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12/09/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Annalise Braakensiek (Australia) aka Claudia Macpherson in "Pizza (TV Series 20002005)" aka Fay in "Mr. Accident (2000)" aka Heavenly in "Home and Away (TV Series 1988 )" aka Courtney Nash in "Sleuth 101 (TV series)" aka Herself in "20 to 1 (TV Series 2005 )" (age 39)
Five people, including a local police chief and two bodyguards, were killed Friday in a bomb attack in Afghanistan's northeastern Kunar province. Nine more people were injured in the incident.
The attack happened around 2 p.m. local time as worshipers were leaving a mosque following Friday prayers. An terrorist insurgent detonated explosives inside the mosque, said Governor Fazlullah Wahidi.
[Iran Press TV] At least 21 people have been killed in a new wave of violence that rocked different parts of Somalia's war-torn capital Mogadishu, Press TV reports.
As many as 12 people, including five government soldiers, died in the capital Mogadishu's northern neighborhoods of Yaqshid and Hiliwa on Thursday as fierce festivities broke out between al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... snuffies and Somalia's transitional government forces.
Seven civilians, among them an old man and a woman, were also killed after mortar shells landed in the city's neighborhoods of SOS, Ex-Control Balad, Arafat Hotel, and Suqahoolaha.
The mortar attacks had been launched in response to al-Shabaab's attacks on military bases in the same areas.
"Government troops backed by the African Union (AU) soldiers have repulsed the attacks launched by al-Shabaab krazed killers. We are expanding areas under our control," said Omar Abdullah Ja'afar, a Somali military commander.
He added, "The attack on our positions along the Ex-Control Balad Junction stoked an all-out battle. We intend to increase our sphere of influence. We have taken full control of areas in Suqahoolaha neighborhood that were previously under al-Shabaab control."
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch, Butch and the Kid finally brought their horses under control... two civilians were hit by stray bullets in Mogadishu's northern district of Karaan, and was struck down in his prime.
Boilerplate follows...
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
Strategically located in the Horn of Africa, Somalia remains one of the countries generating the highest number of refugees and internally-displaced people in the world.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/09/2011 00:00 ||
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[NY Times] The Moslem Brüderbund, the Islamist group whose political party is leading in parliamentary elections here, on Thursday accused Egypt's interim military rulers of attempting to undermine the legislature's authority and interfering in the writing of a new constitution.
The Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party said it was withdrawing from an advisory council being formed by the military leaders, saying that the military was trying to give the new council a major role in writing the constitution.
On Wednesday, a member of the military council told a small group of Western journalists that to limit the power of a potential Islamist majority in the new Parliament, the military planned to give the new advisory council and the military-led cabinet major roles in forming a constitutional assembly. Gen. Mukhtar al-Mulla of the military council contended during the briefing that the newly elected Parliament would not represent the will of the broader Egyptian public.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/09/2011 00:00 ||
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#2
Important diplomatic lesson. When there is more than one political party, if one party, even technically in the majority, walks out, it has committed a grave tactical error.
This is because it highly motivates the other political parties to exploit the process with all due speed and as much to their benefit, and the detriment of the boycotting party as possible.
By walking out, the MB has almost guaranteed an alliance between the secularists and the military, which may be potent enough to overwhelm the power of the MB.
#3
Ah, but we're talking Egyptian secularists, with the 'international community' involved. There'll be this irrational impetus for "inclusion", much to the detriment of the former and the psychological soothing of the latter.
#4
I don't want Civil War Grom. I shudder to think of the Copts fate in such a situation.
Posted by: Charles ||
12/09/2011 12:30 Comments ||
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#5
Yea well, too bad about the Copts: but they were goners anyway (even with Mubarak)---just a question of time. And no skin of my nose, anyway. The threat that Egypt constitutes to Israel, is the concern.
#6
Massive starvation is the worst threat to Egypt & indirectly to everyone else in the region. Egypt is broke & the tourists that had been pouring their cash into the Egyptian economy will not return for a very long time.
That would be last thing the west should want. Islamist parties got 71% of this round's vote. If the elections are any reflection of Egyptians' views, the Islamists have the numbers. And they will kill on the drop of a koran.
(Xinhua) -- At least 11 people were killed Thursday in sectarian conflict between Shiite Houthi rebels and Sunni Islamist rustics in Yemen's northern restive province of Saada, local officials said.
"Eight fighters of the Shiite Houthi group and three Sunni rustics of Wa'ela powerful tribe were killed and more than 15 others maimed in fierce battles erupted on Thursday evening after Houthis attempted to prevent an aid caravan provided by Wa'ela tribe from reaching besieged Sunni people in Damaj town," said a provincial security official.
