According to anti-Syrian regime activists, President Bashar al-Assads brother-in-law Assef Shawkat who was Syrias deputy defense minister was buried on Wednesday in his hometown, which they identified as Madhale, near the Mediterranean coastal city of Tartous.
Several activists quoted by Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television said black flags were flying in Madhale in mourning.
On their Syrian Revolution Facebook page, online anti-regime activists wrote that: Assef Shawkat is being buried right now in his home town Madhale God curse him. He was poisoned.
They said Shawkats body was transported to a hospital near his hometown that was emptied of patients on Tuesday evening.
Speculation over Shawkats fate first emerged on May 20 when Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya television broadcast an amateur video showing a man claiming responsibility on behalf of a rebel group for killing six regime stalwarts.
They included Shawkat, Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar, Defence Minister Daoud Rajha, national security chief Hisham Bakhtiar and Hassan Turkmeni, assistant to the vice president.
Turkmeni appeared on state television this week to dismiss the reports, while Shaar denied them in a telephone interview, accusing Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya of lies and slander.
But Shawkat has not made any public appearance or personally denied the reports, though he rarely makes public statements.
Abdul Halim Khaddam , the former vice president of Syria confirmed that Assef Shawkat was been killed on 19 May, 2012
Iran is trying to pull a N.Korean stunt by trying to drag out talks until they have finally developed a nuclear weapon. Only problem is that N.K had China covering their back, Iran is swimming naked, all alone. So unless the 12th Iman comes out of the well to help them, they are going to face another Gaddafi ending.
In response to the unbalanced nuclear demands of the six powers, Iran counters with a five-point mutual and gradual resolution proposal. Talks will continue Wednesday night and Thursday.
President Barack Obama has been accused of risking America's national security for political gain by giving Hollywood filmmakers access to secret material on the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
Critics of Mr Obama from the Left also said it was astonishing that an administration that had prosecuted more whistleblowers than all previous governments combined had been caught happily leaking to Hollywood allies
Documents released under freedom of information laws show that Mr Obama's defence department and CIA enthusiastically assisted Kathryn Bigelow, the Oscar-winning director, for her forthcoming film on the raid.
Mr Obama's administration even made available "a planner, operator and commander of SEAL Team Six", the elite Navy squad that killed bin Laden in May last year. The identities of Navy SEALS are a closely-kept secret.
The filmmakers were taken to a classified facility, whose name had to be redacted in the released documents, and were allowed to tour the CIA vaults, containing vast amounts of secret information. They were also shown the CIA's mock-up of bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
At the time, Ms Bigelow's film, titled Zero Dark Thirty, was due to be released in October, later prompting accusations that it was timed to boost Mr Obama's prospects for re-election the following month.
#2
Maybe someone should start investigating Kathryn Bigelow for the next six or seven months. Have her standing by to testify daily as to who told her what, when, all the painful details. Then charge her with assembling and divulging classified information through her movie if she can't remember anything.
Then go keelhaul the poor sucker who decides to release all the classified information in a last-ditch attempt to thwart the investigation.
A judge in Sanford ruled Tuesday that a Lake Mary man was lawfully exercising his First Amendment rights when he flashed his headlights to warn neighbors that a deputy had set up a speed trap nearby.
That decision is another victory for Ryan Kintner, 25, who sued the Seminole County Sheriff's Office last year, accusing it of misconstruing a state law and violating his civil rights, principally his right to free speech.
He was ticketed Aug. 10 by a Seminole County deputy, but Kintner alleges the officer misapplied a state law designed to ban motorists from flashing after-market emergency lights. That's not even plausibly deniable, but I don't expect much from government these days.
Circuit Judge Alan Dickey earlier ruled that that state law does not apply to people who did what Kintner did, use his headlights to communicate. And I use it to warn people of a danger they are approaching. Should I just not warn them and let them run over the little old lady crossing the road to get her mail?
On Tuesday the judge went a step further, saying people who flash their headlights to communicate are engaging in behavior protected by the U.S. Constitution.
"He felt the police specificially went out of their way to silence Mr. Kintner and that it was clearly a violation of his First Amendment free speech rights," said his attorney, J. Marcus Jones of Oviedo.
Jones has filed a similar but much broader suit in Tallahassee against the Florida Highway Patrol. A hearing in that case is scheduled next month.
"This stuff is fun," Jones said after Tuesday's hearing. It is unless they diminish your rights somehow.
Each suit asked that police agencies be ordered to halt writing those tickets. The highway patrol stopped voluntarily, awaiting the outcome of the suit. So have the Seminole County Sheriff's Officeand other agencies. How about ticket refunds and some common sense in the future?
In addition to Kintner's civil suit against the sheriff's office, he also is fighting the ticket. It is still pending in county court in Sanford. The officer also ticketed him for running a stop sign, saying Kintner had pulled beyond a stop bar before coming to a complete halt. I'm sure it was a matter of life and death.
In an interview in August, shortly after filing suit, Kintner said, "I felt an injustice was being done. ... I have nothing against officers ... keeping speeding down, but when you cross a line and get into free speech, I feel it's gone too far."
According to his suit, Kintner was home Aug. 10 when he saw a deputy park along a street and pull out his radar gun. Kintner then got in his car, drove a couple of blocks away, parked and pointed his vehicle at oncoming traffic and began flashing his lights. Shoulda just held up a sign.
He was ticketed a short time later.
Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett said Tuesday night that he has received information from Hawaii that proves President Obama's American birth and satisfies Arizona's requirements for having the president on the upcoming election ballot. And of course he can't share it with the rest of us because BHO is a private citizen.
A Hawaii official sent Bennett's office verification of birth for President Obama on Tuesday, according to both Bennett and Hawaii officials.
Bennett said the issue is now resolved from his point of view. He has cancelled a planned Wednesday news conference where he was expected to discuss the issue.
"I'm happy that we got what we asked for and that's what I was expecting all along," Bennett said Tuesday night. Amazing how much cooperation you can get when you have someone's electoral nuts in a vice.
Bennett made national news earlier this month when he asked Hawaii to verify Obama's birthplace to ensure the President is eligible to appear on Arizona's November ballot.
His decision reignited the simmering birther movement, though Bennett has said he doesn't associate with the birthers.
On Tuesday Joshua A. Wisch, special assistant to the attorney general in Hawaii, said the matter had been resolved. It was resolved a long time ago. But we still have to deal with the issue of the Golfer in Chief presenting himself as being born in Kenya as a matter of political expedience, and how that goes to show what he is willing to do in order to obtain whatever political goal he has in mind.
"We have received information from Secretary Bennett that satisfied our requirement and has therefore provided his office with a verification of birth for President Obama," Wisch wrote in an email.
#3
I hope this settles the 'birther' question. We need to focus on Bumbles failed and dangerous policies and not on something we wouldn't be able to do anything about even if he was found under a skunk cabbage in Antartica.
US missiles killed four militants in a Taliban stronghold of Pakistan on Wednesday, officials said, amid increasing strains with the West over a six-month blockade on NATO supplies into Afghanistan.
A drone targeted a compound near Miranshah, the main town of the tribal district where Pakistan has resisted US pressure to launch a sweeping offensive against militants fighting US troops in neighbouring Afghanistan.
"The drone fired two missiles on a house in the Tabai area near Miranshah," one of the security officials told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media, adding that four militants were killed.
The area is a stronghold of the Haqqani network -- Afghan insurgents blamed for a series of spectacular attacks on Western targets in Kabul -- and Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud. A local administration official and another intelligence official confirmed Wednesday's drone strike and casualties.
Residents said the bodies had been charred badly and militants had cordoned off the area and were sifting through the rubble. They were charred so badly it will take time to conclude they were innocent women and children.
According to an AFP tally, 45 US missile strikes were reported in Pakistan's tribal belt in 2009, the year Obama took office, 101 in 2010 and 64 in 2011.
Syrian oil minister Sufian Alao said on Wednesday a Venezuelan oil tanker with 35,000 tonnes of diesel had docked in Syria a day earlier and another was being prepared.
"A Venezuelan tanker carrying 35,000 tonnes of diesel docked in Syria yesterday and Venezuela is preparing another tanker which will come to Syria soon," state news agency SANA quoted Alao as saying.
Ship tracking data on Reuters shows that the Negra Hipolita, which is managed by state oil firm PDVSA, left Venezuela at the start of May and docked at the Syrian port of Banias this week.
Venezuela angered Washington last year by supplying fuel to Iran, which is also subject to Western sanctions on fuel supplies.
Alao said the Syrian oil industry has lost around $4 billon since European Union governments agreed on Sept 2 to ban imports of Syrian oil. European states used to buy some 90 percent of the country's oil exports.
Turkey has indicted four Israeli military commanders over the 2010 Gaza flotilla incident in which nine terror activists were killed.
Turkey has issued an indictment in absentia against four Israeli military commanders over a 2010 Gaza flotilla incident in which nine terror activists were killed on a Turkish-sponsored vessel.
According to a report published Wednesday in the Turkish newspaper Sabah, the 144-page indictment seeks life imprisonment for the four commanders. It was prepared following alleged testimony from 490 passengers who participated in the illegal flotilla, and relatives of the terrorists who died after attacking the Israeli commandos.
The Mavi Marmara boat, owned by the terrorist-linked IHH organization, participated in the six-vessel flotilla that claimed to be bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza via the sea. It was later discovered that no humanitarian aid whatsoever was carried in the hold of the Mavi Marmara.
Israel operates a maritime blockade on Gaza in order to prevent terrorists from entering the region, and stop them from smuggling in weapons and other ordnance.
The activists were told numerous times they could dock at Ashdod port and transport their goods legally through the land crossing at Kerem Shalom, but they refused.
#1
Update
The indictment suggests that should the four arrive in Turkey they would be immediately arrested. Sabah said that Turkey is demanding 10 life sentences (and not nine, for the nine activists who were killed) because one of the victims has been in a coma since the raid.
In the indictment's third part which details Turkey's relations with the Jews throughout history, the prosecutor notes that the Ottomans took in the Jews that were expelled from Spain and that Turkey had accepted Jews during the Holocaust and saved some 20,000 Jews from death camps by issuing them passports. Based on this he concluded that Israel owes its very existence to the Turkish republic.
An HIV positive US soldier accused of plotting an attack on a military base after fleeing his post as a Moslem conscientious objector has gone on trial wearing a surgical mask and manacled to the floor.
Courtroom security agents behind him wore protective goggles, an apparent reaction to an incident in which the soldier, Naser Jason Abdo, who claims to be HIV positive, bit his lip and spat blood at police.
Prosecutors called the first of 43 witnesses to the stand in a bid to show that Abdo, who fled his post in Kentucky, was gathering bomb-making materials and weapons to attack soldiers and their families at the Fort Hood base in Texas, the scene of a deadly shooting rampage in 2009.
One witness said Abdo told him that the assault was intended to show support for Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a Moslem psychiatrist accused of killing 12 soldiers and a civilian in the 2009 shooting, which also maimed 32 others.
