Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger reports that a woman starved to death after embarking on a spiritual diet that required her to stop eating or drinking and live off sunlight alone. Only Kimmie could have done that. But now he's dead.
The Zurich newspaper reported Wednesday that the unnamed Swiss woman in her fifties decided to follow the radical fast in 2010 after viewing an Austrian documentary about an Indian guru who claims to have lived this way for 70 years.
Tages-Anzeiger says there have been similar cases of self-starvation in Germany, Britain and Australia.
The prosecutors' office in the Swiss canton (state) of Aargau confirmed Wednesday that the woman died in January 2011 in the town of Wolfhalden in eastern Switzerland.
A Virginia man says his Osama bin Laden-inspired license plates are being taken away by the Department of Motor Vehicles for being offensive. But he says the DMVs new plates are even worse.
Rick Sanders has had his F.OSAMA license plates for seven years. He received a letter this week from the DMV saying the plates would be replaced because they are profane, obscene or vulgar in nature. But, but, so was Osama ....
Right after the attacks of 9/11, I decided I wanted to do something to show that Im patriotic, Sanders told ABC affiliate WVEC.
The plates are being replaced with 6668UP.
Im offended by this, Sanders told the station. I dont like anything with 666 on it.
The numbers 666 are widely viewed as a satanic symbol and Sanders said he reads his new license plate as, The devil ate you up.
According to the Virginia DMV website, the DMV reserves the right to recall and cancel any personalized license plate that was issued if the agency subsequently determines or discovers that the personalized license plate was not in compliance with these guidelines when issued or if, due to changing language usage, the personalized license plate has become non-compliant with these guidelines.
Language is an ever changing thing, Pam Goheen, a spokeswoman for the Virginia DMV told ABCNews.com. Sometimes are we overly cautious? Sure, but we rely on the public to notify us when they see messages that are potentially objectionable. Personally, I think someone should investigate whoever called it in.
Although Goheen said she could not discuss Sanders case specifically, she said anyone whose plates are deemed offensive can work with the DMV to come up with an alternative message.
Sanders told WVEC he will probably exchange the plates for new ones, but is also considering challenging the DMVs decision to pull his plates. How about changin it to "F.Obama"?
People come up behind me, theyre laughing, theyre giving me the thumbs up. Theyre laughing at me. Ive never had anybody look at me and tell me I cant believe you have that on your license plate, Sanders said. Ever see anyone sporting a turban, beard, and pajamas glowering in your rear-view mirror?
Sanders says F.OSAMA can mean anything you want, but for him its a symbol of his patriotism.
I didnt want to offend anybody by it. I wanted people to realize that I dont want you forget what those folks did to us. I only wish I had thought of it. That way I could offend any terrorist sympathizers.
A decade ago, Americans felt similarly about their local, state and federal governments. No longer.
Today, just one in three has a favorable view of the federal government the lowest level in 15 years, according to a Pew survey. The majority of Americans remain satisfied with their local and state governments 61 percent and 52 percent, respectively but only 33 percent feel likewise about the federal government.
In 2002, nearly double that figure, 64 percent viewed the federal government favorably, and Americans held their local and state governments in similar esteem, at 67 percent and 62 percent, respectively.
Theres the expected partisan gap: A majority of Democrats, 51 percent, view the Obama-led government favorably, compared with 27 percent of independents and 20 percent of Republicans. During the Bush presidency, a majority of Republicans viewed the federal government favorably, while support for it faded among Democrats.
The poll also reveals that more Americans trust their state governments to be honest, efficient and less partisan than the federal government.
#1
At last check, the Bammer was still ahead of likely GOP Nominee Romney, + wid a widening lead. IOW, AMERICANS' DISLIKE OF THEIR OWN GOVT MAY NOT BE ENUFF TO DEFEAT THE BAMMER IN NOVEMBER.
So-called "Mittens" Romney has gotta close the gap iff the GOP-Right hopes to win.
#4
Oh, that is cute...except grandpa would have had the creativity to add in something like, "And the Kock Bros ruined Oprah's network!". According to this book I'm going through, the author states that more Europeans were captured by mohammatons and put into slavery during the 16th century than Africans to the New World. Now of course I do not have the numbers but that is a bold statement I think intelligent people do research for when writing books, Mr. Malcom XII, not just tasting what was in Mr.s. O'Donnel's mouth.
#5
Mr Malcom X11 might want to look at this article: The Scourge of Slavery.
Very interesting article. Basically, Muslims took slaves from wherever they could find them - East and West Africa, Europe, wherever. The females were used as sex slaves. The males were castrated (both penis and testicles removed) so they could be used as eunuchs. Then they were forced marched through the desert to their destinations. Many didn't make it.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
04/26/2012 19:43
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#6
..there's an article titled "Islamâs place in British history" that covers that issue swksvolFF, but the Burg won't accept the link post with the uk-altermedia-info address.
#7
Empires of the Sea is where I heard it. 16th century struggle of Med and Europe. One of the reasons pointed for the Ottoman/Islam ability at sea was the great enslavements of Europeans for service as oarsmen.
The Great Game covers the other virtures (spit) of mohommatons vs Britain and Russia, 19th century Asia. They had enslaved so many Russians that Russia not only had reason for invasion, it was quite justified.
Then of course the round up of Africans for sale to the New World.
Weich is the one who signed the letter "that ATF 'sanctioned' or otherwise knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons to a straw purchaser who then transported them into Mexico -- is false," and on Dec 4, 2011 formally withdrew the letter.
We now have a White House aid in Iraq, and this Assistant Attorney General leaving.
The top Justice Department official who signed a letter erroneously telling lawmakers investigating "Operation Fast and Furious" that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives never allowed guns to be sold to cartel members will be leaving the department to head up a law school.
Ronald Weich, the Justice Department's assistant attorney general for legislative affairs, will become the new dean of the University of Baltimore's school of law in July.
"During this time of considerable transition in legal education and the legal profession, it is important to have leadership with integrity and vision," University of Baltimore President Robert Bogomolny said in a statement issued Wednesday. "Ron Weich embodies those qualities. I look forward to working with him, and I know our students, faculty, staff and alumni will be energized by his arrival."
News of Weich's pending departure comes nearly a month after he suggested Republicans on Capitol Hill were leaking sensitive information and five months after the Justice Department formally withdrew a Feb. 4, 2011, letter sent to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who was demanding answers from the ATF and Attorney General Eric Holder over allegations the agency had let suspected drug-smugglers buy hundreds of assault weapons.
"At the outset, the allegation ... that ATF 'sanctioned' or otherwise knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons to a straw purchaser who then transported them into Mexico -- is false," Weich wrote Grassley at the time. "ATF makes every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation to Mexico."
Since then, a congressional investigation into "Fast and Furious" led by Grassley and House Oversight and Government Report Committee Chairman Darrel Issa, R-Calif., has helped reveal those claims as false.
Testifying before a House panel earlier this year, Holder said he did not believe the Justice Department intended to mislead Congress, noting his department has taken a "rare" move and made "wholesale deliberative material available" to lawmakers to help explain the genesis of "the inaccuracies that were contained in that letter."
"These documents show that department officials relied on information provided by supervisors from the relevant components in the best position to know the facts," Holder told lawmakers. "In subsequent interviews with congressional investigators, these supervisors stated that they did not know at the time that the information that they provided was inaccurate."
Weich himself testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform committee in June 2011. He mostly testified about the Justice Department's efforts to comply with congressional subpoenas, but he was also asked about the Feb. 4, 2011, letter.
"Every time the Justice Department sends a letter to Congress, it is true to the best of our knowledge at the time that we send it," he said. Still, he insisted again that ATF "doesn't sanction or approve of the transfer of weapons to Mexico."
It's unclear exactly when Weich would step down from the Justice Department. An email seeking comment from a Justice Department spokeswoman was not immediately returned.
Weich was confirmed by the Senate as assistant attorney general for legislative affairs in April 2009. He "heads the Office that represents the Department of Justice on all legislative and oversight matters before Congress," according to the Justice Department's website.
He previously served as Chief Counsel to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and as counsel to former Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Arlen Specter, R-Penn., according to the Justice Department. Prior to that, he worked in private practice.
He is a native New Yorker, and a graduate of Columbia University and the Yale Law School.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/26/2012 16:32
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#5
At least his entree used during the entire marriage need not change, "Honey, just lie there and I'll do the rest".
Posted by: jack salami ||
04/26/2012 17:12
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#6
...and, who said that Islam will never have a reformation?
Posted by: jack salami ||
04/26/2012 17:13
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#7
Morbid curiosity gives rise to a body of questions:
Where does the 6 hour limit come from?
Is it a stiff deadline? What if you start at 5h 58min after time of death, do you have to stop when the timer goes off?
Suppose you come home and just happen to find one of your wives is dead. Can you guestimate the time of death or do you need something more forensic like liver temp? Do you call 911 before getting started or after?
If you can find a imam willing to do the temporary marriage of convenience thing, is it OK to boink any recently dead person of the female persuasion?
And finally, does this give new meaning to having your buddies over for a cold on?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/26/2012 21:01
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#9
Awwww, #1, I wanted to sat it.
That being said, a righteous EEEEEEEWWWWWWWW is warranted here.
Lest we fergit, Muslims can be forced under Sharia to marry an animal(s) iff they are caught have sex wid it - I'LL LET THE OTHER RB'ERS COME UP WID THE IMPLICATIONS/INFERENCES ON THAT.
h/t Gates of Vienna
Britain was back in recession Wednesday after its economy shrank in the first quarter while Prime Minister David Cameron said the country was being buffetted by the European downturn.
Gross domestic product fell 0.2 percent between January and March, after a 0.3-percent drop in the fourth quarter of 2011, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement.
That technically placed Britain in recession, which is defined as two successive quarters of contraction, amid a broader downturn that appears to be taking hold across Europe and notably in members of the eurozone.
#1
Wow guess the one world government New World Order thing ain't going to work after all! The America with a K thing people were in Texas in the 1990's! Careful kids!
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2012
10:10 ||
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#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Jordana Brewster aka Mia in "Fast & Furious (The Movie)(2009) & The Fast and the Furious (2001)" aka Mia Toretto in "Fast Five (2011)" aka Delilah Profitt in "The Faculty (1998)" aka Chrissie in "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006)" aka Ali in "Annapolis (2006)" (age 32)
Why did George Galloway feel the urge to keep his conversion to Islam secret?
The New Statesman reveals today, in an interview by Jemima Khan with the fiery new MP for Bradford West, that Galloway converted 10 years ago at a ceremony in Kilburn, north-west London. On one level, it's not surprising: he peppers his speeches with "inshallahs", during his campaign, pamphlets were distributed (although he says he was not responsible for them) saying that "God knows who is a Muslim", pointing out that his Labour opponent in the Bradford by-election, Imran Hussain, drank alcohol and that he, Galloway, did not and "never has"; he has had no fewer than three Muslim wives (though not, I must quickly add, at the same time).
But it is very odd that he kept this to himself for so long. His adopted religion, surely, is not a shameful secret. Certainly his appeal to the Islamic communities, first of Tower Hamlets and now of Bradford, is well known. But, as Khan points out, he has generally been referred to as a "Catholic" in the media, and that this might not have hurt his chances with the working-class white vote:
There must have been some white constituents in Bradford, who, although natural Labour supporters, preferred to vote for the white Catholic candidate rather than the brown Muslim one representing Labour.
In a shocking development in the Operation Fast and Furious investigation, documents show Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents allowed grenade parts to walk in addition to guns.
The emails also show Obama administration officials acknowledging that they may lose track of grenades but would still be able to accomplish their original objective even if the grenades explode.
According to an internal email that was provided to Congress by the Department of Justice and first reported by CBS News' Sharyl Attkisson -- who's been the media's most dogged reporter in tracking down facts on Fast and Furious -- ATF began watching accused smuggler Jean Baptiste Kingery's AK-47 purchases in 2004. In the 2009 internal ATF email, Obama administration officials admitted they believed Kingery was "trafficking them into Mexico."
The 2009 email shows the ATF officials had then become aware of Kingery's alleged grenade trafficking.
The administration officials then put together a plan: They secretly intercepted Kingery's grenade parts after he ordered them online, marked them with special paint and gave them back to him. Then, they allowed him to take those grenade parts into Mexico. ATF was going to try to find his weapons factory there -- even though the U.S. government and its federal law enforcement agencies have no jurisdiction in Mexico -- with the apparent goal of building a bigger case against Kingery.