"The battle took place in the main highway of Kutaf area, some 10 km west of Damaj, a stronghold of the Shiite Houthi rebels," the official told Xinhua by telephone on condition of anonymity.
"The Sunni rustics are apparently determined to deliver the aid to Damaj's inhabitants and to break the two-month-long siege laid by Shiite Houthi group over religious-related dispute," a local councilman told Xinhua.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth had turned a paler shade of blue. Star-A-Star had struck again... the leader of Houthi rebels, Abdulmalik al-Houthi, issued a statement on the group's website, saying that "the so- called aid caravan en-route to Damaj was a military caravan and it attacked Houthi followers Thursday evening in Kutaf area."
"This military convoy was a part of a foreign conspiracy to ignite sectarian conflict in our region," the leader Abdulmalik said in the statement.
On the other part, the opposition-run news website Almasdar Online quoted on Thursday an official of Wa'ela tribe as saying that "the caravan is carrying food and medicines and Houthis have been blocking the way in Kutaf for two weeks, preventing the aid convoy from reaching the besieged people of Damaj."
Since protest movement erupted in Yemen in late January to call for an end to the 33-year rule of outgoing President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... , Houthi rebels are working out to expand their control over the northern provinces of Saada, Amran and Hajja.
On Aug. 26, 2010, the Yemeni government and the Shiite group signed an agreement in Doha to cement a fragile cease-fire in north Yemen to end the sporadic battles since 2004, but the rebels ' festivities with local rustics and Sunni supporters are still rocking the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/09/2011 00:00 ||
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[Yemen Post] Hundreds of thousands of pro revolution youth protested on Thursday rejecting the newly formed government and called for a complete fall of President-for-Life Saleh's ... exemplifying the Arab's propensity to combine brutality with incompetence... regime.
Youth activists rejected this government and called it a puppet government that is working to save Saleh from being held responsible for the crimes committed against unarmed protesters.
The protests took place in 17 provinces nationwide raising fears that the new government will soon fall after goals of the revolution have not been reached.
Sana'a protest was the largest on Thursday and only hours after kabooms were heard in the northern part of the capital.
Light festivities continue between government forces and tribal fighters loyal to the Ahmar clan.
The government formation went smooth in Yemen and UN envoy to Yemen, Jamal Ben Omar, praised the recent political success in the country.
He hoped that all sides would work in helping the agreement be fully implemented and help the county start building its economic infrastructure.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/09/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Nine suspected al-Qaeda Islamic fascistihave been killed in an attack on a Yemeni military unit in the country's restive southern province of Abyan, a military official told Agence La Belle France Presse Thursday.
A Yemeni soldier was also killed in the attack which took place late Wednesday near Abyan's capital Zinjibar.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said at least four soldiers were maimed in the attack.
Residents in the nearby town of Jaar meanwhile reported seeing Islamic fascistitransporting bodies for burial.
Since May, Yemeni troops have been battling Islamic fascistibelieved to affiliated with al-Qaeda to regain control of at least three cities in Abyan, including Zinjibar, under bully boy control.
On several occasions since their takeover of the area, the Islamic fascistihave enforced very strict interpretations of Islamic law, including chopping off people's hands for stealing and lashing women for what they believe to be inappropriate behavior.
Despite months of festivities and hundreds of casualties on both sides, government troops have so far failed to wrest back full control of the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/09/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Yemen's main southern opposition leader, Hassan Baoum, was released from jail along with his son just hours after the formation of a transitional unity government, a family member told Agence La Belle France Presse in Sanaa.
Baoum and his son Fawaz were set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock on February 20 in Yemen's southern port city Aden, where they had planned to join an anti-government protest. They were freed late on Wednesday.
"My father and brother Fawaz were both released in Sanaa," said Fadi Baoum, another son of the southern opposition leader.
Baoum heads the supreme council of the Southern Movement whose members call for either independence or increased autonomy from north Yemen.
He has been set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock on several occasions by the central government.
Baoum's release came just hours after Prime Minister-designate Mohammed Basindawa, a southerner himself, announced the formation of a transitional unity government that will lead Yemen until February, when Vice President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi is formerly elected to the presidency.
Hadi, another southerner, was given temporary presidential powers and asked to form a unity government after 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... signed a Gulf-sponsored initiative aimed at ensuring a smooth transition of power in Yemen after months of mass anti-government protests.
In return for stepping down, Saleh and his family were granted immunity from prosecution for alleged crimes committed against Yemenis in the protests that began in January demanding his ouster.
Hundreds have been killed and thousands more maimed in the capital and other Yemeni cities in a brutal government crackdown on demonstrations.
The Gulf Cooperation Council initiative also calls on the new Yemeni leadership to ensure a peaceful and just resolution of the southern issue.
Residents in the formerly independent southern region complain of discrimination by the Sanaa regime in the distribution of resources since the union between north and south in 1990.
