#2
You know, I try to avoid looking at this thread when the wife is around. I don't think she'd shoot me but why take the risk. It's safe to look at it out here on the rig though.
I do suspect GolfBravo has a thing for Spanish descent women. :D
#8
"It's not important where you get your appetite, only where you dine."
However, taking a Ferrari for a test drive when you have a perfectly adequate ( insert favorite domestic or foreign mass market make here) doesn't translate quite as well.
[Al Ahram] At least four Afghan intelligence agents were killed and dozens of civilians were maimed Sunday when a group of Talibs attacked an intelligence bureau in central Afghanistan, officials said.
Six attackers armed with small arms and boom jackets attacked a National Directorate of Security (NDS) building in Maidan Shar, the capital city of Wardak province south of the capital Kabul, provincial front man Attaullah Khogyani told AFP.
"Five attackers and four intelligence officers were killed in the ensuing clash. Thirty civilians were maimed," he said.
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09/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... on Sunday condemned 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... Arclight airstrike in the east of the country that he said left 16 civilians dead, according to a statement from his office. "Hamid Karzai considers attacking women and kiddies against all accepted international norms and strongly condemns it," the statement said after the Arclight airstrike Saturday in Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country.....
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09/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Two Red Thingy drivers held for almost two weeks in Sudan's troubled Darfur region were safely released on Sunday, their organization said.
They were among eight Sudanese employees of the International Committee of the Red Thingytossed in the clink Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! by gunnies on August 26 as they traveled between Nertiti and Zalingei in Central Darfur state.
Six were soon freed but the drivers continued to be held.
"Our two remaining colleagues have also been released and they have returned to Zalingei," Rafiullah Qureshi, the ICRC's front man in Sudan, told Agence La Belle France Presse.
He said they were tired but well.
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09/09/2013 00:00 ||
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BAIDOA, Somalia -- Somali Federal Government troops backed by Ethiopians reportedly fought a fierce battle with Al Shabaab militants in Qansah-Omane vicinity of Bay region on Saturday afternoon, Garowe Online reports. Local sources say that the fighting lasted for an hour with witnesses reported that Al Shabaab fighters ran away fled Qansah-Omane.
Mohamed Aro As, the mayor of neighbouring Bay regional district of Bardaale said by telephone from an area close to the battlefield according to him, We disbanded them [Al Shabaab] forcefully ,also we seized ammunition and weapons.
On their side, Al Shabaab officials didnt provide details to Somali media.
Qansah-Omane 24 KMs away from Baidoa, the administrative capital of Bay region had been one of few places remaining under the control of Al Shabaab.
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09/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[MAGHAREBIA] Algeria deployed 3,000 more soldiers along the borders with Tunisia and Libya, L'Expression reported on Saturday (September 7th). The decision reportedly followed last Tuesday's meeting of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika ... 10th president of Algeria. He was elected in 1999 and is currently on his third or fourth term, who will probably die in office of old age... with Army Chief of Staff Major General Ahmed Gaid Salah.
In August, Prime Minister Abdelmalik Sellal admitted that the security situation in Algeria was sensitive.
"Algeria is now living in the middle of a volcano," he said during a visit to the Jijel province in reference to the security situation along the country's southern and eastern borders.
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09/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[MAGHAREBIA] Tunisia's National Guard Special Unit (USGN) broke up a terror recruitment network, the interior ministry announced on Saturday (September 7th). The group members were recruiting young Tunisians into terrorist training camps in Libya, TAP reported. Twenty-one people, including one foreigner, were locked away You have the right to remain silent... in the operation.
In related news, Tunisian forces dismantled two mines west of Jebel Chaambi, Shems FM reported on Saturday (September 7th). Local residents called the army after noticing two suspicious roadside boxes in the region of Doghra.
The army on Friday resumed the bombing of some areas of Jebel Chaambi and Semama, according to Tunisie Numerique. The soldiers raided villages Awled Nasr and Mraouna in search of armed terrorists.
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[Al Ahram] Egypt's prosecutor-general Hesham Barakat has referred Moslem Brüderbund Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie and 14 others to the criminal court for alleged involvement in 15 July Giza festivities that left five dead.
Badie was referred to court along with leading Brotherhood members Mohamed El-Beltagy, Bassem Ouda and Essam El-Erian - the latter has not yet been tossed in the calaboose Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! - in addition to Islamist preacher Safwat Hegazy and leading member of Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya Assem Abd El-Magued, who is also still to on the lam, and nine others.
