Mullah Omar, the shadowy Taliban leader, has purportedly sent a letter to The White House indicating an interest in peace talks.
The unsigned note claims to carry a message directly from the one-eyed militant to Barack Obama, urging the US president to release senior Taliban fighters from Guantánamo Bay as a first step towards peace talks in Afghanistan.
If the letter is confirmed to have come from the fugitive mullah it would be the strongest indication yet that the upper echelons of the Taliban movement are prepared to come to the negotiating table after ten years of insurgency.
This week, Leon Panetta, the US Defence Secretary, said that the US wanted to end its combat role in Afghanistan by the middle of 2013, a year earlier than previously publicised, enabling an expedited draw-down of the USs current 90,000-strong fighting force.
Last month, the Taliban made a surprise announcement that it would open a political office in Qatar, although questions remain over whether the movement is serious about a long-term settlement or wants to bargain for prisoner releases.
h/t Gates of Vienna
The farm murders are not ordinary crimes but fit into the context in which the ANC-regime wants to rid itself of especially its Afrikaner- and other white farmers purely for political reasons. This is in other words, a genocide and a crime against humanity.
This was the shocking message by the South African Henk van de Graaf, the deputy-chairman of the Transvaal Agricultural Union. He was addressing the European parliaments international conference, attended by more than 50 European parliamentarians and other high-level functionaries from Great-Britain, France, Italy, Flanders and Austria.
#2
India is more concerned about assuring its access to the Indian ocean and to its Pacific trade routes. That is, the concern is the emerging Chinese blue water navy. Regarding the Himalayas, ask Tibet.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
02/03/2012 16:13
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#3
India has plans to attack and take Diego Garcia. Holding it is a different matter....
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
02/03/2012 16:21
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#4
India has plans to attack and take Diego Garcia.
So it's like the U.S. has plans on file to invade Canada, should it ever become necessary?
#5
So it's like the U.S. has plans on file to invade Canada, should it ever become necessary?
If this retired Indian officer is to be believed, the operation was canceled while a plane was en route:
During Indira Gandhi's time, we had an airborne operation half way towards the island to capture it, but was called back. But better sense prevaled and an incident against the US was avoided.
These are one of those "for your eyes only" type things. All I know is that one phase was already underway when they were called back. My fathers unit (a field ambulance unit), was packed and on the tarmac waiting for their turn to take off.It was one of those cold war era incidents, as Indo-US relations were not cordial. It would have been a bde level op as the air lift capability of IAF during that time was'nt beyond bde level, including the supporting arms, and rear echlons.
But I guess such an operation would have been planned in conjunction with Soviet naval support. India really did'nt have the capability to take on a superpower so far away from home on its own. I'm just guessing, as no one really talks about an aborted baby. We could have managed a "Falklands op" but not against a superpower with the worlds largest and most powerful navy.
Here they are a Corps asset. Sir, you have an Engr bn to support a Bde, while we have a Engr bn for a div. They would have been given whole fd amb bn, considering likely cas rate and distance from home base.
Sir, as I keep saying, it would have been a Cold war era thing. Russians wanting to deny the control of the Indian Ocean to the US, who would help them? India. Lets just be happy that it was aborted...and not carried through.
India's attitude towards Diego Garcia is a lot like Argentina's attitude towards the Falklands.
#7
"Like Canada" > Paging a Mr. Alan Alda, paging Mr. Alan Alda ...
Indjuh's new "COLD START" DOCTRINE includes the scenario or option of Preeemptive Nuke Strike agz the PLA, so IMO China will be wary.
The crux for India is Islamist = Taliban + AQ, etal. takeover of Pakistan, vee either violent anti-Govt. insurgency andor Political-Legal-Electoral Jihad [formal Govt-Sharing]. NOW COMES THE RISK OF US-IRAN WAR + IRAN'S WELL-STATED WILLINGNESS TO UNILATERALLY DESTABILIZE ITS REGIONAL SOVEREIGN NEIGHBORS, INCLUD BUT NOT LIMITED TO NUKE-ARMED PAKLAND, FOR PURPOSES OF WAGING VIETNAM-STYLE, NUKE-WMD CAPABLE?, DEFENSIVE "PEOPLE'S/GUERILLA WAR" AGZ ANY
US-LED FOREIGN OCCUPATION.
Lest we fergit, Iran long ago once controlled Afghanistan + parts of Pakistan, ex-Soviet SSRS.
In addition, New Delhi fears the natural or exponetial growth of its domestic Muslim population. West China = Xinjiang [UIghurs] is also where China keeps a lot of its SECOND ARTILLERY [strategic missle force] + SPACE ASSETS.
India has many reasons for not wanting a US-Iran war to break out right now, + despite its past mil conflicts vee China INDIA DOESN'T FEAR A DIRECT CHINESE + PLA ATTACK AGZ IT AS MUCH AS INTERNAL MUSLIM/ISLAMIST DESTABILIZATION OF CHINA WHICH WILL INDUCE AN ANTI-MILTERR/ISLAMIST CHINESE ATTACK INTO PAKISTAN + INDIA'S HIMALAYAN LINE(S) OF CONTROL.
#8
DEFENCE FORUM INDIA > INDIAN MILITARY BUILDUP MAY BE TOO LITTLE TOO LATE | OLD WEAPONS< NEW THREATS FUEL INDIA'S MILITARY BUILDUP Should've started much earlier as China seemingly has a commanding lead as per time factors + national mil modernization.
and
* SAME > [India] AIR MARSHAL REJECTS US REPORT ON INDIA-CHINA "LIMITED WAR".
The Air Marshal all but directly states that Chinese mil technologies are akin to cheap, easily breakable = flimsy 1960's-1980's Japanese, Asian toys; + ARE NOT STRONG/WELL-BUILT OR RELIABLE COMPARATIVE TO INDIA'S - INDIA'S MILTECHS ARE FOR DETERRENCE, NOT ["Offensive" = "Belligerent"] WAR???
* SAME > USNI Director James Clapper] US INTEL CHIEF: PAKISTAN SEES INDIA AS AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT.
#6
Al Qaeda is a Sunni affiliated terrorist group. Iran is Shia (and non-Arab); the two sects (surprise) don't mix.
Eh? This is enemy of my enemy stuff, Mike, just like Iran's support of the extremely Sunni Hamas. Lots of evidence scattered throughout Rantburg's archives of Iran sheltering senior Al Qaeda members following the capture of Tora Bora, including Osama bin Laden's favourite son and his family.
#7
Al Qaeda is a Sunni affiliated terrorist group. Iran is Shia...
Yeah but like different tribes of Orcs, they both hate us more than they hate each other and would happily drop their disagreement and cooperate with each other against us.
#8
For years it seemed our policy was to arrange for arms to be supplied to whichever side - Shia or Sunni - was getting beaten in their neverending battle with each other. Cruel, but effective.
Sick of the BLS propaganda? Then do the following calculation with us: using BLS data, the US civilian non-institutional population was 242,269 in January, an increase of 1.7 million month over month: apply the long-term average labor force participation rate of 65.8% to this number (because as chart 2 below shows, people are not retiring as the popular propaganda goes: in fact labor participation in those aged 55 and over has been soaring as more and more old people have to work overtime, forget retiring), and you get 159.4 million: that is what the real labor force should be. The BLS reported one? 154.4 million: a tiny 5 million difference. Then add these people who the BLS is purposefully ignoring yet who most certainly are in dire need of labor and/or a job to the 12.758 million reported unemployed by the BLS and you get 17.776 million in real unemployed workers. What does this mean? That using just the BLS denominator in calculating the unemployed rate of 154.4 million, the real unemployment rate actually rose in January to 11.5%. Compare that with the BLS reported decline from 8.5% to 8.3%. It also means that the spread between the reported and implied unemployment rate just soared to a fresh 30 year high of 3.2%. And that is how with a calculator and just one minute of math, one strips away countless hours of BLS propaganda.
Difference between Reported and Implied Unemployment Rate
And why the Labor Force Participation rate is not declining due to retirement.
#1
I really expected numbers game. Next week we will see adjustments. O is taking credit as expected. Being an election year everything is being done to protect this administration. This is good. The truth hurts. We need some propaganda so everyone doesn't jump ship. Should Republicans win suddenly the truth will get out. The sheep are being led. They believe everything they are told. Don't worry be happy(blame the evil 1% and capitalism). We have controls to correct all our economic troubles. No great depression. This is a modern world now. In two months time 2.5 million jobs(heard that on the radio today) are gone. Yes, older people are working but I'd bet its part time low wages.
#2
Take a look at Shadow Stats employment data - which includes long term discouraged workers (like the 3 yr unemployed semi-conductor engineer who's wife questioned Obama). Actual rate is more like 23%.
Posted by: Cincinnatus Chili ||
02/03/2012 16:44
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#3
Of course there are also some of us Baby Boomers who had figured on being retired about now, but are hanging on to our jobs because a good job is the only asset of any real value anymore.
Protesters arrested during an Occupy Oakland rally Saturday said they were abused by police, subjected to illegal mass arrests and suffered a litany of human rights violations while held at two county jails - which only strengthened their commitment.
Organizers held a news conference outside Oakland City Hall on Wednesday to denounce police and restate their goal to move into a vacant building. Members called for another demonstration Saturday night, the latest in what Occupy activists have dubbed "F- the police" rallies, as well as a march to a courthouse Monday.
"Even the people who suffered the most traumatizing experiences are back out here," said Caitlin Manning, an Occupy Oakland member. "Santa Rita (county jail) spawns rebels. People who go through that don't come out broken; they come out strengthened."
Earlier Wednesday, Police Chief Howard Jordan said he had assigned a team of investigators to look into Occupy protesters' allegations of police abuse.
"We take allegations of abuse seriously," he said.
He has to say that...
"Obviously, this is a very volatile situation that needs to be addressed immediately. We are not shying away from these allegations."
They'll just dismiss them...
On Saturday night, hours after police turned back Occupy activists seeking to take over the vacant Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, hundreds of protesters were arrested outside the YMCA on Broadway. Police said the protesters had ignored dispersal orders, but Occupy activists said they never heard any such order.
Since they were screaming at the tops of their lungs at the cops...
Noah Zimmerman, 31, an information-technology consultant from Richmond,
Whoa! A guy with an actual job at the Occupy? That twitched the surprise meter. Or maybe 'consultant' means '90% unemployed'...
said he would have left the area had police given him the chance. Instead, he was arrested and spent 24 hours in jail.
"I did not hear an order to disperse because there was no order to disperse," Zimmerman said. "I had no intention of going to jail."
Most lawbreakers don't, you know...
On Sunday, Jordan said his officers had made the dispersal orders and "rightfully conducted the arrests."
Once detained, protesters said they had waited in plastic handcuffs for hours before deputies processed them into two county jails.
That's what happens, of course, when a large number of people are arrested at the same time...
Sgt. J.D. Nelson, a spokesman for the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, said that with more than 350 bookings, it was the busiest day in nearly 30 years. He said he was unaware of any complaints filed against the jails.
Nelson said officials had planned to send most of those arrested to Glenn Dyer Detention Facility in downtown Oakland, but protesters gathered outside the building and forced drivers to divert buses carrying 250 people to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin.
"Their own actions caused their own slowdown," Nelson said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/03/2012
10:18 ||
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#1
People who go through that don't come out broken; they come out strengthened."
#2
Some crucible they've been through. If that's the most traumatic thing any of them have been through I think they've got some surprises coming.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/03/2012 13:36
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#3
Boy the quality of 'Brown shirts' sure isn't what it used to be.
I mean having to wait in plastic handcuffs for a couple hours - Oh WHERE's THE HUMANITY!
Maybe they would prefer the Egyptian police instead. But then we would have the Police'es human rights offended (horrible image alert!) for having to perform virginity tests on them.
#5
These people don't understand the Dems have determined they are no longer useful. With that said harsh measures to silence them could be used with minimal media coverage. Either that or they are gonna be beaten and it will be claimed retroactively that they are Tea Party protestors.
Police in Calumet City were defending their actions Wednesday after officers shot and killed a 15-year-old boy, who has a form of autism, after he threatened them with a knife.
Stephon Watts' family said he suffered from Asperger's Syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism, and attention deficit disorder.
As CBS 2's Susanna Song and WBBM Newsradio's Steve Miller report, they claimed the boy was only holding a butter knife. Police would only describe it as a 'kitchen knife.' Strike one.
The deadly encounter happened at the boy's home at 541 Forsythe Av. in Calumet City, police said. Calumet City Police Chief Edward Gilmore said the boy cut a police officer through his shirt sleeve with a 'kitchen knife.' A police officer who is an adrenaline junkie with an attitude perhaps?
"I think they did everything they possibly could to avoid this," Gilmore said. "It's unfortunate that we had to get to this situation." Strike two.
As CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot reports, Stephon's mother, Danelene Powell-Watts, arrived at the police station in Calumet City on Wednesday shortly before police held a news conference to discuss the shooting. Powell-Watts was screaming, livid, and inconsolable after her son was killed. She was furious that officers used deadly force against her son this time, rather than subduing him with a stun gun.
"They shot my son," she yelled as officers as she was blocked from entering the Calumet City police station. "Every last one of you know my son has autism." Strike three.
Gilmore said police had been called to the home 10 times since 2010 to deal with the boy. Stephon's father called police again Wednesday morning after the teen had become aggressive.
"We tried to do everything we could to keep him from being a victim, as he was an offender. He chose to be an offender," Gilmore said. If only that were true you might have a leg to stand on. Strike four.
The chief said police were called to the home to get Stephon under control, as they had been before. But that didn't work, he said.
"When he slashed the officer's arm, the officer felt his life was in jeopardy and he had nothing else to do, but to defend himself," Gilmore said. Strike five.
Stephon's family said police have used a stun gun on him in the past.
"They didn't have to murder him. This is nothing but murder and they shoot to kill," Powell-Watts said. "He had a butter knife and my husband said that he lunged at the police officer."
Stephon's uncle said police had subdued his nephew with stun guns before.
"They didn't have to shoot him. They could have tasered the child. He's only 15 years old," Wayne Watts said. "They could have tased him, like they did him before, took him to the hospital and he would have been fine and that's what I want to know. Why couldn't they do that to him so that he could still be breathing with us right now?"
Gilmore said a stun gun wasn't used because the lead officer did not have a stun gun. Strike six.
Five officers responded to the Watts home after Stephon's father called police, according to Gilmore. Two entered the house, heading to the basement where they found Stephon. One of those two officers did have a stun gun with him. Five officers against one little fifteen year old boy with autism? I wonder if more than one of them pulled a lethal weapon, or just the one. Strike seven. At least.
"Unfortunately today, when he slashed the officer's arm, the officer felt his life was in jeopardy and he had nothing else to do, but defend himself," Gilmore said.
The boy's family said police should have used a stun gun and spared his life, especially since they'd been to the home before and knew what to expect.
Both officers have been placed on paid administrative leave.
Dr. Louis Kraus, professor and section chief of child and adolescent psychiatry at Rush University Medical Center, questioned whether deadly force was really necessary.
"With everything that they've done before, they should have known before going in what they were dealing with. And, you know, the goal really should have been to have gotten this child to a hospital," Kraus told CBS 2's Dana Kozlov.
He said people with autism can frequently become aggressive, but not because they are trying to hurt someone.
"What we know is that, when they get anxious -- probably more commonly than they typical person when they get anxious -- they might lash out; not with the intention of doing harm, but simply because of how frightened they are," Kraus said.
Calumet City Ald. Brian Wilson had questions about the shooting as well. "I think less deadly means could have been used," Wilson said.
The alderman is staging a protest at 7 p.m. outside the Calumet City police station.
Meanwhile, Illinois State Police are investigating the shooting. Unnecessary. It's part of the coverup effort. I wouldn't want my money spent on this kind of thing.
Gilmore said a year ago, all of the officers in the department went through a three-day autism awareness program to learn how to handle calls involving people with autism. Apparently at least one of them has attention issues.
This is all too similar to so many instances of police / fed over-reaction which I think is based on the militarization of Law Enforcement. This is based on a long list of things from wanting to appear "tough on crime" by politicians to the added opportunities for union power and increases in funds available for all sorts of graft and corruption.
#2
I see nothing wrong with shooting a attacker of police, Handicapped doesn't apply(Except to whine about).
Makes good headlines.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/03/2012 11:30
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#3
RJ when the "attacker" is a known autistic who has been handled 10 times before there is no excuse for this at all.
This was pure and simple incompetence by all members of the police force involved from the chief on down. In a case like this I think that a charge of manslaughter should be considered. I hope that the parents sue the city into bankruptcy.