The FBI alleges Hasan had contacts with the charismatic US-born holy man Anwar al-Awlaqi, a leading member of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula who was killed in a September 2011 drone strike.
FBI agent Charles Owens said that Abdo told him in an interrogation session that "he wanted to do it for the sake of the men and women of Afghanistan, that they had been wronged."
Abdo was tossed in the slammer Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! July 27 in the nearby Texas town of Killeen. Police and federal agents have previously testified that they found a handgun and enough gunpowder to make at least one bomb.
They also discovered directions from an al-Qaeda magazine on how to build an bomb.
Prosecutors mounted a detailed case, mixing a trail of receipts and time-stamped videos of Abdo with testimony from a number of workers who encountered him.
They said he planned to detonate a bomb in a crowded Chinese restaurant not far from Fort Hood, and then gun down soldiers, their families and civilians as they fled.
"He referred to civilians as collateral damage," Mr Owens said.
Defence attorney Zachary Boyd countered that prosecutors could not prove that his client intended to kill anyone, and that no bomb was ever built.
"I want the jury to focus not just on the evidence, but the law," Boyd said in his opening statement.
Prosecutor Gregg Sofer told jurors that Abdo had intended to kidnap a soldier and execute him on video when he was still in Kentucky.
"He had already acquired a body bag, a stun gun, a cattle prong," Sofer told the jury.
But the plan fell apart and Abdo fled, leaving his Cadillac, body bags, a green body bag carrier and bleach to clean up the scene of the crime.
A hood, three handcuff boxes, batteries for the prong, his car keys and identification papers were also found.
"My heart was racing," Oak Grove Police Sergeant Victor Lynch told the court. "I was thinking somebody was in danger."
Abdo bought a .40-calibre handgun and two extended round clips from a man in Nashville and paid $315.05 in cash at a Dallas-area department store for items that prosecutors said could be used to make a bomb, including electrical wiring, clocks and a pressure cooker.
He then took a four-hour taxi ride from North Texas to Killeen, where he bought smokeless gunpowder in a local gun store.
A federal forensic analyst testified that the powder, typically used in fireworks, burns slowly but could be used to detonate a bomb.
Prosecutors displayed receipts for the goods and showed videos of Abdo at the department store, his Killeen hotel and at the gun store a few miles down the road.
Along the way, he aroused suspicion that twice prompted police investigations and ultimately led to his arrest.
One employee recalled telling Abdo to have a nice day after he paid $256.44 cash for a number of items that included the smokeless gunpowder.
Bothered after the exchange, those at the store later called police.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Pakistani doctor accused of helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden has been jailed for 33 years for treason, officials said, a move likely to deepen strains in ties between Washington and Islamabad.
The mind boggles.....
Posted by: BA ||
05/23/2012
09:03 ||
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#1
Shakil Afridi, a name everyone should thank and praise along with the 14 nurses who helped . All screwed by the illustrious and mighty Pak law courts . We should bust him out and throw egg on their faces . We shouldn't leave/abandon this dude behind
#5
Oh, fer crying out loud. Time to send all the Pakistanis in the West back to Pakistan. As enemy nationals, will they face internment otherwise, when the SHTF? (Norway will probably want to keep theirs, and they are welcome to them).
#10
Someone had to the jail for Abbottabad = Pakistan's sins, + it wasn't going to be the Top Pakistani Govt-Army Officials whom had been hiding him there.
#11
Fired, hell, cp. Panetta should be in the cell beside him. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara ||
05/23/2012 22:14
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#12
I suspect, given the amount of scheming, backstabbing and skulduggery that seems to take place within the ISI, the Military, and yes, Pakistain itself, that there was inside help for both finding and whacking Binny. Pinning it on the good doctor short-circuits any investigation and provides cover for those involved.
And shame on Panetta for ratting him out. I'm with Gravi in #1 - we should go get this guy to demonstrate our gratitude and our determination. Yeah, and spite.
Obamas War on Coal has already taken a remarkable toll on coal-fired power plants in America.
Last week the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a shocking drop in power sector coal consumption in the first quarter of 2012. Coal-fired power plants are now generating just 36 percent of U.S. electricity, versus 44.6 percent just one year ago.
Its the result of an unprecedented regulatory assault on coal that will leave us all much poorer.
Last week PJM Interconnection, the company that operates the electric grid for 13 states (Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia) held its 2015 capacity auction. These are the first real, market prices that take Obamas most recent anti-coal regulations into account, and they prove that he is keeping his 2008 campaign promise to make electricity prices necessarily skyrocket.
The market-clearing price for new 2015 capacity almost all natural gas was $136 per megawatt. Thats eight times higher than the price for 2012, which was just $16 per megawatt. In the mid-Atlantic area covering New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and DC the new price is $167 per megawatt. For the northern Ohio territory served by FirstEnergy, the price is a shocking $357 per megawatt.
Why the massive price increases? Andy Ott from PJM stated the obvious: Capacity prices were higher than last year's because of retirements of existing coal-fired generation resulting largely from environmental regulations which go into effect in 2015. Northern Ohio is suffering from more forced coal-plant retirements than the rest of the region, hence the even higher price.
These are not computer models or projections or estimates. These are the actual prices that electric distributors have agreed to pay for new capacity. The costs will be passed on to consumers at the retail level.
House Energy and Power Subcommittee Chairman Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) aptly explained: The PJM auction forecasts a dim future where Americans will be paying more to keep the lights on. We are seeing more and more coal plants fall victim to EPAs destructive regulatory agenda, and as a result, we are seeing more job losses and higher electricity prices.
The only thing that can stop this massive price hike now is an all-out effort to end Obamas War on Coal and repeal this destructive regulatory agenda.
The Senate will have a critical opportunity to do just that when it votes on stopping Obamas most expensive anti-coal regulation sometime in the next couple of weeks. The vote is on the Inhofe Resolution, S.J. Res 37, to overturn the so-called Utility MACT rule, which the EPA itself acknowledges is its most expensive rule ever.
This vote is protected from filibuster, and it will take just 51 votes to send a clear message to Obama that his War on Coal must end.
Of course, Obama could veto the resolution and keep the rule intact, although that would force him to take full political responsibility for the massive impending jump in electricity prices.
I have a form set up at www.WarOnCoal.com to make it easy to contact your senators on this crucial issue.
#1
In Penna. and Maryland I know of five coal power plants that have shutdown. Nothing to replace it. The power generated by the windmills in one section all goes to the University of Maryland. One plant has gone to NG in a nearby state. Very difficult to get permits to mine coal now also. Even well established mines. I have heard the Chinese are purchasing some mines and don't have to deal with all the red tape. That coal just goes to China.
#2
To put it into perspective, the Obama administration is closing an amount of coal generation capacity equal to the total amount of nuclear power generation in the US. This at a time when this administration is attempting to migrate transportation energy onto the grid by encouraging the adoption of electric cars.
This administration is worse than incompetent, it is malevolent. It is doing absolutely the worst possible things at the worst possible moments in order to maximize economic harm.
#6
West Va miners are so disillusioned, they elected a Texas felon in the primary...wait until massive inflation across the board hits when the printing presses grind to a halt...there won't be any rich to tax. Unprecedented times ahead, I fear, even worse than the Babylonian siege Lamented by Jeremiah, where women ate their own children.
#8
CF, China has a glut of commodities at this time. They are delaying orders now. Like Japan of the past they are very sensitive to their raw material needs. So their push has been to acquire ownership of productive areas of the world. I am certain that they have political clout especially with this administration. Wavers and so on.
#9
Thanks Dale. I have no doubt that the current administration would sell anything - even deposits which have been marked 'off limits'. Didn't Clinton mark some vast deposit 'off limits forever' as national land or something (Utah?).
#5
The candidate who is in prison and who ran in the primary in W.VA either got (or polled at) about 40% of the vote. I don't think Obama is in such good shape going into this election. Seems like many have awakened except for the devout Kool-Ade drinkers. Wolfe has not spent any money campaigning.
#6
Rasmussen was on Fox News today...FWIW, he said if the Clown-in-chief stays at 50% approval rating he gets re-elected (I think bumbles is at 51% right now)...if he drops to 45% than Romney will be elected. Not sure how he came up w/that conclusion.
#7
I don't know about the Rasmussen figures and conclusions. The most recent SurveyUSA poll was in NC of 524 likely voters. SurveyUSA had the least error in the last election of all the pollsters. They asked the following question: If the Presidential election were held today for whom would you vote? Republican Mitt Romney? Or Democrat Barack Obama? 45% chose Romney, 44% chose Obama. The error was around 4%. Most polls query people with landlines. 25% of the likely voters have no landline; only a cell phone. This is a bias in all these polls. Obama won North Carolina in the last election. It looks like this election is a contest.
#1
But the president wanted to focus military resources on new priorities like China, and Mattis was told a third carrier group was not available to be deployed to the Gulf.
Well, yeah! Everyone knows the Chinese are much crazier than the Iranians! Oh, and better campaign contributors, too!
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/23/2012 6:01
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Come on people! Who knows more about naval strategy, carrier groups, and security in the Gulf than Obama?
#4
Overwhelming Force + Cautiosly Applied = Unending, blood and treasure depleting, asshole pocket stuffing, inability to complete the mission by those who actually sacrifice, quagmiring, boondoggle. Oh, and did I mention unending?
Overwhelming Force + Unleash the Dogs of War = Broken will of the enemy, hatred of the enemy by the enemy's people, a desire or at least acceptance of the enemy's people to adopt the way of the conquoring force, improved lifestyle* leading to top economy of the planet.**
*when conquoring force is civilized by western standards
**when following the American Model^
^ American Model circa times past. See communo-progressive takeover of American exceptionalism and the end of individual liberty for more details
Promise, wot's dat? Is dat a bit like taquia?
Iran could be allowed to continue with its nuclear programme if it agrees to stop enriching uranium to a critical level from which it could quickly produce a nuclear weapon.
Western powers are ready drop demands for a complete halt to all Iran's nuclear work, provided the regime pledges to halt uranium enrichment to the crucial 20 per cent threshold, The Daily Telegraph understands.
The proposal would be a key element of a compromise deal, to be discussed by leading world powers in Baghdad on Wednesday, that could also see Iran open up its secret military facilities to United Nations inspectors. In return, sanctions against Tehran would be eased, with some even suspended should the Islamic regime successfully prove that its intentions are peaceful.
Last night, a deal to resolve the impasse was said to be close. Yukia Amano, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said he expected an agreement to be signed "quite soon" that would allow inspectors greater access to the key scientists, documents and suspicious facilities.
Some time ago the sculptor who was contracted by the US government to create the Korean War Memorial in Washington DC sued the US Postal Service because it was selling a stamp using a photograph of the Memorial. When the government paid for his work, it did not also get the copyright to it.
He won a $5,000 award and appealed, saying it was too small. The appeals court for the federal circuit (CAFC) agreed with the sculptor, overturned a lower court's verdict, and awarded him $3 million of the taxpayer's money.
