Three bombs planted under a car exploded south of Beirut on Saturday, wounding two people in an attack that apparently targeted an official from the Palestinian militant group Hamas, the state-run news agency said.
Then it wasn't some clever Israeli gadget in an arms depot. Interesting. Why would a Hamas official call on Hizb'allah, one is forced to wonder.
The official National News Agency said the explosion was caused by "three bombs tied to each other" that were placed under the car of an official believed to be from Hamas.
But Lebanese security officials told The Associated Press they could not independently confirm what caused the blasts or who the explosions targeted. The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which controls the area, sealed off the streets in the southern suburb of Haret Hreik and prevented journalists from getting close to the scene.
One senior police official said the blast occurred in a neighborhood that houses an office belonging to Hamas.
Wait -- Hamas has an office there? But aren't the two H's supposed to be operating independently, with completely separate objectives and areas of operation?
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
A Hezbollah official contacted by The Associated Press declined to comment, saying he had no information.
Osama Hamdan, the Hamas representative in Lebanon, was not available for comment Saturday. A person who answered his mobile phone aid he was not available and that he had no information on the explosion.
The explosion comes on the even of Ashoura, Shiite Islam's most important religious holiday.
But of no interest, one would think, to the Sunni Hamas.
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/26/2009 18:42
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"But aren't the two H's supposed to be operating independently, with completely separate objectives?"
Naaahhhh - they're both dedicated 100% to killing Joooooos.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/26/2009 19:18
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#3
update from Haaretz
two are now dead, both Hezbollah grunts
reports says they died from wounds incurred from trying to disarm bomb but since it would be idiotic to disarm a bomb you didn't know anything about when you could have towed the vehicle to a safe place and detonated it, it is reasonable to assume the Hezb grunts had a work accident
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/26/2009 19:41
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"three bombs tied to each other"
Amazing how fast and accurate their forensics investigation is. Incredible actually.
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
12/26/2009 20:07
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#5
update= dead Hezbollah count now up to 3
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/26/2009 22:20
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#6
My first idea is "Work Accident" they were really setting, not disarming the car when it went "Kabloomie".
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/26/2009 22:57
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Neda Soltan was not political. She did not vote in the Iranian presidential election on June 12. The young student was appalled, however, by the way that the regime shamelessly rigged the result and reinstalled Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Ignoring the pleas of her family, she went with her music teacher eight days later to join a huge opposition demonstration in Tehran.
Even if a bullet goes through my heart its not important, she told Caspian Makan, her fiancé. What were fighting for is more important. When it comes to taking our stolen rights back we should not hesitate. Everyone is responsible. Each person leaves a footprint in this world.
Ms Soltan, 26, had no idea just how big a footprint she would leave. Hours after leaving home, she was indeed shot, by a government militiaman, as she and other demonstrators chanted: Death to the dictator.
Arash Hejazi, a doctor standing near by, remembers her looking down in surprise as blood gushed from her chest. She collapsed. More blood spewed from her mouth. As she lay dying on the pavement, her life ebbing out of her, I felt she was trying to ask a question. Why? said Dr Hejazi, who tried to save her life. Why had an election that generated so much excitement ended with a government that claims to champion the highest moral values, the finest Islamic principles, butchering its own youth?
A 40-second telephone clip of Ms Soltans final moments flashed around the world. Overnight she became a global symbol of the regimes brutality, and of the remarkable courage of Irans opposition in a region where other populations are all too easily suppressed by despotic governments.
Her name was invoked by Barack Obama, Gordon Brown and other world leaders. Outside Iranian embassies huge crowds of protesters staged candlelit vigils, held up her picture, or wore T-shirts proclaiming, NEDA Nothing Except Democracy Acceptable. The internet was flooded with tributes, poems and songs. The exiled son of the Shah of Iran carried her photograph in his chest pocket.
She was no less of an icon inside Iran, whose Shia population is steeped in the mythology of martyrdom. Vigils were held. Her grave became something of a shrine, and the 40th day after her death an important date in Shia mourning rituals was marked by a big demonstration in Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in Tehran that riot police broke up.
It was not hard to see why Ms Soltan so quickly became the face of the opposition, the Iranian equivalent of the young man who confronted Chinas tanks during the Tiananmen Square demonstrations 20 years earlier. She was young and pretty, innocent, brave and modern. She wore make-up beneath her mandatory headscarf, jeans and trainers beneath her long, black coat, and liked to travel. She transcended the narrow confines of religion, nationality and ideology. She evoked almost universal empathy.
The story of her death was so potent that the regime went to extraordinary lengths to suppress it. It banned a mourning ceremony, tore down black banners outside her home, and insisted that her funeral be private. It ordered her family to stay silent.
In the subsequent weeks any number of leading officials, ayatollahs included, sought to blame her death on British and American intelligence agencies, the opposition, and even the BBC accusing its soon-to-beexpelled Tehran correspondent, Jon Leyne, of arranging her death so that he could get good pictures.
The regime announced investigations that, to no ones surprise, exonerated it and all its agents. It managed to coerce Ms Soltans music teacher into changing his story, but it failed to do the same with Mr Makan, despite imprisoning him for 65 days many of them in solitary confinement. Released on bail, he fled the country making a five-day overland journey to escape.
Dr Hejazi also fled, back to Oxford where he had been taking a postgraduate course in publishing. There he confirmed in an interview in The Times that Ms Soltan was shot by a Basij militiaman on a motorcycle. But the regime still hounds him. It has harassed his family in Tehran, is trying to close his publishing company in the capital, and has accused him of helping British agents to kill Ms Soltan. It stages demonstrations outside the British Embassy demanding his extradition. He would be arrested the moment he returned to Tehran, meaning that he, his wife and infant son are now exiles.
When The Queens College, Oxford, established a scholarship in Ms Soltans name the regime sent the university a furious letter of complaint.
Back in Tehran, the regime tried to buy off Ms Soltans parents by promising them a pension if they agreed that their daughter was a martyr killed by foreign agents.
Her mother, Hajar Rostami Motlagh, was outraged. Neda died for her country, not so that I could get a monthly income from the Martyr Foundation, she said. If these officials say Neda was a martyr, why do they keep wiping off the word martyr in red which people write on her gravestone? ... Even if they give the world to me I will never accept the offer.
Soon afterwards, government supporters desecrated her grave. The regime has not arrested or investigated Abbas Kargar Javid, who was caught by demonstrators seconds after he shot Ms Soltan. The crowd, unwilling to use violence, and with the police the enemy, let him go but not before they had taken his identity card.
Six months on, it is obvious that Ms Soltan did not die in vain. The manner of her death, and the regimes response, has shredded what little legitimacy it had left. She helped to inspire an opposition movement that is now led by her generation, which a systematic campaign of arrests, show trials, beatings, torture and security force violence has failed to crush, and whose courage and defiance has won the admiration of the world.
As the new year approaches, the so-called Green Movement appears to be gaining confidence and momentum. It no longer seems impossible that the regime could fall in 2010. If and when it does, Ms Soltan will be remembered as the pre-eminent martyr of the second Iranian revolution.
The plot to blow up an American passenger jet over Detroit was organized and launched by al Qaeda leaders in Yemen who apparently sewed bomb materials into the suspect's underwear before sending him on his mission, federal authorities tell ABC News.
Investigators say the suspect had more than 80 grams of PETN, a compound related to nitro-glycerin used by the military. The so-called shoe bomber, Richard Reid, had only about 50 grams kin his failed attempt in 2001 to blow up a U.S.-bound jet. Yesterday's bomb failed because the detonator may have been too small or was not in "proper contact" with the explosive material, investigators told ABC News.
Investigators say the suspect, Abdul Farouk Umar Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian student whose birthday was last Tuesday, has provided detailed information about his recruitment and training for what was supposed to be a Christmas Day suicide attack.
#1
PETN is a high explosive, with a detonation velocity of over 20000 ft/sec. We used to use it in the form of Primacord to lace drill holes full of explosives together without electric caps.
When you are on the defensive, you will never solve the terrorism issue. Big O's policy of appeasement engagement will yield more of these incidents, and some may be successful, God forbid. Our enemies sense our weakness, and smell blood.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/26/2009 16:03
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Yesterday's bomb failed because the detonator may have been too small or was not in "proper contact" with the explosive material, investigators told ABC News.
The Al Qaeda Bomb Improvement Division thanks you dickheads. Could have as well said the bomb would have never worked because sweat and smegma are explosive inactivators.
Posted by: ed ||
12/26/2009 17:48
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Iranian security forces beat protesters in central Tehran on Saturday, a sign of mounting tensions ahead of planned opposition rallies to mark a religious festival and the death of a dissident cleric a week ago, a reformist Web site said.
The Rah-e-Sabz site said forces, including the elite Revolutionary Guard and the paramilitary Basijis, used tear gas and pepper spray in an attempt to disperse demonstrators, and broke the windows of cars that were honking horns in protest.
It said protests occurred in at least three areas: Imam Hossein Square, Pol-e-Choobi and Ferdowsi Square.
The report could not be independently confirmed because the Iranian government has banned foreign media from covering opposition protests.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2009
13:23 ||
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#1
Faster please.
Protests in more than 27 cities throughout Iran - At least ten big turnouts including Mashad . women in Isfahan are in the first line of demonstrations agains Yazid rule.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called for an end of Christmas "consumption insanity" and replace presents for children with stories about national independence hero Simon Bolivar, local media reported.
"For the love of God, let's halt this, let's put the brakes on this consumerist, capitalist insanity, that leads us to lose our spiritual values," said Chavez.
Chavez suggested to stop More.. buying toys "that as mothers and fathers we are practically forced" to buy. He also said that there is little sense in buying new clothes each December before Christmas Eve as these sales do not benefit the small merchants, but "their owners, the wealthy, the big distributors that make a bundle squeezing people."
"Let's sit with the children and tell them stories of Bolivar, of the motherland," the Venezuelan President said, adding that he makes this appeal from his heart "to put aside these vices."
#2
called for an end of Christmas "consumption insanity" and replace presents for children with stories about national independence hero Simon Bolivar the birth of Jesus Christ
Fixed if for you, Hugo. Now you have a suggestion I can agree with.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/26/2009 17:04
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Just remember when Santa Karl with his gaily candy striped AK-47 asks you,"What do you want for Marxmas?"
You better answer,"FURTHER VICTORIES FOR THE PEOPLE'S STRUGGLES!"
If you want to see how Obamacare will hit you and your family in the wallet, look no further than the inside of your medicine cabinet. Open the cabinet door and you may see an antihistamine such as Claritin for allergies, pain relief medicine such as Tylenol or Excedrin, Pedialyte to prevent your kids from becoming dehydrated when they are sick, and prenatal vitamins if you and your spouse are expecting another one.
All of these items in your cabinet have two things in common. One is that they are classified as "over the counter" (OTC) medicines and available without a doctor's prescription. The other is that if you pay for any of these items with money in your flexible spending account (FSA) or health savings account (HSA) -- and according to this guide from FSA administrator Benesyst , all of these are eligible expenses -- you will face an effective tax increase of up to 40 percent on these items in the health care bill that passed the U.S. House of Representatives and is poised to pass the U.S. Senate.
Both bills restrict individuals with these pre-tax accounts to buying a "medicine or drug only if such medicine or drug is a prescribed" one. And ironically, this tax that will raise health care costs substantially by creating incentives for the use of more expensive prescription drugs even when OTC drugs are just as safe and effective.
Continued on Page 49
#1
This could mean that billions will be wasted on the additional costs for prescription drugs in instances when OTC medicines could be just as safe and effective at treating the illness.
Too late for the 1 million self medicating occasional asthma sufferers who now (unnecessarily) go to the doctor to get a prescription inhaler because the Feds and environmentalists have turned nonprescription inhalers into crap.
Posted by: ed ||
12/26/2009 18:24
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#2
I always keep three or more bottles of Aspirin, tylenol, baking soda (Stomach acid instant killer) and whatever else we use regularly, such s underarm deodorant, Mouthwash etc,
I just consider it part of our "Pantry".
(Y'all who don't have any idea what's a Pantry, its a store, or stock so you don't have to shop so often or so much, if something we eat is on sale I'll get as many as prctical and store it for hard times, whatever happens, we'll eat.)
If you don't have one, any closet near the kitchen will do fine, just put some colapsable shelves inside and you're in business.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/26/2009 23:40
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ISLAMABAD -- Now Americans can land only on Benazir Bhutto Shaheed International Airport, Islamabad, as Government has banned other airports of the country for them.
A reliable source informed TheNation that unusual activities of Americans in Pakistan have forced the Government to take this decision and the arrest of five US nationals from Sargodha also played a key role in it.
