Doog Darra area of Dir Upper district Thursday killed two militants, including a key Taliban commander Maulana Naeemullah, in fierce fighting on Thursday.
Maulana Naeemullah was one of the top three local commanders, who facilitated the foreign militants to entrench in the area. There were also reports that several militants suffered injuries in the fierce clashes, triggered by the armed villagers' attempt to torch the house of an important Taliban commander Maulana Zakirullah at Chinar area.
Thousands of armed villagers have been trying to drive the Taliban militants out of the area for the last 25 days but the fighting escalated during the last five days in which 13 persons, including 10 militants and three lashkar men, were killed and several others sustained injuries. The villagers claim to have killed 45 militants in the conflict so far.
Local and lashkar sources told The News that the fierce fighting started on Wednesday evening when the lashkar fighters attempted to torch the house of Maulana Zakirullah.The lashkar has torched or destroyed around 60 houses of the alleged Taliban members and their supporters in the area. "Some 16 fighters of the lashkar were trying to set on fire the house when around 12 militants attacked them," a resident of Miana said, requesting anonymity. The clash resulted in the killing of three members of the lashkar while two others received serious injuries.
The slain lashkar members were identified as Ahmad Khan, Muftahuddin and Badshah. Sources said the fighters of the lashkar killed a Taliban commander, Maulana Naeemullah, along with another unidentified militant.
The bodies of the militants could not be removed from the scene of the fighting and were lying in Chinar area till Thursday evening. Locals said that the slain commander was the mastermind of the Taliban arrival and entrenchment in the mountainous Doog Darra. His death was a setback to the militants, who are now holed up in Ghazigay village after having retreated from other places.
Another militant who was killed in the fighting could not be identified. "His body was placed for identification," a resident told The News by phone. Dozens of Afghan and non-local militants are believed to be hiding in the area.
This article starring:
MAULANA NAIMULLAH
TTP
MAULANA ZAKIRULLAH
TTP
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009
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#1
There's word floating around about another US drone attack in Pakistan. Latest word is 11 dead. No word yet on who.
The Pakistan Army deployed some of its troops along the Pak-Afghan border to an area opposite Afghanistan's Helmand province, an Afghan Taliban stronghold where the United States launched a major offensive on Thursday. The deployment aims to block the Taliban's attempt to enter Pakistan to escape the US onslaught. Thousands of US Marines stormed into a river valley in Helmand in an operation that seeks to break the Taliban's hold on the opium-growing region and turn the tide of the war in Afghanistan. Helmand shares a 130-mile border with Balochistan and troops were being moved there to "challenge any crossing", the chief spokesman of the Pakistani military said. Major General Athar Abbas said, "The area which is not under stress at the moment, we can pull out troops from those areas and beef up the area which is coming under effect."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009
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[Geo News] An intelligence agency claimed to have captured as many as five persons accused of having involvement in Islamabad Marriot Hotel blast here late on Thursday. According to intelligence sources, the accused were detained from separate areas of Checha Watni and Sahiwal while they are reportedly hailing from a banned religious outfit who were traced down through their mobile phone Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs). Two among five arrested alleged suspects of Islamabad Marriot Hotel blast were later identified as Ashfaqu and Sharif aged between 30-35 years while three are still unidentified, sources said revealing all are bearded persons.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009
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Alam Hossain alias Anu, regional commander of the outlawed Biplobi Communist Party, was arrested by Kalia thana police on Wednesday night.
We don't know if he's a New Biplobi, an Old Biplobi, or a Soon-to-be-Dead Biplobi ...
Two firearms including a pistol were recovered firearms from his possession, police sources said.
No shutter gun?
Officer-in-charge of Kalia thana Saeed Ahmed told BSS that acting on a tip-off, a team of police arrested Alam Hossain from a tea stall at Diglia Bazar under Narail sadar thana.
Another tip o' the hat to Mahmoud the Weasel ...
According to his confessional statement, police also seized one pipegun, one pistol and two rounds of rifle bullets from his possession.
A pipegun, now there's a respectable weapon for a Biplobi ...
Alam Hossain, 38, son of Abdul Latif of Matrapur-Naldanga village under Jhenidah district, was a listed and most wanted terrorist in the district, police said.
That's like being the third-best ballerina in Omaha ...
He was an accomplice of Dada Tapan, who was killed in a crossfire, the sources said.
"I'll talk! I'll talk! Just don't bury me next to Dada!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/03/2009
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Uh, Steve, Omaha HAS a ballet group, and they're pretty good. They'd never make Carnagie Hall, but they're worth watching. Alam Hossain would never make the group. Islam frowns on dancing.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/03/2009 15:50
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"Islam frowns on dancing."
Islam frowns on every goddam thing, OP.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/03/2009 16:31
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The U.S. will not resume food aid to North Korea unless there is a guarantee that the food will be distributed properly among North Koreans who need it. U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters Wednesday, "We currently have no plans to provide additional food to North Korea. Any additional food aid would have to have assurances that it would be appropriately used." The sense of feeding the NKor army so it's strong enough to attack us doesn't make sense to anybody who's not a politician.
"We remain very concerned about the well-being of the North Korean people, ... some of us, anyway...
but we are very concerned because we need to have adequate program management in place, monitoring and access provisions, and we don't have that right now," he added.
Wow. Two in a row right for Bambi. First the sanction on the Hong Kong financiers and now this. It's almost like a trend ...
But the attention span will wane in a couple or three weeks and we'll be back wanting to take care of the women and children and those too old to goosestep.
Kelly said North Korea rejected U.S. food aid in March, expressing regret that Pyongyang threw out all NGO food monitors by the end of March. "Well! If you refuse our food aid then we'll not give it to you! Let us know when you're hungry."
Meanwhile, the World Food Programme said there has been no single donation for the food aid program for the North since its nuclear test in May, and the program has been downsized to one-third of the original plan.
Good. Let's see how well the Nork army does without food.
Give it time and attention span deficit disorder.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/03/2009
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Why not put tons of food on the 38th parellel? The soldiers are likely to break ranks and swarm over the food. Then bomb the cities with food packs. When the enemy is starving, food can be the ultimate weapon. Then South Korea and her friends and neighbors would have to deal with the problems of a broken Communist state, but it seems preferable to the crap we are putting up with now.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/03/2009 11:13
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Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan on Thursday said the Korea-U.S. Atomic Energy Agreement should be revised "as soon as possible." Yu said Seoul will seek "concrete consultations in the direction of maximizing commercial gains from the supply of atomic raw materials and the handling of spent fuel."
Yu made the remarks in the press briefing after the U.S. said earlier this week it is against allowing South Korea to reprocess its own spent nuclear fuel. "We'll have to depend much more on atomic energy in coping with climate change in the future," Yu said. "What we are interested in about the atomic energy agreement between the two countries is setting a more concrete boundary of bilateral cooperation for the peaceful use of atomic energy."
The revision of the agreement, which expires in 2014, will reportedly begin in 2012.
Under the 1974 accord, South Korea is prohibited from reprocessing spent nuclear fuel. South Korean politicians have recently called for revising the agreement following North Korea's second nuclear test.
That is the admission that the call for expansion of nuclear agreements for 'peaceful purposes' has the concern about the Norks at the core, and that means they want to re-process fuel so that they can have some plutonium lying around just in case. If the Norks continue to rattle the saber, the SKors will start doing what preliminary work they can get away with so as to reprocess without asking our permission.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/03/2009
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This will get the attention of whoever is holding the Norks leash, i.e. China.
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Two cops were killed and a police officer and two passers-by sustained injuries when a patrolling car of the Agha Mir Jani police station was blown up with a remote-controlled device in Berri Bagh locality here on Thursday.