The prosecution accused Badie, El-Beltagy, El-Erian, Abd El-Magued and Hegazy of 'inciting violence and terrorism, murder, forming a gang to attack citizens and supplying it with arms and funds.'
The remaining suspects were accused of 'terrorising, crowding, murder, joining a group that attacked citizens, damaging private property and possessing arms.'
Five were killed in Al-Bahr Al-Azam area of Giza and in the vicinity of the nearby Cairo University, during fire-fights that broke out between pro-Morsi protesters and unknown assailants late on 15 July.
Two other people were killed in the Ramses area, downtown Cairo, in similar festivities that day.
Badie, along with six other leading members of the Brotherhood, are currently on trial facing charges of allegedly 'inciting murder' in festivities at the Brotherhood's headquarters in Moqattam, Cairo, on 30 June.
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[Al Ahram] Egypt prosecutors extended the detentions of Salafist leader Hazem Salah Abu-Ismail and Moslem Brüderbund leaders Helmi El-Gazzar, Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maqsoud, and former MP Mohamed El-Omda for another 15 days on Sunday, pending investigation into charges of inciting the murder of anti-Morsi protesters.
The Islamist figures were tossed in the clink Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! following the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi, who hails from the Moslem Brüderbund.
The prosecution charged the four leaders with inciting the violence that led to nine protester deaths during festivities between Morsi supporters and opponents near Giza's Cairo University on 30 June.
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[Al Ahram] An Al-Qaeda-inspired group based in Egypt's Sinai has said it was behind a bombing that targeted the interior minister in a failed liquidation attempt, a statement on Death Eater Islamist forums said.
"God has allowed your brothers in Ansar Beit al-Maqdis to shatter the security organization of the murderer Mohamed Ibrahim through a martyrdom operation," the group said in the online statement, pledging further attacks.
A boom-mobiledestroyed the interior minister's convoy as he was leaving home for work on Thursday, killing one person.
Ibrahim, who was travelling in an armoured car, was unscathed.
In the statement, the Death Eater group which has in the past claimed attacks against neighbouring Israel, apologised "for not killing the tyrant", threatening another attack against him and army chief Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
The group blamed both men for the killings of hundreds of Islamist supporters of president Mohamed Morsi, tossed by the military in a popularly backed coup on 3 July.
"We vow to God to avenge all those who killed Mohammedans and assaulted their honour, the foremost being Sisi and Mohamed Ibrahim," the statement said.
"We call on all Mohammedans in Egypt to stay away from all military and interior ministry installations to preserve their lives," it added.
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09/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] Residents in northeast Nigeria ... a particularly crimson stretch of Islam's bloody border... say at least 13 vigilantes and five Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... members have been killed after Islamic sect members launched attacks on a town.
Sunday's attack in Benisheik, 72 kilometers (45 miles) west of Maiduguri, took place days after the military says it killed at least 50 snuffies in an area to the north.
Zannah Fannami, an injured operative with the Civilian Joint Task Force, said they were attacked while awaiting Boko Haram's approach on the town. He said the vigilante group was able to kill five of the suspected Islamic sect members. Another Civilian-JTF operative Muhammed Abuwar said the military didn't assist the vigilantes and 18 others were maimed.
Though the military couldn't be immediately reached for comment, the road leading to Benisheik was barricaded.
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09/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Officials of a sensitive agency raided some localities in the city on Saturday to track down members of a banned outfit after they incarcerated Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! two suspected foreigners, said to be associated with al-Qaeda, from a Punjab University hostel on Friday night.
The Lahore police also rounded up several suspects during a search and sweep operation.
Sources claimed that suspects had come to Lahore for supervising suicide kabooms and they were given refuge by a sister organization of a religious party.
Oh? And which particular religious party was that, pray tell?
Officials seized several cell phone SIMs and other material from the possession of the accused.
One of the arrested suspects was a commander who had supervised terrorist activities across the country from the tribal area in the past.
All sorts of lovely hints in this article, but precious few facts...
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09/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain has set up two self-style Sharia courts in Darra Adamkhel town of FR Kohat to what they call dispense speedy justice to the local rustics.
The development comes in the wake of a secret peace deal between TTP and the government, claim sources in the banned myrmidon outfit.