Intelligence agencies have been reporting about increasing anger and agony against Americans among the general public, as the US nationals don't abide by the laws. On many occasions, US nationals publicly didn't abide the law of the state, as four times in Lahore and six times in Islamabad they were stopped on various police checkpoints and illegal weapons were recovered from them, but still they were allowed to move freely. This raised many questions about the integrity of Pakistan, and political parties, civil society and media were openly protesting against this discrimination.
Again five arrested Americans during interrogations have revealed important information that is against Pakistan's integrity and this was the main reason of this decision, the source disclosed.
Now Americans can land only on Benazir Bhutto Shaheed International Airport, Islamabad, and they will have to complete the whole immigration process and only ten they would be allowed to stay here.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/26/2009
11:06 ||
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#1
we need to return the favor.
Only at some expensive field with tons of security may Pakiwakis land or take off.
#1
They will never get it. I believe they know it and are requesting it so when we have an administation change they will be able to say they asked for it. If there was a probe, and by some drug induce mistake congress allowed it, then they would find the President, most of his staff, Czars, and the leadership in congress involved in the misdeeds.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/26/2009 11:50
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Added Azaria Jagger, a blogger at the news and gossip site "Gawker":
"[D]oes it really make sense to put a tyrannical communist leader's visage on the American president's Christmas tree? On the other hand, an ornament that shellacks [Obama's] face onto Mount Rushmore is just tacky. It's in the guy's living room, for crying out loud."
And drag queen Hedda Lettuce chimed in that she is proud to have her portrait hanging in the White House, even if it's just temporary:
"I may never get equal rights, I may never be blond and pencil thin, I may never see Lady Gaga in concert this winter at Madison Square Garden (I could not get a ticket) but one of my balls is hanging in the White House with my name for all to see."
Posted by: ed ||
12/26/2009 11:08
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#4
Zero has the ability to embarass himself at just about every turn.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/26/2009 11:40
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#5
That's assuming he's embarassed. An alternate explanation is that he's thumbing his nose at America.
Lahore, December 26: Holding former President General Pervez Musharraf responsible for former Prime Minister Benazir Bhuttos assassination, Pakistans High Commissioner to Britain Wajid Shamsul Hassan has said that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud could not have proceeded with plans of assassinating Bhutto without Musharrafs nod.
A private television channel reported Hassan, as saying that if Benazir would have been alive, trouble for Musharraf would have doubled.
Had Benazir been alive, Musharraf would have been facing legal action for murdering former Balochistan governor Nawab Akbar Bugti, and removing the chief justice of Pakistan, The Daily Times quoted Hassan, as saying.
Hassan said Musharraf had offered a much bigger amnesty under the National Reconciliation Ordinance to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif
Posted by: john frum ||
12/26/2009
09:31 ||
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That was the speculation here at the time of the assassination. Curious lack of security at that rally, especially for someone who was car bombed just a short while before.
Posted by: ed ||
12/26/2009 11:24
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#2
Curious lack of security at that rally, especially for someone who was car bombed just a short while before.
"they were all Jooos and were told to stay home from work that day"
/9-11 troofer
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/26/2009 12:06
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Trains between Ashford and Dover were suspended on Monday when cold weather disabled the electric rail. Some commuters at London Victoria faced lengthy delays until Tornado - Britain's first mainline steam engine in 50 years - offered them a lift. They were taken home "in style", said the Darlington-built engine's owners.
Tornado, a £3m Peppercorn class A1 Pacific based at the National Railway Museum in York, was in the South East for one day, offering "Christmas meal" trips from London to Dover.
Its "Cathedrals Express" service, the last mainline journey in its first year of operations, was about to depart when staff heard about the stranded passengers. About 100 people were offered free seats, according to Mark Allatt, chairman of The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust - the charity which built Tornado.
LAHORE: A Pakistani court today dismissed a petition seeking asylum in the name of 'holy war' for five American Muslim youths recently arrested in the country for allegedly planning terror attacks, saying that it was not the duty of the judiciary to define 'jihad'.
The Lahore High Court dismissed the petition filed by Khalid Khwaja, a former Inter-Services Intelligence official now associated with a rights organisation.
In his petition, Khwaja had contended that the youths came to Pakistan for 'jihad' (holy war) and since this was not a crime, their detention is illegal.
In his petition, Khwaja had contended that the youths came to Pakistan for 'jihad' (holy war) and since this was not a crime, their detention is illegal.
Lahore High Court Chief Justice Khwaja Mohammad Sharif, who heard the petition, observed that it was not the duty of the court to define 'jihad'. The judge did not comment further and dismissed the petition.
Khwaja also asked the court to direct authorities to grant the youths asylum in Pakistan as the US administration might "not spare them".
He claimed the accused are innocent of any wrongdoing, either through their actions or intentions.
"They are being suspected of a crime they never committed nor ever intended to commit. In such a case, the US constitution protects all its citizens of wrongful accusations and wrongful imprisonment.
We must have faith in our system of laws that they will seek out truth and deliver justice," Khwaja said in his petition.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/26/2009
08:21 ||
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Keep 'em.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/26/2009 23:19
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The FBI dossier on David Coleman Headley, the Lashkar-e-Toiba operative charged in United States with helping plan the 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes, states that two serving Pakistani Army officers, Major Iqbal and Major Sameer Ali, were actively involved in handling Headley, directed the terror plots, and that Major Iqbal handed him $25,000 before sending him to India.
Sources said the Headley dossier shared with India also states that Abdurrehman Syed, a Lashkar commander, was attached to 6 Baloch of the Pak Army. He joined the Lashkar in 2002. It is believed that Syed and another Lashkar commander, Sajid Mir, with whom Headley was in regular touch, were part of a reconnaissance mission to India in April, 2004. The FBI learnt that Headley made as many as eight trips to India as a Lashkar operative between September 2006 and July 2008 and once after the Mumbai terror attacks -- in March 2009 -- for reconnaissance of potential targets. Headley was said to have joined the Lashkar in 1999, motivated by speeches of Lashkar founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed.
After his initiation, Headley underwent training from 2002 to 2004. He wanted to go to Kashmir but Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Lashkar operations commander, had other ideas. It was on Lakhvi's direction that Headley visited India eight times for reconnaissance work.
Unlike Headley, Tahawwur Hussain Rana, his alleged accomplice, visited India only once -- a week before the Mumbai terror attacks.
Headley surveyed 30 potential targets and submitted details and photographs to his handlers. These included:
Hotels Taj and Oberoi, Leopold Cafe, Nariman House and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus
He was specifically told to do a recce of the Ruby Room, Crystal Ballroom at the Taj
Shiv Sena headquarters
Siddhivinayak temple
Maharashtra Assembly
Bombay Stock Exchange
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
World Trade Centre, Mumbai
National Defence College, New Delhi.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/26/2009
08:04 ||
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#1
I doubt it. It's far more likely a nuclear war in SW Asia will cause climate change. See the current issue of Scientific American. Nuclear Winter is a much more widely accepted probability than Global Warming.
#4
That threat of Islamist surrogate use is a standard Pakistani pressure tactic. The reality is that the Pakistani feudal elite is in control and will remain so.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/26/2009 9:59
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#5
You're closer so I'm glad you're comfortable. But it still worries me.
#6
The only climate change that is likely to lead to war is the one resulting from the replacement of GWB, a strong leader, with a pompous pussy in the White House.
IDF soldiers shot and killed two Fatah members on Saturday in Nablus, according to Palestinian sources. The soldiers reportedly surrounded the homes of the two Fatah members, opened fire and killed them.
The Jerusalem Post could not independently confirm the report.
According to the report, the two Palestinians belonged to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which took responsibility for Thursday's terror attack, in which Rabbi Meir Chai was killed. The IDF had no comment on the incident. If true, it's a start
#1
Update: Three terrorists killed in Nablus
In a joint operation with the Shin Bet overnight Friday, IDF soldiers in the West Bank gunned down three terrorists who murdered Rabbi Meir Chai in a shooting attack near Shavei Shomron on Thursday.
#1
The Russian navy is one part of their national bipolar disorder. For a while, they want to be a European naval power, and then they want to be an Asiatic land power.
This is why they will build a huge fleet, then let it rust.
States: The once-great state of California has been reduced to begging from the federal government. But no matter how much help the feds give, the state's fiscal ills won't end until its lawmakers stop spending money.
To say California is a mess is an understatement. In the current fiscal year, the state is expected to post a deficit of $21 billion as the budget continues to spiral out of control. Even after last year's epic budget battle, when Californians were hit with $12.5 billion in new taxes and $6 billion more in borrowing, the state still isn't close to bringing revenues and expenditures into balance.
So Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has an idea: He wants President Obama to give him $8 billion -- or else, he says, he'll kill or slash most of the state's welfare programs, cut pay for 200,000 state workers and end two tax breaks for big corporations.
Everything except the last sound like very good ideas, indeed. The last time he the governor had such good ideas, the president made very clear his displeasure with the thought of impacting the lifestyle of union members.
How far the Golden State has fallen. Once the nation's unquestioned economic and innovation leader, it's now a laggard. With 13% of the country's population, it has nearly a third of its welfare recipients. Though it's still the world's seventh-largest economy, it's in danger of sliding backward as its fiscal and economic crises drive jobs and workers away.
The White House should do California a favor and say no. The only thing that will help at this point is for the state's citizens to vote the Legislature out of office -- or for the state to be forced into bankruptcy. The Legislature has been under almost exclusive Democratic control for decades. Time for change.
Lawmakers in Sacramento are held in almost universal contempt by Californians, yet most are safe inside their carefully gerrymandered districts. They're the country's highest-paid state legislators, pulling down nearly $100,000, with $30,000 in tax-free money for their "expenses" and a state-provided car for their use.
Yet look at the state's imploding economy and shrinking population, and it's clear they're guilty of negligence at best and malfeasance at worst. They've handed much of the control of the economy and education to the public employee unions that have systematically looted the public fisc. Businesses and high-income entrepreneurs are leaving the state in droves, fed up with the anti-business zealots who control Sacramento.
By most objective measures, the economy is among the worst in the nation. Unemployment of over 12% is well above the national average of 10% -- no surprise, considering the nonpartisan Tax Foundation recently ranked California 48th among the states on business-tax competitiveness.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2009
00:14 ||
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Note there was no mention of cutting programs other than welfare? State funded Medical research could be one that could go?
#2
CA has been relying on the pre-2009 Bernie Madoff financial model. When the top 3% pay half the CA income tax, any hiccup will cause a similar crisis.
Posted by: ed ||
12/26/2009 6:37
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#3
As an aside, there is a downright funny conspiracy theory making the rounds right now, that Canadian military equipment likely going to Afghanistan from the Port of Seattle, is instead going to California in case there is a massive social collapse there.
Yeah, I know, more holes than Swiss cheese, but still.
#4
Sure Arnold, but put them in receivership, return to territorial status, lose the vote of Senators and Representatives in Congress [but get to keep the federal income tax - see the residents of the District of Columbia about the one], and have a federally appointed territorial governor till the state draws up a new Constitution that includes provisions for living within their own means requiring both statewide popular vote and Congressional approval to full return to State status.
#5
Condition of cash should be the dismemberment of California into five states, Northern Caliphornia, San Franistan, Central Valley, Sierra and SoCal. Inland Empire gets to choose whether it wants to be part of SoCal or Sierra.
#8
Instead of 2 radicals you'd have 3 or 4 radicals and 6 or 7 conservatives. Much improves the odds. And if Texas then exercised its option, the nation might be safe.
#9
Who will get to file banruptcy first? The US or California.
Arnold should encourage all California medicare recipients to move to Nebraska (one-way bus ticket vouchers should do the trick).
#10
Any progress on the San Andreas Continental Drift project?
Posted by: ed ||
12/26/2009 11:21
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#11
During the 2008 election there were about 10 really expensive initiatives on the ballot even though anyone who had successfully completed pre-algebra could see that state finances were headed down the toilet. One that passed mandated that the state issue $10B of junk bonds to back a bullet train from LA to SF. They are now saying that they need $60B and that the ticket prices will have to be subsidized to compete with South West - there is no talk of pulling the plug.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/26/2009 12:07
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#12
$10B of junk bonds to back a bullet train from LA to SF. They are now saying that they need $60B and that the ticket prices will have to be subsidized to compete with South West -
#13
And if Texas then exercised its option, the nation might be safe.
For those of you who may not be aware of Nimble's reference, under the terms by which Texas joined the US in 1845 there was a proviso under which Texas could at some later date split itself into four new states. However, that clause may (stress the may)be invalid for two reasons.