The south broke away again in 1994, sparking a brief civil war that ended with the region overrun by northern troops.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/09/2011 00:00 ||
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Iran is conducting anti-U.S. operations from Latin America, including military training camps in Venezuela, and expanding its reach across the border from the U.S. in Mexico, according to footage unveiled late Thursday by the largest Spanish-language network in the United States, Univision.
The documentary showed a former Iran senior official accepting a plan to launch from Mexico a cyber war on the United States, one that would cripple U.S. computer systems, including the White House, the FBI, the CIA and several nuclear plants. The official, former Iranian Ambassador to Mexico Mohammad Hassan Ghadiri, was shown accepting the offer from undercover Mexican university students. A trailer to the documentary can be seen here.
The documentary also showed the undercover Mexican students presenting plans for the cyber attack to Venezuelan officials in Mexico. The Venezuelan official was very receptive to the plot, saying that she was close to Venezuelas hard-leftist President Hugo Chavez and that she would love to share the information with him as soon as possible. The same happened with Cuban officials in Mexico, who were equally interested in a plot against the United States.
The students in the documentary appeared to have conducted a sting operation similar to the reports carried out by the American journalist James OKeefe in the U.S.
The documentary, called The Iranian Threat, said that undercover journalists were also able to infiltrate Iranian military training camps working from mosques in Venezuela, though it showed no actual footage of the camps. Univision alleged there were links between the alleged camps and a radical Muslim implicated in the 1994 Buenos Aires bombing of a Synagogue that killed 85 and wounded hundreds. The Iranian lives in Argentina, a country which also has strong ties to Chavez.
Ties between the hard line Islamist government in Tehran and the anti-American government of President Hugo Chavez have been growing for years, including a weekly secretive Cairo-Tehran flight that is of grave concerns to U.S. officials.
Undercover journalists also confirmed Iranian-backed money-laundry and drug-trafficking cartels that are used to back Islamist networks and training camps in Venezuela and elsewhere, which exist to attack U.S. interests and undermine the U.S. in Latin America.
Univision said in press release that it had dozens of hours of secret recordings, conducted extensive interviews with people who participated in the meetings, including a former Iranian ambassador, and examined documents ranging from hand-written notes to internal federal reports and obtained unpublished video of a failed bomb attack against New Yorks JFK airport. In Mexico, Univision, uncovered covert recordings of the alleged Iranian plan to cripple the computer systems of the White House, the FBI, the CIA and several nuclear power plants.
The severity of this threat cannot be ignored. The Obamas Administration has shown its policies in the Middle East have failed. This documentary raises some serious issues that need to be further investigated. We also need a serious commitment to stem the growing presence of terrorist elements in this Hemisphere. Instead, this Administration has stood silently as civil liberties and democratic institutions deteriorate in Latin America inviting Iran and other rabid anti-American forces to fester.
In 2009, President Obama said his Administration was willing to talk to Iran without preconditions and would work towards the abolition of nuclear weapons. As this documentary clearly reveals, the Obama Administrations soft-diplomacy approach has failed.
#2
Fear not, MAHICO, you will be fairly + properly beheaded by Islam when its the right time.
ION IRAN THREAT TO NOT-SOUTH-AFRICA-OR SOUTH-ANTARCTICA, FREEREPUBLIC > NORWAY ISLAMIST CALLS FOR NEW US TERROR ATTACKS, proclaiming that Islam will control the entire world widin 20 years [c. 2030 = COMET APOPHIS?].
Move along, America = Amerika, once again again again clearly no GLOBAL JIHAD here!
For a map, click here.For a map of Coahuila, click here
A total of six individuals were killed in two separate shootings in Saltillo, Coahuila Wednesday and Thursday afternoon, according to Mexican news accounts.
Wednesday's shootings began at about 1325 hrs when Mexican security forces were dispatched to the intersection of Avenida Oriente and Calle 23rd in Vista Hermosa colony on reports of shots fired. Three unidentified civilians were found dead from gunshots. At the scene about 50 .223 caliber and 7.62mm NATO spent shell casings were found along with personal quantities of marijuana and cocaine.
According to a statement released by the Coahuila state attorney general's officer, Mexican security forces were fired on Thursday at about 1325 hrs in Mirasierra colony by armed suspects travelling aboard six vehicles.
The suspects had apparently just kidnapped three individuals, two of whom were killed at the scene, while one of the armed suspects was killed. Security forces reported no casualties in the incident.
A third kidnapping victim was rushed to a clinic receive medical treatment.
Security forces seized three AR-15 rifles, and two vehicles.
Fighting was also reported in Nuevo Progreso colony, and a dead body was reported, but ultimately was not located by security forces.