ATF agents had planned to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials -- who, unlike ATF agents who ultimately report to Attorney General Eric Holder, report up the chain to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. (RELATED: Full coverage of Operation Fast and Furious)
The emails show ATF agents were aware they might lose track of Kingery while they allowed him to transport the grenade parts into Mexico. The emails also show ATF agents knew that the grenades could end up exploding and killing innocent people if they proceeded with the plan. That didn't stop the Obama administration's ATF from allowing the grenades to walk.
"Even in a post blast, as long as the safety lever is recovered we will be able to identify these tagged grenades," an official wrote in one email.
In addition to those revelations, new evidence photos have emerged: More than 2,000 rounds of ammunition and scores of grenade parts and fuse assemblies are seen in evidence photos that were just turned over to Congress. According to Attkisson's report, officials had taken Kingery into custody in 2010 -- long before Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was murdered with a Fast and Furious-supplied gun -- after having caught him trying to transport that ammunition and those grenade parts and fuse assemblies into Mexico hidden inside the spare tire of the SUV he was travelling in.
Attkisson said that ATF agents questioned Kingery at that point but then "inexplicably released" him.
Internally, some in the ATF objected to these practices. For instance, ATF's Mexico attaché, Carlos Canino -- who has cooperated with congressional investigators and appeared willingly before the House Oversight Committee last summer -- said ATF was not supposed to allow weapons, including grenades, to walk.
"We are forbidden from doing that type of activity," Canino wrote in one email. "If ICE is telling you they can do that, they are full of shit."
This news comes on the heels of Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich's decision to resign his post at the Department of Justice soon. The University of Baltimore School of Law hired him as its new dean and he starts in July. Weich was the DOJ official who provided provably false information to Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa when Grassley began investigating Fast and Furious.
On Feb. 4, 2011, Weich wrote to Congress that the idea that "ATF 'sanctioned' or otherwise knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons to a straw purchaser who then transported them into Mexico ... is false."
"ATF makes every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation to Mexico," Weich added in that letter.
The DOJ has since retracted Weich's letter.
Not one government official has been held accountable for Operation Fast and Furious. Scores of lawmakers -- 125 House members, three U.S. senators, two governors -- and many major political figures, including likely Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, have demanded Holder's resignation or firing over Fast and Furious.
#1
This has got to be chopper footage. Can't see how you keep the camera covering the same spot for a couple of minutes without some kind of hovering capability.
#4
UAV took that footage - the stabilization they have in the cameras is pretty remarkable. Definitely not footage from the A-10, line of attack is nearly perpendicular to the observation point.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2012 14:12
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#7
OS is spot on. Stabilization almost looks like it came from a nearby ridge or hilltop post. If it's aerial, it's probably not the cam so much as the software.
#14
They do crazy shit because they are dead men running. It doesn't matter what they do at that point. They could break out in a nice chorus of Y-M-C-A, goats are our babes, ... and still wouldn't get a chance to start the next verse.
Up to 70 people have been killed in an attack on a house in Hama, according to Syrian activists.
They said several houses in the Masha at-Tayyar district in southern Hama were destroyed by a big kaboom.
State media said 16 people died in the blast in a house used as a bomb factory by "armed terrorist groups".
The violence comes despite a UN-brokered ceasefire - part of a peace plan proposed by the joint UN-Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... envoy Kofi Annan. ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
Scud attack?
Following the blast in Hama, activists posted video on the internet showing a scene of devastation, with bodies being pulled from the rubble.
One report said 13 children and 15 women were among the dead.
They said the blast was caused by government shelling or even a Scud missile attack.
The opposition Syrian National Council has called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting "so that it can issue a resolution to protect civilians".
It says nearly 100 people have been killed in Hama in recent days.
The level of devastation seen would have been difficult to achieve by conventional shelling, the BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut says.
State television showed pictures of injured children in hospital and says that a group using the house to make bombs detonated them accidentally.
The reports cannot be independently verified owing to government restrictions on foreign media.
Meanwhile, ...back at the sandwich shop, Caroline was experimenting with ingredients of increasing volatility... a video has emerged which purportedly shows a man being buried alive by security forces, allegedly for sending material to TV stations. Its authenticity could not be confirmed.
The unnamed man, who is said to be a media activist, is seen pleading for his life as earth is shovelled over his head. He then goes silent.
What appear to be members of the security forces are then heard cursing him for receiving money for sending material to Arabic satellite TV stations. The video was leaked by sympathisers.
Continuing violence has been reported across Syria since a ceasefire was introduced earlier this month - including in towns where UN observers are present.
La Belle France now says the Security Council should consider the use of force in Syria if Mr Annan's peace plan fails to stop the violence.
The plan calls on 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... to withdraw troops and heavy weapons from cities.
"Totally unacceptable"
Mr Annan told the Security Council on Tuesday that the Syrian military had not withdrawn from population centres.
He condemned as "totally unacceptable and reprehensible", reports that troops entered Hama after UN observers departed on Monday, and carried out summary executions as punishment for having spoken to them.
Two observers have now returned to Hama. They form part of a small advance team, ahead of a team of 300 that the UN would like to deploy.
A front man for Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said, via Twitter, that he had sent a message to Kofi Annan to "set the record straight on several aspects of the Annan plan".
Mr Moualem is reported to have told him that there had been "more than 1,149 documented and verifiable violations from armed elements" since the ceasefire began.
The US permanent representative to the UN, Susan Rice, told news hounds on Tuesday that all Security Council members wanted the observers to be deployed quickly.
Ms Rice said that it was hoped 100 observers would be in Syria within a month, but said Syria had made clear it would not admit UN staff from any country in the "Friends of Democratic Syria" group.
#1
I like calling it a work accident, even if we can't be completely sure it wasn't a Pencil-neck action. But it doesn't bother me if it was an 'on-purpose'. Please pass the popcorn.
Iran has been forced to deploy more than half its fleet of supertankers to store oil at anchorage in the Gulf as buyers of its crude cut back because of sanctions, two Iran-based shipping sources said.
The sources, who are familiar with operations at Iran's main export terminal Kharg Island in the north of the Gulf, said 14 of National Iranian Tanker Company's (NITC) fleet of 25 very large crude carriers, each loaded with about 2 million barrels of oil, are now at anchor acting as floating storage.
A further five of Iran's nine Suezmax tankers, with capacity of one million barrels, are also parked offshore with oil aboard.
That means that of Iran's 59-million-barrel fleet of VLCCs and Suezmax sized tankers, 33 million barrels of capacity are being used to store crude at sea in the Gulf, or 56 percent of the fleet.
The shipping data suggests Iran's difficulties in selling its oil are getting more acute. With more than half the NITC fleet at anchorage, Iran's capacity to export oil is severely curtailed.
#3
A tanker can only play demolition derby with an island.
The weapon is crude oil which not only doesn't explode, it doesn't even burn when spread out.
Oh, yeah. And they can be sunk. There have been reports that the Iranian shipping have turned off their locator beacons. Which means, when the pirates grab them, nobody knows where they are.
Which is too bad.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
04/26/2012 15:42
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#4
They could be filled with HE and/or LNG and rigged to explode. I'd keep them far away.
#8
HMMMM, HMMMMM - soo-o-o, ala the post-Yom Kippur Saudi Oil Embargo of the 1970's, Iran is waiting for Oil Markets-Prices to crash so that its vessels will be first to deliver to desperate international vendors???
* "Demolition derby wid an Island" > Manhattan/NYC Harbor + San Francisco Bay.
It's rare to see a federal official publicly beg reporters to get a story right, but the commissioner of the Social Security Administration seemed ready to get down on his hands and knees at a Monday press briefing. Michael Astrue was cautioning journalists not to scare the public about the meaning of the word "exhaustion."
"Please, please remember that exhaustion is an actuarial term of art and it does not mean there will be no money left to pay any benefits" he warned in issuing the trustees' annual report on the financial health of the Social Security program.
"After 2033, even if Congress does nothing, there will still be sufficient assets (from payroll taxes) to pay about 75 percent of benefits. That's not acceptable, but it's still a fact that there will still be substantial assets there," Astrue insisted. I'm curious, is this in present dollars or in inflated dollars?
This year's report shows some acceleration of the drawdown of Social Security's vast trust fund reserves. Absent Congressional action, the trust funds of the retirement and disability programs are expected to be exhausted in 2033 as baby-boomer retirements accelerate - three years sooner than projected a year ago.
But Astrue went out of his way to emphasize that the program is far from broke. Social Security took in $69 billion more than it spent last year, according to the report, when you include tax receipts and interest on bonds held in the Social Security Trust Fund (SSTF). The SSTF had reserves of $2.7 trillion last year.
Yet the press plowed right ahead with stories warning that the Social Security retirement program is running out of money. "There won't be much money left for you" after 2033, warned a public radio reporter - a line that pretty well summed up the coverage and nearly forced me to run my car into a ditch.
Americans need to get this right, because Social Security is the primary source of retirement security for most Americans -- and it will be even more important in the future as we continue to dig our way out of the rubble of the Great Recession.
So, what's really going on with Social Security?
1. Social Security isn't running out of money. I suppose that depends on whether or not benefits keep up with true inflation.
The long-range actuarial shortfall is projected to be 2.67 percent of taxable payroll - in other words, 2.67 percent of all the earnings subject to Social Security contributions. That's a modest shortfall - and it fluctuates over time due to economic cycles and changes in assumptions about growth in taxable earnings. For example, the projected year of SSTF exhaustion was as far off as 2042 in 2003 in the wake of the dot-com bubble; it was as close as 2029 in 1994 due to changed expectations about real wage gains. Wasn't 1994 about 18 years ago?
2. Yes Virginia, there is a Trust Fund. In name only. IIRC, Reagan raided it. God might be able to keep up with all the accounting smoke and mirrors and redefinitions of simple key terms in the original idea of SS concept.
Social Security's critics love to argue that the SSTF is a myth, but it's not. Although Social Security was designed as a pay-as-you-go program, every penny it receives is credited to the SSTF, which has been building enormous reserves following benefit cuts enacted in 1983.
The Trustee report confirms - again - that the surplus funds are invested in "special issue Treasury bonds" and that they are "full faith and credit" obligations of the government to Social Security. Since Social Security can't borrow money by law, it uses those reserves to pay benefits whenever cash on hand runs short.
3. This year's news is not about our aging population.
The accelerated SSTF exhaustion date stems from two factors: a 1.6 percent drop in taxable earnings due to the ongoing depressed economy, and a 3.6 percent cost-of-living adjustment awarded for this year.
Our aging demographics do play a role in the longer range imbalance after 2033, because we have not raised revenue sufficient to match the projected growth in our retired population. Nor have we honored the agreement not to spend those funds on other things, I'll bet.
"The choice is to either reduce benefits 25 percent, or raise revenues 33 percent to adapt," says Steve Goss, chief actuary of the Social Security Administration. Making reforms sooner rather than later would allow for a more gradual phase-in, giving the public plenty of time to plan and adjust accordingly. Whatever happened to the 2.6% fix mentioned above?
I'm in favor of a modest, graduated payroll tax increase. Social Security benefits are modest, averaging $1,230 per month this year. It's the main source of income for most people over age 65 - more than half for nearly one in two married couples and two in three unmarried individuals, according to the National Academy of Social Insurance. So forty of fifty years of seizing 7.5% of my income and an additional 7.5% from my employer's ability to pay me comes to $1,230/month? I call that a terrible investment. Where did all the rest of my money go?
A gradual increase in payroll taxes over the next decade would eliminate a sizable portion of the imbalance; another approach is to lift or remove entirely the cap on wages subject to payroll taxes, which currently is set at $110,100. And jail the politicians who enabled the funds to be misappropriated.
Perhaps that won't be too exhausting an idea for Congress and the media to embrace. Not to mention too stupid even for them to try to pawn off on the citizenry.
#1
another approach is to lift or remove entirely the cap on wages subject to payroll taxes, which currently is set at $110,100
BLUF: Bad news about anything in Gov't is not to be exposed during an election year.
Are they referring to the "cap" which has been being lifted every year or so for as along as I can remember? This scheme will help the gov't on the payment end as well...as if you don't PAY the cap each year...your total "high years" computations purposes are reduced as well. More money in the front end, less money out the back.