First, although Texas may make the request, the US Constitution says that new states may be created out of existing states ONLY if the state in question and Congress approve it. And sadly, I cannot possibly see any Congress approving any arrangement that would permanently alter the balance of power so drastically. Second, when Texas rejoined the Union after the Civil War, it did so under the traditional method as prescribed by the Constitution - which probably invalidated the original annexation agreement.
/Neat historical stuff
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/26/2009 14:18
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#14
Businesses and people with retirement income are fleeing the state in droves. The latest budget disaster is cause in large part because of plunging tax revenues below even relatively normal times. And the greatest joke of all, massive income and job losses in the breadbasket of America, the central valley. Unemployment is at 30-40% in places, and 25% of the smaller farms have closed...permanently. Why? not the recession/depression....water, and not just the drought, but the diversion of what little there is after 3 yrs of drought to the delta to protect the delta smelt, a 1 inch long fish. In the food banks and charity lines in the central valley, they are giving away food to illegal farm worker that was IMPORTED from China. Can you get government policy more f*cked up that this?
Now you see why we are bailing and as fast as we can get the house sold moving on.....
#15
Many state employees, especially in academia, have already taken what amounts to about a 10% pay cut in the form of furlough days. They have to take two or three days off per month without pay. Well, some of them might actually enjoy the time off. And if a college professor isn't in the classroom for a few days a month, that's a few days a month when he won't be doing any harm to the students. So it's not all bad news.
And besides, I rather enjoy the lighter traffic on the freeways.
The part I don't like is when I have to pay my taxes.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/26/2009 17:24
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#16
Love that train, tipper. We're kinda behind in that area, aren't we?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/26/2009 17:26
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#17
As Bloody Mary sang,
You gotta have a dream, if you don't have a dream,How you gonna have a dream come true?
[Maghrebia] A terrorist bomb exploded near Setif, on Wednesday (December 23rd), killing one Algerian civilian and injuring three others, Tout sur l'Algerie reported. The four pedestrian victims were walking near the entrance to the city of Ain Sebt when the homemade bomb detonated around 8 in the morning. Security services mounted a search operation after the incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2009
00:14 ||
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[Dawn] Ten people, three women and four children among them, were killed when military planes bombed a house in Feroze Khel area in lower Orakzai Agency on Friday.
Officials said the house of tribal elder Zikria Khan was razed to the ground and four members of his family were killed. Tribesmen pulled out the bodies from the debris of the house. Two other houses that were empty were also destroyed.
Officials said that except the women and children most other people who died in the attack were militants.
Independent sources said Zikria Khan and his family had nothing to do with militants and all the victims were civilians. The officials said that members of the Tehrik-i-Taliban who had escaped from Waziristan were living in the house, adding that the headquarters of Hakimullah Mehsud was earlier located in the area.
MASTERMIND HELD: Security forces arrested an explosives expert from Doaba area in Hangu district on Friday.
The militant was identified as Khan Qasim.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2009
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Eighteen people including six Shiite worshippers were killed in a spate of attacks across Iraq on Friday, despite ramped up security for Christmas Day and Shiite Ashura rituals.
Also among the dead were three teachers in northern Iraq and a Kurdish peshmerga security force member while dozens of others were wounded.
In eastern Baghdad's Sadr City district, a roadside bomb killed six people and wounded 26 when it struck a procession marking the Ashura commemorations.
Most casualties were children, some of whom were under the age of 13, defense and interior ministry officials said on condition of anonymity.
The afternoon attack came just days ahead of the climax on Sunday of the 10-day rituals to commemorate Ashura, which marks the killing of Shiite Imam Hussein in 680.
Later at night, four people were killed and five wounded by mortars fired into the residential area of Obaidi, in eastern Baghdad, said a spokesman for the military command in the capital.
In the restive northern city of Mosul, meanwhile, three teachers, who were working with Iraq's census authorities, were found shot dead, according to a police officer who did not want to be named.
Also in Mosul one civilian was killed and another was wounded by a bomb targeting a police patrol in the center of the city while in the western part of town police said they found the corpse of a strangled woman.
Violence
Meanwhile, in the central province of Diyala, two brothers of Mustafa al-Azawi, the Sunni Arab mayor of the town of Mansuriyah, were found dead after they were kidnapped on Friday morning, police said.
The two men were aged 29 and 24. Azawi has two other brothers.
A suicide car bomb along a road connecting the northern Iraqi towns of Rabiyaa, near the Syrian border, and Sinoosi also killed a Kurdish peshmerga security force member and wounded 15 others, a force spokesman said.
"Some of the wounded are badly injured and they have been transferred to Zakho (a town in Kurdistan) for medical treatment," Colonel Simi Borsli said.
The car bomb was targeting a patrol of the peshmerga, the main security force in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.
The latest violence follows a spate of attacks across Iraq on Thursday in which dozens of people died.
A hospital official put the final toll from twin bomb attacks at a bus station in the southern town of Hilla on Thursday at 19 dead and 80 wounded, up from an earlier death toll of 15.
Iraqi authorities have stepped up security in the run-up to Christmas and Ashura deploying more security forces in cities with significant Christian populations such as Baghdad, Mosul and the ethnically-mixed northern city of Kirkuk.
Some 46,000 policemen and soldiers have also been deployed in the Shiite shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala, the latter of which is where Imam Hussein is buried and where around one million people are due to visit for Ashura.
Security for Christians was increased after the army received intelligence of attacks targeting members of the minority community around Christmas.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2009
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[Dawn] A suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance to an imambargah here on Thursday night, leaving a little girl dead and two other people injured, including a policeman.
Private security guard Masood Hussain Shah and head constable Ittefaq averted a major disaster when they forcibly stopped the teenaged bomber from entering the Qasr-i-Sakina Imambargah in Shakrial along the Islamabad Expressway. Almost 500 people, including women and children, were present at the imambargah.
The security guard remained unhurt, but the policeman was injured. Six-year-old Urooj was hit by shrapnel and died, while her father was injured. The explosion took place a few minutes before a procession was due to reach the place.
A police official said the attacker appeared to be 17 years old.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2009
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British Lawmaker George Galloway has criticized Egypt over denying the Viva Palestina humanitarian aid convoy to enter the Gaza Strip.
The humanitarian convoy to the Gaza Strip has become stuck in Jordan as Egypt is reportedly denying the convoy's passage through its territory.
"It's a strange Christmas for us. We are stuck in Aqaba. 500 people, 210 vehicles, hundreds of tons of aid which is desperately needed in Gaza," Galloway said in an interview with Press TV on Friday.
"Our Jordanian friends are doing their best to keep us warm and to feed us," he added.
The British anti-war activist also called it a very complex situation.
"It's a very complex situation. We have on the Turkish level quite a diplomatic activity going on, because the Turkish prime minister personally appeared on live television in Damascus three days ago and asked the Egyptian government to facilitate this convoy; so this is a slap in the face, you can say, to the Turkish government," he further explained.
"We don't yet know exactly what tactics we will follow. That would depend on the diplomatic situation, but one thing we are not going to do is run away. We came all this way to Aqaba."
"We are very sad not yet angry, but we will get angry if the days go by," he noted.
The humanitarian convoy arrived in Jordan on Tuesday and was expected to leave via sea to Egypt.
The convoy left London almost two weeks ago with 80 vehicles. Its size grew with the addition of dozens of vehicles from Turkish charities.
Galloway earlier appealed to Egyptian authorities to facilitate the convoy's passage through its territory. The convoy aims to break Israel's crippling blockade on Gaza.
Lifeline 3, the third international convoy headed to Gaza under the name Viva Palestina, comprises 210 trucks laden with basic food items and medical supplies. 450 activists, including 30 Americans, 150 Turks and a number of Europeans are accompanying the convoy.
The already impoverished Gaza Strip has been under a complete Israeli siege, with full cooperation of Egypt, ever since the Hamas resistance movement, which does not recognize Israel as a sovereign state, won parliamentary elections in a surprise victory in 2007.
Israel's three-week offensive against Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009 which left more than 1,400 Palestinians dead, including a large number of civilians, deteriorated the already dire situation.
The Israeli assault led to the destruction of schools, mosques, houses as well as UN compounds, inflicting $ 1.6 billion damage on the Gazan economy.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2009
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#1
Quit yer bitchin' George. How many Britons would like an all expense paid winter vacation to the Gulf of Aqaba? Especially one that could be extended indefinitely.
Posted by: ed ||
12/26/2009 6:41
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A "humanitarian" convoy with....450 "activists?"
Sounds like awfully heavy support tail. How might we send in the aid but sent the activits back from whence they came? The Gazookians are certainly "activated" enough already. Oh by the way, before anyone leaves, please ensure that all containers and boxes are examined closely for contraband. Weapons, RDX, that sort of thing. If anything improper is found, everyone is charged and jailed and nothing leaves port.
And no one really gives a stale poot for the Gazooks, either.
I would have to say, you have a problem. And , George, a clue, you may be there for quite some time. Maybe you better rent a house to stay in.... for a while.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/26/2009 9:49
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Makes you wonder who is financing the stay in Jordan. Maybe once he becomes obnoxious enough, they will direct the convoy to stay in one of *their* immense Paleo refugee camps, which are just as nasty as Gaza.
[Dawn] Ajmal Kasab, under-trial in the Mumbai terror attacks, again denied all charges framed against him saying his signature was taken on a blank paper.
He told the 26/11 trial judge M L Tahiliyani in Mumbai that his signature was taken on a blank sheet of paper by police with regard to his confessional statement.
"The confession recorded by magistrate was not read out to me and it does not contain the truth," he said.
He told the special Mumbai court that he did not arrive in Mumbai on a fishing trawler Kuber but by the Samjhauta Express.
He also denied that he had talked to Abu Hamza on a satellite phone. "If I had talked to him, then my voice would have been recorded," he said.
When asked about Abu Ismail, Kasab said, "who is he, I do not know...I was not with him."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2009
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#1
I guess the magic of video hasn't filtered into Pakistan yet.
Posted by: ed ||
12/26/2009 6:27
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If nothing else, the acrimonious debate over health care reform has contributed some potent new expressions to the American political vocabulary. You heard weeks ago about "death panels." And the vaguely named "public option," which has nothing to do with finding a suitable men's room at the shopping mall.
But what about the "Louisiana purchase" of 2009? Or the "Cornhusker kickback"? Or "U. Con"? Those are nicknames hung on some of the seedy backroom deals cut by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to secure the 60 votes he needs for passage of his $871 billion health care reform bill.
Here's a translation of those terms, compliments of The Washington Post:
--Louisiana purchase: The reported $100 million in extra Medicaid money secured for her state by Sen. Mary Landrieu. She has boasted she actually snared $300 million.
--Cornhusker kickback: A similar $100 million for Sen. Ben Nelson's Nebraska.
--U. Con: $100 million meant for a medical center in Sen. Chris Dodd's Connecticut.
There also were special favors handed out to Vermont, Massachusetts, Montana, Iowa, Michigan and Florida. And that's just the stuff we know about so far. Remember, this is a 2,400-plus page bill.
The bill is all but certain to be advanced in a vote Thursday morning. Next stop: a Senate-House conference committee, where dueling versions of health care legislation will be melded into one and where upright lawmakers will strip out all of the special interest bribes, er, payments made to senators in exchange for their votes.
Just kidding! That's as likely as aspirin curing cancer. Likelier: More lawmakers clamoring to extort gazillions for their states. Guess who'll pay for all of this.
And how has Reid reacted? "I don't know if there is a senator that doesn't have something in this bill that was important to them," he said Monday about what's become known as "cash for cloture." "And if they don't have something in it important to them, then it doesn't speak well of them."
Sure. If a senator merely votes for a bill because it's the right thing to do, rather than it's the right thing to do if he gets $100 million in special benefits for his state, then he's a dope? Talk about twisted logic.
We've seen this kind of shameful display before. To roughly paraphrase a famous line from President Barack Obama: It's not a Democratic thing. Or a Republican thing. It's a Congress thing.
Remember what happened last year, as the economy shambled over a cliff and the House approved an $800 billion-plus rescue plan? Remember how some recalcitrant members of Congress were moved to switch their votes? Saving the economy from potential ruin wasn't enough of an incentive. Thus the bill came to include $2 million in tax breaks for the manufacturers of kids' wooden arrows, $192 million for rum producers, $148 million in tariff relief for U.S. wool fabric producers and $33 million for corporations operating in American Samoa. Oh, and $2 million to help people who commute to work on bicycles.
There are plenty of winners and losers in the Senate health bill. Democrats removed a tax on cosmetic surgery (the "Botax") but added a tax on tanning salons. The tax on so-called Cadillac health plans remains, but the bill now exempts miners, construction workers, cops, firefighters, longshoremen and other union members who contribute so mightily to Democratic causes.