A full-fledged clean-up operation is likely to be launched in the southern belt of the provincial capital where militants are gaining strength and have become a constant threat to the peace of the city.
The cops were on a routine patrol in a private car when terrorists targeted the vehicle with a roadside bomb, killing the driver, Shafqat Jan, on the spot. Sub-inspector and head of the patrolling party Nusrat Khan, Constable Alamzeb and two passers-by were wounded. The injured were shifted to the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), where Alamzeb succumbed to his injuries.
The policemen had just offered the funeral prayers of Shafqat when they were told about the death of Alamzeb. Later, Alamzeb's funeral prayers were offered at the Malik Saad Shaheed Police Lines.
Belonging to the Chamkani village, Alamzeb joined the police force only two years back, while Shafqat of Surezai village was recruited in 2000. The attack is the fifth on police vehicles in the jurisdiction of the Agha Mir Jani police station during the past six months. It was learnt that around 65 suspects had been rounded up in the area and parts of Mashogagar, Badaber and other localities after attacks on police in the last few days.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009
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This is too cool. I clipped a lot but... can any of us even conceive of President Obama (shudder) having friends interested in such a thing?
For more than 200 years, buried deep within Thomas Jefferson's correspondence and papers, there lay a mysterious cipher -- a coded message that appears to have remained unsolved. Until now.
The cryptic message was sent to President Jefferson in December 1801 by his friend and frequent correspondent, Robert Patterson, a mathematics professor at the University of Pennsylvania. President Jefferson and Mr. Patterson were both officials at the American Philosophical Society -- a group that promoted scholarly research in the sciences and humanities -- and were enthusiasts of ciphers and other codes, regularly exchanging letters about them.
In this message, Mr. Patterson set out to show the president and primary author of the Declaration of Independence what he deemed to be a nearly flawless cipher. "The art of secret writing," or writing in cipher, has "engaged the attention both of the states-man & philosopher for many ages," Mr. Patterson wrote. But, he added, most ciphers fall "far short of perfection."
To Mr. Patterson's view, a perfect code had four properties: It should be adaptable to all languages; it should be simple to learn and memorize; it should be easy to write and to read; and most important of all, "it should be absolutely inscrutable to all unacquainted with the particular key or secret for decyphering."
Mr. Patterson then included in the letter an example of a message in his cipher, one that would be so difficult to decode that it would "defy the united ingenuity of the whole human race," he wrote.
The cipher finally met its match in Lawren Smithline, a 36-year-old mathematician. Dr. Smithline has a Ph.D. in mathematics and now works professionally with cryptology, or code-breaking, at the Center for Communications Research in Princeton, N.J., a division of the Institute for Defense Analyses.
The overall calculations necessary to solve the puzzle were fewer than 100,000, which Dr. Smithline says would be "tedious in the 19th century, but doable."
Using that digital key, he was able to unfurl the cipher's text:
"In Congress, July Fourth, one thousand seven hundred and seventy six. A declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled. When in the course of human events..."
That, of course, is the beginning -- with a few liberties taken -- to the Declaration of Independence, written at least in part by Jefferson himself. "Patterson played this little joke on Thomas Jefferson," says Dr. Smithline. "And nobody knew until now."
TORRINGTON, Conn. (AP) - Police say a Connecticut girl overheard her mother's screams during sex and thought she was being assaulted, so she rounded up some friends to attack the woman's companion. The 16-year-old girl, two boys and a 19-year-old man were arrested Tuesday and arraigned Wednesday on assault and conspiracy charges.
According to Torrington police and the woman, the girl thought her mother was being attacked on June 6. Police say the teens went into the bedroom and beat the mother's 25-year-old companion with a baseball bat and punched him. The man, Roger Swanson of Torrington, says he suffered a black eye and several bruises.
The woman, Melanie Arnold, denies she screamed. She tells The Associated Press her daughter heard a slap and thought it was an assault.
[Maghrebia] With 82% of Morocco's Imams lacking formal training, a new qualification programme aims to provide better religious guidance to the Moroccan people and to counter extremism. Nearly 45,000 imams will undergo training under a new programme launched by the government on June 26th, part of a larger plan to reform religious affairs in the kingdom.
In 2004, the first religious affairs reform plan led to an overhaul of the Islamic affairs ministry, revision of the legislation on places of worship, and the modernisation of religious instruction in Morocco.
Ahmed Toufik, Minister for Islamic Affairs and Habous, explained that the 200 million-dirham programme will also offer society a grounding in religious affairs which is in tune with the modern world and careful to preserve national identity. Some 1,500 trainers will conduct training in rural and urban communities across the kingdom, to give imams the skills they need to provide religious instruction appropriate to Moroccan society.
The training programme -- based on the Maliki rite common to Morocco's Sunni Muslims -- is compulsory for all imams. It includes spiritual education, discussion of the function of the mosque and other subjects covered by the High Council of Ulemas.
Since 2006, the state has selected 150 imams with university diplomas for a 12-month training programme. Now, all new imams will have to possess diplomas and undergo training.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009
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#1
Ummm, pray our way, or not at all?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/03/2009 1:13
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I think this is a good thing. For those who haven't been paying attention, Morocco has become one of the most progressive Muslim nations in the world, and is a true constitutional monarchy like the Brits.
This could be a step towards countering the Saudi's distribution on Wahhabist imans around the globe.
[Kyodo: Korea] The United States pressed North Korea Thursday to discontinue provocations and return to the negotiating table about denuclearizing, after Pyongyang"s fresh test-firing of missiles. ""It has to cut out these kinds of provocative actions and return to the denuclearization talks,"" said State Department spokesman Ian Kelly at a news briefing.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009
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Department of "Going through the Motions"?
Just a waste of breath.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/03/2009 1:20
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#2
Maybe Hussein O isn't the Great Negotiator, after all.
#4
Thanks Rahm, meaningless urgings issued! Now back to our priorities of reparations, leveling the playing field, wealth redistro, alyiuun social security, medical care, voting, and reconquista.
Robert my man, did I mention you did a sorry assed job handling Helen Thomas yesterday? If it happens again, your off to Iraq with Joe.
[Geo News] An explosive packed vehicle has been recovered from Lakki Marwat area of Sara-e-Norang, police said Thursday. The police sources said a suicide bomber has also been arrested from the spot near GHQ Hospital in Tajazai.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Kyodo: Korea] The U.S. envoy coordinating financial, arms and other sanctions against North Korea under a recent U.N. resolution said here Thursday the United States is targeting ''full implementation'' of the resolution.
Speaking to reporters in Beijing after a meeting with Chinese officials, one he described as ''very good,'' U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg said the United States intended to fully implement sanctions laid out under Resolution 1874, including financial and economic sanctions.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Senator-elect Al Franken turned a rally at Minnesota's Capitol on Wednesday into an extended thank-you to supporters, promising not to "waste this chance'' in what amounted to a victory speech nearly eight months late.
With a crowd of several hundred cheering his words, the Democratic senator-elect from Minnesota said he had drawn strength from their efforts when his spirits flagged during the long vote recount and subsequent legal battle. "When you win an election by this close a margin, you know not one bit of effort went to waste,'' Mr. Franken said, a day after Minnesota's Supreme Court affirmed his victory and Republican Norm Coleman conceded.
Many in the crowd sported pro-Franken or pro-union shirts. "I'm one of 312,'' read one sign, a nod to Mr. Franken's winning vote margin.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009
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Waste this chance on what?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/03/2009 1:05
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I'm one of 312
Could mean he voted 312 times. Of course for a democrat that would be considered _lite_.
#3
Even if he serves only one term, he has a congressional pension for life. There isn't much he can do at this point to screw things up. He now has free medical care and a monthly check for as long as he lives. Jackpot!
