Crouching behind a wooden barrier, 27-year-old Sergeant Sara Delawar fires her M-4 rifle at a target showing the silhouette of a man, part of a training exercise for Afghan special forces.
Anxious to defuse tensions stoked by foreign male soldiers raiding Afghans' homes at night in what is a conservative Muslim country, Afghanistan has begun training elite female troops to join Afghan male soldiers on operations.
"Before we joined this unit, our operations were done by foreign troops and they did not know our culture. People were critical so we joined to help out," Delawar, a former policewoman in Jowzjan province, said.
"I have already fought the Taliban. My comrades were martyred in fights with the Taliban and we have killed them too, but during the night raids I haven't fought insurgents yet."
Fluent in four local languages, Delawar is one of only 12 female soldiers who has been trained to fight and conduct searches in what is an attempt to pay greater respect to cultural sensitivities.
Surprise night raids in pursuit of militants have long stoked anti-Western sentiment in Afghanistan, with many locals seeing them as assaults on their privacy and on women's privacy in particular.
(Sh.M.Network)- The governor of Banadir region forSomalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG), Mohamud Ahmed Nur (Tarsan), has sent a verbal threats to the independently owned Media outlets based inMogadishufor their reporting of the reality on the ground.
The governor says: "The local Media stations inMogadishuhave exaggerated critics by so called Somali politicians who oppose politically and strategically the administration of Banadir region for TFG."
He threatened to take strict measures against the self-governing privately owned Media stations based in Mogadishu soon after accusing of taking part the insecurity in the capital. The Politicians denied these accusations.
On the other hand, Somalis in Kenya and Britannia countries confirmed to Shabelle Media that Mr. Tarsan, the current governor of Banadir region for Somali government has burned the national flag of Ethiopia during a demonstration held in front of Ethiopian embassy in UK after Addis Ababa sent troops in Somalia to help TFG led by the dear departed Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed.
Politicians say the governor has also burnt Somalis national flag at Gudha village inLower Jubbaregion while he was with Hassan Turki, a former Union of Islamic courts leader and now Al-shabab member.
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04/11/2012 00:00 ||
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Police have questioned and released more than 100 people in connection with the twin blasts in Mtwapa and Mombasa that killed two people and injured 30 others a fortnight ago.
Coast provincial police boss Aggrey Adoli said more suspects are being sought in different parts of the country.
"We have extended our operation beyond these two towns. We have interrogated many people and we are looking for more as we receive more information," Mr Adoli said in an interview yesterday. However, the hip bone's connected to the leg bone... Sherlocks do not have enough evidence to charge any of the suspects.
The police chief said investigations will continue until those responsible for the attacks are found and charged in court.
He, however, declined to reveal the nationalities of the foreigners who are among those questioned.
Mr Adoli's comments came in the wake of expectations that some of the suspects would be taken to court.
Journalists kept vigil at the law courts for the better part of the day on Tuesday before leaving after police said no appearances in court were planned.
A police report issued hours after the two kabooms indicated that a home-made bomb was used in the View Stadium Bar and Restaurant attack, while a grenade exploded at the Christian prayer rally in the Mtwapa incident.
There had been reports that a Kenyan had allegedly been identified as the planner of the two kabooms that rocked Mtwapa Town and View Stadium Bar and Restaurant in Mombasa's Tononoka Estate.
But Mr Adoli dismissed the reports as untrue, saying, police are yet to identify the attackers.
The police position differs from Internal Security Minister George Saitoti's statements last week that several people have been incarcerated in connection with the kabooms.
"Investigations are ongoing. Unfortunately there are foreigners and some (suspects) are Kenyans who have been working with them.
"As Kenyans we should remain on the lookout for such people," Prof Saitoti told journalists in Nairobi a week ago.
He said more details would be released once investigations were complete.
"We shall give information once we arrest the others we are looking for," the minister said.
A police report issued hours after the two kabooms indicated that a home-made bomb was used in the View Stadium Bar and Restaurant attack, while a grenade exploded at the Christian prayer rally in the Mtwapa incident.
But unlike in the past when police moved in fast and charged the suspects in court after similar attacks, this has been different. Officers remained tight-lipped about the progress of investigations and have mostly denied making any arrests.
Prof Saitoti was the first to reveal that a number of people had been incarcerated in connection with the kabooms.
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[Tripoli Post] Libya's official news agency LANA reported on Monday that the country's interim authorities have stopped paying bonuses to former rebels due to widespread fraud costing millions of Libyan dinars.
Mohammed Harizi, front man for the ruling National Transitional Council, was quoted saying that
"Payment of rewards to rebels have been stopped due to violations and abuses," and that "millions of (Libyan) dinars allocated to revolutionaries were lost in (illegitimate) payments to non-beneficiaries."
Mr Harizi went on to say that the Libyan authorities have referred the violations to the offices of the attorney general and audit bureau for investigation. As such, no further payments would be made until distribution mechanisms are revised and the lists of beneficiaries approved by local military councils across the country.
The NTC front man stressed that the main purpose of bonuses was to encourage former rebels to join the official institutions of the state and to hand in their weapons.
Meanwhile there have been reports of forces of Evil expressing their anger over non-payment by protesting in front of the government headquarters in Libya's capital,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... and blocking traffic in some neighbourhoods of the capital.
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MK Ben-Eliezer says ex-spy chief is Israel's best hope;
Analyst: Egypt will remain unstable no matter who takes helm.
Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... 's former intelligence chief said Egypt's military rulers do not support his bid for the presidency and accused Islamists of sending him death threats, an Egyptian newspaper reported on Monday.
Omar Suleiman ... Now former Vice president of Egypt. From 1993 until his appointment to that office in 2011 he was Minister without Portfolio and Director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate (EGID)... , 74, announced his candidacy on Friday and showed he still wields political clout by collecting around 72,000 signatures of eligible voters in one day, more than twice the 30,000 required. The deadline for submitting signatures was Sunday.
Suleiman's military background suggested to many that he had the backing of the ruling army council that took over from Mubarak in February last year.
MK Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor) said Monday that from Israel's perspective, Suleiman would be the best candidate to take the reins in Cairo.
Speaking to Israel Radio, the former defense minister said Suleiman is a patriot who "loves Egypt" and views relations with Israel as a "cornerstone" of Cairo's strategic policy.
For years Ben-Eliezer, a native Arabic speaker born in Iraq, enjoyed a close relationship with Mubarak, and said he had been in touch with the deposed leader "every day for 20 to 30 minutes" during the revolution that ended his three-decade rule over a year ago.
Eric Trager, an Egypt expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said Israel has to accept that none of the current presidential candidates offer much hope for a stable Egypt.
"Israelis need to be prepared for an Egypt that's going to be a highly unstable place in the years to come -- that's obviously the case if an Islamist takes power but also if it's someone like Suleiman," he told The Jerusalem Post.
"I think the challenge for Washington and Jerusalem is to figure out what their respective interests are in Egypt, and how to protect those few things in what will probably be years of transition," he said.
"If a new Mubarak comes to power, there will be many in Egypt who will view the government as illegitimate and continue to act against it.
That's not an outcome that serves either the US or Israeli interests."
In his interview Monday, Suleiman said the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has no connection to his decision to join the presidential race.
"As soon as my nomination for the presidency was announced, I received on my personal mobile and through some people close to me death threats and messages saying, 'we will take Dire Revenge' from members of the Moslem Brüderbund and other Islamist groups," he told the state-run al- Akhbar newspaper.
Suleiman, made vice president by Mubarak in the last days of his three-decade rule, symbolizes that era's tough security regime and poses a threat to Islamists, who were routinely harassed and locked away during Mubarak's era, and to liberals, who spearheaded Mubarak's ouster. But his candidacy might appeal to some Egyptians hoping for an end to political instability.
His 11th-hour decision to run for president came shortly after the Moslem Brüderbund, the Islamist movement long suppressed by Mubarak and now a majority in parliament, broke a pledge not to field a candidate and nominated its deputy leader, Khairat al-Shater, for head of state.
In an interview with Rooters on Sunday, Shater denounced Suleiman's bid for his former boss's job.
"I consider his entry an insult to the revolution and the Egyptian people," said Shater, who said he spent 12 years in jail during the Mubarak era. "Omar Suleiman has made a big mistake. He will only win through forgery and, if this happens, the revolution will kick off again."
Members of the Brotherhood were not available to comment on Suleiman's accusation that he received death threats from them.
Suleiman said he was encouraged to run for the state's top post because he felt the Brotherhood's popularity has fallen due to "their determination to monopolize all posts."
The army suspended the constitution that gave absolute powers to the president shortly after the toppling of Mubarak.
Suleiman said he could not accept the presidency if the constitutional committee decides to give more power to the parliament than the president.
"I would never agree to be just an image. The head of state has to have real power, and I think that the country is in need of a strong president who would bring stability and security."
During the Egyptian uprising Suleiman had said in an interview with ABC that Egyptians were not ready for democracy. His comments turned against him the millions of Egyptians who had campaigned for weeks for an end to Mubarak's rule.
"Egypt will always be and continue to be a national democratic state where its children enjoy full rights," Suleiman said in Monday's interview.
[Yemen Post] 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... ordered Commander of the Air Forces Mohammad Saleh Al-Ahmar and Chairman of the Yemeni Economic Corporation Hafez Meyad to refuse decrees of President Abdu Rabo Mansour Hadi, Well-informed sources told Al-Ahali Newspaper.
The sources said that Saleh ordered Meyad and Al-Ahamar to rebel in attempt to hamper any potential decree to dismiss his son Ahemed who leads the Republican Guard.
Meyad had refused his dismissal and appointment of a new chairman of YEC, and bring in gunnies who occupied YEC several times and prevented the newly-appointed chairman from entering the corporation.
The sources affirmed that Al-Ahmar's health badly deteriorates, he was not planning to rebel against Hadi, and that Saleh put pressures against him to rebel.
Rejection of Hadi's decrees had led to the closure of Sana'a International Airport after gunnies affiliated to Al-Ahmar impose a siege against the airport and threatened to drop any civil plane.
Meanwhile, ...back at the buffalo wallow, Tex and his new-found Indian friend were preparing a little surprise for the bandidos... the newspaper said that the US Ambassador to Yemen Gerald Feierstein met on Monday with Saleh and his nephew, Tariq Mohammad Abdullah Saleh, to put pressure on them to accept the decrees issued by Saleh last Friday.
The sources told Al-Ahali that Saleh and his nephew affirmed their acceptances of the dismissal decrees. Tareq was dismissed as the commander of the Special forces and appointed as the commander of the Bridge 37th.
Ambassadors of the five Permanent Members of the Security Council, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and Ambassador of the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... expressed on Saturday their support to the decrees taken by Yemen President Abdu-Rabou Mansour Hadi of dismissing military commanders and the appointment of new ambassadors.
