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Key Syria opposition group refuses Geneva peace talks
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
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5 21:55 Silentbrick - Oil Rig Insanity Division []
9 14:01 Redneck Jim []
9 22:50 OldSpook []
6 16:42 SteveS []
Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 10/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Birthday Gam Shot

Stacy Keibler [Retired Professional Wrestler][Filmography](age 34)



"The Weapon of Mass Seduction" Design

A little Something to get Gorb's Heart Going


Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 10/14/2013 11:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Best two out of three falls?
Posted by: Choluck Spawn of the Jutes2839 || 10/14/2013 12:52 Comments || Top||

#3  You know she is 5' 11" tall, and given my height, my head would come to rest directly in the V of Stacy Keibler's dress, that is of course if I ever met her and had a death wish... What a way to die.
Posted by: Gerthudion Shaick8610 || 10/14/2013 13:11 Comments || Top||

#4 
Posted by: gorb || 10/14/2013 23:08 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Two Injured in Helmand Blast
[TOLONEWS] Local officials of southern Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
province on Sunday said that two civilians were maimed in Lashkargah, the capital of the province, when an kaboom occurred near the provincial traffic department.

The incident took place around 11:00am, when a bomb placed in a cycle of violence went-off outside of the traffic office, said Omar Zwak, Spokesman of the Governor.

The victims have been taken to a nearby hospital for emergency treatment.

No one has yet grabbed credit for the blast.

It comes a day after local officials of eastern Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
police said two coppers and two non-combatants were killed by a suicide boom-mobileer who targeted the provincial police headquarters in Jalalabad city on Saturday morning.

Five other coppers and three civilians were also injured in the attack.

The incident took place about 08:00am local time, when the bomber detonated his explosives at the first gate of the police headquarters, according to Fazl Ahmad Shirzad, the Provincial Police Chief.

The two incidents comes as the local officials across the country have committed to providing heightened security during Eid Days.
Posted by: Fred || 10/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Afghan in uniform shoots US soldier
[Dawn] A man wearing an Afghan army uniform shot at US soldiers in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least one serviceman on Sunday, local officials and the NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization....
-led coalition said.

The so-called "insider attack" in Paktika
...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo...
province is the fourth in less than a month and is likely to strain already tense ties between coalition troops and their allies, with most foreign troops scheduled to withdraw by the end of next year.

A Rooters tally shows Sunday's incident was the tenth this year, and took the corpse count of foreign personnel to 15.

"A man wearing an Afghan army uniform shot at Americans in Sharana city, the picturesque provincial capital, near the governor's office," said an Afghan official, adding that two soldiers had been hit by the gunfire.

The NATO-led coalition confirmed one soldier had been shot by a man in security forces uniform, but did not comment on his nationality or whether the Afghan was wearing an army uniform.
Posted by: Fred || 10/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan


Africa Horn
Security operations in Galka'yo results to ten arrests
[Shabelle] security operations were today conducted in Galka'yo town by security officials of Galmudug
...a semiautonomous region in central Somalia, bordering Puntland on the north. Galmudug is not trying to obtain international recognition as a separate nation, but rather considers itself autonomous within the larger Somali federalism, for what that's worth...
region.

During the operations suspected thugs who robbed civilians during night hours were incarcerated
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
.
Officials confirmed to Shabelle radio that almost ten suspected thugs were arrested during the heavy operations.

Colonel Abdi Jama Abdulle who is the commissioner of police in the region said that those arrested will be arraigned in court and face justice.

The operations were conducted after locals from Galmudug complained of rising insecurity in some districts which fall under the administration
Posted by: Fred || 10/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


Three killed in Mogadishu
It's almost as dangerous as Chicago...
MOGADISHU -- In Mogadishu, unidentified gunmen killed three tailors inside their garment shop in Yaqshid district of Mogadishu on Saturday evening, witnesses said.

"Gunmen broke their way into the shop and they instantly shot the three tailors in head and chest, leaving two dead while the other one was taken to a nearby hospital where he was confirmed dead," an eye witness said.

Security officials who arrived at the scene of crime pointed accusing fingers at Al Shabaab.
And if it wasn't it's mighty convenient...
Posted by: Steve White || 10/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Shot because clothes are un-Islamic? (Or by a competing tailor shop?)
Posted by: Glenmore || 10/14/2013 5:57 Comments || Top||

#2  Plaid leisure suits - justified killing
Posted by: Frank G || 10/14/2013 10:48 Comments || Top||

#3  "Nice shop youse has here. Too bad if sumptin happened to it, like a work accident."
Posted by: Pappy || 10/14/2013 10:58 Comments || Top||

#4  three tailors inside their garment shop
Front for a NGO Intel agency?
Posted by: Skidmark || 10/14/2013 17:09 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Gunmen Kill Libya Air Force Officer in Benghazi
[An Nahar] A Libyan air force officer was killed and another security forces member badly maimed on Sunday in two separate attacks in the eastern city of Benghazi, an official said.