#4
Oh, horseshit. From the evidence provided by the family:
*He was Asperger's - NOT autistic - which is more of a personality disorder than a type of retardation
*He had a weapon in hand, and had already assaulted an officer
*This is the *tenth* time they've had officers in their home dealing with a fifteen-year-old with a history of violence
*He's been repeatedly stun-gunned in the past during those previous domestic disturbance calls
Just think of it as evolution in action, and stop wasting my time with this crying-wolf bullshit, gorb. This isn't "militarization of police", this is suicide-by-cop.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/03/2012 12:10
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#5
Bottom line: Would they do it again?
Bottom line answer: He's dead, Jim. Of course they won't do it again, at least not to this alleged perp, unless they dig up the body and shoot it again.
#6
If you think Autism is a form of retardation - you don't know what your talking about. Some people do place Asperger's on the Autism Spectrum. Personally I think its a bit different but then I'm not a Doctor, didn't play one on TV, nor stayed in a Holday Inn...
Most likely the poor kid couldn't help himself - he was just in that state of mind and couldn't get out of it.
Should the police also shoot-to-kill a drunk on the 10th call too? How about a drug user? A jaywalker?
Sounds like the police knew what they were getting into. they encountered this kid before and knew he could become violent and require a stun gun. Yet the lead officer whet in armed with nothing but deadly force while his partner did have a stun gun.
I'm not saying it was or wasn't justified. I wasn't there and this story is woefully lacking in details (What kind of knife was it really? How many times was he shot?...)
#7
Mitch, you have no idea what you are talking about it, and you don't even know it. Asperger's is on the spectrum. The kid is not a criminal. He had a butter knife, not even a steak knife. This hits close to home because my kid is on the spectrum, and I know very well what I'm talking about. Police and society in general need to understand what this means. And even if he wasn't on the spectrum, he's obviously got issues. This is a total overreaction by the police, who should have known better, as should anyone who has a heart or looks at life more than one layer deep. There is no crying wolf here. This is a difficult situation, and I hope you figure it out without having to have a relative killed to get there. The kid is violent because his brain is fuc&ed up, not by his own choosing. But it's not a predatory violence, it's reactive /protective. What's the solution? Sometimes they can be recovered, sometimes they have to be institutionalized, which can tear up the parents. And who says the Asperger's diagnosis is perfect? It may just be a convenient place to put him to get his education tuned better. Or it could be what the parents were able to handle. Read a little deeper next time. People aren't out demonstrating because they are idiots. Trust your fellow man a bit more next time.
#9
A no win situation for the police. Relying on my 37 yrs. in law enforcement, if you come at me with a deadly weapon (yes a table knife can be a deadly weapon)with the ability to cause great bodily injury/death, I'm using deadly force. It's easy to "armchair quarterback, but if you weren't there STFU.
#11
Slashed the cops arm? Let's see the pics and how many stitches he needed.
My wife deals with these kinds of kids every day and knows what they can be like. Are cops such wuzzies these days that a kid with a butter knife is a deadly threat that they have to shoot? Hell, their were 5 cops their for 1 15 yr. old and they needed to shoot him?
Way too many cops get their self image from Dirty Harry movies and have to see anything at all as a threat to their lives and an excuse to play shoot em up.
#12
Relying on my 37 yrs. in law enforcement, if you come at me with a deadly weapon (yes a table knife can be a deadly weapon)with the ability to cause great bodily injury/death, I'm using deadly force.
So you'd kill a 15 year old known-autistic kid armed with a butter knife because he lunged at you? With the intent of doing "great" bodily injury/death?
And you'd sleep well at night, too, right? Probably thinking you were doing the parents some kind of favor.
Then you'd do it all again.
I'll bet it would have been easier to subdue him or withdraw than to take the time to draw your weapon, line up, and shoot him without shooting anyone else.
In any case, the police seemed to have survived nine previous encounters with this 15 year old child.
#13
I'm leaning heavily to supporting the police on this one. If you see a bladed weapon held offensively, and if the distance is under 15' (I'd prefer under 25', but that's just me), and you have a gun, you had better shoot and shoot quick.
Bladed weapons kill. They are much, much harder to fix most of the time than many gunshots in an ER, and it is difficult to gash on the torso more than 4" wide x 1" depth without hitting a major capillary or several.
Don't ever, ever pull a bladed weapon on an LEO. That is all the reason he needs to shoot you fair and square, and it doesn't matter if you are the reanimated Mother Teresa or a psychotic crank head. Or a 15 year old boy with Asperger's.
If what the police said is true, that he did manage to score a cop on the arm, then the police screwed up, and let him get too close while brandishing, or he ambushed them.
Other info gleaned from web:
Wayne Watts repeatedly called his nephew "a computer genius" who could, "take apart a computer and put it back together."
He was "very strong and liked to fight with police."
Five officers went to the home Wednesday, and found the boy in the basement, holding a kitchen knife. He said two of the officers went to the basement, where the teen "lashed out" with the knife, cutting a forearm of one officer.
"At that time, cornered and having no way to retreat back up the stairs, the officers fired one shot each, striking the (boy) twice."
The officer who was cut was treated on the scene by paramedics.
I do believe race played an important part of this that if this had been done in a white community, the officers would have had a different attitude about how they approached this child, knowing that this child had autism, said David Lowery, Jr., president of the NAACPs Chicago Far South Side Branch.
#14
"I do believe race played an important part of this"
Oh, ferchrissakes, give it a rest. It's either right or it's wrong - leave race out of it.
Posted by: Barbara ||
02/03/2012 16:11
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#15
Good points moose. We can't tell if it's justified or not from what was in the story. We don't know what happened so shouldn't jump to conclusions either way.
Unless of course your a professional race baiter like David Lowery, Jr., president of the NAACPs Chicago Far South Side Branch.
#16
Five officers went to the home Wednesday, and found the boy in the basement, holding a kitchen knife. He said two of the officers went to the basement, where the teen "lashed out" with the knife, cutting a forearm of one officer.
There's the first problem. They should never have gone down into the basement. These kids don't see the reality of their situation. They don't get it. The kids may well think this is a game, and that he gets to play it whenever he is in the mood.
Usually, teachers get the kids to come to them. In the case of autism spectrum, the teachers have to go to the kids. Same with law enforcement. On top of that, authority figures are a problem if seen in a disciplinary or enforcement role. I'll bet the officers tried to assume the usual dominant role here, which will not work. Ask any teacher worth their salt.
If these components are missing from law enforcement training, it desperately needs to be included. It will save lives, possibly including LEOs. It may well save a LEO's psychological health, too.
These kids can be the sweetest thing in the world 99.9% of the time, and turn around and be serious buttheads for any of a zillion apparently related or unrelated reasons. They usually settle down after a while, though. And then they can be approached and dealt with. Had the police waited upstairs for half an hour, I'll bet the whole situation, both for the dead kid and for the LEO who now has to question his actions for the rest of his life.
It also sounds like the parents didn't know how to deal with him. Sometimes this can be dealt with earlier in life, but if it continues later in life and the kid is too big to handle, they need different arrangements. They were probably hoping it was a phase, but it sounds like he needed to be institutionalized.
#17
I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that families in Calumet City don't have access to good autism therapies that can help a kid with Aspergers function in society. IIRC, Calumet City is not a wealthy community. If the kid had lived in Oak Park or Evanston, his family might have had more resources for therapy. So while I won't go so far as to say this is a racial issue, economic factors do matter.
Also, how many police depts have "dealing with kids with neurological disorders" in their training programs?
Our friend "Billy" is 16, 6 feet tall and weighs 185 lbs. He is marginally verbal, and lower functioning. He reacts to stress by running. The police dept in his small town were open to a training session from an autism therapy provider in our county. They also gave him a GPS bracelet, so that every time "Billy" barges out of the house and starts running, they can find him, and can handle him when they catch up to him.
We have three kids on the Autism spectrum, one of whom tends to go to hyper-defensive mode. When he was in 5th grade, we had the school liaison officer talk to him in words of one syllable about the consequences of acting out. We reinforced this with "social story" protocols. The kid spent lots of time in the Vice-principal's office in 6th grade, but made real progress, and is now in high school and on the honor roll. Emotionally he's 13, but he's grown very much.
Our eldest was being aspergery and bopping around talking to himself while on break at the community college, and somebody called the campus cops. The campus cop looked at our son and said, "I know that guy. He sounds weird, but he's harmless. Don't worry about it."
I hope that this event causes police depts to review their strategies for dealing with kids. I can appreciate Moose's and OCCD's positions; but I know that some cops are willing to be pro-active and learn more about dealing with kids like this.
#20
Good points Gorb. My kids are both really good kids - not much problems at all. Except if they get all wrapped around the axle about something - and it could be just about anything. Then they can be completely unreasonable. And I mean completely - worse then a leftie who's presented with a truth...
There's certain criteria which must be met to be diagnosed - and it's hard at an early age when intervention is most effective. With our oldest our pediatrician referred us to the children's hospital for evaluation and even they gave us a "we can't absolutely diagnose it at his age but it looks like he might...".
Early diagnosis (or even a 'looks like') and intervention is the key (sometimes intensive intervention). In our case with my oldest it was a lot to do with his mother and being in a daily program early. He's now usually pretty good - but does have his moments. Oh Yes he has his moments....
#23
Well...all of the emotional rhetoric aside, his problems are over. Personally I think our society has become too soft and we expend way too much effort on the most marginal our members.
Wire-head and warehouse them, or recycle them once it has been determined they will never be productive or contributing to society. Harsh? Yes. Pragmatic? Definitely.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
02/03/2012 19:58
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#24
Those involved will live with this the rest of their lives. Replayed over and over again. It is over for the boy. The looks the police get will be difficult to deal with. Things will go wrong. Some of the situations they must deal with every day does take a toll. Difficult job that is just not for everyone. Do your job and get home is all you can do every day, even off days.
#25
Wire-head and warehouse them, or recycle them once it has been determined they will never be productive or contributing to society. Harsh? Yes. Pragmatic? Definitely.
#26
Secret Asian: It costs the taxpayers a helluva lot more to waste a life in an institution than it does to come alongside and make them productive members of the community. My kids are working and paying taxes. Not full time, and not a lot yet, but they're on their way.
I'm going to assume that you had a rotten day at work and your beer is warm and flat, so you're in a bad mood; and that under normal circumstances you would not have posted a comment that Hitler would applaud.
#27
To reach and cut the officer, Stephon must have been within melee range at least. Cut-off from the stairs, just got cut by a subject obviously violent and moving in? The Cop may have pulled his gun and fired before he was aware. Subconcious reaction to immediate danger tends to over-ride judgement sometimes.
I personally don't blame Police for this one. To me anyway it seems they were slowly approaching Stephon to calm him down when the Lash-Out happened.
10 times calling the police seems alot. You can say that they knew, which yeah they did. But the police also dodged shooting him ten-times. You'd think after the first 5 the family would get their own Taser instead of relying on the police. I mean why keep risking it time and again and again?
And I'm not saying the family MEANT this to happen, it's horrible to think of anybody this way. But there's is like a .00001% chance the family couldn't deal with it anymore and sought just this outcome for a city-settlement. Horrible to think about, but the possibility remains.
Posted by: Charles ||
02/03/2012 22:42
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#28
have they necessitated calling the cops 10 times? Are they wielding weapons, however banal they might seem?
I have no autistic or asperger's kids, so I can't say boo from a personal level. I can address the societal level as I see it. This is similar to kids with a peanut allergy: all kids must cease eating peanut butter or peanut products at school due to the occasional kid (usually a very nice kid, of course) who has an unique allergy. All lives as usual stop, society changes for that unique individual. We can all say and feel how awful should that child suffer a death by anaphylactic shock! However, there has always been incidents, however tragic, when society, by and large moved on, and some...did not.
You wield a weapon (however "harmless") at family, public, and law enforcement,you risk this end. If they have been called 10 times - obviously he's out of control or teh family would've handled it. To second-guess after an officer has suffered a cut is lame IMHO. Your personal experiences and defensive attitudes seem to be in place first. If I'm a cop, called AGAIN and AGAIN to a semi-dangerous (or why would police be called?) situation, and my fellow officer got cut? I'm not gonna try to "wing him". If tasers were not the operative measures (were they used before and unable to disable?) then I shoot to stop
Just My NSHO
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/03/2012 22:48
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#29
"We tried to do everything we could to keep him from being a victim, as he was an offender. He chose to be an offender," Gilmore said.
The problem is a toxic combination of general ignorance (that many have of these problems because they don't have to deal with them) and the choices that an individual with (similar ignorance) made as far as getting his officers trained up on these kinds of things.
Low blood sugar. Stroke. Autism spectrum. All of these conditions can lead to behavior that an officer that hasn't been trained can take in the wrong way and end up killing the person with the problem. The autistic didn't choose the situation any more than the hypoglycemic or the stroke victim. They're innocent.
With proper training, these deaths are mostly preventable, especially with forewarning.
Perhaps police need to spend some time in one of these institutions to understand the metamorphosis some folks like autistics and other mental problems have to deal with. After they come out of it they'll say they were sorry for what happened, and they'll wish they weren't that way. They choose nothing here. It is bestowed upon them.
One way to take the measure of a society is how it treats and accomodates these innocents. And elderly.
Training was lacking here. Training the chief should have been aware of, taken, and offered to his police force.
About 200,000 missiles are aimed at Israel at any given time, a top Israel Defense Forces officer said on Thursday, adding that Iran's ability to obtain nuclear weapons was solely dependent on the will of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The remarks by Military Intelligence Chief Major General Aviv Kochavi came after IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz said on Wednesday that the threats facing Israel have increased and intensified in recent years due to regional instability.
Speaking to the Herzliya Conference, Gantz said that Iran's nuclear program is a "global problem and a regional problem," adding that Tehran's attempts to acquire nuclear weapons must continue to be disrupted.
On Thursday, Kochavi, speaking at the opening session of the Herzliya Conference's closing day, spoke of the growing threats Israel was facing: "a more hostile, more Islamic, more sensitive Middle East, one more attune to public sentiment, less controlled by the regimes, and less susceptible to international influence."
The chief of military intelligence then indicated that about 200,000 missiles were aimed at Israel at any given time, adding, however, that "Israel's military deterrence is intact."
Referring to Israel's concerns over Iran's nuclear ambitions, Kochavi presented a relatively tame estimation of a possible timeline en route to an Iranian atomic bomb, saying that the project depended more on the will of Iran's Supreme Leader than on any technological advancement.
#1
On Thursday, Kochavi, speaking at the opening session of the Herzliya Conference's closing day, spoke of the growing threats Israel was facing: "a more hostile, more Islamic, more sensitive Middle East, one more attune to public sentiment, less controlled by the regimes, and less susceptible to international influence."
It's that Arab Spring thingy. If you thought Mubarak, Qadaffy and Assad were bad, wait till you meet their replacements.
#2
I wonder how big a seismic shock would be needed to prematurely detonate a missile warhead that is stored underground? Would have to happen at night, wouldn't want to blow up all the schools that those shining example of humanity hid them beneath. They would have to explain the hospitals.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
02/03/2012 16:07
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#3
As per HUGO CHAVEZ, unfortunately futurist LAND, ISLAND-SINKING "EARTHQUAKE/SEISMIC/TECTONIC"
BOMBS would be mostly non-discriminatory = non-selective in the casualties caused, espec in relation to Air-based EMP Weapons.
DEDICATED EQ BOMBS MAY NOT HAVE THE DETERRENT EFFECT AGZ USAGE THAT NUCWEAPS HISTORICALLY HAVE, + will destroy both the Military + Econ value of its Target + peripheral Region(s), as it places the costs burden of recovery + rebuilding on an Enemy.
Undoubtedly, many World countries includ Nuclear Powers will deem such NT + Weaps Sys as inherently "destabilizing", which in trun infers that any country employing such will mainly do so COVERTLY, ee as A PDENIABLE, MILPOL OPERATION-OTHER-THAN-WAR [OOTW].
E.g. D *** NG IT, IT WAS ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY CATEGORICALLY UNDENIABLY .... A HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE NUCPLANT OR MIL, NUKE DEPOT "ACCIDENT" AR RANDOM, NOT A WILY DASTARDLY EQ BOMB(S) DELIBERAT PLANTED BY FOREIGN SPECOPS!
Attorney General Eric Holder vigorously denied a "cover-up" by the Justice Department over "Operation Fast and Furious," telling a House panel investigating the botched gun-running program that he has nothing to hide and suggesting the probe is a "political" effort to embarrass the administration. Not at all. The administration is so incompetent that they did this to themselves.
"There's no attempt at any kind of cover-up," Holder told lawmakers well into a hearing about whether he had been forthright in responding to requests of the House Oversight and Government Relations Committee led by Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif.
"We're not going to be hiding behind any kind of privileges or anything," he said. Nope. Not at all. Isn't our strategy. We're just going to deny it and then walk away from responsibility. We're Democrats, after all.