Obama envisioned health care reform as a bipartisan effort. It hasn't turned out that way. The Dems wholly own the Senate and House bills. And public opinion be damned.
But leaders of the two chambers still can show sense by dropping their noble pretensions that getting health care reform this far is all about . . . health care.
Instead, this debacle evokes the all-purpose Chicago political motto proposed by the late columnist Mike Royko:
"Ubi Est Mea?" -- "Where's Mine?"
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2009
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#1
Much urban seething and rage with the fragrance of mega-boodle and entitlements in the air. I fully expect Rangel, Towns, Lee, Burris and the rest of the Congressional Amish Caucus to stir up a huge "Ubi Est Mea" ruckus when the critters come back from their well earned vacation. They'll certainly be holding Barry to his previous statement of "Reparations do not go far enough."
#3
My Daughter sent me a very funy EMail about "Death Squads"
the general idea was that they'll work with the usual government efficiency (Molasses in January) and by the time we're declared "On the list" we'll all be dead from old age anyway.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/27/2009 0:02
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Osama bin Laden's daughter who has taken refuge at the Saudi mission in Tehran is free to leave Iran once her identity is confirmed, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was Friday quoted as saying.
"A while ago the Saudi embassy here said the one of bin Laden's daughters is in the compound, so the foreign ministry told the embassy that based on international conventions if her identity is confirmed she can leave Iran with passage documents," ISNA quoted Mottaki as telling state television late Thursday. "We were not able to confirm her identity but the embassy says she is the daughter of bin Laden," he added.
Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq al-Awsat newspaper earlier this week quoted Omar bin Laden, the fourth son of the al-Qaeda chief, that one of his siblings, Iman, 17, had recently sought asylum at the Saudi embassy in Tehran.
Fuad Qassas, the Saudi charge d'affairs at the kingdom's embassy in Tehran, confirmed Iman was staying there, according to the newspaper, which said she has been seeking permission to leave Iran, so far without success.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2009
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A good thing the Saudi nukes are kept safely in Pakistan, where they were developed, so I've heard, on the Saudi dime.
Yemeni lawmaker Yahya al-Houthi says Saudi Arabian warplanes are engaged in the relentless bombardment of civilian positions in Yemen's war-torn north.
In an interview with Press TV on Friday, the Yemeni lawmaker accused the Saudi army of using internationally banned weapons in its attacks on villages in the northern province of Sa'ada, regretting the high civilian toll from the raids.
If Riyadh had nuclear weapons, it would have used them against the Houthi fighters, the lawmaker charged.
Yemen's beleaguered north, bordering the Saudi kingdom, has been the scene of a massive military operation by the Saudi-Yemeni forces, since the Sana'a government stepped up its offensive again the Shia fighters in August.
The central government in Yemen says the Houthis are trying to force the return of clerical rule in the country.
Houthi fighters, however, reject the allegations, accusing the Sunni-dominated Riyadh and Sana'a governments of joining forces to uproot the Shia faith in the territory, and of hiring terrorist elements to reach this goal.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia says it will stop its bombing campaign if the Houthis leave the border area, which the Houthis maintain they will do only after Riyadh has stopped aiding the Yemeni army.
This is while the US has been launching airstrikes on the southeastern parts of the impoverished Arab nation in the past two weeks as part of a military pact it signed with Yemen.
Washington is reportedly providing Sana'a with firepower and intelligence in addition to some 70 million dollars worth of military aid Pentagon has poured into Yemen this year.
The White House on Friday once again reiterated President Barack Obama's support for the ongoing military operations across Yemen.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2009
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#1
Willy Pete still ain't banned by anybody who matters, Yahya. Stop getting your legal opinions from AlterNet.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
12/26/2009 14:58
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[Dawn] As aides prepare the agenda for a proposed meeting between President Asif Ali Zardari and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the PML-N is putting pressure on the PPP to make the summit result-oriented.
This was indicated by a press release issued after Awami National Party leader and Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour called on Mr Sharif here on Friday.
The press release said that the PML-N chief severely criticised the PPP for its policy of not accepting wholeheartedly the Supreme Court decision on the National Reconciliation Ordinance and spoke about unfulfilled promises made by Mr Zardari in the past.
Also on Friday, Mr Sharif declined to meet Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman when he visited the Raiwind residence of the former prime minister.
The JUI-F chief was reported to have gone there to persuade Mr Sharif to show flexibility on the agenda of his proposed meeting with the president.
Mr Sharif's spokesperson said that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif received Maulana Fazl and held talks with him.
The JUI-F chief insisted he had gone to meet the chief minister, but declined to say anything when asked why he went to Raiwind when he could have met Mr Shahbaz Sharif at his office or residence in Lahore.
The Pakistan People's Party also appears to be testing the nerves of its main rival. It had indicated earlier that the fate of the 17th Amendment, the most critical issue for the PML-N, would be decided on Dec 31, but has now given a new date of Jan 4. Some PPP leaders even say that the issue may not be resolved till March.
Although the PML-N leadership has stopped some hawks in the party from harshly criticising President Zardari, the press release quoted the party chief as telling Mr Bilour that the country was facing a difficult situation because of the government's unwillingness to implement the Charter of Democracy and fulfil written and verbal promises.
He said 20 months had elapsed but the government was being run under a "defaced" Constitution given by former army ruler Pervez Musharraf.
Nothing had been done even to establish an independent accountability system as enshrined in the CoD, he said.
The PML-N criticised the PPP leadership for making Supreme Court's NRO verdict controversial and said that this was angering the masses.
However, he expressed the hope that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani would implement the verdicts on the NRO and written-off bank loans and said that would be a positive move for supremacy of the law and stability of the democratic system and reflect the aspirations of the masses.
He said implementation of the verdicts would improve the country's image and discourage a culture of corruption.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2009
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#1
Maybe if he offered him
a cookie, he would think differently.
PARACHINAR: A government official said on Friday the Pakistan Army had killed at least nine suspected terrorists in the countrys northwest tribal region near the Afghan border. Muhammed Yasin said the military had used helicopter gunships to destroy three Taliban hideouts in Orakzai Agency.
Many Taliban fighters are believed to have fled to Orakzai since the army launched a major offensive against them in South Waziristan Agency in October.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has also hinted that the army would pursue a full-scale offensive in Orakzai. Official sources in Islamabad said that the prime ministers remarks did not mean the army was being recalled from South Waziristan Agency.
Orakzai Agency lies north of South and North Waziristan tribal regions.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/26/2009
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TEHRAN, Dec 25, 2009 - A senior hardline cleric Friday urged Iranians not to misuse Ashura ceremonies this weekend to create disunity, amid police warnings of a crackdown on illegal gatherings during the solemn Shiite event.
Our mourning ceremonies for Imam Hussein should not make the enemies of Islam pleased since Imam Hussein is ... the symbol of unity, so the ceremonies should not be used as platform for disunity, said Ahmad Khatami, addressing a Friday prayer service at Tehran University broadcast live on state radio.
Hardliner Khatami, one of a small group of clerics who deliver the main weekly Friday prayers in Tehran, was appointed by Irans supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He is also member of the Assembly of Experts, which selects the supreme leader and supervises his activities.
The 10-day Ashura ceremonies, which climax on Sunday, commemorate the death of Imam Hussein, one of Shiite Islams most revered figures, at the hands of the armies of the Sunni caliph Yazid in 680 AD. The ceremonies are marked in Shiite majority countries such as Iran and Iraq by processions in which mainly young men flagellate their bare backs with chains, as well as by mass gatherings of devotees chanting the praises of Imam Hussein. The rituals gather momentum on Saturday and culminate on Sunday in crowded mourning ceremonies at mosques and in public places.
Deputy police chief General Ahmad Reza Radan said on Wednesday that his forces will crack down on any illegal gatherings during Ashura if they crossed the red lines, without specifying what constituted the red lines.
Opponents of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejads controversial June re-election have recently used a series of major public events supported by the authorities to mount protests.
On Monday, hundreds of thousands of people poured onto the streets of the holy city of Qom for the funeral of dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, chanting anti-government slogans and effectively turning the ceremony into an opposition rally, websites said.
Since then Tehran has clamped down on memorial services for the cleric, leading to clashes and arrests when mourners attempted to meet at a mosque for a service in the city of Isfahan on Wednesday, opposition websites reported.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/26/2009
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#1
Ahhh! Show us the everlasting mehadi peace or what not by having no one killed for rat crumbs.
Did it ever cross your mind that Islam walks contrary to God young man? Who is your Deen?
Team him up with Uruguayan peacekeeping troops. What could possibly go wrong?
How about moving boundary markers? The Indians caught UN peacekeepers doing this in Kashmir.
Or they could stand guard while the other side kidnaps our soldiers and plants mines, like UN peacekeepers do between Israel and Lebanon... or merely rape local women and children of both sexes. On the other hand, the Bangladeshis I know personally are wonderful, highly educated, and seriously professional. So perhaps the good general is one of those.
Chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on defence ministry M Idris Ali has said that the United Nations will appoint a high official of Bangladesh Army as the commander of its peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast.
"The United Nations is going to appoint a Bangladeshi major general as the force commander of its peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast," Idris said yesterday while briefing journalists at Zia International Airport on his arrival from an official visit to the peacekeeping missions in Ivory Coast and Congo.
The chief of the JS body said that they visited Ivory Coast and Congo to witness the condition of the Bangladeshi peacekeepers there. They found some problems of the peacekeepers residing in Ivory Coast and Congo and would submit a report to the government with suggestions to resolve them, he added.
"Our peacekeepers in Ivory Coast and Congo have gained love and respect of the local people as well the UN by dint of their sincerity to their duties. They have brought glory for our country. We have also revealed some problems the Bangladeshi peacekeepers are facing abroad. The parliamentary standing committee on defence ministry, in the light of its findings, will make recommendations to the government to resolve the problems," Idris said.
The recommendations would include, among others, taking initiatives to provide the Bangladeshi soldiers with cheap phone call rates for talking to their near and dear ones in the country and chartering airbus to fly them home during annual vacations, he added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/26/2009
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Federal officials and police are interviewing a Nigerian man, who allegedly tried to "explode" a powdery substance aboard a Northwest flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, injuring himself and two other passengers, law enforcement officials said.
The suspect had been in a law enforcement-intelligence database but was not on the government's no-fly list
The man said he was directed by al Qaeda to explode a small device in flight, over U.S. soil, ABC News has learned. Authorities have no corroboration of that information, and the credibility of the suspect's statements are being questioned, officials said.
The suspect was identified as Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, who according to federal documents is an engineering student at University College of London.
Different name than other stories have provided.
He was flying from Nigeria to the United States for a religious ceremony, according to his entry visa,
That detail seems to have gotten lost in stories I read this evening, oddly enough.
which was issued June 16, 2008 and was good until June 12, 2010.
The government had no immediate plans after the incident to raise the threat level, a federal government source said.
The suspect had been in a law enforcement-intelligence database but was not on the government's no-fly list, according to a law enforcement official.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/26/2009
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#1
the Ass-Covering begins. Resign, Janet!
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/26/2009 9:39
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Yes, he was probably in the data base because of his father's warnings to the Embassy in Lagos. Too bad no one bothered to follow-up and monitor.
SEOUL, Dec. 25 (Yonhap) -- North Korea may detonate a third nuclear device and provoke border clashes in the future that could escalate tension on the Korean Peninsula, a report by a state-run think tank said Friday.
Whatever would we do without think tanks ...
In a report on possible developments in 2010, the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA) warned Pyongyang may test another nuclear device to show the world that it has no plans to give up its atomic weapons program.
"Such a step could highlight that North Korea is a nuclear power," the report said. It added that North Korea might even launch an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching U.S. territories in the Pacific and the western coast of North America.
The communist country tested its first nuclear weapon in October 2006 and another more powerful device on May 25. The explosion that took place earlier in the year is estimated to have had a yield five times that of the 2006 device.
"The recent explosion has been estimated to have had a 4-kiloton yield, indicating that the North has made headway in developing an operational nuclear weapon," the latest findings said.
KIDA said that if the international community starts to accept the North as a nuclear power, this can cause public opinion in South Korea to move toward building up its own nuclear deterrent capabilities.
A happy thought for the Chinese. Perhaps even the Japanese will reconsider their own lack of nuclear weapons ...
In addition, the institute said the North may try to incite military clashes along the inter-Korean border. It said if the North were to invade islands in the Yellow Sea just south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), it could trigger a strong response by South Korea. Such developments may cause the dismantlement of the armistice regime signed after the Korea War (1950-1953) and weaken the NLL that has been the de facto sea border between the two countries.