According to these sources, local TTP chief Mohammad Arif heads the two courts, which are called 'Sharia courts' by Taliban, and operate at separate places in Tor Chappar village.
The courts hear murder, kidnapping, drug and arms smuggling, and adultery cases and dispose them of within 24 hours.
They hand down sentences, including detention, whippings and death by shooting, to convicts under what TTP calls Islamic laws.
The large compound, where the two courts operate, have cells, too, for convicts.
Interestingly, the convicts are bound to preach Islamic teachings to the people of the specified areas for four months after serving sentences.
The sources told Dawn on Saturday that TTP and security forces had struck the secret Islamic court deal courtesy of local TTP front man late Khalid's father and commander Arif, the cousin of slain TTP Darra Adamkhel and Khyber Agency chief Tariq Afridi.
They said TTP and security forces were bound by the deal to stop fighting.
The sources said under the deal, the Talibs wouldn't target security forces, khasadar ...a rural policeman in Pakistain or India... s and innocent rustics but would continue with their activities against criminals.
They, however, said another Taliban group led by commander Noor Bangash had refused to abide by the deal and announced to continue fighting security forces.
TTP was declared a banned outfit and expelled from Darra Adamkhel in 2008 after fierce battles with security forces.
Later, it twice tried to destroy the Kohat tunnel by suicide kabooms, but to no avail.
After the blasts, the army was tasked with safeguarding the tunnel.
The army is still doing the job.
In the past, too, TTP had punished criminals in Darra Adamkhel under Islamic laws.
At that time, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, an alliance of religio-political parties, ruled the adjoining province then called North Western Frontier Province.
Afterwards, the banned outfit began targeting security forces over the military operation, which, it claimed, got underway at the behest of the US.
Our Ghalanai Correspondent adds: A boy was maimed when a toy bomb went kaboom! in Wocha Jawar village of Khawezai tehsil in Mohmand Agency ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... on Saturday.
Local residents said the blast occurred when Jalil Khan, 12, was playing with the toy bomb he had found grazing the cattle.
They said the boy was shifted to a Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. hospital, where his condition was out of danger.
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09/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] An activist of the Pakistain Musselmen League-Functional (PML-F) was rubbed out near his home in Surjani Town on Saturday, police said.
They added that gunnies riding a cycle of violence targeted 45-year-old Khanzada Istehkam in Sector 36-B shortly after he left his home in the nearby Sector 50 of the Surjani Town.
"He was hit by two bullets in the head," said Surjani Town SHO Inspector Shabbir Awan. He said: "Two men riding a motorbike fired at him when he was on his way to see some friend in Sector 36-B.
"The victim was associated with the PML-F but we are not sure about the motive for the killing."
Gang warfare claims two lives
Two suspected gangsters were killed in an armed attack in 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.... on Saturday in what police described as infighting between criminal gangs.
The officials said Abdul Sattar alias Pera and Siraj Ali alias Jin were bumped off in a drive-by shooting in Street 16 of Gul Mohammad Lane. "Both were hit by multiple bullets and was struck down in his prime," said Kalakot SHO Inspector Saleem Marwat.
"The victims were area resident and sitting at a shop when they came under attack. The bodies were handed over to the families after medico-legal formalities."Tension gripped parts of Lyari after the killing as traders pulled down shutters and vehicles gradually disappeared from the roads. The police, however, said the normality returned to the locality a couple of hours after the incident.
"Both the dear departed had criminal record and were known for their association with gangs operating in Lyari," the SHO said. "While the people behind the attack have not been identified so far, we have reasons to believe that their killings are part of the ongoing infighting between criminal gangs."
'Bandit' rubbed out
In Gulistan-e-Jauhar, an early morning encounter between police and armed bandidos left one of the 'bandidos' dead, officials said.
The officials added that four gunnies stormed into the house of Mohammad Imran in Long Life Bungalows near Jauhar Morr early in the morning.
"Earlier, area people witnessing some mysterious movement had approached the police and informed them about it," said an official at the Sharea Faisal cop shoppe. "Subsequently, a police party rushed to the area and spotted a car parked outside the bungalow. As soon as four gunnies came out of the house, they fired shots at the police and an exchange of fire ensued. One of the bandidos was killed on the spot while the house owner, Imran, who received a gunshot wound, was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre." Doctors said his condition was stable, the police official said.