The hearing came after Issa and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, his Senate partner in the probe, asserted that top Justice officials are covering up events surrounding the flawed gun-smuggling probe. Flawed. I wouldn't have chosen that particular adjective. But do continue.
Issa made the accusation in a letter threatening to seek a contempt of Congress ruling against Holder for failing to turn over congressionally subpoenaed documents that were created after problems with Fast and Furious came to light. You mean the problem of agent Brian Terry getting killed?
Republicans also released a report in the hours ahead of the hearing claiming that Justice Department officials "had much greater knowledge of, and involvement in, Fast and Furious than it has previously acknowledged." Or is presently acknowledging, for that matter.
Asked whether his assistants, Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler or Assistant Attorney Lanny Breuer, head of the department's Criminal Division, ever authorized gunwalking or the tactics employed in Fast and Furious, Holder responded not to his knowledge. As a matter of fact, nobody knew anything. Folks pretty much do what they want around here. Nobody fears responsibility because it's a pretty open culture here at the DoJ.
"Not only did I not authorize those tactics, when I found out about them I told the field and everybody in the United States Department of Justice that those tactics had to stop. That they were not acceptable and that gunwalking was to stop. That was what my reaction [was] to my finding out about the use of that technique," he added. Technique.
He added that he doesn't think that the situation warranted the kind of response Republicans were giving after his department provided thousands of documents, and planned to deliver more. Really? So what would have to happen in order for the DoJ to merit this kind of attention? Maybe knock your mailbox off the post with a baseball bat?
Holder also rejected arguments that his handling of the case had lost him any support for the effort he was putting forth as attorney general. It didn't lose you any support. That all happened when it became obvious that you were OK with Black Panthers hanging around polling station threatening white voters with billy clubs.
"I don't think the American people have lost trust in me. ... This has become political, I get that," he said.
But Holder also said no one has been punished "yet" in the case, despite the fact that lost guns from the operation ended up at the crime scene where U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered in December 2010.
Terry's family has informed the U.S. government that it has six months to respond to its inquiry into Terry's death or face a $25 million lawsuit. $25 million is pocket change. $25 billion would get more attention.
In the botched operation, more than 1,400 weapons sold to low-level straw purchasers believed to be supplying Mexican drug gangs and other criminals were lost during tracking by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents. Another 700 firearms connected to suspects in the investigation have been recovered, some from crime scenes in Mexico and the U.S., including in Nogales, Ariz., where Terry was killed.
Holder said he didn't learn about Terry's murder until 24 hours after his death, and at the time did not hear that weapons tied to Fast and Furious were at the scene.
"I didn't know about Operation Fast and Furious until the beginning parts of 2011 after I received that letter from Senator Grassley, I guess at the end of January and then that was about Operation Gun Runner. I actually learned about the Fast and Furious operation in February of that year."
Holder told the committee, "Im not sure exactly how I found out about the term, 'Fast and Furious.'" He testified repeatedly that he never authorized the controversial tactics employed in the operation.
"There is no attempt at any kind of cover-up," Holder said. "We have shared huge amounts of information" and will continue to do so, he said. Let's see the other 93,000 documents.
But Holder said under questioning that he has not disciplined anyone for his role in the controversial operation.
"No I have not as yet -- as yet," Holder said when questioned by Issa on the matter. "There have been personnel changes made at ATF. We obviously have a new U.S. attorney in Arizona. We have made personnel switches at ATF. People have been moved out of positions." Still looking for a scapegoat who is near retirement, a plausible excuse for him to be able to hold onto his friends, and a way to launder the payoff, I guess.
Holder's statements on the Justice Department's role in the operation did not sit well with Republican lawmakers on the committee, who accused the attorney general of intentionally withholding key documents in the case.
"The conclusion that I come to is there are some things in there that's being hidden that you don't want us to see," said Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind. "We have every right under the Constitution to check on what you're doing... So for you to deny this committee anything like that is just dead wrong and I don't think you're going to find any way that you can do it."
Burton went on to say that 93,000 documents related to the operation are being withheld by the Justice Department even though they've been turned over internally to the department's inspector general, a political appointee, Burton said.
"And you're saying, well, the separation of powers prohibits you from (delivering them to Congress). That's baloney. That is just baloney," Burton said. What kind of answer is "Baloney"? A better answer: Can't we impeach you? It would seem that if Congress could impeach you, that we could force the DoJ to testify. Otherwise, what's the point of being able to impeach you?
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, also questioned Holder's having not discussed the case with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
"When people know that I'm going to be the subject of these kinds of hearings, you know six times and all that, nobody necessarily wants to get involved in these kinds of things or get dragged into it," Holder responded.
Issa told Holder the committee will do what is necessary to obtain the information, "If you do not find a legitimate basis to deny us the material we've asked for."
Holder said earlier during testimony that he would release additional materials "to the extent that I can."
In Holder's defense, Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., claimed the committee has "not obtained one shred of evidence that would contradict your testimony."
"Not one witness, not one document, not one e-mail, and still some continue to suggest that you did personally authorize gunwalking and the tactics in Operation Fast and Furious." Is Holder not the captain of the ship? This operation is huge. Huge enough to sink him and everyone around him. If I were said captain, I'd want to know about it. Best case for Holder: He is a weak, ineffecive, clueless AG. Begone.
The New York Times Company suffered a net loss of almost $40million in 2011, with its fourth quarter profits falling by 12.2 per cent compared to the same period in 2010.
The company is grappling with sinking advertising revenue and a recent change in the top management after losing CEO Janet Robinson, who received a multimillion dollar severance package. She wasn't lost, she was fired. There's a difference...
They said it continued to add subscribers for its digital products in the fourth quarter. Surely most of them were RBers who felt bad for them.
The company's loss was blamed on the terminal decline in print advertising. The problems plaguing newspaper companies are well known. Terminal. Good adjective.
Readers have ditched print for digital, causing circulation and advertising revenue to plummet.
The company, which rolled out an online pay system last year for digital subscribers, said paid digital subscribers of The Times and the International Herald Tribune rose 20 per cent from the third quarter to about 390,000. The digital subscription strategy helped circulation revenue to grow five per cent to $241.6 million in the fourth quarter.
Chief Financial Officer James Follo said: 'We are confident that our plan to sustain momentum through the rollout of a series of new features, functions and content will enable us to steadily build our digital progress to date.' Captain Smith was confident that his ship couldn't be sunk...
The Times Company is also planning on selling more of its stake in the Boston Red Sox. Because they are planning on being so successful, no doubt.
They confirmed today they agreed to sell an additional part of its stake in Fenway Sports Group for $30 million, pending the approval of Major League Baseball. Last July the company sold more than half its stake to three separate buyers for $117 million.
The Times Company also announced in December that it had agreed to sell its regional newspapers for $143 million to Halifax Media Holdings. This sale is not reflected in the 2011 figures.
The company expects total advertising revenue trends in the first quarter to be similar to the fourth-quarter levels, and total circulation revenue to increase in the high-single digits. But they've been going down, so why would you expect them to increase...
Shares of the company, which have gained more than 30 percent in value in the last three months, were flat at $7.64 on Thursday afternoon on the New York Stock Exchange.
#4
til Pinch is turning tricks for cognac money, I'm not satisfied. Perhaps the ChiComs could buy them out and make Friedman CEO (he would do their bidding without having to be asked) and Teh Krugman CFO
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/03/2012 14:45
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#5
Is there any way for people such as myself to hasten this hopefully-terminal decline?
I kinda like the slow, agonizing thing myself. They deserve it.
Iran was working on developing a missile with 10,000 km range that would put America in reach of a potential Iranian attack, Strategic Affairs Minister and Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon said Thursday.
I'm sure the CIA is working on a report that says this could never happen...
According to Ya'alon, the missile was based on a solid fuel propellant and would have been able to significantly increase Iran's offensive capabilities. In November , a mysterious explosion rocked an Iranian missile base near Tehran where Iran was working on developing this long range missile.
Someone dropped a wrench at the wrong time...
Ya'alon also said that Turkey is helping Iran bypass the sanctions that have been imposed on it in recent months. According to the vice prime minister, who was in the United States last week for talks on Iran with senior officials from the Obama administration, Turkey was helping Iran circumvent the sanctions by allowing it to use its banking system.
So the Turks are playing both sides of the street...
Ya'alon said that the Israeli government was committed to stopping Iran's nuclear program "in one way or another."
"We need a credible military option. The Iranians understand the West has capabilities, but as long as the Iranians don't think that the West has the political stomach and determination to use it they will not stop," Ya'alon affirmed. "Currently they don't think that the world is determined."
Ya'alon also stated that all Iranian facilities can be reached in a military strike. "Anything built by humans can be destroyed by humans... I say this from experience as a former IDF chief of staff," he said.
Ya'alon also said that Iran and Hezbollah were working with drug cartels in Mexico to learn how to smuggle materials into the US, a conduit that could one day be used to smuggle weapons into the country.
Ya'alon said that the "crippling sanctions" that are being imposed on Iran such as the ban on oil exports could succeed in posing a "clear dilemma" for the regime, whether it wants to continue its nuclear program and risk the survival of the Islamic regime or stop and open in dialogue with the West.
Ya'alon said that the West still does not fully understand the severity of the nuclear threat posed by Iran. "America is the larger Satan," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/03/2012
09:05 ||
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#1
I really got an appreciation for the concept of "Overkill" (missile failure rate) when visiting the Titan II missile museum south of Tucson.
They had a big chart to explain overkill, describing the percent of high quality American missiles that it is assumed would fail at various stages during and after launch.
Missiles failed in silo. Failed leaving the silo during launch. Failed in the first stage (boost system) just after leaving the silo. Failed still in first stage at Challenger altitude.
Failed at separation and ignition of second stage (post-boost vehicle system), which is a big jump in failures. Failure on reaching zenith and separation and ignition of third stage (re-entry system).
You also have to add in failures of the navigational system, guidance system, the weapons arming system, anti-missile systems and other nuclear detonations which can damage and destroy, and make ineffective.
And last but not least, the nuke may fail in many ways, including an unplanned high explosives detonation, or if timing for the detonation isn't exact.
This is why the US tested and tests all its major missiles at frequent intervals.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/03/2012 12:16
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#4
OOOOOOOOOO, you just know Bug Bunny's GREMLIN WW2 toon character is involved.
Well, iff OWG Caliphate-happy Militants-Terrorists = Non-State NGOS/TANGOS/Proxies armed or wid access to LR IRBMS, ICBMS isn't enough for worry, WHAT IS???
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan has given three hairs from Mohammed to the Chechen Republic. The hairs were brought from Istanbul to Grozny on Thursday.
Aihan Ergyuven, chairman of the Chechen committee Sivas, said at the Grozny airport, "The Chechen diaspora in Turkey asked Erdogan to give the holy hairs to Chechnya. We received a positive response within a month and the priceless gift has been delivered to Grozny today."
Despite the freezing weather, thousands of Chechens, including Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, met the hairs at the airports and in the city's streets. An Islamic ritual marking this event was held in the republic's central mosque.
A different hair from Mohammed was brought from Uzbekistan to Chechnya early last year. The hair is in a capsule located in a box. Historical documents claim that the hair, also taken to the Grozny central mosque, had been in Uzbekistan since the times of the Caliphate.
#1
The Turks also claim to have King David's sword and John the Baptist's head among the other sacred relics in the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul.
I've been waiting for the salafis to bomb this place since they (the Salafis) believe the display of sacred relics leads to the worship of sacred relics which in turn is the worst form of polytheism. But so far, the Salafis have found other things to bomb.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
02/03/2012 9:47
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#2
I sincerely hope the Turks substituted dog hairs, Maybe from the tail, near the anus.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/03/2012 11:37
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#3
Somebody else has the skull of St. John the Baptist when he was only 12, as disclosed in The Name of the Rose.
#4
I can find a Mo-hair jacket on E-Bay. Wonder what that's worth to them
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/03/2012 14:46
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#5
Any DNA to be gotten from the hair? If so, here is a buisness idea...PCR up the DNA and transfect pigs with some of the genes. Pig meat will become sacred. One could then open up some restaurants throughout the Middle East and sell Mo-ham and cheese sandwiches.
#6
I would suspect Mo's DNA would lack some chromosomes from modern human DNA
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/03/2012 20:45
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#7
Despite the freezing weather, thousands of Chechens, including Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, met the hairs at the airport and in the city's streets.
* WAFF > [Youtube]RUSSIANS IN LUCK: UMAROV ORDERS NO CIVILIAN ATTACKS | RUSSIAN ISLAMIST CHIEF ORDERS HALT TO CIVILIAN ATTACKS, in response to perceived popular disgust st Moscow's harsh or brutal methods agz the Hard Boyz, + anti-Putin mass protests.
"EMIR" UMAROV DOING A MULLAH OMAR + TALIBAN? = Hard Boyz will still selectively strike at Military, Legal, + Political targets as pertinent???
POLITICAL-LEGAL-ELECTORAL JIHAD COMES TO THE CAUCASUS?
versus
* RIAN > PROKHOROV WARNS OF RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR, as possible "worst-case scenario" vee on-going, anti-Putin mass protests [March 2012 Elex].
HMMM, HMMM, ANTI-PUTIN PROTESTS = RUSSIAN EQUIVALENT OF US ANTI-OSAMA ABBOTTABAD RAID WHICH PO'ED PAKISTAN???
Collaboration between Latin American drug cartels and groups such as Iran's Quds Force and the Islamic terror group Hezbollah is growing far faster than most policymakers in Washington, D.C., choose to admit, a former U.S. intelligence official testified Tuesday.
Michael A. Braun, former chief of operations and intelligence for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), told lawmakers that the operational capability of such groups is being strengthened by the close relations that they are working hard to develop with very powerful organized criminal organizations in our neighborhood and throughout Latin America.
The ultraviolent Los Zetas Mexican drug cartel and others allow them to operate freely in our neighborhood, and theyre getting closer to our doorstep, he said during a hearing by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
If we dont do something about it and really get serious about it, I think theres gonna be hell to pay at some date in the probably not too distant future, said Mr. Braun, who retired from the DEA in 2008 and is a managing partner at the international drug law enforcement consulting group Spectre International.
The committees chairwoman, Rep. Ileana Ros-Letinen, asserted that Irans ongoing diplomatic alliance with several Latin American leaders could be giving the Islamic republics intelligence forces and proxy groups a platform in the region to carry out attacks against the United States.
Some may question the congressional focus on the Iran-Latin America nexus because they wrongly believe that Irans influence in the region is exaggerated, said Mrs. Ros-Letinen, Florida Republican.
She called for the hearing amid mounting international concern over Irans nuclear program and on the heels of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejads recent tour through Latin America.
Many policy analysts and Democrats have expressed skepticism over the extent to which a foothold has been gained in the region by Iranian intelligence elements, including the elite Quds Force, part of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/03/2012 12:14
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#2
""Some may question the congressional focus on the Iran-Latin America nexus because they wrongly believe that Iran's influence in the region is exaggerated,""
At least 12 terrorist militant groups made up of up to 300 people operate in Dagestan. Interior Minister Abdurashid Magomedov said, "The militant underground [in Dagestan] remains highly active 12 armed groups numbering 250-300 militants continue to operate in the republic."
Magomedov said Dagestan registered 96 terrorist militant attacks on police officers and 100 shootouts between police and terrorists militants in 2011.
The Russian Defense Ministry said last week it would deploy additional Special Forces units to the North Caucasus to increase security.
#1
As per UMAROV'S new announcement, the good news for the Locals = bad news for the Police is that the Hard Boyz will shoot only at the Police + other Govt Security forces, etc. not them???
On Friday, the Philippine military said it has not been able to gather proof that it killed three of Southeast Asia's most-wanted terrorists, but insisted the trio had died in a US-backed airstrike.
Lieutenant Colonel Arnulfo Burgos said troops were sent to the isolated jungle area where Thursday's bombing took place on the remote southern island of Jolo, but did not find the bodies. He said the three senior leaders from the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) networks, as well as 12 others, had been taken away by fellow terrorists militants and quickly buried as per Muslim custom.
However he said the military was certain the trio had been killed based on intelligence assets. He said, "Yes, its an A-1 (information). We have something but we cannot divulge all the other information because its an operational (secret)."
Burgos said Friday that security forces were confident of finding the bodies of the slain leaders, or at least evidence that would allow DNA confirmation. But efforts to search the remote jungle location were hampered by gunfire from the surviving terrorists extremists. Regional military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Randloph Cabangbang said, "There is occasional gunfire. They fire from a distance, just to disrupt our operations."
The US military helped in Thursday's attack by providing intelligence support, according to military officials. Spokespeople at the US embassy in Manila did not comment on Thursday's attack, referring all questions to the Philippine military.
If you need confirmation that Republicans on the House Oversight committee got under Attorney General Eric Holder's skin today at the hearing on Fast and Furious, just look at this response he gave to Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, who grilled Holder about his own previous statements.
