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Clashes in Ein el-Hellhole between army and Syrian sock puppets
Today's Headlines
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Grand Jury to Indict Congressman Jefferson on Bribery Charges
WASHINGTON — An indictment charging Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., in a long-running bribery investigation is being announced Monday, federal officials said. The indictment is being handed up in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va. A press conference was being organized for late Monday in Washington to discuss the case.

Update at 15:05 EDT: Jefferson indicted on 16 counts
WASHINGTON - A federal grand jury issued an indictment today against U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, accusing the New Orleans Democrat of 16 counts including racketeering, soliciting bribes, fraud, money-laundering and obstructing justice in connection with a web of business deals in Africa, a federal official said.

Jefferson was not immediately available for comment. The charges will not impact his ability to serve in Congress while awaiting trial.

The indictment pulls back the cover on a government investigation that became public when the FBI raided the congressman's Capitol Hill townhouse in August 2005, finding $90,000 stashed in his freezer. Prosecutors say the cash was part of the $100,000 that an informant had handed Jefferson days earlier in a northern Virginia parking garage.

Jefferson, 60, who won reelection in December despite the publicity from the probe, has steadfastly maintained his innocence and said last year there is "an honorable explanation" for the money and other allegations, some based on conversations secretly recorded by the informant.

The FBI's sting operation, the first of its kind since the Abscam probe targeting corrupt members of Congress in the 1970s, has already sent two former Jefferson associates to prison. Both acknowledged taking part in a scheme to funnel money to companies controlled by the nine-term congressman and his family in exchange for his help in promoting a telecommunications business in Nigeria and Ghana.
Posted by: Sherry || 06/04/2007 13:26 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A friend of mine who lives in Jefferson's district told me that he had voted to re-elected Jefferson. I asked him how the hell could you do that? He said there wasn't any difference between him and the woman running against him, so he figured why not have a corrupt jackass continuing to represent the Democratic party.

My friend is a smart man....

:)
Posted by: 0369Grunt || 06/04/2007 14:02 Comments || Top||

#2  I question the timing. Why was this held up until the mid-point of the election cycle? This is months after the last election, but timed so it'd all be forgotten by the next one.

Do the Democrats have a Karl Rove wannabe?
Posted by: Bobby || 06/04/2007 17:13 Comments || Top||

#3  this would be the Bush DOJ, Bobby, and Dollar Bill will be on trial during the next election, not exactly out of the news
Posted by: Frank G || 06/04/2007 18:07 Comments || Top||

#4  Dollar Bill will be on trial during the next election, not exactly out of the news

Oh, yes, he will be.
Posted by: the MSM || 06/04/2007 22:45 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Komodo Dragon mauls boy to death in Indonesia
A rare Komodo Dragon has mauled a boy to death on an island that is part of the Komodo national park in eastern Indonesia, police said Monday.
How rare can they be if you named the park and the island after them?
Mansur, nine, was taking a crap pooping defecating in a bush area on Komodo island on Saturday when he was attacked by a Komodo Dragon, Manggarai barat district police chief Buce Hello told AFP.
And here I worry about running out of toilet paper....
"The Komodo attacked him, bit him and tossed him around, and only released him after villagers came and threw stones at it," Hello said.
"[Sniff! Sniff!] What's that awful smell? Egad! That human is launching butt rockets emptying his backside defecating in my territory! Take [chomp!] that, y'smelly brat!"
"Aaaaiiiieeee! I have been bit on the heinie by a komodo dragon! Help! Help!"
The island, one of the largest in the Komodo national park, has no medical clinic and the boy, a local villager, died shortly after the attack, he said.
I've seen them on the science channel, Komodos mouths are full of some of the worse bacteria in the world. Likely that's what killed the poor kid
The park and the western and northern coastlines of neighbouring Flores island are the natural habitats of the giant Komodo Dragon, which is the world's largest monitor lizard.
The lizard can grow up to three metres in length and weigh up to 140 kilograms. There are an estimated 3000 Komodo Dragons remaining in the park and surrounding areas, and although they are known to be vicious and aggressive, fatal attacks on humans are rare.
Posted by: Classer || 06/04/2007 00:44 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Komodos mouths are full of some of the worse bacteria in the world.