#11
The people of Minn picked a candidate that fits in with the rest of the democrats. The DNC supported him as one of their own and spent millions to help. He is another goon that will vote any way he is told, hug his bunny, learn to pee standing up, and take the American people to the bank for the rest of his worthless life...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/03/2009 16:32
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#12
Someone had to say it.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/03/2009 16:32
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#13
Palin resigns. Ass-clown Franken goes to Washington, and Barry supports a tinhorn Latin narco dictator? We are indeed living a nightmare.
[Bangla Daily Star] The High Court (HC) yesterday termed former communications minister Nazmul Huda and Jamaat-e-Islami leader Muhammad Kamaruzzaman 'wrong-headed' and 'worthless' for making 'derogatory' remarks on the June 21 HC judgement on proclamation of the country's independence.
Meanwhile, the HC exempted former vice chancellor of Dhaka University Prof Emajuddin Ahmed from appearing before the court in person in a contempt of court petition filed against him for making 'contemptuous comment' on the same HC verdict.
During hearing of the petition against Huda and Kamaruzzaman, the HC bench of justices ABM Khairul Haque and M Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed observed that they had made the comments without being informed about the HC judgement. "No self-conscious person can make such remarks," the court said.
The bench, however, disposed of the petition saying, "We shall not issue any rule against the persons who are not aware of the dignity and authority of the High Court judges."
President of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) advocate AFM Mesbahuddin, Vice Chairman of Bangladesh Bar Council advocate Abdul Baset Majumder and Additional Attorney General MK Rahman were present. They told the court that since the statements of Huda and Kamaruzaman hurt the dignity of the HC, a contempt rule should be issued against them.
Barrister Mainul Hosein, former adviser to a caretaker government, prayed to the court for disposal of the petition with some observations. Petitioner's counsel Advocate Manzill Murshid said if the HC did not take the statements into cognisance, it will have negative impact on people.
Huda and Kamaruzzaman said the judgment on proclamation of the country's independence was not of the HC rather it was a personal verdict of the judges concerned. The judges made observations in the verdict as if they are political leaders and the judgment was a political one, the two said. Their remarks were published in various national dailies on June 30.
SM Zafar Sadik, a lawyer of the Supreme Court (SC), on July 1 filed the contempt of court petition against them with the HC.
This article starring:
MUHAMAD KAMARUZZAMAN
Jamaat-e-Islami
NAZMUL HUDA
Jamaat-e-Islami
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009
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June 30 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese police arrested three men yesterday for allegedly attempting to export a measuring device that could be used for developing long-range ballistic missiles to Myanmar, the Yomiuri newspaper reported.
The men, who worked at a trading company, a manufacturing company and an exporter, are alleged to have attempted to send the magnetic measuring device to Myanmar in January for 7 million yen ($73,000), the report said. One of the companies involved had allegedly tried to export the same device around September last year, the report said.
Police believe North Korea was attempting to help Myanmar gain missile technologies, the report said. North Korea is suspected of having ordered the device through a Hong Kong-based trading company that it controls, the report said.
Myanmar wants missiles? What for?
Posted by: Steve White ||
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[Straits Times] MALAYSIAN opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has lost a final bid to have his sodomy trial held in a lower court, ending a long wrangle over where the case should be heard, his lawyer said on Thursday. The Court of Appeal rejected the application and affirmed an earlier decision that the politically charged case should be heard in the High Court. The trial is due to start July 8.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Militant leader Maulana Fazlullah may have died after he was reportedly injured seriously in an attack in Pakistan's Swat valley, a report suggests. "This just in from our ace reporter, D.J. Wu!"
Should Fazlullah's death be confirmed, it would be the first major success since the Pakistani army launched operations in Dir, Buner and Swat in April. Killing large numbers of turbans and chasing them out of Swat's not a success?
The Pakistani army attacked Fazlullah's hideout in the Swat valley after they traced his call directing attacks to Tahrik-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi Spokesman, Muslim Khan, Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik announced on Wednesday. I am just so surprised to learn that the TNSM and the TTP-Swat are one and the same! I'd have never guessed!
Malik said that in his conversation, Fazlullah disclosed that he had been surrounded and had lost many of his commanders. On Thursday, Pakistan's The Nation citing local TV channels reported that the militant leader has been killed. Islamabad's claims about the number of militants that the army has killed cannot be verified independently. The report about Fazlullah's death, thus, challenges the Pakistani government's claims. I'm not sure how it does, but neither am I taking any of the claims seriously.
This article starring:
Maulana Fazlullah
TTP
Muslim Khan
TNSM
Posted by: Fred ||
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This would be so nice to have confirmed. Im'a waiting for the Fat Lady.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Italy has adopted a controversial law against illegal immigration, including a measure allowing citizens to mount their own patrols.
Under the new law, illegal immigration becomes a criminal offence; anyone caught housing an illegal immigrant could face jail; and parents registering a baby's birth have to present papers to show they are legal residents.
Perhaps the most controversial part of the legislation, passed on Thursday, is that it permits "citizens groups" to mount patrols on the lookout for public order offences.
After objections that they would be little more than vigilante groups, the local authorities said that they would monitor their activities, AFP reported.
Parents will also have to present their passport or residency permit when they declare the birth of a child, which some critics have warned could lead to a generation of "invisible" children growing up outside the system.
During its slow passage through parliament, the opposition denounced the measures as reminiscent of Italy's Fascist era.
The new law would "deprive children of their most basic rights," said Raffaele Salinari, the president of the Italian branch of Terre des Hommes, a campaign group dedicated to protecting the rights of children.
While other European countries have not actually criminalized illegal immigration, several, including France and Greece, have adopted similar measures.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009
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> Perhaps the most controversial part of the legislation, passed on Thursday, is that it permits "citizens groups" to mount patrols on the lookout for public order offences.
This is actually the idea behind the original police, before the state messed things up.
#5
So Italy is not courting the votes of illegal immigrants? They are actually protecting their borders?
Between 1986 and 1998, the Italian government held 4 amnesties, granting citizenship to about 700,000 people. But this did not solve the problem, it actually ended up attracting more migrants....Unfortunately, not only did these amnesties cost the government a lot of money, they made Italy's immigration policies appear lenient. This in turn has made even more foreigners want to move there, and since there is so much red tape involved with getting legal citizenship, many choose to enter the country illegally.
So much for the liberal dream of amnesty for illegals...
Spending by lawmakers on taxpayer-financed trips abroad has risen sharply in recent years, a Wall Street Journal analysis of travel records shows, involving everything from war-zone visits to trips to exotic spots such as the Galapagos Islands.
The spending on overseas travel is up almost tenfold since 1995, and has nearly tripled since 2001, according to the Journal analysis of 60,000 travel records. Hundreds of lawmakers traveled overseas in 2008 at a cost of about $13 million. That's a 50% jump since Democrats took control of Congress two years ago.
The cost of so-called congressional delegations, known among lawmakers as "codels," has risen nearly 70% since 2005, when an influence-peddling scandal led to a ban on travel funded by lobbyists, according to the data.
Lawmakers say that the trips are a good use of government funds because they allow members of Congress and their staff members to learn more about the world, inspect U.S. assets abroad and forge better working relationships with each other. The travel, for example, includes official visits to American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Journal analysis, based on information published in the Congressional Record, also shows that taxpayer-funded travel is a big and growing perk for lawmakers and their families. Some members of Congress have complained in recent months about chief executives of bailed-out banks, insurance companies and car makers who sponsored corporate trips to resorts or used corporate jets for their own travel.