The official added that three accomplices of the 'bandit' managed to run away with the booty. However, there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly... the police seized a TT pistol and seven rounds from the dear departed bandit, who had not been identified yet, said the official.
Rickshaw driver killed
A 60-year-old rickshaw driver was rubbed out in Orangi Town, police said.
They added that gunnies targeted Kamil Shah near Metro Cinema under Banaras bridge.
The victim was a resident of nearby Frontier Colony, said an official at the Pirabad cop shoppe. "He was hit by two bullets in the head and neck. After medico-legal formalities at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, the body was handed over to the victim's family," he said.
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09/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Two persons were taken into custody by the capital police and an intelligence agency on the suspicion of their links with a terrorist organization on Saturday, sources in the police told Dawn.
The arrests were made during a raid on a house at Khayaban-e-Kashmire in G-15 sector by a joint team of the police and the intelligence agency.
The police announced that they would share the details of the raid with the media at a news conference but later cancelled it for unknown reasons.
The sources said during the raid, 5.5 kilogrammes of explosives, 16 detonators, 10 hand grenades, four remote-controlled toy planes, spying gadgets, four 222-bore guns, two 9mm pistols and two Kalashnikovs were also recovered from the house.
The Tarnol police produced one of the nabbed Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! suspects, a cousin of the house owner, before a court.
The court gave him in police custody on a physical remand.
The police officially did not share any detail about the development with the media. However, some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves... a police official told Dawn that the matter was being investigated, adding the main suspect was not in the police custody.
The sources said it was suspected that the two men had links with Al Qaeda and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TPP).
It has been revealed that the suspects had planned to fill the remote-controlled toy planes with half a kilogramme explosives each and use them to target three to four important installations outside the red zone in Islamabad, the sources said.
After engaging the law enforcement agencies in the buildings, the gunnies would carry out a massive attack inside the high security zone, they added.
The suspects had filled the four toy planes with explosives which were defused by the police bomb disposal squad.
The sources said the planes could carry up to one kilogramme explosives each and could be sent up to a considerable height. Besides, it can also be handled from a long distance.
When the raid was conducted at the house, there were also some women but after the raid they disappeared. They police took into their custody only one of the suspects.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Two security officials were critically maimed on Sunday after a remote controlled kaboom took place in North Wazoo, DawnNews reported.
According to security sources, a remote controlled bomb, planted along the main Ghulam Khan Road, exploded as a security convoy was travelling through North Waziristan's capital city of Miranshah ... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas... , seriously wounding two security forces personnel.
Rescue and security forces reached the area after the incident.
The area was cordoned off as an investigation into the incident went underway.
In related news, an indefinite curfew was announced in the area, with shoot at sight orders against curfew violators given to soldiers.
In another incident, a Death Eater was killed in festivities with security forces on Sunday, according to military sources.
While undertaking a routine patrol in North Waziristan, a security convoy came under fire from Death Eaters.
The resulting festivities killed one Death Eater. No losses were reported by the security forces.
Security forces managed to diffuse a landmine before they cordoned off the area and began a search operation.
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09/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] President-elect Mamnoon Hussain will take oath of office on Monday as the 12th head of state. The oath will be administered by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry at a ceremony to be held at the Presidency.
It will be a rare event as former president Asif Ali Zardari, who stayed in the Presidency for five years till Sunday, will also attend the ceremony along with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... , members of the federal cabinet and heads of parliamentary parties.
Even though the PPP had boycotted the presidential election, Mr Mamnoon Hussain was felicitated by Mr Zardari who wished him well in the discharge of his responsibilities as the head of the federation.
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[Dawn] Four people were killed on Sunday, including two coppers, in two seperate incidents of violence in Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... , officials said.
In one incident, at least two people were killed and another ten injured in a powerful blast on Sariab road area of Quetta, police said.
Muhammad Riaz, a police official told Dawn.com unknown snuffies had planted an improvised bomb on a cycle, which was parked on the road side.
The strength of blast damaged shops and windows of nearby homes and moving vehicles on Sariab road.
"The loud and powerful sound of blast was heard far and wide", he said.
Riaz said that six to seven kilogram of explosives were planted in the cycle.
All ten injured were rushed to civil hospital Quetta for medical treatment. Emergency was imposed in civil hospital, doctors and para-medics were called to treat the injured.
"All dead and injured were civilians", Riaz said. He said it was yet to be confirmed as to the target of the blast. However, Switzerland makes more than cheese... frontier corps and coppers were quick at the scene.