Saltillo,Coahuila is the capital of Coahuila state and is the location of the headquarters of the Mexican 6th Military Zone.
BERLIN - German anti-terrorism police on Thursday tossed in the slammer a 27-year-old man in the western city of Bochum suspected of links to a local al Qaeda cell and of planning an attack, the Federal Prosecutor said in a statement.
The man, a German citizen named as "Halil S", is believed to have been recruited by the suspected ring-leader of the cell who was tossed in the slammer in April, and of having raised money for a planned attack by fraudulent use of the online auction site ebay.
A front man for the prosecutor's office said there were no signs of specific plans nor of actual targets, and he rejected a report in the online edition of Germany's Focus magazine that the suspect planned to attack a Christmas market.
German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said people had not been in danger, but that the case showed Germany and Europe remained a focus of Islamist cut-thoat plots.
On December 8, 2011, the Global Islamic Media Front, an Al-Qaeda-affiliated media company, announced the death of one of its senior operatives, 'Abd Al-Moeed bin 'Abd Al-Salam.
Apparently, 'Abd Al-Salam had studied and worked in the U.S., and also held a U.S. citizenship, before joining Al-Qaeda and going to Afghanistan to wage jihad there.
According to the GIMF, he had played a leading role in Al-Qaeda's online media efforts, establishing forums and websites and developing Al-Qaeda's propaganda operations in numerous languages.
While the GIMF did not say when 'Abd Al-Salam died, on November 24, 2011, a member of the Shumoukh Al-Islam forum posted a thread informing members of the death of a senior GIMF operative, presumably referring to 'Abd Al-Salam.
[Dawn] Director General Military Operations (DGMO) Major General Ashfaq Nadeem on Thursday said November 26 attack on Salala check post was a deliberate act and part of a 'plot,' DawnNews reported.
Briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Defence which met here under the chairmanship of Javed Ashraf Qazi, Nadeem said the attack was conducted by US Special Forces as NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... has no control over them in Afghanistan.
He said NATO officials deceived the Pak officer on duty at the coordination centre by giving him wrong information about the location of the operation.
The DGMO further said the attack was pre-planned and was aimed to strengthen the Taliban because the two check posts attacked were built to curb thugs' infiltration and had been serving the purpose effectively.
He said bully boyz never come up on mountain peaks and always hide inside ditches and cracks.
The security forces have been redeployed after rebuilding the Valcano and Bolder check posts, said the Maj. Gen. Pak forces can not afford to leave the area vacant, he added.
Officials of Foreign office and ministry of defence were also present during the briefing.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/09/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Up to 20 trucks were destroyed in a rocket attack Thursday on a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... trucking terminal in Quetta supplying troops in neighbouring Afghanistan, police said.
A number of oil tankers and goods trucks were parked in the temporary terminal after Pakistain shut down supply lines for NATO forces in anger at a deadly cross-border air strike which killed 24 Pak soldiers.
Senior police official Malik Arshad told AFP that unknown gunnies fired bullets and a rocket at the NATO oil tankers and the ensuing blaze engulfed 15 to 20 vehicles in Quetta, capital of the southwestern province of 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...
"We do not know about any casualties yet because the blaze is so huge," Arshad said.
"First the fire started in two oil tankers and the fuel started leaking which spread the fire to other vehicles," Arshad said.
"Fire brigade and emergency services were called in immediately after the attack," he said.
No group has so far grabbed credit for the attack but the Taliban have in the past said they carried out similar attacks to disrupt supplies for the more than 130,000 US-led international troops fighting in Afghanistan.
Taliban and al Qaeda-linked Death Eaters frequently launch attacks on NATO supply vehicles in the northwest and southwest regions of Pakistain, which border landlocked Afghanistan.
Most supplies and equipment required by foreign forces in Afghanistan are usually shipped through Pakistain, although US troops increasingly use alternative routes through Central Asia.
NATO has launched an investigation into the raid last month in which 24 Pak soldiers were killed.
The lethal November 26 air strike has brought the fragile Pak-US alliance to a fresh low.
Pakistain sealed its Afghan border to NATO supply convoys, boycotted this week's Bonn conference on the future of Afghanistan and ordered US personnel to vacate an air base reportedly used by CIA drones.
Pakistain shut its main northwestern border crossing to NATO supply vehicles for 11 days last year after a cross-border NATO helicopter assault killed two Pak soldiers.
Scores of NATO supply vehicles were destroyed in gun and arson attacks while that crossing was shut, as Talibs stepped up efforts to disrupt the route in response to US drone strikes in Pakistain's tribal belt.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/09/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
ION DEFENCE.PK/FORUM > RUSSIA STEPS BACK FROM AFGHANISTAN TRANSIT [routes closure] THREAT.