Although complete travel records aren't yet available for 2009, it appears that such costs continue to rise. The Journal analysis shows that the government has picked up the tab for travel to destinations such as Jamaica, the Virgin Islands and Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
Lawmakers frequently bring along spouses on congressional trips. If they take commercial flights, they have to buy tickets for spouses. If they fly on government planes -- as they usually do -- their spouses can fly free.
Paris Air Show
In mid-June, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D., Hawaii) led a group of a half-dozen senators and their spouses on a four-day trip to France for the biennial Paris Air Show. An itinerary for the event shows that lawmakers flew on the Air Force's version of the Boeing 737, which costs $5,700 an hour to operate. They stayed at the Intercontinental Paris Le Grand Hotel, which advertises rooms from $460 a night.
The lawmakers were invited to a dinner party at the U.S. Embassy and had cocktails at a private party at the Eiffel Tower. Mr. Inouye attended a dinner sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association, a U.S. trade group. Another senator on the trip, Alabama Republican Sen. Richard Shelby, took a cruise on the River Seine with defense-industry executives and elected officials from Alabama, Mississippi and Florida.
Mr. Inouye and Mr. Shelby declined to comment.
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[Maghrebia] Spanish security officers charged five Maghreb nationals Wednesday (June 1st) with helping to finance a terror cell plotting attacks in Morocco, MAP reported. The suspects, who owned two shops in the southern Spanish town of Algesiras, were allegedly engaged in drug trafficking and other illegal activities. Four Moroccans from the Spanish enclave of Ceuta were arraigned earlier this week for allegedly creating a Salafia Jihadia cell to destabilise Morocco with violent strikes against tourist locations and diplomatic headquarters.
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[Khaleej Times] Iranian presidential election runner up Mir Hossein Mousavi on Wednesday renewed a demand for a complete re-run of the vote and pledged to help set up a new group to defend citizen's rights.
Another defeated candidate, Mehdi Karroubi, saw his reformist newspaper Etemad Melli shut down after he denounced the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as invalid and the new government as not legitimate.
The 12-member Guardians Council election watchdog had warned the defeated candidates that it will brook no more challenges to the results following a recount of 10 percent of ballot boxes from the June 12 poll.
Mousavi, Ahmadinejad's closest rival who won 34 percent of the vote compared to 63 percent for the incumbent, remained defiant, saying: "The majority of the society to which I belong will not recognise the legitimacy of the (future) government.
"Our historic duty is to continue the protests to defend the rights of the people... and prevent the blood spilled by hundreds of thousands of martyrs from leading to a police state," he said in a posting on his website.
Mousavi said a group of politicians including himself have decided to create "a legal political body to defend citizen's rights and votes that were crushed in the election, to publish documents about the frauds and irregularities and to start legal action."
Iran's police chief Esmaeil Ahmadi-Moghaddam said that 20 people were killed and more than 1,000 arrested in the wave of protests over the disputed presidential vote.
"No policeman was killed in the Tehran riots but 20 rioters were killed," he said, confirming earlier reports.
"Police arrested 1,032 people in the recent riots. Many have been released and the rest are being prosecuted in Tehran's public and revolutionary courts," he was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency.
The Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights has said that more than 2,000 people are in custody in Iran and hundreds more missing, while rights group Amnesty said it is concerned that several detained opposition leaders may face torture.
Human Rights Watch said harsh interrogation conditions and inadequate medical care are threatening the life of detained reformist Saeed Hajjarian, a former presidential adviser and Tehran city councillor.
Police chief Ahmadi-Moghaddam said the death of Neda Agha-Soltan, who became a symbol of post-election street rallies in Iran, was a "prearranged scenario," state owned English-language Press TV reported.
He accused Arash Hejazi, a doctor who says he tried to save Neda's life in her final moments, of fanning the flames of the western media hype, the TV station said on its website.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs dismissed Ahmadi-Moghaddam's allegation as "misinformation."
"I think the notion that the death of an innocent woman would be staged is -- even with them, it's shocking," Gibbs said.
Ahmadinejad on Wednesday cancelled a trip to Libya, where he was due to have addressed a summit of African leaders in the seaside town of Sirte at the invitation of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi.
Pressure of work was blamed for the cancellation and it was impossible to know whether Ahmadinejad's pullout was connected with the wave of opposition which has swept Iran since the election, triggering the worst crisis since the Islamic revolution in 1979.
Foreign media remain banned from reporting from Iranian streets under restrictions imposed in the violent election aftermath.
Mousavi called for a guarantee of freedom of assembly, a free press, the lifting of bans on independent newspapers and websites and for the possibility to have "an independent television network."
The former prime minister also demanded the release of people arrested for "political reasons" and an end to "telephone tapping".
Etemad Melli said its publication was suspended on Wednesday as a direct result of Karroubi's latest statement.
"Last night, after Karroubi's statement was released, representatives of the Tehran prosecutor and the culture ministry prevented the publication of Etemad Melli newspaper," his party of the same name said on its website.
"They wanted the statement censored and not published -- so the newspaper will not be published today," it said.
Among people still held by the Iranian authorities is one local staff member from the British embassy out of nine who were detained on allegations of stoking the unrest, Press TV reported.
A British Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "The latest situation is two of our staff have been released over the last two days. We are also seeking confirmation that a further member of staff has been released today.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the arrest of the nine embassy employees "is unjustified and it is unacceptable and some people in Iran are trying to seek to use Britain as an explanation for the legitimate Iranian voices calling for greater openness and democracy."
EU countries are considering a proposal from Britain for a temporary recall of all of their ambassadors from Iran in protest at the detention of the British embassy employees by Tehran, a European diplomatic source said.
A senior foreign policy advisor to Barack Obama said Iran's political crackdown and nuclear programme will be "at front and center" of the US president's visit to Russia and the G8 summit in Italy next week.
In a sign of life in Iran returning to normal, the text messaging network was restored on Wednesday after being cut off since June 12.
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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election campaign manager, Mojtaba Samareh-Hashemi, says Iran's electoral process was fair and healthy.
Iran became the scene of opposition rallies after the announcement of Ahmadinejad as the winner of the 10th presidential election with nearly two-thirds of the vote.
At least 20 people were killed and many others were injured when some protests turned violent.
In an interview with Press TV on Thursday, Samareh-Hashemi said that the supporters of the defeated candidates knew fully well that "the result of the election was true".
He went on to claim that this knowledge was the reason behind the refusal of Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi and Mohsen Rezaei to send representatives to the committee tasked with probing the vote result.
Iran's election watchdog, the Guardian Council, formed a "special commission" to look into the issues surrounding the election and to conduct a partial vote recount.
Samareh-Hashemi explained that the Ahmadinejad administration had temporarily suspended text-messaging services, made cell phone services intermittent and blocked certain websites to "ensure security in the country" following the post-election unrest.
He went on to accuse certain American internet service providers of implementing the policies of the US government by "launching attacks on 200 Iranian websites and helping fuel the unrest."
"Even, the election website came under cyber attack," he said.
Samareh-Hashemi insisted that Mousavi must publicly declare his adherence to the law, saying all Iranians are required to abide by the Constitution.
He went on to describe the defeated candidate's recent statement as a "step forward".
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#1
He won so fair that the military were pouring into the cities and Phone / internet connections were cut before the election was even finished.
[Maghrebia] Ten presidential candidates will begin campaigning Thursday (July 2nd) in Mauritania, AFP reported. The three main opposition party leaders - Ahmed Ould Daddah of the RFD, parliamentary speaker Messaoud Ould Boulkheir of the FNDD, and Islamist party Tewassoul leader Jemil Ould Mansour - are among the ten candidates on the provisional list announced Wednesday by the Constitutional Council.
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TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) The head of the Organization of American States is warning that sanctions may be in store for Honduras. OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza says the international community has done "practically everything that can be done" to persuade interim leaders to give up power and restore ousted President Manuel Zelaya.