"Unidentified assailants opened fire on Abdelfattah al-Ryani, an air force officer, in the al-Hadaek region of Benghazi," Colonel Abdullah al-Zaidi of the security services told Agence La Belle France Presse.

The officer "died after being struck by bullets in the head and chest", he added.

In the other attack, Abdessalam al-Dursi, a colonel in a police anti-drugs unit, was gravely maimed when a bomb planted in his car went kaboom!.

Officials at Benghazi's al-Jala hospital said Dursi suffered serious leg injuries and that his condition was "critical."
Posted by: Fred || 10/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Air force officers: in USA they fire them, in Libya they kill them.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/14/2013 1:43 Comments || Top||

#2  died after being struck by bullets in the head and chest

"Body, body, head."
Posted by: Skidmark || 10/14/2013 17:06 Comments || Top||


Malta shipwreck survivors: 'militiamen' fired at boat
[Beirut Daily Star] Syrian refugees who survived after their boat capsized off Malta in the latest disaster in the Mediterranean say they were fired on by warring trafficking gangs as they set out on their perilous journey from Libya.

Thirty-three people perished after the boat sank on Friday, a week after another shipwreck off Italia left at least 359 dead, prompting Malta to warn that the Mediterranean was becoming "a cemetery".

The boat, carrying up to 400 migrants, mostly Syrians, left the Libyan port of Zwara on Thursday, just 60 kilometres (37 miles) from the Tunisian border.

Survivors said Libyan faceless myrmidons shot wildly at their boat, leaving several people dead and causing the vessel to take on water and sink.

Syrian national Mohammed, 34, broke down in tears as he recalled his desperate search for his missing pregnant wife and seven-year-old daughter after he and his five-year-old girl managed to reach safety.

Mohammed told AFP he had paid a total of $4,800 (3,500 euros) for the trip to seek a better life in Europe, crossing through Egypt to Libya.

"When we got on the boat, Libyan militia put their machine guns to our heads and demanded more money. I had $5,000 and they took this too," Mohammed said from a detention camp in Malta.

He said the Libyan gunnies followed them for four or five hours.

"All of a sudden, they started shooting at us and the boat. They injured two people with their bullets. All I could think of at that time was protect my two young children.

"Then they started shooting more bullets at the boat and they managed to puncture it. Lots of water started coming in. It was filling quite fast until we all ended up in the sea. I grabbed my daughter. She swallowed water but I managed to swim and we got onto a raft rescuers threw in the water," Mohammed said.

Citing testimonies from some of those who survived the crossing, the UN refugee agency spoke of several injured passengers, saying shots were fired "perhaps by faceless myrmidons who shot to kill".

Molhake al-Roarsan, 22, interviewed by Italia's La Stampa newspaper, said three people were maimed after being shot in the arms and legs.

He said he thought the attacks were related to a dispute between different groups of traffickers.

"There was a furious fight, screaming on the radio and on the phone with someone who demanded that we return to land, but the captain did not stop."

News agency Ansa said witnesses spoke of two people being killed.

"They were shooting in all directions, on board there was panic with people trying to protect each other," it quoted one survivor as saying.

Once they reached Malta, the Tunisian captain was jugged
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
after being recognised by survivors, according to media reports.

Ashur, a Syrian, said he and his family were fleeing the civil war in his home country. When the vessel capsized he managed to save his two-year-old daughter but lost his son and wife who was pregnant with twins.

"I lost practically all I had. What I have left to live for is my daughter who I will not let go out of my arms," Ashur told AFP.

Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat left Sunday for Libya to meet his counterpart Ali Zeidan, and discuss the surging migration levels and the latest disasters at sea.

"We are just building a cemetery within our Mediterranean Sea," he said.

The twin tragedies in the Mediterranean just days apart have prompted the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
to call for sea patrols to cope with the flood of migrants knocking on its doors.
Posted by: Fred || 10/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


American found hanged in Egypt police cell
An American found hanged in his police cell in the Suez Canal city of Ismailiya on Sunday was believed to have committed suicide, Egyptian security officials said.

They said the body of James Henry, 55, who told authorities he was a “retired officer”, was found at noon at Ismailiya Awal police station.

The US embassy in Cairo confirmed “that a US citizen prisoner in Ismailiya died from an apparent suicide.”
Having his hands tied behind him sure didn't help him get the rope bedsheet off his neck...
“The embassy is in contact with authorities regarding the case and continues to provide all consular services,” an embassy official told AFP.

Egyptian officials said Henry had been detained in August for violating a curfew imposed because of the latest wave of political unrest sweeping the country. He was stopped on the road between El Arish and Rafah in North Sinai and told authorities he was on his way to the neighbouring Gaza Strip.

Officials told AFP that a US embassy delegation had visited Henry in his cell last week.