Mama Russia's Ambassador to NATO ROGOZIN a'sezzes he was absolutely positively categorically undeniably ....@etc. MISQUOTED IN THE WILY MEDIA.
#2
Pragmatically, after 2014 any truble(s) in AFPAK becomes the purvue of US-NATO, CIVILAN OR JOINT MILITARY-CIVILIAN CONTRACTORS/VENDORS, includ as adjunct or complement to US-NATO SPECOPS + ADVISORY GROUPS.
OBAMA IN FALL 2012, or REPUBLICAN POTUS SUCCESSOR AFTER JANUARY 2013 = WAR AGZ IRAN???
THIRD-PARTY OR SURROGATE WARFARE VERSUS THE SAME, BE IT GOOD GUYS OR BAD???
"WILD WILD WEST" IN AFPAK, IRAQ = "WILD WILD EAST".
[Dawn] Panic and fear gripped people when several rockets were fired at Kohat and Hangu cities on Youm-i-Ashur, injuring three persons including two coppers.
The rockets began to rock residential areas in Kohat around 9am on Tuesday. The attack continued for more than an hour.
The first rocket hit a grocery market in the main bazaar on the route of Ashura procession, damaging a shop and a mosque.
Miraculously, coppers deployed at the roof of the shops remained unhurt in the attack. However, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... a man received minor injuries in the attack. He was taken to hospital for treatment.
After a while the second rocket hit Al-Hafiz Public School and College in Garhi Atta Khan locality of the city without causing any loss of life.
The third rocket fell on a house just behind the imambargah of Syed Habib Shah. It caused damage to the house.
After the rocket attack, security forces targeted the mountains near tribal town Darra Adamkhel with artillery shelling. Later, a helicopter gunship was sent to the gun manufacturing town to pound suspected hideouts of myrmidons.
In Hangu, two coppers received injuries when unidentified bully boyz fired six rockets at the main bazaar in the early hours of Ashura.
The Shia elders had accepted the request of administration and Sunnis to abandon their plan of procession on Ashura owing to threat of terrorism.
The Sunni community had been demanding that mourners should not take out procession because the whole bazaar had been torched twice during Muharram in the past causing losses worth billions of rupees to businessmen.
The mourners just fulfilled the formality of brining out procession by coming few meters outside the imambargah and than returned inside.
In Mansehra, Ashura was observed with traditional zeal and fervour. Heavy contingents of police were deployed at the imambargah and procession routes to avert any untoward situation.
The Ashura processions were taken out from Imam Hussain Imambargah at Mufti Abad and Parain Imambargah and culminated after marching thought the specified routes.
In Nowshera, two processions were taken on Ashura out amid tight security.
They mourners paid glowing tributes to the deaders of Karbala, vowing that they were ready to follow the teaching of Hazrat Iman Hussain.
In Lakki Marwat, Ashura was observed with religious reverence and solemnity in the district. A procession was taken out from Mohallah Sayyedaan amidst tight security. Prominent Shia leader Syed Zahoor Abbas Shah Afgar Bukhari led the procession.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/09/2011 00:00 ||
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The Australian Government has issued a travel warning for parts of the Philippines as the search for a Sydney man who was taken at gunpoint from a seaside town continued yesterday.
Warren Rodwell was kidnapped from his home late Monday in the town of Ipil on Mindanao and authorities do not appear to be close to tracking down his abductors.
Police said the 53-year-old was shot in the foot during the incident as he wrestled with up to six gunmen. The Mindanao Examiner reported that police recovered an empty bullet casing and found blood outside the property.
Army Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang said, "Rodwell was shot in the foot while trying to fight off the kidnappers, who are members of a local gang, but with links to the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan province."
Cabangbang said security forces have launched a large-scale search for Rodwell.
Ipil acting Mayor Alberto Alcoriza told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that Rodwell had been warned about conditions in the region and offered security protection, but told authorities he could protect himself. Alcoriza said, "He told us then that he'd fight back in case he encountered security problems."
Mr Rodwell is the 10th foreigner to be kidnapped in the southern Philippines this year.
#1
Idiot! Unfortunately, there's no law against idiot foreigners. Even more unfortunately, good people have to go to great pains to rescue such idiots.
Pol Sr Sgt-Major Tuwaehami Nihae, 49, was gunned down at 7 a.m. in Pattani province as he parked his motorbike at a food stand in front of a morning market. Two terrorists men on a motorcycle approached and the terrorist gunman, riding pillon, shot the policeman three times before fleeing with Tuwaehami's 9 mm revolver. Police suspect that the killing was carried out by terrorists insurgents.
In Pattani's Ma Yor district, the police and a bomb squad inspected a military base where suspected terrorists insurgents launched an M-79 grenade attack on Tuesday night. The wall of a school was damaged and Sgt-Major 1st class Somprat Srivaja, 34, sustained a head injury in the grenade blast. The terrorists insurgents also fired a grenade at the house of a village defense volunteer Maleepeng Hami, 34, located 1 km from the school. The bomb damaged the roof slightly and killed a cat.