They cordoned off the area and started investigation into the incident.
The blast resulted in blockade of Sariab road and long queues of vehicles were witnessed on the road.
Muhammad Idrees, a paramedic in civil hospital told Dawn.com that the condition of two injured people was serious.
Sariab road is one of the sensitive and troubled parts of Quetta city.
Militants continue to target security forces, railway tracks and other national installations in the area. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
In another incident, armed snuffies killed two coppers and injured another in Loralai, 260 km north of Quetta.
A police officer, who requested not to be named, told Dawn.com snuffies in a vehicle and a cycle of violenceshot up police mobile checkpost in Zangwal area of Loralai.
He said two coppers were killed on the spot whereas one was injured. The assailants escaped unhurt from the spot.
Police and levies reached the spot and have started an investigation into the incident.
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[Dawn] President Asif Ali Ten Percent Zardari ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who has been singularly lacking in curiosity about who done her in ... , one of the most powerful civilian presidents the country has ever had, stepped down on Sunday, leaving his official residence after a record five years in power.
He retires six years after his wife's murder in December 2007, and is the first democratically elected president in the history of Pakistain to fully complete his constitutional tenure and be replaced by another elected individual.
His successor, Mamnoon Hussain, is to be sworn in on Monday, September 9.
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09/09/2013 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
hopefully Mamnoon has some equally mockable characteristics...besides his name
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/09/2013 9:29 Comments ||
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#2
Does he get to keep 10 percent of the honor guard?
[An Nahar] An al-Qaeda group claimed a series of boom-mobiles targeting Shiites in Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... last week as renewed violence killed seven people on Sunday amid a nationwide surge in bloodshed.
The latest attacks and claims came as authorities carried out wide-ranging operations targeting forces of Evil and implemented tight restrictions on vehicle movement in the capital in a bid to combat Iraq's worst violence since 2008.
In a statement posted on jihadi forums, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed a spate of evening bombings targeting Shiite neighborhoods of Storied Baghdad on Tuesday, which it said were in retaliation for operations carried out by soldiers and police against Sunni parts of the country.
Sunni forces of Evil linked to the group frequently attack members of Iraq's Shiite Mohammedan majority, whom they regard as apostates.
The dozen boom-mobiles on Tuesday killed 50 people and maimed more than 100 in the capital, security and medical officials said.
Several other attacks in Storied Baghdad and elsewhere the same day killed 11 others.
The violence showed no signs of abating on Sunday, with seven killed in shootings and bombings.
North of Storied Baghdad in the ethnically mixed town of Jalawla, a gunman opened fire on a cop shoppe inside a government compound, giving cover for a jacket wallah to blow himself up.
Two people were killed, including a policeman, and seven others were maimed, officials said.
Also north of the capital in Samarra, three anti-al-Qaeda Sunni militiamen, known as the Sahwa, were rubbed out.
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09/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[Al Ahram] Israel deployed its Iron Dome missile defence system near Jerusalem Sunday, an AFP correspondent said, as the United States lobbied for domestic and international support for military strikes against Syria.
The correspondent said the battery was set up west of the city.
A military spokeswoman would not comment on the deployment, saying only that "defence systems are deployed in accordance with situation assessments".
Late last month a battery of the mobile system was set up in the greater Tel Aviv area, pointing northwards towards Syria. Israeli media have reported that six or seven such batteries are currently in use.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Israel "an island of tranquillity, quiet and security" amidst "the storm raging around us", without explicitly mentioning Syria or its ally Iran.
In previous weeks Netanyahu has repeatedly said Israel was not involved in the war in Syria, but would "respond with force" if anyone attacked it.
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09/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[Jpost] Syrian government forces launched an offensive to wrest back control of an historic Christian town north of Damascus on Monday, activists said.
In the past six days, the town of Maaloula has already changed hands three times
In the past six days, the town of Maaloula has already changed hands three times between Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... 's forces and rebel groups, some of which are linked to al Qaeda.
Combatants say the intensity of fighting over the town is due to its strategic location near the road leading from Damascus to the central city of Homs.
But fighting in an area with such religious symbolism could increase anxieties among the Christian minority, who have watched sectarian violence between majority Sunni Mohammedans and the Alawite minority overshadow the revolt against Assad's rule.