His death comes a day after he was told that authorities were extending his preventative detention by another 30 days.
Posted by: Steve White || 10/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "told authorities he was on his way to the neighbouring Gaza Strip"?

Retired officer of what?
Posted by: tipover || 10/14/2013 0:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Another fine example of professional journalism. This article is full of nothing. Its a pile of .....questions not answers. Even the facts are pointing in various directions. An American...in the middle of border Sinai...yeah? Picked up on the Egyptian side, canned since August. Embassy "visited" him last week. Brought him twinkys and told him to hang in there. Tells us jack zip. Then the guy hangs himself. The old turkey climbs in some Ismailiyeh toilet ( who cares how its spelled ) and hangs himself.

What was he doing there in the first place, taking pictures of the camels and the rocks? Something meaningful ? Please.

And he was going to go to the scenic Gaza Strip? Not a good vacation move just to begin with. Like I say, a very praiseworthy piece of "journalism."
Posted by: Spereting Tingle4064 || 10/14/2013 5:03 Comments || Top||

#3  More from Fox News.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/14/2013 8:58 Comments || Top||

#4  More information here as well:

James Lunn, an American arrested after a car bombing in northern Sinai in August, was found dead in an Egyptian jail Sunday. Lunn was arrested Aug. 27 during "combing operations" following a car bombing outside a police station in the turbulent northern region of Sinai, according to a statement from Egyptian officials.

The statement said a computer and maps of "important installations" were found in his possession, but did not identify the facilities. Lunn was was remanded into police custody and had been remanded again for 30 days by a court on Saturday, according to the News Agency that Shall Not Be Named.


And here:

A spokesman for the ministry, Gen. Hany Abdel Lateef, said in a phone call on Sunday that Mr. Lunn had admitted during questioning that he had been on his way to the Gaza Strip, where he planned to meet with members of Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that rules the territory.

“He confessed that he was on his way to Gaza to stay with Hamas and discuss certain things with them,” General Abdel Lateef said. The statement from the prosecutor general, Hisham Barakat, said that Mr. Lunn had been found with a “modern electronic device” that the authorities were examining, without specifying further.


"Electronic device"... kinda what the 'Suez spy swan' was wearing.

Amazing what you can find when you dig around.
Posted by: Pappy || 10/14/2013 11:04 Comments || Top||

#5  It doesn't seem to me that the world will miss him.
Posted by: gorb || 10/14/2013 11:21 Comments || Top||

#6  Will his survivor benefits be impacted ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/14/2013 11:23 Comments || Top||

#7  no doubt he'll still vote a couple times next election
Posted by: Frank G || 10/14/2013 14:26 Comments || Top||

#8  Are we sure the two different names are the result of transcription/translation errors?
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 10/14/2013 18:36 Comments || Top||

#9  "Then the Genie appeared. For his first wish he said 'I'd like to hung, really hung...'"
Posted by: Frank G || 10/14/2013 18:39 Comments || Top||

#10  Are we sure the two different names are the result of transcription/translation errors?

100%? No. Any bureaucracy is fallible.
Posted by: Pappy || 10/14/2013 20:24 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Karachi operation: 15 suspects arrested
[Dawn] Rangers and police forces locked away
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
a total of 15 suspects on Sunday during targeted operations in different parts of the city, DawnNews reported.

Rangers forces conducted door-to-door searches during a targeted operation in Manghopir, and arrested two members of an outlawed organization, along with eleven other suspects. They also confiscated twenty different types of weapons.

According to a Rangers spokesperson, illegal weapons were confiscated from those arrested.

Meanwhile,
...back at the abandoned silver mine, there was another kaboom...
police forces also conducted a targeted operation in Machar Colony. After brief festivities, they arrested two suspects who were involved in murder and other crimes. Police also confiscated a large number of weapons from those arrested.
Posted by: Fred || 10/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Grenade attack leaves one dead, five injured
[Dawn] A grenade attack near a clinic in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
's Quaidabad area has left one woman dead and five people injured including two children, DawnNews reported.

The grenade attack took place the Muzaffarabad area of Quaidabad near a clinic. Along with the injured children were also two women who were taken to Jinnah hospital.

According to doctors the wounds of the injured are not life threatening.

Police have said that the grenade attack on the clinic may be due to a refusal to pay extortionists.

Karachi is the financial hub of the southern province of Pakistain, and is besieged by extortion, kidnappings, and terror attacks.

It is presently undergoing a targeted operation to rid the metropolis of such elements and restore it to its former peaceful state.
Posted by: Fred || 10/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Attacks across Iraq kill at least 42
[USATODAY] A string of bombings Sunday across Iraq, many in Shiite-majority cities, killed at least 42 people and maimed dozens, officials said, a grim reminder of the government's failure to stem the uptick in violence that is feeding sectarian tensions in the country.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest attacks, but waves of bombings are frequently used by al-Qaeda's Iraq branch.