Achieving the "needs based" gov't goal could more easily be acheived by increasing the income tax formula levied against social security earners who have.... God forbid, other sources of income.
I blame the $250. grave marker death benefit for all of the fiscal troubles of the agency.
#2
Those "special issue Treasury bonds" are just the government's IOUs to itself. Imagine you have a bill to pay and you reach into your wallet to find a piece of paper that says "I owe myself $100". Then you go out and borrow the money to pay the bill. That's the SSTF in a nutshell.
#3
Do not say its exausted until after the election, at that point they will reevaulate and adjust the numbers as needed. Hopefully there will be no hot-mic incidents when they mumble "suckers" to the American people.
The Obama administration has given the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. military greater leeway to target suspected al Qaeda militants in Yemen with drones, responding to worries a new haven is being established from which to mount attacks on the West.
The policy shift, as described by senior U.S. officials, includes targeting fighters whose names aren't known but who are deemed to be high-value terrorism targets or threats to the U.S. The White House stopped short of authorizing attacks on groups of lower-level foot soldiers who are battling the Yemeni government, the officials said.
The U.S. already authorizes drone strikes in Pakistan against those suspected of militant activities but who haven't necessarily been identified by name.
The expansion of the drone campaign in Yemen, to which the administration agreed earlier this month, underlines the difficulty the White House faces in balancing concerns about al Qaeda's apparently growing foothold in southern Yemen against fears that greater CIA and military involvement could propel the U.S. into another regional conflict.
Some military and intelligence officials privately complain that the White House is being too cautious. They argue that more-aggressive U.S. action is necessary to combat the growing threat from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, and to help the Yemeni government regain control of southern provinces where the group and its allies hold sway.
#1
I can't know if this is true; good for Zero, if it is. Next, describe any blasts that ensue as 'leaking propane tank' explosions, bomb building or transpost accidents, or internal disputes.
There must be an election coming on.
France has issued a warning that the UN Security Council will have to consider military action in Syria if international diplomacy fails to cease the violence.
According to FM Alain Juppe, the moment of truth will be May 5, when Special Envoy Kofi Annan will report to the Security Council. Juppe added that if 300 observers arent deployed in Syria within 2 weeks, France would turn to the Security Council.
#2
And the question that can never be asked lies in the background.........."was colonialism really all that bad?"
It was terrible. It denied the local elites the chance to lord it over the local underclasses. The local elites were worse off under colonialism, whereas the plebes were better off. Smart local elites figured this out and got the local plebes to help them evict their colonial rulers. After which many of the plebes had to go into exile to make a decent living. But at least the local elites got to advance their interests.
[Tolo News] The US may hand over one of the Taliban inmates currently held at its military prison Guantanamo Bay to Afghan authorities, Rooters reported Wednesday, a move welcomed by Afghan officials.
In an effort to resume talks, the US government is again using Taliban detainees in its military prison in Cuba as an incentive to coax the Taliban into direct peace negotiations with the Afghan government, a US source told Rooters.
Sources familiar with the preliminary discussions said the former Taliban regional governor named Khairullah Khairkhwa may be sent to Afghan government custody as an initial gesture meant to revive diplomacy. Khairkhwan is seen by American officials as less dangerous than other senior Taliban detainees now held at the US military prison in Cuba, Rooters said.
Afghan High Peace Council foreign relations adviser Mohammad Ismail Qasimyar welcomed the news saying such an act could help start talks again.
"We believe that such efforts could help in creating mutual trust between the Afghan government and the Taliban," Qasimyar said.
He also added that Khairkhawa, who is understood to have served as the Taliban's interior minister, has previously shown an interest in quitting violence and coming to negotiation table.
"I think they [US] will release and transfer him to Afghanistan," he added.
In February last year, President Hamid 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... demanded Khairkhawa's release.
Peace talks between the US and the Taliban began years ago but have not reached the desired results.
In the recent efforts, the US tried to establish a political liaison office for Taliban in Qatar, which was strongly criticized by the Afghan government it the beginning. Part of the deal was to transfer five former Taliban officials from Guantanamo Bay to Qatar authority.
Later the Afghan government supported the establishment of the Taliban office in Qatar, and based on some reports, initial moves are underway.
However, some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them... the Taliban publicly exited the talks in March, claiming the US had reneged on agreements.
This article starring:
Khairullah Khairkhwa
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2012
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#1
Sure, give his hands to the Afghans. But what are you going to do with the rest of him?
#2
In an effort to resume talks, the US government is again using Taliban detainees in its military prison in Cuba as an incentive to coax the Taliban into direct peace negotiations with the Afghan government, a US source told Rooters.
"Incentives" otherwise known as bribes. Note the lack of mention of recidivism rates.
With fate of his government and own political career hanging in the balance, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday told federal cabinet he would personally appear before the Supreme Court on Thursday (today) to hear its verdict in the contempt case in which he was indicted for refusing to implement court decision on writing letter to Swiss authorities for reopening money-laundering case against President Asif Ali Zardari.
I have been summoned by the court for the third time in recent months, Gilani said adding that he has decided to respond because he has always held the court in high esteem and would continue to do so in future as well. His legal team would work out strategy over whatever is the verdict. Cabinet members expressed solidarity with Gilani and decided to accompany him in the court.
Legal opinion is divided whether Gilani would lose his job if convicted by the court. His counsel Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan maintains that Gilani would continue to be prime minister even if sent to jail for, what he claims as the maximum punishment of six months. But most leading jurists differ with him saying he would be ousted if convicted.
There is a strong contrary argument that even on moral and political grounds Gilani must step down. Even if he decides to seek review of the judgment by a larger bench of the apex court, it would prolong political crisis and instability would have devastating effect on the economy, the administration and international image. The seven-judge bench headed by Justice Nasirul Mulk may either exonerate the prime minister of all charges, or slap him with contempt. The punishment can range from sentence till rising of the court to six months in jail. The court can also disqualify him from holding any public office.
The Swiss case involves President Zardari and six others including his slain wife Benazir Bhutto and a Swiss lawyer who is alleged to have brokered $60 million graft on a deal. The case was withdrawn in 2008 by then attorney-general Malik Qayyum under National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) that pardoned corruption charges against politicians in 2007 following a deal between military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto.
The Supreme Court annulled the ordinance in December 2009 and ordered reopening of all cases including the Swiss case. The court indicted Gilani for refusal to write the letter.
Gilani says it would mean betraying the Pakistan Peoples Party and President Zardari who enjoys immunity from being prosecuted at home or abroad.
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[Emirates 24/7] Syrian opposition activists accused the United Nations ...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involves making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country... on Wednesday of "playing with Syrian lives" by dragging out the deployment of ceasefire monitors in the country.
Responding to an announcement that it will take another month to deploy 100 unarmed military observers to oversee a shaky April 12 truce agreement, most activists reacted with a mixture of anger and apathy.
"It takes them a month to arrive? Are they coming on horses?" said a resident from the city of Homs, which has endured sustained shelling by the army. He asked to be referred to only by the nickname 'Sami' for fear of arrest.
There are currently 15 monitors in Syria.
On Tuesday, U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous told the Security Council, which has authorised 300 monitors to go to Syria, that it will take a month to deploy the first 100.
"After one month we will have maybe 1,000 or 2,000 people killed - it's ridiculous. How can the international community watch without moving quickly," said Mousab Al Hamadi, an opposition resident from Hama province, where activists say 31 people were killed on Monday when the army shelled and stormed the Arbaeen district of Hama city, a day after the monitors visited.
Walid Fares, an activist living in nearby Homs city, which has seen months of shelling, said that the United Nations was "playing with the lives of Syrians," by its slow progress to get monitors on the ground.
"This has just given the regime more time to kill us," he said over Skype. "We are being killed right now, we are not being killed in a month's time."
MONITORS HAVING AN EFFECT?
Travelling in small teams, the monitors have been filmed by amateur videographers in the country, in their blue U.N. helmets and bullet-proof vests, meeting rebels and residents of shelled neighbourhoods around the country.
Activist videos have mocked the monitors, filming themselves dressed as the monitors in fake blue clothes, and pretending that they can neither see nor hear the violence -- a jibe at the monitors who many say are useless.
"Our reaction to U.N. monitors depends on whether they are active or not," said Hamadi. "Yesterday, they came to (Hama). After they left, the people began to flee because they know that after the U.N. monitors leave the security forces will come and arrest people who have talked to them."
"We want them if they really have means of pressuring the regime. But if they are just here to watch how we are being killed, we don't want more watchers," he said, although admitting that Hama, where two monitors are now based, was calm on Wednesday.
Ceasefire mediator Kofi Annan ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo... told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that even a small number of observers can have an enormous impact.
However, there's more than one way to skin a cat... according to a transcript of his remarks, Annan said he was "particularly alarmed by reports that government troops entered Hama (on Monday) after observers departed, firing automatic weapons and killing a significant number of people."
"If confirmed, this is totally unacceptable and reprehensible," he said, expressing concern about reports of fighting in areas where the advance team of monitors has not been present in recent days, including Idlib and Deraa.
Sami said that the situation in Homs had improved greatly since a group of monitors arrived on Saturday. He said government shelling had stopped completely for the first time in two and a half months, although he could still hear the occasional light machine guns being fired.
"We have two monitors in the city and look at the impact it has had. Imagine if the number was raised," he said.
Syria's population is estimated at about 23 million, spread across mountains, deserts and farmland over 180,000 sq. km., raising doubts that even the full 300-monitor force would be able to oversee a ceasefire that both sides appear to disregard.
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04/26/2012
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ULUGAN BAY, Philippines: Hundreds of American and Philippine troops waded ashore on Wednesday in a mock assault to retake a small island in energy-rich waters disputed with China, a drill Beijing had said would raise the risk of armed conflict.
The exercises, part of annual US-Philippine war games on the western island of Palawan, coincide with another standoff between Chinese and Philippine vessels near Scarborough Shoal in a different part of the South China Sea.
China said last week the drill would raise the risk of confrontation. On Wednesday, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai said China was committed to dialogue and diplomacy to resolve the dispute.
We are certainly worried about the South China Sea issue, Cui told a news briefing in Beijing, saying some people tried to mix two unrelated things, territorial sovereignty and freedom of navigation.
The comments come before high-level talks with the Obama administration. China, which claims the South China Sea based on historical records, has sought to resolve disputes bilaterally but its neighbors worry over what some see as growing Chinese assertiveness in its claims in the region.
Location (of the drill) is irrelevant, Ensign Bryan Mitchell, spokesman for the US Marines, told reporters. These exercises take place on a regular basis. This year it happens to be in Palawan. The planning for this took place months ago prior to any events that are currently in the headlines.
US President Barack Obama has sought to reassure regional allies that Washington would serve as a counterbalance to China in the South China Sea, part of his campaign to pivot US foreign policy toward Asia after wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Philippine military officials sought to play down the exercise. Lt. Gen. Juancho Sabban, military commander for the western Philippines, said the drill simply means we want to work together, improve our skills.
Sabbans area of command includes Reed Bank and the Spratlys, a group of 250 mostly uninhabitable islets spread over 427,350 sq km (165,000 sq miles) west of Palawan. The Spratlys are claimed entirely by China, Taiwan and Vietnam and in part by Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines.
If we had known oil was there we could have claimed then in 1945...
Proven and undiscovered oil reserve estimates in the South China Sea range as high as 213 billion barrels of oil, the US Energy Information Administration said in a 2008 report. That would surpass every countrys proven oil reserves except Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, according to the BP Statistical Review.
A Philippine exploration firm, Philex Petroleum Corp. , said on Tuesday its unit, Forum Energy Plc, had found more natural gas than expected around Reed Bank, where Chinese navy vessels tried to ram one of Forum Energys survey ships last year. The Philippines is due to open oil-and-gas exploration bids in Reed Bank on Friday.
Sabban said the military drill was not focused on China.
Never was China ever mentioned in our planning and execution, he told reporters. China should not be worried about Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder) exercises.
Nearly 7,000 American and Philippine troops were launched from US and Philippine ships in the simulated amphibious assault to recapture an island supposedly taken by militants. Commandos came ashore from US and Philippine ships in a simulated amphibious assault to recapture an island supposedly taken by militants.