From the little I understand with my Pr0n-rotten mind, several reptiles share that feature, 'gators do, in a lesser extent, for example, and the snake's venom would be an evolution of that poisonous saliva IIUC (which i probably don't).
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 06/04/2007 10:06 Comments || Top||

#2  I think I saw this on Jonny Quest
Posted by: Frank G || 06/04/2007 18:31 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Taylor boycotts trial start; to be his own attorney
Posted by: James || 06/04/2007 09:55 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If you like giving money to the friends and family of rich thugs, Taylor has a legal defense committee.
Posted by: James || 06/04/2007 12:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Place your bets. He gets convicted, or dies of old age long before it ever gets that far.
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/04/2007 13:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Speechless. If you look at the "Comments" link at M. le Dictateur's "Defense Fund" website, you'll see that the posters of comments negative to the esteemed Sir Charles get their IP addresses uncloaked. Chuck's fans get to keep their privates covered. Bah.

Thanks for the linky, James!
Posted by: Seafarious || 06/04/2007 13:25 Comments || Top||


Asian shopkeepers attacked in SA now
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 06/04/2007 05:22 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Where's Besoeker?
Posted by: gromgoru || 06/04/2007 5:41 Comments || Top||

#2  In Iraq right now, I think.
Posted by: Seafarious || 06/04/2007 14:29 Comments || Top||

#3  These Asian shopkeepers all over South Africa also provide a very valuable service to these poor African communities, supplying fresh produce and groceries on a daily basis to black communities where no other shops exist at all.

Reverse racism at its finest. Whether it's South Africa, Zimbabwe or Compton in Southern California, somehow blacks manage to vent their rage in ways that do the most damage to themselves. This in no ways alters the brutality or criminality of their acts, but it still epitomizes a form of self-imposed retrogression that defies all logic and reason.

After reading the article "A Continent of Losers", I am convinced that Africa must be allowed to sink under its own weight of depravity. The author's concept of "youth bulges" contributing to war and terrorism makes a lot of sense. He goes on to mention how starving people usually cannot rally the men or materiel to fight battles, but those who are fed just enough do. If this really is the case, then halt all foreign aid to Africa and Muslim majority nations. These cesspits continue to overpopulate and export their human dregs to unsuspecting Western nations.
Posted by: Zenster || 06/04/2007 20:49 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Saudi religious police quizzed over man’s death
RIYADH - Five members of the religious police have been arrested in Saudi Arabia and accused of being responsible for the death of a man in their custody, police said on Sunday. A statement said a probe was under way into Friday’s death of the unidentified man in one of the offices of the Muttawa, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, in the northwestern city of Tabuk.

The religious police, who enforce a strict Islamic moral code, were questioning the man for allegedly associating with a woman who was not a relative, it said.

Saudi press reports also said on Sunday an investigation had been launched in the eastern Mecca region into how an Asian woman fell from the fourth floor of a building that was stormed by religious police last week. Last month Al Watan newspaper also reported that police in the capital Riyadh were probing the alleged beating to death of a man by the religious police. He was being held on charges of ‘promoting alcohol,’ which is forbidden in the conservative Muslim kingdom.

The paper reported in April that attacks against the 5,000-strong religious police were increasing, attributing differing views over the role of the Muttawa to changes in Saudi society since the force was founded decades ago. The interior ministry issued a decree in May last year aimed at reining in the Muttawa by requiring them not to interrogate detained suspects, as they had previously done, but to hand them over to the regular police instead.
Who will then beat the suspects. All tidy and legal, you see.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/04/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:


Bangladesh
Begums isolated in anti-graft drive
BANGLADESH’S former prime ministers, struggling to maintain their political clout, are becoming increasingly isolated as the army-backed interim government pushes harder in its hunt for corrupt politicians.

Political analysts and officials say Sheikh Hasina and Begum Khaleda Zia, rivals who between them ruled the country for 15 years, face mounting pressure to quit as heads of their respective parties to make way for new leadership. Hasina, daughter of independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and Khaleda, widow of general turned president Ziaur Rahman, head the Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) respectively, the countries’ biggest parties.

Demands for introducing stronger democratic elements in the parties - closer to autocracies now - are also gaining ground, analysts and officials say. “I feel that Hasina and Khaleda have crossed the optimum level of their contribution to the country, for which people have given them sufficient honour,” said Syed Mohammad Ibrahim, a political and defence analyst.