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09/09/2013 09:08 ||
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#1
Is Sunni Islam more intolerant than Shia Islam?
#4
Hafez Assad paid got some big name mullah to call Alawites Shiites, back in the 1970's, but their core beliefs, (1) there is no God but Ali, (2) a pantheon of saints that includes Aristotle, Plato and the Virgin Mary, (3) the non-prohibition of alcohol consumption and (4) a belief in reincarnation, suggest that both Shiites and Sunnis on the street are right to consider them to be non-Muslims at best and apostates or pagans at worst. If Alawites are Muslims, then Bahais, Sikhs and Muslims are really Christians, because they all incorporate elements of Christianity, and all of the preceding are really Jews, because they all incorporate elements of Judaism.
#5
Assad, the Shiites, Alawites and Christians are in an unholy alliance against Saudi Arabia.
Al Qaeda might be seen as the bad guys, but in this war (like most) they are on our side, and we can count on them to do our work against the Alawite/Christian alliance with brutal efficiency, I've seen these guys in Jordan and they are the best of the best, trained by our best of the best. These guys need our air cover however, without that they don't stand a chance against Assad's forces. Make sure your congressman knows how important this is - we need to ensure a Saudi victory in Syria if we're to destroy Iran.
I have read/heard that the US/Saudi use sunni extremists for geo political reasons but when it comes to killing Christians in the middle east I and millions in the UK/US say no!
Posted by: Paul D ||
09/09/2013 19:11 Comments ||
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#9
Part of what President Agent Provocateur's job is making as many of the old communist lies true as possible. US Using Al Qaeda.... CHECK!
#10
This poor son-of-a-bitch in this thread thinks he's the Big Swinging Dick, getting the US to support AQ in spite of 9/11 etc., when all he's doing is serving to discredit the US and an anti-Assad revolution on the way to his untimely demise.
Hey, Freedom Fighter, got a short history lesson for ya: Jawn Fucking Kerry sold out millions of people a WHOLE LOT FUCKING BETTER THAN YOU to servitude to Putin's predecessors, or to death. What makes you think you're going to end up any different?
IB Times is not the Onion but I wonder about this one. It just may be that dry, dry British wit...
US secretary of state John Kerry has given an ultimatum to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to avoid a military strike by turning over his entire chemical weapons arsenal to the international community within the next week.
An ultimatum? How's that going to be enforced with Russia in the background?
At a joint press conference with UK foreign secretary William Hague, Kerry said that America was not going to war but would launch an "unbelievably small and limited effort" to punish the Assad regime for the 21 August chemical weapons attack in Ghouta and to deter it from doing it again.
An 'unbelievably small' effort will deter Assad. Right. Got it.
"If you want to send Assad a congratulatory message, you would support non-intervention," he said although he was sympathetic to fears of the American public who do not want to see troops coming home in body bags.
"But that's not what we are talking about," he stressed. "Military effort will be targeted and short-term."
Kerry added that the only thing Assad's government could do to stop an attack was to turn over all his chemical weapons to the international community within the next week.
"But he is not about to do it and it cannot be done," Kerry added.
He said that the evidence gathered about the chemical attack blaming the Assad regime was "real evidence I could take into a courtroom".
"I've personally tried people who have gone away for long prison sentences or for life for less evidence than we have for this," he said.
Okay little big man...
"[Assad offers only] words that are contradicted by facts."
Kerry also quoted the late British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in stressing that the UK and America were "real and true friends". The special relationship between the two countries was as relevant today as it has been in the past, he said.
Which is why we threw Brit observers out of the Central Command HQ in Tampa...
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/09/2013 07:41 ||
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#1
Or else...chin quivering? That could affect the climate, given the chin.
#2
this clown is going to demand we go to a "unbelievably small and limited effort" to back his mouth and Zero's credibility.
"No Blood for Zero Credibility!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/09/2013 7:58 Comments ||
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#3
"I've personally tried people who have gone away..."
Tried everyones patience perhaps, but Jawn F'n Kerry is rapidly overtaking Hillary Rotten Clinton as the worst Secretary of State in this nations history.
#7
...as we might say here, the jury is still awaiting evidence that proves the crime by the alleged perp beyond a reasonable doubt. IIRC Back in the Spring, the Turks picked up some rebels with sarin in their possession.