Insulza said at a news conference in Guyana on Thursday it will be "very hard to turn things around" by a Saturday deadline set by his organization. He says the OAS will discuss sanctions over the weekend.
International diplomats who have threatened and isolated Honduras' coup-spawned government said Thursday they would travel to Honduras in an attempt to persuade the interim leaders to restore the president they ousted.
It was a difficult balance for the Washington-based Organization of American States, which has taken the lead in international efforts to reverse the military overthrow of President Manuel Zelaya: It needs to engage the interim government to get Zelaya back, but can't be seen as compromising with a government it doesn't recognize.
OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza was planning to travel to Honduras on Friday, possibly accompanied by foreign ministers from the region, his deputy Albert Ramdin told The Associated Press. "We want to see a return of President Zelaya on safe and unconditional circumstances back to the country to resume his position," he said. "After that, they can discuss through dialogue whatever differences there are domestically."
Insulza has already made phone calls to former Honduran presidents and religious leaders in Honduras, he said. Talks with interim President Roberto Micheletti himself were apparently barred because the organization fears it would grant legitimacy to his military-backed government.
The OAS has given Hondurans until Saturday to restore Zelaya or be suspended from the organization, and Zelaya has delayed his planned return until after that deadline. Nations around the world have promised to shun Micheletti, who was sworn in after the Sunday coup.
Neighboring countries have imposed trade blockades, major lenders have cut aid, the Obama administration has halted joint military operations and Sweden announced Thursday that all European Union ambassadors have abandoned the Honduran capital.
That has left few ways to negotiate a solution. Micheletti backers have vowed to reject foreign pressure, saying the army acted legally on orders of Congress and the Supreme Court when it raided Zelaya's house amid the rattle of gunfire and deported him, still in his nightshirt.
Zelaya may have helped open an avenue to compromise by saying he will leave office at the end of his term in January and will not try to modify the constitution. He was toppled largely because Congress and the courts accused him of trying to change the constitution illegally to retain power.
But other issues still complicate a solution: Honduran officials say they will arrest Zelaya on more than a dozen charges ranging from corruption to treason if he sets foot in the country. Zelaya's backers say the coup leaders must be punished.
Thousands of people on both sides of the fight were mobilizing again Thursday. On Wednesday, Zelaya supporters held a large march in the capital and many many more Micheletti supporters demonstrated elsewhere. No violence was reported.
Seeking to stem internal unrest, Honduras' Congress approved a bill Wednesday toughening a nighttime curfew in place since the coup. The law gives authorities the power to conduct warrantless arrests and removes constitutional rights to assembly and movement from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. The new government also ordered home Honduras' pro-Zelaya ambassadors to the U.S., the United Nations and the OAS.
The U.N. ambassador, Jorge Arturo Reyna, refused, saying he took orders only from Zelaya, and OAS Ambassador Carlos Sosa called the order "an excellent joke." But Honduras' ambassador to Washington returned home and said he was recognizing Micheletti's government. "This is not a coup d'etat, but rather a process in which a judicial order has been carried out," envoy Roberto Flores Bermudez said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/03/2009
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#1
So, by it's own admission, the OAS doesn't believe in the rule of law?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/03/2009 1:34
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The dude wants to change the constitution to allow an extension of his rule. Sounds undemocratic.
#3
Article 239: "No citizen who has already served as head of the Executive Branch can be President or Vice-President. Whoever violates this law or proposes its reform [emphasis added], as well as those that support such violation directly or indirectly, will immediately cease in their functions and will be unable to hold any public office for a period of 10 years."
Notice that the article speaks about intent and that it also says "immediately" as in "instant," as in "no trial required," as in "no impeachment needed."
Its a built in clause to prevent exactly the subversion that the assclown Zelaya is trying to do. And our dictator-loving president Barack "the F***wit" Obama supports imposition of this criminal by external force.
[Bangla Daily Star] Former environment secretary Ismail Zabiullah was sent to jail yesterday in a graft case in which he was earlier sentenced to 13 years" imprisonment in absentia.
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[Beirut Daily Star: Region] Iran on Thursday announced more arrests in the post-election turmoil, detaining seven alleged provocateurs of violence it says were linked to Iranian exiles, while a hardline lawmaker called for legal action against defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi.
The arrests continue a heavy crackdown that has squashed the mass protests that erupted over the disputed June 12 presidential vote. Iran's top police chief has said 20 people were killed in violence during the protests, and that 1,032 people were detained.
The Basij, a paramilitary militia that had a prominent role in putting down the protests, on Wednesday formally requested that Mousavi be investigated for the post-election protests, saying he "supervised or assisted in punishable acts." A hard-line MP on Parliament's legal committee, Mohammad Taghi Rahbar, echoed that call Thursday, saying Mousavi had continued his calls for protests even after Iran's supreme leader had ordered a halt to street unrest.
The semi-official Fars news agency reported Thursday that families of the "innocent victims" of bloodshed during demonstrations would receive government compensation. Fars said "terrorists infiltrated among protesters to foment unrest," causing the violence.
There was no word on who would receive compensation and how much - but it seems to refer to eight Basij members who were reportedly killed.
The compensation is to come from the state-funded Martyrs' Foundation, a body that helps families of those who died in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, in which more than a million people from the two countries were killed and far more wounded.
Iran has been eager to depict the unprecedented wave of protests as inspired by outsiders, apparently looking to boost the legitimacy of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was announced as a landslide victor over his pro-reform opponent Mousavi. Mousavi insists he is the winner, calling the official results fraudulent.
The newly announced arrests were of seven members of "anti-government groups" who were "provoking unrest" in Tehran and the northwestern city of Qazvin, the state-run satellite channel Press TV reported.
The Qazvin regional intelligence department said the suspects had confessed to connections with groups including the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK), or People's Mujahedeen, the armed wing of a France-based opposition group, the National Resistance Council of Iran. Iran has repeatedly blamed the MEK for inciting post-election unrest.
Meanwhile, the official tally of deaths among Iranian protesters during the demonstrations following the vote was upped from 17 to 20, police chief General Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam announced, according to the state-run newspaper Iran.
Police detained 1,032 people, and most have been released, said Ahmadi Moghaddam, adding that 500 policemen were injured in the clashes. He did not specify whether the numbers included those detained by the Basij, who are connected to Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, not the police.
Despite the crackdown, which has halted protests since Sunday, Mousavi appears driven to maintain his opposition. In a challenging statement Wednesday, he said he would consider an Ahmadinejad government illegitimate and demanded political prisoners be released.
Tehran also faces pressure from the West, sharpened after the detention last week of several Iranians employed by the British Embassy. Iranian state television reported all but one of the detained has been released.
The EU on Thursday called on Iran to release all the employees, but it held off on a British request that all 27 EU ambassadors be withdrawn from Tehran. Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said it was too early to recall the envoys and the EU was "awaiting how the Iranian authorities will react." He added that "more than one" of the employee remained in detention.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday called for next week's Group of Eight summit to send a "strong message of unity" in support of Iranians' human rights, and said efforts to address concerns over Tehran's nuclear ambitions must remain on track.
But her call stopped short of Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi's statement this week that the G-8 nations would consider sanctions against Iran.
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Democracy: Nations aren't usually put to the fearsome test to "live free or die." But Hondurans are accepting it as the world pressures them to reseat a potential dictator in office. They aren't bending.
On Tuesday, all 192 members of the U.N. General Assembly voted to condemn Hondurans' removal of President Mel Zelaya from office. He was ousted this week after brazenly defying a Supreme Court ruling against a reelection referendum. Using the language of the effort's ringleader, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, the U.N. called the constitutional act "a military coup."