Specifically, note Holder's comment that "maybe this is the way you do things in Idaho, or wherever you're from."
Labrador, who is Puerto Rican, faced off in 2010 against a primary opponent who insisted in a debate that Puerto Rico is a foreign country.
#6
Importantly, Holder was born and raised in the Bronx, NY, and his father was from Barbados, but he was raised in Queens.
The vast majority of Puerto Rican immigrants lived in the Bronx, Brooklyn and East Harlem. So it is likely that Holder has known many Puerto Ricans, and also knows how to insult them.
A Belgian politician risks causing an uproar among Muslims after starting a 'Women Against Islamization' campaign featuring his 19-year-old daughter wearing a burka and a bikini.
The accompanying photo is too, um, um, big, yeah, that's it, too big for Rantburg's formatting rules. You'll just have to hit the link for yourselves...
Filip Dewinter, leader of the far-right Vlaams Belang party, used a shot of his daughter in a dark blue bikini for the political campaign. The glamorous teenager wears an open burka that covers her head and face, while the rest of the garment is draped over her back. The provocative image seems likely to inflame tensions between Islamic groups and nationalists in the country.
The poster has the words 'Freedom or Islam?' written on a red panel across Ms Dewinter's breasts. Further down the poster a white panel with the words 'You choose!' is seen covering the teenager's crotch.
Ms Dewinter told the Belgian press she does not feel used by the party. She said, "I've suggested (the poster) myself, I have learned to live with it but I have had everything up to death threats made at me."
She said that she "wanted to make this statement," and added, "What is the greatest contrast with a niqab? Nude.
"The campaign fits in perfectly with how I feel about the whole issue . As women, we must choose: freedom or Islam."
The teenager says that she has been threatened by Muslim groups, and added, "Death threats and criticism no longer scare me off."
Her father said, "Women are always the first victims of Islam. We want to make clear that they have a choice."
The potentially incendiary poster comes after The Islamic fundamentalist group Shariah4Belgium was criticized for its aggressive stance. That group opened the country's first Sharia court, a putting it on a collision course with Western civilization the Belgian nationalists.
#2
Interesting after reading the Sir Richard Burton story on another thread (about the naked muslim ladies racing for their veils, not clothes).
They made the ad knowing it would upset folks. Their are folks waiting for a pretext to be upset. It is unfortunate the Europeans let these battles occur on their own soil.
All but one of 22 Palestinian villages refuse connection to sewage line, Environmental Protection Ministry says.
Swirling in the strikingly green valley below the southern Samaria community of Nofim is a rambling stream amid grass and trees filled with dangerous quantities of sewage.
A subterranean sewage pipe connects to the underbellies of four of the five surrounding settlements Nofim, Yakir, Etz Ephraim and Shaarei Tikva and will within a few months also connect to that of Maaleh Shomron, bringing all of the effluent to a treatment facility in Eliyahu.
Despite Israeli offers to connect the 22 surrounding Palestinian villages to the same pipe, all but one of them refused the proposal, Environmental Protection Ministry and Shomron Regional Council officials explained during an exclusive tour of the area on Thursday.
Instead, their sewage flows into the aquifer below and ends up directly in the stream, according to the officials.
Thats a testament to the fact that we are doing everything we can to prevent pollution in Judea and Samaria, but nevertheless, the Palestinians refuse to cooperate, Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan told The Jerusalem Post during the tour.
Although planned about 15 years ago, the pipeline was only constructed about eight years ago, and a decade ago sewage from the settlements as well flowed directly into the stream, according to Shomron Environmental Association director Itzik Meir.
Erdan expressed hope that donor countries would agree to only continue giving the villages financial support if they agree to connect to the sewage pipeline. Meanwhile, he also said he hoped that the relationship between the local Palestinian and Israeli communities would improve, though he certainly has doubts about this matter.
Another Environment Ministry official was slightly more optimistic, explaining that one of the 22 villages had, in fact, recently agreed to hook up to the sewage pipe, a deal that would be finalized in a few weeks time. The official said he could not reveal the name of the village at this point.
Yet a third official told the Post he suspected that the local Palestinian governments were unwilling to connect their villages due to political reasons simply because they dont want to recognize Israel as a presence in the area.
The Palestinian Water Authority could not be reached by press time.
All but one of 22 Paleostinian villages refuse connection to sewage line, Environmental Protection Ministry says.
Swirling in the strikingly green valley below the southern Samaria community of Nofim is a rambling stream amid grass and trees -- filled with dangerous quantities of sewage.
A subterranean sewage pipe connects to the underbellies of four of the five surrounding settlements -- Nofim, Yakir, Etz Ephraim and Sha'arei Tikva -- and will within a few months also connect to that of Ma'aleh Shomron, bringing all of the effluent to a treatment facility in Eliyahu.
Despite Israeli offers to connect the 22 surrounding Paleostinian villages to the same pipe, all but one of them refused the proposal, Environmental Protection Ministry and Shomron Regional Council officials explained during an exclusive tour of the area on Thursday.
Instead, their sewage flows into the aquifer below and ends up directly in the stream, according to the officials.
"That's a testament to the fact that we are doing everything we can to prevent pollution in Judea and Samaria, but nevertheless, the Paleostinians refuse to cooperate," Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan told The Jerusalem Post during the tour.
Although planned about 15 years ago, the pipeline was only constructed about eight years ago, and a decade ago sewage from the settlements as well flowed directly into the stream, according to Shomron Environmental Association director Itzik Meir.
Erdan expressed hope that donor countries would agree to only continue giving the villages financial support if they agree to connect to the sewage pipeline. Meanwhile, ...back at the pie fight, Bella opened her mouth at precisely the wrong moment... he also said he hoped that the relationship between the local Paleostinian and Israeli communities would improve, though he certainly has doubts about this matter.
Another Environment Ministry official was slightly more optimistic, explaining that one of the 22 villages had, in fact, recently agreed to hook up to the sewage pipe, a deal that would be finalized in a few weeks time. The official said he could not reveal the name of the village at this point.
Yet a third official told the Post he suspected that the local Paleostinian governments were unwilling to connect their villages due to "political reasons" -- simply "because they don't want to recognize Israel as a presence in the area."
The Paleostinian Water Authority could not be reached by press time.
A woman was killed, her husband and young son seriously wounded in a drive-by shooting in Pattani province on Friday morning.
Korde Leeheng, 40, was driving to Saiburi on a local road together with his wife, Sakina Phitak, and his eight-year-old son when gunmen in another car sprayed them with bullets from AK47 and M16 assault rifles. The assailants then fled. Mrs Sakina was hit several times and died instantly in the front passenger seat. Mr Korde and his son were each hit several times and taken to hospital.
An illegal oil vendor was killed in an ambush in Narathiwat province early Friday morning. The victim was identified as Vachira Chanthit, 36, a resident of Tak Bai district.
Witnesses told police that Vachira and his two friends went in a pickup truck to deliver smuggled oil to a client's house. He was standing in front of that client's house while the two friends were carrying the containers of oil into the house when a gunman shot him twice with a .38 caliber pistol. Mr Vachira was hit twice and died on the spot.
Police blamed the attack on separatist terrorists militants.
#2
"Hey Mark, I just wrote the state of California a check for a zillion dollars. Tell me again why we moved here?"
Posted by: Matt ||
02/03/2012 8:00
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#3
And despite the governments inelegant gyrations about budget cuts, the state payroll rose 3% in 2011
I think Brown cancelled furlough days
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/03/2012 8:08
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#4
The politicians (and their constituents) of California fail to grasp that it's not so much that all the unrealistic revenue and spending fantasies will end badly as that they will in fact end...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/03/2012 8:51
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#5
Pathetic. Reduced to begging. This would have been chump change years ago. And they still don't get it.
#9
in 2013 and 2014, there will be the real manna: capital gains taxes.
Ohhh, are they gonna get clipped. Obamacare comes in at 3. something on cap gains. TaxProf had the chart. And if Obama's tax cuts aren't renewed, could go as high as 25% cap gains.
#10
Barbara, Is Zuckerberg opposed to big state intrusions? I thought he was a big time Obama-guy after all. The IPO might be just the fig-leaf needed ot get lots of stories about money and wealth out there to make it appear the economy is better.
Sir Richard Burton, the famous British explorer, told an amusing story of an accidental encounter between his exploring party and a group of Muslim women bathing naked in a river. When they saw each other, the women ran screaming for their clothes. To his surprise all they grabbed was a face covering, leaving their breasts and vagina uncovered, which they seemed unconcerned about.
Which raises the question, what constitutes a Muslim woman's private parts?
Is the face most private, followed by breasts and vagina or do they all have different weightings.
A Muslim woman is threatening to sue Chevron unless the gas giant issues her a better apology for refusing to serve her while she was wearing a veil that exposed only her eyes.
Wilfredo Ruiz, the attorney for La Fleur Mohamed, said Chevron's apology was "light" and did not properly remedy the "embarrassing moment" his client experienced on Oct. 28, 2011.
"If Chevron does not move away from the rheotoric, then we will pursue a legal action," Ruiz told ABCNews.com. "If they admit their errors and compensate accordingly for a very oppressive way of treating her, then we don't see a need to go trial."
Chevron acknowledged that Mohamed was asked to remove her veil for "security purposes" and said it was protocol for people to remove masks and head coverings for the safety of gas station attendants.
"The incident occurred within a few days of Halloween -- a time when retailers are prone to increased theft from persons wearing masks and other facial coverings," said Chevron spokesman Brent Tippen. "We fully believe that our employee acted without the intent to violate Ms. Mohamed's religious principles and any suggestion that discrimination is acceptable at Chevron is completely false."
Ruiz, however, said the safety argument was not valid since a police officer was present.
"The argument goes down the drain that this is a safety issue when someone is escorted by a sheriff and there is still a denial to serve her," he said.
Tippen said the officer was not there to facilitate the transaction, but only to inquire about the employee's decision not to serve Mohamed while she was covered.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations filed a complaint this week on behalf of Mohamed with the Florida State Commission of Human Relations after months of corresponding with Chevron regarding the issue.
"Chevron has been talking out of both sides of their mouth, saying they apologized, but see no signs of discrimination," said Nezar Hamze, a spokesperson for the Council on Islamic-American Relations in South Florida. "We think they're maneuvering."
Hamze said he believed the officer on the scene did all he could do, since it was a civil issue.
Ruiz said Mohamed's elderly parents were in the car visiting from St. Vincent at the time of the incident. She was "crying" and called a friend to escort her car home, worried that her car may run out of gas with her parents inside.
Mohamed was in the news last year for being photographed wearing her niqab in a headshot after she was arrested for domestic battery. She was later re-photographed in accordance with jail policies, which required her to show her face.
#1
She shouldn't have NEEDED gas because she shouldn't have been driving with a sack over her head - it's hard enough to see properly and drive safely without it.
Iran said Friday it launched a satellite into space carried by a homemade rocket.
The launch, which had been announced months ago, comes at the start of a series of festivities celebrating the 33rd anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution on Feb. 11. It also comes at a time of high tensions between Iran and the United States and Israel, with the latter pushing for strikes against Irans nuclear program.
The state-run TV reported that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad launched the rocket carrying the Navid Elm o Sanat (Good message of science and industry) satellite. According to the TV, the satellite carries camera and telecommunication devices and is completely designed and produced in the Islamic republic.
The microsatellite, which weighs 110 pounds, will orbit the earth at an altitude of up to 234 miles, the Associated Press reported, citing the Islamic Republic News Agency.
Iranian officials announced in November that they planned to launch three satellites, including Navid, in the early weeks of 2012. The countrys space agency is also planning to set up a launch site, together with the ministry of defence, in the southeastern region of the country.
Irans space program is controversial, as western nations fear the rockets can be used for regional attacks and if the country were to produce a nuclear weapon be fitted with a nuclear warhead. Iran had repeatedly stated that its missile program is for defensive purposes only.
#8
See also RIAN > IRAN TO SET UP SPACE LAUNCH BASE, in the country's SE adjacent next to the Sea of Oman + Indian Ocean.
ARTIC = Iran hopes to send up its first man or men into space [orbital mission only?] come 2019.
HMMMM, HMMMM, dare IRAN = CHINA [Xinjiang/West China] = BASE THE BULK OF ITS FUTURE STRATEGIC NUKE MISSLE + SPACE LAUNCH ASSETS, ETC. IN SE IRAN???
SEA OF OMAN = Weirdly + mysteriously aka WHERE IRAN CAN PREEMPTIVELY STRIKE US CVNS + EBGS???
Just sayin.
* FYI SAME > As per RosCosmos, RUSSIA is planning for a MANNED MOON SHOT of its own come 2020.
Wanna beat POTUS NEWT? [China?] in giving the Moon formal sovereign Statehood???
Dats good - OWG-NWO, UNO-led GLOBAL SPACE DEFENSE + US GMD-SPACE DEFENSE [Other?] = GUAMANIANS + US-WORLD MAY NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT LOOKING UP INTO THE SKY COME YEAR 2030 + SEEING MOON EXPLOSIONS [Comet Apophis?].
Future OWG "THE GOVTS-PERTS GLOBAL CONSENSUS IS THAT, OOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPSIES, THERE IS NO GLOBAL GOVTS-PERTS CONSENSUS" NOTWITHSTANDING.
Yes, that Allen West. Interesting that he chose the Jerusalem Post over the New York Times for this venture...
The history of the Jewish people in the land of Israel stems back more than 3,000 years, unbowed by the sequential rise and fall of the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Maccabeans, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Egyptians, Crusaders, Mamelukes and Turks.
In comparison, the history of our own United States dates back 236 years. Although America is a young society, we have shared fundamental principles with the Jewish heritage from the time of our founding.
Today, the bonds between America and Israel are stronger than ever, yet they have never been more threatened.
Today, the bonds between America and Israel are stronger than ever, yet they have never been more threatened.
When our founding fathers crafted the Constitution, they looked to the ancient Israelites for guidance in defining our "certain inalienable rights."
The words inscribed on the Liberty Bell: "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof," are taken from Old Testament scripture, Leviticus 25:10.
The modern State of Israel and the United States share deeply-held precepts of self-reliance, individual responsibility and religious freedom -- as well as a passion and acuity for entrepreneurship and innovation. With more than 3,000 hitech companies and start-ups, Israel has the highest concentration of hi-tech companies in the world, apart from Silicon Valley. The technology for AOL Instant Messenger was developed in 1996 by four young Israelis.
Israel and the United States also unfortunately share a common enemy in radical Islam, an ideology whose stated purpose is the destruction of Israel, and the subjugation of the United States and America's way of life. Our common enemy knows no national borders. It fights without uniforms, and readily targets our civilian populations.
Israel is the 100th smallest country, with less than 1/1,000th of the world's population. This tiny, bright beacon of freedom, liberty and economic success in the Middle East is a target for destruction by radical Islamists for these very reasons.
Israel has endured continuous attacks since its founding in 1948, and peace agreements offered to the Palestinians, Syria and Lebanon have met only rejection and rocket fire. It is truly a miracle that the modern State of Israel still exists.
Israel's position in the region is more tenuous than ever. With its current borders, Israel as a nation is virtually indefensible. At its narrowest point, Israel is only nine-miles wide. The West Bank borders the West; the Mediterranean Sea borders the East.
Israel continues to push for negotiations with the Palestinians, but success has been virtually impossible when there is no unity between the Palestinians themselves.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas has not had control of Gaza since June 2007, when the terrorist group Hamas staged a violent coup against the Fatah party. As long as Fatah and Hamas continue fighting over the legitimate Palestinian governing authority, credible negotiations seem impossible.
Israel continues to be threatened by the onslaught of secular Muslim leaders appearing in volatile, unstable nearby nations. The "Arab Spring" has resulted in Islamists led by the Muslim Brotherhood obtaining a 75 percent majority control in Egypt, with a stated goal of overturning the 1979 Camp David Accords.
To make matters even more complicated and dangerous in the Middle East, the US withdrawal from Iraq leaves a Shiafriendly path through which Iran can extend its destructive tentacles.
Iran has already shown a steady march to nuclear armament, while threatening to close the Straits of Hormuz if a planned European Union oil embargo disrupts its export.
Now, more than ever, America must demonstrate unwavering support of Israel. Instead, though, this administration shows a weakening commitment to our staunchest ally in the Middle East. Recently, the US cancelled the largest-ever joint military exercise with Israel.
This decision made just two days before we learned US President Barack Obama sent a secret communiqué to Iran's supreme leader requesting talks. Apparently, the president did not wish to "offend" Iran.
The president should instead be offended when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asserts that "Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury."
As a 22-year US Army veteran who commanded troops in the Middle East, I can tell you from experience, this enemy of radical Islam understands and respects only one thing: strength.
It is absolutely essential to the future of both Israel and the US that America supports Israel by providing a credible projection of power and a resolute willingness to accept military options if necessary.