It would be called 'war' ...
There has been a total three clashes along the NLL so far, with the latest taking place on Nov. 10.
KIDA, meanwhile said that although clashes along the 248-kilometer demilitarized zone could take place, such events will probably be short firefights between troops, while air-to-air combat is not likely due to the North's weak Air Force assets.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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If China can give out A-bomb blueprints, I guess the US can lose track of Pershing II blueprints. Perhaps on a USB drive left plugged in. The Seoul-Beijing express lands in 4 minutes.
Posted by: ed ||
12/26/2009 6:33
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These KIDAs should have held the article till April 1.
A male passenger reportedly linked to terrorist organization al-Qaeda ignited a powdery substance prior to landing on a Delta Airlines flight to Detroit Friday. The suspect is believed to be Nigerian, Fox News reported.
Several people were hurt and one person was admitted to the University of Michigan Medical Center at Ann Arbor, hospital spokeswoman Tracy Justice said. An emergency was declared aboard the flight, operated as Northwest flight 253, according to a Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson.
The suspect, who suffered second-degree burns, told federal investigators he was directed by al-Qaeda, though authorities are questioning the veracity of that statement, ABC reported. A federal situational awareness bulletin noted that the explosive was acquired in Yemen with instructions as to when it should be used, ABC said.
The FBI was on the scene, Detroit office spokeswoman Sandra Berchtold told NewsCore. Berchtold declined to comment on the reports of a terrorist connection.
All 278 passengers on the Airbus A330 wide-body jet, which landed at 11:53 a.m. local time, have since deplaned at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, Delta spokesperson Susan Elliott said.
"Out of an abundance of caution, the plane was moved to a remote area where the plane and all baggage are currently being rescreened. A passenger is in custody and passengers are being interviewed," the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement.
It was not immediately clear if the suspect was subdued by crew or passengers.
Since there is no statement about panicked passengers, I imagine some were involved. A pack, not a herd.
#6
From ABC News: The suspect told authorities that he had explosive powder taped to his leg and used a syringe of chemicals to mix with the powder that was to cause explosion. This is of concert because it is a method of mixing that is consistent with terror techniques.
#7
"Now why would anyone want to go to Destroit Detroit, anyway?"
This seems like a fool proof scheme to get the bomber to go through with the suicide.Send him where the alternatives are clear.
#11
Since there is no statement about panicked passengers, I imagine some were involved. A pack, not a herd.
He described himself and other passengers as being startled and that while some people started to panic, a large male passenger put the suspect in a head lock while other passengers and flight crew put out the flames.
#16
So, given the track record [horse, barn door] of TSA, besides taking our shoes off to go through security, expect we'll now be asked to de-pants in order to fly. This could be interesting.
#20
So will it be as bad as Gitmo? Four years and 30 extra pounds for Abdulmutallab. Then a promotion in the old outfit.
Posted by: ed ||
12/26/2009 10:40
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#21
Why did the White House rush to judgment and call it a terrorist act?...maybe since the poor fellow is from the turd-world he didn't know about the "no smoking" rule.
#22
Why did the White House rush to judgment and call it a terrorist act?
I believe they did so for a simple reason. Well, two --
1) It was.
2) Claiming it to be anything else would have exposed Bambi at a time when his poll numbers and reputation are taking a serious hit. The American people are beginning to see that the clothes have no Emperor, as it were -- we have an empty suit in the Oval Office. A fair number of independents and moderates are near the tipping point, and both Axelrod and Rahm know it. Trying to call this anything other than a terrorist act could well be a catalyst to push a fair number of the people in the middle against Bambi, and irreversibly so.
Just my opinion, of course, YMMV.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/26/2009 12:34
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#23
Remember all the hassles the press gave to Bush about his vacations? They apparently thought he was totally out of touch while vacationing.
Well, yesterday, one stand up reporter was caught saying, "And even when the President is on vacation, he is always still working. Never out of touch with what is happening in the world."
#27
Heard a report from a former Northwest Airlines security guy, saying the type of exlosive that was being used was one that would NOT have been detected with any of the now available equipment being use.
"Full body scan" was the only way to detect what he was carrying. He was mixing chemicals with a syringe in something strapped to his upper leg.
One report I read, said the flame was about a "meter" high -- Sheeezzzz that's about 39 inches in height! No wonder there was panic!
#29
An official said the U.S. had known for at least two years that that the suspect identified as a Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab could have had terrorist ties and was on a list that includes people with known or suspected ties to a terrorist organization
#30
Just wondering if he used some sort of Ammonium nitrate oil mix with a blasting cap? Back in high school in the late sixties a greaser got a hold of some blasting oil from a quarry,it burned rather than detonating. Just filled the halls with foul smelling smoke.
#33
Sort of. Reid had a small quantity of the prepared explosive and was caught trying to light the fuse. Yesterday's attempt involved mixing the explosived from precursors, IIUC.
#34
I don't trust airport explosive detectors. Had a car accident on a business trip that popped the airbag. A few hours later I was at the airport. Both me and the luggage were scanned using an air sampling detector. Nothing, even though the screener was warned airbag explosives went off less than 3 hours ago.
Posted by: ed ||
12/26/2009 18:29
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Investigators say the suspect had more than 80 grams of PETN, a compound related to nitro-glycerin used by the military. The so-called shoe bomber, Richard Reid, had only about 50 grams kin his failed attempt in 2001 to blow up a U.S.-bound jet. Yesterday's bomb failed because the detonator may have been too small or was not in "proper contact" with the explosive material, investigators told ABC News.
#36
I think it's time to retrofit all US-manufactured aircraft with a drop-chute from the toilet area, controlled from the cockpit. Any time there's one of these types of events, just knock the perp unconscious, lay him on the trap door, stand back, and activate. Try to do it over pasture land or water, so there's no chance of collateral damage. Both Lake Huron and Lake Ontario were close by.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/26/2009 19:18
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#37
I love your trap-door idea, but i also love the terror he Has due to his "Programming" he'll be scared shitless at talking to the feds.
I do question wheher or not we have COMPETENT feds, they seem worthless to me.
This shit goes on, and on, and on, and on.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/26/2009 23:16
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It was the passengers that subdued him. A pack, indeed. Hattip DrudgeReport.
EFL to the new stuff.
A Northwest Airlines passenger from Nigeria, who said he was acting on al-Qaida's instructions, tried to blow up the plane today as it was landing in Detroit, law enforcement and national security officials said. Passengers subdued the man and may have prevented him from detonating the explosives, the officials said.
A White House official said the incident was an attempted act of terrorism.
OMG -- they used the T word!
Federal officials imposed stricter screening measures after the incident.
There were 278 passengers aboard the Airbus 330. There was nothing out of the ordinary until the flight was on final approach to Detroit, said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory. That is when the pilot declared an emergency and landed without incident shortly thereafter, Cory said in an e-mail message. The plane landed at 11:51 a.m.
One of the U.S. intelligence officials said the explosive device was a mix of powder and liquid. It failed when the passenger tried to detonate it.
The passenger created a disturbance by lighting what was reported to be firecrackers -- or perhaps a "powdery substance" -- onboard the flight, injuring himself and several other passengers, according to Delta Airlines.
The man was apparently already on the government's no-fly list of suspected terrorists, ABC News said a senior intelligence official told them.
That clearly worked well.
That report is disputed in other accounts -- those say that the man was in some database but was not on the no-fly list. 48 hour rule applies here.
President Barack Obama was notified of the incident and discussed it with security officials, the White House said. It said he is monitoring the situation and receiving regular updates from his vacation spot in Hawaii.
So much for relaxing with the family away from the office.
That's what happens when you're president ...
Not just presidents, either. But Mrs. Obama couldn't have expected otherwise when her husband refused to give up his Blackberry.
One passenger from the flight was taken to the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, hospital spokeswoman Tracy Justice said. She would not say what the injuries were.
Hopefully just nerves instead of harm during the incident.
Because Delta Airlines in Detroit did not handle security for the flight, Elliott said she could not answer how the items that were ignited got on the plane.
Oh goody. Now all through passengers will have to get off and go through security at the way station instead of just waiting for the plane to be ready to continue on. However, given the security at places like Nigeria or Greece, it's long overdue.
She said Delta has a hub in Amsterdam and this one was among several flights today.
Security precautions raised in wake of attempted attack
The Homeland Security Department said passengers may see additional screening measures on domestic and international flights because of the incident. "We encourage those with future travel plans to stay in touch with their airline and to visit www.tsa.gov for updates," the department said.
Get there three hours ahead of flight time instead of two hours?
#1
I notice that the racist media refuse to run a picture of his face, because "all black people look alike, anyway." Also, they refuse to label it a "terrorist" attack, because he was obviously mentally ill. And they would never dream of identifying him as a "Muslim", because Islam is the religion of peace(tm), and *real* Muslims don't do that sort of thing.
#2
Update:
Mutallab has been in the U.S. before, having received a visa in June 2008. His listed residence was in Houston, Texas. Authorities had placed him on a preliminary watch list, meaning they wanted to gather more information about him, but law enforcement subsequently lost track of him.
Mutallab also had "significant UK links" and was "most probably radicalized" there, a British counter-terrorism official told CBS News.
One law enforcement official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mutallab's name had surfaced earlier on at least one U.S. ntelligence database, but he was not on a watch list or a no-fly list.
The suspect told authorities that he had explosive powder taped to his leg and used a syringe of chemicals to mix with the powder that was to cause explosion.
Coming soon:
"Please remove your pants"
ION: It's reported that Amsterdam does not permit US Air Marshals to board in that country for US-bound flights. So why the heck haven't we banned incoming flights from Amsterdam prior???
#11
OK Obumble, time to get in the game. Put down the grass skirt, hop back to DC and sign an executive order banning flights from nations that not permit US Air Marshals to board US-bound flights.
Posted by: regular joe ||
12/26/2009 14:18
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#12
If this young fellow runs into any trouble back in Holland he can always contact the local US Embassy LEGAT. They're always on top of things.
OFFICES / DEPARTMENTS
Office of the Legal Attaché
The mission of the FBIs Legal Attaché Program is to establish and maintain liaison with principal law enforcement and intelligence/security services in designated foreign countries. This liaison enables the FBI to effectively and expeditiously meet its international responsibilities in organized crime, international terrorism, foreign counterintelligence, and general criminal matters. The Legal Attachés Office supports the operational needs in Lagos, Nigeria with regional coverage of Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principle and Togo. The liaison activities performed by the Legal Attachés are essential to the successful fulfillment of the international responsibilities of the FBI and United States interests. Liaising is carried out in accordance with executive order, statue, Attorney General Guidelines, and FBI policies.
US Consulate General
2, Walter Carrington Crescent
Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria
Telephone: (234)-1-261-0050, 261-0078
Fax: (234)-1-261-9856
#13
A White House official said the incident was an attempted act of terrorism.
Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong!
It was an act of terrorism, not an attempt. Ask anyone on the plane if it was an "attempt". It didn't kill anyone, so good for that, but this is just another denial and downplay of reality we're all too familiar with.
From the link:
"Then he has his secondary school in Curaçao and then killed in the Netherlands to study and ultimately selected the film academy in Miami, where also his passion. "
We need more guys like this on our aircraft. Unfortunately, Jasper was unable to demonstrate his Netherlands SAT qualification experience....
KARACHI: On the directives of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, Pakistani authorities on Friday released 100 out of the 629 Indian fishermen imprisoned in the Malir District Jail. The prisoners were supposed to be released on Wednesday after spending three years in imprisonment. However, their release was delayed until Friday on the request of the Indian government that wanted to make adequate arrangements for the fishermens return.
Sindh Jails Minister Muzzafar Ali Shajra said Pakistan wants friendly relations with all its neighbours, including India. We hope India will respond positively to this step and also release Pakistani fishermen imprisoned in their jails, Shajra added. Each fisherman was given 100 Indian rupees, a quilt and socks for their journey back home.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/26/2009
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However, their release was delayed until Friday on the request of the Indian government that wanted to make adequate arrangements for the fishermen's return.
Neither the Indian Embassy nor the Foreign Ministry were informed about this. The Pakistanis then used the delay as PR, with the prisoners chanting slogans criticizing the slowness of the Indian Government and demanding immediate release.
The Indians of course need to check the background of these "prisoners", to ensure they are in fact Indians, and are fishermen reported as having been arrested. It would not be the first time that the Pakistanis have tried to slip in some terror operatives.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/26/2009 7:58
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#2
It must be spawning season.