Jumping from rubber boats as they hit the shore, the commandos engaged in a mock firefight, making their way inch by inch from the beach to a navy facility to rescue hostages and recapture the base.
Four days ago, commando teams rappelled from US helicopters and landed from rubber boats in a mock assault to retake an oil rig in northern Palawan, 18 km (11 miles) off the town of El Nido on the South China Sea.
The annual war games come under the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty, part of a web of security alliances the United States built in the Asia-Pacific region during the Cold War. The drills are a rehearsal of a mutual defense plan by the two allies to repel any aggression in the Philippines.
Hundreds of kilometers to the north, a Philippine coast guard ship patrols near Scarborough Shoal, a group of half-submerged rock formations 124 nautical miles west of the Philippines main island of Luzon. Philippine and Chinese ships are often in the same areas of the South China Sea, with two Chinese maritime surveillance ships a few miles away from the coast guard vessel and five Chinese fishing boats working the waters nearby.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/26/2012
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#1
Again, Zamboanaga Today Artic is claiming that the PHIL may had sold Scarborough Shoal [PHIL = Panatag] to China back during the Macapagal presidency 1961-1965, + that China has a "Deed of Sale" to same???
* ION WAFF > [AntiWar.com] US-JAPAN TO ANNOUNCE AGREEMENT ON TROOPS, MILITARY BASES. AS OBAMA'S "ASIA PIVOT" DEVELOPS, THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN [espec Okinawa] + GUAM HAVE ACTIVELY RESISTED AMERICAN OCCUPATION.
Besides Guam + CNMI's Tinian, Tokyo would like JAPAN'S SDF to rotate + use what will likely be sovereign PHIL-controlled Milbases where US Units will also be rotationally camped [Trilateral Base-Sharing].
As per BLOOMBERG, at least 60% of the now-4000 US Marines coming to Guam from Okinawa will allegedly be "rotational", which IIUC infers Guam will only get NMT 1,600 Marines of the 4000 to be permanently based here - rest will be TDY only. IFF THE USDOD-MARINES ARE DOING WHAT I BELIEVE OR THINK THEY ARE DOING, GUAM MAY GET LESS THAN EVEN THE 1,600.
We'll see, as the announcement has repor been delayed due to the concerns of the CODEL that visited Guam recently.
[Bangla Daily Star] Chairman of a faction of pro-opposition Islami Oikya Jote ... a political party in Bangladesh. In the 2001 elections the party won 2 out of 300 elected members in an alliance with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. It has a focus on building an islamic state, and has used the madrassas to gain support... (IOJ) Mufti Fazlul Haque Amini has begged in public to Almighty Allah for making the children of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina victims of "forced disappearance".
"Allah, please vacate Hasina's lap the same way she has emptied laps of several mothers," said Amini, an ally of the BNP-led opposition alliance, while offering prayers at a discussion in the city yesterday. If anyone deserves a visit from the RAB tonight...
Islami Ain Bastobayan Committee (IABC) organised the programme in protest against the "killing, forced-disappearance, hijacking and violence by the government" at its Lalbagh office.
Amini, chief of IACB, also prayed to Allah for putting Hasina under house arrest and ouster of the government within the next three days.
"We have a major weapon -- offering doa (prayers), which is being offered against Hasina at different mosques, madrasas and other places across the country. Waking up from sleep one sudden day, Hasina will discover her throne gone."
Regarding the "disappearance" of former BNP politician Ilias Ali, Amini urged Khaleda Zia Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... to enforce non-stop countrywide shutdown if the government fails to trace him within the BNP's four-day ultimatum that ends Saturday.
Ilias along with his driver disappeared in the early hours of April 18 from the capital's Banani area.
There is no alternative to the government's removal as it has failed to ensure security of the people, said Amini.
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Damascus -- Rebels seeking to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad killed three regime officers in separate attacks Tuesday around Damascus, activists and state media said, the latest violence targeting the security forces used by the government to quash dissent.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said one intelligence officer was shot dead in the northeastern Barzeh neighborhood of the capital Damascus. Also Tuesday, the state news service said terrorists shot to death a retired lieutenant colonel and his brother, a chief warrant officer, in an area southwest of the capital.
A bomb hidden in an army truck also exploded in the capital, wounding several people. Explosives that were planted in an army truck blew up as the vehicle traveled through downtown. The blast in Marjah Square near the Iranian Cultural Center blew out the trucks windows, leaving a hole in its roof and blood and shattered glass on the road. The trucks driver and two passengers in a nearby car were injured and taken to a hospital.
The state news service said an armed terrorist group had sabotaged the car by planting explosives under the drivers side.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks.
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Swazi King Mswati III has received a jet for his 44th birthday, despite the tiny country's crippling financial crisis, the prime minister said on state radio Wednesday.
Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini said the king now owns a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 twin-engine jet, but insisted the plane was a gift to be used by Mswati and his 13 wives.
"His majesty's government has the honour to announce to the nation that the king has received a gift of a DC-9 aircraft from development partners and friends of the king, to be used by their majesties for travels abroad," Dlamini said.
Mswati celebrated his birthday on April 19 with a three million rand ($386,000, 293,000 euros), partly paid by the state.
He is rated by Forbes magazine as the world's 15th richest monarch with a personal fortune of $100 million, but he reins over one of the world's poorest nations.
The Swaziland Diaspora Platform, a human rights ...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you... group based in South Africa, has rejected the government's explanation for the jet.
No development partner would want to be anonymous, by their nature development agencies are transparent.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2012
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It's good to be King.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/26/2012 7:25
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#2
Yet another lovely invention of old Albion. No mention of the 50% HIV infection rate of men under 30. Rock on King Mswati, Rock on!
[Dawn] An eight-year-old Afghan boy was killed and two shopkeepers injured after a hand grenade hurled by suspected gun-hung tough guys at a Frontier Constabulary checkpost in Bara Qadeen area of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar missed the target on Tuesday.
A police source said FC personnel remained unhurt in the rocket propelled grenade attack.
He said the dead boy was Israrullah, a resident of Afghanistan, while the injured shopkeepers were Shakeel and Nooran, who were shifted to the Khyber Teaching Hospital where their condition was stable.
The source said attackers decamped to Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency. He said the checkpost had been attacked by gun-hung tough guys many times in the past.
Sarband police started the paperwork but haven't done much else against unidentified attackers and began investigation.
In Kohat, Frontier Corps, Frontier Constabulary and police on Tuesday placed in durance vile 16 gun-hung tough guys during a joint operation in the Shahoo Khel area of Hangu district ... Hangu is famous for its greenery, hills, beauty and water. Most of the people of this area are Bangash & Orakzai Pashtuns. Part of the Bangash are Shia. The Orakzai and the Sunni Bangash are determined to kill them... The area is considered to be a stronghold of the banned turban outfit, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain. For the operation, which lasted several hours, Saiful Drara area bordering Shahoo Khel area was sealed to stop gun-hung tough guys from fleeing. The security forces recovered two Kalashnikovs, six rifles, one shot gun, two pistols and 170 pound of kabooms from the placed in durance vile turbans, who were later handed over to police for interrogation.
The deputy inspector general of police, Kohat region, said gun-hung tough guys won't be allowed to enter the settled areas from tribal parts of Kohat division for anti-social activities. He asked police of Hangu, Karak and Kohat to take strict action against troublemakers. --
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#1
Hek's boys have completed Spring Training, still throw like little girls. Not ready for The Show
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2012 9:41
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[Dawn] Police on Tuesday claimed to have tossed in the clink a man for allegedly killing at least two women, chopping off their body parts and dumping them at different places.
The body parts of at least two women were found in different places in March and earlier this month.
DSP Qaiser Ali Shah said the suspect, Muhammad Rafiq Soomro, was tossed in the clink in Patel Para.
He said the held suspect and his friend Iqbal were rickshaw drivers and were involved in chopping off the bodies of two women during the last two months. They threw away the body parts of the victims within the remit of the Soldier Bazaar and Jamshed Quarters cop shoppes, he added. The recovery of all parts of a body took three days.
The police said the suspect allegedly killed a woman, Nasreen, and started using her cellphone. The police traced the location and carried out a raid and tossed in the clink the suspect. However, a lie repeated often enough remains a lie... his accomplice was not present at the time of the raid.
The DSP said the held suspect disclosed to the police that he and his accomplice killed those women since they did not like "their profession".
The police said Rafiq originally hailed from Sukkur and was a father of two. He appeared to be a psychopath, they added.
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JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced support on Tuesday for the first time for Palestinians to establish a contiguous state, saying their future country should not look like Swiss cheese.
Paleo gunnies, however, are a different story...
But only hours earlier, a ministerial committee in his right-wing government granted Israeli legal status to three previously unauthorized Jewish settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank, drawing Palestinian and international criticism.
Palestinians fear such outposts and the 130 formal settlements Israel has built in the territory it captured in a 1967 war will deny them a viable state.
Not that this has caused them to be reasonable or to act on their fear to make peace, mind you...
Asked on CNNs Erin Burnett Outfront program whether he would accept the Palestinians belief they should have a country that is contiguous, Netanyahu replied: Yes.
Not as a Swiss cheese? No, Netanyahu added, addressing a key Palestinian concern, that the state they seek would be comprised of pockets of villages and towns surrounded by Israeli settlements.
Netanyahu previously has said Israel would be generous about the size of a future Palestinian state, but he has not echoed US President Barack Obamas call for a contiguous country to emerge from Middle East peace talks - frozen since 2010 over the settlement issue.
His change of tone on the nature of a Palestinian state came a week after he received a letter from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that repeated a call for an end to all settlement activity and put the onus on Israel to take action to get peace talks moving again.
Palestinians are awaiting a formal response to the letter.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/26/2012
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How is he going to connect the West Bank to Gaza without cutting Israel in half?
ALGIERS: A prominent Muslim cleric in Algeria has issued a religious decree saying God will punish anyone who does not vote in a May 10 parliamentary election, a warning aimed at the large numbers planning to abstain from a vote they view as irrelevant.
Algerias authorities, under pressure to reform after last years Arab Spring revolts in neighboring countries, say the vote will be more free and transparent than ever before. This though is met with skepticism by many ordinary Algerians.
Sheikh Chemseddine Bouroubi, a well-known imam who follows a mainstream Algerian school of Islam, said people should vote to prevent foreign powers who he said included Zionists - from fomenting a violent revolution in Algeria.
Algerians must vote because it is about Algerias stability, and it is about preserving our country from any foreign interference, the imam told Reuters on Wednesday in a telephone interview.
Allah will punish those who do not vote... Voting is a religious obligation, said the cleric, who runs a charity organization in the capital Algiers.
The cleric said the fatwa was his own initiative and he denied any ties to the authorities. But his message chimes with that of the government, which is worried about a low turnout on May 10 and has been urging people to vote.
Algerias leaders say they are carrying out a gradual, managed transition toward democracy, as an alternative to the violent revolutions which have toppled leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen over the past 14 months.
The imam pointed to French celebrity-philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, who played a role in persuading Paris to help overthrow Libyas Muammar Qaddafi last year. Levy was born in Algeria when it was a French colony.
We must do our best to prevent foreign interference in our domestic affairs. Listen to what the Zionist Bernard-Henri Levy is saying: Algeria is about to experience an Arab spring very soon. This is what he said ten days ago in France.
What he means by Arab Spring is a repetition of the Libyan scenario: blood, killings, destruction, the cleric said.
Most Algerians say they fear the sort of turmoil seen in neighboring countries because Algeria is still emerging from a conflict between Islamist militants and the security forces which killed an estimated 200,000 people.
We have just turned the page of violence. Are we going to go back to killings, blood, insecurity, fear? said the cleric.
While there is little sign of any groundswell of support among Algerians for overthrowing their rulers, neither is there much enthusiasm for the election. Many people say the same familiar faces are running for office, that parliament does not have the power to implement reforms, and that the authorities are not prepared to loosen their tight grip on power.
Opinion polls are unreliable, but analysts predict that turnout could be around 35 percent, the record low in the last parliamentary election in 2007.
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[Tolo News] Five Afghan soldiers have been killed and another two injured after improvised bomb blew up in Ghazni province, according to the Ministry of Defence Wednesday.
The blast happened in a village called Shahghasi of Ghazni province, the MoD said in a statement.