“But now they (Hasina and Khaleda) seem unable to read the writings on the wall,” said Ibrahim, a retired army major-general. “The parties surely deserve changes in their leadership for the better.” Analysts say one concern is the possibility the two leaders could be charged in corruption cases and be barred from contesting elections for at least three years, if convicted.

Both women say they, not the interim government, are the true defenders of democracy in Bangladesh, and deny the accusations against them, saying the charges have been trumped up by critics and opponents. But the repeated reports of widespread corruption and abuse of power by the top leaders and party stalwarts have rocked the parties and strengthened demands for drastic reforms.

More than 170 senior politicians from BNP and the Awami League have been detained by security forces and hundreds more are on the run since the army-backed interim government imposed a state of emergency on January 11, cancelled an election planned for Jan. 22 and banned all political activity.

Better times ahead? The interim authority, headed by former central bank chief Fakhruddin Ahmed, says it plans to hold the election before the end of 2008, after erasing political corruption and completing reforms to make the election free, fair and credible. Analysts say most Bangladeshis support the government and hope it can usher cleaner politics and broader democracy into the impoverished south Asian country of more than 140 million people.

The view that changes were needed was reinforced after some of the detained leaders, including Awami general secretary Abdul Jalil, reportedly made allegations to interrogators of serious wrongdoings by Hasina. Khaleda’s junior home minister Lutfuzzaman Babar also revealed startling accounts of corruption and abuse of power which pointed a finger at Khaleda.

The reports related to the two leaders have been widely published in Bangladesh media, dominating front pages. Khaleda’s elder son and political heir Tareque Rahman has been in jail since March facing charges of extortion, while her younger son Arafat Rahman - though not arrested yet - faces similar charges, police have said. Hasina faces charges of extortion, murders linked to political violence and graft in deals made to buy MiG-29 planes and a frigate while in power.

Political science professor Ataur Rahman of the Dhaka University, said: “They are getting isolated because they have failed to show their commitment to political reform that is necessary at this point of transition to a new democracy.” “If Bangladesh has to evolve a new democratic order, this old top leadership must step down making way for a new generation of dynamic and responsible leadership,” said Rahman, who also heads the Bangladesh Political Science Association.

Hasina’s parliamentary affairs adviser Suranjit Sen Gupta, a former lawmaker, said: “Things have taken a new turn and we are observing closely.” He declined to elaborate.
Posted by: Fred || 06/04/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ever notice how the one on the left looks like Ed Asner, and you never see them together? Just saying....
Posted by: Frank G || 06/04/2007 18:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Those are two ugly, ugly bitches.
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/04/2007 21:35 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh jails political leaders in graft probe
A Bangladesh court on Sunday sent three political leaders, including former ministers, to jail and held another in custody for further interrogation on charges of corruption and misuse of power, court officials said. They were among a dozen people arrested in a revamped anti-corruption sweep last week by the army-backed interim government. Abdul Jalil, general secretary of Awami League party, former health minister Sheikh (Fazlul Karim) Selim, and top businessman MA Hashem were sent to jail on a 30-day detention order, a court registrar said. Former junior home minister Lutfuzzaman Babar was handed over to police for another four days of questioning for alleged illegal possession of weapons recovered from his home during a search last week, officials said.

Selim, a cousin of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, and Jalil were ministers in Hasina’s government from 1996 to 2001. Babar served in the government of Hasina’s rival Begum Khaleda Zia. Hasham is a former lawmaker and a top financier to Khaleda’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Immediately after the latest arrests last week the court also sent to jail for 30 days retired air vice marshal Altaf Hossain Chaudhry, who was a former home minister in Khaleda’s government.

The interim government headed by former central bank governor Fakhruddin Ahmed took charge on January 11 after imposing a state of emergency following deadly political violence. Since January, more than 170 people, including former ministers of the governments of Hasina and Khaleda, have been detained.
Posted by: Fred || 06/04/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Bangladeshi leader faints after speech
The head of Bangladesh’s emergency government was admitted to a military hospital here on Sunday after he fainted following an hour-long speech in hot weather, an official said.