Posted by: Dave UK ||
12/26/2009 13:00
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PESHAWAR: Two policemen were killed in a terrorist attack in the early hours of Friday, police said. According to an official, unidentified gunmen shot dead two policemen at a checkpost in Taj Abad locality. The official said the two policemen were identified as Shaukat Ali and Muhammad Javed, both from Swabi district. According to the officials, the attackers managed to escape after killing the policemen.
The funeral prayers of the slain policemen were offered at the Malak Saad Khan Police Lines. NWFP Assembly Speaker Kiramatullah Khan Chagharmatti, Inspector General of Police Malik Naveed, Capital City Police Officer Liaquat Ali and Senior Superintendent (Traffic) Syed Hammad Abid were also present.
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12/26/2009
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(translated)
German fighters patrolling the territory of Estonia are prosecuted by the Russian Su-27. Assistance to NATO by Finns.
This is not a scenario of military maneuvers or war movie, but the real incident, which took place September 15, according to the military industry magazine "Loyal".
Allegedly, two German machine Eurofighter approached the Baltic Sea west of Tallinn to czterosilnikowego jet aircraft Beriew A-50, trying unsuccessfully to establish radio communication with him. One of the German pilots photographed intruder. Then suddenly toward the German planes flew at a speed of two supersonic Su-27 fighters, but no one opened fire.
All five aircraft were soon in the airspace of Finland, where it flew toward the Finnish F-18 fighters. They forced the Russians to retreat, escorting their way to the international waters of the Baltic Sea. The armed forces of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia do not have combat aircraft. Provide them with an air defense fighter aircraft of other NATO countries, based on a rotating basis at the airport near the Lithuanian city of Siauliai.
It sounds like the Eurofighters were vectored to flyby the AEW aircraft, which may have drifted into Estonian airspace and the two Su-27s responded undetected by the Eurofighters to the "threat".
When the four fighter aircraft had drifted into Finn airspace, they were likely warned by the AEW and returned to Russian airspace.
#2
Not good for the Eurofighters if they didn't know the Su-27s were there. Were they flying with AWACS back-up or were they depending on their own local radar?
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/26/2009 0:51
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#3
To my knowledge, there are no AWACs tasked here in Estonia. There are radar installations operated by the country, and they share data with Finland over the Gulf of Finland.
The Russians do this from time to time. A few years ago, a fighter tried to fly in low into Lithuanian airspace, and the idiot pilot crashed his plane.
Amidst the continuous live coverage of bandhs, protests and resignations over Telangana, people woke up Christmas morning to shocking pictures aired by a local news channel of an old man in bed with three young women.
The Telugu news channel ABN telecast the pictures saying the man shown was the 84-year-old governor of Andhra, Narayan Dutt Tiwari.
Awright Narayan! Wotta stud!
A woman named Radhika sent the girls in return for mining projects she was promised, the channel said. As the promise was not kept, she handed over some pictures taken by her. The man in the pictures is wearing only a shirt and lying on his back, between two women. The third woman is at his feet.
Tiwari's office called the pictures a "pack of lies" and speedily obtained an order from the high court preventing the channel from running them.
The story had been on air for almost an hour by then. Those who missed, caught it on YouTube and news sites.
By early afternoon protests started outside Raj Bhavan. Telugu Desam leader and former chief minister Chandrababu Naidu called for Tiwari's resignation saying the governor's office had been shamed. "If he doesn't quit," Naidu said, "he should be sacked."
"If it's really Tiwari in the pictures," said Congress sources in Delhi, "he will have to go."
Tiwari completed two years as Andhra governor in August. A long time Congress leader, he has been chief minister Uttarakhand and held several senior positions in the Union cabinet.
News channel ABN, which is owned by a popular Telugu daily Andhra Jyothi, also alleged the involvement of an Uttarakhand cadre officer. But did not elaborate.
In the evening, governor's office issued a statement saying, "The Governor is 86 years old and in the evening of his life. It is sad and unfortunate that constitutional functionaries are dragged into needless controversies."
Counsel for governor's office Ravishanker Jandhyala said, "There is absolutely no truth in the alleged news story, which is nothing but sensation mongering."
"We will definitely file a defamation case," he said, adding, "I issued a notice in the afternoon (to the channel)."
But the channel said it was ready to defend its story. "We have evidence (to back) what we have shown," Vemuri Radhakrishna, editor in chief of Andhra Jyothi, told Hindustan Times. "Let them serve defamation notice ... we are even ready to deal with the issue in the courts," he added.
"The footage shown is very recent (and) we got it from the victims," he said.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/26/2009
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NEW DELHI: Andhra Pradesh governor N D Tiwari quit on Saturday late afternoon, a little over a day after allegations about his involvement in a sex romp in Raj Bhawan surfaced.
Congress sources say that Chhattisgarh governor ESL Narsimhan may get additional charge of Andhra Pradesh.
It is understood that Tiwari's fate was sealed by none other than President Pratibha Patil. The President, who is to arrive in Hyderabad on her annual southern sojourn on Sunday morning, had indicated that it would be untenable for her to come to the city with such allegations being made publicly. Patil would have been received by Tiwari at the airport.
Tiwari took the cue and with continued agitations outside Raj Bhavan by vociferous women activists realised that his position was untenable.
Indications from the Congress high command were also not very favourable for him. An emergency meeting was held earlier in the day over the sex tape issue.
Though Tiwari men had been aggressive on Friday morning soon after the tapes were telecast, by evening, their position had tempered down. This might have been with the realisation that the governor was absolutely defenceless with foolproof tapes available with the ABN Andhra Jyothi, the channel that telecast the episode. Also Tiwari and his aides realised that he had been done in by elements deep within his camp.
Times Now reported that the 86-year-old leader has cited health reasons for quitting.
He had also lately been overcome with fading memory and other indications of senility.
The Congress party welcomed Tiwaris resignation. "I think he has taken an appropriate decision keeping in view the high standards of public life. We welcome it," AICC media department chief Janardan Dwivedi told reporters in Delhi.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/26/2009 9:22
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#2
"...Battles Sex Taint"
Sex! Taint!
You know, there is almost no end to what could be done with that headline. But I am just going to back away slowly...
Iran confirmed Thursday that a daughter of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden has turned up at the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, but said it does not know how she entered the country.
A Saudi newspaper reported Wednesday that Bin Laden's 17-year-old daughter, Eman, went to the embassy after eluding guards in Iran who have held her, her sister and four brothers under house arrest for eight years.
It has long been believed that Iran has held in custody a number of bin Laden's children since they fled Afghanistan after the U.S.-led invasion of that country in 2001 -- most notably Saad and Hamza bin Laden, who are thought to have held positions in al-Qaida.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on a TV talk show Thursday that Iran had no idea Eman was in the country until it heard from the embassy that she was there.
Mottaki said if Iranian authorities are able to confirm her identity she would be free to leave Iran.
"Some time ago, the Embassy of Saudi Arabia informed us that one of the daughters of Bin Laden is in the embassy," Mottaki said. "We don't know how this person went to the embassy or how she entered the country."
Mottaki made no mention of the other Bin Laden children and he was not asked on the TV program whether Iran was holding them.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2009
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Iran's central bank has said defaced banknotes are to be made invalid, after the appearance of opposition slogans on money, local media report. They quote bank official Ebrahim Darvishi as saying that people possessing defaced banknotes should exchange them by 8 January.
It was difficult to distinguish genuine defaced notes from fakes, he added.
If we had a CIA worth anything at all they'd be pumping out mass quantities of these defaced banknotes, and then denying it all ...
Messages in support of the opposition have been appearing on banknotes since June's disputed presidential election.
"Banknotes on which there are writings or are stamped or have any additional signs will be invalid," Iran's Jam-e Jam newspaper quoted Mr Darvishi as saying on Thursday.
The bank official also called on the public and shop owners not accept such notes from 8 January.
Since June's election, slogans such as "Death to the dictator" have appeared on many Iranian banknotes. Opposition supporters have also sprayed anti-government graffiti on walls in the capital Tehran and other cities.
Many transactions are carried out in cash in Iran, which is under international banking sanctions and where major credit cards cannot be used.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/26/2009
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#1
pumping out mass quantities of these defaced banknotes
Posted by: ed ||
12/26/2009 6:47
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#2
Speaking of Bank notes that have been defaced, has anyone seen a bank note with Geitner's signature? I want to start defacing them with my TAX CHEAT stamp, but I haven't seen one. Wonder why?
#3
Hey Nimble, I have one too, but it, like yours, remains unused. Maybe TUS knows whats gonna happen once his signature begins appearing in general circulation....?
26 December 2009 GUWAHATI - Two dreaded tribal separatists were killed on Friday in Assam, bringing to four the number of militants gunned down since Thursday in the stepped up offensive against the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB).
A police spokesperson said a group of three armed NDFB militants challenged a security patrol early on Friday near Rangapara in Sonitpur district.
And I thought it was tough to find upazailas on a map ...
Well sure, silly, if you're looking on a map. They found it in the real world. There all one need do is ask a p'liceman for directions.
"The NDFB rebels opened fire at the security team and that led to the encounter in which two militants were killed. The third managed to escape under cover of the early morning fog," a senior police official said.
A cache of weapons and explosives was recovered from the dead militants.
"The NDFB group was in the area for an extortion drive when security forces challenged them," the official said.
Two other NDFB rebels were killed in separate encounters with security forces in the same district on Thursday.
So are these 'challenges' or 'cross-fires'?
We shall have to await the newspaper reports to find out. School yourself to patience, my dear.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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At least 30 suspected al-Qaeda militants have been killed by an air strike in a remote mountainous area of Yemen, security officials say.
An unnamed official told reporters the strike took place as dozens of militants gathered in Shabwa province, east of the capital, Sanaa. Two senior al-Qaeda commanders in the Arabian peninsula could be among the dead, he said.
AFP news agency quoted the security official as saying Saudis and Iranians had been at the suspected al-Qaeda meeting.
"We are still unsure if two of the top leaders have been killed or not," Reuters news agency quoted him as saying. "One of them is the Saudi al-Qaeda member Nasser al-Weheshi."
Pray for sepsis ...
Another official told AFP that the suspected militants had been meeting to plan terror attacks in Yemen, in retaliation for Yemeni military air strikes carried out last week. Officials said the militants had allegedly been planning multiple suicide attacks, with eight of them preparing explosive vests at the time of the raids.
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A suicide bomber in a horse-drawn cart has killed eight people in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, police say. Police officers apparently tried to stop the bomber but he was able to detonate his explosives near a hotel and local government office.
Five of the dead were in a nearby car, with three pedestrians also killed. The care was destroyed, leading police to initially think the bomb was inside it.
Security guards at the hotel became suspicious of the man and ordered him to stop. Reports said he was fired on by the guards.
The target of the bombing was not immediately known, said deputy provincial police chief Fazel Ahmad Sharzad.
Perhaps the local wimmins and kiddies?
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This is part of the concluding paragraphs of a surprising editorial.
Since peaceful carrots and sticks cannot work, and an invasion would be foolhardy, the United States faces a stark choice: military air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities or acquiescence to Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons.
You'd think you'd know which of these the NYT favors. Keep reading ...
The risks of acquiescence are obvious. Iran supplies Islamist terrorist groups in violation of international embargoes. Even President Ahmadinejad's domestic opponents support this weapons traffic. If Iran acquired a nuclear arsenal, the risks would simply be too great that it could become a neighborhood bully or provide terrorists with the ultimate weapon, an atomic bomb.
As for knocking out its nuclear plants, admittedly, aerial bombing might not work. Some Iranian facilities are buried too deeply to destroy from the air. There may also be sites that American intelligence is unaware of. And military action could backfire in various ways, including by undermining Iran's political opposition, accelerating the bomb program or provoking retaliation against American forces and allies in the region.
But history suggests that military strikes could work. Israel's 1981 attack on the nearly finished Osirak reactor prevented Iraq's rapid acquisition of a plutonium-based nuclear weapon and compelled it to pursue a more gradual, uranium-based bomb program. A decade later, the Persian Gulf war uncovered and enabled the destruction of that uranium initiative, which finally deterred Saddam Hussein from further pursuit of nuclear weapons (a fact that eluded American intelligence until after the 2003 invasion). Analogously, Iran's atomic sites might need to be bombed more than once to persuade Tehran to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Negotiation to prevent nuclear proliferation is always preferable to military action. But in the face of failed diplomacy, eschewing force is tantamount to appeasement. We have reached the point where air strikes are the only plausible option with any prospect of preventing Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons. Postponing military action merely provides Iran a window to expand, disperse and harden its nuclear facilities against attack. The sooner the United States takes action, the better.
I just about fell out of my chair when tipper posted this. The NYT must be trying to help Bambi grow a spine. That or they really want to get the country's mind off the health care reform bill.