The Sunni bad boy group and other Sunni gunnies often targets Shiite civilians in an effort to undermine the Shiite-led government. Al-Qaeda's Death Eater ideology considers Shiites heretics.

The deadliest of Sunday's attacks, many of which struck busy commercial areas, happened in the southern city of Hillah, 95 kilometers (60 miles) south of Storied Baghdad
...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...
. Back-to-back boom-mobileings hit an outdoor market there, killing eight people and wounding 22, police said.

Two parked boom-mobiles destroyed a commercial area in the city of Suwayrah, 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Storied Baghdad, killing five people and wounding 14. Two other boom-mobiles went kaboom! simultaneously in the city of Kut, 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Storied Baghdad, killing four and maimed 16, according to police.

In the nearby city of Samawah, 370 kilometers (230 miles) southeast of Storied Baghdad, four people were killed and 13 maimed when two boom-mobiles went kaboom!. Two other boom-mobiles killed three and maimed 13 in the city of Diwaniyah, 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of the capital.

Samarra was struck twice Sunday, a day after a boom-mobileing in the Sunni-dominated city left 17 dead. The memory of the 2006 bombing of the city's al-Askari Shiite shrine still haunts many Iraqis because it set off years of retaliatory bloodshed between Sunni and Shiite Death Eaters.

Two people were killed and 15 were maimed in the morning when a boom-mobile went kaboom! near a group of mourners at a funeral for some of the previous day's dead. A jacket wallah struck a security checkpoint near the shrine in the Sunni-dominated city later in the day, killing four and wounding 10, said Mizhar Fleih, the deputy head of the municipal council there.

In other violence Sunday, police reported five people killed and 34 maimed in the southern city of Basra and the central towns of Mahmoudiyah and Madain.

In the western Storied Baghdad neighborhood of Sadiyah, police said a bomb went off near a row of shops, killing two people and wounding nine others. Three others were killed in a blast near a soccer field in Storied Baghdad's mainly Shiite southeastern suburb of Nahrwan. Yet another bomb went kaboom! in the western Amariyah neighborhood, killing two and wounding 10, police said.

Medical officials confirmed the causalities. The police and hospital officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Posted by: Fred || 10/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq & the Levant


Attacks across Iraq kill at least 31
A string of bombings in mostly Shia-majority cities across Iraq on Sunday killed at least 31 people and wounded dozens, officials said.
Miss us yet?
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest attacks, but car bombs are frequently used by Al Qaeda’s Iraq branch.

The deadliest of Sunday’s attacks, which targeted mainly commercial areas and bus stations, was in the southern city of Hillah, 95 kilometres south of Baghdad. Back-to-back car bombings hit an outdoor market there, killing eight people and wounding 22, a police officer said.

Two parked car bombs ripped through a commercial area in the city of Suwayrah, 40 kilometres south of Baghdad, killing five people and wounding 14. Two other car bombs exploded simultaneously in the city of Kut, 160 kilometres southeast of Baghdad, killing four and wounded 16.

In nearby city of Samawah, 370 kilometres southeast of Baghdad, four people were killed and 13 wounded when two car bombs exploded. Two other car bombs killed three and wounded 13 in the city of Diwaniyah, 130 kilometres south of the capital.

In the northern city of Samarra, two people were killed and 15 were wounded when a bomb targeted a gathering of mourners for some of the 17 people who were killed in a car bombing there on Saturday. Five other people were killed and 34 were wounded in other attacks in the southern city of Basra and the central towns of Mahmoudiyah and Madain.

Medical officials confirmed the causalities.

More than 5,000 people have been killed in Iraq since attacks began accelerating in April following a deadly security crackdown against a Sunni protest camp in the northern town of Hawija.
Posted by: Steve White || 10/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  All dead Moslems. Its sort of like having a hobby in Islam.

No pigs or Juice were harmed in making this piece of news.

Don't you wish you had a turban and curly toed slippers too? Oh and a little Koran to read while you wait.
Posted by: Spereting Tingle4064 || 10/14/2013 5:07 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
British to help Jordan with Syrian refugees
Britain said on Sunday that it will give Jordan £12 million ($19 million, 14 million Euros) to help local communities in the country cope with hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees.
Because the Brits are flush with cash...
"Jordan will receive urgently needed support to keep essential public services running and prevent tensions between local people and growing numbers of Syrian refugees," British International Development Secretary Justine Greening said.

"The United Kingdom will provide £12 million over the next two years to ensure that local Jordanian municipal governments can meet the needs of both host communities and refugees who have fled the fighting in Syria," she was quoted as saying in an embassy statement.

Jordan is hosting more than 500,000 Syrian refugees, mostly in the north, including in the Zaatari refugee camp, which is home to around 120,000 people. Jordanians have repeatedly called for aid, saying the growing refugee influx has placed a huge burden on already overstretched water and power supplies as well as housing and education.