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[Yemen Post] Yemen's Prime Minister Mohammad Salim Basindowa has called on the oil-rich GCC states and the global community to stand by Yemen and support it, appreciating those countries that helped Yemen through the power transfer deal.
In remarks to the London-based Al-Hiah Newspaper, he affirmed that the republican decrees that dismissed a number of commanders loyal to 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... will be implemented soon.
Basindiwa who started a visit to Qatar Monday along with a high-level delegation comprising a number of Yemeni ministers affirmed that the provoking of crises will not impede these decrees.
He told the newspaper that Yemen faces a critical stage, stressing that the interim government seeks to overcome all challenges as fast as possible. He tried to avoid speaking about the closure of Sana'a International Airport by gunnies afflicting to the commander of Mohmmad Saleh Al-Ahmar.
According to the Yemen News Agency (Saba), Basindowa discussed with Qatari officials Yemeni update, development and steps needed to implement the requirement of the transition stage.
The talks touched on the required development and economic aid to Yemen to tackle the last year crisis's aftermaths, Saba said.
In his meeting with Basindowah, Crown Prince of Qatar Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani affirmed that Qater is intending to implement a number of development and investment projects in Yemen, pointing out that Yemeni labors in Qatar enjoys all facilities and that Qatar will absorb further Yemeni laborers.
Basindowa conducted last January a trip to Soddy Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and the Untied Arab Emirates, citing , at that time, that he excluded of Qatar and Oman during that visit as their leaders are not existed at this time.
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[Yemen Post] Yemen's ex-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... has set conditions to leave his country including that the United Arab Emirates give a written acceptance to host him for two years along with tens of his family members, Akhbar al-Youm newspaper reported, quoting a statement by a Gulf diplomat,
The daily also quoted the diplomat as saying the condition of Saleh came after the US and Soddy Arabia had convinced the UAE to host him during the two-year transitional period.
"The UAE has initially agreed to do within the efforts to ease the implementation of a power transfer deal in Yemen, which was brokered by the GCC countries and backed by the West topped by the US in November after months of turmoil," the diplomat said.
On Monday, a Saudi paper quoted a Gulf diplomat as saying the countries, sponsoring a the power transfer that saw Saleh relinquish power after 33 years in office, had threatened to sanction him and his loyalists, including military and security commanders if they hinder the implementation of the deal and the UN resolution 2014.
Saleh has been seen as trying to come back to politics and local observers said his stay in the country is affecting the political reconciliation, especially because some senior army and security commanders are still his relatives or those who are very loyal to him.
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[An Nahar] Al-Qaeda on Tuesday threatened to attack Britannia if it decides to extradite to Jordan the radical Islamist Abu Qatada, once believed to be an aide to the late Osama bin Laden. ... who is now beyond all cares and woe... In a statement signed by al-Qaeda's general command and published on jihadist forums, the terror network said Abu Qatada's extradition would "open the gates of evil" onto "Britannia and its citizens everywhere."
"We warn the British government against extraditing Sheikh Abu Qatada to Jordan," where he faces terror charges, said the statement which called on London to "act with reason and wisdom... or it will regret it."
The 51-year-old Jordanian, labeled the right-hand man of bin Laden by a Spanish judge, was convicted in Jordan in absentia for involvement in terror attacks in 1998, and faces a retrial on his return.
For six years, Britannia has been trying to extradite the radical holy man, arguing he is a threat to national security, but its efforts have been thwarted on human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. grounds.
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#1
So how much is it going to cost the US to keep these nasties? Their crimes charged are odious, but shouldn't the UK be keeping them. We won't be able to execute them, so we are stuck with them AND the bill for life.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
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North Korean leader Suet Face Kim Jong-un was given his first official title as leader of the country on Wednesday, while his late father was named "eternal general secretary".
The state-run Korean Central News Agency announced that Fat Boy Kim Jung-un, the third and youngest son of long-time leader Kim Jong-il, was named "first secretary" of the Workers' Party, a new top position in the party.
Kim Jong-il's new title of "General Secretary for Eternity" follows on from his father, Kim Il-sung being made president for eternity when he died. Great. Carve it on the stone.
The conference "decided to hold Kim Jong-il, the great leader of the WPK and the Korean people, in high esteem as eternal general secretary", the news agency said. Accordingly, the decision was based on "the unanimous will and desire of all the party members and other people".
The rare political conference in Pyongyang took place during a week of celebrations commemorating the 100th anniversary of the birth of the nation's founder on Sunday.
#2
IIRC the numbers, non-Chinese trade already comprises roughly 90% of DPRK external/foreign trade - the DPRK is effec a Chinese-dominated or controlled economy.
WASHINGTON -- Shin Dong-hyuk, born and raised in a North Korean concentration camp, on Tuesday appealed for the world to care more about the ongoing tragedy of political prisoners in the communist nation. He warned that a Holocaust-style slaughter could occur there any time if people outside continue to turn a deaf ear to the testimony of defectors.
"There is a place I always visit whenever I come to Washington D.C. It's the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Watching video footage, I imagine the future of political prisoner camps in North Korea," Shin said at a forum here.
The 31-year-old said he had been forced to witness the public execution of prisoners twice a year, living in Camp No. 14, about 55 miles north of Pyongyang.
"Those who carry out such public executions, I think, have a sufficient capability to kill prisoners en masse if something happens to North Korea," he added.