The same day, the Organization of American States gave Honduras three days to reinstall Zelaya as president or its membership would be suspended. The World Bank "paused' lending until Zelaya is back. The Inter American Development Bank followed suit.
Standard & Poor's warned of a credit downgrade. Tourists were told by embassies to leave. Three bordering nations cut off trade. Nations pulled ambassadors. Venezuela's despot, Hugo Chavez, cut off cheap oil. He now bucks for an OAS-led military invasion if his leftist pal Zelaya is not restored to power.
The U.S. has its own bag of potential sanctions for Honduras, although as new facts emerge about Zelaya's involvement in the drug trade and his mental instability, doesn't look as though it intends to use them. Still, the Sword of Damocles over Honduras could mean a suspended free trade treaty, a cutoff of its $200 million in aid, and an end to its immigration agreement with the U.S.
As the world follows Chavez's lead in trying to force Honduras to accept a lawless man as its leader, disasters for Honduras loom.
The tiny country is impoverished. Its seven million people have a per capita income of just $1,635 a year. Its economy has been enfeebled by Zelaya himself. He has fixed prices and wages, and opened the door to drug traffickers, creating a burgeoning narcostate.
It seems impossible that Honduras could withstand new draconian pressure and isolation over taking Zelaya back.
Yet evidence shows that Hondurans consider the latter fate worse. If Zelaya is restored as president, he will resume his dictatorial ambitions while Hondurans lose their future freedoms. Oh, the OAS will tell them "dialogue" will solve it.
But Hondurans know better: If the rule of law won't dissuade Zelaya from being dictator, why would sweet talk work?
Honduras' new, constitutionally appointed leader, Robert Micheletti, defied the global blowhards sitting in judgment of Honduras and said he wasn't leaving.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/03/2009
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BRAVO
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/03/2009 1:38
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Is there any movement for us private citizens to do what our asshole president Obama will not, namely recognize that the rule of law was upheld, and send support to the government and people of Honduras.
#4
Difficult as it is for me to say, at least Barry was quite candid and open about his support for Zelaya. The same cannot be said for administrations who, in the name of majority rule and equality, clandestinely supported communist regimes in Africa who were in open armed conflict with existing democracies in the 1970's and 1980's.
[Haaretz Defense] A 17- year-old girl was killed in a blast in central Gaza near the Israeli border Thursday, Hamas security officials said, charging that an Israeli tank shell was to blame. The Israel Defense Forces said soldiers came under Palestinian fire across the border in central Gaza and returned fire, but they did not use tank shells. "The Zionists are responding to our mortar fire, Your Immensity!"
"Bring forth the women and children!"
"Yes, Your Enormity! Head 'em up and move 'em out, Mahmoud!"
IDF sources said that Palestinian militants had been firing mortar shells when the blast occurred, and they believed that it was Palestinian mortar fire that resulted in the casualties. There was a later report that said it was their counterbattery fire...
Palestinian Health Ministry official Dr. Moaiya Hassanain said the fatality was a 17-year-old girl, and one of the wounded was a 3-year-old girl. Earlier, Hassanain said the little girl had been killed.
The Palestinian news agency Ma'an named the dead girl as Hiyam al-Ayish, adding that her 24-year-old brother had also been wounded. Al-Aqsa hospital sources said that more people had been wounded. Other Palestinians raised doubts about the report that an Israel tank shell was responsible for the blast, noting that reporters were uncharacteristically banned from the area and the family refused to talk to them.
There have been sporadic border clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants since Israel ended a devastating three-week offensive in Gaza in January, aimed at stopping Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel.
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[Iran Press TV Latest] A Liberian commission calls for prosecution of former president Charles Taylor and seven other former warlords for crimes against humanity.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission announced on Thursday that it is to submit its recommendations to the country's legislature for consideration of the eight accused over their alleged roles in the West African country's civil war.
The offenses include human rights violations, violations of international humanitarian law, international human rights laws, war crimes and egregious domestic economic crimes, the commission added.
Taylor, who launched the 1989 invasion in neighboring Sierra Leone, is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. He is on trial at The Hague over the charges.
Among those recommended for prosecution is Prince Johnson, a former rebel leader who won a landslide victory in the 2005 postwar election and is now a sitting senator.
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[Maghrebia] An Algerian court on Wednesday (June 1st) arraigned ten suspected al-Qaeda terrorists for the June 17th ambush murder of at least 19 young gendarmes in Bordj Bou Arreridj, Liberation reported. Another 14 alleged members of a support network were charged with providing information to the terror group on the movement of security forces in the region. In related news, security forces in Khenchela province arrested some 50 suspects in connection with the June 22nd killing of five communal guards.
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[Geo News] At least two persons were killed and three others injured, when a powerful explosion occurred in Ghas Mandi area of Gali Gul Zaman, Geo News reported Thursday. Relief teams including ambulances and bomb disposal squad arrived on the blast site. The injured were rushed to the hospital, where two of them succumbed to injuries. The people kick-started the relief activities on their own. According to preliminary reports, the blast was caused by a hand grenade that was two to 3.5 kilogram. According to hospital sources, the injured are quite out of dangers.
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[The News (Pak) Top Stories] About 68 personnel of the Levies Force quit their job on Thursday following threats by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Orakzai Agency chapter. Sources said the TTP Orakzai chapter had threatened the Levies personnel to quit their jobs within 15 days, or face consequences. It was reported that 25 personnel belonging to Mamozai tribe and 43 hailing from Aakhel tribe quit their services and handed over their official arms and belts to the political authorities. On the other hand, the Levies personnel of other tribes of Orakzai Agency called a jirga to chalk out future line of action in this regard.
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[The News (Pak) Top Stories] After the Hafiz Gul Bahadur-led militants in North Waziristan, another pro-government militant commander, Mulla Nazeer, also scrapped his peace deal with the government in South Waziristan Agency on Thursday.
A senior associate of Mulla Nazeer, Saada Janan, called The News from Wana, headquarters of South Waziristan, and claimed their Shura or council unanimously decided to scrap the peace accord with the government to protest the frequent US drone attacks in their territory. The political administration of South Waziristan, however, claimed that Mulla Nazeer has revived his peace accord with the government by sending 120-member jirga of Ahmadzai Wazir elders to negotiate with senior government officials in Wana.
Prominent Ahmadzai elders, including Malik Noor Ali, Malik Ghazi Mohammad and Malik Ajmal Khan led the jirga that called on South Waziristan Political Agent Syed Shahab Ali Shah and Assistant Political Agent Syed Abdul Ghafoor Shah in Wana. The elders said Mulla Nazeer had given them authority to hold talks with the government for restoration of peace in the region. Also, the jirga members said Mulla Nazeer allowed them to revive the April 2007 peace agreement with the government and promised not to attack government installations and security forces. After successful talks between the government and Ahmadzai Wazirs, the government later released six tribesmen who were held a few days back.
A close associate of Mulla Nazeer, who introduced himself as Sadda Janan, however, called The News and said they have nothing to do with a meeting of tribal jirga and political authorities. He said their Shura or council decided to scrap the peace agreement with the government as according to him the government was fully cooperating with US forces in targeting their leadership in Wana through drone attacks. He said they had already directed their fighters to attack government installations and fight against the security forces.
Asked about a similar stance already taken by Taliban commander in North Waziristan, Hafiz Gul Bahadur over US drone attacks, where drone did not fire missile during the past two months, Saada Janan argued all the three Taliban commanders -- Baitullah Mahsud, Mulla Nazeer and Hafiz Gul Bahadur -- in February last formed Shura Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen or council of holy warriors, in which he claimed, all of them promised to fight alongside if anyone of them was attacked.