No further information was given.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pond, the radioactive tadpoles grown into frogs. Really big frogs, in fact... the Ministry of Interior released a statement that 20 armed faceless myrmidons have been killed, four have been maimed and 11 others tossed in the clink in the past day.
Fifteen joint clearance operations conducted by Afghan National Police, Afghan National Army, NDS and Isaf forces were launched in Kabul, Kapisa, Kandahar, Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... , Pashtun-infested Logar, Ghazni, and Paktiya provinces.
The casualties and arrests happened as a result of these clearance maneuvers.
Also, during the operations, Afghan National Police discovered and confiscated 17 different types of weapons, one rocket launcher, one PKM machine gun, 177 light and heavy rounds, 20 kilograms of kabooms, 11 anti-vehicle mines, one hand grenade, one vehicle and five cycles of violence.
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[Bangla Daily Star] Five people have been killed and 10 injured in two separate attacks in central Nigeria - one targeting football fans, officials have said.
Unknown gunniesrubbed out five villagers in an overnight attack on Rim, 50km (30 miles) south of Jos in Plateau state.
Earlier, in Jos city nine people were maimed after a blast outside a venue where fans had been watching the Chelsea-Barcelona football match.
Jos has seen a wave of inter-communal conflict and Islamist jihad boy attacks.
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#2
Anyone recall marking door jams with small pencil marks and dates? Of course that was back when folks lived in the same houses for more than 3-5 years.
#3
Still got the door, frame and marks. 2 kids run from 1/92 (6yr) to 2/09 (23) heights from 46 to 75 inches. Lost the first few years of the eldest when we re-modeled but he's the 75"+.
#5
Thanks B, they're great boys (is 30 still a boy?). Unfortunately their wives have corrupted them politically but this is the PR of Massaholia so they're not too bad.
#3
I hope she does it. It would be entertaining beyond all measure to see her blown up by a suicide bomber. One of her music videos is her being killed again and again, so I'm sure she's used to the idea.
Let's not go there, shall we? Lady Gaga may be a lot of things, few of them particularly good, but she doesn't deserve death at the hands of crazed killers. Few people do.
#4
She should just cut Indonesia out of her world tour and let the rabid muslims take the heat for it. See who has more support. If the rabid muslims do she's just putting her fans at risk, if her fans do it might do some good to show that.
She should also announce that she'd be happy to meet any Indonesian fans when her tour hits Singapore or Australia.
#5
I see her in a total burka, veil whatever just a little eye slit.
Then every once in a while she's back-lit and the niqab, hijab, gunny sack (whatever the hell they wear) is shown to be mostly see through like a scrim curtain. Now, what's she got underneath, Purina kitty chow??
#8
EU, that's because you don't lop people's heads off or blow up foreign tourists invited into your country [for GDP revenue enhancement]. Amazing how a death penalty actually does alter people's behavior.
[Yemen Post] Defense Minister Mohammad Nasser Ahmed has said that the Military Committee formed under the GCC-mediated power transfer deal and the Higher Military Academy will prepare a projection to reorganize the military and security services. Egad, the Yemeni military has learned how to use Powerpoint. There's no stopping them now...
A military-run news website, 26 September, said that Ahmed met on Wednesday with high-ranking of Yemeni officers including Chief of General Staff and his deputies, confirming that the Military Committee made progress regarding security and stability in the Capital Sana'a
Media sources had stated that a US military team has recently visited the state and held meetings with officials of the Military Committee and the Higher Military Academy.
Meanwhile, ...back at the dirigible, Jack stuck the cigar in his mouth, stepped onto the gantry, and asked Got a light, Mac?
Von Schtinken stopped short, lowering the dagger and trying to control his features. If you light that thing, Herr Armschtröng, he pointed out, his voice tense, we all die!... the minister said that the Capital Sana'a will be totally removed from gunnies and barracks, stressing that all roads will be opened.
He further ordered to improve living standards of all persons affiliated to the Yemeni military, praising their role in combating Al-Qaeda in Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... and other southern governorates.
The GCC deal provides to reconstruct the military on national bases in the wake of a sharp division the military witnessed during the last year as military commanders defected from the former 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... After several days of negotiations brokered by a United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... envoy, Jamal Benomar Mohammed Saleh al-Ahmar, half-brother of former Yemen president Ali Abdullah Saleh, has resigned as head of the Yemeni air force on Tuesday.
Hadi , who took office in February, has vowed to launch more reforms in the army to end divisions and hold a national dialogue to settle disputes among political parties.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2012
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#1
The analogy is simple - Vietnam sucked up a huge amount of the weaponry being handed out to revolutionary movements by the communist bloc. Millions of Chinese starved to death because Mao had to keep the Indochinese guerrillas hip deep in artillery shells and SKS rifles. The Soviets probably took a fair amount of damage to their economy because of the huge weapons-related loans to their proxies that were never paid back.
Afghanistan is fulfilling a similar role. Without Uncle Sam pulverizing the jihadists there, the quasi-NGO jihadi financiers and armorers will shift their attention to other targets. People who say that the war is taking up too much money are nuts. The military-industrial complex has spent about 5% of GDP during the War on Terror - roughly the average for the past 6 decades. It's the welfare state complex that's been killing us - it went from a low single digit % of GDP at the beginning of the 19th century to about 30% today.
#2
It's the welfare state complex that's been killing us - it went from a low single digit % of GDP at the beginning of the 19th century to about 30% today. Posted by Zhang Fei
But, but, but that's where the 'urban party' VOTES are located!!!
#3
It's the lack of perceptible results that has Americans turning against the conflict and making excuses for why. When debt looms badly money issues take the forefront.
Basically the US needs to figure out what to do about Pakistan if we are ever to seriously deal with Afghanistan. We are not ready to do that.
#8
...Senior Executive Service (SES) and Civil Service(GS-14/15)revolving-door, deeply-embedded careerist Marxists just agitating and doing the anti-Christ's work...Destabilizing things at any DOD-related Agency/Department on the "Home-Front".
[An Nahar] At least 21 civilians and three soldiers were killed on Wednesday in violence across Syria, activists said, 13 days after a tenuous truce came into effect.
Regime forces killed six people in the northwestern province of Idlib, four in the Damascus ...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations... suburbs of Harasta and Douma, four in the southern province of Daraa, three in the northern province of Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... , two in the central province of Hama, a person in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor and another in the central province of Homs, the Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, reported.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said four people were killed on a bus raked with gunfire by security forces at a checkpoint near Khan Sheikhun, a town in the restive northwestern province of Idlib. Another person was reportedly killed by gunfire in the village of Shatouria.
In the southern province of Daraa, violent festivities erupted between armed rebels and government forces in the town of Bosra al-Sham, the Britannia-based watchdog said.
Heavy machinegun fire and shelling by regime forces was reported, with an elderly man killed when his home was hit by a mortar, and another person dying in the festivities.
Three soldiers were killed in festivities with armed rebel groups and one citizen was killed by random shooting in the town of Tafas, also in Daraa, according to the Observatory.
One child died after being struck by gunfire in a village in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor.
And regime forces rubbed out one citizen in the town of Rastan, in the central province of Homs, the Observatory reported.
In Douma, a northeastern suburb of Damascus, the NGO said two citizens, including a teenage girl, were killed by sniper fire, with regime forces conducting raids, searching for people wanted by the authorities.
It was unclear whether U.N. monitors, who visited Douma on Wednesday, were present before or after the shootings and raids took place.
In another Damascus suburb, Harasta, two non-combatants were killed by regime forces.
The violence in Syria, which continues despite the hard-fought ceasefire and the presence of U.N. monitors, has claimed more than 9,000 lives since anti-regime protests erupted in March 2011, according to U.N. estimates.
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04/26/2012
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[Dawn] Four more men, including two young footballers, were killed in separate targeted attacks on Tuesday as killings on 'political and ethnic grounds' continued unabated in the metropolis.
Police said assailants riding a cycle of violence and a car targeted two young footballers --Shabbir and Azam -- when they were heading towards Baloch Para on a cycle of violence to see an ailing relative of theirs.
They said the incident took place at Jahangir Road No 2 within the remit of the Jamshed Quarters cop shoppe. The assailants fired on the two young men and beat feet.
The police shifted the maimed to the Civil Hospital 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... , where they died.
Following the incident, tension gripped Jahangir Road and Baloch Para and enraged people forced shopkeepers to shut their businesses. The protesters also burnt tyres on the main road. Extra police deployment was made in the area to control the situation.
Area DSP Qaiser Ali Shah said the assailants riding an Alto car and a cycle of violence were apparently following the victims.
He said the victims were the resident of Shafia Goth in Malir and they were going to meet their relatives in Baloch Para and were targeted at Jahangir Road No 2.
He said the suspects used 9mm pistols and both victims received three bullets each to their head, face and chest.
Both victims were footballers and represented the Bloody Karachi Port Trust team, one as centre forward and the other as midfielder.
They also played from different football clubs.
The area DSP said the two men had gone to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre to inquire after the health of a relative, who had been discharged from the hospital and taken home in Baloch Para. They were heading to his house when they were targeted at Jehangir Road, he added.
The victims did not have any political affiliation and they did not have any criminal record, the police officer added.
The police suspected that it might be a case of killing on ethnic grounds.
Till late in the night, no case was registered at the Jamshed Quarters cop shoppe.
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04/26/2012
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[An Nahar] Six people were killed in an overnight attack on a village in Ivory Coast's restive south-west bordering Liberia, a military source said Wednesday.
The source said four attackers were tossed in the slammer, all of them sympathizers of ousted strongman Laurent Gbagbo ... Former President-for-Life of Ivory Coast from 2000 to 2011. Laurent lost to Alassane Ouattara in 2010 but his representtive tore up the results on the teevee and he refused to vacate the presidential palace. French troops assisted the Oattara forces in extricating him from his Fuhrerbunker... , currently in jug at the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... in The Hague, where he faces charges of crimes against humanity.
The attack took place in Sakre, the source said, speaking from Guiglo, a town about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of the village. Other military and local sources confirmed the attack.
A local said two others were maimed and several homes were torched.
The attackers were based in Liberia and aimed "to loot the villagers of their belongings," the source said, adding that the situation was under control.
The claim could not be independently verified.
Gbagbo's refusal to cede power to Alassane Ouattara ...the current president-for-life of Ivory Coast. He actually beat his predecessor in an election before having to eject him from the presidential palazzo.... after 2010 polls sparked a bloodbath. According to the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... , some 3,000 people died in the violence -- 1,000 of them in the west, a region that is prone to ethnic tensions.
The region still faces security problems, and some 170,000 people remain displaced, the U.N. says.
About 20 people were killed in September 2011 during an attack the authorities blamed on "Liberian mercenaries".
Clashes in the region have pitted pro-Gbagbo militias and mercenaries against President Ouattara's forces.
Ouattara promised reconciliation and accountability during a visit to the region, and on Wednesday the new national assembly opened its session in front of a banner saying: "Sorry".
"I ask for your forgiveness and invite you to go to camps and villages and ask for your own forgiveness," assembly president Guillaume Soro told colleagues.
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[Bangla Daily Star] Pakistain successfully test fired a nuclear-capable intermediate range ballistic missile yesterday, the military said, less than a week after India test launched a long range missile.
The exact range of the missile was not revealed, but retired General Talat Masood, a defence analyst, told AFP intermediate range ballistic missiles could reach targets up to 2,500 to 3,000 kilometres away -- which would put almost all of arch-rival India within reach.
On Thursday India test fired its long range Agni V missile, which can deliver a one-tonne nuclear warhead anywhere in China.
"Pakistain today successfully conducted the launch of the intermediate range ballistic missile Hatf IV Shaheen-1A weapon system," Pakistain's military said in a statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2012
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#1
This opens up some exiting possibilities. Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) worked in US vs USSR because the two countries were roughly 30 minutes apart as the missile flies which meant whoever got attacked had enough time to launch a counter-attack. No advantage to going first with a sneak attack.
In India vs Pakistan, the two countries are only 5 minutes apart - not much time to launch a counter. This means whoever decides to go first with a sucker punch attack accrues major advantage.
When Iran gets The Bomb, you will see the same situation replicated in the ME.