67 violent terrorist incidents took place in Thailand's three southern provinces in November, killing 41 people and injuring 47, Deep South Watch reported yesterday.
(Xinhua) -- Syria on Thursday closed one of its border gates with Turkey as relations of the two countries have been further strained, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.
Syrian officials claimed that the closure of the gate at the Nusaybin town of Turkey's southeastern province of Mardin was due to maintenance work.
"They have told us that they would open the gate once the maintenance was over," said Murat Girgin, an official of the town.
A group of around 100 people including Syrian nationals were denied entry into Syria's Kamisli town and was waiting on the Turkish side of the border, the official said.
On Nov. 30, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced a series of sanction measures against Syria, including a freeze on its government assets in Turkey, a blockade of weapons delivery through Turkey, a travel ban on Syrian leaders, and the suspension of relations between the Turkish and Syrian central banks.
Turkey, once a close ally of Syria, has gradually toughened its criticism of the Syrian administration for its alleged crackdown on protests. Turkish leaders have on many occasions called on Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... to end the crackdown and step down.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/09/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Iraq said it would try to convince neighboring Syria to accept an Arab League deal to end unrest and head off sweeping economic sanctions, during a visit by the group's chief to Baghdad on Thursday.
Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi told journalists in the Iraqi capital that "the ball is in the Syrian court" but warned that if Damascus wanted to avoid sanctions, it would have to sign on to the initiative.
"Our conversation (with Iraq) ... was to explore whether the Iraqi government is willing to exert its influence with Syria," Arabi said at a joint news conference with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.
"The Iraqi government told us that it will carry out contacts with the Syrian government to resolve this issue."
Zebari added: "We will exert efforts and discuss with the Syrian government how to remove all the obstacles facing this initiative."
Arabi declined to set a deadline for Syria to agree to the plan.
"The ball is in the Syrian court. They can come and sign at any time, perhaps 24 hours after that, there will be the observers there. It's up to them. They want to stop the economic sanctions, they sign."
Iraq has refused to enforce the sweeping sanctions against Damascus approved by the Arab League on November 27 over the Syrian government's deadly crackdown on protests.
Those measures included an immediate freeze on transactions with Damascus and its central bank and of Syrian regime assets in Arab countries.
But Iraq's close trade ties with Syria, from which it imports significant amounts of foodstuffs, pushed the Iraqi government to abstain from the Arab League vote on sanctions.
Zebari said Iraq's abstention from the vote on the Syrian sanctions was due to its position as a geographic neighbor, a major trading partner, and the fact that a large Iraqi community lives in Syria.
"This doesn't contradict ... (Iraq) standing and speaking out, condemning bloodshed," he added. "We can help, we can play a useful role to support the Arab initiative."
Local human rights groups said more than 100 people have been killed in Syria since the weekend, and the U.N. estimates at least 4,000 have died since March when anti-regime protests erupted.
"There are accusations from both sides, and what is needed now ... is to inject a third party which is observers from all Arab countries ... to try, by their presence, to stop or at least decrease greatly the violence," Arabi said.
Meanwhile, an Arab diplomat said Thursday that Arab League ministers will meet this weekend to mull a response to Syria, which wants the bloc to lift sanctions as its price to allow observers to monitor deadly unrest.
A taskforce chaired by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani and comprising the foreign ministers of Algeria, Egypt, Oman and Sudan will gather in Doha with Arab League chief Arabi.
Syria said on Sunday it will allow observers into the country as part of the Arab peace plan.
But Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, in a letter to Arabi, said Syria would accept the monitors under certain conditions.
According to the text, published in the Syrian press on Tuesday, Muallem demanded the complete overturn of sanctions approved by the Arab League on November 27.
"The government considers all decisions taken by the Arab League ... including Syria's suspension and the sanctions taken by the ministerial committee against it, to be null and void once Damascus signs the protocol" for observers, said the text.
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12/09/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Embattled Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... "will not escape justice," the French foreign ministry stressed Thursday.
"La Belle France does not give any credibility to Bashir al-Assad's provocative statements, which totally contradict with the fact that acts of repression and violence against the Syrian people have continued unabated," ministry front man Bernard Valero told news hounds, referring to Assad's recent interview with ABC News.
"His people and the international community have put him on trial, and like all those responsible for the repression he must be held accountable for the crimes being committed in Syria since months," Valero added, slamming Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... ' "rejection" to respond to the demands of the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... and the international community.
In a rare interview with Western media, Assad said that he was not responsible for the nine months of bloodshed and drew a distinction between himself and the military -- an assertion that the United States called "ludicrous."
