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Australian terror conspirators jailed for 18 years
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Afghanistan
Suicide bombers attack west Kabul police station
[Pak Daily Times] An attack on a cop shoppe in the west of Kabul on Friday ended without casualties, police and the Interior Ministry said. An attacker threw a hand grenade at the station, ministry front man Sediq Sediqqi said on his official Twitter account, and soon afterwards police said they had regained control.

"There were shootouts in Police District Five. There were no casualties. Now everything is under control and we are investigating the case," said Muhammad Zahir, head of the criminal investigation department for Kabul police.

Police officials denied the incident was a suicide kaboom. Earlier, a Rooters witness heard gunfire and at least two kabooms, and a police source, speaking on condition of anonymity,
... for fear of being murdered...
said several jacket wallahs had attacked the cop shoppe.

The Taliban generally target military personnel or foreigners, such as in the attack on a convoy of NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants...
-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) vehicles in late October, which killed 13. That attack was also in the west of the city, an area which does not have a high concentration of foreign residents. A huge suicide bomb killed 80 people at a Shia shrine in Kabul last week, an attack the Taliban condemned.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  The Taliban generally target military personnel or foreigners

Nice try ISI Public Relations, but the data says the main target is Afghan civilians.
Posted by: Ulose Munster2089 || 12/17/2011 7:58 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Violence continues in Egypt as troops, protesters clash
At least three people have been killed and 257 wounded in central Cairo; violence clouds election set to empower Islamists; generals struggle for control of post- Mubarak Egypt.

Egypt's Dar al-Iftah, the body that issues Islamic fatwas (edicts), said one of its top officials, Emad Effat, was among the dead, the state news agency MENA said.
Definitely a popcorn time.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/17/2011 01:48 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Egypt protesters attacked
CAIRO: Soldiers stormed a protest camp outside Egypt's Cabinet building, expelling demonstrators calling for an end to military rule, just as officials were counting votes Friday in the second round of Egypt's parliamentary elections.

The clashes underlined simmering tensions between activists and security officers and threatened to ignite a new round of violence after a mostly peaceful vote Wednesday and Thursday in an election considered the freest and fairest vote in the country's modern history.

Clashes erupted as demonstrators were camped out in front of the Cabinet building, demanding that the country's military rulers transfer power immediately to a civilian authority. The sit-in was in its third week.

One activist posted a photo online of a female protester beaten in the clashes, and others said they were briefly detained by military police. It was unclear how many protesters remain in military police custody.

On his Twitter account, leading reform figure and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei condemned the violence.
ElBaradei is also the incompetent ex-head of the IAEA who worked tirelessly to help Iran get the bomb, but it wouldn't do to mention that, would it...
"If the sit-in broke the law, isn't the cruelty and brutality used to break it up a greater violation of all human rights laws? This is not how nations are managed," he wrote.
Nations are to be led, not "managed". Spoken like a bureaucrat.
Protesters at the Cabinet building said the clashes began Thursday evening after soldiers severely beat a young man who was taking part in the sit-in. Hundreds of people rushed to join the protest after online video and photos showed people carrying the wounded man. The pictures showed his face and eyes bruised and swollen, his head wrapped in gauze and blood dripping from his nose.

Witnesses accused military police of snatching the man from near the sit-in and beating him inside Parliament, near Cabinet headquarters. Then protesters threw rocks and firebombs at military police.

Activist Hussein Hammouda said the military responded by throwing rocks, pieces of glass and aiming water cannons from inside the gates of the nearby Parliament building.

Egypt's state news agency said at least four wounded people were taken to a nearby hospital and that a fire had broken out in a nearby government building as a result of the clashes.

State TV broadcast images of plainclothes security officers throwing rocks at protesters from the Parliament building.

Protester Mostafa Sheshtawy said security forces burned protesters' tents on Thursday night and ended the sit-in calling for an end to military rule.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
Gunmen kill three in attack on military-run Nigeria school
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Gunmen have attacked a military-run school in northern Nigeria, killing at least three air force personnel in an incident whose motives remained unclear, an official said on Friday.

The attack late Thursday outside Kano, the largest city in northern Nigeria, involved about a dozen gunnies who exchanged fire with air force officers at the secondary boarding school.

"Our soldiers really tried to confront them, but unfortunately they inflicted injuries on four of our men which resulted in the deaths of three of them, while the other one is in hospital," said Air Commodore Sani Ahmed.

The attackers decamped after about 30 minutes and it could not be determined whether any of them had been killed or maimed, he said. Ahmed said it was unclear who was behind the attack.

A doctor said on condition of anonymity that four air force personnel had been killed and another two maimed.

Nigeria's north has been hit by scores of attacks blamed on the Islamist sect known as Boko Haram,
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. Currently wearing a false nose and moustache and answering to Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda'Awati Wal Jihad, or Big Louie...
but Kano has not been targeted since the latest round of violence attributed to the group began in 2010.