#8
JFKerry was an assistant DA for Middlesex county in MA back in the late seventies
on a separate matter Gaddafi cooperated with the US in giving up WMD
the US bombed him anyway as part of the R2P initiative which we only used once on Gaddafi
Posted by: lord garth ||
09/09/2013 11:52 Comments ||
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#9
Kerrys undergraduate degree, not his law degree, was from Yale. He graduated from Boston College law school because he couldnt get into Harvard or Yale.
#13
" IIRC Back in the Spring, the Turks picked up some rebels with sarin in their possession"
Naive.
In war bad things happen. Assad has the blame for this one, if he doesn't like that he should have got rid of all his WMDs like Saddam did.
Its quite possible that the rebels might have used such weapons. So what? They are in a fight, and its our fight. If they've sacrificed some of their own to give us an "in" to provide air cover for them then its outrageous of us not to provide that having encouraged them to do this with talk of the red line.
Don't let your congressman shoot down Kerry just because you disagree with his politics... this is bigger than that, McCain and the others understand this.
#14
Except we have no dog in this fight. We shouldn't provide Al-Qaeda (who are allied with the rebels) air cover. Pencilneck is not a nice person - but neither are the rebels.
And I wouldn't believe John "Winter Soldier" Kerry if he told me my own name. That one is a proven liar and has shown again and again that he has no problem lying even under oath to advance his political ambitions (as shown by his "reminisent of Genghis Khan" congressional testimony).
#18
"Unbelievably small + limited effort" > WTFH???
Iff true, words fail me - AGAIN! AFAIK there has never E-V-A-R! been any US Officio, top or subordinate, that has used those kinds of words for anything.
US Mainstream confusion + nervous twitchiness goes on.
#20
So if the chem weapons are secured, whatever that means, then Pencil Neck and al Q can go back into duking it out to exhaustion. Its a lose-lose/win-win. Perverted but better than alternatives.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/09/2013 20:53 Comments ||
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#21
DRUDGEREPORT > [Guardian.UK] RED LINE II: KERRY GIVES ASSAD ONE WEEK TO HAND OVER CHEMICAL WEAPONS OR FACE ATTACK.
versus
* SAME > [USA Today] PRESIDENT LOSING MOMENTUM IN CONGRESS FOR SYRIA STRIKE.
* MIDDLE EAST ONLINE > US CONGRESS DENIED SYRIA FACTS, TOO.
Bammer Admin. Report is only 12-pages long, + allegedly so broad as to be inconclusive or indeterminative on whether Baby Assad is truly guilty or not.
versus
* TOPIX, WORLD NEWS > OBAMA'S OBEJCTIVE IN SYRIA CRISIS IS WAR, NOT JUSTICE, or Truth.
IMO it strongly appears that it doesn't matter to the Bammer Admin = USA iff Baby Assad did it or not.
All things equal, by the above is the Bammer as POTUS truly for America's + Americans' interests [Nationalism = sovereignty], or as per Marxism/Leftism-Globalism [anti-Nationalism = anti-Sovereignty???
[An Nahar] Syrian rebels, including jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda, have taken control of the historic Christian town of Maalula, north of Damascus, a watchdog and a resident said on Sunday.
Maalula is home to around 5,000 residents and is of strategic importance for the rebels, who are trying to tighten their grip around the capital Damascus, adding a northern post to existing bases in the south and west of the city.
Capturing the town, around 55 kilometers north of the capital, could also help rebels threaten the nearby highway between Damascus and Homs, a supply route used by the regime.
The battle for the town left at least 17 rebels dead and more than 100 maimed overnight, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that dozens of regime forces and pro-militia members were also killed or maimed in the fighting.
"Overnight, Syrian regime troops moved into the village, but rebel forces sent reinforcements and were able to take control of the entire town," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
He said the Al-Nusra Front, which has pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... , was among the forces that had taken control of the town.
A Maalula resident, reached by phone, confirmed that regime forces had withdrawn from the area and rebel forces were now in control.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the resident said the situation on the ground was quiet.
"The rebels are inside Maalula, all of Maalula. The government troops have pulled out of Maalula," the resident said.
Abdel Rahman said "fierce fighting broke out between regime forces and rebel fighters overnight, and the soldiers withdrew to the outskirts of the town."
Troops were still stationed around the town, raising the possibility of renewed fighting.
Picturesque Maalula is nestled under a large cliff and is considered a symbol of the Christian presence in Syria.