How about this simple policy: if you have someone create a memorial or statue or piece of artwork for public display, part of the deal is that the whole thing from then on is in the public domain. If they object, find another artist.
-- The fact that the Korean War Memorial is not in the public domain is a travesty.
-- The fact that the post office's photo is not considered fair use of the Korean War Memorial is a travesty.
-- The fact that the sculptor may end up getting another batch of tax money for his work is a travesty.
-- And all of it could have been avoided if someone (anyone) in the US government realized ahead of time that works created and paid for by the public should belong to the public.
Continued on Page 49
#1
IIRC, it was PBS whom had aired long, + I do mean l-o-n-g, but excellent documentaries back in the 1990's on both the Korean + Vietnam Wars, wid lots of vintage film footage, maps, + allied-vs-enemy viewpoints, strategies + counter-strategies.
My late father was a Navy veteran aboard a suooky ship.
#3
You know artists have expenses. Like campaign contributions to Congresscritters to keep screwing with copyright laws to keep them royalties rolling in. Ever notice how the root of the word is 'royal'.
royalties, Archaic . prerogatives, rights, or symbolic emblems of a king, queen, or other sovereign.
[Iran Press TV] Anti-Syrian government armed gangs have kidnapped at least 13 Lebanese pilgrims as the country is still grappling with the ongoing violence, Press TV reports.
The men were kidnapped in the Syrian city 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... while they were returning to Leb from a pilgrimage in Iran.
The abductees, who were travelling by land, were still on the Syrian-Turkish border when they were kidnapped. The armed gangs allegedly hijacked their bus, then kidnapped the men and released the women.
There is no more information about the location of the abductees.
Crisis-hit Syria has been the scene of killings, kabooms, and abductions over the past year.
Foreign-backed gangs carry out terrorist operations in the country since the unrest began in March 2011.
The Syrian government says ''outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups'' are behind the unrest, adding that the violence is being orchestrated from abroad.
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05/23/2012
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(Sh.M.Network)- Somali forces alongside AU soldiers with heavily armored vehicles have on Tuesday attacked on several Al shabab strongholds out of Somalia's capital Mogadishu. Residents and officials said.
Officials in Somali government, said Tuesday the assault is aimed to capture the rebel-held Afgoye town, 30 KM away south of Mogadishu. Residents in Elasha-Biyaha, out of the capital say they could hear the sounds of gunfire and mortar shells northern side of the area.
Locals said TFG forces captured Sabyo location, 9 KM north of Afgoye town.
No casualties is yet established on the fighting as the battle still going on location towars Afgoye town and many parts out of Mogadishu.
Al shabab has in the past lost many towns, including Mogadishu, the capital in south and central Somaliain a result of war by Somali Government and AMISIOM forces.
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[An Nahar] A bomb rocked the Damascus ...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat... neighborhood of Qaboon during the night killing five people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday.
The Britannia-based group gave no further information on the deadly kaboom but said powerful blasts were also heard overnight in several regions across the country, including central Hama and the coastal cities of Banias and Latakia.
On Monday, at least 54 people, including 31 soldiers were killed in the ongoing unrest that has shaken Syria since March last year, the watchdog said.
U.N. chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... warned on Monday that the search for peace in Syria was at a "pivotal moment" and expressed strong concerns of an all-out civil war, as a five-week-old truce was broken yet again.
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05/23/2012
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(Sh. M. Network)-The administration of Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a (ASWJ), a pro-government group in central Somalia, announced on Tuesday that the group has no any representations in the ongoing Somalia's roadmap meeting inAddis Ababa.
Sheik Mohammed Yusuf Hefow, the chairman of Ahlu Sunna's executive council in central Somalia, told Shabelle Media during an interview that they deny having any representations in the meeting.
Gap and differences are up-and-coming between the roadmap signatories and these differences mainly arise from the new draft constitution. Both Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... state and Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a (ASWJ), both signatories, have recently opposed to the draft constitution.
These comments came as a meeting to bring together the six signatories of theSomalia's Road-map is underway in the capital city of Æthiopia,Addis Ababawith officials from the international community.
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[Al Ahram] Out of 17 accused, five police officers were sentenced to 10 years in prison, two were given suspended sentences and ten were released, on charges of killing protesters during Egypt's revolution
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(Sh.M.Netwprk)- A curfew has been imposed and came under effect overnight in Mandera town, northeastern Kenya following a deadly kaboom on Monday, causing unconfirmed casualties on the Kenyan military, residents said.
Kenyan police forces were reportedly halted public movements in the town as they have been conducting ground patrols t secure the overall security of the border town of Mandera which has been rocked by a deadly landmine blast that hit Kenyan military convoy on Monday.
"The security personnel had embarked on a door-to-door operation to mop up arms and other crude weapons this morning, but as far as I know no arrests were made until now, a local resident, told Shabelle Media by telephone from Mandera town.
The town is less than 100 metres from the Kenya border. The security has worsened since Kenya sent its troops into the neighboring Somalia last year to pursue Al shabab bully boys.
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For a map click here For a map of Chihuahua state, click here.
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
The commander for the Mexican 42nd Military Zone has changed from General de Brigada Jesus Pedroza Ayala to General Diplomado Estado Mayor Miguel Andrade Cisneros, according to Mexican news sources.
The new commander, General Andrade Cisneros, had been commander of the Mexican 32rd Military Zone in Yucatan, an appointment he gained in July 2010, when he relieved General de Brigada Diplomado de Estado Mayor, Juan Manuel Rico Gamez, who went on as commander of the 31st Military Zone based in Chiapas state.
According to data supplied by the Mexican Secretaria de Defensa Nacional (SEDENA), General Andrade Cisneros was promoted to his current rank in November 2008. He had previously served a military attache for the Mexican embassy in Panama prior to his appointment to the army garrison in Cozumel, which he received in early 2010.
Going by news accounts, the General Andrade Cisneros maintained friendly relations with the local business and education community in his Yucatan area of operation, even going so far as attending less formal functions in civilian dress. During his brief tenure as garrison commander in Cozumel, however, he was considered a low profile commander.
The change of scenery could not be more stark for General Andrade Cisneros, going from an area where the tourist industry thrives to essentially a backwater command in a desert area bounded by mountains in the west.
His predecessor in the 42nd Military Zone, General Jesus Podroza Ayala, was only appointed commander of the zone last July. He had come from commanding the army garrison at Manzanillio in Colima, where he was appointed some time in 2010.
Like General Andrade Cisneros, General Podroza Ayala was promoted to his current rank in November 2008. He subsequently served as chief of staff for the IV Military Region in 2009 encompassing Nuevo Leon state. His tenure as chief of staff was marked by public appearances on behalf of the army in Nuevo Leon.
General Podroza Ayala tenure as 42nd Military Zone commander was marked by high profile marijuana seizures, and at least one "Guns for groceries" buyback program, according to Mexican press accounts. His unit also helped with relief efforts in the Sierra Tarahumara earlier this year, in one instance shipping 110 tons of material.
According to several Mexican news accounts at the time, in October, 2011 his wife and daughter were carjacked and kidnapped in a Soriana Foods parking lot in Chihuahua city and taken, only to be pursued by local municipal police. The pursuit ended a short distance away when the suspects abandoned the vehicles and their two hostages, running into the desert. Both females were unharmed in the incident.
General Podroza Ayala was commander during the intergang battles in Choix, Sinaloa earlier this month, which took the lives of 57 individuals including two military in Sinaloa state. The 42nd Military Zone maintains both rifle company sized bases as well as road patrols in the area on the Chihuahua state side of the battle area, but apparently failed to intervene when armed suspects were said to be crossing into Chihuahua avoiding an army cordon in Sinaloa state.
SEDENA likes to keep commanders in place for a long as possible, so they may gain experience and train lower echelon commanders. Successful commanders will retain their commands if they don't attract negative attention and have some success. The Choix, Sinaloa incident may not have cost General Podroza Ayala his command, however. General Podroza Ayala is staff qualified, and may be going to Mexico City. SEDENA has plucked short time military zone commanders before for staff appointments elsewhere.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
[Dawn] Two members of a banned turban group and a volunteer of a tribal peace committee were killed and four others injured in a clash in Bukarh area in Tirah valley on Monday.
Sources said that an intense shootout erupted when members of Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) attacked a bunker of Zakhakhel Peace Committee in Bukarh area early in the morning. They said that the clash, which continued for several hours, left one LI member and a peace committee volunteer dead.
Five more persons, from both sides, were maimed, they added. One of injured LI member later died in a private clinic. Sources that Zakhakhels captured three of LI members but front man of the organization in Bara rejected the reports.
Meanwhile, ...back at the wine tasting, Vince was about to start tasting his third quart... security forces cooled for a few years Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! five rustics in Gundi area of Jamrud on Monday.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2012
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Iran is dedicated to annihilating Israel, the Islamic regime's military chief of staff declared Sunday.
"The Iranian nation is standing for its cause and that is the full annihilation of Israel," Maj. Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi said in a speech to a defense gathering Sunday in Tehran.
Thus neatly, and in a bluff and forthright military manner, putting paid to all arguments that the mullahcracy of Iran objects to the existence of the Jewish state, while wishing no harm to the Jews who live there -- and anyone who claims otherwise is relying on mistranslations of Ahmadenijad's or Khameini's or Khomeini's statements.
His remarks came on the day International Atomic Energy Agency director Yukiya Amano flew to Tehran to negotiate for inspections of Iran's nuclear program. They were reported by the Fars News Agency, the media outlet of the Revolutionary Guards Corps.
While many within the Islamic regime, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have often stated that Israel should be annihilated, until Sunday no one in the nation's leadership has announced Iran's determined intention to carry it out. (RELATED: Iran rattles sabers: '11,000 missiles ready to launch' at Israel, US targets)
Josh Block, a Middle East expert and former spokesman for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, told The Daily Caller that it's unwise to shrug off the threats of a top Iranian military commander.
"When they say it, they mean it," Block said. "That is the lesson of history. We had best heed that reality. You can be sure the Israelis already understand it."
Reza Kahlili is a pseudonym for a former CIA operative in Iran's Revolutionary Guard and the author of the award winning book "A Time to Betray." He teaches at the U.S. Department of Defense's Joint Counterintelligence Training Academy (JCITA) and is a member of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security.
[An Nahar] Bombings in the center of the ethnically-mixed city of Baquba, north of Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... , killed six people including four children on Tuesday, an army officer and a doctor said.
The attacks struck the homes of a Sunni anti-Qaeda militiaman and a formerly internally-displaced Shiite family, both of which are in a neighborhood that was an myrmidon stronghold during the worst of Iraq's sectarian bloodshed.
In the first bombing, Death Eaters detonated explosives at the home of Arkan Mohammed, a fighter in the Sahwa, Sunni tribal militias that sided with U.S. forces against al-Qaeda from late 2006, helping turn the tide of Iraq's insurgency.