Fakhruddin Ahmed, 67, collapsed after he sought a glass of water while speaking at a function to mark the start of the tree plantation season in the northern town of Tangail, a spokesman said. He was initially taken to a local hospital before being transferred to the country’s capital. “He has been flown to Dhaka and was taken to the Combined Military Hospital for a check-up. He is expected to be released after 5pm,” government spokesman Syed Fahim Munaim told AFP. “His condition is stable.

The blood pressure is OK,” he added. Temperatures in Bangladesh have reached 41 degrees Celsius during a week-long heat wave, which is likely to continue until monsoon rains expected in the next few days bring relief, weather office spokesman Shahjahan Alam told AFP on Saturday. At least 12 people have died of heatstroke in the past week.
Posted by: Fred || 06/04/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:


Britain
London committee unveils 2012 Olympics logo
It will come in different colors, but the red and black look rather sinister to me. Yes, even olympic logos get to be Hitler for fifteen minutes.
Posted by: Seafarious || 06/04/2007 11:45 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yeah, if that's not a deconstructed swastika, then what is it? Bet it was designed and approved by 25 year olds.
Posted by: Grunter || 06/04/2007 12:22 Comments || Top||

#2  I don't like it but I won't be following it anyway. Not very cheery.
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 06/04/2007 12:23 Comments || Top||

#3  Looks like somebody dropped it.
Posted by: Gabby Cussworth || 06/04/2007 12:25 Comments || Top||

#4  If I squint just enough, it looks like two half-logos having anal intercourse. But, then again, I'm a pervert.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 06/04/2007 12:46 Comments || Top||

#5  WTF?

That's the most retarded logo I've ever seen.
Posted by: eltoroverde || 06/04/2007 14:49 Comments || Top||

#6  Agree with Gabby, somebody dropped it, and lost the part that says "Some assembly required."

Either that, or it was designed by the same chowderheads that came up with the immortal tourist-snaring slogan for the Evergreen State: "Say WA?"
Posted by: USN. Ret. || 06/04/2007 15:29 Comments || Top||

#7  If I squint just enough, it looks like two half-logos having anal intercourse.

LOL!!

Now that all is what I am gonna see everytime I see this logo. Thanks..... Really.
Posted by: DarthVader || 06/04/2007 16:44 Comments || Top||

#8  Current opinion on the BBC website is that it looks like Lisa Simpson giving a bj - you'll never get *that* image out of your head will you ;)

Also, http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2007/06/04/2012_new_logo_feature.shtml has some comments from people. How about this;


Julie
I think it looks terrible, and looking at it immediately makes me think it looks like a swastika that has been taken apart. So for me, if it reminds me of that symbol - it is not a nice feeling at all.


or this;


Donald Meyer
I think it is abysmal. Feels like it has been designed by a tellytubby on acid!! Is it April 1st already, when do we get to see the real one!!!
Posted by: Tony (UK) || 06/04/2007 17:56 Comments || Top||

#9  Tony you owe me a new set of eyes. I've sent mine off to be bleached.
Posted by: Seafarious || 06/04/2007 20:15 Comments || Top||

#10  How much? Cuz I got an eight year old nephew that could've done it for half...
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/04/2007 21:04 Comments || Top||

#11  Wonder what they paid for the logo. If it was more than a couple of quid, they were robbed.
Posted by: DMFD || 06/04/2007 22:38 Comments || Top||

#12  Do these clowns have to got to Pretentious Asshole School, or is it a natural talent?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/04/2007 22:54 Comments || Top||

#13  Rather an odd way to symbolize global unity and a shared humanity, I think.
Posted by: Seafarious || 06/04/2007 23:14 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Chechnya: video evidence of torture
this needs a suitable graphic
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 06/04/2007 13:02 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ahhh, that's not real torture, with electricity and steel rods - that stuff went out in the 60's.

Now panties on the head - that's torture!
Posted by: Bobby || 06/04/2007 17:24 Comments || Top||

#2  I just sighed in sympathy with these Chechens.

No wait, that was just some gas...

Posted by: John Frum || 06/04/2007 18:31 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
‘Stop China before it’s too late’
BJP MP Kiren Rijiju alleges Chinese intrusion in Arunachal Pradesh

A recent claim by BJP MP Kiren Rijiju from Arunachal Pradesh that China is consistently intruding into border areas of the state has rocked the nation. His claim holds critical significance in view of last month’s tenth round of Sino-Indian border talks and Cabinet Minister of External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee’s 10 May statement in the Rajya Sabha that India and China are exploring the framework for a final package settlement covering all aspects of the boundary issue.