Shin was born in the camp and remained there for 24 years before jumping over electrified fences and escaping to China. He settled in South Korea in 2006. He has stepped into the U.S. media spotlight since the publication last month of Escape from Camp 14, a book on his experience by American journalist Blaine Harden.
Shin confessed his mother and brother were executed in Camp No. 14 because he tipped the authorities to their wrongdoings. "At that time, they were just other inmates for me as I had no concept of family," he said.
Shin's story has not been independently verified, with the North tightly controlling the flow of information and access by foreigners. But he emphasized that the international community should not waste more time waiting for "proof" of what is happening in the North.
"I am appealing to you; Do not just look at people who are helpless and passing away," he said. "I have hope that the North Korean regime will move even a little bit if the international community speaks up and puts pressure on it."
Harden, who used to work at the Washington Post, also said the U.S. people need to pay closer attention to the issue. The bad news is most Americans do not know about the situation in the North's prison camps. The good news is they become keenly interested when they are informed of it, he pointed out.
Meanwhile, a new report on the matter was released at the one-day conference, organized by the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea and the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights. An estimated 150,000 to 200,000 North Koreans are incarcerated in a hidden, Soviet-style gulag, according to the 229-page report by David Hawk, a human rights specialist with the committee.
The report, based on the testimony of 60 former North Korean prisoners and former guards, provides details of human rights abuses in those camps, with satellite images of relevant facilities attached. Inmates, imprisoned without judicial process, are held behind barbed wire and electrified fences and are subject to forced labor in mining, logging or agriculture, it says. The death rate is very high due to executions, torture and malnutrition, it added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/11/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Very likely. But it would take a small war to overthrow the ruling clique, and no one seems willing to do that.
It will take only 10 minutes to determine whether North Korea's rocket has succeeded in its mission to put a satellite into orbit, experts said Tuesday.
"The rocket this time probably has a more advanced propulsion system than the one launched in 2009, and at this point it is difficult to predict the trajectory," said one rocket expert. But he added success or failure will be determined in 10 minutes.
Considering the level of technology involved in the missile North Korea launched in 2009, the separation of the first stage of the new rocket is expected to take place just 110 seconds after launch. It will fall to earth some 3 to 3.5 minutes after launch as the second and third stages rise 100 km above Baeknyeong Island in the West Sea heading toward space.
Experts believe the second stage will separate four to six minutes after launch. The crucial factor is whether the third-stage booster can ascend at a speed of more than 7.9 km per second, which would raise the chances of placing the satellite into orbit. A speed slower than that would cause it to burn up as it reenters the atmosphere.
The North is expected to launch the rocket on Saturday, the day before a massive military parade to celebrate the centenary of nation founder Kim Il-sung, said a government source here. But depending on the weather it could be Thursday or Friday. The injection of liquid fuel, the final stage of launch preparations, takes place underground and cannot be verified.
Meanwhile, a former NASA satellite expert raised suspicions about the North Korean satellite. "The satellite did not meet the expectations I had," James Oberg said on NBC. "The problem is the North Koreans didn't just let us in [to the same room as the satellite], they let us get much too close. I could've walked three steps and poked it with my finger, but I didn't want to put grease and smudges on the outside because it could lead the device to overheat in space, or it could change a lot of things about the electro-static environment. So you need to protect the satellite from contamination -- from touching, from people breathing on it, sneezing on it. They didn't protect the satellite from any of that."
It's almost as if the Norks don't care about the 'satellite'...
He added the satellite was different from conventional designs and its booster was too big.
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#1
China has warned Russia to stay out of the SCS, + we all know how Russia gets historically when told = ordered what to do, MOST ESPEC VEE CHINA.
China has also warned Vietnam + the Philippines from initiating joint patrols in same.
DE LATEST ...
* TOPIX > PHILIPPINES' LARGEST WARSHIP, CHINESE VESSELS [10 = 8 ea. Fish Boats + 2 ea. armed Maritime Surveillance] IN STANDOFF OVER FISHERMEN AT DISPUTED SHOAL.
Scarborough Shoal = Philippines "PANATAG ISLAND" = Chinese "HUANGYAN ISLAND".
North Korea on Sunday gave foreign journalists a rare glimpse of what it claims is a space rocket sitting on its launch pad in Tongchang-ri, North Pyongan Province. Experts here said the latest rocket appears to be the same as a long-range missile that was launched in April of 2009, which had a range of at least 6,700 km, but a more advanced version.
In 2009, the North also claimed the missile was a space rocket designed to put a science satellite into orbit. It consisted of three stages: a primary booster made of four Rodong missile boosters, a second stage using a remodeled Rodong missile, and a third stage solid-fuel booster.
An official at the South's Korea Aerospace Research Institute said, "Although it appears to be the same length or slightly shorter than the one launched in 2009 and the diameter is wider, it is definitely the same type of long-range missile." North Korea did not reveal data about the rocket in 2009, but South Korean authorities estimated that it was 32 m long and between 2.0 and 2.2 m in diameter. North Korea said the rocket it plans to launch this time is 30 m long and 2.5 m in diameter. This means the booster may have been slightly improved.
One expert at a government-run research institute here said, "We need to focus on North Korea's announcement that the rocket weighs 92 tons." The 2009 rocket is estimated to have weighed 79 tons. "In 2009, North Korea succeeded in separating the second and third stage boosters of the rocket, but failed to put a satellite into orbit," the expert added. "This may have been due to a lack of thrust, so they probably mounted a more powerful engine this time and put in more liquid fuel."