Mulla Nazeer and his Ahmadzai Wazir militants played decisive role in eviction of Uzbek nationals from Wana, Azam Warsak and Shakai areas when the government launched massive military operation against them in 2007.
This article starring:
BAITULLAH MAHSUD
TTP
HAFIZ GUL BAHADUR
TTP
MALIK AJMAL KHAN
TTP
MALIK GHAZI MOHAMAD
TTP
MALIK NUR ALI
TTP
MULLA NAZIR
TTP
SAADA JANAN
TTP
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[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Thirty-six persons were injured, some critically, when a lone suicide bomber rammed his cycle of violence motorcycle into a bus carrying employees of the Army-run Heavy Mechanical Complex (HMC) at the Peshawar Road near Chur Chowk, Rawalpindi, here on Thursday at around 4.15 pm, police said. The suicide bomber was the only reported fatality.
Initially, the death toll had been given as six but it was revised to one killed (the bomber himself) by the law enforcing agencies. Additional Inspector General of Police, Rawalpindi, Nasir Khan Durrani, confirmed that it was a suicide attack, saying that body parts of the suicide bomber and other evidence had been collected. Eight vehicles, standing around the targeted bus, were completely destroyed while the windowpanes of buildings and shops in a radius of over half-a-kilometer were shattered. Considering the traffic congestion in the area, the death toll could have been higher but fortunately it was not to be a perfect kill for the terrorists.
While Baitullah Mehsud remains the usual suspect, no group had claimed responsibility of the attack till the filing of this report. Teams of police, Rescue-1122, and Edhi Trust rushed to the scene and shifted the body and wounded people to different hospitals of the city.
Eyewitnesses told this correspondent that a young bike rider, aged between 20-22, hit the left side of the bus and almost immediately blew himself up. The explosion sound, according to one witness, was deafening and immediately the entire area was covered in dark clouds. The road was covered with glass shreds, scattered pools of blood, flesh pieces and broken bones, while a strong stench of burnt flesh and gunpowder hung over the area.
Another witness said he saw the bike-riding young bomber coming from a street, adding that he came straight towards the bus as it stopped at the traffic signal and came in between a car and the bus. He said the youngster blew himself up after a couple of seconds. Body parts of the suicide bomber and the bus scattered in a radius of hundreds of meters, he added. Local volunteers rushed to the scene to rescue the people trapped in the bus and other vehicles affected by the blast and started shifting them to hospitals, he maintained.
The witnesses said the bus was carrying employees of the Heavy Mechanical Complex (HMC).Additional IG Rawalpindi Nasir Khan Durrani, while talking to a group of media persons at the crime scene, said that the government bus, carrying about 30 staff members, coming from the Islamabad side and heading towards Mandra was hit by the suicide attacker at about 4.15 pm when it stopped at the signal. He said that the attacker hit the bus from the fuel tank side, causing more damage.
The additional IG had initially told reporters that six people had been killed in the blast, but he later revised that figure. "I was at the spot and was told that the toll was five to six, but later we checked with hospitals and they confirmed only one dead and 36 wounded."
The additional IG said the terrorists failed to hit the installations of sensitive agencies due to effective security measures and now they had chosen to hit moving targets.Durrani said the bombers adopted a new strategy for suicide attacks and now they had started using motorcycles for attacks. "Obviously, the attack is a reaction to the military offensive in the tribal regions and other parts of the NWFP," he said.Durrani said security agencies focused on checking vehicles and the terrorists used a motorcycle to hit their target, adding that security would be further strengthened.
"All vehicles are being checked at various checkpoints and sniffer dogs are also being used, but motorcycles were not checked in similar manner in the past."
"There is a high state of alert. All vehicles are being checked at various checkpoints and sniffer dogs are also being used, but motorcycles were not checked in similar manner in the past," Durrani said.
A joint investigation team has been constituted, he said adding the key terrorists involved in suicide blast of Pir Wadhai Chowk on March 16, had been arrested. He said that local terrorists were also involved in this act.
APP adds: President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani in their separate messages strongly condemned the bomb blast in Rawalpindi. Both expressed sorrow over the plight of the injured victims and the damage to property and ordered an inquiry into the matter. Both also asked the concerned authorities to ensure the provision of immediate relief and best medical care to the injured. Others who condemned the attack included Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira and NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009
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#2
Watch out, Robert Kaplan can drink with the best of us. One of the most wonderful things about Kaplan is he will stand in a spot and tell you the history of the land your standing on, what battles were fought there, who ruled, how they fell and why. He is enlightening.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/03/2009 14:54
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[Jerusalem Post Middle East] Hamas's security forces in the Gaza Strip have asked Fatah detainees to bring their own food and drink with them, Fatah officials said on Wednesday.
The officials said that at least 500 Fatah supporters have been detained by Hamas security forces over the past few days in one of the biggest security crackdowns in recent years. Some of the Fatah activists who were summoned for questioning by phone before they were detained said Hamas security officers told them to bring their own food and drink.
"The prisons in the Gaza Strip are so full that Hamas doesn't have enough money to feed all the detainees," said a Fatah official in Ramallah. "In many cases the detainees receive permission to call their families and ask for food and soft drinks."
Hamas representatives in the Gaza Strip said the latest clampdown was a "routine" measure aimed at preserving law and order.
But another Fatah official said that Hamas was deliberately targeting senior officials of the faction in the Gaza Strip, including former ministers, members of Fatah's "revolutionary council," former Fatah legislators and former commanders of the Palestinian Authority security forces.
"In the past 24 hours, Hamas kidnapped 156 Fatah members in the Gaza Strip," the official said. "Another 210 Fatah members have been in Hamas prisons for months and years."
A human rights group reported that Hamas security forces had arrested 515 Fatah supporters in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the week and called on the movement's leadership to release all of them.
The group said that most of the detainees were being banned from receiving family members or meeting with lawyers.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009
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#1
sounds like Unity
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/03/2009 13:03
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[Kyodo: Korea] North Korea test-fired four short-range missiles off its east coast on Thursday into the Sea of Japan, the South Korean Defense Ministry and military officials said.
The missiles appeared to be surface-to-ship missiles, ministry spokesman Won Tae Jae said, according to Yonhap News Agency. ''One was fired at 5:20 p.m. and the other at 6 p.m. from Sinsang-ni'' near the eastern coastal city of Wonsan, he was quoted as saying. The North fired a third missile and fourth at 7:50 p.m. and 9:20 p.m. from Sinsang-ni.
The first three missiles are estimated to have landed about 100 kilometers off the coast. South Korea is continuing to analyze the launches.
North Korea last launched a short-range missile on May 29. On June 22, North Korea issued a navigation restriction to the Japan Coast Guard for vessels passing through waters off its eastern coast in the Sea of Japan over a self-claimed military exercise. The ban covers an area about 450 km in length and 110 km wide along the coast of Wonsan from June 25 until July 10 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Japan time.
According to a ministry official, the landing points of the missiles launched Thursday are considered to be in that zone.
According to a senior Japanese government official, at least one missile apparently landed in an area of the Sea of Japan that is included in the restricted area.
The U.N. Security Council last month unanimously adopted a resolution to punish North Korea for its second nuclear test in late May, centering on tougher financial sanctions and the stricter enforcement of North Korean cargo inspections.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009
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#1
At a certain point, you start to suspect that they're just grenade-fishing with heavy ordinance. There aren't a ton of fishing boats out there sweeping the test-area afterwards, are there?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/03/2009 8:39
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Just a little saber-rattling, Mitch. Trying to keep the rubes in control. Something to contemplate, though - each of those missiles cost at LEAST $100,000, plus another $60-$80,000 to launch. The Norks are literally throwing money away to try to stay in power.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/03/2009 15:54
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Police on Thursday arrested a would-be suicide bomber with an explosives-laden vehicle in Tajazai area of NWFP's Lakki Marwat district, reported a private TV channel as the APP news agency said that two other would-be suicide bombers had been arrested from in Islamabad.