#1
Anybody know if the Iranians have buried power plants to run their buried centrifuges? If not, destroy the power plants. If so, they have to get rid of the waste heat somewhere, which should be a telltale.
#3
But history suggests that military strikes could work. Israel's 1981 attack on the nearly finished Osirak reactor
Israel "finised" Osirak and they will likely finish the Iranian initiative as well. Like Osirak, the UN, Russian, and leftest outrage will last approximately 2 weeks. The reduction or end of Iranian proliferation of conventional weapons to terrorist regimes could possibly be a welcomed second order effect.
#4
And Bambi would be such a good Leader in a war....does anyone believe that? A man who bows that good.? Obama is a bendover boy.
You wont see Bambi supporting Israel anymore than he supported the Iranian people's bid for a decent treatment by their own Mullah Regime. Bambi doesnt have a moral instinct. He operates on another standard. He's Chicago and doesnt notice what the Sermon really says. He just sits in the Pew and makes sure he is "present".
You wont see Bambi starting a war. His actions in Afghanistan are put your left foot in and take your left foot out and then turn it all about...that's what its all about ...doe si doe. Hum it with me. No Bambi is no Audie Murphy.
Obanana wouldnt fight for his own mother.
We WILL have a war with Iran. We wont have any choice. And it will be basic and nasty as all hell. Fall 2016. Then another bigger war in winter 2025. Iran wont be around much at all after it is all over. It wont be just tap tap and its over. Its going to be thoroughly final.
Everybody will regret it, but its going to be necessary. Nobody will like the price or the pain or the mess. We waited too long. Wars are bad things. Its been sixty years since Hiroshima...and it still hurts. The Cold War was bad. It still hurts too. And the world is full of those places where you can stand there and there arent any flowers and birds...just bleak stink.
Chernobyl in northern Ukraine...not exactly a tourist attraction....or the old Soviet Fleet at anchor in Vladivostok waters....or the Caspian Sea graveyards. It isnt like the anchored Merchant Fleet mothballed up at West Point. Its cold and dark in the hold in half sunk and leaning Soviet boneyards and sitting on the bottom in a rusting hell with oil slicks and weather-eaten metal.
Chernobyl is gonna be a nice place compared to Iran. And when the little Moslem kiddies smile you wont want to look too closely at their little open mouths.
#5
Distraction? It's worse than that. As a historical guide, the inexperienced crew in the WH can look to Clinton/Kosovo and its effect on 'Lewinski'. They've already sandbagged the Israelis, and the world 'watched' while Iranians died challenging the leadership, so options are limited.
Personally, I have grave concerns for either a major 'false flag' or other minor misdirection akin to the 'Maddox incident'.
This NYT article 'smells' of manipulation.
Check your 6 (history, that is).
In Nigeria, a prominent banker said Saturday that he was meeting with security officials there because he feared his son was the suspect. Alhaji Umaru Mutallab told The Associated Press said his son was a one-time university student in London who had left Britain to travel abroad. He said his son hadn't lived in London "for some time" but he wasn't sure exactly where he went to.
"I believe he might have been to Yemen, but we are investigating to determine that," the elder Mutallab said. He said he would provide more details later Saturday as he learned more from authorities.
One law enforcement official said the man claimed to have been instructed by al-Qaida to detonate the plane over U.S. soil, but other law enforcement officials cautioned that such claims could not be verified immediately, and said the man may have been acting independently inspired but not specifically trained or ordered by terror groups.
All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing.
Intelligence and anti-terrorism officials in Yemen said they were investigating claims by the suspect that he picked up the explosive device and instructions on how to use it in that country. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.
#11
HELLO I AM ALHAJI UMARU MUTALLAB A PROMINENT BANKER IN NIGERIA. MY SON HAS BEEN UNJUSTLY ACCUSED OF TERRORISM AND I HAVE RAISED THREE MILLION DOLLARS AMERICAN FOR HIS BAIL OF WHICH I AM WILLING TO SHARE ONE HALF OR FIFTY PERCENT IF YOU WILL HELP ME...
I'm sorry, but SOMEBODY had to go there.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/26/2009 14:08
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#12
Actually the father tried to alert the US Embassy 6 months ago about his son's radicalism.
#13
OFFICES / DEPARTMENTS
Office of the Legal Attaché
The mission of the FBIs Legal Attaché Program is to establish and maintain liaison with principal law enforcement and intelligence/security services in designated foreign countries. This liaison enables the FBI to effectively and expeditiously meet its international responsibilities in organized crime, international terrorism, foreign counterintelligence, and general criminal matters. The Legal Attachés Office supports the operational needs in Lagos, Nigeria with regional coverage of Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principle and Togo. The liaison activities performed by the Legal Attachés are essential to the successful fulfillment of the international responsibilities of the FBI and United States interests. Liaising is carried out in accordance with executive order, statue, Attorney General Guidelines, and FBI policies.
US Consulate General
2, Walter Carrington Crescent
Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria
Telephone: (234)-1-261-0050, 261-0078
Fax: (234)-1-261-9856
ISLAMABAD: Consultations and contacts at the top political level are underway for a purposeful meeting between President Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif which the PPP hopes would help defuse tensions in the wake of the SC verdict on the NRO.
ANP leader Ghulam Ahmed Bilour called on Nawaz in Raiwand on Friday a meeting that, according to ANP sources, was part of the process to finalise a constitutional amendments package as soon as possible, in line with the PML-Ns demand.
In the context of a possible Nawaz-Zardari meeting, another important development surfaced on Friday: JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman met Shahbaz Sharif in a bid to dilute the PPP-PML-N friction, according to sources. Some JUI-F leaders believe their party chief delivered a message by Zardari to Shahbaz. In addition, the prime minister assured the PML-N on Friday the government would soon repeal constitutional amendments introduced by dictators.
PML-N central leaders are also meeting today (Saturday) with the possibility of talks on a meeting between Nawaz and Zardari.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/26/2009
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U.S. officials say a Northwest Airlines passenger from Nigeria said he was acting on behalf of al Qaeda when he tried to blow up a flight Friday as it landed in Detroit. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., identified the suspect as Abdul Mudallad, a Nigerian. King said the flight began in Nigeria and went through Amsterdam en route to Detroit. The flight left Amsterdam's Schiphol International Airport at 8:45 a.m. local time Friday morning and arrived in Detroit a 12:01 p.m. CST.
A senior U.S. counterterror official says Mudallad was planning to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 carrying 278 passengers, but the explosive device failed. Mudallad reportedly ignited powder attached to his leg and was severely burned in the incident, CBS News reports.
Rather than having its intended effect on other passengers, however, the small fire only caused a commotion and some minor injuries.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
appears to be a case of premature explode-u-lation.
A Thai court has ordered the crew of a cargo plane transporting weapons from North Korea to remain in jail for 12 more days.
Twelve days of Christmas!
The five crew members, consisting of one Belarus national and four Kazakh nationals, were arrested in mid-December after their cargo plane was seized during a stop in Bangkok. The plane was carrying 35 tons of heavy weapons, including explosives and rocket-propelled grenades. A lawyer for the crew members says they believed they were transporting oil drilling equipment.
They can believe that throughout their prison stay ...
The destination of the shipment is not clear. The United Nations imposed sanctions in June banning North Korea from exporting any weapons, in response to Pyongyang's testing of nuclear and missile weapons.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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Pakistani fighter jets have targeted suspected militant hideouts in the Orakzai tribal agency, south-west of Peshawar, killing at least 10 people. Officials say the dead were militants, but eyewitnesses told the BBC the bombs destroyed the home of a tribal chief, killing three women and four children.
Plus the usual number of kittens and fluffy bunnies ...
Pakistani troops have been engaged in an major offensive against the Taliban in South Waziristan, further south.
The army believes many insurgents fled from there to areas such as Orakzai. A number of air strikes have targeted militant targets in Orakzai in recent weeks.
The UN says more than 40,000 civilians have left their homes in Orakzai and are in need of humanitarian assistance.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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These five likely couldn't have blown up a mailbox with an M-80, but it's good that they're in stir.
LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: The five US nationals arrested from Sargodha on suspicion of planning terrorist attacks in the country, revealed on Friday that they intended to attack the Chashma Nuclear Power Plant and other important installations in the country, a private TV channel reported. Sargodha Cantonment Station House Officer Amir Sherazi said the terrorists disclosed their plans during interrogation.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that police had won more time from a court to interrogate the five Americans, who are suspected of using the Internet to contact militants.
"Blow up one of our pride and joy nuclear plants, eh son? Mahmoud, I'm sure the judge will give us more time. Hand me the number seven!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
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The US has condemned a Taliban video of an American soldier captured by the militants in Afghanistan last June as an affront to his family at Christmas.
The man in the film, identifying himself as Private Bowe Robert Bergdahl, criticises the US over the Afghan war and relations with Muslims. A Taliban spokesman then calls for the release of captured insurgents in exchange for the 23-year-old.
His parents, Bob and Jani Bergdahl, responded by appealing for his release.
The Western military alliance Nato confirmed that the man in the video - seen wearing sunglasses, a military helmet and uniform - was Pte Bergdahl. It said he had clearly been forced to read a prepared statement. It is not clear when the video, released on Friday, was recorded. The airborne infantryman, originally from the US state of Idaho, spoke clearly and appeared healthy.
He was captured in Paktika province, a Taliban stronghold in eastern Afghanistan, on 30 June.
US Navy Rear Adm Gregory Smith said in a statement: "It reflects nothing more than the violent, deceitful tactics of the Taliban insurgency. To release this video on Christmas Day is an affront to the deeply concerned family and friends of Bowe Bergdahl."
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
refresh my memory... is this the guy that seemed to walk away from base with a couple of locals?
Posted by: abu do you love ||
12/26/2009 17:32
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#2
think so. Left behind his rifle?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/26/2009 17:48
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Israeli opposition leader and former foreign minister Tzipi Livni mulled an invitation to join the govt, though the premier himself was reportedly doubtful she would accept his offer.
Either way, hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made it clear he intended to poach members of Livnis factious Kadima party, even if the centrist opposition leader opts not to join the government. I would be very happy to see her join, but I have no plans to give up on the attempt to expand the coalition base, YNet News quoted him as saying.
Israeli media said Netanyahu was doubtful Livni would accept the offer which would land her a post as minister without portfolio. In closed forums he clearly hints that if that Livni turns him down, he will work to split the opposition faction, YNet said.
After meeting Netanyahu on Thursday, Livni voiced serious reservations, saying the offer was a ploy by the prime minister. This is a transparent media spin, the mass-selling Yediot Aharonot quoted her as saying.
But with several Kadima members threatening to walk over to the government, Livni has put the issue on the agenda for discussion by her partys leaders.
Netanyahus offer comes at a time when Kadima is torn by internal divisions, while the premier is struggling to maintain stability in his government. He made it clear he had no intention to enter lengthy negotiations but insisted his offer is serious.
I would be very, very glad if Tzipi Livni would agree to join, Yediot Aharonot quoted him as saying. If all of Kadima is in the government, this would strengthen Israels standing internationally and on the Palestinian track.
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The Vatican has said it is impossible to protect the Pope from incidents like that on Thursday night, when a woman grabbed him at Christmas Eve Mass.
Spokesman Frederico Lombardi said the Pope was regularly surrounded by tens of thousands of people at audiences, Masses, greetings and other events. He said it was unthinkable to create a wall between the Pope and the faithful.
The Pope was not injured when Susanna Maiolo, 25, hurled herself at him in St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican but an elderly French cardinal standing nearby, Roger Etchegaray, suffered a broken hip. The woman, who tried to throw herself at Benedict at the same Christmas Eve service one year ago, is now receiving psychiatric treatment and Mr Lombardi said he thought she would be dealt with very leniently by the Vatican.
Father Lombardi said it was not realistic to think the Vatican could ensure 100% security for the Pope and that security guards appeared to have acted as quickly as possible. "It seems that they intervened at the earliest possible moment in a situation in which zero risk cannot be achieved," he told the Associated Press news agency. "People want to see him up close and he's pleased to see them closely too. A zero risk doesn't seem realistic in a situation in which there's a direct rapport with the people."
Vatican security officials would, the spokesman added, nonetheless review the episode and "try to learn from experience".
Mr Berlusconi, who is recovering from a violent attack in Milan earlier in the month, spoke to Italian TV after the attack on the Pope. "We must really fight back against all these manufacturers of lies, extremism and hatred," he said.
It is still unclear what had motivated Ms Maiolo, who holds dual Swiss and Italian nationality. She told doctors she had not wanted to hurt the pontiff, Italy's La Repubblica newspaper said in a report on its online edition.