Pyongyang announced that the new rocket will fall around 2,500 km from the launch pad, around 1,300 km short of where the previous rocket landed. A government source here said, "Rather than increasing the maximum range, North Korea seems to have focused on improving the performance of the rocket to put a satellite into orbit, so that it has some justification for launching a long-range missile."
The launch pad also shows improvements. Standing 50 m high, the launch tower is 1.5 times higher than the one at the missile facility in Musudan-ri, North Hamgyong Province, and there are several large vertical supports that make it easier to assemble and service rockets in a vertical position. The mobile platform holding the rocket is also a new piece of equipment. Jang Myong-Jin, the head of the North Korean space center in Tongchang-ri said, "In the future, we will be able to put up to a 400 ton payload into space. We built a large launch pad for that purpose."
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04/11/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
This sounds to me like the warring among the Christian denominations in the 16th - 18th centuries. Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterian, etc. just couldn't get along. Throw in the non-religious power struggles and .......
This despite the fact, according to Steve Emerson at the Investigative Project on Terrorism, that one of the members of the Muslim Brotherhood delegation that visited the White House last week, was being investigated for child pornography when he lived in the US a few years ago.
The State Department broke with normal procedures last week when it ordered the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) not to conduct a secondary inspection on members of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) on their way to visit government officials and think tanks in the United States.
This happened despite the fact that one member of the delegation had been implicated - though not charged - in a U.S. child pornography investigation, the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) has learned.
According to senior enforcement sources and documents reviewed by the IPT, investigators had information tying Abdul Mawgoud Dardery to the pornography investigation that was based in Pennsylvania. He was the senior member in the four-person FJP delegation which held court with academic groups and met with senior officials at the White House and State Department last week. (For more on what they said, click here.)
Before returning to Egypt, Dardery lived in the United States long enough to attain legal permanent residency, known as a green card. That status lapsed after he left the country for more than six months. The child pornography investigation took place during Dardery's time here and was noted in his immigration file. It surfaced when CBP officials learned of his pending visit.
A U.S. official familiar with immigration procedures told the IPT that extra inspection is standard operating procedure when a foreign visitor has been tied to criminal or terrorist activities. "Secondary inspections" involve going through the visitor's baggage and viewing the contents of computers and other electronic devices to search for evidence of illicit activity. Agents would typically search other members of the party to ensure Dardery did not hand off his computer equipment to an associate to avoid detection.
The delegation's ties to Hamas alone should have kicked off the extra inspection. Instead, the State Department bent over backwards to accommodate our visitors, making them feel right at home.
[Dawn] The alleged criminal mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks and his four accused co-plotters will be formally arraigned by a military tribunal on May 5 at Guantanamo Bay, US officials said Tuesday. After enough political convolutions to incite a national gag reflex...
Military judge James Pohl has fixed the date for the hearing on Saturday, May 5, and it will start at 9:00 am local time, the Pentagon said in a statement. Lawyers for the five could still ask for the hearing to be delayed. And probably will, because that's what they're paid to do...
US officials last week cleared the way for a long-awaited trial of self-confessed 9/11 criminal mastermindKhalid Sheikh Mohammed and his alleged co-conspirators unveiling charges that carry a possible death sentence. It's going on eleven years and the bastard's not dead yet. Don't mention the word "justice."
The five are accused of planning and executing the attacks against New York and Washington as well as the downing of a hijacked airplane in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The attacks led to the deaths of 2,976 people. But, really, it was we who violated KSM's human rights by extracting information from him. The 2,976 people are dead and some in their graves, but he's still alive so he's more important...
Mohammed and his accused conspirators have been held for years at the US-run prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, while a legal and political battle has played out over how and where to prosecute them. More like a circus than a battle, unless clowns swatting each other with slapsticks can be called a battle...
The 46-year-old Mohammed, along with Walid bin Attash of Soddy Arabia, Yemen's Ramzi Binalshibh, Pakistain's Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali -- also known as Ammar al-Balochi -- and Mustapha Ahmed al-Hawsawi of Soddy Arabia will appear in court for arraignment proceedings. There was some guy that tried to assassinate President Roosevelt in Chicago, I think it was. It took about a month to try him and fry him. But that was 80 years ago and we're all so much more civilized now.
Our guys have gotten fat eating what's given to them as they sit in their chain link cages, cut off from the war that was to have got them houris in Paradise, and pretending that flinging poo at their captors makes them noble lions of Islam. I imagine they would have preferred the old way, too.
Their joint trial, which could be months away, will also be held at the American naval base in Guantanamo Bay, where the US government has set up special military commissions to try terror suspects.
This article starring:
Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali
al-Qaeda
Ammar al-Balochi
al-Qaeda
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
al-Qaeda
Mustapha Ahmed al-Hawsawi
al-Qaeda
Ramzi Binalshibh
al-Qaeda
Walid bin Attash
al-Qaeda
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[Dawn] An investigation team appointed by India's Supreme Court has found no evidence against Gujarat's ...where rioting seems to be a traditional passtime... chief minister over deadly anti-Mohammedan riots in the state a decade ago, a court said Tuesday.
Narendra Modi has been accused by rights groups of having turned a blind eye to the violence that swept the state in 2002 and claimed as many as 2,000 lives, and of failing to bring to justice the perpetrators of the killings.
"According to the Special Investigation Team, no offence has been established against" Modi or any of the 57 others listed in the complaint, the magisterial court said, reported by the Press Trust of India.