The school was under heavy guard on Friday, while a series of other incidents also occurred in the area, including the shooting of a police officer.

Police front man Magaji Majia initially said a cop shoppe had been attacked by gunnies late Thursday, leaving an officer maimed. He later amended his statement, saying an officer had been shot and maimed on his way to work early Friday.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


2 killed, 3 injured as another explosion rocks Maiduguri
[Nigerian Tribune] UNKNOWN gunnies suspected to be members of the Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. Currently wearing a false nose and moustache and answering to Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda'Awati Wal Jihad, or Big Louie...
sect, on Wednesday evening, laid ambush on Santimari Polo Road and killed two people, while three others were seriously maimed, even as another bomb went kaboom! in Gwange ward at the same time.

The Gwange kaboom, which took place at Layin Bus around 7.45 p.m., was believed to have been planted by members of the dreaded Boko Haram sect, who have been terrorising the northern part of the country, particularly Borno.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that the yet to be identified gunnies, who laid siege to the Polo area, came in an unmarked Vokswagen Golf car at about 7.49 p.m., where they opened fire on some people who were playing cards in front of a shop belonging to a GSM recharge card dealer, which led to the killing of two people, including the head teacher of Cocin Church Primary School in Polo, Mallam Caleb.

The gunnies, according to investigation, were targeting a State Security Service (SSS) officer, who normally visits the shop, especially in the night to chat with his friends after closing from work.

An eyewitness, who did not want his name mentioned, said he was just walking along the main road when he saw some gunnies open fire from the direction he was coming, and he quickly lay down flat to avoid being hit by stray bullets.

He said: "I just heard them saying to people, 'don't run; don't worry, we are not here for you; we have our target.' I believe they came to hunt for one SSS man, who normally comes here to play cards with some of his friends, but they ended up killing innocent people who they thought was the SSS man. The SSS man was, however, lucky as I learnt that he didn't visit the shop that day," he said.

Polo was one of the areas where many people believed was a haven, as most of the residents of the area are predominantly Christians, but it has now turned a dangerous zone, as it has experienced several attacks in the past two months.

Confirming the incident to newsmen, the front man for the Joint Task Force on Operation Restore Order in Borno State, Lieutenant-Colonel Hassan Mohammed, said some members of the Boko Haram sect detonated an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) at about 7.45 p.m. on Wednesday in Gwange ward.

He stressed that the sect members were targeting one of their patrol vehicles, but missed it, as bomb went kaboom! after their patrol vehicle had left the area. He said that no casualty was recorded in the blast.

He also said some yet to be identified gunnies came to Polo in a Volkswagen Golf car at the same time when the Gwange blast occurred and opened fire on some members of the public. He said the sound of the gunshots attracted his men who were based in the area and they quickly rushed to the scene.

Hassan said on reaching the scene, his men pursued two of the suspects, but when the suspects discovered that they would be captured, they abandoned their Golf car and took to their heels. He said no arrest was made, but normality had restored in the troubled areas and the people were now going about their usual businesses.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


Arabia
Yemenis demand Saleh prosecution
[Iran Press TV] Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis have rallied across the country to demand the prosecution of long time dictator 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...
and his regime officials over a deadly crackdown on protesters.

Condemning the US-backed power transition deal which has granted Saleh immunity from prosecution, Yemenis erupted into the streets in the capital, Sana'a, Taizz and other main cities following the Friday Prayers, stressing that Saleh and his top lieutenants should face justice over the killing of hundreds of demonstrators.

"A trial is a must and amnesty is rejected," chanted demonstrators in Sana'a.

"There should be punishment for shedding the blood of the youth," said holy man Waheeb al-Sharabi in his Friday sermon in Taizz, where according to witnesses regime forces opened fire on protesters, with casualties reported.

The demonstrators also rejected the newly formed national unity government over the presence of Saleh's elements in the new Yemeni cabinet. Yemenis say they want their country to be cleansed of the ruling regime.

Saleh, who has been in power for 33 years, signed the power transition deal brokered by Persian Gulf Arab states in Soddy Arabia on November 23 and resigned as president as handed authority to Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi in return for amnesty.

The deal also requires equal distribution of cabinet posts between Saleh's governing General Congress Party and the opposition in the new government.

Saleh currently serves as an honorary president until polls are held in February to elect his successor.

Hundreds of Yemenis have been killed and thousands more maimed in festivities between Saleh forces and revolutionaries since the start of the popular uprising in the impoverished Arab nation in late January.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caribbean-Latin America
No one hurt in 2 grenade attacks in Ciudad Victoria
For a map, click here. For a map of Tamaulipas state click here.

By Chris Covert

Armed suspects attacked two separate locations in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas Friday afternoon, according to Mexican news accounts.