Mohammed's wife and two of his sons, aged 10 and 13, were killed in the bombing, according to an Iraqi army lieutenant colonel and Doctor Ahmed Ibrahim of Baquba hospital.
The fighter and another of his children were maimed.
Around 15 minutes later, a bomb went off at the home of a Shiite Moslem family who had been displaced from the Gatoun neighborhood but recently returned, the lieutenant colonel said, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered...
The mother and two children died, while the father Mehdi al-Timimi and two other children were maimed, the officer and Ibrahim said.
During the peak of Iraq's confessional violence in 2006 and 2007, Gatoun was a stronghold of al-Qaeda gunnies, but levels of unrest have significantly declined since.
Attacks remain common, however, particularly in Baquba, and 126 Iraqis died as a result of violence in April, according to official figures.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2012
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For a map, click here For a map of Zacatecas state click here
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
A total of 11 suspects were detained by Policia Federal (PF) agents in Zacatecas state Tuesday morning, according to Mexican news accounts.
According to a news story posted in the website of El Sol de Zacatecas news daily, the PF security operation took place at a residence on Calle Francisco de Asis in Papatonin colony at around 1020 hrs. The unit based the raid on intelligence acquired which indicated the criminal group was engaged in retail drug sales and recruitment for the Los Zetas criminal gang.
The security operation involved 25 vehicles including two Rhinos, which are wheeled armored personnel carriers used by the PF. Of the 11 detained, two were from Zacatecas, two were from Guatemala and two were women.
The detainees were identified as Jorge Francisco Rodriguez Carmona, 21, Coahuila, Bryan Lopez Almeida, 17, Ojocaliente, Olga Lidia Almeida Davila, 36, Ojocaliente, Juan Manuel Ortiz Lopez, 24, Coahuila, Devora Gissel Vargas Guerrero, 19, Coahuila, Eddin Roberto Call Vargas AKA El Congo, 33, Guatemala, Roman Rios Garcia AKA La Curro, 28, Coahuila, Leonardo Hernandez Santos, 24, Coahuila, Alejandro Espinoza Valdez AKA El Bebé, 17, Coahuila, Francisco Capuccino Saucedo, 30, Guatemala, and Angel Aleman Macias, 20, Aguascalientes. Jorge Francisco Rodriguez Carmona was identified the leader of the cell.
Policia Federal agents also seized nine rifles, one handgun, ammunition, one Nissan Versa SUV and one Volkswagen Jetta sedan.
In other news, according to a report posted on the website El Sol de Zacatecas, a man was shot to death by municipal police agents early Monday morning.
Miguel Angel de la Cruz Marin attacked the headquarters of the Policia Preventativa in Juchipila municipality using an AK-47 rifle. No one was reported hurt in the assault. Official reports said the suspect had no links to organized crime, however, unofficial reports said that a link existed.
The same report referenced a PF operation late last month which dismantled a Gulf Cartel cell in Juchipila municipality. The cell's leader, Ampelio Ayala Martinez, AKA El Tio, 59, was among the detainees.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
(Sh.M.Network)- Six Somalis go on trial in a Gay Paree court on Tuesday charged with taking the 30 crew of luxury sailing ship Le Ponant hostage in the emerald, pirate-infested waters of the Gulf of Aden in 2008.
The six men, aged 25 to 50, face life in prison if convicted of kidnapping and theft as part of a gang after they were placed in durance vile I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! in a French airborne operation on land in Somalia after a ransom was paid.
Only one admits to being a pirate, two admit to having been aboard the elegant 88-metre three-master but only to sell goats, cigarettes and the mild narcotic khat.
Eh?
The other three deny ever having set foot on the boat.
"You arrested us somewhere else, and just dreamed we were on the boat with the pirates. Really!"
Le Ponant left theSeychelleson March 30, 2008 with 30 crew and no passengers on board, headed forYemen where they were to take on passengers for a cruise.
On entering the notorious Gulf of Aden on April 4, the ship was boarded by pirates armed with assault rifles who forced the crew to head for Somalia.
A week later, the ship's owner, shipping giant CMA-CGM, paid a $2.15-million (1.7-million-euro) ransom, the crew was freed and the pirates fled into the lawless sands of Somalia.
La Belle France hunted the pirates through Somalia, eventually intercepting a 4×4 vehicle as it left a village, finding 200,000 dollars and weapons on board.
The car's six Somali passengers were set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock Drop the rosco and step away witcher hands up! and Le Ponant crew members positively identified them as the pirates, although some crews have since said they are unsure of the hijackers' identities.
A total of 22 Somalis are being held byLa Belle Francein connection with four hostage-taking incidents.
Last year aGay Pareecourt placed in long-term storage Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! five pirates for between four and eight years for hijacking the Carre d'As in theGulf of Adenin September 2008. A sixth alleged pirate was acquitted.
Prosecutors are appealing those sentences as being too lenient.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2012
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[An Nahar] On the road to Egypt's Djoser step pyramid at Saqqara there's not a trace of a tourist anywhere, and a handful of trinket and souvenir salesmen sit on a metal railing hoping for a lucky break.
The uprising that overthrew former president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... in February 2011 dealt a serious blow to Egypt's vital tourism sector, and a year on, visitors have been slow to return to this key archaeological site south of Cairo.
"After January 25, tourism stopped. There's no more work," laments Saad Darwish, who sports around a dozen of the baseball caps he has for sale, one atop another, on his head.
In ordinary times, around 1,000 tourists a day would be flocking to Saqqara, one of the oldest and richest of Egypt's many archeological sites.
But these days the numbers range from a handful to about 200, according to vendors here.
Darwish, the father of five children between the ages of four and 21, estimates he needs to earn "100 pounds minimum" each day -- around $16 -- to keep his family afloat.
"At the moment, I don't earn more than five, 10, 20 pounds a day. I don't always have money to buy food. I go to the shop and they let me buy on credit. When I have a little money, I pay them back," he says.
Adel Abdel Hadi, stands waiting for tourists in his grey galabeya -- the traditional Egyptian robe -- his head wrapped in a red scarf. He and his donkey once took tourists across this vast site, but since the uprising, there have been few takers.
Pointing towards his animal, he says sadly: "If I eat, he eats, if I don't eat, neither does he."
The vendors say whatever meals they do get are made up of bread and the ubiquitous Egyptian bean dish known as ful. Meat, once a regular part of their diet, is no longer an option.
"The government hasn't done anything, they aren't giving us money," Darwish says.
Despite the hard times, there's little in the way of bitterness about the uprising itself.
It may have deprived many of the living they used to enjoy, but it's given them "freedom," points out Mansour Faheem, 46, who sells alabaster statues.
Among the vendors, there is excitement about the country's upcoming presidential election, the first since the uprising.
They are hoping that the vote, on May 23 and 24, will mark the end of a post-uprising transition, and perhaps mark the gradual return of tourism.
Here, most express support for leftist candidate Hamdeen Sabbahi, moderate Islamist Abdel Moneim Aboul Foutouh and Egypt's former foreign minister Jerry Lewis doppelgänger Amr Moussa ... who was head of the Arab League for approximately two normal lifespans, accomplishing nothing that was obvious to the casual observer ...
Abdel Hadi is hoping that whoever the new president is he'll take on corruption, saying that under Mubarak vendors were forced to "transfer half their profits to the police."
But the top priority for all the merchants here is security, without which they say tourists will continue to stay away.
"If the tourists see that the country is stable and safe, they will return," predicts Amir Samir, a tourist guide.
With Samir is American tourist Jorge Vasquez and his wife, who have come from Miami despite the unrest that has kept others away.
Vasquez expressed ambivalence about the pleasures of visiting one of Egypt's top tourist destinations in near isolation, a rare experience before the uprising.
"(I'm) happy and not happy at the same time: happy I'm not standing in line and sad that no people are here," he said.
"People are wrong about Egypt. Egypt deserves a second chance. It is a beautiful country, with beautiful people," he added. "Tourists should support this economy and enjoy the beauty and history of Egypt."
Tourism minister Munir Fakhry Abdel Nour told Agence La Belle France Presse he was "optimistic" about 2012, which should climb to reach the record figures of 2010.
"Hotel occupancy in Cairo is improving," he said, conceding it still wasn't "huge."
The rise is faster in Sinai and at the Red Sea resorts, "which continue to make up 85 percent of tourism," at the expense of the historic destinations of Luxor and Aswan which were badly hit.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2012
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#1
They've been cursed by The Last Pharaoh, Zawi Hawass.
#4
under an islamist regime, the expensive hotels near the red sea, which draw muslims from around the world, will either have to get a systemic exception from the 'no alcohol, no skin showing' rules or else they will close
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
05/23/2012 7:55
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#5
will either have to get a systemic exception from the 'no alcohol, no skin showing' rules or else they will close
#6
I wish Egypt every bit of luck with the elections . But given the Islamic mindset and their propensity to make poor decisions , I doubt that donkey man and co are gonna get affluent in any shape or form .
that shariah compliant swimwear ought to be good for preventing sunburn but swimming in them will be difficult
also, I suspect many Wahhabis would consider those suits un Islamic since they still show some femininity
Posted by: lord garth ||
05/23/2012 10:44
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#8
Seriously? They can't find any idiots sophisticated globe trotters from Canada or Scandinavia of California to come get kidnapped buy souveniers in the hellhole vacation paradise?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/23/2012 13:46
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#9
or California. Doh!
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/23/2012 13:47
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#10
that shariah compliant swimwear ought to be good for preventing sunburn but swimming in them will be difficult
Agreed, Lord Garth. But at least the ladies will be able to splash in the shallows with the babies instead of roasting on the sand in black tents, watching the males of the species enjoy themselves.
#12
Trailing Wife,
Muslim compiant swimsuits won't be enough. First of all, both hair and ankles are showing. That's enough to drive any muslim man crazy with lust.
Second the very idea that women and men might appear together inpublic is sinful beyond belief. Best keep the women indoors and covered so men aren't led into temptation.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
05/23/2012 17:12
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] South Sudan said Tuesday Sudanese war planes have launched air strikes against its territory, the latest in a series of attacks that threaten to scupper international efforts to restart peace talks.
"South Sudan views the current aerial bombardment... as a serious threat to both regional and international peace and security," South Sudan's Information Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin told news hounds.
The former civil war foes fought heavily in contested border regions last month, the worst fighting since the South won independence last July and sparking international concerns of a return to all-out war.
The bombings Monday and Tuesday targeted the Waragat area of Northern Bahr el Ghazal state, a border region close to Sudan's war-torn South Darfur state, Benjamin said.
"South Sudan is watching this crisis very closely... we will be forced also to react to these acts of aggression," he added, without giving further details.
The air strikes could not be independently confirmed, and Sudan's army repeatedly denied Southern claims of air strikes during weeks of bitter border conflict. The last air strike reported by the South was on May 9.
Both sides say they are committed to peace but missed a United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... Security Council demand that they resume the talks by last Wednesday. The South has said it is ready to talk and accused Khartoum of stalling.