Just like North Korea the Pakis spend more on military than their own people.
should be that way in the US. the Constitution mandates Defense but relegates the 'social' stuff to the states. of course, the 10th amendment hasn't been paid attention to in years.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
04/26/2012 13:27
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#5
Why do I keep getting the feeling tha the sooner Pakistan ceases to exist, the better off the world will be? (This is, of course, summing the nukes are accounted for and either captured by the US or rendered inoperable on a permanent basis). At that point, wall them off and let them go psycho on themselves.
[Emirates 24/7] Nigerian troops raided an alleged hideout on Tuesday in the northern city of Kano suspected to have been used by group Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. Currently wearing a false nose and moustache and answering to Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda'Awati Wal Jihad, or Big Louie... to manufacture bombs, a military front man said.
A military task force stormed the hideout in the city and recovered six assembled bombs and another one under construction, Lieutenant Iweha Ikedichi told news hounds.
"You can see the IEDs (improvised bombs) we recovered in this operation which were intended for attacks on this city by the Boko Haram terrorists," Ikedichi said, showing the bombs to news hounds after the operation.
The bombs were made with drink cans and a drum of around 50 litres.
He said several suspects were tossed in the clink during the raid, but refused to give further information.
According to authorities, Boko Haram has in recent weeks resorted to drive-by shootings in the city following a clampdown by security agents on their hideouts and arrests of its members.
A soldier, a retired police officer and the son of a police officer were among around a dozen people killed in targeted attacks blamed on the Islamists in the past two weeks.
"We have put the sect under intense pressure due to security operations that have led to successful raids of their hideouts, which is why they resorted to assassinations," a senior security source told AFP.
However, Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried... previous raids and high-profile arrests have failed to stop Boko Haram attacks despite claims from authorities. The group has long carried out a range of attacks, including bombings and shootings.
Boko Haram's insurgency, mainly in Nigeria's predominantly Moslem north, has killed more than 1,000 people since mid-2009.
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[Emirates 24/7] Iran announced on Tuesday it is investigating angry allegations made in Brazil that one of its diplomats fondled underaged girls in a Brasilia swimming pool.
Foreign ministry front man Ramin Mehmanparast told news hounds the accused diplomat had been recalled to Iran and would be "dealt with" according to the ministry's disciplinary rules.
He also said the incident, which occurred in mid-April, was being twisted by some Western and Arab media "for political gain" against Iran.
According to Brazilian media, the diplomat was accused of groping at least four Brazilian girls aged between nine and 15 while swimming in a chic Brasilia sports club, making them cry and attracting the fury of their parents.
"People wanted to kill him. If the club had not deployed security personnel, today they would be looking for me to talk about homicide or lynching," the father of one of the girls, who asked not to be named, was quoted as saying by the G1 news website.
Brasilia police tossed in the calaboose the Iranian but quickly released him because of his diplomatic immunity.
Brazilian media identified the diplomat as Hekmatollah Ghorbani, 51, and said he was the third-ranking official in the Iranian embassy in Brasilia. They said he was married, with children, and had been in his post for two years.
The Iranian embassy defended the diplomat by issuing a statement saying the groping allegations were the result of a "cultural misunderstanding" and accusing the Brazilian media of bias.
But Brazil's foreign ministry said it was looking into the case and taking formal steps of notifying the Iranian mission.
On Tuesday, when asked to explain the "cultural misunderstanding", Mehmanparast replied: "On principle, we do not accept this person being at a mixed-sex swimming pool, and it is considered a disciplinary violation and therefore he was summoned home at once and we are reviewing his case."
He added that the diplomat "will be dealt with according to the foreign ministry's disciplinary rules."
In Iran, men and women of any age are not permitted to share swimming pools.
Before the scandal broke, Iran's diminutive PresidentMahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad had been making plans to visit Brazil this year.
Mehmanparast confirmed Ahmadinejad will make the trip "in the future," adding that a date would be announced as soon as it was organised.
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04/26/2012
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[Emirates 24/7] FBI director Robert Mueller visited Yemen on Tuesday, pledging to help quell an Islamist insurgency, as security and government sources said a drone had killed a prominent Al Qaeda leader linked to an attack on a French oil tanker.
In a meeting with President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who took office earlier this year, Mueller promised the United States would support Yemen "with full force" in all respects.
"Mueller visits Yemen on an annual basis so this is not a special or secret occasion," said Mohammed Al Basha, Yemen's embassy front man in Washington. "President Hadi emphasised that he is strongly committed to combatting extremism and working with the U.S. to counter the mutual threat of terrorism."
Yemen's embassy in Washington said on Tuesday that Mohammed Saeed Al Umda, convicted in 2005 of involvement in the 2002 attack on the Limburg oil tanker, had been killed in an air strike on his convoy in the oil-producing province of Maarib on Sunday. It did not specify whether it was a U.S. strike.
Umda, described by the embassy as Yemen's fourth most-wanted man, had received military training under the late Osama bin Laden ... who has made the transition back to dust... in Afghanistan and was in charge of the group's finances, a security source said.
In Washington, U.S. officials indicated that there had been other similar air attacks recently against cut-thoat targets in Yemen. U.S. cooperation with Yemeni authorities on counter-terrorism issues appears to have improved somewhat since Hadi took over from long-time 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... earlier this year.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they were aware of reports of Al Umda's death in such an attack but did not have final confirmation. U.S. sources indicated that the Arclight airstrike in which the Yemenis say he was killed was carried out by a missile fired from a CIA-operated drone aircraft.
The United States has repeatedly used drones to target suspected al Qaeda cut-thoats, who have been emboldened by a year of political upheaval in the impoverished state.
Exploiting mass protests against former president Saleh's 33 years in office, forces of Evil linked to Al Qaeda last year seized large swathes of territory in southern Yemen, including at least two towns.
Yemen's army, which split into two factions during the uprising that eventually unseated Saleh, has been battling to get the upper hand against the cut-thoats.
On Tuesday, the Defence Ministry put the number of forces of Evil killed in the southern Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... province in the past two days at 52. It said the army had seized some government offices from forces of Evil as they pushed deep inside the quiet provincial capital of Zinjibar.
In a statement, Ansar al Sharia, an Al Qaeda-affiliated group, said its fighters had blocked the army's advance and challenged the authorities to issue "just one recent photograph showing troops inside the city (Zinjibar)".
The statement did not refer to the drone attack.
Tribal sources in Abyan said up to 21 forces of Evil were killed in three separate festivities with pro-government rustics on Tuesday. Two tribal fighters died in the fighting, they said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[An Nahar] Kurdish rebels have killed four members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards in the country's west, a provincial official told the Mehr news agency on Wednesday.
The attack was carried out by members of the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) near the town of Paveh in Iran's Kermanshah province on Tuesday evening, Mehr reported.
"Four members of the Guards were martyred and four others maimed in the cowardly act," Shahryar Heydari, the province's ranking security official, told Mehr.
Heydari said PJAK rebels also suffered casualties, but did not provide any details.
The PJAK, labeled as "terrorists" by Tehran, has often clashed with Iranian forces, sparking retaliatory bombing of their rear bases in the mountainous border districts of neighboring Iraqi Kurdistan.
The report on Wednesday was the first such account of a deadly conflict between Iranian forces and the Kurdish rebels since summer last year.
In July 2010, the Islamic republic's Guards launched a string of operations against the rebels and began shelling districts near the border with Iraq, killing dozens including the rebels' deputy commander.
Later in September, the Guards said they had forced the rebels out of northwestern Iran and killed more than 180 of them in a summer-long offensive.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2012
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BEIJING: China on Wednesday issued a veiled warning to neighboring North Korea not to carry out what is widely expected to be an imminent nuclear test.
Peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in Northeast Asia bears on Chinas national interest and also bears on the interests of all relevant parties, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai told a news briefing.
China will oppose anything which might jeopardize peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in Northeast Asia, as this would damage Chinas national security interests and the interests of the relevant parties as well, he said, when asked about the possibility of a new nuclear test by North Korea. We believe that no party should take any action that might escalate tensions.
China is the only major power that the impoverished North has for an ally, but even Beijings influence over Pyongyang is limited in the diplomatic stalemate over the Norths efforts to build a nuclear arsenal.
The United States has called on China to do more to rein in North Korea. But Cui, in Chinas highest level comments yet on the possibility of a new test, said everyone shared equal responsibility.
Maintaining peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in Northeast Asia is the joint responsibility of all sides, not just China alone, he added. Chinas basic position on this issue is that the parties concerned should work unwaveringly for peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in Northeast Asia.
And that's why this is all theater and not a 'warning' to the Norks: it's just another way for China to get a dig in at the U.S.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/26/2012
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#1
IMHO, Pudgy actually believes the rhetoric that his bottle rockets can destroy the world.
[Emirates 24/7] Libya, preparing for elections in June, has banned political parties based on religion, tribe or ethnicity, a government front man said on Wednesday.
National Transitional Council front man Mohammed Al Harizy said the council passed the law governing the formation of political parties on Tuesday evening.
"Parties are not allowed to be based on religion or ethnicity or tribe," he told Rooters.
He did not make clear how this would affect a political party formed in March by Libya's Moslem Brüderbund and other Islamists. The new party is viewed as a leading contender in the June polls.
Islamist parties had been expected to vie with secular ones for seats in a national assembly that will draft a new constitution for the North African country.
Political analysts say the Moslem Brüderbund is likely to emerge as the most organised political force and an influential player in the oil-exporting country.
Islamists have performed strongly in post-uprising elections in Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco since October and they are also likely to do well in Libya.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2012
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#1
I guess birthday parties are OK.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/26/2012 19:17
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[An Nahar] Pak police defused a bomb on a passenger train in the country's northwest on Wednesday, officials said, hours after a blast at a station in the eastern city of Lahore killed two people.
A guard found the bomb in a briefcase in the early hours of the morning on the train from 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... to Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, the main town in the northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... province, near the Afghan border.
"The bomb fitted with detonator and batteries was packed with old clothes in a briefcase lying unattended in one of the coaches of the Awam Express," police officer Mazhar Abbas told Agence La Belle France Presse.
The train guard found the briefcase after a wedding party got down from the train at Attock station, he said.
"The guard checked from the wedding party members and remaining passengers in the coach but nobody claimed its ownership."
A bomb disposal squad was then summoned who defused the device, he said.
Mohammed Sajjad, a police investigation official, told AFP the bomb carried 13 kilograms of explosives as well as ball bearings and some nuts and bolts.
"Luckily a major tragedy has been averted," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2012
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[Yemen Post] President Abdurabu Mansour Hadi ...the second and possibly the last president of Yemen, successor to former President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh... said on Wednesday he and the Yemeni government will do their best to promote freedom of press in the future in Yemen.
At his meeting with President of International Federation of Journalists Jim Boumelha and head of the Yemeni Journalist Syndicate, Hadi said it is important to promote freedom of press within the efforts to boost development and fight corruption.
Hadi also promised to look into the case of journalist Abdulelah Haider Shaye, who was captured two years ago on al-Qaeda links accusations. Boumelha and the Yemeni Journalist Syndicate renewed the call to release this journalist, who used to cover al-Qaeda issues and was placed in durance vile by the systems of the former regime.
Shaye was sentenced to five years in jail on terrorism-related charges and when the turmoil started here in 2011 he was about to be pardoned by the US President Barack Obama The campaign's over, John... urged to keep him behind bars.
Meantime, the Yemeni journalists are demanding to reconsider the bylaw of the syndicate in the way it allows to every journalist to participate in making decision and to ensure the independence of press in Yemen.
Posted by: Fred ||
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The Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have agreed to establish a new autonomous political entity to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
Chief government negotiator Marvic Leonen said on Wednesday that the two sides had signed an agreement that contained their "decision points on principles." He said those points would guide negotiations on the substantive agenda of the peace talks.
Among the issues agreed upon was the commitment to "work for the creation of an autonomous political entity in place of the ARMM," because both sides recognized that the "status quo is unacceptable."
Leonen said replacing the ARMM with a new entity would require Congress to pass a law. He said the contours of the entity and how it will be established were still under discussion.
The chief negotiator acknowledged that the government and the MILF were currently poles apart when it comes to their respective positions on the geographic scope of the autonomous political entity. Included in the 10-point agreement was that the autonomous political entity will have a ministerial form of government.
#2
It's easy for me to say since I'm not out there fighting them but I wouldn't give the MILFs an inch because they'll do what Muslims always do and take a mile.