First reports erroneously characterized the attacks as car bombs. Later reports confirmed two parked vehicles were destroyed by hand grenades.

The first attack was at 1620 hrs at a Centro Estatal de Ejecucion de Sanciones, which is a prison. A Nissan sedan was destroyed in that detonation.

Twenty minutes later at 1640 hrs a second grenade was thrown at a Ford Escort sedan parked in a business parking lot on the Ciudad Victoria-Monterrey, Nuevo Leon highway, probably Mexican Federal Highway 85.

No one was hurt in either attack.

Prior to the attacks a number of narcopintas, or blankets hung with graffiti painted on them warned of the attacks.

Narcopintas are a common means of communications used by criminal gangs to gain attention to their activities by local press.

Ciudad Victoria is a battleground between Los Zetas criminal group and their former bosses, the Gulf Cartel. The Gulf Cartel formalized an alliance with the Sinaloa Cartel earlier this year.

The last car bomb detonated in northeast Mexico was last September 15th, when a car bomb targeting a Mexican Army patrol exploded in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, narrowly missing the unit.

That bomb was an apparent response to a large Mexican Army operation which dismantled a Los Zetas logistics camp in northern Nuevo Leon earlier that week.
To read the Rantburg report onn the September 15th Monterrey, Nuevo Leon car binb, click here
Posted by: badanov || 12/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


10 die in Saltillo fighting
For a map, click here. For a map of Coahuila state, click here
A total of ten armed suspects were killed in two separate firefights with Mexican Army troops Thursday afternoon and Thursday night in Saltillo, Coahuila, according to Mexican news accounts.

An army patrol was fired on by an unknown number of armed suspects on Bulevar Francisco Coss in La Palma colony at about 1415 hrs. One suspect was killed by army return fire. Implicit in the reports are the probability that several armed suspects abandoned two vehicles.

Soldiers seized four rifles in the aftermath.

Later that night a Mexican Army patrol encountered a stolen vehicle near the intersection of calles Alvaro Obregon and Emiliano Zapata, also in La Palma colony.

Armed suspects in the area opened fired on the army unit. Return fire killed eight suspects.

One Mexican soldier was killed in the encounter, while another soldier was wounded.

Following the encounter soldiers seized five vehicles, eight rifles and an undisclosed quantity of ammunition.

A number of encounters with elements of the Mexican Army have taken place in recent days.

Four armed suspects were killed in a firefight in the border town of Piedras Negras, Coahuila three days ago.
To read the Rantburg report on the encounter at Piedras Negras, click here
A week ago six armed suspects were killed in Saltillo.
To read the Rantburg report on last week's gunfights in Saltillo, click here
Saltillo is the location for the headquarters of the Mexican 6th Military Zone and is also the capital of Coahuila state.
Posted by: badanov || 12/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Her's a new twist:

December 16, 2011
: Five bodies were found in Guadalajara (Jalisco state), including three high school students who had told police that they were victims of an extortion scheme run by a high school student group. Investigators indicated that the student group was operating as a gang and had been demanding protection money from small businesses operating in or near the high school. Apparently this particular group in Jalisco state began as a radical political organization in the 1960s. The high school gang appears to be imitating cartel gang violence.
Posted by: Ulose Munster2089 || 12/17/2011 9:12 Comments || Top||

#2  Precocious kids, Ulose Munster2089. Good find.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/17/2011 11:36 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Ten killed in Kazakhstan violence
[Iran Press TV] At least 10 killed people have been killed after police forces clashed with protesters in Kazakhstan's western oil city of Zhanaozen.

Prosecutor General Askhat Daulbayev said the deadly festivities erupted on Friday between on-strike oil workers and police forces at a ceremony marking Kazakhstan's Independence Day in Zhanaozen, AFP reported.

The buildings of the local administration, hotels and energy firm Uzenmunaigas facility were set on fire and ATMs robbed, Daulbayev said in the capital Astana.

"According to preliminary information, 10 people were killed as a result of the mass riots in Zhanaozen. There are also maimed, including police," he said.

Workers in Zhanaozen and other cities in the Mangistau region have been on strike for months for higher wages.

The exploration arm of state energy company Kazmunaigaz -- which owns Uzenmunaigas - said all its operations were working normally despite the "mass riots" that saw Uzenmunaigas offices torched.

Daulbayev said the Friday festivities were instigated by an attack by club-wielding "hooligans" who attacked the police, turned over a Christmas tree and burned a police bus.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Down Under
Australian terror conspirators jailed for 18 years
[Pak Daily Times] Three men who conspired to kill as many people as possible in a gun attack on an Australian military base were Friday sentenced to 18 years in jail, with the judge describing their plans as "evil".

A jury found Wissam Mahmoud Fattal, 35 and Nayev El Sayed, 28, both of Lebanese descent, and Saney Edow Aweys, 27, who is of Somali origin, guilty of conspiring to plan a terror attack a year ago.