The channel quoted Lakki Marwat District Police Officer Imran Zahid as saying that police had seized 600 kilogrammes of explosives from the bomber's vehicle in Laki Marwat. The DPO said the bomber had been identified as Sadaam, a resident of Miranshah area of North Waziristan.
Meanwhile, APP said the bombers in Islamabad, along with "an assistant", had been arrested on the basis of intelligence reports.
The news agency reported that the arrested men, identified as Imran and Iqbal, were members of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. Police also seized suicide jackets.
The men have been shifted to an unidentified location for investigation. Separately, the Online news agency reported that law-enforcement agencies, backed by intelligence officials, had arrested nine "terrorists" from various different areas of Punjab and seized explosives. The nine men were arrested from Sumandri, Faisalabad, Sanglawala and Jaranwala in an operation early on Thursday. The news agency quoted sources as saying that all nine men were members of a banned religious organisation.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009
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[Iran Press TV Latest] The International Police force (Interpol) has flatly denied any involvement in searching for the man who witnessed the death of Neda Agha-Soltan.
The death of Neda, who was shot dead on a Tehran street on June 20 amid the post-election unrest in the capital, has turned into a controversial issue.
Iranian physician Arash Hejazi told the BBC that he had witnessed a member of the Basij shoot Neda. The volunteer force has, however, strongly rejected the allegation.
"Arash Hejazi is wanted by Interpol and Iran's Intelligence Ministry," Fars news agency quoted Ahmadi-Moqaddam as saying on Wednesday.
Interpol spokesperson Rachel Billington, however, rejected involvement in any investigation into the death of Neda.
"We've not received any request for information or for assistance on the death of that lady," Billington told CBSNews.com on Thursday. "We've received nothing from Iran."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009
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#1
Fanatic Shiites are fixated on alleged UK involvement in Neda's death. They don't let facts get in the way.
Press TV has broadcast newly-obtained footage of a controversial clash between Basij members and protesters, which shows the Basij base under siege.
Tehran became the scene of violence in recent weeks amidst rallies staged in protest at the outcome of the June 12 presidential election -- which saw Mahmoud Ahmadinejad re-elected to a second term in office.
People described by Iranian officials as "saboteurs" infiltrated the riots and set fire to a mosque, two gas stations and a military post in western Tehran. At least 20 people were killed and many others were injured in the ensuing violence.
The protests came to worldwide attention when major media outlets broadcast footage of what they described as unprovoked attacks by security forces.
In Britain, Channel Four covered the news by airing a video of a clash between rioters and Basij members in which a man was seen shooting at the crowd.
According to comments broadcast in a video provided by the government in Tehran, journalist Maziar Bahari had provided [Iran Press TV] Channel Four with the footage of the June 15 attack. What was aired by the channel, however, had the scene of the attack on the base censored.
The new footage obtained by Press TV shows a group of people attacking the Basij base with Molotov cocktails.
The building in question has been deemed as a vital structure and has been confirmed by Tehran officials as an armory.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/03/2009
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I watch segments of Press TV on tvweb360.com. Pure propaganda.
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.
Up to 26 Pakistani security personnel are feared dead after an army transport helicopter crashed in the tribal region of Orakzai, military officials say. Maj Gen Athar Abbas told the BBC the helicopter crashed on the border of the Khyber and Orakzai tribal region.
WASILLA, Alaska (AP) - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says she will resign from office July 26. Her spokesman wouldn't say why Palin decided to step down, but the announcement stirred speculation that she would focus on a bid for the 2012 Republican nomination for president.
Super-Size Deposits Of Frozen Carbon Threat To Climate Change
Shanghai (AFP) July 1, 2009 -- General Motors China said Wednesday sales in the world's most populous nation have risen steeply so far in 2009, marking a stark contrast to the auto giant's woes elsewhere. The iconic but struggling US automaker reported its joint ventures sold 814,442 vehicles in China in the first half of 2009, up 38 percent from the same period last year.
What happens when you put a Muslim imam, a Christian priest, a rabbi and a Buddhist monk in a room with 10 atheists? 
It's the moment we've all been waiting for: the launch of the "surge" against the Taliban in Afghanistan. And to judge by the enormous firepower Nato commanders have deployed for Operation Khanjar, or "sword strike", this time the Americans mean business. Four thousand US marines, supported by a further 650 Afghan troops and supplied with the best equipment the American military can provide, have moved into the lower Helmand river valley with the intention of eradicating, once and for all, the threat posed by the Taliban. 
US Navy officials yesterday played down security fears after an alleged terrorist plot to target ships and sailors came to light. A spokeswoman said the decision to allow the families of US servicemen back to Bahrain after a five-year gap would not be affected by an ongoing case at the High Criminal Court. 
A Syrian terror suspect appeared in court yesterday for the first time since Canada's intelligence service admitted that two confidential informants used in the case had credibility problems. Hassan Almrei sat in a Toronto courtroom as federal lawyers portrayed him as a devoted jihadist, and his own lawyer argued the government's case had been irreparably tainted by the conduct of CSIS.
Hearing a female voice on the radio may be nothing new the world over but it is something of a novelty in the rugged mountainous terrain of Pakistan's northwest, where women are bringing about modernization via the airwaves. For most people in the region the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) known for its strict male domination hearing female voices on the recently established FM channel, Radio Khyber, is not only a pleasant surprise but also a sign of much awaited social change. 
[Bangla Daily Star] Special Branch (SB) of Police in Gazipur arrested 
Alam Hossain alias Anu, regional commander of the outlawed Biplobi Communist Party, was arrested by Kalia thana police on Wednesday night.
Senator-elect Al Franken turned a rally at Minnesota's Capitol on Wednesday into an extended thank-you to supporters, promising not to "waste this chance'' in what amounted to a victory speech nearly eight months late.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Militant leader 
[Khaleej Times] Iranian presidential election runner up Mir Hossein Mousavi on Wednesday renewed a demand for a complete re-run of the vote and pledged to help set up a new group to defend citizen's rights.
[Maghrebia] Ten presidential candidates will begin campaigning Thursday (July 2nd) in Mauritania, AFP reported. The three main opposition party leaders - Ahmed Ould Daddah of the RFD, parliamentary speaker Messaoud Ould Boulkheir of the FNDD, and Islamist party Tewassoul leader Jemil Ould Mansour - are among the ten candidates on the provisional list announced Wednesday by the Constitutional Council.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) The head of the Organization of American States is warning that sanctions may be in store for Honduras. OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza says the international community has done "practically everything that can be done" to persuade interim leaders to give up power and restore ousted President Manuel Zelaya.
[Haaretz Defense] A 17- year-old girl was killed in a blast in central Gaza near the Israeli border Thursday, Hamas security officials said, charging that an Israeli tank shell was to blame. The Israel Defense Forces said soldiers came under Palestinian fire across the border in central Gaza and returned fire, but they did not use tank shells. 
[Iran Press TV Latest] A Liberian commission calls for prosecution of former president Charles Taylor and seven other former warlords for crimes against humanity. 
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] After the 
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Thirty-six persons were injured, some critically, when a lone suicide bomber rammed his 
[Kyodo: Korea] North Korea test-fired four short-range missiles off its east coast on Thursday into the Sea of Japan, the South Korean Defense Ministry and military officials said.
[Iran Press TV Latest] The International Police force (Interpol) has flatly denied any involvement in searching for the man who witnessed the death of Neda Agha-Soltan. 