The India-China border dispute has lingered since the 1962 Sino-Indian War. During the war, China seized Aksai Chin and overran Arunachal Pradesh. Later, China vacated Arunachal Pradesh to the Line of Actual Control (LAC), which approximates the McMahon Line. Running through east India and signed by British India and Tibet in 1914, the line forms the border between India and China, but China does not accept it. In 1986-87, Indian and Chinese forces clashed in the Sumdorong Chu Valley in Arunachal Pradesh but in next few years, relations warmed.

On 7 September 1993, both nations signed an accord to control tensions on their border and decided to accept the LAC. In 1996, China and India specified the LAC and established confidence building measures (CBMs) along the frontier. In August 1997, both sides signed the CBM agreement.

Since 2003, India and China have appointed special representatives to hold border talks. They have met ten times to discuss the border issue, roughly thrice a year. India accuses China of illegally occupying 43,180 square kilometres and China says India possesses ninety thousand square kilometres of Chinese territory, including Arunachal Pradesh in its entirety.

BJP MP Kiren Rijiju has made startling revelations, which may reignite border tensions between the two countries, although the Central and state governments have rejected his claims. He discussed the situation with NewsInsight Correspondent Preeti Sharma. Excerpts from the interview:

You have claimed in Parliament that China is intruding into various areas of Arunachal Pradesh. What are the grounds for this allegation?

(The Chinese intrusions are in) my constituency and I have surveyed the area. China has intruded twenty kilometres into Indian territory. Such areas as Asapila, Lungar and Majak camps in the Taksin area have been recently captured by the Chinese. Most of the McMahon Line is already under Chinese control. Kibitu and Bumla are two points where India and China regularly exchange flags. But the other areas are largely inaccessible and thus the Chinese troops make an easy way into them. The villagers of these areas are selling their domestic animals as the grazing lands have been taken away by the Chinese army (the PLA). I cannot be accurate about the date when the Chinese intrusion started. It has been a slow and creeping activity going on for a long time.

So why is the state government denying the matter? The Arunachal Pradesh chief minister says that intelligence agencies have no such information.

The state government is not actually denying the matter but is saying that there is no formal intrusion of Chinese troops in that area. However, they accept that some areas are disputed. This is my whole point. The so-called disputed areas are now being taken over by the Chinese. Army authorities also support my statement but I am not in a position to disclose anything.

The state government does not want to accept the situation publicly also because in the Centre, the UPA government is backed by the (Left, including the Communist Party of India-Marxist), which has shown its pro-China stand on several occasions before. Therefore, to not to offend the Communists, the government does not want to address the border issue with China.

What is your demand from the government?

I have challenged the government authorities to come with me to the LAC and see the situation there. India should have solid infrastructure in the border areas to mobilize our troops and increase our dominance. While China has established huge infrastructure on the Arunachal border, including two lane roads and helipads and their military is also heavily deployed, on the Indian side, the area is inaccessible and poorly developed.

The Indian government is afraid of the Chinese, which is why they have not been able to take counter measures. In November last year, when the Chinese ambassador commented on their Arunachal Pradesh claim, the Indian government could not (reprove) him and the matter passed off without serious discussion.

The whole nation is interested in the Kashmir Valley where the problematic area from Anantanag to Baramula is smaller than Arunachal Pradesh. The people of Arunachal Pradesh are patriotic and want to remain with India. It is a rich state with abundant natural resources, but China is making things difficult there. The local people are sad because they are losing their land to China. My whole purpose is to wake up the Government of India about the need to protect Arunachal Pradesh before it is too late.

What is your next course of action?

I am having discussions with my party. We have raised the matter in Parliament to make everyone aware of the border realities. Government has to (devise a) strategy to (manage) the whole issue.

Posted by: John Frum || 06/04/2007 16:15 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  this is interesting, the marxist indians should be shown the door post haste, all these loons work for the international. if a more communist entity is involved, the most communist entity is supported by the least....like a man law.
Posted by: Spiny Gl 2511 || 06/04/2007 18:00 Comments || Top||

#2  It has been alleged that the former Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh, known for his anti-US stance, who lost his job over the UN Iraqi Oil for Food scandal (Volcker report), raised money for China during his student days, even after India had been attacked.