While we can, and should, assist with negotiations, we must not adopt a posture of "even-handedness" between our ally and other parties.
The US must support Israel's need for secure, recognized and defensible borders, as well as Israel's right to determine its own security requirements.
In the Middle East, the sands of power are shifting under a harsh wind of change, with dangerous and frightening possibilities. In this landscape, the existence of a sincere, brave and unwavering ally is critical.
The US depends on the single constant of a democratic, free ally in Israel. We must ensure Israel can always depend on us.
The writer is a US Congressman for the Republican Party who represents Florida's 22nd congressional district in the House of Representatives.
Pyongyang on Thursday issued an "open questionnaire" that demands answers from Seoul if relations between the two Koreas are to improve.
It's not an eHarmony style questionnaire...
The official KCNA news agency said that the questionnaire came from the policy department of the National Defense Commission, which "solemnly urges" South Korea to answer it "since it loudly trumpets a resumption of inter-Korean dialogue and improvement of relations."
Intra-Korean, surely.
The department is also known as the General Reconnaissance Bureau, the headquarters of the regime's anti-South Korean operations, led by Kim Yong-chol.
The questionnaire consists of nine questions. It asks whether Seoul can "feel deeply sorry and be determined to apologize" for having banned all but a handful of South Koreans from paying their respects after Kim Jong-il's death;
Can, yes. Does? Absolutely not, obviously. A poor start by the questioner. Let us go on.
whether it is willing to "officially express its intention at home and abroad to implement the joint declarations" adopted after the first and second inter-Korean summits in 2000 and 2007;
Were it willing, it would have done so in, say, 2001 or 2008. A pointless question.
and whether it will "declare to the world" that it no longer blames the North for the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan and the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island in 2010.
There is going to be a mighty short response from the South...
Which is worse, from the North Korean perspective: a quietly raised eyebrow or ill-concealed snickers?
It also demands Seoul suspend large-scale military exercises, suspend anti-North Korean propaganda campaigns, resume inter-Korean exchanges, and abolish the National Security Law.
Snickers it is, then.
"It's a pity that the North issued such an absurd statement for propaganda purposes," a Unification Ministry official said. "We don't think it necessary for the government to respond to each question."
Or to any of them...
Oooo. Ladies and gentlemen, let us pause to admire a perfectly executed sniquere diplomatique.
Prof. Kim Yong-hyun of Dongguk University said the questionnaire bodes ill for inter-Korean relations. "Although the questionnaire looks as if the regime is urging Seoul to change its policy toward the North, it in fact made clear that it has no intention to improve relations with the Lee Myung-bak administration," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/03/2012
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#1
ION NOT-COREA/CORYE, WORLD MIL FORUM > [OpEd]CHINA SHOULD DECLARE OKINAWA + DAOYUS [Senkakus = Japan] AS SOVEREIGN OR SUBSIDIARY TO CHINA IFF JAPAN DECLARES SAME AS PER DAOYUS, NANSHAS + OTHER DISPUTED ISLANDS.
* SAME > US ALLY PHILIPPINES IS THE WEAKEST LINK IN THE FIRST ISLAND CHAIN WHICH CHINA CAN EASILY BREAKTHROUGH/OVERWHELM.
* SAME > FORMER USDOD OFFCIAL SAYS JSDF FORCES SHOULD BE STATIONED ON GUAM ISLAND ALONGSIDE THE US MILITARY. Assistant SecDef Gregson.
* WAFF > [StrategyPage] CHINA INVADES JAPAN. Rise in PLAAF incursions vee JSDAF.
#3
MOre from WORLD MIL FORUM > [Global Times = Prof. Liang Feng]NATIONAL DEFENSE UNIVERSITY EXPERT: PROPOSED RELOCATION OF 3000 US MARINES FROM OKINAWA [original = 8000 Marines] TO HAWAII [Third Island chain] WEAKENS US ISOLATION/CONTAINMENT OF CHINA, HELPS CHINA EXPAND IT SCOPE OF CONTROL INTO WESTERN PACIFIC. US WILLING TO GIVE CHINA ONE-HALF OF PACIFIC OCEAN?
IIUC, the Professor sees it as de facto GEOPOL = STRATEGIC RETREAT by the US in favor of China, Eventual Chinese takeover of GUAM-WESTPAC inferred by US fallback to Hawaii???
[An Nahar] Britannia appointed Thursday its first ambassador to war-torn Somalia for 21 years, Foreign Secretary William Hague said, as he made a landmark visit to the anarchic capital Mogadishu.
"I am delighted to have made the first visit to Mogadishu by a British Foreign Secretary for over 19 years. This is a sign of Britannia's commitment to the people and country of Somalia," Hague said in a statement.
"As a further demonstration of our long-term commitment to Somalia, the UK's new ambassador to Somalia, Matt Baugh has today presented his credentials to (Somali) President Sheikh Sharif."
Hague was one of the highest profile visitors and the most senior British official to the war-torn Somali capital in two decades.
The last British ambassador left Somalia 21 years ago, as the Horn of Africa spiraled into chaos during the 1991 ouster of president Siad Barre.
The new ambassador, previously Britannia's Senior Representative to Somalia, will remain based in the Kenyan capital, a British embassy front man in Nairobi said. He will move to Mogadishu and open an embassy only "when the security situation allows," the front man added.
The appointment, and Hague's surprise visit, comes ahead of a London conference due on February 23 aimed at resolving the protracted crises in the lawless Horn of Africa nation.
Britannia's Foreign Office says the event "aims to bring together leaders of key partner countries and organizations... to help galvanize a common approach to address the problems and challenges of Somalia that affect us all."
This includes tackling the issues of extremism and the "underlying causes of instability and conflict in Somalia."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2012
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#1
why would you need an ambassador too this shithole?
Posted by: chris ||
02/03/2012 8:13
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#3
"As a further demonstration of our long-term commitment to Somalia, the UK's new ambassador to Somalia, Matt Baugh has today presented his credentials to (Somali) President Sheikh Sharif."
Let me guess - a briefcase full of pound sterling, or maybe a Happy Meal?
Would it affect the outcome if they did? This is the army that could not beat Saddam Hussein's, back before the Americans taught them quality has a quantity all its own.
"In the area of defence, there is a 127 per cent increase," Ahmadinejad said in his statement to politicians.
He gave no monetary figure for the increase, nor any indication on how it would be spent.
Iran's official defence budget for the current fiscal year -- which ends in mid-March -- is around $12 billion, on top of which parliament has authorised a $3 billion extension.
The announced increase in military spending comes at a time of high international tensions over Iran's nuclear programme, which the West and Israel suspect includes a drive to develop atomic weapons.
Speculation has mounted in recent weeks that Israel is contemplating air strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, possibly sparking a wider conflict that could draw in the United States and European allies.
Iran, which maintains its nuclear activities are peaceful, has warned it could close the strategic Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf, through which a third of global marine oil traffic passes, if it is attacked.
The Islamic republic is subject to UN sanctions limiting arms imports.
However it has a considerable domestic military industry that develops its own weapons, including cruise and ballistic missiles.
Ahmadinejad on Wednesday presented his budget proposal to parliament.
It foresees a total budget of 5.1 quadrillion rials, or $443 billion at the government's official budget exchange rate of 11,500 rials per dollar.
That makes the budget roughly the same in rials as for the current Iranian fiscal year -- but $40 billion less when expressed in dollars because of an official devaluation of the rial over the past year.
The budget not only encompasses government spending and revenue but also those of Iran's vast sector of state companies that dominate the country's economy.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2012
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#1
With an 80% currency devaluation, double doesn't seem like much.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
02/03/2012 10:30
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#2
Hey Achmed, where do I put the da fence?. da fences!, we don't need no stinking fences!. Do I look like I know what I'm doing. I didn't get paid on my last gig. Ask that short round guy over there that's doing all the talking standing on that box. Hey! Short Round, I like that. Badda bing badda boom.
#3
Let's see. Ahmadinejad would increase Iran's military spending, Obama would decrease ours. Iran would build nuclear weapons. Obama gave us nuclear stockpile reductions.
These trend lines aren't good.
Posted by: American Delight ||
02/03/2012 20:42
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#4
Expansion of a country's national andor defence budgets is expectant iff it is working on LR Ballistic Missle = Space Rocket Programs.
* ION TOPIX > IRANIAN LEADER [Ayatollah Khamenei] WARNS US, ISRAEL AGZ MILITARY STRIKES, warning that "from now on" Iran will support any Group or Govt, etc. that challenges Israel + its "Zionist Regime" [IMO also read, USA].
IIUC KHAMENEI = IFF IT MEANS DEFEATING US HEGEMONY + US, WESTERN THREATS; IRAN WILL NOT REFRAIN FROM [arrogant] FACE-OFFS = CONFRONTATIONISMS VEE THE US-WEST.
* SAME > IRAN'S TOP AYATOLLAH: WE'RE TRUMPING THE WEST, BUT BEWARE IN-FIGHTING AT HOME.
"WINNING" [Charlie Sheen], but wid caution???
Iran will be rude iff they d **** well wanna be.
* SAME > [Canada] PM STEPHEN HARPER FEARS IRAN WILL USE ITS NUCLEAR WEAPONS IFF IT IS ABLE TO PRODUCE THEM.
versus
* SAME > ISOTOPES HINT AT [unknown = new] NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS TESTS [two] IN 2010.
Western analysis appear to suggest that the DPRK is dev a stronger Nuke Warhead than believed.
One week after two Veracruz state political operatives were caught at the Toluca, Mexico state airport with MP $25 million (USD $1.9 million) in cash, the matter appears to be in a stalemate. To read background material on the Mexican Policia Federal seizure of MP $25 million in cash, click here.
Wednesday, news reports questioned claims made by Veracruz officials that the two individuals detained last week with the money were state officials. An article in La Reforma news daily reported that neither Miguel Morales Robles nor Said Sandoval Zepeda were listed in the Veracruz state telephone directory of government officials -- which is a legal requirement in Veracruz state. Monday news reports stated that Morales Robles was an employee of Veracruz Governor Javier Duarte de Ochoa as a staff member. Said Sandoval Zepeda was said to be on Governor Duarte de Ochoa's security staff.
The money, as far as news reports indicate, is still in impound after Polica Federal agents took possession of the cash last Friday. A spokesman with the Mexican Procuradoria General de la Republica (PGR) or attorney general vowed not to release the money back to Veracruz officials until its origins could be identified.
The money had been gathered and stuffed into a suitcase and a backpack, according to Veracruz state officials as payment to a Mexico state-based company for services to be rendered for promotional matters relating to three upcoming celebrations in Veracruz state.
Wednesday officials with 3 Industries, which had contracted for promotional services, confirmed that the contract entered into provided for payment either by electronic funds transfer or by cash. A spokesman for the state said Wednesday that the contract for the funds transfer was signed in January.
The celebrations covered by the contract were Candelaria en Tlacotalpan, Carnaval de Veracruz and Cumbre Tajin.
Ricardo Sanchez Reyes Retana, an attorney for 3 Industries told Mexican press sources he was due to meet with a PGR delegate in Toluca Friday to submit a copy of the contract. Officials with the company told press sources they were unaware that Veracruz state was planning to pay with cash, and that they were unaware of the logistics involved. The cash had been transported on a Friday evening in a Veracruz state owned aircraft.
That meeting will quiet the controversy on the payment end, but may not resolve the origins of the cash, nor the actual employment status of the two operatives.
The PGR demand, while prudent given the country is awash in illicit drug money, may also be political. Partido Accion Nacional (PAN) politicians in Veracruz state have charged the public money was intended to fund the presidential campaign of current Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) candidate Enrique Pena Nieto. A similar charge had been levelled in the past against disgraced PRI president Humberto Moerira Valdes, and against Pena Nieto himself. Other PAN politicians have charged that PRI governors have been diverting cash from their state coffers to ensure the election of Pena Nieto.
Thursday evening Partido Revolucion Democratica (PRD) presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Orbador came out with an accusation that specifically named Mexico, Veracruz and Zacatecas as states for which the MP $25 million was to be used to buy votes. He also said the 45 day break between the end of the primaries campaigns season in February and the start of active campaigning March 30th, would likely be used to refine the PRI's plan to buy votes.
The El Diario de Coahuila report did not provide additional elaboration to Lopez Obrador's remarks.
On January 17th, 2011, PRD officials filed a complaint with the Guerrero state election board accusing Pena Nieto of using public funds to finance the campaign of Tiempos Mejores coalition candidate Manuel Añorve Baños. His campaign lost by 13 points to PRI candidate Angel Aguirre Rivero during the January, 2011 election..
The apparent, though not stated reason for the PGR refusal to return the cash is the crime of money laundering. Money laundering in Mexico, as elsewhere, is illegal but is a crime that is rarely prosecuted. Currently, no Mexican law exists which makes it a crime for any public official from the president down to city council members to carry unusually large amounts of cash on their person.
The protests and explanations made by Veracruz state officials may not completely resolve the matter.
In a related development, Aguascalientes PAN senator Ruben Camarillo Ortega has demanded a senate investigation into the matter.
[An Nahar] Russia will not stop selling arms to Syria, a top defense official said Thursday, as Moscow stands by its longtime ally despite mounting international condemnation over the Syrian regime's bloody crackdown on a 10-month-old uprising.
Russia's Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said his country is not violating any international obligations by selling weapons to Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... "As of today there are no restrictions on our delivery of weapons," he told journalists in Russia, according to the country's state news agencies. "We must fulfill our obligations and this is what we are doing."
Moscow has been one of Syria's most powerful allies -- along with Iran -- as Syria tries to crush the revolt against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... . The U.N. estimates that more than 5,400 people have been killed in the government crackdown.
Moscow's stance is motivated in part by its strategic and defense ties, including weapons sales, with Syria. But Russia also rejects what it sees as a world order dominated by the U.S. Last month, Russia reportedly signed a $550-million deal to sell combat jets to Syria.
U.N. ambassadors this week are trying to overcome Russia's opposition to a draft resolution at the Security Council calling for Assad to surrender power. Moscow says it would veto the draft because it believes it opens the way for eventual international military action.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2012
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#1
I doubt they would care if they were violating any international treaties
Posted by: chris ||
02/03/2012 8:10
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#2
This is a mistake by the Syrian opposition, who should make it perfectly clear to Russia that if they stay neutral, they will still be Syria's friend if Assad is overthrown, but if they keep supporting him, no more Mediterranean holidays for Russians, ever. No port, no debt repayment, nothing.
[Dawn] IT is difficult to say what exactly is behind the latest upsurge in violence in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , specifically the resumption of 'assassinations'. Victims have been bumped off not only due to their religious and political affiliations, but also, seemingly, because of their profession. On Tuesday, two people were killed when assailants stormed a cellphone franchise in North Nazimabad. Two other cellphone businesses in nearby areas were targeted in similar fashion in the recent past. It appears the attackers were not interested in looting the premises but in spreading terror. The police claim the Taliban were involved in past attacks on cellphone franchises, but it is not clear why the faceless myrmidons would target this particular business.
Extortion has been suggested as one possible motive. Meanwhile, ...back at the bake sale, Umberto's Mom's cannoli were a big hit... a doctor was bumped off also on Tuesday as he drove to his clinic. The possibility of sectarian motives has been suggested by the police. Another doctor, associated with a holy manbargah, was shot in front of his house a few days ago, while lawyers from the Shia community have also been killed. In the early hours of Tuesday, the wife, daughter and driver of a Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... MPA were also murdered in a drive-by shooting in the city while a number of political workers have been bumped off.
Although sectarian animosity is a clear factor, there seems to be no common thread linking the killings, other than the intent to spread terror. Though some politicians have suggested that citizens take steps for 'self-protection', the law-enforcement apparatus cannot be let off the hook so easily. Since it is the police, Rangers and administration that bear primary responsibility for keeping the peace, it is they who must explain why such acts of violence conti-nue unabated. 'Targeted' search operations have begun, but why must such measures have to wait until after the body count begins to mount? Last year it took the Supreme Court's intervention for the authorities to take action to stop the assassinations, which claimed hundreds of lives. What will it take this time to motivate the government into doing so -- before Bloody Karachi's violence spins out of control once again?
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2012
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Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Mary Carlisle aka Gayle Clayton in "Dead Men Walk (1943)" aka Gwen in "Girl o' My Dreams (1934)" aka Vivian in "The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi (1933)" aka Marjorie Rogers in "Tip-Off Girls (1938)" aka Jane Townsend in "Torpedo Boat (1942)" aka Virginia Clark in "Baby Face Morgan (1942)" aka Toni Denby in "Touchdown, Army (1938)" aka Judy Hollan in "Hold 'Em Navy (1937)" aka Vicki Clark in "Double or Nothing (1937)" aka Henry J. Kaiser's stepdaughter aka sole surviving "WAMPAS Baby Star" from 1932 (age 100)
#3
...That was one tough bunch of ladies - not only is Miss Carlisle still with us, but Gloria Stuart (the elderly lady in Titanic) just passed away in 2010. They don't make 'em like that any more.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/03/2012 7:49
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Science
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
02/03/2012
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#1
I remember some of the original rationaleof the Harrier and needing a VTOL was to avoid bombed out airstrips that the Soviets would take out (mainly the Brits making that case), or to fly off of smaller capacity amphibs.