I was contemplating the 'Master of the Obvious' graphic for this story as well.
BEIRUT/UNITED NATIONS: Syria has failed to comply with a pledge to withdraw weapons from population centers, and towns where citizens met with UN truce monitors may have been attacked, international mediator Kofi Annan told the UN Security Council on Tuesday.
As violence flared in the Syrian capital of Damascus, Annan told the 15-nation body we need eyes and ears on the ground, able to move freely and quickly to watch over the ragged cease-fire. But the head of UN peacekeeping said deployment was moving slowly.
Send in the mighty Uruguayans!
Annan made clear that Syrian forces had not withdrawn heavy weapons from urban centers and returned to barracks, as they are required to under a six-point peace plan he drew up.
The situation in Syria continues to be unacceptable. The Syria authorities must implement their commitments in full, and a cessation of violation in all its forms must be respected by all parties, Annan said, according to a transcript of his remarks.
He suggested the Syrian government was targeting people in areas where the monitors had met with civilians. He noted that he was particularly alarmed by reports that government troops entered Hama yesterday after observers departed, firing automatic weapons and killing a significant number of people.
If confirmed, this is totally unacceptable and reprehensible, Annan said. Two observers have been stationed in Hama today.
So expect some more dead civilians...
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, sent a Twitter message from inside the council where Annan was briefing via video link, saying, targeting by Syrian regime of those speaking with UN monitors is outrageous but not unexpected.
Boy howdy, what resolute diplomacy by the U.S. ambassador...
Rice said that was a direct violation of two resolutions the Security Council adopted this month to authorize the deployment to Syria of 300 monitors and an unspecified number of civilians as part of a UN observer mission called UNSMIS.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/26/2012
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#2
Thats actually par for the Syrians, be it Bashir = Baby Assad, or his late Daddy-o.
* TOPIX > SYRIA FACES NEO-MUJAHIDEED STRUGGLE.
I'll say - the Hard Boyz back in AFPAK are wearing raggedy traditional Islamic wear, the Syrian Hard Boyz are post-modern le chic.
versus
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > TURKISH LEADERS: [JDP] GOVT. HAS TURNED TURKEY INTO A BASE FOR TERRORISM, + Imperialism.
PM Erdogan attempting to enforce a unilateral PRO-TURKIC/KEMALIST "GREATER MIDDLE EAST" AGENDUM???
* SAME > TURKISH ReSIGNED OFFICIALS: ERDOGAN IS TOOL WHOM IS CARRYING OUT THE PROJECTS OF SUPERPOWERS, not Turkey's interests.
* SAME > TURKEY TO STAGE [Aegean]MARITIME EXERCISES UNDER IRANIAN SUPERVISION | IRANIAN FORCES TO OBSERVE TURKISH MILITARY EXERCISES.
* TOPIX > IRANOLOGIST: AZERBAIJAN ARMY TOO WEAK TO DEFEND PIPELINE, REGION DURING [any]IRAN-AZERI WAR, IRAN ONLY NEEEDS 10% OF ITS ARMY TO REACH [take] BAKU.
* SAME > IMF ASKS CAUCASUS + CENTRAL ASIA TO CREATE MORE JOBS, espec to deter or defeat Rising Islamism among the youths + working-class [males].
#3
The thing that gets me about this is "Where do you expect them to be withdrawn too?"
I assume that it's expected that all the troops and weapons be stored in a warehouse/base somewhere and just allow the rebels to have freedom of movement and freedom to fire but c'mon that's ridiculous. This is a civil war, either pick a side and help of shut up and leave them alone.
[Yemen Post] Abdu Janadi, the spokesperson for the General People Congress Party (GPC) and one of the biggest aides of the former 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... , called on Saleh himself to step down as the head of the GPC, which he founded and led since 1986.Al-Janadi called on Saleh to quit his post as the head of the GPC in order to give way to the new President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi to lead the party.The paper said that Araf al-Zawka, a leading figure in the party, rejected al-Janadi's request while Saleh said that it's the party which can decides who remains and who leaves.According to sources, Saleh said his nephew, Tariq Mohammed Saleh, who was dismissed by a presidential decree early this month, does not want the job reassigned to him by Hadi. He was sacked from his post as the head of Presidential Guard, and reappointed as the commander of 3rd Armored Brigade.Tariq will lead the guards of his uncle, Saleh, who is still the head of the GPC, said the paper.Saleh and Hadi relationship has sharply deteriorated when Hadi refused to attend the meeting of the GPC party, which was headed by Saleh.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2012
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[An Nahar] A member of the ruling family of Ras al-Khaimah, one of seven states that make up the United Arab Emirates, has been held "without charge" for days, his son said on Wednesday.
Sheikh Sultan al-Qassimi, a first cousin of the emir who heads the local branch of the Islamist group al-Islah, was incarcerated on Friday by "gunnies in civilian clothing," his son Sheikh Abdullah told Agence La Belle France Presse by telephone.
Sheikh Sultan "is being held in a room secured by guards at the governor's palace," the son said, condemning the absence of "any formal charges against him."
"He refuses to sign anything or give any statements to the authorities as long he is being jugged in this manner," Sheikh Abdullah said, a day after visiting his father in jug.
He said a family member had warned his father two weeks ago that he could be incarcerated by the UAE federal authorities, adding: "We demand his immediate release."
In a statement posted on its website, al-Islah condemned Sheikh Sultan's detention as an "unprecedented provocation".
Earlier this month, UAE authorities jugged six members of al-Islah and revoked their citizenship for alleged links to terrorism funding.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2012
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#1
So the emir's first cousin was probably involved in terror finance?
Guess some billionaire businessman told the emir to clean up his act or he'd take his business elsewhere.
Posted by: American Delight ||
04/26/2012 7:23
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#2
Source information of the arrest of Sheikh Sultan al-Qassimi provided below:
Earlier this month, UAE authorities jugged six members of al-Islah and revoked their citizenship for alleged links to terrorism funding.
(Sh.M.Network)- The reliable news sources from the southern Somali town ofBaidoasaid on Wednesday that Ethiopian forces have locked away two Somali politicians after allegedly accused of opposing for making a regional state.
Sheik Aden Mohammed Nur known as Aden Madobe and Mohammed Ibrahim Habsade, the two politicians were jugged by the Ethiopian troops from their houses in the town and then they were airlifted to a jail at the border betweenSomaliaandEthiopia.
Sheik Aden Mohammed Nur, former Somali parliament speaker, Mohammed Ibrahim Habsade, former Minster of transport for TFG have been on tour in Bay and Bakol regions of Somalia after both Somali and Ethiopian forces captured that regions from Al shabab bad turbans.
Some reports confirm that the MPs have been transferred to another prison in Addis Abbaba, the capital of Ethiopian. A politician close to the speaker whom Shabelle Media contacted on the phone to know more the issue of the MPs denied the arrest report.
Ethiopian has sent again its troops and tanks into Somali last year to help TFG war on Al shabab fighters, capturing several strategic areas in south and central regions ofSomalia.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2012
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A bomb went off on Takbai-Taba Road in Narathiwat province yesterday afternoon, injuring eight people including a three-year-old boy, civilians and soldiers. Police say the bomb was in an iron box hidden in a two-wheeled push-cart.
A police investigation found that two men on a motorcycle placed the bomb on the push-cart then fled. Later, when the soldiers' jeep drove by, the bomb was detonated by remote. The blast also hit the civilians who were on two motorcycles.
A village leader was gunned down by suspected terrorists insurgents in front of his house in Narathiwat's Sungai Padi district early yesterday morning. Police found the body of Sainung Ada, 50, riddled with bullets. He had a 9 mm pistol in his hand. Also found at the scene were 18 cartridges from AK47 and M16 rifles.
Police say Sainung was walking in front of his house at 5 a.m. when two gunmen in hiding opened fire. He tried to return fire but it appears that his weapon jammed.
Sainung was attacked and wounded by a suspected terrorist insurgent in 2010, but he fought back and the gunman fled. He had publicly announced that he would join with authorities to help crackdown on terrorists separatists.
Two villagers were killed in a drive by shooting in Narathiwat province early Wednesday morning. They were heading home in a pickup truck from a fresh market on a local road when gunmen in another pickup truck opened fire on them with M16 and AK47 assault rifles.
The victims pickup truck swerved off the road, crashed into a tree and stopped. The gunmen then got out of their pickup truck and fired at them again at close range being fleeing. The victims died at the scene.
(Sh.M.Network)- Abdiw eli Mohammed Ali, the PM of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) has on Wednesday spoken out against some figures who oppose the new draft constitution of Somalia.
Speaking with Somali VOA service based in Washington,United States of America, Somali premier hit out the constitution opponents, saying: "every body who tries to reject or boycott the constitution will be viewed as the common enemy of Somali people and restoring Somalia into a permanent government."
"They should bring definite articles to show us their negative response and errors in the draft constitution, but we will never allow them to bar this draft constitution from getting into effect and use,"' The PM added.
This comments followed after senior Somali holy mans warned on Monday the UNDP funded draft constitution, comprising of 69 pages is intentionally endangering the Islamic religion and the nationhood of the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2012
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[An Nahar] A New Zealand zookeeper was crushed to death Wednesday when an elephant sat on her, emergency officials and media reports said.
Police confirmed they were called to an incident involving an elephant and its keeper late in the afternoon at Franklin Zoo, near Auckland, but said no further information would be released until the woman's family were informed.
Television Three news said the woman died when the elephant sat on her.
A fire service front man said when they arrived at the zoo "the elephant had been secured and paramedics were working with the patient" who had since died.
In an article posted on the zoo website in 2010, sanctuary director and veterinary surgeon Helen Schofield said Jumbo had settled in well and developed close and affectionate relationships with her team of keepers.
"She is responding well by presenting feet for care, all parts of her body for washing, rub downs and other health care procedures," Schofield said.
"Our dream for Jumbo is to get her in a situation where she can have other African elephants for company."
"It is a tremendous privilege to take care of Jumbo. I feel personally humbled and flattered by the big ear flapping purrs she gives me as a greeting when I return to see her from other activities in the sanctuary. She is so affectionate and responsive."
The zoo negotiated the release of the 40-year-old elephant in 2009 from a circus where it had lived in shackles for 30 years.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2012
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#1
Awwwwww, how cute, she was crushed in elephant love.
[Bangla Daily Star] A Dhaka court yesterday refused Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... leader Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed bail in the August 21 grenade attack cases.
Judge Shahed Nuruddin of the Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 passed the order after a lengthy hearing on the bail petitions filed by the Jamaat secretary general on April 9.
Earlier in the day, counsels of six accused in the cases cross-examined Sharif Faruq Ahmed, the then sub-inspector of Motijheel Police Station, who had filed the cases.
The court fixed April 30 for the next hearing of the cases.
Twenty-four people, including Awami League leader Ivy Rahman, were killed and around 200 others injured in the grisly grenade attack on an AL rally at Bangabandhu Avenue on August 21, 2004. The then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina narrowly beat feet the attack.
Seven accused, including three former inspectors general of police, who were earlier granted bail by different courts, appeared in the court yesterday while 26 others, including former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar and Mojaheed, now in jail custody, were produced.
BNP Senior Vice-chairman Tarique Rahman ...the elder son of former President of Bangladesh Ziaur Rahman Bir Uttam, and Khaleda Zia, former Prime Minister of Bangladesh. He is the Senior Vice Chairperson of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). His nickname is Pino. There are allegations that Pino took a rakeoff from every foreign investment into the country while Mom was in office... and 18 others have been absconding since the cases were filed.
Syed Rezaur Rahman appeared for the state while TM Akbar, Abdullah Mahmud Hassan and Mahboob Ahmed defended the accused.
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04/26/2012
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[An Nahar] Hizbullah international relations officer Ammar Moussawi slammed United Nations ...an organization whose definition of human rights is interesting, to say the least... Chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... 's semi-annual report on the implementation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1559.
Moussawi expressed irritation during a meeting with U.N. Special Coordinator for Leb Derek Plumbly over the language used by Banin his report concerning the arms of the resistance.
Ban's report, issued on April 20, reiterated that the presence of Hizbullah and other gangs on Lebanese territories was impeding the implementation of resolution 1559.
It said Hizbullah's arms posed a key challenge to the safety of Lebanese civilians and to the authority of the government and called on the group to complete the transformation into a solely Lebanese political party.