When Japanese companies expressed interest in increasing their manufacturing in India, the Indian Communist leaders made a trip to Beijing. On their return, the Japanese factories all over India were hit by labor unrest.

The Congress Party has outsourced foreign policy to their regional allies. The Communists in Bengal run the Nepal policy, which means accomodating their terrorist Maoist brethren.
The Tamil DMK runs the Sri Lanka policy which means the Tigers have free reign.
The local Punjab Congress supports a farcical peace process with Pakistan.
Posted by: John Frum || 06/04/2007 18:28 Comments || Top||

#3  Again I wonder if China and India are going to migrate into a demographic war. That is, a low tech war involving draftees and small arms, whose purpose in the final analysis is to kill off excess young males.

It is hard to picture as many as 30-50 million young men with no future, no prospect for marriage or to have employment. But the amount of destruction and devastation they can create if not controlled, could be worse than the plagues of Egypt.

Both sides could decide to keep their professional armies in reserve, and create a conflict in empty and hostile terrain, with battle lines shifting back and forth no more than 50 miles in either direction. Using only rifles, machine guns and artillery.

And this only assumes a slaughter to reduce excess males without females. If they agree to eliminate vast numbers of peasants, they might wish to cull 300 Million to a half-billion men.

At that scale, it would take a choreography of the two nations leaders to keep it from getting out of control. They might even choose to use biological weapons limited to their armies.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 06/04/2007 18:57 Comments || Top||

#4  Easier and cheaper to send them overseas (middle east etc) as cheap labor for construction and other manual jobs.

Posted by: John Frum || 06/04/2007 19:35 Comments || Top||


Germany offers weapon systems, defence technology to India
Seeking to establish a presence in the country's burgeoning arms market, Germany today offered to sell frontline hi-tech weapons systems to India and to provide technology for the joint development of military hardware.

The offer was made by visiting German Defence Minister Franz Joseph Jung during an hour-long meeting with his Indian counterpart A K Antony. Jung is accompanied by a high-level delegation and top officials of German armament companies.

"Germany is ready to transfer technology as well as go in for joint development and production of weapons systems," Jung told Antony, according to Indian officials.

Over the past decade, German armament firms have seen sales in India plunge to hardly one per cent of the Indian defence market, while companies from neighbouring France and Russia have managed to corner 55 per cent of the market, which is estimated to be worth over a billion dollars this year.

German shipbuilding giant HDW wants to vie for India's second submarine line when New Delhi calls for international tenders later this year or early next year.

Under the Navy's 20-year submarine building plan, India wants to build two types of submarines. India has already inked a six billion-dollar deal with French firms for building six Scorpene submarines. Russia, with its Amur-Class submarines, and Germany, with its advanced HDW vessels, would be contenders for the proposed Indian deal for a second submarine building facility.

Jung's visit to India comes ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's trip to Germany to attend the crucial G-8 meet.

Berlin has also expressed its interest in supplying civilian nuclear reactors to India once the nuclear suppliers group changes its guidelines.

The Germans are also keen to bid for the Indian Army's contract to buy 155mm tracked and wheeled .52 calibre Howitzer guns. The request for proposals for buying about 500 Howitzers was recently floated by India.

After recent setbacks, the Germans have tasted success with European giant EADs on the verge of bagging a 700 million -dollar contract for supplying 197 light helicopters to the Indian Army. Germany is one of the major share-holders in the European consortium.
Posted by: John Frum || 06/04/2007 15:14 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:


Private television channels blocked
The government allegedly suspended the transmission of two private television channels in major parts of the country on Sunday, because of their “anti-government” programmes.

The transmissions of Geo and Aaj TV were blocked in the country’s major cities, including Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, after 10pm. Channel authorities alleged that the government had forced cable operators into suspending their transmissions. A Geo TV newsroom official from Karachi told Daily Times that the government had imposed a ban on Geo. He alleged that the Cable Operators Association of Pakistan (CAP) had told Geo that the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority and the federal government had instructed them to suspend transmission.

Meanwhile, Aaj TV News Controller Masoom Osmani said a “technical” fault could be responsible for the interruption, adding he was contacting the government to confirm the actual situation. He did not rule out a government attempt to block the private media’s coverage of the judicial crisis, saying a PEMRA notice had instructed them to stop airing live debates and shows.