They beat feet the maximum penalty of life in prison but Justice Betty King sentenced them each to 18 years with a non-parole period of 13-and-a-half years, saying they remained a danger to the community.

"None of you, not one... recanted from any bully boy view that you held," she said in sentencing.

"That is a significant factor because each of you whilst you hold those views remains a danger to the members of this community and thus protection of the community remains a very significant factor in sentencing you."

The trio were found guilty of plotting to attack Sydney's Holsworthy Army Barracks with high-powered weapons and shoot as many people as possible before being killed themselves to further their vision of Islam.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda


Great White North
Two Pakistanis charged in immigration fraud in Canada
[Pak Daily Times] Two Pak nationals have been charged with immigration fraud for allegedly providing false Canadian residency information on their citizenship application, police announced on Friday. Mukesh Maheshwari, 37, and Usha Bai, 33, are accused of using an "address of convenience" in Toronto on their applications in an attempt to mislead Canadian immigration officials into believing that they met residency requirements for Canadian citizenship, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement.

Permanent residents must acquire three years of residence out of four years to apply for Canadian citizenship. To retain their status as permanent residents, they must be physically present in Canada for two years out of five. The charges come on the heels of a massive investigation into immigration fraud announced earlier this month by authorities that could see as many as 6,500 people from more than 100 countries stripped of their Canadian citizenship or permanent residency. Most of the cases are reportedly linked to three immigration consultants in Halifax, Montreal and Toronto.

Prior to this year, only 67 citizenships had been revoked since the enactment of the Citizenship Act in 1947. The two accused in this latest case face a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a CAN$1,000 fine if convicted.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Two down, 6498 to go.
Posted by: Ulose Munster2089 || 12/17/2011 8:08 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
US Senate passes Pakistan aid freeze legislation
[Pak Daily Times] The US Senate passed a $662 billion defence bill on Thursday that also freezes some Pakistain aid, imposes sanctions on Iran's central bank, and approves the indefinite imprisonment of suspected terrorists.

The Democrat-led Senate voted 86-13 for the Defence Authorisation bill, which was passed on Wednesday by the House. President Barack I've now been in 57 states -- I think one left to go Obama was expected to sign it as early as this weekend after dropping a veto threat.

The measure, which also sets high hurdles for closing Guantanamo Bay, had drawn fire from civil liberties groups that strongly criticised its de facto embrace of holding alleged gun-hung tough guys without charge until the end of the "war on terrorism," which was declared after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Obama, who had threatened to veto earlier versions of the yearly measure, will sign it when it reaches his desk despite lingering misgivings, his front man Jay Carney said before the House vote on Wednesday.

The legislation, a compromise blend of rival House and Senate versions, requires that al Qaeda gunnies who plot or carry out attacks on US targets be held in military, not civilian, custody, subject to a presidential waiver.

The bill exempts US citizens from that fate, but leaves it to the US Supreme Court or future presidents to decide whether US nationals who sign on with al Qaeda or affiliated groups may be held indefinitely without trial.

The bill also freezes roughly $700 million in aid to Pakistain, pending assurances that Islamabad has taken steps to thwart forces of Evil who use improvised bombs (IEDs) against US-led forces in Afghanistan.

"If this legislation becomes law, we'll work with the government of Pakistain on how we can fullfil the requirements. But, this requires us to maintain a strategic perspective," US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said this week.

Earlier on Thursday, Pakistain angrily criticised US moves to freeze the aid money - the latest rifts in a fraying alliance that has been in deep crisis since air strikes by US-led forces killed 24 Pak soldiers.

"We believe that the move in the US Congress is not based on facts and takes a narrow vision of the overall situation; hence, wrong conclusions are unavoidable," said Foreign Ministry front man Abdul Basit.

The legislation also brings tough new sanctions to Iran, with the aim to cut off Tehran's central bank from the global financial system in a bid to force the Islamic republic to freeze its suspect nuclear programme.

The goal is to force financial institutions to choose between doing business with the central bank - Iran's conduit for selling its oil to earn much-needed foreign cash - or doing business with US banks.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Lets hope it isn't "too little, too late".
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/17/2011 1:51 Comments || Top||

#2  "Earlier on Thursday, Pakistain angrily criticised US moves to freeze the aid money."

Heaven forbid if Pakistan had said something gentler such as "We always appreciate U.S. aid and hope it will continue."
Posted by: American Delight || 12/17/2011 7:23 Comments || Top||

#3  What about the rest of the taxpayers' money? Last year's US jizya to Pak was $4.4 billion.
Posted by: Ulose Munster2089 || 12/17/2011 8:14 Comments || Top||

#4  Cut it all off. Paks have to learn consequences for their backstabbing and shutoff of our logistics
Posted by: Frank G || 12/17/2011 9:19 Comments || Top||

#5  @#4 . . . . correct!
Posted by: Snineque Glolung9673 || 12/17/2011 19:42 Comments || Top||

#6  Great article that touches on how we should conduct our foreign policy towards these types of regimes.