The announcement was a boost for Modi, a prominent member of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and seen as a potential candidate to be India's prime minister in the 2014 general elections.
The complaint had been filed by Zakia Jafri, widow of a former Congress Mohammedanpolitician, Eshan Jafri, who was burnt to death along with 68 other people by a mob in a housing colony in Gujarat.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2012 00:00 ||
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[11126 views]
Top|| File under:
Oh look: everyone is dissing Turkey. Could it be Istanbul isn't the center of the universe after all?
The next round of nuclear talks aimed at resolving a standoff between the West and Iran over its nuclear programme will be held in Baghdad following this week's negotiations in İstanbul, Iraq said on Tuesday, Today's Zaman reported.
Iraq said last Wednesday it had offered to host the nuclear negotiations following a request from neighbouring Iran. A statement on Iraq's Foreign Ministry website said all parties had agreed to hold the next meeting in Baghdad.
"The group of 5+1, the European Union and the Islamic Republic of Iran recently reached a settlement which includes holding the next meeting on international nuclear negotiations with Iran in Istanbul on April 14, provided that the following meeting will be in Baghdad, with all sides in agreement," the statement said.
Iraq's Shi'ite-led government shares close ties with Iran, which is jostling for more influence in the region against Sunni Arab Gulf powers.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/11/2012 00:00 ||
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In a surprise move, Jordan has decided to revoke the Jordanian citizenship of Palestinian Authority and PLO officials, sources in Amman disclosed Wednesday.
The sources said that the decision would also affect the leaders of the PA, who would be granted temporary Jordanian passports to facilitate their travel.
The move coincides with a new electoral law in Jordan that seeks to limit Palestinian representation in parliament.
The latest steps are seen in the context of Jordan's 1988 decision to sever all legal and administrative ties with the West Bank, except for Jordanian sponsorship of the Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem.
The late King Hussein then justified the move by arguing that it was intended to help the Palestinians establish their own independent state.
The Jordanians have defended the decision to strip Palestinians of their Jordanian citizenship by explaining that it is aimed at "preserving the Palestinians' national identity and paving the way for their return to Palestine."
It's not known at this stage if PA President Mahmoud Abbas would be stripped of his Jordanian citizenship, the sources told the Saudi newspaper Al-Madina.
Kofi Annan, the United Nations-Arab League envoy to Syria, told the U.N. Security Council that he was "gravely concerned at the course of events" after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad failed to withdraw troops from cities and towns by Tuesday's self-imposed deadline.
In a letter, Annan said the Syrian government should have used the days ahead of the deadline to send a "powerful political signal of peace."
"In the last five days it has become clear that such a signal has yet to be issued," Annan said. "The cessation of violence in all its forms is a first, but essential, step. It must not be delayed by new conditions. Violence must stop now."
#1
Kofi Annan, the United Nations-Arab League envoy to Syria, told the U.N. Security Council that he was "gravely concerned at the course of events that the baksheesh has not yet been wired to my account in the Caymans as stipulated in my contract. Oh, and where the hell is my convoy of white Toyota Land Cruisers? Leather upholstery this time, dammit...that standard cloth just looks sooo declasse."
Fixed!
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
04/11/2012 0:42 Comments ||
Top||
[Tripoli Post] Iran's diminutive PresidentMahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that Iran is not concerned about sanctions on its oil sales by the West. It has ample reserves of foreign currencies and even if it could not sell its oil for several years it would be able to withstand the sanctions.
Ahmadinejad made the remarks in the Iranian southern port city of Bandar Abbas live on state- run IRINN TV.
His comments came just a few days ahead of the nuclear talks between Iran and the UN Security Council's five permanent members plus Germany (P5+1) slated for April 14 in Turkey's Istanbul. At the same time, Iran's foreign minister Ali-Akbar Salehi said that his country will not accept any precondition to the upcoming nuclear talks.
Salehi's remarks came as Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) confirmed Monday that the fresh nuclear talks between Iran and the G5+1 will be held in the Turkish city of Istanbul on Saturday, April 14.
In the meantime, local media reported that as the nuclear talks are about to restart, an Iranian high-ranking official said that bilateral negotiations with the United States is not on Iran's agenda.
Major General Hassan Firouzabadi, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces has been reported saying by official IRNA news agency that "negotiations with the United States has never been on the agenda of the Islamic republic of Iran."
SNSC also announced that both Iran and G5+1 agreed that the next round of talks will be held in Iraq's Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... and the time for the meeting will be announced in Istanbul, the state IRIB TV reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2012 00:00 ||
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[11125 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
See also DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Fars News Agency = FNA] AHMADINEJAD: WE CAN MANAGE IRAN EVEN IFF WE DON'T SELL OIL FOR THREE YEARS [2-3 Years].
ARTIC > "Formula of 1000" where Iran can keep 1000 centrifuges + 1000-kgs. of 3.5-enriched uranium in stockpile.
FYI VARIOUS IRAN BLOGGERS = aren't too happy as they believe that 3.5-enriched uranium is too weak or insufficient for purposes of Civilian NucEnergy, i.e. IRAN MIGHT AS WELL NOT HAVE ANY NUCENERGY PROG at all???
OTHER = IFF TRUE, PROPOSAL IS JUST ANOTHER US-WESTERN INSULT TO IRAN + ISLAM. THE LATTER IS BETTER OFF GOING TO WAR VEE THE US ANDOR DEV NUCWEAPS.