"Competition for jobs is increasing, houses built for refugees require electricity and water, and rubbish is piling up. British support will help to maintain road construction and maintenance, waste collection, street lighting, pest control and water supplies," the statement said.

The International Monetary Fund recommended on Saturday the release of $258 million to Jordan under a three-year $2 billion loan approved in August 2012, to help the kingdom weather regional instability.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/14/2013 00:23 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A small price to pay perhaps, as long as they don't start claiming asylum in the UK; this multi-cultural society is multi enough without letting in another bunch of traumatised Arabs that will never integrate, (with Lord knows how many ungrateful hard-core sleepers with Dire Revenge on their minds).

RF.
Posted by: Hupineng Glineth5389 || 10/14/2013 12:18 Comments || Top||

#2  traumatised Arabs that will never integrate

Are there other varieties ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/14/2013 12:20 Comments || Top||


Israel Arrests Palestinian Suspects in Settler Killing
[An Nahar] Israel has tossed in the calaboose
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
three Paleostinian suspects over the murder of a Jewish settler in the West Bank, its domestic security service said Sunday.

"The Shin Bet, with the assistance of the army and the police, have arrested a number of those involved in the murder of Sarya Ofer," the Shin Bet agency said in a statement.

It was not yet known if Friday's killing was politically motivated.

The Shin Bet said Odeh Farid Harub, 18, and Bashir Ahmed Harub, 21, had confessed to the killing of the retired army colonel at his isolated Jordan Valley home.

They were among three men from the southern West Bank village of Dir Samat, near Hebron, arrested on Saturday "following intelligence information."

The suspects allegedly told interrogators they had gone to the compound that Ofer shared with his wife Monique late one night about two weeks ago but without doing anything.

The Shin Bet said their account matched a statement by Monique, who escaped with injuries after her husband was bludgeoned to death, and who said youths from the Hebron area had come to the house "under suspicious circumstances."

Police said after the killing that it was most likely the work of Paleostinian Death Eaters, while rightwing Israeli politicians said peace talks with the Paleostinians should be suspended as a result.

But media have speculated that the killing could have been the result of a bungled burglary attempt or the settling of a personal dispute.

"The investigation is under way and the motive for the murder is still being checked," the Shin Bet said.

Several Israelis and Paleostinians have been killed or maimed in a recent spate of violent incidents in the occupied territories.
Posted by: Fred || 10/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority


Israel Freezes Gaza Supplies over 'Terror Tunnel'
[An Nahar] Israel on Sunday froze the shipment of building materials into Gazoo after discovering what is described as a sophisticated "terror tunnel" into the Jewish state from the Paleostinian territory, an Israeli defense official said.

"Due to security reasons, (the army) decided to stop for now the transfer of building materials into Gazoo," Guy Inbar told Agence La Belle France Presse.

Inbar, front man for the Israeli defense ministry unit responsible for civilian affairs in the Paleostinian territories, did not say how long the ban would remain in force.

Last month, Israel permitted cement and steel deliveries into the Gazoo Strip for use by the private sector for the first time since 2007.

It had banned such transfers for fear the Islamist Death Eater movement Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, which rules Gazoo would use construction materials to fortify its positions and build tunnels for attacks on the Jewish state.

Israeli officials said on Sunday that a tunnel running 450 meters (yards) into Israel and allegedly intended as a springboard for Death Eater attacks had been uncovered by troops.

Exposing the tunnel "prevented attempts to attack Israeli civilians and soldiers", Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said in a statement.

Yaalon said it was "further proof" that Hamas "was continuing to prepare itself for confrontation with Israel and terror activities."

Israel and Hamas reached a truce, brokered by Egypt, after a deadly confrontation in November.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated the army "for exposing the Gazoo terror tunnel" at a weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday.

"It is part of our aggressive policy against terror," he said.

According to the army, the tunnel, which was discovered last Monday, was "approximately 18 meters underground and extends 1.7 kilometers."

"The tunnel was built with approximately 500 tons of cement and concrete," the army said. It had lighting and a rail for a small trolley, "probably intended to transfer hard boyz or soldiers from side to side rapidly."

Its statement made mention of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped by Paleostinian forces of Evil and transferred to Gazoo via a tunnel in 2006 and held for five years.

The army said work on the tunnel probably lasted over a year.

An AFP correspondent said the tunnel's walls were reinforced with cement and a man could stand upright in it.

Israeli NGO Gisha, which lobbies for freedom of movement for Paleostinians, urged Israel to lift the building material freeze, saying it would affect civilians and humanitarian projects in blockaded Gazoo.

"Israel has the authority and the obligation to take measures to protect the lives of its soldiers and citizens," it said.

"However,
some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them...
it is not clear how blocking the entrance of construction materials, including those intended for international projects, promotes that goal."