Its called A 4th approach:

excerpt...
The Fourth Way is Accountability and it is simple enough. Stop arguing over who will rule in which Muslim country. That is a decision that only the inhabitants of that country can make. And they won’t make it through elections, so much as through dealmaking among their oligarchy, tribal leaders and occasional outbursts of armed force. It would take a massive project of decades to have any hope of changing that. But we don’t need to. What we need to do is make very clear the consequences of attacking us to whoever is in charge.

Rather than trying to shape their behavior by shaping their political leadership, we can use a much more blunt instrument to unselectively shape all their leaders. A blunt instrument does not mean reconstruction. It doesn’t mean Marines ferrying electrical generators. It doesn’t mean nation building. It means that we will inflict massive devastation on any country that aids terrorists who attack us. If they insist on using medieval beliefs to murder us, we will bomb government buildings, roads, factories and power plants to reduce them back to a medieval state. We will not impose sanctions on them, we will simply take control of their natural resources and remove the native population from the area, as compensation for the expenses of the war.

Accountability means no more aid to tyrants or terrorists, and no grand democracy projects either. It means that we stop trying to pick a side, and just make it clear what happens when our side gets hurt. We gain energy independence and never look back. And when we’ve done that, the Muslim world will no longer be able to play America against Russia, against Asia and Europe. Instead it will suddenly find itself stuck with a predatory Russia looking for an energy monopoly, a booming China expanding into their part of the world, and no Pax Americana to protect them from either one.

America has provided the stability that kept many Muslim countries from imploding. It has protected others directly and indirectly from being conquered more times than anyone realizes. All the treachery and terrorism that has been carried out, has been done under an American umbrella. Now is the time to furl up the umbrella, and let the rain fall where it may.

It will be a cold day indeed, when Russia and China realize that they can do what they like in the Muslim world, without the US to stop them. And a colder day still, when European countries realize that there is nothing standing the way of deporting their insurgent Muslim populations, because the US will not lift a finger to protect them, as it did in Yugoslavia. That is accountability. And in both its active and passive forms it will exact a high price from the enemy, and none from us. To employ it, we must be prepared to use massive force casually without considering any collateral damage. We must achieve energy independence at any cost. And we must be prepared to realize that everything else we have tried has failed. Only by disengaging from the Muslim world, can we ever be free of it....

read the whole thing @

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/25659
Posted by: Mikey Hunt || 12/17/2011 19:47 Comments || Top||

#7  ION DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [PakNationalists.com] AWWW! NO [more] FRIED CHICKEN FOR US SOLDIERS IN AFGHANISTAN. Beginnings of MINOR-FOR-NOW HARDSHIPS as repor by returning US Soldiers.

ARTIC = Over 1/2 of US-NATO supplies into Afghainstan goes through critical Pakistan-based routes - despite US-NATO rhetoric to the contrary, US SOLDIERS MAY BE BEGINNING TO FEEL THE PINCH FROM PAKIS SUPPLY BLOCKADE AS FAVORITE AMER FOODS QUIETLY QUICKLY DISAPPEAR FROM BASE/
CAMP MENUS, e.g. FRIED CHICKEN + FRENCH FRIES; + NOW ON-BASE FOOD VENDORS CLOSE UP SHOP [e.g. Popeye's]???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/17/2011 22:50 Comments || Top||


One soldier, 25 terrorists killed in Orakzai clashes
[Pak Daily Times] Dozens of cut-throats ambushed Pak troops on Friday, killing a soldier and sparking festivities that left up to 25 cut-throats dead in Khanki village in the Upper Orakzai region, officials said.
Sure you did...
Members of the Frontier Corps were attacked while driving through the Mamuzai area of Orakzai, the stronghold of Hakimullah Meshud, the leader of the nebulous Pak Taliban faction. "Around 50 local terrorists, waiting on both sides of the road, opened fire on the convoy. One soldier was killed and more than 20 were maimed," a paramilitary official told AFP on condition of anonymity. They were ambushed at around 7:30am and ensuing festivities lasted around 40 minutes, the official said. "The troops, backed by helicopters, retaliated and killed at least 25 terrorists," he added. Sher Bahadur Khan, an administration official in Orakzai, gave the same casualty numbers.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Doctor shot dead in Pasni
[Pak Daily Times] Gwadar District Hospital Chief Medical Officer Dr Naseem Baloch was bumped off by person or persons unknown in Pasni, a coastal town 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...
According to sources in Pasni, Baloch was sitting in his clinic in Main Pasni bazaar on Friday night when some gunnies barged into the clinic and sprayed him with bullets. He was struck down in his prime. The attackers managed to flee on a bike.