The African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... is working hard to resume talks between the foes, with its chief mediator, former South African president Thabo Mbeki ...former president of South Africa, succeeding Nelson Mandela. He now pops up periodically as a mediator when something catches fire in Africa... , embarking on rounds of shuttle diplomacy between the two capitals.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2012
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[Tolo News] Less than 50 percent of so-called "green on blue" attacks are perpetrated by Taliban infiltrators into the Afghan army, the US and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... Commander General John Allen said Sunday.
The shooting deaths of foreign soldiers by Afghan army personnel, or Afghans in army uniform, were found to not be the work of the Islamic orc group in more than half the cases, according to investigations, Allen said.
"It's important to note that in the analysis that we have done, less than 50 percent of the ones that have perpetrated these attacks were in fact Taliban infiltrators," Allen told news hounds at a press briefing in Chicago.
"Many of these folks are self-radicalised. So it's important to understand and be able to recognise the nature of that self-radicalisation in the ranks."
Allen said that each single incident was important and investigated, with serious measures undertaken to prevent such attacks in coordination with Afghanistan's Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Interior and National Directorate of Security.
As a result, as many as 160 individuals planning to attack Isaf forces have been tossed in the calaboose Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! in the last several months, Allen said.
The green on blue attacks have escalated this year, with already 22 foreign soldiers killed in 16 attacks in 2012. In last year's total, there were 35 foreign soldiers killed in 21 attacks, while in 2010 there were 20 soldiers killed in 11 attacks. These figures do not include attacks that did not lead to foreign troop fatalities.
Allen noted that the protection measures were taken "bilaterally, to protect each other".
"It's not well-known that the Afghans suffer nearly as many casualties from insider threats as we do," he said.
Responding to news hounds' questions, Allen confirmed that the planned drawdown of 23,000 US troops will go ahead, with that number to return to the US by the end of September.
He said the surge tactic had achieved its aim, meaning those forces were no longer required.
"Part of the importance of the surge was to create conditions under which we could withdraw those troops - and I think those conditions are now underway - and that was to move the Afghan National Security forces to a level and to a confidence where they could begin to assume the role of some of those surge forces in the field," he said.
When asked about La Belle France's early withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, Allen replied that it was a sovereign decision and to that effect he supports it, but it will not affect Isaf's mission in Afghanistan as Afghan forces are getting stronger and taking the responsibility.
"We have the capacity, using our current force structure to ensure that there is no degradation in security with respect to any decisions that might be made," Allen said.
Allen said the aim was for the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) to reach their full potential by the end of 2013 - a year Isaf has consequently termed "Milestone 2013".
"We will continue to train and equip and ultimately to field the entire ANSF by the end of 2013. So we'll be approaching a key crossover point in the campaign in 2013 - what's known as the Milestone 2013 - where the ANSF will move into security lead in the context of the counterinsurgency campaign and where Isaf forces will be supporting that move into the lead," he said.
The ANSF currently has about 330,000 troops and is expected to increase to 352,000 by the end of the year.
Regarding the reopening of the NATO supply route in Pakistain, Allen said that there are positive indications that about the reopening of the border and reiterated that it did not affect his mission in Afghanistan,
He also said he had positive negotiations with Pak Chief of Staff General Ashfaq Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... in a trilateral meeting in Islamabad, but did not disclose details.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2012
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#1
When someone begins to drag out percentages of this or that, well you know the rest of the story. When does it become an "indicator?" The 49% mark? 50%, 51% ? If the perpertrator ends up DEAD, how can onr tell? Bullshi* General, go back and read the traffic. Tip: Use "stolen Afghan Army uniforms" in your search.
Notice how he carefully avoided any mention of ISAF "infiltration" being a recently documented TTP (Tactic, Technique, and Procedure) of the Taliban.
If only 2% of battlefield casualties were the result of vehicle roll-overs, would we end roll-over cautions and actions in driver's training sessions? Yet another sickening, political motivated, broken-record narrative.
[Dawn] The tribal people from Khyber Agency have supported the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... Assembly's unanimous resolution regarding Fata representation in the provincial assembly and demanded its merger with settled areas.
Notables and elders from Khyber Agency at a peace conference held here at Nishtar Hall on Monday through a unanimous resolution said that merger of Federally Administered Tribal Area (Fata) with the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa was need of the hour and in the larger interest of the people of the two regions.
The peace conference was organised to commemorate the death anniversary of four family members of MNA Allama Noorul Haq Qadri who were assassinated near Jamrud in Khyber Agency on May 21, 2008.
Addressing elders and his followers, MNA Allama Qadri said that jirga system, hujra and mosque were main pillars of the Pakhtun society particularly in Fata, but militancy had damaged the main essence of the society.
"Militancy has destroyed the system of governance and social fabric and time has come to integrate Fata with the province," he said, adding administratively the tribal areas were being governed from Beautiful Downtown Peshawar because all administrative departments and bodies had headquarters in the quiet provincial capital.
He said that only a few vested interests were opposing integration of Fata with the province. He argued that political agents of three tribal agencies including Khyber, Orakzai and South Wazoo had main offices in the province while the other main departments like civil secretariat, development and disaster management authorities had also their head offices in Peshawar.
"Peshawar is like our second home," said Allama Qadri and stated that majority of the businessmen from Fata had shifted their investments to Peshawar. Because of militancy he said that Pakhtuns were being portrayed as jihad boys, gunnies and narcos across the world despite the fact that militancy had been imposed upon them.
He said that the people of Fata had no relation with foreign gunnies who had been brought to this region and rustics disowned local and foreign terrorists. He said that the people of Fata and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa should get rid of these killers. He said that Fata had been given representation in the National Assembly and Senate despite that parliamentarians could not legislate for their own people. He appealed to all the political forces to work for social and economic uplift of the tribal people.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2012
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
A Russian court has jailed 10 Caucasus terrorists militants, four of them for life, for a deadly bombing on a Moscow-Saint Petersburg express train in November 2009 that killed 28 people. The court found all 10 suspects guilty of planning a terror attack, belonging to an illegal armed group and carrying banned weapons.
All those convicted were from Ingushetia. The four ringleaders were given life sentences while the six others got between seven and eight years.
The terrorists militants were nabbed in a special operation by Russian security forces in the Ingush village of Ekazhevo in March 2010 in which eight other suspects were also killed.
Nine of those detained and sentenced have the surname Kartoyev, except one of those jailed for life, Zelemkhan Aushev. It is not clear if they are directly related, and close-knit Ingushetia is known for having a limited number of surnames.
State television pictures showed the ten laughing and smiling in the glass-paneled courtroom cage as they seemed to mock the trial.
One of their lawyers said the defense would appeal the verdict. Musa Pliyev said, "During the whole investigation not a single piece of evidence has been produced proving the guilt of the accused. The court was not objective and this verdict is not fair."
More than 100 people were also injured in the remote-controlled bombing on the Nevsky Express, an upscale passenger train popular with well-off Russians and foreign tourists.
The attack was claimed by the Caucasus Emirate group of Chechen Islamist leader Doku Umarov.
[Dawn] At least three senior naval officers have faced court martial in connection with last year's terrorist attack on PNS Mehran base.
The ISPR (navy) confirmed that these officers were tried "under the naval law and were accordingly penalised".
The punishment and the relevant law were not specified.
According to sources, the penalised officers are Commodore Raja Tahir, Commander Asrar and Lt Commander Absar. They held senior commanding positions at the base at the time of the attack.
When an ISPR official was approached for confirmation of the officers' identities, he refused to do so.
The court martial was held in the light of the report of a joint investigation team that included personnel from the three services.
Terrorists launched the attack on PNS Mehran, a heavily guarded facility of Pakistain Navy located along Sharea Faisal, on May 22 last year.The attackers, four of whom were killed during the attack, scaled the wall of the base, which also housed air force and army facilities.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2012
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2012
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Top|| File under:
#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Laurel Holloman aka Tina Kennard in "The L Word (TV 2004-2009)" aka Randy Dean in "The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love (1995)" aka Laurie Pendleton in "Tumbleweeds (1999)" aka Lily Delacroix in "Loser Love (1999)" aka Jane in "Chapter Zero (1999)" aka Charlotte in "Alone (2002)" (age 41)
* DAILY TIMES.PK > [Afghan] TALIBAN REJECT NATO'S TRAINING TROOPS FOR AFGHANISTAN.
* SAME > US DEFEATED IN AFGHANISTAN, SAYS MUBASHAR HASSAN, wid Islamabad's decision to close its domestic land routes to US-NATO logistics in support of the Pak people, sovereignty, + keep them closed, a major catalyst in the US defeat.
Mao Zedong's adage describing the US as a "paper tiger" proves correct???
* BHARAT RAKSHAK > PAKISTAN SUPPLY ROUTES CRUCIAL TO NATO'S EXIT, in 2014.
* TOPIX > NATO: NO LARGE DRAWDOWN OF FORCES WIDOUT PAKISTAN SUPPLY ROUTES.
* SAME > TALIBAN, AFGHAN NEIGHBORS COULD HAMPER NATO EXIT.
FYI I've read MSM-Net Artics on how its actually the Afghan Taliban + aligned MilTerrs whom are worse off wid Pakistan's decisions to close the land routes, as their covert supply sources vee corrupt Afghan Govt-Army Officials no longer have any Goodies for them to carry on wid Jihad???
IFF ONE BELIEVES THAT THE TTP IS CONTROLLED BY THE PAK-ISI, ETC. THEN BY THE ABOVE SCOPE THE PAK ISI IS ITS OWN WORST ENEMY, VEE MILTERR-LED JIHAD/INSURGENCY, AS PER TRYING TO EXPAND PAK INFLUENCE + CONTROL [Pak Agenda] IN AFGHANISTAN???
Because they proved that liberals had only one dead-on-target critique of GWB's War on Terror approach - namely, that some cultures are just too barbaric to benefit from freedom and democracy. Going forward, the Derbyshire Plan is the preferred approach.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
05/23/2012 9:31
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#8
"Because even a stopped clock is right twice a day?" That's a keeper.
Truly an unpleasant looking customer. Appears quite the brute, though we're taught not to judge by appearances.
[Iran Press TV] Libya's former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, who is wanted by La Belle France, Libya and the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... (ICC), has been finally charged with a crime.
Ousted Libyan dictator Muammar Qadaffy ... the like of whose wardrobe will never be seen again. At least that's what we hope... 's former spy chief and brother-in-law was tossed in the slammer Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! in Mauritania back in March after he flew into the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott from Casablanca, Morocco, on a forged Malian passport.
Now Mauritian officials have charged Abdullah al-Senussi with falsifying documents and entering the West African nation illegally.
"Abdullah al-Senussi has been interviewed for the first time by the state prosecutor. He should face trial soon for illegal entry into Mauritanian territory," a judicial official said on Monday, on condition of anonymity.