The NGO said the freeze "raises the specter of a punitive act."
Posted by: Fred || 10/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  "Israel has the authority and the obligation to take measures to protect the lives of its soldiers and citizens," it said.
However, it is not clear how blocking the entrance of construction materials, including those intended for international projects, promotes that goal."


Oh, I dunno. Maybe so...THEY WON'T BUILD AFUCKINNOTHER ONE???!!!
Gawd, useful idiocy know no boundaries...
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/14/2013 1:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Since they're so good at building tunnels, maybe we ought to bring some of them over here (under heavy guard) and shore up the Big Dig tunnels...
Posted by: Raj || 10/14/2013 2:06 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Break in Philippines, MILF talks after failure to agree
The peace negotiating panels of the Philippine government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have failed to agree on power-sharing and normalization, the last two annexes to be added to the Framework Agreement on Bangsamoro, as their 41st round of talks ended in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. But both sides said in a joint statement that they made “substantial progress” on the remaining annexes on power-sharing and normalization.

Both panels also stressed the need for a break from negotiations to mark the Eid celebration Tuesday.

Government panel chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer earlier reiterated the importance of due diligence achieving viable solutions for the Bangsamoro. She said, “If it has taken us a long while to put down words and phrases in the annexes, it is because we want to guarantee the integrity of the outcome."

MILF panel chair Mohagher Iqbal , for his part, said that the agreement should be “acceptable to our people and will lead to solving the Bangsamoro question... Short of this, our efforts would be in vain.
Posted by: ryuge || 10/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  When will these people finally rise up, and throw off their oppressors, and grab a better acronym for thier name?
Posted by: OldSpook || 10/14/2013 15:43 Comments || Top||

#2  "we changed our name. We're now NAMBLA!"
Posted by: Frank G || 10/14/2013 18:32 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Car bomb in northwest Syria kills at least 20
At least 20 people have been killed in a car bombing in the Syrian town of Darkush in northwestern Idlib province, near the Turkish border.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the toll was expected to climb because of the large number of people who were seriously injured, and that at least one child was among the dead. Activists from the Syrian Revolution General Commission network said the blast took place on Monday in the market area of the Darkush, which is under the control of rebels.

A video posted by activists online showed the aftermath of the blast, with at least one car on fire and the ground around it covered in smoking embers. A second video showed residents carrying bodies on makeshift stretchers and extensive damage to buildings around the site of the blast.
Posted by: ryuge || 10/14/2013 06:16 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  great big car bombs in enemy marketplace is one of the signature Assad/Hezbollah tactics; usually once this happens the Assad/Hezbollah folks issue a condemnation of it and say it was someone else's fault (e.g., the rebels, Turkey, Israel, whatever).
Posted by: lord garth || 10/14/2013 10:30 Comments || Top||


Islamist militants destroy Sufi shrine in eastern Syria
[Al Ahram] A Sufi Mohammedan shrine was blown up in eastern Syria on Sunday, opposition activists said, blaming al Qaeda-affiliated forces of Evil who have joined in the increasingly sectarian civil war.

Militants placed explosives at the shrine of Sheikh Eissa Abdelqader al-Rifaiy in the rebel-held town of Busaira, 45 km (30 miles) east of the quiet provincial capital of Deir al-Zor, and detonated them on Sunday morning, they said.

The activists contacted by Rooters said they suspected al Qaeda-linked fighters of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) were behind the kaboom.

"The Islamic State has a base outside the town. The ease by which they got to the shrine indicates that their presence is growing," activist Abu al-Tayyeb al-Deiri said from Deir al-Zor.

Video footage and a photo released by the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group showed the shrine reduced to a field of shattered rock and twisted metal with trees and a small domed building in the background.

Several graves and other sites belonging to the Sufi sect, a mystical school of Islam opposed by puritanical Salafists
...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them...
from which al Qaeda draws its ranks, have been burnt or destroyed in the province in the past few months, opposition sources said.

The Observatory, which has a network of sources across Syria, said another shrine had been blown up in the same area last month.

Tension has been rising in Deir al-Zor between ISIL, composed largely of imported muscle, and other rebel brigades drawn from eastern tribes, who turned against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Despoiler of Deraa...
after a crackdown on protests in the revolt's early months.

The 2-1/2-year conflict has become increasingly sectarian as rebels overwhelmingly from Syria's Sunni Mohammedan majority fight to oust Assad, a member of the Shi'ite-derived Alawite sect.

Resentment of Alawite dominance of Syria's political and security establishment under 40 years of Assad family rule was a major factor in the start of the rebellion.

Regional Shiapower Iran has backed Assad in the conflict while Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
and other majority Sunni Gulf states have supported the rebels.

Shiafighters from Leb and Iraq have entered the conflict on Assad's side while foreign Sunnis have come to fight for the rebels.