The body was shifted to the Civil Hospital Pasni. "Dr Naseem Baloch received five bullets in different part of his body," hospital sources said. The Pakistain Medical Association District Gwadar has announced that all government and private hospitals will remain closed on Saturday (today), and a shutter-down strike will be observed to protest the killing.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Leader of Taliban's al Mukhtar group held in Karachi
[Pak Daily Times] For the second time, the city police's specialised unit Friday claimed to have locked away six suspects, including the leader of the Taliban associated group known as Al-Mukhtar, and recovered a huge cache of arms and explosives from their possession.

The locked away suspects included ringleader Asghar alias Omar, while five of his accomplices were identified as Zahid alias Osama, Abid, Usman alias Hamza, Shakir and Ali Akbar.

According to Anti-Extremist Cell (AEC) of the Crime Investigation Department (CID), the suspects were involved in at least eight cases of terror activities in the city, including the attack on the rummy club in which 22 people bit the dust, while another 50 were maimed when a powerful kaboom occurred on April, this year. The AEC also claimed to have recovered 50 kilogrammes of kaboom, three hand grenades, 10 mini rocket grenades, three time/remote control bombs, five kilogrammes of ball bearings and nut bolts, 20 feet detonating wire, four remote control detonating switches, five kilogrammes locally made bomb, a time remote control switch, 30 litre hydrogen peroxide, five kalashnikovs, a TT pistol and over one hundred ammunitions.

Speaking at a presser, SSP Chaudhry Aslam said that the group was active in the city against wine shops, gambling dens and cinemas, and it had attacked several wine shops and gambling dens in different parts of the city. He said that the locked away men belonged to Al-Mukhtar group, linked to Al-Badar Mansoor group. He said that AEC team locked away them when they were planning to carry out more terror activities in the metropolis.

Earlier, CID (Operations) locked away the group's alleged member Mustafa Rahman Orakzai alias Yaqoob Commando after an encounter on Super Highway.

According to SSP Aslam, group leader Asghar is the expert of making bombs and had got training of bomb making in Miran Shah, Wazoo. He said all the bombs used in the terror activities in Bloody Karachi were made by him.

The SSP said the accused were planning to carry out attack on the exhibition being held in Korangi and had also planned to target the owner of the rummy club over refusal of the extortion money while they also made a plan to attack all the wine shops, gambling dens and cinemas in Bloody Karachi.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan


Iraq
2 Qaeda leaders arrested in Wassit
WASSIT / Aswat al-Iraq: A security force arrested two Qaeda leaders north of the province, security sources said today.

The source told Aswat al-Iraq that a force from the Interior Ministry arrested the two in Suwaira area, 135 km north of Kut city. The operation was carried out according to arrest warrants according to anti-terrorism clauses.

Kut, the center of Wassit province, lies 180 km south east of the capital, Baghdad.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They were captured in Wazzit? Isn't that near Howzat and Wenzat?
Posted by: Odysseus || 12/17/2011 12:43 Comments || Top||

#2  It's just down the road from Izzat Chu.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 12/17/2011 13:13 Comments || Top||

#3  Wherezat?
Posted by: Frank G || 12/17/2011 13:32 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Gunmen Briefly Deploy in Zaidaniyeh after AMAL Member Wounded
[An Nahar] A member of Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri's
Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, a member of AMAL, a not very subtle Hizbullah sock puppet...
AMAL Movement was maimed on Friday when a personal dispute erupted into gunfire in the Beirut district of Zaidaniyeh.

"One AMAL member was maimed in the Zaidaniyeh clash and AMAL gunnies have left the area after a brief deployment," an AMAL official told Naharnet, requesting anonymity.

While the official did not reveal the identity of the other party, Future News television reported that "the clash in Zaidaniyeh erupted after a dispute between two Hizbullah and AMAL supporters."

LBC television said army troops deployed to the area in a bid to contain the clash which erupted in "al-Itani street in the Zaidaniyeh-Aisha Bakkar area."

MTV, for its part, said gunnies deployed in Zaidaniyeh "after two people were maimed in an exchange of gunfire."

Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  the clash in Zaidaniyeh erupted after a dispute between two Hizbullah and AMAL supporters

And after all the sucking-up to Hesb'allah that Nabih's done....
Posted by: Pappy || 12/17/2011 10:47 Comments || Top||


West Demands Changes to Russia's Syria U.N. Resolution
[An Nahar] La Belle France on Friday attacked Russia's proposed U.N. Security Council resolution on the Syrian crisis as "totally unbalanced" and no immediate talks were called on the measure.

Russia, having blocked U.N. action on Syria for months, surprised other members of the 15-nation council on Thursday by putting forward a draft resolution which condemns the violence by all sides in Syria.