While the ICC, Gay Paree and Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of thich is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... are all seeking the right to try Senussi, Nouakchott's decision to proceed with the charges after the expiry of his 45-day custody period could mean a delay in any extradition of the ex-spy chief for a trial outside Mauritania, especially if he is found guilty.
The crime carries a maximum three-year jail term.
But officials in the post-revolution Libya want the Qadaffy ally, nicknamed the butcher, for allegedly playing a key role in the killing of more than 1,200 detainees at Tripoli's Abu Salim prison in 1996.
Interpol has issued an international "red notice" call for his arrest at Libya's request.
Senussi is also wanted on a 2011 ICC arrest warrant in connection with the brutal crackdown on popular protests during last year's Libyan uprising that toppled the Qadaffy regime.
In addition, he is sought by the authorities in La Belle France after a court there sentenced him to life in prison for his involvement in a 1989 bombing of a French airliner over Niger. The attack claimed the lives of 170 people, including 54 Frenchies.
Senussi has also been linked to the 1988 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland of a PanAm jet that killed 270 people.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2012
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#2
Tourism and shipping are about the only 2 segments of the Greek economy not on life support- oh, and olive oil.
Walk away from the Euro and figure out who will sell you all of the products the Germans currently provide Greece with.
In God we trust, Greece pays Cash(up front)
[Yemen Post] Yemen's government has ordered to immediately investigate the suicide booming that killed and maimed hundreds Yemeni soldiers on Monday.
It also directed to identify the circumstances of this incident and those who are responsible for it, and announce findings to the public.
It also called to swiftly reconstruct the military and security services, unite their divisions and cooperate to combat terrorism, calling all Yemenis to align against terrorism, be alert and cooperate to put and end to criminal acts.
It further called the global world to shoulder its responsibility toward elimination of terrorism and obstructions posed by some sides that seek to disrupt the GCC-power transfer deal.
The government front man and Information Minister Ali Al-Amrani said that there was collusion with the terrorists, calling relatives 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... to abandon violence and step down form their positions.
President Abdurabu Mansour Hadi ...the second and possibly the last president of Yemen, successor to former President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh... issued hours after the incident decrees of dismissing Saleh's relative and allies, including the de facto chief of the Yemeni intelligence service, Ammar Mohammad Abdullah Saleh.
Hadi delivered an address at Monday night to the Yemeni people, stressing that security forces will step up their efforts to clamp down on Death Eaters.
A jacket wallah killed about 100 Yemeni soldiers at a military parade rehearsal at Al-Sabeen Square of the capital Sana'a on Monday.
Yemen's Defense Minister Mohammad Nasser Ahmed and Chief of General Staff Ahmed Ali Al-Shawal were present, but the escaped the incident, military sources said.
The attack comes amid a military campaign conducted against Ansar Al-Sharaia, an Al-Qaeda-lined group in some towns of 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... Governorate.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2012
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia
#1
Horse-Barn door.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/23/2012 1:56
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[Dawn] After 45 days of mysterious death of chairman, Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) Bashir Khan Qureshi, the bullet riddled body of another nationalist leader Muzaffar Bhutto was found in the outskirts of Hyderabad on Tuesday.
Bhutto was central secretary general of Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz (JSMM) which is headed by Shafi Burfat.
His body was found stuffed in a gunny bag near Bukhari village in the limits of Hatri cop shoppe near Hyderabad.
Muzaffar Bhutto was among missing persons of Sindh, as he was kidnapped on February 25, 2011 from national highway near Saeedabad town.
The family members had been staging demonstrations for recovery of Bhutto while petition had also been filed in the apex court of Sindh. The slain leader has left a widow Saima Bhutto, two sons and a daughter.
The body of slain JSMM leader was brought to civil hospital Hyderabad late last night by some people who disappeared after leaving the body. Later, the relatives identified the body on Tuesday. The body of Muzaffar Bhutto was later sent to Sehwan, his hometown, where he would be laid to rest.
The reports of death of Muzaffar Bhutto sparked reaction in different cities and towns of Sindh. In Qasimabad,Hyderabadand Kotri, the activists of JSMM resorted to gun sex after which the hops and other businesses were closed.
In Dokri town three people sustained injuries when the enraged people started firing. One of the injured Muhammad Zada succumbed to injuries at the hospital. The Larkana town was also completely shut after the reports of Bhutto's death reached. The gun sex was also reported from different areas.
Reports from Nawabshah said all the commercial activities came to standstill in Nawabshah, Sakrand and Qazi Ahmed towns where the gun sex created panic.
The JSMM workers alleged that secret agencies were involved in killing of their leader. Meanwhile, ...back at the hoedown, Bob finally got to dance with Sally... Zain Bhutto, vice chairman, JSMM, condemned the murder of Muzaffar Bhutto and Dr Niaz Kalani, acting chairman, Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz, has announced strike in Sindh on Wednesday to condemn the murder of nationalist leader.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2012
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Yemen Post] The war between the army troops assisted by tribal militias and al-Qaeda-linked beturbanned goons heated up around Ja'ar, an al-Qaeda stronghold, and Zinjubar, the lovely provincial capital of 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... on Monday, leaving two soldiers killed, a security official told the local Mareb Press news website.The two towns have been under al-Qaeda control since last year when the bad turban group took advantage of the unrest that shook the country and held its grip on large swaths of land in the south.Sources reported citing a source at a local hospital that two soldiers were killed and 7 others maimed.Ansar al-Sharia ...a Yemeni Islamist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends... , al-Qaeda branch in Yemen, said that it launched three attacks on army troops imposing siege on Ja'ar and Zinjubar towns.It claimed that its beturbanned goons managed to kill some soldiers in the festivities and claimed some weapons.However, women are made to be loved, not understood... the army denied such reports, stressing that the troops are making progress in the battles. Eyewitnesses said that ongoing battles between the two sides have been raging since Monday early morning in Ja'ar and Zinjubar and that the government's aircrafts pounded the al-Qaeda-held posts. The Yemeni army stepped up the military operations in Abyan with the aim of regaining control over the towns and pushing the beturbanned goons out of them. It has been delivering very painful strikes against the beturbanned goons since early May.The terror network grabbed credit for the suicide kaboom that targeted a group of soldiers rehearsing for the Unity Day military parade. More than 120 soldiers were killed in the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2012
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia
[Bangla Daily Star] Leftist guerrillas killed 12 Colombian army troops Monday and maimed four others in an ambush in a rural area in the northern tip of Colombia near the border with Venezuela, authorities said.
"Unfortunately we have received reports of 12 soldiers dead and four maimed," said Yusti Maria Lopez, a security official in Maicao, the capital of the department of La Guajira.
The ambush occurred in the Serrania de Perija mountain range in an area known as La Majayura, the official said.
"Regional and national officials are drawing up a toll. We aren't ruling out that there were guerrilla dead too, but that's being analyzed by the army," Lopez said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2012
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[An Nahar] Iran has recalled its ambassador to Azerbaijan for consultations, the Iranian embassy in Baku said on Tuesday, amid a growing row between the two neighbors.
"Ambassador Mohammad Bagher Bahrami left for Tehran on May 21 in connection with the insulting of religious saints in Azerbaijan. He was recalled for consultations," charge d'affaires Ahmed Nemati said in a statement.
Tensions between the Islamic Theocratic Republic and mainly Moslem but officially secular Azerbaijan escalated in recent months after Baku placed in long-term storage Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! a series of suspected attack plotters with alleged links to Iran.
There have also been a series of small anti-Iranian protests outside the embassy in Baku in recent weeks.
A senior Azerbaijani official on Monday accused Iran of spreading slander about the country as Baku prepares to stage the Eurovision song contest this week.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2012
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS) said Tuesday that they have tossed in the clink Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! twelve suicide kaboomers who were planning suicide attacks in Afghanistan during the days of the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... summit in Chicago.
Those tossed in the clink Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! are all members of either the Haqqani network or the Mullah Dadullah Front, NDS front man Lotfullah Mashal said, and had planned to attack the country's capital and other provinces in an attempt to protest the international meeting on Afghanistan being held over Sunday and Monday.
"In the last two weeks, Afghanistan's enemies in the Haqqani network and Mahaz-e-Mullah Dadullah planned to launch some suicide and explosives attacks in the capital as well as the provinces of Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. and Pashtun-infested Logar," Mashal said in Kabul.
He said the Orcs and similar vermin were trying show up the Afghan cops as incompetent.
So much for that...
He claimed that one of the detainees was a spy for Pakistain's intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence who had tried to encourage people to demonstrate against the NATO summit.
Whoops! Forgot he was supposed to stay safely behind the scenes.
Mashal added that the insurgency groups' inability to fight against security forces had seen them move towards soft targets, namely Afghanistan's schools.
Unwise. The Afghans really like having schools for their children.
"We are aware that about three weeks ago there was a meeting between the Haqqani network and a Beautiful Downtown Peshawar insurgency network in [Pakistain's] Koita City where the groups' followers were ordered to set fire to schools - because they've lost their ability to fight with Afghan forces," he said.
Pretty seriously detailed awareness -- Mahmudullah the Weasel must've called in.
An NDS official said that one group of those tossed in the clink Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! people had also tried to poison soldiers from the Afghan army in Pashtun-infested Logar province.
The officials hailed the recent arrests as an achievement for the Afghan cops.
And so it is. Well done, Afghan police!
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2012
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[An Nahar] A senior U.N. official urged authorities in the central Syrian city of Homs Monday to release political prisoners and allow peaceful demonstrations.
Homs has been hard hit in violent festivities between anti-government protests and pro-government security forces. Last week, at least 15 civilians were "summarily executed" there by regime forces, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
"Authorizing peaceful demonstrations and releasing detainees would go some way towards consolidating confidence, which so far has been lacking, so that the political process can get started and can gain traction," said Herve Ladsous, the U.N.'s undersecretary general for peacekeeping operations after meeting with Homs Governor Ghassan Abdelaal.
In addition, he called for public services to facilitate everyday life.
Abdelaal countered that providing services required entering into opposition-controlled areas and that this could lead to festivities.
Ladsous made his remarks as U.N. chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... warned that the search for peace in Syria was at a "pivotal moment" and as the violence across the Middle Eastern country claimed at least another 38 lives.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2012
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
A bomb was found and deactivated Tuesday at a theater in Buenos Aires where former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe was to deliver a speech. A source said, During an inspection, security personnel found the bomb in a lamp in the theater. It is of the type activated by cell phone."
Uribe had been scheduled to deliver a speech at the Grand Rex theater in downtown Buenos Aires on Wednesday. Theater security and maintenance personnel found the bomb on the second floor, where Uribe, following a press conference, plans "to host a cocktail party with many personalities."
Investigating Judge Norberto Oyarbide said the bomb "was simple, but large enough to kill people that were close to it."
Federal police rushed explosives experts to the site and closed off traffic for more than an hour on the busy avenue where the theater is located. After an exhaustive search, some 30 police officers remained at the entrance to prevent anyone from entering the building.
Uribes speech will proceed as scheduled, Oyarbide said.