#2
F-35 yes, Harrier, not so fast. a report out of England recently stated that the USMC has bought all the mothballed Harriers from them for parts to keep the existing fleet flying until the replacement can be fielded ( presumably the F-35, but maybe not). and the AV8 is still much cheaper than the Hornet ( any flavor). and the Harrier is still superior to anything the USMC is likely to encounter in the forward areas; maybe not the latest and greatest, but good enough to win. and good enough is good enough.
a better idea to save some $$ would be to reduce those VAQ squadrons that have already made the switch to the electric Lawn Dart by one plane so that the remained can transition sooner, retire the EA-6B faster so there is only one logistic trail and then when the rest of the EFA-18 build out comes on line, restock the squadrons to the original 5 plane level. theat would also generate a corresponding reduction in manpower as the Prowler has a 4 man crew and is much more maintenance intensive. (Yes Steve, this is really me saying these Pro-Lawn Dart things)
What I'd love to see is an upengined AV-8 with new electronics and AMRAAM capable, plus a two-seat version thereof with the EW rig from the EA-18. It would be expensive, but a lot LESS expensive than the -35B, and as you point out it would be equal to or better than anything the Corps is likely to face coming across the beach.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/03/2012 7:59
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#4
I would rather have the helo fleet at my back any day over the jets anyway. Too bad so much money has been put into the F35b before this decision was made. What about the other 2 f-35s? Are they still gonna be in use?
Posted by: chris ||
02/03/2012 8:18
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#5
What about the other 2 f-35s? Are they still gonna be in use?
Yes. There are too many contractors in too many districts to pull the plug on this gold plated fiasco. And they will remain in use half as long as the F-15.
#6
Golly USN Ret, I know how hard it was for you to praise the Lawn Dart :-)
Chris, the Air Force version of the F-35 is a done deal. They have the first few rolling on the assembly line now (to be 'upgraded' once the final design is locked down). The Air Force needs replacements for the F-16 as these are getting old, old, old. And the export buyers, of which there are many, have paid into the development fund, so they expect planes.
I do wonder about the Navy version (F-35C). The F-18E/F is going to be the best thing flying over the ocean for the next couple decades, and the 35C has had some real problems in its development.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/03/2012 8:55
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#7
The F-18E/F is going to be the best thing flying over the ocean for the next couple decades
Years, perhaps, but not decades. That will go to the X-47C+.
#8
Every book I've read on the Falklands praises the Harrier as completely awesome in a dog fight because the VTOL also allows incredible manueverability. Sure I wouldn't want one to go up against the top of the line whatever, but I should think it would outclass anything the third world could field and it has to be a lot cheaper than the top of the line. Marine amphibious task forces should be armed with these (or else always bundled with a supercarrier for protection).
#9
VTOLs are nice for amphibious units as they can land and take off from short or no runways and can carry a crap load more weapons than a helo. They are also faster and can dogfight. There will be a place for fixed wing VTOLs, but I am wondering if a drone VTOL might not be a better investment than a F-35B.
#10
Every book I've read on the Falklands praises the Harrier as completely awesome in a dog fight because the VTOL also allows incredible manueverability.
The Harrier edge in the Falklands was mostly due to the fact that the Argies were flying at the absolute far edge of their fuel envelope and couldn't maneuver at all, if they didn't want to splash down miles short of their home airstrips. All they had time for was to find their targets, get their Exocets away, and make for home before they got bounced by British CAP. Absolutely no gas to spare for jinking about or defending themselves.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/03/2012 12:16
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#11
Mitch H, you are right, but even the Argentine pilots praised the Harrier so there must have been something more than fuel.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/03/2012 20:40
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#15
(Yes Steve, this is really me saying these Pro-Lawn Dart things)
Heh. I admit I jumped to the end to see who was writing this. But it seems like practical advice; something you often get from people who actually *do* stuff, as opposed to academics and fanboys.
And speaking as a fanboy, I can't wait for the autonomous RoboHornet.
#16
All of the US-NATO mentioned here have proven themselves in sustained combat since the 1980's -the latest Russian + Chicom airframes have NOT.
In similar to how NASA is proposing US dev of a NT Dirigible-based "Common/Universal Carrier" to replace Trucks, Cargo Planes, Rail, + Merchant Vessels, etc. logistics mediums, the USDOD is in favor of dev Multi-Role Aircraft of "Common/
Universal" Design [Common Configuration].
* See DEFENSE NEWS > USAF TURNING TOWARDS FLEXIBLE MULTI-ROLE AIRCRAFT.
The Service plans to ...
> Get rid of FIVE Sqdrns of A-10 CAS Aircraft.
> Refurbish up to 350 F-16's wid new Capabilities + extended life-spans for their air frames.
> F-35 is a Multi-Role Aircraft in line wid USDOD needs, while the F-22 is a dedicated Air Superiority Aircraft [fighter].
> F-22, C-5M, C-17, F-15C, + F-16 Series all to devol into "Common Configurations".
Iff the plane is not MR or "Common Configuration" the USDOD doesn't want 'em around???
versus
* TOPIX, RIAN > RUSSIA TO BUILD SIX SUBMARINES, AIRCRAFT CARRIER ANNUALLY STARTING IN 2013.
[Pak Daily Times] KARACHI: Anti-Extremism Cell (AEC) of the Crime Investigation Department (CID) on Thursday claimed to have jugged three alleged members of banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain ...a Sunni Deobandi organization, formerly registered Pak political party, established in the early 1980s in Jhang by Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi. Its stated goal is to oppose Shia influence in Pakistain. They're not too big on Brelvis, either. Or Christians. Or anybody else who's not them. The organization was banned in 2002 as a terrorist organization, but somehow it keeps ticking along, piling up the corpse counts... (SSP) for killing over a dozen of persons on sectarian bias.
A team, headed by SSP Chaudhry Aslam, raided a place at Hawks Bay Road near Mauripur truck stand on a tip-off and jugged three alleged hit men, including Muhammad Taufeeq Ansari, Salahuddin alias Israel
With that alias, how is it that he was not killed ages ago?
and Maulana Muhammad Danish. He was stuck in the same cell with Maulana Muhammad Kuppakoffi.
The team also recovered three kalashnikovs, three 9mm pistols, five hand grenades, three TT pistols and over 150 rounds from their possession.
SSP Aslam said that the accused, during initial course of investigation, confessed to have killed over a dozen people, including three lawyers in Aram Bagh. He said that the jugged persons in their statement revealed that they wanted to target Kafil and Babar only, however Badar Munir and his son came in the line of fire.
The jugged activists of banned SSP also confessed to have murdered Advocate Mukhtiar Bukhari for representing several cases of Shias in courts. SP Aslam said that they also targeted a Qadyani doctor Zakir and two Sunni Tehrik ...formed in Karachi in 1992 under by Muhammad Saleem Qadri. It quickly fell to trading fisticuffs and liquidations with the MQM and the Sipah-e-Sahaba, with at least a half dozen of its major leaders rubbed out. Sunni Tehreek arose to become the primary opposition to the Deobandi Binori Mosque, headed by Nizamuddin Shamzai, who was eventually bumped off by person or persons unknown. ST's current leadership has heavily criticized the Deobandi Jihadi leaders, accusing them of being sponsored by Indian Intelligence agencies as well as involvement in terrorist activities... activists, including Maulana Abdul Kareem Naqshbandi and Qari Habib in 2011. He informed that the accused also had the names of Shia leader Syed Allama Jaffar Subhani and Advocate Tasawwar Hussain in their hit list. Cases were registered against all accused and further investigation was underway.
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[An Nahar] A new draft of a U.N. Security Council resolution to stop the violence in Syria contains concessions to Russia in an effort to overcome Moscow's objections, diplomats said on Thursday.
"They are not made explicit in the latest draft but it is very clear what they are referring to," one Western diplomat said, alluding to the doubts that Russia vowed would lead it to veto any "unacceptable" proposal.
International efforts to stop the bloodshed have so far failed, with Russia, a key all of Syria, firmly opposed to an Arab- and Western-backed U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the violence.
But diplomats hinted in New York on Wednesday that a compromise to overcome Russia's objections was possible.
"We have made some progress today," Britannia's U.N. ambassador Mark Lyall Grant told news hounds after a three-hour meeting of council members.
Russia's envoy Vitaly Churkin also said there was a much better understanding of what needed to be done to reach a consensus. "I think it was a pretty good session," he said.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Russia had a "less negative" attitude towards the resolution and a vote could take place "perhaps" next week.
The draft resolution, introduced by Morocco, calls for the formation of a unity government leading to "transparent and free elections," rather than for Assad to step down as proposed in an Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... plan.
It stresses that there will be no foreign military intervention in Syria as there was in Libya, which toppled Muammar Qadaffy ... the like of whose wardrobe will never be seen again. At least that's what we hope...
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02/03/2012
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[An Nahar] Syria's opposition called protests Thursday to mark the 30th anniversary of the Hama massacre, as the United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... moved closer to agreement on action to halt a deadly regime crackdown on dissent.
Demonstrations were planned in various cities in memory of the estimated 10,000 to 40,000 people who perished in February 1982 when then president Hafez Assad, father of the current president Bashar, launched a fierce assault on the central town to crush an Islamist revolt.
The anniversary was taking place as the regime in Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... battles to crush an unprecedented revolt that has left more than 6,000 people dead since mid-March, according to estimates of human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. groups.
The city of Hama defiantly painted roads in red and staged a general strike on Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
"Several roads have been painted red and the waterwheels marked 'Hafez is dead while Hama has not disappeared''," it said, in reference to the famous landmark of the city on the Orontes river.
The number of dead has mounted in recent weeks with the central cities of Homs and Hama suffering heavy losses.
Activists said the 1982 massacre of Hama, which went largely unnoticed by the international community when it took place, had now come back to haunt the Assad clan.
"On this 30th anniversary, another massacre is taking place today but on a larger scale and led by the son of Hafez Assad," the Local Coordination Committees, an umbrella opposition group said.
The group called for activists to release red balloons in memory of those who died in what many describe as the worst atrocity in Syria's modern history.
It urged demonstrators to burn portraits of Hafez Assad and his younger brother Rifaat, who supervised the assault and aerial bombing on Hama. Rifaat Assad now lives in exile in London.
The opposition also called for "the trial of the regimes of Hafez and Bashir al-Assad for massacres against humanity committed against the Syrian people."
"The silence of the Arab and international community in the face of the crimes committed by Hafez Assad and his cronies 30 years ago is largely responsible for the continuation of daily crimes and atrocities committed by Bashar," it said in a statement.
Meanwhile, ...back at the chili cook-off, Chuck and Manuel's rivalry was entering a new and more dangerous phase... a Syrian dissident was killed by security forces before his body was thrown off the rooftop of his home in front of his wife and children, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Thursday.
The Britannia-based monitoring group said the incident took place on Wednesday in the town of al-Maadamiyeh, located on the outskirts of Damascus.
"Security forces launched a raid on the home of myrmidon Nasser Mohammed Said Sghayer, 30," it said in a statement. "Fearing arrest, he sought refuge on the roof of his house and security forces threatened to arrest his two children if he did not surrender."
It added that when he failed to heed their call, troops rushed to the roof and opened fire, killing him on the spot.
"They then threw his body from the roof in front of his wife and children," the Observatory said.
It said Sghayer had served four months in prison and had been released last week. His father has been behind bars for seven months.
The Observatory called for an independent inquiry into his death.
Posted by: Fred ||
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BAMAKO, Mali: Protesters are blocking the streets of Malis capital and soldiers families are demonstrating in a nearby town after recent clashes between the army and a Tuareg rebel group. The protesting families gathered Thursday in the town of Kati for a fourth day. They say soldiers are not equipped to fight the rebels. On Wednesday, protesters there attacked the business and home of a Tuareg family.
In the capital, Bamako, tires burned in the streets, and shops and businesses were shuttered.
President Amadou Toumani Toure warned Malians not to discriminate in a televised address on Wednesday night, his first major speech since fighting began Jan. 17.
Rebels have attacked six towns across Malis north. The heaviest fighting was around the town of Aguelhok, where military sources say at least 40 soldiers were killed.
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[Pak Daily Times] Pakistain said on Thursday it was willing to do whatever Afghans wanted to end the 10 years of war with the Taliban, but insisted the process should not be led by the Americans or any other foreign power.
A day after talks with Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... billed as a fence-mending visit designed to ease frosty ties, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar sought to refute perceptions that Islamabad was an obstacle to peace.
"We're willing to do whatever the Afghans want or expect," Khar said when asked whether Pakistain was ready to push the Haqqani network towards peace talks, but stopped short of naming the group or commenting further.
She said Karzai was due in Islamabad in the middle of the month and that she would travel with Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to Qatar, where the Taliban have set up a liaison office for talks with the Americans.
She said it was "not in anyone's interest" for Afghanistan to slide back into the chaos of the past, but said Pakistain had "so far" not played any substantial role in the contacts there between the Americans and the Taliban. Analysts say that Kabul and Islamabad have felt sidelined by the Qatar contacts. Khar did not comment explicitly, but said it was imperative that the Afghans were central to any eventual grinding of the peace processor, still "miles away".
"It is Afghanistan to decide and as a friendly neighbour, it is our job and responsibility and will to stand strongly behind that. The only prerequisite that Pakistain has is that it should be an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-driven, Afghan-backed process which has the ownership of Afghan people."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
They want a deal which has their people Haqqanis,Mullah Omar etc in the new Afghan Govt.
Posted by: Paul D ||
02/03/2012 6:35
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#2
This shows a lack of understanding. Many forms of tribal organization, like the Taliban, lack true leaders. What they call leaders are just the few that others want to follow, for the time being.
This means that their leaders have no real or lasting authority, and no one is bound by anything anyone else says. So treaties are useless and empty.
From our point of view, making peace with the Taliban is as meaningless as if Iran decided to sign a peace treaty with Jimmy Carter right now. Carter has no authority. He is just an aging, egotistical, sanctimonious putz.
[An Nahar] Philippine authorities said Thursday they had failed to find two European birdwatchers in the crucial 24 hours after their abduction and warned Islamic Islamic fascistimay be holding them.
Hundreds of Marines quickly joined the search for Swiss national Lorenzo Vinciguerra, 47, and Dutchman Ewold Horn, 52, who were seized by gunnies on a tiny island in the lawless south of the country on Wednesday.
"There is a massive search-and-rescue operation right now to find the kidnappers and their captives," regional military front man Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"Though, as of the moment, we have not pinpointed their exact location."
Cabangbang said it remained unclear who kidnapped the men, but noted a spate of other kidnappings of foreigners in the south that were blamed on the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf ...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder... group.
"We cannot rule out the possibility that the Abu Sayyaf is involved," he said. "However, the hip bone's connected to the leg bone... I must stress there are other gangs, including pirates, who also operate in these waters."
Ivan Sarenas, a Filipino guide for the two wildlife enthusiasts, was also kidnapped, but said he managed to jump off a boat that was taking the kidnapped men away.
"There was a passing boat and I decided to go for it. I held the barrel of the long firearm of the man in front of me with one arm and jumped out," he told AFP by phone.
Cabangbang said the first 24 hours were crucial in deciding the fate of people kidnapped in the area because this was when they were typically taken into the abductors' rugged jungle lairs on remote islands.
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02/03/2012
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#1
Virtually all US, Canadian, Australian and European nations have advised their nationals in the Philippines to NOT travel to the southern Philippines because of the probable threat of being kidnapped for ransom.
Sarenas should have known better and declined Vinciguerra and Horn's offer to guide them there in search of the Sulu hornbill, said to be the most endangered hornbill in the world. At the same time, Vinciguerra and Horn should have heeded common knowledge that there is a bounty on the heads of foreigners who travel to the southern Philippines. --source
[Dawn] Unidentified armed persons kidnapped six elders of Bhittani ...a Pashtun tribe centered on Jandola, in Tank district. They are the hereditary enemies of the Mehsuds, unless there are furriners or infidels around, in which case they share ammunition and targeting data... tribe in Omarkhel area here on Wednesday, sources said.
They said that the six elders were travelling in a car when gunnies intercepted them at Omarkhel village and whisked them away along with their vehicle.
All the six elders including Malak Payo Gul, Malak Multan, Seri Khan, Ghazanmir, Haji Sarwar Khan and Khwaja Mir belong to Nematkhel clan of Bittani tribe.