The U.N. says Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Light of the Alawites...
's crackdown on opposition protests has left 5,000 dead.

Russia and China vetoed a European resolution on Syria in October. Western nations say the new Russia text is not tough enough on the Damascus
...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world...
government, but they are ready to negotiate with Russia.

La Belle France's U.N. envoy Gerard Araud called the Russian text a "maneuver."

Russia "gives the appearance of movement while presenting a text which is totally unbalanced and which is empty," he said in a live internet chat session with French newspaper Le Monde.

But he stressed that La Belle France and other European nations wanted negotiations.

Russia called hasty Security Council on Thursday to discuss the resolution which strongly condemns violence by "all parties, including disproportionate use of force by Syrian authorities."

It also raises concern over "the illegal supply of weapons to the gangs in Syria," according to a copy obtained by Agence La Belle France Presse.

European diplomats said there has to be stronger condemnation of rights violations by the Assad government and stronger support for 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...
action against Syria, including its sanctions.

Western nations said they were waiting for follow up talks, but Russia's U.N. envoy Vitaly Churkin said his delegation would not be calling for negotiations before Monday.

"It will take time for (western nations) to absorb the significance of the developments," Churkin told news hounds, referring to the initial negative comments on the Russian text.

"It is perhaps telling that the Russians have not called follow up talks if this is such an important move," one western diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Araud said it was uncertain how long negotiations could take.

"Negotiations on a resolution can take a few hours or a few months. Everything depends on the desire of the Russians to accept our amendments," he said.

Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Now Russia can adopt a pose of injured innocence.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/17/2011 2:05 Comments || Top||

#2  I think that the best bet would be to get the Syrian opposition to offer Russia some port concessions, but only if they take a more neutral stance, and stop propping up pencilneck.

Not threatened, but implied, is that if Russia keeps it up, when and if there is a new Syrian government, it will be far friendlier to the west, and that will be the end of a Med port for Russia.

BTW, a new theme song for Assad, the "Pencilneck Geek" song by the late, great, professional wrestler "Classy" Freddie Blassie.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/17/2011 8:13 Comments || Top||

#3  It also raises concern over "the illegal supply of weapons to the gangs in Syria,"

I seem to recall something about the Yugoslavian civil war, an arms embargo and who had the weapons.
Posted by: Ulose Munster2089 || 12/17/2011 8:21 Comments || Top||

#4  Not to mention Ossetia...
Posted by: Pappy || 12/17/2011 12:04 Comments || Top||


Syrians hold mass rallies to demand Arab action
[Pak Daily Times] Hundreds of thousands of Syrians protested nine months into their uprising on Friday, demanding 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...
hasten its response to a bloody crackdown on dissent, activists said.

The protests came after Russia, a longtime ally of embattled Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Leveler of Latakia...
, drew a guarded response from Western governments to signs of toughening its stance on Syria at the UN Security Council.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 200,000 protested in the besieged central city of Homs alone, venting their frustration at the vaporous Arab League for postponing a meeting on Syria scheduled for Saturday.

Security forces reacted with gunfire, killing at least 10 people, seven of them in Homs, it said.

"More than 200,000 demonstrators came out in several neighbourhoods of the city after Friday prayers," the Britannia-based group said. Demonstrators also erupted into the streets of Damascus
...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world...
and the protest hubs of Daraa, Deir Ezzor and Hama, according to the Local Coordination Committees (LCC), which organises the protests.

Organisers had urged protesters to press the 22-member Arab bloc over its postponement of the emergency foreign ministers' meeting to give more time for Damascus to agree to a deal to end the bloodshed to avoid sanctions.

They had set the slogan for the protests as, "The Arab League is killing us - enough deadlines."

On November 27, the Arab bloc approved a package of sanctions against Damascus after it failed to meet a deadline to agree to an observer mission to monitor implementation of an Arab plan to protect Syrian civilians.

But earlier this month, Foreign Minister Walid Muallem told the Arab League Syria would accept monitors under certain conditions, including the lifting of the sanctions.

The bloc's number two Ahmed Ben Helli said late Thursday that Saturday's planned meeting had been postponed indefinitely while talks continued with Damascus on its offer.

However,
nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits...
a League taskforce chaired by Qatar will gather in Doha on Saturday with delegates from Egypt, Algeria, Sudan and Oman, Ben Helli said.

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi also met Thursday with members of the opposition Syrian National Council on the eve of the opening in Tunisia Friday evening of a three-day congress of the group. SNC leader Burhan Ghaliun said it was vital that the opposition close ranks after the formation in Istanbul on Thursday of the National Alliance, another opposition grouping.

"We need to unite the opposition and make it stronger. We need to emerge from this congress with a higher level of organization, clearer targets and more momentum," Ghaliun told AFP.