Assad has cast himself as a bulwark against al Qaeda, whose affiliate ISIL has launched successful attacks against his forces, but which has been increasingly involved in festivities with other rebel groups in northern and eastern Syria.
Posted by: Fred || 10/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq & the Levant

#1  Do I see a 'Miss Me Yet?" Assad poster in the future?
Posted by: Glenmore || 10/14/2013 5:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Ditto that Mr. G.
Posted by: Dale || 10/14/2013 7:58 Comments || Top||


Syrian rebels say shot warplane near border with Jordan
[Al Ahram] Syrian rebels said they shot a government warplane on Sunday near the southern city of Deraa along the border with Jordan but the plane was able to make an emergency landing at a nearby military airport.

They said fighters used anti-aircraft machine guns to hit the plane in a rural area near the southern city of Deraa, where Syria's uprising against Assad erupted in 2011 after it was flying low over rebel held territory.

The fighter jet, which is the second to have been hit this month in the same border area, was spotted going down but safely landing in the Thala airport close to the city of Sweida, they added.

"Our anti-aircraft machine guns shot the plane that had been on a reconnaissance flights from the morning," said Abdullah Masalmah, a rebel fighter from the Liwa al-Tawheed al-Jonoob brigade.

There were no reports of the incident on Syrian state media.

Rebels in southern Syria do not have sophisticated anti-aircraft abilities and have complained they are not getting advanced weapons that could strengthen their hand against the superior firepower of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Horror of Homs...
's armed forces.

Islamist bully boy brigades, some linked to al Qaeda, have become increasingly powerful among the rebels.

Gulf sources have said they are re-stocking rebels with weapons but the United States is keen to ensure that only relatively moderate rebel units receive the shipments.
Posted by: Fred || 10/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Learn something new every day; here I've been twisting wrenches on airplanes for 30+ years, and never knew they had 'rural areas...'
Is that anywhere close to the vortex generators?
Posted by: USN, Ret || 10/14/2013 20:32 Comments || Top||

#2  The rural area is near the stern, I think.
Posted by: Andy Glineth6002 || 10/14/2013 22:05 Comments || Top||

#3  Thanks AG. I get it mixed up sometimes with that wonderful aeronautic pastry, the Dutch Roll.
Posted by: USN, Ret || 10/14/2013 23:00 Comments || Top||


Seven Members of Arab Democratic Party behind Tripoli Bombings
[An Nahar] Several members of the Arab Democratic Party are behind the twin bombings in the northern city of Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
in August, reported al-Mustaqbal
... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri...
daily on Sunday.

Informed sources told the daily that seven members of the party carried out the attack that targeted al-Salam and Taqwa Mosques on August 23.

Youssef Diab was behind the bombing at al-Salam Mosque, while Ahmed Merhi was behind the attack at the other one.

The sources said that Merhi drove a booby-trapped car to the mosque before detonating it.

Moreover, they revealed that Syrian intelligence plotted the attack in cooperation with tossed in the slammer
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
holy man Sheikh Ahmed al-Gharib.

They stressed however that the holy man was not involved in the execution of the attacks because it sought sides that had prior experience in carrying out such operations.

Syrian intelligence provided the booby-trapped cars and an arrested suspect Hassan Jaafar allowed their safe passage through the Lebanese city of Hermel to the town of al-Qobeiyyat in the northern region of Akkar.

The seven-member Arab Democratic Party group soon received the cars and took them to the Tripoli neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen, a stronghold of the party, on August 21.

Later on Sunday, Arab Democratic Party media official Abdul Latif Saleh told LBCI television: "The judiciary did not summon Youssef Diab and we will turn him in if he is."

"We will turn in any culprit to the state because we abide by the law," he stressed.

Sources told LBCI: "Hayan Haidar formed a five-member group in Jabal Mohsen, which included Diab and Merhi, in order to carry out the Tripoli bombings in cooperation with Syrian intelligence."

On Friday, armed festivities broke out in Tripoli's areas of Bab al-Tabbaneh, Jabal Mohsen and Syria Street over Diab's arrest, wounding an army soldier and a young man identified as S.M.

Forty-five people were killed and over 800 maimed in the twin Tripoli bombings.

On Saturday, State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr ordered the arrest of several suspects over their alleged involvement in the bombings.

Saqr charged on August 30 three suspects in the twin bombings of Tripoli in addition to a Syrian army Captain and another Syrian man over the booby-trapped cars.

Head of the pro-Syria Islamic Tawhid Movement-Command Council
...The Tawhid party is divided into two parts, one led by Sheikh Bilal Shaaban, a close ally of Hezbollah who is said to be financed by Iran, while the other is headed by Sheikh Hashem Minkara, a staunch Syria supporter...
Sheikh Hashem Minkara, Sheikh al-Gharib and informer Mustafa Houri were charged with the formation of an armed gang and undermining the authority of the state.