It is pertinent to mention here that 23 members of the same tribe had been kidnapped by Taliban from Kariwam area of Frontier Region of Tank before the launch of operation Rah-e-Nejat in the region. Later, all of them were found dead.
No group has so far grabbed credit for the kidnapping of the six elders.
Sources said that involvement of Taliban in the crime could not be ruled out as commander Turkistan Bittani had established a peace committee in the region in 2008 against bad boys.
In Khyber Agency, the beheaded body of a missing bread baker was found in Khowgakhel area on Wednesday morning.
The baker identified as Waris Khan was kidnapped by unidentified gunnies on Tuesday evening when he was returning home from a nearby mosque after offering Maghrib prayers.
A chit found with his body said that he was executed on charges of spying against Taliban. Other people, who were found involved in such activities, would also meet the same fate, it added.
The dear departed was laid to rest in a local graveyard.
In Mohmand ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... Agency, a jirga of Safi Masood tribe on Wednesday decided that rustics would not accept any pressure to form peace committees.
The jirga, attended by about 300 rustics, was addressed by Haji Gul Nabi, Hussain Ahmad, Saeed Khan, Malak Mohammad Jan, Jangrez Khan and others.
"We are not ready to form peace committees in our areas forcefully," they said. They also lashed out at political administration for raiding their houses and arresting innocent people.
The speakers said that administration called sniffer dogs to trace culprits in their area. "It is against our tribal system and also insult of our houses," they told the jirga.
They said that the administration set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock Mian Lal Badshah and his family members unlawfully. "They are innocent," the speakers said and demanded early release of the set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lockrustics.
They said that they also held talks with commandant of Mohmand Rifle and political agent in that connection.
The jirga members also meet with Assistant Political Agent Rasool Khan in his office and informed him about the situation. The APA assured them that he would talk to high-ups to settle the issue amicably.
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[An Nahar] The International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... rejected Thursday a request by slain Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy's ...whose instability was an inspiration to dictators everywhere, but whose end couldn't possibly happen to them... daughter to give information about her brother Seif al-Islam, who is wanted for crimes against humanity.
ICC judges said the application by Aisha Qadaffy ...the Claudia Schiffer of North Africa... was aimed at obtaining permission to contact her 39-year-old brother rather than providing the court with information on the accused, as she had claimed.
Her lawyer Nick Kaufman said she had "concrete" information that could help ICC decide whether the Libyan authorities "truly desire to provide Seif al-Islam Qadaffy with effective legal representation or to afford him a fair trial".
Aisha's application said she wanted to "protect the interests of her brother", who was placed in durance vile on November 19 and is being held in the custody of the military council of Zintan, a town southwest of Tripoli.
Seif al-Islam is wanted by the ICC on charges of crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the conflict in Libya, but the National Transitional Council has said it wants to try him on Libyan soil.
The ICC issued a warrant for Seif al-Islam in June and this week denied that it had agreed that Qadaffy's most prominent son can be tried in Libya, saying it had not made a decision.
Aisha, her brothers Mohamed and Hannibal and their mother Safiya have been given shelter in Algeria for "strictly humanitarian reasons," according to Algiers.
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[An Nahar] Turkey would consider giving asylum to Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... 's family if such a request is made, President Abdullah Gul was quoted as saying by daily Radikal on Thursday.
"There is no such thing right now," said Gul, when asked about Turkey's answer to a possible asylum request from Assad's family. "It would of course be considered if such a request were made."
Considered, yes. Approved in a timely manner as the peasants approach them stopped at the border crossing? That is a question of a different colour altogether.
Depends on whether or not the peasants had a goodly length of piano wire...
Syria's lethal response to protests that erupted in mid-March has left more than 5,400 people dead since mid-March, according to figures from the U.N.
The ongoing violence has fed increasing international anger at the regime in Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... and Turkey, together with the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... , spearheaded regional condemnation of the Syrian leadership.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also urged his one-time friend Assad to quit.
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Anyone want an example of how over regulation by the government alphabet agencies is killing business and initiative? Read this.
In recent court filings, the Food and Drug Administration has asserted that stem cells--you know, the ones our bodies produce naturally--are in fact drugs and subject to its regulatory oversight. So does that make me a controlled substance?
The bizarre controversy revolves around the FDA's attempt to regulate the Centeno-Schultz Clinic in Colorado that performs a nonsurgical stem-cell therapy called Regenexx-C. It is designed to treat moderate to severe joint, tendon, ligament, and bone pain using only adult stem cells. Doctors draw your blood, spin it through a centrifuge, extract the stem cells and re-inject them into your damaged joints. It uses no other drugs. No drugs means no FDA oversight and that does not sit well with the administration. Ok, I can understand some regulations to make sure some quack isn't doing this. So far so good... but wait!
The FDA has since argued that a) stem cells are drugs and b) they fall under FDA regulation because the clinic is engaging in interstate commerce. That's right, a process performed at the clinic using the patient's own bodily fluids constitutes interstate commerce because, according to the administration, out-of-state patients using Regenexx-C would "depress the market for out-of-state drugs that are approved by FDA." WHA?!?!?
Funny, that sounds less like the FDA protecting the health of the country's citizens and more like the FDA defending its enforcement turf. The two parties have been at odds for over four years now, so we may have a while until we know if every American has in fact become a regulatable good subject to government regulation. Depress the market for out-of-state drugs!?!? SERIOUSLY!?!? WTF?? IT IS MY OWN GODDAMN CELLS YOU ASSHOLES!!! The FDA has NO business picking drug winners and losers and NONE in interstate commerce!!
[Pak Daily Times] QUETTA: Unidentified assailants rubbed out tribal elder and Khuzdar Traders Union former president Muhammad Ramzan Zehri and injured his lover companion in Kanak area of Khuzdar. "The masked men were on a cycle of violence and they managed to escape from the scene of the crime," police said. The victims were on their way to Ferozabad in Khuzdar when attacked. The injured was identified as Ahmed Khan. The body and the injured were taken to District Headquarters Hospital. The body was later handed over to its heirs. The motive behind the murder could not be immediately ascertained. However, today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... police said it was an incident of murder and further investigation in this regard was underway.
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[An Nahar] Lebanese Security Forces informed MP Sami Gemayel on Thursday about a plan to assassinate him at a certain time and date.
The Phalange Party's The Kataeb (Phalange) party was founded by Pierre Gemayel in 1936, who modeled the party after Spanish and Italian Fascist parties he had observed as an Olympic athlete during the 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin, then Nazi Germany. The movement's uniforms originally included brown shirts and members used the Nazi salute. Despite the party's uniform, its strong sense of nationalism and dedication to a single charismatic leader, the Lebanese Kataeb was not and never became a fascist party nor did it espouse a totalitarian ideology. official website posted that the Lebanese Security forces informed MP Sami Gemayel on Thursday about a plan to assassinate him at a certain time and date."
The website added that the party will "leave it to the security forces to uncover additional information on the issue."
In a newsflash, MTV stated in the evening that the security forces "foiled an attempt to assassinate MP Sami Gemayel."
Internal Security Forces chief Ashraf Rifi had confirmed on Saturday reports of a foiled liquidation attempt against security officials.
He revealed that head of the ISF's Information Branch Col. Wissam al-Hassan was the target of the foiled attempt.
Later on Monday, news about the alleged liquidation attempt of Col. al-Hassan, revealed that Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, a member of AMAL, a not very subtle Hizbullah sock puppet... and Progressive Socialist Party MP Walid Wally Jumblat ... Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling... might also be targeted, according to newspapers published on Monday.
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ISLAMABAD: Relations between the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the judiciary were further strained on Thursday when the apex court, rejecting all arguments of the state counsel, summoned Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to appear on Feb. 13 to be indicted with contempt over his refusal to pursue corruption cases against the president.
Experts say that if convicted, Gilani could be jailed for up to six months and disqualified from public office.
Speaking to reporters, Aitzaz Ahsan, the premiers counsel, said he would advise his client to appeal against the charges, but this is just a procedural matter.
Meanwhile, Raja Zafar-ul-Haq, chairman of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), Punjab chapter, told Arab News he doesnt think that Gilani would remain in his office after the next hearing. This is the end of the road for Gilani. Given the way they (the government) were treating the Supreme Court, the conviction looks logical, he said.
Judge Nasir-ul-Mulk told the court there were grounds to proceed against Gilani over the governments refusal to follow a court order and ask Swiss authorities to reopen corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.
The government argued that Zardari has immunity from prosecution while head of state and accused judges of plotting with the military to wage a witch-hunt against him. Switzerland shelved the cases in 2008, when Zardari took office.
Most of senior constitutional lawyers do not agree with the presidents immunity under Article 248.
Habib Wahabul Khairi argued that they (the government) have lost a case that had no substance in that. Several Supreme Court decisions especially the one in which a six-member bench headed by then Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman in 1975 have established that no corruption charges can be withheld under immunity plea against any head of state, he said.
For many, appointing Ahsan as the PMs counsel was a pressure tactic, but since he himself was one of the candidates as Gilanis replacement, there were less chances of his success. He had no argument in the court thus doomed the political carrier of Gilani. Khairi added.
Lt. Gen. Abdul Qayyum, former aide of Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, while talking to Arab News, expressed his satisfaction over the active role of the higher judiciary. He said Pakistani courts have set a new precedent by proving that no one is above the law.
So he's ready to shove Gilani and Zardari under the armored personnel carrier...
Until now the top judiciary has exercised restraint in passing any harsh decisions despite several alleged constitutional violations, but this time they may go by to book. And it wont be a surprise for anyone in Pakistan.
In early January, the judges threatened to hold Gilani in contempt if he didnt write the letter to the Swiss authorities, and ordered him to make a rare appearance before the court to plead his case.
Gilani struck a conciliatory tone before the judges on Jan. 19, and his lawyer, Ahsan, agreed to argue the issue of the presidents immunity when the hearing resumed. The government previously insisted presidential immunity was a right, and therefore didnt need to be debated in court.
But Ahsan appeared to do a U-turn, refusing to specifically address the issue of presidential immunity. Instead, he simply argued that Gilani should not be held in contempt because his lawyers advised him he did not have to send the letter. The judges didnt accept that, and after five-hours of debate, said Gilani would be charged.
Ahsan said he would advise Gilani to appeal before Feb. 13, something that could draw out the proceedings further.
A defendant has the right to appeal in a contempt case in Pakistan even before a trial begins.
It was my wish that there confrontation between institutions of the state should be avoided, but now the situation is looking tense, Ahsan told reporters outside the court.
Government supporters say the court is trying to oust Zardari because of enmity between the president and the chief justice. They also claim the case cant be separated from tensions between the government and the army, which has carried out three coups in the countrys history. In those cases, the Supreme Court either stood by or legitimized the actions.
The court has also ordered an inquiry into a secret memo scandal that is also threatening Zardari. The memo was allegedly sent to Washington by the government last year asking for help in stopping a supposed military coup. The government has denied the allegations, and the case appeared to lose steam last week when the main witness refused to come to Pakistan to testify.
The graft case against Zardari relates to kickbacks that he and his late wife, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, allegedly received from Swiss companies when Bhutto was in power. They were found guilty in absentia in a Swiss court in 2003. Zardari appealed, but Swiss prosecutors ended up dropping the case after the Pakistani Parliament passed a bill giving the president and others immunity from old corruption cases that many agreed were politically motivated.
The Pakistani Supreme Court ruled the bill unconstitutional in 2009, triggering the slow moving process.
Since January, the case has consumed Pakistans highly polarized political and media elite, deflecting attention from what many say are existential threats to the country like an ailing economy and a violent Islamist insurgency that is showing little sign of ebbing.
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[Yemen Post] Yemeni deputy minister of information threatened to resign due to what he called "irresponsible and reckless behaviors" of the editors of the state-owned Newspapers: Al-Thwara and al-Jimohria.
"Quitting is more honorable to me than keeping my job unable to make any decision," said al-Janadi.
He said he would present his resignation next week because state-run al-Thwara has removed the poster of the outgoing President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... from its top front page, stressing that "Saleh is still the legitimate leader of Yemen".
He demanded that editors take into account that Saleh's General People Congress party still has half of the seats in the National Unity Government; therefore, they must respect him.
Al-Jandadi has been the former regime and GPS front man since the revolution broke out in February. He used to defend and justify the killings of peaceful protesters. On some occasions he went to deny that protesters were getting killed and claimed they were acting to get the international community on their side.
Yemeni public media has changed dramatically since the formation of the National Reconciliation Government.
Elsewhere, Yemeni Minister of Information Ali al-Amrani survived an liquidation attempt as his car came under fire when he was driving back form the weekly cabinet meeting. The attackers bravely ran away without being intercepted.
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#15
Maybe Roseanne should wear a burqa. It couldn't hurt. Last time I saw her on TV she had a place on the Big Island of Hawaii, she was wearing a muumuu and shooting at feral pigs. It was not a pretty sight.
[An Nahar] The Egyptian government sacked the head of security in the northern city of Port Said after an kaboom of football violence that left 74 people dead, state media reported Thursday.
Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim fired city security chief Essam Samak because of the rioting that erupted late Wednesday seconds after the final whistle at a match between two rival teams, the MENA news agency reported.
The violence, one of the deadliest incidents in football's history, saw hundreds of supporters of Port Said team al-Masri invade the pitch to attack fans of Cairo's al-Ahly, including by hurling bottles and stones.
State television ran footage of riot police standing rigidly in rows as pandemonium erupted around them.
Ibrahim has said most of the deaths were caused by the crush but medics said some people were stabbed. Hundreds were also reported maimed.
Police said 47 people had been locked away.
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[An Nahar] Progressive Socialist Party MP Walid Wally Jumblat ... Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling... said Thursday that the fall of the Syrian regime will not result in the Hezbullies handing over their weapons, and insisted on the adoption of a "political solution" in Syria rejecting a military intervention.
"It is crazy to bet that the fall of the Syrian regime will result in Hizbullah handing over its weapons," he said during a talk show on LBC.
Jumblat added: "Assad has cut ties with everyone and made Syria suffer today."
He stressed on the need to cease fire in Syria and to adopt a political solution.
"The political solution is the best." Jumblat said.
He pleaded with the Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Sonny, disguised as Fredo, trying to be Mike... to "declare a cease of violence, release the detainees, abolish article 8 of the constitution and to have elections."
"You cannot convince the Syrian citizen in Huran or any other region that there are reforms while blood is being spilled," Jumblat said, adding that "even when the observer group went to Syria, a cease-fire did not happen."
The PSP leader rejected a military intervention which would cause "chaos in Leb and Syria."
When asked about the Lebanese issues, Jumblat said that "we must be firm in stating that Israel is the enemy and we should have dialog with the resistance for gradual absorption."
He called for switching from the "people, army, and resistance" slogan to the " State of resistance, as Hizbullah Chief Hassan Nasrallah suggested in 2006 on the dialog table."
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#1
Hizbullah are going to be buried with their weapons in their hands.
KUWAIT CITY: Opposition groups in Kuwait urged for high voter turnout Thursday in parliamentary elections that could increase the voice of government critics including hard-line factions in the country.
The outcome is widely expected to bring gains for groups that include both liberals inspired by the Arab Spring and Islamic-guided blocs that favor strict rules such as banning women from taking part in international sporting events. A stronger political hold by the hard-liners also could complicate Kuwaits close relationship with the US military, which now has its main contingent of ground forces based in this country after the withdrawal from Iraq in December.
Wonder how much longer we'll be there.
Kuwaits ruling family controls all key affairs in the oil-rich state. But its 50-seat Parliament is one of the few elected bodies in the Gulf that openly challenge the countrys leadership and that has the ability to bring no-confidence motions against government officials as high as the prime minister.
Opposition leaders were out in force trying to mobilize supporters on a blustery day with sandstorms in some areas. Security forces were deployed in many districts, but there were no reports of unrest after a turbulent run-up that included arsonists torching a rivals campaign tent and mobs storming a TV station during a debate.
Results from the hand-counted ballots are expected early Friday.
Kuwaits emir, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, dissolved Parliament and called elections in December after months of political showdowns that included opposition lawmakers demanding to question the prime minister over an alleged payoff scandal and protests that culminated in anti-government crowds storming Parliament.
Officials said 400,296 Kuwaitis are registered to vote in what will be the first parliamentary election since May 2009. The more than 280 candidates include 23 women, including re-election bids by four lawmakers who were the first women in the assembly. Pro-government lawmakers had a slight edge in the last Parliament.
Opposition groups have gained strength in recent years over complaints that the country has failed to keep pace with the Gulf powerhouses Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in the past decade.
In late November, the emir selected Defense Minister Sheik Jaber Al-Hamad Al-Sabah as the new prime minister, replacing the long-serving Sheik Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah. He had survived several no-confidence votes in Parliament, but was the target of a growing campaign for his dismissal over allegations that government officials funneled payoffs to bank accounts outside the country. He has denied the charges.