The SNC is generally regarded as the main civilian opposition coalition and includes the LCC, the Moslem Brüderbund and other parties.

However,
Switzerland makes more than cheese...
announcing the formation of the National Alliance, Mohammed Bessam Imadi, a former Syrian ambassador to Sweden, charged that the SNC had "lost contact with local revolutionary movements in Syria". The opposition has been pushing hard for the Security Council to take tough action against Damascus after a European draft that would have threatened "targeted measures" against regime figures was blocked by Beijing and Moscow in October.

A draft of the new text circulated by Russia late on Thursday still makes no mention of sanctions but strongly condemns the violence by "all parties, including disproportionate use of force by Syrian authorities".

In line with Moscow's insistance that its ally has been been facing an armed rebellion not the overwhelmingly peaceful demonstrations cited by the West, the draft also raises concern over "the illegal supply of weapons to the gangs in Syria".

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
... sometimes described as The Heroine of Tuzla and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another John C. Calhoun ...
expressed renewed criticism of that position but said the United States hoped it could work with Russia on the text. "There are some issues in it that we would not be able to support. There's unfortunately a seeming parity between the government and peaceful protesters," she said. "But we are going to study the draft carefully."
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Syrian Forces Kill 17; Huge Protests in Homs
[VOA News] Activists say Syrian security forces killed at least 17 people on Friday as more than 200,000 protesters rallied against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's
Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs...
government.
Activists say most of the deaths took place in the flashpoint Homs region, where a huge crowd gathered to voice opposition to the Arab League's
...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...
decision to postpone an emergency meeting on Syria that was set for Saturday.

News organizations say the league postponed the foreign ministers' meeting to give Damascus
...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
more time to avoid sanctions by agreeing to a plan that could end the unrest.

The Syrian government countered the activists' account saying there were no deaths or "human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty...
injuries" on Friday. The state-run SANA news agency also said a pro-government rally took place in a western region.

Russia's Interfax news agency said Friday that a Syrian official, Vice President Faruq al-Shara, has been invited to Moscow for talks with Kremlin officials. On Thursday, Russia proposed a draft U.N. Security Council resolution that would condemn both the Syrian government and the opposition for violence linked to anti-government protests.

The U.N. estimates that some 5,000 people have been killed since the uprising began in February. Syria's U.N. ambassador has rejected that figure as "incredible."

In another development Friday, the United Nation's refugee agency [UNHCR] said more than 4,000 Syrians fleeing the government crackdown have poured into Leb. The agency said several hundred Syrians had crossed into the neighboring country within the past week.
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  "Last overtly fascist regime"? Failure to give North Korean its due will result in a sea of fire.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/17/2011 1:15 Comments || Top||


Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 12/17/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Moths, I'm praying for moths . . . .
Posted by: gorb || 12/17/2011 1:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot

Milla Jovovich (Ukrainian) aka Leeloo in "The Fifth Element (1997)" aka Alice in "Resident Evil, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Resident Evil: Extinction & Resident Evil: Afterlife (2002, 2004, 2007 & 2010)" aka Mildred Harris in "Chaplin (1992)" aka Joan of Arc in "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999)" aka Katinka Ingabogovinanana in "Zoolander (2001)" aka Milady de Winter in "The Three Musketeers (2011)" aka Lucetta Creeson in "Stone (2010)" (age 38)



Nekkid as an Egg? Sorry she's wearing a ring.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 12/17/2011 3:46 Comments || Top||

#3  Ukrainion!. Quaddafi favorite. Self proclaimed "Ukrainion pureblood" video. Acting camelon with great vocal range and no fear.



Posted by: Dale || 12/17/2011 7:20 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2011-12-17
  Australian terror conspirators jailed for 18 years
Fri 2011-12-16
  Syrian Dissidents Declare Creation of 'National Alliance'
Thu 2011-12-15
  U.S. War in Iraq Declared Officially Over
Wed 2011-12-14
  33 Civilians, 7 Regime Troops Killed
Tue 2011-12-13
  Mexican Army bags 11 bad guys in Tamaulipas state
Mon 2011-12-12
  Mysterious explosion kills 7, injures 16 in Iran
Sun 2011-12-11
  Syrian Opposition Reports Deputy Defense Minister Killed
Sat 2011-12-10
  Rival Yemeni forces said to quit streets of Taiz city
Fri 2011-12-09
  Twenty trucks torched in attack at Nato terminal in Quetta
Thu 2011-12-08
  Yemen's unity government announced
Wed 2011-12-07
  New coalition government formed in Yemen
Tue 2011-12-06
  Afghanistan: Kabul shrine attacks 'kills 34'
Mon 2011-12-05
  France Reduces Tehran Embassy Staff after Attack on British Mission
Sun 2011-12-04
  Iran police arrest 12 over embassy rally
Sat 2011-12-03
  US Hands Over Camp Victory to Iraq

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