[An Nahar] Syrian forces on Tuesday pounded protest hubs in apparent breach of a ceasefire deal brokered by U.N.-Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... envoy Kofi Annan ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo... , who appealed for his plan to be implemented without preconditions.
Syria said it was abiding by the plan, but Annan accused Damascus ...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations... of pulling troops from some areas and moving them to others, and the rebel Free Syrian Army warned it would resume attacks if the government offensive does not stop.
Washington said it hoped the U.N. Security Council would consider action if Annan concludes that Damascus broke its commitments.
The violence drew sharp condemnation from La Belle France and Britannia, with even Russia urging its ally to act more decisively to implement the truce.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said Damascus begun carrying out the Annan deal by pulling some troops out of certain provinces.
But Annan, visiting Syrian refugees in Turkey, mocked Damascus's commitment to the plan.
"The Syrian military is withdrawing from some areas but moving to others not previously targeted," he said.
"I again appeal to the Syrian government and the Syrian parties to cease violence in accordance (with) the plan," he told news hounds. "I believe there should be no preconditions for stopping violence."
Later on Tuesday, Annan arrived in Iran for talks centering on the Islamic republic's key regional ally, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Annan flew in from Turkey after visiting Syrian refugees there. He is scheduled to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi early on Wednesday.
Iran has repeated that it fully backs the Assad regime, and has lent it political and material support.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said late last month that "Iran will defend Syria because of its backing of the anti-Zionist resistance."
Annan also told the UN Security Council in a letter on Tuesday that Assad had failed to send the required "signal of peace." He said a "fundamental change of course" was needed by Assad to achieve a ceasefire in the next 48 hours.
The Syrian army continued "rolling military operations" against civilian targets in the days ahead of a Tuesday deadline to get guns and troops out of Syrian cities, Annan said in a letter to the council obtained by Agence La Belle France Presse.
"The days before April 10 could have been an opportunity for the government of Syria to send a powerful political signal of peace," Annan said. "In the last five days it has become clear that such a signal has yet to be issued."
The Annan plan has been under a cloud since Sunday, when Damascus said it would keep its side of the bargain only if rebels gave guarantees they would also stop fighting, a condition rejected out of hand.
At least 17 people died across Syria on Tuesday, including six soldiers in the northeastern province of Hassakeh, the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Forces loyal to Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Trampler of Homs... also shot four people in the village of Kfar Zeita in the central Hama province, but it was unclear if they were rebels or civilians.
Clashes also rocked the district of Mzeyreeb in the southern province of Daraa, where the dissent movement launched a year ago.
The Local Coordination Committees, one of the main opposition groups inside Syria, said "large military reinforcements" had arrived overnight on the eastern outskirts of Rastan in central Homs province.
The report could not be verified because of curbs on media activity.
Under the Annan deal, Syria was supposed to withdraw its forces from population centers on Tuesday ahead of a complete ceasefire on Thursday.
Activists say Syria has intensified its crackdown since the weekend when around 180 people were killed. On Monday, 105 died in one of the bloodiest days since mid-March last year.
Free Syrian Army front man Colonel Kassem Saadeddine warned that rebel forces would resume attacks on regular forces if they do not withdraw.
"If (the regime) does not stop shelling and not withdraw tanks, we will intensify our military operations and launch attacks," he told Agence La Belle France Presse.
The head of the opposition Syrian National Council, Burhan Ghalioun, warned that his group, "as the legitimate representative of the people, will not allow the regime to use the (U.N.) plan as a license to kill."
But Muallem insisted Damascus had begun implementing the Annan plan.
"We have already withdrawn military units from different Syrian provinces," he told a Moscow news conference after talks with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
Lavrov said Syria should be more decisive in fulfilling the Annan plan, which most notably calls on Syria to pull troops and weaponry out of cities hit by protests.
"We believe their actions could have been more active, more decisive when it comes to the implementation of the plan," he said.
Lavrov later spoke with Annan by phone, telling him to put more pressure on the rebels to cooperate with his initiative.
He told Annan "the Syrian opposition and states that support it must take urgent measures to ensure a sustainable ceasefire," and urged him "to step up his work with them along these lines," the foreign ministry said.
White House front man Jay Carney said Washington had so far only seen evidence of further "brutality and aggression" from Assad's forces.
"We would certainly hope the U.N. Security Council would evaluate the situation in Syria if in fact Mr. Annan finds that the Assad regime has not abided by its own commitments to begin withdrawal by today," Carney said.
Germany's U.N. ambassador, Peter Wittig, said Syria has not complied with the plan and that international measures must be studied.
Assad "has not complied with the Annan plan; instead he has scaled up violence and human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. violations," Wittig said.
There was equally tough language from London and Gay Paree.
"There is no evidence so far that the Assad regime has any intention of adhering to any agreement it makes," Britannia's Foreign Secretary William Hague said.
Syrian forces "have ruthlessly subjected whole communities to an inhumane campaign of shelling, forced expulsions and executions.
"All those with influence over the Syrian leadership, including Russia, have a duty to back efforts to stop the violence and to isolate a regime which is as doomed as it is dangerous to the Syrian people," he added.
French foreign ministry front man Bernard Valero called Muallem's assertion that Syria pulled troops out of some areas "a new expression of a flagrant and unacceptable lie."
Damascus was also rebuked for violence that spilled over into its neighbors on Monday, killing a Lebanese TV cameraman inside Leb and wounding four people in a Turkish camp for Syrian refugees.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Syria of a "clear violation" of common frontiers, while Leb demanded an investigation.