While the expanding array of opposition candidates are expected to do well collectively, the election is a particular test of strength for the hard-line factions after similar groups dominated post-revolution elections in Tunisia and Egypt.
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[Pak Daily Times] Terrorists armed with guns and grenades ambushed a police patrol in Shahbazkhel Police Station area of Lakki Marwat on Thursday, killing three officers and wounding another, police said. According to details, eight to 10 faceless myrmidons ambushed a police vehicle, first by hurling a grenade and then opening fire with Kalashnikovs after coppers tried to retaliate. The police vehicle was completely destroyed in the attack. "Three coppers, Jan Muhammad, Munawar and Zahidullah were killed and one, SalamudDin, was injured. The faceless myrmidons later beat feet," district police chief Muhammad Gulzar told AFP. Terrorists were hiding on both sides of the road and beat feet in two vehicles after the attack, he added. The injured cop was rushed to a nearby hospital. The law enforcement agencies rushed to the site soon after the attack. They cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to apprehend the assailants. Head constable Jan Muhammad was buried in Daulatkhel village in the outskirts of Lakki Marwat, while constables Zahid Ali and Munawar Khan were buried in Titterkhel and Gandi Khankhel localities of the district respectively. staff
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[Dawn] Iran has enough radioactive material to produce four nuclear bombs, Israel's chief of military intelligence, General Aviv Kochavi, asserted at a security conference on Thursday.
"Today international intelligence agencies are in agreement with Israel that Iran has close to 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of uranium enriched to 20 percent, which is enough to produce four bombs," he told the annual Herzliya conference.
"Iran is very actively pursuing its efforts to develop its nuclear capacities, and we have evidence that they are seeking nuclear weapons," he said.
"We estimate they would need a year from when the order is given to produce a weapon."Israel and much of the international community have long accused Iran of using its nuclear programme to mask a drive for weapons, a charge Tehran denies.
The Jewish state has pushed for tough sanctions against Iran and warned that it retains the option of a military strike if necessary to prevent Tehran from obtaining atomic weapons.
Israel has the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear arsenal, which international experts believe contains between 100 and 300 nuclear warheads, but has never confirmed or denied such reports.
Speaking at the same conference, Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon said Iranian nuclear facilities, believed to be underground and heavily reinforced, were not immune to attack.
"In my military experience, any site protected by humans can be penetrated by humans," said Yaalon, a former head of Israel's armed forces, in comments broadcast on Israeli public radio.
"At the end of the day all their sites can be hit.""We argue that one way or another the Iranian military nuclear programme must be stopped," he added. "Such an unconventional regime must not have an unconventional (weapons) capability.'
"A combination of tools are available to the West," Yaalon said. "That combination must include diplomatic isolation of the regime; the second tool is economic sanctions ... and the last thing is a credible military option."
Yaalon also referred to an Iranian military facility rocked by a deadly kaboom in November, claiming Iran had been developing a missile there intended to threaten the United States.
He said the site, at Bid Ganeh, near Tehran, was conducting research and development on a missile with a range of 10,000 kilometres (6,213 miles) at the time of the blast, which killed at least 36 Revolutionary Guards.
It was "aimed at America, not us," a statement from the organisers of the Herzliya Conference quoted him as saying. Iran's military said the kaboom was the result of an accident.
The chief of staff of Iran's armed forces said at the time that the base was used in the production of "an experimental product" that would unleash "a strong fist in the face" of the United States and Israel.
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#1
Given how many Iranians + Muslims are educated domestically + overseas in US + Western + Asian universities as per Science + Engineering, its impossible for MOSSAD or other to eliminate Iran's current + potential pool of Nuclear Perts.
Short of internal Regime Change, does the US-NATO-EU + UNO + Israel, etc. have the patience to see iff Iran = another post-Cold War/Soviet CUBA???
[Yemen Post] The UN Relief Organization workers, who have been kidnapped by tribes men in the northwest Yemeni province of al-Mahouit , some 50km northwest Sana'a, on Tuesday, late, were released unharmed late on Wednesday, the official Saba News Agency reported.
The workers-two Yemenis, German, Iraqi, Paleostinian, and Colombian-were release through a tribal mediation efforts headed by Minister of Electricity Saleh Someh and moved to the UN office in th capital, Sana'a.
"The six UN workers, among them two female, were released unharmed," FP quoted Someh as saying.
The Relief Organization workers were kidnapped on their way back from a refugee camp in the Haradh district of Hajjah province.
The kidnappers wanted to press the government to release their fellow prisoner, Ali Ganem al-Subeh, who is an inmate in the capital's central prison, according to local media outlets.
Kidnapping of foreigners have become worryingly commonplace in some Yemeni tribal areas, especially if the rustics want to press the government for something.
Last week a UN Norwegian worker was also released after being kidnapped in one of the busiest streets in Sana'a.
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[Pak Daily Times] LANDIKOTAL: Security forces in Landikotal recovered a huge cache of ammunition and an explosives-packed car, defused two bombs and tossed in the clink eight suspects from the Khugakhel area, officials said on Thursday.
A security official said that the forces were tipped off about some suspects in the Khugakhel area, after which a team launched a search operation on Thursday morning and tossed in the clink eight people, including a schoolteacher.
The forces recovered a huge cache of ammunition, rocket launcher, improvised bombs, hand grenades, rifles and computers during that raid, and moved the tossed in the clink suspects to a facility for interrogation, a security forces front man said. He said that two alleged bully boyz were also maimed in the encounter. Security forces also claimed to have disposed of two powerful explosive cans that they had recovered during the operation. Meanwhile, ...back at the palazzo, Count Guido had escaped from his bonds and overwhelmed this guard using the bludgeon the faithful Filomena had smuggled to him in the loaf of bread... security was on high alert on the Torkham border after the seizure of a boom-mobile and information regarding another such vehicle in the area.
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[An Nahar] The head of the controversial Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... observer mission to Syria expressed satisfaction with the monitors' effort on Thursday, even as a deadly regime crackdown on dissent continues.
"I swear by God, I am fully satisfied with myself and with all those on the mission in Syria," Sudanese General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi told news hounds on a brief return to his homeland.
"There is a campaign against the mission and against the head of the mission and there are some allegations against it, but all of this is untrue," Dabi said, adding critics did not understand the observers' role.
The 165 monitors were deployed in December after Syria agreed to an Arab League plan for a halt to the violence, for prisoners to be freed, tanks withdrawn from towns and on the free movement of observers and foreign media.
None of the clauses in the protocol was respected.
The Arab League said on Saturday it was suspending its mission because of an upsurge in violence.
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[Yemen Post] Yemeni Defense Minister Mohammed Nasser Ahmed met on Tuesday with the Indian, Cuban, German, and Dutch ambassadors respectively in the Yemeni capital of Sana'a.
During his meeting with the Indian ambassador Dr, Awsaf Saed , they reviewed the relationships between the two countries in terms of military cooperation and ways to enhance it.
Nasser has noted out the historic bilateral relationships between India and Yemen and stressed the importance of improving it in a way that serves the aspirations and interests of the two countries peoples.
For his part, Saed has reiterated his country's stance that stands by Yemen's stability, security and unity and delivered to Nasser an invitation from his Indian counterpart to attend the International Defense Exhibition which will take place in India in March this year.
In separate meetings, Nasser r reviewed with the Cuban acting ambassador Oscar De Louis, and German ambassador Hollinger Green the bilateral military cooperation with their respective countries in terms of medical treatment.
Nasser has also met in his office in Sana'a with the Dutch ambassador Leonie Kyulenyer.
During the meeting, they discussed the current relationships between Yemen's and Netherlands' armies especially in the Naval field, and how best bolster it and take it to new horizons.
For her part, Leonie Kyulenyer said that she is relieved that the political scene in Yemen has made great progress and that tensions between conflicting parties are being increasingly eased.
Nasser briefed the diplomats the latest developments in the Yemeni political and security arenas, the military committee's mission, which is tasked with clearing armed manifestations from the central cities and restructuring the army units, and Yemen's role in fighting terrorism.
Massive popular protests calling for an end to the authoritarian role of President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... combined by al-Qaeda insurgency in the south and Shiite rebellion in the far north has shaken Yemen to the bone, leaving thousands killed, pushing the economy to the brink of collapse and triggering a catastrophic humanitarian disaster.
Saleh has signed a deal under which he relinquished power to Vic President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, the consensus candidate for the upcoming presidential elections, in exchange for immunity from prosecution.
Saleh has left Yemen for USA for further medical treatment of wounds and burns inflicted in an liquidation attempt last year at the Presidential Palace, and he is most likely not going to come back home again.
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[Bangla Daily Star] The High Court yesterday granted anticipatory bail for a month to 489 BNP-Jamaat leaders and activists from different districts in nine separate cases filed on charges of vandalising public property and obstructing police from discharging duties.
The cases were filed after the country witnessed a number of incidents of violence on January 29 centring a mass procession programme by BNP-Jamaat led four-party alliance.
An HC bench of Justice Salma Masud Chowdhury and Justice FRM Nazmul Ahasan passed the order after hearing nine separate bail petitions submitted by the accused.
Among the accused leaders and workers, 138 from Borguna, 181 from Laksmipur, 16 from Nilphamari, 70 from Kurigram, 35 from Faridpur and 48 from Chandpur appeared before the court seeking bail yesterday.
Barrister Moudud Ahmed, advocate Khandker Mahbub Hossain, advocate Zainul Abedin and barrister Mahbubuddin Khokon appeared for the accused.
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[An Nahar] A Cairo court has sentenced the Arab world's most famous actor, Adel Iman, to three months in jail for "defaming Islam" in several roles on stage and screen, the Egyptian comic said on Thursday.
Imam, a U.N. goodwill ambassador who has been described as the Arab world's Charlie Chaplin, was sentenced to hard labor in absentia, he told AFP after being sued by Asran Mansur, a lawyer with Islamist ties.
"I will appeal the ruling," Imam said.
"Some people seeking fame filed a suit against me over works I have done which they consider insulting to Islam, and this is of course not true," he said.
The 71-year-old celebrity has a long history of legal tangles with Islamists who regard the actor's work as blasphemous.
Especially when the actor makes fun of them...
In the latest case, the actor said the works criticized are the 1994 movie "Al-Irhabi" (The Terrorist), in which he portrays an Islamic fundamentalist and the play "Al-Zaeem" (The Leader), a comedy in which Imam pokes fun at the region's autocratic leaders.
"All the works in which I have starred went through the censors. Had they been found to be defamatory, the censors would have banned them," Imam said.
Obviously Egypt found some new censors...
Imam has acted in more than 100 films and 10 plays that are highly appreciated by the Arab public for their irreverence towards both the powerful and the religious.
In a 1998 TV debate, called "Star on a Hot Tin Roof", Imam squared off with three Islamists from the Moslem Brüderbund, the movement whose members now hold a strong majority in Egypt's parliament.
Since 2000, Imam has served as a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. refugee agency, alongside likes of film star Angelina Jolie and Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani.
"In the course of his rich career, he has mixed humor with sadness to portray ordinary people who are victims of injustice and poverty," the agency says in a biography of imam on its website.
"For all these reasons, Imam became a symbol for people promoting tolerance and human rights ...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... in the Arab world," it said.
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[Yemen Post] Yemen Human Rights Horia Mashhoor said on Wednesday that an independent commission will be formed with the aim of investigating violations committed against human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... since the outbreak of anti-regime protests in last February.
"Probes about killing of protesters in Sana'a , Taiz and Abyan lack transparency, and Yemen's judiciary lack enough fairness," she added.
In her meeting with Middle East and North Africa director of the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy(NED) Abdul Rahman Al-Jubouri, she made clear that Yemen needs special legalizations that cope with international laws.
Mashhoor revealed that the ministry seeks to hold a national dialogue conference to solve Yemen's problems and come up with joint national views on human rights.
She revealed that Human Rights Ministry would be shifted to an independent supreme authority which enjoys impartiality.
For his part, Al-Jabouri stressed that NED seeks to help Yemen in the field of enacting legislations of the constitution and election laws, pointing out that NED would support and train the consultative body belonging to the Human Rights through Ministry.
In an interview with the state-run 26 September newspaper, Mashhoor made reference to the existence of a big gap between laws and their application on the ground.
Mashhoor has said she seeks to shut down private custodies run by some officials and tribal leaders, stressing that the existence of such custodies contradicts Yemen laws and international conventions.
Mashhoor has vowed to release all political prisoners held in security forces.
Separately, Mashour stated that Yemen's high-ranking officials take over 90 percent of allowances and benefits allocated to government ministries while low-ranking employees get nothing.
She affirmed that Yemen's financial systems encourage corruption, demanding to carry out significant financial reforms.
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[Dawn] The chief minister has blamed a medicine manufactured and supplied by a Sindh pharmaceutical company for scores of heart patients' deaths in Punjab in the recent weeks.
At a presser here on Wednesday, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said his government would thoroughly investigate whether the supply of the tablets was by a mistake or a "conspiracy against the people of Punjab".
He said the factory producing the drug had been sealed in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... and its owners put on the exit control list by the Sindh government.
Mr Sharif cited reports from a British laboratory, saying the killer drug, Iso Tab, produced by the Efroze Chemicals contained 50mgs of an anti-malaria agent.
He said doctors would prescribe only 25mgs per week of the agent to malaria patients while heart patients were prohibited from using it.
To the relief of poor heart patients affected by the tablet, he said, local health experts with their European counterparts had found the drug's antidote which was now being administered to the affected people.
The chief minister said the Punjab inspector general had gone to Bloody Karachi on a special plane to initiate an action against company officials. He said the Sindh chief secretary had confirmed that the chemicals factory had been sealed and its owners restricted from traveling abroad.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2012
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Sick of the BLS propaganda? Then do the following calculation with us: using BLS data, the US civilian non-institutional population was 242,269 in January, an increase of 1.7 million month over month: apply the long-term average labor force participation rate of 65.8% to this number (because as chart 2 below shows, people are not retiring as the popular propaganda goes: in fact labor participation in those aged 55 and over has been soaring as more and more old people have to work overtime, forget retiring), and you get 159.4 million: that is what the real labor force should be. The BLS reported one? 154.4 million: a tiny 5 million difference. Then add these people who the BLS is purposefully ignoring yet who most certainly are in dire need of labor and/or a job to the 12.758 million reported unemployed by the BLS and you get 17.776 million in real unemployed workers. What does this mean? That using just the BLS denominator in calculating the unemployed rate of 154.4 million, the real unemployment rate actually rose in January to 11.5%. Compare that with the BLS reported decline from 8.5% to 8.3%. It also means that the spread between the reported and implied unemployment rate just soared to a fresh 30 year high of 3.2%. And that is how with a calculator and just one minute of math, one strips away countless hours of BLS propaganda.
Protesters arrested during an Occupy Oakland rally Saturday said they were abused by police, subjected to illegal mass arrests and suffered a litany of human rights violations while held at two county jails - which only strengthened their commitment.
Police in Calumet City were defending their actions Wednesday after officers shot and killed a 15-year-old boy, who has a form of autism, after he threatened them with a knife.
Attorney General Eric Holder vigorously denied a "cover-up" by the Justice Department over "Operation Fast and Furious," telling a House panel investigating the botched gun-running program that he has nothing to hide and suggesting the probe is a "political" effort to embarrass the administration.
The New York Times Company suffered a net loss of almost $40million in 2011, with its fourth quarter profits falling by 12.2 per cent compared to the same period in 2010.
All but one of 22 Paleostinian villages refuse connection to sewage line, Environmental Protection Ministry says.
Mahmoud 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Pak Daily Times] KARACHI: Anti-Extremism Cell (AEC) of the Crime Investigation Department (CID) on Thursday claimed to have 
[An Nahar] A new draft of a U.N. Security Council resolution to stop the violence in Syria contains concessions to Russia in an effort to overcome Moscow's objections, diplomats said on Thursday.
Pakistain said on Thursday it was willing to do whatever Afghans wanted to end the 10 years of war with the Taliban, but insisted the process should not be led by the Americans or any other foreign power.
Mohmand
International Criminal Court
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
cycle of violence
[An Nahar] The Egyptian government sacked the head of security in the northern city of Port Said after an 
Walid 
[Pak Daily Times] Terrorists armed with guns and grenades ambushed a police patrol in Shahbazkhel Police Station area of Lakki Marwat on Thursday, killing three officers and wounding another, police said. According to details, eight to 10 
Iran has enough radioactive material to produce four nuclear bombs, Israel's chief of military intelligence, General Aviv Kochavi, asserted at a security conference on Thursday.
The High Court yesterday granted anticipatory bail for a month to 489 BNP-Jamaat leaders and activists from different districts in nine separate cases filed on charges of vandalising public property and obstructing police from discharging duties.
Punjab