They were also accused of forming a terrorist network and planting explosives and booby-trapped cars.
Posted by: Fred || 10/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Red Cross: 7 Aid Workers Kidnapped in Northern Syria
[VOA News] The International Committee of the Red Thingy says gunnies in northern Syria have kidnapped six Red Thingy aid workers and a member of the Syrian Arab Red Islamic Thingy.

The ICRC said the kidnapping happened near the town of Saraqeb in Idlib province late Sunday morning, as the seven aid workers were driving back to Damascus in several vehicles. It said the group had been on a medical assistance mission in Idlib.

The Syrian state news agency SANA said gunnies opened fire on the convoy before seizing the aid workers. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The ICRC did not disclose the nationalities of the six Red Thingy workers. It called for the immediate release of all seven hostages.

Kidnappings have become increasingly common in northern Syria, where rebels fighting the Syrian government have captured large areas.

In another development, Syrian state media said two suicide boom-mobileers blew up their vehicles in central Damascus late Sunday. The state news agency SANA said the blasts happened in Umayyad Square and caused minor damage to the state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
building. It did not immediately report any casualties.

Elsewhere, Syrian Arab Red Islamic Thingy workers helped to evacuate hundreds of civilians from a rebel-held western suburb of Damascus, as residents took advantage of a lull in fighting to flee.

Forces loyal to Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Supressor of the Damascenes...
have besieged the Moadamiyeh district for months. Syrian rights activists accuse those forces of cutting off food supplies and causing people to starve to death.

The evacuation from Moadamiyeh began Saturday and continued on Sunday. Red Islamic Thingy head of operations Khaled Erksoussi told the French news agency that his group brought 1,500 people to shelters, mostly women and kiddies whom he described as fatigued and scared.

SANA said state authorities helped the Red Islamic Thingy to evacuate 2,000 civilians from the suburb. It said the residents had been "held hostage by terrorists" - the government's term for rebels trying to oust President Assad.

It was not clear if the lull in fighting in Moadamiyeh was the result of a cease-fire between government and rebel forces. Such truces have been rare in Syria's two-year civil war.
Posted by: Fred || 10/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Suicide Bombers Blow Up Two Cars in Central Damascus
[An Nahar] Two cars laden with explosives and driven by jacket wallahs blew up in the center of the Syrian capital Damascus on Sunday night, state media reported.

"Two terrorist boom-mobiles driven by suicide bombers detonated at the entrance of Ummayed Square," the official SANA news agency and state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
reported, without specifying if there were any casualties.

The blasts went off near the building of the national broadcaster, with a state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
news hound on the ground saying a concrete barrier outside it had been damaged but the facility was largely intact.

Footage of the scene broadcast by the government-run Al-Ikhbariya TV showed fires burning and smoke rising over the site as firefighters worked to put them out.

The news hound made no mention of any injuries in the blast, saying only that "there were some human remains at the scene, likely those of a suicide bomber."

The kabooms occurred only a few kilometers from the hotel where a team of international experts from the Organization from the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the United Nations
...boodling on the grand scale...
are staying.
Posted by: Fred || 10/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq & the Levant


Two car bombs hit near Syrian state TV HQ in Damascus
Some two car bombs have reportedly exploded near Syria's state television headquarters in central Damascus, Alarabiya reported.

Two terrorist car bombs driven by suicide bombers detonated at the entrance of Ummayed Square. No casualties were reported at the moment. Explosions Sunday evening are believed to be a result of a double car bombing.
Posted by: Steve White || 10/14/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:



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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2013-10-14
  Key Syria opposition group refuses Geneva peace talks
Sun 2013-10-13
  Tunisian Forces Clash with Jihadists
Sat 2013-10-12
  US troops capture a senior Pakistan Taliban leader in Afghanistan
Fri 2013-10-11
  Libya PM 'Freed' after Several Hours Held by Militia, Calls for Calm
Thu 2013-10-10
  Libyan Prime Minister Zeidan kidnapped by gunmen
Wed 2013-10-09
  Egypt Strips Muslim Brotherhood of NGO Status
Tue 2013-10-08
  Egypt: Huge Explosion Hits Security HQ In Sinai
Mon 2013-10-07
  SEAL Strike on Shaboob Big Turban Fails in Somalia
Sun 2013-10-06
  Abu Anas al-Libi snatched
Sat 2013-10-05
  Boko Haram: 186 killed, 15 arrested as Military raids insurgents' camp in Yobe
Fri 2013-10-04
  Belgium Extradites Nisar Trabelsi to U.S.
Thu 2013-10-03
  Iranian cyber warfare commander shot dead in suspected assassination
Wed 2013-10-02
  Iraq Executes 23 People in Two Days
Tue 2013-10-01
  Drone strike in North Waziristan kills two, injures one
Mon 2013-09-30
  US drone kills three in Pakistan

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