Moussawi and Plumbly also discussed the local developments and the situation along the border with Israel.
Plumbly toured Nahr al-Bared Paleostinian refugee camp earlier on Wednesday and held talks with Paleostinian factions in northern Leb.
The Paleostinian delegation discussed with the U.N. official the humanitarian rights of the Paleostinian refugees in Leb.
The delegation demanded Plumbly to urge the Lebanese authorities to work swiftly on reconstructing the rest of the damaged houses in Nahr al-Bared.
They hoped that the Lebanese government would end the military and security measures near the refugee camp.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2012
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[Dawn] Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... on Wednesday said he would appear before the seven-member bench of the Supreme Court on April 26.
"I will appear before the Supreme Court tomorrow," Gilani told his cabinet, while chairing the weekly cabinet meeting here at the PM Secretariat.
Gilani said he had always honoured the court's decisions and fully respects its verdicts.
Moreover, the prime minister announced during the meeting that if any other cabinet member wished to accompany him, he was welcome.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik Pak politician, current Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. said the entire cabinet would accompany the prime minister when he appears before the apex court.
Gilani will be making his third appearance on Thursday in front of the SC bench, headed by Justice Nasirul Mulk, hearing a contempt case against him.
The court is expected to either exonerate the prime minister of all charges, or slap him with contempt.
Gilani had earlier appeared before the Supreme Court on Jan 19 and Feb 13.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2012
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[An Nahar] Newt Gingrich ...former Speaker of the House, author of the Contract with America. Gingrich gave the country welfare reform and a balanced budget and the Publicans a landslide House victory in 1994. On the downside, he has a roving eye and a loose fly, he's opinionated, and he's abrasive despite his ability to work with the other side of the political aisle... has decided to quit the U.S. presidential race, U.S. media reported Wednesday, paving the way for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney ...whose real first name is actually, no kidding, Willard, was governor of Massachussetts and is currently the front-runner for president on the Publican ticket. He is the son of the former governor of Michigan, George Romney, who himself ran for president after saving American Motors from failure, though not permanently. Romney's foot is in an ideological bucket because of Romneycare, a state-level experiment that should have been a warning against Obamacare if anyone had been paying attention. Romney's charisma is best defined as soporific, which is probably why he is leading the Publican field... to be crowned the Republican nominee.
Gingrich, former speaker of the House of Representatives, is expected to hold a final campaign event in Washington on Tuesday May 1, formally ending his White House bid and throwing his support behind his former opponent.
"When he says he is transitioning, what he means is that he is trying to determine as a citizen how he will pro-actively help Mitt Romney become president," CNN reported, quoting its source on condition of anonymity.
A source told Fox News that Gingrich, 68, would "more than likely," endorse Romney, a multimillionaire businessman and former Massachusetts governor, when he either suspends or ends of his own campaign next week.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2012
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#1
And if Newt somehow manages to backpedal enough to cobble together a heartfelt endorsement, maybe Mitt can cover his campaign's debts.
#2
I think Newt got into it to sell books and was surprised by the wind that appeared at his back for awhile as the not-Romney candidate. Hopefully he sold a lot of books and will just go away now.
#4
C'mon, you guys. Newt was brilliant in the debates. I understand about the baggage but I hope Romney has sense enough to listen to some of what Newt had to say.
#6
Brooklyn Bridge? Sorry, all my money is tied up paying for a home in California. But I guess that makes me a sucker too.
Well, you get used to politicians saying one thing on the stump and when they get into office they do something else. Newt balanced budgets. I'll always remember that. For a few years there in the 90's anyway, he walked the walk. I don't see that in many other politicians.
#7
I hope, and it looks like it might be so, that Romney learned from Gingritchs attack Obama strategy because holding back and sticking to the high road leads to loss of message and elections.
[Dawn] Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, lying on the periphery of the heartland of the Moslem world, appear to be islands of stability in the stormy sea that is the Moslem world. There we have seen relative stability come after wise politicianship and good governance has brought under control the various evils that afflict the other parts of the Moslem world.
Malaysia's ethnic harmony between the indigenous Malay and the Chinese and Indian minorities came after years of able leadership and affirmative actions, which brought the Malays closer to par with their Chinese and Indian counterparts. Indonesia, after years of fruitless efforts, under successive military-supported dictators, to expand its territorial limits eventually not only gave up such ambitions, but even ceded part of the territory it held and granted greater autonomy to other areas. It could then reduce the influence of the military in politics and get on with the job of exploiting its rich natural resources to usher in an era of prosperity and economic well-being for the people.
Are there lessons to be learnt from the experience of these countries? Clearly, the chief lesson is that we must have stable and able leadership which even while looking after its own interests frames policies, both domestic and foreign, to serve the domestic agenda of promoting the economic well-being of its people and eliminating the causes of ethnic and sectarian strife.
But to my mind the even more important lesson is that the administrative structure must be improved and depoliticised. We started with an administrative structure that was the envy of countries like Malaysia. It was recruited on merit. Today, with notable exceptions, posts in the bureaucracy have become gifts that the politicians dole out to their favourites or sell to the highest bidder. Today, no conscientious police officer dare arrest even a killer without checking his political connections.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2012
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#1
Nonsense. Malays ethnic harmony came after a civil war that sent the bulk of their Chinese population into Singapore where they created their own state.
Ethnic harmony still doesn't exist in Indonesia where they slaughtered Chinese back in the day and currently slaughter Christians when the opportunity presents itself.
Brunei on the other hand is a speck of a nation with oil wealth. Perhaps they are stable, I don't know.
If they are harmonious its because they slaughtered big and early.
#2
To the extent that they are stable, it is because they have deviated from Arab Muslim doctrine. Indeed, the violence that Malaysia and Indonesia have seen lately is due entirely to the importing on Arab Islam into these countries.
"Depoliticizing the administrative structure" is simply not in the DNA of Middle Eastern culture.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
04/26/2012 11:28
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Mitt Romney ...whose real first name is actually, no kidding, Willard, was governor of Massachussetts and is currently the front-runner for president on the Publican ticket. He is the son of the former governor of Michigan, George Romney, who himself ran for president after saving American Motors from failure, though not permanently. Romney's foot is in an ideological bucket because of Romneycare, a state-level experiment that should have been a warning against Obamacare if anyone had been paying attention. Romney's charisma is best defined as soporific, which is probably why he is leading the Publican field... effectively claimed the Republican presidential nomination as he revelled in a five-state primary sweep and urged voters to help him oust President Barack Obama The campaign's over, John... in November.
With wins Tuesday in Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, according to US media forecasts, Romney essentially kicked off his general election campaign after months of tangling with Republican rivals.
"Tonight is the start of a new campaign," Romney told ecstatic supporters in New Hampshire -- scene of his first Republican primary victory back in January and a potentially pivotal general election battleground.
"Tonight is the beginning of the end of the disappointments of the Obama years -- and it's the start of a new and better chapter that we will write together."
He trounced former House speaker Newt Gingrich ...former Speaker of the House, author of the Contract with America. Gingrich gave the country welfare reform and a balanced budget and the Publicans a landslide House victory in 1994. On the downside, he has a roving eye and a loose fly, he's opinionated, and he's abrasive despite his ability to work with the other side of the political aisle... and congressman Ron Paul, the two remaining Republicans in the race, in northeastern states that are largely friendly territory for Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts.
Romney basked in the glow of the clean sweep, and effectively staked his claim to the nomination.
"After 43 primaries and caucuses, many long days and not a few long nights, I can say with confidence -- and gratitude -- that you have given me a great honour and solemn responsibility," Romney told supporters.
"Together, we will win on November 6!"
Romney is still short of the 1,144 delegates needed to be crowned the official nominee at the Republican convention in late August, but most campaign watchers are treating him as the Democratic incumbent's challenger.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2012
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#1
Everyone has dropped out except Ron Paul and he's way, way behind in the electoral count. So the question is, do the electoral vote for Santorium and Gingrich and others go to Romney or not.
[Yemen Post] Public committees that were formed from rustics in some districts of Lahj governorate tossed in the calaboose on Monday eight Al-Qaeda suspects after receiving threats of a surprise attack by Al-Qaeda hard boyz against Lahj, local sources said.
The sources said that tow of the arrestees are Syrian nationals, two are Saudi nationals and the four others are Yemenis.
They said thon the lam amounts of foreign currencies modern weapons and ammunitions were found on the vehicle the hard boyz had, reaffirming that the rustics handed over the hard boyz to the military services there and they were later transferred to Al-Anad camp.
Local sources confirmed that Ansar Al-Shariah repeatedly threatened to storm Yafa'a and take control on the town.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pond, the radioactive tadpoles grown into frogs. Really big frogs, in fact... Military sources had cited that the Yemeni army made progress against Ansar Al-Shariah in Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... and could reach to the heart of Zinjibar after air-fighters launched strikes on the town.
According to Yemen's Defense Ministry, most veteran leaders of Al-Qaeda were killed and some others could escape outside the governorate of Abyan.
It stated that it will expand it operations to purge Abyan of Al-Qaeda, ensure the return of the displaced persons, and resume security and stability to the city.
The U.S. ambassador to Yemen, Gerald Feierstein, has attributed the army's progress to changes made by President Abdurabu Mansur Hadi in the military's leadership.
Meanwhile, ...back at the fist fight, Jake ducked another roundhouse, then parried with his left, then with his right, finally with his chin... Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations Ropert Muleler arrived in Sana'a on Tuesday and discussed with Hadi efforts of counterterrorism, in particular fighting against Al-Qaeda.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Esquimeau village our hero was receiving a quick lesson in aeronautics...... Ansar Al-Sharia threaten to behead more than seventy soldiers who were captured last month as the hard boyz surprisingly attacked military positions.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2012
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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.
Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger reports that a woman starved to death after embarking on a spiritual diet that required her to stop eating or drinking and live off sunlight alone.
A Virginia man says his Osama bin Laden-inspired license plates are being taken away by the Department of Motor Vehicles for being offensive. But he says the DMVs new plates are even worse.
A decade ago, Americans felt similarly about their local, state and federal governments. No longer.
Egyptian husbands will soon be legally allowed to have sex with their dead wives - for up to six hours after their death.
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
It's rare to see a federal official publicly beg reporters to get a story right, but the commissioner of the Social Security Administration seemed ready to get down on his hands and knees at a Monday press briefing. Michael Astrue was cautioning journalists not to scare the public about the meaning of the word "exhaustion."
With fate of his government and own political career hanging in the balance, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday told federal cabinet he would personally appear before the Supreme Court on Thursday (today) to hear its verdict in the contempt case in which he was indicted for refusing to implement court decision on writing letter to Swiss authorities for reopening money-laundering case against President Asif Ali Zardari.
"We have a major weapon -- offering doa (prayers), which is being offered against Hasina at different mosques, madrasas and other places across the country. Waking up from sleep one sudden day, Hasina will discover her throne gone."
Swazi King Mswati III has received a jet for his 44th birthday, despite the tiny country's crippling financial crisis, the prime minister said on state radio Wednesday.
Police on Tuesday claimed to have 
Four more men, including two young footballers, were killed in separate targeted attacks on Tuesday as killings on 'political and ethnic grounds' continued unabated in the metropolis.
Six people were killed in an overnight attack on a village in Ivory Coast's restive south-west bordering Liberia, a military source said Wednesday.
International Criminal Court
Nigerian troops raided an alleged hideout on Tuesday in the northern city of Kano suspected to have been used by group 
Iran announced on Tuesday it is investigating angry allegations made in Brazil that one of its diplomats fondled underaged girls in a Brasilia swimming pool.
Mahmoud 
[Yemen Post] Abdu Janadi, the spokesperson for the General People Congress Party (GPC) and one of the biggest aides of the former President 
A New Zealand zookeeper was crushed to death Wednesday when an elephant sat on her, emergency officials and media reports said.
A Dhaka court yesterday refused 
Hizbullah international relations officer Ammar Moussawi slammed 
Prime Minister Syed 
Indonesia, after years of fruitless efforts, under successive military-supported dictators, to expand its territorial limits eventually not only gave up such ambitions, but even ceded part of the territory it held and granted greater autonomy to other areas. It could then reduce the influence of the military in politics and get on with the job of exploiting its rich natural resources to usher in an era of prosperity and economic well-being for the people.