[Yemen Post] The Spanish police officer, who went missing in Yemen last Thursday, was found dead in the capital Sanaa on Tuesday, Alsahwa reported, quoting well-informed sources.
"The policeman was found dead after noon in Venue 50th in the Hadda district and a firearm was found near him," the sources said, according to the website.
The news came a day after a jacket wallahwent kaboom!" at a military parade rehearsal in Sanaa killing more than one hundred central security forces and injuring hundreds others.
A krazed killer group has grabbed credit for the attack, saying it was a payback for the US war on faceless myrmidons in south Yemen.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, AQAP, has recently kidnapped several foreigners including a Swiss woman and the Saudi consul in Aden, amid an intensified offensive against faceless myrmidons in the south. The US and tribal fighters are supporting the army in fighting faceless myrmidons in southern and southeastern regions, mainly 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... However, a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... none of the hostages have been reported dead and AQAP has not threatened to harm them. The Yemeni authorities were reported to have been negotiating with the faceless myrmidons to release the foreigners, but no progress has been reported.
Last Thursday, the Spanish Foreign Ministry said the police officer, within the staff at the Spanish Embassy in Sana'a, went missing and inquiries were launched into his disappearance.
Also, a brother of the victim said the officer had been kidnapped and his family had been unable to contact him, the website said.
The officer worked at his country's mission in Yemen for the past two years, it said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2012
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[Tolo News] Afghanistan's senators welcomed the conclusions of the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... summit and its partners in Chicago, but are wary about trusting the promises being made.
The experience of the 1990s when Afghanistan slid into civil war following the fight against the Soviet occupation and the departure of the US has left some senators concerned that the statements being made on commitment to Afghanistan were too ambiguous.
"The [long-term] commitments being made towards Afghanistan are ambiguous up to now; the international community should not abandon Afghanistan and repeat the mistakes of 90s," Senate vice chair Mohammad Alam Ezdyar said Tuesday.
"This would not be beneficial to the whole world."
Senator Sayed Farukh Shah Jenab, who hailed the summit as an historic event, also said the presence of Pakistain in Chicago and its failure to solve the problem of the closed supply route across its border had boosted the world's understanding of Afghanistan's plight.
"Even though the financial commitments are not still clear, the Chicago summit has benefitted Afghanistan anyway," he said. "The humiliating presence of the Pak president in the summit was also a positive message for Afghanistan."
One senator stressed that more attention needed to be paid to the international aid being sent to the country - if it is misused, then Afghanistan will not develop.
"If corruption continues, Afghanistan will remain poor despite the international aid," Senator Lailuma Ahmadi said. "Your cut, sir."
"Oh. Thank you! Thank you very much!"
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2012
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Top|| File under:
#1
In other words, give us free stuff until the end of time. The funny thing is that most countries more or less make their own way after help has been rendered, and in fact, spend the next few decades paying off their war debts. Communist Vietnam spent decades paying the Soviets for the equipment used to conquer the south. Communist China repaid its Korean War-related debt to the Soviets within a decade even as tens of millions of Chinese starved to death. The Afghans have the temerity to not only not think about repaying some of the aid - they want it to continue into the foreseeable future. You gotta love the sense of entitlement. (I think we'll have to continue funding these troglodytes just to offset the Pakistani subsidy to the Taliban, but it's jarring to hear these people talk as if we owe them).
In an unmistakable snub, President Barack Obama We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us... left Pakistain off a list of nations he thanked for help getting war supplies into Afghanistan.
The omission speaks to the prolonged slump in US relations with Pakistain that clouded a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... summit where nations were eyeing the exits in Afghanistan.
#3
See also TOPIX > [Daily Times.PK] US SENATE VOTES TO CUT PAK AID BY 58%, threatens more cuts iff NATO Supply Routes are not reopened.
versus
* SAME > [News Kerala] "NON-STATE ACTORS" [e.g. DPC = Defence Pakistan Council] RESTRAINING PAKISTAN FROM OPENING NATO SUPPLY ROUTES TO LEAVE COUNTRY INTERNATIONALLY ISOLATED.
* SAME > PENTAGON: TALIBAN, IRAN, + AFGHANISTAN MAY HAMPER 2014 NATO PULLOUT.
JERUSALEM (Rooters) -- Named for the crash site of an airforce plane shot down during the Six Day War in 1967, Givat HaMatos may yet prove the place where Paleostinian hopes of a creating a capital in Jerusalem also plunge to earth.
'Airplane Hill' lies on the southern fringes of Jerusalem's city limits -- rock-strewn land dotted with shabby, prefabricated bungalows and the occasional pine tree.
Once a tranquil backwater, the area has become the focus of hectic activity in the last six months, with Israeli authorities releasing plans for 2,610 housing units and 1,110 hotel rooms.
With the approval process going more quickly than expected, building could start later this year, creating the first new Israeli settlement in 15 years among the sprawl of a modern Jerusalem that is spread out over many hills.
If that happens, it would effectively cut off the city's Paleostinian neighborhoods from Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, imperiling the Paleostinians' prospects for establishing a coherent capital and with it their goal of an independent state.
"There is only so much territorial abuse this tortured land can take before we kill the political options of saving the two- state solution," said Daniel Seidemann, an Israeli attorney who monitors urban developments he thinks affect chances for peace.
"What is happening at Givat HaMatos is a game changer," he said, his finger tapping a map of the area for added emphasis. "Events are careering out of control."
Of all the obstacles blocking the way to peace between the Paleostinians and Israelis, the status of Jerusalem is arguably the most intractable.
"It's the most difficult symbolic issue for the grinding of the peace processor. It's an emotional issue," Israeli Prime Benjamin Netanyahu told Rooters earlier this month.
For Israelis, all of the city, including East Jerusalem and its West Bank suburbs captured in 1967, is their "eternal and indivisible" capital, the home the Jews dreamed of through 2,000 years of exile, and the site of their revered Western Wall.
For Paleostinians, there can be no peace until Israel returns their control over East Jerusalem, a symbol of their national struggle and home to Islam's third holiest site, al-Aqsa mosque and the glittering Dome of the Rock.
In the absence of a deal, or even meaningful negotiations, Israel has been busy developing the holy city, building impressive, stone-clad neighborhoods across the occupied land in defiance of constant international criticism.
Precious land
A series of recent interviews with Israelis and Paleostinians suggests that the development is at a tipping point.
Plans for Givat HaMatos are not taking place in a vacuum.
Israeli officials are also pushing to expand the nearby settlements of Gilo and Har Homa, thereby building a broad, concrete crescent just north of the hilltop town of Bethlehem.
Some 35 percent of Paleostinian economic activity is centered on a line that stretches from Bethlehem through East Jerusalem and on to Ramallah, the West Bank's administrative center, north of Jerusalem. Critics say the southern settlements will snap this link.
"It is like putting a ribbon around a finger and pulling tighter and tighter until all the blood is cut off," said Ashraf Khatib, a Paleostinian activist from East Jerusalem.
"But it is not just in the south. The Israelis are creating facts on the ground across the eastern city," he added.
A proud exponent of that policy is Aryeh King, the founder of the Israeli Land Fund whose stated mission is to "reclaim the land of Israel for the people of Israel."
In April, he secured the eviction of a Paleostinian family from a home in the Paleostinian neighborhood of Beit Hanina after a court ruled that the place had been legally bought by a Jew. He immediately moved half a dozen young supporters into the house and promised further evictions in the months ahead.
"We are locating property in all of East Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, every piece of land is important. All the plots put together can change the reality," said King, standing in the backyard of the low-rise building he had just taken over.
"The reality we don't want to see happen is one that we think would lead to catastrophe -- the division of the city."
Jews, from Biblical kings such as David and Solomon to present day Israelis, see Jerusalem as the home of their religion and as a national capital fit for their people.
Most Israelis dismiss accusations their presence in East Jerusalem is illegal and bridle at the term "settlement" to describe what they refer to as Jewish neighborhoods.
Population growth
As British imperial forces left Paleostine in 1948, 60 percent of Jerusalem's population was Jewish. The United Nations ...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly... had planned to put the city under international control, but war intervened and when a truce ended it, Jordan held the eastern sector, including the walled Old City with its sacred sites.
Israel controlled West Jerusalem.
Following the 1967 war, Israel swept away the armistice boundary, or Green Line, and more than doubled the city limits. In 1980, parliament passed a law declaring united Jerusalem as the national capital, a move never recognized internationally.
Paleostinians say the new masters have striven to alter the demographics, limiting land available to develop in Paleostinian neighborhoods, imposing residency rules that push Paleostinians out and demolishing more than 2,000 of their homes in East Jerusalem.
This has had little impact on population ratios, even as the number of inhabitants has soared from 263,000 in 1967 to around 800,000 today. Indeed the Paleostinian ratio is climbing, with secular Israelis reluctant to settle in a city known for tensions and as home to growing numbers of religiously observant Jews.
According to the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, 36 percent of inhabitants were Paleostinian in 2009 against 28 percent in 1980. City officials say the figure will hit 40 percent by 2020. By contrast, 20 percent of Israel's total population are Paleostinians.
"Jerusalem is not a Jewish city, not an Israeli city, but a bi-national city. It is not a united city. It is divided in more ways than you could care to imagine," said Seidemann, who is the go-to person for diplomats seeking information on town planning.
The divisions are often invisible to the naked eye. Outsiders rarely notice when they cross from west to east, and are surprised if Jewish taxi drivers refuse to take them to hotels in Paleostinian areas because they fear being pelted with stones.
Likewise, both visitors and residents often express surprise when told that leafy districts of solid, modern homes are the very settlements which are so regularly denounced abroad.
"This place isn't a settlement," said Ofer Dror, a 36-year-old technician and resident of Har Homa, a terraced suburb of neat, white-stone apartments housing 13,000 Israelis that overlooks the Biblical town of Bethlehem.
"If we were behind some fence or a separation line then I might think that," he added, clearly surprised by the concept.
Continued on Page 49
#3
almost as if the Paleo refusal for authentic negotiations had a cost, hmmmmm? Consequences happen, asshats. You were never dealing fro a position of power, you can thank your incompetent Arab puppeteers for that
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/23/2012 7:25
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Top||
#4
said King, standing in the backyard of the low-rise building he had just taken over.
Which is code for they legally purchased it.
Paleo 'law' imposes the death penalty for selling property to Jews.
#5
We in Jerusalem are the example of how the world need to confront the radical Islam.
We are praud to have our Jewish state, Muslim can stay in Israel but they MUST eccpet it is a Jewish state.
The Israel LAnd Fund is leading the battle on the future of Jerusalem, if you care for freedom of movement, freedom of praying to any G-D you believe in...so help us (ILF) keep Jerusalem united.
Thank you.
Posted by: The Israel LAnd Fund ||
05/23/2012 19:49
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[Yemen Post] Deputy chairman of the National Security Amar Mohammad Abdullah Saleh handed over its position to the newly-appointed Mohammad Al-Khadhir, the Yemeni News Agency (Saba) said.