The United Nations ...what started out as a a diplomatic initiative, now trying to edge its way into legislative, judicial, and executive areas... says more than 9,000 people have been killed since anti-regime protests broke out in March 2011. Monitors put the number at more than 10,000.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2012 00:00 ||
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[11128 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
Kofi is a suave, soft-spoken, overly-educated, Ghanaian Ex-UN Secy Gen subtle race-baiting agitator who's being paid by NWO advocates...
He sucks almost as much as his daddy,Our Pharaoh, sucks. They, and Holder; "suck out loud!".-cz-
[An Nahar] The Paleostinian National Security forces took on Monday control of a checkpoint in the refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh that was manned by a faction led by Munir Maqdah as part of a process of assuming all headquarters and checkpoints.
The Paleostinian Armed Struggle headed by Mahmoud Issa, who goes by the nom de guerre of al-Lino, and Maqdah's faction named the "headquarters" were integrated into the National Security forces at the order of Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas. ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... The forces, led by Maj. Gen. Sobhi Abu Arab, assumed command of the checkpoint in the camp's northwest a few days after taking control of the offices of the "headquarters."
In the details of Monday's event, the head of al-Aqsa battalion, Col. Ibrahim al-Maqdah, known as al-Taous, handed over the leadership of the checkpoint to Col. Mohammed al-Armoushi, who leads the Abu Hassan Salameh battalion.
Al-Lino had previously handed over the control of three checkpoints to contingents led by National Security forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2012 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Fatah
[An Nahar] A top Iranian military commander on Tuesday denied a U.S. news report that the CIA has been successfully sending spy drones over Iran over the past three years.
"No unmanned or manned (surveillance) aircraft have entered Iran's air space" apart from one U.S. stealth drone that was captured last December, Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili of the Revolutionary Guards' air defense command told the official IRNA news agency.
He was reacting to a story in The Washington Post newspaper last weekend that said the Central Intelligence Agency sent its first surveillance drone over Iran three years ago with "never even a ripple" detected in Iran's air defenses.
The report said CIA drones subsequently scoured dozens of sites in Iran, making hundreds of passes over suspicious facilities before the stealth drone -- an RQ-170 model -- crashed inside Iran's borders in December.
The expanded intelligence collection reinforced the view within the White House that it will have early warning of any move by Iran to assemble a nuclear bomb within its disputed nuclear activities, the report said.
But Esmaili was quoted as saying: "No surveillance unmanned aircraft has passed over Iran, and published photos were been (taken) by satellite systems."
He said "you witnessed what happened" when the captured RQ-170 tried to make its flight in December.
But while the Iranian commander insisted that U.S. drones had been unable to fly over Iran, he asserted that "drones operated by the Guards and the (Iranian) military have flown over American ships (in the Gulf) and have taken photos of them."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2012 00:00 ||
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[11127 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
I'm surprised the Iranians haven't overflown the White House with the super-sophisticated drones.
All they'd have to do would be to edit out the Google logo...
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/11/2012 11:51 Comments ||
Top||
#2
"These are not the drones that are looking for us"
/waves hand in an Islamic sort of way
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > IRAN DRONES [shared by Army + IRGC] CAPTURE IMAGES OF US AIRCRAFT CARRIERS: COMMANDER ISMAILI.
versus
* SAME > [AEOI Chief Feredoun Abbasi] IRAN TRIPLES SEPARATION CAPACITY OF CENTRIFUGE MACHINES | IRAN HAS COMPLETE KNOWLEDGE OF NUCLEAR PRODUCTION PROCESSES [NucCycle].
* SAME > P5+1 WILL LOSE [in Near-term + Long-Term] WID ITS CONFRONTATIONAL ATTITUDE: IRANIAN LAWMAKER.
ARTIC > IRAN = UN IAEA sorely underestimated Iran's nuclear proficiencies or capabilities.
UN IAEA also read, US-WEST.
* WAFF > AN ISRAELI AIR ATTACK FROM AZERBAYCAN AIR BASE COULD END IN [endless] IRAN-TURKEY WAR.
Azerbaycan = aka Azerbaijan.
BLOGGERS = In such a case, Turkey will have no choice but to side + support its Azeri kin, BUT IRAN CLAIMS AZERBAIJAN IS HISTORICALLY
"PERSIAN" LAND, NOT TURKIC.
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.
(Sh.M.Network)- The governor of Banadir region forSomalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG), Mohamud Ahmed Nur (Tarsan), has sent a verbal threats to the independently owned Media outlets based inMogadishufor their reporting of the reality on the ground.
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Police have questioned and released more than 100 people in connection with the twin blasts in Mtwapa and Mombasa that killed two people and injured 30 others a fortnight ago.
MK Ben-Eliezer says ex-spy chief is Israel's best hope; 
In remarks to the London-based Al-Hiah Newspaper, he affirmed that the republican decrees that dismissed a number of commanders loyal to the former president 
[Yemen Post] Yemen's ex-president 
It will take only 10 minutes to determine whether North Korea's rocket has succeeded in its mission to put a satellite into orbit, experts said Tuesday. 
North Korea on Sunday gave foreign journalists a rare glimpse of what it claims is a space rocket sitting on its launch pad in Tongchang-ri, North Pyongan Province. Experts here said the latest rocket appears to be the same as a long-range missile that was launched in April of 2009, which had a range of at least 6,700 km, but a more advanced version. 
[Dawn] The alleged 
Mahmoud 
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