Many of its inhabitants speak Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus Christ that only small, scattered communities around the world still use.
It is full of troglodyte caves dating back to the first centuries of Christianity, and also houses the Mar Takla Greek Orthodox monastery.
The festivities first erupted on Wednesday, when Al-Nusra Front fighters and other Salafist tough guys attacked a regime checkpoint at one entrance to the town.
The advance raised fears of attacks against churches or Christians in the town but on Friday, the opposition Syrian National Coalition said rebels had withdrawn from the area.
On Saturday, the Observatory said rebel forces were fighting pro-regime militias in the west of the town, and were also engaged in festivities with Syrian troops on the outskirts of Maalula.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/09/2013 00:00 ||
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#2
Just watching BBC. Jeremy Simpson has been talking to people from Maalula who don't want an attack from the West as Assad stands up for the Christians whilst the jihadis are attacking churches and pulling down crosses.
Bottom line Sunni jihadis sponsored by Saudi and Qatar are intolerant bastards. Why would we want to help/support them?
Posted by: Paul D ||
09/09/2013 8:13 Comments ||
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#3
Syria Rebels Seize Former Christian Town of Maalula
[An Nahar] A bomb destroyed a car moments after it was parked by its owner in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which 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... 's al-Qobbeh area on Sunday, state-run National News Agency reported.
"The blast targeted the Jeep of Sheikh Saadeddine Ghiyyeh, leaving him lightly maimed," NNA said.
"A military expert who arrived on the scene estimated the bomb to weigh around 200 grams," the agency added.
Citing preliminary security reports, MTV said the bomb was likely planted inside the car. But an army statement issued later on Sunday confirmed that the bomb weighed 200 grams, noting that it was placed under the vehicle and set to detonate with a timer.
LBCI television said Ghiyyeh was maimed in the leg and rushed to al-Shamal Hospital for treatment.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] A Syrian national was tossed in the calaboose Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! on Saturday on charges of attempting to prepare explosives, reported the National News Agency on Sunday.
It said that the General Security arrested Ahmed Osama al-Toumani near the vegetable market in the Nahr Ibrahim region.
He was found in possession of a plastic bottle, flammable material, and en electric charger.
He confessed to communicating with individuals in Syria who were teaching him how to assemble explosives.
Investigations are underway with the suspect.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/09/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] One person was killed and five others were maimed Sunday in an armed clash between members of Hizbullah and Paleostinian young men near the Burj al-Barajneh refugee camp in Beirut's southern suburbs.
State-run National News Agency identified the dead man as Paleostinian national Mohammed al-Simrawi, saying the shootout erupted when a number of Paleostinians in a wedding convoy refused that their cars be searched by a Hizbullah checkpoint.
"Security forces and representatives of the factions of the Paleostine Liberation Organization intervened in a bid to contain the incident as festivities abated," the agency added.
Earlier, MTV said a number of Paleostinians "opened fire on a Hizbullah checkpoint near the Burj al-Barajneh slaughterhouse after they refused to be searched."
Al-Jadeed television said Hizbullah was "communicating with the camp's security committee to pacify the situation."
LBCI television said protesters burned tires at the camp's entrance and shouted anti-Hizbullah slogans in the wake of the clash.
Later on Sunday, NNA said a meeting got underway between Hizbullah and the Paleostinian factions at the party's office in Haret Hreik and that a joint statement would be issued after the talks.
Hizbullah had beefed up its security measures in and around Beirut's southern suburbs in the wake of a powerful boom-mobileing that rocked the Rweiss neighborhood in Dahieh and left 27 people dead and around 300 maimed.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/09/2013 00:00 ||
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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
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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.
![](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wxUFNZC6Hio/UZExp_jLRTI/AAAAAAAALRE/92LL66hwtS8/s1600/1%CE%92%CE%92.JPG")
Bouteflika
[Al Ahram] Egypt's prosecutor-general Hesham Barakat has referred 
[Dawn] The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain has set up two self-style Sharia courts in Darra Adamkhel town of FR Kohat to what they call dispense speedy justice to the local 
Mohmand Agency
[Dawn] An activist of the Pakistain 
Wazoo
Nawaz Sharif
President Asif Ali 
[Al Ahram] Israel deployed its Iron Dome missile defence system near Jerusalem Sunday, an AFP correspondent said, as the United States lobbied for domestic and international support for military strikes against Syria.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Zawahiri