"We don't kill our people," Assad told U.S. network ABC. "No government in the world kills its people, unless it's led by a crazy person."
"There was no command to kill or be brutal," Assad told veteran ABC News interviewer Barbara Walters.
Assad said that security forces belonged to "the government" and not him personally.
"I don't own them. I'm president. I don't own the country. So they are not my forces," Assad said.
Assad's family has ruled Syria with an iron fist for four decades. Assad's brother, Lieutenant Colonel Maher al-Assad, heads the army's Fourth Division, which oversees the capital as well as the elite Republican Guard.
The United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... estimates that more than 4,000 people have died as Syria cracks down on protesters, who have emerged as the greatest challenge yet to Assad amid a wave of uprisings in the Arab world that have toppled authoritarian leaders in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia.
Assad dismissed the corpse count, saying: "Who said that the United Nations is a credible institution?"
"Most of the people that have been killed are supporters of the government, not the vice versa," Assad said in English, giving a figure of 1,100 dead soldiers and police.
U.S. State Department front man Mark Toner dared Assad to back up his assertions by letting in international observers and media, saying that there was a "clear campaign against peaceful protesters."
"It either says that he's completely lost any power that he had within Syria, that he's simply a tool or that he's completely disconnected with reality," Toner told news hounds Wednesday.
"It's either disconnection, disregard or, as he said, crazy. I don't know," Toner said.
Toner, reacting a day earlier to excerpts of the interview, called Assad's denial of responsibility "ludicrous," triggering a rebuke from Syria's foreign ministry which accused him of distorting the remarks.
Syria has come under growing international pressure, with Arab nations and Turkey joining Western powers in pursuing sanctions against Assad.
The Arab League has suspended Syria and has threatened new sanctions if Assad does not allow in observers. Syria initially refused but at the last minute offered to let in monitors in return for an end to sanctions.
The United States and La Belle France on Tuesday sent their ambassadors back to Syria in hopes that they can shine light on the violence and show solidarity with protesters, weeks after the envoys were pulled out due to safety concerns.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/09/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Syrian security forces on Thursday killed at least seven civilians including a woman in an assault on the restive central city of Homs, activists said.
The deaths occurred as the security forces used sniper fire and "arbitrary" shelling during raids on three districts of the city, the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement sent to Agence La Belle France Presse.
Meanwhile, ...back at the secret hideout, Scarface Al sneeringly put his proposition to little Nell... state media reported Thursday that armed "terrorists" blew up an oil pipeline west of Homs, but an anti-regime activist group said the government was behind the blast.
"An armed terrorist group targeted in a sabotage operation the pipeline of Tal al-Shor, west of Homs," Syria's third-largest city, said the official news agency SANA.
The Observatory also reported the kaboom of "an oil pipeline in Homs which transports crude to the (central) city's refinery from eastern Syria."
It gave no cause for the blast.
But the Local Coordination Committees, which organizes protests against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Sonny, disguised as Fredo, trying to be Mike... 's regime, accused his government of deliberately destroying the pipeline, which serves a region seen as staunchly opposed to his rule.
Homs, one of the main hubs of the unprecedented demonstrations against Assad's regime, has been besieged by security forces and loyalist militias for more than two months.
Footage posted on video-sharing website YouTube shows huge flames burning above the site of a pipeline said to be the one near Homs, with massive clouds of black smoke billowing out overhead.
The kaboom is the third reported attack on energy infrastructure since the outbreak of the pro-reform protest movement in mid-March.
On July 13, activists said a gas pipeline went kaboom! in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour, home to Syria's oil and gas fields.
And on July 29, SANA reported an attack by a subversive group against an oil pipeline near Homs.
According to an industry expert in Damascus ...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations... , Syria's oil output has slumped to 120,000 barrels per day from 340,000 bpd before the unrest due to narrowing exports in line with sanctions against Assad's regime.
The United Nations ...Parkinson's Law on an international scale... estimates more than 4,000 people have been killed since mid-March in the regime crackdown's on dissent.
Damascus blames the unrest on "armed terrorist groups" and has unleashed military operations against border towns and protest hubs.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/09/2011 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[An Nahar] Armed "terrorists" have blown up an oil pipeline west of the flashpoint Syrian city of Homs, the official SANA news agency reported on Thursday.
"An armed terrorist group targeted in a sabotage operation the pipeline of Tal al-Shor, west of Homs," Syria's third-largest city, SANA said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britannia-based activist network, also reported the kaboom of "an oil pipeline in Homs which transports crude to the (central) city's refinery from eastern Syria."
It gave no cause for the blast.
The kaboom is the third reported attack on energy infrastructure since the outbreak of an unprecedented protest movement against the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... in mid-March.