Federal Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani said, “I am not aware of any official suspension.” He said he should be contacted after 30 minutes, but was not available for comment despite repeated tries following the prescribed time period.
Posted by: Fred || 06/04/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Whaddaya watchin'?"

"I dunno. Some Indian movie, I think."
Posted by: mojo || 06/04/2007 13:23 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Splash, Splash, You're Dead: The Military's Next-Gen Water Gun
Posted by: Bernie || 06/04/2007 15:33 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


#2  I'm surprised they haven't created what amounts to a man carried super cavitating torpedo, with guidance to its target. Looking more like a spear gun than a gun, it would be launched like a spear gun bolt, then away from the frogman would activate its engine and attack any man sized target without some kind of IFF on it.

At about 1.5" or so in diameter, a diver could carry a dozen, with one on his firing spear gun. They could have an exploding tip, or a bullet head.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 06/04/2007 19:09 Comments || Top||


Robot gunships join US Army
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 06/04/2007 10:02 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Autonomous? That makes me nervous. There should be a man in the loop when you arm something and use it around friendlies.
Posted by: Jonathan || 06/04/2007 10:12 Comments || Top||

#2  The question is: Will they reenlist?
Posted by: JFM || 06/04/2007 10:14 Comments || Top||

#3  They probably mean autonomous take off/flight control/landing. But it would have targeting sensors to try and spot baddies, along with camera feed to ground control to engage targets.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 06/04/2007 10:50 Comments || Top||

#4  Tie them into Skynet!
Posted by: DarthVader || 06/04/2007 11:18 Comments || Top||

#5  These are obviously the robots who could not get into Ivy League schools and marry ketchup heiresses.
Posted by: Excalibur || 06/04/2007 11:18 Comments || Top||

#6  This is ore or less the Brigade-level (type IV) future combat systems UAV.

Autonomous takeoff, landing, flight control systems. Visual and other sensor data streamed back to a ground station for various processing and action as well as being used for autonomous movement.

US policy for now and for the foreseeable future is that autonomy will not be given for offensive or defensive weapons systems.
Posted by: occasional observer || 06/04/2007 12:16 Comments || Top||

#7  That thing looks like a flying early submarine.
Posted by: Grusosh Borgia9229 || 06/04/2007 13:15 Comments || Top||

#8  I knew this would happen once the T1000 was elected Govenor! How long can it be until judgement day?
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 06/04/2007 14:58 Comments || Top||

#9  ;-) Sarge
Posted by: occasional observer || 06/04/2007 18:35 Comments || Top||

#10  Also ;-) Excalibur - great snark!
Posted by: occasional observer || 06/04/2007 18:36 Comments || Top||

#11  That is one scary weapons system.
Posted by: T. Michael Moseley || 06/04/2007 18:55 Comments || Top||

#12  Well, it's not a giant mecha ... but, not bad.
Posted by: DMFD || 06/04/2007 22:29 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
10 men charged with plotting to overthrow Laos government
Ten men -- including a prominent Hmong general who commanded the CIA's army fighting communists during the Vietnam War -- were charged in federal court in Sacramento on Monday with plotting to overthrow the government of Laos.

The men, including Harrison Ulrich Jack, a 1968 graduate of West Point who now lives in Woodland and operates a consulting firm, allegedly conspired to to obtain hundreds of AK-47s, Stinger missiles, anti-tank missiles, mines, rockets and C-4 explosive, as well as smoke grenades, to overthrow the Laotian government.

All the suspects are in custody and were appearing before a federal magistrate judge in U.S. District Court this afternoon to hear the charges read against them.

The charges stem from a six-month undercover investigation, dubbed "Operation Tarnished Eagle," that included a series of meetings with undercover federal agents during which the plotters allegedly discussed moving weapons into safe houses in Thailand and Laos.

The defendants include Vang Pao, who is considered among the most respected Hmong leaders in the United States and who has vowed for more than 20 years to lead his followers back to Laos.

Pao, who splits his time between homes in Minnesota and the Fresno area, is accused with the eight others of violating the United States' neutrality act by plotting on American soil to invade a foreign country.