Saba said Ammar handed his duties over to his successor under the supervision of Chief of the National Security, Ali Mohammad Al-Anisi.President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi issued a decree, firing Ammar, a nephew of the former president Ali Mohammed Abdullah Saleh hours after a jacket wallah killed and maimed hundreds of Yemeni soldiers at Al-Sabeen Square of Sana'a while they were in a military parade rehearsal.
Hadi also issued on Monday decrees of dismissing commander of the Central Security Abdul-Malik Al-Taib and chief of the Police Forces Mohammad Al-Qawasi, both men are allies of Saleh.
Al-Eshtraki Net online newspaper, the mouthpiece of the Yemeni Socialist Part, quoted its sources as saying that Al-Qawsi still refuses the decree of Hadi and that he brought gunnies to the headquarters of the Police Forces.
Relatives of Saleh have refused Hadi's decrees, and only after international pressures and intervention of the UN Envoy Jamal Benomar, Saleh's half brother, Mohammad Saleh Al-Ahmar, handed over the air forces command following three weeks of rebellion.
Saleh's allies still refuse handing over the 3rd Republican Guard Brigade to the newly-appointed Abdul-Rahman Al-Halili.
The command of the 3rd Republican Guard Brigade was handed over to Al-Ahlili with the presence of the UN envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar who put pressures on the pervious commander, Tariq Mohmmad Abdullah Saleh, to hand over.
However, the way to a man's heart remains through his stomach... after the departure of Benomar, Al-Halili was prevented by officers loyal to Saleh from entering the brigade.
Media sources said Benomar is set to arrive in Yemen next Wednesday to follow up the implementation of Hadi's decrees.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2012
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(Sh.M.Network)- Æthiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said that his military is looking to gain more ground from Al-Shabaab ... the personification of Somali state failure... in southern Somalia, media reported on Monday.
According to reports Prime Minister Meles Zenawi stated that the Æthiopian troops deployed in south centralSomaliaa preparing to increase the onslaught against Al-Shabaab, so they can drive out Al-Shabaab snuffies remaining in southern regions.
"We are committed to strengthening the battle against Al-Shabaab in south central and southernSomalia," the Prime Minister said.
According to the Prime Minister,Æthiopiahas had a great deal of experience in suppressing and limiting the ability of krazed killer groups to thrive.
Prime Minister Zenawi suggested that Kismayo, a major Al-Shabaab stronghold 500 kms south ofMogadishucould be the next operation for the Æthiopian troops. "Our troops have forced Al-Shabaab from a large part of land in south centralSomalia, and soon we will take over more key strongholds," said Prime Minister Zenawi.
Prime Minister Zenawi last month, stated that his troops would leave Somalia as soon as the threat of Al-Shabaab diminishes. Analysts who spoke to Garowe Online said that both countries especiallyKenyawho has never deployed troops toSomalia, may have underestimated Al-Shabaab.
Last year Æthiopian troops were deployed to parts ofSomaliaand since then have been able to force Al-Shabaab from their major strongholds in southernSomalia. Baidoa and Beledweyne were two key cities that Æthiopian troops were able to uproot Al-Shabaab from.
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05/23/2012
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The son, Yehya Zindani described the attacker as a well-known person who says my father has ruined and bewitched him. According to Israeli media reports the attacker stabbed Zindani 12 times before being stopped by a group of men and tossed in the calaboose Please don't kill me! A friend of Zindani, Shlomo Grafi, told Army Radio that he had been killed by a "member of al-Qaeda."
Grafi said that Zindani had returned to Yemen after he had made aliya and lived in Israel in the 1990s.
Grafi claimed that the Jewish community in Sanaa, numbering some 80 members, did not feel that they were in danger despite the volatile political climate in Yemen.
#2
"Grafi claimed that the Jewish community in Sanaa, numbering some 80 members, did not feel that they were in danger despite the volatile political climate in Yemen."
Are they delusional, idiots, or both?
Posted by: Barbara ||
05/23/2012 18:22
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#3
Are they delusional, idiots, or both?
They're the ones who refused every opportunity to emigrate to Israel, Barbara, the frogs who insisted on staying in the pot. Eyes shut tight, ears covered tight, no information getting past the barriers,
Suspected terrorists insurgents carried out a bomb attack in Yala province just hours before Deputy Prime Minister Yutthasak Sasiprapa and army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha visited a school in the area.
A roadside bomb was detonated when a team of six soldiers on an armored personnel vehicle passed a bridge in Raman district about noon. No one was wounded in the blast, which shattered the vehicle's windshield.
A bomb disposal squad sent to the scene found pieces of a cooking gas cylinder, steel rods and a length of wire leading to a rubber plantation. Another bomb, inside another cooking gas cylinder, was also found and destroyed.
The six-member army team was heading to a school about 7 km from the blast site, to beef up security for a delegation led by Gen Yutthasak and Gen Prayuth, who were due to visit the school in the afternoon. The school is part of a pilot project to provide classes in both Thai and Malay.
Gen Yutthasak and Gen Prayuth earlier met security officers in Pattani province to assess the success of strategies being used to quell the violence.
Meanwhile, about 7,000 people affected by the jihad unrest in the deep South since 2004 have registered with the Southern Border Provinces Administration Center to be considered for compensation payments by the government.
[Iran Press TV] Around 10 people are killed and more than two dozen others injured in an attack by gunnies on a protest rally and ensuing violence in the southern Pakistain port city of 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... Unknown gunnies have opened fire on a protest rally in the southern Pakistain port city of Bloody Karachi, initiating violence that killed around 10 people and injuring two dozen others, according to local officials.
"At least 10 people have been killed and 25 maimed in the acts of violence in different parts of the city," Sharfuddin Memon, the provincial home ministry official in the Sindh province where Bloody Karachi is located, said on Tuesday, AFP reported.
Senior police official Shaukat Hussein put the corpse count at nine.
"The violence started after an incident of firing on a rally against a police operation in [the city's] Lyari ...one of the eighteen constituent towns of the city of Karachi. It is the smallest town by area in the city but also the most densely populated. Lyari has few schools, substandard hospitals, a poor water system, limited infrastructure, and broken roads. It is a stronghold of ruling Pakistan Peoples Party. Ubiquitous gang activity and a thriving narcotics industry make Lyari one of the most disturbed places in Karachi, which is really saying a lot.... district," he said, referring to the police operation earlier this month, in which 25 people were killed.
Hundreds of protesters had joined the demonstration.
"Soon after the attack, incidents of gunfire started in the adjoining localities and several vehicles were set on fire," Hussein noted.
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[Al Ahram] The UN nuclear watchdog chief said on Tuesday he expected to sign a deal with Iran soon to ease investigation into suspected work on atom bombs, potentially brightening prospects for big-power talks with Tehran to stop a drift towards conflict.
Speaking on the eve of the Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... meeting where six powers will test Iranian willingness to put transparent limits on its nuclear programme, Yukiya Amano said his wish for access to an Iranian military site where nuclear weapons-relevant tests may have occurred would be addressed as part of the accord.
But the powers will be wary of past failures to carry out extra inspection deals between the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency and Iran, and Western patience is wearing thin.
European sanctions to block Iran's oil exports are to take force in July and Israel has mooted military action. Iran, which denies any ambition to develop nuclear arms, has threatened reprisals and oil prices have risen on fears of a new Middle East war hitting a shaky world economy.
Amano himself acknowledged that "some differences" remained before the deal he hashed out during a rare visit to Tehran on Monday could be sealed, although chief Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili had told him these would not prevent agreement.
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[Al Ahram] An Islamist whose arrest sparked deadly sectarian festivities in Leb between pro- and anti-Syrian groups was released on bail Tuesday, a judicial official said.
The official said military judge Nabil Wehbe ordered Shadi al-Mawlawi released on bail of 500,000 Lebanese pounds (333 dollars).
Mawlawi's arrest on May 12 on charges of belonging to a terrorist organization sparked deadly sectarian festivities in the northern port city of Tripoli. ...a confusing city, one end of thich is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... His supporters say he was targeted because he was helping Syrian refugees fleeing the unrest in their country.
The festivities escalated further at the weekend and reached the capital Beirut following the killing of two anti-Sunni holy mans who reportedly failed to stop at an army checkpoint in the north of the country.
Two people were killed and 18 maimed in Beirut as a result of the festivities.
The unrest has sparked fears that the violence in neighbouring Syria is spilling over into Leb.
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[Iran Press TV] British Prime Minister David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... has warned the Greek people that they should leave the euro zone if they vote for anti-austerity left-wingers.
Speaking of a new legislative election in Greece which is to be held on 17 June 2012, Cameron said Greece's new round of elections must be a referendum on whether the country should stay in the euro zone, reported The Sun.
"Greece is going to vote - it has to be absolutely clear there is a choice," said Cameron.
"They can vote to stay in the eurozone and meet their commitments or they can vote to give up on their commitments and in effect give up on the eurozone. This must be a moment of decisiveness," he added.
The new legislative election is to be held after a coalition government was unable to be formed in Greece following the election in May.
The Sun described Cameron's message as "the toughest language yet from any EU leader."
That's a rather low bar...
Cameron's tough warning came as British Secretary of State for Justice said the wrong Greek vote could hit Britannia hard and the UK is "heavily exposed" to potential problems.
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[An Nahar] A UAE court jugged Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! 10 pirates for life on Tuesday after they were convicted of hijacking a ship east of Oman in the Arabian Sea last year, state news agency WAM reported.
The life sentence, which equates to 25 years, will be followed by deportation, WAM said.
The agency did not give the men's nationalities, but Abu Dhabi daily The National reported that they are Somalis.
MV Arrilah-I was hijacked in April 2011 while en route from Australia to Dubai.
United Arab Emirates special forces, backed by air force units and in coordination with the Bahrain-based U.S. Fifth Fleet, freed the Abu Dhabi-owned ship a day after it was seized.
The bulk carrier is owned by Abu Dhabi National Tanker Co and National Gas Shipping Co, both subsidiaries of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.
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#1
They really seem to be turning on their own kind lately.
Posted by: American Delight ||
05/23/2012 22:21
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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.
A judge in Sanford ruled Tuesday that a Lake Mary man was lawfully exercising his First Amendment rights when he flashed his headlights to warn neighbors that a deputy had set up a speed trap nearby.
Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett said Tuesday night that he has received information from Hawaii that proves President Obama's American birth and satisfies Arizona's requirements for having the president on the upcoming election ballot.
neighborhood of Qaboon during the night killing five people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday.
(Sh.M.Network)- Six Somalis go on trial in a 
The uprising that overthrew former president 
Jerry Lewis doppelgänger Amr Moussa
Wazoo
[Iran Press TV] Libya's former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, who is wanted by 
Reports of violence towards Germans visitors are one of the factors driving tourists away from the cash-strapped country
Around 10 people are killed and more than two dozen others injured in an attack by 
David Cameron
[An Nahar] A UAE court 