On July 13, activists said a gas pipeline went kaboom! in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour, home to Syria's oil and gas fields.
And on July 29, SANA reported an attack by a subversive group against an oil pipeline near Homs.
According to an industry expert in Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... , Syria's oil output has slumped to 120,000 barrels per day from 340,000 bpd before the unrest due to narrowing exports in line with sanctions against Assad's regime.
The United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... estimates more than 4,000 people have been killed since mid-March in the regime crackdown's on dissent.
Damascus blames the unrest on "armed terrorist groups" and has unleashed military operations against border towns and protest hubs.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/09/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Syrian activists on Thursday launched a campaign of civil disobedience to pile pressure on Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... , after he drew a stinging rebuke from the U.S. for denying he ordered a deadly crackdown.
Local human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... groups said more than 100 people have been killed in Syria since the weekend, and the U.N. estimates at least 4,000 have died since March when anti-regime protests erupted.
But in a rare interview with Western media, President Assad questioned the U.N. toll and denied ordering the killing of protesters, saying only a "crazy person" would do so.
Washington said Assad's remarks showed he was disconnected from reality or himself "crazy," as he comes under mounting global pressure, with Arab nations and Turkey joining the West in pursuing sanctions against his regime.
Despite the rhetoric, the Local Coordination Committees activist network reported on Thursday that Assad's forces used bombs and "heavy and indiscriminate gunfire" in Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... and northwestern Idlib province.
The LCC, which organizes anti-regime protests on the ground in Syria, appealed for citizens to mobilize for a "dignity strike ... which will lead to the sudden death of this tyrant regime."
The campaign would "snowball... and grow each day of the revolution to reach every home and anyone who wants to live delighted and dignified in his/her country," said an LCC statement received in Nicosia.
It urged citizens to begin the action on Sunday -- the first day of the working week in Syria -- starting with sit-ins at work, and the closure of shops and universities, before the shutdown of transportation networks and a general public sector strike.
"The Syrian revolution is... a renaissance against slavery; a scream at the face of humiliation started from the first day as demonstrators cried 'Syrians are not to be humiliated.'
"The echo of this scream will not vanish till it reaches all ears," said the English-language statement, adding the strike was "the first step in an overall civil disobedience" campaign which will overthrow the regime.
Reports that there was no let-up in the crackdown also came from another activist group, the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
It said that festivities between Syria's regular army and mutinous soldiers shook the town of Saraqeb in Idlib province, near the border with Turkey, on Wednesday.
Also in Idlib, "military forces raided houses and tossed in the slammer three Death Eaters," in the vicinity of Saraqeb, while "some 50 armored vehicles, including tanks and troop carriers, came under attack in the village of al-Rami," it added.
The Observatory also said a 16-year-old girl was rubbed out and 20 people were maimed near Saraqeb, and that two women died for lack of medication in the al-Houla region of central Homs province.
In his interview, Assad denied he ordered the killing of thousands of protesters and brushed aside charges that Syrian forces tortured to death a 13-year-old boy, whom rights groups say was shot, burned and castrated in April.
"Every 'brute reaction' was by an individual, not by an institution, that's what you have to know," Assad told U.S. television network ABC News.
"There is a difference between having a policy to crack down and between having some mistakes committed by some officials. There is a big difference."
Assad said he was not responsible for the nine months of bloodshed, declaring: "No government in the world kills its people, unless it's led by a crazy person."
"There was no command to kill or be brutal," Assad told ABC.
Assad said security forces belonged to "the government" and not him personally.
"I don't own them. I'm president. I don't own the country. So they are not my forces," he said.
Assad's family has ruled Syria with an iron fist for four decades. Assad's brother, Lieutenant Colonel Maher Assad, heads the army's Fourth Division, which oversees the capital as well as the elite Republican Guard.
U.S. State Department front man Mark Toner dared Assad to back up his assertions by letting in international observers and media, saying there was a "clear campaign against peaceful protesters."
"It either says that he's completely lost any power that he had within Syria, that he's simply a tool or that he's completely disconnected with reality," Toner told news hounds Wednesday.
"It's either disconnection, disregard or, as he said, crazy. I don't know," Toner said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/09/2011 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
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.
"This military convoy was a part of a foreign conspiracy to ignite sectarian conflict in our region," the leader Abdulmalik said in the statement.
[Yemen Post] Hundreds of thousands of pro revolution youth protested on Thursday rejecting the newly formed government and called for a complete fall of 
[Dawn] Director General Military Operations (DGMO) Major General Ashfaq Nadeem on Thursday said November 26 attack on Salala check post was a deliberate act and part of a 'plot,' DawnNews reported.
Syrian officials claimed that the closure of the gate at the Nusaybin town of Turkey's southeastern province of Mardin was due to maintenance work.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