Jack, a former American infantry officer who retired in 1977 as a lieutenant colonel in the California National Guard, allegedly approached defense contractors seeking munitions for the plot, according to a criminal complaint unsealed a short time ago, and some of the suspects sought out former Army Special Forces and Navy Seal veterans to serve as mercenaries.

The complaint charges that since January the suspects have inspected a wide variety of weapons, including AK-47s, Stinger missiles and Claymore mines. The group allegedly purchased "an initial installment of 125 AK-47 machine guns, 20,000 rounds of ammunition, and crates of smoke grenades for a purchase price of $100,000, to be delivered in Bangkok, Thailand, on June 12, 2007," the complaint says. A $50,000 payment was to be made June 11, with the balance to be handed over the next day, when the weapons were to be received, the complaint says. A third payment of $50,000 was to cover the purchase of some Stinger missiles, the government contends.

Jack allegedly met and spoke with an undercover federal agent several times to discuss weapons procurement, and had budgeted $9.8 million for the desired munitions, the complaint alleges. The money was to come from "contributions from community leaders through the clan leadership," the complaint says.

Various discussions of the plot allegedly took place at Sacramento-area bars and restaurants, Doubletree and Hilton hotels in Sacramento and the parking lot of a K-Mart near Highway 99 in Stockton, the complaint says.

In May, the complaint says, the suspects had "intelligence operatives" in place in Vientiane, Laos, "conducting surveillance of military and government facilities in downtown Vientiane."

The suspects also "issued an operations plan to a contractor to conduct a military strike in downtown Vientiane," the complaint says, "against specifically identified military and civilian government personnel and buildings."

The suspects told their mercenary force "to reduce (the targets) to rubble, and make them look like the results of the attack upon the World Trace Center in New York on Sept. 11, 2001," the complaint says.

McGregor Scott, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District based in Sacramento, is scheduled to discuss the case at a 3 p.m. press conference today with Michael J. Sullivan, the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Drew Parenti, special agent in charge of Sacramento's FBI office.

Posted by: Frank G || 06/04/2007 18:08 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Culture Wars
Pr0n king offers $1m for US political sex scandal
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 06/04/2007 11:58 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Btw, if any mod reads this, there's a problem with the words filter : I tried to post the link with a pic, as there are two great pics which would have breen very appropriate, "po*rn" and "por*no-jeremy", but even when there's just the internal Rb link to the pic, the filter delete the entry. So, if you wish future posters to use again those very kewl pics (and God know there will be more pr0n-related posts in the future, if we are so lucky), I'd say you should rename the pics.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 06/04/2007 12:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Flynt's still alive?
That's too bad...
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/04/2007 14:59 Comments || Top||

#3  Of course o'Flint wasn't interested in Gary Studds hammering a 17 year old page or the life and times of Barney Frank and the male prostitute. Because, you know, they belong the correct party. Now a Trunk who just engages in texting thoughts is run out of Congress. Because, you know, he belonged to the wrong party. But, peoples personal lives should never become an issue. Right Bill?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 06/04/2007 16:04 Comments || Top||

#4  "Pr0n king offers $1m for US political sex scandal"

"And it doesn't matter if it's true."
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/04/2007 18:37 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2007-06-04
  Clashes in Ein el-Hellhole between army and Syrian sock puppets
Sun 2007-06-03
  UAE gives $80 million to Palestinians
Sat 2007-06-02
  Report: Feds arrest 3 in alleged JFK airport plot
Fri 2007-06-01
  Leb army attempts to seize Fateh al-Islam positions inside camp
Thu 2007-05-31
  UNSC approves Hariri court
Wed 2007-05-30
  Maliki is conducting "reconciliation" talks with Izzat Ibrahim
Tue 2007-05-29
  Iraqi Kurdistan to take charge of own security
Mon 2007-05-28
  14 Arrested in Spain on Terror Charges
Sun 2007-05-27
  U.S. Military Rescues 41 Iraqis From Al Qaeda Prison
Sat 2007-05-26
  Nangahar big turban snagged
Fri 2007-05-25
  Dems blink: House Approves War-Funding Bill
Thu 2007-05-24
  Israel seizes Hamas leaders in West Bank
Wed 2007-05-23
  PLO backs army entry into Nahr al-Bared
Tue 2007-05-22
  Hamas threatens new wave of suicide attacks
Mon 2007-05-21
  Leb army lays siege to camp as fight continues


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