French Cardinal Paul Poupard, who was with the pontiff at the time of the incident, said it had been "definitely a threat to the Pope".
"With hindsight, you would say greater vigilance was needed, so those in charge of security should not let their guard drop even for a second," he added.
The Pope is protected by a combination of Swiss Guards, Vatican police and Italian police.
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Eritrea has labelled UN sanctions imposed on Wednesday as shameful, and denied allegations that it arms Islamist militants in Somalia. Eritrea's UK ambassador Tesfamichael Gerahtu told the BBC that the sanctions were illegal and would only worsen the problems in the Horn of Africa.
Speaking of shameful ...
The Security Council imposed an arms embargo, travel bans and asset freezes on top Eritrean officials. Somalia's beleaguered UN-backed government welcomed the sanctions.
But Mr Tesfamichael said the accusations made by the country's critics were inconsistent.
"Originally it was said we had soldiers and then later came military support and now all of a sudden after certain discussions and opposition they started to talk about political, military and logistical support," he told the BBC's World Today programme. "Now we are 100% sure that we have never, never, never supplied military equipment or otherwise to the extremists in Somalia."
Eritrea's neighbouring countries and regional blocs including the African Union had been lobbying for sanctions for most of the year. The resolution demands that the country stops "arming, training and equipping armed groups and their members, including al-Shabab, that aim to destabilise the region".
As a result of the Security Council vote, Eritrea becomes the first new country to be subjected to UN sanctions since they were imposed on Iran in 2006.
That's worked well ...
The US said it had sought talks with Eritrea for months, but the country had failed to act on its promises.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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Federal officials and police are interviewing a Nigerian man, who allegedly tried to "explode" a powdery substance aboard a Northwest flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, injuring himself and two other passengers, law enforcement officials said.
The man said he was directed by al Qaeda to explode a small device in flight, over U.S. soil, ABC News has learned. Authorities have no corroboration of that information, and the credibility of the suspect's statements are being questioned, officials said.
The suspect was identified as Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, who according to federal documents is an engineering student at University College of London. He was flying from Nigeria to the United States for a religious ceremony, according to his entry visa, which was issued June 16, 2008 and was good until June 12, 2010.
Come to consecrate the 241,209th most holy site in all Islam?
The suspect had been in a law enforcement-intelligence database but was not on the government's no-fly list, according to a law enforcement official.
The subject is claiming to have extremist affiliation and that the device was acquired in Yemen along with instructions as to when it should be used," a federal situational awareness bulletin stated.
Delta spokeswoman Susan Chana Elliott said that "as the plane was getting ready to land" in Detroit "a passenger caused a disturbance" by trying to ignite what was initially reported to be firecrackers. The man was "subdued immediately," Elliott said. Northwest is a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta.
The suspect told authorities that he had explosive powder taped to his leg and used a syringe of chemicals to mix with the powder that was to cause explosion. This is of concert because it is a method of mixing that is consistent with terror techniques.
An in-flight emergency was declared when a fire indicator light when on in the cockpit, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The pilot asked for airport rescue and firefighting services, and for law enforcement to meet the flight at gate, the TSA said.
It is unclear how powerful the explosive could have been and what the man's intentions were. Initial reports were that fireworks or firecrackers had gone off on the plane.
TSA has a layered approach to security that the agency says allows it to surge resources as needed on a daily basis. It would not give specifics except that it has the ability to quickly implement additional screening measures including explosive detection canine teams, gate screening, behavior detection and other measures "both seen and unseen." The TSA said these measures are designed to be unpredictable, so passenger should not expect to see the same thing at every airport.
#3
PETN according to officials, who also suggested this was a dry run / experiment to see if the chemicals would be detected and how much damage might be done.
#4
Come to consecrate the 241,209th most holy site in all Islam?
Would that be Detroit or Dearborn or Hamtramck?
There was a time these guys got hung or shot fairly quickly. Now we have to wade with hip boots through the legal maze of courts and attorneys and political correctness. Well maybe it wasn't so recently--WWII era.
LAHORE: Intelligence agencies have warned of possible terrorists attacks on the occasion of Benazir Bhutto's death anniversary. "Terrorists are planning to attack rallies and ceremonies to be arranged on December 27 in connection with Benazir's death anniversary," the reports said.
Good thinking, inspector ...
The law enforcement agencies have been ordered to make foolproof arrangements to prevent any untoward incident on the occasion.
Sorta like the foolproof arrangements Benazir had for her security detail ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
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This is from the 22nd. Served up today in light of the Delta boom attempt. Murtha looks more foolish than usual.
JOHNSTOWN U.S. Rep. John Murtha told reporters Tuesday that he isnt convinced al-Qaida is still a threat to national security. Murtha said he visited Kuwait and Afghanistan during Thanksgiving and approves of the militarys strategy, but expressed a need to measure progress in Afghanistan.
I dont agree there is a threat to national security, Murtha said, while not ruling out the possibility that he could be wrong about al-Qaidas influence. They keep saying theyve defeated al-Qaida.
The Democratic congressman also expressed concern about the number of contractors remaining in Iraq.
There are more contractors in Iraq than troops, he said. Ive been pushing to cut back on contractors.
He said that the cost of the war is a concern and that it needs to be paid. He supports a war tax to deal with the costs. Murtha, the chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, along with Democratic Rep. Dave Obey, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and nine other Democrats, introduced legislation in November that would pay for the war with a graduated surtax.
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#1
What a moron. He must be senile or just plain stupid.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/26/2009 0:03
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#2
49 Pan, I vote for both.
This is the guy (supposedly a former Marine) who wanted to convict Marines without a trial.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
12/26/2009 1:26
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#3
and wanted to move our troops (pre-surge) out of Iraq just over the horizon to Okinawa.
Yukio Hatoyama, the new Japanese Prime Minister, has stunned a nation already mired in huge public debt by unveiling the country's biggest ever postwar budget: a 92.3 trillion yen (£630 billion) spending spree aimed at "saving people's lives".
The unprecedented budget, which supposedly shifts Japan's fiscal spending focus "from concrete to lives", comes amid rising concern about the solidity of sovereign debt in the world's second-largest economy.
The new budget will require additional debt issuance of Y44.3 trillion -- within the Government's expected band, but still at a level that will raise Japan's debt-to-GDP ratio to nearly 195 per cent.
Of foremost concern, analysts for Nomura said, is that Japanese tax revenues are expected to fall to Y37.40 trillion this year, the lowest that they have been since 1984. It was, analysts said, a watershed moment -- the first time that new debt issuance has exceeded tax revenues since the Second World War. Mr Hatoyama said: "We were just able to stay at a level in which we can maintain fiscal discipline."
He sounds just like Obama calling for fiscal discipline ...
#2
That's because Japan's problems are all of the implosion variety, Anon. What kids they've got left all want to hide in their bedrooms and draw dirty manga or play with hugging pillows instead of forming new families or joining the JSDF. The countryside is emptying out as everybody moves out, and everybody sweats up a storm working in 80-degree office towers because somebody somewhere thought it'd be more environmentally responsible to do so.
Modern Japan is the middle child of the West, and it'll kill itself pretending that nothing's wrong rather than do anything about it.
It'd be nice if they stopped wasting their resources on pointless concrete-pours, but as I understand it, they've pretty much run out of riverbeds that *aren't* encased in concrete.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
12/26/2009 15:08
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#3
and if we all bought American made cars (or at least mostly American made) it might just about end the balance of trade problem we have with China and push Japan back on it's heels ....
Man on Flight to Detroit Claims Al Qaeda Ties; Obama Tightens Security
DETROIT -- A passenger on a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight tried to detonate an explosive device that was strapped to his leg and later told investigators that he was trying to blow up the plane and had affiliations with al Qaeda, according to a senior U.S. official.
The man, who has not been publicly identified by officials, told investigators that he was given the device by Al Qaeda operatives in Yemen, where he was also given instructions on how to detonate it, the official said. The Associated Press reported that Rep. Peter King (R., N.Y.) has identified the man as a Nigerian named Abdul Mudallad.
"This guy claims he is tied to al Qaeda, specifically in Yemen," the official said. "He claims he was on orders from al Qaeda in Yemen. Who knows if that's true."
Bill Burton, a White House spokesman, said President Barack Obama, who is vacationing in Hawaii, was notified of the incident after 9 a.m. local time, and held two secure conference calls with his national security team to discuss the incident, but that his schedule had not changed. "The president is actively monitoring the situation and receiving regular updates," Mr. Burton said.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that airline passengers should expect to see additional screening measures put in place on both domestic and international flights.
An FBI spokeswoman, Denise Ballew, would only say that the Detroit field office is investigating the incident and would release more information "when it is appropriate."
The explosive, which was apparently carried onto the flight from its originating airport in Amsterdam, was originally believed to be a small firecracker, but the U.S. official said the device was "more complicated than gunpowder firecracker" and caught fire as the man tried to set it off.
One person was taken to the University of Michigan Medical Center and was still hospitalized Friday evening. "All I know is it was one person treated from the incident," said U of M Health System spokeswoman Tracy Justice. "Everything else is being handled by the FBI."
Shortly after the plane landed around 11:50 a.m. Detroit time, the Transportation Security Administration put out a statement indicating that "out of an abundance of caution" the jet's passengers were going through a special security screening and the luggage in the hold also was being re-examined.
TSA and FBI officials were interviewing passengers, even as the plane sat at a remote corner of the airport surrounded by a phalanx of law-enforcement and emergency vehicles. The Federal Aviation Administration was referring all questions to the TSA.
Regardless of what the investigation uncovers about the suspect's motives or the material that ignited, Friday's incident is likely to renew debate over whether additional security systems are necessary to allow flight attendants to alert cockpit crews about cabin emergencies.
In addition to calling pilots on the intercom, airlines and security experts for years have debated the concept of providing cabin crews with additional ways to warn pilots about potential threats from passengers, Video cameras, wireless alerting devices or some type of discreet alarm switch have all been discussed. So far, the Federal Aviation Administration and many airlines have been resisting such mandates, arguing that they would be expensive and unnecessary.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/26/2009
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ACTOR Charlie Sheen spent Christmas Day behind bars after being arrested on charges of domestic assault. The 44-year-old Two And A Half Men actor was allegedly in a fight with wife Brooke Mueller in Aspen, Colorado.
Fox31 News and KDVR reported authorities received a 911 call on Christmas Day morning regarding a domestic violence situation. Officers from Aspen Police Department responded and investigated the incident.
They took Sheen, whose real name is Carlos Irwin Estevez, into custody for felony second-degree assault and criminal mischief. Officials said the charges are coupled with a domestic violence component.
An ambulance responded to the scene but the alleged victim - not named by Fox31 or KDVR but believed to be Ms Mueller, following reports by website Radar.com - did not require hospitalisation. No further details about the incident were released.
Sheen was being held without bond at the Pitkin County Jail.
Ms Mueller is the third wife of Sheen, son of screen legend Martin Sheen. The couple's twin boys, Bob and Max, were born in March 2009. Her family is partially based in Aspen.
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.
Three bombs planted under a car exploded south of Beirut on Saturday, wounding two people in an attack that apparently targeted an official from the Palestinian militant group Hamas, the state-run news agency said.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called for an end of Christmas "consumption insanity" and replace presents for children with stories about national independence hero Simon Bolivar, local media reported.
PARACHINAR: A government official said on Friday the Pakistan Army had killed at least nine suspected terrorists in the countrys northwest tribal region near the Afghan border. Muhammed Yasin said the military had used helicopter gunships to destroy three Taliban hideouts in Orakzai Agency.
SEOUL, Dec. 25 (Yonhap) -- North Korea may detonate a third nuclear device and provoke border clashes in the future that could escalate tension on the Korean Peninsula, a report by a state-run think tank said Friday.
Amidst the continuous live coverage of bandhs, protests and resignations over Telangana, people woke up Christmas morning to shocking pictures aired by a local news channel of an old man in bed with three young women.
At least 30 suspected al-Qaeda militants have been killed by an air strike in a remote mountainous area of Yemen, security officials say.
A suicide bomber in a horse-drawn cart has killed eight people in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, police say. Police officers apparently tried to stop the bomber but he was able to detonate his explosives near a hotel and local government office.
ISLAMABAD: Consultations and contacts at the top political level are underway for a purposeful meeting between President Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif which the PPP hopes would help defuse tensions in the wake of the SC verdict on the NRO. 
Pakistani fighter jets have targeted suspected militant hideouts in the Orakzai tribal agency, south-west of Peshawar, killing at least 10 people. Officials say the dead were militants, but eyewitnesses told the BBC the bombs destroyed the home of a tribal chief, killing three women and four children.
